> Utaan
>  by Imploding Colon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A World That's Worth Protecting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was a storm that never ceased—rolling and boiling with cold haunted blues, reds, and silvers beyond a thick gray malaise.  Lightning forked in every direction, accompanied by trumpeting thunder that echoed outward into utter endlessness itself.  And yet—the very heart of the cosmic tempest couldn't feasibly be seen—for a thick line of ever-rising mist forever obscured the crest of elemental madness.  It formed a deathly border for as far as the eye could see: a pallid lip upon which all things ended.

And all things ended with a monumental roar, a listless moan formed by incalculably thick sheets of water forever flowing, forever perishing.  They fountained out into the dim ether, only to be consumed by friction and lightning.  Pockets of heated air returned the moisture back in sporadic, raging waterspouts, where they would flow back onto the terrestrial shelf and return to the shifting deluge through ghostly clouds of thick gray rain.

Here, upon the edge of all dying, impossibly large structures lingered—granite slabs constructed countless millennia ago, carved through sheer harmonic magic, barely enough intact to still serve as rectangular islands in the midst of maelstrom and madness.  Eons of flowing moisture curved their once-jagged edges to pearl-smooth curves.  Multiple generations of civilized life would later have to fasten thick oak platforms to the sides of them.  These rain-soaked beams and planks formed docks along the west ends of the slabs, and it was here that several boats had gathered, amazingly immaculate wood-carved dreadnoughts whose hulls were covered in every inch with equine carvings and cosmic motifs.

One such vessel drifted up to the western docks.  The ship had no sail or rudder, for it was propelled by pure magic itself.  Orbs of light levitated along the bow and stern, pulsing in alternate patterns, distributing a field of leylines that perfectly counteracted the nightmarish flow of water that would otherwise dash any normal skiff or sailing vessel to shredded bits against the platforms.  Voices shouted to one another, booming commands against the roar of lightning and the howl of raging winds.  One by one, armored unicorns marched up to the vessel's starboard side, levitating a platinum-embossed ramp into place.

Once the ship was sufficiently moored, multiple stately figures trotted down onto the platform, dressed in royal silks and fineries.  They were tall, graceful equines—many of them larger than the average pony.  Their horns shielded themselves from the watery mists and their eyes shimmered as if with starlight.  Unicorns and pegasi wearing gold armor accompanied them as they trotted down a procession of water-slick granite platforms, approaching the line of mist and the raging tempest beyond.

And then—on pensive little hooves—a tiny filly disembarked from the ship.  She hesitated before stepping onto the platform.  When—at last—her gold-laced fetlock scraped the ancient granite, she shuddered in her thick velvet coat, suffering a nervous chill.  Her porcelain coat paled twice over; her alabaster hair billowed in the wet, wet wind.  Gritting her teeth, she stared out into the shattered sky, her aqua blue eyes flinching with each flicker of lightning.  Try as she might, she couldn't summon a pulse of magic through her horn—at least one strong enough to repel the moisture.  Each raindrop chilled her even harder, and for a moment it looked as though she was about to turn and waddle back on board the ship—

“Whitemane,” spoke a strong, male voice.

The filly jolted with a flutter of her wings.  Her pearl blue eyes darted right... then left.  A rigid shadow crossed over her.  The foal looked up, shivering.

On long dark legs, a tall stallion with ebony wings and a lance-like horn trotted by.  His royal purple eyes gazed down at her.  “Follow me, child,” he said, his voice deep and rumbling.  He gathered her closer with outstretched feathers.  The air rang—as with bells—for his horn had summoned a translucent black shield, protecting them from the cold, cold jets of precipitation.  “And stay close.”

Whitemane nodded, stifling tiny breathy squeaks.  “Y-yes, father.”  She trotted briskly along to keep up with him.

“And avoid the edges of the Harmonic Foundations at all costs,” he said.  “All around us, the waters of the ocean flows out, only to be heated by the friction of the Firmaments and then returned to the Light Side.”  He slowly shook his head, gazing forward.  “The same thing cannot be said of little princesses who fall into the drink.”

Whitemane gulped.  “Yes, father.  I shall be careful, father.”

“You always are, my Morning Light.”  His purple gaze swam across the islands of water-swept granite.  “Hmmmmm... everything is as it should be.  The spells are still protecting the sanctuary as they did when we built them ten thousand years ago.”

“But...”  Whitemane's eyes danced across lines of broken archways and sundered marble columns.  “But everything looks so—”  Thunder boomed overhead.  She flinched, trotting closer to her father's legs as she sputtered:  “—so broken apart!”

“Indeed.  About three centuries ago, the Foundations suffered a costly blow.”  The alicorn's nostrils flared as he shielded the two of them.  “The Sarosian Exodus brought much strife and discord to the East Bastions.”

“Uhm...”  Whitemane gulped, blinking at the sheer plummets into raging waters on either side of them.  “...because of the Lunar War, r-right?  The forces of Nightmare Moon fled this far and attempted to cross over into shadow.”

“That is correct, my child.”  He nodded.  The two scaled a waterstained wooden bridge spanning the tiny gaps between granite islands.  A quartet of armored unicorns bowed as they passed by.  “Your mother and I continue to be proud of you and your studies.”

“What I don't understand is how they think they c-could even get to the Dark Side!”  Whitemane looked up, her blue eyes blinking.  “Nightmare Moon's army, I mean.”

“The same way that they crossed the Plains of Magical Drought,” her father explained.  “They possessed Alicorn artifacts, much like the ones that brought us here.”  He held a hoof on her shoulder, urging her away from a chunk of granite that had fallen off into the rapid currents.  “You see, Princess Luna, shortly after traitorous turning, blessed them with the same power that she used to curse her and her sister's kingdom.”  He gazed down at her in mid-stride.  “Many of those vile creatures perished to make the journey possible... if not through the sun's burning kiss, then through starvation or madness.  The scant few companies that made it this far were empowered by pure rage and bloodlust.  Even our finest guard could not match their ferocity.”

Whitemane glanced up at the dark gray sky.  Through gaps in the thick overcast, she saw indigo swirls of cosmic light.  Then—with a roll of thunder—the clouds closed up again.

“Looking for the Mare in the Moon, my child?”

“I... I haven't seen any moonlight since we passed the jagged bluffs,” Whitemane said.  “Or sunlight for that matter.”

“This far out, the Firmaments act as a barrier to the Sun and Moon,” the regal stallion explained.  “It is like this on the Dark Side, though far... far bleaker.  The Sarosians didn't understand this.  They fled to the Dark Side in hopes of communing with their Lunar Empress.  Never underestimate the power of passionate zealots, my child.  They are thralls to chaos.”

“But what of the local kingdom, father?” Whitemane asked.  “There are ponies who lived this far east then, just as they do now!  Couldn't they have helped protect our Bastions?”

The alicorn's eyes flickered in brief anger.  “No.  The Queen of Frost did not lend her forces.  And we shall not speak of that vile despot on these hallowed grounds.”

Whitemane gulped, nodding towards the wet granite beneath her.  “Y-yes, father...”  She heard shuffling hoofsteps.  Curious, she glanced to her left.

Past her father, she saw other alicorns trotting in patient stride.  Among them—walking the slowest—was a young adult mare whose figure mimicked the hazy twilight lingering ever-present beyond the storm clouds.  Her coat was dim and dark like a faded blue metal.  Midnight black hair hung in heavy curls along her graceful neck, and a horn made of spiraling blue alicornia glistened from the moisture in the air.  Unlike the others, she didn't bother to erect a spell to shield herself from the rain.  Instead, the young alicorn's dull violet eyes scaled the lengths of the platform beneath her while she coiled her ebony wings tight.

Whitemane fought a lump in her throat.  She tried smiling.  “Mortuana?” she called out.

The mare didn't reply.  In fact, her muzzle tightened, as if locked in a grim frown.  She trotted slightly faster, scaling ahead of Whitemane and her father.

“Mortuana?”  Whitemane's lips pursed.  “Mor-Mor?  Is everything alright?”

“Leave your sister be, Whitemane,” the stallion said.

Whitemane glanced up.  “But—”

“She has much on her mind.  As well as she should.”  He led Whitemane towards a wide, wide platform at the end of the procession.  Here, the roar of rushing water reached its peak, and he had to speak boldly to be heard by his younger daughter.  “This is her second visit to the East Bastions, after all.  Her future requires her to be in deep reflection.  As does yours.”

“As...”  Whitemane blinked.  “As does m-mine?”

“Your Excellency!” a strong feminine voice suddenly exclaimed.

Whitemane's ears twitched.  Instantly, she smiled, looking up with bright blue eyes.

A pegasus mare with lithe muscles trotted swiftly towards the two.  She removed her gold helmet and bowed before the alicorn stallion.  “King Onyxxus.  All royal hooves are accounted for.”  She tilted her head up at him, her blonde mane flowing in the misty breeze.  “I have my soldiers posted along the north and south tips of the platform.  I have doubled protection around the parties of Prince Valiance and Duchess Starshade.”

“And the Gondola?”  Onyxxus stared past her at a point along the edge.  Two cylindrical towers stood tall, their golden summits pulsating with cosmic manalight.  “Has it returned yet from Darkreach?”

“No, Onyxxus.  But we've received messages from the other side in rapid pulses.  The leylines are energized and the First Expedition is sending the transport back for reserves.  I shall be there for the unloading.”

“I have full faith in you, Commander Sun Sheen.”  And for the first time since arriving there, a smile crossed Onyxxus' dark muzzle.  “My love.”

The pegasus smiled back.  They leaned in together, with Onyxxus lowering his muzzle to stroke his cheek against hers.  Sun Sheen took a deep breath, nuzzling him back with warm affection.  Then, clearing her throat, she stuck her helmet back on and bowed once more.  “My troops need me.  Fear not, Your Excellency.  I shall keep an eye on Mortuana at all times.”

“You always do.”  He bowed back.

Sun Sheen then turned towards Whitemane.  She leaned in low, kissed the filly on her forehead, then stroked her soft snowy bangs.  “We will talk later, my Morning Light.  And you can share with me what you've learned from your first pilgrimage to the East Bastion.”  Fwooosh!  On thunderous wings, Sun Sheen soared fearlessly into the sky, narrowly avoiding gusts of wind and rain as she made her way towards the brightly-lit towers.

Whitemane stared after her, smiling.  Her tiny wings fluttered while her front hooves slowly inched off the ground—

“Come, Whitemane.”

The filly's limbs returned to cold granite. She blinked towards her left.

Onyxxus was trotting towards the very extreme edge.  “It is time that you see... my child...”

Whitemane gulped.  Nervously, she shuffled after him.

The two filed their way through the crowd of royal equines gathered along the penultimate platform.  As the King made his way in, several of the princes and princesses—dukes and duchesses trotted aside, bowing low in deep reverence.  The soldiers did the same, each bearing a crest of the Royal Household.

“They... they don't look so scared, father,” Whitemane remarked.

“I would imagine not,” Onyxxus said.  “Their pride overpowers any and all trepidation.  After all, they are the only mortals of their generation to make this pilgrimage.”  He gazed down at the filly.  “It will be many, many generations before a trip across the Plains of Magical Drought can be attempted again.  Mortuana will be charged with enchanting our artifacts so that the future expedition may surpass the Blight.  And you, my Morning Light, will be responsible for choosing who among Verdestone's most elite will make the trip.”

Whitemane looked up with a gasp.  “M-me, father?”

“Indeed.”

“But... b-but Mor-Mor... Mortuana is older than me!  Wiser!”  Whitemane gulped.  “Sh-shouldn't she be entrusted with such a task?”

“Do not discredit your own potential, my child,” Onyxxus said, strolling closer to a last line of crumbled marble columns.  “There is rich alicorn magic in your veins.  As such, your foalhood will last several decades.  But your adulthood?  That will last millennia.  And in that time, you will gain more wisdom and more understanding than you can even dream of.”

Onyxxus looked to his left.  Whitemane's gaze followed his line of sight.  She saw Mortuana at a distance, reaching into her velvet vest and retrieving a glowing vial of luminescent fluid.  The older alicorn let loose a long sigh, kissed the vial, then approached the platform's extreme edge.

“Your older sister has already found her Harmonic Calling,” Onyxxus spoke, his voice taking on a darker, melancholic tone.  “She is enlightened... and I can no longer inspire her in the same way that I can teach you.  Whatever her conviction, it has empowered her with subtle magics, that which is secured by shadows, tempered in silence.  Do not lose faith in her love for you and your mother, my Morning Light, for it is still there.  But—as in all things with your sister—they are hidden in the deepest pockets of Mortuana's heart, where she knows that she will keep our legacy safe.”  Onyxxus turned to gaze at the filly.  “You too... will someday answer this calling.”  His dark brow furrowed.  “Far sooner, in fact, than you may have expected, I fear.”

“But... wh-what do you mean, father?” Whitemane asked, trembling slightly.

“Whitemane...”  Onyxxus dipped low, squatting on his haunches.  He reached his fetlocks out, taking Whitemane's tiny hooves in his own.  “My beautiful Morning Light...”  His purple eyes narrowed.  “For over a hundred thousands years, I have watched the civilizations of this plane come and go.  I was a young foal like you—nervous and uncertain—when my mother and father first brought me to the shores of this derelict world.  While their wisdom came from the stars, their immortal flesh still belonged to the Plains of Harmony.  The cloud of chaos that engulfed this world would eventually drain the life from them, and their ghosts left me before their labors were fully complete.  I soon found that it was my task to become acquainted with the perils of terrestrial life, so that I might ensure a proper balance, much like Luna, Celestia, Tchern, and all other alicorns foaled during the cosmic exodus.  Through many trials and tribulations, I discovered the price of preserving harmony in this precious, fragile vessel of mortals and beasts.  I established the Citadel of Verdestone for the very purpose of protecting this plane.  But—much like my mother and father before me—the venom of chaos has taken its toll.  I now know that—despite the alicorns' best efforts—this beautiful, majestic world is dying.  And I realize this... because I too am also dying, Whitemane.”

Whitemane's ears folded back.  Her little lips quivered.  “D-dying... father...?”

“Mortuana already knows this,” Onyxxus said.  “I am telling you now because you—like her—are one half of the greatest gift I have to give this plane.”  His dark eyes scanned the nebulous horizon of storms and storms.  “We are surrounded on all sides by encroaching tempests.  Our forebears gave us many artifacts to prolong the life of this world.  But already, our grip on the Harmonic elements are starting to fade.  Luna's madness compromised the moon, and Princess Celestia has been forced to take on an isolationist stance while she guards both celestial beacons entrusted to her Royal House.  This leaves the Elements of Harmony in limbo.  And—still, as of yet—the Midnight Armory continues to elude our grasp.”

“But... but the Expedition...?” Whitemane murmured.

Just then, a loud chime ripped through the air.

Whitemane flashed a look towards the edge of everything.

The two cylindrical towers were suddenly flickering with harmonic light.  Sun Sheen's soldiers gathered closely while a platinum mechanism rose up out of the deluge, brimming with alicorn magic.  Whitemane saw great, gigantic, iron-wrought chains rippling through a taut metal pulley system.  Something immense and sparkling lifted from beyond, drawn by an unbreakable tether.

Onyxxus' voice drew her attention back.  “Darkreach is an experiment at best,” he said.  “It is our most desperate attempt to place a hoof-hold upon the fringes of the Dark Side.  If successful, it will allow us to establish a base, so that we might be able to undo the Sarosian incursion and forge a harmonic path towards the Midnight Armory.”

“What... what's there, father?”  Whitemane gulped.  “What's in the Armory that we need so desperately?”

“An old... old artifact,” he said.  “The oldest and most powerful of all Alicorn Artifacts.  It's the tool by which we christened this world with Harmony in the first place.  Without it, the Elements wouldn't exist.  And if the Elements were to some day lose their luster, then it will fall upon what was locked away in the Armory to restore a final hope for this world.”  Onyxxus sighed, his dark wings coiling.  “When the plan for Darkreach was first drafted, I had hoped that I would live long enough to oversee its execution.  That was back when Mortuana was born.  Ever since, I have felt harmony drained from my body.  And I finally understand that it will not be up to me to ensure the success of our endeavors.”  He turned towards Whitemane again.  “It will be up to you and your sister, my Morning Light.”

“But... b-but why can't you stay with us so we can work on it together?”  The filly sniffled, trying to keep from trembling.  “You look so healthy, father!”

“But the magic in my leylines is fading, and an alicorn without magic is as useful to Harmony as the faded fossils of our forebears.”  He slowly shook his head.  “If I desired to... if I was selfish—I could dwell on this plane, living and breathing, for another five centuries at least.  Alas... that is a luxury I cannot afford... not while I still have a sliver of Harmonic essence left to give.”  He closed his eyes, and his horn glowed with emphasis.  “No, my Morning Light.  I shall not linger upon this earth as a feeble mortal.  Instead, I shall pass on my magic to you and Mortuana, and join your beautiful mother during her mortal passing.”

“Father...”

“My gift of Harmony will strengthen your abilities... and it will extend your life.”  He gazed at her with a gentle smile.  “And you shall live to accomplish that which I can't...”  He nodded towards the droves of ponies gathered along the rainswept platforms.  “And nurture generations of ponies who will need our blessing most of all.”

“Father, n-no...”  Whitemane choked on a sob.  She leaned forward, burying her face in his chest.  “Please!  You c-can't leave us so soon!  There... th-there has to be another way!”

“Shhhhh...”  He swept her into a feathery hug.  “Whitemane...”  His hoof tilted her chin up.  “We will yet have many afternoon strolls on the balconies of Verdestone... and lessons of wisdom shared beneath Emeraldine starlight.”  He kissed her forehead, then murmured lovingly into her soft ears.  “I am sorry that I must leave you to guard the twilight of this world.  But it would be irresponsible of me to do otherwise.  There is far more that I can give you and your sister in passing.  And when all is said and done—and all the energies of this universe have run their course—your soul and mine shall reunite across the Plains of Harmony, so that we may embrace the Glorious Cycle together, and stave off darkness forever more.”

Whitemane nevertheless wept.  She clung to her father, her eyes squeezing loose dewy tears.

“Whitemane...”  He stroked her cheek.  “Look at me.”

She sniffled... cringed... but nevertheless found the strength to comply.  The princess tilted her head up, eyes puffy and entreating.

Onyxxus gazed at her.  “Everything ends, my child,” he said.  “And all things perish.  All things but love.”  He stood up tall.  “It is this, more than anything, that you must bestow upon the mortals who will depend on you.  For even if all of our bold endeavors are to fail, and it's chaos that defeats harmony in the end, it is most important... most righteous and necessary that those who have lived and died do so with peace and prosperity in their heart.  You cannot be expected to ensure the security of all creatures... but it will be in your power to inspire them... or at least inspire the most courageous of them to inspire others.  For there will come a time when you too must pass, like all alicorns, and it will be the mortals of this plane—the most fragile and precious of living things—who carry our gifts into eternity... empowered by artifacts of their own.  Do you understand, my Morning Light?”

Whitemane took several deep breaths.  Despite a shudder or two, she managed to dry most of her tears away.  “Y-yes, Father.”  She stood tall, teeth clenched.  “I... I understand.  And I will protect them the best I can.”

Onyxxus smiled gently at her.

Just then, a loud splash rocked the platforms.

Both Whitemane and her father turned to look at the edge.

Dragged by the thick iron chains, an elliptical sphere rose from the churning depths, finally reaching the twin golden towers.  The Gondola's glass windows rippled with steam and seawater.  Its platinum framework shone in the Harmonic light.  Sun Sheen marched up, shouting commands to various guards.  Unicorns galloped over to a metal dock attached to the granite slab's edge.  Using telekinesis, they undid several locks, then opened a glass door in the Gondola's side.  Air hissed, and soon a small company of frazzled ponies marched out.  Their limbs were thin, and their faces looked a little emaciated.  Nevertheless, their eyes lit up with joy as they found the soldiers on the other side.  Sun Sheen and her fellow comrades reached forward, shaking hooves with the arriving ponies... even going so far as to give them deep, adoring hugs.

Whitemane exhaled.  “The... the Expedition...”  She gulped.  “So many of them are alive.”

Onyxxus nodded.

“It's... it's a miracle...”  Whitemane grinned, sniffling.  She looked up at her father.  “It is a miracle, r-right?”

“No miracles happen without a purpose.  Remember that, child.”  Onyxxus strolled forward, motioning for her to follow.  “It will still take much effort... much magic... much dedication to make the success of Darkreach possible.”

Whitemane scampered briskly to catch up with him.  She soon found herself being led to the extreme edge of the platform.  Here, a second noise rattled against the thunder from beyond.  It was a delicate percussion, like wind chimes dancing in a summer breeze.  Whitemane blinked, and soon she spotted row after row of metal stakes stabbed into the water-swept edge of the last platform.  Many of the stakes were far older than she could comprehend, their rusted stalks bent and curved from the weight of time.  Off of each pole, vials hung... shook... dangled.  They were filled with thick translucent fluids, and they each glowed with Harmonic energy—some dimmer than others—some as bright as stars.

“It is time, Whitemane,” Onyxxus said.  He reached into his vest with a stream of magic.  Whitemane watched as he levitated a thick vial—streaming with ethereal blackness.  Vapors trailed as he held the item to his lips, kissed it, then floated it forward.  He hooked the top of it securely to a lone stalk.  As he left it dangling, the filly could see how its magical glow staved off the mists and fog, like a lantern on the edge of a shadowy precipice.  “Did you bring yours, dear daughter?”

Whitemane nodded.  With a gulp, she reached awkwardly into her velvet vest, fumbled around, then finally produced a thin little jar.  It swirled with fresh red juices, and when the liquid so much as shifted, it produced a glittering golden aura.

“You did a good job preserving it,” the stallion said, smiling slightly.  “Your sister wasn't quite so lucky on her first trip.”

“How could I not?”  Whitemane shuddered.  She glanced to her far left, but she couldn't spot Mortuana anymore.  “It... h-hurt getting it out of me.”

“It's a pain like no other when an alicorn sheds blood, child,” Onyxxus said.  “Producing it reminds us of the cost that mortals pay every single day of their brief lives.  Placing it here is a testament to our dedication in protecting them.”  He then gestured to the stalk right next to his.

Whitemane held her breath.  Kissing the vial tenderly, she then trotted forward.  With the use of feeble magic she floated the item up onto the hook.  The vial dangled there—shining its gold light brighter and brighter with each gust of the tempestuous winds.

Whitemane shuddered from the chilling breeze.  Her eyes stared across the array of vials—both old and older.  They resembled starlight against the lasting veil of darkness.

“We must remain stalwart in our preservation of Harmony,” Onyxxus said.  “For the future of this plane will only be extended through our combined efforts.”

“There... there are so many of them...”  Whitemane gazed and gazed at the vials.  A knot formed in her throat.  “There were,” she murmured.

“My child...”  Onyxxus squatted behind her.  He braced one hoof against her shoulder, then pointed the other one straight out.  “Take a good long look...”

Whitemane slowly, pensively raised her head.

“Gaze for the first time upon the end itself...”

Whitemane's pearl blues twitched.  Nevertheless, she stood resolute, her gaze piercing into the churning heavens... the dark everlasting thunderclouds of the Firmaments... rolling with ethereal light, chaotic and sporadic, hungering...

Onyxxus' whispering breath sailed along the roar of crashing waves.  “Tell me, my child, what is it that you see?”

Whitemane stared and stared.  The trembles redoubled.

“What do you see?”

Shaking... quivering... Whitemane clenched her eyes shut.





A flash of Harmonic light.

Whitemane's eyes opened wide, twitching.

Seven hundred years later, she stood on a tall, looming balcony, surrounded in twinkling starlight.  The valleys and townships of Emeraldine glowed with specks of candlelight below.  The great tower of Verdestone bathed her in brisk winds.

The alicorn exhaled.  Her horn glowed with residual telepathic energy.  Just as it dimmed, she rubbed her forehead, clenching her eyes shut as she squeezed the vision of sobbing mares and ashen circles out of her mind.

Several breaths later, she fully recovered.  Whitemane stood up, coiling her ornamental wings at her side.  One graceful step after another, she turned from the east horizon, strolled past marble columns, then passed a veil of windblown silk curtains on her way into the heart of the royal chamber.

Up ahead—across a pristine marble floor—there lingered a bed of velvet pillows.  Through the filmy white canopy, Whitemane spotted a petite blue figure.

The monarch shuffled up, coming to a quiet stop along the edge of the bed.  She stared down, eyes moist and contemplative.  At last, summoning an endearing grin, she reached her hoof out... gently stroking the prismatic mane of the robed mare lying in fitful, deep slumber.  Her hoof lingered along the pegasus' muzzle, wiping the beads of tears dry from her lashes.

“Tell me... Austraeoh...”  Whitemane murmured.  She smiled, a compassionate rosiness spreading through her facial features.  “What is it that you see, child?”
> An Ocean Running With Blood
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Five grown adult stallions stood like statues, numb and speechless.  They rode a wooden raft stacked high with splintery crates full of food, textiles, and supplies.  To the east—in the distance—a cargo ship had anchored in place, its smokestacks dull and dormant.  One of the ponies—a unicorn with a stubbled chin—used his magic to poke the raft along the shallow waters via a tall wooden pike.  Otherwise, the group of tradeponies were completely stagnant, their jaws agape and their ears twitching from the horrid dirge that filled the air.

The closer they shoved their way west through the canyon, the more their bodies shook from the spine-tingling wails and moans.  At last, the noises converged, forming a vicious howl.  It sliced through their skulls, rippling the very waters around them.  A few of the stallions glanced down to see the stone structures below the surface clouded by streams of crimson juices snaking east through the Quade, gathering thick and thicker, until a dense copper smell filled the air above, putrid... pungent.

Finally, the group reached a flimsy set of platforms... and the platforms ran red.  Lining the structures' edges, their sackcloth tunics torn off, dozens... hundreds of penitent monks sat, flogging themselves with whips, beads, and thorned vines.  They lashed and struck themselves until there was barely any coat left clinging to their flesh—instead there was raw meat, ripped muscle, and the pale hint of bone shifting underneath.  Their lungs bellowed with pained cries, their blistered tongues pronouncing all four syllables of their Goddess' name as they prayed... sobbed... bled their sins to the throbbing heavens.

The tradeponies were too busy blanching at this scene that they didn't notice when their raft ran aground.  The resulting impact nearly threw them off their hooves.  One stallion placed his fetlock on a woven platform to steady himself, and he grimaced to feel hot blood coating his hoof.

Several spaces away, a young stallion shifted through the mutilated crowd, dragging aside unconscious mares and stallions who had collapsed due to sheer pain and exhaustion.  The pegasus shuddered, failing to prevent bloodstreaks with each motion.  He tried offering each of them water... a scrap of bread.  Each refused, and his only recourse was to lay them side by side.  He utilized a series of sleeping mats that he had salvaged from the structures that hadn't sunk into the Quade.  One by one, he stretched their limbs out, turning them over so that their sores faced the skies.  With quivering hooves, he laid white sackcloth bandages over their torn shoulders and flanks in a desperate attempt to guard them from infection and the elements.

The tradeponies saw him instantly.  Their leader shouted... but there was no response.  He hollered again, this time banging the woven platform with a rod.

“...!”  Galloran jolted.  He leapt over a bloodied Luminard's body and clumsily lifted his crossbow.  Turning, he froze in place, his dazed eyes blinking at the five stallions.

They gawked at him, their eyes full of horror.

He shuddered, falling back on his haunches.  Hugging the crossbow to his chest, Galloran stared forward, his eyes vacant and distant.

The tradeponies stared at one another.  At last, the leader bravely hopped off the raft—instantly slipping on a pool of blood.  Grimacing, he nevertheless shuffled past the weeping, anguished pilgrims.  Two other stallions swiftly followed—though they struggled to keep their lunch in.

The leader reached Galloran, kneeling before him.  “Young sir...”  He waved a hoof in Galloran's face.  Upon receiving no response, he glanced nervously at the other two, then leaned in closer.  “Are you a protector?”

Galloran blinked.

“Here!  In the Quade!” the tradespony reiterated.  “Are you one of the Quade's protectors?”

Galloran gulped.  “I w-was...”  He finally trembled.

The other stallion took a deep breath.  “Were you struck by a tsunami or something?  We came to provide your monthly supply, and we find a bloodbath!”

“Yeesh...”  Another stallion shuddered.  “...will they ever stop screaming?”

“Shhhh.  Just shut up for a second.”  The leader placed a hoof on Galloran's shoulder.  “Would you mind telling us what happened here?  Were... were you attacked?”  He gulped.  “Did pirates somehow make their way in here?”

“Verlaxion's Sleet!” stammered one of the stallions remaining on the raft.

The leader looked over the self-mutilating monks.

A tradespony pointed straight up.  “Look at the damned thing!  Have you ever seen it like that before?”

The leader gazed up, squinting.  His lips pursed.

The sky above the Quade was the clearest he had ever seen it.  Not only were all the upper platforms gone—weave and all—but a giant metal stalk of a tower loomed in the former structure's place.  It stood out like a black obelisk in the middle of the sunken continent.

“Good Goddess...”  The leader shuddered.  “What is that thing?!”

“I've never seen anything like it!”

“The Reed?  Where did all of the Reed go?”

“It's gone, Thalian...”

The leader jerked a look aside.

Past Galloran, on an adjacent platform, a familiar face strolled up... hobbling.  Several bandages clung to the old stallion's body, and his lips and chin were stained with dried blood.  He dragged a water-logged box full of rags and dropped it beside a row of unconscious, red-raw pilgrims.

“Not a single shoot of it remains, old friend.”

“Menthe!  You... you look like Hell!” Thalian stammered.  “And why are you... you letting all this mayhem happen?!”

“You know it's not my place to dictate to the pilgrims, chum.”  Menthe limped over to Galloran's figure.  He rested a hoof on the younger pony's shoulder.  “Besides...”  He exhaled through a gritty sigh.  “...I couldn't stop them if I tried.  Especially after two days ago.”

“What in Goddess' name even happened here?!” a tradepony shouted above the wails.

“She burned it,” Menthe spat.  “Tore it to shreds and burned it to the charred waters below!”

Galloran sniffled.  He looked aside, his eyes flowing with tears.

Thalian glanced at him, then at Menthe.  “Who, Menthe?  Who did all of this?”

Menthe stared back.  He glared.  At last, with a growling voice, he opened his bloodied mouth:





“A rainbow pegasus... from the far west!”  Thalian exclaimed.  His voice echoed off the hull of his steamship while the crewmembers hoisted their empty raft up via ropes.  “With a coat as blue as the sky and a mane with... with every color of the spectrum!”

“You gotta be kidding us, Cap!”  A sailor tied the rope tight and gawked at the twin ridges of the Quade along the west horizon.  “You're telling us that one single pony wrecked the entire monastery?!”

“Menthe says she had two friends with her,” Thalian said.  “A pegasus stallion and a silent griffon who communicated via Wyvern signs.  Their names were... Butch and Windcard... or something.  But it doesn't matter.  It's the mare who did it all!  Single-hoofedly!  She tore the Reed to shreds!  It's not there anymore!”

“What do you mean it's not there anymore?!”  Another crewmember reached over, helping the first of the five back on board.  “That shit is—like—immortal, isn't it?  Why else would the cooky monks worship the damn thing?”

“Yeah, well, those cooky monks have ravaged themselves with whips and thorns for their 'sins!'”  Thalian and the others trotted aboard.  “Seems that they're taking the blame for accepting the mare into their fold to begin with.  At first, she made it seem like she wanted to become one of them, and so they played along!  Next thing they knew, she was attacking the holy site like a psychopath.  Now it's one big stalk of metal!”

“Metal?!”

“I know, right?  Seems like the Luminards' monastery had a hidden foundation all this time.”

“But the Reed's gone...”

“Yes!  How many times do I have to tell you that?!”  Thalian sighed, rubbing his head.  “I'm sorry.  It's just that...”  He gulped.  “...I've been doing this trade route for decades, and I've never seen Menthe this agitated before.  The guy wants to commit friggin' murder, I swear.”

“Well...”  One sailor squirmed atop the deck.  “With these Luminards' holy Reed gone... what do they have left to worship?”

“Where are they even going to live?” uttered another.  “Can they still live?”

“No time to dwell on that right now,” Thalian grumbled, shuffling across the deck.  “Move over.”

“Where are you headed, Cap'n?”

“I'm checking the hold.  We need to get as many bandages and medicine onto the raft as possible.  Release the second skiff.  We'll have to double the transport.”

“Wait!  But Captain!”  One sailor pointed.  “That stuff in the hold?!  I thought that was headed to Shoggoth!”

“Buck Shoggoth!”  Thalian frowned over his shoulder as he opened a pair of wide metal doors.  “Those guppy-humpers have enough magic to last them a year!  These Luminards need our help right now!”

“How bad off are they?”

“The Quade's colored red, Skip.  Does that give you a clue?”

“Verlaxion's Sleet...”

“I know, right?”

“I'll help with deploying the other raft!”

“Need a hoof with the cargo, Cap'n?”

“Absolutely.  Goddess... you should have seen the look on face of Menthe's apprentice.  Damn kid is pale as a sheet.”

“Do we at least know the name of the crazy pony who did this to them?”





“Rainbow Dash,” hissed a fisherpony.

“Rainbow Dash?!”  One of two guards gasped.  Behind them, the metal docking station of Upper Shoggoth loomed.  An Arrowfish was slowly cruising in to port.  “What kind of a fruity name is that?”

“A colorful one for sure... but all that matters is red.”  The fisherpony grinned as he hung off the bow of his vessel, speaking across the space of salty air between himself and the rocky platform.  “The dayum mare showed up out of nowhere with two other bandits and tore the Quade a new one.  Mmmhmmm!”

One of the Shoggoth guards squinted.  “Where did you hear this from?”

“Hah!”  The fisherpony leaned back on his dangling nets, grinning wide.  “Captain Thalian of the Snowskimmer!  He said it happened four days ago!”

“Wait...”  Another guard blinked.  “Captain 'Salt Breath' Thalian?”

“Dayum straight!”

“Wow...”  One guard readjusted his grip of a spear.  “Only thing bigger than that guy's reputation is his heart.”

“Tell me about it.”  The other nodded.  “Even Queen Camellia has commended the pony during his multiple trade routes.”

“Well, you'll all be getting a lot less medical supplies this turn,” the fisherpony said.

“Hell, if it's to supply the Luminards, then more power to him!”

“Dear Goddess...”  The other guard winced.  “Don't tell me that they took this out on themselves?”

“Hah!  Once a Luminard, always a Luminard!  Not that it mattered.  Word is... this 'Rainbow Dash' kicked the teeth out of many of them.”

A third guard shuffled up.  “Arrowfish just arrived from Rust.  What are you guys talking about?”

“Thaddeus here ran into Captain Thalian just the other day.”

“Oh, you mean Salt Breath?”

“Yeah.  Apparently the guy and his crew discovered the Quade in ruins.  Says that a crazy pony named Rainbow Dash single-hoofedly tore the place to shreds.”

“Verlaxion's Sleet!”  The third guard winced.  “How in the Hell did she do that?”





The stallion belched, slapped his mug down, then wiped his muzzle dry before glaring across the musky tavern in Rust.  “First thing she does is sneak on board the monks' flimsy weave-discs.  HIC!”  He gestured, leaning forward.  “Then she stalks her way into their sanctuary.  I'm talking about a wooden place that's older than old.  And she starts... flinging these mummified dead bodies around... y'know... all crazy like.  Pounding them into dust and shoving them into living monks' faces.”

“No friggin' way...”  Staring intently, another patron inhaled a pipe full of ground coral.  He blinked through bloodshot eyes and wheezed:  “Couldn't they kick her butt?  I mean, there's more of 'em than her.”

“Don't matter!”  The drinking stallion smirked.  “Those sissy monks don't believe in—HIC—punching anything no-how.  So, like, that gives her an advantage.  Pffft... the friggin' coward.  So... she kicks the teeth in of all these monks—”

“Does she rob them?”

“Who's telling the—HIC—dayum story here, huh?!  Not like they have anything that could be valuable, ya dipshit!  Anyways... she beats 'em up just for the sake of beating them up, right?  Then she marches straight into their innermost sanctuary.  She takes a spear... and just... shredddddssss apart their most holy stuff!”

“You mean that crazy Reed crud?”

“Yeah!  Only... she tore it up so bad that the stuff ain't growing back!  Them poor Luminards are homeless!”

“Hah...”  The other patron took another puff.  “Hmmmfff... and to think... kaff kaff... we have it bad.”

“That ain't nearly as awful as what she did after she was done with the Reed.”

“Oh?”  The other pony leaned in closer.  “What did she do?”





“Well, after she burnt their sanctuary to a crisp, the Rainbow Rogue started taking her frustrations out on several of the other monks!”  One stallion shouted to another as their ship rocked in tempestuous waters.  “Seems like she thought she could destroy the spirit of Verlaxion or something by ripping apart the Reed!  But the monks weren't having it!  So she started beating the crap out of them!  Whipping them to shreds'n'such!”

“Yeesh!”  The other stallion attached cables to a gigantic metal crab trap and shoved it against the far edge of the deck.  “Talk about bloodlust!”  He tightened his raincoat in time to weather the blast of cold, cold seawater.  “Mmmff... did she take any of them out?”

“Several of the Luminards won't be able to walk again, from what I hear!”  Both stallions grunted as they hoisted the cage overboard and gave the cable some slack.  Their legs wobbled while the whole ship veered in the angry surf.  “Much less kneel down and pray!”

“I only want to know one thing about this Rainbow Rogue...”

“What?  Why she had such a big vendetta against the poor monks of the Quade?!”

“Well, that too!  But moreover... just how was she able to... y'know... burn the entire Reed to ashes?”





“That's because the Rainbow Rogue is no ordinary mare...”  A wrinkle-faced stallion squinted across the dangling lantern-light.  “...but a Goddess-dayum monster!”

The claustrophobic cabin filled with gasps and murmurs.  Fellow pirates and privateers reclined on their bunkbeds, squinting at the elder.  A bulky stallion sharpened his scimitar against a spinning grindstone in the corner.  “That's a bunch of seaweed,” he spat.  “What would a monster want with a bunch of worthless, bitless monks?”

“She doesn't feed on greed of money or metals!”  The elder sputtered.  “She has a treasure already!  One fused to her neck!  A ruby!  A piece of lightning itself, encased in stone!”

“Hah!  That's a good one!”

“I'm serious!  It's encased her demon spirit!”  He grinned a toothless grin.  “A spirit that devours all penitent souls who follow Verlaxion's graces.  That's why the monster targeted the Quade, you see!  First, she was after the Reed.  Next, she'll be after the frozens bluffs of Verlaxion's Mountain itself!”

“Good riddance...”

“Hah!  Yeah...”

“Buck that stinkin' goddess...”

“If you ask me, old coot...”  Schiiiing!  The bulky stallion pointed his sword across the gently rocking cabin.  “If what this damned freak wants is to kill the Queen of Frost who hoards her riches from us, then she's got my filthy prayers!”

“Hahahahah!”

“Amen!  Whew!”

“Ha ha!”





"Whoop!"  The Nealender stabbed her spear into the shallow waters of the lagoon.  Waters ran red, and she retrieved the barb with three whole fish skewered.  "Look at that and know what it means to be weak!  Hah!"

"Mmmmffff..."  Another Nealender pivoted the canoe.  "I'm distracted.  Show off on an afternoon when I care."

"What aches you, sister?"

"I'm just trying to understand."  The other mare ran a hoof over her shaved head.  "Why kills and burn monks?  There's no sport in it!"

"Maybe the Rainbow Rogue's vision was damaged?"  The other smirked, peeling the fish bodies into a net.  "She couldn't see below her muzzle to tell the difference between disciples and dorsal fins!  Hah!  Whoop!"

"Oh, she could see, alright.  A demon spirit flowed through her!"

"Then I know exactly why she did what she did!"

The other squinted at her companion in the glinting sunlight.  "And why is that?"

"By attacking Verlaxion's children, she was working her way to the top!"  A devilish grin.  "What greater sport is there than baiting the Goddess herself?!"

"Hah!  Then this Rainbow Rogue has enviable blood indeed!"

"Yes!  Hah hah hah!"

"Whoop!"





Little colts and fillies jumped rope along the eastern docks of Kihutaja.

Between the blazing horns of trade ships coming to and from port and the cries of seagulls overhead, they sang in the rhythm of their hopping exercise.

“Rainbow Rogue.  Went to the Quade.”

“Burned all the plants that the pilgrims made.”

“First came the axe.  Then came the flame.”

“Then she cursed Verlaxion's name.”





“I can't even believe this is making the headlines,” stammered a young mare, sitting with her back to a tree.  She pointed at a college newsletter in her grasp.  “I mean, who in their right mind gives two whinnies about a bunch of sobbing herd mentalists from across the ocean?”

Two more mares and a stallion sat down on the K.M.C.A. lawn across from her.  “What's this, now?” he asked.

“The College Column!”  She held the front page out, her muzzle grimacing.  “The way the article is written, it's almost as if they're wanting us to feel sorry for these backwards worshipers of Verlaxion!”  She groaned, turning it around again and frowning.  “If you ask me, they should just fire the pretentious editor along with his bleeding heart.”

“Could you be a bit more specific?” asked one of the other mares, munching on a lettuce sandwich.

“Hmmf... Ink Ribbon.  Ever since the Blight fell, she's been flexing her cultural muscle—”

“Mrmmmf—no.  Not that.”  The mare gulped her food down.  “I mean about 'backwards worshipers of Verlaxion.'  Far as I know, that could meany anypony east of the Colonies.”

The group chuckled.

The mare with the newsletter said, “Supposedly... a nebulous phantom bandit from the west called the 'Rainbow Rogue' has been terrifying the monks who live in the Quade.”

“You mean in the former continent of Luminar?”

“Right.  There's this wild rumor spreading across the waves that she showed up uninvited, summoned some 'demonic energy' from a pendant around her neck, then attacked and destroyed the Quade monks' prized Reed.”

“What's a Reed?”

“I dunno.  Something super important to Verlaxion, apparently.”

“Heh... who knows?”  The stallion smirked.  “Maybe it'll give the monks something else to do with their lives.”

“Pffft.  Good luck with that.  They've already whipped themselves raw through some ancient self-mutilation ritual... blaming the whole debacle on their 'unforgivable sins' or some nonsense.”

“Ugh...”  Another mare rolled her eyes.  “How Continentalist.”

“I know, right?”

“Still...”  The stallion smirked.  “You gotta admit... with the Blight down... we're going to get lots and lots more of this.”

“What, sucky columns?”

“No... I mean stories about the west... and stuff coming from the west.”

“Pffft.  Pure superstition.”

“Imagine our grandfoals' grandfoals... living in a world where they can sail the ocean and take wing.”  The stallion shrugged.  “To them, old stories about the Blight will sound like superstitious nonsense too!”

“Are you saying you actually believe some... some Rainbow Monster attacked these Quade idiots?”

“I'm just saying... the seas are wide and vast.”  He shrugged.  “Who's to know what kind of strange stuff we might find?  Good?  Bad?”  He smirked.  “Sky's the limit.  And... you know what?  I for one am kind of excited for whatever it is that might fall on us.”

“Yeah, well, if it's anything that has to fall to reach Rohbredden, then it can only be a horrible thing.”

“Hahah!  Can you even imagine?”

“Hehehe!  Yeah!”

“Hahahaha...”


> A Floating Mountain of Filth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	His tiny brown hooves gripped the broom as he swept... swept... swept over the same patch of rusted metal deckspace for the hundredth time in a row.

Tired yellow eyes peered out of a tired young face with a scraggy brown coat.  Dutifully, the dirtied colt swept his way across the deck, sending dust and metal filaments overboard so that they fell into the muddy, choppy waves below.  His nostrils inhaled salt and grime, and his lips remained ever-chapped from countless exposure to steam.

Horns rolled in the distance, followed by the whistling of tight brass vents.  Both sounds echoed across dozens upon of dozens of hulls.  Seagulls shrieked in the sky, filling up the right side of the little colt's skull, making it ache—as always.  His right ear twitched to the noise.  His left ear didn't—for it was missing.  What's more, the coat hairs on the left side of his face were considerably shorter and more coarse than his right.  In fact, the only truly symmetrical thing about the colt was the scarring on his flanks—marking both sides.

With a sigh, the colt continued sweeping.  Eventually, his task forced him to pivot around.  As he did so, a wild conversation suddenly blossomed just a few meters off to the side, coming into full clarity in his ear.

“...a goddess-dayum monster!  No ordinary pony, oh no!  Could a single mare possibly have done that much damage to an entire township?!”

“What township are we talking about?”

“The Quade, ya smog guzzler!  The Rainbow Rogue tore it to bits!”

“Eugh... not more of this Rainbow Rogue stuff...”

The colt froze.  He leaned on his broom and tilted his nose up, blinking with pursed lips.

A few steps away, a group of stallions chatted from across two rusted ships that had been welded tightly together—forming a single dinghy platform.  Brass steam vents billowed smoke and fumes around their fearless, sun-bleached bodies.

“I'm telling you, she's real!  Not only that, but she's likely headed in our direction!”

“What, towards Red Barge?”

“Don't be a dumbass.  If anypony—monster or not—traveled east from the Quade, they'd be gutted by pirates.  Or else carried by the current to those White Barge bastards in the north.”

“Not this mare!  Nooooo... word is—the Rainbow Rogue comes from beyond the Blight!”

“Beyond the Blight?!  Tch... now you're just guzzling foam, ya mucker!”

“Think about it!  The Blight fell, didn't it?”

“That's an even stupider rumor.”

“No!  It did!  It totally did!  We've got sources from both Colonialists and Continentalists that that shit's no longer a thing!”

“Even if that was true... why would anypony... anything living beyond the Blight want to mess with the Luminards?”

“Cuz it's a demon monster!  A corrupter of Verlaxion's spirit!  After all, when the Blight Fell, did she stick around Kihutaja or any of those other godless islands?  Nooooo... the demon made a straight beeline for the Quade!  Ripped the holy Reed to shreds!”

“No shit!  The Reed's gone?”

“Burnt to a crisp!  Total bloat!  On account of some demon pendant around the monster's neck!”

“So there's a crazy monster out on the seas.  Big whoop.  Bring it over here so I can spear it!”

“Hah!  As if you could get close enough!  I hear this Rainbow Rogue tore the throats out of twenty monks in just one minute!”

“Throw yourself overboard... for real?”

“It's a Demon Reckoning, I tell you!  It's like in the old legends!  A fire from the west wants to take out Verlaxion's spirit!  Undo all the work that's been done since Unification, eons ago!”

“Well, let it happen!  I want to see the law abolished that says we can't dine on seapony meat!”

“Hahahaha!”

The colt leaned against the broom, exhaling.  He blinked curiously, brushing aside his dark brown bangs.  As the stallions laughed and laughed harder, the little pony even found himself smiling.

Just then, he felt vibrations through the left side of his body.

“... ... ...?”  Curious, he swiveled his neck, craning his good ear in time to hear five heavy hoof-clops... followed by a massive punch to the skull.  WHACK!  Yelping, the colt fell over and rolled against a bulkhead.

“You—...—little—...—of sea foam!” he made out during his tumble.  At last, he ended on the floor, trembling, with his good ear tilted up.  The colt's eyes caught the snarling face of a bearded stallion hissing down at him.  “I told you to sweep the deck, Swab!  Not eavesdrop on dredgers!”

“I... I-I'm sorry, Digiff!”  The colt flinched, hugging the broomstick like a shield.  “I-I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I swear!  Look!”  He pointed at the deck.  “All swept up!”  He gulped.  “M-mostly!”

“Nnngh!”  Digiff slammed his hoof down.

CLANG!

The colt flinched again.  He opened his eyes to see that the bearded stallion's hoof had landed just centimeters from his face.

“Talk back to me, ya sniveling little piece of sea foam?!”  Digiff spat.  “Do you want to eat tonight?!  Huh?!”  He yanked the colt up by the scruff of his neck.  “Want I should tear off your one good ear?!”

“No!  D-don't!  I'm sorry!”  Swab dangled in his grasp.  “I won't eavesdrop again!  I swear it!”

“Damn straight, you won't!”  Digiff dropped him.  Frowning, he dusted off his coat.  “Friggin' fleabag.  You're the weakest one of the mucking lot, you know.”

Swab shuddered, bowing his head.  “Yes, Digiff.”

“Why Quint and Whony haven't carved your chest out and made a toilet by now, I'll never know.”  He squinted across the murky waters.  “Must be saving you for kicks when they get older.  Mrmmff... damn sea foam.  Can never know with you pathetic brats these days.”

“Want me to sweep the west decks, Digiff?”

“Who's giving orders now, huh?!”  The stallion turned towards him, growling again.  “Gimme that damn broom!”  He yanked the item from him and handed him a sheet.  “Here.  Take this to the Skag Hole.”

Swab took the folded paper in shivering hooves.  “You... you want me to deliver this to Top Dredger Skagra?”

“No, want you to swallow it, do a little shimmy, and then crap it out on his work bench!”  Digiff reached forward, slapping the top of Swab's skull.  “Are you total deaf, Swab?  Do what I tell you!”  His nostrils snorted.  “It's the latest report from the Harvesters.  I'd deliver it myself, but there's a steam leak on the south skiffs.  Some of us are too big and important for menial tasks, not like you'll ever live long enough to know that.  Hrmmmf... Now get your worthless butt in gear!”

“Yes, Digiff!”  Swab scampered off, panting.  “I'll get it to Skagra right away!”

“You'd better... or I'm taking this here broomstick and turning you into fried stabfish for the Top Dredger himself!”  Digiff fumed.  He took one look at the broom, then tossed it to the deck.  “Bah!  Piece of crap tool... when are we getting those damn supplies in already?!  Ugh!... gotta do everything around here!”

Wheezing, Swab scampered his little way over the edge of the nearest boat.  He cleared the hull, flew for four feet, then landed hard on another deck.  He repeated this motion several times—for their were several boats... all old worn-out vessels that had been fused to one another, welded together through rickety... oftentimes shoddy workponyship.  At a distance, the ramshackle details of the construction disappeared, and in its place appeared one of several long, rust-red slabs of metal, fused together in order to make a lateral cross section—just a piece of a far more enormous construct.  For there, in the middle of a dark patch of polluted sea, there stretched a large square array of fused ships and retired sailing vessels, in the center of which floated what appeared to be an enormous iron platform with a series of raised terraces.  Each level of central Red Barge—and each outer strut of fused boats, for that matter—billowed steam and smog into the air, indicating a series of clouded mechanical processes churning and swirling deep beneath the waters' surface.

Swab had made it across several rusted platforms in a short span of time, hopping and gliding and sliding his way with impenetrable ease.  The little colt breezed passed multiple stallions hard at work in hammering brass pipework together, fusing broken steam vents and testing them for structural stability.  Along the way, he shuffled past the broken front half of what was once a luxury yacht—now a hollowed out hull that had been reconstituted as a dense apartment complex.  Shuffling old ponies and grime-stained mares lingered at canvas-dangling windows, either slicing up fish or tinkering to make tiny, complicated gearworks.  Swab smelled a foul stench in the air, and he paused as a housemare high above tossed a pail of bodily fluids out the window, littering the soiled waters below.  Once that was done, Swab readjusted his grip of the note and continued scurrying along his way.

He had to stop upon reaching a line of fused boats where a thick metal bridge was being raised.  A loud whistle blew from a raised round tower built out of metal mesh.  When Swab's body wriggled, contemplating jumping across the thin space anyways—the stallion in the tower whistled louder.  Swab winced, his one ear twitching as he stood anxiously in place.

“Mrmmff...”  Another pony hauling scrap bumped purposefully into the colt while waiting at the raised bridge with several other workers.  “What's yer friggin' hurry, sea foam?”

Swab winced, his tail flicking aside in a futile attempt to cover his scarred flank.  “S-sorry...”

More whistles lit the air.  The stallions seated in three consecutive towers along three different struts of the Barge waved high-signs to one another.  The guard closest to Swab shouted into the air:  “Clear the way!  Drifting!”

“Driftinnng!” echoed a guard from the next strut, followed by an even more distant shout.

All along the struts, brass vents puffed boiling hot steam into the air.  Swab stepped aside with expert timing.  A vent two spaces behind him blew into the air, and the sheer heat curled the hairs on his tail.  He shuddered slightly, concentrating on keeping the paper intact.

Meanwhile, before him and the other workers in wait, the struts spread apart.  Thick motors fired jets into the murky, muddy water.  Soon, there was a wide space between both sections of the Barge.  Over the course of the next two minutes, a tugboat carrying two crates full of dull black rocks roared through the freshly-made canal.  Once the cargo of raw fuel reached the outer struts, the air once again filled with whistles.

“Redrift!  Slideside!”

“Slidesiiiiiide!”

The steam vented again.  Slowly—inch by inch—the two struts of fused boats drifted back together.

Swab sighed, tapping his hoof as he stood, waiting.

From the side... “Psssst!  Swab!  Hey!  Hey Swab!”

Swab looked over.... then up.

A guard in his tower had swiveled a massive bolt-launcher, aiming the crosshairs right on the colt.  He pulled the trigger.

“Eeeee—!”  Swab flinched, clenching his yellow eyes shut.

Click!  The dirt-faced stallion smirked behind the weapon.  “Haahaahaaaaa!”  He stood up, smirking.  “Bang!  I got ya, sea foam!  You're dead bloat!”

Swab sighed, staring away.

“Hey!  Hey!”  The guard snarled, frowning this time.  He stuck a very real bolt into the very real turret.  “Tell me that I got ya!”

Swab blew his brown bangs out before his eyes.  “...you got me, Saxon.”

“Heeheehee!”  Saxon pounded the edge of his tower and laughed.  “I sure did, ya half-headed freak!  Snkkt!  Hahaha!”

Swab stared at the floor.  Suddenly, the strut he was on wobbled, and the bridge before him slapped down.

“All clear!” Saxon shouted, then leaned back to continue a half-eaten sandwich.

The workers all clambered to get across, and for once Swab had a tiny bit of difficulty making his speedy way through.  Once he had cleared the crowd, however, he ran like greased lightning, dashing over and under dormant steam pipes still hot from their latest venting.  With expert grace, he avoided scalding his flesh on the hot, hot metals.

There was a final stretch, and then—at last—a series of large fishing boats led up like enormous steps to a bulky box of a platform with a two-story structure built on the top of it.  Several muscular stallions marched along the outer platform, armed with blades and crossbows.  A few platforms over, massive smokestacks stretched into the air, billowing with soot and grime.

Swab was almost to his destination when several other colts—some considerably older, but most of them sizably larger—scampered along with him.

“Watchagotthere, Swab?”

“A letter from your parents, Swab?”

“Hah!  Seafoam ain't got no parents!”

“I-I'm just delivering a note to Skagra.”

“You?!”  One colt arched an eyebrow.  “On the way to the Skag Hole?”

“Liar!  You're supposed to be sweeping the west struts!”

“Digiff's gonna rip off your other ear and toss you into the sea to bloat!”

“N-no!  It... it was him who gave it to me!”  Swab panted in mid-gallop.  He weaved left and right, but he couldn't shake the foals.  “Just a bunch of notes from the dredge harvest!  Honest!”

“Honest!  Honest!”  A particularly large colt smirked and dove in.  “Gimme that note!”

“Gah!”  Swab recoiled from him, nearly tripping into a stretch of pipes.  “Knock it off, Quint!”

“Oh yeah?”  Quint stretched up on his hindquarters, suddenly towering over Swab.  “You wanna make me?”

“Please, I gotta get this to Skagra!”

“Hold him down, Whony!”

“Hey!  Knock it off!” Swab snarled, waving and bucking at the jeering colts.  But they were far larger than him and one nearly got his teeth on the note.  "Nnngh!  Quit it!  I-I need to eat!"

“The hell is going on here?!” grunted a deep voice from straight ahead.

The bullies instantly leapt off Swab's body like grasshoppers.  They backed up with their tails between their legs.

“N-nothing, Dredger Nixkit,” Whony murmured before the looming stallion.

“Yeah!”  Quint leaned in and wrapped a hoof around Swab's shoulder.  “We were only playing, weren't we, Swab?”

Frowning, Swab shook Quint's weight off him.

“Whoahhhh...”  Quint backed up, pointing with a wicked smirk.  “Better sleep with one eye open, cuz I'll be stabbing that one ear tonight, ya mucker!”

“Baaah!”  A pale stallion with matted hair stomped towards them.  “Scurry off, all of ya!  This is Skagra's platform!  Better not find you staining any of it!”

The colts chanted and galloped off, laughing amongst themselves.

“Hrmmmf... Goddess-forsaken sea foam...”  Nixkit cracked his neck joints and hobbled around.  “Should send them all to the dredge furnaces.  I swear.”  He squinted down at Swab.  “You there.  Turdlette.  What's so damn important?”

“Erm... a note...”  Swab shook off his trembles and raised the sheet in question.  “About the Dredge Harvest.  I-I think it's this morning's progress report, sir.”

“And since when were you so damned smart?”  Nixkit nevertheless stared at the sheet.  He blinked, and then a heavy sigh escaped his mucusy nostrils.  “Nnnnngh... dammit... dammit...”  He crumbled the sheet while glaring into the smoggy sky. “Third time this week...”

“A-aah!” Swab winced, gnawing on his fetlock.

“What's the matter, kid?”

“Erm...”  Swab whimpered slightly.  “The note...”

“Doesn't matter.  I got it in here.”  Nixkit pointed at the skull beneath his moth-eaten mane.  “And I'm practically Skagra's third testicle.”  He sniffed.  “Hrmmmf... I smell Digiff on ya, sea foam.  He sent this?”

“Yes, Dredger Nixkit.”

“Grrnngh... lazy bastard.  Gonna drown his fat mucking head 'til he bloats, one of these days.  I swear.”  Nixkit wiped his chin, squinting.  “Ya earned your nibbles yet, kid?”

“N-no, sir.”  Swab nevertheless squirmed.  “Though... I-I did already sweep the west struts like Digiff asked.”

“Heh... don't be honest, sea foam.  It'll starve you someday.”  Nixkit nevertheless motioned.  “Come up with me.”

“T-to the Skaghole, sir?”

“Yeah... mrmmfmff... I'll get you to mop the floor for some nibbles or something.”

“Oh... th-thank you, Dredger Nixkit—”

“And don't drag your ass!” He grunted over his shoulder, nevertheless trudging up a set of uneven metal steps towards the top platform.  Horns blared and seagulls shrieked in the distance as he muttered to himself with each lumbering trot.  “The only thing worse than a little shit is a little shit with half a brain.”

Swab said nothing.  Nevertheless, he took a deep breath, gazing out at the full lengths of Red Barge—a sight he wasn't used to, considering how seldom he trotted these heights.

Nixkit shuffled past several guards leaning against the sun-baked metal ledges of the topmost platform.

“Gonna go see the boss?” one asked.

“Yup.  Latest reports from the Harvest.”  He spat into the air with a grunt.

“That bad, huh?”

“Do you think I like turning gray?”

The guard nodded at Swab.  “What's with the urchin?”

“Gonna let him mop for some grub.  Figured it'd teach him right for when he gets to dredging age.”

“I thought that was Digiff's job.”

“Do you even hear yourself at times?”

“Heh.  Right.”  The guard shuffled off with a lazy smirk.  “I'll grab a mop and bucket.”

Nixkit shuffled up to a door where two guards stood side by side.  The pale stallion paused, then pointed across the balcony towards Swab.  “Stay right there, sea foam.  When the pony brings you the mop... you mop.”

“S-sure thing, sir.”  Swab bore a tiny smile.  “And thank you.”

“Mmmmff... gag me.”  Nixkit cleared his throat before pounding a hoof on the door.  “Yo, Skag!  Skagra?  Digiff's numbers are in!  You want me to tear the door off its hinges?  Or tell you the bad news first so you can do it yourself?”

A muffled voice spoke from within.  “Just bring it in here, Nix.  You wear sarcasm like an elephant wears a negligee.”

Swab blinked, for he was surprised at how well he could hear that.  His eyes glanced up, and he realized that an open porthole loomed just above his right ear.  The little colt said nothing... but merely leaned back and stood in place.  Just as he was told.

With a metallic creak, Nixkit shuffled in through the door.  He closed the thing behind him, but Swab's right ear immaculately picked up the clopping of hooves and shuffling of weight from within.

“Here ya go," spoke Nixkit with a weathered sigh.  "If you wanna beat somepony up about it, I'm sure Digiff is off doing pipework along the southern struts.”

“Lemme guess.  There's less ore on this shelf than we anticipated?” replied the deep voice.

“Mmmmrnnfgh... correctimundo.”

“Nix... how many times do I have to tell you?  Don't be in a bad mood for me.”

“It's just that I know how much the latest Dredge Harvest means to you boss and—”

“Is this luxury suite we're in called the 'Nix Hole?'”

Nixkit's voice hesitated.  “Uhhhhhh... no?”

“It isn't, is it?”  Skagra's voice grumbled:  “Then allow me to be the stallion who shits in it.  Got that?”

“Erhm... sure thing, boss.  You're not gonna... flip your lid or—?”

“Nix...”  Shuffling hooves.  “...one week, Digiff will be doing crap to disappoint me.  And you know what?  That week will probably have a Tuesday in it.  You got anything new to tell me about Red Barge?”

“Erhhhgh... not exactly, Skagra.”

“Good.  Because I have something new to tell you.  And it's gonna make the latest Digiffery feel like a drop of rain.”

“What's that, boss?”

“Hey!”  The guard came back along the balcony, grunting.  “Sea foam!”

“G-gah!”  Swab jolted, standing straight up and shivering.  “I-I wasn't eavesdropping!  Please don't tell Digiff!”

“Pfft.  You're afraid of Digiff?”  The guard dropped a bucket and a raggedy mop.  “There ya go.  Have fun, ya little wussfart.”

“Th-thank you...”  Swab dipped the mop into the bucket, but blinked at the clear water.  “Uhm...”

“What's the matter?” the guard huffed, examining his crossbow.

“It's... it's j-just that...” Swab gulped, the pointed at the container.  “No soap?”

“Piss in it.”

Swab clenched his jaw.  His one good ear twitched as he nevertheless started spreading the moisture around and scrubbing the balcony.  Meanwhile, he craned his neck, picking up more of the conversation wafting through the porthole.

Skagra's voice murmured from within:  “... ... ...remember that I said whatshisname—the fat cat from our new 'Prefecture Office'—would be likely be waltzing in on us, demanding 'repayment' for his loan of dredge blades or some bullshit?”

“I... I think so.”  Nixkit's voice paused.  “Wait... the Magistrate is coming here?”

“Pffft.  Hell no.  That flower petal fruit snack wouldn't be caught bloated getting his pretty nose within a hundred klicks of Red Barge.  But he's coming out of the woodwork to demand business from us.”

“Like what?  Dredge Coal?  Don't we funnel enough into Rohbredden through his channels?”

“No.  I think this is something more akin to 'patronage' or some other hoity toity Continentalist bullshit.  But make no mistake.  The guy's got connections.  And now that the Northern and Southern Hooves have bit it, word out on the waves is that he's wanting to score big.”

“Pffft.  How so?  The Syndicate's bloated, Skag.”

“Maybe so.  But it takes a wise pony to know what that means.  There's a whirlpool in this ocean... rearing to suck in all the salt.  He figures he's got enough grab in our Dredge Coal, so why not make the next step?”

“And just what is that next step, boss?”

“Well, I just found out yesterday evening that a certain nasty mister somepony is making a delivery to the fat cat's front doorstep.”

“What nasty mister somepony?  You mean Jerry?”

“Nooo!  The other one.”

“Oh.  Monket?”

“Right.  Dirty, slavin' bastard's been pulled away from Mudtop... and he's commandeering a Robhredden dreadnought to make it look legit.”

“No way.  What's he delivering?”

“A matter of who as opposed to what.  Whatever the case, Monket's ship was last seen speeding like a dayum leviathan to Rohbredden Proper.  He's even laying into port at Frostknife.”

Swab paused in mopping, blinking up at the porthole.  His lips pursed.

“Frostknife?” Nixkit's voice breathed.  “Then... then he's basically on the hoofsteps to the Grand Council!”

“Which gives us time,” Skagra said.  “Whatever our so-called 'friend' is up to with Monket, he's going to have to disentangle himself from the usual bureaucracy before he can even hope to dig his stinking teeth into the fresh waters.  I'm sure you heard about the nasty business in the Quade.”

“Guh... please.  Who hasn't?”

“I'll bet you my last surviving nosehair that any issue with a crazed freak attacking some of Verlaxion's 'blessed children' is gonna get shot up to the top of the Council Chamber over any and all kerfuffle with what happened in Shoggoth weeks back.  We have time to prepare for this guy's move.  And when he sends Monket here—and I know he will—I want us ready to bury the mucker before he can even smell his own bloat.”

“But... what if they send teeth?”

“Pfft.  What kind of teeth?”

“I mean... he's part of the Council!  What if Monket shows up with... like... the Right Talon of Verlaxion?”

“Oh please...”  The sound of a creaking chair.  “Verlaxion doesn't love sea foam.  And if you can't be arsed to love, then you can't be arsed to kill.”  The creaking stop.  “Mark my words, Nixkit.  Be ready to bag and tag... cuz with the Dredge Harvest this low, I'm ready to make big on this idiot's next move.”
> A Kingdom Christened In Frost
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Somewhere far away...

To the distant east...

Within the glacier-carved navel of an ancient continent...

A jagged cleft of adjoining cliff-faces knifed its way deep into a tall, lofty mountain.  The stone walls here were old, petrified with sheets of ice.  They loomed tall over stone walkways that led up steep inclines, worming deeper into the granite bosom of the mountain.  The silken-robed equines and griffons who walked these steps found themselves threading through enormous gates built out of cedar and oak.  The weather-worn carvings of six tribes had been etched into the surfaces of the doors, and as the path opened up into a wide stone courtyard—a diagonal rectangle carved out of pure rock—the murmuring delegates found themselves flanked by immaculately planted trees—their trunks bent and twisted through the poetry of age.  Lotus blossoms fell over the courtyard, merging with errant flakes of snow being blown in from the high mountain winds.  Both the frost and petals settled on the shoulders of stallions, griffons, and other creatures gathered tightly on the round marble steps facing a polished ivory podium.  Behind this podium, an even steeper set of stairs led up, up, up towards the highest mountain summit.  This was flanked by enormous stone carvings of unicorns, pegasi, wyverns, griffons, sea ponies, and earth ponies—guardian effigies of the past, forever vigilant for the proceedings of the present.

This was the Council of Verlaxion, the very beating heart of Rohbredden, and every one in attendance was anxious beyond compare.

“Order!”  A unicorn mare stood at the ivory podium, banging a shard of ice against a crystalline bowl.  Thud!  Thud!  “Can I please have order in the Goddess' Court?!”  She adjusted her thick velvet robes and glared across the equine and avian souls bickering with one another.  “Just because there has been turmoil in the west does not mean that we should allow it fuel here while the Council is in session!”

“Grand Magistrate Hymnos,” a griffon stood tall in her stone seat along the ampitheatrical steps.  Her hawk eyes narrowed.  “With all due respect.  The turmoil has spread to Rohbredden Proper through its own volition.”  She swung a talon in the air.  “Already, the Orchid Prefecture has suffered a sudden drop in precious rice imports from the northwest trade routes!”  Others grumbled as she squawked:  “Between the Blight dropping and rumors of attacks on Verlaxion's most holy monasteries, there's been a sizable decrease in the efficiency of trade routes!”

“And we will address that, dear Magistrate,” Hymnos said, sighing from where she stood at the front podium.  “All in good time.  For now, the imminent threat to Rohbredden security is the forefront of our conversation.”

“I agree with the Magistrate of Orchid Prefecture!” exclaimed a unicorn from several seats away.  His breath produced vapors in the high mountain air of the Council Arena.  “Without delivery of rice from the western terraces, our ore refineries in Orange Prefecture will have no choice but to cut the number of employed workhooves in half!  Something must be done to ensure that the economy does not falter from this substantial blow!”

“Our economy has endured worse than this, magistrate,” Hymnos said.  “But it will not profit anyone if there are no ponies or griffons living a secure life who are capable of sustaining it.  Which is why this threat must be annulled at all costs.”  A flash of spectral light forced the Grand Magistrate to squint, and she glanced up to her left.

Within a block of ice looming over the Court, several bulbous spheres loomed, full of warm, bubbling water.  Half-a-dozen sea ponies floated inside these frozen tanks.  The containers were attached via translucent swimming tubes that led deep into the mountain springs below the surface of the Council.  Presently, a stately sea pony male was flickering several color patterns in sequence.

A griffon interpreter hovered alongside the ice block, and once the message was conveyed, he flew closer to the front podium, speaking boldly:  “The esteemed Magistrate Shoalfins of Coral Prefecture would like to present this concern.”  The griffon gestured.  “If rumors of violent attacks on Rohbredden continue to run rampant, then trade is even more likely to spread in the Colonialists' favor.  Already, with the fall of the Blight, Kihutaja has been established as the brand new hub of commerce and exploration.  With a new ocean just ripe for charting to the west, Rohbredden stands to be left in the dark, while the Colonialists enjoy an unsavory renaissance of seamastery.”

Several Council members murmured and applauded in agreement.

Hymnos exhaled long and hard.  “As Grand Magistrate, it is my job to allow the Council to decide the most important matter to pursue.  But it is also within my position to represent the interests of our Gracious Goddess herself.”  She turned and pointed at the steep frosted steps leading up past the six statues behind her.  “In twenty long years, she has not come down to directly speak with us.  That is nothing less than a sign of her utmost confidence in this Council and its ability to remain focused on the issues at hoof.  I shudder to think of what our fears and anxieties might do, now that another anniversary of Rohbredden's founding lurks around the corner.  This a month that calls for the glorification of our merciful Goddess.  She deserves her rest and contentment during the Month of Thawing, and this is the sort of audience we bring to her doorstep?”

While the crowd murmured in mixed approval, an old stallion stood up, adjusting his thick brown coat.  “Grand Magistrate Hymnos.  If I may.”

Hymnos sighed.  “Finally... a speaker with respect.”  She placed down the ice shard along the edge of her podium.  “The Council recognizes Magistrate Timplan of Sunset Prefecture.”

The stallion paced along the stone floor before his seat, his hooves shuffling over fallen blossoms and melting puddles of frost.  “The Month of Thawing is a time of worship and reverie, for certain.  That much cannot be denied.”  Magistrate Timplan held a hoof up.  “However, I do believe it falls within the Great Goddess' interests that we not neglect the welfare of her own subjects.”  Several other Council Members murmured in agreement.  “Now... we are gathered here today—and in such wholesome numbers—because we have all heard of the terrible, tragic news that happened in the Quade.”

The courtyard grew solemn, quiet.

Timplan continued:  “And while the suffering of those penitent Foals of Verlaxion is quite tragic indeed, let us not forget that the path they chose towards communing with our Goddess is a very ancient one... a very arcane one...”  His eyes narrowed.  “And—to some extent—a deviant one.”

Half of the delegates responded with angry commotion.

Hymnos clenched her jaw and banged the ice shard, summoning silence.

“If I may continue...” Timplan gestured.  “The Quade has been and shall continue to be a refuge for extremists.  While the monks' reverance for Verlaxion is laudable, they do very little to contribute to the Six Tribes.  They live quiet, ascetic lives—acting as if there is no Continent where our very Queen has chosen to dwell.  Yes, dear brothers and sisters.  Queen Verlaxion has chosen Rohbredden.  She has always chosen Rohbredden!  Not Luminar!”  He swung a hoof gently in the air.  “And, for that reason, I suggest we steer the conversation away from an investigation into the Quade, and instead focus on something far more pressing.”

“Which is...?”  Another delegate squinted.

Timplan said, “The power shift in Shoggoth.”  More murmurs arose as he spoke:  “As we speak, over fifty-five different trade organizations have spontaneously collapsed, leaving thousands of ponies and griffons unemployed.  The same has happened to the north, in the port city of Rust, upon the cusp of Continentalist Waters.  It's easy to forget what's happened just a few weeks ago, thanks to this sensational tragedy in the Quade.  But need I remind my brothers and sisters that—with the Blight fallen—Rohbredden depends on intermediary trade routes now more than ever, especially if we wish to stave off the nautical dominance of the Colonies.  With these organizations having fallen in Shoggoth and Rust, our only remaining ally in commerce is Princess Camellia of the esteemed Siren Tribe.”  He took time to bow in the direction of the lofty water balconies.  “No doubt, she will be a most valued confidant.  But the problem remains...”  He turned to face the group at large.  “How does Rohbredden hope to hold sway over an area of the ocean that previously eluded us with its nebulous policies and questionable ethics?  Right now, the seas are at risk of a financial and moral vacuum, and it is our duty—as foals entrusted with the wisdom of Verlaxion—to seize control and make the seas Rohbredden's again.”

The frosty court echoed with approving applause.

Another delegate stood up—a mare in a flowy, wintry coat.  “Well spoken, Magistrate Timplan.  But you are forgetting some key factors.”

“By all means, dear.”  The elder stallion sat down.

The mare turned towards the podium.  “With your permission, Grand Magistrate.”

Hymnos nodded.  “The Council recognizes Magistrate Vilcheez of Lotus Prefecture.”

“Dear Grand Magistrate... and beloved Council...”  Vilcheez adjusted the sleeves of her oppulent cloak and turned to face the seats looming above and behind her.  “The trade routes established in Rust and Shoggoth have always been ambiguous to Rohbredden nationalist control.  But there is a reason for this.  We have rested on our laurels for far too long, dear brothers and sisters.  Foals of Verlaxion we may be, but foolish children are still foolish children.”  The wrinkles in her muzzle straightened as she squinted at the other delegates.  “Our distant cousins in the Quade are suffering now... not because of the actions of some... 'Rainbow Rogue,' as the word of waves spread.  But because we have been neglectful of them.  Deviant and obtuse—though they may be—they nevertheless harbor a deep love for our Goddess... an adoration that cannot be denied.”  She held a hoof over her chest.  “The same can also be said for Princess Camellia... and even the impoverished denizens of Rust.  These are ponies—above and below the waters—that need our guidance.  We've neglected them for far too long, and that's why heinous things like this have happened.  Rampant unemployment... violence and descecration...”  Vilcheez shook her head.  “We cannot afford to tolerate such criminal atrocities any longer.”

“Then what would you suggest, magistrate?” squawked a griffon from five steps above.  “Those waters exist far outside our most extreme prefectures!”

“I suggest we reenact the Tidal Accords,” Vilcheez said, immediately summoning several disagreeable breaths from the crowd.  “It's been three long centuries, but Rohbredden cannot be isolationist any longer.  We have the power and the resources to control the seas like we once did.  Our navy is strong... versatile... and it can tame the insufferable vacuum that seeks to consume our waters in a whirlpool!”

“You expect us to police the oceans again?!”  A pegasus two steps down gawked at her.  “In an age when privateers and piracy is on the decline?”

“With the Blight fallen, it's the only recourse we can take to maintain control.”

“It would be seen as an incursion upon Colonialist interests!” another stallion barked.  “That would incite war and completely shatter trade altogether!”

“Then what should we be expected to do?” grumbled a griffon sitting close to Hymnos' podium.  “Just allow Kihutaja to become the new power on the high seas?  This close to the Edge of all Things, Rohbredden is just asking to fade away in the mists!  Especially if they find salvageable materials west beyond the Blight!”

“But what Vilcheez suggests is extreme!  We have the Right Talon of Verlaxion for that!”

“The Right Talon of Verlaxion is spread too thin!  Those winged rooks can't be expected to become our new oceanic task force!”

“I don't see how any of this is solving the problem in the Quade!  We have a dangerous new threat on our hooves!  This 'Rainbow Rogue' could represent a rebirth of piracy and terrorism!”

“And just when were you concerned with either of those?  Up until now, your rice trade has allowed your Prefecture to prosper, unhindered!”

“Do not accuse me of selfish politics!  I'm as concerned for the welfare of the Continent as you are!”

“Then where were you when our refineries were undersupplied?!”

By now, the entire Council had broken into a commotion of grumbling voices and angry arguments.

Hymnos banged the ice shard harder and harder.  “Order!  Order!  I will have Order in Her Majesty's Court!”  The Grand Magistrate gnashed her teeth.  “For the love of the Goddess—will you please lower your tempers!”

“But they have every reason to be angry, Grand Magistrate.”

Hymnos glanced over.

A stallion dressed in green silk trotted up, smiling beneath a mane of peppery black hair.  Fine jades were bejeweled to his cloak, giving his wooly fineries a great deal more glitter and shine than the rest of the delegates.  “As I am angry... as you are angry.”  He grinned casually, speaking with a honey'd voice.  Slowly, the Council quieted down, drawn to the ease and nonchalance with which he boldly approached the central podium.  “The whole ocean is angry... and anger leads to frustration... and frustration is hardly... hardly conducive to order.  The only way you can hope to tame it is through gold.  At least... that's what's possible to mortals like you and me... but... uhhhh...  eheheheh...”  He dusted flakes of frost off his collar and examined his hoof.  “Since our great Goddess hasn't seen it fit to show her face... or even a phantom of her face here in her own Council for over two decades, then... well... I suppose that leaves it to us to come up with a viable solution.  A mortal solution.”

Magistrate Timplan craned his neck from where he sat.  “Are you suggesting that we... buy out the central trade routes entirely?”

“Oh, it's doable, believe me!”  The stallion in green finery twirled about to face the audience.  “Rust only speaks two languages:  that of coral and coin.  And while some of these... ahem... esteemed, golden-hearted delegates may secretly enjoy the finer products of the sea, I suspect that coin is the only thing that this Council will be willing to familiarize itself with.”

The delegates grumbled and exhaled with exasperated breaths.

Grand Magistrate Hymnos was practically rolling her eyes.  “Ahem... the Council does not recognize Mr. Brye Chandler of the Shoreline Territories.”

Chandler spun about, green eyes blinking up at the podium.  “That's Magistrate Brye Chandler of Sand Prefecture, thank you very much.”

“Such is not official, my dear sir.”

“It was declared just two sessions ago.”

Hymnos' muzzle scrunched.  “In a hung vote, postponing the final decision for another three sessions.”

“Which—of course—you're inevitably delaying even more because the Month of Thawing is coming up on the heels of Unification Day!”  Chandler chuckled, leaning casually against the podium.  “Isn't it funny, Grand Magistrate, how the Council just decides when to throw things off and for how long?  It's actually quite childish.”  He snorted, lips curved.  “'Foals of Verlaxion' indeed.”

Hymnos turned to gaze dully at the crowd.  “The... esteemed Mr. Chandler...” She droned in a passive voice.  “...is only here due in large part to his prevalent involvement in the financial trade agreements of the Shoreline Territories.”

“And yet—”  Chandler paced about.  “—that large part that I play makes me wealthier, richer, and more important than five of any random Magistrates combined!  Not that they can be blamed.  The Council decided to wait until they were all living fossiles before electing them to the Court.  Now, tell me...”  He faced the crowd.  “...where would your Prefectures be if it weren't for my steamships delivering rice and goods to your river townships?  Hmmm?”  He swung a hoof in the air.  “How would your frosted mountain hovels survive even a day without the warmth-giving... life-preserving Dredge Coal that my partners in the Shoreline harvest for this entire continent on a daily basis?”

Despite their angry expressions, the delegates suddenly sat on their hooves.  They had no answer to give.

“Hmmm... funny how a droplet of brazen truth has more power to silence a room full of bureaucrats than the Grand Magistrate's gavel!”

Hymnos slapped the ice shard.  “That's quite enough, Mr. Chandler.”

“Ah!”  He chuckled, waving a hoof in the air.  “There it is!  I swear, you can set your watch to that!  Fine, Grand Magistrate.  Let me get to the point so you can continue sniffing each other's vapors.”  He pivoted towards the crowd, frowning.  “My position as Executive of the Shoreline Trade Consortium...”  His eyes swung like daggers.  “...and soon-to-be Magistrate of Sand Prefecture... ahem...”  He paced about, gesturing.  “...it allows me a certain... mmmm... intense perspective on the so called 'Tides of Rohbredden.'  These trade posts you speak of... 'Rust, Eccho, Kihutaja.'  They all are mere names to you.  But I've been there personally.  I've seen the sun-bleached platforms myself.  I've smelled the filth of equinity... the dead detritus of scaled fish and starved seagulls.  I'm telling you, it's all very real, sprinkled with a suffocating spirit of quiet desperation.  And now there's a very real hole with very real vagabonds wanting to take very real advantage.  If we don't act quick and stifle the new threats that are likely to rear their heads—and rest assured they will rear their heads—then we risk being robbed of our entire oceans by a brand new menace.  I can't afford to lose such trade-routes.  And if the Shoreline Trade Consortium can't afford to lose them...”  He swiveled and pointed at the bulk of delegates.  “...YOU can't afford to lose them, and you know it.”

“And just what is this 'brand new menace' that you speak of, Mister Chandler?” Magistrate Vilcheez asked.

“Well, 'new' in a sense,” Chandler said.  “For those paying attention, they'll realize that this... Rainbow Rogue is responsible for a lot more than just dismantling a religious commune.  Yes, she ruined many lives in the Quade...”  Chandler scuffled to a stop.  “...but that wasn't where this curious, wandering sociopath started.  No, not by a long shot.”

“What are you trying to say, Chandler?”

“This creature... this demonic figure...”  Brye Chandler swung a hoof.  “Oh, she's very... very real.  Most certainly, her 'demonic abilities' are doubtful at best.  But whatever her capabilities are, she's responsible for more than just the Quade.  You would know this if you had as many connections as I do, but this 'Rainbow Rogue' is none other than the very force at hoof in both Shoggoth and Rust.”  The crowd broke into a nervous commotion.  Chandler only smiled.  “That's right.  She's struck twice before.  She simply hasn't been able to cover her tracks like she has in the Quade.”

“Chandler...”  Hymnos leaned forward in her podium, speaking over the murmurs of the Council.  “Are you implying that the 'Rainbow Rogue' had a part to play in creating the recent power vacuum within the localized trade consortiums?”

“I'm saying that she physically broke into wealthy, guarded vaults located in both the platform city and the Muddredger maretropolis.  Once there, she robbed, sabotaged, and dismantled her way to glory... all at the behest of thousands of ponies who are now penniless, homeless, and hopeless.”  Chandler swung a hoof.  “And after Rust and Shoggoth, she made her way to the Quade, where she took from the Luminards what was most valuble to them!  Now tell me, dear Council.  What transpires in a week and a half?”

Hymnos blinked.  “Unification Day... of c-course.”

“But of course!”  Chandler paced about.  “Followed by the Holy Month of Thawing!  Where we celebrate the blessed anniversary of the Unification of our Six Tribes!  And tell me...”  He scuffled to a stop, squinting up at the group.  “...when would be the most opportune time to strike at the heart of Rohbredden?  Why... during festivities, of course!  When the Continent's guard is down!  And if this Rainbow Rogue—for whatever vile purpose or greed—manages to bring to Rohbredden the same destructive capabilities that have wielded in the seven seas, then how will we manage to maintain our structural integrity?  Our proud image of a strong and capable democracy under the Goddess' glorious rule?”

“Queen Verlaxion would never allow such a horrible monster to defile her lands—”

“Grand Magistrate, our beloved Queen Verlaxion isn't here right now!”  Chandler snapped.  “This is not about a blessing from the same Goddess who thawed these continental shelves millennia ago!  We are her children and we have been entrusted with the authority to protect ourselves and our land!  And I'm telling you...”  He pointed down the steep stone steps leading up from the lower mountain's edge.  “...this Rainbow Rogue is a new, alarming threat!  If we don't find a way to hunt down and pacify this beast, then what's happened in the seven seas will happen here, but far worse.  Before we even hope to assist the victims of the Quade or secure the trade routes between here and Shoggoth, we must first contend with this threat!  For—I assure you—it is coming upon our very doorstep!”

For once, the delegates were all murmuring in one accord.

Timplan and Vilcheez exchanged thoughtful glances.

Hymnos leaned back, rubbing her muzzle as she exhaled.  “Well, if it is in the collective interests of the Council, we can discuss the matter more intently.  But there are still many missing elements that... lead me to question the palpability of the threat.”

“Oh believe me, it's very real, Grand Magistrate,” Chandler said.  “Many of my very own tradeponies have seen the blood of this Rainbow Rogue's swath of destruction first-hoof.  I've seen the horror in the eyes of those who have spoken to the Luminards.  It's very similar to the hollowed expressions carried on the faces of poor, malnourished citizens slumming east from Rust and Shoggoth.  I swear—by all that was once holy in this Continent—the Rainbow Rogue needs to be stopped.  And, if necessary, I'll be the one to reel her in for you.”

“You speak of her as if she is a fish, Mr. Chandler.”

A brand new commotion rose.

Chandler blinked.  He and every other delegate turned to look for the source of that utterance.

Flanked by griffon guards in silver armor, a stallion shuffled up, wearing a burgundy scarf and brown cloak.  Raising a hoof, the stallion pushed a frost-flaked set of goggles up to his brown mane.  He smiled, calmly reflecting the Court's faces with his blue eyes.  “Fish, or pony?  Demon or vagabond?  Either you're not quite keen to make up your mind... or else I'm starting to feel you've never met this 'Rainbow Rogue' whatsoever.”

“Her blatant actions are enough to speak for her,” Chandler retorted.

“Mmmm... yes.  And the funny thing about speech.”  The stallion smiled.  “They travel faster than evidence, and only when the two come together does truth blossom.”

“What is the meaning of this?” Hymnos asked.  She eyed the guards, then glanced at the goggles on the stallion's head.  “Who are you who shows up to the Council of Verlaxion with such brazen authority?”

“Grand Magistrate...”  He bowed, then stared firmly at the crowd.  “I am Professor Theanim Mane of the Ninety-Seventh Rohbredden Scientific Order.  And I am a purveyor of truth.”

Chandler blinked as the stallion calmly shuffled his way up towards the podium, taking his spot.

“But... to be a purveyor of truth... one must first be a surveyor of it.”  Theanim swiveled about to face the seated delegates.  “And in my travels as of late... I have seen many things.  Most of them startling.  Even more of them downright horrifying.  Yes, there has been a power struggle recently in the townships of Rust and Shoggoth.  But it is not—as the esteemed Mr. Chandler would like to convince you—because of a demonic rogue-like entity befitting the outrageous gossip of the high seas.  But, rather, it is due to the inevitable implosion of two absurdly large houses of a very amoral group of criminals known to the local traders as the Northern and Southern Hooves.  I speak, of course, of the Syndicate.”  His nostrils flared.  “Which is now defunct.”

The Magistrates murmured in surprise, exchanging glances.

Chandler squinted in the scientist's direction while Theanim continued:  “Many ponies don't like to think about the Syndicate.  Here, in the Continent—quite sadly—their existence was greatly denied.  Distance and lethargy afforded this, but ironically no longer.  For ponies living out among the seven seas, it was pure terror and financial desperation that necessitated their clinging to such an oceanic mafia.  However, with the disentegration of their treacherous organization, there has not—as Chandler would like you to believe—an irrecoverable employment slump.  Yes, ponies lost their jobs, but this so-called vacuum is being filled... gradually... through communal respect and patient comraderie.”  Theanim Mane smiled.  “Simply put, the ponies of the seven seas want to live peacefully with one another... and without the threat of constant arson and murder and other forms of exploitation.  This change for the good is already evident in Lower Shoggoth—thanks in large part due to Princess Camellia's direct involvement.  It will take time to reach Rust—an understandably difficult prospect, considering the platform city's close proximity to the likes of Mudtop.  But now is not the time to chase shadows by putting the blame on ghostly 'Rogues.'  If this Council truly respects the welfare of citizens—on land or abroad—then it will find the means to supply the citizens of Rust and Shoggoth with security.  Princess Camellia can't accomplish it all on her own.  And—yes, with the Blight gone—it opens the seas up to new and unprecedented forms of avarice.  This is a time for caution... not for panic.”

During his entire speech, Hymnos was in close communication with a clerk or two.  When Theanim was done, she turned towards him.  “Professor Mane... your reputation proceeds you.”

“Pleased to know,” Theanim bowed with a smile.

“But according to the records of the Ninety-Seventh Order, you have been missing for months... in fact, the better part of a year.”  Hymnos' eyes narrowed.  “Is there a reason for why you would neglect your duties for that long?”

“Dear Grand Magistrate, my biggest crime is not neglecting my duties... but neglecting to write the Order about them.  And the reason for this—quite frankly—is due to being a castaway on the Nealend Atoll for an extended period of time.”  Theanim waved a hoof.  “But that's a story for another occasion, and hardly relevant to the topic at hoof.”

“Oh, I'd say it must be extremely relevant, Professor,” Chandler said with a snide breath.  “Seeing as you saw it fit to interrupt my very poignant proposal to investigate and eliminate the new threat that's assaulting our waters... and soon our land.”  Chandler narrowed his eyes on the stallion.  “As a scientist, I'd expect you to have proof of your declarations.”

Theanim smiled back.  “Just—as a politician—I'd expect you not to.”  He turned back towards the Council before Chandler could retort.  “I've arrived here from Shoggoth just now with a bulk of such evidence, dear Council.  You'll find many photographs and documentation in my posession, sanctioned to be transported along with me by Princess Camellia herself.  The Syndicate has been stealing and pilfering from the Royal House of Sirens for decades.  Camellia, ever respectful of the tenuous balance of trade and commerce, stuck to an ancient family code that required minimal to no involvement with the matter—despite her detailed knowledge of the ongoing criminal acts of the Southern Hoof.  It was only when a key, strategic individual arrived in Lower Shoggoth that Camellia decided to play her fin, for she suddenly had an ace up her sleeve... a method by which the Royal Siren could pull the Syndicate up by the roots and expose them for their shame.”  Theanim took a deep breath.  “This method involved an agent... and that agent... goes by the name of Rainbow Dash, an outsider from these parts.”  His brow furrowed.  “A mare from beyond the Blight.”

The Council erupted in noise and bedlam.

Chandler's shouting voice echoed above it all:  “So it was the Rainbow Rogue!”  He pointed at Theanim.  “You admit—then—that you have evidence of her involvement in Shoggoth?”

“I have evidence of her pivotal performance in the dismantling of the Syndicate,” Theanim said.

“And what evidence do you have of her destruction of the Quade?”

Theanim exhaled.  His ears drooped in a melancholic slump as he gazed off towards the lofty frosted walls surrounding the carved courtyard.  “I have none.”

Chandler trotted around him.  “But... you know of it, yes?”  His eyes narrowed.  “Word of a mare... from the west... with a sky-blue coat and a spectral-colored mane... ravaging innocent monks and utterly destroying their holy Reed?  An ancient artifact belonging to Goddess Verlaxion?!”

“I have heard the rumors, yes.  I have seen photographs freshly taken of the Quade itself.”  Theanim turned to face Hymnos.  “But I am here to tell you that the 'Rainbow Rogue' of the Quade simply cannot be the same mare who liberated the townships of Rust and Shoggoth from the Syndicate.”

“Hmmmff...” Chandler smirked.  “Is that a fact?”

“It simply does not fall in line with her character.  Her motivations.  Her very purpose for exploring these lands.”

“Professor Mane,” Vilcheez spoke.  “You speak as if you knew this... 'Rainbow Dash' personally.”

“Indeed I did,” Theanim said with a nod.  “The mare was essential in freeing me and several others from a leviathan that was stalking the waters of the Nealend Atoll.  She is the very paragon of heroic virtues.”

“Sounds like a case of melodramatic biases to me,” Chandler huffed.

“Then if you don't trust my perspective, trust that of Royalty,” Theanim said.  “Princess Camellia herself has telepathically communed with the mare on more than one occasion.”

“To what end, Professor?”  Magistrate Timplan asked.

“To better ascertain her character... as well as to orchestrate what took place in Shoggoth,” Theanim explained.  “I am quite certain that—if the Siren Princess had detected something in Rainbow Dash's mind that was capable of the heinous actions committed in the Quade—then she would have intervened and forced the mare to stay.”

“Hrmmmfff...”  Chandler leaned against Hymnos' podium.  “That proves nothing, Professor.  For all we know, the Siren Princess could have put this 'agent' you speak of in a fugue state.  Sea witches are powerful with mental magics.”  Chandler winced, then saluted towards the icy spheres up above.  “No offense intended...”

The seaponies within flickered multiple colors.

“I'm starting to think that you have an invested interest in disproving—if not flat out denying—the crimes committed by this... 'Rainbow Dash Rogue,'” Chandler said, pacing around Theanim again.  “In fact, I'm wondering if your evidence supports any of your claims about Rust or Shoggoth altogether!”

“You can review them yourself,” Theanim said.  “They'll show that the Syndicate was nothing but conniving and untrustworthy from the start... and that Rainbow Dash's actions in removing them—although brazen—was committed with utmost respect for the innocent citizens of both townships.”  The stallion took a deep breath.  “Furthermore, you have an eyewitness account of her noble heroics.”

“What?”  Chandler smirked.  “Did you bring Camellia with you?”

“No, dear sir, I brought myself.”

“I... I'm afraid I don't follow you.”

Theanim boldly spoke:  “I was complicit with Rainbow Dash in both Rust and Shoggoth.  There—with full knowledge of the ramifications—I assisted her in robbing the vault from the Northern Hoof... and then infiltrating the security of the Southern Hoof.”

The crowd murmured in shock and awe.

Chandler stepped back, blinking.

“Professor Mane...”  Hymnos leaned over the podium.  “Do you have any idea what this means?”

“Indeed I do,” Theanim said calmly.  “I was a direct accomplish in breaking several nautical laws, including the direct defiance of international trade accords.  And...”  He stood tall.  “I would gladly do it again, even at a risk to my position in the Order, if I fully knew—as I knew then, and know now—that it means the protection and prosprity of countless citizens' lives.”  He turned towards Chandler with a glaring expression.  “The Rainbow Dash that I know is a destroyer of despots... not of monasteries.  And until I witness otherwise... until all of us witness otherwise...”  He turned towards the Council again.  “...I suggest we throw out this inevitable propositioin for a bloodthirsty paper chase and focus on healing the holes left in our oceans... instead of savagely and blindly avenging them.  The only threats to Rohbredden are paranoia and ignorance.  Not some dastardly 'Rainbow Rogue.'”

“An impassioned plea, for certain...”  Chandler strolled before the Council.  “But can any of the Prefectures of Rohbredden afford to sit by and wait while whoever—or whatever—wrecked the Luminards arrives here?  And in full swing?”

“A concern without direction will only carve its way inward,” Theanim growled.

“Which is precisely why I'm here before the Council!”  Chandler shouted, shaking his hoof.  “To instill some focus!  Some order!  My forces that ensure the stability of the Shoreline Trade Consortium have enough trouble as it is just protecting the Dredge Coal!  The very bloodline of Rohbredden and its frozen heights!  If I could send powers to investigate the Quade and the seas surrounding, I would.  But—unfortunately—that is outside of even my capabilities!  So I ask the Council—all Prefectures and souls thereof, brothers and sisters in the communion of Verlaxion—can we not send someone out to pursue this matter?  Someone who is qualified...”  He turned to glare over his shoulder at Theanim.  “...and impartial to the suspect at hoof?”

Theanim stared back, his eyes calm and cool.

Meanwhile, the seated delegates spoke and murmured amongst one another.  Finally, a four-word phrase started echoing over everyone's heads, spoken even by the griffons and the interpreters for the sea ponies.

Hymnos heard it, and she nodded.  “Alright...”  She stood up tall.  “...dear fellow Magistrates... all in favor for requesting that the Right Talon of Verlaxion go and investigate this Rainbow Rogue of the Quade... a show of hooves, fins, and claws... now.”

More than two-thirds of the Council raised their limbs.

Hymnos blinked at the collective gesture.  “All those opposed?”

Almost all of the hooves and talons dropped.

Theanim hung his head, sighing.

Chandler folded his forelimbs, gazing intently at the proceedings.

“It is settled, then.”  Hymnos nodded.  “We shall move to request an investigation on behalf of the Right Talon of Verlaxion.”  She glanced aside.  “Clerk, the records, please.  We must determine where the forces are currently located...”

Vilcheez stood up.  “Grand Magistrate.”

“Magistrate Vilcheez.”

“I happen to know first-hoof that every rook of the Right Talon of Verlaxion are currently in her employ.”

Hymnos blinked.  “Is that a fact?  And where might she and her fellow wings be?”

Vilcheez gulped.  “Deep within the frosted hills of our neighbor... Pine Prefecture.  They are... dealing with a somewhat delicate matter at the moment...”
> The Right Talon of Verlaxion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Snow littered every inch of the humble mountain village and the pine forest surrounding it.

Nevertheless, the bitter cold didn't stop the unicorn mercenary from sweating viciously.  His lungs heaved and his breaths wheezed out in fitful spurts while he galloped—panicked—from the southwest edge of the clearing towards the very center of the village.  All around, snow descended upon the township, settling on the stone-piled fenches, rich oak lampposts, and rows upon rows of half-sunken turf houses.  The stallion galloped over the grassy roof of one such turf house—but his fetlock tripped on a root and his body went tumbling down the other end with frustrated little grunts.

The stallion tumbled to an eventual stop, surrounded by abandoned farm equipment and snow drenched burrows.  Not wasting a second, he lurched back on all fours and continued his hobbling sprint northeast.  Across a graveyard full of ancient craggy stones, a wooden stave sanctuary lingered.  Several vertical sills lined the walls between thick corner posts, and multiple slitted ceilings rose up and up, with the summits ending in many sharp steeples.  Ancient wooden effigies of windigos protruded from the many roofs, their spread wings scraping the frost-laden sky.

At the front doors to this place of worship, several unicorns in mercenary gear lingered in a tight circle, aiming their floating spears and machetes at a terrorized group of innocent civilians.  One by one, they forced the families and foals inside, threatening them at blade-point.  Upon hearing the heavy hoofsteps of the running stallion, they glanced southwest.

The pony stumbled towards them, coughing, struggling for breath.  He slumped up against an ancient gravestone and wheezed... wheezed.  “We... have... a problem...” he eventually sputtered.

“The Hell's the matter with you?” grumbled another stallion as he shoved the last of the whimpering villagers inside.  “You're supposed to be at the city gates, watching for straggling workers.”

“Where are the rest of the bunch?” asked another mercenary, shading his eyes with his blade.  “I thought the boss had four of you out there keeping watch!”

“Dammit—I'm trying to tell you... the other three are gone!” the panicked pony wheezed.

“Gone?!”  One stallion stammered.

The other took a bold step forward, frowning.  “Our boss has worked for over a year to get this operation to work!  We have every citizen under lock and key.  Now is the Magistrate sending us gold or isn't she?!”

“They didn't send a single bit!” the breathless pony whimpered.  “They... they sent the Right Talon!”

“Wait...”

“You mean...”  The other two thugs gaped, blinking.  “...the Right Talon of Verlaxion?”

“It's them!  Who else could it be?!  They swept up the other guys like they were rice kernels!”  Gulping, the runner limped towards them.  “We have to give up!  Tell the boss we're in it too deep!  Any moment and—”

The air lit up with squawks and whistling wingfeathers.

Shadows streaked over the snowy lawn around the sanctuary.

“Oh no...”  The stallion gasped.  His pupils shrank and his sweat in even thicker rivulets.  “Th-they're here!  Oh Verlaxion... oh blessed Verlaxion forgive us—!”

“Forgive yourself!”  The two stallions rushed back to the open doors of the sanctuary.  “Everyone down!  It's the Right Talon!  Brace yourselves!”

“Wait... WAIT!”  The frazzled unicorn galloped towards them.  “Let me in!”

“You've done enough as it is!”  And the other thugs slammed the door shut—

FLASH!  He held the frame open with all the magic he could muster.  Lurching forward, he fought and struggled to squeeze his way in through the door.  “Please!  You can't let them take me!  Not after all we've been through!”

“Rnnnghh... let... go... of the d-door!”

“You don't understand!”  He sobbed, struggling to slip his way into the sanctuary.  More shadows streaked over him.  Ear-piercing shrieks lit the air in multiple tones.  “The things I've done!  Mudtop!  Rust!  They won't throw a pony like me into the Frozen Shelves!  They'll eviscerate me and feed me my own kidneys!”

“Dammit!  For the last time—”

“I'm not letting go!”  The stallion inched his way forward.  “Just let me in and I swear I'll—”

Fwoooosh!  There was a flurry of feathers and glinting silver.  A pair of talons gripped his flank, lifting his lower body violently off the ground.

“Aaaaah!”  He shrieked, his muzzle open wide.  “No!  No!  Don't let them take me!  I'm sorry!  Oh Verlaxion I'm—!”  With a vicious yank, his body was jerked upwards.  His horn slammed against the lip of one of the sanctuary's many rooftops, and he spat blood while his figure disappeared out of view in a blur.

Gasping, the thugs inside the sanctuary jerked back.  They collectively slammed the doors shut, then barricaded it with thick oak beams.

Inside, dozens of frightened, weeping citizens sat in the center of the floor, surrounded by vertical posts and many levels of horizontal beams engraved with hundreds of age-old snowflake and wendigo motifs.  A group of fifteen thugs marched around, carrying crossbows, blades, and bludgeons.  Upon hearing the commotion at the door, several thugs approached the two stallions who were barricading it.

“What in Goddess' name is going on out there?”

“It... it's Ray.”  One thug gulped.  “They... they got him.”

“And the others,” added the other stallion.

“Who did?”

“The Right Talon of Verlaxion!”

“The Right Talon of Verlaxion?!  Here?!  In Pine Prefecture?!”

“Look, I'm just as shocked as you are!”

“How in Verlaxion's sleet did we reel in them?!”

“Jee...”  One thug gazed at the huddled, weeping villagers.  “I wonder.”

A particularly unhappy unicorn with flowing red mane hair shuffled up, wielding a double-barbed crossbow.  “What's all the buzz about?!  Why haven't you stuffed the townsfolk downstairs yet?!”

“Boss...”  One stallion gulped.  “Cogz,” he murmured.  “It's... it's the Right Talon of Verlaxion.  They're in the skies above us as we speak.  They just took Ray and all of the other dudes standing guard.”

Cogz's nostrils flared.  “Yeah?!  So?”

“Boss... it's the Right Talon—”

“I don't care if they're Verlaxion's Right Testicle!”  Cogz pointed with his crossbow, making his lackeys flinch.  “This entire sanctuary is sitting on ten thousand pounds of unignited Dredge Coal!  There's more fuel here than in all of the surrounding four Prefectures combined.  If the Magistrate doesn't see it fit to negotiate, then I don't see it fit to not send each of her citizens and their organs sky high!”

“Boss!” one stallion hissed.  “If you light that shit up, we go too!”

“If the Right Talon is really here on behalf of the Council, they they ain't about to let that happen.”  Cogz marched past the citizens, shoving several of the weeping families over and grazing their necks with his crossbolt.  “There's too much blood at stake for the Magistrate's reputation to carry on.  And Pine Prefecture needs the Dredge Coal to make it through the Month of Thawing.”

“I-I don't think they're gonna care about what's at stake, sir...”

“Then that's their problem,” Cogz said.

Just then, the slatted rooftops echoed with the sound of scraping talons.  The mercenaries jerked while the citizens gasped.

Staring straight up, Cogz snarled;  “Do you hear me?!”  He cocked an arrow down the sight of his crossbow.  “Right Talon of Verlaxion?!  I am the left hoof of don't-give-a-shit!”  He aimed his weapon straight up at one of the many ceilings beyond the carved wooden beams.  “I have an entire village of dribbling innocents in here... and I'll blow them and this sanctuary sky high if you don't buzz off!  We want the Magistrate's money and we want it now!”  He fired his crossbolt.

Thwiffft!





Outside, the barb pierced one of the slatted rooftops, hooking in place.

Chunkt!

Its sharp tip came to a stop just centimeters from an inquisitive griffon's beak.

“... ... ...”  He blinked calmly at the arrowhead, his magenta hawkeyes studying the projectile through the sockets of his silver helmet.  “... ... ...hmm.”  He spread a pair of yellow wings out from beneath his serrated armor.  The brown and red plumage of his feathers formed a stark contrast against the snow white drift in the air, but his speed made up for it.  Thwisssssssh!  In a blazing arc, the griffon leapt off the stave sanctuary and landed in the graveyard just outside the place of worship.

Three other griffons in razor-sharp armor looked up from where they had Ray's unconscious body bound and gagged.

“Get a good ear on them, Lieutenant Keris?” a female griffon with blue feathers asked.

“Hard not to, Starstorm,” Keris replied.  He paced along the outer lengths of the graveyard, his eyes trained on the wooden sanctuary and its steeples.  “They might be running a tight terrorist operation out here in Pine Prefecture, but their leader is one snowball short of an avalanche.”  His beak nostrils calmly exhaled vapors into the snowy air.  “He's hot-tempered and ready to burst at anytime... and that's not the kind of horn we want aimed at several piles of flammable Dredge Coal.”

“Do they seriously have all of that stuff stacked down in the sanctuary's cellar?” asked another of the three.

A third glanced at him.  “Well, what do you think, Windburst?”  He cocked his crossbow with pale-white talons.  “Remember, we're dealing with a desperate lot.  This stunt here was their last method of squeezing money out of the Magistrate.”

With a sigh, the second griffon flexed his gold feathers.  “Well... too bad we couldn't get anything out of this punk.”  He gave Ray's body a kick with his talon.  “It'll be another hour at least before he comes to.  I sh-should have been more careful when grabbing him.”

“Don't be hard on yourself, Raptr,” Keris said.  “That's the Commander's job.”

“Where is she anyways?” Starstorm asked.  “You'd think she'd be done with the interrogations by now.”

“Hmmmff...”  Windburst smirked beneath his beak.  “You know the Commander.  She's never done with interrogations.”

“Enough chatter.”  Keris strafed around the south edge of the church.  “We need to figure out a way to get the citizens out.”

“That's going to be difficult with all that ordinance in the cellar,” Starstorm said.  “The Council will never forgive us if we spray half of Pine Prefecture with bloody collateral.”

“Come on...”  Windburst adjusted his helmet and winked.  “With our reputation?”

“Don't let pride get the best of you,” Keris murmured, finishing his survey of the place.  “It's an even greater enemy than heartless, Goddess-forsaken mercenaries.”  After a deep breath, he pointed at the sanctuary.  “Alright.  There are two entrances.  Right here at the front... then a spot behind the altar out back.  The rear door is closest to the pine forest, so let's expect them to make a run for it there if things go south.  There's nothing in that direction but stone crags, followed by a sheer drop into the snowy ravine.  So they won't have much length to go.”

“Well, at least it'll work in our favor,” Starstorm said.

Raptr squinted through his helmet.  “What makes you think it's going to come down to them fleeing the sanctuary in panic?”

“Are you kidding, rookie?” Windburst slurred.  “Our Commander is overseeing this operation, after all.”

A sky-piercing shriek echoed overhead, filling the space between the treelines.

Keris looked up.  “Speaking of which...”

Fwooooosh!  A set of silver-plated paws and talons landed heavily in the snow.  A second later, three bruised and bloodied equine bodies rolled onto the cemetery grounds, groaning in pain.

With a sigh, Raptr shuffled over and began binding the mercenaries' limbs.  “I see that went as smoothly as usual.”

“Get anything out of them, Commander?” Starstorm asked.

A deep female voice replied in a calm tone:  “Nothing but blood.”  The figure turned to face Keris.  “Lieutenant.  Report.”

Keris pointed at the sanctuary.  “I count fifteen mercenaries inside the sanctuary.  They have all but ten of the total village's population count locked up inside with them.”

“What of the missing ten?”

“They're holed up in a burrow two spaces down,” Starstorm explained.  “I smelled them before all the thugs even ran in here.”

“Then they should be safe there while we deal with the leader of the terrorists.  Windburst?  The Dredge Coal?”

“It's all underground—in the cellar right beneath the sanctuary,” he replied.  “Commander, if we don't negotiate with them, they're threatening to blow it all up.  The whole town will go with it.”

“That won't happen.”  Silver-laced talons scraped across the cemetery.  “The three I interrogated stopped being atheists the moment I broke through their skin.  These mercenaries are bigger cowards than idiots.  We need to strike fast and strike hard.  Panic will do the rest of the work for us.”

“Commander...”  Keris cleared his throat.  “The fact that they've got control of Dredge Coal this far out...”  His magenta eyes narrowed.  “They couldn't have seized it on their own.  I suspect a connection on the inside.”

“Now's not the time, Keris...”

“But—”

“Right now, the safety of these Pine Prefecture citizens are our most chief concern.  We can discuss your conspiracy theories another time.  Right now, I need you working with me one hundred percent.  Is that understood?”

Keris took a deep breath, then bowed low.  “Yes, Commander.  I am your Claw.”

“And I am the Talon.”  Scraping limbs.  “Are they aware of our presence yet?”

“Uhm...”  Raptr gulped, glancing over at Ray's body.  “And a half.”

“Very well.  Circle the Sanctuary while I get into position.  Lieutenant?”

“Yes, Commander?” Keris asked.

“Get their attention.  Make them mad.  I want to hear the king of thieves open his asenine mouth.”

“As you wish.”  With a ruffle of his red-and-brown feathers, Keris turned towards the sanctuary.  “Intruders!  Sackers of Pine Prefecture!”  Windburst, Raptr, and Starstorm flew into place while he continued shouting:  “Hear my words!”





Inside the stave building, the thugs stood in a wary circle around the citizens.  The villagers trembled while Keris' booming voice rattled the wooden sills of the structure.

“Give yourselves up, and you shall be shipped safely—and alive—to the gravel colonies of the Frozen Shelves!  Resist... or harm the villagers in any way, shape, or form, and you face the wrath of the Right Talon of Verlaxion!  The Goddess does not easily forgive those who spit in the face of Her mercy!  Let it be understood, though.  You have all committed grave crimes here... and you will be forced to endure much trials and labor before your sins are forgiven in the sight of the Council.  Whether or not you get to live through your incarceration is up to you!  This is the moment to decide what—”

“No... you listen!” Cogz hollered, loading another crossbolt as he stomped across the sanctuary.  “This is your moment to decide, you stinkin' piles of molting feathers!”

“B-boss...” One thug gulped.  “I wouldn't say such things if I were y—”

“Shut up!”  Cogz scuffled to a stop above a trap door.  “Are you hearing me, ya turkey vultures?!”  He lifted the panel with a dull creak, exposing several crates full of black ore and tightly-packed coal.  The villagers gasped and wept as he unraveled a long, flammable fuse and pulled out a piece of flint.  “I'm just two scratches away from sending this entire dayum church sky high!  I didn't come to Pine Prefecture to murder ponies!  You just raised the bar by showing up, ya beak-freaks!  You say the Council is all about 'forgiving sins,' huh?!  Well, think about what'll be resting on your shoulders forever if you cross me!  I want you shitheads out of here and I want the Magistrate's gold!  Now!”

Silence.

Cogz glared up at the ceiling beams overhead.  “Well?!  Did you even hear me, butt turkeys?!  I'm telling you... if you don't get your filthy tail-feathers out of my mane, I'll light this place up!  It'll be Unification Day one week early on account of you!  And who's gonna be around to celebrate, huh?!”

More silence.

“Hello?!”

“Are... are they even there?” one thug stammered.

“Are you friggin' kidding me?” another snarled.  “Of course they are there!”

“But the boss just said—”

“You think they'll negotiate!”

“Shhhhh!”  Cogz hissed at the others.  “Shuddup and grow some balls!  All of you!”

“I... I can't do this...”  One thug stumbled backwards, close to tears.

“Get a hold of yourself, Krem.”

“N-no... you don't understand...”  Krem dropped his bludgeon altogether and collapsed against the wall of the sanctuary.  He clutched his muzzle while hyperventilating.  “It's n-not just our bodies at risk... but our souls!”

“Krem... I swear...”  Cogz snarled across the way.  “If you don't shut up...”

“Don't you g-get it?”  Krem whimpered.  “Even if the griffons fly away... they're... they're still the Right Talon of Verlaxion!  The Goddess does not forgive, Cogz!”

“Shhhh!  Dammit, Krem—”

“Oh Verlaxion, forgive me...”  Krem face-hoofed, whimpering.  “Verlaxion forgive us all—”

CRASSH!  A silver-plated talon shoved in through the wooden sills behind him, grabbing his face and neck.

“Snrkkkkg-grlllglggg!” he sputtered for breath, his muzzle bleeding in multiple places.  Krem shook... thrashed... and then—Smash!  Smash!  SMASH!—his body was viciously yanked outside, leaving a tiny crack in the wall of the sanctuary.

Utter silence filled the place of worship.

The thugs gaped, wide-eyed.  The villagers shivered quietly.  Cogz blinked several times.

The fresh hole lingered.  Soft flakes of snow drifted through the narrow slit.

“Krem...?”  One thug shuffled towards the sight, his blade levitating high.  “...Kr-krem?”  He gulped.  “... ... ...buddy?”

More silence.

The thugs looked at each other.

Cogz frowned.  He opened his muzzle to say something—

CRACK!  The hole exploded, and a glinting body with silver wing-blades glided in.  The serrated armor sliced the flesh of over six thugs.  SL-SL-SLINK!  In the blink of an eye, nearly half of the mercenaries had fallen down, screaming.  Blood puddled across the sanctuary floor... along with no less than three lopped limbs.  A pair of unicorns grasped their bloodied stubs, howling in agony.

Scrkkkk!  Silver-embossed talons dug into the floor, and the Commander's body came to an icy stop in the midst of the terrorists.  Fresh vapors of heat wafted off the blood that now coated her armor.

Cogz and several other thugs stumbled backwards.

“... ... ...”  CL-CLAKK!  The Commander's wing blades retracted into her armor, revealing lithe feathers of silver and blue plumage.  She stood up straight, neck joints crackling.  At last, a pair of charcoal-brown eyes glared coldly out from beneath her silver helmet.  “I am Commander Seraphimus,” she said.  “The Right Talon of Verlaxion.  Surrender, and your putrid lives will be spared.  Resist... and you forfeit your limbs... as well as the souls that they're attached to.”

The remaining thugs trembled.

Cogz gnashed his teeth.  “We will not—”

Clakkk!  Seraphimus aimed her forelimb out, exposing a circular array of spring-loaded razor darts.  “Surrender.  NOW!”

Just as her voice coldly echoed across the wooden beams, several thugs dropped their weapons and shuffled forward.

“Kneel along the southern wall...”  Seraphimus aimed at them with her armband.  “Hooves down and horns dim.”

Cogz glanced at his surrending thugs, then at the trap door.

Seraphimus' brown eyes caught him.  “Don't—!”

Grunting, the criminal boss made a lunge for the fuse.

P-pffft!  Seraphimus fired several projectiles.

Using telekinesis, Cogz yanked over a gasping thug.  The blades embedded into the shrieking mercenary's flesh while Cogz used him as a shield.

Seraphimus cursed under her breath.

With one scrap of the flint, Cogz produced sparks, lighting the fuse.  A stream of sparkling embers threaded its way towards the flammable payload beneath the sanctuary.

Seraphimus retracted her armband and flew forward, launching her body at the burning fuse.

In the meantime, Cogz made a run for it.  “Go!  Go!”  He hollered at a few panicked thugs running alongside him.  “Grab as much meat as you can!”  As he said this, he levitated a yelping blank flank filly off the floor.  A family wept in horror, reaching out for their foal.  With a grunt, Cogz kicked them back and burst his way out the rear door.  Three other thugs ran out, levitating living victims as they fled the sanctuary.

Meanwhile, Seraphimus was busy stamping the fuse out.  She managed to extinguish it before it could reach the Dredge Coal.  She shuddered, her blue and silver tail feathers drooping.

Through the fresh hole she had made, Raptr and Keris dove in.  Raptr grimaced at the dismembered thugs while Keris calmly flew over the blood.  “Commander!  Are you okay?”

“The sanctuary's saved, but there are suspects loose.”  Seraphimus flew back to ground level.  “What's more, they have hostages.”

“Did you get a body count?”

“Four thugs and four hostages.  One innocent per terrorist.”  Seraphimus exhaled heavily.  “The ringleader is among them.”

“Go get 'em, boss!” Raptr said, already binding the thugs who had surrendered.  “Windburst and Starstorm are still out there!”

“I'm not concerned about the terrorists.  No prey ever eludes the Right Talon of Verlaxion,” Seraphimus murmured while marching out.

“We'll wrap up things here, Commander,” Keris said, assisting Raptr.  He glanced at the wounded and maimed thugs, then smirked in Seraphimus' direction.  “I don't suppose that one of these days we'll actually arrest our suspects with all of their lives intact?”

“What lives?” Seraphimus slurred.  FWOOOSH!  She flew out in a deathly blur.





On the far end of the sanctuary, four panicked thugs made four panicked tracks.  Cogz led the way, galloping as swiftly as he could while levitating a filly to his right and a crossbow to his left.  His ears ached from the wailing shrieks of the foal in his magical grip, but he didn't let that break his stride.  Turning around, he stared back—breathless—at the stave sanctuary.  He spotted his three comrades galloping after him, dragging hostages of their own.

“Move your lousy flanks!” he hollered.  “We'll lose them in the forest!”

“But b-boss!” one thug stammered.  “The ravine!”

“Do you wanna make it out of here or don't you?!”

“Of course I do!  I just—”  The thug's words were cut short the moment Windburst's pale body swooped down and snatched him up in a blur.  “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”  His shrieks grew distant as his body flew skyward.  The thug's hostage rolled safely across the snow, shivering.

“Oh Goddess!”

“Move, everypony!  Move!”

“Wingflaps!  You hear that?  They're everywh—” Starstorm glided low, contacted a thug's body, then slammed him mercilessly through a crumbling gravestone.  “Ooof!”

“Dammit!” Cogz hollered, turning to gallop towards the nearest treeline.  “Dammit Dammit!”

“Boss!  We can split up!”  The last remaining thug looked aside as they threaded the first of many snow-pelted trunks.  “Lose them in the trees—”  WHAM!  A silver streak impacted his spine.  The thug flew forward, his neck snapping at a grotesque angle against a wooden stump.  He fell down hard, his dead body dropping the panicked little colt in his grasp.

Sneering, Cogz concentrated through his horn, lifted the colt up, and carried both innocent foals with him into the forest.  He hobbled and lurched through the frosted pine, his hooves crunching across the frozen floor.

“Mmmmm... I want my Mommmmmyyy!” the filly sobbed, joined shortly by the sobbing colt.

“Shut up!  Just shut up ya little snots!”  Despite his venomous growling, Cogz sweated cold.  He looked left and right, seeing nothing but ghostly bones of wintry wood.  Palpitating, he followed the howling of wind, sprinting up a ragged incline.  Here, the trees grew more and more crooked, and Cogz stubbed his fetlocks against layers of exposed rock and limestone.  “Rnnngh!  Augh!  Dammit!  Where's the friggin' ravine, I swear to—”

Woooosh!  A silver streak rolled by him.

“...!”  He spun about, hovering both foals in the air.  His eyes darted about, piercing the vapors that emanated from his sweating muzzle.  “... ... ...don't even think about it!”  He gulped, but nevertheless hollered:  “Show your stupid eagle face one more time... and I'll bash their brains together!”  He levitated both foals—skull to skull.  “I'll stain your legacy with their blood!  You want that?!  Eh?!  You psycho pigeon?!”

Woooosh!  The silver streaked behind him this time.

He spun again, snarling.  “What is it?!  You're wanting me to talk?!  It's not going to happen!  Do you hear me?!  A contract is a contract!  We mercenaries hold a higher honor than you ever will!  You... friggin' Council slaves!”

Woooooosh!  “Release the children...”

Cogz twirled, wide-eyed and hyperventilating.

Feathers.  Whistling.  Seraphimus' words rolled off the snow and trees.  “Release the children, and I will let you live.”  More blurs.  More streaks.  Cogz was trembling at this point.  “Verlaxion's grace has been extended to you for the last time.  Refuse... and death will be only the beginning of your punishment.”

Cogz gritted his teeth, trotting backwards.  “You think you know what it means to be damned?”  He shook his head.  “Once you've lived through the shiet I have, you'd spit on 'mercy' too.”

Silence.

“Well?!  What's it going to be?!”  Cogz continued backtrotting.  He flung the foals around in his telekinetic grip.  “I know you don't give a crap about my life!  But what of theirs, oh high and mighty Talon?!  You're willing to risk damning yourself?! Huh?!”  Suddenly, he nearly slipped.  He looked over his shoulder, squinting into bright sunlight.

A massive ravine full of frost-covered slopes loomed beneath him.  The reflected light was positively blinding.

Seething, he looked ahead—and gasped.

Seraphimus calmly stood on the edge of the forest, facing the cliff.  Staring him down.  She didn't move a muscle under her serrated silver armor.

Growling, Cogz dropped the colt to the ground.  He planted his hoof down on the side of the pony's face.  Meanwhile, he raised a crossbolt to the floating filly's head.  “Well... this is it.  What will it be?”

Seraphimus stared, her charcoal brown eyes narrow and calm.

“Say something!” Cogz hollered to hide his own trembles.  “Squawk!  Shriek like a parrot!”  He tickled the trigger of the crossbow with his magic.  “Or do you actually think you're fast enough to beat me to the—” the stallion blinked in mid-speech.

Thwifft!  Seraphimus fired a dart milliseconds before his eyes reopened.  When Cogz' vision returned, he saw nothing but blood.  Panicking, he fired a pulse of mana.  Unfortunately for him, a silver dart was embedded in his horn.

POW!  The horn exploded, showering blood and alicornia all over the stallion's screaming body.  He hobbled backwards, tripped, and fell over the edge.  The filly in his grasp fell too—shrieking.

Fwoooosh!  Seraphimus was there in a blur, sweeping the filly up in her talons.  She hovered in place, holding the foal close.  “Shhhhhh...”  The griffon's eyes finally closed, her tone taking on a breathy murmur.  “Shhhhhh...”  She levitated back towards the cliffside, stroking the trembling foal's mane.  “It's alright, child.  It's alright.  I've got you.”

The filly's whimpers lessened.  She buried her face in Seraphimus' exposed down feathers beneath her armor.

The Commander landed, placing the filly down safely beside the colt.  She brushed the other foal's mane back, smiling calmly at both of them.  Then... standing up... Seraphimus faced the cliffside.  Her smile had vanished, and she strolled icily forward.  The two children watch, blinking in awe.

As Seraphimus approached the lip of the ravine, she heard a whimpering, sniveling voice.  She peered over the edge, spotting Cogz's bloody body.  Miraculously, the stallion hadn't fallen into the frosted depths below.  Instead, he clung to the cliff's edge, his mane and skull drenched in blood.

“Oh Goddess...”  Cogz whimpered.  “Oh Goddess Verlaxion... please... please help me...”  He shook and shuddered as his grip started to slip.  “I entreat you... I humbly beg you...”  Cogz gargled on his own blood.  “Forgive m-me for my sins.  I was so wrong... so very wrong... and I pray for your intercession... please, Goddess.”  At last, he slipped one too many times.  “I-I don't want to die!  Verlaxion—!”  And he fell, screaming.

Grip!  A sharp talon grasped his fetlock.

“Guh!”  Cogz dangled in place, eyes wide beneath a curtain of blood.  He looked up, spotting Seraphimus' glinting helmet and beak.  “Oh... oh praise Verlaxion...!”  The stallion's whimpering voice turned to breathy chuckles.  He sputtered into the drifting snow.  “She heard me... sh-she answered my prayers!  Praise her... praise her for her m-mercy!”

Seraphimus took a deep breath.  “Yes, my little pony.  Verlaxion heard your prayers...”

Cogz gasped—for he was suddenly hoisted up until he stared muzzle-to-beak with the Commander.

Seraphimus hissed into his face:  “...she sent me.”  And she dropped him.

“Wh-whaa—aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Cogz fell, flailed, and plummeted for hundreds of screaming feet... until he ended up a crimson splotch on the white valley below.

Seraphimus stood up, cracked her neck joints, then strolled back towards the forest.

Keris flew in, catching his breath.  Spotting the two foals, he instantly walked over and stood behind them, folding his wings over to warm the pair.  “The sanctuary's secure, Commander.  All criminals are detained, and Raptr is fixing their wounds so that they can be questioned later.”

“Very good, Lieutenant,” Seraphimus said.

“Windburst and Starstorm are searching for the remaining citizens.  They're holed up in the burrows somewhere.”

“I'll tell them to be gentle about reaching out to them.  The townsfolk have been traumatized enough already.”

“No doubt.”  Keris then glanced at a dismembered horn lying in a bloodied pile of snow.  He sighed.  “I guess that rules out questioning the ringleader.”

“A wretch like that had no answers to give,” Seraphimus said.  “Only blood.”

“Are you certain of that, Commander?”

Seraphimus stopped cold.  She turned and pointed at the two trembling youngsters under Keris' wings.  “As sure as they are still alive.”

Keris gulped, then nodded.  “Understood, Commander.”

Seraphimus took a deep breath.  She shuffled over, picked one of the foals up, and held him close.  “Do not worry.  We will return you to your families.  Verlaxion's mercy is reserved for those innocent and faithful.”

The colt looked up at her, trembling.  “Do... do you really know the Goddess personally?”

Keris smirked.

At that, Seraphimus smiled, and she tapped the end of the colt's nose.  “I meet Her everyday... in the eyes of warm souls like you, my child.”  That said, she retracted the rest of her armor and glanced at the Lieutenant.  “Let us return, Keris, and bring these young ones to where it's warm.”

“Aye, Commander.”

“Our presence in Pine Prefecture is still required.”
> And I Am Your Claw
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Across the snow-christened village high up within Pine Prefecture...

A semblance of order had been made.  The villagers—who hours before had been sobbing in terror—now gathered together in peaceful clusters around the stave sanctuary and surrounding turf houses.  Families hugged one another while fillies and colts summoned the courage to giggle and smile for the first time in days.

Various members of the Right Talon of Verlaxion shuffled back and forth between the heart of the village and a spot beside the cemetery fence where the surviving crooks and mercenaries had been gathered, their hooves bound and their horns capped.

Seraphimus sat alone in a patch of snow beside the gravestones.  Still clad in her polished silver armor, she stared straight ahead, her charcoal brown eyes dull and distant.

Soon, Starstorm came shuffling up from where the criminals were seated.  She pulled her helmet off, exposing her bright blue feathers to the snowy air and cold mountain winds.  “The final count is twenty living suspects.  Sixteen unicorns and four earth ponies.  Seven of them are in need of special medical treatment.  Four of them are missing limbs, though Windburst managed to patch them up.  Of those, three are still unconscious.”

“Did you get anything out of them?” Seraphimus asked without looking.

“A few of them were willing to speak without much prodding.”  Starstorm smirked under her beak.  “You certainly did a lot to intimidate them.  We didn't even have to resort to our... usual questioning tactics.”

“And what have you got?”

“Well, half of the group are from Mudtop, which is to be expected.  The rest come from the northern prefectures... usual grunts for hired work such as this.”  Starstorm cleared her throat, gazing at the villagers.  “Their plan—it would seem—was to hold the latest delivery of Dredge Coal for ransom.  They intended to use the entire village as a bargaining chip... force the Magistrate of Pine Prefecture to pay an exorbitant amount that they would then funnel to their source.”

“And who is that source?”

“Anonymous,” Starstorm said.  “As always.  Sound familiar?”

Seraphimus exhaled heavily through her beak nostrils.  “How desperate are these vagabonds that the previous examples we've set haven't been enough to discourage them?”

“You can bet the Lieutenant has some words to share with you about that.”

“Mmmmm...”  Seraphimus continued staring ahead.  Her hawkeyes focused on a lone filly sitting apart from the group.  The little pony was hugging herself, sobbing.

“Commander, the Council is well aware of the recent rash of criminal offenses and exploitations in the west central prefectures,” Starstorm said.  “But their resources to counterract it are thin.  It's been several decades—before your time and mine—but I wouldn't be surprised if the Council starts resorting to conscription to bolster the Rohbredden army.”

“No.”  Seraphimus shook her head, frowning beneath her beak.  “It mustn't come to that.  The Right Talon of Verlaxion is enough to ensure the security of our fellow citizens.”

“With all due respect, Commander, but what if we get overwhelmed?”  Starstorm shrugged.  “For all we know, this could all be just a test.  Some new criminal organization is out there, testing the waters, seeing how much we can juggle on our own.  We're good at what we do, but there are only so few of us.”

“If Goddess Verlaxion wills the Council to expand our defense initiative...”  Seraphimus' muscles tightened.  “Then so be it.  But until the Queen indicates anything of that sort, then we are expected to exercise nothing less than our utmost unswerving devotion to every task presented us.”

Starstorm nodded.  “But of course, Commander.”

“Be patient and faithful, Sergeant,” Seraphimus said.  “No matter of criminal organization, strong or mighty, can outlast the glory of Verlaxion.”  She took her eyes off the sobbing filly to glance sideways at the other griffon.  “Never forget the glory that empowers you.  It is stronger than all enemies... wiser than all prey.”

“I won't forget.”  Starstorm glanced over to see Keris shuffling up.  “And neither will the Lieutenant, I hope.”

Keris came to a stop before Seraphimus.  “Commander.”

“Lieutenant...”  Seraphimus stared ahead.

“I've finished my analysis of the Dredge Coal.”

“Do fill me in.”

Keris unrolled a scroll of parchment, his magenta eyes rolling across the figures.  “The counters that the Scientific Order provided were most useful.  As it turns out... the Dredge Coal that was shipped here matches the composition as those samples we found in the other criminal hijackings.”  He looked up.  “The supply ambush in Orchard Prefecture?  The warehouse seizure in Lotus Profecture?”  He nodded.  “They all had to have been dredged from the same harvest.”

“Guh...!”  Starstorm rolled her eyes.  “Verlaxion's Sleet!  How does this keep happening?”

“Respect the Goddess' name, Sergeant,” Seraphimus' voice coldly rolled.

Starstorm gulped.  “Y-yes, Commander.  Of course, Commander.”

“When it was just two instances, it only seemed a mere coincidence,” Keris said.  “But this here makes the fifth such situation in three months!  Commander, there has to be a reason for this pattern!”

“And you're certain that the material all came from the same shipment?” Starstorm asked aside.

Keris nodded.  “Each piece of flammable ore had the same metallic signature on it.  That means they all were dredged up from the ocean floor through the same mechanism.”  He looked towards Seraphimus again.  “Commander, don't you know what this means?”

“No, Lieutenant, but something tells me you're about to tell me anyways,” Seraphimus said, exhaling.

“Someone must be purposefully planning these raids,” Keris said.  “Someone who either knows where the Dredge Coal is being sent to—or, even worse—someone who is in charge of it.”

“You mean to suggest that someone wants their own Dredge Coal placed for ransom?” Starstorm exclaimed.  “At the risk of total destruction?”

“A wild theory at best,” Seraphimus droned.

“But a very realistic one!” Keris insisted.  “Now, more than ever!  If there's somepony or some griffon out there with something to gain from this, then it's clearly an affront to Verlaxion and the sanctity of Her foals!”

“Then it is a righteous thing that we are constantly there to dismantle such operations,” Seraphimus said.

“Commander, if I may be so bold, all we're doing is attacking the symptoms of this situation... when all along we should be endeavoring to root out the cause.”  Taking a deep breath, Keris strolled closer, gazing at Seraphimus' helmeted face.  “For years I've fought and strove for an excuse to investigate the Barges of the shoreline territories...”

“Again with the Barges?” Starstorm groaned.

Keris ignored her.  “They're the beginning of the line of bread crumbs, Commander,” he said.  “Somewhere between where the Dredge Coal is harvested and the place of distribution is where the answer lies to this latest outbreak of criminal activity.  If we hope to stop all of this, we must start at the beginning.”

“Rohbredden Nautical Law presents us from an unwarranted search of outlying resource gathering operations,” Seraphimus said in a dull tone.  “Unless the Council grants us the authority to circumvent such legislation, we are to leave areas outside the Continent alone.  And quite frankly, Lieutenant, all you have to go by is a guestimation.”

“It's an educated guess, for certain,” Keris said with a nod.  “But between two veteran souls, Commander, surely you can recognize the importance of thinking outside of the box.  If you allow me to present my findings to the Council, then surely we can make some headway on stopping this cycle of violence for good!”

“And you're so certain it's the Barges?”

“Either White Barge... Red Barge... or South Barge.”  Keris slapped his talon against the notes in his grasp.  “The ore we've found belongs only to the southwestern shelves.  Commander, those locations have enjoyed unmitigated freedom of operation for decades, and while they have provided the Rohbredden continental population with priceless fuel, I'm terribly afraid that they've also become hovels of corruption and moral indecency.  The Right Talon of Verlaxion is the means by which our Goddess maintains balance and harmony across her lands... all lands.  Above water or below!  Don't you think that we should do something so that Her blessing is no longer restricted to just the shores?”

Seraphimus stared ahead in silence.

Keris blinked.  “...Commander?”

Seraphimus leaned away from him, gesturing at Starstorm.  When the Sergeant strolled closer, Seraphimus pointed at the sobbing filly that she had been staring at the whole time.  “Sergeant... what is the story with that little one?”

“You mean the earth pony filly?” Starstorm remarked.  Once the Commander nodded, she cleared her throat and said:  “We... we still haven't found her parents, Commander.”

“You mean her parents are the two citizens still unaccounted for?”

“Affirmative.”

“I thought Raptr had gone out to search the outlying thickets.”

“Yes, Commander.  The rookie still hasn't come back.”

“I see.”  Seraphimus stood up, limbs crackling.  “Go mind the captured suspects.  Send Windburst out to assist Raptr.”

“Aye, Commander.”  Starstorm saluted and flew off.

Keris stumbled after the Commander.  “Commander?  Seraphimus.  Won't you please—”

“Shhhh!”  The head griffon hissed.

Keris scuffled to a stop.  With an exasperated sigh, he stood in place, leaning back with his findings.

Seraphimus trotted up to the filly.  Once she was within earshot, her helmet echoed with the small child's squeaky sobs.  “Hello there, young one!” she said in a noticeably melodic tone.  “What troubles you, my little pony?”

The filly rubbed her puffy eyes.  Her nostrils let loose little gunbursts of warm, melancholic vapors.  “I want my Mommy and Daddy...”

“Why... are they not here?”

The filly's tear-stained muzzle scrunched as she shook her head.  “The bad ponies.  Th-they killed them!”  She broke into even heavier sobs.

“Now... that's jumping to conclusions, don't you think?”

“I s-saw them take Mommy and Daddy away!”

Seraphimus squatted before her in the soft snow.  “Ah... but that's the thing.  They were bad ponies, but they wouldn't kill Mommy and Daddy.”

“Wh-why not?”  The filly hiccuped.  “They h-had big knives and sticks and everything!”

Seraphimus smiled under her beak.  “They were cowards—that's what.  And when you're a coward, you find it very... very hard to take a life.”  The Commander shook her head.  “No... those ponies were bad... but they didn't kill your parents.  They couldn't have.  What's more, they needed them alive... just as they needed you alive.”

The filly sniffed, rubbed her cheeks, then blinked up at the griffon.  Her muzzle hung open, quivering.  “...you're not a coward... are you...?”

Keris' hawkeyes narrowed from afar.

Seraphimus gazed quietly at the child.  Eventually, she shook her head.  “No, darling.  I am not.”

The filly stared and stared.  Her muzzle hung wider.

“Is there something that you see?” Seraphimus asked.

“Your...”  The filly gulped.  “...helmet is really shiny.”

“Mmmmm?”  Seraphimus reached her talons up.  She removed the article, revealing a headcrest of blue and silver plumage.  “Hmmm... well, I suppose it is.  To be honest, I don't even notice until a pretty little filly mentions it to me.”

“You can see your reflection in it.”

“I can?”  Seraphimus breathed.  She took a look at the polished surface, and her beak opened with a squawking gasp.  “It's true!”  She squinted at the filly.  “It takes a good... clean polish to make sure of that!”

“Uh huh...”  The filly sniffled.

Seraphimus looked at the helmet, then at the filly.  With a sly squint, she positioned the helmet around... then lowered it gently... slowly over the foal's head.

The filly cooed in awe... ultimately teetering from the weight.  Seraphimus helped her up.  “Heehee...”  The filly tilted the helmet up, peeking an eye out.  “It's h-heavy.”

“Indeed it is.”  Seraphimus shuffled sideways, plopping her haunches down in the snow beside the foal.  “But, trust me, there are things in life that are heavier.”

The filly swallowed a lump down her throat.  She gave into the weight; her head tilted towards the ground.  “I know.”

Seraphimus tilted the filly's chin up.

The pony looked up at her, eyes watering.

“But carrying that burden makes us stronger,” Seraphimus said.  “Tell me, little one, do you love your Goddess?”

“Why... y-yes!  Of course!”  The filly nodded, forcing the helmet to wobble.  “Verlaxion protects us!”

“And do you pray to her?”

“Mmm!  Everyday!”

Seraphimus smiled.  “So do I, little one.  Sometimes... while I'm flying.  Even at other times... when I'm in the middle of hunting down prey.  But when I'm not praying, I feel Her... and I adore Her.  That is what trust means.  It's the willingness to exalt Verlaxion in every breathe.  And you know what She does for me?  She makes my burden all the lighter... and She protects my husband and children just as I protect Her flock.”

The Commander poked the tip of her talon harmlessly against the filly's chest. 

“I feel that same love in you, little one,” she said.  “It's evident in your boundless concern for your parents.  If you just trust in Verlaxion, She will protect them, and She will carry you to far places... no matter the weight.”

The filly gazed up at her, suddenly stoic.

At the sound of crunching hoofsteps, Seraphimus looked over.  “Ah...”  She exhaled, her headcrest rising amidst warm vapors.  “See what I mean?  In every moment of every day...”  The griffon pointed.  “...She is divine.”

The filly looked over.  In gasping, the helmet fell completely from her head.  “Mommy!  Daddy!”

“Snow Leaf?”  A mare stammered, limping through the snow with the assistance of a stallion.  “Oh, bless the Goddess!  You're in one piece!”

“We missed you so much, darling!” the father stammered.

“Found them deep in northwest woods!” Raptr said with a smug grin.  “Seems like the bandits guarding the front caught them on a return trip from a nearby supply station.”

Snow Leaf jumped up to her hooves and scampered across the snowy lawn.  She flew into her mother's forelimbs, and the adult mare fell on her rump with a breathy laugh.  The family hugged each other, sobbing into the drifting snow.

“When we came storming in, the thugs guarding them abandoned the two altogether,” Raptr explained, smoothing back his gold headcrest.  “They tried going to the nearby village to get help, but the mother injured her fetlock along the way and they got stalled.  I patched her up as soon as I found them.”

Seraphimus stared at the scene.  She exhaled warmly, her eyes locked on the tearfully smiling filly.  Soon, the rest of the villagers reunited with the returning couple, obscuring the Commander's vision.

“Hmmmf...”  Raptr snorted, plopping his helmet back on.  “Don't everybird thank me at once.”  He strolled over to assist Starstorm.

Meanwhile, Keris shuffled up until he stood besides the Right Talon's leader.

“You did good, Commander,” he said.  “The chief reason I value this outfit so much is because you do not let us lose sight of what's important.”

Seraphimus sighed through her vacant smile.  “And yet... you forget so easily, Lieutenant.”

Keris blinked.  His magenta eyes darted down towards her.  “Ma'am?”

With a stifled groan, Seraphimus stood up.  “Tell me, Keris, why is it that the Barges... Mudtop... Rust... and all the detritus of the seven seas fall victim to ungodliness?”

Keris cleared his feathery throat.  “Uhm... because our guard has constantly been pointed inland, Commander.”

“No, Lieutenant.”  Seraphimus picked up her helmet, dusted the snow off, and slowly placed it over her head.  “Stop thinking with your rulebooks.  And start thinking with your heart.”  She pivoted towards him, her charcoal eyes peering icily from within the headpiece.  “...and tell me.”

Keris' headcrest drooped.  His wings coiled tightly by his side as her shadow drew over him.  “Because...”  He exhaled with a shudder.  “...b-because the Tribes who live out there have lost their faith in Verlaxion.”

“Precisely,” Seraphimus murmured, pacing close by him.  “And those who allow their faith to fall...”

“...also fall from Verlaxion's mercy.”

“Lieutenant, in just a few days, it will be the anniversary of the day that our Goddess—in her benevolence and mercy—thawed out this inhospitable continent and gave us land to settle our prefectures.  For tens of thousands of years, she has staved off the frigid wrath of windigoes, banshees, and worse.  All she requests from us is our faith and devotion... our love.”  Seraphimus' talons scuffled against the cobblestone path as she swiveled to face Keris.  “This was a blessing she gave to the Continent.  The islanders... the colonialists?  They had their chance.  They had their fair share of it... ten times over.  And yet—as we all know, out there in those sporadic hovels where seclusion affords the illusion of superiority—they have abandoned their Goddess.”

“And are you saying that we must abandoned them in turn?” Keris remarked.

“It is not up to us, Lieutenant.  You know this.”  Her eyes narrowed.  “If Verlaxion willed it, we would bring her grace to the outlands.  But as the outlanders will it, they are forsaken... and their suffering is their own doing.”  She pointed a razor sharp claw.  “The Right Talon of Verlaxion keeps this blessed land holy... but you cannot make pristine that which has been built upon filth.  Whoever or whatever is the source of these criminal acts—from within or outside—it doesn't matter.  Rohbredden is a sanctuary, and they shall not blemish it... not so long as our Queen keeps her throne here.  Is that understood, Lieutenant?”

“Yes, Seraphimus.”

“I said...”  Her tone took on a hoarse snarl.  “Is that understood, Lieutenant?”

All of the sudden, every limb in Keris' body went rigid.  With a serious expression, and with well-performed grace—the guard knelt down before the Commander.

Seraphimus calmly extended her talon, and in a show of respect, Keris reached out and touched his beak to her silver gauntlets.

“I am the Right Talon of Verlaxion,” Seraphimus spoke calmly.

“And I am your claw,” Keris dutifully quoted.

“Rise, Lieutenant.”

Keris did as told.

“Know that I have and shall always respect your moral ambition,” she said with a gentle smile.  “It is why I elected you to be my chief wingmate.  And it is why I am still honored to have you by my side in hunting our prey.”

Keris smiled softly.  “As I am also honored, Commander.”

Just then, the air above them shifted.

Windburst squaked in the distance.  Keris turned to see him propping his crossbow, aiming it towards the sky.

Raptr and Starstorm echoed with long-ranged shrieks of their own.

“Incoming!”  Seraphimus hissed.  “Four winged bodies!  From the south!”

Schiiing!  Keris and the Commander simultaneously extended their wing blades.

Panicked, the townsfolk fled back towards the sanctuary while four swift shadows crept over the village.

Windburst blinked.  He squawked again—a duller tone—and lowered his weapon.  “Messengers!  Bearing the Council's Crest!”

Within seconds of him saying that, four pegasi landed nimbly in the snow.  They were thick, furred vests, and their goggles were caked over with frost.

“Stand down, everyone,” Keris spoke aside.

One pegasus slipped his goggles off, shaking the snow loose.  Teeth chattering, he gazed up at the group—his eyes eventually locking on the leader.  “Commander Seraphimus!  My apologies.  We meant no alarm.”

“It is quite fine, friend.”

“The village is safe, then?”  The pegasus asked, panting for breath.  “All citizens safe?”

“Hey...”  Windburst strolled past the crooks, gesturing at their bound bodies with a cocky smirk.  “Look for yourself, stud.”

“Mmmmfff...” One criminal struggled, frowning.  “I demand to see my solicitor—”

“Bah!”  Windburst shoved him—muzzle first—into the snow.  “Horse rights, my spotted egg,” the griffon spat.

“You've flown far and fast, my friends,” Keris said, trotting up to the group.  “What message do you deliver?”

“The Council requests the immediate presence of the Right Talon of Verlaxion,” the pegasus exclaimed.  “There has been a terrible incident in the Quade.”

“The Quade?” Raptr blinked.

Starstorm strolled up.  “You mean the Luminards?”

“They are homeless now,” the pegasus said.  “Somepony infiltrated their monastery and destroyed their Holy Reed.”

Starstorm gasped.

“Sonuvabitch...” Windburst slurred.

“I... I don't get it...” Raptr glanced at the others.  “I heard about the Luminards and their Reed.  But... but who could have done that to them?  I thought that was their only way of communicating with the Goddess!”

Seraphimus was suddenly having a hard time holding her breath in.  After a fuming breath, she found the serenity to speak evenly:  “Are there witnesses?”

“I... we don't know much more than that, Commander,” the messenger said.  “The Council requests your presence right away.  It is very urgent.  Undoubtedly they will brief you as much as they're able to on the matter.”  He pointed a hoof back at the other three pegasi.  “We've brought provisions... supplies for the village.  And my stallions are quite gifted in the military arts.  We've been approved by the Council to watch over this part of the Prefecture until the nearest security detachment shows up.”

“Looks like we're off to Quadeland,” Windburst droned.

“That's up to the Council, Windy,” Starstorm grumbled.

“Seriously... though...” Raptr fidgeted.  “Where exactly is the Quade?”

“Rookie, you're in for a long... long flight.”

“Heheh...”

Seraphimus gazed off across the snow-laden village.

“Commander?”  Keris strolled closer.  “What are your orders?”

The leader exhaled.  “As Verlaxion wills it.”  She turned towards the rest of the company.  “We fly to the Council chamber at Frostknife.”

“You heard the lady!”  Windburst motioned to the others.  “Gather your blades, your barbs, and your poop!  Time to hit the wind!”

Keris shuffled off—

“Lieutenant.”

He froze in place, turning towards Seraphimus.

“Remember...”  The Commander looked squarely at him.  “I speak for the Right Talon of Verlaxion.  If our next business is with the Quade, then that is the matter of our conversation, nothing more.”

Keris swallowed and bowed.  “I understand perfectly, Commander.”

“Have faith and patience, Lieutenant,” Seraphimus said.  “And, who knows, a blessing may yet come to the Barges someday.”
> Goddess Verlaxion, I Have Sinned
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Swab's tiny hoof scrubbed and scrubbed at a particulary grimy spot of the South Strut's inner deck.  Hunched over on his knees, the little pony dipped his rag back into a bucket of water and resumed his soapy assault on the stubborn splotch of metallic red.  He paused midway—however—yellow eyes blinking.  After a moment of deep contemplation, he realized that the discoloration wasn't going away.  The blood stain was simply far too old.

So, with a sigh, he picked up his bucket and carried it towards the next boat welded into the overall body of the Strut.

He was just again kneeling when his right ear twitched to the sound of hoofsteps.  A group of stallions trotted by, carrying plumbing equipment and pipework.

“...have any idea when we're casting off again to another shelf?”

“That's up to Skagra and Skagra alone.”

“Well, it'd better happen soon.  Digiff won't get off my back.”

“You ever think there's another reason for that besides stress?”

“Hahahaha...”

Just then, Swab's one ear heard the sound of a dull thump.  He paused in scrubbing, turning to look.  His jaw hung open.

A tiny burlap bag had fallen to the metal deck.  A black ink pen was stuck through the top, used to fasten the thing shut.

The object had obviously fallen out of the rearmost stallion's saddlebag.  The worker trotted off, unaware of the loss.

“Uhm... sir?”  Swab crawled over.  He cracled the object in his tiny hooves and held it up.  “Sir?  Mr. Pipeworker, sir?  You dropped... you dropped you...”  Against his better judgment, he gave the burlap bag a sniff.  His pupils instantly enlarged.  Nevertheless, he leaned forward, opening his muzzle to speak.

The stallions trotted off, grumbling and laughing over one thing or another.

Swab lingered in place.  Slowly, his muzzle lowered... as did his grip of the bag.  He sat there, shivering slightly as he hugged the burlap container tightly to his chest.  Looking left... then right... ... ...he abandoned his cleaning materials entirely.  On nimble hooves, the little colt bounced and slid his way to a tiny niche between various metal bulkheads.  There—slightly sheltered from the baking sun—he squatted low, containing his breaths.  He reached in, then pulled the ink pen loose.  The rest of the bag unwraveled as if through magic, exposing a pile of brown and white rice.

Swab gulped, and his muzzle watered.  His one ear folded back as he held the scrumptious discovery up to his muzzle and prepared to dig in—

“Whatcha hiding there, sea foam?”

With a tiny yelp, Swab fumbled.  He twisted the bag shut as best as he could, spun around, and held both it and the pen behind his flank.  He found himself immediately staring into the leering grins of two much-bigger colts who had climbed over a set of pipework to loom above him.

“Writing another stupid prayer scroll?”  Whony rolled his green eyes.  “You know Verlaxion's never going to bring your parents back from the dead, ya little shitball.”

Swab's nostrils flared.  “They're not dead.”

“Oh yeah?”  Quint strolled forward, his dull olive coat like a smog cloud billowing around him.  “Then just where are they?”

“They're... out at sea...”  Swab gulped.  “Dredging.”

“Pffft... for two years?  They're dead, Swab,” Quint belched.  “Or else they won't be arsed to come back for a little muckstain like you.”

Swab clenched his jaw shut, glaring at the floor.  “You don't know what you're talking about.”

“Oh, and you do?”  Whony leaned in, almost shoving Swab over with his green-eyed gaze.  “When did you get so smart, huh, Swab?  All our parents are dead, sea foam.  What makes you so special?”

“I... I... uhm...”  Swab cleared his throat, avoiding their gazes.  “I-I really need to work for my nibbles today.”

“Do ya?”  Quint leaned in.  “Why not answer the question, Swab?”

“Huh?”

Quint stopped circling to sneer in the smaller orphan's face.  “I saw you, mucker!  You're hiding something!”

“I... I-I'm not hiding anything!” Swab stammered, nevertheless sweating.  “Honest!”

“Well, that's a shame!”  Quint snorted.  “Because you have the face of a pony who's hiding something!”  He raised his hoof threateningly in the younger pony's muzzle.  “Want I should hide your teeth in your stomach for you?”

Swab sighed.  “So what?”  He glared out two thin eyes.  “You always hit me.”

“Hahah!”  Whony laughed.  “He's got a point there, Q!”

“Shuddup, muckplot, or I'll make ya bloat!”  Quint spat aside at Whony, then turned to Swab again.  “Guess you can't beat up something that's already less than garbage.”  He hissed in Swab's face once more.  “Besides, is there anything left in there that's left to cry?”

“Hey, come on...” Swab kicked at the floor.

“Night after night... weeping into your fleas...” Quint faux-whimpered while Whony laughed.  “You know, maybe there's just nothing left to hurt.”  He smirked.  “So maybe I'll knock Croche's teeth in instead.”

Swab gasped.  He looked up sharply, eyes darting.

“Maybe I'll make a necklace out of her chompers!”

“Yeah!”  Whony added, chuckling.  “One for each time this little sea foam has tried being a smug bastard to us!”

“H-hey!”  Swab's voice cracked.  “You leave Croche out of this!  She's got nothing to do with—”

“What?!”  Quint shoved Swab onto the deck and stood directly above him, glaring.  “She's got nothing to do with what?”  He held a hoof out.  “Whatever you've got, mucker, hoof it over or I'll make her sleep on a bed of her own broken bones!”  He spat.  “And I'll tell you you were the reason for it too!”

“... ... ...”  Swab gulped.  He squirmed, feeling the weight of both the pen and the rice in his hooves.  Eventually, with a heavy sigh, he stretched his forelimb... and held out the rice.

Quint yanked it out of his hoof in an instant.  Whony bounced up and down, muzzle dribbling.  “Knew it.  Sniveling little cheapskate.  Bet you didn't earn this, either.  I wonder what Digiff would think of that!  I wonder what Skagra would think!”

“Please...”  Swab gulped hard, shivering.  “Don't...”

“Hmmmf... you're hardly worth it.”  Quint glare down at the small colt.  “Still, that's the third time this month that you owe me.  By the time we hit another shelf, you'd better be ready to jump through burning pipes, ya shiteater.”

“Hah!  By tonight, he's gonna have to be!”  Whony said.  “Come on!  Come on!  Share some nibbles, Quint—”

“Rggh!”  Quint shoved Whony a few steps aside.  “You get only what you deserve, chump.”  He took a few liberal munches of the rice and trotted off, spitting up a few loose kernels that fell to the floor.  “Good luck sleeping tonight, Swab.  You'd better not let me catch you stealing again.  I can't protect you every time!”

“Heheheh...”

Swab didn't even look at them.  After the two orphans had trotted away, he crawled over to the patch of metal behind their hoofsteps.  He poked at the tiny kernels of rice—still slick and slimy from Quint's saliva.  With careful brushes of his fetlock, Swab wiped them dry.  He then lifted the microscopic morsels to his lips, devouring all he could within the space of a blink.  Sighing, he tucked the pen away behind his one good ear and shuffled back to work.





“Mrmmmff...”  Digiff sat on a pile of metal crates, scribbling frantically on a clipboard.  “Grnnngh... no... no no no!  We've been over that part of the shelf!”  Snarling, he hashed out a length of pre-written notes and slumped there, seething.  A dull crimson sunset bathed in smog and steam over the lengths of Red Barge behind him.  “What more does he want me to harvest?  What are you holding out for, Skagra, ya half-headed bastard?”

Sweating, covered in filth and stains, Swab shuffled up to where Digiff sat.  The colt placed aside his bucket and rags.  He took a few pensive steps closer, staring.  After several seconds passed, he cleared his throat.

Digiff simply grumbled, continuing to wrestle with his numbers.

Nervously, Swab cleared his throat again.

Digiff glanced down at the pony.  “Mrrmmff... and what do you, want?”

“I... uh... I-I scrubbed the southern central Strut, Digiff.”

“Yeah, so?”

Swab blinked.  Hard.  “I... I-I was wondering if... if I earned my—”

“Dammit!”  Digiff cursed through his teeth.  “What are they working with down there?!  Salad tongs?!  I simply cannot afford to replace the digging apparatus again!”

“Uhm... uhm...”  Swab bit his lip.  “Digiff?  Aren't you going to—”

“What do I look like?!”  Digiff barked at the kid.  “The Barge slop bucketer?!  I'm up to my pissholes in backlog, and Nixkit is threatening to wring me by my neck!”

“I... I'm sorry—”

“Are you?!”  Digiff frowned.  “I walked by the central strut three times this afternoon, sea foam.  I thought I told you to get the red out along the lateral deckway!”

“But... b-but...” Swab's eyes twitched.  “It's... it's...”  He gulped.  “The blood's so old, Digiff... and I've only g-got—”

Sneering, Digiff suddenly lunged forth, yanked Swab up by his neck, and slammed him back up against a metal hull.  Clanggg!

Swab winced, dangling in the stallion's grip.

“Do not tell me about blood,” Digiff growled.  “You do what I tell you and you don't talk back.  Do you understand me?  There are worse things in the seven seas that could be feasting on you right now, you little shit.  And don't you forget it.”

Swab merely sputtered for breath.

Digiff's nostrils flared.  Grunting, he released the colt.

Swab fell to his knees, wheezing for breath.  The pen slipped out from behind his ear and rattled to the deck below.

Digiff stomped back to his sitting space and continued pouring over his numbers.  “Go back to the underbasin, kid.”

Swab shuddered, fought sniffles, and got up on wobbly hooves.  “But... but I didn't—”

“You get what you earn,” Digiff grumbled without looking.  “We all do.  Now scram.”

Swab clenched his eyes shut.  He took several deep breaths, reached out, scooped up his pen, then hobbled his way across the struts of Red Barge.





As night fell like a smog-stained curtain, Swab took his sweet time crossing the bridges and ramps to the centeral platform.  There—a rusted set of metal stairs led to a lower cabin level.  Past streams of cargo nettings, a candle-lit hovel loomed, echoing with dozens upon dozens of little foals' voices.

Swab shuffled along, glancing lethargically at the various crowds of youngsters.

Some of the smaller foals found reasons to laugh and giggle.  They chased each other in circles around hollow oil drums and crates full of metal scrap.

In the far corner, Quint, Whony, and a few other older colts sat in a circle, playing cards.  A half-eaten bag of rice loomed a few inches away from the oldest pony in question.

Swab's gaze wandered to the right.

Fillies and colts sat in dangling hammocks, having muffled conversations.  The stain of sweat, soot, and chemicals hung off their raggedy coats, and each of them had noticeable scars blemishing the flesh where a cutie mark once was... or could have been.  Several orphans shivered, squatting tightly around a beat-up sink that had been converted into a crucible for burning scraps of paper.  They leaned against one another while a few held their hooves out before the blissfully warming flame.

Swab trotted across the entire interior, heading towards a dimmer side of the cabin, furthest from the door.  Here, the air reeked with a pungent odor, and flies gathered close to the rusted ceiling.  The foals who sat on the mattresses and hammocks here did so motionlessly, their cheekbones pronounced and their eyes vacant.  They stood for minutes... hours at a time, staring at the flickering flame as if it was four hundred leagues away.

The dullness in their eyes floated before Swab like a cloud.  Overcome with a tiny wave of dizziness, the one-eared pony easily lost his balance.  He stumbled to the side, brushing past a body or two.

“What...?”  An older filly spun about, scowling.  “Excuse you!”  She shoved him with a grunt.

Swab winced, falling completely on his side.  Several more fillies laughed.

“Hahaha... one ear and half a brain!”

“Lemme guess, no nibbles again, Swab?”

“Just give it up and bloat already.  You're making us all look bad.  Isn't that right, Croche?”

Swab shook, struggled, and finally pushed himself back up to his hooves.  Squinting painfully, he glanced at the fillies and their bunkbeds.

All of them were giggling—all but one.  A pony with a light pink coat and sunken eyes of teal.  She blinked dully from where she sat on the top of a dilapidated mattress.

Swab looked back.  Then, shuddering, he turned around and hobbled towards the very corner.

In the distance, a brash colt—trembling from hunger—tried sneaking up behind Quint.  He reached for the bag of rice, starting to pull it away.  Whony glanced over, smirked, and pointed.

Quint spun around—and in a flash he leapt upon the colt, shoving him over.  The smaller pony yelped as Quint rushed in, kicking and kicking and kicking him hard in the belly.  At last, the colt crawled off, sputtering and whimpering in wheezy breaths.  Quint snorted, picked up the spilled rice, and munched on a few of them as he trotted back towards the cardgame and his chuckling comrades.

About this time, Swab had reached a mattress that was raised up on slabs of metal.  He crawled onto it, plucked the pen from his ear, then looked the instrument over.  Carefully, he eyed the rest of the room, then turned around towards the metal wall behind him.  With tiny, prying hooves, he was able to pull one of the outer panels loose.  Reaching in, he fumbled around, then eventually produced a scroll of parchment.

Huddling over, he shook the pen, then tested it for ink.  A mark blemished the paper where Swab commanded it, and that summoned the first smile in several hours.  It was a terribly brief thing.  Taking a deep breath, the little colt proceeded to write in slow... deliberate strokes:





Dear Goddess Verlaxion,

My name is Swab.  And I am a sinner.

I stole today.  A worker—one of Digiff's stallions—was walking across the Barge.  He dropped some rice and a pen.  I could have given it back to him, but when he walked away, I didn't try hard enough.  My mother always taught me that a truth not spoken is just as bad as a lie.  Could a gift not given be just as bad as stealing?

Well, it doesn't matter.  Quint and Whony took the rice.  Because of me, they share the sin now.  It has already hurt somepony.  I know it because I saw.

I kept the pen too.  I know that this is also sinful of me, but at least it allows me to write to you for the first time in weeks.  Nixkit is always telling me and the other orphans that Verlaxion hears our prayers, even if we put them down on paper.  I don't expect you to forgive me, Goddess.  But maybe if I confess my sins and pray hard enough, you will at least forgive my parents... and you will bring them back here... so that they can be safe.  That's all I really want.  It doesn't matter what you do to me, as long as my parents get to find their way back.

So, here they are.  Here are my sins this week.  I pray, Verlaxion, that you are merciful after reading about them.  I know that nopony else would be...
> Hope is the Greatest Sin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“No!  Don't make me go down there!”  A stallion whimpered, pleaded.  He crawled across the rusted deck of Red Barge, dragging a limp, infected leg.  “I... I-I can still be of use!  I-I-I can scrape the barnacles off the eastern struts!  Or assist in navigation!  Or—”

“Your leg's too far gone,” Dredger Nixkit droned, looming above the stallion in the salty air.  “You aren't doing anything on all fours.”

“You don't know that for sure!”  The stallion stammered, hyperventilating.  “Who says I-I can't be of use on the surface anymore?!”

“The Harvest is low!” Digiff growled.  “We need all the help down below that we can get!  It's either this or the drink, pal.”

“Please... pl-please there has to be something else I can d-do!”

“We all pull our weight around here,” Nixkit said.  “It's time you pulled your own.”  He gestured aside.  “Digiff.  Saxon.  Take him under.”

“No!  No!”  The stallion struggled, close to sobs.  “Please!  I-I don't want to go down there!”

Digiff grabbed one half while Saxon got a legful of the other.  “Clench your teeth, buddy!”  Saxon said, a grin plastered across his dirty face.  “'Cuz this is gonna make your ears pop!”

The stallion's struggles amounted to nothing.  Soon, Digiff and Saxon were carrying him down a slanted corridor.  At the pull of a lever, a toothed set of doors schwished open.  The sound of grinding gears and billowing furnaces echoed thunderously, now accompanied by the stallin's shrieks as he was carried down to the lower levels.  Steam and smog vented loose—stopping only when the doors slammed shut again, silencing everything.

Nixkit exhaled, fanning himself as he turned and shuffled towards the Skag Hole on the topmost central platform.  “They don't come as obedient as they used to...”

Meanwhile, Swab shuffled past all of this, dragging a rickety cart full of rusted bits and metal nick nacks.  His one good ear twitched to the sound of struggle, and he kept his dull face aimed forward.





A lot of ponies here don't enjoy working on the Red Barge.  But a lot of them would do even worse if they tried going elsewhere.  This is something Top Dredger Skagra reminds us about all the time.  The seven seas are huge and full of scary things.  We're lucky to live where we do, where we can get nibbles for our hard work.

That's food.  Skagra provides it to us through Dredger Nixkit and Dredger Digiff.  I work very hard so I can eat.  Sometimes, though, I don't work so hard... or at least I reach the end of the day knowing that I could have worked harder.  When I receive food on my lazier days, I know I could say something.  I could be honest.  But I hold my tongue.  I lie so I can get extra nibbles.  I know I'm hungry, but dishonesty is still bad.  So I ask for your forgiveness, Goddess.  Please don't punish my parents for it.





Swab and several other fillies and colts stood along the northern strut of Red Barge.  Side by side, they painted the hull of the conjoined ships a brighter shade of crimson.  Steam pipes vented mists all around them, and the extra moisture made the task a great deal more difficult.

Behind them, Quint, Whony, and a few other colts stood on a series of lattices, painting an even higher length of metal.  The older colts shared a laugh or two, conversing with sweaty breaths and dirty grunts as they casually continued with their all-important task.

Swab's right ear twitched, for he heard a wheezing sound.  Looking to his side, he saw a filly teetering left and right.  Finally, overcome by fatigue and heat, she collapsed, spilling red paint all over herself and a portion of the deck.

With a gasp, Swab dropped his paint tools and rushed over to her.  He was about to pull her up into a sitting position when he heard the booming shouts of Quint up above.  Curious, he spun around, tilting his gaze skyward.

Quint's teeth showed as he snarled, gesturing for Swab to leave the filly alone.  Whony made sneering faces while several other orphans simply stared at the scene.

Reluctantly, Swab backtrotted to his paint tools.  He picked his brush up, dipped it in the paint, and resumed his task—albeit with occasional trembles.  His eyes darted towards the side, watching as the filly's breath grew shallow and shallower.





Sometimes we all work together as a group, and whether or not we get our nibbles depends on how well we get the job done.  Quint—one of the oldest kids here on the Barge—has more or less become our leader... a “little dredger,” I guess.  He can be really bossy, even mean, but we all know that he's trying to keep us organized so that we can all eat at the end of the day.

Still, it isn't always easy obeying him.  Like the other day when Fish Flier fainted right next to me.  She had gone for three days without nibbles, and working with the group was her one chance to earn something.  But her body was too weak.  I wanted to help her... to care for her like every Foal of Verlaxion should care for one another, but I would have dragged the whole group down.  Quint made sure I stayed in line, so I wouldn't risk the nibbles for the rest of us.  Perhaps I should have disobeyed him.  Perhaps all of us could have gone for an extra day without eating if it meant Fish Flier getting back to health.

Point is, I didn't try hard enough.  I let Fish Flier lie there, covered in blisters and paint.  And for that, I am sorry, Goddess, and I plead with you to forgive my sin.





The cart of food didn't last long.  Orphans stained with sweat and paint grabbed all they could from Digiff's delivery.  The hunger was intense, but the ritual of the provisions was even heavier.  Each pony swiped up a single morsel of food and then galloped off to their respective habitat within the underground hovel.

A pair of colts sat beside a burning barrel, munching liberally on their meal.  Fillies sat against a stack of mattresses, giggling and gabbing off the stress of the day between frenzied bites.  Quint and his group—of course—had a large bevy of meal.  Random orphans would shuffle up to his lamp-lit corner, offering scraps of metal and tools for trade.  Whony would examine each, converse with Quint, and then the older colts would offer more nibbles in exchange.

Swab trotted past all of this, cradling a rectangular block of crumbly bread.  His eyes narrowed, focused on a bunkbed positioned far ahead and against a wall.  As he arrived, a group of orphans finished foraging all over the bed and the metal crate beside it.  They scampered off in random directions with pilfered items in their position.  Some of them returned to their own quarters to stow the objects away.  Others galloped straight towards Quint's niche to bargain.  Whatever the case, as they all galloped away, Swab found the bunkbed and its surrounding furnishings completely stripped of materials.

Lying on the bed, her head and legs dangling at unnatural angles, was Fish Flier.  Her eyes were thin and glazed over, and she stared off into the dull shadows of the compartment.

Swab sat on the grimy mattress next to her.  Exhaling, he placed his meal on the surface... then slid it over towards the filly.  He rested there, smiling kindly at the other orphan.  This carried on for several wordless seconds.  Eventually, Swab's smile faded.  Curious, he tilted his head to the side, peering closer.

Fish Flier's coat was considerably paler than usual.  The flesh around her lips and eyelids had turned dark, thick, and swelling.  A fly settled on her muzzle, crawled into her mouth, then flitted out.  The filly made no movement whatsoever.

Swab blinked.  His one ear drooped.  Staring at the floor, he squirmed slightly.  At last, after a full minute of this, he reached over, picked up his meal, then left the body altogether.  He shuffled off to his own little corner to eat his pay for the day.





Most of us here are what the dredgers call “sea foam.”  It means that we don't belong to anything but the ocean.  Lots of older ponies like to think that we just crawled out of the surf and hopped aboard the Red Barge.  Maybe that makes it easier for them to put us to work.  It doesn't make it easier for us.

Sea Foam have no parents.  Sea Foam have no future beyond nibbles.  Whatever our cutie marks may have once said, it doesn't matter, because our talents are to serve the Barge.  If we live long enough, we become Dredgers.  If we're lucky, that means we work above deck.  That's how Saxon got his job as a tower guard.

But if we're still weak or lazy when we get older, then we work down in the Harvest Chambers.  Ponies don't like going down there.  I doubt I would either, because that means I'd likely never come out.

I have to work hard.  I have to grow up to be strong and reliable.  It's not easy.  I already lost my ear to a steam vent.  But Top Dredger Skagra made it on top, and he had it worse.  So what should I complain about?  I can make it.  I can live long enough to see my parents again.

I don't care what anypony says.  I am not Sea Foam.  My parents were once sent out to search for better harvest shelves, and they haven't come back.  That's all.  They're still out there, my Goddess.  You must know this too, which is why I ask that you take care of them.

Please don't punish them for my sins... for the moments when I feel so angry and cold that I want to do mean things... like spit in Quint's face or grab the nibbles from sick ponies in the beds next to me.  I don't do these things, of course, but only because I don't think I could get away with them.  And that's not a good reason at all.  I need help in not having these bad thoughts to begin with.  I just need to work hard and pray.  Mother always said that was enough to please you, Goddess.  I really hope it's still true.





“Auggh!”  A stallion grunted in the daylight.

Swab looked over from where he was rubbing the grime off a steam pipe.

A dredger regained his balance from tripping over a little filly with a light pink coat.  Bags full of tools fell across the deck around him.  “Grrrrgh!”  He turned, snarling.  “You stupid little bitch!  Didn't Dredger Digiff teach you about keeping the middle struts clear?”

“I'm sorry, sir,” the filly droned, hobbling back onto all fours.  “It won't happen aga—”  Wham!  A hoof flew across her muzzle.  She spun once and fell limply to the deck.

Swab winced.  He jolted to his hooves, as if wanting to rush over to her.  But a glare from Quint two steam-shafts away anchored him in place.

“Now it won't happen again,” the stallion hissed.  Then spat on her scarred flank.  “Stupid Sea Foam!  Why Skagra doesn't just flush you young shitheaps out to muck is beyond me!”

“Come on, Trent...”  Another stallion patted his shoulder.  “It was just an accident.  Let's go.”

“Accident?  They're all accidents!”  The stallion hissed and wheezed.  “I made it this far because I worked hard!  Look at that little shrimp!  She won't last another damn year!  Somepony should just put her out of her misery—”

“Trent, we have work to do now,” the stallion said forcefully.  “Dredger Nixkit is watching us.  Don't drag behind because of some clumsy sea foam.”

Trent's nostrils flared.  His eyes thinned and his ears drooped for some reason.  As he turned around, Swab saw a steam scar over his flank where a cutie mark would otherwise have been.

The workers gathered their things and shuffled off.  Not long after, the filly's body stirred.

Swab squinted.

She stood up, her nose leaking blood.  Five fillies rushed over to her, and when they arrived she held out five pieces of metal junk that she had somehow stolen from Trent during the whole ordeal.

“Hah!  Slick hooves have done it again!”

“Well done, Croche.”

“Yeah... way to go, Croche.”

“Whony's going to love these.”

“This will get us all extra nibbles for sure.”

They ruffled her mane and shared a hug or two.

Croche merely gave a limp nod.  One of her sunken eyes appeared a great deal darker.  With a dainty hoof, she wiped the blood off her muzzle... then glanced across the deck at Swab.

Swab bit his lip.  He looked towards where Quint stood, but the older colt wasn't looking.  With a shudder, Swab returned to his work.





While I try to do things right, not all foals down here think or act the same way.

For instance, I caught Croche and her friends stealing from some of the Dredgers for the fourth time this month.  They're good at what they do, and in a way I kind of admire it.  But it's wrong... and I know it's wrong.  Not only is it bad to steal, but they could risk all of our nibbles if they were caught doing it, even if they're only looking after themselves.

If I cared at all about the rest of us, then I'd tell on them.  I'd go straight to Digiff or Nixkit and let them know where all of the missing tools have gone.

But it's been a full month, and I still haven't said a word.  I'm just as guilty of stealing as they are now.  And you know what the worst part of that is?  I haven't felt sorry about it until right this moment, as I write these words down and share with you my heart, dear Goddess.

Please, Verlaxion, forgive me for allowing this sort of a thing to continue.  And I hope you have it within your gracious heart to forgive me... and to be easy on my parents... because I really don't think I'm gonna put a stop to it tomorrow.  Or the next day.  Or the next...





Along one of the upper platforms, Swab stood, mopping up a length of grimy metal deck.  He paused to wipe his brow, then leaned against his mop.

Something happened, and it forced him to squint.

He tilted his head up, gazing beyond the struts made of fused boats... the pipework and smokestacks brimming with smog.

Due west, beyond the rolling seas, the polluted clouds that orbited Red Barge had briefly lifted.  A fiery red sunset loomed along the horizon, bathing the seven seas with crimson sparkle and shimmer.

Swab exhaled.  He leaned his muzzle against the end of the mop's stick.

Slowly, a smile formed, lingering on the edges of his dirtied face.  He closed his eyes before the moisture could bring forth a saline that rivaled the sea air's.





And just the other day, the strangest thing of all happened.  I saw a piece of the sky... and I felt happy.

And ever since then, I can't help but wonder if feeling happy is a good thing.  I almost feel as bad about it as I do about lying or stealing.  Because it doesn't seem right, Goddess, for me to be the only foal here who's parents are still alive.  I'm drowning in Sea Foam, and yet... there's always this strange place... this cloud that parts and I am there, gazing into the light, smiling.

Because I know that they will come back to me someday.  They won't come for the hungry foals... the mean foals... or the dying foals.  They'll be coming back for me and only me.  And it almost feels wrong to know this... to know that something good will come in the end.  That my parents are coming back for me and I know this and every other pony around me is just... here.  And for what?  What do they have to look forward to?  What are they fighting for every day?  Just to grow up to become like Digiff or Saxon or all the other Dredgers?

I don't feel like them, and it's starting to make me selfish.  Please forgive me, Verlaxion.  Is it a sin to hope?  You are wise and you are gracious, and you know more about these things than I ever will.  I ask that you help me get stronger... smarter... so that I may be a better pony for these other foals.  That I may be a better pony for my parents.  They've been gone so long... so very long.  I have to be strong for them or else they'll be disappointed when they return.

And I thank you, Verlaxion, that they will return.  You're so merciful, and I will continue to pray to you everyday.

Sincerely,

Swab
> A Warm Rush Of Blood
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Somewhere...

Deep within ancient rock and time-weathered granite...

A pegasus guard in a silver helmet stood beneath a single torch protruding from the wall above.  The faint whistle of cold, howling winds echoed down the curved corridor.  He blew on his hooves, rubbed the fetlocks together, then held them towards the flame overhead.  After much fuss and effort, a slight smile crossed his lips, and he started to feel more at ease.

Around that time, a pair of hoofsteps rattled from a distance, growing closer.

The guard flinched.  He jerked in place, threw his silver horseshoes back on, and stood at ready.  As the hoofsteps approached, they were accompanied by a dim glow of candlelight.  He craned his neck, squinting through the visor of his helmet to see better.

The candlelight drew closer, bobbing like a lantern bug.  At last, the guard made out two faces—one of a stallion and the other belonging to another armored guard.

“Who goes there?” the pegasus asked.

The guard scuffled to a stop and cleared her throat.  “At ease, soldier.  This is—”

“Ahem...”  The stallion shuffled past her with a calm smile.  “Please, madame.  Allow me.”

“Oh.  By all means.  If you insist.”

“Oh, and I do!  After all, doing the introduction is over half of my function.  Ahem.”  The stallion came to a stop, chin tilted up.  “I am Professor Theanim Mane of the Ninety-Seventh Rohbredden Scientific Order.”

“Uh huh.”  The pegasus nodded.  “I'm guessing you're here to see the freak?”

Theanim sighed.  “I do believe—even at this venture—the most appropriate term is 'suspect of questionable motive and conviction'.  Let us leave the rest of his designation to Goddess Verlaxion, thank you very much.”

“Mmmmf.  Whatever you say, Professor.”  The pegasus nodded at the other guard.  “I'll take it from here.”

She nodded and stood in place in the corridor.

Flapping his wings in the chilly air, the pegasus lifted up to grab the torch.

“No no no...”  Theanim shook his head, waving a hoof.  “Please.  Do leave it.”

The stallion squinted down at him.  “Are you sure?”

“Quite.”  Theanim smiled.  “Trust me.  It will be for the best.”

“Alright, then.”  The pegasus landed and trotted down a series of winding steps.  “Follow me.  And keep close, Professor.”

“That I shall.”

The guard led him through a winding passageway.  At one point they passed a horizontal slit of a window, through which blinding gray light shone—along with the occasional drift of lazy white snowflakes.  Theanim shuddered slightly, but withstood the cold.  His ears twitched from howling winds and the muffled sounds of sobbing prisoners above and below him.

At last, they reached the end of a particularly long hallway.  Within a deep niche—untouched by sunlight and torchlight—was a barred cell echoing with drips of moisture.

“Verlaxion's Sleet...” The guard shuddered.  “This place is abysmal without torchlight.  You sure you don't want a fire?”

“If you're so concerned about your prisoner escaping, my good gentlecolt, don't be.  You can stand out here if you need to.”

“I'll be close by, Professor,” the guard said while rummaging through a thick set of keys.  “Just holler if you... if you... well...”

“There'll be no hollering today, but I do appreciate the sentiment.”

With an audible click, the guard opened the gate.  He pointed a hoof in.  “There ya go, Professor.”

“Much appreciated.”  Theanim trotted through the door.  The guard fastened it behind him, locked it, then shuffled backwards so that he was just beyond earshot of the cell.

Sealed off in the cold, pitch-black chamber, Theanim felt his way forward.  He fumbled for a bit, then came to a stop against a wooden table and matching chair.  After a deep breath, the Professor spoke, his voice echoing off the cold stone walls.

“I can hear you breathing, old chap,” Theanim said.  “It's not nearly as labored as last time.  Does this mean you're eating the food they've brought for once?  You do sound healthier.”

Silence.

And then:  “Do you want the truth, Theams?  Or something that will make you feel better?”

“Don't pretend to forget who you're talking to, Echo.”

More silence.

Up above, Theanim's vision barely caught sight of a black outline against the darkness, hanging upside down.  A pair of limp wings drooped while the figure stretched his legs.

“This cell used to be crawling with rats,” Echo said, his voice strangely warm, even mirthful.

“Oh... I-I'm terribly sorry.”  Theanim winced.  “Certainly I can ask a guard to get right on that.”

“No.  You... you don't understand.  The rats are gone now.”

“Oh?”

“... … …do you really think I would have settled for these flankholes' prison food?”

Theanim opened his muzzle... then rolled his eyes.  Adjusting his goggles, he sat down on the chair with a sigh.  “Well then...”  He smiled.  “How did it feel to be on the hunt again, old chap?”

The body flipped right-side up, landed, and twirled towards Theanim with a flash of fangs.  “Bucking fantastic.”

“My oh my...”  Theanim leaned his chin on his hoof.  “You're rather chipper this time.”

“Do... do you really think so?”  Echo's figure paced left and right across the dark, dark chamber.  “I-I mean... yes.  Blood feels good. Fresh blood.  I don't care if it belonged to a flea bag or not.  It was just so fresh and warm and... and toasty...”

“I really do apologize for the frigid conditions of this prison wing, Echo,” Theanim exhaled.  “You must understand.  It's the only part of the installation that's dark enough to handle—”

“Mother of Nightmares on a bike, Theams, will you please stop apologizing?!” Echo grumbled.  With a grunt, he plunged to the floor.  There, he did rapid push-ups on his hooves.  “Grnnngh... I bet even the mares' wing of the prison isn't as pussified as you.”

“Well, when I managed to finagle a transfer from Shoggoth, I was... somewhat hoping you'd get a better place to stay.”

“Look.  A prison's a prison.  You could be anywhere and still be miserable.  This, I know.”  Echo hopped back onto all fours and resumed pacing.  “I also know that there's a fire inside me that can't be snuffed out.  It's been burning at all hours of the night since you found me in Rust.  I... I feel like... like I could fly loops around Frostknife!  I mean... I can't, of course, but the feeling is there, at least!  And my senses!  Everything here smells rotten, rank, and festering—and I love it!  Because it's real!  And I-I know it's real!  And I'm... I'm...”

“Did you ever think you would come this far?”  Theanim leaned forward.  “So many years living dull and dead beneath the surface of your coral smoking, and I imagine the tiniest ripple in reality feels like an exhilarating mountain now.”

“It's... it's unlike anything I've ever experienced before.  And yet, it's not.”  Dull silence.  The sarosian's body drifted forward until Theanim could make out the faint outline of a melancholic muzzle.  “Theanim... I am... very sorry that I ever doubted you.”

“I'm not.”  Theanim smiled warmly.  He reached out and touched the stallion's shoulder.  “Resistance and frustration is part of the healing process.  I only wished that you could emerge from such a grave to find far homelier circumstances.”

“Mrmmfff...”  Echo's nostrils flared. “It was either that or the mother bucking firing squad beneath the ocean.”

“Old Chap.”  Theanim shook his head.  “Camellia's guards were not about to execute you in Shoggoth.”

“Right.  So now, instead of rotting away on the ocean's floor, you've brought me here to be executed by the Right Talon of Verlaxion!”

“Echo, don't even pretend to joke!”  Theanim frowned.  “You're far too valuable alive, after all!  Your knowledge of the inner workings of Mudtop and the Syndicate is crucial to future investigations—”

“Heheheheh...”

Theanim stomped his hoof.  “Stop laughing!”  Huffing, he folded his forelimbs.  “Honestly.  You can be... s-such a foalish agitator at times!”

“It never fails to amuse me.  I'm the one in prison, and you're the basket-case.”

“You're the only pony these days with the intuition to perceive that, old chap.”  Theanim sighed.  “Believe me.  Everypony on the outside has been gnawing on their own fetlocks over what's happened in Rust, Shoggoth, and beyond.  I feel like I'm the only sane stallion in all of Rohbredden.”

“How goes the quest to pacify the Council of Verlaxion?” Echo asked.

Theanim leaned back, exhaling.  “I do believe that's an impossible task.”

“Is that your scientific assessment?”

“Science and reason won't hold sway over these bureaucrats.  Remember that account I shared with you about the Scientific Order's presentation on Continental Cooling two centuries ago and how the Council at the time blatantly ignored them?”

“No.”

“Guhh...” Theanim rolled his blue eyes then muttered:  “The point is... the Council has this historical aversion to rationality and logic.  In its place, however pathetically, is an undeniable affinity for pathos and melodrama.”  Theanim's jaw clenched.  “The true powers that hold sway in the Council are those that arouse paranoia, pity, and rage—the unholy trinity of political action.”

“Sounds really shitty,” Echo said.  “Why do I get the feeling that somepony's already gunning for your scalp?”

“I... wouldn't know about that.”  Theanim cleared his throat.  “I've spoken with the Council before, and on every occasion I never made enemies.”

“Yeah, but when was the last time you actually tried legitimately convincing them of anything?”

“Mmmmm... good point.”  Theanim shifted where he sat.  “I suppose I could conceivably have formed some rivals since the last declaration I made before the Magistrates.”

“Any idea who?”

“I'd... rather not jump to conclusions,” Theanim said, shaking his head.  “Right now, the most important thing is delivering the truth as well as I can.”

“Hmmmmmmmmm...”  Echo tapped his fanged muzzle.

Theanim arched an eyebrow.  “What's going on in that leathery head of yours?”

“Simply that—for a stallion who seems to know how broken the system is—you're trying really dayum hard to work outside of it.”  Echo shook his head.  “I don't think that's going to work so well for you in the end.”

“What would you suggest?”

“Do you really want to know?”

Theanim gestured.  “You said it yourself.  Your head is clear and your blood is warm for the first time in ages.  I would like to think that you can put all of that to good use.”

Echo said:  “You're hell-bent on proving Rainbow Dash's innocence in light of all of these accusations and suppositions, right?”

“Absolutely, old chap.”

“I'm not sure stacking our evidence against theirs is going to make that happen,” Echo remarked.  “If you really want to impress upon these stuck-up bastards and bastardettes, then you'll need to stoop to their level.  Appeal to the meat in their hearts, not the bone in their brains.”

“I don't quite feel like that's a valid option.”

“Hey...”  Echo shrugged.  “You're the one sounding pessimistic about it all.”

“It's rather simple, Echo,” Theanim said.  “What these ponies need is the truth.  And the truth—above all else—is pure and irrefutable.  What I must find a way to do is to present the truth in a way that is obvious and decipherable to every Magistrate in existence.”

“And this will somehow convince them that the 'Rainbow Rogue' is nothing to be afraid of?”

Theanim did a double-take.  “You...”  He squinted in the dark.  “How did you hear about that?”

Echo shrugged.  “It's a small prison.  A cold prison.”  He waved a shorn fetlock.  “Also, the guards are bored.”

“You don't say...?”

“Blitz Steel.”  A fanged smile.  “He chats up his bunkmates about the Rainbow Rogue and her monstrous 'life-leeching' abilities all the time.  And Feather Faith?  Her two little foals at school like to play games of 'catch the Rainbow.'  It's apparently all the rage, and they're already passing rainbow masks around the marketplaces in preparation for the festivities of Unification Day.”

“Blessed Goddess...”  Theanim leaned back.  “Look at you!”  He grinned.  “Getting friendly with the natives... especially the natives that have you under lock and key.”

Echo shrugged.  “I was bored.  They were bored.  We connected.”

“Is it wrong that I feel strangely proud of you?”

“Is it wrong that I never understood how special that was?”  Echo blinked across the cold chamber.  “I mean... I-I know I've been a real dickface to you, Theams, and there have probably been times when you wanted to strangle me.  But somehow... you kept on chugging and...”

“Echo, it's quite fine—”

“You saved my life, Theanim.”  Echo shuddered.  “You... saved my life.  And now you're trying to save Rainbow.  It's... it's very...”

“Friendly?”

“... … ...I was going to say 'noble.'”

Theanim blinked.  He was about to say something when—

Echo's body jerked.

“What is it?” Theanim asked.

“Guards.  Lots of them.”

“Are...” Theanim turned around.  “Are they coming here?”

“No.”  Echo shook his head.  “But they're galloping somewhere... and fast.”

Theanim stood up in time to hear the massive echo of clamoring hooves.  He peered through the bars, watching as armored guards rushed up the stone steps with candles and torches.  Echo retreated further into the shadows behind him while the scientist called out:

“Hey!  What's all the commotion about?”

The pegasus who escorted him there shuffled up towards the bars, breathless.  “It's the Right Talon of Verlaxion, Professor.  They've been spotted flying into Frostknife.”

“I knew it!  The firing squad!”

Theanim rolled his eyes, then grumbled over his shoulder:  “Calm down, old chap.  They're here because Grand Magistrate Hymnos summoned them to the Court.”

“They're assembling within the hour,” the guard said.  “I trust you would wish to attend?”

“Wouldn't miss it for all the rice of the steppes,” Theanim said.  He looked over his shoulder again.  “Echo...?”

“It's alright, Theanim.  I understand.  Duty calls.”  The voice lifted back up to the ceiling, twisting upside down.  “Go get 'em, ya old bastard.”

“Right.”  Theanim waited as the guard unlocked the door from the outside.

“And Theams...?”

The door creaked open.  The scientist turned and gazed up at the dark roof.  “Yes, Echo?”

“About Rainbow Dash...”  The leathery shape fidgeted.  “Have ever you stopped to consider...”

“Consider what?”

“... … ...that what they say is true?”  A pair of hollow eyes gazed in Theanim's direction.  Vapors drifted in the cold prison air.  “...that she really did do all of those bad things to the monks and their holy Reed?  What then?”

Theanim's ears drooped.  After a sullen breath, he murmured:  “Then let us hope, by Verlaxion's grace, that I'm able to reach out to her before the Right Talon does.”  Bearing a faint smile, he bowed.  “Take care of yourself, friend.”

“Somepony already has.”  And Echo's figure disappeared behind the cold shudder of iron bars.
> A Strange Threat Called "Harmony"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	One by one, five elite griffons sliced their way through misty clouds of frost.  Their bodies formed a gray “V” of serrated silver wing armor.  As the fog cleared, cold glittery water appeared below them.

“I've... uh...”  Raptr gulped beneath his beak.  Condensation ran slick and shiny off his helmet as he soared his way north.  “I've only been in the presence of two magistrates at once.  Maybe three.”  He glanced aside.  “But every representative from every prefecture?”

“Don't be nervous, rookie,” Windburst droned.  “You're the one with the ability to snap their necks with your beak.  Not the other way around.”

“Not amusing, Sergeant,” Keris said.

“I thought it was funny,” Starstorm said.

Windburst chuckled.

“I mean... they expect so much out of us!” Raptr stammered.  The waters below became clearer, broken occasionally by steam ships and sailing vessels, growing denser and denser in traffic.  “What do I even say to them once they're all looking at us?”

“Nothing,” Keris replied.  “It's the Commander who speaks for the Right Talon of Verlaxion.”

“Oh.  R-right...”  Raptr smiled nervously.  He glanced ahead at Seraphimus' silver-blue feathers.  “Jee, Commander.  That's a big burden to carry.”

“Shhhh!”  Starstorm hissed aside.  “Don't lay it on thick, rookie!”

“Yeah,” Windburst remarked.  “She has enough stress to deal with as it is.”

Without looking back, Seraphimus calmly spoke into the foggy winds:  “It is my righteous duty to personally bridge the gap between Verlaxion's wisdom and Her fierce might.”

“Ah.”  Raptr nodded.  “But of course...”

“Plus...”  Seraphimus added with a shrug.  “The Magistrates are nervous, prone to paranoia, and incredibly easy to intimidate.”

Keris closed his eyes and sighed.

Seraphimus looked over her shoulder with a subtle smirk.  “Maybe you should consider looking into politics, Sergeant.”

“Yeah!  Haha!  Maybe I should—”  Raptr's hawkeyes crossed.  “Wait...”

Windburst and Starstorm laughed.

Keris exhaled lethargically.  “We are soon to be in the presence of Verlaxion's finest subjects...”

“Relax, Lieutenant,” Seraphimus spoke in a soothing tone.  “After all...”  Her silver plated talon motioned ahead.  “We are home.”

They descended further, and the mists cleared.  Before them stretched the mouth of an enormous fjord.  It was more like a canal—in that it looked positively unnatural.  Nevertheless, very real cliffs loomed three hundred to four hundred feet above very real waters.  The rockfaces were cold slabs of frost-laden granite, with ice that gave the walls a pale blue sheen in the overcast daylight.  The narrow inlet opened at the southern edge of the Rohbredden continent and sliced its way north in a near-perfect geometric wedge.  At its widest, the tall icy walls loomed three hundred feet from one another, then gradually closed together—very gradually—over the course of miles.

This was Frostknife, and it wasn't an empty place—not by any means.  Steamships, merchant vessels, and fishing skiffs filled the intensely voluminous harbor.  Docks—many of them ancient in construction—lined the west and east edges of the inlet.  Over the course of centuries, immeasurably tall and complex lattices of wood and iron had been hammered into the tall cliff-faces.  Some loomed so high up above the waters that they required huge iron struts hammered into the walls at forty-five degrees to support the looming platforms.  Gigantic cranes and pulley systems lifted cargo and supplies from the lower docks to the upper spires.  At the upper heights, lengthy ramps and stairs scaled the walls, leading to dwellings built on the continental shelf high above the cold, cold waters of Frostknife.  There—high above the bustling harbors—humble turf houses and stave sanctuaries lingered.

Chimneys and smokestacks in every other spot billowed smoke into the air from the endless burning of Dredge Coal.  This staved off the cold that clung to every square inch of the frozen inlet, and despite the seemingly harsh conditions the many-many ponies and griffons of Rohbredden that blanketed the platforms and docksides below carried about their business with lively enthusiasm and ritualistic diligence.  Several of them saw the arrival of the Right Talon up above.  Gasps filled the frosty air, and several bodies bowed from a distance in reverence.

Seraphimus led the group north in a sharp slice.  They traversed the lengths of Frostknife, even as the walls closed in.  They pierced columns of smoke, ducked beneath looming platforms and bridges that spanned the inlet, and sped past their own reflections in the icy water below.  The air grew colder, with flakes of snow growing more and more dense.

At last, after a solid ten minutes of flight, an end to the channel appeared beyond the vanishing point.  The platforms lessened, giving way to elaborately carved effigies within the stone itself.  Here, at the very end of Frostknife's jagged slice, an ancient city had been built into the adjoining cliff-faces.  Steps chiseled out of the hard rock over the course of millennia led up, up, up to a focal point above the spot where the two walls met.  Effigies of windigoes—their stone manes flaring—watched over the crashing of freshly melted ice water, forever flowing from their righteous heights and into the inlet below.  The snow dissipated, giving way to the sporadic drift of pale white and pink petals from an array of cherry blossom trees planted into lofty plots of soil high above the inlet.  Right as the Right Talon arrived on flaring wings, dozens upon hundreds of finely robed magistrates could be seen scaling the majestic steps towards the carved courtyard at the base of a tall, tall mountain: the obscure home to Verlaxion's frozen throneroom.





Professor Theanim Mane galloped up one such set of stairs.  Panting, he emerged upon the courtyard just as Grand Magistrate Hymmnos and several other delegates arrived.  He trotted briskly across the stone, avoiding a pair of servants who were sweeping away a large collection of leaves and petals to clear the way for delegates' hooves and talons.

“Grand Magistrate...” Theanim said, bowing before the podium.

“Professor Mane,” Hymmnos calmly murmured, signing a few important documents before hoofing them away to a humble clerk.  “You're just in time.”

“Is it true?” Theanim asked.  “Is the Right Talon of Verlaxion actually arriving?”

“Yes.”  Hymmnos nodded.  “And you may be interested in what the executive of the Shoreline Trade Consortium has brought.”

Theanim blinked.  “Chandler?”  He adjusted the goggles over his mane as his blue eyes narrowed.  “Just where is the stallion—?”

Right then and there, five sets of talons landed behind him, scraping briefly across the stonework.  A heavy gasp flew from the crowd.  Magistrates stood up, eyes wide.  Others bowed.  Up above—in their frosted globes—the seaponies flickered with many excited colors.

Theanim calmly turned around.  He watched as the five elite griffons stood up from their crouched landing.  One by one they retracted their bladed armor—clak-clakka!—exposing their natural plumage to the cold air of the Courtyard.  While murmurs echoed all around, Seraphimus removed her helmet, looked at Theanim... then strolled past him.  She took position besides Grand Magistrate Hymmnos, then stood there without saying a word.

Grand Magistrate Hymmnos smiled, then slapped her ice shard several times against the top of her podium.  “Order!  Order!  The Right Talon of Verlaxion has arrived!  Court is now in session!”

In hushed whispers, the Magistrates of Rohbredden's Prefectures sat in their ampitheatrical seats, facing the Grand Magistrate along with Theanim and the summoned soldiers.

“Blessings be to Goddess Verlaxion for her wisdom and fortune granted to us this day,” Hymmnos ritualistically quoted, eyes briefly shut.  With that over with, she cleared her throat and spoke:  “Today's business is in following our last session, upon which we voted to summon Commander Seraphimus and the Right Talon of Verlaxion to address the issue of this 'Rainbow Rogue' and her potential threat to Rohbredden's interests.”  The Grand Magistrate pivoted to face the Commander in question.  “Most honorable and courageous Seraphimus, have you been briefed on the situation at hoof?”

Seraphimus nodded.  “I have, Grand Magistrate.  And though it would benefit me to hear more of the Council's perspective—if I may be allowed to speak before the Court first?”

“By all means, Commander.”

“My thanks to you and the wisdom granted by Verlaxion.”  After a brief bow, Seraphimus paced before the crowd.  “I am Seraphimus, the Right Talon of Verlaxion.  As such, I am but a humble servant of Verlaxion... which makes me a humble servant of this Council.”

Theanim watched, his eyes narrow.  Timplan, Vilcheez, and several other magistrates gazed intently from their seats.  Windburst, Raptr, and Starstorm listened carefully, their feathery heads cocked.  Keris sat on the sidelines, his arms folded as his eyes and ears lingered on the Commander.

“I have pledged my life—and the lives of my wingmates—to the protection of Verlaxion's foals here in Rohbredden.  We elite are powerful, but few.  To this effect, we have relegated our powers to defending the interior landscape of Verlaxion's chosen continent.  In recent months, this task has grown... increasingly taxing.  It has tested our wits, exercised our strength... and taught us the hard price of sacrifice—of which we know too well.”

Windburst and Starstorm momentarily hung their heads.  Raptr fidgeted slightly, feeling the eyes on him.

“There is a terrible evil resisting the goodness and mercy of Verlaxion,” Seraphimus said, her charcoal brown eyes taking on an icy glint.  “We just finished combating it in Pine Prefecture—but it's spread even deeper than that.  All across the continent, horrible miscreants have attempted hijacking Dredge Coal—the life blood of Rohbredden prosperity and well-being.”  Her eyes darted towards Keris.  “We have... several theories about those responsible for this, but unfortunately the vagabonds we've apprehended thus far have given us very little help in apprehending the true cause.”

Keris clenched his beak.  He tilted his head aside, and he spotted a pair of blue eyes looking his way.  He and Theanim shared a brief albeit thoughtful glance.

Seraphimus continued:  “Tackling this shadowy presence is the forefront of my duty to Verlaxion... to her beloved children living in the central prefectures and the coastal habitats abroad.  As of this month, my wingmates and I have stopped no less than seven plots on behalf of terrorists who would like nothing more than to sabotage the upcoming Unification Day and the Month of Thawing that follows.  This is a startling, growing problem, and it doesn't appear to have any hope of stopping.”

She bowed low, her neckfeathers ruffling in the cold, frosty air.

“So I humbly appeal to this Court... to the wise and gifted unicorns... to the earth ponies who provide us with rice and fruit... to the pegasi who keep our commerce flowing... to my courageous griffon brothers and sisters... to the noble sea ponies... and to the rare wyverns of the high mountains—whose duty to the lore and sanctity of Verlaxion's legacy has afforded a righteous absence from these proceedings—I appeal to each and every one of you... and I ask you to consider your requests carefully.”

Her eyes narrowed as she stared up at the group.

“Is this threat... this 'Rainbow Rogue' that you have heard rumored beyond the bluffs of Verlaxion's chosen continent truly a danger that requires the further fracturing of my elite company?  If you deem that it is not, then I shall proceed with tackling the phantom enemy that continues to devour our Continent from within.  But if you feel that it does require our expertise and immediate intervention, then I shall devise a way to intercept the wretched beast before she even arrives on our holy shores.”

Theanim Mane bit his lip.

Seraphimus backstepped, bowing humbly.  “And thus ends my humble address.”

Hymnos turned towards the seats.  “The Court is open to hold discourse with the Right Talon of Verlaxion.”

Magistrate Timplan immediately stood up.  “Commander, if I may.”

“Magistrate Timplan of Sunset Prefecture,” Seraphimus remarked.

Timplan smiled.  “I see that you're well-informed of our positions.”

“It is my righteous duty to know each and every face that represents Verlaxion's wisdom here in the Court,” Seraphimus said.

Windburst and Starstorm smirked at one another.

“Very well then.”  Timplan adjusted the sleeves of his robe and cleared his throat.  “Surely, Commander, you have heard of the recent atrocities in the Quade.”

“Yes.”  Seraphimus nodded, pacing across the court.  “Rohbreddenites have gotten into the habit of calling it the 'Second Plight of the Luminar.'”

“Do you possess knowledge of the Luminards and their belief?”

“I know enough,” Seraphimus said.  “They worship the Reed—which I hear is no longer intact.”

Timplan shook his head while magistrates mumbled behind him.  “It has been utterly burned to the waters of the Quade.  There is no piece of it that still exists.  The entire structure has died—perishing from the inside out.”

“Forgive me, dear Magistrate, if I don't express shock,” Seraphimus said.  “For this was all made clear to my wingmates and I upon our initial briefing.”

“Do you believe that the Reed is a miracle of Goddess Verlaxion, Commander?”

The court grew silent.

Seraphimus breathed.  “Do I believe it is a miracle of Verlaxion's divine glory?”  She nodded.  “Yes.”  Before the court could gasp, she gestured with a silver-plated talon.  “But so is the air we breathe in this court: temperate enough for us to enjoy sane and prosperous lives by which we govern ourselves in accordance to Verlaxion's will.  Eons ago, this part of the continent was an uninhabitable wasteland covered in snow and ice.”  She pointed south beyond the seats.  “Even Frostknife—in all of its majesty—would not have been possible hadn't Verlaxion carved the shelf out of ice with her almighty hooves.”

“But you agree that the Reed is also a product of Verlaxion's miraculous power,” Timplan remarked.  “Then wouldn't you agree that an attack on it is an affront on Verlaxion herself?”

“Crimes against Verlaxion are being committed everyday,” Seraphimus firmly said.  “When a terrorist robs Dredge Coal from the foals of Verlaxion, they're robbing from the Goddess Herself.  When these criminals attack villages and hold foals and families hostages, they're threatening the righteousness that our divine Queen has graciously established.  I do not wish to downplay the tragedy that's happened in the Quade.  But let us be swift to remember that the Luminards have dwindled in numbers over the years for a reason.”  Her charcoal eyes narrowed.  “Their respect in Verlaxion has always been admirable, but they've always chosen an obtuse way to worship her—one that denied themselves of the rich bounty and joy that we were all meant to enjoy since Thawing and Unification.”

Magistrate Vilcheez stood up.  “Commander, are you insinuating that the monks of the Quade... deserved what happened to them?”

“Not in the least,” Seraphimus said.  “However, I do not find it very surprising.”  Upon eliciting a wave of murmurs, Seraphimus nevertheless continued.  “The Quade—after all—fell from Verlaxion's supreme grace millennia ago.  Luminar—along with many of the islands consumed by the godless Colonialists today—exists well beyond the purview of Verlaxion's blessing.”  Her claws scraped as she scuffled to a stop.  “Let us not forget, fellow foals of Verlaxion, that the Goddess chose this land and this land alone as the sanctuary to her glory.”  She pointed past Hymmnos' podium, her claw aimed at the steep steps leading past carved effigies and into the frozen depths of the mountain looming above them.  “She sits up there—secluded in her throneroom—watching over each and every one of us on this continent through her omniscient spirit.  She did not choose to reign over the outlying islands, but instead She collected Her flock of ponies, griffons, wyverns, and sirens right here... upon the frozen hilt of Frostknife... where the first ever Council was formed to govern the land in the Shadow of her Holy Spirit.”  Seraphimus slowly shook her head.  “That Shadow does not stretch over the Midnight hovels of Bleak's Plummet, and it most certainly doesn't cover the archipelagos to the west.  And what have we seen in ages since?  An infectious spread of apostate self-centeredness and agnosticism across the colonies, leading to criminal havens such as Rust and Mudtop... finally manifesting in the very Blight itself.”

“But the Blight has fallen, Commander,” Theanim Mane spoke up.  “Or have you already forgotten?”

Seraphimus' beak jerked in Theanim's direction.  Her hawkeyes narrowed.

He stared back, smiling calmly.  “It is understandable, considering your excessive labors and strains in policing the continent as of late.”

Grand Magistrate cleared her throat and sighed over the commotion of the Council.  “The Court recognizes Professor Theanim Mane of the Ninety-Seventh Rohbredden Scientific Order.”

Theanim nodded his head with a smirk.  “I'll give you that one...”  He shuffled past Keris and the others, approaching Seraphimus.  “Things have changed in the seven seas, Commander.  The 'godless heathens' who populate the islands west of us have witnessed many miracles.  I know this first-hoof, for I have witnessed several of them myself.  Even deep beneath the waves of Shoggoth, where Princess Camellia continues to rule over her subjects while practicing full fealty to the same Goddess you and I worship.”

“Shoggoth...”  Seraphimus slowly nodded.  “I trust you were there as well?”

“That he was, Commander,” Keris said.

Seraphimus glanced at him.

The Lieutenant cleared his throat and continued.  “It was stated in the briefing.  He was an accomplice to the 'Rainbow Rogue' in Rust and Lower Shoggoth before her alleged attack on the Quade.”  He blinked his magenta eyes.  “I... was b-bored during our flight here.”

Seraphimus slowly turned back to gaze at Theanim.  “A Professor of the Scientific Order assisted a suspected criminal?”

“I mostly observed from a close distance while she continued to shock me and everypony around her with her grace and prowess,” Theanim said.  “And as for her criminal designation...”  He gestured a hoof.  “...I do believe that remains to be determined.”

“Professor, we've been over this before,” Vilcheez said from the audience.  “Descriptions of the 'Rainbow Rogue' quite clearly match the 'Rainbow Dash' that you associated with during the demolishing of the Northern and Southern Hooves of the Syndicate.”

“And how do we know that, exactly?” Theanim remarked.  “There are a lot of seas between the Quade and here, and there have been many sunsets to stir the muddied thoughts of paranoid Rohbreddenites.”  He slowly shook his head.  “No... I do not for a second believe that this 'Rainbow Rogue' is the same monster that everyone else claims her to be.”

“And yet you have witnessed her first-hoof, dear Professor,” Seraphimus remarked.  “Do you deny the amazing feats you have seen her accomplish?”

“Not even in the slightest,” Theanim said.  “Her magical abilities are unique.  I think it's no coincidence that her arrival took place at the same time as the collapse of the Blight.”

The crowd fell into nervous commotion.

“Nevertheless...”  Theanim paced past Seraphimus.  “I do not believe that her abilities—albeit strange and foreign—warrant such vehement scrutiny.  As the courageous Commander here has eluded to—there are far more real and drastic dangers to Rohbredden right here... in the continent... threatening to poison the territories and prefectures all around us.  It would be folly to allow these unfounded rumors of the 'Rainbow Rogue' to distract an already thinly-stretched group of elite defenders.”

“The rumors are far from unfounded, Professor,” Vilcheez said, shaking her head.  “Whatever you encountered in Rust and Shoggoth made an impact on the Quade... and it was last seen heading east towards Rohbredden.”

Theanim clenched his muzzle.  “Dear Council, I serve Verlaxion like the rest of you.  But in my full capacity, I am a scientist, first and foremost.  Until I see direct proof that my Rainbow Dash was in any way directly related to what took place in the graveyard of Luminar, then I refuse to accept the recent spread of rumors as simply more than that—paranoid gossip.”

“Then allow me to make it real for you.”

The entire Court shuffled in surprise.  Heads turned—including Theanim's and Seraphimus'.

A familiar stallion with a peppery black mane and wearing a jade-studded robe trotted into the Council.  He was not alone.  A yellow-coated stallion with green dreadlocks stood beside him, as did several frail, emaciated ponies.

“I apologize for being late, Grand Magistrate,” Brye Chandler spoke.  He bore a casual grin.  “But the only way to reveal this was the perfect way.”

Stifling a sigh, Hymmnos uttered:  “We are in the midst of a very important meeting, Mr. Chandler.”

“And for such—a magistrate such as myself should be present—wouldn't you agree?”

“Mr. Chandler, we have not—”

“Commander Seraphimus, I presume,” Chandler spoke, bowing before the griffon.  “Your heroics along the Western Steppes are legendary.  The Consortium is forever grateful for your contributions...”  He stood up with a grave expression.  “As well as your sacrifices.”

Seraphimus took a deep breath, glancing briefly at Windburst and Starstorm.  “No price is too costly if it means the protection of Verlaxion's foals.”

“And I share your sentiment, whole-heartedly, dear Commander,” Chandler said.  “And I am not the only one, for everypony who worships Verlaxion stands to feel both your righteous fury as well as your pain.  And I suspect that the feeling is mutual, especially when in the presence of truly penitent souls.”  He turned and nodded towards the yellow stallion.

The stallion nodded back, his dreads flouncing.  He tapped the flank of one of the skinny ponies, lightly shoving her forward.  Chewing on her bottom lip, a mare with an erratically braided mane shuffled towards the center of the Court, shivering in her sackcloth.

“Mr. Chandler...”  Hymmnos leaned over her podium.  “Would you please kindly explain yourself—?”

“Show some respect, Grand Magistrate,” Chandler spoke in a firm tone.  “We're here to discuss the massacre in the Quade, yes?  Well, I have just brought the Quade to you.”  He shuffled over and rested a hoof on the mare's bony shoulder.  “Easy there, ma'am.  Please... identify yourself before the Council of your Goddess, Verlaxion.”

The mare hung her head, shuddering.  At last, she built up the strength to speak, her voice hoarse and malnourished.  “My... m-my anointed name is Sonikah.”  She stared up at the frosted seats with hollow eyes.  “I am a Foal of Verlaxion... a pilgrim of the Quade.  For the last two decades of my adult life, I have worshiped the Reed, managing the weaving and unweaving of the many platforms that bask in the glory of our Goddess... until th-that glory was taken away from us...”

The crowd gathered murmured in shock.  The seaponies' colors dimmed from their frosted globe.  Vilcheez and Timplan exchanged nervous glances.

Sonikah continued:  “Just a few weeks ago... a mare arrived from the west... a humble investigator—or so we thought.”  She gulped.  “She was accompanied by two fellow travelers: a stallion named Bard and a griffon named Wildcard...”

Theanim blinked, his lips pursing.

“While it was clear to our head elder, Kyron, that Rainbow Dash came from a land far... far away, he nevertheless extended our many graces so that she may too bask in the glory of the Reed.  The mare embraced this... with suspicious eagerness.  For some ardent reason, she desired to enter the Holiest of Holies and see the Reed with her own naked eyes.  For this purpose she caused us to enact an age old Sacrament of Anchorage.  I was personally ascribed with the task of overseeing her meditation.  She proved her humility and worthiness—or so we thought.  When she finally came within touching distance of the Reed... she... she proceeded to desecrate it.  And...”

Sonikah bit her lip, trembling harder.  After a few shuddering seconds, she summoned the strength to continue, albeit with a wavering tone in her voice.

“We stopped her at first.  Kyron, despite his gracious convictions, could no longer tolerate Rainbow Dash's atrocious acts.  For the safety of the sanctuary, he requested that she leave.  She and her friends proceeded to exit the Quade—but it was a deception.  Within hours, she returned.  I watched as she entered the Holiest of Holies... assaulting the protectors who swore their lives to defend us... and burning the Reed with her unholy magics.”

Sonikah sniffled, tears welling up in her eyes.

“The only way to stop her would have been through violence... and physical acts of malevolence is against our ways!  She knew this... and she took advantage of this... and I-I watched... helpless... as she melted the Reed with the ruby energy from her pendant.  The entire structure collapsed after that... and several of us had to flee to the waters of the Quade to avoid being crushed to death.  And... and she took off... along with her friends...”  Sonikah's eyes clenched as she stifled a sob.  “She infected the Reed... willfully and deliberately destroyed it... and all in the name of some heathen religion of 'Harmony.'  She... she called herself the 'Austraeoh' and claimed she had no choice and... and...”  She whimpered.  “It's my fault.  I... I sinned.  I sinned and I brought this upon the Quade.  The Shadow of Luminar's Plight has doubled and it has consumed Verlaxion's glory... every singed bit...”  She buried her face in her hoof, weeping.

Theanim blinked several times, his head hanging in confusion.

Seraphimus stared silently.

Shuffling over to the sobbing monk, Brye Chandler gently patted her shoulder.  “I think you've suffered for this world's sins enough, dear pilgrim.”  He stripped his coat off and wrapped it around her shivering figure.  “You'll find that the other monks corroborate with her account, dear Council.”  He strolled forward, frowning at the ampitheatrical seats.  “And so I ask you... is this enough?!  Shall we allow the suffering to spread further east?”  He pointed at Sonikah.  “You heard this pilgrim's horrific account!  What if that same wickedness was to reach our shores?!  Or beyond?!  Verlaxion's glory is powerful... but sins that are allowed to deliberately exist within Her Shadow have far-reaching consequences.  I very much doubt that the Quade is the first and only place to fall if we allow this malevolence to continue!”  He spat.  “And right as we speak, this Rainbow Dash can only be traversing through the Prefecture of the Western Shoreline!  My Prefecture!”  He bowed low.  “I ask... what is this Council willing to do?”  He peered up through a squinting eye.  “What is the Right Talon of Verlaxion willing to do?”

Keris tapped his beak in deep thought.

Seraphimus turned to face Theanim Mane.  She strolled forward on calm talons.  “Professor Mane...”

Theanim snapped out of it.  He lifted his numb muzzle.

Seraphimus' charcoal eyes narrowed.  “This... pendant of foul magic that hangs around Rainbow Dash's neck... the source of the ruby light that evidently destroyed Verlaxion's holy reed...”  She cocked her feathery head aside.  “...do you recall seeing it around her neck yourself?  Have you witnessed this magic in action?”

Dreadful silence filled the snowy alcove while the crowd awaited the Professor's response.  Sonikah looked over, shivering.

Theanim saw her emaciated face.  With a shudder, he said:  “As a scientist of the Order... I am dedicated whole-heartedly to the truth.”  He gulped hard.  “And... I would be lying if I said that I didn't observe the pendant or its magic.”

The crowd broke into gasps and murmurs.

Theanim gnashed his teeth.  “But only ever have I seen it used for beneficial purposes in dismantling the Synd—”

“You heard it yourself!” Brye Chandler's voice boomed as he brushed past Theanim, gawking up at the crowd.  “This Rainbow Rogue—who was present in both Rust and Shoggoth—possessed the same magical torch around her neck that brought down the Reed!”  He spun to point at Theanim.  “Now, whatever her motivations were in ridding the seven seas of Syndicate scum are negligible...”  He turned to face the Council with a frown.  “The fact of the matter is that something possessed this powerful miscreant to turn heel and assault the Quade.  You've heard an eye-witness account first hoof!  And I reiterate—this threat is heading towards the western shores of Rohbredden as we speak!  Now this Court—in its infinite wisdom—elected to summon the Right Talon of Verlaxion to address the situation.  And so I ask them...”  He turned towards Seraphimus with a pale expression of concern.  “...how do you wish to handle this new and damning threat?”

Seraphimus took a deep breath.  She turned towards Grand Magistrate Hymmnos.  “I need to discuss this with my elite wingmates.”

Hymmnos nodded.  “We await news of your deliberation,” she said.

Seraphimus whistled shrilly into the air.  With flapping feathers, all five members of the Talon took wing.  They hovered above the cherry blossom trees and statues overlooking the court.  There, christened in snow and frosty air, they faced one another.

“A single pony...?!”  Raptr sputtered.  “Destroying the entire Reed?!”

“What kind of magic can do that?!” Starstorm wheezed.

“Stay calm,” Windburst droned.  “Stay professional.”  He turned towards Seraphimus.  “Boss?  What do you say?  Gizzard-ripping time?”

“Just because Verlaxion's granted the Council Her wisdom does not mean She's granted them Her eyes,” the Commander said, shaking her head.  “There is simply too much here that's vague and up to conjecture.  We're juggling with enough trouble here in the central prefectures as it is.”

“Maybe this 'Rainbow Rogue' is in league with the Dredge Coal hijackers!” Raptr remarked.  He blinked widely at the others.  “It could be some wild attempt at misdirection!  To distract us!”

“You call the destruction of the Reed a 'distraction,' Rookie?” Windburst growled.  “No single criminal has the balls to do that.  Desecrating a holy relic means instant disembowelment once the Right Talon gets ahold of them.”

“And since when exactly did we become the executioners for the Council?”  Starstorm frowned.  “If a pony of the Order like Professor Mane made friends with this 'Rainbow Dash,' then she is obviously a living, breathing, thinking creature... not some 'monster' that the citizens of the seven seas have been wildly proclaiming.”

“Are you suggesting that we go find her and give her a hoof bump?!”  Raptr grimaced.  “She's got crazy magics from beyond the Blight!  That's a threat we have to neutralize at all costs!”

“Then sign me up,” Windburst grunted.  “I've been itching for a challenge.”

“No.”  Seraphimus pointed a sharp talon.  “We are purveyors of justice.  Not murderers.  Do not confuse bloodlust for righteous fury.  Is that understood?”

Windburst exhaled out his beak nostrils.  “Yes, Commander.”

Folding her arms, Seraphimus took a deep breath.  “... … ...”  Her hawkeyes darted over to Keris.  “Lieutenant.  What is your assessment of the situation?”

The other three blinked.

“Hmmmm...”  Keris rubbed the bottom half of his beak.  “I am—of course—mortified by the account personally delivered by the Luminards here and now.  However, Professor Mane's claims intrigue me.  The scientists of the Order are among the most dedicated foals of Verlaxion.  I cannot imagine a stallion like him being easily swayed by the charisma of a foreigner, no matter how conniving or deceptive.”

“So you're saying this 'Rainbow Dash' may actually not have had anything to do with the Reed?” Raptr remarked.  “You heard what that Luminard said!”

“It's just... not clear enough,” Keris said with a sigh.  He folded his arms.  “We need to learn more, and yet we cannot afford to divide our forces here in Rohbredden.”

“It would be nice if we could actually go to the Quade,” Starstorm suggested.  “Look for clues.  See the destruction for ourselves.  It might even clue us in on where the 'Rainbow Rogue' went.”

“Not possible,” Seraphimus said.  “It'll give the Dredge Coal terrorists the opportunity they've needed.”

“Then what if one of us went?” Windburst remarked.  “If nothing else, it'll get the Council off our backs.”

Keris' magenta eyes jerked up.  “I'll go,” he blurted.

Seraphimus looked fixedly at him.

“I'll fly west, alone,” he said.  “Conduct an investigation in the Quade.  If I find enough clues to pursue the 'Rainbow Rogue,' then I'll track the pegasus down myself.  If she turns out to be as dangerous as the Council believes, I'll request the rest of the Talon to intervene.  We'll take her down ourselves.  Otherwise...”

“It'll be over and done with in a blink if it's all a wilde goose chase,” Windburst said.  He looked at Seraphimus.  “It's a sound plan, boss.  We can still get lots accomplished here without the Lieutenant.  At least for a short while.”

Seraphimus smoothed her silver-blue headcrest back, exhaling.  “Sounds like the only viable solution...”

“But if the 'Rainbow Rogue' has crazy foreign magics...”  Raptr blinked wide.  “Maybe the Commander should go instead!  She can take her on!”

“I... cannot,” Seraphimus muttered.  “My job is to oversee the Right Talon of Verlaxionin totality.  Besides, now that we are in Frostknife, I have...”  She fidgeted in mid-air, her voice taking on a shaky tone.  “...business to attend to presently.”

“Huh?”  Raptr's headfeathers arched.  “But what could be so important that—”

“Let it rest, Raptr,” Starstorm said.

“If the Commander says she has business,” Windburst growled, “Then she has business.”

“Okay... okay...”  Raptr flew backwards a bit, beak rattling.  “I... I apologize if I spoke out of place.”

“And you are forgiven, Sergeant.”  Seraphimus then looked at Keris.  “You are willing to take on this task?”

“Absolutely, Commander,” Keris replied.

“Very well.  It is agreed.”  Seraphimus nodded.  “I shall inform the Council.”

All five dropped back to the floor.

Upon landing, the commotion within the Council ended.  Seraphimus approached Hymmnos' podium, speaking boldly:  “It is decided.  This 'Rainbow Rogue' deserves a thorough investigation.  We desire to intervene and bring her to justice before she makes it to Rohbredden proper.  However, the issues at hand here in the continent are far too dire for my company to abandon completely.  To that end, I have elected to stay here in the central prefectures with my wingmates...”  She looked over.  “...while I send my most trusted Lieutenant, Keris, to personally investigate the Quade and the surrounding sea.”

Keris bowed, then spoke loudly:  “It will be my pride and honor to see that this threat to Rohbredden remains a threat no longer.”  He looked over at the ponies huddled behind Chandler.  “And that justice will be served for the penitent monks of Luminar.”

Sonikah and the others stood in melancholic slumps.

“But...”  Vilcheez spoke out.  “What of her pendant?!  The source of strange, dangerous magics?!”

“What of the western shorelines?!” Timplan added.

Hymmnos slapped the ice shard against her podium.  “The Right Talon of Verlaxion have spoken!  We summoned them to deal with this cause, and they have righteously chosen to do so with the wisdom and courage granted them by Verlaxion.”  The Grand Magistrate stood up straight.  “Let us pray for the safety and well-being of the Commander's wingmate—that he may perform his duties swiftly and with great diligence.”

“Jee...” Windburst muttered aside.  “No pressure there.”  Keris said nothing.

Smiling, Brye Chandler approached the podium.  “Thank you, Grand Magistrate, for this most wise and mature action on behalf of the—”

Hymmnos' nostrils flared.  “Meeting Adjourned!”  She slapped the ice shard and descended from the podium.

Theanim let loose a nervous sigh while the magistrates wandered from their seats to converse with one another all around him.  He ran a hoof over his mane and glanced aside—only to do a double-take.

Chandler had trotted off, stealthily yanking his jade-studded cloak off of Sonikah's body.  Alone and decrepit, the monk shivered once again.

Theanim watched—eyes narrow and studios—as Chandler approached the yellow stallion with green dreadlocks.  The two conversed closely, and the strange stallion nodded, his pale red eyes narrow.  With the monks in tow, the Consortium executive and his companion trotted back down the steep steps leading back into Frostknife.

Theanim tapped his chin in quiet thought.

Meanwhile, Seraphimus shuffled over to Keris.  “Lieutenant...”

Keris spun from talking with the other wingmates to stare at his superior.  “Yes, Commander?”

“I want you sending a journal of your progress to us daily,” she said.  “Utilize pegasus messengers if you have to.  The moment we don't hear back from you—”

“It won't come to that,” Keris said.

“I am not criticizing your ability to look after yourself,” Seraphimus said with a slight smirk.  “But keep in mind you are flying into the unknown.”

“With all due respect, Seraphimus, the Colonies are not the 'unknown,'” he said.  “I've ventured into heathen territories before.  I can protect myself, but I shall endeavor to protect our citizens even harder.”

“Which is precisely my point,” Seraphimus said.  “If there is any truth whatsoever to this 'Rainbow Rogue,' then you are throwing yourself at questionably powerful forces.”

“I am well aware of that, and I shall conduct my investigations with great caution.”

“You are a priceless asset to the Right Talon, Keris,” Seraphimus said in a soft tone.  “I need you here in Rohbredden if I have any hope of squelching these terrorists.”

“And I shall return swiftly, Commander,” Keris said with a nod.  “You have my word.”  He turned to address Windburst—

“Lieutenant...”

Keris turned back to face her.  “Commander...?”

Seraphimus glared.  “This is a mission to assess what happened in the Quade... and round up the Rainbow Rogue.  You will undoubtedly be traveling across seas belonging to the Shoreline Trade Consortium.” She slowly shook her head.  “Do not allow yourself to get unnecessarily distracted.  Keep your eyes on the mission and the mission alone.”

“That is my full intention, ma'am.”

“I know you, Keris,” she said.  “And I know the frailties of your noble ambition.  Keep your eyes forward at all times.  Is that clear?”

Keris opened his beak... hesitated... then nodded.  “Crystal clear, Commander.”

She held her talon out.  “I am the Right Talon of Verlaxion.”

He bowed low, kissed his beak to it, and murmured:  “And I am your Claw.”

She nodded, backing up.  “Very well then.  Verlaxion's blessings to you.”  She turned to make a quiet exit.

“And Commander?”

She paused, looking over her shoulder.

He smiled.  “To you as well... and to your family.”

Her hawkeyes blinked.  “Thank you, Keris,” she said softly, and was gone.

Keris stood alone.  He glanced across the way, spotting the sad, confused face of a lonesome scientist, and then the Lieutenant flew towards the nearest armory to gather some much-needed equipment.
> It All Started In Frostknife
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Night's shadow swam over the frosted waters of Frostknife.  Light was scarce in the shallow recesses of that steep, steep channel.  In place of stars, the twinkling torches and stoves of burning Dredge Coal shimmered high above, lining the west and east walls of the inlet.  It was far from a quiet scene,  for there was no escape from the endless echoes of chugging steamships and rotating ironworks.  Ships, vessels, and yachts constantly churned their way north and south across the cold harbors beneath the shadow of multiple platforms.

One such yacht rolled up to the dock opposite of a massive steamship with a dull brown iron hull.  The dock was covered in shipping crates, all bearing the company insignia of the Shoreline Trade Consortium.  Servants in uniform rushed up as soon as the luxurious yacht was moored.  A ramp was lowered, and the thick velvet door to the lower cabin opened swiftly.

Stepping out, Brye Chandler wrapped his bejeweled cloak tightly... and shuddered.

“Mrmmfff... damnable smell of this place,” he muttered in a hoarse voice.  He marched obstinately past the silent servants.  “Somehow, you can thaw a continent for centuries and still it won't drown out all the rats.”

On dull hooves, he trotted the length of the dock until he approached a steep ramp leading up to the central deck of the brown steamship.  He had nearly ascended the entire plank when his hoof slipped on a melted puddle of snow.

“Gah!”  He teetered towards the drink.

A yellow hoof reached out, gripped him, and yanked him safely on board the steamship.

“Rrrrrgh!”  He batted the hoof away, then adjusted the velvety lengths of his lavish robe.  “How many times do I have to tell you?!  Don't touch me!”  He gnashed his teeth.  “I don't want your slimy, slave-fondling hooves anywhere on me!  You got that?!”

A yellow-coated stallion with green dreadlocks stood across from him, nostrils flaring.  His pale red eyes narrowed as he spoke in a cold, hoarse voice:  “Did the monks serve their purpose?”

“Mrmmfff... yes,” Chandler grunted.  “Barely.  It would have been a lot better if six of them showed up instead of three, as originally agreed upon!”

“Three of them died on the voyage here from the Quade,” the yellow stallion said.

“Yeah—and just who's fault is that, Mr. Monket?!” Chandler scowled.

Monket's pale red eyes narrowed.  “You told me not to feed them.”

“No, genius!” Chandler cackled, causing several deckhooves to glance at the scene.  “I told you to let them preserve their customs!  Monks from the Quade are always fasting!  If you gave them more comfortable living quarters, then maybe more of them would have stopped dying of disease and starvation so they could have looked diseased and starved before the council!  Mrmmff!”

“The only heated cabin on the ship was reserved for your friend,” Monket hoarsely said.  “Per your orders.”

Chandler pointed.  “He is not my friend.”  Pouting, he readjusted the folds of his robe and sighed vaporously into dim torchlight.  “Anyways, where is the bastard?”

“Down below,” Monket said.  “Waiting for you.”

“Mmmfff... not for long.  Let's get this over with.”  Chandler grumbled, marching towards a set of double doors looming across the deck.  “I swear... every second I spend on this Verlaxion-forsaken prison barge is positively drenching my mane hairs with flea shit.”

They passed several pairs of servants working in tandem, mopping up the deck and polishing the metal bulkheads.  Along the way, Monket suddenly seethed.  He rushed over to a pair of emaciated workers who had spread too far, throwing a cluster of fishing nets over iron manacles that were attached to their rear hooves.  “Cover... yourselves... up!”  He hissed, knocking one down to the floor.  “This is Frostknife, you imbeciles!  Don't make me sell you to Midnighters—they'll eat your eyeballs out!”

The servants shuddered and swiftly returned to work, remaining closely side by side.

Fuming, Monket trotted swiftly over to the doors and opened them for Chandler.

With his nose upturned, the executive of the Shoreline Trade Consortium trotted swiftly down the dimly-lit wooden steps.  He followed a patch of torchlight that led him down a winding passage and through a narrow corridor.  The stallion's nose scrunched to the smell of pungent odors, and he waved a hoof in front of his face.  At last, he came to a stop before a thin oak door.

Monket reached him, unlocked the door with two sets of keys, and rested his hoof on the knob.  “Have plans changed since you first requested his pickup?” Monket asked.

“I'll let you know when it's necessary,” Chandler muttered.  “And stop with the inquisitions.  I'm not paying you to be nosy.”

Monket nodded with a sigh, then opened the door for him.  He pointed his yellow hoof in while performing a mock bow.

Humming to himself, Chandler entered the room.  He was instantly treated to rich orchestral music playing softly from a record player in the corner.  A stove burned with Dredge Coal on the far side, illuminating a soft bed with velvet sheets.  Portraits with elaborate silver frames hung off the walls, depicting young foals frolicking around rice patties and farm steppes.  Silk drapes hung from the lone porthole along the port side.

Resting in a plush chair, a bone-thin stallion with long black mane hair casually sat, reading one of several thick books from a humble bookshelf beside the record player.  “I see that you finally braved the filth and muck to see me,” he rasped in a bored tone.  “Did you finally get tired of sucking up to the real Magistrates running the show?”

Brye Chandler dragged a chair over and sat across from the stallion with a sigh.  “...hello, Jeryn.”

Boss Jeryn flipped a page, his dark eyes lazily drifting across ink paragraphs in the stove light.  “You know the one thing I miss from Shoggoth?  Ambiance.  I've read the tales of little Heartha and her adventures in Frostland over a hundred times... and the narrative always used to electrify me.”  He sighed.  “A good story isn't the same without refracted waterlight to enchant the moment.”

“Mmmmhmmm...” Brye adjusted his collar and leaned back.  “I take it you had a comfortable trip?”

Slap!  Jeryn closed the book hard, scowling at Chandler.  “What do you think?!”  He gestured with his hooves at his surroundings.  “Does this look 'comfortable' to you?!”  He tossed the book against the floor and hugged his forelimbs, shivering.  “I've been holed up for days in this festering sharkhole, surrounded by smelly slaves and Mudtop filth!  And that nasty cretin you have captaining this barge of the dead?!  Monkey?”

“Monket.”

“Worse manners ever!”  Jeryn grimaced.  “All the ironworks and plumbing that any self-respecting steamship commander could possibly want, and he can't even manufacture me a bidet?!”

Chandler took a deep, fuming breath.  “I imagined that you would be a tad bit more grateful, Jeryn,” he grumbled.  “After all, I pulled a lot of stunts to smuggle you out from under Camellia's nose.  Besides, you're lucky that fish-humping blowhard didn't give you the brain of a chicken.  Though sometimes... I wonder if that would be an improvement.”

“Well this certainly isn't!” Jeryn cackled.  “At least in Shoggoth, I was a lot closer to my friends!”

“You have me, Jeryn.”  Chandler put on a slimy smile.  “Aren't I your friend?”

“Pfft!  As if!  You only sent Monket after me because it was in the same area as the Quade!”  Jeryn huffed, glaring at the walls of the place.  “I don't even see what you needed me for to begin with.  The Syndicate's toast.  Even Revan's given up.”

“It's not entirely sunk in the abyss,” Chandler said.  “And you know it.”

“Ohhhhhh Goddess...”  Jeryn face-hoofed.  “Again with the shareholding—”

“The Consortium held the most shares out of any other organization...” Chandler gestured.  “Legitimate shares.  Unlike that psychopath who ran Rust, I've prided myself in conducting things by the books.”

“Hmmmff... yes...”  Jeryn scoffed, smirking.  “On the surface—”

“And with all the resources that you had down in Shoggoth, it just boggles my mind that you didn't even conceive of doing the same!”

“The rules down there are different, Brye,” Jeryn said.  “You could never understand... and you can't understand now.”  His eyes narrowed.  “Just what do you hope to achieve with so much possession of an organization that's now completely bereft of assets?  Believe me—I've had my time to grieve, but I also knew when to give things up.”

“I don't need my lost fortunes back, no matter how much I want to wring your skinny little neck over them,” Chandler said.  “It's the legal pretense of the matter.  I just need the former property of your so-called Southern Hoof in limbo for the time being.”

“And just what are you hoping to achieve?  I heard rumors of the litigation going on while I was dragged out of there!” Jeryn's muzzle hung open.  “If your solicitors stay down there any longer, Chandler, they'll grow gills!”

“Never you mind.”  Chandler shifted in his seat.  “Do you have the evidence—?”

“Even years back, when we began trading, you never got your hooves this wet!”  Jeryn gestured.  “I once thought your Dredge Coal deliveries to Revan's outfit was pushing it, but this takes the cake—!”

“Do... you have......”  Chandler cleared his throat.  “...the evidence?”

Jeryn snorted.  He leaned back with a sigh, then waved a limp hoof at the bed.  “Over there.  Beneath the pillow.”

“Hmmmfff...”  Chandler stood up and trotted over.  “Where you like to keep all things.”

“Hey!”  Jeryn frowned.  “You shipped me here with a crew of thieves and slaves!  I'm lucky they didn't try crawling in here overnight to steal my balls!”

“All things in good time, Jeryn.”  Chandler uncovered a brown envelope.  Opening it, he flipped through several photographs—all depicting a mare with prismatic mane-hair, sporting a ruby pendant.  “Hmmmm...”  He looked up, green eyes glinting like jades.  “Is this really her?”

“Yes!  A thousand damnable times, yes!”  Jeryn gnashed his teeth, glaring at the photographs.  “You think I'd mistake the face of the single pony who tore down everything that I ever valued?”  He pointed.  “She's the one who cost you your shares!  Not me!  Her and her... mmmfff... flank-fooling bastard buddies of hers.  I swear.  Revan and I got owned by a motley crew of degenerates in fetish gear.”

Chandler continued squinting at the photographs, examining them.  “She's so... petite...”

“Honestly.  One of them—the griffon—had a metal sex toy for a talon.”

“How exactly did you manage to get these taken, Jeryn?” Chandler asked, waving the sheets.

“A few desperate souls on the outside,” Jeryn remarked with a shrugged.  “Deluded to think I still had the power to funnel them and their friends coral to huff.”  He examined his manicured hoof.  “The moment you asked for my assistance, I asked for theirs.  I got shipped out before they could receive any sort of payment.  Heh... by now they're probably drowning in a cold sweat.  Nopony ever fully recovers from coral smoking, and that's a fact.”

“Glad you have so much confidence in your former occupation,” Chandler muttered.

“And... future occupation... r-right?”

Chandler turned towards Jeryn.

Jeryn gulped.  “I mean... that's what this is all about, right?”  He pointed at the pictures.  “Please... please tell me that you're going to send hitponies after her!  Assassins!  Sea ponies on jetpacks.  Anything!”

“Calm down, old friend—”

“Do not call me 'old friend!'” Jeryn snarled, rattling in his chair.  He shook and quivered as he hissed:  “You owe me big time!  When Camellia's guard tried to investigate the sunken trade ships from White Barge, I did my best to sweep it under the rug for you!”

“White Barge is no longer affiliated with the Tade Consortium,” Chandler said.  “The Siren Witch's sea ponies would have found nothing—”

“Still, I covered your ass more times than you've ever... ever expressed gratitude for!  So... please tell me, 'pal,' that this is nothing more than a bold plan to claim back what's been lost!”  Jeryn gulped.  “If you eliminate Camellia's one accomplice in the matter, then you put the burden of proof on a Princess who—by Muddredger law—had no business interfering with the Syndicate to begin with!”

“You're insane to think you can claim back all that you and that idiot Revan lost.”

“And you're stupid to give up on claming the tiniest smidgen of it!”  Jeryn leaned froward, muzzle twisted.  “So tell me, Chandler... what exactly is your game?”

Chandler tucked the photographs away in his cloak.  “You've provided me all I needed from you, Jeryn.”  He turned and trotted for the door.  “Good bye—”

“Dammit, Chandler, talk to me!”  Jeryn stood up, frowning.  “Or else I start talking to ponies you don't want me to!”

“... … ...”  Chandler turned and calmly stared back at the former Syndicate Boss.

Jeryn gulped, his bony limbs trembling beneath a dark mane.  “I... I have nothing left to lose.  You know that.”

“Mmmm... indeed I do.”  Chandler patted his robe.  “I need these photographs to create an extensive campaign.”

Jeryn blinked.  “You... you mean a bounty?”

“Nopony's going to give a rat's ass about the Syndicate here in Rohbredden,” Chandler said.  “But Unification Day is coming soon.  Even atheist bastards full of pretense are feeling jittery, on edge, ready to worship the hooves of Verlaxion at the drop of a dagger.  They don't fear Rainbow Dash—the demolisher of the Syndicate.  They fear the 'Rainbow Rogue'... the Monster who desecrated the Quade... who burned Verlaxion's holy Reed to the ground.”

“But...”  Jeryn blinked.  “I already heard about the ruling of the Council.  They've already sent the Right Talon of Verlaxion to—”

“Correction.  They're sending one member of the Talon,” Chandler said.  “The Talon is being divided.  Which is precisely what I want to have happen.”  He gestured.  “Thin the guard... reveal their vulnerabilities... their weakness... then capitalize on the gap left in the public's trust.”

“I... I don't understand...”

“That's because you've never actually been in charge of something, Jeryn,” Chandler said.  “All the stolen siren treasures under your belt, and you never even knew how to seize the day.  That's one thing Revan always had over you, but the Northern Hoof's biggest folly was lack of resources.”  He glared, his green eyes thin.  “The Rainbow Rogue is in my territory as we speak.  The monks we transported told Mister Monket the whole story.  One of their protectors saw her headed due east after the Reed was burned.  That puts her smack-dab in the middle of Consortium Waters.  Right now... every single pony in my employ is keeping an eye out for her.”  He waved a hoof.  “And once I've established a bounty that'll match the rising fear and uncertainty of this populace, it'll give me the chance to grant their prayers in a way Verlaxion never could.”

Jeryn blinked.  “... … ...you want it to be you.”  He cocked his head to the side.  “You want to be the one to turn her in... the conquering hero who captures the monster and grants everyone safety.”

“And once I do, the Council will stop dragging their hooves and make me Magistrate,” Chandler said.  “Hymmnos' tenure is coming to an end, and I aim to take the Grand Podium.  Especially if I manage to prove to every prefecture that Commander Seraphimus' forces lack the strength to adequately protect central Rohbredden from thieves and terrorists.”

Jeryn's eyes darted left and right.  At last, he looked towards Chandler, thinking aloud:  “All of that Dredge Coal... the material that I hear is getting hijacked... it call comes from your barges, doesn't it?”

“We've lived in a stale, outdated tradition for far too long,” Chandler droned.  He pointed his hoof vaguely north.  “Whatever sits on Verlaxion's frozen throne, deep in that damn mountain, it ain't alive anymore.  I can tell you that.  We have no need for the Talon anymore... or the Scientific Order for that matter.  I'm the one stallion powerful enough to usher in a new authority... one that will adequately represent the Six Tribes... instead of just keeping them frozen in limbo under the false pretense of having 'thawed' some made-up conflict countless eons ago.”

“Chandler... you're madder than a tower full if midnighters...”

“No, Jeryn, I'm real,” Chandler said.  “It's windigoes that are the myth.  Verlaxion is a name supported by the bulwarks of fear, and I aim to topple it all down.  And in case my plan with seizing this 'Rainbow Rogue' doesn't go well... I'm no idiot.”  He pointed.  “I'll just recollect my assets and fill the void that you and Revan left.  With a brand new Syndicate, I'll find an even greater threat among the seven seas—even if I have to invent one—and I'll use that to springboard my path to transforming this continent into something great.”

“You're playing this far too close to home,” Jeryn said, gritting his teeth.  “If the Council doesn't discover you, the Talon surely will!”

“They're blind enough as it is.”  Chandler took a deep breath.  “And with the Blight having fallen, I shudder to think of how unprepared we are for what might await us on the other side.  We're already unprepared for whatever attack the Colonialists might stage, if they so happen to feel the mood.”

“Now who sounds fearful and paranoid?”

“It helps to hold onto what's most primal.”

“Hence why you're working the the likes of Monket.”

“Indeed.”  Chandler made for the door.  “And when I'm done speaking to him, he'll send you on your way to High Cave.”

Jeryn's eyes bulged.  “High Cave?!”

“You heard me.”

“Wait!”  Jeryn took a bold step forward, but stumbled, trembling.  “Chandler, you're... you're selling me out?!”

“But of course,” Chandler breathed.  “You're a filthy prick and I hate you.”

“I... I thought...”  Jeryn gulped.  “Don't you n-need me?”

“I needed you to get me something to mass-produce bounties from,” Chandler said.  “And you delivered nicely on your end.”

“But... but the extraction from Shoggoth—”

“Do you honestly think I could have duped a telepathic ocean princess?” Chandler remarked.  “You were extradited through a legality—just like how I hope to claim the property of the Southern Hoof.”

“A legality...?”

“Jeryn... it's been a long time since you last set hoof on Rohbredden soil, hasn't it?”  Chandler smirked.  “Do you truly think the Judicial System of Orchard Prefecture forgot about your little indiscretion?”

Jeryn instantly paled—if that was even possible.  “Dear Goddess... you can't possibly mean...?”

“Throats slit and buried!  All five of them!  In a schoolyard, no less!”  Chandler shook his head.  “And not one of them had a cutie mark.  Really?”  A dry chuckle.  “My dear Jeryn, I almost feel more comfortable with the slaves outside.”

“They... couldn't... prove... anything...” Jeryn hissed, eyes suddenly flaring.

“Well, they've had twenty-five long years to do just that.  And your crime was the one thing that allowed me to fish you out of there to face trial.”

“Chandler, you can't...”  Jeryn shivered.  “You have no idea!  They'll send me into the Frozen Shelves!  Even worse!”

“Then you'd better learn to sing.”  Chandler opened the door to leave.  “Something tells me you'll be a falsetto soon enough—”

“No!  Don't!”  Jeryn flew forward, sliding on his knees and clasping at Chandler's robe.  “Please!  I'm begging you!  Send me back to Shoggoth!  I-I'll testify anything for you!  I'll forget what I know about the Dredge Coal!  Just please!”

Chandler glared down at him.  Slowly, he peeled the stallion's hooves off.  “Don't touch me.  There's no telling where those hooves have been.  After all...”  He trotted off, adjusting his robe.  “I'm going to be Grand Magistrate someday.”

“Chandler!  For the love of—”  Slam!  The door shut, silencing the stallion's muffled wails.

Shuddering, Chandler marched up to the top deck.

Monket was there.  With a flounce of his green dreads, he turned towards the Consortium executive, nostrils flaring.  “Want I should just feed him to the sharks for you?”

“Normally, I would agree.  But no.”  Chandler shook his head, clenching his teeth as he was once again exposed to the frigid cold of Frostknife.  “I think where this one's going... will give me far greater satisfaction.”

“Hmmmff...” Monket's yellow brow furrowed.  “Then I am heading west again?”

“You...”  Chandler reached into his robe, grabbed half of the photographs, and shoved them into the stallion's chest.  “...are going to chase me down a rainbow.”

Monket's pale red eyes swam across the images.  “... … ...seems easy enough to track down.”

“Music to my ears.”

“But I will need resources...”  Monket looked up.  “One ship isn't enough.  And the slaves I have are growing weak.  Diseased.”

“Then you will have your resources.”  Chandler turned towards him.  “The bits have no ceiling here.  You absolutely must seize this pegasus and you must bring her in alive, do you understand me?”

“Perfectly.”

“Make as many trips to Mudtop that you need to,” Chandler said, shuffling off towards the ramp to disembark.  “Just be quick about it.  The Council's already sent a member of the Talon.  If he or any others of Seraphimus' company gets to the 'Rainbow Rogue' first, then everything is ruined, and you can consider our business done for.”

“Then I'll cast off right away.”

“Good.  You do that.”

“Just one more thing,” Monket said, stepping past several listening crewmembers.  “I will need a base of operations.”

“Pffft...” Chandler turned back to smirk at him.  “What?  You want me to shit you out another Quade?”

“Don't confuse me for a mindless thug,” Monket hissed.  “Out in the seven seas, we do things just as professionally as they do in Rohbredden.”

“Really?  Why do I find that hard to believe?”

Monket merely stared.

Chandler sighed.  “What are you needing, exactly?”

“My pursuit vessel... or vessels will need a staging place to fuel up on Dredge Coal if we hope to scour the ocean for this pegasus target of yours.”  He shook his head.  “Rust is off limits now, and I don't trust Mudtop enough to stay in port there for a single night.”

“Hmmm... then I see the predicament...”  Chandler scratched his chin as he gazed across the cold waters of Frostknife.  “And we can't have you mooring within brainshot of Camellia, or the whole operation is compromised.”  A beat.  He suddenly smirked.  “Hmmm... Skagra.  But of course.”

Monket squinted.  “Red Barge?”

“I've been supplying him regular supplies of metal alloy for his harvesting equipment, in exchange for dredge coal at a cheap price.”  Chandler's eyes narrowed.  “He owes me, and if he knows that there's a profit to be had in assisting us, then that raggedy-headed bastard will do anything to lend a hoof.”

“If you say so.”

“Do you know the stallion?”

Monket's nostrils flared.  “Unfortunately.”

“Well, suck it in, tough guy,” Chandler rasped.  “Head to Red Barge and get his permission to set up port.  Tell him 'the fat cat' sent you.”

“Really, now?”

“Mmm... yes...” Chandler grunted.  “As much as I've come to loathe it, is the only safe word the two of us have.  But it's okay.  He'll keep everything a secret.”  He finally shuffled down the ramp.  “After all... all that washes into Red Barge... stays in that seahole to rot.”
> Different Ways To Suffer, Pray
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Maybe it's not a messenger at all,” Whony said.

“What?”  Quint stood in the middle of a group of fellow colts, staring across the eastern struts of Red Barge.  “You mean he's a delivery pony?”  He spat.  “Pffft!  Skagra would have him speared the moment he set hoof here!”

“Really?” one colt blinked.

Thwack!  Quint slapped him upside the skull.  “Where's the profit in just letting him do his delivery, huh?!”

“Ow... jerk...”

“I'm the best jerk you'll ever have and don't you forget it.”

“Well, if he is a messenger, then where is he from?” Whony remarked, squinting.  He and the rest of the orphans were studying an exchange between Nixkit and a pegasus stallion two struts away.  The stranger wore a flight jacket with several thick saddlebags.  “That's some awfully new leather he's wearing for a mud mucker.”

“No way...”  Another colt shook his head.  “The dude's from Mudtop?”

“He is, alright,” Quint said, pointing.  “Whony's right.  Look at the pony's flank.  You can see the edge of a burnt circle.”

“Maybe that's his cutie mark.”

“Nope.  That's a brand alright.”

“Well, what in Verlaxion's Sleet is he doing with all that fancy shmancy gear?” Whony remarked.  “Nopony at Mudtop can afford anything that spotless!”  He turned and looked over his shoulder.  “I'm telling you, he's from the mainland!”

“Nonsense.  Nopony from the mainland ever comes to Red Barge.”  Quint scratched his chin, squinting at the exchange.  “The jacket may have come from Rohbredden, but the rest of him is all filth.”

“Well, what would a Mudtop slave be doing here talking to Nixkit?” Whony asked.

“He's one of Monket's,” said Swab.

All of the colts turned around.

Swab was busily mopping the deck behind them.  His face remained locked on his task.  His one ear twitched, and gradually he looked up—noticing all of the sets of eyes on him.  “... ... ...what?  It's... it's something I heard, that's all.”

“You mean the Monket?” Quint squinted.  “The Wave Slaver of the Seven Seas?”

“Uhm... I-I guess...?”  Swab blinked.

“He's doing business with Skagra?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

Another colt barked:  “How in the heck did some half-headed sea foam like you hear about this?”

Swab's nostrils flared.  He returned to his work.  “It doesn't matter—”

“You'll tell us, shitstain!”  Whony marched towards him.  He shoved Swab against a bulkhead and waved his hoof.  “Or you'll be pissing your own teeth come tomorrow—”

Quint calmly placed a firm hoof on Whony's shoulder and pulled him back.  “Easy, bloat-maker.  Save it for when he needs it.”  Clearing his throat, Quint trotted closer to the smallest of the bunch.  “Okay.  Spill it, muckspread.  How'd you hear about Monket?”

“Erm... j-just the other day,” Swab stammered, nervously eyeing the rest of them.  “When I was brought up to mop the deck around the Skag Hole.”  He gulped and added:  “I... uh... overheard Nixkit and Top Dredger Skagra talking about Monket making a visit.  There's some super big and important pony in Rohbredden who's making a business arrangement, and Monket's coming to represent him.”

The group turned in time to see Nixkit and the pegasus pony trotting towards Skagra's office in the central platform.

“Hmmm... if that's true,” another colt muttered.  “Then that explains why the pegasus is here.”  He looked at the others.  “The Wave Slaver never shows up anywhere unless he can send product that survives ahead of him.”

Whony asked:  “You think Skagra's gonna strip him to his balls and shove him down into the harvest chambers?”

“Nah...”  Quint shook his head with a smirk.  “Skagra's real smart.  He won't let anypony between him and Monket bloat if it means him luring the mucker in deep.”  He turned towards the other foals.  “But if he can find a way to have Monket's scalp as a trophy, he will.”

“Could you imagine?” Whony smiled crookedly.  “Our Top Dredger Skagra?  Doing in the Wave Slaver of Mudtop?”

“He could force Mudtop to pay up!  Then buy a whole new strut for Red Barge!”

“Yeah!  One we wouldn't have to polish so much!”

“Hahaha!”

“Pffft... as if...”  Whony rolled his eyes.  “He'd just leave Red Barge altogether.”

“Then who will be Top Dredger?”

“Skagra's never leaving Red Barge,” Quint droned.

“How do you know?”

“Because he's sea foam.  Like us.”

“No way!  He's a true crude mucker!”

“Nah, dude, he's sea foam!  The smartest and cleverest there is!”  Quint smirked.  “And someday—just you wait and see—I'm gonna be Top Dredger Quint!”

“Yeah... heehee...” Whony winked.  “Only if you melt somepony's face off.”

“Who says I don't melt yours, muckbag?”  As the other colts chuckled, Quint smirked in Swab's direction.  “Or Swab over there.  Turn his coat into a vest to wear at the Tide of Trades?  That'll scare the auctioneers from South Barge away.  Ain't that right, Swab?”

Swab leaned on his mop, staring at an adjacent strut.  A gaggle of fillies shuffled by, pushing carts full of scrap and supplies.  Among them was Croche.  The light pink pony with sunken eyes glanced back, blinked, and continued on her way.

“Hey!” Quint hissed.  “Half-head!”

Swab jolted, glancing over.  “Huh?  What?”

The colts laughed.

“Honestly... how have you survived this long?”  Whony shook his head.  As the group marched off, he bumped harshly past the small, trembling colt.  “The moment you bloat, I'm using your body as a floatation device.”

“Yeah!  Or a defecation device!”

“Hahahaha!”

“Heeheehee...”

“Whewwwww... ... ...I don't get it.”

“Let's get back to work, muckjobs,” Quint grunted.  “I don't want anypony losing nibbles on account of one of Monket's messenger pegasi.”

“Who do you think the pony is in Rohbredden that Monket's working for?”

“Don't know.  Don't care.”  Quint's nostrils flared.  “Rohbreddenites are a bunch of mucking manure heads.  Friggin' fleas on Verlaxion's butt—all of them.  And they only care for themselves.”





Hundreds of miles away...

Far east... ...

Southwest of the jagged inlet known as Frostknife... ... ...

Yet another harbor loomed.  Frozen stone bluffs marked the entrance to a cave along the southern shore of the Rohbredden mainland.  Here, a translucent mist hung low across the frigid waterline.  A cape of sporadic rocks loomed to the south, making large-scale naval travel next to impossible.  However, the distant rocks did absorb the bulk of ocean waves.  This allowed a lagoon of calm waters to form in between the cape and the main shore... and the location was far from empty.

Ponies and griffons lined the shore—almost all of them wearing ornamental gray robes marked with runes and windigo emblems.  Their faces shared a melancholic malaise as they strolled up and down steep slopes of polished granite steps.  Some paths led towards the shore of the lagoon, where hundred of ponies congregated around a ceremonial gathering of tiny wooden boats.  Other paths led up a steep cliff-face where eventually they entered the large mouth of a cave facing due south over the icy waters.

On one such path leading towards the cave entrance, a figure in a gray cloak shuffled along, ascending at a calm, quiet pace.  As the path bent eastward and leveled off, the figure paused.  A talon reached out, lowering the hood slightly.  With glazed charcoal eyes, Seraphimus stared down at the curved edge of the lagoon over three dozen feet below her.

She watched as the distant figures went about their traditional motions.  Ponies in dark cloaks shuffled back and forth from wooden wagons draped in black velvet.  They carried pale bodies to the shore, depositing them neatly into narrow wooden boats.  Once assembled, grieving family members shuffled to the ice-cold waterline, depositing flowers, ornaments, and heirlooms over the crossed limbs of their deceased love ones.

A priest stood on a stone platform.  One by one—as each family hovered and sobbed over the departed—he spread his sleeved forelimbs wide and offered a humble prayer to Verlaxion, entreating her for her kindness and mercy in escorting the dead to the Spring Havens.  He blessed the families of the dead, and then he blessed the ocean currents carrying them to the hereafter.

At last, with teary eyes, the families retreated back to dry stone.  The ponies and griffons in black used polearms to shove the wooden boats off.  Seraphimus watched from above—as she always did, witnessing the armada of floating coffins as they drifted past the shoals of the cape.  Soon enough, they were caught in the southwestern currents of the seven seas.  Christened with tears and flowers, the honored dead of Rohbredden were left to Verlaxion's mercy, and She carried them past the vanishing point and into the gray haze of neverending water.

The air was ripe with wailing moans.  It was something Seraphimus was all too used to.  With a shudder, she clenched her beak shut, drew the hood back over her silver-blue headcrest, and resumed her uphill march.

Minutes passed.  The anguished sounds of the mournful populace drew distant.  Instead—as the Right Talon's Commander entered the large cavernous mouth—she heard an eerie ambiance of another sort.  The air grew even colder—a deathly chill that stabbed past her feathers and stung her to her quills.  An ethereal blue light reflected off her body and those belonging to the other penitent visitors of that sunken domain.

Commander Seraphimus' hawkeyes focused, adjusting to the light.  Still, she didn't need them to know what she had long ago memorized.  Past a series of ancient stone columns there were granite alcoves covered in frost.  Within each hollow niche, the stone effigies of windigoes stretched protectively over bright blue partitions filled with elliptical spheres of ice.

The spheres were far from empty.  Each of them contained a flesh center—a body, preserved in frozen time.  Most of them lingered in place alone.  Earth ponies, unicorns, pegasi, and griffons lay peacefully in suspended animation.  Some, however, were presently being visited by other souls than Seraphimus.  Families and friends clad in runic robes of gray knelt by their loved ones, paying their respects and offering quiet prayers to Verlaxion.

Seraphimus heard commotion and weeping.  She turned her feathery head, her eyes peering out from beneath the hood.

She saw a decrepit old stallion being assisted as he laid down in an alcove.  A mare his age leaned in, nuzzling and kissing him tearfully.  The stallion gave the mare a reassuring hug, kissing her one last time before lying back with a peaceful grin.  The ponies gathered watched in dreadful silence while a pair of priests shuffled up to the alcove.  They placed their hooves against a pair of levers while a third priest stood amidst the family, holding his forelimbs out.  He spoke rich poetic words, praising the Goddess for her intervention and glory, praying for a swift cure that would aid in the old stallion's recovery.  Then, at his signal, the other two priests pulled the ancient levers.

The mouth, nostrils, and eyes of the windigo statue looming above the alcove vented ethereal blue frost.  Within seconds, the sleeping stallion was frozen in a narrow sphere of sea-colored ice.  A fresh mist wafted off his resting area, then dissipated.  Almost immediately, the mare collapsed over his frozen form, hugging what she could amidst fresh waves of sobs.  It took three members of the family to pull her away... the rest to console her with close hugs and even closer whispers.

Seraphimus quietly strolled past them—as well as every other visiting family she could see.  She approached a series of elaborately carved staircases—each leading to one of eleven rows of chiseled platforms that filled the enormous cave, each lined with dozens... hundreds of these alcoves.  Over five thousand bodies lay in frozen silence there, waiting for the precise moment when finances, medical advances, or just plan good fortune could free them from their necessary limbo.

“And how may I help you, dear child?” spoke a smiling priest in a runic gray robe.

Seraphimus jolted slightly.  She turned towards him.  After a brave breath, she forced a smile beneath her beak.  “The wise and glorious Verlaxion has already helped me, dear elder.  I only wish to visit those close to me who await Her grace.”

“But of course.”  He bowed slightly.  “Would you like me to assist you in locating them?”

“Thank you... but I know the way quite well.”

“Mmmm... indeed you do.”  The priest stepped aside, nevertheless murmuring in a warm voice:  “Death carves a wide path, child, but the course Verlaxion gives us is everlasting.  By Her glory, our love is preserved, as well as the flesh and spirit attached to such devotion.  May Her Grace warm your blood and dry your tears.”

“Thank you, elder.”  And after a final bow, the Commander shuffled off towards the lower levels.

She passed two families, a weeping spouse, and a few mindful priests.  At last, after shuffling the full length of one particular platform, Seraphimus reached an alcove with two frozen spheres.  One of them—the larger of the pair—contained a male griffon with slick black plumage.  Next to him was a tiny young thing—barely four years old—with a rosy beak and pink wingtips.  Both bodies reclined peacefully within the glowing blue ice, preserved perfectly by the Queen of Frost's unquestionable magic.

Seraphimus instantly knelt before the group.  She found it hard to contain her shuddering breaths.  Nevertheless, with iron-wrought courage, the lead wingmember of the Right Talon of Verlaxion tightened every muscle in her body.  Breathing intently, she unfolded the lengths of her robe and placed down two bouquets of flower across the hard, frost-speckled stone.  Her sharp talons delicately slid them forward until they rested within the shadow of the frozen spheres' edges.

“Enoch, my love...”  Seraphimus spoke firmly, her beak barely clicking.  “Red Martha, my little s-songbird...”

She cleared her throat before it could fail her.  Closing her eyes, she breathed in deeply, then continued in a steadfast tone:

“...there is a wyvern specialist named Krennem, an expert in respiratory pathology who has been newly elected to the Scientific Order.  It... may not sound like much, but he has nursed to health many patients suffering from mine collapses in Ash Prefecture.  I've been told by the Health Ministry that this new source of experience could assist the Order with valuable research, but in the end we... we know it's n-not all up to them.”

Her beak clenched tight for a few seconds.

At last, she continued.  “Things have been stressful this week... just like last time I visited... and the week before last.  Enemies are poking their filthy heads out of every valley, rock, and mountaintop.  I am aghast at the amount of criminals willing to terrorize the innocent.  There is almost no respect for our Goddess in this land anymore.  Sometimes I think that... that th-that's the reason for why there hasn't been... I mean why y-you and so many others haven't...”

Silence.

Stifling a cough, Seraphimus exhaled heavily.  “I am sorry.  This is not what you wish to hear... or what you need to hear.”  She smiled weakly while her moist eyes reopened.  “I promise you that I have not lost faith.  After all, the courage and steadfastness of my wingmates inspire me each and every day.  Raptr is finally learning how to keep his wings straight in all forms of danger.  Keris is my rock of loyalty, as always.  What's more, Windburst and Starstorm would appear to be regaining their confidence for the first time since Jordan perished.  The Right Talon of Verlaxion is doing the Goddess' will and I... we have never felt more vindicated.”

The two griffons before Seraphimus lingered in silence, unmoving.

“There... there will be time to hear my words.”  Seraphimus shuddered.  “It is time that I anointed you once again with Her Blessings.”

Clearing her throat, Seraphimus lowered her hood.  She sat on her haunches and held both talons out, palms up.  Bowing her head, she murmured humbly before the frost and stone:  “Goddess Almighty, Verlaxion, Queen of Frost, Merciful Intecessor who united the Six Tribes... I beseech You.  By Your power, my family thrives, and by Your mercy, they can live again.  They can rise up from thawing like Your foals did by Your love and salvation so many eons ago.  Please, Goddess, bless them.  Heal them.  Remove the dredge dust from their lungs... as I remove the evil pollutants from Your glorious continent.  Together, we can cleanse this frozen land of dirt and disease.  I am Your Right Talon, Seraphimus, ever faithful.  But how I long—more than anything—to delicately cradle Your heart... as you continue to... ever s-so lovingly cradle m-mine.”

She swallowed a lump down her throat.  Tears dripped off her eyecrests as she smiled into the blue mists.

“For Verlaxion is merciful... Verlaxion is divine... and Verlaxion never fails to bless any of Her children who call upon Her name.  And I worship You in full knowledge that this is so.  Amen.”





With a dry grunt, two stallions dumped yet another frail body into the deep grave of the southeast Quade.  The corpse joined several more shriveled figures beneath the dug soil—their coats shredded raw from multiple scars across the spine and flank.  Panting, sweating, the two trotted over towards a wagon where more bodies waited to be tossed, their limbs twisted beneath bundles of sackcloth.

Not long after, a deep voice echoed against the pine and mango trees lingering around the grave:  “What's this?  No rafts?  Not even a funeral barge?”

Menthe and Galloran jolted in place.  They turned and craned their necks up.

An armored figure perched on a high branch.  Silver wingblades reflected a sharp glint of sunlight, making it next to impossible for the two protectors to make out any features from below.  “How will they be expected to reach the Spring Havens?”

Galloran stifled a whimper.  He rushed towards the front of the wagon, reaching for his crossbow.

Menthe yanked him back by his tail, then soothed the younger stallion with an outstretched wing.  Exhaling, the older pegasus glared up at the figure.  “Luminards don't believe in the Spring Havens.  As a matter of fact, they don't believe in burying anything, really.”

“Is that your excuse for such a shameful heap you've dug here?”

“Their crypts collapsed along with everything they believed in,” Menthe said.  “Now, either we bury the old and dead here, or we let them pile deep into the Quade and pollute the waters even more than they have been.”  He folded his forelimbs.  “How 'bout I ask a question now?  Who in the bloody Hell are you?”

Swisssssh!  Keris touched down, retracting his wingblades from over his feathers.  Cl-Clakka!  “My name is Keris...”  He removed his helmet.  “Lieutenant and Second-in-Command of the Right Talon of Verlaxion.”

“They... th-they sent the Talon?!” Galloran stammered.

“How exactly did these ponies die?” Keris asked, pointing into the grave.

“Hrmmmff...” Menthe's ears folded.  “Malnourishment.  Old age.  Dehydration.  Pneumonia.  Combination of all four.”

“Is that so?”  Keris pointed at the shorn flesh on the corpses.  “And just who did that?  The monster?”

“Monster?” Galloran breathed.

“They did that, if you must know,” Menthe said, nostrils flaring.  “Only because they were set off by the destruction of the only thing that granted them all salvation.  What would you do if you lost everything?”

“Well, if I still had my wits about me...”  Keris strolled calmly around the ditch.  “...presumably rebuild.”

“The monks here did nothing but,” Menthe said.  “But then they had their essence stripped away.  Tell me... why are you really here, Mr. Lieutenant-of-the-Talon?”

“I am here to investigate the cause of this.”  Keris' beak nostrils flared.  “The monster known as the Rainbow Rogue.”

“Again... a monster?”  Galloran shook his head.  “No... no, she's... she's just a punk!  A punk with no right to have gone where she went and we let her in—!”

“Boy...” Menthe sighed.

“We let her in and this is the result of it!”  Galloran spat, heaving.  “Just what in Verlaxion's name are they twisting it all into out there?!”

Keris looked at him.  He strolled over and calmly placed a talon on the young stallion's shoulder.

Galloran blinked, his lips quivering.

“That... is what I'm trying to get to the bottom of,” Keris breathed.  “So that I may finally track this being down... monster or punk... it doesn't matter.”  He shook his head.  “Anypony who maligns the glory of Verlaxion must face Her Right Talon.  It is the way of the Six Tribes.”

“Yeah.”  Menthe grumbled.  “Fancy how the Six Tribes didn't give a rat's ass about the Quade until it fell into blood and sludge!”

Keris sharply looked at the older protector.

Menthe bit his lip.

“Who runs the monastery here?” Keris asked.

“Former monastery...” Galloran muttered.

“The question still stands,” Keris said.

“Hrmmff...” Menthe smiled bitterly.  “Are you serious?  Your bastard bureacratic friends already done took her.”

Keris blinked.  “I... I don't understand.  Are you insinuating that one of the representatives who went to Frostknife—?”

“She had no choice, really.  Not as though an heir apparent had been prepared.  It's just that Sonikah worked alongside the elder the most and...”

“I am not completely ignorant of the ways of the Luminards, dear sir,” Keris said.  “As their protectors, it would do best to assist me in coming to a complete understanding here.  Now... who is the present Kyron of the Congregation?”

“There's no Reed.  So why should there be a Kyron?”

Keris simply stared.

Menthe sighed.  “He's dead.  Bled out like a sliced tomato.”  The old stallion clenched his teeth.  “I wanted to stop him, but I knew that I couldn't.  I took an oath ages ago.  My hooves had to remain at my side.  Don't matter if I...”  He winced, staring off past the treeline.  “...if I considered him a friend.  So many years, we walked together.  Talked together.  And then it's all over in a blink.”

The ocean winds howled through the trees, then quieted.

“Are there any pilgrims still left alive?” Keris asked in a dull tone.

Galloran cleared his throat.  “Oh.  Of course.  Lots.  Most of them.”  He gulped, pointing nervously west.  “On a bunch of platforms that they've roped together... for what it's worth.”

Keris' eyes narrowed.  “Show me.”
> The Skaggiest of the Skags
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Saxon sat in his guard tower, squinting down the length of a spyglass.  He aimed the device at the east horizon, spotting two steamships churning west towards the Barge.

“Is that him?” Dredger Nixkit asked.

“Look at them burn over the muck!” Saxon exhaled.  He smiled crookedly while squinting, spying.  “That shit must be chock-full of burning coal!”

“Dammit, Saxon, answer the Dredger!” Digiff grumbled, standing with Nixkit beneath the cylindrical tower.  “Is it him or isn't it?”

“Oh, it's him, alright.”  Saxon lowered the spyglass.  “The hull may be pristine Rohbredden metal, but I know Monket's hoofwork when I see it.  The Slaver of the Waves likes to fuel his steam furnaces just so.”

“Well, he certainly got here in a hurry,” Nixkit grumbled, his pale nostrils flaring.  “Must be paid well to make that kind of speed.”

“Are you gonna tell the boss or am I going to?” Digiff remarked.

“Hrmmmfff... I'll tell him,” Nixkit said, trotting off.  “Goddess knows if you give him one more bit of bad news, Digiff, he'll have your kidneys for a necklace.”

“Heeheehee...” Saxon leaned back in his tower with a slimy grin.  “Shiny... shiny stones.”

Digiff clenched his jaw, gazing once more at the incoming ships.  “I hope he trips and falls into a cesspool the moment he trots on board.”





Swab stumbled into bright sunlight, squinting.  All around him, orphans were being ushered out from their lower hold.  Every healthy filly and colt strolled onto the eastern struts under the grunting breaths and trained eyes of adult dredgers.

“I don't get it...”  One foal stammered.  “What's this all about?”

“Feels like a steamshow,” another said.

“This early in the day?”

“Hey, if Top Dredger Skagra wants to make an example... he does so.”

“Hey!  Look!”  A filly pointed east.

Several foals gasped and cooed at the sight of the incoming steamships.  The adults gathering further along the Barge were likewise curious, intrigued.  All eyes of Red Barge's occupants fell on the miniature armada.

“Slavers,” Coche's voice droned.

Swab spun to glance at the frail filly from several bodies away.  He blinked, then glanced at the east horizon again.

“She's right,” another filly remarked.  “Look at how the smokestacks fume.  They're loading the furnaces in shoveling pairs.”

“Must be the Slaver of the Waves,” said Whony, sneering slightly.  “Nasty Mister Monket.  I hear he makes his property sleep in filth and eats their brains after they've died.  Total misery on the seven seas.”

“Yeah.”  Coche's sunken eyes blinked.  “Think we can join his crew?”

The foals all collectively laughed.

“Quiet!” Quint snarled.  “All of you sacks of sea foam!”  He pointed at the top platform.  “Behold!  He comes out of the Skag Hole!”

“So it is a steam show!”

“Why else would the Top Dredger show his half-face?”

“Shhh!” Quint narrowed his eyes.  “This is different somehow... nopony step out of line or you're mucking bloat.”

Swab's right ear twitched as he gazed up at the topmost platform.





Nixkit was the first of several grim-faced stallions to march out of Skagra's lofty office.

At around this point, Monket's two ships were rolling in to port along the eastern strut of Red Barge, under the watch of guards armed with harpoons.  As one of the steam vessels attached a ramp to the Barge's hull, a stallion with a yellow coat could be seen disembarking.  The wind kicked at his green dreads as he and several bodyguards made their way to the center of the floating structure.

“Well?” Echoed a voice from inside the office.  “Is it him?”

Nixkit nodded, squinting.  “I could recognize those dreads from across the blight.”

“Perfect.”  A pasty brown stallion with a mottled, patchwork coat limped out of the office.  A swoop of hot red mane hair dangled silkily over the right side of his muzzle.  Skagra gazed out across the lengths of Red Barge.  “Hmmmmm... be my nose, Nixkit.  What's the Barge smell like this morning?”

“Erm...”

“Be honest.  You're pretty when you're honest.”

“It smells like shit, boss,” Nixkit grumbled.

“Uhuh.”  Skagra nodded.  “And how do I smell?”

“... ... ...like even dirtier shit.”

“Good.”  Skagra turned towards his henchstallions, revealing a left side to his face that was scalded red from an age-old burn.  His left eye permanently squinted under a haggard half-skull that lacked hair or even a functioning ear.  “I wanna stand out.”  He casually whispered towards the dredgers below.  “Hey!  Princesses!  Why are you standing around with your tongues up each other's plots?!  Yank the worm out of his hole and bring him to the vent already!”

“Yes, Skagra!”

“Mmmmm...”  Skagra inhaled the sea air, shuffling down the steps from the uppermost platform.  “Siren farts, it's a beautiful day to be a dick.”

“Uhm... Boss...”  Nixkit stumbled after Skagra.

“What, Nixxy?  Lemme guess.  You want to get the first kick in.”

“I'm just curious.  You really want to do a steamshow now?”

“I'm not out here to pick wildflowers, Nixxy.”

“But Monket's here to talk business—”

“Precisely.”  Skagra's right nostril flared.  He swept his red bangs to the left... only for them to fall right again.  “I want him to see this.”  His good eye rested on a metal sweat box situated half-a-strut away.  “Nasty Mister Slaver of the seven seas needs to know what Red Barge wakes up to every morning.”





Creaaaaak!

A rusted door swung open, revealing a haggard stallion practically cooking in his own juices.  Sweating and heaving, the sweat-covered pony stared out of the sweatbox.  “Oh Goddess, please—”

WHAM!  Nixkit's hoof slammed into his nuzzle.

“Grkkk!”  The prisoner flailed.  Nixkit and another henchstallion dragged his limp body out of the box and mercilessly across a series of welded boat decks.  After passing an assembled crowd of Red Barge onlookers, they unceremoniously dumped him into the middle of a rectangular array of steam pipes.  The emaciated prisoner wheezed, whimpered, and coughed up blood.

Meanwhile, Skagra trotted a few paces away from him, limping in a wide circle around a series of vertical steam vents—with a large grated one situated in the very center.  Fumbling through the pockets of his vest, Skagra finally produced a cigarette.  He propped it in his mouth, leaned up to a hissing steampipe, and lit the end of the cancer stick with the heat from the scalding metal.  He took a drag, then exhaled into the air.

The entire time, the prisoner rolled across the floor, coughing and sputtering nonstop.  All around him, the residents of Red Barge were forced to watch.  Workers, guardsponies, families, mothers and fathers with their foals—and countless sea foam orphans.  Most watched in an emotionless glaze.  Then there were some—like Saxon and Whony—who awaited the inevitable with stupid, drooling grins on their muzzles.

“Mrmmff... please... oh pl-please... Top Dredger...”  The prisoner rolled over.  He tried to stand up on wobbling hooves, but there wasn't enough meat on his bones to support the motion.  He slumped back onto his chest, wincing.  “Grnnngh... I'm s-sorry... I'm so sorry for everything.”  He gulped.  “Please... p-put me to the harvest chambers.  Let m-me fish in the churning currents.  I... I-I can still be useful!  I don't even h-have to have nibbles everyday.  I can be good meat... good... good meat... please...”

Skagra pivoted around.  He took another drag of his cigarette, then gazed past the prisoner's body.

From a distance, Monket's muscular body strolled closer and closer.  Skagra could see the pale red of the slaver's eyes by now.

“... ... ...”  The right half of Skagra's face grinned.  He gave his head a jerk, flinging the silky red hair out from before his good eye.  On bouncy hooves, he strolled a zig-zagged path towards the prisoner.

“I... I-I didn't mean to steal from the other dredgers... honest...” The stallion looked up, choking on a sob.  “I thought... I-I thought they were my nibbles.  Truly.  I-I had worked so hard on welding the southern strut that wh-when I saw the basket of rice I figured—”

Skagra reached him—and promptly flicked his cigarette inside the prisoner's mouth.  Before the frail stalion could even gasp, Skagra squatted down and clamped his quivering jaw shut.

“Mrrrmmfnnghhhh!” The stallion hissed as his tongue and mouth burned from the inside out.  Smoke billowed out his nostrils as his eyes turned red.

Skagra hissed in his face:  “Let me share a few of the things... that are bad for you.”  He threw the stallion down against the bulkhead and stood one rear leg atop his head, forcing the prisoner's jaws further shut.  The prisoner's body thrashed and writhed in torture while the Top Dredger turned to snarl at the ponies assembled.  “For all of you!”

Swab and a few other orphans shivered.  Quint stood dead still, as did many adult dredgers and workers watching the scene unfold.

“That's right, Red Barge!  School's now in session!  So pay close attention, kiddies!”  Skagra slapped one hoof down on top of another.  “Disobeying Dredger rules?!  Bad!  Lying to your overseer?!  Bad!  Lying to me?  Ballsy... but still bad!”

The Top Dredger finally stepped off of the stallion.  The prisoner rolled over, wheezing and vomiting up burnt bits of tongue and gums.

“But stealing?!  Outright grabbing a piece of honey from Red Barge's pot?!”  Skagra whipped his crooked neck around, red strands flailing.  “The worst!  Absolutely the worst!”  His right nostril flared while his left eye squinted at the stonefaced residents.  “I know that this is no pleasure crew, ponies, but... come on!”  He shrugged his forelimbs.  “Come the buck on!”  He pointed at the mouth-bleeding stallion.  “All of this for a basket of rice?!  I mean... hell... if it was a piece of Dredge Coal and he used it to blow himself up and a piece of the strut along with him, at least I'd give him points for poetry!  But this?!  This is just lame!  And stupid!  And on Red Barge, you can't afford to be either!”

“Mrmmffnngh... scrkllltt...” The prisoner wept, gargling his own blood as he crawled pitifully across the decks.

Monket came to a stop, watching coldly from afar with narrow eyes.

Skagra caught the slaver in his peripheral vision.  He strolled around, approaching the prisoner once again.  “You know, once upon a time, I was taught something very important.  Whoops!  Missed a spot!”  He ran up and bucked the prisoner hard in the ribs, forcing him to roll into one of the steam pipes.  “Anyways, like I was saying.”  Skagra resumed pacing.  “I crawled out of the sea foam like so many of you, and when I arrived here on Red Barge, the Top Dredger taught me something.  I learned from early on that we are the lifeblood of Rohbredden.  That while there might be a golden heart in that continent, lying someplace squeaky clean and holy in some frozen mountain far away, it doesn't change the fact that the entire damn kingdom sucks on the tit of shit.  And you know what that means, everypony?”

Silence—save for the prisoner's sputtering.

Skagra cracked his neck joints, fumed, and spun around to kick the stallion repeatedly.  “Don't—”  Wham!  “Spoil—”  Whack!  “—the milk!”  Thwack!

“Aaaa-haaaaugh!” The prisoner rolled over, only for Skagra to hoist him up by his mane.

Skagra sneered into the stallion's face.  “You could have earned your nibbles.  You could have risen clean and crystal out of the sea foam.  But, instead, you chose the coward's way.  You chose to go the way of your cutie mark.”  He spat.  “So, prima donna, you ready for a show...?”

“Grnnngh... no... no, pl-please, Top Dredger...”  The stallion sobbed, bled.  “No show.  N-no steam show, please...”

“Hmmmf... silly pony...” Skagra caressed his scalded chin and lips.  “Lucky you, this isn't a show at all.  It's an audition.”  His good eye glinted viciously.  “A chance to become the new Top Dredger.  Like I was given!”

“What?!  No!  Oh Goddess, please no!”

It was too late.  Skagra dragged the stallion by his mane.  He led him past the pipework, and towards the vertical vents.  At last, he flung the stallion down—chest first—across the largest, centermost vent.  The prisoner tried crawling away, but Skagra forced his weight down on him, grinding his cheek against the metal grate at the top of the round cylinder.

“Grnnngh... please... pleeeeeeeease, Skagra!” the prisoner begged.

“Shhhh...”  Skagra zipped his lips.  “Shiny... shiny dolphins...”  Eyes twitching, he glanced over at Nixkit and Digiff.  He gave a nod.

The two dredgers nodded back.  The crowd watched as they approached an array of valves and twisted a large handle in the center.

Hot vapors wafted out of the vent.  Instantly, the prisoner's surviving hairs began curling.  He shrieked and fumbled to crawl away.

But Skagra shoved his hoof down into the small of his back.  “This is it!  This is your moment!”  Skagra hollered down at the writhing figure.  “Are you going to rise up, sea foam?!  Or are you going to sink?!”

“Rnnngh!  No!  NO!  Don't—”

Nixkit and Digiff finished rotating the valve.

The lower heat tanks of Red Barge emptied, and a burning hot spray of steam roared up the pipes and directly into the prisoner's screaming face.  Blistering fog covered his skull and upper body.

“Smile!”  Skagra hissed, drawing a curved line across the burnt half of his own face.  “Spotlight's on you, muckolicious!”

The stallion squirmed and writhed until his body moved no more.  The hot steam turned red briefly, then dissipated.

Swab looked away, gritting his teeth.  Whony snickered while Quint and Croche were silent.

Skagra leaned back, taking a deep... deep breath.  At last, he gave the high sign to Nixkit and Digiff.

The two dredges swung the valve back.

The steam dissipated.  The hot fog cleared, revealing the prisoner's body, the prisoner's scalded shoulders, and the prisoner's naked skull—dripping with scrappy remnants of muscle and brain.

“Hmmmff...” Skagra's muzzle twisted.  “Tch... friggin' featherweight.  Maybe you shoulda tried stealing some meat loaf instead.”  He shoved the meaty remains of the corpse down onto the main deck.  “Take him!”  He threw his hoof in the direction of his henchstallions.  “Our lucky contestant has won a lifetime stay in the cesspool!  I even threw in a brand new manecut for free!”

Saxon chuckled breathily as he and another stallion carried the prisoner's corpse away.  They took him to be dumped in a slime pit situated a strut away.

Meanwhile, Skagra shuffled quietly towards the observing crowd.  Nixkit shuffled up with a rag, and Skagra used it to dab the sweat and moisture off his scarred skull.  The Top Dredger took his sweet time, even being dainty about it. Then, with a spontaneous snarl, he flung the rag towards the observing ponies.  A pair of families gasped audibly while the entire crowd flinched—

“What's wrong with everypony?!”  Skagra growled.  “Haven't I laid out the rules clear as day?!  Even a baby can get it!  I mean really!  I'll prove it!  Where's a baby?”  He spun about.  “No, seriously, somepony throw me a baby.”

Whony snuck forward and shoved Swab in the flank.

The little colt gasped, stumbling out into the pipework.  He spun with a frown—only to feel Digiff kicking him harshly over towards Skagra.  “Augh!”  Whump!  Swab rolled up against Skagra's leg.

“Whoah-hoho... seriously?”  Skagra pointed at Swab while looking at Digiff.  “This is a baby?”  Digiff shrugged.  “Looks more like a jacked-up canteloupe with herpes.  Eh, what the Hell.”  He hoisted the gasping colt up by his tail and pointed.  “Tell 'em, ya scampy drop of sea foam!  What are the rules?!”

“Uhhhh... uhhhhh...” Swab gulped, fighting the urge to whimper.  His eyes locked on the streaks of blood left over by the deceased prisoner below.  “Obey your overseer.  Respect the dredgers!  Earn your nibbles!”

“See?!”  Skagra swung his other hoof, gawking at the crowd.  “Simple as shit, and only half as smelly!”  He pointed with a frown.  “If this little ball of fur can get it, then so can you!  Serve the Barge, and Rohredden lives on!  Do your work, and you get fed!  Keep your eyes open and look straight.  What's more, be strong about it!  Don't do shit the cowardly way!  Or else you might end up in the spotlight!  And believe you me... not everypony's good enough to earn themselves an encore!  Any questions?!  Huh?!”

The crowd fidgeted in silence.

“Good.  Now...”  Skagra dropped Swab with a grunt and smiled out the right side of his muzzle.  “...what do we saaaaaaaay?”

“Thank you, Top Dredger.” The crowd orated.

“Eugh... Goddess...”  Skagra rubbed his good ear. “One of these days, I gotta get Nixxy to hijack some sea-sailing minstrels.”  He clapped his hooves together.  “Alright!  Show's over!  Back to work!  The Coal ain't gonna harvest itself from the ocean floor, y'know!”

Gradually, in dull, depressed droves, the crowd dissipated.

Swab writhed on the floor, fighting with aching muscles to stand up.

In the meantime, Nixkit strolled over.  “A little more dramatic than usual, Skagra, but I think it had a good effect.”

“Ha HA!  Nixxy, I love you like a phantom hoof in the morning, but do shut the buck up.”  Still grinning, Skagra spun around once and trotted the rest of the way towards the Red Barge's leering guest.  “Well!  If it isn't Nasty Mister Macguffin come to upchuck his Muffins!”  He scuffled to a stop in front of Monket and his guards.  “Is that an octopus of baby shit on your head or are you ambivalent to see me?”

“I didn't come here to be impressed by your bloodsport, Skagra,” Monket said in his icy tone.  “Chandler needs me to fetch something, and this is the closest thing there is to a launching port.”

“Ah!  So you chatted with the fat cat himself!”  Skagra clapped his hooves together.  “How's the jade bastard fairing these days?  Choking on his own mucus?  No?  Well... heheh... we can't have everything in life!”

“Beneath your burns and your bullhockey, you're still a stallion of business, Skagra,” Monket said.  “You've got a reputation to maintain.  And if you want to have any sort of an edge over White Barge or South Barge, then you'll be quick to pay Chandler back for what you owe him.”

Skagra blinked with mock surprise.  “Hey... Nixxy...”  He leaned back, eyes still plastered on Monket and his dreads.  “...did this walking sea urchin from Mudtop really try intimidating me with honorable rhetoric?”

Nixkit shuffled up.  “Sounds like it to me, boss.  He's been talking with Chandler alright.”

“Indeed.”  Skagra nodded.  “Digiff, any thoughts?”

Digiff cleared his throat.  “Well, Skagra, if you ask me—”

“Shut up, Digiff.”  Smiling, Skagra approached Monket.  “Come onnnnnn, now, Waver of the Slavers...”  The right side of his muzzle scrunched.  “Is that what the kiddies are calling you these days?  Anyhow... let's not set off on the wrong tentacle.  I'm a reasonable flankhole, after all.  What you saw just now?  It's just seafoam business!  You remember what it's like to conduct business, seafoam to seafoam, don't you?”  He cleared his throat, and his green eyes took on an icy glint.  “Or did you trade your spine for icicles out in Rohbredden, like you sell out all your friends?”

Monket's red eyes briefly flared.  “Skagra... I have not... and will never sell out Red Barge.”

“Of course not!”  Skagra grinned.  “I'm not your friend!”  He produced a wheezing laugh, then hoisted his hoof over Monket's shoulder, leading him towards the centermost platform.  Monket's guards flinched—but they relented under the glare of the surrounding dredgers.  “Let's go to the Hole and talk bits.  I mean... Chandler did know this would come down to bits at one point or another, didn't he?”

“I'm quite certain it occurred to him.”

“Mayhaps you'll tell me what fool's errand he has you on now?”

“Not... out in the open,” Monket exhaled.

“Right.  Right right right.  In the hole it'll be.  We'll even serve you refreshments!  Nixxy, we've got refreshments up there, right?”

“No, boss.”

“Goddessdayummothermucker—”  Skagra cleared his throat, then grinned at Monket.  “I know!  I'll fetch refreshments!  I'll just sick... uhm...”  He looked around, clicking his tongue.  “You there!  Canteloupe!”

Swab stood dizzily on his hooves.  “H-huh?”  He blinked up, his good ear twitching.  “Top Dredger?”

“Go to the mess and grab something fruity.  Preferably not yourself.  Bring it up to the Skag Hole faster than farts!  Chop chop!”

“Uhhhhhh...” Swab stood, blinking.

“You heard the Top Dredger!” Digiff growled, giving the foal a swift kick to the scarred flank.  “Hop to it!”

“R-right!  Yes, Dredger!  Right away!”  Swab scampered off while Skagra and Nixkit led Monket towards the topmost platform.

All of this was observed by several orphans along the sidelines.

“You hear that?  Monket and Skagra are going to have a meeting!”

“About what?” Whony asked.  “This could affect all of Red Barge!”

“Only one way to find out.”  Quint stuck his hoof out.  With perfect timing, he tripped Swab so that the colt fell flat on his chest.

“Ooof!” Swab winced.  Before he could get up, Quint leaned over and snarled into his good ear.

“You're going to tell us every dayum thing you hear while you're up there, serving food!  Got it, sea foam?!”

“Or else we'll fill your bed with teeth and blood tonight!” Whony added, shaking a hoof.

“Rnnngh...”  Swab stood back up, frowning.  “Fine.  Whatever.”

“Smartest thing you said all week.”  Quint gave him a final shove.  “Now go!”

Swab scampered off.

Quint leaned back with a sigh.

“Wow, Quint!”  Whony grinned.  “You're so tough!  I bet—one day, when you're older—you'll survive a steam show!”

“Hey Whony.”

“Yeah?”

“What's that on your muzzle?”

“Huh?”  Whony went crosseyed, staring at his nose.  “My muzzle—?”

WHAM!  Quint's hoof creamed him.  “... ... ...muckwipe.”






It took Swab three minutes to pony-parkour his way to the mess hall on the western struts... two minutes to convince the food preparers there that he was actually sent by Top Dredger Skagra... another two minutes to procure the fruit... a half-minute to examine them and make sure they were truly clean... and a final three minutes to gallop back to the central platform, all the while balancing the tray of juicy food on his scarred flank.

When he arrived at the Skag Hole, a henchstallion welcomed him in with an indifferent grunt.  Swab's nostrils tickled with something strange and foreign:  the smell of neatness.  Skagra's office was the cleanest spot in all of Red Barge, even cleaner than the mess hall.  The metal floor was covered with thick carpets, and several odd trinkets lined the shelves along the edges of the main foyer, sparkling in an eerily pleasing lustre.

Swab's yellow eyes instantly darted to the left, for there he saw Monket and Skagra seated across from one another in metal chairs.  Both powerful stallions were flanked by muscular, grim-faced bodyguards.  Monket looked the utter definition of deadpan, while Skagra spoke and chattered with a constant grin hanging off half of his face.  Swab couldn't hear a single word they were saying.  So, when he wandered past Nixkit and started placing the fruit out onto a table, the little colt stealthily pivoted his body so that his right ear caught word of the conversation.

Skagra was talking:  “...plan to do once you've nabbed the monster?  Slit its throat and kill it?”

“No,” Monket said, his tone icy and plain.  “Chandler wants her brought back to Rohbredden alive.”

“So it's a 'she' now!”  Skagra took a sip from his canteen and leaned back.  “Live and learn!  I always figured 'rainbows' to be dudes, y'know?  Not enough blood red in them to be chicks.”

“This is basically the largest bounty that has ever been bagged in the history of Rohbredden,” Monket said.  “Or the seven seas, for that matter.”

“Now I know why you won't be mooring at Mudtop,” Skagra said.  “Everypony will be wanting a piece of that pie.”

“It's far too risky,” Monket said.  “Even for a pony like me who's done so much business there.”

“Mmmm... and so... instead...”  Skagra chuckled dryly.  “You're bringing all of the heat... to me.”

Monket merely stared back.

“I knew that the fat cat wanted a favor,” Skagra said.  “I didn't know he wanted my scrotum hanging off a flagpole.”

“We won't be stationed here for long,” Monket said.  “Just until we bag the beast.”

“But you know what this means for Red Barge, right?”  Skagra's eyes narrowed.  All of the laughter and levity in his breath was gone.  “Every piss-poor pirate and privateer with a tongue for bits and a stomach for blood will be drawn to this place like a moth to burning farts.”  He waved a hoof.  “As soon as they hear that you're planning to bag this 'Rainbow Rogue'—”

“I plan to perform my operation in total secrecy,” Monket said.  “If word gets across the waves of the bounty, then you won't have any member of my crew to blame.  You'd better start wagging a hoof at the sea foam staining your own struts.”

“But that's not the heart of the issue, is it, Mr. Nasty?”  Skagra stroked his red bangs to the left... only for them to dangle right again.  “The fact of the matter is that you'll be long gone right after you bag anything... if you bag anything.”  He coughed and shifted in his seat.  “Hard to throw a net over pure rumor.  Ghost ship gossip.”

“The Rainbow Rogue is very real,” Monket murmured.

“Is that your bit bag talking or your balls?”

Monket's pale red eyes narrowed.  “I personally transported six of the ravaged monks to Rohbredden.  They were there in the Quade when it all happened.  Everything they worshipped... everything that was once whole was burned to shreds.”

“Lemme guess... you've bought into this nonsense about the Rainbow Rogue being a demon monster too.”

Swab blinked, trembling slightly as he pretended to not be listening.

“She could be a windigo for all I care,” Monket grumbled.  “All that matters is that I tag her... bag her... and hoist her living meat back to Rohbredden.”

“And for what?  Hmmm?”  Skagra leaned his chin on his forelimb.  “Ever thought of that golden nugget?”  He swallowed.  “'Just what does Chandler have in store for me?'  What... is he going to give you heaps of gold?  A share in his Consortium's wealth?  Pffft... Oh please, squidhead, there's no honest-to-goddess square inch of frost in all of Rohbredden where you could possibly... feasibly live a long life in peace.”  He shook his head.  “Not with all the carcasses you've funneled down the black market's pike.”

“Chandler can give me a priceless boost to my operations,” Monket said.

“Oh really?”

“He's already given me outrageous funds and access to multiple steamships.”  Monket breathed.  “At this rate, I can already rid Mudtop of over half of my rivals.”

“Hah!”  Skagra grinned slimily.  “But you won't actually own Mudtop, will you?”

“If I pull in this bounty—”

“The fat cat's using you, ya pisstain,” Skagra droned.  “You're just so dayum blinded by the opportunity that you can't even see it.”

“Watch your tongue...” Monket leaned forward, hissing through his teeth.  “You wanna talk about opportunity, Skagra?  I'm out there on the seven seas, doing actual... hard work... while you're holed up in here like some old used napkin, absorbing muckwater—”

Skagra smiled.  Casually, he reached forward, grabbed a leg of Monket's chair, and slowwwwwly dragged him closer.

Monket blinked.  His guards fidgeted, but did nothing.  The room grew deathly still in the ensuing seconds.

Swab turned fully to look.  His muzzle hung open as he looked past Nixkit's tense figure.

Skagra cleared his throat.  He leaned forward, his scarred face lingering so close to Monket that the stallions could smell each other's breaths.  “Tell me something... Slaver of the Waves...”  Skagra spoke in a calm, candid tone.  He rubbed his hooves together and rested them against his own chin.  “... ... ...why haven't your henchstallions killed me yet?”

“... ... ...”  Monket sat dead still.

Skagra shrugged.  “I just touched your chair.  I moved your body.  I mean... what's stopping them!”  He gestured.  “Here I am.  There they are.  A loogey's launch, and wham.  My skull could cave in from their bucking legs.  Boom.  Done.  Dead.  But no.  So... why is that?”  Skagra cocked his head to the side.  “Why aren't your precious... valuable property giving their lives to protect your personal space like they rightfully should?”

Monket's eyes darted to the floor.  He clenched and unclenched his jaw.

“Look at me.”

Monket sat still.

Skagra's good eye flared.  “I said...”  His voice rolled.  “Look.  At.  Me.”

Monket's vision finally lifted.

Skagra breathed.  “I own these seas.  I own the floor beneath it and the smoke above.”  He pointed straight down.  “This stuff... this Dredge Coal?  The shit we're all scraping over?”  He waved his hoof back and forth.  “I'm the one who funnels that back and forth.  White Barge might think they have a big hoof in it.  South Barge might dream of being as useful someday.  But, fact of the matter is, it's my product that all of Rohbredden—colonialists and continentalists alike—run on.  Even when those dizzy loverboys—Revan and Jeryn—were around... they couldn't get their shit rolling without me.  And your friend and mine?  The fat cat?  Chandler?”

Skagra leaned back, folding his forelimbs with a deep breath.  Eventually, he grinned.

“Oh, sure, he has a mighty consortium.  He's rolling in the bits because of it!  So many bits, that he's just about bought himself a new bullshit prefecture over the shallow waters of the western shorelines.  He's even got a magistrate seat on the council thrown in as a complimentary prize.  And yet, for all of his marvels, for all of his stupid jaded coats and his stupid polished mansions, he still wouldn't be anywhere without my surplus.  Yes, he's living the high life while we're down in the mucks... but that's the way it should be.  Because that's the way we control him... and every other arse-faced high-and-mighty snowplough like him.”

“He has connections to the Council,” Monket eventually rasped.  “And, as of now, the Right Talon of Verlaxion.”  Monket gulped.  “They've even sent a Lieutenant to the Quade.”

“And you think that means anything to me?”  Skagra shrugged.  “Yes, the fat cat has connections, but I've got him by the umbilical cord.”  He frowned, flexing his forelimb in the air.  “And the moment he trespasses the boundaries that I have so quietly set, I will choke him and all of his bastard brothers and sisters of the stuff that makes Rohbredden tick.  And he can't touch me.  Nopony can touch me.  Why should they?  We're godless... forsaken sea foam, flung out from Verlaxion's grace.  And I tell you what... when you're damned, you see the world from the muck up.  It's not pretty, but it all makes sense.  And Chandler is as senseless as it gets.”

Skagra leaned forward again, gesturing.

“He promises you money?  For more slaves?  Could you possibly make yourself any weaker?”  Skagra rubbed his hooves together.  “There's an inherent problem here, Monket.  I'm sorry you've been stuck in 'badflank mode' for so long that you've neglected to see it.  You gotta understand: the reason why slaves don't work is because they have a name to 'em.  You throw on the 's' word like it somehow marks them for soullessness... that it brands them like all of your hot irons do.  But in reality, that word hangs in their ears... turns rotten... germs in their brain.  Sprinkle a little bit of desperation on it, and that word mutates.  It becomes 'self,' which is something to fight for.  That's when you know when you're boned.  Chandler is aware of this.  He's twenty chess moves ahead of you in that regard, setting you up for a future that'll collapse in on you from all sides, when your perfect prize will have become a perfect poison.  But that won't happen here... not in my kingdom.  No...”

Skagra sighed through a tired smile.

“The best kinds of slaves are those who don't know what they are.  All you give them is a past... a past where all things are pristine.  Then you take it away and make them think that they are constantly earning it back.  And the ones who get uppity—well—you make sure they melt for it, so that the others who are paying attention see the blood and the steam and they know... they learn... that hope is as real as the future... in that it only exists in the mind.  And you don't earn nibbles by using your mind.”

Swab bit his lip.  Trembling, he turned back towards the fruit.  They had all grown into strangely colored shapes in the depths of a brand new fog.

“Chandler's going to turn on you in a blink,” Skagra said.  “When you find your monster... if you do... you gotta get yourself prepared.”

“And somehow you're the stallion to help me?” Monket muttered.

“Well, I'd settle for your manedresser, but I don't think those dreads would look good on only one side of your putrid skull.”  Skagra spat:  “We'll sit down and we'll talk about how to properly share the fortune.”

“What fortune?”

“Why...”  Skagra blinked.  “...the one they'll give us in ransom for their precious 'Rainbow Rogue.'  And it'll be a fortune paid for in something more powerful than bits.”

“Which is...?”

“Distance,” Skagra grunted.  “The Blight's down and the Syndicate is gone.  I'm no fool.  I know exactly what the fat cat is thinking.  Chandler is crazy enough to think he can become the new... I dunno... East Hoof or something, now that Revan and Jeryn are kaput.  The only hoof he needs the worry about is the one up his ass.”  Skagra pointed.  “These seas are the quietest they've been in a long... long time, and I aim to keep it that way.”

“All for your muck-stained Dredge Coal empire?”  Monket snorted.  “If all you plan to do is sit on this grimy throne and call yourself king of all filth, then you can have all the 'fortune' to yourself.”

“A real king doesn't need wealth to be powerful,” Skagra said.  “He only needs to be honest.”

“Hah...”

“True to himself.”  Skagra gestured.  “He can lie through his teeth to everypony else, but to himself?”  Skagra shook his head.  “The only thing that survives out here is that which is real.  You see... Chandler and the Council?”  He brushed aside his bangs in futility once more.  “They're all up in a tizzy over this 'Rainbow Rogue.'  And why?  What did the monster ever do?  Trash a bunch of monks who were worried about burying their sin in the Quade?  Pffft... and now all of Rohbredden is obsessed with burying her... as if drowning the monster will drown the pain and horror by proxy.  Well, that's not how it works, pal.  Out here, in the seven seas?  There ain't no drowning your sin.  Like shit, it floats, and out here amidst the muck and filth, I've built myself an empire on top of all that misery.  And I'll bet you my last rotten tooth that Red Barge will stay on top long... long after Chandler and all the copycat hypocrites alongside him had drowned and bloated.  Rohbredden can throw all the snowballs it wants at that, but it won't make a difference.”

Monket blinked.  He rubbed his chin in thought.

“So then...”  Skagra held his hoof out.  “Will you make the smart move?  And consider floating alongside me?”

“I think...”  Monket shifted in his seat.  “...I'll have some of your delicious fruit... and think about it.”

“Hah!”  Skagra grinned crookedly.  “Ha ha!  Most honest thing you've said since you got here!  I like it!”

“Truly?”

“No.  Get your stinkin' dreads out of my Skag Hole and go grab yourself a rainbow already.”  Skagra stood up.  “And then, once you're back, we can calmly... and professionally talk about the death of all 'friends.'”
> Two Halves To Every Thing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A match rubbed against the rusted railing of Red Barge's utmost platform, lighting in an instant.  Skagra raised it to a cigarette in his mouth.  He flung the match behind him, took a puff of the cancer stick, and brushed his red bangs to the left.  As they fell back to the right, the Top Dredger stared due west.

Past the struts—the layers and layers of fused boats—a pair of steamships chugged towards the horizon.  Both of Monket's ships split apart, heading diagonally northwest and southwest to where they would scour the sea for their elusive target.

“There he goes... off to fetch Chandler's golden goose,” Nixkit said.  He strolled up to the railing and sighed through Skagra's second-hand-smoke.  “That's an awful lot of bits for the fat cat to be investing in a slaver from Mudtop.”

“Mmmhmmm...”  Skagra took another drag of his cigarette.

Nixkit glanced aside.  “You suppose it's true what Monket said?”  The pale dredger's eyes narrowed.  “About the Right Talon of Verlaxion coming to investigate?”

Skagra blew smoke into the foul air.  “You suppose I piss sideways after waking up in the morning?”

Nixkit leaned against the railing with an exasperated sigh.  “Boss...”  He glared aside.  “If one of the Council's serrated death pigeons shows up at our doorstep, there's going to be trouble.  Forget Chandler's prized pegasus.  We have a lot more at stake here than he does.”  Nixkit flinched as a cigarette bounced off his forehead.  “Guh!”

Skagra pivoted about.  Fuming smoke, he pointed an angry hoof in the second-in-command's chest.  “Do not compare me to the fat cat.  I have at least five more testicles than any of his family ever did.”

“I'm just saying...!”  Nixkit rubbed his brow with a frown.  “There's nothing but open ocean between the Quade and here!  If the Rainbow Rogue's lucky enough to have avoided drowning in all that drink, then one of the Barges is her first stopping point between the Luminards and the western prefectures!”

“Eh...”  Skagra brushed his stubborn bangs again.  “The dayum duckey's probably shark food.”

“Doesn't matter if she is or isn't!  The fact is, Chandler thinks she's out there!  And if that's what he and his Monket monkey believe, then odds are that the Council and the rest of Rohbredden does too!”  Nixkit hissed.  “Skagra, this place is fixing to become a zoo overnight!  And if what Monket says is true about the bounty Chandler's spreading—”

“We can cash in on that,” Skagra said.  “Gain ourselves a frisky pot of gold at the end of that rainbow tush.  Hah!”

“And then if the Talon intervenes?”  Nixkit gritted his teeth.  “Skagra, you and I both know that we can't afford that kind of attention.”

“The morons who have governed nautical law for the past five decades of dickspace know a thing or two about not knowing a thing or two,” Skagra said, pacing around the exterior of the Skag Hole.  “If they get too nosy, we invoke the statutes of the sea and force them to double back.  If they play dumb, we play dumber.  We drag and delay until death makes the whole thing moot, and then everypony will remember that they don't give a damn.”

“Even over this Rainbow Rogue?”

“I don't know if you pay attention, Nixxy, but nopony pays attention,” Skagra muttered.  “This hooplah over a Quade-wrecking monster will last only as long as ponies of the sea are willing to vomit it out.  Then they'll get bored of the melodrama and find some other urban legend to get their anchors in a twist over.  I've seen it happen a gazillion times.  Only—right now—Chandler's schizo enough to throw his belly into the mangler, thinking it might give him an edge.  Well, the moment he dared to dip his stupid fetlock into the waters that Monket and I swim in, he gave up all pretense of being a smart bastard, and I intend to drown him like a bag of puppies.”  Skagra leaned against the eastern railings, scratching his chin as he gazed over the waters.  “Sure, they might send the Talon, but they'll see nothing but the same filth and godlessness that the core of Rohbredden despises, and they'll give up on us as they always do.”  He smirked back at Nixkit.  “That's how it helps to be damned, Nixxy.  When the holier-than-thou farttards of the world shove you deep into the muck, you find yourself in control of the whole foundation.  I've seen an awful lot for having shit for eyes.  The world doesn't have to be likeable for you to be able to rule it.”

Nixkit strolled over.  “But explain something to me if you can.”

“Yarp.”

“Let's say Monket does find something out there?” Nixkit pointed out west.  “And he brings it back to the Barge.  What then?”

“If this thing is such a 'monster,' then Monket knows that the most secure place to keep it is in the brig situated at the south strut of the Barge,” Skagra replied.  “I intend to lock it away under our metal... holding it there—feeding it just enough to keep it alive, but barely.  Then we'll drag out Chandler's patience until he's willing to give us anything.  And just when we've become fat off of his bits and his desperation... we'll cut him off completely.”

“How?”

“Simple.”  Skagra messed with his impossible bangs again.  “We'll kill it.”

“Kill the Rainbow Rogue?”  Nixkit blinked.  “And what if Monket protests?”

“We'll kill him too.”

Nixkit sighed.  “I guess this is why I can't be Top Dredger.”

“Hmmm?”

“I just... don't get the logic in betraying everyone we come in contact with, boss.  Won't it... won't it come back to bite us somehow?”

“It's not about betrayal, Nixxy.”  Skagra leaned over, draping a hoof around the dredger's shoulder.  “It's about being cruel.  Inflicting pain, paralysis, and poop.  The Three P's.  Without P-Cubed, you're just as powerful as any mucking guppy of the sea.  And you can't half-ass it either, or else somepony with greater strength, smarts, and luck will get the edge over you.”

“Well, you didn't need to tell me that, boss,” Nixkit said with a blink.  “I see that everyday.”

“Do you?  Do you really?”  Skagra pointed at the thin line between the scarred half of his face and the normal side.  “Remember the former Top Dredger?  He half-assed things.  That's how I ended up on top and he ended up with his muzzle being shoved into a harvest grinder.  This is a shitty world, Nixxy, with only the very peak of it painted in gold.  Unless you've got the capability of ball-crushing everyone and everything you meet, then you might as well jump into the muck and roll over, cuz you're as good as bloat.”  He leaned back.  “Got it?”

Nixkit gulped and nodded.  “Got it.”

“Good.  Now, don't ever let me side-hug you again.”  Skagra gazed east again, nostrils flaring.  “You're like a bottle of apple lube dipped inside siren phlegm, I swear to Goddess...”

“I'm guessing that, with this latest arrangement with Monket, we're having to divert resources from harvesting the local shelves?”

“Hrmmm... you bring up a good point, Nixxy.”  Skagra tapped his muzzle, squinting.  “And thanks to Digiffery Doo, we're already down a few bars.”  He took a deep breath.  “How long until Unification Day for the snow-huffers?”

“About a week, I'd imagine,” Nixkit said.  “Maybe less.”

“Good.  That means they're initiating the last funeral rites before the Month of Thawing.”  Skagra cracked his neck joints.  “Grnnffff... rev up the engines.  Take us south.”

“Aye, Skagra.”  Nixkit trotted down towards the engine levels.

“There's more than one way to earn a bit,” Skagra said, shuffling back into his office.  “Plus, I wouldn't mind a few extra trinkets for my desktop.”  He entered, shutting the door behind him.  “Oh hey!  Dust!  My favorite!”  Thud.





“You feel that?”  Whony remarked.  All around the hold, the walls shook and groaned with deep metallic vibrations.  “We're moving!  All of the struts are spreading apart!”

“Seems like we're moving south,” Quint remarked, pacing around a burning barrel.  “And the Slaver of the Waves just took off west.”

“What is the Top Dredger even doing up there?” asked another colt.

“Hopefully we'll find out soon,” Quint grumbled.  As prophesied, a scruffy frown shape limped into focus.  “Hey!  Sea foam!  What's the scoop?”

Swab had his head hanging down.  His right ear twitched, facing away from them.

Quint rolled his eyes.  “Oh, for the love of barnacles...”  He marched over on thudding hooves and yanked Swab until the little colt faced him.  “Hey!  Dumbflank!  Give us an update or I'll give you a concussion!

“Guhhh!”  Momentarily surprised, Swab grimaced.  “They... th-they're after the Rainbow Rogue!”

“Who is?!  Monket?”

Swab gulped.  “Him and his slave crew!  They're going to 'bag and tag' her and bring the monster to Red Barge!”  His yellow eyes darted across the gathering faces.  “Some rich pony in Rohbredden named Chandler wants to get ahold of her!”

“For the stuff she did in the Quade?”

“Is she going to wreck the Red Barge too?”

“How are they even going to contain the monster?”

“Isn't Skagra afraid of losing his harvest to her superpowers?”

Quint sighed, waving off the anxious orphans.  “Well, half-head?  What's Skagra's plan?”

“What else?”  Swab shuddered.  “He's going to choke Chandler of his money... using the monster as leverage.”

“Hah!”  Whony grinned wide.  “That's our Skagra alright!”  He turned around to face the other orphans.  “Those uptight snobs in Rohbredden don't even know what they're dealing with!”

“But... but what if Mudtop gets angry and sends more of Monket's kind to steal the monster?”

“So?”

“So?!?  They might try and grab us!”

“Pffft... sounds like an upgrade if you ask me.”

“Are you kidding?!  I've lived all my life here!  The rest of the seven seas sound scary!”

“The only thing you should be afraid of is pissing off Quint with that yellow belly of yours!”

“Yeah! Ha ha ha!”

“Is that all?  They're going to bring the monster here?”

“Assuming they even catch her alive!”

“Of course she's alive.  She ate a bunch of monks, didn't she?”

“No... I mean if they survive bagging and tagging her!”

“Good point.  Wow... not sure Red Barge could survive any more leaks!”

“They'd just have us patch 'em up!”

“Heheheheh...”

“Well, sea foam?”  Quint dropped Swab, his nostrils flaring as he leered down at him.  “Is that all you heard?”  He raised a hoof.  “If you're holding anything back from us, then I'll cream ya.”

“I... I...” Swab blinked.

“Hmmm?”

Swab's muzzle hung open.  He thought about Skagra's voice... about how icy the office got as soon as he talked Monket down.  A five-letter word spun rancid circles in the little foal's brain, until at last his ear folded and he exhaled with a defeated breath.

“No... that's it.  Nothing else.”

The orphans flocked together in bunches, murmuring with an excited commotion.

Quint stood in place, squinting at Swab for a prolonged period of time.  At last, with a huff, he turned tail and trotted back to his quarters.  Whony and a bunch of other colts followed him.

Swab was completely alone.  With a shudder, he turned and strolled the rest of the way to his mattress.  He passed by Croche and a bunch of other fillies seated on their bunks.

“Do you think it could happen?  Do you think the monster would do to us what she did to the Quade?”

“I dunno about you girls, but I have my escape plan.”

“Pffft... not the 'float away on bloated dredgers' plan...”

“Why not?  After all the times they've smacked us around, we deserve to get some use out of them grown-ups!”

“Heeheehee...”

Croche's voice droned:  “And just where would any of us float to?  We're Red Barge inside and out.  You think there's a place amongst the seven seas that will take us?”

The rest of the fillies said nothing.  They sat in dull silence while Croche continued gazing into the firelight.

At last, Swab slumped onto his mattress.  He rolled onto his side, gazing at the loose metal panel where he had his letters to Verlaxion written.  At one point, he reached a tiny hoof towards it... but stopped.  He exhaled out his nostrils, then let his hoof fall.  Curling up into a little brown ball, the colt closed his eyes, allowing darkness and exhaustion to drown out the gossiping orphans far behind him.





With gentle, kind hooves, a mare layed out a white bandage over a monk's bleeding backside.  She knelt close to the pony's body as the equine shuddered in fitful slumber.  After murmuring a quiet prayer to Verlaxion, she got up with a flounce of her braids.  The mare strolled down a line of bodies lying beneath a patchwork canvas tarp.  A series of woven platforms had been dredged from the Quade.  They formed a tiny peninsula along the north edge of the ravine, not too far from the platform that held the community's latrine.  It wasn't much, but the place served as a sturdy enough foundation for the remaining population of Luminards.

She paused every so often to administer aid and water to the wounded monks.  Then, with a sullen sigh, she trotted out into open sunlight for the first time in hours.  Squinting, she fumbled through the brightness—ultimately bumping into a feathery figure.  Her eyes flew wide, and she jumped back with a gasp.  Looking up, her expression grimaced even harder, and she quivered where she stood.

“... ... ...”  Keris gazed down at her.  “Don't be alarmed.  I am Lieutenant Keris of the Right Talon of Verlaxion.  I work for the Council of Verlaxion.  I was sent to investigate what's happened here... and to ascertain the location of the pegasus known as 'Rainbow Dash.'  You seem to be in charge of a lot of things here, if I may be so bold.  Might I ask for your assistance?”

The mare held a hoof over her chest, panting in fright.

Keris' magenta eyes blinked.  Slowly, he removed his silver helmet and gazed down at her, headcrest exposed.  “Let me guess...”  He bore a calm smile beneath his beak.  “You've never met the Right Talon before.”

She slowly shook her head from side to side, eyes glued on his armor

“Mmmm... I see.”  He leaned back, sitting on his feline haunches.  “Take as long as you need to catch your breath, and I take no offense at you staring.”  He cocked his head to the side.  “I'll have you know, it's been several... several eons since any griffon from the mainland has ever indulged in equine flesh.  Before Unification, for that matter.  And if it's of any consolation...”  Keris winked with a smirk.  “...we never particularly enjoyed pony.”

The mare's eyes twitched.  She exhaled, and her braided tail stopped flicking.

“Better?”

She nodded.

“Might I ask your name, miss?”

She gulped hard.  “Mmmm... Nicro.  My anointed name is Nicro.”

“Are you in charge here?”

She hung her head, then shook it again.

“That surprises me.”  Keris glanced aside.  “You appear to be the only pony besides the two protectors who is medically assisting the others.”

“It is my humble duty,” Nicro murmured.  “As well as my own personal punishment.”

“Punishment?”  Keris raised an eyecrest.  “For what?”

She gulped, then pointed with a trembling hoof.  “For my inability to be among them.”

Keris glanced over.  His hawkeyes traced along the bloody stripes worn into each monk's backside.  “Hmmm... I see.”

“I... I pray for strength each and every day...”  Nicro shuddered, sniffling.  “But I-I cannot feel Verlaxion's presence anymore.  I don't even know if sh-she would hear me even if I did have the courage to exorcize myself of my sins.”  She choked on a sob.  “There's not enough pain and labor to make up for what's been lost.”

Keris took a deep breath.  Standing up, he shuffled closer to her.  “Well... perhaps that makes us quite similar.”

She rubbed her moist cheek and looked up.  “H-huh...?”

“In that respect, I too am quite the sinner,” Keris said.  “I mean... I've only ever dedicated my entire life to forcefully vanquishing the enemies of Verlaxion while ensuring the safety and security of her beloved foals.  But... eheh... wounding myself for my own transgressions?  I'm afraid I don't quite have the courage for that either.  I guess I could have spent all these days and mornings of my adulthood whipping myself into a bloody mess, but then I wouldn't have had the time to protect Verlaxion's assets... just like you wouldn't have had the time to restore health and prosperity to Verlaxion's treasured monks here, your brothers and sisters in the Quade.”

Nicro blinked up at him.

“Now...”  Keris rested a talon on her shoulder.  “From one... kind sinner to another, perhaps you would be willing to have a discussion with me?”  His eyes narrowed.  “So that I might track down a true avatar of cruelty?”

Nicro shuddered, looking away.  “That's not up to me.  I'm not the Kyron.”

“Your Kyron is dead, my little pony.”

Nicro winced.

“And there are many... many more who stand to suffer,” Keris said.  “Please... will you help me understand what's happened here?  With your help... I just might be able to prevent more misery... and restore Verlaxion's glory abroad.”

Nicro gulped.  She looked back up.

Keris waited patiently.

“Mmmm... she said she wanted to find her friend,” Nicro murmured.  “Rainbow Dash.  The pony who did this.  She was looking for a magical beacon of harmony or something from inside the metal tower.”

“Metal... tower...?” Keris narrowed his eyes.

“It's all that remains of the Reed.”

“There was... a structure beneath the Reed?”

“Mmmhmm.  That's right.”

Keris exhaled, gazing over the waters.  “Would you care to show me?”
> How the East Met West
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Swisssssh!

On glinting wingblades, Keris descended onto a loosely suspended platform.  Clakka!  He retracted the blades in time for his wings to flap, hovering himself in place.  One limb at a time, he tested his weight against the woven structure, then finally stood on all fours.

Coiling his wings at his sides, Keris looked up... and up and up and up.  His beak hung open as his magenta eyes took in the towering lengths of a massive metal obelisk.

The slender structure stood out like a black splinter in the middle of the Quade.  Shredded bits of Reed hung off the multiple stories, and a few splintery lattices of wood and weave dangled and swayed in the salty breeze.  The griffon could see multiple spots where the Luminards' former home once hung off the tower, using its bulky mass as a foundation.

Blinking, Keris glanced left and right.  He tilted his head, noting the height of the steep, steep mountain ridges to the north and to the south.  Even after so many eons, the canyon walls facing inward were craggy, porous, and sparsely vegetated in comparison to the thick greenery that capped off the jagged peaks.  The geological structures dwarfed the metal tower in their immensity, so that Keris could easily imagine how the entire continent of Luminar once buried the obelisk entirely.

Taking a deep breath, Keris flapped his wings and lifted up off the woven platform.  He ascended, gliding up and around the cylindrical stalk.  His hawkeyes narrowed.  He scanned the polished surface with avid scrutiny.  Despite years of being covered by reed and wood, there were little to no blemishes along the glossy metal.  In fact, he could almost perfectly see his own reflection in the material—along with the rock and water of the Quade behind him.

Then—all of the sudden—circles.

“...?”  Keris halted in midair, his wings repositioning themselves.  He drew closer to the metal, nearly pressing his beak to the surface.  His magenta gaze followed a pattern of six circles, all gathered around a curved line that flowed crookedly across the diameter of a seventh, all-encompassing circle.  He raised a talon and drew a claw calmly across the surface.  Despite the gray lines forming a pattern before him, he couldn't feel even the slightest indentation.  There was no sign of wear, tear, or chipping in any fashion.

He exhaled through his beak's nostrils, then flew back from the obelisk entirely.  He levitated evenly with the symbol he had found, then looked behind him.

The western end of the Quade's channel bled with a red sunset.

Curious, Keris flew counter-clockwise around the circumference of the tower, keeping level with the symbol.  To his mild surprise, he found another symbol.  He halted right in front of it, blinking, then glanced in the opposite direction.

The east end of the channel led towards a dim horizon beyond the Quade.

With a curious breath, Keris stroked his feathery chin, staring up and down at the cylinder's cryptic presence.





“At first, I thought she was sincere about meditating within the Holiest of Holies.  Truly.”  Nicro gulped.  “We all did.”  She looked up from where she sat on the edge of the Quade, two floating platforms away from the impromptu MASH unit.  “Sonikah—one of the wisest elders—even assisted her in an age-old sacrament.  She went through several trials to become anointed by proxy.  But then—when she was finally allowed to bask in the Reed's presence...”  She shuddered.  “...Rainbow Dash started to show her true colors.”

“Menthe said that she later claimed to be part of some... some foreign cult,” Keris said, pacing before the pilgrim.  “Something to do with 'Harmony' in a land called Excelsior.”

“Equestria,” Nicro corrected.  “Those words still haunt me.  They haunt all of us.”  She gulped again.  “The entire time she was pretending to be genuinely interested in Goddess Verlaxion, she was really just trying to get at something beneath the Reed.”  With a sigh, Nicro hung her head.  “I even tried to be nice to her.  Tried... tr-tried to give her something to eat when she was suffering through the trials.  Maybe...”  She sniffled.  “M-maybe it was my sin that st-started all this.  Oh Goddess...”

“Hey... Hey.”  Keris knelt in front of the mare and tilted her chin up.  “This is not your fault, do you understand me?”

“But... b-but when I was anointed, I made a covenant with—”

“This was all the work of a cruel and heartless vagabond.  It has nothing to do with you.”

Nicro bit her lip.  “We must all face a reckoning for our sins...”

“Indeed.  And everyday, it is a most grueling battle,” Keris said with a nod.  “But the Goddess wouldn't be proud of Her foals if they accepted defeat so easily.  Wouldn't you agree?”

Nicro blinked.

“There is much of Verlaxion's will to be done,” Keris said, standing up.  “And it is our duty to do so with courage and humility, despite the harsh misfortune of this world.  Now... would you be willing to help me compile my facts together, dear elder?”

Nicro's lips parted.  “You... you would call me an elder?”

“Why not?”  He smiled.  “Highly anointed or not, you've certainly earned your wings in the Talon's book.”

Nicro exhaled.  She gazed off towards the east end of the Quade.  “...she... she claimed to be something called 'the Austraeoh.'”

Keris craned his feathery head to the side.  “Rainbow Dash?”

Nicro nodded.  “She believed that the world was flat... and that it was made of metal and machinery underneath.”

Keris gazed down the length of the channel.  “Fascinating.”

“According to her, there was some... energy... some Harmonic energy or something that she had to get to inside the tower.”

He pointed.  “So, when she saw the metal underneath the Reed, that set her off?”

“Oh, she didn't see the metal.”

He blinked.  “She didn't?”

“Not at first.  She... stole her way into one of the upper sanctuaries and spotted it... right before running into Antsan.  That's how she first saw it.”

“Curious...”  Keris' eyes narrowed.  “How, then, was she first attracted to the Quade to begin with?”

“I... I do not know.”

Keris paced a bit.  Eventually, he spoke:  “Menthe and Galloran—your protectors—say that she wasn't alone.”

“No.  She had two travelling companions.”

“A stallion and a griffon, yes?”

“A pegasus named Bard and a griffon named Wildcard.”

“Could you describe them to me?”

“Wildcard was... well... about your age, but with darker feathers.  He wore goggles all the time... never talked.”  Nicro gulped, then pointed at her hoof.  “And his left talon.”

“What of it?”

“It... it wasn't natural.  It almost looked like it was made of metal.”

“A prosthetic?”

Nicro nodded.

“And what of Bard?” Keris asked.

“He... he seemed awfully polite.  Talked a lot... but was pleasant about it.”  Her lips curved ever so slightly.  “He listened to my choir... and he performed some music for us as well.  I almost think that... that...”  Her smile left, replaced by a grimace.

Keris raised an eyecrest.  “What?”

“Well... wh-when I last saw Bard, he had shown up at the monastery with Wildcard... just as it was collapsing.  And h-he didn't seem too happy.”  Nicro gazed up at the Lieutenant.  “It's almost as if he was angry with Rainbow Dash... and had to rescue her in spite of his better judgment.”

“Do you suppose that the Rogue's companions disagreed with what she did here in the Quade?”

“I... I don't know.  I mean... it's possible...”  Nicro bore a brief frown.  “But they still knew more than they ever told us.”

“Even about Rainbow Dash and her cultish beliefs?”

“Mmmhmmm.”

“Were they followers as well?”

“No.  I mean... I-I don't think so.”  Nicro fidgeted.  “Maybe... maybe Rainbow Dash really did originate from somewhere beyond the Blight.  Stranger miracles have happened.  But Wildcard and Bard?  Every monk who met them was more than certain that they belonged to the seven seas.”

“They just... chanced upon Rainbow Dash in their travels?”

“That's the impression I got... that we all got.”

“I see.”  Keris nodded.  “And did they offer any explanation for her supposed powers?”

“Not much,” Nicro said.  She glared for a second or two.  “And they weren't 'supposed'.”

Keris leaned back, exhaling.  “You saw her perform some sort of foreign magic up close?”

“Is that what the seven seas are saying?” Nicro blinked hard.  “That it was all some alien magic that Rainbow Dash used to destroy the Reed?”

Keris shrugged.  “I am here to be corrected, dear elder.  Please... do set me straight.”

“It was nothing less than pure, heretical corruption!” Nicro exclaimed, hissing.  Almost as soon as her voice took on a venomous tone, she winced... and her ears drooped.  “At least...”  She gulped.  “That's what Sonikah and the others are convinced of.”

“And you?”

She sniffled.  “I-I don't know.  All I know is that... th-that I almost made a friend...”  She rubbed her cheek, shuddering.  “And the next minute... she was like a demon.  All of the Reed was crumbling before my eyes, and she kept rambling... sputtering... that she 'had to do it.'  'She had no choice.'”  Nicro clutched her skull and shivered.  “That pendant... that pendant.  It kept glowing and shimmering... like she possessed something demonic that was out to destroy all of Verlaxion's glory...”

Keris' eyes darted into the Quade, then lifted up.  “I spoke to a few other pilgrims over the past three hours.”  Taking a breath, he strolled forward.  “The ones who saw Rainbow Dash in person told me that she never took that pendant off.  She even found a loophole that allowed her to perform her ritual with the item still on... around her neck.”

Murmuring into her hooves, Nicro merely nodded.

“Supposedly it was an heirloom from her... Equestria.  But whatever the thing's origin, it was the source of what destroyed the Reed, yes?”

“She... she touched the Reed with its power,” Nicro murmured, looking up with glossy eyes.  “She weakened it... then ripped it apart with Menthe's own spear.”

“And she just did this at some random part of the Tower?”

“Yes.”  Nicro blinked.  “N-no...”  Her eyes squinted at her own utterance.

Keris listened patiently.

Nicro blinked again.  “She... she went straight for the Holiest of Holies.  She... she insisted that there was an entrance into the tower there.  At least... that's what she proclaimed before the final attack.”

“So she had expressed some malicious intent before the actual assault happened?”

“It all seemed like lunatic's raving to us at the time,” Nicro said.  “Part of her belief in the 'Austraeoh' and a metal world...”

“Tell me... dear elder...” Keris shuffled closer.  “When Rainbow Dash went into the Holiest of Holies... did she exit out the same way she came?”

Nicro shook her head slowly.  “No.  She... she ended up on the east side,” she said.  “Right where I found her.  Why do you ask?”

Keris scratched his bottom beak, gazing out over the Quade.

“... ... ...Lieutenant?”

“Sorry.”  He cleared his throat.  “Just pondering.”  He adjusted the weight of his armor and stared down at the pilgrim.  “You've been of extraordinary help to me, Ms. Nicro.”

“I have?”

“Of all the pilgrims I've spoken to, you've been the most forthcoming,” he said.  “I think I might have the details that I need to compile a proper description of our suspect, so that the Council may conduct a better search for her in the near future.”

“You're... y-you're not going to try and track her down herself?”

“Oh, I have every intention to,” he said.  “But the fact of the matter is... it has been over two weeks since your Rainbow Rogue left the Quade, and finding her among the seven seas between here and Rohbredden will be difficult for just one member of the Right Talon to do.”

“I see...” Nicro hung her head.

“But I will do everything that is within my power to track her down.  But...”  He paced past her.  “The first and foremost item on my list is to ensure that the pilgrims here are well-provided for.”

“Huh?”  She looked up, blinking.

“I am writing messages to be delivered by pegasus hooves back to the mainland every day,” Keris explained.  “And in my next letter, I shall use my authority to request that a supply ship come here as soon as possible.”

“But...” Nicro blinked.  “We already had some help come and go.”  She waved a hoof.  “A ship belonging to 'Brye Chandler.'”

“Mmmm... yes, well...”  Keris cleared his throat.  “This will be quite different.”  He smiled at her.  “This supply team is an extension of the Council of Verlaxion.  You have my word that they will not leave until each and every one of your kind is properly fed and nursed back to health.  The ship will even provide transport if you should desire to relocate.”

“Relocate?!”  Nicro's muzzle hung agape.

Keris gestured with his claw.  “Surely you cannot be expected to stay here in this condition.  Among this detritus—”

“Lieutenant, this detritus is what's left of a holy place!”  Nicro's jaw muscles clenched.  “The Reed may be gone, but Verlaxion's will still remains!”

“Elder—”

“We have pledged our lives to her service!  And even if we've failed her, it doesn't mean that... that we don't have...”  Nicro panted, shuddered, then hung her head.

Keris shuffled over and knelt before her.  He placed a talon on her shoulder and spoke gently:  “If you wish to stay, then we cannot force you to move.  This is a sanctuary in the eyes of the Council, after all.  That being said...”  He leaned back, staring thoughtfully at her.  “There seems to be very little opportunity for the spread of Verlaxion's word and wisdom if all of Her children choose to languish and perish in one place.”

“It's taken me several restless nights of meditation, but I've come to a realization.” Nicro whimpered.  “If the Reed was truly destroyed, then it could only have been willed by Verlaxion Herself.”

“Then perhaps She wills it for you and the rest of the monks to carry on your legacy elsewhere.”

Nicro looked up, eyes glossy.

Keris smiled.  “Have you ever contemplated that—perhaps—the one true Sanctuary is you?  And that Verlaxion's Holiest of Holies will always have a place to make itself manifest... so long as there are faithful, humble ponies willing to represent Her divine glory?”

“I... I cannot imagine...”  Nicro murmured.

Keris patted her shoulder.  “Well... maybe... just maybe it is Verlaxion's will for you and many others to learn and understand more, dear elder.  But I cannot imagine that happening here.  You've spent a lifetime burying your sins.  Let Verlaxion's grace decide where you get buried.”  He stood up and strolled towards the edge of the platform.  “Look, it's not my job to act as a spiritual counselor to you.  I'm not anointed or anything, so take my words by the measure of your own wisdom.  However, I am charged by the glory of Verlaxion herself to defend the interests of Rohbreddenites everywhere, and it would be a failure on my part if I somehow allowed you and the rest of your brothers and sisters in the Reed to suffer.”  He plopped his helmet on and faced the Quade.  “A supply ship should arrive in two days... maybe three.  Take their assistance as you will, or don't.  Their grace is Verlaxion's grace, as far as I see it.”

“Where... mmm...”  Nicro fidgeted.  “...are you going?”

“East,” Keris said.  “To look for clues and ascertain where the Rogue has gone.”  He sighed.  “Hopefully I won't be too late.”

“I... I think Galloran can help you with that.”

Keris turned to look over his shoulder.  “The younger protector?”

She nodded.

“How so?”

“He... he claims to have seen her,” Nicro said.  “Heading east... by raft.”  She gulped.  “The evening following the Reed's destruction.”

“... ... ...”  Keris gently smiled.  “Is that so?”  He stretched his wing muscles.  “Well... looks like generosity abounds today...”







Seraphimus stood with her hood down beside a crackling bonfire.  Her charcoal eyes gazed cold and calm, staring straight ahead.

On the subterranean ledge across from her, a family of unicorns had gathered around a glowing sphere of ice.  They stood anxiously while a priest and two uniformed equines strolled up.  One of the stallions enchanted a crystal with his horn, then placed it—bright and glowing—against the curved underside of the blue ice shard within the alcove.

With the command of a magic spell, the crystal flashed a burning hot red.  Within seconds, steam emanated from the alcove.  The priest held his forelimbs out protectively, ushering the family back... back from the spectacle.  They craned their necks to see, their eyes bright and longing.

Layer by layer, the ice melted, revealing the tender body of a slumbering foal.  Once the liquid had drained completely from the bed that the child was laying on, she twitched, gasping for breath.  After a few minor convulsions, one of the two uniformed stallions rushed up, administering a relaxing agent.  At long last, the filly sat up, lifting her maneless head.  She blinked blearily... then saw her family.  A weak smile crossed her muzzle, and she reached her forelimbs out.

The priest said a prayer, then backed up with a calm smile.  Sobbing with joy, the family rushed forward, embracing the filly.  Then, after a tearful reunion, the stallions helped her into a stretcher.  The family provided joyous escort while she was rolled away towards the furthest reaches of the frosted cavern.

A deep sigh left Seraphimus' lungs.  Her eyes watered while a warm smile hung off the pointed edges of her beak.

“Miraculous, is it not?” uttered a stallion's calm breath.

“...!”  She spun with a flounce of her crest feathers.

The stallion smiled back, adjusting the goggles over his brown mane.  “They found an antidote to Blight Viper venom just two weeks ago,” Theanim Mane said.  His smile washed over the furthest lengths of the cavern, where at least a dozen more bodies were being thawed out with bursts of steam and salvos of happily cheering families.  “Something that was once considered incurable is now just a drop in the bucket.  Alas, Verlaxion is ever merciful.”

Seraphimus shuddered.  She pivoted away from him and began walking—swiftly—towards the distant exit of the cavern.

Theanim gazed after her.  Clearing his throat, he broke into a fast canter, following.  “I do apologize for the intrusion, Commander—”

“If you are truly sorry, then you shall leave me alone,” she grunted breathily.  Her tail whipped violently at the end of each word.  “Nopony's supposed to know that I am here.”

“There is nothing to be ashamed of in paying respects for—”

“Go away!”  She snarled.  “I am a very busy griffon.  Defending the interests of Rohbredden affords me little time for humoring the political interests of a rhetorical nopony—!”

“It must take truly harrowing patience indeed to wait for a cure to dredge dust infection.”

Seraphimus' talons scraped against the rock.  She turned around, eyes wide.

Theanim gazed sympathetically at her.  “I know that you are not here to sight-see, Commander.  Please.  Let us talk.  I do not believe that we will have another opportunity other than this.”

“Who have you been talking to?!”  Snarling, Seraphimus turned on him, claws sharp and glinting.  “Answer, Professor!”  She marched towards him in firm, menacing steps.  “Was it Hymmnos?  Vilcheez?!”

“Dear Commander,” Theanim spoke in a soft tone, shaking his head.  “I am a prime member of the Scientific Order.  I have regular access to any and all names of those registered to be suspended here for future curing.”

Seraphimus jolted to a stop, blinking.  She shuddered, exhaling heavily.  At last, she hung her head, swallowing a lump down her throat.  “Of... of c-course, Professor.  I... I am sorry...”

“There's no need.”  He smiled, shuffling closer.  “There's been an awful lot of gross assumptions being made as of late.  Considering the stress you've been under—both physical and emotional—it's only natural that you'd jump to conclusions.”

She took a deep breath.  Gradually, her hawkeyes raised to meet him again, and they were hard.  Chiseled.  “Why would you come here like this, then?” she grumbled.  “So sneakily... and without my express permission?”

“I had hoped to meet with you outside the arena.”

“You mean beyond the boundaries of the Court.”

“Indeed.”

Her beak nostrils flared.  “I am a sworn military guardian of the Queen.  You know that I cannot entertain any political measures outside of the official oversight of the Grand Magistrate.”

“Then entertain my company as a friend,” Theanim said, smiling.  “And a fellow child of Verlaxion.”  He gestured.  “Is that so much to ask?”

Seraphimus was silent.

Theanim's eyes narrowed.  “Do you even have friends outside of the Talon, Commander?”

Seraphimus fidgeted slightly.  Clenching her beak, she glanced up at him.  “...”





“There was a windigo attack on our village,” Seraphimus murmured.  She and Theanim strolled along a torchlit path overlooking the southern bluffs of the Rohbredden coast.  To the far west—blocking the sunset—a thick plume of thunderclouds brewed over oceanwater, shimmering with cold flashes of distant lightning.  “And—as you know—windigos fall outside the purview of the Right Talon's defense.  Only the Divine Goddess herself can ward off such spirits.”

“As it has been since the time before Unification,” Theanim said with a nod.  “It's a proven fact.”

“As a Lieutenant at the time, it was my duty to obey the Commander and directly assist him in evacuating the prefecture.  The windigoes were herding closer and closer, and we had only so much time to get the griffon citizens away from their roosts before the deathly cold of the beasts overtook them.  I was... bound by my sworn oath.  I couldn't be with my family until after the herd had passed over, or after Verlaxion's thawing breath had driven them back from the prefecture and into the mountain heights.  Whichever came first.”

“But that's where I'm confused,” Theanim said.  He gazed at her in mid-stride.  “Your husband and child aren't afflicted with windigo blight.”

“Indeed.”  Seraphimus' beak nostrils flared.  “The windigos did not come near them.  However... the cave they were hiding in was unsafe.  There were crates full of partially-burnt dredge coal left there decades ago by a defunct mining consortium.  It was highly volatile material, usually off-limits to citizens, but this was an especially awkward circumstance.  The frozen stampede sent a tremor that reverberated through the whole mountain, disturbing the structural integrity of the storage cavern, and...”  She gulped.  “...almost every griffon who chose that place as refuge became infected with the damnable dust.  Within weeks, they would succumb to deterioriating lungs, followed by acute heart failure.”

“That is most unfortunate,” Theanim droned.  “I am deeply sorry for what you and your family endured.”

“We were blessed in the end,” Seraphimus said, summoning a tender smile.  “My Commander curried favor with the Council.  They contacted the Order, and—with assistance of the priesthood—my family was spared.  They await the day when scientific progress will allow for their release from their binds.  And I?”  She sighed.  “I await it too.”

“From what I've read, it's been twelve years.”

“Twelve years, three months, two weeks, and three days,” Seraphimus droned, her talons scuffling over snow-flaked stone.  “I count each passing morning with a heavy heart.”  Her feathery brow furrowed.  “I can only hope that your gifted Order countes each day with a heavy mind.”

“I am sorry to say that my expertise lies outside of medicine and pathology,” Theanim declared.  “I've been entrusted with a copious amount of observational field work: exploration... education... discovery... taxonomy.  Anthropological activism, I suppose you could say.”  He looked over with a smirk.  “But I happen to know—from several fellow researchers in the central academies—that a breakthrough in curing the avian lungs of dredge dust is just around the corner.”

“As almost all scientists are keen to casually tell me,” Seraphimus muttered.  “As if it's supposed to make anything better.”

“Erm...”

“As if it's somehow supposed to magically bring back my family with any greater swiftness than Verlaxion's divine mercy.”

“Commander, I did not come here to offer you an answer.”

“No, but you did come here to make me ponder torturously on the problem all the same.”  Seraphimus spun about, glaring down at the pony.  “So I ask you again... Professor... just what is the true nature of your rude inquisition?”

“I assure you, Commander, I am quite sincere about the recovery of your family,” Theanim said with a slight frown.  “But I am sincere about a lot of other things as well, which I feel is sadly lacking in the Council as of late.”

She sighed, leaning back and folding her sleeved limbs.  “I do believe that this is where I must eject myself from a most inappropriate conversation.”

“Then so be it.”  He waved a hoof.  “But hear me out first.”  His eyes narrowed.  “What is the most important issue in Rohbredden's interests... currently?”

“With Unification Day coming up?  And the Month of Thawing??”  Seraphimus snorted.  “The protection of the Prefectures, of course!”

“Then shouldn't the Council be bolstering your defenses?  I mean...”  Theanim gestured.  “The Right Talon is spread out enough as it is.”

“If this is to address the current decision to investigate the Rainbow Rogue...”

“Don't you think it's a most curious tangent, Commander?”  Theanim leaned against a wooden railing.  Thunder broiled softly in the distant west.  “During a time such as this—for the leader of the Shoreline Trade Consortium to issue a veritable red herring when there are so many problems already in the interior?”

“I am certain that Brye Chandler's motivations are just as base as the rest of the Council's,” Seraphimus muttered.  “Political, superficial, even sinful.  But that's none of my concern.”  She shook her head.  “My duty is to protect the divine Will of Verlaxion, and it is the Queen's desire to manifest Her wisdom through the Council.”

“But Commander—”

She raised a talon.  “Perhaps it is the role of a scientist to question everything...”  Her hawkeyes narrowed.  “And if I was a scientist, I'd say that your innate connections with the Rainbow Rogue raise a lot of questions indeed.”

Theanim bit his lip.

“I would be quite tempted to question your loyalties... your frailties... and your sudden and inexplicable tendency to give into whimsy and impulsive decisions...”  She sneered, shuffling closer and closer to the smaller figure before her.  “All of which allowed you to be an accessory to the obviously psychotic actions of a mysterious mare from the west.  I've read up on what transpired in Rust and Shoggoth, my dear Professor.  If it weren't for Camellia's involvement, I'd venture to say that you would be branded with so many unlawful acts of criminal malice that it would put you in jail for twice as long as that shady midnighter friend of yours within the frosted hold.”  She stopped before her sharp beak could shove him over the side of the cliff, and she leaned back.  “However... I am not a thinker, but instead a doer, and an ever-loyal... ever-humble servant to the Council.  Which... if you may have happened to notice, is not where we are currently located.  So I would very much like it if you put this charade to an end.”

Theanim gulped.  “The only charade in Rohbredden, Commander, is pretending that all of this tension is simply a matter of capturing a crazed pegasus from beyond the Blight.”

“... ... ...” Seraphimus merely blinked at him.

Theanim leaned up, pushing himself off the railing so that he stared at her, undaunted.  “You have great vision, Commander, both physically and intellectually.  Take a look around you... past your sorrow and past your anger.”  He waved a hoof.  “Dredge coal is turning up missing left and right.  There are terrorist attacks all across the central prefectures.  The Syndicate has fallen.  The Blight is no more.  Trade routes are frayed, and pirating and privateering is at an all-time high.  Now, for years... even in the midst of my most studious travels... I outright ignored the filth that was coating the ocean's surfaces around me.  But now that I've encountered so much ugliness and tension across these waters as of late, I can hardly even sleep well at night.  The seven seas are a tempest, and they threaten to drown Rohbredden entirely.  All it will take is just one shove, and the Colonialists and Continentalists will be at each other's throats.  Surely you've felt this.  If not in the Council—then abroad.  Everypony is tense and afraid and paranoid... and just where is our Goddess?  Where is her Divine intervention?”

Seraphimus exhaled.  She turned from him, glaring out into the stormy seas.  “You saw Verlaxion's glory down in the cavern.  Where it always is.”

“True.  But Her abject silence must mean something, Commander!  You want to know what I believe?”  He gulped.  “I believe that Her foals are in trouble and even She doesn't know how to save them this time.  It will take a great deal more than a Thawing to bring salvation to the Six Tribes this time around.  And this hunt for the Rainbow Rogue that the Council's sent you on?  I fear that it is a distraction... a deterrant from a truer, healthier path.  I don't say this simply because of some bias I've acquired from traveling alongside the pegasus.  For all I know, maybe the same corruption has poisoned her as well... and perhaps she really did do those things in the Quade.  But I fear that this is just the beginning... and those attracted to the flame she's kindled are not being drawn there by the kindness of their hearts, but by a very different passion indeed.”

“You're right, Professor,” Seraphimus muttered.  “Something is distracting us.”  She turned to glare at him.  “Just like something's distracting you from exercising a clear and rational mind.”

Theanim sighed.  “Dear Commander—”

She pointed with a razor sharp claw.  “Do not 'Dear Commander' me.  Despite your despicable pretense, you are neither a friend nor a brother of Verlaxion... not so long as you stand to question the task that is set before me.”

“And just what task is that?”

“To bring to justice all souls whom the Council deems—by Verlaxion's wisdom—to be an enemy of Rohbredden.  And that includes your precious friend from beyond the Blight... if she so happens to be guilty of her crimes.  I'm sorry, Professor, but if you're looking for sympathy for your past mistakes, then you're talking to the wrong griffon.”  She brushed past him, readjusting her hood.  “Now, if you'll excuse me, but I've taken a leave for far too long.  My wingmates and I must patrol the surrounding prefectures to the north.”

A few seconds after she walked off, Theanim's voice followed her:

“Unquestionable fealty to the Council and to Verlaxion is quite admirable, Commander,” Theanim said.  “Tell me... was it beneficial to you before?”  A beat.  “And to your family?”

Seraphimus scuffled to a stop.  Her muscles tensed.  A hint of a frown loomed, and she almost turned around.  However, with a defeated sigh, she spread her wings and took off, gliding north through the dead drift of snow.

Alone atop the cliff, Theanim squirmed.  “Well, that went swimmingly...”  He trotted over towards the wooden railing and leaned against it.  “Oh, how I wish I had your wit and timing, Old Chap.  It's rancid... and yet poignant when it needs to be.”

Silence.

Then, with a sudden grimace, Theanim gnashed his teeth.  “Damnation, Rainbow...”  He slapped his goggles over his eyes and hung his head, groaning.  “Just where are you?”  He kicked at the flakes of snow and watched as they melted beneath him.  “Where did you go...?”






“There,” Galloran said, pointing at the last sunlit waves of the day.  “In that direction.  East-northeast.”

Keris settled down beside him in the tiny pine forest nestled along the east edge of the Quade.  “Did you say east-northeast?”

Galloran nodded, tightening his wingfeathers by his side.  “It was several hours after the Desperadoes carried her away from the monastery.”

“Desperadoes?”

“Erm... Bard and the griffon.  It was their calling card.”

“I see...”

“Anyways, Menthe needed help tending to the monks, and I did the best that I could.  But I also knew that I had to get an eye on where the no-gooders went.  So... uhm... the first moment that I could, I told Menthe that I was heading out to the east supply shack to get some medical supplies.”  Galloran gulped.  “Instead... I-I came out to see if I could get a good look at the three of them.”

“And did you?”

“Well, I came here first, thinking that maybe they'd be packing up on a bunch of the mangos for the journey ahead.  It's a long flight.  But all I found was this...”  He reached deep into his saddlebag and produced a flowing white bandage.

Keris blinked.  He reached out, then took the fabric in his talons.  He noticed several copper-brown spots and he sniffed it.  “Mmmm... doesn't exactly smell like 'monster blood.'”

“It was left here... blown by the wind against a pine tree.”  Galloran pointed along the northern edge of the treeline.  “Right about... there.  My guess is the pony split up from the rest of the group and wandered the shoals for supplies.”

“She didn't just fly away?”

“She couldn't,” Galloran said.  “Her left wing was injured.  I... uh... I-I got her good with the crossbow.”

Keris nodded.  “That matches the other eyewitness accounts.”  He strolled down along the crashing surf.  “The pilgrim Nicro mentioned that she ventured forth on a raft.”

“Two rafts, actually.”

“Two?”

“Erm... she had fashioned them together from some of the old, old wreckage... here in the Quade.”  Galloran pointed out among the many-many chunks of vertical rock.  “Out there... to the north... and then to the northeast.  See?”

“I do.  There were enough materials in those desposits for her to fuse together two rafts?”

“Most definitely.  By the time I reached this spot, I saw her casting off... exiting the shallow waters of the Quade and sailing into open ocean.”

“You didn't pursue her?”

“No.  I-I didn't.”  Galloran hung his head.  “That was my mistake.”

“Why should you feel bad?”  Keris breathed.  “You had obligations to the monks you swore to protect.”

“She'd bested both Menthe and I in combat,” Galloran muttered.  “If I fought her again... who knows what would happen?  Even with an injured wing, that friggin' mare would have owned me.  And then how would I have been around to help out the Luminards?”

“And you're certain she was alone?”

“Absolutely.”  Galloran nodded.  “There was no sign of Bard or Wildcard whatsoever.  I... uh... I don't know what the others have told you—”

“They both weren't very pleased with her.”

The pegasus shook his head.  “No they weren't.”

“Fitting, I suppose.”  Keris strolled along the tempestuous edge of the crashing surf.  “That a pegasus so psychotic and self-serving would lose her only friends.”  He huffed.  “It almost seems as if Verlaxion's punished her for us.”

“Yes, but... b-but if she makes it to Rohbredden's shores???”  Galloran gulped.  “I mean, what promise is there that she won't do to your land what she's done here in the Quade?”

“You said she was heading... east-northeast?”

“Right.”

“Could you point in the precise direction?” Keris asked, gesturing.  “All of the Quade looks the same to me, quite frankly.  As a protector, I suspect you'd have a better eye.”

Galloran flapped his wings.  Hovering, he scanned the horizon, narrowed his eyes, then finally pointed.  “There.  In that direction.  Exactly.”

“You're certain?”

“Yes.  Why?”

“Because only one thing lies in that direction between here and the Shoreline Prefecture,” Keris said.

“White Barge?”

“No.  One would have to swing due north to skirt the westward drift.  I'd venture to say that a mare from a faraway land—cast off to sea with little experience in these waters and with small knowledge of her surroundings—would end up stuck in the central cyclones.  Without steam power, ships that travel this part of the seven seas are subjected to an impenetrable lull.”

“She still has one functioning wing,” Galloran said.  “She could devise a way to propel herself.”

“Yes, but the westward drift would still keep her from heading far north.  No... I wasn't certain before, but now it seems clear.”  He smiled.  “She could only be headed east.”

“Why...?”  Galloran blinked.  “Why are you smiling?”

“Because that means only one destination,” Keris said.  He looked at the pegasus with a magenta glint in his eyes.  “Red Barge.”  He stood in place for a few contemplative seconds.  “Here...”  He reached into a satchel and produced an envelope.  “A supply ship will be arriving soon.  Give this to them and tell their pegasus messenger to convey it east as soon as possible.”

“Huh?  But...”  Galloran fumbled slightly before holding the message tightly to his chest.  “Why give it to me?”

“Because where I'm going...” Keris spread his wings.  “...information has a habit of not getting in or out... among other things.”

“That... doesn't sound very safe.”

“Indeed.  But it's even more dangerous for our target.”  Flapping, Keris lifted off the Quade for the last time.  “Let us hope—for Rohbredden's sake—that I get to her before somepony else does.”





“Rogue!!!” shouted a voice against the thunder.

The steamship tossed and turned against violent waves.

Flashes of lightning erupted overhead, casting a silver sheen over the seven seas

“Rainbow Rogue!!!”  Another crew member hollered.

Monket was currently busy stumbling, fumbling, and cussing his way from bow to stern.  He teetered left and right, shoved aside a sputtering pair of slaves, then braced himself against a metal bulkhead as fresh cold seawater doused him and everypony else on board.  Thunder rumbled, shaking his hooves loose as he bumbled the rest of the way.

At last, he joined several gawking, waterlogged ponies along the rearmost platform of the careening ship.

“This better be something real!” he hissed, tossing his green dreads into the bedlam and rainwater.  “Or your guts are becoming fishbait tomorrow morning!”

“Out there!  Southwest, Mr. Monket!”  The crewmember hollered, pointing a drenched hoof.  “Look!  Beyond the foaming crests!”

“Ehhh?”  Monket shoved him aside, peering with his pale red eyes.  “Give me a second to digest the currents, damn you!”

“It's there!  The monster!  I saw it first!”  The servant gulped.  “I-I lay claim to the heated meal!”

“That remains to be seen.”  He waved a hoof.  “Skipper!  Spyglass!”

A scrawny stallion galloped up, hoofing Monket a rain-slicked telescope.

Monket grabbed it and stared out at the waves.  He held his breath, steadying the lens.

To the southwest, two crests away, a dark shadow loomed.  Then—in the next flash of silver—Monket saw color... seven shades of it... shivering and clinging to two splintery strips of wood.

“... ... ...” Monket lowered the spyglass.  As thunder rolled, so did a dull chuckle from his muzzle.  “Eat it, Skagra, ya seafoam rat bastard.”  He shoved the telescope back into the skipper's chest, then spun to face the gawking crew.  “Hooves to the harpoons!  Turn us about!”  He spat into the broiling tempest, facing southwest again.  “And remember... bleed her... but the final heartbeat belongs to Chandler.”
> Children of the Dead Drifts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was chilly, so he shivered.

His little body curled up and his teeth chattered.  Squinting an eye open, he gazed straight out.

Beyond a flowing curtain, he saw a bright blue ocean... glittering beneath a sapphire sky.

A whimper escaped his lips, and he hugged himself tight.

Not long after, a pair of loving forelimbs bundled a woolly blanket around his figure and then held him close in a fuzzy embrace.

“Mmmm...”  He squeaked, burying his muzzle into a warm chest.

“What's the matter, my little Swift Song?” her voice cooed, warm, smooth as velvet.

“I... I-I had a bad dream,” he stammered breathily.  “That you and Daddy were g-gone...”

“Why...”  She nuzzled him close, kissing his left ear, then his right.  “...where would we have even gone, silly pony?”

“Then... th-then why do I feel so cold, Momma?”

Silence.  Her breath cut short.

He gulped.  “Momma...?”

The air rang with deep metallic thuds, draining the bright blueness from the sky.

“Mom—?”

“Dead drift!”





Swab's yellow eyes opened, brimming with tears.  He glanced left, then right.  At last, his body winced from yet another dull thud of metallic impacts through the lower hold of Red Barge.

“Dead driffffft!” Saxon's voice rang from the distance.  One by one, the orphans stirred, rolling out of their filthy bunks and mattresses.

“Wake up, ya lazy seafoam bums!”  Digiff suddenly marched into the domain, teeth showing beneath his snarling muzzle.  He galloped from bed to bed, shaking and kicking tired foals out of their cots.  “You all want nibbles?  Then you'd better be prepared to grab us some goods!  Up and at 'em!  Don't make me tell you a second time or I'll skin your hides and shove you down into the Harvest chambers!”

Swab sat up, wincing.  He rubbed his aching neck, then squinted sideways at the rest of the orphans.  He saw Croche stumbling out of bed, her sunken eyes extra dark with the trailing shadows of sleep.  In the distance, Quint slapped Whony awake then frowned at the nearby colts.  “Alright!  You heard the dredger!  Rise and shine, muckheaps!  We've got nibbles to earn!”

“I said move it!” Digiff suddenly snarled in Swab's good ear, yanking him viciously off his mattress.

“Guh!” Swab winced, legs flailing as he struggled to meet the ground with his flung momentum.  “I-I was up!  Honest—”

“No excuses!  Grab whatever tools you can and go!”  Digiff pointed up towards the top level.

Swab shuddered.  Foals left and right were yanking various toolbelts and satchels off a rack along the wall.  He grabbed his, slung it over his body, and marched out into the bitter cold night.  As he reached the surface, his ear rang with the noise of chugging engines.  Water splashed and churned against the edges of the struts as the entire Barge glided its way south.  At last—following the shouts of dredger guards from tower to tower—the entire assortment of welded ships cut off the engines.  Red Barge drifted south, slowly coming to a lazy glide.

As Swab felt himself surrounded by barely waking foals, he heard Saxon's voice shout overhead:  “Incoming line!  East southeast!  Headed for the eastern struts!”

“Turn your filthy heads around and march east!”  Digiff barked, suddenly there, leering over the foals.  “No dragging tail!  Move!  Move!”

Swab and several other orphans lurched across the welded ships, making their way to the eastmost struts.  There, the platforms had drifted far enough apart to afford a miniature channel that ran straight through the bulk of Red Barge.  One by one, the guard towers switched their floodlamps on, shining spotlights on the open water with loud, buzzing electricity.

Swab had to squint at first, but soon enough he saw the dead drift... cruising icily towards them like a train of tiny frozen glaciers.  He clenched his jaw tight.





Dear Goddess Verlaxion,

It is your foal, Swab.  And I have sinned again.





One hoof at a time, Swab climbed down a length of cargo netting, lowering himself towards the cold lapping waters of the muddied ocean.

He wasn't alone.  Several other colts and fillies shimmied down.  They dangled there, hanging in the penumbra of the dredger guards' sweeping spotlights.  The bright beacons caught waves of mist rising up off the frigid waters.

Swab trembled, hanging on.  He craned his neck around and stared down the channel between struts.  His good ear twitched.

At last, the first of several tiny boats came.  The miniature coffins floated west, carried by a mid-ocean current.  The pale muzzles of pale corpses lingered in each raft, their eyes shut and their hooves neatly folded.  Rich silks adorned their bodies, and wreathes of pale white flowers filled the gaps between their stiff limbs.  Several petals had fallen loose, and they drifted along with the current, littering the cold waters between the bobbing coffins.

“Mmmmm...”  A filly sniffed the air from across the channel where she dangled from a length of netting.  “You can smell the oils...”

“Stay focused,” Quint grunted, descending in a rope-suspended pontoon from the edge of the strut.  Once it landed in the waters, two other colts jumped in, and he rowed the vessel out into the middle of the dead drift.  “Whatever you collect, toss it here.  You want your nibbles?  Be quick, and leave nothing unturned.  The dredger is watching.”

Swab glanced up.  He saw the outline of Digiff marching along the edge of the eastern struts.  With a shudder, he glanced back down, waited for a coffin to drift by, and jumped.  He landed on a dead mare's chest, wobbled slightly, then found his balance.  All around him, more and more orphans jumped, landing on the bobbing procession of the dead drift.  Without wasting any time, Swab rummaged through the clothes, pouches, and belongings of the dearly departed Rohbreddenites.  He stored away what he could in a second satchel, reaching in deep to check the moist recesses of the necrotic float.





Several of your children were sent off to sea, so that their bodies might find their way to the Spring Havens... and perhaps their souls too.  They shouldn't have been disturbed... but this did not stop us.

On occasion, Top Dredger Skagra sends us into the drink to grab valuables off of the dead drift.  A tiny little trinket here or there won't rake in many bits, but an entire bevy of items grabbed from an entire procession overnight?  It's enough to make him a very rich pony... or at least that's what I'm told.  I don't know, but being ignorant is not my worst sin.

No, what I'm guilty of is doing this to your beloved children without question.  If I don't find any trinkets, I don't get my nibbles for a day.  Maybe two days.  If I was a good pony, I wouldn't even bother.  I'd just leave the dead alone.  But that's not an easy thing to do when it's so cold and you're hungry and you know that there's no other way to earn nibbles anytime soon.

It doesn't make it right.  Because of me, your children are now lost.  Without the gifts and heirlooms of their loved ones... how are they ever going to make it across the seven seas?  How will they even arrive at the gates to the Spring Havens?





“Mrmmmf!  Pearls!  I-I found a pearl necklace!” a filly's voice echoed across the lapping waters.

“Bring it here!” Quint hollered.  All around him, fillies and colts hopped from coffin to coffin, stripping the bodies of valuables.  The cold night air was ripe with mildew and rigor mortis, and the sweeping spotlights caught the glint of teeth and pale flesh.  “Don't forget to check each muzzle!” the oldest colt exclaimed.  “The eyes aren't the only places where you'll find coins!”

Swab grunted, sweated, fishing his tiny limbs through a stallion's velvet overcoat.  He found a pocketwatch, inside which was the faded photograph of four smiling pegasi.  Clenching his jaw, he yanked the thing out—chain and all—and dropped it inside his spare satchel.  He heard the rattling of jewelry beneath the corpse's body, so he reached his hooves past the mane, shrugging off lice and other squirming things as he grabbed coin after coin.

“Hah!”  Two boats over, Whony smiled like a jester.  “Boy did this mucker have rotten luck!  Grnnngh!”  With a sickening pop, he yanked a unicorn's prosthetic limb off, then waved it around like a puppet piece.  “Hey!  Who's deader than nails and hates dredge coal explosions?  Me!  Meeee!  Snkkkkt—hahaha!”

“This boat's clear!” another colt stammered from the middle of the drift.  “What next?”

“If it's clear, then show that it's clear!”  Quint caught Digiff's gaze from the strut level, then motioned with a hoof.  “Over and under!”

The colt gulped.  Grunting, he used all his strength to pull the body out... then rolled it over the coffin's edge.  The corpse fell into the drink with an icy splash—where it eventually sank to the ocean floor like an anvil.

“Don't stop for nothing!  Move on to the next boat!”  Quint heard a series of high-pitched grunts and struggling breaths.  He looked over, frowning.  “Croche!  Dammit, girl, get a move on or you're bloat!”

“...?”  Swab instantly looked up.

Across the way, Croche struggled with a mare's neck.  Her tiny hooves wrestled with the tight, ice-blue flesh.  “Nnngh... I can't... c-can't get the muzzle to open!”

“Your bag's practically empty, girl!” Whony barked from aside.  “If you don't get any trinkets, you don't get any nibbles!”

“Quiet!” Quint hissed as Digiff strolled by overhead.  “Croche, stop mucking about!”

“I... I-I'm sorry...” Croche sniffled, her sunken eyes narrowing as spotlights streaked over the cold waters.  “I... I-I just can't get this to... to...”

“... … ...”  Swab took a deep breath.  He yanked at the body in his boat and shoved it overboard.  “Nrnngh!”  Sploosh!  Sputtering, he paddled the coffin across the way.  “All clear!”

“Good job, sea foam,” Quint muttered.  “Move on to the next—”

“Httt!”  Instead, Swab hopped over to Croche's boat.  The filly gasped as the coffin nearly capsized.  Swab expertly balanced it with his equally placed limbs.  “Here...”  He wrangled his way in, gently brushing Croche aside.  He reached into his satchel, then produced a rusted pick.  Patting Croche's light pink shoulder, he gestured at the dead mare's neck.  “Stiffness has set in.  You gotta aim at the ligaments in the upper jaw.  Like... so.”  He stabbed the pick in deep then twisted until there was a sickening pop.  “Same on both sides.”  He repeated the motions.  Then, pulling out the juice-stained shiv, he stuck it in a third time—this time into the very base of the chin.  “Now... pry it open... nnngh...”

Slowly, like a rusted vice, the mare's mouth opened, exposing her teeth.  Three or four molars had bright gold fillings.

Swab exhaled, smiling through sweat and goosebumps.  “H-hey... see?”  He turned aside.  “It was worth the—”  He blinked.

Croche had her face covered with two shivering hooves.  She sniffled, gagging slightly as she fought to keep the bile down in the back of her throat.

Swab's lips pursed.  His good ear twitched, and he tilted his head up to see Digiff marching along the strut, watching everypony and everything.  “Hey...”  With a firm breath, he reached over and shook Croche's shoulder.  “Hey.  Look at me.”

Slowly, trembling, Croche did so.  Her moist eyes twitched.

He gazed at her intently.  “This is what you have to do.”  He gestured for her to watch.  Reaching into his bag, he fumbled, then finally yanked out several clumps of cotton.  He stuffed them deep down into the dead mare's throat, blocking her swollen throat passage.  Then, producing a tiny mallet from the bag, he aimed the stained pick straight up against a tooth, forming a forty-five degree angle.  Holding his breath, he raised the mallet, then uncoiled his muscles.

Thwack!

He swung again.

Thwack!

And again.

At last, with a crack, the tooth with the gold filling popped loose.  It fell onto the cotton blockage below.  Swab reached in and swept it up in an instant, plopping it down into Croche's trembling hooves.  Wasting no time, he did the same with the remaining teeth, loosening the valuable gold and depositing them into Croche's posession.

“The Drift's thinning!”  Whony's voice echoed from a few waves away.  Splash!  “Good things can't last forever, huh?!  Haha!”

“Just shut up and bring in your salvage, Whony.”

“Yes, Mommmmm.”

“There you go...”  Swab squeezed Croche's shoulder.  “Should be good enough.”

“But... b-but...”  Gulping, she held the gold fillings out towards him.  “Your nibbles—”

“Shhhh...” Swab's yellow eyes swung past Quint's raft.  “Remember to toss the body when you're done.”

“... … ...”

“If you can't, I'll be back this way again later.”  Then, with a grunt, he hopped onto the next nearest boat.

He nearly fell completely into the drink this time.  Gasping, Swab flailed his limbs, catching his balance at the last second.  Wincing, he looked into the coffin, thinking that perhaps it was empty.

It was not.  However, he soon discovered why the boat was so lightweight.  A tiny, frail sliver of flesh was all that lingered in the coffin.  Wrapped up in silk robes was an infant colt, its mane barely formed.  The effects of rigor mortis had carried it differently over the waves, and the little thing's eyelids had partially lifted, exposing two green eyes covered in a gray glaze.

The foal's limbs were folded across its chest, tightly clutching a crystalline effigy of a pair of windigos galloping away from a plume of frost—a totem of Verlaxion.

Swab perched above the body, gazing with thin eyes.  He shuddered through a dull breath, then eyed the gold embroidery of the silk fabric covering the foal.  There was no point in wasting time.  Reaching in, Swab pulled the valuable totem out, and prepared to unwrap the little corpse so as to salvage the precious silk.





Please know that I do not take pride in what I do, and I certainly am not happy about teaching others to do such wicked things.  But, at the same time, I don't want them to suffer, my Goddess.

There are so many ponies here—sea foam orphans who are worst off than me.  I often wonder about them, night after night.  How will they earn their nibbles?  Will they even live long enough to fill the hole in their hearts that was left when their parents died?

I hate stripping your children of their valuables.  I hate tossing them into the drink... losing their bodies... losing their souls.

But if I don't do this, then it means others will suffer around me.  We will all suffer.  If your children who drift our way are already dead, then that means you've already prepared for them a place in the Spring Havens, right?  Then is it so bad that I try to make sure that we survive long enough so that we might redeem ourselves of our sins and get there as well?

We all wish to reunite with you, Verlaxion.  I just hope... I really hope that when we do... and when I finally meet my parents in your presence...

That you will be willing to even look at us...





Swab trembled.  He was the last in line to shuffle past Quint and his boat—raised along the outer edge of the eastern struts.

One by one, under the glow of a rising sun, the tired and exhausted orphans shuffled past Quint's boat, emptying their satchels full of trinkets and valuables into an increasingly full wooden bin.

“Good job, Whony,” Quint muttered, scratching across a sheet of paper that Digiff had given him.  “Go turn in.  Brunch will be yours in a few hours.”

Whony chuckled slightly, his left eye twitching.  He gazed off across the distant horizon, teetering slightly, then made his gradual march towards the lower hold a few struts away.

More ponies passed by, turning in their late night's work.  Among them was Croche, depositing several gold fillings and a purse full of jewelry.

“Mmmff... not bad.  Step it up next time, will ya?”

Croche merely nodded.  As Quint scratched her off, she trotted away.  Her sunken eyes swept the Barge until they met Swab.

Swab said nothing.  He was too busy clutching something tightly beneath the crook of his fetlock.

“Sea foam...” Quint grunted out the side of his muzzle when Swab arrived.

The one-eared colt dumped his satchel in and moved off—

“Wait.”

Swab winced, turning about.  “Huh?”

Nostrils flaring, Quint glared down at him.  “Cough it up.”

“... … ...” Swab glanced at the bin, then at the frigid waters beneath them.  He gulped in the hazy morning light.  “Cough... wh-what up, Quint?”

“Rnnngh!”  Quint slammed his hoof across Swab's face.

“Ooomf!” Swab fell to the floor.  Instantly, he dropped the crystalline totem of Verlaxion.  With a whimper, he clutched it to his chest with trembling limbs.

Quint loomed over him.  “You friggin' idiot!”  Gnashing his teeth, Quint crouched lower, hissing below his breath:  “Don't you see what I'm trying to do?  I'm looking after all of us!”  He pointed at the totem.  “If Digiff sees you stowing that below deck, he won't just toss you out into the drink to bloat, he'll hold back nibbles for the rest of us!  We'll be starving for days!”

“He won't see it!” Swab gulped, shivering all over.  “Honest!  I know where to hide things—”

“Bullshit!” Quint hissed, then reached his forelimb out.  “Hoof it over—”

“It was a little foal's totem!” Swab managed to frown.  “It's his family's spiritual offering!  To ferry his body into the Spring Havens!”

“Rnnngh... dammit Swab—”

Swab spat:  “He didn't even reach the age of ascension!  How else is he to reach Verlaxion's spirit?!”

“Fine!” Quint growled in Swab's face.  “So suddenly you're a priest!  So concerned over the souls of the dead, huh?!  Well, stow it away, then!  And when everypony else has beaten you to a pulp over it... and you've starved us all of nibbles for a week... it'll all be okay!  Cuz one little bastard went to snow heaven!  Is that worth giving everything up for, ya mucking little sea foam?!  Then go on!  I wanna see you steal that away from Skagra like a true thief!”

Swab blinked repeatedly, trembling.

“Well?!?” Quint's teeth glinted in dawnlight.

Swab blinked one last time.  He sniffled... hiccuped on a sob, then slowly held the totem out to Quint.

“Hrmmff... figured...”  Nostrils flaring, Quint yanked the crystal effigy from him.  “Friggin' coward.”  He tossed the item into the bin and walked back to the boat with a vacant expression.  “You belong here more than I do.”

Swab hung his head, staring dull and dead at the metal deck.

Quint scratched off the last name, then threw a tarp over the bin.  Around this time, another colt shuffled up to him.  “I just did a headcount, Quint.”

“Yeah, and?”

“One hundred and three of us have reported in.”

“...?”  Quint blinked at the foal.  “But there's... one hundred and five of us.”

The colt merely shrugged.

Quint looked at the sheet Digiff had given him.  “...Lance and Sea Swell.  Where are they?”

“I don't know.”

“But I saw them an hour ago.  They got plenty of trinkets.”

“I saw them too, Quint,” the colt said.  “They were both standing in empty boats, last time I noticed.”  He gulped.  “Staring into the waters.  All quiet.  Just before the spotlights dimmed.”

Silently, Quint stared into the channel between the struts.  Empty coffins and flecks of flower petals lingered across the filthy surface.  The struts drifted gradually together, closing up like the jaws of an icy beast.

“Go under,” Quint muttered.  “Get some rest.”

“But... but Quint—”

“Just go!” Quint snarled, frowning off towards the bright horizon as he rolled up Digiff's sheet.  “I gotta get this shit in to Nixkit!  So beat it!”

With a shudder, the colt obeyed, galloping past a dazed and distant Swab.





Dear Verlaxion, please forgive me.

I try and I try so hard...

But I just don't know how to be strong anymore.

I want to be a good pony.  I try hard everyday.  Please don't take it out on my parents.  They're much better ponies than I've ever been.  I understand if you're mad... and that you have every right to toss them before the tide... like I have stripped and tossed so many of your children into the depths...

But they don't deserve to be lost just because of me.

I just...

I just wish I knew where they were...

And that they were okay...

And that somewhere, somehow, something good that I have done is warming them... feeding them... guiding them home to me...

Where we can both be warm again.

Please, Verlaxion, I know that I don't deserve this, but my parents...

They deserve everything.  Bless them.  Protect them.

Your sinful but humble servant,
-Swab





Limply, Swab shuffled along until he couldn't shuffle anymore.

He lurched against a rusted railing along the western edge of Red Barge.

He stared deep into the dark waters, lapping cold and filthy against the rusted hull below.

At last, he buckled... he shook... and then he lurched forward, collapsing against the railing.

He buried his muzzle in his hooves, stifling a whimper, failing.

“Goddess... Goddess, please...”

Sniffling, he wiped his eyes dry and covered his face again.

“Anything... j-just anything... I-I beg you...”

He shook... shuddered... then opened his foggy yellow eyes.

The waters glistened for a brief moment, crystalline and refreshing.

His lips were parched... his body aching.

One limb after another, he began to move—

“Monster...!”

He gasped.  Eyes twitching dull and dry, he looked up at the western horizon.

One of two steamships came charging in, its hull doused with rainwater.  Monket's flag hung in tatters while smog poured into the air.

“Monsterrrrr!  We caught the monsterrrr!”

Red Barge came alive in wild commotion.  Saxon spun about in his guard tower, squinting.  Dredgers of all shapes and sizes rushed out of the metalwork, gazing west.  Nixkit and Digiff shuffled up, eyeing Monket's armada.

“The Rainbow Rogue is ours!  Make way!  Open your port and make way!”

Nostrils flaring, Nixkit swung his hoof in the air.  “You heard 'em!  Spread the struts!  Open the port and make a path towards the southern brig!”

“Aye!”

“Move it!  Move it!  Move it!”

“Spread word to the Skag Hole!  Monket's nabbed the monster!”

“Mucking fantastic...”

Swab exhaled, his ear twitching with abject curiosity.  One shuddering hoof after another, he backed away from the railing, and watched the slave ship glide its way into port.	
> Abomination:  It's What's For Breakfast
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Shouts rang across Red Barge.

They reached the uppermost platform, echoing off the rattling bulkheads.

Top Dredger Skagra stumbled out of his office, chewing on something as he squinted into the sunrise.  His eyes crookedly locked on the sight of Monket's ship coming in to port between the western struts.  He spat a quasi-edible wad against the floor and cracked his neck joints.

“Mrmmmff... good thing I'm feeling pretty this morning.”  He slapped his silky red bangs ineffectually.  “Round up the boys!” he barked towards the guards standing behind him.  “Shark prods all around!  Not even mucking kidding!”

“Shock sticks!”

“Whip out the shock sticks!  Top Dredger's orders!”

“Cheese and crackers, could they be any stiffer in echoing me?”  Skagra motioned to his lackeys as he descended the ramp.  “Come on.  Gushie time.”






A filly galloped down into the orphans' hold, panting and wheezing.

“He caught 'er!”  Her voice cracked:  “He's caught the monster!”

One by one, the foals sat up, stirring and groaning.

“Grnnnghh...” Quint rubbed his eyes with a frown.  “What, now?”

“I was about to drown in hot sirens,” Whony muttered.  “This had better be good.”

“The Rainbow Rogue!” the filly yelped, pointing up towards the sun-lit struts.  “The Slaver of Waves has nabbed her!  He's bringing her into port right as we speak!”

“Monket's caught the freak?!” Whony suddenly gasped, spinning out of bed.  “No friggin' way!”

Gritting his teeth, Quint hopped down to the floor.  He slapped his own muzzle, shaking the cobwebs of drowsiness loose.  “Don't everypony go nuts.  I've got first eyes on this.”  He slapped a bulkhead and whistled to a few fellow colts one bunk over. “Keep an ear out for the dredgers!  Knowing Nixkit, he'll be paving a way towards the southern strut by now!”

“What's in the southern strut, again?” Whony remarked.  Whack!  “Ow!”

Quint frowned, leaning back from swatting the foal.  “The only friggin' place that will hold a beast like that, of course!  Now move it or lose it!”

In chattering layers, a crowd of frenzied orphans galloped up towards the top level.  Quint, Whony, and a bunch of other colts threaded their way through like a hot knife through butter, spearheading the surge of curious hooves.





The workers, dredgers, and families of Red Barge had gathered thickly along the edges of the Western strut.  They formed solid lines, craning their necks and murmuring towards one another.

Panting, Swab stumbled around the legs and fetlocks of the older ponies.  He hopped, strafed, and craned his neck in desperation.  Eyes wide, he struggled to see through the forest of limbs, catching only the slightest sliver of light, color, and shapes from across the channel.  Monket's ship had stopped completely, its engines dead and dormant for the first time in countless hours of smog and strain.

“Do you hear that groaning?” uttered a mare, clutching her child.  “Could that be the beast?”

“Not likely,” murmured a soot-stained stallion.  “I heard she's got the lungs of twenty griffons and the claws of a wyvern.  Something like that would be able to bellow like a howling blizzard.”

“She doesn't need lungs or claws!  Haven't you heard?!  She's got a magical death jewel that burns ponies alive!”

“I swear... I'm hearing somepony moan.”

“I hear it two.  But that's more than one pony.  Maybe... maybe she's slain the crew?”

“Then how did they get into port?!”

“Shhh!  Somepony's shouting!”

Swab jolted, for he heard it too.  It was the unmistakable voice of Monket, full of angry sneers and cuss words.  Between the flicking tails of two Red Barge citizens, the colt saw a yellow figure with green dreads hopping onto the strut and growling into the face of one of the arriving dredgers.

“Don't mucking look at me like that, shitheap!  Get some bandages and first aid onto my ship!  Pronto!”  A stomping hoof.  “I know that half-headed arse has got it stowed away around this heap of junk somewhere!””

Swab heard Nixkit clear his throat as he shuffled up to meet the livid slaver.  “Problems, Monket?  Please don't insult Red Barge before Skagra gets here.  It steals his thunder.”

“Shut the buck up about Skagra and his thunder!  Goddess dammit—I've got ponies bleeding all over the decks of my ship!”

“You cruised into a nightly storm again, didn't you?”

“Nightly storm, my butthole!  Dammit, it's the Rogue!  She tore my crew to shreds!”

“Wait, she what?”

Digiff's voice:  “Slow down and get ahold of yourself, Mudtopper.  What the Hell happened to you last night?”

“I caught Chandler's damn trophy, that's what!  And now I'm down at least a dozen legs of property!  Verlaxion damn it!  It's going to take me for friggin' ever to recover my assets!  Chandler had damned-better pay up or I'm spearing his flank and hanging him upside down before the entire Court in Frostknife!”

Skagra shuffled up, his voice frighteningly melodic:  “Now there's something worth saluting!  Wanna throw in some of my kidney stones?  That'll make the Council blanch like snow!”

“Skagra, pull your lip over your shitty face and swallow!  I am not in the mood!”

“Awwwww... Monket, darling!  Our honeymoon went off so well!  Ahem.  So did you snag the bitch or didn't you?”

“Just what the Hell is up with you being hundreds of miles south of the previous location?!  I thought we had a deal!”

“Yeah, and I once had two shits to give over your godless whining, but I guess I misplaced them too.  So did you grab the Rogue or didn't y—”

“Rrrnnngh—Dammit, Skagra, you can friggin' have her!  What I want to know is how I can expect to be paid back for the slaves who got torn to bits last night!”

“You telling me that the Rainbow Rogue tore your slaves to bits... and somehow didn't bite off a single one of your dreads?  Hmmmf!  And here I thought it was a beautiful morning.”

“Skagra...”

“Monket Monket Monket... relax.  I'm not Chandler.  I sleep in two beds just to handle the weight of my jewels.  I gave you a barge to use as a base of operations, so come on.  Follow me to my office and we'll operate.”

“I just... just... rrrrghhh... this all feels like a damned setup!  Chandler knew what he was sending me into.  He must have!”

“Pffft!  That insufferable slab of grease with a side of shit fries?!  No way in Hell he knows what you've been dealing with.  And it's we who are doing the setup, remember?  Now cool your salt tits, Nasty-Nasty.  I'll have Nixkit provide refreshments again.  Hey Nixxy!  Uhhhh... Canteloupe!”

“Digiff!”

“Swaaaaaaab!”

“Eeep!”  With that cue, Swab boldly burst out through the line of gawking Red Bargers.  Sunlight glared in his yellow eyes, and he squinted.  “R-right here, Digiff!”

Through his peripheral vision, he caught the sparkle of electrified tasers.  Dredgers met with Monket's slavers on the ramp connecting the steamship to the barge.  Something limped into view, a flash of tattered colors—and then all Swab saw was Digiff's frowning face.

“You heard the Top Dredger, ya nosy little sea foam!”  Digiff shook Swab around.  “We've got a lot riding on this meeting!  So go fetch something fresh from the mess and book it to the Skag Hole!  On the double!”

“S-sure thing, Digiff.  But...”  Tasers flashed behind Digiff.  A pained grunt filled the air, followed by multiple gasps from the crowd.  Blinking, Swab looked over—

Digiff gripped the foal's neck.  “I said... move!”  He shoved Swab backwards.  “Nothing to see here!”  He turned towards the crowd.  “You all hear me?!  Go back about your business!  Or no nibbles!”

That barely worked.  A few of the gawking onlookers dispersed, but most of them hovered around a line of bridges connecting the western and southern struts.  While Swab galloped off for the mess hall, Quint, Whony, and several other foals snuck along the pipework.  They shuffled past grates venting with steam and scaled hull after welded hull.  At last, the orphans stole the best vantage point they could, watching as a mixed train of dredgers and slaves led somepony towards the brig situated on the southern edge of Red Barge.  There were too many bodies to make out the center of their attention—only the occasional shred of color or flicker of bloody bandages.

“Move!  Move!” Saxon's voice rippled across the bulkheads.  He leaned in, shoving a pole-arm with electrical bolts at the end.  Zzzzt!  Zzz-zzt!

A pained breath squeaked, and blue hooves stumbled across the rusted decks, only to pick back up and limp along while the frowning dredgers crowded tighter.

“Heheheheheh...” Saxon chuckled, his dirty teeth grinning in the sunlight as he twirled his prod and shoved it again and again.  “Not so tough now, are ya, Rogue?  Huh?!  Huh?!”  Zzzzt!  “This ain't no vacation in the Quade!  Here in Red Barge, we're gonna carve your heart out!  Heheheheh... kick your teeth in til you bloat!  Hah!  Dance!”  Zzzzt!

Quint and Whony craned their necks in futility.  They exchanged glances, then galloped down towards a lower series of bulkheads in pursuit of the procession.  The crowd shifted, watching, gawking as the thick metal doors to the brig were swung open and an emaciated figure was led down below... and out of the light of the rising sun.





Minutes later...

Swab arrived at Skagra's office with a plate of fruit and rice.  He winced painfully... for Monket's booming voice rattled across the walls of the room.

“...and I've got a bent smokestack on top of it all!  I don't know how she did it, but the damn freak nearly crippled the steam pipes leading up from the dredge furnace!”

“Wow, Monket...”  Skagra reclined in his chair, yawning.  He twirled an empty mug with a little paper umbrella in it.  “...for a dude who's lived all his life on the ocean, you're really hell-bent on crying me a river.”

“Skagra...” Monket stood above the top dredger, fuming.  “...I'm serious.  Chandler hasn't given me enough money to handle these damages.  If I don't gather the funds to pay back what I owe in Mudtop, I'm a dead stallion.”

“And so here you are... deep in the Skag Hole... ready to brown nose.”  Skagra stifled a yawn.  “You see this here empty jar?”  He lifted the mug with a smirk.  “I prepared it just in time for your tears.”

“Don't do this to me, Skagra,” Monket snarled.  “Don't yank me by my own anchor!”  He pointed, shouting.  “Last time we talked, you were willing to make a veritable blood pact with me over Chandler!  I'm in no friggin' place to hold court to your sass!”

“Excuse you!”  Nixkit frowned from where he stood on the sidelines.  “You're in the Skag Hole, pal!  This is precisely the place to accept whatever mercy the top dredger gives you!”

“Whoa whoa whoah—there, Nixxy...”  Skagra stood up, shuffling over and patting the stallion's shoulder.  “I love you like a brother, dude, but get off my dick.  Seriously.”  He cleared his throat, gesturing towards Monket.  “There's a mare present.”

Swab glanced over from where he was putting down the plate of refreshments.

Skagra trotted calmly towards Monket while Nixkit and Digiff looked on.  “This is not about sass, my little pissant.  It's about education.  You came here over thirty-six hours ago, all gung-ho about doing your part to fluff Chandler's jade serpent.  And look where it's gotten you.”  He took a “sip” of the empty mug, and hummed.  “Mmmmm... Anticlimax.  The best tasting irony.”  He tossed the container limply behind himself, then slapped a hoof down on Monket's shoulder, grinning.  “Now... what have we learned?”

Monket's nostrils flared.  “Never to trust power-grabbing flankholes from the mainland...”  He turned towards the refreshment bench, then rushed forward, snarling.  “...and Goddess dammit, I don't need your party favors!”  He bucked the table savagely.

“Gaaaaiee!” Swab flinched as spilled rice and orange slices flew all over him with a loud clatter.  Digiff rushed in, breathing hotly into his ear:  “Beat it!”  He shoved the colt away.

“Yo yo... Monket, don't take it out on the fruit!” Skagra's voice said while Swab scampered out.  “Also, be careful with my refreshments.  Shit doesn't grow on muck, y'know?”

Swab stood outside, panting.  He looked up at the guards.

The guards had their heads craned towards the doorway.  Curious, they listened in on the conversation.

With a gulp, Swab made to trot away... but he lingered just beneath a porthole.  Turning his head to the left, he aimed his right ear at the window.

“... … ...it's simple, Nasty Mister Monotone,” Skagra's voice rang.  “Chandler owes you for all of the collateral he's caused.  Chandler owes me because he's a stupid rat bastard who messed with the wrong sea diva.  We do as we originally planned.”

“You mean we hold the monster here?”

“I will hold the monster here.  You... in the meantime... will head towards Mudtop.  You'll carry a bunch of valuable gold and trinkets with you.  Tell them it's a loan... to get them off your back while we milk platinum from the Consortium.”

“Wait... how in the Hell did you come up with gold trinkets while I was gone?”

“Are you gonna question the way that I dance or are you going to let me lead?”  Skagra's voice hissed.  “Now, I am graciously giving you these funds to pay off Mudtop.  You can even tell those slaving barnacle humpers who sent you.  They might not respect either Chandler or you, but they'll respect the word of Red Barge.  All our shit squirts out the same color.  Ya feel me?”

“And I am just supposed to trust you to keep the Rainbow Rogue tucked away beneath your filthy bulkheads while I settle things with the debtors?”

“Not like you have much of a choice at this point.  You really think Chandler's going to fill the bleeding void from last night with his bits?  Pffft... wake up and smell the seagull phlegm, Monket.  This is the real way we deal with things.  As for your Rainbow Rogue... she's not going anywhere.  Not with my top dredgers aiming the shark prods on her.”

“Mark my words, Skagra.  This mare... this creature is no normal pony.”

Swab leaned in, listening curiously to the slaver's words.

Monket continued:  “At first, we thought her to be weak, starving, sun-bloated.  Her wing's a shattered mess, after all, leaving her flightless.  So we yanked her on board with no problem.  Then, when my slaves started stripping her... she... she changed.”

“What?  Was she wearing a diaper or something?”

“No, you moronic asshat!  I'm telling you she transformed!  She became a beastly thing... full of claws and fangs and horns and... and...”  The bulkheads rattled from Monket punching the metal.  “Nothing prepared us for this!  No rumor spoken over the waves of the seven seas can accurately account for her ferocity!  She's a beast, I tell you!  The very same demon who trashed the Quade!  But worst!”

Nixkit's voice spoke up:  “You're telling us that the pathetic little waif you brought aboard our Barge is somehow... capable of turning into a beast and maiming a dozen of your best bought slaves?”

“She is... she was.”

Digiff:  “The Hell is he even going on about?!”

“Look... if I'm to clear my name with Mudtop, I'd better take off now.  Quite frankly, I want to put as much distance as possible between me and that abomination you've got in your hold.  But mark my words, Skagra...”  Monket's hooves scuffled.  Swab imagined him facing the top dredger with a glare to match his icy tone:  “If there's any hope whatsoever of our having a deal... much less a Barge still intact by the time I get back, then you'd better swear to not take that damned pendant off of her neck!”

“Pendant?  What pendant?”

“Don't play coy with me, Skagra.  I know how much you like to yank shit off of other ponies.  Well, in this case, don't.  The only way we were able to avoid being dashed to bits against the stormy waves last night was that we got that stupid necklace back on her.  Then she turned back to the starving 'waif' that you saw.  And it's best that you keep it that way.”

“Pffft.  Nice try at scaring us, slaver,” Digiff grumbled.  “If any of that was true, she'd be yanking that thing off and tearing Red Barge to shreds as we speak.”

“Well, praise the waves of fortune that she wants to keep it on.  Seems like the only creature that hates her transforming is herself.  And you know what?  I'm fine with that.  If there's any ounce of sanity left in you assclowns, then you'll be fine with that too.”

Swab bit his lip, shivering.  Slowly, he pivoted about, gazing at the southern strut and the crowd gathered around the entrance to the brig.

“Now I'm off to Mudtop,” Monket's voice grumbled, followed by his heavy hoofsteps.  “Verlaxion's sleet... it's all I can do to forget the screams from last night...”
> When It's Finally Feeding Time
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“And just like that?  He went off to Mudtop?”

“He came.  Dropped off the monster.  Then left us.”

“Verlaxion's Sleet!  What is Skagra even thinking?”

“I don't know.  But so long as that Rainbow Rogue is on board, I'm locking my doors.  I don't care what hour nibbles are being served.  I don't want to risk dying and my foals becoming seafoam filth.”

“You and me both, sister.”





“Did you even see the beast?”

“Pffft.  Barely.  Saxon and the rest were all over it.  I couldn't even catch a glimpse during the whole march to the brig.”

“They're keeping that thing in the Southern Struts?”

“Yeah!  And it took at least two dozen dredgers with shark prods to hold it at bay!”

“Hah!  They were lucky!  I heard the monster took out a third of Monket's crew!  Left them bleeding and lame all across his deck!”

“Your point?”

“Point is... if that thing wanted to attack Skagra's dudes, it would have torn them to bits within seconds!”

“Oh, terrific.  And now Skagra's got it locked up in our hold.”

“I know, right?”

“The second I hear the hulls cracking, I'm jumping overboard!  Muck be damned!”

“Hahaha!”





“What are they even feeding that thing?”

“Fish.  Rice.  The usual.”

“To a monster like that?”

“That's what I overhead Dredger Nixkit say.”

“Pffft.  If they were smart, they'd chop up some of the slaves from Monket's ship and toss it down into the Southern Strut's hold!”

“Heh... that would put them to good use.”

“Seriously, though. What's the creature even doing here?  Don't we have enough problems as it is with the harvest?”

“Hrmmff... the way I figure, Skagra thinks he can make some bits off of this.  Give Red Barge a long-lasting edge over White and South.”

“Yeesh.  Things have definitely changed ever since the Syndicate fell under.  You think he's aiming to become the new Northern Hoof?”

“Hah!  More like Muck Hoof!”

“Boy, that'll catch on.”





Swab could not stop sweating.

He huddled, scrunched up in a claustrophobic crawlspace lined with rusted metal.  A lantern lingered at his side, illuminating rising curtains of steam from the webbed grates below.

With gnashing teeth, he fought and struggled to twist a series of stubborn valves directly in front of his dripping muzzle.

“Grnnngkkkt... mrfrnnnghht!”

His tiny hooves gripped a rusted wrench.  It took much effort and strain, but he was finally... finally able to twist a dial.  A fine trickle of sediment fell loose, and now the thing turned with an audible squeak.

He exhaled, wiping his brow.  Then, placing his wrench down, he fumbled around until he grabbed a canister of oil.  With help from a rag, he squirted the oil into the joints of the valve and rubbed it smoothly around the circumference.  He tried turning it again, and it spun smoothly.

His work was done.

The little colt dumped his items into a work bag, flung it around his neck, then gripped the lantern with his teeth.  He wormed down the length of the narrow, metal crawlspace, wincing from the scalding heat of the metal along the way.  It was a torturous, ten minute shimmy, but at last he reached the very end of the steam-filled corridor.  Standing up, he twirled a valve, then opened a trap door into blisteringly bright sunlight.





The humid air of the seven seas was like an ice-cold kiss to the colt's muzzle.  He crawled out of the hole, then rolled sideways across the western strut's upper deck.  Lying there in limp silence, he breathed in and out, reveling in the coolness that the surface world brought.  All around him, an array of brass pipework lingered, hissing steam at the various joints.

At last, after five limp minutes of listening to seagulls cry and engine rudders churn, Swab sat up.  He reached over, slapped the steamy trap door shut, then locked it in place with a twist of the valve.  He extinguished the lantern, slung it over his scarred flank along with the work bag, and stood up on wobbly limbs.





Several minutes and two struts later, Swab's trot came to a nervous crawl.

He blinked, squinting ahead.

Just in front of him in the setting sunlight, several orphan fillies and colts were spreading apart, trotting away from where the guard Saxon stood, hoofing out bags of plain white rice.  Swab watched as he gave away the last bag, then started packing up his cart of supplies.

Swab's muzzle hung open.  He shivered.  Hard.

Swallowing a lump down his throat, Swab trotted forward... then galloped.  “Hey... h-hey!  Wait!”  He scuffled to a stop in front of Saxon.  “I'm here!  I'm here for my nibbles!”

“No you're not,” Saxon slurred.  He hummed to himself as he packed his things up.  “Now, if you were here ten minutes ago when I called everypony—”

“But it's not even sundown!”  Swab stammered.  His eyes feverishly crawled all over Saxon's cart of empty containers.  “Digiff doesn't hoof out nibbles for another two hours—”

“Yeah, well, Digiff is busy guarding the Rainbow Rogue!”  Saxon spat.  “Which should be my job, but nooooooooo.  Skagra had to give it to a dredger!  What... am I not snazzy enough?”  His nostrils fumed as he piled more empty things into his cart, muttering to himself.  “I mean, I know I crawled out of the seafoam hold only two years ago, but come on!”

“But... b-but...”  Swab gulped, shifting from side to side.  “I-I grabbed trinkets last night!  I-I was promised nibbles!”

“And just where were you when the call went out, huh?”

“I... I-I...” Swab stifled a whimper, his head hanging down.  “... … …I was fixing a rusted valve in the western engine compartments...”

“Hah!  What rotten luck, huh?”  Saxon chuckled, his yellow'd teeth showing.  “Boy am I glad I became a guard, not a dredger!  I'll live longer!  Haha!”

“But... but...”

“Try again next time, kid.”  Saxon shuffled off, shoving the cart along with him.  “We've all been there.  Heheheh...”

Swab stretched a hoof out... but let it fall.  He sighed, his bag slumping behind him as he stood in abject silence.

The quiet didn't last long.  A series of chuckles bled into the red air, followed by the stalking bodies of Whony and several other colts.  They cradled their bags of rice, making a purposeful show of eating it in close proximity to the one-eared foal.

“Awwwwww... what's the matter, Swab?”

“Gonna cry to your parents, sea foam?”

“Heheh... yeah!  Cuz they're way out in the ocean, right?  On some neverending scouting trip?”

“Pffft... gimme a break...”

“Better start swimming!” Whony said, trotting up and leering down at Swab.  “Assuming... of course... you've got the muscles for it still!”

“Hahaha!”

Swab closed his eyes.  He exhaled.

“Hey...” Whony's stupid grin morphed into a brief frown.  “Laugh!”  He shoved Swab's shoulder.  “Come on!  Chuckle!  I told a joke, ya shitty sack of sorry!”

“… … …”  Swab's eyes opened.  He stared up at Whony... past him.  “Some of us have to work for our nibbles, Whony.”  He readjusted his bag and shuffled ahead.  “Not everypony can enjoy the scraps from Quint's table.”

Whony blinked.

As for the colts behind him:  “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

“Oooohooohoooo!”

“Seafoam's got froth of his own!”  Another colt nudged Whony's shoulder.  “You gonna sit there and bloat, ya mucker?”

“Hahaha!  Drowning in his own muck!  Look at him!”

Whony said nothing.  His jaw clenched as he glared at Swab from afar.





Swab stumbled more than once on his way into the orphans' hold.

His vision was strained, fading.  A day's worth of labor and steam had taken its toll on him.

His stomach had gone past the point of grumbling.  Now it tore his insides into savage knots, and it hurt just to stand upright.

Nevertheless, with persistent steps, the colt made his way for the mattress that waited for him in the far corner of the below-deck compartment.

In the light of burning oil drums, he spotted several foals all huddled around, nibbling ravenously on their meals of rice... gobbling up each kernel before other children could touch them.

Quint's table was abuzz with voices, all murmuring in a frenzied hush:

“But if she takes that glowing jewel off her neck, then what?”

“She turns into a monster.  Plain and simple.”

“Who do you think she'll attack first?”

“Pffft.  Isn't it obvious?  Us!”

“Why us?”

“We're smaller and easier to catch, muck-for-brains.”

“But there's hardly enough meat on us!  I'd say she'll trap the dredgers Skagra's hired to watch over her, then take out the guards.”

“Or what if she went down into the harvest chambers?  Plenty of muscle down there!”

“Pfft... for as long as it lasts.”

“I dunno.  What do you think, Quint?”

Quint took a deep breath, folding his forelimbs where he sat.  “... … … I don't think she's gonna be attacking anypony soon.”

“Huh?”

“What makes you say that?”

“Isn't it obvious?”  Quint glanced sharply across the flickering barrelight.  “She sliced and diced a bunch of ponies on Monket's ship.  But none of them died.  Why?  'Cuz the slaving bastard was quick to put that glowing ruby thingy back on her neck.  So you know what that means...?”

“She hasn't fed.”

“Right.  And a monster with no meal in its belly can't attack anypony to begin with.  Even if it's to feed some more.”

“You... you think Skagra will be that stupid?”

“Our Top Dredger?  Pffft.  No way.  But... he does seem to be working with stupid ponies as of late.”

“I heard he and Monket are trying to bag us some bits from a jerkbag in the mainland!”

“Yeah!  The fat cat!  What's his name... Chandler?”

“That's what Swab said.”

“I don't know.  But one thing's for sure.”  Quint glanced at the others.  “All of the seven seas are banking on finding this Rainbow Rogue... and Skagra's got her.  Far as we should know, he's ruling the entire ocean just by having her in the southern strut's brig.”

“Yeesh.  Should we feel special?”

“I think we should feel like a target.”

“Say... where's Whony?”

“Who knows.”

“Pffft.  More like who cares.”

“Snkkkt—hahahaha!”

“Heh heh heh...”

By this time, Swab had limped his way towards the far end of the room.  He tripped once, teetering to the left.  One of many fillies seated on a bunk shoved him back.  “Excuse you,” she grunted while the others rolled their eyes.

Sitting on the far edge of the mattress, Croche squirmed.  Her sunken eyes lifted up, drooping.  She gazed after Swab and his shuffling hooves.

Fwoomp!  With a slight grunt, Swab landed on his target.  One trembling hoof after another, he crawled over his mattress until he lay in the middle of the thing.  He rolled up, facing the ceiling, then clutched his belly.  His eyes closed as he tried to shake up the sweat and trembles of the day.

That's when a small set of hooves shuffled up.

“Here...”

Swab's forehead tensed.

“Look...”

Swab's eyes squinted over.  He looked to his side.

Croche stood next to the mattress.  She held a tiny half-bag of rice in her outstretched hooves.  “I... I only ate half of it.”  She gulped.  “I wouldn't have earned my nibbles from last night if it weren't for you.”

Swab blinked.  His weak eyes fell on the bag.  Holding his breath, he shuffled to the side, then reached his hoof out.

Suddenly, though, he lingered.  His gaze fell on the bunk full of snickering fillies... murmuring to one another as they gawked at him.  In the far distance, several colts laughed, and Swab could feel Quint's hard gaze.

With a sigh, Swab retracted his hoof.  He leaned back into the center of his mattress.  “Keep it.”

Croche blinked.  “Huh?”

“You're the tiniest filly who can still walk.  You need food in your belly more than I do,” Swab muttered, gazing back at the ceiling.  “Keep it.  Eat up every kernel before somepony else does.”

“Look, don't be stupid.”  Croche frowned.  “At this rate, you're only going to—”

“Did you hear me or didn't you?!” Swab suddenly snarled, his teeth showing.

Croche leaned back, her pale pink figure full of trembles.

“Keep it all to yourself and eat it!” Swab growled.  “Don't begin to give stuff away or else...”  Almost instantly, the hard edge in his voice faded.  He sniffled, looking away.  “...or else you'll end up like m-me.”

Croche bit her lip.  She pensively hugged the remaining rice to herself.

Swab turned away from her, curling up on the mattress.  Once he heard her hooves shuffling off, he closed his eyes before they could tear up.  Hugging himself, he faced the darkness, waiting for the first of many torturous hours to pass.





“Swift Song...”

He was drowning.

How he could sense his own tears against the salty waves, the colt could never guess.  But there was no time for anything but swimming.

Limbs thrashing, he fought and struggled against the brine.

A smog-filled sky lingered overhead.  Red Barge was nowhere in sight.

“Swift Song... … ...”

“Mrmmff... Momma!”  He sputtered as he wrestled against the tide.  The waves rolled up and down.  In the distance, he could spot the skiff.  Two bodies stood against the starboard railing, searching in the wrong direction.  “Pappa!  I'm r-right here!”  He bobbed up and down as he struggled to swim.

“Where are you, Swift Song?  Our labors are over.  Where did you go?”

“Don't... snkkkt... d-don't sail off!  Please!”  He panted and panted.  As hard as he swam, he couldn't move from that one single spot in the ocean.  “Don't set sail!  I'm... I-I'm almost...”

“He's given up on us...”  The boat turned about, its rudder flickering like a lamp at the dark end of a rusted corridor.  “I should have known.”

“No!  No!  I'm right here!”  Swab sobbed, legs kicking.  “I j-just... can't swim fast enough!  I didn't earn my nibbles!  I didn't... didn't...”

The air turned cold.  A gray overcast spread against the smog, showering flakes of snow all over the churning waters.

“... … ...I didn't accept her g-gift,” Swab stammered.  “The rice... oh Verlaxion... oh Verlaxion please...”

The boat skimmed off, churning bright white seafoam.

“Please, Verlaxion... forgive me for my sins...”  Swab whimpered, shaking his head.  “Don't take them away from me because I didn't take the rice.  Don't take—”

SWOOOOSH!  The ocean exploded.  A pair of red eyes burned at the crest of a wide, gaping maw.  Leaving a wake of rainbow streams, an enormous beast surged straight for the boat.  A burning jewel pulsed at its neck.

“No!” Swab hollered, eyes bulging.  “Verlaxion!  Don't!  Please—!”

At last, his parents turned to look at him.  He saw their smiles from miles away.  The beady glint in their eyes.

The beast descended upon them, devouring both faces in a deluge of color and madness.  A spectral tail lifted, then came crashing straight down.  The resulting impact sent a wave of steam straight at Swab, full of pale corpses rolling through rice and oil.

When it reached Swab, it melted the meat right off his bones.  He didn't know whether to scream or cry.

“Swift Song...”

“Swift Song...!”

“Swab!”





“Mmmfnnghhh!”  He sat up, sweating bullets, eyes wide.  “Gaaaugh!”

A colt jolted back, wincing.  “Verlaxion's Sleet, Swab!  What the Hell is wrong with you?”

Swab stared at the colt.  It was one of Quint's buddies.  “Who... what...”  He gulped.  “The monster...?”

“Look, stop rambling and get your worthless flank out of bed,” the colt said.  “You wanna earn some nibbles or don't you?”

“N-nibbles?”  Swab's one good ear flicked.  Almost instantly, he was reacquainted with the painful knot in his belly.  He clutched himself, shuddering.  “But... h-how?”

“Digiff's pulling a nightshift.  Another engine panel went bad in the west strut's crawlspaces.  He's promised extra nibbles to the first ten ponies willing to go down there and give it some grease!  That means us!”  The colt scampered off, waving. “Come on!  Hurry!”

“Wait... Wait!”  Swab tried hopping out of bed.  He fell on his chin.  “Oooof!”  Swallowing the pain, he hobbled limply after the colt.  “But... b-but I thought Digiff was guarding the Rainbow Rogue—”

“Yeah, well, now he's not!  Come!  Come quick!”

“R-right!  Sure thing!”  Swab galloped as quickly as he could.

He rushed past the fillies' bunk.  A “slumbering” Croche stirred slightly, then peeped one eye open.  She glanced after the galloping pair, shuddered, then turned away from the torchlight.





Starlight peered through a break in the smoggy clouds overhead.

Swab panted and panted as he hopped over and ducked under various pipes and metal lattices.  At last, the colt led him two struts deep into the western edge of Red Barge.

“Will you get a move on?!” the colt hissed, shimmying ahead.

“Wait!  Not so fast!”  Swab winced.  The swift gallop only exacerbated his hunger pains, until a brand new numbness draped over him.  “I mean it!  If I lose you, I won't... I won't...”

“Here we are!  Just like I promised!” the colt's voice whispered from ahead.

Swab cleared a final line of pipes.  He shuffled to a stop, panting.

An empty deck stood before him in the pale starlight.  There was no sign of Digiff.

“Wait...”  Swab gulped, glancing left.  “Where...?”  He glanced right.  “Where is—?”

“Rrrrrrgh!”  Whony spun around from behind a metal bulkhead and slammed two hooves deep into Swab's empty gut.

“Oooomf!”  Swab teared up, clutching his chest as he teetered over.  Th-thwump!

Whony stood over him, seething.

The colt that led Swab there inched out of hiding, along with a half-dozen other orphans.

“Just like you always say, Whony.”  The one colt grinned.  “Head as dense as cotton.”

“Only thing worth naming him after.”  Whony spat.  He leaned in, then yanked Swab up by his one remaining ear.

“Ow ow ow owwwww...” Swab winced.

“'Scraps from Quint's table,' huh, seafoam?”  Whony slammed Swab's face against the deck and snarled:  “I'll give you scraps, ya plot nosing little smartass!”  He kicked the colt several times in the flank, grunting.  “Nopony.  Makes.  A fool.  Of ME!”

“Gnnnghhhh...”  Swab curled up, grimacing in pain.  “Mmmmf... m-mommaaa...”

“Bloated!” Whony's voice rang in the grimy air.  “All bloated, ya stupid idiot!”  He grabbed the smaller colt by his scrawny little tail.  “Just like you're going to be when I'm done with you!”

“Yeah, Whony!”

“You teach that little muckheap!”

“Wooo!”

“Come on, shitstain...” Whony spat, dragging Swab along.  He grinned viciously into the filthy night.  “...it's feeding time.”
> Swab and the Monster's Den
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Swab's breaths returned to his lungs about five minutes later, as did the tingling waves of consciousness.  The colt found himself being dragged past a series of cylindrical steam vents in glittery starlight.  The air rippled with the malicious laughter of other foals, and he heard the tell-tale grunts of Whony opening one of the grates to the larger steam vents.

“Might wanna hold your breath, seafoam.  After all, can't imagine what it's like to have your only ear pop.”

Swab's yellow eyes swam sickly to the side.  The moment he recognized the smokestacks to the Red Barge's southern strut, he gasped... then struggled against Whony's dominating limbs.  “No.  No!  Grnnngh!”  He fought and squirmed, but there was no stopping the sway of the world as his little body was tilted into the gaping mouth of one of the vertical vents.  The rancid smell of prison filth wafted up to his sobbing muzzle.  “Don't do this!  Whony, please!”  He gasped and hyperventilated.  “I... I-I'll do nibble duty for you all next week!  I swear!”

“Fat lotta good that'll do me, coming from a corpse!”  Then, with a final grunt, Whony tossed Swab's body over into the throat of the vent.  “Send the monster our regards, sea foam!  Maybe she'll shit you out into the same hole your parents are rotting in once she's done with you!”

“Mrmmff!” Swab yelped, hearing his own frantic echoes.  “Whony!  Don't!”  His twitching eyes gazed down a deep, dark throat of metal.  “Please!”

He was answered with a merciless kick to the flank.  Thud!  The rusted walls flew past him.  The vicious laughter of the foals flew away.  Swab tumbled... rolled.  He tried flinging his forelimbs out to steady himself, but he only managed to ricochet off the narrow walls of the blurring pipe.  After five long seconds, he finally rattled the rest of the way, plowed through a clog of grime and soot...





...and rolled out onto the dank floor of a cold, cold prison cell far below deck.

“Mmmfff...”  He curled up, wincing and whimpering in pain.

Swab's vision flickered from red to yellow and then back to black.  A cold ringing sound lingered in his ear, and once it cleared he was swept up in a monsoon of pungent odors.  Squirming, he tilted his head up, struggling to look about.

All he saw was pure blackness.  Then—against the middle of the floor—he saw multiple slivers of starlight.  He realized that there was a barred window lingering close to the ceiling of the cell.  It opened to a walkway that lingered above, slightly closer to the top deck.  Cold sea air wafted through, giving the brig a misty, ethereal quality.

If Swab squinted hard enough, he could see the vapors shifting ever so slightly... rippling and then retreating.

Something on the far end of the cell was breathing... and it was facing him.

“Mmmm...!”  With his jaw clenched shut, Swab spun to face the wall he had fallen out of.  One of several vertical pipes lingered before him, busted open with a colt-sized hole.  He scampered towards it, shuffling, scuffling, clambering all over with his tiny hooves.  For the life of him, Swab couldn't figure out exactly how he exited the narrow slit.  He tried shoving himself back through the fissure—initially skull-first and then next flank-first.  But even if he somehow could re-enter the pipe, he wasn't certain how he might feasibly climb his way back up the shaft—

A snorting sound, accompanied by a whisper.

Swab gasped, freezing to a stop.  He pivoted slowly until his one good ear faced the far end.

“... ... ...definitely something else in here with me.”

It was a feminine voice, raspy, surprisingly high-pitched for a beastly creature.  The unexpected tone frightened Swab more than anything.  He locked his muscles in place, shivering.

More silence.

And then...

“Mrmmff... how should I, know, Fluttershy?  You're the one with the pony senses, not me.”

Swab's tiny nostrils flared as he shook... shivered... shook...

A sigh.  The vapors shifted in the barred starlight.  “Oh, alright...”  And then hoofsteps.  Light hoofsteps... growing closer... scraping.  Swab looked over and immediately wished that he hadn't.  Something glinted in the starlight... something like a blood-red ruby.  “Hey, is anypony there...?”

“Nnnngh!”  Swab galloped straight forward.  Clang!  He slammed face-first into a metal wall.  “Mmmff!”  He fell back on his flank, his little legs sticking up.

His twitching eyes refocused on the dark lengths of the cell.

Slowly, a fuzzy figure bled into focus: an upside down jaw followed by a petite frame and drooping wings.  Loose bandages draped alongside her.  Swab saw a tail flicking... with color.  “Hello...?”

“Guh!”  Swab rolled over.  He scoot-scoot-scooted backwards on shivering haunches.  When he reached the metal corner and couldn't slide any further, he curled up into a scrappy little ball, hugging himself tight.  “Mmmmm... please... pl-please... stay back!”

His eyes were clenched shut, so there was no seeing the face of the monster as it lingered within meters... feet... inches of his shivering figure.  “... ... ...it's just some friggin' kid.”  Silence.  Then the thing's voice cracked:  “No, I didn't notice.  Was there somepony in this cell when I first arrived, Flutters?”  More silence.  “Unnnngh... lemme give it a shot.”  Not long after, an outstretched hoof brushed against Swab's good ear.  “Uh... h-hey there.  You okay—?”

“Aaaaaaaugh!”  Swab wailed.  He kicked his hooves in front of him, flailing all over.  “No no no no no pleeeeease Verlaxion, nooooooo!”  The colt sobbed, shaking his head left and right.  “Don't let it eat me, Goddess!  Please, Verlaxion!  Forgive me!  I-I'm so sorry for everything I've d-donnnne!”

Hooves scraped against metal.  A blue figure darted back, its muzzle scrunched.  “Hrmmmff... yeesh.  I think he's worse off than I am.”  More awkward silence.  Then:  “Pffft... like, how?  Look at him, Fluttershy.  He's a wilted little ball of lame!”

Swab shook and quivered.  Against his better judgment, he lifted his head to steal a glance.

He caught the outline of a face along the penumbra of slitted starlight.  A ruby set of jagged lines floated far below a pair of rolling eyes.  “...oh please.  Give it a rest, will ya?  I don't even know how he got here.”

Swab blinked.  For the first time since landing there, his panic gave way to a flicker of confusion.

“Yeah, well, Rarity's not around to help me figure that out.  None of the girls are.”  And the blue shape retreated into the corner with a deflating sigh.  Swab heard the limp slumping of limbs.  “So... mrmmmff... what's the point...?”

Dead silence.

“... ... ...” Swab sat in place, hugging himself.  After a savage gulp, he lifted his head, craning his neck.  He squinted as hard as he could, but he still couldn't make out anything on the other side of the barred patch of starlight.  The far end of the cell was pitch black.

More silence.

Biting his lip, Swab fought shivers and crawled forward, one icy inch at a time.  He hugged the north side of the cell, sliding beneath the metal wall with the window close to the ceiling.  As he scuffled across the full length of the cell, shapes came into focus.  He detected two round things lingering before the monster's corner—one a bucket and the other a tin meal plate.  The faint scent of fish and rice tickled Swab's nose, and for a brief moment he lingered.  Then, with a brave breath, he continued his shuffle.  To his right, the faint outline of a door loomed.  Swab noticed bars, dangling chains, and the faint flicker of candlelight from the rest of the brig beyond—

“Yeah, I see him,” the raspy voice grunted.  “Wonder if he knows we're both locked in here.”

“...!!!”  Swab clenched his teeth to the point of breaking.  He shivered from head to tail, shook, then bolted forward with a burst of zeal.  “Grnnnghhh...!”  Desperately, he flung himself against the metal door.  He grabbed the bars and shook... shook... shook the frame.  The thing only rattled in place with a cacophonous clatter.  “Mrmmmnngh!  Open up!  Open up!  Please—!”

“Give it up, kid,” the monster's voice rippled from the corner.  “The jerkfaces outside haven't been back in nearly two hours.”

Swab squeaked, spinning about.  His eyes dragged across the food dish... the starlight... a ruby glint.  Ultimately, he turned tail and galloped back for the corner from which he came.  There, he huddled, hugging himself amidst shivering silence.

“You lost or something?” the voice rasped.

Swab didn't reply.

“...how in Celestia's name did you even get down here?”

Swab clenched his jaw shut.  He stared straight ahead, or so he told himself.  His eyes found the food dish again, and his body responded with a pained growl.  He hugged himself, curling into a little ball in order to mask the noise of his insides.

And yet... a half-minute later.

“...oh he is, is he?”  Silence.  “Fluttershy, will you please stop gushing over the thing and just tell m—”  The voice cut off.  A bit of squirming, shuffling.  “Oh?  Oh... yeah.  Sure.  Whatever.”  The ruby light lifted, and Swab heard the limbs of the beast shuffling straight towards him.

“Mrmmmff... no!”  He flinched away, his every muscle tensing.  “Don't come any close!  Don't—”

Scraaaaaaaaape.  A metal object slid up against his frail figure.  “Here, kid.  I saw you looking at it.”

“... ... ...?”  Squinting one eye open, Swab looked down.

A full plate of rice and raw fish lingered in front of him.  The very smell of it sent the colt's insides toppling over themselves.

“Seriously.  Have at it.”

Lips pursed, Swab tilted his gaze up.  He flinched.

A dull pair of ruby eyes gazed down at him.  A scar lingered atop the right side of her brow, and a messy tangle of multicolored mane hairs hung in every direction.

“I can't tell where the rice ends and the fish begins, anyway.”  Twirling about, the pegasus marched back into the shadows, crouching down beside her bucket.  “Totally not my bag...”

“... ... ...”  Swab looked at her, at the plate, at her, then at the plate again.  “... ... ....!!!”  He flew forward, shoving his muzzle deep into the edible mess.  He chomped... he swallowed... he inhaled.  With ravenous scarfing noises, the starving colt dug into every loose kernel... every stringy strip of meat... every bitter speck that presented itself.  He filled his throat with bite after bite of cold morsels, losing himself in the frenzy.

“Yeesh... don't kill yourself over it, kid...”  Some silence, and then:  “Beats me, Flutters.  You're the one here who can take a headcount.  So what if there are others?”

Swab swallowed... then swallowed some more.  At last, a full three minutes into his feast, he summoned the strength to look up.  Almost immediately, his vision refocused, strengthening.  The shadows no longer were an obstacle, and he was starting to feel the strongest he had ever been in days... weeks.  He could make out every shape and contour of the pegasus seated across from him.  For the briefest blinks in time, she didn't look very tough at all.  And the bandages hanging off her left side—

“Your wing,” Swab spontaneously murmured.

With a jerk, two ruby eyes spun and glared at him.  “What about it?”

He instantly winced.  Hiding behind what was left of the food pile, he changed the subject, muttering:  “Why... why did they give you so much f-food, anyways?”

To his surprise, the thing answered.  “Mrmmff... why else?  To keep me alive.”

Blinking, Swab nodded towards the other container.  “And what's the bucket for?”

“Everything else,” she muttered.

“Oh.”  He sat in place, fidgeting.

A deep sigh came from the creature.  She sat down on folded limbs, hanging her head.

Swab continued staring.  Eyes locked, he nevertheless dipped his muzzle down, took a few more liberal bites of the food, then wiped the crumbs off his chin.  Shuffling forward on pensive hooves, he approached the fuzzy shadow.

The mare lingered in place... not even moving.

“... ... ...”  Swab blinked, cocking his head to the side, squinting harder.

“... ... ...something you want?” she murmured without looking.

“Eep!”  Swab darted back, shivering again.  Clearing his throat, he muttered:  “You... you really don't want to eat fish?”

“Mrmmmfff... no...”

“You... you don't want to eat me?”

The mare's head lifted again.  She squinted sharply at him.  “...the buck are you going on about?”

He withdrew again, quivering.  “Nothing!  N-nothing at all!”

She looked like she was going to say something else, but then her head suddenly jolted towards the shadows.  “Huh?”  She blinked, then sighed.  “Well, sure, but I don't see how he or anypony else could be thinking that.”

Swab blinked.  He followed her eyesight, but saw nothing but dark shadows.

The mare continued:  “Mrmmfff... right.  What's the use?”  With a sigh, she deflated once more to the cold metal floor.  “Yeah.  Sure.  Add it to the pile of my irredeemable buck-ups, why don't you?”

Swab's muzzle twisted in confusion.

“Dang it...”  She suddenly growled, stirring.  “Don't—Fluttershy.  Ah jeez... don't cry.  I'm not... I-I'm not mad at you!  It's just... unnnnngh... Fluttershy...”  She face-hoofed spontaneously.  “...oh how I wish the other girls were here too...”

Swab gulped.  “You mean there are other monsters here besides you—?”

“Rrrrghhh!”  With stomping hooves, Rainbow suddenly leapt up—roaring.  Four thudding hoofsteps later, she loomed angrily above the colt.  “They are not monsters!  Do you hear me?!”

“Gaaah!”  Swab fell back on his flank, scooting away amidst a fresh salvo of panting breaths.

“None of them deserve to be here with me!  Least of all her!”  She snarled in his face.  “You wanna know what a monster is?!  You're looking at it!  The one and only!”

Swab whimpered, covering his face.

The pegasus' breath suddenly roared to the side.  “So what if I'm scaring him, Fluttershy?!  Or you for that matter?!  Or the girls?!”  Despite her fury, the mare's voice took on a squeaky tone.  “Everypony's so concerned about being scared about this or that—well look where we are!  This is as real as it gets!  They can hide all they want from me, but they can't escape this!”  Silence.  “No you tell them that!  You're the only damn thing they'll even pretend to listen to at this point!”

To Swab's mixed joy, he heard heaving hoofsteps thudding outside, followed by a familiar growling voice:  “What in Verlaxion's sleet is going on down there?!  Better keep it down, Rogue, or next time I juice up the shark prod it's going straight up your—”  Digiff's face dipped down, peering through the barred window at the ceiling.  He took one look at the cell, saw Swab, and the bearded dredger did a double-take.  “What... what in the Hell?!”  He sped out of sight, his hoofsteps ricocheting off the walls, descending, leading to the cell's thick iron door.

Swab blinked.  His breath shuddered as he heard the rattle of keys inside a lock.

Creeeeak!  Candlelight flooded the cell.  Digiff's frame loomed in the doorway, and he pointed a hoof straight at the colt.  “You!  Little seafoam turd!  Get the buck out of there!”

“Mmmm...!”  Swab lurched forward.  He nervously trotted past the mare.  “Please d-don't be mad, Digiff.”  He gulped.  “Whony and the others... th-they tossed me down the pipework and—”

“Wait...” The pegasus' voice cracked.  “You mean some ponies dropped you down here?”

“Rrrrrgh!”  Digiff reached in and yanked Swab forward by his ear.  “I don't care how you got here, shitstain!  If I catch you down here again, I'm leaving you to become this monster's litter box!”

“Owowowow—” Swab cried.

“Hey!”  Scraping hooves.  A pair of ruby eyes flashed in Digiff's direction.  “Butthead!  Ease up on the ear-mangling—”  Bzzzzt!  “Aaaaugh!” She flinched from a flash of electricity.

Digiff gripped a flickering staff in his other forelimb.  “Shut up or you're bloat, freak!”  He threw Swab out of the cell behind him.  “Red Barge business!”

Two more guards rushed down, breathless.  “What's going on?”

“Is she acting up?”

“See for yourself!”

“Mrmmmff...” She sat up, wincing.  “Grnnngh—”

“Damned monster!”  The two guards rushed in, striking and shocking her with their lengthy tasers.  With flashes of spectral pain, the mare writhed and spasmed across the floor.  When the electricity had once again neutralized her, the dredgers took turns kicking and bucking her ragdoll body into the corner.

Swab gasped, his yellow eyes twitching.  Before he could so much as flinch, he felt Digiff yanking him towards the stairs.

“Get out of here!  Back to your bunk!” Digiff growled, blocking Swab's view of the carnage.  “You're Goddess-damn lucky I don't toss you into the muck!”

Panting, Swab scampered up the stairs, away from the lower deck's cells.  The stairwell curved to the right, leading towards an upper corridor.  The colt passed by a familiar barred window, and his one good ear caught the sounds of meaty impacts, followed by pained yelps.  Fidgeting, he squatted low, peering down into the cell.

Digiff and the other two guards kicked and punched the prisoner a few more times... ending with a spit or two to add insult to injury.  Then, when they were done, they retracted their tasers, turned tail, and shuffled out of the cell.  THUD!  The door closed, leaving the pegasus a sputtering... quivering mess.

Swab bit his lip.  A cold chill ran over him, ending in a sniffle across his tiny muzzle.  Hoofsteps rolled up behind the colt, and he scampered out onto the upper strut before Digiff could catch up once again.

“Scram!”

And Swab was awash in starlight and shivers.
> Interview With a Rainbow Rogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The next day...

In the blistering sunlight...

“Gather around, ya little seafoam pricks!” Saxon barked, marching down the length of multiple welded boats along the eastern strut.  “Dredger Nixkit needs the pipework here fixed, then shined up all clean and sparkly!  So no dragging tail or you won't get any nibbles!  You know the stinkin' drill!”

Dozens of foals filed in line, muttering and murmuring to themselves.

“Mrrmmmfnngh...”  Whony limped alongside the slowly marching orphans.  He rubbed his eyes.  “Why do they have to pick the brightest Strut for this crud?”

“The latest drift south wasn't very good on the steamworks,” Quint said.  “My guess is Skagra is planning on having us cruise back north... in search of better shelves to harvest.”

“Grnnngh...”  Whony blinked wearily into the glittering waves around them.  “They can harvest my sorry flank, for all I care.”

Quint raised an eyebrow.  “What's wrong, Whony?  Didn't get any sleep last night?”

“Hrmmmf... no...”  Whony smiled bitterly.  “Was up late, taking out the trash.”

“... ... ...”  Quint squinted.  “Whony, what have you been up to?”

“Heh...”  Whony smoothed his bangs back, smirking.  “Let's just say that the labors around here are going to get a tad bit less clumsy, thanks to yours truly.”

Quint simply shrugged that off.  He stared down the line of orphans, doing a mental headcount.  A few gasps broke out amidst the group, and that's how he knew that an elite dredger had shown up.

Nixkit strolled in from the central strut, followed by a few of Skagra's lackeys.  He strolled up to Saxon.

“They're all yours,” Saxon mused, chuckling.  “Save me some of their teeth after you kick them out.  I'm trying to make some brand new die.  Heheheh...”

Nixkit rolled his eyes.  “Can't believe I'm saying this, but I almost miss Digiff.”  He cleared his throat and raised a clipboard before his muzle.  “Alright.  Listen up!”  He glared at the many-many orphans gathered.  “Red Barge is going mobile soon!  Monket will be returning.  And when he does, we need to be able to spread the struts apart so that his ship can make port again!  That means the steam from the harvest chambers have to flow evenly through the pipes!  We don't want a repeat of last summer's incident in the West Strut, do we?  Nopony knows better than the likes of you seafoam just how blazingly hot it can get in the crawlspaces when the junctions break!”

Several orphans hung their heads in grim silence.  Croche stood on the sidelines, her sunken eyes staring out across the bulkheads.

“Work hard... show the shine from your efforts... and you'll get extra nibbles!” Nixkit declared, flipping a clipboard.  “This should come as rudimentary to most of you!  What matters here is speed more than dexterity!  Show energy and initiative, and you will be rewarded handsomely!”  He smoothed his pale, matted hair back and pointed.  “Hell... just follow his example!”

“... ... ...?”  Whony, Quint, and several more foals glanced aside.  Within seconds, Whony's eyes exploded wide.

Swab galloped speedily across the bulkheads, deposited a series of grimy rags into a soapy bucket, fetched some fresh pieces of cloth, and sped back the way he came.

Croche blinked, her lips pursed.

“Hey, seafoam,” Nixkit droned.  “What's your progress?”

“Five lattices polished since sunrise!” Swab sputtered, wiping the sweat from his brow.  “But I-I need to get to work fixing a leak on some pipework two hulls down!”

“Good.  Very well done,” Nixkit said with a nod.  “If only every other urchin could follow your example.”

Swab shrugged.  “Guess I just had some extra energy this morning.”  Turning about, his gaze scraped across the many faces, lingered on Whony's for a length of time, then flitted off as he galloped back to work.

Whony's jaw dropped.  Upon receiving Quint's glare, Whony winced, his ears and tail drooping.

“Now get to it!” Nixkit barked.  “Get the whole strut done, and I'll even put good word in to Digiff for when he returns!”  He tucked the clipboard away with a sigh.  “I'm sure all of you would appreciate less bruises.  Now move!”





Quint, Whony, and several other colts grunted... sweated.  They laid on their backsides, fussing with the steaming joints of complex pipework in the roasting sun.  Using a wild assortment of rusted tools, they struggled to contain the venting steam before leaning closer to polish the hot, metallic surfaces.

Dozens of foals had to take multiple breaks.  They rolled over, sitting on their haunches and panting for even breaths.  Between them, multiple stomachs growled, and there was more than a small amount of whimpering.

All the while, one body and one body alone zig-zagged all around, putting the finishing touches on row after row of pipework.  Swab left multiple swaths of metal shiny and sparkly-clean in his wake.  He even found time to wash the rags clean, wring them with soapy water, and pile them across the sun-roasted deck to dry.

“Done!  All yours!” He sputtered towards a group of fillies gathering the rags.  Without wasting a breath, he scampered back the way he came, eyes bright and ear twitching.

“Grnnngghhh...”  Whony sneered under his breath.  “Where... is th-that... little booger... getting the strength?!”

Quint casually exhaled, struggling with a crooked length of pipework.  “Mrmmff... some of the other colts told me this morning that he went without nibbles for over thirty-six hours.”

“No kidding!”  Whony grumbled.  “He was light as a feather last time I saw!”

“Mrmmfff... easy to toss around, I bet.”

“Oh, totally!  Last night it felt like nothing dragging the little fleabag across the struts.”

Quint glared aside.

Whony blinked blankly ahead.  “Uhhhhhm... errrr... I-I mean...”

As if on cue, Swab scampered past them again.  He carried a bucket full of replaced metal bits, then dropped them down in front of Nixkit.  He stood up straight and at attention before the seated dredger.  “Dredger Nixkit, sir!  I finished with the central east strut like you asked!”

Nixkit looked over from several harvest reports he was going over.  “Hrmm... good.  Very good.”  He flipped a sheet or two.  “That puts us ahead of schedule.”

“Want me to work on the southern lattices?” Swab remarked, standing tall and resolute.

Nixkit rubbed his chin.  He exhaled.  “No, kid.  Half of the seafoam's already covering that.  You'd just get in their way... or vice versa, heh...”

“Then...” Swab blinked.  “...what do you want me to work on next?”

“At ease, urchin.  You'll steal all the other foals' thunder.”  He signaled Saxon just as the guard shuffled up.  Saxon huffed, reached into the cart he was pushing, and tossed a bag of rice at Swab's hooves.  “There ya go,” Nixkit said.  “Take a breather.  You've earned it.”

“... ... ...” Swab took a deep breath.  He tilted his chin up, not even looking down at the rice.  “Two bags.”

Quint and Whony jolted to a stop, looking over.  Croche blinked from a distance.

The rest of the nearby foals gawked while Nixkit looked up from his clipboard.  “I beg your pardon?”

“I've done ten times as much work as anypony else here today,” Swab spoke firmly.  “I should get two bags of nibbles.”

Several foals exchanged nervous glances.

“Hmmmfff...” Nixkit's pale muzzle bore an even paler smirk.  “And just how does that math work?”

“Very easily,” Swab droned.  “Don't make me ask for five bags.”

Several foals gasped.

Whony bit his lip.

“Grnnngh...” Saxon whipped out a crossbow and marched forward.  “Listen here ya upstart little shit—”

“Saxon,” Nixkit throated.

The guard spun around, eyebrow raised.

Nixkit scratched his chin, squinting across the way at Swab.  “... ... ...the kid's right.  Let him be an example to the others.”  He smirked.  “Give him a second bag.  But no more.”

Croche glanced at the dredgers, at Swab, then back at the adults.

“Hrrmmmfff...” Saxon clenched his jaws.  With limp motions, he reached into the cart again and tossed another bag of rice at Swab's hooves.  “What're these seven seas coming to, I swear to Verlaxion...”

Swab took a deep breath.  He swept up the two bags and bowed slightly.  “Thank you, dredger.  I won't let you down.”

“Heh... I'm sure you won't.” Nixkit waved a hoof.  “Now scamper off before I get to the really juicy part of these harvest reports.”

Swab did just that.  He galloped southwest, blazing a path directly past Quint and Whony.

Croched stared after him.  After a few seconds, the slightest hint of a curve crossed her pale pink lips.  She returned to her polishing task with sudden vigor.

Several other foals found themselves working faster... harder.

“I don't get it...” Whony sputtered.  “What's gotten into him?”

Quint coughed.  “Probably whatever it is you've shitted out.”

Whony gawked at Quint.

Quint quietly and patiently worked on his pipes.

Whony blinked, then glared past his own work.  “Mrmmmfff... shoulda killed the little bastard in his sleep.  And just where is he off to, anyways?”





“I don't care how angry they think they are, Fluttershy,” a beat-up, battered mare muttered.  She sat in the corner of her cell, just outside the reach of barred sunlight.  “You gotta reach out to them.  I know you have it within you.”

Silence.

The pegasus shifted her weight, wincing from multiple bruises.  “How else?  Sweet-talk them!  Appeal to their sense of friendship!  Use the stare, if you have to!  Whatever!  Just...”  She sighed, her bandaged wing muscles quivering.  “...you gotta get them to come out of that place.  Even if they weren't copping an attitude, I... I just don't see how it's healthy to be in such a crazy... bright 'nothingness' for so lon—... ... ...huh?”

A beat.

She groaned.  “So what if it feels like time speeds by in there?  That's the whole point!  They're hiding from everything just by being in that place!  It's not going to help them... it's not going to help me... it's not going to help anything!”

More silence.

The mare leaned to her side with a flick of her colorful tail.  “Yeah, and maybe they'd be right about that.  Who can blame them?  But the fact of the matter is... I ain't stopping.  This journey is more important than both them or me... more important than all of us!  And...”

She winced, then sighed.

“I don't know, Fluttershy.  I... I-I don't know, but I'm going to get free!  I've been in worse places before, believe it or not.”  A brief silence.  “Yes!  Even without them if I have to!” She growled.  “...I don't care if they don't like it!  But if there's still a scrap of decency in any of them that wants me to get through this in one piece, then they'll stop their friggin' tantrum and come out and help me!  You're going to have to convince them or else nopony will ever change!  I don't know what you'll have to do to—”

She froze suddenly, her shoulders stiff.

“... ... ...who?”  Her ears twitched.  “What do you mean 'the cute lil' guy's back?'”  She squirmed.  “He has?”  Another pause.  “Since when?”  A jolt, and her head spun up, squinting into the sunlight.

“... ... ...” Swab smiled, his scruffy little faced pressed up to the bars.  “H-hey...”

“... ... ...hey yourself, kid.”

“Are... are you hurt bad?”

“Hrmmmff...”  The pegasus winced, tightening her injured wingmuscles.  “That sunlight really is blinding out there, isn't it?”

“I mean...”  Swab gulped.  “From when Digiff and the others beat you up.”

“Who?”

“Last night, remember?  They surrounded you with the shark prods and—”

“Should you even be here, kid?” she asked.

Swab fidgeted, glancing at the prison corridor behind him.

At last, the mare sighed, hanging her head.  “I can already tell this is no happy hotel.  Better run off before one of the creeps who runs the place decides to kick and spit on you instead.”

“Pick a day of the week,” Swab droned.

The mare exhaled.  A blink or two later, and she glanced aside.  “It means exactly what it sounded like,” she said to the shadows.

Swab's eyes followed her gaze.

“... ... ...now don't you start crying again—”  The mare groaned, rolling her eyes.  “Honestly, Fluttershy.  If you do that with every sob story we run into, you'll never stop!”  A beat.  “Yes this place is that terrible!  And guess what?  I've seen worse!  That's what the other girls fail to understand!  You wonder why I've made the kind of decisions that they hate?  I've had to deal with stuff like this since the first day I ever—”

“Is that necklace heavy?” Swab asked, his eyes falling on the pendant.  “It sure looks it.”

“Kid, will you just scram?”  She growled up at him and the window.  “There's nothing here that's worth gawking at.  Trust me.”  She hung her head, shuddering.  “Nothing...”

“Monket put it on you, didn't he?”

The mare said nothing.  Her ears folded back tightly.

“... ... ...it isn't even yours, is it?”

“Hrmmm...?”

“The Slaver of Waves was out searching for the Rainbow Rogue for barely a day... and yet he comes back with her?  With you?” Swab remarked.  He gulped.  “Seems like it'd be super easy to just grab some poor, injured pegasus... throw a jewel around her neck... and say that he's got the prize.”

“What are you even getting at, kid?”

“He took in the wrong pegasus, didn't he?” Swab murmured.  His muzzle hung open as he peered through the bars.  “You're no Rainbow Rogue.  You're just... the wrong mare in the wrong place.”  He gulped.  “Monket's attempt to convince Skagra and use leverage against some 'fat cat' named Chandler...”

The mare sighed.  “You're wrong, kid...”

“Huh...?”

“That monster?  The one that everypony's looking for?”  She grumbled out the side of her muzzle.  “You're looking at her.”

Swab blinked curiously.

“Just... just don't talk to me, okay?”  The mare slumped down, burying her muzzle into her bruised forelimbs.  “Just... just don't.”  A slight sniffle.  “Ponies around here may suck super bad... but only one deserves to be in this prison.  So... so just leave it be... for real...”

Silence.

Th-Thump.  A small bag landed next to the mare's face.

“... ... ...”  She tilted her head up, squinting at the satchel of rice.  Before she could blink—

Thump.  A second fell next to it.

"Rice," the colt's voice said.  "And I promise that it's got zero percent fish in it."

The pegasus looked up, muzzle agape.

“I've lived my whole life around monsters,” Swab murmured.  A delicate smile broke across his face.  “You don't deserve to be down here.”

“Grffff...” The mare glared into the shadows.  “Stuff it, kid.  You don't know anything.”

“I know that monsters don't have friends.”

Blinking, the pegasus looked up.  “The buck are you even talking about?  You're a total friggin' stranger to me—”

Swab was already shaking his head.  “I wasn't talking about myself.”

She blinked.  Her gaze fell to the metal floor.

“Did... did they abandon you?” he asked through the bars, his tone soft but imploring.  “Or did you just get lost?  Because I know a thing or two about—”

“Do you ramble to every dangerous prisoner who comes here, speaking to invisible ponies?”

“No.”  Swab shook his head.  “Only to the ones who feed me.”

“You must be friggin' bored.”

“Maybe.”

“I'm only going to tell you this one more time... stop talking to me,” the mare hissed.  “There's no telling what these melon fudges are doing to do once they get their hooves on my flank.  A little scamp like you shouldn't get caught in the crossfire.”

“I'm small.  I can get out of their way.”

“I mean it, kid.  Buzz off.  I don't need you or your company.”

Swab stared.  “... ... ...then does that mean you're going to throw the rice back?”

The pegasus opened her muzzle... but fidgeted.  She gulped an empty lump down her throat, gazing down at the two bags.

“You're right.  I should probably get going before Digiff finds me and beats me up.”  Swab turned, trotting away.  He paused, glancing back with the barest hint of a smile.  “Go ahead and shove the rice into your bucket if you want.  Still, if you know what's good for you, you'll let it slide through your insides first.”

“Mrmmfff...”

“And Red Barge never gives anything away,” Swab said.  “It's earned.  Bye now.”  He took a deep breath and... proceeded to trot in place.  The little colt lessened and lessened his hoofsteps until they became feather-light pitter-patters.  At last, he stood still, leaning back and craning one good ear.

He listened... and listened... and...

The unmistakable sound of dried rice being consumed...

Swab smiled... then smiled some more.  Stifling a giggle, he scampered up to the top deck of Red Barge with a proud grin.

His first one in months...
> What Verlaxion Despises, She Burns
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”  A stallion shrieked into the frosty air before his muzzle became the receiving end of a silver gauntlet.  WHAM!

Two dozen grimy ponies looked up from where they were hammering together several bladed weapons before the stones of an ancient cemetery.

Th-Thump!  The punched stallion fell meatedly to the snowy floor.  Seraphimus stood in his place, winged armor glinting in the gray sunlight.  Her cold charcoal eyes swept over the scene while three more griffons descended on whistling feathers.

“The Talon!”  One of the weaponforgers shouted.  Schiiing!  He picked up the closest machete and turned tail, running.  “Beat it!  The Talon's found us—”

Windburst came in low.  “Awwwwwww yeah, buddy.”  He squinted down his trademark crossbow and—THWFFT!

Ch-Cthnnkt!  The bolt stabbed through the shouting crook's limb, impaling him to the nearest gravestone.  “Aaaaaugh!”  He convulsed, struggling to yank himself free from the barb.

Windburst dove past him, plucked the arrow loose with his talon, and spun—kicking the breathless stallion hard to the ground in the process.  Thud!  At the end of his twirl, the griffon knelt, re-loaded the blood-stained projectile, and fired it again.  THWFFT!

This time, it skewered the leg of a runner two criminals ahead.  He fell to the ground, causing the two weaponforgers following to trip over him.  “Ooomf!”  They struggled to get up—only for Raptr to land on their spines with a monumental THUD!  As they fell unconscious, the griffon turned his feathery head and shouted.

“Field's full of runners!”  He casually lashed his lion's tail to the side, tripping another thug so that the stallion muzzle-planted against a stone.  Thwack!  “They're headed towards the central mausoleum!”

“On it!”  Starstorm skirted past him, kicked off several gravestones, bounced multiple times, then leapt up high.  Once she was directly over the bulk of the fleeing crowd, she rolled upside down and let loose a twirling fan of throwing stars in every direction.  Th-Th-Th-Thwissssssh!

More than half of them embedded into the flesh of the criminals.  Several ponies fell down hard, quivering in pain.  Raptr and Windburst flew to each of them, swiftly binding their legs.

“Sexy stuff, Starstorm,” Windburst droned.

“Yeah!” Raptr exclaimed, grinning sweatedly amidst hoof-cuffing.  “Really dang hot!”

“Watch it, rookie,” Starstorm flew down, restraining more groaning thugs.

“Hey!”  Raptr frowned, pointing at the pale griffon beside him.  “How come he gets to—”

“Beaks shut!” Windburst yanked another arrow out of his quiver and loaded it, facing north.  “One's broken off from the rest!”  He squinted, aiming at a lone stallion galloping towards the treeline on his own.

“I'm not going to the frosted pits!” the runner yelped to the wintry air.  “Not again!”

Windburst aimed at his distant flank.  “... ... ...”  His hawkeye darted up instead.  Then he tilted the crossbow, firing at an angle.

Thwisssssssssh!  The arrow flew high, embedding into a frozen tree bough directly above the runner.  The branches exploded, showering snow and rigid icicles all over the stallion's fleeing body.

“Aaaakkt!”  He collapsed, twitching.

“Mmmmff... shaky...” Windburst stood up, beak clenched.  “I'm losing my touch.”

“Yeah, if you say so.”  Starstorm faced the far end of the graveyard.  “Boss!  The mausoleum!”

SWOOOOOOOOSH!  An icy shadow glided over all the remaining ponies.  They scarcely had a chance to look up before—

Th-Thump!  Seraphimus landed on heavily armored limbs, cutting them off before they could reach a turf-roofed shrine of sunken granite.  All the equines skidded to a stop, their blanching expressions reflecting against her armor.

“Do not move another inch,” the Commander said.  “You are all under arrest for forging weapons for the terrorists of Pine Prefecture.”

Scrkkkkk!  A stone door slid open behind her, followed by the sound of a double-crossbow being cocked.  “And you just messed with the wrong unicorn.”

“... ... ...” Seraphimus calmly glanced over her shoulder.

A grizzled stallion stood at the shrine's entrance, his barbed weapon aimed at the back of her feathery helmet.  Stacks upon stacks of wooden crates lingered inside the mausoleum, filled with daggers, swords, and scimitars.

“My name is Ironflanks the Batterer,” he spat, eyes flaring from the red glow of his horn.  “And I am the Scourge of the Frozen Heights.  Perhaps you have heard my name spoken?”

“Everything flatulates,” Seraphimus muttered.  “Give me a reason to care.”

“Your business in these prefectures have come to an end,” Ironflanks hissed.  “Do as I say, or I'll turn your pigeonhead into a pinhead!”

“Oh boy...”  Starstorm flew in along with Windburst and Raptr.  Together, all three faced the stallion at a distance with their weapons drawn.  “You just made the biggest mistake of your life, pal—”

“SHUT UP!”  Ironflanks howled, levitating his crossbow closer to Seraphimus' skull.  “You don't get to make the rules here!  Not anymore, Talon!”  He turned to glare at Seraphimus once again.  “You are going to call your little butt feather buddies off... and then you are going to leave this prefecture for good.  These lands aren't worth saving anymore Talon.  There are far more of us than you know.”

“And after today, they'll be short a fifth wheel,” Seraphimus droned.

“You don't intimidate me!” Ironflanks growled, weapon shaking.  “I am the froth of the northern seas!  I've seen infants feed on their mother's flesh in the birthing chambers of Mudtop!  Pirates and mercenaries speak my name with dread and shiver!”

Seraphimus sighed.  Looking ahead, she coiled her muscles, extending her wingblades at a sharp angle.

“And now the entire Council of Verlaxion will know that I, Ironflanks the Batterer, slayed their precious, untouchable—”  SCHWIIIIIIIIIIIINKKKT!  “... ... ...protector?”  He blinked, for Seraphimus was suddenly in back of him.  An unnatural wind came to a stop.  As the stallion's mane settled, he looked down at the ground.

The crossbow was severed in over five pieces.  The shattered bits of arrow littered the snow, bathing in a crimson pool... which was trickling directly out of his freshly dismembered fetlock.

“Aaaah!  Aaaaaaaaaaah!”  Ironflanks hollered, clutching his sliced stub of a forelimb.  He keeled over on the ground, sobbing hysterically.

Muzzles agape, the remaining thugs looked past their leader's quivering body.

Seraphimus looked back at them.

Stifling whimpers, they all dropped to their haunches, holding their hooves submissively over their heads.

Raptr shrugged, then shuffled forward, shackling one suspect after the other.  “Open and shut.”

“Honestly, though, boss...”  Windburst smirked as he cuffed another pony.  “...at this rate, I swear, it's almost as if you're trying to start a trophy collection.”

“He's lucky the Goddess gave him juices to bleed with,” Seraphimus muttered, stepping over Ironflanks' body.  “Get a fire going.  Cauterize him with his own filthy metal.”

“Magic to my ears,” Windburst droned.

Starstorm flew immediately towards the mausoleum.  She gazed deep into the shrine.  “...it's all in here, Commander.”  She turned to look back at Seraphimus.  “Just like the one we interrogated said.  Wanna bet the others are full of illegal weaponry as well?”

“I'll leave you in charge of investigating,” Seraphimus said.  She pointed a rigid talon over the gravestones.  “Check the other mausoleums.  Start with the east shrines.”

“You mean where the old monks are buried?”

“Precisely.  This is a sacred area.”  She shuffled over and hoisted up the first two yelping prisoners she could reach.  “...some of us still respect that.”  She lifted up with the criminals in tow, which caused the thugs no end of fright.

Raptr and Windburst followed her, carrying more surrendered ponies.  “Where are we taking them?” Raptr asked.

“To the southern slopes, Sergeant,” Seraphimus said.  “The central guard will find a place to throw these cretins away.”

“And then off to the gravel yards, huh?” Windburst remarked.  His headcrest raised.  “Doesn't seem to stop a spit-full of these punks.  I swear... I've seen some of these morons before.”

“No way...” Raptr shook his head.  “They couldn't possibly swing back to a life of smuggling weapons that easily, could they?”

Seraphimus took a deep breath.

Raptr blinked under his helmet.  “Well, c-could they?”

“Mrmmff... our job is to kick flank and the occasional feather,” Windburst muttered.  “It's up to the Council and its various branches to administer sentencing.  Isn't that right, boss?”

“We go where Verlaxion's righteous fury is most needed, Sergeant,” Seraphimus said as they reached the rusted iron gates to the ancient graveyard.  “And while we can't exact all punishment, we can certainly cut off the snake's head in ways that no one else can.”

“What do you have in mind, Commander?” Raptr asked.

“Every terrorist we've tracked down in these prefectures have enjoyed an untraceable supply of illegal weaponry... until now.”  She tossed her two prisoners down onto the snowy mound with pained grunts.  Then, with a deep breath, she turned towards the other protectors.  “We shall begin a burning pyre.  After Starstorm has returned, and we've retrieved all of the contraband...”  Her eyes narrowed.  “Burn it.”





Swab sat on the edge of his mattress, neatly scooping the rice out of a fresh bag of nibbles until he had two separate piles lying in front of him.  Then, humming to himself, the little colt plucked the kernels in fives and tens... dropping them into his mouth, swallowing.  He did this for minutes on end, being methodical about it.

Meters away, across the hold, Quint, Whony, and several other colts sat at their fire-lit table, playing a round game of cards.

“I just don't get it...”  A colt muttered, slapping a card down and rearranging what he had left in his hoof.  “That monster's been down there for two days now!  Why hasn't she torn the struts to shreds yet?”

“Hrmmmff... maybe she's bored,” another foal grumbled, drawing from the deck.  “She needs slave flesh from Monket for sport.”

“You talk as if you want the Rainbow Rogue to tear Red Barge a new one,” Quint said.  Even as he dealt a card, his eyes remained glued across the hold... squinting at the sight of a one-eared colt fiddling with his rice.  “If you ask me, Skagra made the right gamble.”

“How so?”

“Isn't it obvious?!”  Whony frowned.  “Monket nabbed the wrong dayum pegasus!  It's not the monster at all!  Skagra and Company are going to cash in with the fat cat from Rohbredden by selling him a bum freak!”

“Hah!  A bum rogue...”

“How do you know this, Whony?”

“Because!”  He cackled, muzzle scrunched.  “She didn't even bother attacking... attacking...”  He winced suddenly, then made up for it with a growling frown.  “Rnnnngh... this game sucks!”

“Your face sucks.”

“Wanna fight about it?”

“Pfft.  Big whoop.  You've got nothing behind your hooves.”

“Hahahaha...”

“Grrrnnngh...”

Across the way, Swab brushed his hooves off, finished munching and then very carefully... scooped the remaining rice back into the tiny satchel.

Quint blinked.

“Still... that would be the biggest win that this stinkin' Barge has ever scored.”  One colt smiled at the others from behind his fan of cards.  “Skagra's ultimate bluff.”

“A bum rainbow rogue for a ton of bits?”

“Hell.  Something to eat other than rice for once!”

“I like it.”

“Your mom likes it.”

“Meh.”

On light hooves, Swab hopped off his mattress, then scampered across the hold with the bag of rice in his clutches.  He hummed to himself... and there was even the faintest hint of a smile on his muzzle as he galloped up deck and into the sunlight.

“Ugh...” Whony rolled his eyes.  “I can't stand how smug that little bastard's gotten as of late.  Must have been something he inhaled from the steam.  Good.  Maybe that means we'll be rid of his sorry ass sometime soon.”  With that off his chest, he glanced one more at his card.  “Grnnngh... buck this.  I fold.”  He slapped the cards down onto the table and glanced to his right.  “What about you, Quint?  Any luck?”  He blinked.  “Quint?”

The chair was empty.





A blood red sunset pierced the smog over the hulls and pipework as Swab made his way south over the struts.  He whistled to himself, juggling the bag of rice once... twice... thrice...

On the fourth juggle, the bag didn't fall back down.

Swab scuffled to a stop, gazing at his empty little hoof.  “...huh?”

WHAM!  A heavy leg bucked him in his scarred flank.

He flew off and slammed into a loose pile of metal tools.  Cl-Clannnng!  “Aughh...!”  Wincing, he rubbed his shoulder and stood back up.  “Hey!”

Quint stood a few paces over, holding the shriveled half-bag of rice.  He glared at it, then at the tiny colt.

“Give it back!”  Swab galloped over.  “Those are my nibbles!  I've earned—”

WHUMP!  Quint was waiting with a well-timed knee to Swab's chest.

“Oooofff...”  Swab fell to his haunches, clutching his chest and wheezing.

“Are they?!”  Quint's teeth gnashed.  “Are they really?!”

“Mrmmff... I-I earned th-them...” Swab squeaked, eyes tearing as he struggled to regain his breath.  “G-give...”

“Why not eat them in the hold with the rest of the ponies, seafoam?!”  Quint marched around him.  “Huh?!  Did you need to go out for a relaxing afternoon stroll?  Smell the flowers?  Watch the sunlight glitter beautifully off the muck?!”  He finished the last outburst with a heavy kick.

Swab rolled several feet away and came to a bumpy stop against a bulkhead.  He waved a hoof for Quint to stay back.  “Listen...”  He gulped.  “Quint, I can explain—”

“You've been giving pieces of your share to the monster?!  The Rainbow Rogue!”  Quint gritted his teeth, leering above him.  “Haven't you?!”

Swab exhaled.  “It's no big deal.”  He gulped.  “It doesn't have to concern anypo—”

“When it comes to nibbles, it is my concern!  For they're my nibbles!”  Quint snarled, pointing at himself.  “All of the food we get down there is my responsibility!  Without me... who's going to hold back punks like Whony and the other seafoam bitchflanks from ripping rice and fish straight out of your stupid little gullet?!”

Swab hung his head, pouting.  “...well you didn't do a good job of holding Whony back the other night—”

Grunting, Quint flung the rice like a pebble straight at Swab's face.

Swab ducked—only to feel the shadow of Quint hanging over him.  “You're a sorry-ass little orphan!  Half the hearing and twice the waste of space!  Whony could crush your skull in permanently and—guess what?!  The seven seas will keep on bleeding!”

“I'm not an orphan,” Swab growled.  “My parents are—”

“But when a seafoam prick like you steals my rice from under my nose, then we have a problem!”  He pointed.  “Can you get that through that scrappy little skull of yours?!  Don't you see how you're hurting me?!  Hurting all of us by demanding more rice and just... throwing it down the throat of a living cesspool?!”

“She's tired and battered and hungry, Quint!” Swab stammered.  “It was the least I coul—”

“She's a commodity, Swab!” Quint hollered.  “A bargaining chip for Skagra and nothing more!  Tomorrow she'll be one with the muck and we'll still be here.  Right here!”  He pointed at the rusted deck beneath them.  “Starving!”

Swab bit his lip, gazing aside.  “You think she's the only one who's owned around here?”

“Grnngh—just shut up!  Shut your stupid mucking muzzle!”  Quint growled, shaking his hoof.  “I don't know what's lamer... this crazy spell that's gotten into you or the fact that I'm even arsed enough to give a shit!  You wanna live to see another day on this floating dungheap?!  You play by my rules!”

“But Quint—”

“You are not to share your nibbles with anyone outside the hold ever again!  If I so much as see you carrying a single grain of bread to the southern strut, I'll let Whony and the others pull you apart by your legs and use your dinky ribs for asswiping!”  Quint spat.  “Got it?!”

Swab sat in sullen silence.

Quint rolled his eyes, spun around, and marched off in a huff.

“Hrmmff... I get it,” Swab eventually muttered, glaring aside at the rust and filth.  “...I get that you'll make a great top dredger some day...”

“Rrrrrrrrrngh!”  Spontaneously, Quint came charging back.  He shoved Swab hard against a bulkhead—CLANG!—and pointed in his face.  “I am NOT Skagra!”

“Grnkkkt...” Swab dangled in his grip.  “And just... grnngh... wh-where's it going to end, Quint?”

“... ... ...” Quint's muzzle hung open.  He twitched once or twice, as if to say something.  Then—seething—he dropped the foal altogether and marched off at in a slump.

Swab sat on the deck, rubbing his throat.  He coughed several times, wincing.  He looked over, spotting the rice.  Dragging the bag back towards himself, the little foal sighed, then cradled it to his forehead in dull silence.	





It was nighttime when the messengers arrived at the frigid graveyard's entrance, but the Rohbredden landscape glowed all the same.

Th-Thrump!

A pegasus landed, having to squint into a plume of bright amber flame.  He adjusted his scarf and flight jacket as he strolled across the frozen, crunchy grass... gradually thawing and bending beneath his hooves the closer that he came within proximity of the intense heat.  Circling the bonfire was a smattering of wagons, and dozens of ponies and griffons from the neighboring prefecture were busily grabbing crates full of metal weaponry and dumping them into the burning blaze, effectively ruining the items and turning the hilts to ashes.

Overlooking this entire procedure was Seraphimus, accompanied by Raptr and Windburst.  Holding a torch in her talon, she swiftly issued a few commands to a member of the central guard before pivoting about in time to greet the lead messenger.

“I see that it wasn't a dead end after all!” the pegasus spoke loudly over the noise of clattering weaponry.  The bonfire blazed brighter to his side as he squinted Seraphimus' way.  “So these really were the punks responsible for weaponizing the terrorists in Pine Prefecture?!”

“They're godless filth,” Seraphimus slurred.  “And I dealt with them accordingly.”

“Damn skippy!”  The pegasus glanced at the crowd of prisoners huddled to the side, being watched by the central guard.  “Along the way here, I heard via wing that Ironflanks the Batterer was caught!”  He motioned with his head.  “That him?  The dude clutching the bandages to his leg?”

“He has no leg,” Seraphimus remarked, smiling slightly beneath her beak.  “In the end, I felt it appropriate to relinquish him of it.”

Raptr and Windburst smirked at one another.

“Heh... you truly are the real deal, aren't you, Commander?”

Seraphimus exhaled, nodding at his bag.  “You bring a message from the Council, my little pony?”

“Nope...”  The pegasus fished through his satchel.  “This one comes from the far west, ma'am.  Beyond the shoreline!”

Raptr looked up.  “Keris...?”

“Your very own Lieutenant has delivered a message to reach your talons and yours alone,” the pegasus said, hoofing her a scroll.  He watched as the Commander sliced the ribbon apart in the messenger's grip before sliding the written letter loose.  “It was partially delivered over the waves by the S.S. Snowbrink.”

“Uhhh...” Raptr glanced aside.  “Why's that so significant?”

“It's the ship the Council sent to provide aid to the Luminards,” Windburst droned.  He craned his neck.  “What's it say, boss?”

Seraphimus held the letter up to the torchlight, squinting.  “... ... ...Keris has 'thoroughly questioned the monks of the Quade...'”  She blinked, lowering the scroll altogether.  “And now he's determined to 'head east to track the oceanic drift of the Rainbow Rogue.'”

“So he's headed back to Rohbredden?” Raptr asked.

“Yeah...”  Windburst's beak nostrils flared.  “...but Red Barge is in the way.”  He looked at Seraphimus.  “Commander, maybe... maybe you can send me and Starstorm out to meet up with him there.  With the terrorists' supplies cut off, they're bound to lay low for a while.  Starstorm and I will make sure that Keris doesn't get sidetracked trying to—”

“No.”  Seraphimus shook her head.  She pocketed the scroll beneath her armored plates.  “The Lieutenant is faithful and trustworthy.  I sent him to investigate the whereabouts of the Rainbow Rogue.  This message simply confirms that he is following through with the orders given him.”

“But boss...” Windburst leaned forward, eyecrests waggling.  “We both know Keris.  With an opportunity like this, he's bound to snoop around and—”

“Keris has sworn his fealty and devotion to Verlaxion... through me,” Seraphimus retorted, charcoal eyes glaring.  “And so have you.  We must have faith in the Lieutenant's judgment in this matter.  Is that understood?”

Windburst leaned back, his beak nevertheless crooked.  “Mmmmmm...”

“Nothing gets in and out of those barges, I swear,” Raptr muttered.  “This could be the last we hear from him in... like.. days!”

“He will find a way to reach us if he has to,” Seraphimus said.  “Nevertheless...”  She turned towards the messenger.  “Have all of your available agents on call.  I want to be alerted the first moment the Lieutenant runs into any crisis.”

“Aye.”  The pegasus saluted.  “Anything you say, Commander.”

“Keris is resourceful... but he is in godless, amoral waters.”  Seraphimus exhaled.  “It takes a valiant mind to stay focused in such a wasteland.  I'd be there in his stead if my presence wasn't so desperately needed here.”  At the sound of whistling winds, she and the other soldiers turned and looked north.  “Sergeant.  Have you found any more weapons?”

Swooosh!  Starstorm glided to a stop.  She took a shuddering breath before looking up.  “No more weapons, Commander.  The... mausoleums have been emptied.”

Seraphimus raised an eyecrest.

“Great!” Raptr remarked, grinning.  “Then this place has been cleaned up!”

“Stop sounding so chipper,” Windburst droned.  “It'll rust your armor.”

“Pffft!  Well, forgive me if I feel a bit like celebrating!  I mean... heck!  After all of this thug-nabbing, I'd say even Verlaxion would feel like granting us a bit of much deserved R&R—”

“Sergeant.”  Seraphimus didn't stop staring at Starstorm:  “The East Shrines.  Did you check them?”

The Sergeant didn't meet her charcoal gaze.  “There... were no weapons to be found there, just as I said, Command—”

“But you did check them...?”  Seraphimus blinked.  “The ancient tombs?  Did you or didn't you?!”

Starstorm clenched her beak tighter.  She finally lifted her chin up and met the Commander's gaze.





Crkkkkk!

With gauntleted talons, Starstorm reopened one of the sunken mausoleums.  Amber light flooded the interior as Seraphimus ducked in, holding her torch high.  She took two steps and scuffled to a stop, blinking.

The stone confines of the room had been swept clean.  Even the dust and tatters of ages were gone.  In its place, the Commander saw bedrolls, cooking pots, tents, and no small amount of careless garbage.

“They... used this mausoleum as a bunk,” Starstorm explained, standing beside her superior.  “Instead of camping outside.”  She gulped.  “Guess they figured their supplies would be visible to air patrols, which is also why they used the central shrine to act as storage for the weapons they were forging.”

“Why is there so much room in here?” Seraphimus asked.

“I imagine it was cramped before,” Starstorm said.  “They had to have... cleared everything out.”

The Commander's eyes narrowed.  She swung the torch high to illuminate a series of empty alcoves to the far side of the chamber.  “The catacombs.  Where are the monks?”

Starstorm's beak lingered open.

Seraphimus swiveled to gawk at her.

Starstorm gulped.  “Th-they're not here anymore, Commander.”

“... ... ...”  Seraphimus took one last look at the interior... then spun about, marching outside.  Starstorm swiftly followed.





The Commander wandered past the sunken shrines with their snowy turf roofs.  She shuffled in a zig-zagged fashion, swaying her torch left and right, illuminating more patches of green grass and white snow.  White flakes drifted around her in a halo as she continued her ardent search.  Vapors rippled before her beak in faster and faster bursts.

“Commander...”  Starstorm stumbled after her.  “Just—... before you l—”

Crunch.

Seraphimus jolted to a stop.  She stared straight down... then lifted one of her paws.  A brittle, ancient totem lay beneath her, its windigo effigies shattered to bits.  The Commander raised the torch, revealing a trailing line of chalky detritus directly in front of her... leading towards a pit... a pit that was full of pale limbs.

A sharp breath escaped her.

Ancient, petrified bodies lay haphazardly atop each other, their once-precious silk wrappings shredded to bits... dangling wildly in the frigid breeze.  Equine jaws and avian beaks lingered in voiceless howls, some detached from their skulls.  Funeral shrouds were scattered loosely about, and there was no totem to Verlaxion that wasn't in some way bent, battered, or snapped down the center.

Starstorm shuffled up with a sigh.  “It's... it's more than just the East Mausoleum.”  She gulped.  “Some of these belong to the western shrines as well.  I know because I checked.  I... uhm... I-I think that most of the silk wrappings were used to fuel their campfires.”  She took a deep breath.  “It... it was my discovery, Commander.  I'll personally write about it in our report to the Council.”

The light shifted; the petrified monks fell once more under the veil of twisted darkness.

“...?”  Starstorm looked down to see that the torch was lying on the grass beside her.  “Commander...?!”  Clenching her beak suddenly, the Sergeant spun around and frantically took to the night sky on flapping wings.





“Grnnnghhh...”  Ironflanks the Batterer huddled besides a tiny patch of flame at the graveyard's snowy entrance.

Several other ponies sat next to him, holding their cuffed hooves before the flame.  Their eyes met their leader's.

“Grnnngh... what are you looking at?” he stammered, cradling his bandaged stub of a forelimb.  “Heh... look on the bright side.”  He bore a grimy smile.  “It'll make for a nasty hook.  Huh?”

Suddenly, the other prisoners' eyes widened.  On trembling flanks, they scooted away from Ironflanks.

“What?”  He blinked, ignorant of the icy talons thud-thud-thudding towards him from behind.  “Come on!  It'll be badflank!”  WHAP!  A savage pair of claws dug bloodily into the unicorn's shoulder, yanking him backwards.  “Aaaaaugh!”

Several prisoners, workers, and guards looked up at the sound of Ironflanks' screams.

Raptr and Windburst rushed over, beaks agape.

Seething, Seraphimus violently dragged the shrieking stallion away from the prisoners.  Everypony and griffon parted ways as she made a steel-straight path for the pyre.  With a deep growl, she spun, flinging him across the freshly melted snow.

“Oomf—grnngh!”  Ironflanks rolled towards the bonfire, where he came into contact with a hot-red shard of bent metal.  Ssssss!  “Aaa-haaugh!”  Before he could vent his entire lung capacity, the same talon that dragged him there hoisted him up by the neck.  “Grkkk!”

“Our Goddess...”  Seraphimus hollered, lifting him up between the smoke and stars.  “...blessed this shrine!  She came to earth and drove the windigoes from this mountain!  With Her own spirit!  And for centuries, the monks who worshipped Her came here and gave their bodies to honor Her!  And what have you done to their legacy?!”

“Grnkkkt... c-can't... breathe...” Ironflanks wheezed, his eyes tearing... rolling back.

“We breathe... because of her!” Seraphimus spat.  “We live through Her Glory!  And by the whim of Her mercy or Her fury...”  She thrusted him forward... his body licking at the blazes.  “...we die!”

Raptr dashed forward, only to be restrained by a talon.  He looked up to see Windburst shaking his head, watching with a steely gaze.

The unicorn in Seraphimus' grip twitched all over.  Smoke rose from his mane and shoulders.  In a burst of bright light, the tips of Ironflanks' tailhairs caught on fire.

“Those monks were sanctified!” Seraphimus hollered.

“Commander!”  Starstorm finally caught up, gliding to a stop right behind her.

“Their bodies were consecrated so that they might reach the Spring Havens!”  The Talon leader's eyes flared.  “Tell me, heathen filth...”

Starstorm reached in.  “Commander, don't—”

“...who has sanctified you?!?” Seraphimus roared.  “And where will your ashes go when all the meat is gone?!?”

Starstorm gulped and spoke firmly.  “Commander, he has given up.  Nopony is at harm right now because of this creep.  He's a surrendered prisoner.”  She shook her head.  “It's up to the Council to decide a punishment befitting Verlaxion's wrath—”

“I am Verlaxion's wrath!” Seraphimus hissed.

Starstorm took calm, even breaths.  Finally, she reached in, resting a soft talon on the Commander's shoulder.  “Seraphimus... we are a long... long way from Frostknife's Frozen Chambers of Mercy...”

Seraphimus blinked, her breath suddenly coming out in thin pants.

“Just who are you vindicating here?”  Starstorm's talons squeezed.  “Those monks died centuries ago.  They've done their part for the Goddess... as must you.”

“... ... ...” Seraphimus clenched her beak tight.  The moment moisture broke the edges of her eye sockets, she seethed.  “Rrnnngh—!”

Th-Thwump!  Ironflanks' body rolled across the frozen ground.  The snow he came into contact with turned to steam.  He shook and whimpered, clutching his beet-red flesh.  Within seconds, Raptr knelt at his side, reaching a talon out—

“NO.”

Raptr jolted back.  He and the injured unicorn looked up.

Seraphimus marched over.  “Leave him.  Filth that touches filth risks becoming the same.”  She shook her head.  “I swear to the most merciful Queen... I clean and I sweep the slime from these mountains, but they keep rolling back.”  She tilted her head up, hollering towards the local guard.  “Constable!  Ensure that this thing gets transported and jailed alone!  Give him no luxuries and grant him no visitation!”  She glared at Ironflanks again, making the stallion flinch.  “I want him alone in the darkness of his cell... so that the only picture his putrid mind paints is with the colors of this night... deep red and amber.  That way he'll know—if he so much as thinks of squeezing out of whatever frozen orifice they shove him in—he'll know just who will be waiting on the other side.”

He whimpered, leaning back.  The snow beneath him turned a slight shade of yellow.

Planting her helmet back on her head, Seraphimus took a long... meditative breath.  “... ... ...Sergeant?”

Starstorm jumped in place.  “Commander?”

“... ... ...at ease.”  And the leader of the Talon calmly walked away.

Starstorm gazed at her.  “...s-sure thing.”

Slowly, the scene around the burning bonfire spun back into motion.  A pair of guards ushered Ironflanks' aching figure away.

Raptr stood back, smoothing back his headcrest with a jittery talon.  As Windburst shuffled over to his side, the smaller griffon gulped.  “Verlaxion's sleet... for a second there... I-I was scared that she would actually roast him to a crisp!”

“Pffft...” Windburst snorted, smirking.  “Who's 'scared?'”  And he brushed past the rookie.

Raptr blinked after him.  At last, he hung his beak, rubbing his head.  “... ... ...I really could use that R&R...”
> Monster By Your Own Choosing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Good work, everypony,” Quint said, shuffling through the hold as the collective group of orphans moaned from exhaustion, slumped over their bunks as they fought to catch their breaths.  “Enjoy your nibbles.  Nixkit and Digiff will be working us extra hard tomorrow, so I don't want any slacking!  The Barge is depending on us to make this place presentable.  The Top Dredger is working his way up the seven seas' ladder, and it'll make a great difference if all the filth here is buried for when that time comes.  Ya feel me?”

“We feel you and a half,” a filly grumbled.  “Will you learn a new tune already?”

“We can make music when we're bloated.”  Quint pointed.  “Right now, nibbles.  Tonight?  Sleep.  Tomorrow?  Earn your right to do it all again.”

Muffled voices bled into a low-key commotion as the various orphans squatted in groups, communing over stale, dry food.  Quint made one last pass through the hold, staring at every other pony with intense scrutiny.

He passed by Swab's mattress—and here he paused for added length.  His brow furrowed.

Swab squatted there, shuddering under the glare of the older colt.  He plucked at his pile of rice, slowly... torturously devouring kernel after kernel.  His right ear twitched, and he took one glance up at the foal before shuddering... returning to his unhappy meal.

Quint raised an eyebrow.  At last, with an exasperated sigh, he tossed his mane and shuffled back to his table where Whony and the rest of the older colts huddled.

“... ... ...” Swab continued sitting his little self on the bed, eating his way through his pile of rice.  His eyes glanced to the right, then to the left.  He lingered there in silence.

Minutes passed.

All of the sudden, Swab's body froze.  He glanced up, his yellow pupils shrinking at a sudden thought.  Then... slowly... a devilish grin formed across his brown face.  Taking a deep breath, he threw his muzzle down and devoured the remaining pile of rice.  Scarfing the stuff, he wiped his chin, hopped off his bag, and galloped briskly across the hold.

Several ponies glanced over from their huddled conversations, watching the strange colt make his mad dash.  One of them was Croche.  Her eyes grew more sunken with contemplative thought.  Nibbling on her own meal, she craned her head back and rejoined her fellow fillies' conversation... but not without keeping an eye trained over her shoulder.





“What?!”  A fat stallion in a slimy apron spun around.  Behind him, huge basins full of fried foodstuffs filled the mess kitchen with steam and greasy vapors.  “Again?!  When is he going to give me a break?!”

“I'm sorry...” Swab fidgeted, his voice taking on a charactieristically feeble tone.  “If it was up to me, I wouldn't bother you.  But I'm not the Top Dredger.”

“Mrmmmf...”  The stallion clenched his teeth.  “Who does he want it for this time?  Don't tell me it's Monket again—”

“The Slaver of Waves will be returning from Mudtop at any moment.”

“Gaaaaaugh!”  The stallion spun, flinging his butcher's knife into the wall.  CLANK!  Swab winced as the cook snarled:  “What does he think I am?!  An apple tree?!  That stuff is super hard to come by!”

“I-I'm sorry!”  Swab backed up, shivering.  “I dunno why he always picks on me to transport this stuff!  He just calls me 'Canteloupe' and sends me on my way!”  He gulped.  “Still... if you have none to spare, I'll go tell him so.”

“Wait wait what?!”  The cook twirled towards the foal again, breathless.

Swab shuffled limply up the ramp towards the top deck of Red Barge.  “I'm sure Skagra will understand that you're unwilling to fulfill his request,” he muttered, sniffling.  “I mean... he was merciful to the cook who disappointed him before you, right?  After all, it was a quick death.  Well... mostly—”

“Whoah whoah whoah—kid... kid!”  The stallion waved his hoof wildly.  With a shuddering breath, he motioned Swab back.  “Get your seafoam flank back down here.”  Eyes rolling, he limped towards a cabinet.  “If Skagra wants fruit for his guest... grnnngh... I swear he'll get it.”

“Oh...?”  Swab made little hops, grinning.  “Oh good!  Great!”

“Mrmmmff... right now, it is.  But not for long,” the cook grumbled, gathering several bits of fruit and stuffing them into a basket.  “You're the Top Dredger's little one-eared messenger, huh?  You go tell the boss when you deliver this shit that the only way we're gonna have more fancy eats is if we either invite a produce shipment to stop by our muckpile—which is highly unlikely—or he gets his new butt-buddy Monket to raid the nearest trade route.”  He frowned, throwing in the finishing touches.  “Rice and fish are easy.  You could hook a turd into the ocean and make anything grab.  And as for rice... heh... I swear it's the only thing that's kept Rohbredden afloat while Luminar fell into the sea.”

“I'll be sure to tell him everything!”

“Well, not the poetic parts, kid,” the cook grumbled, hoofing the basket of fruit over.  “Here.”  He snarled.  “And—I swear—if I catch you eating a single grape from this container, I'll gut and deep-fry you myself!”

“Oh, I would never do that!” Swab gasped.  He held up a solemn hoof.  “I swear!  I will not take a single bite!”

“Hrmmmf... there's a good ball of sea foam.”  The cook returned to his steamy tasks.  “Now I know why you're the top dredger's 'Canteloupe,' because you've got the brains of one.”

“Huh?” Swab sing-songed.  “What was that?  I don't understand.”

“Hah...”  The cook shook his head, stirring a pot.  “You'll end up bloat before you do.  Now scram.”

Swab planted the basket on his flank.  He galloped up the ramp.  When he was out of the cook's line of sight, he shuffled to a stop, looked over his shoulder... ... ...then grinned wildly.  Stifling a giggle, he darted out onto the top deck's surface and headed due south.





She curled up in the corner of the prison cell, her bandaged wings twitching.  The mare's muzzle hung open, and her breaths came in and out in fitful spurts.

Across the way from her... beyond the slitted beams of sunlight... a basket full of fruit lowered on the end of a lengthy piece of twine.

“Psssst!”

Swab peered in through the bars of the passageway directly above the Rainbow Rogue's cell.  He shivered in place, glancing nervously over his shoulder more than once.  With the hint of a frown, he leaned his little head closer to the bars.

“Pssssst!”

Rainbow hardly stirred.

“Hey!”  Swab exclaimed hoarsely.  “Miss Monster!”  He winced at his own words.  Nevertheless, he jerked at the twine in his grasp.

The basket of fruit shifted across the floor, swinging back and forth, scuffling closer towards Rainbow Dash.  An orange fell out, rolled, then came to a bumping stop against her head.  The mare's ears twitched once or twice... then were still.

“Hey!  Come on!” Swab whimpered.  “You gotta wake up!  You just gotta!”  He pointed down at the basket.  “It doesn't get much fresher than this around here!  And that's a fact!”

Nothing... but dead stillness.

Swab sighed.  Leaning back, he wrapped a length of the twine around his forelimb and prepared to drag the basket back up—

“Grnngh... no...”

“...?”  Swab glanced down.

“Don't... it'll crumble without me...”  Rainbow's teeth gnashed.  Her hooves kicked in the air, then outright “galloped.”  “Grnnngh... no... NO!”  She shot up with a brief shriek.  “Cloudsdale!  It's falling—!”  She sat in a cold slump, panting.

Swab recoiled, wincing.  Nevertheless, his yellow eyes remained locked on the petite pegasus alow.

“... ... ...rnngh...” Rainbow covered her muzzle, shuddering.  “Dang it... dang it.”  She shivered once... twice... then froze.  “... ... ...?”  Her hoof traveled down, plucking the orange from the floor.  She raised the inexplicable fruit to her nose, sniffing.

“I'd start with the grapes if I were you.”

“...!”  Rainbow jumped up to her hooves, staring up at the bars.

Swab jolted slightly.  “Only b-because they're the juiciest.  Or so I'm told.”  He cleared his throat.  “I've... never eaten a single one in my life, but apparently they're the tatiest fruit there is.”

“... ... ...”  Rainbow slowly approached the basket, leaning in to examine it like a pensive feline.

“Well, except for pineapples,” Swab muttered.  “I hear there're a lot of them in the Colonialist atolls, but they're not exactly easy to eat.”

“Where... where in the heck did you get these, kid?”  Rainbow tilted her head up.  “And how hard are they gonna beat you up once they found out you've brought them down here?”

“Maybe they... uh... grew on our trees?” Swab remarked.

Rainbow blinked.  “This place is a bunch of stupid old bolts welded together around a shelf-digging platform.  Where are you gonna plant trees among all that crud?”

Swab's jaw hung open.  “How... h-how did you know all of that?  You've been down here ever since Monket dragged you in!”

“I saw enough to figure it out.  Or...”  Rainbow sighed, glancing into the shadows of the cell.  “...I saw through the eyes of another pony.”

“Huh?”

“Rnnngh... what are you even doing here, kid?”  Rainbow frowmed, shoving the fruit basket away.  “For real.  Get lost with this thing.”

“But—”

“I'm not about to be the reason why you get skinned alive.”  Her nostrils flared as she turned away from the basket.  “...there's enough crud riding on my shoulders already.”

Swab bit his lip.  He looked from side to side... then quivered as he bore a stubborn frown. “No.”  With a flick of his fetlock, he tossed the remaining length of the twine down.

Rainbow turned, blinking at the fully-fallen string.  She frowned up at Swab.  “Great.  Way to go.”  Her ruby eyes narrowed beneath her scar.  “Now you'll never get the fruit out of here before they catch you.”

Swab casually rested his chin against his forelimb.  “Guess you're gonna have to gobble up all the evidence, then.”

“... ... ...”  Rainbow sighed, slumping down as she plucked the first of several grapes down her gullet.

Swab tilted his head to the side.  “What's Cloudsdale?”

“Mrmmmff?” Rainbow muttered through a mouth full of juices.

“That thing you mentioned when you woke up,” he remarked.  “Or is it a pony?”

“It's not a pony.  It's a place.”

“Oh?”  Swab blinked.  “Where is it?”

“Mrmmmfff... very very far from here.”

“Like... how far?”

“That's all you need to know.”

Swab's eyes darted between her and the fruit she was eating.  “Is it where you came from?”

Rainbow simply munched on her food.

Swab exhaled calmly.  His next utterance came in a low murmur:  “Is it where you left your friends?”

She snarled suddenly.  “Is all you do is just crap out questions?”  Her nostrils flared.  “If so, then go fill a diaper, kid.”

“B-but I was just wonderi—”

“I don't have any friends!” Rainbow barked, and her bandaged wings stirred.  “You think a pony like me would be in this stupid rusted pit if she did?”

“You've got Fluttershy, don't you?”

Rainbow opened her mouth again to retort... but hesitated.  With a defeated sigh, she glanced to the sides.  “She's... she's different.”  A gulp, and she nibbled on some more grapes.  “Mrmmff... she's special.”

“I bet.”  Swab smiled.  “I also think she'd like to hear you say that.”

“Mrmmmff... she can't right now.”

“Why not?”

“She's... away.”

“You mean she left you too?”

“No!  I mean... grnnngh...” Rainbow cleared her throat.  “Let's just say she's 'asleep' right now, okay?”

“Ohhhhhh...”  Swab blinked.  “That's weird.”

“Mrmmff... tell me about it.”

“I've never heard of an imaginary friend who fell asleep.”

Rainbow's eyes twitched.  She stifled a belch and wiped her muzzle clean.  “H-huh?”

“It's okay.”  Swab shook his head.  “I don't care if you're too old for imaginary friends.  They can be super cool.  And helpful.”

“Uhhh... I-I never said that—”

“I used to have imaginary friends before,” Swab said, his eyes gazing off past the slivers of sunlight.  “Long ago.  Some of my first memories are playing games with them.”  He gulped.  “Mom and Dad owned this boat, and the three of us would travel the seven seas... transporting trinkets and fishing tools.  It's how we earned our nib—erm... I mean made money.  But then... I-I guess there weren't any bits left to earn.  So my dad heard of the Barges, and we came here to try and make a living.  We lived up in the central apartments along with the other families.  But then... then Mom and Dad had to go away on a shelf-scouting mission.  I... uh... I haven't seen them since...”

Rainbow gawked up at him.

Swab swallowed a lump down his throat.  “I... stopped having imaginary friends.  Only... it was more complicated with that.  I... I-I sent them away.  Figured... they would be very unhappy here.”  He rested on folded limbs, murmuring:  “I don't even remember their names.  It would risk bringing them back.  That wouldn't be a good thing... for them.”

Rainbow's muzzle hung open.  “... ... ...how long did you say your parents were gone for, kid?”

“A-anyways...”  Swab coughed and smiled down at her.  “I'm glad you've still got one around to hang out with you... heehee... even if she's a sleepy pony.”  He exhaled calmly.  “It means you've got something to hold onto that the other ponies here don't.  That's pretty cool... and strong.”

“Kid...”

“Swab.”

“Swab...”  Rainbow stood up tall, trotting halfway towards the lofty window.  “I want you to look at me... straight in the face... and listen.”

Swab did so, eyes bright.

She took a deep breath.  With a furrowed brow, she spoke firmly... icily.  “I've murdered ponies.  Entire villages full of little foals your exact age are dead because of me and the journey I've made.  And not too long ago—without thinking twice about it—I personally wrecked a village full of harmless old stallions and mares.”  She sneered.  “Now, no amount of starving or nightmare-waking is gonna change the fact that I've done nasty things... and... and I-I don't deserve any friends,” she stammered, her muzzle hanging between a pout and a frown.  “Imaginary or not.”  He pointed.  “You need to stop visiting me.  It's for your own good.  I mean it.”

Silence.

Rainbow turned around and headed towards the fruit basket.

She sat down... sighed... ... ...and looked back up at the window.

Swab was still there.

Rainbow groaned.  “Why haven't you made like a pig and farted off...?”

“You say you're such a monster...”  Swab's voice was quiet... breathy.  “But all you do is admit your sins.”  He blinked.  “And I think you're really... really sorry for them.”

Rainbow bit her lip.

“Real monsters don't destroy things...”  Swab shook his head.  “They let horrible stuff keep happening.”  He gulped.  “Like the ones who... who r-run this place...”  A tiny squeak escaped his lips.  “Or like me... who's almost getting used to it.”

The prisoner blinked.

Swab stood up on trembling limbs.  “I know you probably hate yourself.  I'm used to that feeling.  What I'm not used to is knowing where I've been... or where I'm going.  You've got all of that... plus a friend.  And if only you can see her... be glad.  It's been a long time since the rest of us have seen anything.”

Rainbow slowly shook her head.  “I'm nothing to be proud of, Swab.”

“Maybe... or maybe not just yet.”  Swab shuddered, though it was through a soft smile.  “How will we know unless you avoid starving?”

The pegasus had no response to that.

“I'll be back later.”

“No you won't, kid.”

“It won't be with fruit, but I'll find something else to help you out.”  Swab scampered off.

“Kid... Swab!”  Rainbow hissed.  She rolled her eyes.  “The basket!  Friggin'...”  She face-hoofed for a few seconds, gave up, then eventually returned to scarfing fruit down.





Swab trotted north from the Southern Strut.  He paused along a sun-lit bulkhead, rubbing his eyes.  There, he lingered, fumbling through a heavy breath or two.  At last, a smile came back to his muzzle, and he proceeded to march back towards the hold with a slight bounce to his canter.

“I thought Quint told you not to give the monster any more food,” a feminine voice droned.

“...!”  Swab spun around.

Croche stared at him with dull eyes.  She hid in the shadow of a pair of tall steam vents.

Swab tilted his nose up.  “No.  He told me not to give her anymore rice.”

“... ... ...” Croche slowly blinked.  “What are you, stupid?”

“Huh?”

“He and Whony will find a reason to beat you up all the same,” Croche muttered.  “They always do.”

“Just like I always find a way to get beaten up.”  Swab shrugged.  “So what?”

“Have you been drinking your own urine like the other, littler colts?”

“Huh?”  Swab leaned back, grimacing.  “N-no...”

“Then how come you're acting all dense-headed and stir crazy all of the sudden?”

“Look, I just want to make a difference in this awful place for a change!” Swab exclaimed.

“Uh huh...” Croche slowly shuffled out of the shadows.  “...by stealing food and giving it to the Rainbow Rogue?  The only difference is the fresh hole in your neck once one of the dredgers finds out and removes your head.”

“So what?!”  Swab frowned, shaking slightly.  “At least I'll know that I went out doing something that was good.”

To that, Croche glared.  She snorted, then brushed past him in an angry trot.  “You're a bad pony.”

“Huh?”  Swab blinked, eyes flooded with confusion.  He spun around, gawking at her.  “What?  Why??”

“And you should feel sorry for yelling at me,” she huffed, shuffling off.  “Because I once did something that was good too.  Or at least... I tried.”

Swab's muzzle hung open.  He bounced back and forth between sharp emotions before eventually growling:  “Well... w-well maybe I like being bad!”  Hyperventilating, he stomped a hoof down.  “Perhaps all this time, I should have tried sinning!  Because acting sorry for them hasn't m-made a difference!”  He seethed through clenched teeth.  “It hasn't brought my parents back!  Has it?!”

She disappeared beyond the nearest strut.

“And... and...” His voice cracked.  “If you're worried about me and the fruit, don't!  I'm... I-I know what I'm doing!  What's more, I know better than to get caught!”

With a proud smug, Swab spun around—only to bump straight into a pair of armored talons.

“Gaaaaaaah!”  He fell back on his flank, curling up into a little ball.  “Pleasedon'tmeltmeintosteamgoo!  I'm sorry!  I'm so sorry, Digiff for... for...”  He nervously glanced past his forelimbs, eyes traveling up the length of the gauntlets and chestplate until he found himself staring at a beak beneath red and brown plumage.

The griffon stared down at him.  Suddenly, he did something very odd.  He smiled.

“Hello, little one,” the stranger said in a calm, breathy tone.  “Forgive me if I scared you.  Are you alright?”

“Uhm...” Swab sat up, rubbing a hoof over his right ear.  “Mmmhmmm.”

“Do you live around here?”

Swab stood, brushing himself off as his eyes met the deck below.  “Mmmhmmm.”

“... ... ...have you ever seen a griffon before?”

Swab bit his lip.

“Well, I've found that's rather usual for this part of the sea.”  He leaned in with a clatter of his armor.  “Tell me.  Is this Red Barge that I'm currently perched on?”

“Mmm... Mmmhmmm.”

“From what I know, the barges are run by ponies called 'dredgers.'  Would you happen to know if you're Top Dredger is on board?”

Swab bit his lip, shivering too hard to answer that.  His eyes traveled towards the central platform.

The griffon followed the trail of the foal's gaze... and then he squinted back down at the colt.  “...do you work here, little one?”

“Mmmhmmm.”

“And just where might your parents be?”

Swab's pupils shrank.  He instantly looked up with a gasp.  “My... m-my parents are fine!  They're...”  He pointed in some nebulously western direction.  “...they're out at sea!”

“Are they, now...?”

“Yessir.”  Swab nod-nod-nodded.  “G-gathering scouting information so we can find more dredge coal shelves to harvest.”

The griffon's eyes caught the foal's scarred flink.  “That is... very interesting.  When will they be back?”

“I... I-I...”  Swab hung his head.  “I don't know.”

The stranger's gaze narrowed.  Just then there was a pounding of heavy hoofsteps.

“Swab?  Dammit, seafoam!”  Digiff marched up.  “Why aren't you down in your little orphan hole, preparing for the next—”  He froze his place.  His bearded muzzle scrunched at the sight of the griffon.  “Who the Hell are you?”

“Greetings, sir.”  The guard calmly turned towards him.  “Might you be so kind as to direct me to the office of Red Barge's top dredger?”

“And why should I do that, birdpussy?”

Taking a breath, he slid his silver helmet back on.  “My name is Lieutenant Keris of the Right Talon of Verlaxion.”  His magenta eyes narrowed like daggers.  “I am here on a mission—directly authorized by the Council of Verlaxion—to uncover the whereabouts of the Rainbow Rogue, and—if I am so fortunate to catch her—turn her in to the proper authorities of Central Rohbredden.”

Swab blinked.  Muzzle agape, he turned from Keris to Digiff.

Digiff stood in place, his expression paling.

“As you might understand...”  Keris smiled... only to frown again under a glinting helmet.  “...it would be in your best interest if you and your boss complied with my investigation.”

Digiff nodded... then nodded again.  “Yeah—” It came out as a raspy squeak.  He cleared his throat, and the gravelly bass returned to his voice.  “Yeah.  Right this way...”  He spun about, frowning, as he marched due north.  “...good Lieutenant...”

Keris flapped his wings and glided after him, leaving a little colt to watch from behind... gazing in a numb stupor.
> Smart Meets Dumb Meets Muck
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Skagra tilted the glass of water up, higher and higher.  He gulped and gargled the full contents of the container down his throat.  The stallion's one good eye remained trained on his guest from across the office.

Keris stood in cold silence, holding his helmet at his side as he gazed back at the top dredger.

Nixkit, Digiff, and several other stallions stood nervously along the edges of the Skag Hole, shifting uncomfortably.

At last, Skagra finished his drink.  He exhaled... stared at Keris... then motioned towards a dredger.

The random stallion shuffled over with a tray.  Skagra picked a pitcher of water off of it, poured more liquid into the container, and then took another full-minute drink.

Keris exhaled calmly, his tail coiling down by his feline limbs.

Nixkit and Digiff exchanged silent glances.

After a veritable eternity, Skagra stopped sipping... gulping... ingesting.  He held the empty glass up, letting it lean back and forth atop the edge of his hoof.  “... ... ...”  He smiled.  “You want a sip, birdie?”

“No thank you, sir,” Keris said.  “And you may call me 'Lieutenant Keris.'”

“I don't blame you one bit, birdie,” Skagra said, standing up and pacing across the room.  He placed the container down on the stallion's tray.  “Shit goes through a crazy-ass mess of filtration pipes before the muck-tap becomes anywhere near drinkable.  With your super-sensitive, privileged continentalist tummy—one sip of this and you'd be pissing rocks.”  He spun about, grinning wide.  “Ironically, I drink excess amounts of it to keep from pissing rocks.  Kidney stones that form out here in the seven seas are so deathicidal that they come with built-in release pins.  Hell, they don't even need much of an excuse to explode as it is.”

“I am... most sorry for your unfortunate health problems.”

“Pffft!  'Sorry?'  Feeling pain makes me know that I'm alive.  And being alive only reminds me that I'm in charge.”  Skagra stood in dead silence.  Rather spontaneously, he slapped the glass container with his hoof.  It shattered into a hundred pieces on the floor.  Nopony in the room flinched.  Grinning, Skagra looked triumphantly at Keris and pointed.  “You see that?”

“See what?”

“Exactly.”  Skagra shuffled over.  “I like you, birdie.  You catch on.”  He cleared his throat and leaned closer to the griffon.  “Now... would you kindly tell me why you've caught on to my ass hairs?”

“It's like I said when I first arrived,” Keris spoke in a tranquil tone.  “I am in pursuit of the Rainbow Rogue.  Surely you have heard of her by now.”

“These are the seven seas, precious,” Skagra said.  “You looking for a rainbow?  Just fly out there in a random cardinal direction and start swinging a dead cat.  You'll find yourself a peacock-handler real damn quick.”  He winked, grinning.  “I hear some of Rust's finest can even teach a crowning rooster like you how to lay an egg in reverse, if you know what I mean.”

Two or three dredgers chuckled at that.

Keris smiled back.  “It must feel absolutely ecstatic to possess a title so exclusive that you can be joker and king all at once.”

The dredgers stopped chuckling.

Skagra's grin faded.  “...what's that supposed to mean?”

“Simply that the time you spend delaying the real purpose of this conversation can instead be used in answering my rather simple questions,” Keris said.  “I don't expect you to have any respect for me, Mr. Skagra.  My visit here is profitable only in the abstract sense.  Help me, and I just might be able to extend the lives of you and your fellow laborers by protecting them from a growing, magically-imbued threat.  Even if I were to catch the Rainbow Rogue, it'll still leave you in a grimy state of impoverished destitution.  However... if you are willing to assist me, then I assure you it will open the door for future visits from the Council of Verlaxion.”

“And just why in the blue Hell would we want that, birdie?”

“Survival, Mr. Skagra,” Keris said.  “There's a great void in the seas, now that the Syndicate is gone.  That opens the doorway for countless miscreants of questionable power to attempt conquering the waves in the Northern and Southern Hooves' stead.”  He cocked his feathery head to the side.  “It would be a shame for Red Barge to fall victim to such... malevolent intrigue.  And you do care about the hard-working ponies on board your welded array of dinghies, yes?”

Nixkit glanced aside at Skagra.

The top dredger brushed his bangs to the left, only for them to fall back.  “Yes.  And... as a matter of fact... I'm the only one in this room with the authority to exercise such concern.”

Keris spoke:  “The Council of Verlaxion extends the merciful hoof of the Goddess as alwa—”

“The Council of Verlaxion and all their hoity-toity tutu twirling tit-slappers need to remind themselves of the constraints of nautical law,” Skagra grumbled.  “And once they've done their homework, they can re-teach their butter-knife wielding birdies how to sing.”

“I am simply here on an investigative mission to find—”

“You are here by my sexy grace and my sexy grace alone,” Skagra spoke firmly.  “And if I felt like kicking you out of the bird bath, you'll find that you have no political authority to shove your tail-feathers right back in.”  His good eye narrowed.  “This is a barge, my good griffon, not an island.  We move from shelf to shelf, harvesting dredge coal.  We are neither continentalist nor colonialists.  What we are, however, is useful.”  He pointed.  “More useful to the growing, shivering population of Rohbredden than the entirety of the Right Talon of Verlaxion.  Not only does the warmth of a Rohbredden household depend on our product, but the goddess-forsaken economy that warms its hooves in front of it.  And if you and your holy council tried to play favorites with any of the barges, it'll buck up the system and blow up in your face.  And you know it.”

“The issue of the Rainbow Rogue is a continentalist concern,” Keris calmly explained.  “And if she were to cross paths with you, then every surface of this barge that the monster touches becomes grounds for Rohbredden-mandated investigation.”

“Walrus balls.”

Keris took a calm breath.  “And if I was... oh, I dunno... to discover that this industrial marvel of yours was in a position to compromise explicit property of Rohbredden and its citizens, then I would have the full right to conduct a thorough sweep of the structure—including an investigation of those housed on board.”

“Are you for real?”  Skagra chuckled, then glanced aside at his dredgers.  “Get a load of this turkey vulture!  Do you see all the whale shit clinging to his feathers?”

Digiff cleared his throat.  “No, boss, I see tons of razor-sharp, flesh-slicing plates of silver armor—”

“Shut up, Digiff.”  Skagra strolled back towards Keris.  “My good beakster, I think you've made the terrible mistake of coming to the Skag hole with your nostrils open.”  He waved a hoof.  “Buzz off before I get the hose.”

“Just what is this barge doing so far south, Mr. Skagra?”

“Jee.  I dunno.  It was winter and we wanted to do some rounds of golf.  The Hell do you care?”

“I happen to have in my posession a very thorough, up-to-date oceanographic survey map of this area,” Keris said with a calm smile.  “And it states quite clearly that the dredge coal shelves beneath these coordinates have been thoroughly harvested over the past thirty years.  Why... drift any further below this latitude and you'd risk encroaching upon South Barge waters.”  Keris twirled his helmet around, pretending to examine his reflection in it.  “I just... can't fathom for the life of me why you would want to station yourself in the dead drifts.”

“The... dead drifts...?”

“Mmmm... yes.  Even the most surly pirates avoid these currents.  Perhaps it's superstition... or even a time-honored reverence.  Either way...”  He stared up, magenta eyes firm.  “...most ponies go out of their way to steer clear of the procession of the water-borne coffins from Rohbredden.  After all, there's nothing to profit from the dearly departed of Verlaxion's blessed continent, now is there?”

Skagra blinked.

Nixkit and Digiff clenched their teeth.

“Ermmm... euughhh...” Skagra's lower jaw protruded as he fidgeted.

“Need more water, top dredger?” Keris calmly asked.  “I fear the stones might be coming out the wrong end.”

Skagra stared at him, blinking.

Keris stared back... and he grinned.  “Hmmm-hmmm-hmmm...”

“Heheheheheh...” Skagra laughed, sweated.  Sweated and laughed.  “Like I said before, Lieutenant...”  He shuffled back to his corner of the room and slumped down in a reclining chair.  “Eeuuughhh... I like you.  Granted, I'd like you even better if you weren't perched on my dick.  Sooooooooo... let's address your concerns so you can take them far... far away from here.”

“That depends on wether or not such a flight is necessary,” Keris remarked.

“Hrmmmm...”  Skagra scratched his chin, staring up at the ceiling.  “Rainbow Rogue... Rainbow Rogue...”  He took a deep breath.  “...I don't suppose he's named after the poopsmears he leaves behind?”

“It's a she, actually,” Keris said.  “And just in case random dollops of gossip from across the seas have marred your perspective, allow me to give a personal account of my own fact finding.”

“Oh.  Pffft.  Please.  Do go on.”  Skagra waved, stifling a yawn.  “I was born for this shit.”

Keris unscrolled a series of notes he had taken.  “Ahem... according to the tragic denizens of the Quade, the suspect in question is a young-adult female pegasus with a sky-blue coat and a pair of red eyes.  Her most striking feature is a scrappy mane consisting of every colorful shade of the rainbow.  She also has a flashy tail to match her mane—just above the cutie mark of a white thundercloud shooting forth a colorful lightning bolt.”

“Jee.  I think I'm in love.”

“On top of displaying a violent, reckless, and altogether self-serving personality, she has in her possession a striking gold pendant with a lightning bolt crafted out of some magical ruby, presumably enchanted by a strange magic that may very well have originated from west of the Blight.”

Nixkit leaned forward, curious.

Keris looked up from his scroll.  “The mare goes by the name of 'Rainbow Dash,' which—as ironic as it sounds—could be an alias.  She was last seen sailing east-northeast from the Quade with an injured left wing and—most likely—a fresh scar above her left eye.  The closest place of landing that such a path could possibly lead her to is right here... in the Red Barge.”  Keris folded the scroll.  Taking a deep breath, he added:  “Also... though they may no longer be close companions to her... this 'Rainbow Dash' has been known to associate with two curious strangers.  A pegasus stallion guitarist by the name of Bard and a griffon called Wildcard who wears goggles and utilizes a metal prosthetic.”

“Now that's a description and a half,” Skagra said, stifling a yawn.  “If I had seen any single one of those three yahoos, I'd have known it in a second.”

“And have any of them stumbled by here?”

“No.”

Keris' eyes narrowed.  “Could it be possible that they've shown up and you're just now aware of it?”

Skagra sat up, frowning slightly.  “Tell me.  When you flew in to land at Red Barge, what did your tweety eyes see?”  He pointed out one of the brightly-lit portholes.  “All that's out there is muck and misery.  A lone flankhole in a raft would much rather throw herself to the sharks then have to deal with any of that floaty shit.”

“So you deny that it's feasible to clear such polluted lengths in a single, small craft?”

“Uhm...”

“Eyewitness accounts all maintain that this rogue—although deviant—is quite formidable in both will and spirit,” Keris said.  “And if there's a possibility that this nebulously threatening pendant of hers is a force to be reckoned with, then there's no telling just what she might be able to accomplish.”

“Are you suggesting that I'd let my guard down around my own dredge coal harvesting home?”

“I'm suggesting that if this creature is far too elusive for the likes of me, then she probably is for you too, top dredger.”

“I haven't seen her, alright?”  Skagra said with a shrug.  “She's not here.  I mean... you're the one flying around on silver plates of fart-fear.  You probably zoomed past her!”

“You believe so?”

“Hell, for all we know, birdie, she hasn't even arrived here yet!”

“I see...”  Keris' vision swam from Skagra to Nixkit... Digiff... and the other dredgers.  Half the stallions hung their heads to avoid the Lieutenant's stare.  At last, he turned back to Skagra, then smiled.  “Then I suppose the only logical course of action is for me to stay here and wait for her.”

Skagra blinked.  “What.”

“I thank you most kindly for your hospitality, top dredger,” Keris said with a slight bow.  “You've been most helpful.”  He turned to head towards the door.  “And I suspect you'll continue to be so in the near future.”

“Whoah whoah whoah... hold the mayo...”  Skagra sat up, waving a hoof.  “I didn't say you could take off so soon.”

“I elected to notice that,” Keris said in a dull tone.

“This is no government beach house, buddy,” Skagra said.  “If you wish to settle your tail-feathers on our real estate, then you'll be expected to pay up.”

“You mean like rent?”

“Mmmm... I was thinking something more imposing and back-breaking, but sure.”  Skagra smirked.

“I see.”  Keris nodded.  “Then I suppose I'll just gather some of the smog from over the Barge and settle myself a cloud overnight.”

“Uhhhh...” Skagra blinked.

“Oh, it'll be quite alright.  I won't have my beak sticking in anypony's business,” Keris added with a smile.  “And the lofty vantage point should make it optimal in spotting the Rainbow Rogue upon her arrival.”

Nixkit's jaw hung agape.

“Griffons...” Digiff gulped.  “They can do that?”  Nixkit punched him in the arm and he winced.

“I'm telling you, Lieutenant,” Skagra spoke icily, his left eye flaring across the scarred half of his face.  “All of this hooplah is far from necessary.”

“I suspect you're right,” Keris said.  “After all, you and your fellow dredges could assist me in performing a scan of the waters west of here.”  A smile.  “It'd make uncovering the suspect a great deal easier.”

Every stallion in the room was silent.

“But... I understand that your laborers are busily dredging coal from the ocean floor, which—in this part of the seven seas—is already a risky venture at best.  So... I'll leave it to you and your proper wisdom.”  Keris said with a slight bow.  “Far be it from the interests of the Council of Verlaxion to interfere.”

“And what if it's not in my interests?” Skagra remarked, his nostrils snorting.  “What if I don't even approve of you bird-pooping all over this part of the ocean?”

Keris stared at him... then at the others.  Without saying a word, he shuffled across the room, touched his talon to the pitcher of water, and knocked it off the tray.  Crash!  Every stallion winced as the glass spread across the carpet.

And yet no stallion rushed forward.  Everyone stayed anchored in place.

“You might want to switch to canteens, top dredger,” Keris said.  “If nothing else, it would get you an excuse to come out of the office more often.”  He placed his helmet on and trudged out the door.  “Oh... and by the way...”  He extended a length of razor-sharp wingblades.  “It's not exactly 'silver,' but a silver-plated titanium alloy.  Strong enough to rip through the scales of a leviathan.  Don't ask me how I know first-hoof.”

Swissssssh!  He flew out into the gold sunlight.

Digiff ran out to the doorframe, peering at the griffon's flight.  “Rrrggh... there he goes, alright... gathering up smog, the mucking bastard.”  He turned towards Skagra.  “Boss, are you just gonna let him shit all over us like that?!”

“His presence throws everything into the cesspool, Skagra!” Nixkit hissed.  “If we allow him to roost above us for even a day, he'll figure out our connections to Monket... Chandler... to everything!  Hell, he might even realize we've got the dayum Rogue in our hold—”

“Rrrnnngh!”  Skagra stood up, spun, and flung his easy chair across the room.

Nixkit, Digiff, and several other dredgers flinched as the furniture smashed to bits against the wall.

“You pisstaking dolphin humps!” Skagra cackled.  “He already knows the Rainbow Rogue's in our hold!  Don't you get it?!”  He pointed out the nearest porthole.  “But the bastard's got his beak stuck in the political gears of Rohbredden!  For all his bark, he's still just a stupid puppy—and I aim to drown him.”

“Just let me get the boys on the harpoons!” Digiff said, marching out the exit.  “We'll have him skewered in a jiff—”

“Step on your own dick!” Skagra growled, pointing, making Digiff freeze in place.  “The Right Talon is all one unit!  Five grasping digits, and each one clawed to high-hell!  If they sent just one of their buzzards out this far, they didn't do it without a backup plan!  That bastard's got an invisible life-line to birds who are bigger and bloodier than him.  We melt off his head... then we sever the entire line of communication, and the rest of the flock will come rushing in to have our pancreases for dessert!”

Nixkit and Digiff exchanged grimacing expressions.

“Then... th-then what do we do?!” Digiff's voice cracked.

“Keep playing dumb.  Then... play dumber.”  Skagra's good-and-bad eyes both narrowed.  “We make him feel comfortable.  Like he's in control.  Meanwhile, we play off Monket's return like it's business as normal.  We'll put the squeeze on Chandler under the talon's nose.  With the right amount of exploitation, Chandler will come wading across the shit sea to Red Barge's front steps.  We let him see the Right Talon of Verlaxion snooping around, and if all of Monket's threads don't paint his jaded robes yellow by then, then Lieutenant Birdy surely will.  Chandler will realize he's in it too deep to possibly make his rise to power.  Instead, he'll pay out his ass both to make us happy and to hoist the Rainbow Rogue off our hooves.  Then—when it's time for the Talon's hammer to fall—it'll be on the fat cat's chubby head, not ours.  Got it?”

“It's... a little crazy, boss,” Nixkit said.  “But with Chandler in the mix, I think I can see how we can make this fall straight back in the Council's lap.”

“Damn straight,” Skagra said, nodding.  “I eat crazy for breakfast and shit out genius for lunch.”  He pointed.  “And we're gonna make that fat cat eat it for dinner!  MEANWHILE.”  Huffing, he paced across the Skag Hole.  “I don't trust that canary any deeper than I can choke him.  I want the guards watching him at all times.  Nixxy... go get that one try-hard to keep a close eye on the Lieutenant.  What's his name?  Straxon... Braxon...”

“Saxon?”

“Whatever.  Put him on a leash and let him smell griffon blood.  If for some reason birdy gets a bit too nosy for his own good, I want him suffering for it.  Not us.”

“Got it.”

“You'd better.”  Skagra grumbled, trotting over the broken glass on the floor instead of cleaning it up.  “And—if there's actually a Goddess in this world—let us simply hope Monket's having more friggin' luck than we are.”





Whips cracked in the humid air.

Stallions and mares wept, being forced to trudge over volcanic rocks and shoals as they lugged huge crates of cargo down into a series of chiseled burrows lined with grim-faced overseers.

All above, the atmosphere of Mudtop was an impermeable mess of smoggy black miasma.  Clay chimneys pumped endless fumes into the air from hidden factories nestled deep in the gnarled obsidian that made up the bulk of the hellish island.  A series of wooden platforms housed tiny, torch-lit shacks adjoined to one another like splintery tumors.

Out from one such shack, Monket and a hoofful of crew members hobbled.  Two of his servants carried fresh bags of tools and bits.

“Mrmmmff... Skagra, you're a dirty rotten shit-eater... but a smart one.”  Monket shook his bit bag, delighting in the cold jingle of gold.  He reached into another bag, took yet another sip of a tall bottle of whiskey, then exhaled.  “Even have enough to grow on.  Those trinkets did the trick.”

“Does... does that mean that the debtors will be off our back, master?” asked one of the servants.

“If they know what's good for them,” Monket remarked.  His pale red eyes settled on his two steamships moored towards the jagged docks along the eastern shoals of Mudtop.  “I've lost too many of my investments at this point.  I need to play this intelligently... arm my ships to the teeth in case of an attack.”

“Our ships are Rohbredden in design,” another servant remarked.  “You think any privateer would actually bother attacking us?”

“For a piece of the Rainbow Rogue...”  Monket took another sip, followed by a deep breath.  “...coral huffers out here would attack the sun.”  He adjusted the weight of his satchel and marched forward, dreads flouncing.  “Come along.”  A stifled belch.  “Keeping Skagra waiting is one thing... but I wanna get as much time into making Chandler choke as possible.”

“Sure thing, master.”

The servants motioned to one another.  “Quick.  And don't drop a single bit of equipment!”

The group shuffled tightly together, making for a series of supply depots situated next to the docks.

As Monket and his lackeys left...

One stallion shuffled out of a dark cleft of rocks...

Followed by another...

And yet another...

At last, no less than a dozen ponies—a motley crew of sunbaked stallions stood, gazing from the slave paths towards the barnacle'd slopes of Mudtop towards the east.

“Hrmmmff... did you hear that, mates?” one stallion hissed towards another.  He rubbed his chin.  “Our cheeky slaver of the waves has got himself a Rainbow Rogue.”

“What?  You mean right here in Mud Top?!”

“Naaah... don't be daft,” another character grunted.  “Though he's almost smug enough to do it.”

“I hear Monket's been dealing with velvety flanks.  Someone in the continent's finally bought his soul, eh?”

“Pfft.  Hardly.  There's still some craftiness left in that stallion.  Bet he's gonna bite back that hoof that feeds him.”

“Did anypony else hear the name 'Chandler?'”

“Aye.  Consortium rot.  You know what that means?”

“Monket's making friends with a barge.  Dredge coal huffers have got themselves a Rainbow Rogue.”

“Oh?”

“And I think I just know who...”  The scarred stallion in question huffed.  “...half-headed bastard.”  He turned to smile at the others with grimy teeth.  “Round up the skiffs, boys.  There's blood to be sprinkled on the muck yet.”

“Heheheheh...”
> Little By Little, the Stakes...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“I'm not sure what bothers me more, old chap.”  Theanim Mane leaned against a cold set of iron bars.  His breath came out in a vaporous sigh, fading across the thin slits of gray light bleeding through Frostknife's stone prison.  “The fact that she's so doggedly determined to eliminate all enemies to the Goddess Verlaxion.”  He bit his lip.  “...or that I recognize in her attitude the pony that I once was.”

“Mrmmfff...”  Echo paused in doing upside-down curl-ups from a metal bar hanging off his cell's ceiling.  “What do you mean once was?”

Theanim turned and glared over his shoulder.  “Oh come now, even you have to admit that I've loosened up a bit.”

“Hrmmff...” Echo resumed his sweaty exercise.  Fangs glinted from across the shadows.  “If you say so.  Grffff... I've been too busy reacquainting myself with the weight of this freaky world.”

“Well, granted, that's quite true.”  Theanim brushed his brown bangs back and sighed.  “Still, there's something in the Commander's attitude that... alarms me.”  He gulped.  “And the funny part is that it didn't used to alarm me before.”

“Correct me if I'm wrong, Theams...”  Echo curled and breathed.  “But destroying all heretical entities under the rule of Verlaxion is more or less the Right Talon's bag, is it not?”

“But to do so with such swiftness that it eliminates all sensibility and contemplation?”

“Isn't that... uhhh... the Council's job?”

“True.  But both you and I know that they can only see so much from their lofty, frozen alcove.”  Theanim folded his forelimbs and sighed out his nostrils.

Echo's fangs showed beneath a smirk.  “I'd be thanking my lucky stars for such short-sightedness, if I were you.”

Theanim glanced aside.  “Huh?”

“Well, you're on the other side of the bars, are you not?”

“Hrmmm...” Theanim adjusted his goggles over his mane.  “I haven't considered worrying over that.”

“Grnngh... m-maybe you should, Theams.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, if it turns out that the Council and the Right Talon decide to bring the hammer down on Rainbow Dash, then you're likely to go crumbling into gravel along with her.”

“All things considered, my association with Rainbow Dash ended right before she made her way to the Quade.”

“Yes, but... guilt by association, right?”  Echo paused, squinting sideways at the stallion.  “I mean... sure, you're not in any trouble for having run underwater circles with me.  But for all of the horrible shit I've ever done, trashing a holy monastery isn't on the list.”

“That remains to be thoroughly explored, old chap.”

“Is that the scientist talking or the friend to Rainbow Dash?”

“Hmmm?”

Echo resumed his upside-down curl-ups.  “We both know you get a huge holy boner for truth, Theams.  I think Rainbow Dash has done a lot of awesome stuff for you and me.  But I'm also starting to think she's cut you down a notch.  Maybe two.  You're starting to get a bit... mmmm... biased.”

“Good Goddess...” Theanim winced.  “Do you actually believe that's true?”

“Don't get me wrong.  Grnnngh... I think it's an improvement... mrmfff...”

Theanim leaned forward, rubbing his chin with his hoof.  “I've put into careful consideration the possibility that Rainbow Dash is guilty of all the things the Council suspects of her.  Even still...”  He shook his head.  “I do not believe that sicking the Right Talon of Verlaxion after her is going to accomplish anything—justice wise.”

“Can you think of a better idea?”

“I can think of several.”  Theanim gulped.  “But... if Seraphimus is managing the extraction operation that gets ahold of Rainbow, then all is lost.”  He turned and looked at the sarosian behind bars.  “She won't allow our Equestrian friend to get a word in to defend herself.  As far as the Council knows, Rainbow Dash is an enemy of the Goddess.  That means—as far as Seraphimus is concerned—she's nothing more than heretical filth.  And I am terribly... terribly concerned for what this means about the way in which our nation exercises Verlaxion's divine will.”

“Why?”  Echo grunted.  “You weren't so concerned about it before.”

“Yes, well, times have changed.  I've changed.”

“Not sure how it's going to help Rainbow Dash any.”

Theanim leaned back, eyes thin.  “Hmmmm...”

“Wuh oh.  You're humming contemplatively,” Echo mused.  With a flick of his tail, he dropped off the bar, flipped, and landed nimbly on all fours.  His slitted eyes peered across the shadows.  “What's the epiphany, Theams?”

“I've sworn my fealty to Verlaxion since day one, old chap,” Theanim said.  “However, as a scientist, there's one thing I've committed to with even greater dedication... or else my service to the Goddess would null and void.”  He stood up, peering through the bars.  “Truth.  Above all things... truth reigns supreme.  And I fear I've been avoiding it for far too long.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“There may come a time when Rainbow Dash is accosted and brought in to the Council,” Theanim said.  “I mean... it's the Right Talon of Verlaxion, Echo.  It's only a matter of time before they catch up with her.”  He gulped.  “I need to be prepared for when that happens... so that I may defend her.”

“But... you said it yourself.  Seraphimus and her team are on the case.”  Echo blinked.  “Just what flexibility will the Council even give you?”

“That depends on what kind of a grasp we can get on the situation.  And I won't find out by lingering here in Frostknife, waiting for the Council's good graces to run out.”  He took a deep breath.  “There are ponies now in our midst who can tell me exactly what happened in the Quade.  I think it's high time I went and spoke with them myself.”

“Theams...”

“Stay in good health, Echo,” Theanim said, trotting off.  “I'll speak with you again shortly—”

“Theanim!”  Echo's fuzzy face pressed against the bars.

Theanim turned to glance at him.

Echo's fangs showed.  “If you're talking about who I think you are... well...”  His leafy ears folded back.  “Be careful, okay?  It took a lot of questionable characters to get those monks here.  And... and I don't think it would do well to step on any of their fetlocks.”

Theanim smiled.  “Your concern for me is endearing, Echo.”

“Hrmmmff...”  Echo backtrotted, frowning.  “Concern for you?  Shieeeet... just making sure you don't blow it or else Rainbow Dash's goose is cooked.”

“Uh huh.”  And Theanim called the guard to make his exit.





“So what's he doing?” Whony asked.

Quint and several other colts paused in mopping the decks.  They stared... squinted up at a cluster of dark clouds hovering just north of Red Barge.

“It's like he's just sitting there!” another colt remarked, sweating in the hot sun.  “Doing... bird things.”

“I swear...” Whony grunted, mopping up more of the bulkheads.  “If he messes up the northern struts...”

“He's not all bird.”

“Still.  Seems like just the kind of thing a mainlander would do.”

“What I want to know is how can he sit on a cloud?”

“Don't be stupid.  All griffons and pegasi can interact with clouds.”

“None of our pegasi do!”

“Because Top Dredger Skagra would have Saxon and the others spear 'em in a blink!”

“Ha!  True that!  Hahaha!”

“Hrmmm...” Quint's jaw clenched.  “He's a big problem.  That's what.”

“In what way?”

“Isn't it obvious?” Quint grumbled as he mopped.  “He's here for the Rainbow Rogue.  If the Right Talon snatches the monster up, then Top Dredger Skagra loses his chance at profit.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So, dipshit...” Quint frowned at the colts beside him.  “...our dredge coal harvest has been sucking as of late.  Skagra already gave the trinkets from the dead drifts to Monket... who still isn't back yet.  Even if the slaver of waves hasn't robbed us blind, we're still in the red.  Which means...

“...Skagra's gonna start sending some of us into the machine pits to make up for our losses,” Whony grumbled.  “Or start selling us to Mudtop.  Whichever strikes his fancy first.”

“But... we're seafoam!”  Another colt stammered.  “What would Mudtop want with us?”

“Whatever our flesh can offer,” Quint grunted.  “At least here, in Red Barge, we can get our nibbles.”

“I-I don't like this at all,” a colt whimpered.

“Hush!” Quint hissed.  “Skagra's not going to let it come to that.”

“For our sake?”

“Don't be stupid.”  Quint stared skyward.  “The first opportunity he gets, the top dredger will off the griffon.”

“But... b-but he's a guardian!” a colt stammered.  “From the continent!”

“Skagra will find a way,” Quint said.  “The griffon just has to make the first stupid move, and then we'll be one problem short of putting Red Barge back on track.  Even higher.”

“Wow, Quint...” Whony smirked.  “You really believe in Skagra, don't you?”

Quint clenched his jaw shut.

“So... uh...” Another colt fidgeted where he stood.  “What can we do to help?”

“Nothing,” Quint said.

“Well, that's useful,” Whony rolled his eyes.

Quint slapped him upside the head.  “I mean it.”  He turned to glare at the others.  “We mustn't speak a word of the Rainbow Rogue to this feathery joker.  The first moment he so much as hears that we've got the monster in our hold, then all is lost!”  Quint pointed.  “So you better not let me catch any of you shitbags talking within earshot of the griffon!  Do I make myself clear?

“Yes, Quint.”

“Yes, Quint...”

“S-sure thing, boss.”

Quint sighed.  “Just... play it cool.  Do your labor.  Get your nibbles.  And everything will be... f-fine.”

Whony stared off across the struts.  A tiny, one-eared figure shuffled across the welded decks and made his way towards the southern end of the Barge.  “Maybe it's not us you should be concerned about, Quint...”

Quint squinted.  As he spotted Swab's figure, a frown crossed his muzzle.





The little brown speck of a colt scampered across the lattices and pipework.  Ultimately, he disappeared inside a small stairwell located in the heart of the Barge's southern strut.

All of this was observed by a pair of hawkeyes from afar.

Keris blinked.  He craned his neck to the side, staring across the lengths of the Southern Strut.

A smoggy wind blew at his feathers.  Perched atop the cluster of dark clouds, he exhaled, rubbing his chin in contemplation.

Something glinted in his peripheral.

“... … …?”  Twirling around, the Lieutenant glanced due north.

He caught sight of one... two... three tiny skiffs sailing south across the waves, powered by steam.  Their hulls had a noticeably pale quality to the metal.

Keris blinked, folding his arms as a curious smile lingered beneath his beak.  “Hmmm...”
> Keris, You're Our Only Hope
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“They're after you, y'know,” Swab said.

“Mrmmmfff...” Rainbow Dash munched on a few remaining scraps of fruit.  She squatted in the far corner of her cell, away from the angled slits of sunlight.  “Who are?”

Swab gulped, leaning against the bars above.  “The Right Talon of Verlaxion.”

Rainbow froze in place.  Her ears twitched, and she looked up.  “The right what of Verlaxion?”

“A bunch of elite griffon guardians who do the dirty work of the Rohbredden Council,” Swab explained.  “They're super dangerous and fearless.  I hear a single one of them can reduce a pony to meat and bone within a full minute of evisceration.”

“Those are some big... bloody words for you, kid.”

“Well, it's what Quint and Whony say, anyway.”  Swab brushed his bangs over the earless half of his skull.  “They make the Right Talon sound super scary.  But... then again... they make everything sound super scary.”  He shuddered.  “Sometimes I like listening to them from across the hold as I go to sleep... just so I can face whatever happens the next day.  I find it's... uhhh... easier to expect more than I'll ever get.”

“And so... they're here now?” Rainbow droned.  “The Right Talon?  At Red Barge?”

“Well, one of them is,” Swab explained.  “But—as you can imagine—that's still some pretty bad news.”

“Yeah?  For who?”

Swab blinked.  “Uhhhhh...”

“I can only imagine one reason why they're here,” Rainbow Dash muttered.  "That pony who fished me out of the sea?  That crazy-eyed dude with the dreads?  Someone that ugly doesn't come out of the woodwork for no reason.  Hrmmmff... somehow, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole world knows about the Quade by now.  Heck... I bet even Val Roa knows.”

“Who?”

“Not a who, it's... it's...”  Rainbow sighed.  “Never mind.  Not important.”  A few seconds later, the mare flinched, then frowned up into the air.  “No, I won't explain it to him!  I mean... what's the friggin' point?”

“Oh!”  Swab grinned wide.  “Is Fluttershy awake now?”

“Nnnnngh...” Rainbow facehoofed.  “Forget I said anything, kid...”

“Heehee... I like Fluttershy.”

Rainbow peered above her hoof.  “You don't friggin' know a thing about her, kid.”

“Yeah...”  He nevertheless smiled.  “But she's got a pretty name... and she hasn't abandoned you.”  He took a deep breath.  “Sometimes the best way to know a pony is to not know them.”

“Mrmmf.  That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.”  Rainbow flinched, and she leaned back from an empty spot in the air.  “Well... it w-was!  Don't give me the stare.”

“Anyways, one of the griffons is keeping an eye on the Barge as we speak.”

“Griffons?”

“Yeah.”  Swab nodded.  “All of the Right Talon are griffons.”

“Hmm.  That'd explain why they're called what they're called.”

“I know, right?”  Swab giggled slightly.  “Everypony knows that Verlaxion doesn't actually have talons.”

Rainbow blinked.  “... ... ...uhhhh...”

“The Goddess exercises Her divine power through them.  But... y'know... metaphors...”

“Funny thing about metaphors, kid...”  Rainbow gulped.  “They're kinda nebulous for a reason.”

“Huh?”

“Have you ever seen Verlaxion in person?”  Rainbow squinted.  “Seen her power?  Heard her speak?”

“Well... n-no...” Swab fidgeted, his hooves squirming against the edge of the barred window.  “But... but these are the seven seas.”  He gulped.  “We're still far from the shores of the holy continent.  She doesn't... doesn't exactly favor these waters.”

“And yet you still believe in her?”  Rainbow cocked her head to the side.  “You hold faith in a Goddess you not only haven't seen... but can't be bothered to show up here and bless you in person?”

“I don't blame her...” Swab shuddered, sniffling slightly.  “I've... I've committed a lot of sins.”  He sighed, maintaining a weak smile.  “Still, I've written her constantly... confessing everything bad I've ever done.  If she can't forgive me... then m-maybe she can forgive my parents.”

“Kid...”

“They'll show up at the Red Barge one of these days.  And we'll return to the sea together.  I-I just know it!”  Swab cleared his throat, shivering slightly.  “And... and even if Verlaxion decides that I'm not good enough to deserve that, then I have faith she'll show them the way back to continental shores.”

“Kid, have you ever paused long enough to imagine that Verlaxion might not exist?” Rainbow remarked.  “Or at least not in the way you've always thought?  That everypony here thinks?”

“But...”  Swab blinked.  “The Council and the Right Talon of Verlaxion—”

“I've been to enough places and seen enough things to know that it takes very little to fool a whole lot of ponies,” Rainbow breathed—almost sneered.  “You can have a thousand armies at your disposal, and still they'd just be defending a lie.  Truth?  Truth has to be seen... witnessed,” Rainbow declared.  “Everything else—until you know otherwise—is just horse hockey!  You can base your life on false stuff.  But—in the grand scheme of things—would you really want to?”

Swab slowly shook his head.  “I don't see any of your friends.”  A tiny smile slowly formed.  “But I still believe in them.”

Rainbow Dash blinked.  “Huh...?”

“I see them in your face,” Swab softly spoke.  “In the tiny twitch of your eyes.  They may be invisible to everypony else—Fluttershy included—but they're very real to you.  And I think that's really awesome.”  He then shuddered.  “I'm sorry that I'm not sincere enough.”

“Sincere... enough...?”

“That you can't see my parents when you look at me,” Swab murmured.  “Somewhere, they're lost, and I mustn't give up on faith... or else Verlaxion will never guide them home.  That's the challenge, you see.  And it's harder than any of the nibbles I've ever labored for.  But I mustn't give up.  I know my parents wouldn't give up on me.”

Rainbow sighed.  “Kid... do you even hear yours—?”  She flinched, then glared up at the barred window.  “Fluttershy, how many times do I have to tell you?!  You can't hug him!  No matter how much you want to!  You can't hug anypony but... but...”  Rainbow grumbled.  “Well, they're not exactly here right now, are they?”

Swab blinked.  He stood up, shifting from one leg to the other.  “Which side of me is she?”  He leaned to the left.  “This way?”

“Ugh... Swab, please—”

“Or this way?”  He leaned to the other side.

“This is friggin' stupid.”

“Heeheehee!”  Swab giggled.  He smiled down through the bars.  “Is she laughing right now too?”

“Mrmmmfff...” Rainbow munched on the last piece of fruit.  “...so what if she is?”

“Heeeee-heeheehee!”

Rainbow rolled her eyes.  Upon the crest of sunlight, the faintest... subtlest hint of a curve anointed her fuzzy lips...

P-Pow!

Cl-Clank!

“Hey!  Hey!  Watch it!”

“Hah!  That's what you get!”

Both Rainbow and Swab turned to gaze up at the source of sunlight above the brig.

“What in the hay is that?” Rainbow sputtered.  “Sounds like a fight.”

“Those were harpoon guns fired just now,” Swab said.  He craned his one good ear, twitching.  “...and those distant voices...”

“The Right Talon?”

“No.”  Swab shook his head.  “I recognize them.”  He exhaled, his eyes twinkling slightly.  “White Bargers.”





Along the northern struts of Red Barge, several dredgers and citizens had gathered.  Angry stallions and soot-stained workers flanked a series of cylindrical guard towers.  The collective crew sneered and spat at the waters lapping up to the outer edges of the welded hulls.

“We don't have a single weapon on board our craft!” shouted one of several ponies piloting three tiny motor-powered skiffs facing the Barge.  Each of the equines looked remarkably healthy, with clean manes and plenty of meat on their bones.  A dangling harpoon bobbed in the water besides their centermost ship's dented hull.  “Why would you fire on us like that?!”

“Maybe I didn't like the way you smelled!” Saxon cackled from a tower looming above the three skiffs.  “Did you ever think of that?!”

“Judging from your coat, I suspect you haven't had a good bath in months,” one of the visitors snorted.  “Maybe you're afraid some good hygene would dissolve you away in a blink!”

“Hah!  And with bullshit like that, you wonder why I don't try spearing each and every one of you harder!”

“For Goddess' sake... can we please start off on the right hoof just one of these days?!”

By this time, Nixkit and Digiff had strolled over, piercing the crowd of workers gathered along the northern strut.  With a sigh, Nixkit leaned against Saxon's tower, gazing tiredly at the three boats.  “Alright, Elsaack.  What's the problem this time?”

A black-coated stallion with a blue mane turned from scowling at Saxon to blink at Nixkit.  “Oh!  Nixkit!  Praise Verlaxion!  Somepony with an ounce of reason!”

“Yeah, but I'm running out of patience,” Nixkit droned.  “Just like last time.”  His eyes narrowed.  “We've been over this before, Elsaack.  Skagra doesn't accept favors from northern bargers.”

Elsaack sighed.  “Nixkit, this isn't about the offers we've made in the past.  Although—if you must know—they still stand—”

“Hell...” Nixkit grinned slightly.  “With how swiftly you've lost favor with the Consortium as of late, it should be you begging us for favors—”

“Look, will you can it with the whole 'favors' thing?!”  Elsaack frowned.  His eyes washed over the entire crowd.  “This isn't like any of our usual visits!  We came all the way here to give you a warning.”

“Hah!  I knew it!”  Saxon grinned wickedly.  “They want a cut of our coal!”  He twirled at a crank.  “Quick!  Help me reload the harpoon—”

“We don't want your filthy coal, alright?!” Elsaack spat.  “Look... ever since we stopped doing business with the Shoreline Trade Consortium, we've been looking for trade partners elsewhere.  Our top dredgers have even begun trade missions to the west.  Ever since the Syndicate fell, the path has been made open to Kihutaja and other Colonialist settlements who need fuel.”

“Is that what you cruised all this way south to give us, Elsaack?” Digiff muttered.  “Your latest sob story?”   He smirked.  “I'd say we're a bit too rich to care about your sissy whining.”

Several dredgers and workers laughed their muzzles off.

“I'm getting to the point!”  Elsaack frowned.  “We've brushed paths with several characters over the seven seas, both savory and unsavory.  And... and there are rumors abounding, Nixkit.  Rumors that the Red Barge has something valuable that lots of other ponies want.  I'm talking about ponies who are willing to seize anything by force.”

A few of the chuckles stopped then and there.

Nixkit squinted suspiciously.  “Just who are we talking about?”

“Pirates, Nixkit,” Elsaack said.  “Privateers.  Bounty hunters.”  He gulped.  “The ocean's ripe with gossip.  Even we know a lot.  Up in White Barge, just about every worker has heard of Skagra's dealings with Monket.  The Slaver of the Waves has been in Mudtop.  And if we know that, Nixkit, then they know.  They know that you're holding the Rain—”

“Shhhhh!”  Nixkit hissed, eyes flaring.  “Bite your tongue or I'll have Saxon here rip it out of you!”

Elsaack leaned back, blinking.  “The Hell is your guys' problem?”  He turned to exchange nervous glances with his fellow crew members.  Then, at last, he squinted back at the northern strut.  “... ... ...just who is listening in, huh?”  He glanced up, his vision scraping past the dark smog clouds lingering high above.  “Whose attention has Skagra attracted this time?”

“None of your business, dammit!”  Nixkit growled.  “Why won't you impoverished flankholes just leave us alone?!”

“Don't you get what's going on here, Nixkit?!” Elsaack explained.  “For some reason or another, the whole ocean's riled up, and all the seadogs are thirsting for a cut of Red Barge's meat!”

“Including you foamtards, eh?”  Saxon cocked and reloaded the harpoon gun.  “Well, you ain't havin' none of it!”

“Please... just... just listen to reason... one of these days!” Elsaack gulped.  “All of you.  There's a better existence than this.  Skagra... every Top Dredger before him...”  He slowly shook his head.  “He's bent everything all bloody and crooked.  It doesn't have to be this way!  Don't let him or the Consortium dredge this place into oblivion!”

“And just what do you plan to do to help us, huh?” Digiff remarked.

“We can join both Barges together!” Elsaack exclaimed.  “Our struts to your struts!”

Several ponies scoffed, snorted, and laughed.

“We d-don't want your profits!” Eslaack's voice cracked.  “Generations ago, we traded together like partners!  Friends!  Combined, we just might be able to combat any threat that comes this way—”

“Go back to your empty shelves, Elsaack,” Nixkit said, waving a smirk.  “Skagra lost patience with you uppity morons years ago, and so have I.”

“Nixkit, please—”

“Leave!” the dredger barked.  “Or I'll tell Saxon to let loose on the whole bunch of ya!”

“Heeheeheee...”  Saxon grinned, gripping the harpoon gun and twitching.

Elsaack sighed long and hard.  He waved a hoof in the air.  “Turn about, boys.  Let's head back home.”  He frowned, shuffling off towards the stern of the ship.  “They wanna be seafoam?  Let them drown in it...”

Several jeers and hollering shouts flew over their ears.  Nevertheless, the three skiffs calmly rotated, faced north, and puttered off at a limp speed.

Nixkit's nostrils flared.  He looked at Digiff, then muttered, “Send everypony to work.  I'll tell Skagra.”

“Right.”  Digiff stomped his hooves.  “Okay, ya lazy humps!  Back to the pipes!  Move it!  Move it!”

A few workers—families, foals, and old ponies—stood in place, their emaciated faces lingering on the retreating trio of motorboats.  At last, with separate sighs, they all shuffled off... returning to their labors.





High above, perched on a smoke cloud, Keris watched with intense scrutiny.

His hawkeyes traced every detail of the dispersing crew members.

At last, he glanced at the three retreating skiffs.  He watched as they carved three white wakes due north, advancing for the distant horizon.

The Lieutenant rubbed his chin, squinting in thought.

“... ... ...”  He smiled.

Adjusting his helmet, he stretched his wings out, tipped over, and plunged off the side of the cloud.





Elsaack and the rest of his associates were quietly minding their own business when a heavily-armored griffon landed soundlessly on board the middle skiff's deck.

Muscles flexing, Keris stood up from a crouching position.  He gazed calmly at the group of sailors with a friendly smile.

“Hello there.”

Then and only then did the ponies wake up to the avian presence on board.  They spun towards him—most gasping.  One or two actually tried grabbing weapons, only to collapse over themselves.

“Be calm,” Keris said, waving a talon.  “I am no pirate or privateer.”

“I'd say not...!”  Elsaack stammered, helping another stallion up to his hooves.  He gawked at Keris all the while.  “With silver like that!”

“Actually, it's silver-plated titanium—”

“A member of the Right Talon of Verlaxion!”  Elsaack bowed low, trembling.  “You h-have to be!”

Keris reached over, raising Elsaack back up into a standing position.  “I am a humble servant, like you.”  He leaned back, beak clenched.  “I take it you're from White Barge?”

“Good eyes, sir,” Elsaack said.

“Ears, actually.”  Keris strolled across the tiny deck, glancing at the two flanking skiffs.  “What exactly just took place back there?”

“You mean at Red Barge?”  Elsaack blinked.  “You were listening in?”

“Perhaps.  But what I hear is different from what I know.”  Keris turned around, squinting at the lead messenger.  “I take it neither Barge is on good terms with one another?”

Elsaack leaned back, his dark muzzle scrunched.  “Hrmmmff... We try to be on good terms with Skagra's crew.  But they won't have any of it.  I swear... there's something rotten in the water that the ponies of Red and South Barge drink.  Only—there in Red Barge—it's way... way worse.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“Are you investigating them?”

“I'm here on a very delicate mission,” Keris explained.  “I'm hunting down a monster by the name of the Rainbow Rogue.  She's responsible for destroying the home of the Luminards in the Quade.  From several eyewitness testimonies, I have good reason to believe she was last seen heading towards these waters.”

The crew members exchanged glances, murmuring nervously with one another.

Keris raised an eyecrest.  “This... alarms you?”

“We came here for the very same reason,” Elsaack quietly explained.  He glanced past Keris' armored shoulder at the distant struts of Red Barge.  “Rumor abounds that the Rainbow Rogue has been caught by Monket.”

“By who?”

“By... By Monket,” Elsaack remarked, blinking.  “The Slaver of Waves from Mudtop.”  His lips pursed.  “You... you and the Right Talon know absolutely nothing about him, do you?”

“Something that I have always desired to rectify,” Keris said, his beak nostrils flaring.  “Believe me.”

“Well...”  Elsaack leaned in, speaking in a hushed tone.  “Monket is the most notorious enslaver of ponies in this part of the seven seas.”

“Enslaver...?”

“It gets worse.”  Elsaack frowned.  “Lately, rumor has it that he's been hired by somepony in the continent to track down the Rainbow Rogue.”

“A continentalist, you say?”

“Yes.”  Elsaack nodded.  “We had a few tradeponies show up at White Barge yesterday who recall having seen Monket's steamships heading towards Mudtop.  They were coming from the direction of Red Barge.  If the gossip from other ponies also proves to be true—”

“You think Monket has already succeeded in his mission?” Keris asked.

“We're willing to bet that the Rainbow Rogue is already in Skagra's possession,” Elsaack explained.  “And if that's the case, then it doesn't bode well for anypony on board that dredge coal harvesting platform... no matter how tough they think they might be.”

“Is somepony else after the Rogue?”

“Pfft!  Who isn't?!”  Elsaack exclaimed.  “Mercenaries!  Privateers!  Pirates!  Bounty Hunters!”  He pointed.  “You're here, aren't you?  The Council of Verlaxion isn't the only organization placing a high price on that monster's head.  There are several... several parties out there who want to scalp that rainbow mane.  And the fact that they haven't tried anything yet is hardly a good sign.”

Keris nodded.  “They're ganging together, aren't they?  To stage a collective attack?”

“It's the only feasible possibility,” Elsaack said.  “We came here to Red Barge to warn Skagra's ponies about it.  But... as usual...”  He sighed.  “...they want nothing to do with us or anything we have to say.”

“I take it you both have some rather sour history together.”

“Inevitably,” Elsaack muttered.  “Over the last century and a half, we've been bitter rivals.  But not by our choosing.  The Top Dredgers of Red Barge—I swear—they've been nothing but homicidal maniacs for the last eight or nine incarnations.  It all started before my great grandfather's time, when a group of dredgers staged a coup, replaced the top dredger of these waters with a psychopath.  Ever since then, the title's been hoofed over only to whoever's crazy enough to rise to the top and murder his previous master.  Heh... you think I'm joking?”

“I think you're the first and only sincere pony I've met since leaving the Quade,” Keris said.

Elsaack blinked at that.  Shuddering slightly, he hung his head and muttered:  “Every few years or so, we sail down here and try offering Red Barge a hoof of friendship.  But they never give us the time of day.  Even with how tough things have gotten as of late... with dredge coal shelves being depleted and trade partners abandoning us...”  He gulped.  “All we want is for the seas to be peaceful for once... from here to South Barge.  Is that too much to ask?”  He waved a hoof westward.  “Now the Syndicate's gone.  And that's almost given us hope.  But... I guess... so long as places like Mudtop and Red Barge are around, there'll still be miserable ponies spreading filth around... not knowing how to escape the vicious cycle.”

Keris took a deep breath.  “That's most unfortunate,” he muttered.  “It pains me to see three hundred hard-working ponies being forced to march to Skagra's bloody drum.”

“Nine hundred.”

Keris blinked.  “... ... ...I beg your pardon?”

“You... you think there's only three hundred ponies working on Red Barge?”  Elsaack stammered.

“Am I wrong?”

Elsaack's jaw dropped.  He exchanged gawking expressions with the other ponies, then leaned in to mutter:  “Have... h-have you even seen what's below deck?”

“No.”  Keris shook his head, hawkeyes narrow.  “But now I most definitely want to.”

“In White Barge, we hold the value of a pony's individual life above any and all things,” Elsaack explained.  “But in Red Barge... the reality is far more heartless... and bloody.  Skagra works his crew members to death.  Literally.  He controls them through fear and monitors them through starvation.  What is it he calls it?  'Nibbles?'”  Other ponies nodded gravely.  “Anyways, he lures ponies in from across the seven seas with the promise of fortune and sustenance.  All they end up being is fresh meat.  He sends them below deck to work on the harvest machines, which is the most tiresome and inhospitable task imaginable.  And if they don't survive, he scraps what he can from the families—foals turned into orphans that he then turns into child laborers.  Then they'll grow up just to become even more cruel and heartless dredgers.  Skagra's not the first leader to operate like this.  Hell, he's a product of his own predecessor's misery.”

“I knew it was bad out here,” Keris murmured.  “But not this bad.”

“Yes.  Well...”  Elsaack sighed.  “We're not the blessed citizens of Central Rohbredden.  I understand the selective nature of Verlaxion's grace, but...”  He fidgeted where he stood, his breath shaking slightly.  “We do so much to provide for the Continent.  Is it really that much to ask for the Goddess' blessing in return?  If not for us... th-then for our poor brothers and sisters to the south?”

Keris turned, gazing south.  Red Barge was a rusted sliver along the horizon at this point.  “... ... ...where might one find the entrances to the harvest machines?”

Elsaack blinked.  So did several of his cohorts.  “Ermm... along the edges of the central platform, deep inside the ring of welded struts.”

“Are they well guarded?”

“In shifts, sure.  If I know Skagra, he'd be protecting his assets quite well.”  Elsaack cleared his throat.  “If I may be so bold, Mister...?”

“Keris,” he said.  “Lieutenant Keris.”

“Lieutenant...”  Elsaack took a nervous step forward.  “What does any of this have to do with capturing the Rainbow Rogue?”

Then Keris turned to smile at him.  “It's as I told you.  I'm here to capture a monster.  I aim to do just that.  Now...”  His eyes narrowed.  “...will you help me?”
> The Birth of All Pain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Two dredgers sat on Red Barge.

One perched up in a cylindrical tower baked in sunlight...

The other squatting beside a series of metal door-slats leading down into the central strut's lower level.

Both stallions were in the process of munching their way through a midday meal.  Seagulls shrieked overhead and water lapped in the distance.  Smokestacks flanking the Skag Hole continued pumping more and more smog into the greasy atmosphere.

At last, the guard up in the tower leaned over, hissing.  “Psssst.  Pssssst!  Hey!  Jerry!”

“Mrrmfff...”  The stallion sitting beside the door slats fiddled with his meal.  “Yeah, what is it, Dean?”

“What did you get for nibbles today?”

“Pfffft.  What do you care?”

The stallion up in the tower waved his meal around.  “I've got the bottom half of a bloated grouper.”

“You don't say...”

“What about you?”

“Mrmmff... dried white rice with a bunch of dead houseflies stuck in it.”

“Oh...”  The stallion in the tower looked at his fishmeat, blinked, then leaned over the edge once more with a smile.  “Wanna trade?”

Th-Th-Thwisssssh!  Several tiny shadows flew down at a sharp angle, slicing through the air.

Cl-Cl-Clankkkk!  The air rattled with metallic impact noises.

Both stallions jolted, glancing up.  Their ears twitched.

“... … ...the hell was that noise?” muttered the dredger down by the entrance.

“You see where it came from?”

“Idiot.  You're the one in a tower!”

“Hold up...”  The guard above pivoted about until he was peering east.

His eyes scanned the surface of the central platform.  At last, his attention was drawn to a series of pipes emitting a loud hissing noise.  Three razor sharp throwing stars had embedded deep in the metal lattices, and they were spewing forth steam and fog in a thick gray column.

“Shit on my face!” the guard spat.  “We've got a central pipe leak!”

“What?!”  The other stallion used a shark prod to force himself up into a standing position.  Fumbling, he pocketed his food away and stumbled forward.  “Where?!  How?!”

“About two hulls east!  I've no clue how!”  The guard in the tower shimmied down, landed on all fours, and broke into a frantic gallop.  “Here, I'll show you!”

“Ah jeez...”  His companion grimaced, picking up the pace.  “We better fix this shit before Nixkit finds it.”

“Nixkit?  Hell... if Skagra saw the leak, he'd probably shove our muzzles up against it!”

“Just what I always wanted.  To become a permanent member of the Skag fan club.”

“Will you shut up and help me contain this leak!”

“I'll go get some sealant!”

“You do that...!”

Once the two figures had left the nearby vicinity, a metal figure dropped down behind them.  Slinking into the shadows of the tower above, Keris craned his neck, peering after the two.  His hawkeyes narrowed.  Once the coast was clear, the griffon took a deep breath, turned about, then sneaked his way towards the slitted metal doors.

The deck of the central platform sloped downwards by about thirty-degrees.  Once it was twelve feet below the upper surface, it ended in a series of retractable door slats.  A lever loomed to the side, coming out of a rusted wall.  Keris stared at it, rubbing his beak.  He reached up, gingerly grasping the lever... then giving it a slight tug... then a harder one.

On both tries, the lever refused to budge.

He exhaled, then leaned in for a closer examination.

The Lieutenant spotted a tiny compartment situated right next to the lever.  Flipping open a latch, he exposed a circular keyslot on a round diode.  The griffon leaned in, peering at the lock up close.  He spotted a round fissure—denoting where the lock's panel had been embedded into the surface of the wall compartment itself.

With a flick of his gauntlet, the Lieutenant produced a tiny dagger.  Schiiing!  With fine finesse, he stuck the tip of the blade into the fissure, shimmied the thing, then stabbed deep behind the body of the lock itself.

This produced a modicum of scraping noises.  Working blindly, the griffon glanced over his armored shoulder, looking for bodies shuffling left and right above deck.

He spotted none.

So, with a daring breath, Keris yanked hard on his dagger.  Crack!  The panel holding the lock snapped free.  He sheathed the dagger, pointed the tips of his talons, and manipulated the tumblers of the lock from the inside.  Snap!  Once the spring inside the lock had clicked, he slid everything haphazardly back into place, then gave the lever a savage yank once more.

Ch-Chtunggg!

The door-slats lifted before him.

Keris turned to face the entrance directly.  He immediately wished that he hadn't.  A ferociously hot gust of steam blew into his face, carrying with it a grotesque freakshow of pungent odors and fumes.  A lifetime of combat experience was all it took to keep the Lieutenant from immediately retching.  Nevertheless, he grimaced as he shuffled forward, marching his way down through the fumes.

Once the griffon had descended into the lower depths...

...the shadow of a stallion shuffled around the corner.  Ears twitched as he gazed down into the lower level.  Then, several seconds in, a grinning set of teeth glinted in the light from a sparkling shark prod.





Keris didn't trust using his wings below the surface of Red Barge.  The rising heat was so intense that he was almost certain anything short of a sheer glide would carry him slamming into random walls.  The surfaces in question were incredibly rusted, with layers upon layers of steel reinforcement having been hammered between the decrepit iron panels over time in order to keep the entire structure from collapsing.  How Red Barge hadn't imploded after years of shoddy craftponyship, the Lieutenant couldn't even guess.

It was difficult to hear his own thoughts along the descending path downward into the steam bath.  An incredible, never-ending bedlam emanated from a deep spot down below.  For the longest time, Keris was forced to guess what it was.  The winding corridor afforded only an occasional glance at webbed metal bric-a-brac or dangling chains.  All throughout, a persistent crimson hue permeated the mists, illuminated by unseen torches from the far side of the claustrophobic malaise.

At last, Keris felt the air of the lower interior open up.  This only made the place feel even hotter—as Keris became aware of a source of intense heat lingering somewhere down below.  He proceeded more slowly now, his talons shuffling over the metal bulkheads with caution.  He glanced down, squinting at one of several red stains blanketing the rusted surfaces of the place.

His beak tightened.  At last, Keris' hearing tickled at the sound of grinding, rattling metal.  He saw a brighter shade of red lingering just beyond a vaporous curtain of rising mists.  Curious, he approached what turned out to be a sudden ledge with a loose railing lingering directly above a sheer drop.

All of the sudden, the griffon's hawkeyes could see with perfect clarity.  This was due to a series of ventilation ports blowing the hot air in a cyclonic swirl.  Descending from a diabolical, greasy engine hanging above was a series of cylindrical drills that stabbed downwards through an immense vertical space.  These drills connected with rotating gears that further spun several more moving parts:  cogwheels and axels and all manner of deathly huge levers.

But it wasn't any of these details that alarmed Keris, but rather the sweating, haggard, hairless ponies in epic numbers, all collectively marching and pushing and shoving at the various moving parts, giving them their required locomotion so that the age-old mechanism could continue to scrape and claw at an ocean's floor located nebulously below the industrial hellscape.  Most of the equines had been down there so long that the sheer exposure to steam and heat had burned their coats right off, leaving naked skin burned red and raw.

Stumbling down the lines of these endlessly laboring ponies, dredgers in tight metal gear shuffled.  Water tanks bubbled along their flanks, funneling coolant into their suits as they vented their breaths out through stainless steel masks.  Whenever a servant lagged behind, they reached in and shocked him or her with electric shark prods.  The ponies shrieked, fought blood and tears, and continued working harder than before.

“Good Goddess...”  Keris stumbled back—only to nearly trip on something.  He spun about, blinking... sweating.

His talon had bumped up against a strange stalk of organic flesh.  It took the Lieutenant several seconds to register the fact that it was a fetlock... and one belonging to a dried up noodle of a corpse lying on its side just two spaces over.  It wasn't alone; several other frail figures were stacked up on top of one another like lumber.  From the wear and tear on their bodies, Keris was already at a loss to guess how many months... years... decades they had spent down in the harvesting level.

Before he had an opportunity to relax, his eyes were drawn to a shuffling movement.  One of the corpses on the very top of the stack was stirring.  Breathless, Keris rushed in, grasping the shivering thing's hoof.  The hollowed-out muzzle of a body that once belonged to a mare stared up at him.  Lips that were turned stone-dry from endless steam bursts struggled to move, and the semblance of a hoarse voice came whispering out:  “Sun Sweep... m-my foal's name is Sun Sweep...”

“Just...”  Keris' beak clenched.  “...just rest easy.”  He stroked the creature's bony forelimb.  “I'm going to get you somewhere safe—”

“M-make sure... that... th-that she never c-comes down here...” the mare whimpered.  “Better off... s-sea foam...”  And her eyes—if they could still be called that—rolled back into their dusty sockets.

Keris leaned forward, his beak agape.  His feathers ruffled beneath his helmet, and he stepped back with a sneering frown.  “Verlaxion, give me strength.  There is not enough blood—”  He spun around...

...only to be stared down by twenty dredgers with taser-tipped polearms.

“Thirsting for something, chicadee?”  Saxon asked, his grin wide, gleaming.  “You came to the wrong bird bath.”

Keris took a deep breath, seething.  “By the righteous authority invested in me by the Council of Verlaxion...”  He tightened his muscles.  “...you are all—”

“What?  Invited to a dance?”  Saxon chuckled hungrily under his breath.  Bzzzt!  He activated his shark prod, sending cold bonelight shimmering across the mists.  “By all means.”  He nodded as his fellow associates marched forward.  “You lead.”

“Treachery like this cannot stand,” Keris muttered.  His eyes darted across every able-bodied dredger.  Meanwhile—with great stealth and poise—he propped his left talon over the abdomen of one of the many dead corpses stacked beside him.  “When the Rohbredden Magistrates hear about this—”

“You're not going back to your precious continent!” Saxon said, one eye twitching.  “Not unless we decide to send you in pieces!  Hehehehhh... a message.  'Don't buck with Red Barge.'”

“I doubt your top dredger would appreciate such exposure,” Keris said, mentally measuring the distance between himself and his foes.

“The only one exposed here is you, birdie,” Saxon said.  “Go on, boys.”  He gestured at the dredgers closest to the griffon.  “Cook his goose.”

“Yeah...”  A stallion grinned into the glow of his sparkling polearm.  “I think a bit of basting is in order, first...”

Keris' magenta eyes glinted.  “Couldn't agree more.”  With that said, his talons dug deep into the dead corpse's belly.  The griffon spun—riiiiiiip!—eviscerating the pony's body and flinging its entrails into the advancing dredgers' muzzle.

“Aaaaaugh!”  One flinched.

“Grrkkk!”  The other jolted, spitting intestinal fluid from his liips.  “Verlaxion's sleet!”

“Httt!”  Wings flapping, Keris launched himself forward, pummeling both doused stallions and slamming their bodies to the floor.  Thwumppp!

“Open season!” Saxon hollered.  The other dredgers charged forward, shark prods stabbing.

Keris faced them.  He exhaled, unsheathing his wingblade.  Schiiiing!  With a grunt, he flung his feathers towards the ceiling—and the blade follow.

Cr-Cr-Crakkkk!  Three polearms were severed at once.  The dredgers stumbled back, gasping—but not for long.  Keris headbutted one with his helmet, kicked the groin of a second, then flung both bodies into the third before he could react.

Three more dredgers pounced on Keris' feline haunches while his back was turned.  The Lieutenant snarled, using their weight against them as he made the bodies trip, collide, and form an ever-twitching pile of dizzy stallions on the floor.

Meanwhile, Saxon—grinning like a fool—sashayed away from the fight, disappearing into the lower mists.

“Grnnngh!”  Keris slammed his elbow across one thug and then palmed his talon over another stallion's twitching muzzle.

“Stop mucking about, idiots!” a stallion rushed in, shoving his prod hard against Keris' side.

The griffon's armor shimmered all over with electricity.  The griffon winced, glaring aside as he slammed his leg out into the stallion's chest.  He then spun and flung the other dredger's body into his figure for good measure.

Two more thugs rushed in, zapping the Lieutenant hard in the side.

“Augh!”  Schiiiing!  Keris angrily retaliated with a fan of throwing stars.  Blood flew, and the two thugs stumbled hard on the ground, clutching their chests and whimpering in pain.

Writhing from the electrical shocks, Keris backed up, shuffling blindly towards the entrance that brought him there.  At the sound of shuffling hoofsteps, he spun around, claws raised.  “Raaaauggh—!”

An emaciated, steam-burned stallion dangled right in front of Keris.  At the sight of the griffon's talons, the helpless slave cowered, gritting his teeth.

Keris froze in place, hawkeyes blinking wide.

It was for one second too long.  “Haaaaugh!”  Saxon burst out from behind the living shield he held up.  He stabbed Keris deep in the gut with his shark prod.

Bzzzzz-zzzzzt!

“Grrrrkk—kkkttnnghh!” Keris winced all over.

Saxon grinned, drooling.  He brought the polearm back and then thrusted again.  Harder.

BZZZZT!

“Graaaukkt!”  Keris fell hard to the floor, overcome with jolts and spasms.  He foamed at the beak, rolling over, struggling to crawl away.

“Mmrmfff-hrmmm-heheheheheh...” Saxon tossed the servant aside, then trotted over Keris.  Standing directly above him, he used the polearm to knock the griffon's helmet off and then prodded him right in the neck.

BZZ-ZZT!

“Haa-aaaugh!”  Keris' eyes rolled back.  He twitched on the ground, his armor dancing with electric sparks.

All of the injured stallions limped up to their hooves, gathering in an angry circle around the griffon.

“Mrmmmff... hah!”  Saxon spat on Keris' feathery head.  “Ya dumb bastard!  Our dance floor!  Our rules!”  He kicked the Lieutenant's pained flesh with his hoof.  “Rnnngh!  Mucker!”

“Skagra's gonna want a word with this meatsack, Saxon,” one dredger grumbled.

“Yeah... he's seen too much.”

“We'll take him to Skagra alright...” Saxon panted and panted, circling the convulsing griffon with frenzied, hungry eyes.  “...but first... let's make sure he's... preheated.”  He signaled a stallion up above.

The dredge nodded back, then pulled a lever.

Slowly... coldly... the metal door slats rolled down, sealing off the electrical sparks issuing down below...

...and Keris' agonized screams amidst the steam.
> The Whole Ocean's a Rug
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Goddess dammit, Saxon—!”

“Eat a turd, Digiff—”

“Are you out of your mucking mind—?!”

“Oh, like you would have just let him get away with what he saw down there—!”

“Skagra asked you to keep an eye on the bastard—!”

“And I friggin' did—!”

“Saxon, I know you!  The only reason he got down there was 'cuz you let him so you could have an excuse to beat up something with a beak for once—!”

“Oh please, Digiff, as if you ever did anything nearly as awesome in your life—!”

“Why you—!”

“Bring it, seafoam huffer—!”

“Knock it off!  Both of you—!”

Heaving...

Wincing in pain...

...Keris opened one bruised eye...

... ... ...and then the other...

His armor was completely stripped, exposing red-and-brown feathers stained in multiple places with dry, caked blood.  The Lieutenant weakly squinted across the oddly-furnished confines of a dusty office.  Several dredgers stood in the room, shifting nervously.  In the center, Nixkit struggled to shove Saxon and Digiff apart from one another.  On the far end, slumped in the shadows, a familiar figure with two faces sat, calmly watching the frantic scene unfold.

“Dirty dirty digiff!”  Saxon stuck his tongue out, grinning wildly.  “Can't scrape us some profit to save his scarred hide!”

“At least I'm loyal to this damn place!” the bearded dredger retorted, shouting over Nixkit's shoulder.  “You don't see me throwing everything Skagra's ever worked for in the shitter!”

“Ohhhhh cry me a river, ya muckstain.  Hahah—!”

“Yeah, laugh it up, dipshit!” Digiff spat.  “Everything was fine until you decided to go play whack-a-griffin below deck!  Now the Council's down one injured Lieutenant!  The moment they realize what's missing, guess where they're gonna send their topmost elite?!  Huh?!”  Digiff waved a hoof.  “I hope they string your balls up on the flagpole as a memorial to collossal stupidity!  'Cuz congratulations, Saxon!  You just signed away all of Red Barge to Rohbredden!”

“I'd say let them come!” Saxon snarled, eyes twitching.  “We'll shark-prod the whole lot of them until they're a golden roast!”  He spun and raised his forelimb before the other stallions.  “Huh?!  Who's with me?!”

A strong hoof grabbed Saxon's shoulder and spun him around.

Saxon looked up, grinning—WHAM!—only to be punched squarely in the face with a pale fetlock.  Whump!  He fell on the floor with Nixkit leering above him.

“Only the Top Dredger gets to rally the ponies of Red Barge!” Nixkit seethed, rubbing his forelimb.  “And don't you forget it!”  He stood in place, fuming.  “Yes, it's good that you caught the stupid puss-bird before he could fly away, but—dammit, Saxon—enough is enough!  This isn't a case of roughing up an out-of-line pile of seafoam!  You were a lucky bastard to have gotten the drop on this guy!  Digiff is right.  Now all his brothers and sisters are going to wonder where he is and they won't stop until they've eviscerated every friggin' goddess-forsaken meatwall in their path!”

“Heheheh... snrkkkt...” Saxon heaved, spitting blood across Skagra's carpet as he smirked.  “Should... grfff... shoulda heard him... grkkk... weeping to Verlaxion.”

Keris shuddered, his eyes fluttering shut.

“That's it...” Digiff tossed his hooves.  He shuffled in a tight circle, huffing.  “We're done.  It's over.”

“Digiff...” Nixkit grumbled.

“The Harvest is a bust!” Digiff growled.  “Chandler's yanking us by a chain!  The Syndicate isn't around anymore to supply us any stupid, desperate saps from Rust!”  he tossed his hooves again.  “Red Barge is finished!  Might as well rot from the inside out and call it a day!”

Nixkit turned to retort—

A loud knocking sound echoed from the far end of the room.

Nixkit and Digiff turned to look.  Saxon tilted his head up.

Keris weakly reopened his eyes.

Skagra slapped his fetlock multiple times against the hoofrest of a partially delapidated chair.  He sighed, then stood up on stiff legs.  “Digiff... sweet, dopey Digiff... at the risk of sounding like a broken record...”

Digiff sighed, hanging his head.  “'Shut up....'”

“And slap some barnacles on it,” Skagra hissed.  His good eye squinted while his bad one flared.  Then—shuffling—he strolled over until he stood calmly above Keris.

The battered griffon looked up.  His lion's tail flinched slightly.

“Nixxy...” Skagra spoke aside.

Nixkit trotted over.  “...boss?”

“Anything on him that's broken?” Skagra asked.

Nixkit took a deep breath.  “As far as I can tell... he's just... bruised to all hell,” the pale stallion muttered.  “Saxon layed the shark prod on mighty thick.  Nearly burned his insides to scorched grease.”

“Mmmmm... smelled pretty good too, heheheheh—” Saxon chuckled... at least until an errant buck from Skagra slammed him in the groin.  Eyes crossed, Saxon slumped over, wheezing.  “Grkkkt... g-good one, boss... hehehehskkkttt...”

“Hrmmmfff... pretty, pretty dolphins,” Skagra cursed.  He smoothed his bangs back, only for them to fall over again.  “So... he'll live?”

“Painfully, but yes,” Nixkit said with a nod.  “Why?  Are... are you thinking of turning him in?”

“No.”  Skagra shook his head.  “Hell, no.”  He shook his head harder.  “The worst thing then a beat-up griffon is a beat-up griffon who remembers.  The moment he's back with his fellow flock, all is lost.”  He paced calmly above the Lieutenant.  “There's no point in blaming this all on Saxon, really.  I knew it'd just be a matter of time before this bird did some snooping.  I mean, to be perfectly frank, I didn't think he'd be so quick or balls-heavy about it, but... shit... color me impressed.”  He lurched to a stop... blinked... then gave Keris a swift kick in the side.  Thwap!

“Grnnnngh!”  The griffon winced heavily, his binds rattling.  Keris slumped hard to his side and shuddered against the floor.

“Heh...”  Skagra exhaled.  “I can almost taste what makes Saxon smile.”  He sighed.  “Almost...”

“So... uhm...”  Nixkit rubbed his scalp through his mane.  “To the cesspool with him?”

Skagra's good nostril flared.  “No.”  He shook his scarred head.  “That's even worse.  For all of his pussymancering, Digiff's right to be woeful.”  He turned to face Nixkit.  “I've heard stories about the Right Talon of Verlaxion.  They're known for two things:  their awesomeness and their vengeful spirit.  Considering that one of those things just imploded righteously beneath our very groin muscles, I whole-heartily expect them to come to our doorstep, overcompensating on the other half.”  He slowly shook his head.  “You think this place is painted red now...”

“The core of our operations has been exposed,” Nixkit said.  “They'll call us criminals... lynch us in open public.”  He gulped.  “Seize all of Red Barge's assets.”

“Only...”  Skagra raised a hoof.  “...if they have a reason to.”

“But I don't understand, Skagra.  They'll know that their Lieutenant's been here.”

“As far as we should care, they only know that he was headed here.”  Skagra's good eye narrowed.  “The sea's a large... vast place... full of much muck to get lost in.  I don't care how much 'silver-plated titanium' one wears.  Evidence speaks for itself.”  He pointed at Keris.  “The bigger they come... the harder they sink.”

“So... uhm...”  Nixkit rubbed his neck, shuddering.  “What exactly do you propose?”

Digiff looked on.

Skagra turned towards Keris with a calm breath.  His scarred brow furrowed.





Th-Thwump!

“Ooof!”  Keris grunted as his body slammed against the far wall of a dim jail cell.  He struggled to get up.  His front and rear legs were bound in separate cuffs.  What's more, thick metal chains were wrapped five times around his wings and spine.  “Grnnngh... mmmf...”  He ultimately slumped to his chest, panting and wincing.

Creaaaak!  The door slammed shut.  Digiff and Nixkit locked it from the other side.

“You think you threw enough metal on him, Digiff?” Nixkit droned.

“Hey.  I'm not taking any chances.  Just because he was stupid enough to go snooping around under Saxon's watch—”

“Stop blaming everything on the grinning bastard,” Nixkit grumbled.  “The bird's your responsibility now.  Keep an eye on him and the prize.  I've gotta go set things up.”

“Set things up?”  Digiff stammered.  As Nixkit trotted away, the dredger followed him, shuffling above deck and out of the brig.  “Just what are we going to do now?!”

“Skagra will find a way...”

“You really think so?  I mean... we're really in the shit stream now, Nix—”

“Do not doubt the top dredger.  Need I remind you of the unfortunate souls who've attempted it before?”

Digiff let loose an audible sigh.  “I swear, if none of this falls through, the only safe place to be in the seven seas... is Mudtop...”

The two drifted out of earshot.

Keris lingered on the cell room floor, seething... writhing.  He fought against his restraints, but the struggle was torturous—not to mention tiring.  Each fuss he made with the metal shackles and chains only agitated his fresh, bleeding bruises... to the point that his senses numbed over.

At last, with a defeated groan, he slumped against the floor.  “Mrmmmff... goddess, give me strength.”  His beak clenched.  “These soul-less miscreants.  I have to find a way... have to... to...”

His breaths came out in labored pants.  At last, his headcrest stretched back, and he gazed woefully across the filthy shadows of the place.

“... ... ...Commander... Commander, I've failed you.  I've disobeyed...”  He clenched his eyes shut, surrendering to the shadows.  “I'm so... so sorry...”  A shuddering exhale.  “All of those poor... poor ponies... I've failed them...”

His body twitched... twitched some more... then fell into a deep, exhausting descent...

...but not without hearing the faintest hint of a raspy voice from the cell across the brig.

“Hurt?  Hurt in what way, Fluttershy?”

Silence.

“Hey... hey guy?  Are you okay in there, dude?”

Keris' magenta eyes opened one last time.  He squinted out the barred door to his cell.

For the briefest moment he thought he was staring at a mirror, for identical eyes peered back from the shadows across the way... accompanied by a ruby glint of otherworldly light.

“Just hang in there, buddy.  If they brought you down here, then it only means they wanna keep you alive for some important reason.  No reason to freak out... at least not yet...”

At last, Keris' eyes rolled back.  He fell into unconsciousness.

“Mrmmfff... figures.”  Silence.  “If you insist, Flutters.”  Shuffling.  Sighing.  “Keep an eye on him... and lemme know if he wakes up again...”





Nixkit trotted out into a dull sunset bathing the steamy lengths of Red Barge.

He calmly approached Skagra, surrounded by many dredgers.

Skagra scratched his chin, turned around twice, then stared at Nixkit, cockeyed.  “Is the damn bird stapled?”

Nixkit exhaled.  “Digiff bound him good.”  He shook his head.  “The griffon's going nowhere anytime soon.”

“Good.”  Skagra squinted at the smoggy skies overhead.  “... ... ...when's Monket due back?”

“Within twenty-four hours.”  Nixkit squinted.  “Why, boss?  You gonna dump this burden on him somehow?”

“There'll be dumping involved, alright,” Skagra said with a nod.  “Somewhere far west—between here and the Quade—courtesy of everypony's favorite slaver.”  He yawned, picking wax out his one good ear.  “But the burden?  Nah... that'll fall on a certain somepony who can still hold sway over the Council.”

Nixkit's ears folded back.  “Chandler.”

“A cat that fat has a lot to defecate into the ears of his peers,” Skagra slurred.  “And if he has any hope of retrieving his precious Rainbow Rogue, he'll do just that... and then some.”

“You really think he'll go the distance to cover this up for us?” Nixkit asked.  “Even after we drown the griffon?”

“It's all part of our new business deal.”

“When was this new deal made?”

“Tomorrow.”  Skagra smiled crookedly.  “When Monket gets back, he and I are going to have a little chat.  With his help, we're gonna let Chandler know that the stakes have been raised even higher.  The fat cat better put his balls where his bits are, cuz we're about to make that stallion sing.  And if the serenade doesn't dazzle the Council and their awesome Talon about the tragic death of the Lieutenant beyond the Quade, then I'm gonna bring the full weight of the Consortium's mucking legacy down on Chandler's brittle skull.”  He snorted, shuffling off to his office.  “These seas are mine.  And—by my scalded soul—they'll stay mine.  I don't care how many monsters or griffons they toss into the brine.  Now come.  I want to look pretty.”
> Welcome to the Party, Pal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Is that him?” Whony asked.

Quint nodded, pausing in mid-mop.  “Those are Monket's ships, alright.”

Several orphans stared as a pair of steamships cruised in from the northwest, adding smog and fumes to the already filthy air.  They approached the northern edge of Red Barge, and the struts glided apart to afford space for the two vessels to dock.

Whony gulped.  “Why am I suddenly a lot less jazzed at seeing them now than I was last time?”

Quint grumbled, returning back to his cleaning job.  “Grow a pair, will ya?”

“Things are going nuts,” Whony remarked.  “I mean... first we've got the slaver of waves showing up.  Then we've bagged ourselves the rainbow monster.  But now—on top of all that—we have a griffon guardian down in the brig?  I mean, how deep is Skagra willing to scrape?”

“If he knows there's something to exploit, he's going full force,” Quint said.  “Would you expect any less of the stallion?”

“Just...” Whony gulped.  “I've never seen him balance this much bullcrap before!”  He blinked.  “You think he'd actually bluff now that he's got so much weight on his shoulders?”

“What do you mean 'bluff?'” Quint glared at Whony.

“I mean... what does Skagra actually expect to get out of the bastards in Rohbredden?  They have enough resources to surround us on all sides and reduce Red Barge to sea junk!”

“It already is sea junk,” a nearby colt muttered.

Several foals chuckled.

“No, seriously!”  Whony frowned.  “At first, I was kinda thrilled to watch what was unfolding.  But now—with two mega important prisoners instead of one... I'm starting to think that Skagra is going in over his head!  And he only has half of one!”

“I'm sure Skagra has a backup plan for anything,” Quint said.

“Yeah.”  Whony snorted.  “But if his original plan fails, then that mean his backup plan is carried on our sorry carcasses.”

“Pretty much,” Quint replied.

Whony blinked at that.  He hung his head with a sigh.  “... ... ...has any top dredger lasted as long as Skagra?”

“Not that I know of,” Quint said.

“Why's that?”

“Isn't it obvious?” Quint muttered.  “Nopony's turned the steam on him and roasted his ass.”

“So... like... what happens if Skagra goes all the way?”  Whony looked up, eyes narrow.  “What if he becomes the first top dredger to raise Red Barge to another level?”

“Yeah...”  Another colt leaned in, breathing.  “Could you imagine if Skagra owned the seas?”

“The Syndicate's gone!”

“It could happen!”

“Could you imagine?”

Silence hung over the laboring heads.

Quint dunked his mop into a bucket again and sighed.  “Do any of us really... really expect to live long enough to see that happen?”

Whony winced.  The other colts had nothing to say.

Beyond the central platform, the northern struts rattled into place.  Loud metallic thunder echoed over the murky waters.  From a distance, a yellow-coated stallion with green dreads descended from one steamship, flanked by slaves and servants.  With a shifty trot, Monket made his way for the lofty office on the central platform.

“One thing's for sure,” a colt muttered.  “The slaver of waves isn't going to be happy.”

“About what?”

“The griffon.  Who else?”

“Nah... I think he'll be plenty happy.”

“Why's that?”

“Why else?”  A colt smirked.  “He's likely the stallion Skagra pays to murder the bloody sap.”

Around this point, Swab had strolled up with extra buckets of water.  He scuffled to a stop, nearly spilling the containers' contents.  “Huh?”  The one-eared colt blinked.  “Murder who?”

“Pffft... great...” Whony rolled his eyes.  “...all the turds have risen to the surface today.”

“Who's getting murdered?” Swab stammered.

“Who else?”  A colt looked over.  “The prisoner.”

Swab gasped, dropping the buckets.  “He's going to axe the Rainbow Rogue?!” he exclaimed, voice cracking.

“Pffft... what, have you been living under a rock or something?” Another foal cackled.  “The griffon!”

“The member of the Right Talon of Verlaxion that went snooping below deck!”

Swab breathed a bit easier.  Even still, his muzzle hung agape.  He glanced south, shuddering.  “...the griffon from Rohbredden...”

“Heh... if he's lucky, that monster in the brig will eat him alive before Monket gets ahold of him.”

“Yeah!  Haha!”

“I'd give a day's worth of nibbles to see that.”

Swab bit his lip, squirming in place.

“Hey!” Whony barked.  “Dipshit!  Grab more buckets!”

“Erm... r-right...” His one ear folding back, Swab scampered off to do just that.

Quint watched with a surly squint.  Nostrils flaring, he returned dutifully to his mopping duties.





A raspy voice drifted across the stuffy, pungent air of the brig.

“Alright.  Alright.  I believe you.  So he doesn't look permanently damaged on the outside.  But what about from the inside?”

Silence.

“Well, I dunno.  You're all ghosty n'stuff.  Can't you... like... dip your head halfway into his chest and take a look at his bones or something?  Isn't that a trick you can pull off?”

More silence.

“Fluttershy, for crying out—”  A groan.  “You're a living spirit!  You have no breakfast to throw up!  So what if it grosses you out a little?”

Keris' magenta eyes fluttered open.  The battered griffon lay crookedly against a wall, glancing out the metal bars of his cell.  He blinked several times.

The voice continued—like a scratchy whisper:  “Yeah.  Okay.  You got me there.  No, I don't expect you to know as much about griffon body stuff as... say... bunny rabbit body stuff.  But, still, I don't think it'd hurt to try and see.  And it's not like any of the melon fudges here are going to do anything to help hi—”  The voice cut off, then resumed with a sharp tone:  “Well Twilight's not around to give advice with that stuffy egghead of hers, is she?!”  More silence, than a groaning sigh.  “Flutters.  Darn it, Flutters.  Don't... don't cry.  I'm not mad at you, I'm just... huh...?”

Keris shifted—winced—and shifted again.  A tiny groan escaped his beak as he stretched his aching muscles.  To his frustration, he could only flex his limbs so far before the binding metal of his shackles forced him to stumble back onto his haunches.

“He is...?”  Something shifted in the cell opposite the Lieutenant.  A petite source of weight.  “Since when?”  A beat.  “Now?”

“Grnnngh...”  Keris tilted his head up to the ceiling.  “Hello?”

Everything went dead quiet.

Keris' eyes darted to the left... then to the right.

At last, the voice cracked from beyond:  “I think you perched in the wrong place, buddy.”

“I beg to differ...”  Keris winced as he spoke.  “I simply... mrmmff... chose an ambitious way to go about doing it.”

“Heh... if you say so.  Can you move your limbs?”

“Scarcely.”  Keris exhaled out his beak nostrils.  “The miscreants who run this place have made a fine art out of fettering a griffon's limbs and wings.”  His eyes traveled along the lengths of his cell, tracing each edge and corner.  “It's quite alarming, actually.”

“Yeah, well, these miscreants mean business, buddy.  If you can find a way to make a bargain and get out of here, then that's all for the best.”

“The Right Talon of Verlaxion does not negotiate with criminals,” Keris grunted.

“The Right Who?”

“Hrmmffff... your voice certainly doesn't carry a Continentalist accent,” Keris remarked.  “I was here on official business from the Council.  I discovered a little too much about what lies beneath this Goddess-forsaken place, and before I could carry the information back to my superiors... I was ambushed.”

“Seems like you bit off a bit more than you could chew.”

“I was headstrong,” Keris muttered, his eyes thin as he took in the shadows around him.  “I pitied the poor ponies being enslaved by the wretched overseer here, and such sympathy—however noble—was my downfall.”  He sighed.  “I should have gone about this intelligently.  Even more so...”  His headcrest drooped.  “...I should have obeyed my Commander's words.”

Silence.

“Well...”  The raspy voice muttered.  “...some of us belong here more than others.”

Keris raised an eyecrest to that.  “And what might they want with a pony such as you?”

No response.

Keris pivoted his feathery head.  “Hello...?”

More silence... then—

“Did you really come from the continent?”

“That I did,” Keris remarked.  He tried to get up—only for his limbs to scream in pain.  Stifling a groan, he slumped over to his side, resting against the bars of his cell.  After a heavy sigh, he muttered on:  “And now that I'm in this despicable hole, all communication with the mainland has been completely cut off.”

“Yeesh.  That sucks.”

“I beg to differ.”  Keris exhaled.  “My comrades will know that something is amiss.  Commander Seraphimus will surely send the rest of the Talon to retrace my past steps.”

“Commander Seraphimus?”

“That's right.”

“... ... ...now that's a goofy-ass name if I ever heard one.”

Keris frowned towards the bars.  “Have you truly never heard of the Right Talon of Verlaxion?”

“No.  But I know a thing or two about your Goddess.”

“Oh?”  Keris blinked.  “Care to elaborate, friend?”

Dreadful silence.

Keris listened to the sound of his own breath.

At last, the voice muttered:  “Mrmmfff... what does it matter anymore?  Friggin' beacon's a gazillion miles away... behind Celestia—knows how many traps.”  A bout of silence.  “Fluttershy, please, I really don't want to get into it.”

“Eh...?”  Keris' beak parted.  “Is... is there somepony else in there with—?”

“You know what?  Just forget it.  You're in here.  I'm in here.  It sucks.  But there's not much we can do about it.  And even if we could... heh... sounds like you've got friends who are willing to bail you out.  That's... that's a good thing, y'know.  I do hope they get you out of here, whoever they are.”

“I... have the utmost faith in them,” Keris murmured, squinting curiously between the bars.  “Provided—of course—that the delightful Mr. Skagra doesn't attempt exterminating me beforehand.”  He winced, shifting where he sat.  “I can only hope to be so blissfully lucky.”

“Not in that shape you won't,” the voice muttered.  “Here...”  There was a loud scraping sound.  “Have this.”

“Huh?”  Keris glanced over his shoulder.

Through the bars, he caught the glint of a metal tray full of rice and meaty bits being slid his way across the brig's narrow corridor.  A blue hoof was shoving the thing from the opposite cell.  “The rice is... okay.  But there's tons of meat in it.  And I don't eat meat.”

“You don't eat—?”  Keris blinked.  “But... aren't you famished?”

“There's a crazy scamp of a kid from above deck who loves smuggling me fruit.  Don't ask... and don't breathe a word about it.  They're liable to skin him alive.”

Keris gulped.  “You have my word...”

“So here...”  The blue hoof shoved the tray as far as she could reach through the bars.  “Griffon it up.”

Keris winced, shifting about.  He fumbled with his forelimbs, but found that the manacles made it impossible for him to properly reach through the bars.  So—turning around—he resorted to fitting his lion's tail through the bars.  The prehensile limb caught a corner of the tray.  His muscles tightened, dragging the food dish towards him.

But before the aching griffon's beak could even begin to salivate, his magenta hawkeyes caught a sheen of light off the prisoner's mane hair, and it flickered with every color of the rainbow.

“... ... ...!”  Keris jerked back.  His tail inadvertently flipped the tray, tossing rice and scraps of fish across the brig's main corridor.  “You.”

The pegasus said nothing.  The blue skull and rainbow mane drifted back into shadow until all Keris could see was the tell-tale outline of a ruby pendant.

He stood up, muscles tightening in the face of excrutiating pain.  “I should have known!”  His beak tightened.  “Skagra had you in his hold the entire time!  Part of me knew, but I allowed myself to get distracted with the horrors below deck!”

“Well congratulations,” the voice muttered with a bob of the ruby lightning bolt.  “You're awesome, but a moron.”

“Watch your tongue!”  Keris frowned.  He channeled the pain from his bruised limbs as he spat:  “You're wanted across all of Rohbredden and the seven seas for the atrocities you've committed against Verlaxion and Her foals!”

“Jee, what a surprise.”

“And you would boast of desecrating the Goddess' glory with such a flippant tone?!”

“Dude, I'm not boasting—”

“Then what have you got to say for yourself?!”

“Look, I can tell you're pretty ticked, so I'm just gonna let you simmer do—”

“No!”  Keris hissed, pressing his beak up to the bars as he snarled in the direction of the opposite cell.  “You do not get to rest easy with the sinful burden you've sown!”

The voice drifted back, icily this time:  “Do not talk to me about burdens...”

“You've wrecked an entire culture... ruined lives... tore an entire civilized commune to ashes...”

“...ruined friendships...”

Keris cocked his head to the side.  “Huh?”

“Tell me something I don't know...”

“Alright.  I think I shall.”  Keris fumed.  “Those poor, homeless monks inside the Quade?  Dozens of them are dead now because of you.”

Dead silence.

“The faithful... the penitent... the elderly...?!”  Keris shook his head.  “They did not last a single week in the wake of your carnage!”

More silence... until a shuddering voice breathed back:  “K... K-Kyron the Elder...?”

“Deceased,” Keris said bluntly.  “And those who are actually healthy continue to refuse supplies and medical attention.  I mean... what did you expect, monster?!  Those monks were secure in their tranquility and worship for hundreds of years.  And then you went in and ripped their precious Reed to shreds?  What else would you expect would happen from such blatant disregard for the livelihood of others?!”

There was the shuffling of circular hoofsteps in the other cell.  Eventually, the pegasus' pacing scuffled to a stop.  “... ... ...I take it you've been there?”

“Rainbow Dash... if that is your real name, and not some pathetic alias...”  Keris nodded.  “Yes, I most certainly did venture through the Quade.  It was part of my investigation for the Council of Verlaxion—to capture you and bring you to justice before some avaricious group of deviants got to you first.”  He shuddered, his manacles rattling.  “Alas, it would appear I've failed on all fronts.”

“Tell me something, buddy...”

“Do not even pretend to call me—”

“Tell me,” the raspy voice grew firm, sharp.  “Did any of the ponies there testify about me actually killing anyone?”

Keris blinked.  “Huh?”

“Did the monks have eyewitness testimony of me being some crazy, freaky monster?  Ripping throats out?  Eating ponies alive?”

Keris squinted.  “No.  They did not.  But you—”

“They did it do themselves, didn't they?” the voice muttered, wilted and melancholic.  “Those crazy monks whipped and scarred themselves into a bloody mess as soon as I left.”

Keris exhaled heavily.  “Then you actually are capable of perceiving their plight.”  He slumped back on his haunches.  “You're not some mindless, demonic wraith out to destroy all things blessed by Verlaxion.  You're... you're just a thug.  A winged bully who stumbled upon an opportune congregation of innocent lives to ruin when the opportunity presented itself.  Just what have you to gain from all this?”

“Dude, don't you get it?  Those monks would be alive and well today if they weren't so backwards and crazy to hurt themselv—”

“To even think about putting the blame on anyone else but yourself is an insult to all things living!” Keris snapped.  “Now I want to know, Rogue.  Just what have you to gain from all this?!”

“You wouldn't understand even if I told you!” the voice roared back with far greater ferocity than even Keris was expecting.  He squinted to see a lightning-bolt shaped beam of ruby energy glowing, pulsating, then dissipating from beyond the bars.  “Nopony understands!  Not even—”  The shouting breath cut off... sputtered... then limped on through a sigh.  “Not even my friends.”

Keris raised an eyecrest, listening curiously.

“I... I guess I-I'm just fooling myself by calling them that anymore,” she muttered.  A slight pause.  “Well, of course I don't mean you, Flutters.  And—yes, I can say that about them!  Not like they're gonna be around to hear it!  Or give a darn about anything!  Or... or...”

Shuddering silence.

The voice cracked:  “I'm not proud of what I did at the Quade.  I'm not proud of a lot of things I do on my journey.  But the journey must go on... at all costs.  There's too much that depends on it.  I'm not the only one who knows this.  Verlax does too.  And she's set things up... so many darn things.  The monks were part of it.  For all I know, this stinkin' place is as well.  I... I don't know what she hopes to get out of me being here, but if the continent's already sending poor saps like you to lock me up, then I can already tell the whole mess has reached the Divine's lair by now.  So... it must be part of her plan.  It must be... be...”

Keris blinked in confusion.

Finally, the voice muttered:  “My only regret about the Quade... is not doing what I did sooner.”  A deep breath.  “I should have been upfront about what I needed to do.  I should have been honest... honest with Kyron... honest with Bard and Wildcard... honest with my friends.  But it's too late for all of that now.  It was too friggin' late from the beginning.  Heck, an entire lifetime of honesty can't do crap to pierce a stubborn wall built out of thousands of years of lies.  Perhaps... perhaps that's Verlax's latest test... the trap I'm now in.  The whole continent.  These seven seas.  If that's so... then... th-then I think she's winning.”

The pegasus' voice ended with a sigh.

After a full minute of dull contemplation, Keris finally murmured:  “You're insane.”  He grimaced, beak twitching.  “Perhaps you are from beyond the Blight.  My goddess... such madness.”  He slowly shook his head.  “I no longer know whether I should despise you or pity you.”

Her response was swift enough to startle the lieutenant:  “Welcome to the party, pal.”
> Miracles and Massacres, Painted Red
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Rrrrrrgh!”  Monket flung a wooden table across the office.

Nixkit and several of Monket's servants flinched.

Skagra, however, remained ice-still, even as flecks of splinters scattered across his fetlocks.  He took a sip out of his glass, swirled it, then muttered:  “So... lemme guess.  Your village was raided by a marauding gang of tables when you were foal.”  Another sip.  “Hrmmm... Would certainly explain things...”

“Shut your trap, Skagra!”  Monket snarled, pointing an angry hoof at the top dredger.  “I've been cruising across half the seven seas trying to clean up after the damage the monster caused my crew and you are not making things easier for me!”

“Is that so, fancy-panties?”  Skagra shuffled over and slumped back in a chair.  “Would you like me to reclaim all the trinkets I gave you to make kissy-kissy with Mudtop?”

“I'm talking about the bullshit your dredgers pulled with the Rohbredden featherhead!”  Monket seethed, heaved.  “You and your idiot coal scrapers just got us in deep with the Right Talon!”

“The Right Talon doesn't know jack, Monkey Milk.”

“Oh!  Lemme guess!”  Monket folded his forelimbs while smirking bitterly.  “Next up, you're gonna ask me to go dump the guardian's sorry puss-butt in the brine!”

“Don't be ridiculous,” Skagra slurred, taking another sip. “I want you sending your fastest pegasus messengers east to deliver a message to Chandler.”  The top dredger stifled a belch.  “Then I want you drowning the griffon.”

“Skagra... Skagra...”  Monket hung and shook his head with a billowing sigh.  “...eeeugh... I think I was better off dealing with just the fat cat.”

“To what end?”  Skagra's good eye narrowed.  “Assuming that jade-jackin' bastard was ever capable of scavenging all that's left in the Syndicate's shadow, just how much would he be willing to share the salty pie with you?”

“Well, one thing's for sure!”  Monket frowned.  “He'd know better than to get entangled with the Right Talon of Verlaxion!”

“And why do you think that is?”

“Because he knows them, you half-headed freakazoid!”

“Ah... and for once, the fat cat has an advantage that can service us.”  Smirking, Skagra leaned forward in his lazy chair.  “If the Right Talon lands on Red Barge, then the Rainbow Rogue is lost.”

“Yeah.  No shit.”

“Listen...”  Skagra held a hoof up.  “A smart stallion knows when he's a badflank... as well as when he's just dayum lucky.  My boys below deck?  They had luck on their side when they bagged the catbird.  Granted, the griffon was snooping around where he shouldn't have, but all the pieces fell in the right place for him to eat rust through his beak.”  He took a sip.  “Now... all members of the Right Talon at once?  THAT'S something we can't mess with.  I'd have more luck plucking every hair from my testicles with bolt cutters.”

“Maybe you should try it,” Monket droned.  “It'd make for a great antidote.”

“Just listen to me.”

“Do I have to?”

Skagra spoke:  “Chandler knows we're boned if all of the Talon show up.  And if we're boned... then he's boned, because his investment in the Rainbow Rogue is way bigger than ours, no matter how we shake it.”

“So what, then?”

“So now...” Skagra leaned back, swirling what was left in his glass.  “...we gotta find a way to make sure his panic outflies the wrath of the Right Talon.”

“That's a tall order.”

“Good thing I don't slouch.”  Skagra half-smiled.  He glanced aside.  “Nixxy?”

Nixkit cleared his throat.  Reaching towards a shelf, he grabbed a black satchel, then hoofed it over to Monket.

Blinking, Monket reached into the bag.  He pulled out an immaculately shiny helmet made out of silver-plated titanium.  “Whew...”  He whistled, pale red eyes darting across the way to meet Skagra's.  “You weren't kidding.”

“When do I ever kid?” Skagra said.

Monket bit his bottom lip.  He glanced left... then right...

Skagra pointed.  “Give that to your messengers.  Have them fly east and drop it off at the first Consortium supply depot they find.”

“This is your plan to intimidate him?”

“I'm not finished,” Skagra said.  Both his eyes narrowed.  “Have your pegasi make this perfectly clear to Chandler.  The fat cat has four days to show up here at Red Barge... in person.”

Nixkit blinked.

Monket squinted.  “In... person?”

“Yes.  Or else we'll toss the Rainbow Rogue into the drink as well,” Skagra said.  “Both she and the griffon can learn to do the underwater ballet with anchors tied around their necks.  Or...”  He cleared his throat.  “Chandler can prevent that by showing up at the Barge.  Not his messengers.  Not his hired hoof terrorists.  Him... in the flesh.  And he'd better come with bits.  Over ten million of them.”

Monket's jaw dropped.  “Ten... million...?”

“Cram them all into platinum bars if he has to,” Skagra muttered.  “It doesn't really matter what price in the long run.  So long as he feels like he's cutting himself open... bleeding wide before us... before our seafoam and filth.”  Skagra's eyes narrowed.  “If Chandler wants the rats of the seven seas to deliver for him, he's going to have to learn who's really in charge... and just how much it's going to have dirty him to receive scraps from our table.  I want him taking the smell back with him to Rohbredden, where all the snow will turn brown in his wake.”  He turned towards Nixkit, motioning with a hoof.  “Never make a deal with a rich pony unless you're able and willing to make them eat their own shit in open view of mares and children.”  He took a final sip and tossed the shattering glass behind him before reclining lazily.  “Chandler will get his Rainbow Rogue, but at the cost of his dignity.  And when every cold-hearted bastard that deals with the flankhole learns of it, they'll turn to you and me—Monket—and they'll get boners for life.  As for Chandler?  He'll die just as he was born, friendless and covered in his mother's shit.  You understand?”

“I understand that you're crazier than a fresh water jellyfish.”

“You got any better plans?”

Monket clenched his jaw shut.

“Then what are you waiting for?  Get a hop to it.  I'm getting sick of your dreads.”





Digiff stood on top of a section of bulkheads along Red Barge's southern strut.  He stared north, squinting at where Monket's steamships were moored.  Saxon strolled up to him, shouldering a shark prod.

“Time to switch shifts, Digfarts.”

“Hrmmff...” Digiff grunted, staring across the metal bulkheads.  “Cute.”

Saxon cocked his head aside, following Digiff's line of sight.  “...the hell are you looking at?”

“Monket.”

“Didn't realize you were that into slavers.”

“Hush,” Digiff grumbled, scratching his beard.  “Looks like Skagra and him are finally going through with the plan.”

“Really?”  Saxon reached for a spyglass hanging around his neck and squinted down the sight.

From a distance, both stallions watched as Monket paced before three pairs of shackled slaves on board a steamship's deck.  Monket got finished shouting and barking at the pegasi.  Then, whistling to another servant, he had the manacles around the slaves unlocked.  Motioning with a hoof, Monket shouted a few more commands, then hoofed the centermost pegasus a helmet and a scroll.

“And there's the package...”  Digiff muttered.

“I don't get it...”  Saxon blinked.  “Why's he choosing the messengers at random?”

“It's not random,” Digiff said.  “Monket knows what he's doing.”

“Oh?”

Digiff pointed.  “The slaver of waves spares no expense in buying hooves from Mudtop to make up his crew.  Those pegasi?  They're all siblings.  They're raised in the birthing tunnels together.  They greet the sun together... work above and below deck shackled to one another, always.  And now?”  He exhaled.  “Monket's separating them for the first time in their lives.”

“Pffft... what for?” Saxon grinned, twitching.  “Kicks?”

“No.”  Digiff shook his head.  “Leverage.”

From afar, the stallions watched as the pegasi were spared one short minute to hug, nuzzle, and part ways.  Then—with strong wings flashing in the sunlight—they lifted skyward, soaring due east.

“The slaves know that if they don't return from their trip to Rohbredden,” Digiff said, “Monket will kill the siblings that are left behind.”

The three lone pegasi on the steamship gazed longingly east... that is until Monket's shouting voice rattled them.  They marched below deck, preparing to re-enter the engine room and ready the dredge coal for fueling the furnace.

“You know... there are times when I think being seafoam is the shittiest thing ever...”  Digiff's nostrils flared.  “...and then I open my eyes.”

“Wow.  That's deep, Digiff.”  Saxon glanced aside, smirking.  “Deeper than your mother's corpse in the cesspool.”

“Saxon... were you—like—born a cyst inside a whale's uterus?”

“Heh... get as weepy as you want, sissy-saddles.  You just wish you were the one who bagged us the griffon.”

“Are you dense?” Digiff snarled at Saxon.  “You're the reason Red Barge is in such hot water right now!”

“Well maybe some hot water will do us some good!” Saxon snarled back.  “Skagra's all talk!  It's high time he flexed his muscle, you think?!”

“Ever thought that not having to flex your muscle is the best way to stay alive in these filthy seas?!”

As the two stallions growled and spat with one another, a tiny brown shape scurried past them.  With bright amber eyes, Swab studied the two, then dashed the rest of the way downstairs into the brig.





The one-eared colt heard muttering voices as he arrived at the barred window overlooking Rainbow's cell.

“You're telling me that you've been inside that strange black structure that was hidden underneath the Reed?” Keris' voice echoed.

“Yeah.  And what's more—there are others just like it.  One in lower Shoggoth.  Another in the Nealend Atoll.  Another west of Kihutaja...”

“Wait... wait... wait...”  Keris took a deep breath, staring through his bars at Rainbow's cell.  “So... what you're trying to tell me is that every place the Rainbow Rogue has been... you've purposefully encountered these... anomalous metal structures?”

“Well, not everywhere,” Rainbow muttered.  “Rust didn't have one.”

“Ah.  I see.”  Keris nodded.  “So only a fraction of your psychotic exploits can be excused on otherworldly phenomena...”

“No.  Dude.  It's... grnnnghhh...”  Rainbow Dash rubbed her head.  A few seconds rolled by, and she muttered, “... ... ...tell him to leave, Fluttershy.  This isn't a good time.”

Keris blinked inside his cell.  “Tell who to leave?”

“Hey!”  Swab grinned wide.  “You're both talking!  Cool!”  He fiddled with a bag hanging off his tiny flank.  “And here I was thinking you wouldn't get along!”

“Kid...”

“Huh?”  Keris craned his neck, wincing from his bruises.  “Who's there?”

“Uhm... I couldn't smuggle any food this time,” Swab muttered.  Nevertheless, he pulled out a canteen from his bag and grinned victoriously.  “B-but I did manage to get this!  It was left on East Strut by a dredger working on the lateral steampipes.  He didn't take too many sips from it.  So... uh... I-I doubt his saliva's in it.  At least not much, anyway...”

“Thanks, kid,” Rainbow breathed.

“Hey!”  Swab grinned, lowering the canteen down through the window.  “It's still not rice!”

“Little child...”  Keris spoke hoarsely, wincing.  “You really shouldn't be here!  I know enough about the creatures who run this place to realize they're not merciful to foals who are out of place.”

“Oh, don't worry,” Swab said, stifling a giggle.  “I'm pretty small and can move around quickly.”

“Young sir...”  Keris frowned.

Swab craned his neck, trying in vain to see Keris' cell from his vantage point over Rainbow's.  “Also, I'm smart enough.  For instance, I know not to go all the way down there.  Less places to hide in case the guards come back, you see.”  He gulped.  “Otherwise I'd totally give you some water too, Mr. Unlucky Griffon Sir.”

“Mrmmmfff...” Rainbow took a swig, exhaled, and spoke:  “Don't worry, kid.  I've got it covered.”  She shuffled off to the opposite edge of the cell and slid the canteen through the bars towards Keris.  “There you go.  Wet your... uhm... beak.”

“... ... ...”  Keris hesitated at first, but eventually reached out, grasping the canteen.  As he unscrewed the thing with his talons, he spoke:  “You encourage this urchin of ill-fortune?”

“Why not?”  Rainbow shrugged against the bars.  “It's been my experience that little scampy badflanks are capable of dang-near everything.”  She blinked, then glanced aside.  “Yes, Fluttershy, but... I-I don't think we quite have the time to share the story of Kera Tin Mehjj with Mr. Griffon-Who-Wants-To-Arrest-Me.”

Keris took a sip of the canteen.  “And just how long has this little foal been making these visits to you?”

“Oh...  just all week!”  Swab answered before Rainbow could.  He sat, smiling with eyes shut.  “She's really nice when you get to know her!  And she has this sweet, kind friend named Fluttershy!  Oh, and her pendant's all awesome and glowy...”

“Heh...”  Rainbow's shoulders shook through a half-hearted chuckle.  “Kid's got good vocabulary.  Gotta give 'em that.”

Keris took a last sip, then slid the canteen back with a glare.  “You're endangering him.  You do realize this...?”

Rainbow sighed out her nostrils as she picked the canteen up.  “The way I see it...” she spoke in a tone that only the griffon could hear.  “...if I make a big fuss about him, he will be in danger.  Besides...”  She glared across the shadows of the brig.  “...I doubt he can get joy from much else in this Celestia-forsaken place.”

“Even still...”

“I can tell you're worried about him, dude.  Trust me.  So am I.”  Rainbow's lips curved slightly.  “Don't worry.  I've got eyes on him at all times.”

Keris raised an eyecrest.  “I don't see how you can say that.”

“I didn't say my eyes.”

Keris' beak clattered in confusion.  But before he could speak—

“Are you both planning an escape down there?” Swab said.

Both Keris and Rainbow turned to face the direction of the colt's voice.

“Heehee... cuz that would be sooooo cool.”  He grinned.  “The Rainbow Rogue and a member of the Talon?”

“That's nifty and all, kid, but—” Rainbow started.

Keris sneered:  “I would much rather suffer a thousand purgatorial blizzards on the way to the Spring Havens than make myself an accomplice in this abomination's freedom for even a mortal second.”

Swab blinked, his yellow pupils shrinking.  “Oh... well that's too bad.”  He smiled again.  “Because she can get out at anytime!”

Keris' hawkeyes narrowed.  “I beg your pardon?”

Rainbow sighed, waving a hoof.  “That's enough, kid—”

“She totally can!”  Swab grinned wide.  “I mean, her wing may be busted and all, but see that shiny-shiny thing around her neck?”  He pointed through the bars.  “The moment she takes that off, she becomes ten times stronger and can bust through sheer metal—”

“Swab!” Rainbow's teeth gnashed.  “Give it a rest, will ya?”

Swab blinked, his lips pursing.  “But... b-but it's true.”  He gulped.  “You beat up all of Monket's thugs when they first captured you—”

“And I'm all for rotting to death in here if it means that doesn't happen again!” Rainbow snarled.  “So get it out of your scrappy, one-eared head, okay?!”

Swab gulped.  He scrunched down low, eyes slightly misty.  “Mmmmkay...”

Rainbow sighed hard, eyes shut.

“... ... ...is that true?”

Her eyes fluttered back open.  She turned and looked over her shoulder.

Keris stared through both of their collective bars.  “The monks of the Quade said that the artifact around your neck is what destroyed the Reed.”  His magenta eyes narrowed.  “What else, pray tell, are you holding back?”

Rainbow gulped.  “Something very... very awful.  And...”  Her ears folded.  “...some ponies very... very special to me.”  She glanced aside.  “...even if I'm no longer special to them.  Not anymore.”

Keris cocked his head to the side.

“You know that I don't blame you, right?” Rainbow muttered.  “For coming after me, I mean.  There's a lot that's dangerous about this pegasus you see.  But there's a lot more danger in my biting the bullet.. at least for the world at large.”

“Bullet?”

“Mrmmmfff... sorry.  Beyond-the-Blight stuff.”

“What has you convinced that you're so... astronomically important, Rainbow Dash?”

“How do you know that Verlaxion is your Goddess supreme?”

Keris' head jerked back.  “Why... evidence of her miracles!  Testimonies written by ancient prophets and preserved by wyvern scholars through the ages!”

Rainbow turned, staring at him melancholically from across the brig.  “And just how many of these miracles have you experienced first-feather?”

Keris' beak hung open.  He was at a loss for words.

“I may be a monster, buddy,” Rainbow muttered.  “A strange pegasus who's made her own massacres.  But believe you me... I've had plenty of miracles to make up for them... most of them, at least.  It's just a shame that I can't share them with you any more than I can share them with my frien—”  Suddenly she jolted.  With a shudder, Rainbow looked over her shoulder, eyes wide.  “They are?  How many of them?”  A blink.  “Two?”

Keris squinted.  “What are you babbling on a—?”

“Kid!” Rainbow hissed, flashing a look at the window above.  “Two dredgers are coming down!”

Swab gasped.  “They are?”

“Make a break for it!  Go!”

Breathless, Swab scampered up the slanted corridor and hid his tiny body inside a shadowy alcove.  Within seconds, an adult set of hooves marched down the incline.  Once the legs passed Swab, the colt gulped, slid out of hiding, and galloped up onto the top deck—out of sight.

At last, Digiff reached the bottom floor of the brig.  He paced back and forth, gazing into Rainbow's cell... and then into Keris'.  “We having fun yet?”

“I'm waiting for you and the rest of your friends to attempt killing me,” Keris said.  He smiled calmly under his beak.  “Then I intend to have much... much recreation.”

Digiff clenched his jaw.  He tried staring Keris down, ultimately to give up with a groan.  “Friggin' birdpusses...”  He tossed a tiny bucket in through the Lieutenant's bars.  “Here.  Your poop jar.  Try not to smell up the joint.”  He paced off to the far side of the brig.

As the stallion moved, Keris squinted across the bars.  He mouthed with his beak:  “How did you know...?”

Rainbow had no response.  She slinked back into the shadows until all the Lieutenant could see was the ruby glint of her pendant.

He might have shivered once or twice...





“No... No... No!”

Brye Chandler snarled, pacing stormily back and forth across the luxurious cabin of a company steamship.  Scores of lit candles illuminated a make-shift gallery where half-a-dozen ponies stood before canvases, attempting to paint an iconographic sketch of the Rainbow Rogue.  Outside the cabin windows, the ocean was drenched in night.  Starlight wafted in, glinting off the green jades studding Chandler's thick coat.

“For the last time!  She was in a battle at the Quade!”  He pointed at one half-finished portrait, slathered in rainbow streaks.  “The Rainbow Rogue has a scar across her brow!  Right above the right eye!”

“But...”  The artist gulped.  “Mister Chandler—”

“That's Magistrate Chandler to you!”

“There was no scar in the photos you retrieved from Shoggoth!”

“That's because the Rainbow Rogue got her scar after Shoggoth!”  Chandler face-hoofed, stifling a groan.  “Paint it again!”  He shook a hoof.  “And get it right this time!  One tiny mistake will mean five hundred thousand tiny mistakes once I get the wanted poster reprinted!”

Sighing, the five artists switched to blank canvases and exhaustingly complied.  Not long after, there was a loud knock on the cabin door.

“Come in!” Chandler barked.

Two servants opened the door from the inside.  A blue-coated unicorn in a tight suit and an even tighter manestyle shuffled in, levitating a silver helmet in one field and a scroll in the other.

“Longaze?”  Chandler grimaced, waving his hooves at the floating objects.  “Just what the Hell is this?”

“A message, I do believe, sir,” she replied, brown eyes cool and calm.  “From three pegasi, sweaty from long-flight and smelling of Mudtop.”

Chandler did a double-take.  “Mudtop?”  He blinked.  “...Monket”

Longaze nodded, then floated the two objects over.

Chandler first gawked at the helmet.  He grasped it in his hooves.  “... ... ...griffon metal.  Talon.”

“Precisely, sir.”  Longaze pointed at the scroll.

Glancing at her, Chandler swiftly unrolled the parchment and held it before his darting green eyes.  Not long after, the stallion paled, slumping back to his haunches.  “... ... ...betrayers... both betrayers...”  Soon, he was shaking... gnashing his teeth.  “Those... upstart little snotheads...”

The painters and servants shifted uncomfortably.

Fuming, Chandler breathed.  “Leave me.”  A beat.  He turned and shouted at those in the cabin.  “I said leave me!”

Fumbling, the artists abandoned their unfinished sketches of the Rainbow Rogue and scampered briskly out onto the main deck... followed by the door stallions.

Longaze turned to leave as well—

“Not you, Longaze.”

The mare stopped in her tracks.  With magic, she closed the door, then pivoted to face the would-be-Magistrate.  “Executive Chandler, sir?”

“... ... ...the game has changed... savagely...”  Chandler crumpled the sheet up in his grasp.  “Mrmmmfff... this is what I get for dealing with misanthropes with barnacles-for-balls.”

“I take it that Red Barge is stalling?”

“They've gone far beyond that,” Chandler muttered.  “Skagra's now dipping his rust-stick into full blown exploitation.  Uppity half-headed shit-eater...”  He took a long breath, composing himself with eyes shut.  At last, he adjusted his studded robe and reopened his eyes.  “Longaze... you've read the latest trade reports, yes?”

“Of course, sir.”

“Are there any Consortium shipments headed to Rust?”

“Two, I believe.”

“Redirect them northeast.  To Mudtop.”  Chandler's eyes narrowed.  “I think it's time we did some... expansion.  See to it personally that the local populace—no matter how filthy—get a fair sample of our raw product.”

“Ahem...”  Longaze adjusted her collar and said, “Such dredge coal will not have been refined yet, sir.  It'll be highly flammable.”

“Yes.  Just like our... misplaced product in Pine Prefecture,” Chandler said.  His lips curved slightly.  “In the hooves of the wrong ponies, it could prove disastorous.  However, in the hooves of wrong ponies with just the right amount of envy for Skagra and what he's got hidden in his hold...”

“Ah.”  Longaze bowed.  “I see.”

“Not as much as Skagra is going to see...”  Chandler's eyes narrowed.  “And know... that there's no bucking with the future magistrate of these waters.”  Calmly, the stallion picked up a paint brush and dipped it into a wad of bright paint.  “The seas can always use more red in them.”  And he flung a crimson streak across three separate canvases, smiling.
> Too Long; Did Not Heed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A red sun hung over the barge, distant, dull, obscured by fumes.

Monket's steamships lingered between the canals of the northern struts.  Servants and slaves strolled across the vessels' surfaces, scrubbing the decks and polishing the hulls.

The slaver of waves himself stood on the bow of one steamship.  His dreadlocks drifted in the sea breeze as he squinted eastward, scanning the horizon for returning messengers.  The stallion glanced at a watch dangling from his vest, sighed audibly, and marched his way back below deck.

Along the multiple struts to the south, dredgers and laborers milled about.  The only tasks available were exceptionally menial ones, requiring redundant brush-overs of pipework and metal junctions.  Several stallions simply sat on the edge of the artificial canals, fanning themselves and muttering incoherently as they waited for the dirty day to die.

Nixkit oversaw this—and several other sights—from the upper balconies of the centralmost platform.  Pacing along the edges of the Skag Hole, the high-ranking dredger sighed and resumed his stroll under the shrieking song of seagulls.





Deep in the brig below deck of the southern struts...

Keris sat slumped in his cell.  The Lieutenant's thin eyes fluttered awake.  He glanced across the frame of his prison door, then towards the bars flanking his side.

Beyond the narrow metal slits, Digiff could be seen.  The stallion sat at a desk, going over daily reports.  The dredger rubbed his bearded muzzle, sighed, and fought yawn after yawn.

Blinking, Keris squinted past Digiff, looking into the cell opposite the walkway.

It was hard to make out, but Keris could have sworn he saw the hint of a fuzzy blue figure seated deep in the shadows.  A ruby lightning bolt pulsed gently... persistently... ticking off the liquid seconds of the gray day.





Along the inner ring of struts surrounding the central platform...

Laborers returned to their families after their early morning shifts.

Stallions and mares reunited with ritualistic nuzzles.  Elders looked on, sitting in the shadows of tall rusted apartments built out of conjoined ships' hulls.  Fillies and colts chased one another, playing giggling games and shouting into the polluted air.

From a distance, Saxon sat in his guard tower.  As his part of the struts rocked and shifted, he lazily swung a harpoon turret around.  Squinting down the sight, he pretended to aim at the scampering foals, then mouthed “bang” with his muzzle before chuckling breathily to himself.

And yet... the day limped on, insurmountably uneventful...





Deep below in the seafoam hold...

Quint sat at a table, counting bags of reserve rice.  He scribbled a few notes down onto a sheet, turned aside, then spoke to a few of his fellow companions.

Two colts shuffled up, standing at the ready.  At Quint's commands, they nodded, then scooped up a total of six tiny bags.  As he waved a hoof at them, they scampered off to the furthest edges of the rusted orphanage, distributing the “nibbles” as Quint saw fit.

A few spaces over, Whony lay slumped on his mattress.  The bored colt glared across the dim interior, his nostrils flaring.

He couldn't help but notice that a specific mattress in the furthest corner was curiously empty...






Swab sweated, gritting his teeth.

With firm, sudsy strokes, he mopped the surface of a second tier hull along the eastern struts.  A filmy surface of slick moisture coated the once-dirty metal, bringing the strut to a near-shine.

He paused briefly, panting for breath, wiping his brow.  Then, gradually, his body relaxed.  He stared at the floor beneath him, nostrils flaring.

With a splash, he dunk his mop back into a nearby bucket.  He leaned over, staring at his one-eared reflection in the wet metal.  His yellow eyes blinked.  He reached a hoof down, drawing the edge of his fetlock against the surface.  With jagged motions, he formed a “lightning bolt,” then topped it off with a poofy cloud.

Another sigh escaped his lips.  He leaned against the stick of his broom, smiling liquidly into the design he had just made.  A salty breeze swept over the platforms, disturbing the wet surface.  When the ripples settled, he saw the reflection of a frail filly and her sunken eyes bouncing back at him.

“I think I've figured it out,” Croche droned.

“...??”  Swab turned to look at her.

“She's put a spell on you,” the filly muttered.  “It's the only reasonable explanation.”

Swab squinted back at her.  His one good ear flicked, and he said, “Or maybe I'm just addicted to doing nice things for a pony.”

Croche slowly shook her head.  “It can't be that.”

“Why not?”

“Even you aren't that stupid,” she muttered.  “All of the stuff you see day by day... all the mean things that Quint and his cronies do to you.”  She gulped.  “Doesn't take a genius to know that there's no point in being nice to anyone in this life.  Especially some strange monster from the west.”

Swab leaned his head to the side.  “Do you really think that's the case?”

“I know it,” Croche exhaled, glaring.

To that, Swab only smirked.  “Then what's the point in you stopping by to express your concern to me?”

Croche did a double-take.  Her teal pupils shrank.  “It's not concern.”

“Heehee... really?”

“Don't laugh.”  Croche frowned.  “That's even worse.”

Swab shook his head.  “Didn't think anything was funny.”

“So why did you bother?”

Swab took a deep breath.  “Just... for the first time in as long as I can remember, there's something bright behind all of this muck.”  He gulped.  “If you caught a glimpse of that, wouldn't you want to know more?  To feel more?”

Croche sighed, hanging her head.  “No.  I'd want to bury it.”

“Why?”

“Because...”  She sniffled.  “...it smells too much like hope.”

Swab bit his lip.  He released the mop entirely and strolled towards her.  “Croche.  It's okay to feel sad.  If it helps at all to know, you're hardly alo—”

POWWW!  The bulkheads behind them exploded.

The sheer shockwave of the blast sent both foals flying a dozen feet, shrieking.  They landed awkwardly, showered with a wave of metal shrapnel and rusted debris.





Each strut of Red Barge shook.

Down in the sea foam hold, dozens upon dozens of foals fell off their bunks and tumbled across the floor.

Whony rolled against a bulkhead, grunting.

Quint leaned against a metal pylon.  The entire floor shook and swayed while barrels full of burnt soot rolled past him.  As children shrieked and yelped, Quintflashed a frenzied look towards the sunny spaces in the fractured ceiling.





Keris stood up, beak hanging open.  His talons scraped across the floor of his cell as the brig rocked... rattled...

Just outside, Digiff jumped up, grabbing a shark prod.  There was a loud crack, and the dredger looked up.  He gasped to see a loose bulkhead crashing down through the jail.  With a grunt, the dredger leapt aside, barely avoiding several slabs of rusted metal collapsing over him.  THUDDD!

Keris shielded his face with two manacled' talons as a wave of dust and smoke filled the cells.





The struts of Red Barge rocked and grinded against one another amidst a chorus of scattered screams.

And yet...

P-POWWW!  A second blast erupted across the western strut.

Followed by...

KA-POWW!  A third blast struck the north hulls.  The bodies of three dredgers went flying in seven different directions.  As the red mist and shrapnel settled, a burning chasm could be seen in the middle of the strut.

Monket peered over the edge of his steamship, gasping.  His eyes scanned the northwest horizon—finally settling on three sets of scattered smoke.  He gnashed his teeth.





Another booming noise echoed across the murky waters.

Breathless, Nixkit scampered towards the northwest corner of the central platform's upper balcony.  Within seconds, Skagra and several other dredgers had scrambled out of the top dredger's office to join him.

Five ships dotted the horizon.  Three turned broadside, reloading their cannons.  Meanwhile, a burning red projectile soared in from a fourth.

BLAMMM!  It flew into a smokestack just to the right of the Skag Hole.  With a thunderous crash, the smokestack teetered over, shattering into a dozen smoldering bits.  Nixkit, Skagra, and several other dredgers coughed and wheezed into the surmounting debris cloud.

“Mrmmmff... whelp...” Skagra waved the fumes before his muzzle.  “...there goes my libido for the day.”

“Boss!  I think they're pirates!” a dredger yelped.

“Yeah.  No shit.”

“Those explosions...” Nixkit gritted his teeth.  “You smell the powder in the air?”

Skagra was already exhaling.  “Dredge coal...”

“They're attacking us with our own supply!”  Nixkit glanced aside.  “Boss, you know what this means?”

Pow!

The fifth ship fired while several small skiffs roared towards the Barge on rumbling motors.

“One sec, Nixxy!”  Skagra waved a hoof as he and his fellow stallions scrambled for cover.  “I'll get back to you when I'm finished pissing—”

POWWW!  The projectile impacted the tower two floors below, incinerating screaming laborers in hellish plumes of flame.
> Painting the Red Barge Red
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	When Swab came to, all he saw was rust.  He heard nothing.

Then the cold rolled over.

A burning sky loomed above, and his right ear was filled with screams.

Some of the wailing came from the distance... blood curdling... dangling in tatters.  Another set of lungs howled right next to him.

“Mmmmff... Croche...?”  He looked aside.

The filly was rolling on her belly.  She clutched her skull and sobbed unceasingly.

“Croche!”  Swab shouted.

P-POW!  A shell went off just above him, raining that part of the Barge with ashes and burning metal flakes.

Wincing, Swab scampered across the smokey clearing.  He side-stepped a collapsed bulkhead and two sets of pipes, leaking steam.

“Croche!”  He knelt beside her, resting a hoof on the filly's shoulder.  “Just calm down!” he tried yelping above her shrieks.  “Please!  You have to be quiet for one second!  Now... tell me where you're hurt!”

“Nnnngh—Goddessss!”  Croche whimpered, rolling from side to side.  “Ohgoddessohgoddessohgoddess!”

Swab paled.  He had never seen the girl this emotive before.  “Verxlaxion, bless me.  She's hurt bad.”  He reached in, wincing as another explosion rocked the Barge.  “Just stay still!  I have to see if—”

“Nnnngh!”  She batted his hoof away.  The act made her turn over, revealing a tear-stained face above remarkably intact limbs.  “Mmmmffnngh... make it stopppp...”

“You're...”  Swab exhaled, blinking.  “Why, you're not hurt at all—!”

“Make it stop make it stop make it stopppp...”  Croche sobbed.

Swab reached for her, fidgeted, then bit his lip.  With agile grace, the colt hopped up, bounced off a bulkhead, and used his forelimbs to grab around the crooked length of an overhanging pipe.  Tiny muscles quivering, he pulled himself up, peering over a collapsed array of metal shingles.

His yellow eyes reflected five ships along the horizon.  A bunch of rafts drew closer, motorized, speeding towards the damaged struts along the Barge's north and west sides.

“Pirates...”  Swab murmured.  “Loads of them!  They... they must be firing at us with dredge coal!  Nothing else could damage from that distance!”

“I know I know I know...” Croche buried her muzzle in her hooves.  “Mrmmmfff... they've c-come back...”

“Huh?!”  Swab looked over his shoulder, dangling.

“Mrmmmff... they've come back to finish me offffff!”  She hiccuped, sobbed.  “Just like they took them from me!  Oh Verlaxion!  Verlaxion, f-forgive me!”  An explosive blast sent a wave of heat kicking at her matted mane.  She whimpered into her forelimbs.  “I'm so sorry.  So very sorry.  Please don't let them t-take meeee...”

“Croche...”  Swab gulped.  “When did you join us in the hold?  Years ago?  These couldn't possibly be the pirates who... who killed your...”  His words trailed off as he stared at her.  Gnawing on his bottom lip, he gave the pirate ships a final, forlorn look.  Then he dropped down to his hooves.  “Grfff...”  Scampering, he rushed over and hoisted Croche up by her shoulders.  “Croche, we gotta move!”

“Mmmgnnh—No!” She struggled, flailed.

“Croche, they're firing at us!  We gotta—”

“They took Mommy and Daddy!”  Croche gnashed her teeth, shaking all over.  “They're gonna take me—”

“Not if we go somewhere safe—”  POWWW!  An explosion rocked the Barge two bulkheads away.  Nevertheless, Swab hissed:  “They won't get to you, Croche!  I promise!”

She looked up at him finally, eyes glazed over.

“I know somewhere that's safe... okay?”  Swab stared at her.  “Right next to the strongest pony in the world.”

“Strongest... pony...?”

“Just come on!”  Swab galloped out of the collapsed deck, dragging Croche along with her.  “I'll take you there!  I'll take you to where you'll be safe!  Where we'll all be safe!”

Panting, Croche stumbled after him.  Her eyes scraped the sky, tears reflecting the burning swath of another load of ordinance flying... plummeting... landing—





P-POWWW!

The last impact tore a piece of the north strut off the rest of the welded boats.  It bent, broke, and plunged hard into the muck, sending dirty water splattering all across Monket and his steamships.

The enslaved crew dashed left and right all around him, attempting to fire the engines of the ship above and below deck back to life.  He didn't waste any time barking into their ears.

“Get the fire burning, you sorry sack of shits!” Monket cracked a whip, sweating into the heat of the flames gathering from the nearby, impacted struts.  “As long as we're stuck in this canal, we're shark food!”

“More incoming!” a slave shouted.

Monket sneered. “Goddess dammit—BRACE YOURSELVES!”

This next projectile positively whistled on its way down.  Through sheer luck, it plunged purely into the narrow strip of water.  Two seconds later, it exploded somewhere deep below.  The resounding surge of oceanwater sent every bit of hull across the northern strut reeling, scraping and rattling against one another.  Dredgers and guards ran from deck to deck, gathering every long ranged weapon that they could and carrying them up into the towers.

“Looks like Skagra's stallions are preparing to retaliate, sir!” a crew member stammered.

“A lot of crud that will do,” Monket grumbled, standing up straight from bracing.  “Those lame-ass harpoons of his are useless at long distance.”  He turned and shouted towards the stern.  “Prime the iron cannons!  Ready all ammunition!”

“But sir!  What if they hit us!  If our ammunition is above deck—”

“It's too late to be anything but risky!  We're locked in here and we gotta ward them off!”  Monket glared down the length of the narrow, narrow strut.  His other steamship was blocking the only available exit, and there wasn't enough room for both ships to navigate the canals together.  “Dammit... dammit to the depths...”  He spun and hollered in the direction of the central platform.  “Skagra!  I need these struts opened up...”





“...and I need them opened now!”

BL-BLAMMM!  A shell exploded like flak just to the south of the platform.  Flakes of rust blanketed Nixkit and Skagra as the two crouched behind the upper balcony's railing.

“Damn if that mudtopper doesn't know how to punctuate his sentences,” Skagra muttered.

“Boss... we can't rely completely on Monket!” Nixkit shouted, pointing north over the railing.  “He's locked in with both of his ships!  The pirates know that!  They're concentrating most of their firepower on the canal!”

“Mmrmmmff... and it'll be hell getting the struts to spread with the sky raining diarrhea on our collective tiaras.”  Skagra picked up a random horseshoe that had fallen loose, bit on the end of it, grimaced, and tossed it aside.  “Right.”  POWWW!  He stood up, the only stallion unflinching from the latest explosion.  “I need three suicidal idiots to follow me into Navigation.  We're gonna manually rotate the ship counterclockwise from there.”  He spun and pointed at a cowering stallion.  “You there!”

The dredger looked up, shivering.  “B-Boss...?”

“You and those other bozos next to you.  Run to the west strut!  When you get my signal, pull the lateral rudders out!  I don't care how many steam vents you gotta pop!  Make it drag!”

“You gonna force the strut open by drifting the Barge?!” Nixkit wheezed.

“No.  I just like doing burning pirouettes in the morning.”  B-BOOOM!  Hot debris rained across Skagra's shoulders.  He exhaled fumes calmly, brushing his bangs only for them to droop back.  “I think that was the last one.”

“Huh?”  Nixkit looked up.  “How do you know that?”

Skagra held up a hoof.

Utter silence bathed the Barge.

“They... th-they stopped?” stammered a stallion.

“Mrmmmff... hardly.”  The top dredger pointed northwest.  “Feast your vaginas on the horizon, poofballs.”

Nixkit and the others peered over the railing to look.

Beyond the panicked bodies scurrying across Red Barge, they saw the wake of several small motorboats reaching the outer struts.

“Shit!”  Schiiing!  Nixkit habitually unsheathed a shark prod in his grasp.  “Boarders!”

“All the muckers in the seven seas only want one thing,” Skagra slurred.  “And Chandler figures he just gave them the ticket to it.”  He spat.  “Well, they ain't havin' none.  Not while I still piss sideways.”  He marched off, followed by a pair of stallions.  “Nixxy!  Take every able-hoofed dredger you can and tear ass westways!  Beat 'em to a bloody pulp!  Use your teeth if you have to!  One condition!”  He snarled, pointing with sudden intensity.  “They do not get to our prize in the Southern Strut!  Or else all is lost!  You hear me!”

“Aw shit...”  Nixkit was already galloping down the ramp, followed by several breathless stallions.  “Aw shit aw shit aw shit...”





“Awwwwwww shit yeah!”

Saxon galloped against the flow of shrieking, fleeing families.  The citizens of Red Barge galloped towards the eastern struts.  Meanwhile, the bright-eyed guardian leapt in wild, pony parkour over the fresh craters and burnholes across the rattled deck.

“Goddess Verlaxion!”  He leapt high, grabbed the stalk of a guard tower, and shimmied up it with miraculous agility.  “Grant me your holy dick so that I may gouge... gouge... gouge!”  Ch-Chtung!  He primed a harpoon gun, fed it compacted steam, and narrowed the sights on the first of many boats foaming up to the west edge of the Barge.  “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh bitchin' barnacles, who wants to sing inside my snotholes tonight?!  HaHA!”

All along his flank, dozens upon dozens of guardians ran up to their towers—or else stood upon the brink of the muck-swept struts.  They formed right-angled phalanxes, aiming all manner of harpoon guns and makeshift catapults at the incoming boats.  One by one, the gunners at their turrets shouted and whooped at one another.

There was an equally passionate return.  Seated inside the incoming motorboats, surly stallions huddled tight, their coats painted with soot and grease.  They banged their blades and shields together, shouting into the salty air with frenzy and bloodlust.

The Red Bargers hollered back—the loudest of which was Saxon.

“Raaa-aaaaaa-haaa-haa-haaaaugh!”  He used his entire body to yank back the steam release of his harpoon gun.  Pft-TOOM!  “Here's maggots in your eggs, sweet queefs!”

The harpoon flew low, skimming the ocean's surface.  Within a blink, it zeroed in on the bow of a single boat.  The first two rows of stallions leaned left and right.  The third row was not so lucky.  The harpoon imploded the skull of one privateer... ricocheted off the bloodied deck with a splash of sparks... then impaled a leg of another.  The stallion howled in pain, only to be yanked back towards the Barge as Saxon retracted the harpoon.  The other pirates gargled with laughter and continued charging.

All across the strut, harpoons and burning chunks of loose bulkheads flew.  The entire length of dredgers unleashed their wrath on the amphibious invasion party.  Half of the harpoons sank ineffectually into the ocean... while a few of them—like Saxon's—struck their target, splattering the motorboats with blood and bone.  As the harpoons retracted, the boats kept charging inward, their occupants bravely blocking and batting away the loose bits of shrapnel being tossed at them.

Whurrrrrr—Ch-Chtunk!  Saxon finally retracted his harpoon.  A still-twitching, still-sputtering pirate hung off the serrated barb.

“Grkkk... pllffkkt...”  The stallion's head rolled back, as did his eyes.  “Mrmmff... please... grkkkt... k-kill me...”

“Dude...”  Ch-Chtung!  Saxon re-primed the steam gun.  “It's gonna be biblical.”  That sneered, he happily twirled the harpoon east, fixating on a boat full of invaders that was about to make landing.  Pft-TOOM!

The harpoon launched—carrying the screaming, impaled pirate with it.  This time, the blade sunk deep into the engine of the targeted boat.  The vessel erupted in flames, its occupants flailing and shrieking in agony.

“Htttt!”  Saxon yanked his controls hard to the left.  The turret spun, retracting the harpoon and dragging the weight of the boat along with it.  The sheer traction caused the tower to collapse on its foundation.  Saxon was quick to leapt out before the tower could claim him.  Rolling over, he squatted and watched as the burning boat swung sideways into a second vessel.  Both skiffs locked together, and—entangled—they slammed hard into the hulls of the Western Strut.

KAPOWWWW!  An enormous fireballs billowed skyward, illuminating the Barge as multiple other ships ran aground.  Pirates leapt on board, and all—too—swiftly they were engaging the dredgers and guards, hoof to hoof, blade to blade, teeth to teeth.

“Wooooo!”  Cl-Clakkka!  Saxon unsheathed his shark prod and approached the bloody melee with a wide-eyed swagger.  “At last!  At last!  I was born today!”  He yelled into the air—and he was not alone.  Several frenzied dredgers accompanied him, tasers crackling in the polluted air as the defenders of Red Barge charged into the fray, unleashing months and months of pent-up wrath on the unsuspecting privateers.





The roar of the battle drifted its way down into the claustrophobic metal confines of the brig.

There, Digiff's eyes fluttered open.  The bearded dredger grunted—struggling to get up.  He was encumbered with a metal bulkhead lying over his chest.

“Grnnngh... grnkkkkt!”  He hissed and sputtered.  His ears twitched from the sound of screams and blood-curdling war cries above deck.  “Dammit... dammit!  I need... grkkk... n-need to fight!”

“Are you mad?!”  Keris' voice rang out from the cell to Digiff's direct left.  “There's no telling what the seven seas have unleashed up there!”

“Doesn't matter...”  Digiff snarled.  “Home is... ngrkkkt... home...”

“Will you always dance to Skagra's damnable tune?!”  A pair of hawkeyes glared out from beyond the crumpled bars.  A piece of the bulkhead had caused half of Keris' cell to collapse.  “Even beyond death?”

“Mrmmfff... grnnnngh...” Digiff struggled and fought against the weight of the fallen bulkhead.  Despite his thick muscles, he could only get it to move a few mere inches.

“Here... hold on!”  Keris shimmied and scurried closer to the bars.  With a bit of effort, he was able to stick his bound talons out through a fresh gap in the cell.  “You grab this side.  I'll grab this one!”

“Mrmmff...” Digiff sweated, eyes darting aside.  “Can... c-can you manage?”

Keris nodded.  “We'll both push on the count of three.  Alright?”

“Got it.”

“One... two... three!”

Both the stallion and the griffon shoved against the bulkhead with all their might.  Ever so slowly, it shifted out of its slumped position, freeing the dredger from underneath.  Digiff slid to the side, one inch at a time.  He repositioned his limbs so that he could more properly shove the chunk of metal away from his prone body.

Meanwhile—as Keris strained on his end—he heard a raspy voice from across the way.  It was difficult at first to make out the words through all of the echoing bedlam from the bloodbath above... but with a little bit of concentration...

“Fluttershy?  Fluttershy!  You have to stay calm.  Look at me—Fluttershy.  Look.  At.  Me.”

Wincing and sweating, Keris squinted one eye past his strain.

He caught a glimpse of flickering ruby light beyond the penumbra of multiple black bars.  A petite blue body squatted on all fours, staring intently into a corner of her cell.

“You're right.  It IS terrible.  I can't imagine what it's like to feel each of their souls slipping away but you have to stay with me!  Not with them!  With me!  Look into my eyes.  Are you looking?  Good, now listen.  There's nothing we can do for them—Fluttershy!  I mean it.  Look at me.  Let them go.  You have to let them go.”

Keris shuddered... exhaled...

He repositioned his grip of the beam as Digiff started to crawl free.

The pegasus reached her trembling hoof into the shadows, caressing an invisible shape before her.

“Just let them go, Fluttershy.  If you blame yourself for every death you witness, you'll never stay sane.  Trust me.  Just let them go...”  She hung her head, and the ruby light caught silvery streaks along the sides of her muzzle.  “Please... just let them go... let th-them g-go...”
> A Melee Over the Muck
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	By the time Nixkit's charge had reached the junction between the North and West Struts, he had gained over a hundred fellow stallions—all armed to the teeth.  His eyes reflected the bloody melee happening along the outer bulkheads.  Even then—as he and his cohorts galloped into the fray—dozens of pirates were hopping aboard from their motorboats with scabbards swinging and crossbows firing.  Blood and sweat coated the grimy lengths of the decks and pipework.

“That's right, everypony!” Nixkit snarled.  He twisted the end of his staff, cycling electricity into his shark prod.  “Drive them back!  Show them what Red Barge is made of!”  As several bloodthirtsy dredgers rushed past him, he nevertheless grimaced, muttering to the side: “We're so bucking boned....”

“Raaaaaaaaugh!”  A scarred, homicidal unicorn charged straight at him, levitating a machete in the air.

“Hrttt!”  Nixkit effortly met the stallion's charge with a sparkling prod to the skull.  The unicorn's horn split bloodily down the middle, and he fell to the floor in a screaming heap.  “Hrmmmf...” Nixkit spat.  “...try that again when I'm inclined to give a shit.”  He caught two pirates coming in from the left, and he bravely fended them off with a twirl of his staff.

The two parried his swings, dodged the bodies of other fighters, then came in for the kill.

Before Nixkit could react—“Walalalalalalaaa!”—Saxon dove in, swept one pirate to the deck, then fired a tethered crossbow at the other invader.  Schunnk!  The barb stuck through his neck.  Grinning wildly, Saxon yanked back hard.  The impaled pirate fell on his companion's breathless body.

“Hraaaaaugh!”  Nixkit shoved down with his polearm.  Thunkkk!  He impaled both bodies on top of one another, then shocked them from the inside out with electricity until he could smell their collective intestines cooking.  Waving off the fumes, the dredger leaned back and sneered through the bedlam:  “How're things holding up, Saxon?!”

“Rrrghh—I'm harder than Wyvern algebra!”

“Why am I not surprised?”  Nixkit batted away another pirate and shoved him into the nearest canal with a splash.  He turned to stare at the bloody battle.  “What I mean is—how is the fight goin—?”  He froze in place, his head tilting up.

Above the fumes of burning motorboats, several bodies streaked southeast.  A thick flock of pegasi flew in from the five pirate ships along the watery horizon.  Each of them held an earth pony or unicorn in their grasp.  Diving low, the winged invaders skimmed the surface of Red Barge, dropping their partners in crime at random.

With blood-curdling war cries, the dropped invaders landed on their targets.  They impaled multiple dredgers and slitted the throats of defenders who weren't looking.  Within a blink, the course of the battle had shifted entirely.  Privateers found each other, collecting in dangerous bunches as they forced the Red Bargers back.

Nixkit and Saxon exchanged glances.  Re-gripping their weapons, they called several nearby stallions to them and charged forward, screaming violently into the enemy's flank.

Meanwhile, up above, more and more invading pegasi flew in...





...and soared over the heads of panicked Red Bargers running every which way.  The winged pirates dove low.  Some of them dropped oil grenades—spreading fire and burning grease across the rusted bulkheads.  Others picked up dredgers at random, lifted them up, then dropped them to a screaming death against the rigid pipework splayed across the struts.

It was through this chaotic scene that Swab and Croche galloped, panting for breaths.

A grenade landed close by, showering half of the nearby deck with hot oil.

Croche shrieked. Swab tugged her out of the way.  They took a moment to press their bodies up against a wall, huddling beneath the crook of a rectangular bulkhead.  All around them, the rusted metal of Red Barge shook from the reverberating screams of those fighting and those dying.

The pegasi flew swiftly overhead, gathering in organized formation as they dipped even lower...





...knocking citizens off their hooves and slamming them into the many hulls of the platforms.  Several other ponies yelped as the pirates bucked them mercilessly into the watery canals between the welded struts.

One pegasus landed along the east strut.  Licking blood off his muzzle, the pirate chuckled, his gaze darting left and right.  He saw a cluster of families trying to flee towards the safe shadow of the central platform's towering structures.  Before he could rush after them, he heard a yelping voice to his right.

“...!”  He spun towards the source of the sound, unsheathing his dagger.  Schiiing!

A colt fell back on his haunches, staring at the pirate wide-eyed.  “No... n-no!”  He whimpered, eyes glossy with tears.  He waved a hoof, sobbing.  “Please!  Please d-don't kill me!  I don't want to dieeeee!”  He hunched over in a little fuzzy ball, whimpering.

“Hrmmmff...”  The pirate's nostrils flared.  “Barge bastards...”  He turned his back to him, searching for another victim to attack.

“... ... ...”  Slowly, Quint stared up from where he cowered.  He dried his “tears,” pulled out a concealed shiv, then rushed the pegasus' flank.  “Rnnnngh!”  He stabbed his blade deep into the pirate's wing muscles, then expertly twisted the hilt until he heard a tell-tale POP!

“Aaa-aaaaugh!” The pegasus wailed in pain, collapsing in wild convulsions.

Mounting the invader's corpse, Quint flung a sweaty look over his shoulder and whistled into the shadows.

Whony and several more colts dashed out of hiding.  Sch-Sch-Schiiing!  They all brandished daggers, knives, and clubs.  Like ants over a paralyzed meal, they covered the squealing pegasus from muzzle to tail, stabbing and beating him until he barely had the blood left to twitch.

Once the act was finished, Quint stumbled off the body, panting.  He wiped the blood off his face and spat.  “Okay... that's one.”  He turned towards the rest of the orphans.  “Let's earn us some nibbles for lifetime, seafoam!”

The colts shouted and screamed, waving their bloodied blades.

“Quint...” Whony pointed into the shadows.

Quint turned around, glaring.

A few colts—those of the smaller variety—shivered in darkness.  Their big, twitching eyes scraped the sky and their bodies flinched at each sign of the diving pegasi.

“Rrnnngh...”  Quint marched into the shadows and yanked the gasping children out into the open.  “You wusses!  Get out there!”  He snarled.  “Shed some blood or I'll be using your meat as damned bait!”  He pounded a bulkhead with his shiv while Whony and the rest of the colts charged forward:  “Red Barge is death!  Red Barge is life!”





“I need to renovate this hunk of shit, I swear to Verlaxion's vulva...”  Skagra sneered, fighting with a rusted valve.  “Rnnnngh!  Come on and grind, you sweet sexy bitch box!”

Across the steam controls of the central platform, a bunch of other stallions fought and fussed with the instrument panels.  The bulkheads rattled from the gigantic gears grinding and moving to life deep below deck.

“Boss!”  One stallion rushed across the steamy, claustrophobic confines.  Everyone's ears rang from the screams of battle echoing outside.  “Need a hoof with that?”

“I wouldn't mind a few whalebones while we're at it,” Skagra sneered, sweating hard as he finally started to get the valve spinning.  “Mrmmff... I thought I told the scallywags to grease up the gears after we cruised south to intercept the dead drifts!  Rnnngh... friggin' Digiff...”

“Sir?”

“I dunno.  I just like blaming Digiff.”  Skagra leaned back, fanning himself.  “It's therapeutic.”  The bulkheads rattled from screaming bodies being dropped to their death.  “...speaking of which.”

“It's the invaders, sir!” a stallion hollered from where he stood watch up at the control room's entrance.  “They've... th-they've sent ponies on the wing!  They're flying all over us!”

“Mrrrrmff...” Skagra slapped at his glossy red bangs.  “Typical pirates.  Bringing pegasi to a turd fight.”  Schiiing!  He picked up a shark prod and dashed towards the entrance.  “Time to say 'hello.'”

“But boss!”  One stallion stammered while the others struggled with the controls.  “If Changler sent them, then they'll be after you too—”

“This place is second priority just after the brig!  I'm gonna put my sexy ass to good use and distract 'em!  Is it my Barge or isn't it?”

“Well... uhh—”

Skagra stopped to point down into the heated enclosure, glaring.  “Get the dayum thing to rotate counterclockwise or else I'll tell Monket it was you fairy starfish who mucked it all up!”  With a sigh, he tossed his stubborn mane one last time.  “Shiny... shiny dolphins...”  And Skagra rushed out...





...carrying his shiny taser at the ready.  He was barely twenty paces across the central platform when he encountered a group of earth pony pirates dropped from their pegasi partners.  The group had cornered several families and were preparing to hack them to bits.

Skagra faced them directly.  He spread his legs out, standing firm on a metal platform beneath an array of pipes.  The top dredger let loose a shrill whistle.

The pirates' ears twitched.  All eight of them turned around to face Skagra.

“Sup, bitches?”  Half of his face smiled.

“Skagra...”  One pirate spat to the side, twirled his blade, and slowly approached the stallion.  Three of his companions followed closely behind, each bearing a collective sneer.  The families took the opportunity to continue scampering for cover from the pegasi overhead.  “As I live and breathe.”

“How many brain cells does it take to do both, exactly?”

“Hah!  Full of sass!  Just like they say all across the waves!”  Schiiing!  He held his blade out in a threatening stance.  “About time somepony with real barnacles wiped you from the ocean's ass!”

“Poetic,” Skagra slurred.  He turned around once then grinned sideways at the group.  “Has anypony up in Mudtop told you how ol' Skagra can cut a rug?”

The pirate blinked.  “Huh...?”

Then—with plumes of fire erupting all across Red Barge and pegasi swooping over a sporadic chorus of screams—Skagra did a hearty jig, ending with a twirl and a bow.  “Eh...?”

“... ... ...”  The pirate and his closest companions glared.  “...that some weak-ass shit, dude.”

“Hrmmff...”  Skarga exhaled.  “Couldn't agree more.”  Then—in a split second blur—he effortlessly backflipped, grasped the pipework overhead with his lower legs, and dangled high off the ground.  “Hrttt!”  The shark prod went sailing down from Skagra's grasp—impacting the metal bulkhead where the first four pirates were standing.  BZZZZ-zzzzztttt!

“Aaa-aaa-aaaaugh!”  They quartet of invaders collectively shrieked, their bodies convulsing as bolts of blue lightning danced between their gaping muzzles.  One by one, their eye-sockets burst to flames, and their charred bodies fell hard to the red-hot deck panel.

The other four leaned back, grimacing.

Th-thap!  Skagra landed on all fours.  Standing up, he brushed himself off and grunted at the corpses.  “Mrmmff... shoulda stuck around for the second act.”  He looked up at the remaining pirates.

The invaders looked back.

“Boyssssssss...”  Hissing, Skagra batted his eyes and galloped wildly off for the far end of the central platform.

Shouting in fury, the other four pirates swiftly gave chase, galloping on the heels of the steam-burnt dredger.





“Almost... g-got it...” Keris snarled.

“Rrrrnnngh—graaukkt!”  Digiff—with the imprisoned griffon's help—finally tossed the bulkhead off his prone body.  Exhaling heavily, he rolled out from under the collapsed debris of the brig.  “Nnnngh... Goddess alive... if there's anything even left alive up there...”  He stumbled up the ramped pathway.

“Hey... Hey!”  Keris rushed along the length of bars, shouting towards the dredger.  “Let me help!”

“You've helped enough already,” Digiff growled out the side of his muzzle.

“I can fight!” Keris hollered.  “I'm a Lieutenant of the Right Talon, Mister Dredger!”  His hawkeyes glinted.  “Think rationally!  You're shooting yourself in the hoof by just keeping me in here!”

Digiff scuffled to a stop.  He squinted over his shoulder.  “...how could you possibly give a buck about this junkheap, continentalist?”

Keris glared back.  “There are mares and foals on board this platform.”  His beak clenched.  “While Skagra might have scorned the goddess' good grace far too many times, I simply cannot stay down here and ignore the plight of Verlaxion's own innocent foals!  Now will you let me help you?!”

Digiff stood in place, seething.  A scream rattled the bulkheads from above deck, and he flinched.

Keris hissed, “There isn't much time.”

Digiff clenched his eyes shut.  He shook... then exhaled.  Marching over towards the cell, he swiped a set of keys off the wall, picked the lock, then forced the bent door open with a grunt.

Keris stood in place.  He held his manacles up.

Digiff kicked up a shark prod from the floor, caught the pole-arm, and then swiped its bladed end across Keris' binds.  Sl-Slincktt!  He sliced the cuffs apart, freeing Keris' talons... and then did the same for his lower legs.  Slinkkt!  He pointed with the sparkling weapon.  “The wing-clips stay on.”

Keris nodded, his bound feathers coiled at his side.  “Fair enough.”  He followed Digiff out of the cell.

“Keep close!” Digiff grunted.  “And if I catch you trying to swim away... I will track you down, turn that beak of yours inside out, and shove it where the sun doesn't shine.”

“I have no doubt,” Keris hummed.  As he strolled up the curved ramp, he passed by Swab's favorite window.  The griffon paused, turning to squint into the shadowed confines of Rainbow's cell.

A petite figure remained slumped in the corner.  A pair of ruby eyes reflected Keris' passing headcrest.

Keris took a deep breath...





...then followed Digiff up onto the top deck.  Several dredgers stood in a thick circle, surrounding the entrance to the brig.  They gasped upon seeing the two emerge.

“Digiff!”  One stallion stammered.  He struggled to speak above the noise and chaos all around.  “You... you were down th-there the whole time?”  He gulped.  “We thought... we thought that—”

“Shit fell on top of me.  I don't want to talk about it.”  He glared at the group.  “... ... ...the hell are you all doing?  Sniffing each other's farts?”

“Skagra sent us to guard Red Barge's most precious asset.  Tell us, is she—?”

“She's still down there.  Dammit... go below!” Digiff snarled, gazing up at the circling swarms of pegasi.  “You're giving away the Rainbow Rogue's location!  Scratch that.  Half of you go down below, the other half come with me.”

“But—”

“Can't you see we're being creamed here?!”  Digiff exclaimed.  “We need to flank the enemy!”

All the while, Keris had jumped up and perched on a bulkhead.  He spent the entire conversation scanning the sights of Red Barge and the air above.  At last, his hawkeyes narrowed on the northwest struts, and he pointed with a razor-sharp talon.  “Is that were the battle is being concentrated?”

“... ... ...”  The guards stared at him, gaping.  They turned to blink at Digiff.

Digiff sighed.  “He's agreed to help.”

“Skagra won't like that.”

“Skagra can sit on my shark prod and rotate.”

“Will somepony please answer me?!” Keris shouted in an authoritarian voice, startling the group.

“Uhhh... uhhh...”  One gulped.  “We saw top dredger Nixkit rushing in there with a bunch of Skagra's best stallions!”

“Fools...”  Keris pointed.  “You're all unevenly spaced out!  You're leaving the Barge's population vulnerable in the center for the pegasi to finish off!  Then they'll close in on your concentrated forces to the northwest and eliminate your remaining defenses!”

“Skagra needs to have the pirates held off so he can rotate the Barge and free Monket to—”

“A naval offensive isn't going to help this situation!” Keris exclaimed.  “Those boats along the horizon have their guns trained on the Barge!  We need to draw them in!”  He started running forward.  “You have your stallions gathered?!”

“Yeah, I—”  Digiff grimaced.  “Hey, wait!”

“We have to get to the others!” Keris hollered, running and leaping over pipework.  “Tell them to retreat to the center!  The closer we are inward, the more we can force the enemy to advance through the miraculous chokepoints this Barge offers!  Now move!”

“Uhhh...”  One stallion smirked.  “Think you need a shorter leash, Digiff.”

“Grnnngh... just do what he says!” Digiff barked.  He motioned towards half of the guards, ushering them below deck.  “Unless he asks to have his wings freed!”

“Verlaxion forebid...”

“In this case, she kinda does!”  Digiff broke into a gallop, his eyes locked on the tail-feathers of his “prisoner.”  “Dammit... move your seafoam flanks already!”
> Tenacity's No Substitute For Hope
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Raaaaaaaugh!”  Nixkit jumped high, coming down with a massive swing of his sparkling pole-arm.  THWACK!

Bolts of electricity issued outward across the deck, forcing several pirates to hop backwards until they were standing precariously on the edge of the strut.

“Drive them back!” Nixkit hollered, joined by Saxon and several other dredgers as they rushed in at full-force.  “Back into the muck with the bastards—!”

Suddenly, five pegasi swooped down, diving high from the northwest.  In carefully-timed coordination, they flung a fan of knives down at the dredgers.

Nixkit and Saxon skidded to a stop, gasping, flinching—

Swooooosh!  Keris leapt in, rolled, swept up a discarded scimitar, and twirled it with finesse.  Cl-Cl-Clank!  He deflected the thrown daggers—all but one.  Thwap!  He caught the last knife in an oustretched talon.  Squinting, he exhaled, spun, and tossed the dagger up high.

Schliiink!  The blade flew into the neck of one pirate pegasus.  Gurgling, he fell like an anvil to the strut below.  Keris met his ragdoll body with a downstab of the scimitar, finishing instantly.  Thunk!

Nixkit and several other dredgers blinked.

Keris panted and panted.  Feathers ruffling, he stood up, leaning his weight against the scimitar's hilt.  “They're letting you advance on purpose!”  He pointed up at the air.  “So long as those wingponies control the skies, they control the battle!”

“Hey!”  Saxon frowned.  “Who freed the buzzard?”

At last, Digiff and his fellow dredgers galloped up, panting, heaving.  “He's... he's...”  He slumped against Nixkit, wheezing.  “...h-helping...”

“Dammit, Digiff!”  Nixkit stepped aside with a frown, letting the bearded stallion slump to the ground.  “You had one job!”

“Will you just friggin' listen to him already?!” Digiff growled.

Keris was already hollering to the dredgers.  “Fall back!  Fall back to the center platform, everypony!”

“Hey!”  Nixkit barked.  “This is our fight!  Who do you think you are?”

“Yeah!”  Saxon grinned wickedly.  “Last time I knew, birdy, you were supposed to be eating shit!  Not spewing it!”

“Don't you see?!  It's a trap!”  Keris hollered, eyeing the ongoing melee as he spoke.  “The pirates know we outnumber them ten to one!  They're drawing us to the outer edges while their air support weeds out the rest of the platform!  If we keep mindlessly fighting them along the northern and southern platforms, then they'll whittle your numbers away until there's nothing left to defend!”

“Then what would you suggest, griffon?” Nixkit exclaimed.

“It's simple!”  Keris pointed.  “Put aside your anger and frustration!  Be smart about this!”  He pointed towards Skagra's lofty office behind them.  “Withdraw towards the center platform!  We'll force them to draw in and eliminate them at the choke points!”

“If we back away from their troops, they'll just start firing on us again!”

“Doubtful.”  Keris shook his head.  “They need Red Barge intact if they want to make any profit on the raid.  Besides... there's something very valuable to them below deck, isn't there?”

Nixkit bit his lip.

“If we fail to keep our forces alive...” Digiff gulped.  “We fail Skagra.  Do you want that on your head, Nixkit?”

“Shut up!”  Nixkit growled.  “I'm thinking.”

“Well, I'm doing!”  Keris exclaimed.  Schiiing!  He picked up a second sword in the other talon and charged into the fray.  “Get your stallions inward!”

“And just what do you think you're doing?!”

“Giving you time!”  Keris hopped off the flanks of defending dredgers, glided sucidally forward, then dove deep into the meatspace of attacking pirates.  Sl-Sliiiiiink!  With yelps and sprays of red mist, several pirates fell to the deck, twitching.  The brazen attack forced the nearest cluster of attackers to back off, forming a half-circle that faced the agile griffon.  “In the name of Verlaxion, stand back!  This is your final warning!”

“Stupid Rohbreddenite!” a scarred stallion spat, brandishing a thick metal club.  “Verlaxion does not sail these waves—Hrkkkkk!”  His dialogue ended at the sharp end of a sword thrown into his muzzle.  Splassssh!  He fell back into the muck, dead.

Keris exhaled, an empty talon outstretched.  “And neither do you...”

The rest of the pirates exchanged glances, then all rushed in on Keris with an enraged war cry.

“Goddess give me strength—!”  Keris jumped backwards, frantically deflecting and parrying the multiple attacks.  He threw all his experience and expertise into sheer survival, countering each offensive move as nimbly as he could, consuming the invaders' time and attention.

Digiff spun about to face the superior stallion.  “Nixkit?!?”

Nixkit shuddered.  He re-gripped his polearm and motioned southeast.  “Everypony!”  A shrill whistle.  “Back to the Skag Hole!  Protect your brothers and drag the families back with us!”

“But Nix!”  Saxon gasped, eyes twitching.  “We can flank them!”

“You can sniff their butts until you die!”  Nixkit was already galloping back.  “I'm not about to lose the Red Barge to a bunch of upstart barnacle huffers!”

“You heard the dredger!” Digiff screamed into the polluted air.  “Fall back!  Fall back!”

As more and more stallions answered the call, drawing the line back, Saxon stood alone... quivering.  He spat, cussed, and scampered after his brethren in a breath of frustration.

Meanwhile, the attacking pegasi drew into an even thicker formation...





...and swept over the welded hulls of the Barge once again.  They tossed blades, chunks of shrapnel, and every other random object that they could muster.

Croche shielded herself as she galloped after Swab.  “Mrmmmff... wh-why aren't they tossing more explosives?”

“They probably ran out,” Swab answered, panting.  He ran and ran, drawing the two of the deep into the south strut.  “Don't you get it?  They were just trying to scare us all!  They don't have nothing against Red Barge!”

“But... b-but they're pirates—”

“They're starving and desperate.”  Swab clenched his jaw.  “Just like the rest of us.  But we don't have to be like them!  We don't have to be like anypony!”

“Wait a second...” Croche suddenly stood her ground, hooves scraping against the deck.  She yanked Swab back with the weight of her grip on his tail.  “This is all about the stupid Rainbow Rogue, isn't it?!”

Swab panted, standing just a few paces from the descending entrance in question.  He pulled and tugged Croche closer to it.  “Please.  We'll be safe if we just—”

“You idiot!”  Croche hissed, tears streaming.  “Why didn't you take me back to the hold?!  It was closer!  We could be there now!  Safe!”

“Quint would have just made us fight!”  Swab's voice cracked.  “Please, just trust m—”

“Swab, look around you!” Croche yelped, waving at the plumes of smoke and the diving pegasi.  “This is all the world has for us!  This is...”  She choked on a sob.  “This is what took my parents away.”  She sniffled.  “And yours—”

“They're waiting for me!” Swab suddenly hollered, making the filly flinch.  “Out there!  And I-I'm not going to get them b-back by shedding blood!”  He shook... heaved.  “Don't you understand?!  Doesn't anypony understand?!  We don't have to be miserable all the time!  We... we...”  He exhaled with a pitiable squeak.  “...we can do nice things in spite of all... of all this...”

Croche swallowed a lump down her throat.  “...what makes you think we have a choice, Swab?”

He struggled to find an answer to that.  Then—his eyes twitched...

...for he caught the shadow of a pegasus sweeping sharply over the surface of Red Barge.  In the shadow's grip was something thick—like a club—and it was swinging straight for Croche.

“Guh!”  He gripped the gasping filly's shoulder and swung her around.  “Look out—”

The flying pirate's club made contact with Swab's shoulder.  WHAP!  The tiny colt was knocked aside, where his skull ricocheted hard off the side of a rusted bulkhead.  Clang!

“Swab—!” Croche shrieked.

“Mmmmffnghh...”  Swab lay limply at her hooves.  The shadows of the attackers...





...streaked over the various struts of Barge, including the northern array where a half-faced stallion galloped cowardly over and under steam pipes.  With breathless grace, Skagra threaded the needle of the floating sprawl he had memorized since foaling.

The pirates chasing him were far clumsier.  Even then—as their pursuing numbers doubled—they struggled to keep up with the top dredger, tripping and fumbling over each other.

“Augh!”

“Dammit!”

“Form a line, you idiots!”

Another pair of attackers rushed in, brandishing blades in their sweaty grasps.  “Who're you chasing?!  Huh?!”

“Did you find the Rainbow Rogue?!”

“Next best thing!” The leader hollered, ducking under a horizontal set of pipes directly ahead.  “This shitheap's top dredger!”

“No way?!  The Skag himself?!”

“You bet!  Got the bastard cornered!”  The lead stallion broke off into a gallop down a narrow corridor made out of bundled pipes.  “First, we'll ransom him off for the Rogue, and then we'll skin him alive for roasting our mates!”

“Hell, I want in on this!”

“Go!  Go!”

“I think I see him up ahead!”

About twenty privateers rushed down the narrow alleyway of metalwork.  Their charging warcry caused a massive reverberation to haunt its way through the lattices and pipe frames all around them.  At last, they made a sharp left turn, followed by two rights, and another left.

“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh...”  One by one, the shouts of the attackers dwindled into a confused whine.  Their hooves stopped galloping—in exchange for a limping shuffle.  Blinking, the stallions looked around.  They saw nothing but a claustrophobic enclosure of cylindrical tanks and adjoining pipes.  There was no Skagra.

“Where the Hell did he go?”

“He was just in front of us!  I swear!”

“You assmunch!  You lost him!”

“No way!  He ran down this way!  As sure as I bloat!”

“Funny you should say that...”

The stallions jolted in place.  Unsheathing their blades, they looked all around for the source of the raspy voice.

“...do you know just what mistake the top dredger before me made?  The one that let me take up the Skag hole as my very one?”

Collectively, the pirates looked up.  Their muzzles hung open wide.

Skagra leaned casually against a metal ledge directly above the dead-end of metal pipework.  Beside him was an instrument panel chock-full of circular valves.  “Eh...”  He proceeded to twist and turn every single one.  “...why don't you go ask him yourselves?”

“...!!!”  The stallions panicked.  They looked all around them as countless vents opened up, billowing with flesh-roasting steam.

“Just don't hold your breaths,” Skagra snorted.  He spun about with a casual shuffle of his hooves.  “It's a long line in Hell...”

The response was a cacophonous explosion of shrieks, screams, and wailing voices.  Skagra walked away from a veritable column of hot-white clouds... turning red, crimson, and then gray once again as it pierced the air over the Barge.  Wary pegasi split apart, flying away from the bloody steam expulsion.

“Hrmmmff...”  Skagra scratched his chin in mid-stride.  “...what was I doing just a moment ago?”

As if on cue, the deck panels directly below him shifted.  The top dredger had to brace himself against a bulkhead while every welded vessel forming the Barge shifted with a massive groan.  Before his eyes, the horizon slowly shifted to the right.

“Ah yes...”  Half of Skagra's muzzle grinned.  “...there's a good corkscrew.”

More groans rattled through the body of Red Barge as its...





...struts rotated counter-clockwise.  The stallions within the central control room had finally comandeered the steering mechanisms.  The massive platform swirled slowly in a circle, dragging the struts along with it.  The west and north struts—where the bulk of the battle had been taking place—dragged from expertly extended rudders underwater.  Thus—when the entirety of the Barge immediately stopped spinning, the canals there spread wider than the rest...

...which is precisely what gave Monket and his steamships ample room to navigate.

“Master!”  A crew member hollered across the deck.  “The struts!  They're spreading!”

“Muck my muzzle.  Dayum half-mane finally pulled through,” Monket grunted.  He tossed his dreads and threw a hoof forward.  “Fire the engines!  Signal our sister ship to do the same!”  He motioned to the various slaves scampering back and forth across his vessel.  “Give her a wide berth!  We don't want to be too close together just in case the pirates return to—”

P-POWWW!  A length of Red Barge bulkheads to the ship's port side exploded, showering Monket and his slaves with flecks of ash.

“Dammit!” Monket gnashed his teeth, ducking low.  “Those barnable bloaters are so friggin' predictable!”  He hollered over the sound of more shells landing all around them.  “Full speed!  Go!  Go!”

“Aye!  Full speed!”

“Full speed!”

The murky waters churned as the powerful engines...





...shoved the two steamships ahead.  One after another, they sped their way out of the canal and into the open water, churning up muck and froth.

The five pirate ships drew closer.  They concentrated their cannonfire on the northern strut, sending more and more chunks of metal sky-high with wildly aimed payloads of raw dredge coal.

Keris witnessed this in between sweaty bouts with a thickening group of pirates.  Almost all of the dredgers had retreated to the central platform at this point, leaving the invaders to concentrate their attack on the one idiot still standing before them.

“Get him!”

“Pluck out every feather and stab them in his eyes!”

“I want his beak for a necklace!”

Keris exhaled with a frown.  “Charming... but I'd rather cuddle a windigo.”  Deflecting a few more rapier stabs, he found himself backing up into a wall of steampipes.  Instantly, his feathers flexed, only to be constricted by thick iron bands around his wings.  “Damnation!” the Lieutenant hissed.  He looked left and right across a wall of angry, sneering faces.

Then—just as the breaths of his foes turned rancid enough to be ascribed texture—he sensed the shadows of multiple pegasi streaking overhead.  Looking straight up, Keris didn't waste any time.  He jumped to the right, bounced off a pipe, kicked off a bulkhead to his left, then stabbed his scimitar hard into the metal wall behind him.  Chtunnng!  Growling, he swung his body up from the hilt, avoided the swinging weapons of his enemies below, and threw a talon upwards in time to grip the leg of a flying pegasus.

Thwppp!

The pegasus'' body sagged, forcing him to sink out of formation.  Gasping, he looked back to see a flightless griffon gripping his fetlock.  With a flick of his other hoof, the pirate produced a dagger and aimed it at Keris' skull.

The Lieutenant responded by digging his talons into the pirate's leg.

“Aaaaugh!”  The winged pony shrieked, his whole body curling in pain.  He descended, clipping the tops of multiple welded boats.  Keris had to swing left and right to avoid jutting smoke-stacks and pipework.  At last, the two of them dipped too low, and Keris' body slammed into a jutting metal wall.

“Ooomf!”  Keris fell in one direction while the pained pegasus collapsed onto a nearby ledge.  Both struggled to get up, with Keris standing first.  As the pegasus crawled onto all fours, the griffon charged him, spearing him in the side.  The two smashed through a window and landed in a two-story apartment, startling a family of shrieking Red Bargers.

Beak rattling, Keris looked up in time to see the faces of scared foals and fillies flashing before him.  Smasssh!  The pegasus slammed a random piece of pottery over the Lieutenant's headcrest.

“Gaaugh!”  Keris lost balance.

“Rrnnngh!”  The bleeding pirate charged into him, knocking the griffon across the room.

Keris tripped over a cowering mare's leg.  He fell back hard, landing on his bound wings in the center of a tiny metal kitchen.

Seething, the pirate looked around for a weapon to grab.

Keris struggled to get up.  He clamped his left talon over the edge of a kitchen counter, causing a knife-rack to rattle.  His hawkeyes darted towards it.

Finally, the pirate picked up a thick metal lamp.  An older colt dashed into him in an attempt to tackle the privateer.  The pegasus merely punched the foal in the face, then held him up by the neck.  Thwissssssh—Thunk!  A kitchen knife embedded into his fetlock.  “Aaaaugh!”  He dropped the gasping kid and looked into the kitchen.

Keris tossed a second dagger, then a third.

The pegasus ducked one projectile and blocked the other with his lamp.  After the embedded blade shook to a stop, he peered over—only for his eyes to reflect a furious mass of feathers charging straight for him.

WHUMP!  Keris slammed into the pegasus, shoved him across the scream-filled apartment, and finally tossed the two of them out the opposite window.  They fell two full stories with Keris ending on top... and his beak around the pirate's neck.  SNAP!  The pirate's body shook one... twitched twice... and was still.

“... ... ...grnnngh...” Keris opened his mouth wide, dropping the pegasus' raggedy throat from his grip.  He wiped the blood from his beak and stared off, panting to regain his breath.

As the Lieutenant's vision came back into focus, he spotted Monket's ships engaging the five pirate vessels in a massive exchange of mortar and cannon fire.

“Mrrrmmfff...”  Keris gulped.  “...could really use your tenacity here, Commander.”  His hawkeyes twitched, then lowered slightly.  He blinked, his magenta pupils reflecting several murky light-sources drawing closer and closer to the Barge.  “...hmmm, well that's different.”
> A Promise You Can Keep
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“It's working!” Digiff shouted.  He stood with another dredger in a tower flanking the bridges that led to the central platform.  More and more Red Bargers crossed the canal to join the group huddled beneath the middle structures.  Meanwhile, the guards in the towers fired all manner of harpoons and projectiles at the attacking pirates, reducing their numbers to bloody heaps.  “Nix!  It's working!”  Digiff pointed a hoof northwest at the scattered attackers.  “Their forces are breaking!  I don't think they even know how to advance!”

“Probably because they didn't plan it,” Nixkit said with a grunt.  He swung his shark prod high, slashing a diving pegasus in the chest.  The winged pirate crashed into a bulkhead behind him as the dredger panted, sweated.  “Good job, everypony!  Now throw everything you've got at these damned fliers—”  Just as he said this, he caught the unmistakable glimmer of underwater shapes surging beneath the struts.  Nixkit pivoted about, squinting at the space between canals.

“Rnnnngh!  Eat metal and piss fire!”  Saxon fired a crossbolt or two into the distant crowd of charging pirates.  He too caught a glimpse of what Nixkit saw.  The dredger pivoted about on a narrow strip of welded ships between two canals, gawking at the submerged streaks.  “Ha!  Hahah!”  He turned to grin at Nixkit, eyes twitching.  “Hey Nixkit!  Check it!”  He motioned with his hoof.  “Guppies!”

SPLOOSH!  That very instant, a pair of seaponies leapt out of the canal behind him.  Each creature gripped the opposite end of a double-hilted sawtooth blade... and they passed straight through Saxon as they dove into the canal on the other side of the deck.  SCHLUNK!

Saxon jerked in place; his grin tilted towards the heavens.  A second later... his body fell to the right while his head rolled to the left, rattling into the muck with a limp splash.

Nixkit blinked, his eyes tracing after the glowing attackers underwater.  “...Muck.”  He galloped to the far end of his strut.  “Digiff!” he shouted towards the platform.  “Get everypony away from the canals!  They've got damned sea ponies swimming beneath us!”

“What??” Digiff stammered.  SPLOOSH!  In a glowing streak, an aquatic equine leapt up, swinging a loop of garrote wire in the air.  It noosed around the neck of the dredger right beside Digiff, yanking him clear off the tower and into the canal on the other side.  Digiff gasped, his coat baptized in fresh blood.  “Muckin' A!”  He spun the turret of his post and fired a harpoon randomly into the waters.

All across the edges of the central platform, wet splashes of dirtied water lit the air, followed by panicked screams as the Red Bargers ducked to avoid the leaping attackers from below.

Nixkit galloped towards the nearest bridge.  “Just run in!  Get to solid decking!” he hollered breathily.  “You'll be safe so long as you—”

SPL-SPLOOSH!  A pair of seaponies leapt at him, dragging a chain.

Nixkit gasped and fell to the floor.  He avoided the length of metal links—but the stallion behind him was not so lucky.  Nixkit spun and watched as the chain caught the other dredger's fetlock, dragging him across the deck and into the next canal.

“No!   No!”  The stallion fought and clambered over the rusted hull blurring by.  “Please—Goddess—Nooo—Blbllblbbllbb!”  And with frothing bubbles, he was dragged to the murky depths... where ferocious lights consumed him.

Nixkit gnashed his teeth.  Schiiiing!  “The waters!”  He shouted into the glow of his taser.  “Shock the waters!”

Digiff was already tossing his electrified polearm down into the depths like a javelin.  “Hrkkkt!”

All across the edges of the central platform, dredgers stabbed, shoved, and threw their tasers into the drink.  The ocean lit up with blue lightning.  In random spots, loud pops echoed to the surface, followed by thick coats of seapony blood.

Keris saw this.  While running towards the centermost platform, he hollered:  “No!  Imbeciles!”  He sneered through his beak.  “You can't kill all of them that way!  They'll dive lower!”  He perched on a crumpled smokestack and shouted.  “Save your weapons, blast it!  We've still got wingponies to fend off—”

P-POW!  An errant shell exploded behind Keris, sending chunks of debris flying over his feathery head.

Wincing, Keris spun and squinted his hawkeyes north.

One of the five pirate ships was keeling over to its side, its cannons aimed awkwardly in a skyward arc.  As the crew on board struggled to regain balance...





...Monket's ship closed in for the kill.  The slaver of the waves stood close to the bow, frowning into the salty wind.  “Turn us broadside!” he hollered.

“Broadside!”

“Hard to starboard!”

With chugging engines, the vessel turned about.  The other steamship followed suit, and soon both sets of cannons were facing the ailing pirate ship.

“On my mark!”  Monket raised a hoof.  His pale red eyes flared.  “FIRE!”

“Fire!”

“Fiiiiiiire!”

P-POW!

POWWW!

A solid wave of cannonfire burned over the waves—searing, burning, surging straight into the decrepit hull of the lopsided ship.  There was a brief blast of hellish screams, and then all was flames and splinters.  A tall burning plume separated Monket's miniature armada from their targets.

Every slave and servant on board the two vessels shook with roaring cheer.

Monket afforded himself a brief smirk.  “Not so fast, you mud-birthers!”  He pointed.  “We've still got a fight ahead of us!  Let's put the dredge coal ordinance in their holds to good use and send them swiftly to Hell!”

“Two ships advancing!” a crew member hollered from the stern.  “They're moving to flank us!”

“Thread the needle!” Monket hollered.  “Full speed ahead!  Signal the other ship to keep their cannons facing north!  We'll sweep them off the waves before they can get a hit in!”

“Aye!  Full speed!”

“Ready the cannons!”





Somewhere else...

Somewhere cold and rusted...

“What in blazes are you two urchins doing here?!”

“How'd they even survive that mess out there?!”

“Please.  We need a place to stay... won't you help us?!”

“This isn't where seafoam shits are supposed to fester.”

“But if we stay out there, we'll die!”

“Mrmmfnnngh...”  Swab opened his eyes, squinting.

The dim interior of the brig came into focus.  Several dredgers frowned down at him.  He sensed the limbs of Croche grasping him... dragging him down the ramp.

“For the last time, you're not supposed to be here!” a stallion said.

“Send them back out,” another dredger grumbled.  “They'll be more useful as a distraction.”

“Especially with that colt on the edge of bloating.”

“He's not bloating!” Croche's voice cracked.  “He just hit his head, that's all!  Please... w-we can be useful!  I promise!”

“Kid, for the last time...”

“Croche?”  Swab wheezed, sitting up, wincing.

“Swab!”

“How did we...?”  He rubbed his missing ear, hissing through clenched teeth.  Blood dribbled down his forehead.  “Ungh... Rainbow?  Where's Rainbow...?”

Just then, the air shook with flapping wings.  Several voices echoed from high above.

“There!”

“In there!”

“That's where they're holding the beast!”

One of the stallions inside the brig gasped.  “You mucking idiots!  You led them right to us—”

Four pegasi galloped down the ramp.  Upon seeing the thick group of guards, the pirates jerked to a stop, forming a miniature phalanx with daggers and swords drawn.  “Shit!  They got a whole nest down here protecting it!”

Schiiing!  The dredgers ran past Swab and Croche.  “You want Skagra's prize?!  Come pay for it with your blood!”

“Raaaaaaugh!”

“Make 'em bloat!”

“Yaaaaaaaah!”

The air filled with a claustrophobic cacophony of rattling blades and sliced limbs.  Shrieks echoed through the bars between every other sword swing and rapier parry.

Meanwhile, Croche frantically dragged Swab away from the melee.  Swab shivered, watching past his aching limbs as stallion fought stallion, staining the rusted walls with blood high above.  In swift order, the dredgers overpowered the tiny invasion party, fighting them back up the ramp and above deck.

“Move!  Move!”

“Shove 'em out!”

“We've got these bastards!  Hit 'em where it hurts!”

“Watch it!  Friggin' barnacle biters!  Suck on dredge steel!”

At last, Croche had scooted the two of them into a corner, nestled between a pile of debris and one of the cells.

“There's...”  Swab gulped, his eyes narrow and his voice breathy.  “There's j-just so much of it...”

“Swab...” Croche panted, fussing with his neck and skull.  “You're... you're hurt bad!  I... I-I don't know how to stop the bleeding!”

“...maybe we were foaled on it,” Swab murmured deliriously.  “Everything is blood.  And... and the ocean...”  A slight curve to his lips, despite the tears welling in his eyes.  “The ocean's the real thing that's made up.”

“Swab...”

“No wonder m-my parents can't find their way back...”  He squeaked, his eyes thinning even more.  “When everything's all red... how do you know east fr-from west?”

“Swab, stop talking.  Please. Just... just try to stay awake.  I need... I-I need to...”  Suddenly, Croche gasped, her sunken eyes lit up by a bright ruby glow.

Swab suddenly found it easier to breathe.  He didn't know why, but his senses returned intensely enough for him to feel a strong set of hooves reaching through the bars behind him and holding him close.

“Shhhhh... do what she says, kiddo,” the voice rasped.  “Stay awake.  It's okay.  I've got you.”

“You...”  Croche leaned back, lips quivering.  She stared in horror at the pegasus behind Swab.  “You're the... the...”

“Calm down,” Rainbow said, her voice rolling past Swab's good ear.  “It's going to be okay.  Do you see the cabinet right beneath the ramp?  Where the fight just left?”

Swab blinked.  She spun and looked at the distant chunk of furniture.  “Uh... yeah?”

“Third drawer from the bottom, left-hoof side.  There's some gauze and bandages.  The drawer to the right of it has some disinfectant.  Go grab it.  Be quick.”

“But... b-but how could you possibly know that?”  Croche breathed.  “You've been in this cell the whole tim—”

“It's in there.  Believe me,” Rainbow said.  “Now go.  I've got him.”

Croche bit her lip.  Nodding, she scampered off to rummage through the cabinet.

“Shhhhh...” Rainbow's grip of the colt tightened.  Her voice echoed to the side.  “It's okay, Flutters.  I've got him.  Stay with me, girl.  Let's concentrate on the living for once, 'kay?”  Her voice grew closer.  A fuzzy chin nuzzled Swab's good ear.  “Just relax, kid.  But don't relax too much.  I need you awake for when we patch you up.”

“I... I...”  Swab sniffled.  “I-I didn't mean to get myself hurt.  Or Croche.  Or y-you...”  He wheezed as more blood trickled down his skull.  “I swear... everything I-I touch falls apart—”

“Uh uh...”  Rainbow pivoted—as did the source of the glowing ruby light.  Swab felt an intense warmth coating his wounded skull from behind.  Almost instantly, the pain went away.  The blood flowed less liberally, and a toasty calmness filled his being.  “That may be true.  Celestia knows it's true for me.  But I swear... if there's any good left in me... I'm not gonna let you fall apart.”

Swab gulped, struggling with a hard lump in his throat.

Croche scampered back.  “I've got the bandages!”

“Good.  Start making his skull all mummy-like,” Rainbow said.

Croche was already wrapping the gauze around the wounded half of his head.

“Not too thick at first.  Be gentle.”

“Okay...” Croche complied, trembling.

“What's your name, girl?” Rainbow spoke above the muffled thuds of the battle above deck.

“Uhm... Croche...” she murmured.

“Hrmmf... that's a lame name,” Rainbow Dash muttered.  Her lips curved in Swab's peripheral vision.  “Think I'll call you Kera the Third.”

“Uhm...”  Croche blinked.  “...okay?”

“Who... wh-who's Kera the Second...?”  Swab wheezed.

“Heh... I'll tell you later, kid,” Rainbow mused.  “But you have to promise to stay with me.  Okay?”

Swab sniffled, clutching the strong hooves that held his tiny figure.  “I... I-I think I can do that...”

“I know you can,” Rainbow Dash said.  More thuds echoed overhead, and she breathed into the air around the foals.  “Shhh... just chillax, everypony.  It's gonna be okay.  I promise...”
> Make You Fishers of Menace
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Digiff!”  Nixkit hollered over the struts.  He and several other dredgers flanked the bridges leading towards the central platform.  Side by side, the defenders parried the attacks of the pirates rushing over—before retaliating with polearm pokes and shoving the enemy back.  “Dammit!  Move your mucking ass!  The attackers have moved in!  You're gonna get surrounded—”

“Somepony's gotta clear the canals!”  Panting, Digiff retracted the dripping harpoon back into his tower's turret.  With a slap of the hoof, he primed the steam hydraulics and aimed the weapon once more into the glowing waters.  “Dammit... where does Mudtop get off hiring fish horses?!”  He aimed the turret at a concentrated school of glowing figures in the deep.  “Got ya now, ya friggin' sushi—”

Before he could fire, a pegasus pirate swooped down and grabbed his shoulder.  “Time to fly, Skag Chunk!”

“Gaaugh!”  Digiff fought and wrestled with him.  “Get your hooves off me you filthy piece of—”  The pegasus overpowered him. The dredger gasped, limbs flailing as he was lifted up off his turret.  “Grnnngh... n-no!”

“Digiff!” Nixkit yelled from a distance.  Thwooosh!  A red-and-brown streak ran past, blowing at his and other dredgers' manes.

Grunting, Keris scurried his feathery way up a stack of crates, leapt off the side of a bridge, and dove high.  WHUMP!  Keris plowed into the pegasus, freeing Digiff while slamming the pirate into the deck below the guard tower.

“Ooomf!”  Growling, the pegasus punched Keris' beak and rolled the two of them over so that he was on top.  “Wanna dance, bird brain?”  Schiiiing!  He aimed a dagger at the nape of the griffon's neck.  “Better learn to sing first—”

Keris shoved his beak forward.  Thunk!  He twisted—then yanked back, dribbling the pegasus' eye loosely from his mouth.

“Aaaaa-aaaaaaugh!”  The pirate howled.  He rolled across the deck, clutching his bleeding face.  “Mmmmmnnghhh—Goddessss!”

Keris stood up and spat the meat out.  “...hearing is overrated.”  And he slammed the guard in the lungs, silencing him.  Spinning about, he rubbed the blood from his chin and shouted at Digiff.  “Mr. Dredger, we're in a bad spot!”

“Tell me about it!”  Digiff pivoted the turret and finally got his shot off, launching the harpoon into the nearest canal.  The glowing figures expertly dodged the projectile, and he punched the edge of the guard tower, cussing.  “Muck!  They sure did launch everything at us, didn't they?!”

“They're too headstrong,” Keris said.  The loud echo of cannonfire fluttered at his headfeathers, and he glanced northwest at the ensuing naval battle.  “They might still have some dredge coal, but we've got an even better resource.”

“Oh yeah?!”  Digiff braced himself against the tower's ladder and slid briskly down, landing beside the griffon.  “What's that, birdo?”

“Time,” Keris said.  “This is a battle of attrition that the pirates can't win.  Now—quick—let's head to where the rest have retreated and—”  The Lieutenant froze in place.

“Yeah?”  Digiff squinted, his bearded face scowling.  He was oblivious to a series of glowing beams in the water behind him—intensifying like headlights.  “And then what—?”

“Down!”  Keris yanked the dredger to the deck.  Both hunched low as—

SPLOOSH!  Six seaponies leapt out of the canal, swept the strut, and landed in the waters on the other side.  All the while, they dragged thick nets behind them.  Three defending dredgers were instantly swept up, being dragged to a screaming, drowning death.  A length of netting caught Keris' leg.

“Guh!”  Keris' beak clattered as he found himself being yanked briskly across the deck.  He kicked, thrashed, and pecked at the fibrous strands, but to no avail.  His hawkeyes twitched as his body plunged into the drink across the way—

“Hrnnngh!” Digiff lunged forward, swinging a pirate's bloodied machete.  Sl-Sliiink!

He sliced the netting around Keris' paw, freeing him.

“Ooomf!”  Keris clawed the deck, anchoring himself before he could plunge.  With Digiff's help, the two stood up once again, catching their breaths.  “I thank you kindly,” the Lieutenant wheezed.

“Don't.”  Digiff shuddered.  “I was aiming for your ankle.”

“Yeah...”

The two watched as the lights swung around, diving beneath the struts yet again.

“Can we please do something about these bastards?” Digiff spat.

“Can these struts still be moved?”

Digiff nodded.  “You bet.  They're not as bad off as the western decks right now.”

“What will it take to move them?”

Digiff spun.  He caught a pair of dredgers on their way towards the inner platform.  “Hey!  Hold up!”

“Hold up?!”  The Red Bargers gawked at Digiff.  “You crazy?!  We're fish food if we stay here!  And we've got winged pirates on our flanks!”

“Yeah, well, you wanna stick it to the guppies?”

“Pffft!  Hell yeah!”

Digiff pointed to opposite ends of the strut.  “Get to motor stations!  The griffon here has a plan.”

“Hrmmmf...”  The two galloped in separate directions.  “So long as it works.”

Digiff spun towards Keris.  “What now, birdo?”

“Now...”  Keris slapped Digiff's shoulder.  “We distract them.”

Digiff blinked.  “What.”

“Come on!”  Keris yanked the dredger after him as he broke into a full sprint.  More loud booms echoed from a distance, and the griffon glanced aside to see smoke rising from the northwest sea.





P-POWWWW!  A solid stream of cannonfire sent a second pirate ship splitting in half.  Privateers shrieked, hollered, and dove off the side in a hurry.

It didn't stop Monket's steamship from roaring straight past the collapsing vessel.  The stronger ship's wake sent the sundered pirate ship keeling over, sinking fast.  As Monket's ship came about, the slaver perched close to the bow, peering into the smokey seascape.

“Sister ship's coming about, Master!” a crew member hollered.

“Good!  Bring us together!  Share the same wake!”  Monket shouted and pointed, his dreads whipping in the salty breeze.  “We'll plow through the currents and split apart to take them from opposite sides!”  He pointed at the three pirate skiffs struggling to form a line, aiming their broadsides at the two steamships.  “Chandler thought he could give them explosives!  Well he forgot to give them balls!”  He turned and shouted at the slaves.  “Move your mudflanks!  A pony who doesn't know how to fight shouldn't bother with knowing how to eat!”

“Sir, our port side hull is dented!  We're dragging, sir!  Our sister ship's outmatching our speed!”

“Signal her to slow down so we can coordinate an attack—”

“Master!” A slave hollered, squinting down a spyglass.  “Winged ponies!  Taking off from the skiffs!”

“Yeah?!”  Monket frowned.  “What about them—?”

“They're flying right towards us!”  The slave pointed up high.  “They're carrying something!”

“Give me that...”  Monket stomped across the deck, grabbed the spyglass, then looked for himself.

Through the foggy sights, he spotted three pegasi struggling to carry a pair of thick black barrels, sooted with dredge coal.  The flying pirates strained, flapped their wings harder, then approached the two steamships from up high.  Once they were within screaming range, they dropped the barrels with a gasp.  The black objects plunged like an anvil, and they disappeared underwater just as quickly.

“... ... ...”  Monket slowly lowered the spyglass.  His pale red eyes twitched, and he hollered:  “Depth charges!”  He flashed a look at the sistership—which had pulled far ahead of his.  “Hard to port!”  He dashed towards the side.  “Hard to port!  Evasive maneuvers you idio—”

POWWWWW!  A veritable mountain of boiling water exploded upwards.  The sister ship ramped high over the frothing waves...

...and directly into the cannonfire being launched from the three remaining pirate ships.

The projectiles shredded the steamship apart, showering splinters and shrapnel all across Monket's deck.  Crew members fell to the ground, their bodies sliced to ribbons as they gargled their own blood.  Monket winced, falling back and twitching.  Then, within the space of three thunderous seconds—

—the sister ship's engines exploded, dousing the other vessel in flames.

BOOOM!!!





The burning plume from the explosion was so intense that its bright firelight washed across the decks of Red Barge.  Shadows from every bulkhead stretched and danced.

Nixkit and several other defenders stationed in the central platform squinted.

Digiff scuffled to a stop in mid-sprint.  He turned to gape at the northwest seas.

A burning mess of sinking metal and thick black smoke was all that was left of Monket's armada.

Keris slapped a talon across Digiff's shoulder.  “Focus!  We still got a job to do!”

Digiff gulped.  “Right... s-sure thing...”  He turned and ran after the griffon.

“Are your dredger friends activating the motors or not?”

Just as he said that, the decks beneath them shifted.  With underwater bursts of steam, the welded hulls shifted east, closing up the water gap between it and the central platform.

“That answer your question?” Digiff's voice cracked.

“Good.  Have an eye on the sea ponies?”

Digiff looked to his left.  The glowing light intensified beneath the waves.  “I think they have their friggin' eyes on me.”

“Good.”  Keris gripped Digiff, forcing the two of them to stop.  “Then now's our chance.  Stand here.”

Digiff's eyes bulged.  He gawked at where he and Keris stood on the very edge of the strut, right before the widening canal.  “Are you crazy?!  They'll slice our legs out from underneath us!”

“Oh, I highly doubt that.”  Keris courageously stood on the very ledge of the strut, facing the waters.  “Now, stay still.  Look meaty.”

“Ah jeez...”  Digiff gnashed his teeth.  “Ah jeez...”

“Steady...”

The glowing lights grew brighter and brighter.  Six sets of beady eyes came closer, piercing, hungry.  Fins kicked and lashed at the depths.

“Steady... ... ...”  Keris clenched his beak.

Digiff held his machete tight, wincing.

At last, the sea ponies' headcrests pierced the watery surface—

“Fall back!” Keris yanked himself and Digiff down.  “Now—!”

“Grfff!” Digiff plunged along with the griffon.  Both flattened themselves against the surface of the deck.

SPLOOSH!  The six remaining seaponies leapt over the strut, dragging sawtooth blades that sliced the air just inches above Digiff's and Keris' bodies.  Trailing droplets of liquid, the six aquatic pirates plunged into the canal on the other side...

...only for the canal to completely vanish.  Clannggg!  With an intense metal thud, the strut collided solidly with the central platform.

Th-Th-Thappp!  The seaponies landed wetly, meatedly.  They dropped their weapons, gills fluctuating as they flopped madly across the solid surface.  They collided with one another, eyes bulging while their limp fins flickered with crimson panic and horror.

Digiff and Keris stood up, catching their breaths.

“See?”  Keris exhaled.  “Good.  Now we can take them in for questi—”

“Gut them!” Digiff snarled.  Schiiing!  He galloped forward with his machete.  He wasn't alone; dozens upon dozens of dredgers hopped from the central platform to that strut—where they all converged on the helpless sea ponies, hacking and slicing and ripping them to bloody shreds.

“Wait!  Wait!”  Keris outstretched a talon, sneering.  “Dammit!  For Verlaxion's sake—we can at least use them as leverage against—”

A hoof gripped the griffon's shoulder.  “Give it a rest, Birdie...”

Keris turned around.

Skagra blew his bangs out of forehead and droned, “Let them have their seafood platter.”  He gazed across the platforms—littered with bodies, mostly those pirates.  The remaining invaders had gathered in a tight cluster, huddled two struts to the west and attempting to form a new front.  “You've done enough, but this dance ain't over yet.”

Nixkit and a few other dredgers marched forward, joining the Red Barge leader and the Lieutenant.

“What are you thinking, boss?” Nixkit asked.  “We hole up here like the griffon suggests?  Or we bring the fight back to them?”

Skagra's bad eye squinted across the seascape.  He focused on the three pirate ships as they cruised past the smoldering wreckage still pumping fumes and flames high into the sky.  “I'm thinking... ... ...”
> Red Barge Is Death, Life
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Slowly, Swab's eyes fluttered open.  He blinked, squinting curiously at his surroundings.

The brig loomed around the colt.  The walls and ceiling still shook from the distant thuds of the fight.  Across the debris-riddled floor, Swab spotted Croche.  The filly was craning her neck, peering deep into Rainbow's cell.

Swab stirred.  Wincing, he stood up, teetered slightly, then hobbled his way closer to the bars.  As he approached the cell, Rainbow's raspy voice gradually came into focus.

“Are you doing okay, Flutters?”  A pause.  “I know... I know.  I... I'd be lying if I told you it'll get better.  The only thing violence is good for is getting more violent.”  Another pause.  “No.  That... that doesn't mean that I've changed my mind about... mmmrff... you know...”

More thuds.  Swab had gone far beyond flinching.  He stood besides Croche.  She glanced at him, gulped, then resumed staring into the cell.

A petite pegasus stood in the shadows, huddled, staring into empty space.

“I know this is different.  Doesn't make things any... less terrible.  Then or now.  But darn it... can't you get them to open their eyes?  Even now?”  She hugged herself, shivering suddenly.  Her muzzle clenched, and ultimately she squeaked forth:  “Don't you see, girls?  I know you're there... somewhere.  I know you can hear me.  All of this?  All of this horrible crud?  We can stop it!  I have the power!  We have the power!  If you would j-just... come out.  Let me see and feel beyond these walls... I... I can make a difference.  I can get it all to stop.  Yes it will be violent.  Messy even.  But when does it all end?  It won't finish itself!  That's where the Austraeoh—... ... ...that's where I come in.  It's not an easy truth... or a fun one.  But it's an awesome one.  And if there's something you girls never got the chance to figure out about me, it's that... th-that being awesome isn't always about fun or winning.  Sometimes... sometimes you gotta lose awesomely too.  And I've lost... I-I've lost so much, girls.  That's why I am who I am now, but this new me needs you still.  This whole stinkin' world needs you... here and there... and beyond.”

She buried her face in her hooves, shuddering.

“Please.  If you won't listen to me, then listen to Fluttershy.  Hear her crying.  You're as much a part of that as... as I am.  As all of this is... please... we can't hide from it any longer.  Stop.  Stop h-hiding from me.  Please... please... oh Goddess please...”





Slowly, one limping hoof after another, Quint and Whony climbed over a soot-stained bulkhead.  An inordinate amount of blood stained their coats, as well as the foals gathering tightly behind him.  The orphans collectively stared at the lengths of Red Barge—cluttered with bodies, blood, and limbs.

Off in the distance, the pirates were regrouping.  They picked up weapons, blades, and polearms—all glistening in a brilliant plume of fire.

Quint turned, squinting at the northwest horizon.

“What happened to the slaver's ships?” Whony wheezed.

Quint shuddered.  “...I think they happened all over the seven seas from that last blast.”

“That's it,” a colt whimpered.  “We're done for.”

“Quiet...” Quint exhaled.

“They'll drag us to mudtop, skin us, and use us for manure bags—”

“I said shut up!” Quint snarled.  He pointed.  “Fight's not over.”

“But Quint,” Whony remarked.  “Looks like Skagra's got all the dredgers gathered in the center.  Shouldn't we join them?”

Quint exhaled heavily.  “Not gonna make much of a friggin' difference.”

“Huh?  Why not?”

“Because once those ships open fire again,” Quint said, gesturing at the three pirate ships bearing down on the unprotected western struts of Red Barge.  “...we're done for.”

“Ah jeez...” Whony winced.  “See them turning broadside?”

“It's now or ever,” Quint said, ice blue eyes darting about.  “All on Skagra.”





“Uhhhh...”  Nixkit gulped, pointing at the northwest horizon.  “...boss?”

Skagra stood up on a pile of crates, narrowing his uneven eyes on the burning horizon.  Digiff and several other bloodsoaked dredgers shuffled up, gazing alongside him.

The pirate ships pivoted into position.  All of their cannons extended from their starboard sides—doubly-loaded and directly facing the Barge.

“They're gonna douse us with the rest of Chandler's generosity,” Skagra slurred.  “Then scurry in and peel the Rainbow Rogue's flesh from the bulkheads if they have to.”

“Shit on a fish stick...” Digiff exhaled.

Keris took a deep breath.  He glanced behind at the huddled, sobbing families all gathered along the central platform.  “Move them southeast.  Position them behind the central towers and smokestacks.”  He looked at Skagra.  “Your office and the building supporting it are the most secure structures above sea level.  They'll hold.”

“No...” Skagra muttered.

Keris' beak rattled.  “No?!”

“If we're going to win this battle, then every dredger on board must witness what we stand to lose, otherwise the fight dwindles.”

“Spoken like a true psychopath!” Keris hollered.

“No.”  Skagra shook his scarred head.  “Spoken like the truest psychopath.”  He turned to glare sideways at the griffon.  “This ain't a sanctuary to your goddess, birdie.  You gotta make love to chaos to run it.”  Schiiing!  Producing a dagger, he started trotting towards the company of pirates two struts away.  “And I'm the loverboy this damn Barge needs.”  His nostrils flared.  “It's as simple as it bloats out here in the seven seas.  Cruelty is my most loyal mistress, and I'll be damned if I let her retire.”

“You have mares and foals to protect!” Keris shouted.  He gestured at the towers above them.  “You have the resources—!”

“Dredgers of Red Barge...”  Nixkit somberly picked up a spare polearm and marched right after Skagra.  “...we have a battle to win.”

Digiff and several others marched along with him, advancing forward—facing the pirates and the three ships beyond.

“Stop!  Will you please stop and think for yourselves for once?!”  Keris stumbled after them.  In desperation, he perched high on a stack of crates and shouted:  “For the Goddess' sake!”  He pointed at Skagra.  “I know this monster has scarred your bodies and your children's bodies for life!”  He sneered.  “But do not let him scar your soul!  There has to be a better way!  A smarter way!”

“Red Barge is life.  Red Barge is death.  There is nothing beyond,” Skagra said.  “Your holy Talon believes this as much as we do, birdie.  Now either give it up or join us.  I promise...”  He used the dagger to toss his bangs aside—they only drooped back.  “...it's gonna get really juicy.”

“They're about to light up!” Digiff shouted, eyes on the centralmost ship and its cannons.

“Dredgers...!” Nixkit hollered.

The pirates came charging towards them, galloping and leaping over the bulkheads.

Skagra's muzzle half-smirked.  “...time to turn the muck red.”

But just as the dredgers began their return charge—

POWWWW!  The centermost pirate ship exploded... but not with its own cannonfire.  The bulkheads of the Barge glistened yet again as the vessel and its contents were blown sky-high in a brilliant red plume of flame.

The chargings pirates stopped in their tracks, turning around.

Skagra, Nixkit, and Digiff stumbled, gaping.

Even Keris was left breathless.

In the far distance...





...a massive metal shape plowed through the smoldering remains of its sister ship.  Monket's vessel was viciously battle-scarred, with savage chunks of its hull missing from its port side.  Nevertheless, the steamship chugged tenaciously forward.  Even at a wicked lean, the slaver managed to bring the craft around so that its starboard side cannons faced the opposition.

The stallion in question gripped the rudder wheel himself.  Burnt and blood-stained, he nevertheless sported a haunting grin.  The ends of his dreadlocks sputtered with sparks and ashes as he hollered over his shoulder, “Are the cannons reloaded?!”

The few remaining crew members who were not dead or maimed complied.  “Armed and ready!”

“Aim for the rear hold!”  Monket pointed over the splashing waves at the northernmost pirate ship.  “That's where its ordinance is!  Hit it fast!  Hit it deep!”

“On your mark, master!”

Monkert spat:  “Fire!” 

POW!

P-P-POW!

Burning hot projectiles sailed into the pirate ship... and then there was no pirate ship.  The thing blew apart into three pieces, tossing splinters and meaty scraps of once-privateers high into the air.  The debris was burning even as it sank underwater.  Monket's ship rolled through it, curving northeast as it came about to aim at the last remaining pirate vessel.

As for the skiff in question, the crew members on board were floundering about.  With panicked shrieks, they formed a hasty retreat, sailing off torwards the northwest as fast as their ship could carry them.

“They're trying to escape sir!”  One of the servants hollered, reloading the cannons with a final payload.  “If we bring her about, we just might be able to graze them—”

“No.”  Monket exhaled.  He turned about, leaning with a slumped sigh against the rudder-wheel.  “Let them go.”  His bruised face bore a pale grin.  “Let them return to speak of their defeat.  I want Mudtop to know all that's happened today... so that when I return there...”  His pale red eyes narrowed.  “...they'll treat Skagra like a king... and myself like a god.”





“They're retreating!” Digiff hollered.  “You see that!  Hah!  That octopus-headed bastard bucked them over big time!”

“Mother of muck...” Nixkit exhaled.  He leaned against his grip of a polearm.  “...he actually came through.”

“Just goes to show...”  Skagra stifled a yawn while several of the dredgers and families behind them broke into hysterical cheering.  “A Monket in the hoof is worth two really big, smelly ones in the sea.”

Meanwhile, the pirates still left on board the Barge began to stammer and yelp in panic.  Several of them waved wildly at the retreating vessel, screaming at the skiff to turn back.  There was no response, of course, and soon the invaders found themselves stranded in the middle of a floating sea of metal and rust.  One by one, they shivered... trotting... then running... then full-force galloping towards the westernmost struts where most of the damage was.  Any of the pirate pegasi still left in the sky sped off for random horizons, ditching the battle altogether.

“Look at them...” Digiff snorted.  “What are they going to do?  Swim back to Mudtop?”

“Why don't you let them reach Mudbottom?”  Skagra pointed forward with is dagger.  “'Pirates' are on the menu, boys!”

“You heard the boss!” Nixkit grinned wickedly, galloping forward.  “Show no mercy!”

“Yaaaaaaaugh!” Digiff joined him.

In swift order, the forces of Red Barge galloped westward, chasing the pirates—overtaking them and slicing and dicing the pleading attackers to bloody bits.

All the while, Keris hollered, shrieked:  “No!  Don't!  Can't you see?!  They've given up!  You don't have to do this!”  He sneered through his beak.  “Please!  You don't have to live this way!  There's no need for any more violence!  The battle is over!  The battle is won!  Blessed Verlaxion!  Isn't this Barge painted red enough?!”

“Ohhhhh birdie birdie birdie...”  Skagra paced leisurely behind the squawking griffon.  He picked up a loose length of pipe, then swung it hard.  “...how I sicken of your insufferable parrot shrieks.”

Keris was too slow to dodge—CLANG!  “Ooomf!”  The Lieutenant stumbled over.  His expert muscles kicked in, and he nearly stood himself back up—only to receive a second blow to the spine.  WHACK!  “Unnngh!”  he fell hard to his chest, wincing.

“Hrmmmfff... takes a licking and keeps on pissing me off...”  Cl-Clack!  Skagra dropped the pipe and trotted around.  His body briefly blocked the bloodbath way ahead of Keris as he knelt to stare into the griffon's eyes.  “Looks like you've outlived your usefulness.  Back into the birdhouse with you, buddy boy.”  He motioned towards a pair of dredgers, and they dragged Keris' numb body away.  “Time for me to get back to work.”

“Mrmmff... please...”  Keris hissed, his vision swimming.  Magenta hawkeyes darted left and right, catching the sobbing faces of families and the thousand-mile-stare of orphans.  “...somepony... stop... st-stop...”  And he was out like a light, his dazed mind flashing through a million violent memories before finally surrendering to unconsciousness.

> Sea's Foam, Born to Bloat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Side by side, Swab and Croche limped up out of the brig within the southern strut.  They immediately had to step sideways to avoid the bleeding, breathless corpse of a slain pirate.  As they reached the top deck, they spotted several more slain privateers.  Dredgers were marching back and forth, piling the foreign bodies into a corner—flinging the invaders' weapons into another.  As the clatter of rattling blades ended, a salty wind blew through, carrying the sound of dozens upon hundreds of wailing voices.

Swab winced from his injured head.  Nevertheless, he pivoted about, leaning his weight on Croche's shoulder as he peered across the struts.  His yellow eyes fell upon multiple families—each huddled around the dead stallion of the household while wives and foals wept for a father who would never move again.  Elders stood in frayed circles, leaning against one another as they gazed across the chaotic remnants of a bloody war-at-sea.

Flaming wreckage still billowed from random spots across Red Barge.  The smoky fumes of charred hulls added to the soot and grime in the air.  It was through this smoldering mess that a trio of pegasi returned from the east.  Multiple dredgers raised their spears and crossbows—but relaxed as soon as they recognized the ponies in flight as belonging to Monket.  The looks of horror plastered across the pegasi's muzzles were beyond vomitous.  They gaped at the burning metalscape, then landed awkwardly on Monket's lone surviving steamship as it moored along the remains of the northern strut.  Coiling their aching wings, the pegasus servants stumbled back and forth across the shattered top deck, calling out for their loved ones—but to no avail.  Even from a distance, Swab could make out a distraught mare tearing off her flight jacket and falling to her knees to cradle the bloody remains of her dead brother.  She buried her muzzle in his chest and howled with a voice so loud and mournful that it rattled the muck and water beneath the barge.

Monket—meanwhile—stumbled off his ship and trudged across the struts of the Barge, limping.  His muzzle was stuck in an iron-wrought frown as he took in the dismantled lengths of the place.  He trotted vaguely in the direction of the western strut—and he wasn't alone.  Several dredgers were shuffling in that direction as well.  A mild commotion rose through the air, bleeding into a panicked roar.  Soon, Red Bargers were running... dashing... galloping towards where the damage along the struts was most severe.

“Swab...”  Croche lifted a hoof and pointed up high.  “Look.”

He did.  To the colt's horror, the air towards the west end of the Barge was turning thick and gray.  An ear-piercing howl filled the air as multiple pipes and vents began to buckle.

“Verlaxion spare us...” Swab gulped.  “...the steam reserves...”

At precisely that moment, multiple dredgers' voices shouted through the wispy air:

“To the west strut!”

“All hooves!”

“Move!  Move!”

“Grab any tool you can!”

By then, a thick line of orphans was running by.  More than one of them flashed a panicked look at Swab and Croche, panting.  “There you are!  C-can't you hear the shouts?!”

“The... the steam tanks—” Croche stammered.

“If it blows, there's no Red Barge!” Whony's voice rang as he and several other foals galloped by.  “Much less any nibbles!  Move your asses!”

“Friggin' move!”

“Oh gosh... oh g-gosh!”  Croche winced, bursting into a full sprint.

Swab panted, limping to keep up with her and the mass of Dredgers flooding west.





The west struts were a mess of epic proportions.  The bloody corpses of pirates were draped across many of the bulkheads.  Meanwhile, remnants of motorboats and landing craft scraped against the outer hulls between spots where cannonballs and dredge coal explosives had shattered the rusted framework to bits.

This wasn't the worst of it...

Countless steam pipes and valves had burst, rupturing from the intense heat billowing upward from the lower holds of the welded vessels.  Dredgers scampered all across the metal lengths of the struts, struggling to tighten the framework, sealing off the leaks so that they could redirect the searing hot air flow.  It was a losing battle from the start, and the frantic, angry shouts being flung from group to group wasn't helping the matter get any better.

“No!  No, dammit!”  Nixkit snarled, waving his hooves dramatically at the chaotic group of panicked dredgers.  “Keep away from the lateral manifolds!  They're too far gone and you'll bloat in an instant if they burst even further!”

“It's the outermost strut!”

“It's taken on too much damage!”

“I can see that, you imbeciles!” Nixkit shouted, waving cloudbursts of industrial fog out of his muzzle.  “Grnngh... but can you localize it?!”

“Too early to tell!” Digiff's voice shouted.  He poked his head out of a metal compartment, drenched in sweat.  “This whole thing is shot to Hell!  Chandler's shit did a number to us!”

“Can you prevent a cascade?”

“Not at this rate.”  Panting, Digiff slid out of the compartment with help from another dredger.  He looked at Nixkit with a dazed expression.  “And the motors are fried.”

“You mean...?”

Digiff nodded weakly.  “Not enough power to move the struts away from the rest of the Barge before this part of the platform blows.”

“Verlaxion's sleet...”  Monket grumbled as he shuffled up with a few bruised servants.  “I sacrifice a ship full of property to save your sorry flanks and this is what you've got to show for it?”

“Hey!”  Digiff frowned, pointing across the bulkheads.  “Why don't you floss your ass with those dreads of yours and give us something to really patch up the pipes with!”

Schiiiing!  Monket unsheathed a rapier.  “How about you trot over here and kiss it instead?”

“Easy there, Nasty Mister Mucker...”  Skagra drifted by, pressing Monket's forelimb down with a graceful hoof.  “Don't lose your 'hero-of-the-hour' status over a bearded back-biter.”

“You're one to talk, Skagra!”  Monket hissed through soot-stained teeth.  “Defending your sorry ass barge has cost me big time!  And—”

“AND... there'll be no paybacks whatsoever if we don't get our collective shits together.”

“What are we even going to do about Chandler and the Rainbow Rogue now?!”  Monket gestured, cackling.  “We've made far too many damn explosions for the seven seas to ignore!  They'll be sending the Talon at any point!  And just how are you going to explain the griffon in your hold now, dredger?!”

“Shhhhh...” Skagra calmly paced through the fidgeting group of panicked dredgers.  “...let's all take a deep breath and deal with this in the same way I like to approach waking up in the morning.”  He brushed his bangs back.  “One holocaust at a time.”  The red hair flounced back as he turned to gaze at Nixkit.  “Lay it on me, Nixxy.”

Nixkit took a deep breath.  “Boss, we may have a problem.”

“And I might have kidney stones.  Out with it already.”

Croche and Swab arrived at this point, standing on the sidelines with multiple orphans.  They held tools at the ready, staring nervously across the canal of the nearest strut.

Nixkit strolled across the steaming deck, pointing at Digiff and the other dredgers' frantic work.  “The surface damage to the struts will be easy to fix.  But the dredge coal explosions must have rattled the structure too hard.  Digiff thinks the steam reserves down in the hold have ruptured.”

Digiff shook his head.  “There's no way down there, Skagra.  The cabins have collapsed.”  He wiped the sweat and grime from his brow, trembling.  “We've tried redirecting the heat from above, but we can't properly channel the excess steam.  It's too busted up top as well.”

“So it's gonna blow, is what you're saying,” Monket slurred from the sidelines.  He shrugged wildly.  “All of this melee and mayhem?!  For what?!”

Digiff frowned at him, then looked at Skagra.  “Boss, if we can uncouple the struts and then rotate the Barge away, we might be able to gain some distance—”

“No use,” Skagra grunted, staring gravely at the steamy mess.  “The engines are fried.  It took hell and high water just to get the thing to move so Monket could disembark and do his high seas hero shit.”

“So you're saying that moving Red Barge is not an option?” Nixkit remarked.

“Not in time to avoid what's boiling up here,” Skagra said.

“Look out!” a stallion's voice shouted.

“Get away from the panels—!”

Two hulls away, several pipes burst.  A stallion shrieked in pain as his lower legs were instantly scalded.  The other dredgers dragged him away from a veritable explosion of burning vapors.  Croche, Swab, and the other orphans grimaced as they saw the steam geyser climb high into the air, accompanied by an ear-piercing whistle.

Digiff clenched his teeth.  “That's it!”  He flashed a wild look at Skagra.  “That's the start of a cascade!  We can't regulate it at this point!”

“Can you localize it?” Nixkit breathlessly asked.  “If... if perhaps we could keep the explosion contained to—”

“Impossible.”  Digiff shook his head.  “It'll rupture all the way through the strut, bringing the western platforms under.  The impact to the rest of the Barge will be catastrophic.”

“Then what are we standing around here for?!”  Monket frowned.  “Move your dredgers to the opposite end of the Barge—”

“Shhhh!” Skagra hissed with such sudden authority that it even silenced the slaver.  He paced across the steaming hull, pondering darkly.  “... ... ...what about the crawlspaces?”

Digiff blinked.  “The maintenance corridors?”

“Are they accessible?”

“None of my stallions can even fit in—”

“I wasn't talking about the stallions, Digiff.”

Digiff's muzzle hung open.  He turned, gazing dully across the canal.

A hundred little eyes gazed back.

“Answer the question, Digiff,” Skagra droned.

“It's...”  Digiff gulped.  “...it's got to be over one hundred and twenty degrees down there and rising—”

“How long will it take to access the steam reserves and vent them from inside?”

Digiff took a deep breath.  His jaws clenched.  “Not that long... boss.”

Skagra swiveled around.  His crooked eyes bounced from foal to foal.  He shuffled down the line of orphans... until at last his gaze fell upon the smallest body he could see.  He pointed.  “Canteloupe.”

Nixkit whistled to Digiff.

Instantly, Digiff marched across the bridge, reached a hoof out, and grabbed Swab by the shoulder.

Swab gasped.  His eyes darted between Skagra and the steam.  He gasped again, harder.  “But... b-but...”

“Just be quiet already, ya little shit,” Digiff grumbled under his breath, staring ahead.

“Wait!” Croche suddenly gasped.  She scampered after the dredger as he dragged Swab back across the bridge.  “There's got to be another way!  Sending him down there?!  It'll... it'll kill him!”

“Mind your place, seafoam,” Digiff huffed, yanking a wincing, bandaged Swab after him.

“No!  You can't!”

“Nixxy...” Skagra yawned, shuffling off.  “...a leash, if you will.”

Nixkit firmly reached out and grabbed Croche.  “That's far enough—”

“Stop it!” Croche's voice cracked as she struggled in the dredger's grasp.  “Grnnngh... somepony!  Please!  Stop him!”

Digiff dragged Swab over to the nearest maintenance hatch.  A pair of stallions were already grabbing a length of rope and chain to affix to the shivering colt's leg.  A line of dredgers solemnly stood at a distance.  Nopony moved an inch, despite Croche's shrieks.

“You all fought so hard to save each other!  To save this Barge!”  She stammered, wept.  “Why do this to ourselves?!”  She looked at the orphans—but they merely hung their heads, staring into the muck below the Barge.  “Why c-can't we just... just b-be nice to each other?!”

“That's enough, child,” Nixkit droned, shoving her back towards the rest of the orphans.  “Get it out of your head or you won't see twenty winters.”  He turned towards Digiff and nodded.

“Please...”  Croche fell to her knees, shivering.  “...pl-please, can't we just ch-change...?”

Swab stared at her, wincing.  He shivered as the metal-and-rope tether was brought to his rear leg.  His lips moved, murmuring Verlaxion's name.

Just before the cuff could latch on, a dull olive forelimb reached in, holding it in place.  “Wait...”  Quint shoved Swab aside and grasped the tether in his own hooves.  “Don't bother.  The little seafoam scrap is useless.”

Digiff did a double-take.  He marched forward, snarling at the older colt:  “Boy—”

“He's a half-headed moron,” Quint said, frowning up at the dredger.  “You shove him down there and in ten seconds he'll be sobbing for his worthless parents... not saving the Barge.”

“He's tiny!  He can get the job done—”

“But he doesn't have the experience.”  Quint's nostrils flared.  “Not like I do.”  That said, he clasped the tether around his leg with a sigh.  “You want to prevent the cascade?  Leave it to the experts.”

From afar, Whony gasped.  He shoved his way through the crowd of orphans and dredgers and rushed across the bridge.

Digiff gnashed his teeth.  “Kid—listen!  This ain't no time for—”

“No, you listen!” Quint snarled back.  “The kids here are my responsibility.  Just like the rest of the dredgers are yours.  You wanna put the steam in responsible hooves or risk it on a useless nopony?”

Swab stared from aside, breathless.

Digiff fidgeted.  He looked at the venting steam, then across the way at Skagra.

Skagra glared back through one sickly eye.

Frowning, Digiff spun away from Quint.  He grunted over his shoulder, “Go under.”

“Right...” Quint grabbed a tool satchel, flinging it around himself.  “About time somepony was an adult about this.”

“Quint!”  Whony stammered.  He galloped past Swab and stood before the older colt.  “Quint!  Are you crazy?!”

“Only the craziest,” Quint muttered.  He stared at the lid to the maintenance compartment while two stallions rushed over, hooking their crowbars into the notches and lifting.

“This is beyond us!  Beyond you!”  Whony squeaked through clenched teeth.  “Quint... you stay down there for five minutes and you'll be dead!”

“All things considered, it'll be an upgrade,” Quint droned.

“But... but...”  Whony clenched his eyes shut as he buckled.

“Shhhh...”  Quint reached over, hooking a forelimb around Whony's neck.  He leaned his forehead against the other colt's as Whony shuddered.  “...they're your responsibility now.”

“I can't...” Whony whimpered, gnashing his teeth.  “I... I-I just can't...”

“You can do many things, dude,” Quint murmured.  “But just make sure you it's not everything he can do.  Or will do.”  He leaned back, facing the hatch once more.  “Or you'll be headed to the same place.”

At last, the stallions opened the lid.  Steam vented out in a ghostly gray burst.  The hairs of everypony within fifteen feet instantly curled.

Quint took one last breath... and shuffled effortlessly towards the hole.  He clenched his jaw shut so as not to whimper when his hooves made hissing contact with the ladder.  Some shuffling, and the colt's eyes watered as he descended into the torturous corridor.  He gazed one last time at the grimy metal... the polluted sky.  He caught an eye-full of Swab, and disappeared.

Swab blinked.

Croche watched as the tether snaked its way down into the corridor, gliding slower and slower.  She hung her head while a dull hush hung over the party.

Everypony waited in tense silence for the steam problem to be fixed from within.  Digiff said nothing.  Nixkit paced and paced while Skagra held a private, murmuring conversation with Monket a few spaces over.

And Swab...

Swab gazed at the scene, muzzle agape.  He blinked, shivering.  At last, he tilted his head over to the side.  “... ... ...Whony?”

The colt sat with his back to the orphan, gazing ceaselessly at the steaming hatch and the snaking tether.

Slowly, Swab shuffled over to Whony.  Swallowing a lump down his throat, he reached a hoof out to the colt's shoulder.  “Whony... I'm... I-I'm so—”

“Rrrrgh!”  Whony spun about, teeth gnashing.  He swung at Swab's chin.

The hoof barely made contact.  Swab fell back on his haunches all the same.

Whony leered over him, eyes streaming with tears.  “You happy?!  You stupid piece of seafoam?!”  He rubbed his muzzle, shaking from head to tail.  “You've killed him!  The best thing to c-come out of this damn place is dead now and it's all your fault!”  He sobbed into his forelimb, shivering all over.  “Friggin'... one-eared freak!  What are you ever g-good for?!”  Whimpering, Whony broke into a crooked gallop, running far... far away from the strut.

Swab stared after him, lips quivering.  At last, he buried his face in his hooves.

Not long after, the steam venting out from the lower struts dissipated.  The pipes stopped hissing.  The muck-stained waters stopped boiling.

And the tether...

The tether was no longer moving.
> A Silly Thing Worth Saying
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Do you understand your instructions?” Monket said in a deep voice.

The pegasus slave's eyes were still glazed over with tears when she lifted her head up.  Swallowing heavily, she nodded.

“Then you had better start flying right away,” the stallion continued.  A warm wind beat against their manes, carrying with it the ash and soot from multiple burning struts.  “If I know Chandler, he'll be in harbor with his fleet, expecting a response from us.”  He pointed east.  “Go and make this final delivery.”  His brow furrowed.  “This is my solemn promise to you:  no more blood from your clan shall be sold from Mudtop.  With the payment from this exchange, I shall make it my first order to free all of your relatives.  Is that understood?”

“Yes... m-master...”

“Be on your way.”

The mare endured a deep, shuddering breath.  Then, with heavy flaps of her wings, she took off from Monket's surviving ship, carrying the weight of herself and two thick saddlebags.  She skirted around the remaining flames and fumes of Red Barge, then curved to the right, heading east towards the dim horizon.

Sighing through his nostrils, Monket strolled down onto the northern struts where his ship was moored.  He was met by Skagra and several other dredgers.

“Is the payment en route?” Skagra droned.

“So to speak,” Monket replied in an even duller tone.

“Does a nasty mister miscreant like you intend to keep any promises given to that mare?”

Monket glared back.  “Do you intend to pay me back for all of the losses I've suffered while defending your burnt ass?!”

“Mmmmmm...” Skagra shuffled over, wrapping a forelimb around Monket's neck.  “Monket Monket monket...”  He breathed.  “When all of this is said and done, you'll be so rich you won't have a reason to sneeze at Mudtop, much less keep true to any mucking obligations.”

“At this point, the only way that will be possible is if Chandler's erased from the ocean altogether.”

“When we're done with him, he'll wish he was erased.”

Monket raised an eyebrow at that.

“It's rather simple, buddaroo...”  Skagra paced across the strut, staring at the many-many dredgers putting out fires all across Red Barge.  “Chandler sought to burn our very own home to dust.  Little did he know that all of us are immolated upon being foaled.”  He gulped, his jaw suddenly clenched tight.  “Burnt by fear... seared by desperation... singed with misery.”  He turned around, pulling at the flesh of his burnt face, forcing his lazy eye to open wider.  “And some of us are even baptized by fire twice in one life... to come out on top.  That's something the fat cat will never understand.”  He nodded.  “But now we're going to help him understand.  And once the fires have settled all around him, Chandler will finally realize just who he's been dealing with.”  Skagra exhaled with a shudder.  “He'll turn overnight from a brazen asshole to a blubbering coward—just like he is underneath.”

“Assuming you humble him...”  Monket folded his forelimbs.  “...how will the Rainbow Rogue exchange even take place at this point?”

Skagra took a deep breath.  He looked at Monket's battered ship moored up to the strut.  “Wait six hours.  Then send your last two messengers.”

Monket blinked curiously.

“Tell him to come to Red Barge.  One ship.  One tiny crew.”

“You... still think we can make that happen?” Monket remarked.  “After all he's launched our way—?”

“Chandler's used to doing damage from afar.  That's all going to change now.”  Skagra turned to glare icily in Monket's direction.  “If he wants to deal with filth, he must learn to get covered in it.  And when he finally makes the dive...”  His teeth showed.  “We're going to drown him... and steal what's rightfully ours from his corpse.”

“And what if this doesn't end?”

“Chuu?”

“This damned war that you've got us all embroiled in!” Monket remarked.  “What if Chandler answers with something even more savage than what's happened today?”

“There's nothing more savage left in him,” Skagra said.  “For him to get more powerful, he'll have to become me.”  His good ear twitched.  “...and I think we both know that'll never happen.”

“Heh...”

“You gotta learn to roll with the punches, Monket,” Skagra said.  He sighed, staring across the bloodied struts.  “...so long as you make sure that everypony gets punched but you.”

Monket stood alongside Skagra as both stallions observed the smoldering sights.  A dull red sun set in the west, its crimson rays streaming past the columns of rising smoke.

“I just have one question, Skagra,” Monket remarked.

“Hrmm?”

“Is it all really worth fighting for?”  Monket's eyes narrowed.  “This... filthy derelict you call home?”

Skagra swiftly replied, “For all of the slaves you've bought... the steamships you've burned through... and the drugs you smuggled...”  He brushed at his bangs, glancing aside.  “...can you recall ever truly owning something that you've earned?”

Monket was silent.

“Do you know anypony in these seas—beloved or forsaken by Verlaxion—who can make that claim?”

With a sigh, Monket shook his head.

Skagra stared at him.  “I am that pony.  And by muck... when all the cards have been dealt, I'll die as him.”

Monket nodded his head towards the western struts.  “I'm guessing your little steam problem has been fixed.”

Skagra gulped suddenly.  With a limp step, he trotted towards the decks in question, accompanied by fellow dredgers.  “Yeah... about that...”






Dredgers pulled and tugged at the tether.

Swab watched, muzzle agape.

Croche trembled among many grave-faced orphans.  Whony was nowhere to be seen.

At last—with dull grunts—the dredgers finished pulling the limp weight up and out of the maintenance corridor.  A red-raw lump of flesh came out, dragging blood and steaming all over.  The scrappy remains of a tool belt hung off the corpse's body.

Croche stifled a squeak, lowering her sunken eyes to the water of the canal beneath her.

Swab bit his lip.  His one ear drooped.

With dull hoofsteps, Nixkit shuffled to a stop above Quint's body.  He exhaled, then bent down low to strip the tool bag from the scalded meat.  He hoofed the item to Digiff—who took it with a deadpan expression.  At the sound of limping hoofsteps, both dredgers looked up.

Skagra came to a stop.  He looked down at the body, then up at Nixkit and Digiff.  “The cascade's averted?”

Both stallions nodded.

At the sound of wailing voices in the distance, Skagra glanced across the nearest struts.  “What's that?”

“Mourning, sir,” Nixkit exclaimed.  “Lots of families were hit hard on this side of the Barge.”  He cleared his throat.  “Several dredgers... several fathers who worked here are completely bloated.”

Skagra scratched his scruffy chin.  “...about how many dredgers?”

“Easily half of the work force.”

Skagra continued scratching his neck, staring off in silent thought.  “... ... ...mothball half of the struts until they can be fully repaired.”

“And the families?”

“Did the dredgers have wives?”

“Most, yes.”

“Healthy wives?”

Nixkit blinked.  “...the harvest chambers?”

“Get them to work,” Skagra said, strolling across the deck.  “Send the foals into the hold.  Digiff, you know what to do.”

“Yes, boss,” Digiff muttered, staring off.

Croche shuddered quietly.

“The steam vents on the east struts should do the trick,” Skagra said, stifling a yawn.  He paused by Quint's body again, then glanced at Nixkit.  “Cesspool.”

“Aye, boss.”

Swab gasped.  As Skagra trotted off, he saw Nixkit reaching down and detaching the tether from Quint's charrged fetlock.  “Wait!  Wait!”  He scampered across the deck.  “No!  You can't send him there!”

“We all go there sometime, kid,” Nixkit grunted, wincing from the heat still radiating off the metal manacles.  “Either that or the muck when we bloat—”

“He deserves more than that!”  Swab gnashed his teeth.  “He actually did something good with his last breath!  The colt deserves a proper burial at sea so that his soul can reach the Spring Havens!”  Seething, Swab charged forward and shoved at Nixkit's forelimbs.  “Nnnngh!  Let him go!  Quint deserves to be with Verlaxion—!”

Nixkit growled, “Digiff, control your foals.”

“That's enough, kid,” Digiff reached in, yanking Swab back.

Swab fought back, yelping:  “No!  No!  He can still be with Verlaxion—”

“Rrrrgh!”  Digiff slammed his hoof across Swab's forehead.  Whack!

“Oooof!”  Swab rolled over twice across the platform, clutching his skull.

“Nopony here can be with Verlaxion!” Digiff snarled back.  “We are all seafoam!”  He stood in place, fuming.  “... ... ...we were bloat long before we were ever foaled.”

At last, Nixkit freed Quint's corpse.  A pair of stallions heaved the carcass up, carrying it off to the cesspools of the southern strut.

Swab watched, lips quivering.  A fresh trickle of blood ran down from underneath his bandage.

“Come along, fellas,” Digiff muttered, already marching towards the source of the wailing cries.  “Red Barge needs a new workload...”  Multiple grave-faced stallions followed him dutifully.

Swab sat in a slump, panting.  As the first of multiple panicked shrieks lit the air, he hung his shuddering head.

The rest of the orphans spread apart, gradually shuffling their way east.  Croche found a shadowed place to hide from the last rays of the setting sun.  Then—as the shrieks of separating families lit the air—she cowered in a metal niche and covered her ears, quietly sobbing to herself.





Whony sat alone on a lofty bulkhead to the south, overlooking the smoke wafting across the damaged Barge.  A glazed expression hung off his muzzle... a muzzle that barely twitched—even as the sobbing yelps of foals increased by tenfold.  The cries were accompanied by hissing bursts of steam as—one by one—Digiff and his associates scalded the children's cutie marks to raw red blemishes.

With a sigh, Whony clenched his eyes shut.  It failed to dam the tears leaking across his bruised face.





Within an hour...

Panicked, twitching foals were thrown down into the hold deep within the east strut.  Some of them protested—only to be stared down by Digiff and his associates.  In swift order, the new additions to the orphanage galloped off into distant corners.  There, they huddled in pain-stricken clusters.  Fresh blood and puss trickled from the spots on their flank where steam exposure had just recently branded them.

The rest of the orphans sat slumped on their bunks and mattresses, refusing to look at the newcomers.  An eerie silence hung between the rusted bulkheads.  It was far from the first time.

One by one, the fresh meat clenched their teary eyes shut.  With persistent shivers, they fought the urge to sob, even as they heard the frightened echoes of their mothers and families being carted below deck... and into a deep, mechanical purgatory.





Chandler raised a cup of tea to his muzzle, sipping from the warm liquid.  He leaned back in his chair and relaxed.  “Hmmmm...”  A tiny smile crossed his face as he relished in the herbal flavor.  “An ocean full of bastards, liars, murderers...”  He swirled the cup, glancing across the luxurious cabin of his personal ship.  “And it hasn't been until now that the shores of Rohbredden can finally enjoy Kihutajan Jasmine Brew.”

Longaze stared down at him, levitating a clipboard in her magical grasp.  “Then I take it you approve of the latest shipment?”

“Consider it signed and stamped,” Chandler droned.  He took another sip.  “Mmmm!”  Swallowing, he raised a hoof and added:  “Also... be sure to assign the next trade ships to the northern currents.”  He smirked.  “I want them sailing by within eyeshot of White Barge.  Those stuck-up flankholes need to see what they're missing.  Within six months—I promise you—they'll be crawling back to me and begging to ship their dredge coal through the Consortium once more.”

“Mmmmhmmm...”  The well-dressed mare scribble across the clipboard.  “And assuming they do just that?”

Chandler smriked.  “...we'll let them sit on it for another six months before we agree to salvage their failing enterprise”

“And what of reserve dredge coal between now and then?”

“Nothing to fear,” Chandler said, stifling a yawn.  “It's only a matter of time before Skagra gets over his mutated self and learns to fly right.”  He took another sip of the tea.  “Assuming he's still alive, that is.  Hrmmmff... I'm sure Monket will have survived the whole ordeal.  As Verlaxion is my witness—if anypony's going to be willing to listen to reason now—it'll be him.  A slaver listens to bits, after all.”

“I'm quite sure...”

“The Rainbow Rogue will be ours in no time,” Chandler said.  “If nothing else, this little... setback has allowed us time to spread the bounty and arouse attention from the populace.”  He exhaled calmly.  “'Rainbow Dash' will be a household name across the western prefectures by the time I carry her sorry flank in to the Council.  Then we'll see which magistrate truly holds sway over Verlaxion's chosen continent.”

Before Longaze could even reply, a series of voices shouted from the deck outside:  “Messenger!”

“Pegasus inbound!”

“Ah!”  Chandler placed the teacup down and stood up, adjusting his bejeweled robe.  “Speak of the devil!  See?”  He winked at Longaze as he strolled with her to the door.  “It was only a matter of time before the Red Bargers caved in.”

“That's... rather swift for a response,” Longaze muttered.  “Wouldn't you agree, sir?”

“Punctuality is the name of business,” Chandler said.  “Watch and observe, Ms. Longaze.  You might learn something.”

He nodded at a pair of servants who opened the door.  Chandler squinted into a brisk salty sea breeze as he stepped out onto the open deck of his steamship.  Several more ships drifted in the waters of a busy harbor to the north and south of where he was positioned.  Starlight cascaded across the bay, and the nebulous aura outlined the hunched silhouette of a still, breathless pegasus.

“Ahhh...”  Chandler stood in place, spreading his forelimbs out.  “...back so soon!  Splendid!  Tell me, child...”  He grinned.  “...what are Skagra's terms?  Surely, by now, he knows who he's dealing with and the resources at my disposal.”

The pegasus simply stood there, wings drooped.

A few crew members glanced curiously at one another, then at Chandler.

“Uhm... hello?”  Chandler raised an eyebrow, frowning.  “I do believe I asked you a question, messenger.”

Curious, Longaze illuminated the horn in the center of her tight blonde mane.

The soot-stained face of a mare looked up.  A tear trickled down the slave's muzzle as she stammered:  “My brother is dead...”  She inhaled sharply, shaking her head.  “...no more bloating.”

“What in Goddess' name are you babbling about—?”  Chandler's voice cut off the very moment he heard a hissing sound.  His green eyes darted towards a sparkling fuse hanging out of the the pegasus' bulging saddlebags.

“Dredge coal!” a crew member shouted.  “She's loaded!”

The pegasus sneered through her teeth.  “Skagra sends his regards—”  Two stallions tackled her, but it was too late.  The fuse burned into her saddlebags.

“Oh goddess—!” Chandler whimpered.

“Sir!”  Longaze jumped directly in front of him, conjuring a bright golded shield around the two.  “Get down—!”

POWWWW!

Flames and entrails bathed Chandler and his bodyguard instantly—





—while taking out half of the ship with it.

A booming concussion rippled across the bay, rocking the other steam vessels.

With shrieks and gasps of surprise, the various workers of the Consortium spun about, gawking from their rolling decks.

Everypony watched as Chandler's ship went up in a plume of flame, lighting up the night.  The vessel split completely in two before sinking slowly into the depths of the harbor.





Keris' crest feathers fluttered in an invisible breeze.  The unconscious griffon lay slumped against the wall of his cell, his beak hanging agape.

Across the brig—gazing through a partially demolished space—Rainbow Dash sat in her cell.  She leaned against the bars with a sigh, her ruby eyes plastered to the Lieutenant.

“So... uh... you're sure he's okay?”

Silence.

“I only ask because... like... looks like he took one heck of a beating.”

Up above, a tiny figure descended from the top deck of Red Barge's southern struts.  Swab shuffled up to the barred window looking down into Rainbow's cell.  He lingered there, sitting cold and quiet in the pale starlight that shrouded his bandaged head.

After a few more seconds, Rainbow spoke:  “Well, that's good to know, Flutters.”  She sighed.  “I mean... I know the guy obviously came here to bag me or... whatcrap.  But I... I-I don't think he's all that bad of a bird... cat.  Cat bird.”  She gulped.  “I'm not so sure about the guys and gals in charge of sending him out here, but... he seems alright at least.”

More silence.

“Yeah... he really did try his best up there, didn't he?”  Rainbow shuddered slightly.  “I can't help but admire anyone who fights super hard to get the impossible done.  I mean...”  A half-hearted chuckle.  “I am me, after all.”  A beat.  She smirked.  “Well, that's their loss.  Sounds like it was one heck of a show.  That is... when this guy was kicking butt, at least.”  She sighed.  “... ... ...gotta focus on the nifty stuff when all else is garbage and misery, y'know?”

Swab stared at her, his little face pressed to the bars.

“... ... ...huh?”  Rainbow blinked.  “Oh he is, is he?”  At last, she turned and glanced up at the star-lit window.  A few seconds passed, and she exhaled.  “Good to know you're in one piece, kid,” she spoke in a louder tone.  “That scrappy lil' friend of yours: she's awfully good at bandage wrapping.  She should... uh... look into doing doctor stuff when she grows up.  For realsies.  Real bang up job.”

Swab sat in complete silence.

Rainbow shivered slightly.  “Well don't everypony agree with me at once.”  She turned to gaze at Keris in his cell once more.  “You're a tough little pony, Swab.  Tougher than you look.  I think you'll make it out of this mess just fine.”  She sighed.  “At least better than I will... at this rate.”

Swab exhaled.  At last he parted his lips, speaking softly.  “Can I tell you something?” he asked.  “Even if it might sound really weird... stupid, even?”

“Mrmmmf.”  Rainbow's ears twitched.  “It wouldn't be the first time kid.”

Swab blinked, gazing down at her.  “... ... ...I love you.”

Rainbow's muzzle scrunched.  She turned and squinted up at him.  “...kid?”

He shook his head with a soft smile.  “I know it sounds silly... and you probably think I'm nuts.  But I love you, Rainbow Dash.  I love you and your sweet friend Fluttershy and your other gal pals... even if you're not on speaking terms with them right now.”

Rainbow opened her mouth, lingered, then eventually gulped.  “I've... done horrible horrible things, Swab,” she said.  “I don't know how many times I have to tell you that.  But it's the reason why my 'pals' won't even show their faces around me, among other things—”

“I know,” he nodded, smiling even more warmly.  “And I don't care.  Of all the ponies I've ever met in this horrible... miserable world, you're the only one who had every reason to hurt me... every reason to eat me alive... every reason to tear me to shreds...”  He gulped, and then his voice wavered:  “And yet you didn't.”  A squeak came out of his quivering lips, followed by a murmuring voice:  “You've been kind to me... and I think you've been kind to many... many more ponies.  You just choose not to see it right now.  But I see it.  And I love it.  I love you.”

Rainbow's face stretched in confusion and concern.  She slowly shook her head.  “Swab... Swab, I-I don't think—”

“Please...”  He whimpered.  “Please, let me just say it.  For once in my life... I need to say it.  I need to tell somepony that I love them...”  He sniffled.  “I need to know that I've said it at least one time to another soul in this awful world... and that I meant it.”  He hiccuped on a sob.  “I love you, Rainbow Dash.  I love you and I-I hope that wherever you go, Verlaxion blesses you... and th-that you accomplish everything y-you put your heart and m-mind to...”  With that said, Swab's face melted.  He dropped his bandaged head into his forelimbs, weeping quietly in the starlight.

Rainbow stared up at him, muzzle agape.

Swab clenched his teeth, tears flowing.  At last he sputtered past his sobs.  “My parents are d-dead.”  He shook, shivered.  “It happened... h-happened long ago.  A few years, I-I think.  When I was just old enough t-to know what I was crying about.”  His lips quivered.  “Skagra sent a boat out t-to survey for harvest shelves.  Pirates attacked.  There were ten ponies on the boat when th-they set off.  There were t-ten corpses when it dr-drifted back.  My parents... Mom and Dad... they were on th-that ship.”  He whimpered.  “They threw their bodies into a cesspool and then they threw me below deck.  I d-don't even remember the pain from when they burned my flanks with steam.  Just that... that it was all too soon.  I d-didn't even have my cutie mark.  Who burns a cutie m-mark that isn't there?  So... s-so...”  He squinted up at the starlight, his eyes flowing with tears.  “I-I told m-myself that it was all a m-mistake.  I st-still had to find my talent.  And that talent was reaching out to Verlaxion.  If... if I-I wrote to her enough... prayed to her enough... th-then maybe she would listen to me.  Maybe there'd be hope for bringing them back.  She's p-powerful after all. She works miracles.  But... but...”

The foal gripped the bars tightly, shaking.

“There was t-too much filth.  Too much sin.  All this time... I was struggling to bring back Mom and Dad... b-but they were gone for good.  They are gone for g-good.  And all the moments I-I could have given nibbles to other ponies... h-helped other sea foam...”  He wiped his muzzle.  “...instead of j-just clinging to Verlaxion... clinging to hope...”

Rainbow gulped.  “We all need something to keep us going, kid...”

“But d-don't you see?”  Swab sobbed, staring down at her with flaring yellow eyes.  “There was n-nothing to cling to!  I wasted so m-much!  I wasn't k-kind at all!”  He buried his muzzle in his forelimbs.  “I'm as bad as everypony else here.  I... I-I deserve to be seafoam.”

“Kid... Swab.  You didn't deserve... anything that happened...”

“Quint was right... and now he's gone because of me...”  Swab whimpered, turning around and limping up the ramp.  “The best we can become here is the absolute worst Red Barge has to offer...”

“Swab... Swab!”

It was too late.  Sobbing, the colt scampered the rest of the way up to the top deck, disappearing into starlight.

Rainbow Dash stared up at the window.  She slumped back against the cold, cold bars, sunken into the deepest shadows of her cell.  “...you won't get anywhere by just blaming yourself...”	

	
> How Low Can You Go?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Her sharp talons scraped to a stop against the cold granite floor.

A servant in a woolly coat looked up from where he was sweeping lotus blossoms into a corner of the courtyard.  His gasp echoed across the empty stone seats of the chamber at the northernmost end of Frostknife.  “Commander...!”

“Be calm,” Seraphimus said.  With dull charcoal eyes, she gazed past the podium where Grand Magistrate Hymmnos would normally be standing.  “There is nothing to fear.”

“Uhhh... of c-course...”  The pony nevertheless hugged the broomstick to his cloaked chest.  “Erm...”  His eyes fluttered in the dim gray light.  “The Council won't be in session until noon tomorrow.  Should...”  He gulped.  “Sh-should I send a message, issuing an emergency assembly?”

The griffon slowly shook her head.  “That is not necessary.  I simply came here to think.”

“Oh.”  The servant blinked.  “Oh!”  He blinked again, nodding with subdued trembles.  “Right.  Right.  Uhm... b-by all means, Commander.”  He leaned his broom against the very corner of the stone enclosure, then swiftly trotted down the steps into Frostknife, making a humble exit.

Alone, Seraphimus took a deep breath.  She strolled forward, scuffling past Hymmnos' podium.  Cold winds fluttered at her silver-blue feathers.  At last, she stood in the shadow of giant statues.  Ancient tribal leaders loomed over her, frozen in granite majesty.

The Commander's hawkeyes narrowed, gazing up the cold, frosted steps leading into the sacred depths of Verlaxion's mountain... and beyond that—the centralmost point of Rohbredden, the hidden, cavernous heart of everything civilized.

She sighed.  With cool grace the guardian's body melted until she squatted on bent knees.  Seraphimus tucked her tail beneath her and stared up at the winding stairway.  The pathway was littered with settling frost and flanked by pale ice shelves.

Eventually, the Commander closed her eyes.  She sat quietly, weathering long, meditative breaths.

This carried on for the better part of a half-hour... until a second set of wings sliced the air.

With more or less grace, Starstorm landed behind her superior.  The griffon gazed at the Commander, then at the forbidden steps looming before her.  Clearing her throat, the Sergeant shuffled forward, coming to a stop directly behind Seraphimus.

“Commander,” Starstorm said.  “I've... uhm... I-I've just finished my third consecutive review of the northern security reports.”  She shook her head.  “There've been no instances of any terrorists attacking the citizenry or smuggling dredge coal since we captured Ironflanks the Batterer.”

Seraphimus inhaled.  Without opening her eyes, she replied, “Very well, Sergeant.  Thank you for your attention and punctuality.”

“Erm...”  Starstorm's wings twitched.  “There was one case of a violent dispute between two feuding families along the northern shores of Silt Prefecture... but the local security detachment swiftly resolved it.  Other than that, most townships and provinces have been preparing steadily for a smooth and peaceful Month of Thawing.”

“That is good to know,” Seraphimus said.

Silence.

“... … ...is there anything else, Sergeant?” the Commander asked, her head tilting slightly.

Starstorm sighed.  “Permission to speak freely, Commander?”

“Always...”

“The rest of the team is... feeling uneasy.”  Starstorm gulped.  “It's been several days since we've heard back from the Lieutenant.”

“Indeed.”

“We're more than certain that Keris has the wherewithal to look after himself.  And yet... did we not promise to go searching for him once communication was broken?”

Seraphimus' headcrest drooped.

“...Commander?”

“Strange...”  Seraphimus muttered.  Her claw extended forward, pointing up the steps.  “Such silence and magnificence.  What do you feel when you stare up at the Stairs of Verlaxion, Sergeant?”

Starstorm shuffled up until she stood at the Commander's side.  “I... I feel small, Commander,” she replied.  “But isn't that the point?  The ancient tribal leaders built this as a means to exemplify our Goddess' majesty.”

“They also built it with a purpose, Sergeant,” Seraphimus said.  “It's meant to be a bridge between us and Her... something more direct and divine than our very own prayers.”  She swallowed.  “And yet, for hundreds of years... even as the filth of the seven seas have washed up to taint the edges of this glorious continent... she still hasn't come down.”

“Quite true, Commander...”

“I wonder,” Seraphimus murmured.  “Does that mean that she has the utmost confidence in our humble obedience?  Or... or has our Goddess lost hope in the Tribes?”

Starstorm's face twisted in brief concern.  Eventually she cleared her throat and said, “I would... much rather believe that we are what stand between glory and lost hope, Commander.”

“Mmmm... indeed.”  At last, Seraphimus opened her eyes.  She stood up with a sigh.  “But there is very little we can hope to accomplish if our numbers are being whittled away.”  She gave the frozen steps one last, melancholic glance before turning about to face Starstorm.  “Round up Windburst and the rookie,” she commanded.  “If it is necessary for us to come to Keris' rescue, then we shall do so.  Even if it means gracing the forsaken seas with our righteous presence.”

“Then you really believe it?” Starstorm asked.  “That he's somewhere around Red Barge?”

“As horrible as it sounds, Sergeant, I would much rather that the Lieutenant be stranded out in open water,” Seraphimus said, marching out of the Court.  “He would be in far better shape there.  Nevertheless, if the godless Bargers have done something to him...”  Her hawkeyes glinted.  “...then Verlaxion spare each and every one of them.”

She spread her wings.

“Gather your armor and only the sharpest blades.  We fly overnight.”

Thwooosh!






“Sir... Sir...?”

Slowly, one by one, his green eyes opened.  Chandler's bejeweled cloak was soaked through to the skin, and he shivered from a cold sea breeze.  Fractured starlight loomed high above, interrupted by the silhouette of a unicorn mare with a short blonde mane.

Longaze stared down at the stallion as she cradled him.  The bodyguard's horn and muzzle were still soaked with fresh blood—and dripping.  “Can you move, sir?  Are any of your limbs hurt?”

“Mrmmff... limbs...?”  Chandler hissed, eyes twitching left and right.  “Where...?”  He gulped.  “...the messenger...?”

Just then, the sound of distant shouts tickled Chandler's ears.  He looked towards his right—and he had to squint.

All that was left of his main ship was a burning plume of fire, surrounded by splintery wreckage.  Several motorboats had gathered around the steamship's remains, hosing off the remaining blaze.  Servants of the Shoreline Trade Consortium shouted orders to one another as they scurried about the waves, struggling to maintain the fire before it could reach the structures of the harbor.  As Chandler gazed at all of this, he saw the imagery drifting lower and lower, and he felt his body swaying... lifting.

Blinking, the stallion realized that he and Longaze were lying in a life raft being lifted up onto another steamship.  Several servants reached over to hoist Chandler on board.

“Easy... easy!”

“You got him?”

“I got him.”

“Everything's going to be alright, Mr. Chandler.”

“Mrmmff... alright...?”  Chandler stammered, his senses coming back, one by one, screaming from fresh bruises and burns.

“Your limbs, sir,” Longaze asked, keeping close by.  She steadied his figure with a field of telekinesis.  “Are any of them—”

“Rrrrngh!”  At last, Chandler growled—more like squeaked.  “Who cares about my damned limbs?!  What about my assets?!”  He spat, pointing into the burning heart of the harbor.  “I want a damage report of my ship!”

The servants gazed at one another, blinking.

“Well?!”

Longaze cleared her throat.  “Sir... the ship is... gone.”  She slowly shook her head.  “All hooves on board perished.  All except you and me.”

Chandler's lips pursed.  “... … ...the shield.”

“It was the first thing I thought of, sir,” Longaze said, her horn fluctuating.  “The Consortium simply could not survive without your guidance.  My magic was strong enough just to protect you.  The others did not stand a chance.”

Chandler tried sitting up... only to wince and slump back down.  Panting, he gazed up at the starlight.  “... … … and the messenger?”

“I... do believe she delivered Skagra's message, sir.”

Chandler clenched his eyes shut.  With a deep sigh, he brushed a hoof over his muzzle.

The other servants muttered towards one another.  Longaze trotted over and squatted at the executive's side.  “Erm... sir.”  The blonde bodyguard gulped.  “It might behoove you to know that a few skiffs bearing the Rohbredden Banner were patrolling the outer edge of the harbor when your ship was destroyed.”

Chandler shuddered.  “... … ...security forces?”

“There's no feasible way that the Continental Guard did not observe the blast,” Longaze said.  “Sir, it's only a matter of time before the Council investigates what's happened here tonight.  With all of the internal terrorist operations that have gotten the Right Talon entangled, they'll—”

“I know... I know!”  Chandler sneered.  “... … ...they'll send Seraphimus and her death chickens here to ascertain what happened.”  He sighed.  “And all of my combined charm won't do shit with the Right Talon's Commander.  She'll discover everything the Consortium has done for sure.”

“Then what would you have us do, sir?”

Chandler gulped.  “There's only one way to salvage this.  I have to win favor with the Council.  I... mrmmff...”  He winced, struggling to sit up again.  Longaze gave him a helping hoof.  “I-I need to give them something so huge... so monumental that they'll overlook any connections between what's happened here and the operations I've funded within the central prefectures.”

Longaze took a breath.  “The Rainbow Rogue...”

“Skagra just raised the stakes to the point of no return.  I could retaliate, but then I'd leave my flank unguarded before the Council.”  He sighed.  “All of this energy spent on magnifying that monster in the public's eye... on capturing her alive and that half-headed freak's got me by the balls.”  He gnashed his teeth and kicked at the ship's deck.  “Dammit!  I hate Red Bargers!”

Longaze slowly nodded.  “When all is said and done, and you have the Rainbow Rogue, Skagra will likely have claimed a huge part of the seas.”

“Or so he thinks,” Chandler murmured.  “Ocean muck filth like him can't last forever.  Not like I can.”  He slowly shook his head.  “It might take months... even years.  But bringing in the Rainbow Rogue is the stepping stool I need to begin my path towards Grand Magistrate.”  He raised a hoof.  “Once I have the continent under control... the seas won't stand a chance.  It's a spit bowl full of idiots, after all—floating left and right without purpose or direction.  Skagra's a poor substitute for the Syndicate.  One day... one day I will sink him to the bottom of the ocean.”  His nostrils flared as he stared at the burning, sinking wreckage across the bay.  “And there he can be one with all the turds he's flushed beneath him and his barnacle bastard throne.”

“And for now, sir?” Longaze asked.

Chandler shivered slightly.  “For now...”  He stood up with Longaze's help, wincing noticeably.  “For now... we go to Red Barge.  And we smile in his face.”  He exhaled.  “For the last damn time...”
> That Which Cripples For Good
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“I gotta hoof it to ya,” Rainbow's voice rasped through the bars.  “What you did up there?  Pretty spiffy.”

Keris' eyes fluttered open.  Wincing from his bruises, he turned and gazed across the dilapidated corridor separating their cells.  “I beg your pardon?”

Her figure shifted in the shadows of her prison.  “You put your neck on the line for a bunch of noponies... all because you knew there were innocent lives worth saving, even in a heartless floating dump like this.  That's kinda awesome.”

Keris sighed out his beak nostrils, gazing back into the shadows.  “You know nothing of my failure...”

“I know that a bunch more ponies would be dead now if it weren't for you.”

“Hrmmfff...”

“... … ...tricking a bunch of murderous seaponies into leaping on dry bulkheads?  That's pretty clever.”

Keris' eyes narrowed.  He turned to gaze past the bars once more.  “How... do you know about that?  You weren't even there?”

“Dude.  Like... how many times do I have to tell you?  It wasn't my eyes.  It was—”

“Eughhh...” Keris dragged a talon over his beak and face, sighing.  “I've had about all I can take of your seasick delusions.”

“Then how can you explain what I know?”

“... … ...”

“Can you explain it any better than the stuff you saw at the Quade?”

“What I saw at the Quade...”  He lifted his gaze up, sneering.  “...needs no further explanation.”

“You have to see beyond the blood, dude.”

“Spoken like a true sociopath.”

“Will you just hear me out?”  Rainbow shuffled closer to the bars.  “Did the Luminards have any explanation... any answer whatsoever for why that metal tower was always hiding there beneath the Reed?”

The Lieutenant sat in silence, saying nothing.

“Any explanation beyond... y'know... 'Oh!  It was the evil, sinful vagabonds of ancient Luminar!  The godless metal built by their hooves!'  Feh... or whatever?”

“They gave me nothing,” Keris muttered.  “Hrmmff... they barely even acknowledged its existence.”

“Don't you find that a little... I dunno... weird?”  Rainbow Dash breathed.  “Or the fact that the thing opened up to let me go straight through it?  That it reacted to me and me alone and to nopony else?”

Keris blinked into shadow.  His beak moved.  “The symbol...”

“You saw it too, huh?”  Rainbow Dash chuckled bitterly.  “To be honest, I was a bit too busy... y'know... being a public menace at the time to see if it stayed there on the side of the tower after I exited.”

“Did...”  Keris hesitated, but ultimately blurted:  “Did you know that it would open for you ahead of time?”

“Yes.”

He frowned.  “And it didn't occur to you that explaining such a thing to the Luminards would be paramount?”

Silence.

Keris blinked.  “Well?”

“I should have explained it to them from the get go,” Rainbow Dash said.  “That... is my biggest mistake.”

Keris smirked bitterly.  “Heh...”

“But if you knew what I knew... and you were facing the monks in the Quade... how would you go about explaining it to them?”

“It doesn't matter,” Keris muttered.  “I simply would.  They deserved no less, Miss Rainbow Dash.”

“... … ...how do you plan to explain it all to your Commander?”

Keris blinked.

“Or all of this, for that matter?  How you got here.  What you've done since?”

Keris shifted where he sat.

“You see... doesn't matter how awesome you are.  How many medals you've got.  How much of a hero you've been... or you think you've been.”  She sighed.  “At some point in your travels, you run into the truth.  And the truth cripples.  It's bigger than mountains... denser than any ocean.  Pffft... anypony can say that they'll be absolutely truthful.  Only a seldom few of them are willing to go the distance.  Me?  I thought I could go the distance.  But then, when push came to shove, I did the cowardly thing.  It seemed the kind choice at the time.  But it was a useless... stupid choice.  And when it came time to backtrack... well... the time for kindness was over.  I was too late to confront the truth at the Quade without suffering for it.  And now...”  A long, winded exhale.  “...that truth burns night and day... stabbing me and my insides.  I... can... c-can hardly sleep to it.  Not that it matters. Heh... all I have when I fall asleep are the same old nightmares... twists and turns...”

“Do you expect me to pity you?” Keris muttered.

“No.  I'm hoping that you can learn from this.  That you... that I can teach someone else a thing or two.  I never wanted to be a bad guy.  But sometimes, to do important things, you gotta be bigger than the obstacles you're facing.  If I had prepared better... if I had been truthful... and shared the truth with my friends... like a real hero... then maybe... j-just maybe I'd be out of this mess by now.”

Silence.

Rainbow sighed again, drawing Keris to crane his neck and listen harder.

“They say that 'the truth will set you free.'  Hrmmfff... that couldn't be any more bogus.  It's lies that make us free... that give us the liberty to do whatever it is that we want... or that we please... or that we feel comfortable with doing.  Have you ever flown out this far before, Lieutenant Dude?”

“Erm...”  Keris cleared his throat, hugging his bruised limbs to himself.  “I have... r-rarely had the chance to do so...”  He exhaled.  “Despite my better wishes.”

“So something's drawn you out here, huh?  Something... like conviction?”

“It matters little,” Keris muttered.

“Doesn't it?”  A pair of ruby eyes glinted in a sliver of sunlight.  “I bet it's a heck of a lot easier believing that all you've gotta do is protect Rohbredden proper, huh?”  She gulped.  “That there's nothing innocent or worthwhile about the seven seas that you gotta break your back over the 'heathens' out here?  So long as you just worry about the goddess-fearing populace of the continent, then the rest of the world can suffer for its own sins... huh?”

Keris shivered slightly.  “I have... n-never sat well with that presumption.”

“That's a shame.  I've seen a lot of miserable places in my journeys... and many of them east of the Blight.”  Rainbow Dash sighed.  “The world could use more griffons like you, dude.”

Keris' eyes darted left and right.

Eventually, Rainbow's voice rattled through the bars again.  “Verlax has built an entire kingdom on lies.  It's a very comfortable kingdom, but one that's based on total-pretend all the same.  So long as everyone believes what she's established for years and years, then it doesn't matter what the rest of the world goes through, right?  Well, how else have monsters like Revan or Jeryn or Skagra come to be?”

Silence.

“And you know?  For all intents and purposes, the big lie works... but only for so long.  The monks of the Quade?  Yeah, they were happy with their life.  They were content with meditation and scripture-keeping.  Nothing wrong with a peaceful life.  But the fact of the matter is that Verlax orchestrated their entire culture as an obstacle for something far bigger... far more important and epic to move on through.  Are they better off without the lie?  I... I can't say.  Heck, probably not.  But being happy or not doesn't change the fact that they were victims for eons.  They were victims ages ago when Luminar first sank in the ocean... and they were victims long before me.”

“You sound so sure of this,” Keris muttered.

“Tell me, Lieutenant, is there anything you would not do if it meant saving your entire continent?”

“If it meant saving all of Rohbredden?”

“How far would you go to make sure it didn't sink into the ocean or get burned to ashes by pirates or whatnot?”

“Well, I would sacrifice my life, of course,” Keris said firmly.  “I have sworn my allegiance, after all.”

“Uh huh.  And would you sacrifice your principals?”

Keris grimaced upon hearing that.

“Would you curse yourself?  Shred your name apart?  Even become a monster if it meant that the continent that means so much to you prospered in the end?”  Rainbow Dash cocked her head to the side.  “And what if you knew a far more cold-hearted truth?  Hmm?  What if you knew that you had to sacrifice yourself for something even bigger than Rohbredden?  Bigger than twelve Rohbreddens stacked against one another in a row?  Or even twenty-four of them?”

“Are you trying to legitimize what you've done in the Quade?”

This elicited a heavy sigh from the pegasus across the way.

Keris turned to gaze at her directly.

“Dude... I've spent hours... days... restless nights trying to excuse what I've done,” Rainbow Dash muttered.  “And after all the circles my head has flown, there simply is no denying the fact that... th-that I've done a horrible... terrible thing.”  She gulped.  “I did terrible things to innocent ponies.  I betrayed everything I believed in... shredded apart my own moral code.  It wouldn't be the first time I sacrificed my own ethics... but never before have I done something... mrmmff... on th-this scale.  It's not something I'm proud of.  But...”

“You wouldn't take it back,” Keris said.  He craned his neck to look.

Indeed, the mare was shaking her head.  “I've learned to live with a lot of awful things about myself before,” she muttered.  “That isn't the hard part.  What makes it difficult this time is my friends.”

“I fail to ascertain what you mean by 'friends,' Rainbow Dash,” Keris remarked.

“Heh...”  She exhaled.  “I don't blame you one bit.  You know... they're invisible to me too.  All but one.  I mean... I'm glad that Fluttershy still sticks around, but somehow... it almost...”  A shuddering breath.  “...it almost makes it worst.”

“Was what you believed in worth sacrificing them?” Keris asked.  “Ethics and moral codes aside... I think I'm starting to understand the true fabric that was ripped asunder.”  He arched an eyecrest.  “When you attacked the Quade, you stopped being the pegasus from beyond the Blight and became the Rainbow Rogue of the seven seas.  And these... these so-called friends of yours... they could not handle that, could they?”

She did not respond.

“How terrible it must be,” Keris remarked.  “To be loathed on both the inside as well as on the outside.”

Eventually, she murmured back:  “I... h-hope you never have to f-find out what that means, dude.”  She cleared her throat.  “Even still... it doesn't matter.”

Keris blinked.  “Even now, you can say that?”

“I may have sacrificed them... but that... th-that's fine.”  She took a deep breath.  “If it means saving them along with everything else, then... th-then that's what I'm going to have to deal with.”

Keris sighed.  “Well... it does not appear as though you'll be dealing with it very easily.”

“Hmm?”

He waved an aching talon at the surroundings.  “You are stuck here, much like me,” he said.  “With friends like those... the very focus of your otherworldly powers...”  His hawkeyes narrowed.  “...I imagine you could find a way out of this prison in an instant.”

“Not a second goes by when I don't think about that, dude.”

“And yet, you don't strive to make an escape from this place,” Keris remarked.

“Huh?”

“Well...”  He shifted where he sat, sighing.  “Correct me if I'm wrong... but if what you believe in is so grand... so epic that it necessitates wrecking the Quade and betraying your friends' trust... then what's stopping you from making every attempt to break through your shackles and these bars?”  He glanced at her cell.  “Your cosmology is evidently so superior when compared to Verlaxion's, that it hasn't stopped you before.”

“I... I-I can't...”  Rainbow gulped.  “I simply can't escape from this place, dude...”

“You're not liberating yourself this time,” Keris said, shaking his head.  “There's no point in lying to me, Miss Rainbow Dash.  I know you're capable of overpowering your bonds.  After all, you did it before,” he said.  “When the nasty individual known as Monket first captured you.”

“Dude, don't...”  Rainbow groaned.

Keris blinked curiously.

A cold voice rattled across the brig:  “There is no way in Tartarus I am letting that happen.  Never again.”

“Even if an incalculably important fate hangs in the bal—?”

“When I let loose... it's more than becoming a monster... or a wrecker of the Quade.”  Rainbow shuddered.  “I lose all that makes me who I am.  I become death itself.  Chaos incarnate.  If I do that... if I give in, then... then...”

“Then what?”

“... … …I become what Verlaxion desires.  And you, Lieutenant?  You might think you want to see Verlaxion's will manifested.”  The petite shadow slowly shook its head.  “You don't.  You don't at all.”

“I see...”  Keris' beak nostrils flared.  “And what of your friends?”

“... … ...I would lose them for good.  I... I'm afraid they'd never be able to come back.  Even... even if th-they actually wanted to.”

Keris leaned back against the wall, his gaze quiet and contemplative.  “...does the Rainbow Rogue think she can complete her journey without her friends?  Even after all the sacrifices made?”

“... … ...truthfully?”

“Truthfully.”

“... … ...no.  Not... not anymore.  That's... mmmm... what really cr-cripples me.  That's what cripples this entire world...”
> Two Birds With One Stone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Swab picked and plucked away at his bed of rice.  Despite the inescapable pit in his belly, he could only indulge in so many of the kernels.

Sighing, the colt looked up from his mattress in the corner of the rusted hold.  His ear twitched as his eyes danced from one burning barrel to another.

Over by the fillies' bunk beds, he saw Croche standing before several of the new blood.  The freshly-scarred foals shook and trembled where they stood.  Nevertheless, Croche gently stole their attention, gesturing with her hooves as she explained the proper way to scrub the bulkheads of Red Barge and earn food.  The children listened as attentively as they could, their gaze occasionally stolen by an errant noise or groan from across the filthy domain.

Swab watched Croche for a minute or two.  Then, his head tilted to the left.  His vision fell upon Quint's domain... or what remained of it.

Whony sat in a slump, surrounded by lopsided tables and empty chairs.  He gazed perpetually forward, his eyes thin and vacant.

A tiny foal inched towards the domain from the side, his eyes glued on Whony.  He paused for a moment, then reached forward, grabbing a half-empty jug of water.  As soon as his hoof made contact, the foal dashed away with the jar, kicking up dust and soot.

Whony made no movement whatsoever.  He sighed, turned over, and glared into the shadows of the room.

Swab blinked.  He stared across the room.  Every pony he saw had her or his head bowed, weathering sigh after sigh.  A perpetual grayness hung between the burning blazes.  Beyond the bulkheads, there was the endless hiss of muffled steam and nothing more.

Grumbling to himself, the one-eared colt finally stood up.  He gathered his nibbles up in a tiny pouch, trotted straight forward, then unceremoniously dumped the contents down on the floor... right beside Croche and her “apprentices.”

Croche gasped slightly, glancing aside.  Swab trotted off before she could say anything, shuffling up towards the gray daylight looming above.  The mare bit her lip, then finally answered the anxious gasps of the newcomers.  With slow grace, she dished out equal shares of the rice to the starving youngsters.  As they ate what tiny morsels they could, she turned to glare up the dimly-lit path where Swab made his exit.





Swab limped loosely across the bridges and struts of Red Barge.

Several burn marks and blood-stains littered the many decks.

But the damage had mostly settled.  Gone were the fires and blazes that previously blemished the metal lengths of the platforms.  Aside from an eerie, vacant silence over the west struts, the rest of Red Barge continued as normal.  Stallions and mares went about their normal maintenance tasks, although a glazed colorlessness lingered in their eyes.  Dredgers went through the daily motions with mechanical grace, almost blending in with the pipework and lattices around them.

Swab lingered on a second layer of bulkheads.  As he enjoyed a brief gust of salty air, he turned and gazed south.  His eyes rested on the outer layers of the brig's entrance.  Everything about the surrounding strut looked cold, barren, lifeless.

Exhaling, he turned and looked in the opposite direction.  The colt's eyes squinted as he stared past the glint of daylight coming off of Skagra's office... looming high above the rust and muck like a second sun...





“So it's official, then,” Nixkit remarked with a grunt.  “Chandler's coming here.”

“He's coming and a half,” Skagra belched from his reclining chair.  “Monket's horseflies gave us the full details.”  He tongued the inside of his filthy muzzle.  “...just how long ago was that, N.M.M?”

“About thirty-six hours ago,” Monket muttered, standing besides the porthole along the side of the office.  Grumbling to himself, he raised a hoof and swung the round window open, exposing the office to a humid breeze.  “He'll be arriving on one lone steamship.  Just as requested.”

“And how do we know that for sure?” Nixkit asked, eyes narrowing on the other two.  “Chandler's double-crossed us before.  Hell, he could be bringing in his entire trade fleet as a makeshift armada to finish us off!”

“I've got that covered,” Monket muttered.  “My eyes in the sky are taking turns in the air, following his wake.”  He cocked his head aside, dreads flouncing.  “The first moment the bastard tries something underhoof, one of my servants will fly his flank back here and tell us.”

“Give that slaver a banana sticker!”  Skagra said, waving one hoof while taking a sip from a cocktail with the other.  “Mmmmff... all of your work won't go unnoticed, Monkey... Monicker... Monocle... you.”  His nostrils flared.  “When all is said and done, Chandler will be hauling ass to the continent with his prismatic prime.  And us?  We get the seven seas.”

“Mrmmf...” Monket folded his forelimbs, glaring out the porthole.  “For what it's worth.”

“Oh go change your diaper,” Skagra sputtered.  “Mudtop's practically yours now.  They're so friggin' a-scared of you now that all you need to do is show up and the pirates will dash their brains against the volcanic rock to make things easier for you.”

“I definitely wouldn't mind being reimbursed for my ships... and salves,” Monket grumbled.

“Buddy boy, once Chandler pays us handsomely with his handsomeness, I can buy you friggin' Rust,” Skagra said.  “But that's not how we're gonna get things done.”

“And just how are we going to do things, boss?” Nixkit asked.  “You've put so much thought into making Chandler bend over.  But what about after that?”

“You mean after we give him the rainbow for a pot of gold?”

“Aye.”

“Well, Nixxy, good thing you're not me.”  Skagra sat up, grumbling slightly as he clutched his sides.  “Nnnngh... be still, my beating kidneys.”  Swirling the cocktail, he spoke, “I think it's high time the seven seas became the three and a half seas.”

“Uhmmmm...” Nixkit fumbled where he stood.

“Not reading me?”

“I could use some Clop Notes, sir.”

“Hah.  Look at you.  Trying to be witty.”  Skagra took a sip and waved a hoof.  “Don't.  Looks like vomit when you put it on.”  Stifling a burp, he motioned with his fetlock and said, “For years and years, the continent has convinced all of us that we need them to keep afloat.  After all... hell... who else will buy our Dredge Coal?”  He glared at both of the other stallions.  “Well, I say buck 'em.  Rohbredden has always depended on us.  We've just been too mired in this muck to switch things around on them. Thankfully, though, this generation has idiots like Chandler.”

“He's dividing Rohbredden enough on his own time,” Monket muttered.  “He and other megalomaniacs like him are just a sign of an increasing schism inland.”

“Precisely!” Skagra said, pointing with a nod.  “If Rohbredden's holier-than-thou Council can't sniff up the bullshit burning brown streaks across the Prefectures beneath them, then how can they be expected to keep things together for long?  I dunno who kicked loose the first cornerstone, but that continent's about to collapse in on itself.  Not even the Talon can save them from the weight of their own hubris making them implode like... like...”

“An old mare's colon?” Nixkit offered.

“Shut up, Nixxy.  You had your chance.  Don't be the new Digiff.”  Skagra stood up, pacing across the office.  “So... here're our options.  We can float here, waiting for Rohbredden to take the plunge, and when they do we can become their lifeline... for a price.  Hell... even our flimsy supplies as of late will be a real boon for a continent full of desperate, feuding Prefectures.”

“But what's the point if their infrastructure is dying out?” Nixkit remarked.  “It'd be like keeping a dead slave on life support.”

“Now that's the Nixxy I know and love,” Skagra said.  He sipped the last of his cocktail and tossed it into a corner full of broken glass.  “So... we could do that.  Or... we could set our sights on Rust, Shoggoth, and the horizon beyond.”

Monket turned, squinting.  “You're turning Colonialist?”

“Hrmmff... hardly.”  Skagra brushed his bangs aside, only for them to flounce back.  “I'd say we're still 'Continental.'  Just... we're switching continents.”

Monket cocked his head to the side.  “You really, truly think there's opportunity beyond the Blight?”

“More opportunity than there is here,” Skagra said, pointing vaguely east.  “Or in that big frozen tit everypony likes to call 'Rohbredden.'”  He shuffled across the office.  “When the power shifts, I want Red Barge riding the muck to the top.  A day may come when I'll no longer be able to grace these bulkheads with my beautiful halves, but so be it.  So long as my methods remain, then Red Barge will become everything.  We just need the right current to carry it:  a new dead drifts, as it were.”

“Skagra, sometimes I wonder,” Monket muttered.  “Does your genius ever truly outmatch your eccentricity?”

“I think you're an idiot too, Monket,” Skagra belched.  “I just choose to overlook it so we can each gain a profit.”  He held a hoof out.  “Dealio?”

Monket scowled at him.  “... ... ...there are still many loose ends.”

“Says the stallion with a dead octopus dangling off his head.”

“I'm serious,” Monket exhaled.  “You speak of the Right Talon being useless in the event of a political collapse in Rohbredden.  Well, that's neither her nor there.  The Commander and her cronies are still a threat.  A battle here in the muck is one thing, but you've forced me to set off an explosion in the Consortium's neighborhood.  As far as I'm concerned, that's just invited the Talon to arrive with bells on.”

“Yeah, and?”

“And... you half-headed freak...” Monket snarled, waving a hoof south.  “We still have one of their damned Lieutenants in that collapsed prison of yours, in case you've so conveniently forgotten.”

“Ah yeah.  That bread crumb...”

“And my last steamship is busted!” Monket exclaimed.  “It'll take over a week to repair!  It's in no condition to haul the griffon's body west and dump it in the waters between here and the Quade!”

“I know he's been useful to us,” Nixkit said.  “But the fight's over.  I, for one, believe we should have killed that armored bird as soon as the pirate invasion was over and done with.”

“With what?”  Skagra flashed two frowns at Nixkit.  “With shark prods?  Steam valves?  Harpoons and crossbows?”  He gestured.  “When the Right Talon arrives here—and they will arrive here... it's only a matter of time...”  He cleared his throat.  “We need to play dumb... not murderous.  They'll take one look at the stab wounds in his corpse and proceed to castrate us at beak-point.”

“We could use some of the pirates' discarded weaponry,” Nixkit suggested.  “Blame it on the invaders.”

“Fat chance,” Monket snorted.  “Everypony here knows how much flank that mucker kicked with his damn wings tied.  Guess how much the Talon's gonna see with their intuitive hawkeyes?”

Nixkit sighed.  “Well?!”  He shrugged wildly.  “What are we going to do?!  Chandler will be here in a matter of hours and soon we're gonna be loaded up with all sorts of gold for the Talon to confiscate!”  He gulped.  “Among other things...”

“Hmmm...” Skagra paced around.  “We can't kill him.  The pirates couldn't touch him.  And there's no way in heck he's making it to the bottom of the ocean.”  His nostrils flared.  “Even if we chopped him up into little pieces and tossed him over the side, those damn griffon brothers and sisters of his could sniff him out in a heartbeat.”

“Where's a good leviathan when you need one?” Nixkit muttered.

“... ... ...”  Skagra's good ear folded.  He turned around, icily glaring past Monket and Nixkit.

Monket's brow furrowed.  “Dear Goddess, what are you thinking?”

“We... do have a monster on board...”

Nixkit blinked.  “Boss...?”

“Think about it.”  Skagra stifled a yawn.  “Mrmmmff... Chandler's coming here to bind and gag the most notorious Rainbow Rogue of the seven seas.  He wants to become a hero for hauling her back to Verlaxion's continent.  But just what has she done, exactly?  Roughed up a bunch of monks and zapped their magic tree?  Bah!”  Skagra brushed his stubborn bangs back.  “The villain needs to become a villain, and imagine how much more diabolical she'd be with a dead member of the Talon under her belt?”

“You're... proposing that we get the Rainbow Rogue to murder the Lieutenant?” Nixkit muttered.

“Jeez, Nixxy.  When did I ever assign you Top Dredger of the Obvious Strut?”  Skagra coughed.  “Think of it as a little... consolation prize to Chandler... a sign of good will that he'll... take his bounty and flee to Rohbredden where he can be a hero, forever leaving us alone.  After all, it's a good favor for a favor.  Hmm?”

“And when the Talon arrive...” Nixkit thought aloud.  “...we'd blame the death of their precious Lieutenant on her...”  He blinked wide.  “And the damage to the western struts of Red Barge as well!”

“We'll claim that the pirate attack destroyed her holding cell,” Skagra said.  “She broke loose and went on a rampage, murdering ponies on both sides.  It took a combined effort to subdue her, but it was too late.  She claimed the griffon's life in the process... bit off his head... his rectum.  Hell, the whole bird.”  He shrugged.  “Now—his guts are marinating in the center of her rainbow belly.  The Council will be hungry for revenge.  Chandler will get the platform he needs to expend justice and take command.  He can continue to be the god of a crumbling continent, and we'll get the seas all to ourselves.”

“It's almost too easy,” Nixkit said with a slight smirk.

“There's only one problem,” Monket said.

The other two looked at him.

The slaver spoke, “The real Rainbow Dash is an absolute sissy.  She wouldn't hurt a fly.”

“Of course she would, Monket,” Skagra said.  “Given... the right stimulus.”

Monket blinked.

“Oh come now, dainty dreads,” Skagra cooed.  “If there's one thing that I've learned about ponydom, it's that anything with a brain and a circulatory system stands to be stripped naked... exposed.”  He squinted, both his good eye and his bad one.  “And beneath that 'harmless sissy' that you captured is a very real... very true monster.  The pegasus might not devour our pesky lieutenant.  As for what lies beneath?  Well... that's a whole different story... one that you know very well.”

Monket opened his muzzle.  Slowly, his shook his head.  “Oh Skagra... no...”

“Nixkit?”  Skagra turned towards the other top dredger.  “Round up a good few stallions.”  He flexed his muscles and trotted towards the nearest door.  “Time to go for a stroll.”

“The southern strut?” Nixkit asked, opening the door.

“The southern strut.”

“Skagra, you're friggin' crazy!” Monket sputtered.

“Uh huh.”

“This is going too far!”  Monket frowned, waving a hoof.  “I refuse to be a part of such lunacy!”

Skagra paused.  He turned to glare coolly at the slaver.  “... ... ...I'd expect nothing less from you, monkey-boy.”

Monket shook in place, fuming.

“You want to ride a piss-gold current to the summit of Mudtop and beyond?”  Skagra pointed.  “Just sit pretty in that ship of yours.  Once Chandler arrives, I'll give you your fair share of the cut, and then you can be on your merry way.  But for as long as you stand on my platforms, we do things my way, got it?”

“This is a bad idea, Skagra,” Monket muttered.  “She'll tear a massive hole in your bulkheads.”

“At this rate, I'd consider it an upgrade.”  And Skagra exited.





Swab was struggling to polish a juncture of pipes when he heard the thick array of marching hooves.  Blinking, he stood up and glanced curiously over his shoulder.  The first thing he saw was the cold, glossy flounce of Skagra's red bangs from afar.

Gasping, the colt dropped his rag and dashed behind a bulkhead.  There, he hid, silent as a stone.  He waited for the bulk of the group to shuffle past, and then he peeked out, squinting.

His good ear caught the voice of a dredger galloping in to join the group.  “Hey boss!  Where's everypony going?  Has Chandler arrived?”

“All in good time,” Nixkit said.  “The boss has business in the southern strut first.”

“Is... is it the Rainbow Rogue?”

“Shhh.  Just stick close and don't say anything.  I mean it.  Lips tight.”

Swab clenched his jaw shut, though he felt as though his chest might burst at any second.  Trembling, he snuck out from behind the bulkhead, held his breath, and galloped across the struts—keeping stealthy and parallel to the marching company of dredgers.





“Do the others have names?” Keris asked, his voice wafting limply across the dimly-lit prison.

“Hmmm?” Rainbow glanced through the bars.

“You've mentioned 'Fluttershy,'” Keris droned.  His hawkeyes drifted in lazy, hungry circles across the shadows.  “Do your other... mrmmff... invisible friends have names?”

“Oh.  Sure.”  Rainbow Dash said.  “Funny... for a few months there, I almost got used to saying them out loud again.”  She smiled crookedly.  “You know... hell isn't hell without a brief glimpse of heaven.”

Keris nodded tiredly.  At last, he muttered, “Would you mind sharing them?”

Rainbow's brow furrowed.  She looked through her bars at his figure across the corridor.  “What's the point, dude?”

Keris shrugged his feathers.  “Just... figured that... pretty soon... you won't have any excuse to say them out loud.”  He gulped.  “Ever again.”

Rainbow hung her head.

“Rainbow Dash...?”

“'Twilight Sparkle,'” Rainbow muttered.  “The obstinate egghead.  Celestia love her.”  Her dry lips stirred.  “'Pinkie Pie'... bundle of laughs... and confusion.”  She exhaled.  “'Rarity'.  Generosity and drama queen.  Her voice smells like flowers just to listen to.”  She brushed her cheek, sighing.  “And 'Fluttershy'... oh Fluttershy...”  A sniffle.  “...the very last pony I wanted to see all of this... and instead she feels it.  Every death and every wound.”

“Doesn't seem to stop her from visiting you.”

“Yeah...”  Rainbow nodded.  “...I kinda hoped she'd instill the same courage in the others.  But... mrmmff... life just isn't that easy, I guess.”

“Why do I get the feeling you wouldn't like it any other way?”

“... ... ...”  Rainbow shifted where she sat.  “...'Keris.'”

The Lieutenant cocked his head.  “Huh?”

“Nothing,” she muttered, lips curving slightly.  “Just... taking your advice...”

He blinked.  Slowly, a similar smirk graced his beak.

Coldly, the hooves of Digiff shuffled into view between them.  The stallion leaned on his shark prod and droned, “Will you two ever... ever stop marrying each other?  Muck below...”

Keris chuckled dryly.

Rainbow Dash coughed through a raspy giggle.

For a brief moment, even the dredger's lips began to curve.  But then, cold hoofsteps echoed across the cramped walls from above.  Digiff spun around, squinting up at the ramp leading down into the depths of the brig.

Keris blinked.  Fighting his binds and aching muscles, he sat up straight.

Rainbow craned her neck in an attempt to see.

“Boss?” Digiff muttered.  He stood at attention, gripping his shark prod.  “Uhm... seems as thought he griffon is starting to recover from his injuries, boss.”

“Very well, Digiff,” Nixkit spoke for Skagra.  He and several other dredgers came to a scuffling stop.  “You may leave.”

“... ... ...” Digiff glanced at Skagra, then back at Nixkit.  “Nix, what's going on?”

“Go above deck, Digiff,” Nixkit firmly said.  “And keep all Bargers clear of the southern strut.  Is that understood?”

Digiff blinked.  He looked at the multiple prods and tasers in the group's combined fetlocks.  Shuddering, he nodded, then marched his way up to the top deck.

Only once Digiff had made his exit did a little figure come out of hiding.  Swab squatted in his trusty spot at the window looming above Rainbow's cell.  Fighting the chatter of his own teeth, the little colt gripped the bars, peering down at the cold scene.

Nixkit rummaged through a set of keys.  At last, he unlocked and opened the door to Keris' cell.  He nodded to his subordinates, and a pair of dredgers marched in, grabbing Keris by the griffon's bound wings.

Keris grunted slightly, fumbling in their grasp.  His aching limbs took over, and he slumped with a suppressed yelp... being dragged out of his cell and across the narrow corridor between the two lines of cells.

Skagra took a cold step backwards, giving Nixkit and the other dredgers room to bring Keris to the door to Rainbow's cell.  Next, Nixkit fumbled some more with the keys until he found the one to unlock the barred door to where the pegasus lay.

Rainbow Dash watched.  At last, as the groaning swing of the opened door spilled cold dim light across her muzzle, she shivered and murmured aside:  “...'Applejack.'”

“Mrmmmf!”  Keris grunted as he was tossed into the far corner across from Rainbow Dash.  Before he could so much as stir, a pair of dredgers rushed over and stabbed him in the belly and sides with sparkling tasers.  Bzzzzt!  “Aaaaaaugh!”  The griffon writhed and convulsed, his manacles rattling.

“Hey!”  Rainbow snarled, beginning to stand up.  “Get off him!  What's the big ide—?!”

Bzzzzzt!  This time it was Nixkit, shocking her hard in the gut.

“Grrnnngkkk!”  Twitching, Rainbow teetered backwards and fell against the wall directly beneath Swab and his window.

The colt flinched above, eyes twitching.

At last, the electrical discharge ended.  In the rising steam, Skagra icily marched forward.  He loomed above Rainbow Dash, gazing at her in person for the first time ever.  After several deep breaths, he leaned in.  “Mmmm... shiny, shiny dolphins...”  The scarred side of his muzzle twitched as he reached in, toying with her prismatic bangs.  “If this is all the west has to give us, it'll be easy to make 'em bloat.”

“Mrmmfnngh... why...” Rainbow Dash hissed through clenched teeth.  “...are you doing this?”

“Insurance, my little pussy,” Skagra slurred.  “Chandler needs a monster, and the Talon need a corpse.  I'm a very generous stallion, so I intend to give them both.  But first, you're going to have to give me something.”

And just like that, Rainbow Dash felt very very naked.  She gasped—only to feel her bottom jaw moving free, unobstructed.  Her twitching eyes flashed yellow, reflecting the Loyalty Pendant dangling loosely in the top dredger's fetlock.

“Give me blood,” Skagra said.  Juggling the pendant, he backtrotted out of the cell while Nixkit closed it behind, locking Rainbow Dash in with Keris.  “And lots of it.”

Swab didn't even have the breath to squeak.
> Loyalty's Never Gone For Long
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Mrrrrnnnghh...”  Rainbow Dash hunched down low against the metal floor, covering her skull with a pair of quivering forelimbs.  She gnashed her teeth, her lungs rolling with a deep bass whine, like a feral cat.  Her muscles rippled from shoulders to flank, the spine undulating until—at last—her tail lashed wildly.  Her body flattened against the rust and grime of the cramped cell, then keeled over with sickly spasms.  “Hrssskkkttt-mmfff-Thullsssstiaaaaaa...”

Keris slowly backed away from her, his heart beating hard, forcing his beak to rattle.  Upon hearing casual hoofsteps, he looked left, hawkeyes wide.

Skagra was marching up the ramp leading out of the brig.  Keris caught a glimpse of the ruby-and-gold pendant in his grasp, and then the top dredger was gone, followed closely by Nixkit and the others.

“What... uhm...”  Nixkit cleared his throat, his voice struggling to echo louder than Rainbow's muffled groans.  “What am I to do here... exactly, boss?”

“What else, Nixxy?”  Skagra stifled a yawn.  “Stick around long enough to make sure she gets the job done.”

“But... Skagra... all the horrible stuff she did to Monket's crew—”

“When it gets too hairy, head above deck,” Skagra said, trotting up to where Swab was.

Stifling a whimper, Swab scampered up the ramp and out of sight.  The dredgers soon followed, their voices wafting through the barred window and towards Keris' shackled figure in the cell below.

“Seal the place up from above,” Skagra continued.  “Put the bolts in place.  Make it extra tight.”  He trotted out of the brig...





...and out into the sunlight, both eyes squinting.  With a muttering breath, Skagra slid the Loyalty Pendant into the chest pocket of his vest and paused to crack his neck muscles.  “Hrmmff... whatever happens, make sure Lil' Miss Sunshine down there does not come above deck.”

“You know she's going to trash the brig apart, right?” Nixkit remarked, eyebrow raised.  “If she's as wild as Monket claims.”

Skagra looked at him with a bored gaze.  “Let her.  I don't care if she redecorates... or coats the walls with birdo's blood... furnishes a nursery or whatshityou...”

From a nearby bulkhead overlooking the brig's entrance, Swab's face silently peeked out.  His one ear twitched, being craned towards the group of dredgers as Skagra finished briefing Nixkit.

“Just make sure to seal the door to this place,” Skagra said, pointing.  “I'll send some of my top stallions to the harvest chambers to grab some dredge dust.”

“You... you think that stuff will do the trick?” Nixkit remarked.

“Nixxy, you're cute.  But that's no excuse to forget Muck 101.”  He placed a hoof on the stallion's shoulder.  “A can of dredge dust can paralyze a full-grown spermwhale.”  He patted Nixkit's cheek and trotted off.  “Once you're sure the griffon's eaten and dead, pump in four tanks of the stuff downstairs.  I don't care how abominable the winged freak is at that point.  That could put Verlaxion herself into a deep sleep.”  Skagra coughed and spat onto the bulkheads as he broke into a full trot, heading north towards the central platform.  “If something bleeds... then that means it can drool.  Don't let me down, Nixxy.”

Nixkit blinked.  He shared glances with the dredgers standing with him.  After a shared nod, the group of stallions marched back down into the metal brig full of echoing growls and hisses.

Swab watched all of this unfold with a dropped jaw.  The little colt shivered in place, his yellow eyes dancing anxiously from bulkhead to bulkhead.  He took several deep breaths, his eyes eventually settling on Skagra's figure as the top dredger continued his casual stroll back to the central platform.  The tell-tale glint of ruby and gold caught the foal's eyes from a distance.

Taking a deep breath, Swab clenched his jaws tight.  His nostrils flared, and he exhaled in a squeak as he leapt off the bulkhead, landed half-a-story below, and scampered straight for the eastern struts.






Keris took deep, even breaths.

Slowly, his feathers bent back, he snuck towards Rainbow Dash.  He approached the moaning pegasus until his bound talons rested just inches from her quivering forelimbs.

“Miss Dash...”  He gulped, his hawkeyes narrowing.  “Rainbow.  Whatever you're going through right now, I... I-I'm sure you can control it.  After all... we've talked with one another.  We've discussed things most mortals couldn't even dream of.  Regardless of what happened in the Quade, we both know that—deep down inside—you're a rational... thinking mare.”

At this moment, Nixkit and the other dredgers shuffled back into the corridor that sliced through the cells of the brig.  They gazed through the bars, their lips pursed with morbid curiosity.

Keris, meanwhile, crouched until his beak was even with Rainbow's writhing skull.

“Keep your mind centered on that aspect of yourself, Rainbow Dash,” Keris said breathily.  “Don't lose grasp of it.  Surely, with enough meditation and focus, you'll realize that you're still you—”

“Hrkkkkkt!  You... you don't get it...”  Rainbow Dash sneered.  Something pulsed a bright yellow from beneath her fetlocks.  “With... snrkkktt... the pendant gone, I am no longer me...”

Keris blinked.  Suddenly, his eyes widened, reflecting a vibrant crimson.

Rainbow raised her hooves, revealing twin rivers of blood trickling down from fixed points across her forehead.  She glared up at him—red pupils swimming in luminescent yellow seas.  “...I become him.”  She sneered.  “His blood... his... snrkkkt... lust.”  Suddenly, those pupils thinned, turning into reptilian slits.  “He's... I am... going to kill you, Keris...”  She exhaled through a gargling sob.  “...and then... scrkkkt... I'm going to... to killll everypony else!”  She winced, whimpering.  Saliva poured out of her muzzle while—in a flash of bone white—the right side of her front teeth stretched out into a knife-sharp fang.  “Grkkkkt—Oh Goddess... Oh Goddess no no no no no!”  She rolled over, clutching her skull again as the latest of several torturous moans escaped her quivering muzzle.

Keris' headcrest rolled back.  “Verlaxion spare us...”  With a gulp, he reached forward to touch her.  “Rainbow Dash—”

A hoof swatted blindly at him.  “Get away!”  She shook and quivered.  A pool of blood formed beneath her as her forehead began spouting.  “Rrrrnghhh-youuuuuu mussssttkkkt... keep... away from me, Kerissss-snkkktk... Aaaaaaughhh!”  A yellow aura beamed from her eyes, no matter how tight she clenched the lids shut.  “Not again not again not again!  Nnnnghh—Oh Celestia pleasssssssee-snrrkkkt!”

Keris panted and panted.  His eyes locked on the mare's hoof—or what remained of it.  The left limb was shedding its coat one inch per second, the very end of it splitting off into four hooked points, scaled like a bird's toes...





Swab huffed and puffed.

With liquid grace, the tiny foal hopped over bulkheads, slid under pipework, and vaulted over various lattices of rusted metal.

He threaded his way through the industrial mess of the southern strut, making a bee-line for the very edge of the welded decks.

When he reached the bridge spanning the canal between his location and the east strut, he jumped on a railing and slid the rest of the way.

Landing on the other side, he somersaulted, vaulted back to his tiny hooves, and continued galloping without losing a single millisecond of momentum.

He panted with tiny, fervent breaths.

The metal entrance to the orphanage reflected off his glossy eyes.





“Mmrmmmmffffff!”  Rainbow Dash curled up into a little ball... a little ball that was morphing into seven completely unique segments of color and texture.  Blue coat hairs gave way to gray fur, tan fuzz, green and brown and yellow scales.  She slapped her right limb out—now a talon that scraped and ripped at the floor with such ferocity that it instantly drew thick lines through rusted metal.  “Grrrrkkt-hrmmmkkkt!”

Keris slowly backed away from her.  His beak clenched as he frowned.  At last, he spun towards the center corridor of the brig.

Nixkit and the other dredgers blinked, their eyes locked on the pony's bloody transformation.

The lieutenant stole their attention by clasping his bound talons around the bars.  “Let me out.”

They glanced at him.

“Hrmmmff...” Nixkit raised an eyebrow.  “You for real?”

Keris kept his cool, speaking in a breathy tone.  “Gentlecolts, if there's any shred of decency in you, then you will let me out of this cell at once.”

“Heh...”  Another dredger leaned on his shark prod with a smirk.  “Wouldn't you know it?  Friggin' 'Right Talon of Verlaxion' my ass.”

A third belched, “Throw him into the lion's den and he shows his yellow feathers.”

“How just like a Rohbreddenite,” Nixkit added.

“Listen...”  Keris snarled, pressing his beak up to the bars.  “This is about more than my life.  It's about the lives of everypony on this Barge.  What we have here is beyond serious, a dangerous relic originating from west of the Blight.  I doubt your leader knows precisely what he's unleashed.  I doubt anypony properly understands.”

“Well, you're about to, birdie,” Nixkit said.  “Live and first-hoof.”

Keris closed his eyes.  He took a deep breath, struggling to speak above the pegasus' beastly moans behind him.  “... ... ...let me out of here, and then let us reason things out with Skagra.”

“Boss already gave his orders, Lieutenant,” Nixkit said.  “And besides, it stands to reason that the Right Talon is on there way here by now.”  He shook his head.  “Gotta get rid of all traces of you before your Commander suspects anything.”

“My good stallion, I am the spirit of reason that stays the Right Talon's claws,” Keris said, his voice taking on a growling tone.  “You do not know Commander Seraphimus.  You do not want to know Commander Seraphimus.”  He slowly shook his head.  “At least not without my presence to offset her fury with wisdom and dignity.”  He pointed both talons at the dredgers.  “If she arrives at Red Barge and I'm gone, you will rue the day you were ever foaled.”  He continued speaking... even as a dark shadow rose up behind him.  “That I can promise you...”

Suddenly, Nixkit's eyes widened.  He and the other dredgers backtrotted away from the bars, their gaze locked on the figure behind Keris.

Blinking, the griffon turned around.  His beak parted, for something strange stood in Rainbow Dash's place, something with bristled fur, a bumpy forehead, and the scant remains of a tail... still dripping hairs and clumps of horse meat with every twitch and shake.

“Hrssshkkkkktttt...”

Keris weathered a deep breath.  He took one look at the metal cuffs situated around his talons, then back at the beast standing in the shadows before him.  He grinded his beak together, muscles tensing.





All was silent in the orphanage's bunk room...

...until a tiny colt's thudding hoofsteps reverberated off the rusted walls.

Wheezing for breath, Swab skidded to a stop.  He stared exhaustively into the dim space full of blinking faces and barrel fires.

“Rainbow... Dash...”  He gnashed his teeth, inhaled tightly, and tried again:  “The Rainbow Rogue!  Skagra's set her loose!  I...”  He gulped hard.  “You gotta help me!”

Dozens upon dozens of emaciated children simply gawked at him.

“I'm not k-kidding!” Swab stammered, limping sweatily into the room.  His panting face hovered in the light of flickering flames.  “Skagra's grabbed her pendant!  The one thing keeping her normal!”  His teeth glinted beneath flaring nostrils.  “Now she's gonna get all beastly and wreck the place!  It'll be just like what happened to Monket's crew when they nabbed her!  Only worse!”

The orphans stared and stared and said nothing.

“For Goddess' sake!”  Swab stomped his hooves, frowning.  “The griffon!  The Lieutenant from Rohbredden that Skagra's got imprisoned down there!  She's going to eat him alive if we don't do something!”

The foals blinked at one another.  With sullen, melancholic breaths, they hung their little heads and returned to lounging on their grimy beds and mattresses.

Swab panted and panted, his muzzle stuck in a perpetual grimace.  He looked to the left, catching the sight of a familiar colt slumped at his table.  “Whony!”  He dashed over in an instant, hooves scuffling over the rusted floor as he approached the older foal.  “Whony!  Please!  This is crazy important!”

“Mrmmmfff...” Whony stirred, glaring into the rusted bulkheads beside his table.  “What do you want?”

“You're the only pony here that anyone will still listen to!” Swab's voice cracked.  “Please!  You gotta tell them!  Tell them to help Rainbow Dash!”

“Mrmmfff...”  Whony hugged himself, shuddering.  “Why should anyone give a crap about that monster?  She's half the reason this place nearly blew up—”

“Because!”  Swab reached over, shaking Whony's shoulder.  “Skagra's gonna get away with killing more and more ponies off and he's about to use her to do it!  You think it'll end with the griffon?”

“I don't care—”

“But you have to!  You're the oldest now!”  Swab shook his shoulder harder, frowning.  “It's what Quint would have done—”

“Rrrrrrraaaugh!”  Whony spun about, slamming his hoof across Swab's chest.

“Oomf!” Swab fell hard on his flank.

Whony loomed above the smaller colt, sneering.  “Do not bring up Quint!  Do not even say his name, you mucking shitheap!”  The foal spat, eyes on fire.  “You know what?  I'm glad the Rainbow Rogue's going nuts!  I hope she dies along with every thing you pretend to care about... friggin' coward.”  He sniffled, leaning back into his seat with his forelimbs folded.  “You ask me, Skagra shoulda fed you to her instead of the griffon.”

“So...” Swab sat up, fuming.  “You're not going to help?”

“What's to help?” Whony muttered.  Sighing, he cradled his head in his hooves.  “Doesn't matter what happens to the Rogue... or to anypony.  We're all bloat... we're all bloat and nothing's gonna change that...”

Swab inhaled... exhaled... then clenched his teeth.  He tightened his muscles, preparing to shout something back, when—

“Skagra took her pendant, Swab?”

The colt spun around, blinking.

Croche's sunken eyes stared at him with twitching shock.  She stood next to several of the newcomer foals beside a stack of mattresses.

Holding his breath, Swab scampered over to her and came to a rough stop, nodding.  “Yes.”  He gulped.  “And I-I think he's headed back to the Skag Hole!”  His eyes widened.  “We gotta go and get it back before he locks the necklace away or... or—”

“What do you mean we?” Croche breathed.

“Croche, there's nopony on this Barge who's as good a pickpocketer as you,” Swab exclaimed.

“Swab...” Croche sighed, grimacing slightly.  “I... I've never stolen from a top dredger before—”

“Will you help me?!”

“It... it's just—”

“There's no time!  The friendly griffon who defended us is gonna die!”  Swab leaned forward.  “Will you help me?!”

Croche stared back.  She gulped, then muttered, “We'll need more than just two of us.”

Swab looked around... and around and around.  He spun a jittery circle before his gaze fell upon the frightened faces of the newcomers.  Eyes brightening, he exhaled, “Croche has been teaching you guys how to get by, huh?  How to work and earn nibbles?”

The young foals nervously nodded.

Swab took a deep breath.  “... I'll give you a full week of my nibbles if you help us get the Rainbow Rogue's necklace back!”

The children exchanged glances.

Swab was about to say something else when Croche stepped in.  “And I'll give you my nibbles for the second and third week!”  She leaned in.  “...deal?”

Swab blinked at her.

The children looked at one another, then nodded fervently at Croche and Swab.

“Uhm... Croche?”  Swab gulped.  “That's... that's, uh—”

“You said Skagra's heading to his office?” she exclaimed.

He nodded.

“Then let's go!  There's no time, right?”

Swab was already galloping up and out of the hold.  Croche and half-a-dozen little foals dashed after him, rushing up into the sunlight.

As they passed Whony, the older colt glanced over.  He grumbled under his breath, then lay on his mattress, facing the far wall in dull silence.





Eight little figures galloped out of the hold in the middle of the eastern strut.  Forming a straight line, Swab and the others dashed northwest, heading straight for the central platform of Red Barge.  With nimble ease, they hopped over pipes and slid under metal barriers, navigating the wild, random metalscape as swiftly as their tiny legs could carry them.  Within seconds, they slid into the dense clusters of pipework, vanishing completely...

...but not without being spotted by a vigilant pair of eyes.

Digiff stood in a guard tower, his brow furrowed.  The dredger scratched his beard.  His gaze fell on the towering structures and smokestacks of the central platform... and then traced its way back to where the eight orphans had disappeared in full-gallop.

He exhaled heavily, blinking.  Then, with silent grace, he climbed out of the tower and slid down towards the bulkheads below.





“Hrssss-sssshktttlttt...”  A disjointed, barely-furry thing squared off against Keris, slowly creeping towards him on two talons, a hoof, and a paw pad.

The griffon strafed to the side, keeping a fair distance.  Keris held his shackled talons out, speaking through a tight beak.

“Easy... easy there...”

Nixkit and the others watched from beyond the bars, stupified.

“Hrssssssss—”  The beast spontaneously lunged two feet—“Hraauckkt!”—then retracted.  It hunched low with fangs glimmering from beyond the shadows.  “Hrssss-ssskkkttt...”

Keris kept his distance.  He spoke, shuddering.  “Rainbow Dash...”  With a grimace, he shook his feathery head, then proceeded in a deeper voice.  “Fluttershy... if you're in there...”  He gulped.  “...and right now I sorely hope that you are... then help your friend.  Help Rainbow Dash stay focused.”  He shook his head.  “You don't want her turning any more than—”

“Hraaauccckt!”  The thing lunged again.

“—th-than I do!” Keris sneered, hopping back once more out of reach of the creature's jaws.  He shuffled in a tight circle, constantly facing the undulating, patchwork beast.  “Maybe you c-couldn't talk her out of it in the Quade.  But right here?”  He shuddered.  “Work with me.  Just work with me.  Same goes for the rest of you...”  He blinked.  “...Pinkie Sparkle... mmm... Twilight Rareshy...”

The monster hissed... trilled.  Glowing yellow eyes remained locked on Keris as it walked sideways across the floor... up the prison cell's wall... then casually across the ceiling with the frigid grace of a spider.

The lieutenant's magenta eyes tilted upwards.  He hissed through his beak.  “If there's anything... any semblance of her home inside this creature... reach out to her.  Tell her to stop before—”

“Hrkkk!”  The monster suddenly lurched in place.  It shook its head left and right, groaning inwardly.  Then, after momentary spurts of hot red juices, two hardened knobs protruded from the thing's forehead, dripping with blood.  It exhaled, its back bristling with a fresh layer of coarse gray fur.  “Hrskkkkktttt-ttt-ttt...”

Keris gulped.  “...I'm guessing she doesn't hear you anymore.”

“Hresshaaaaukkt!”  It leapt off the ceiling with a flash of fangs, twirling violently towards the griffon.





High above, along the top balcony to the central platform's structure, Skagra swung the door to his office wide open and casually trotted in.  “Monket!  What a surprise to still see your skull tentacles oozing all over my décor!”

“We're not done talking, Skagra.  I need to know how the exchange is going to fall through.”

“Wowsers.  They really breed your skulls thick below Mudtop, huh?  For the gazillionth time, Monkey Mister Nastikins, this is how it's going to go down...”  The door swung shut, muffling the conversation inside the Skag Hole.

Meanwhile, three stories directly below...

Eight foals approached the edge of the structure.  Clumping up in a tight group, Swab, Croche, and the six foals hid behind a stack of crates.

“Okay...”  Swab took a deep breath, inching out from where he hid.  “We just gotta run up the ramps and—”

Croche grabbed his shoulder with a tight hoof.  “No.”  She shook her head, gulping.  “Skagra will have his top dredgers on patrol if Monket's there to chat.”

Swab blinked at her, then looked straight up.  Several jagged bulkheads and ledges formed an uneven wall against the south side of the central structure.  “Well, then, the only way there is...”  He motioned over his head.

Croche took a deep breath, then spun to face the smaller foals.  “You've only been down in the hold for a few days.  How're your muscles?”

The children flexed their limbs before her.

A tiny smile formed beneath her sunken eyes.  “Good thing your parents fed you regularly.”  Fighting off a shudder, she motioned above.  “We're gonna help you little ones climb up, and then the whole bunch of you are going to help me and Swab up.  Think you can do that?”

The foals nodded.

“Let's work as a team, okay?” Croche remarked.  “That's how we get stuff done around the Barge.  By working together.  Alright?  Now... you guys go first.”  She stood in place, the motioned to Swab.  “Swab...?”

The colt rushed over to her side.  They squatted side by side, flattening their spines and flanks.

Two foals clambered up to their backs.

Once they were on top, Swab and Croche stood up straight, hoisting the foals higher.  The foals leapt up, grabbing the nearest ledges.  Once they found even hoofing, Swab and Croche hoisted up the next two foals... and then the last pair after them.  Within seconds, all of the children had ascended half-a-story above the two.  Then they reached down and—with their combined strength—pulled Croche up after them.  Then Croche reached down, adding to their muscle-power.  This lifted Swab up.  The group collectively caught their breaths, and then Croche and Swab stood in place on the ledge so that they could repeat the entire process.

All the while, a brief break in the clouds formed, allowing sunlight to glint off the rusted lengths of the central structure...





“Htttt!”  Keris rolled nimbly across the cell room floor.  He was barely standing when the monster lunged at him again, slashing at his unguarded flank.

“Hraaaauckt!”  A left talon full of razor sharp claws sang through the air.

Keris ducked, then jumped to the side.  The monster dove again, swinging the same limb.  “Grnngh!”  Keris flung both talons up.  Cl-Clank!  Sparks spat out from the contact the monster's claws made with his bindings.  Before the griffon could recover, the beast suddenly swung a left paw, contacting hard with the Lieutenant's beak.  “Oooomf!”  The blow was stronger than he expected, and it sent him rolling across the floor until he landed with his back against the bars.

“Rrkkkkkttt!”  Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud!  The beast scurried towards him on all fours, dragging blood and loose clumps of blue fur.  “RAAAUCKKT!”  It dove at full force.

With a grunt, Keris dove once more out of the way.

CLANGGG!  The beast's skull rammed hard into the door to the jail cell.  Three whole bars were beant savagely.

Nixkit and the dredgers jumped back, catching their breaths.  The Bargers looked at one another, nodding.

“Show's over, boys.”

“Right.  After you, sir.”

Nixkit trotted briskly up the ramp and towards the top deck.  A few dredgers lagged behind, blinking at the gruesome struggle inside the cell.  At last, all the dredgers left, and the entire brig echoed from the groan of metal hinges as the door to the place was sealed above.

“Ooomf!”  Sweating, heaving, Keris placed his feline back to the rusted wall of the tight room.  THUDDD!  He jolted, looking straight up at the light as it dimmed through the barred window high above.  His ears ached from the sounds of thick iron bolts being locked in place.  “Mrmmmfff... godless blood sporters...”

Just then, a pained howl came from the other side of the cell.

Keris spun to look, his hawkeyes blinking.

A thick length of blue feathers slumped to the ground between him and his foe... like a limp wreath.  Keris' eyes traveled up the lengths of the quivering creature's backside to see that its pegasus wings had been replaced with leathery appendages, dripping with blood and pus.

“Verlaxion, I entreat you—” Keris started, though he barely had time to finish.

“Hrrrkkkkt—”  The beast came charging towards him, both paw and talon swiping.  “HRESKKKKT!”





With tiny grunts and panting breaths, the eight foals hoisted each other up and up the southern wall of the central tower.  They worked as a team, scaling the rusted surface like tiny ants, pausing only when a dredger passed by a nearby balcony's ledge.

Once the coast was clear, Swab dashed out, followed by Croche.  Not wasting a second, they hoisted the other six up... and the other six helped them higher in turn.  They ascended to the next level before a patrolling stallion could catch them.

There was no time to breathe—much less sweat.  Croche coached the six foals with tiny, whispered words, but that was it.  With the grace of rising smoke, they approached the Skag hole—looming just meters above their windblown manes...





“Hraaauckkkt!”  The beast swung its claws at Keris.  Swissssh!

Keris dashed to the right.

“Raaaaakkkkcct!”  Sl-Slassssh!

Keris swung to the left.  As the beast attacked a third time, he bravely slid forward on his knees, lifting the manacles straight up—talons apart.

CR-CRACKKK!  This time, the beast's claws were just sharp enough to snap Keris' manacles in two.

Without wasting another breath, Keris duck the thing's next lunge, punched the beast in the chest, then slammed both of his hind legs into the monster's knees.  “Hrnnnttt!”

“Hraaaashaaaucktt!”  The creature stumbled.  Within a blink, Keris climbed up its back and mounted the beast's shoulders.

“Htttt!”  The griffon slapped the palms of his talons over the monster's yellow eyes, blinding it.  His limbs tightened like a vice as he snarled through his beak.  “Stand down!  Don't make me blind you or—”

Blood oozed out of the beast's skull and against Keris' chest.

“...huh?”  The Lieutenant looked straight down.

Sch-Schlunnnnnk!  A horn and an antler spontaneously grew the rest of their lengths, shooting out of the beast's crown like a cannon.  They grazed Keris' flesh, spilling blood.

“Aaaaugh!” He yelped, leaning back from the sharp mutations, teetering.

There was another grotesque sound—slimy and fowl.  Out of the corners of his eyes, Keris spotted a serpentine tail protruding from the once-pegasus' hindquarters.  It snaked up, wrapped around Keris' torso three times, then flung him like a slingshot against the far wall of the cell.  Thwooosh!

“Ooomf!” Keris landed hard, then collapsed on the floor.

“Hrssssskkkt...”  The beast spun around, then sprung into action with twice as many muscles as it had a minute ago.  The thing bounced off the wall, the ceiling, then pounced mercilessly down onto the griffon.  “HRESSHKKKT!”





“...and he'll bring the platinum bars just like we asked him to,” Skagra's voice drifted out of his office in eerie clarity.  “The terms of this exchange means that he'll have the hold of his ship chock-full of the glittery shit.  If you doubt that, Monket, you can send some of your trusted pegasus messengers to go check Chandler's cargo with their naked eyes.”

Grunting, Swab pulled himself over the final ledge of the topmost balcony.  He squinted upwards through a sweat-stained brow.  His eyes locked on the porthole to Skagra's office.

Monket's voice rolled through.  “Obviously he'll want to check your payment first, Skagra.  What guarantee do we have that the Rainbow Rogue will be... pacified by the time he gets here?  Chandler is expected to arrive any minute now...”

“Praise Verlaxion...” Swab breathily squeaked.

“Hrmmmf...” Croche dangled beneath him, wincing.  “What is it?”

Swab spun, reached downward, and hoisted her up.  “The porthole's still open!” He uttered hoarsely.  “We don't have to try and get through the front door!”

“No more 'we,' Swab,” Croche grunted.

He blinked at her.  “Huh?”

She spoke as she reached down to hoist two of the foals up.  “It's too dangerous for more than one of us to sneak into the Skag Hole.”

“Yeah...”  He reached down, helping two more up.  “But—”

“No 'buts,'” Croche insisted, helping one more onto the balcony.  “You brought me because of my skills in stealing, right?”

Swab pulled up the last foal.  “Well, yes—”

“Then let me do this,” Croche said.  “For Rainbow Dash.”  She gulped, approaching the wall.  The porthole loomed above her, reverberating with the two stallions' voices.  “In the meantime...”

Swab nodded.  “I'll be here to help you back down.”  He looked at the others.  “And you guys will act as a look out, won't you?”

The foals replied, some even saluting.

“I'll need to get up there—” Croche began.

“Right.  Come on, guys.”  Swab squatted below the porthole, bracing himself.  The other foals climbed on top of him.  Together, they formed a living pyramid.

Croche wasted no time in climbing it.  When she reached the porthole—however—she paused.  Gazing down at the group beneath her, she waved a hoof gently while mouthing:  “Be.  Still.”

Swab and the others nodded.  They locked their limbs in place—nevertheless trembling from Croche's weight.

Holding her breath, Croche slowly... slowly peeked her sunken eyes over the lid of the open porthole.  She gazed at two tall figures pacing around each other in the room.

“Dredge Dust?!” Monket stammered.  “That's your answer, Skagra?!”

“Don't unsexify the plan with that mucking tone of yours, Monket.”  Skagra twirled and twirled a golden necklace around his scarred fetlock.  “That shit's priceless fuel for the drill turbines down below.”

“And you think that just... pumping that material into the brig is going to bring the monster down???”

“Pffft!  How hard can it be?”





“Hraaaaaaaaaa-aaauckkkt!”  The beast's fanged jaws fought against the griffon's talons.

“Nnnnnghhh-snkkkt!” Keris struggled and sweated, holding the mutated mouth back.  Pungent saliva dribbled across his feathers and beak as he wrestled with the monstrosity—which had tripled in size and girth.  “Goddess... g-grant me strength!”  In desperation, he threw his head forward, stabbing his beak into the creature's neck.

Blood splattered across the rusted metal floor.

The beast threw its head back, shrieking.

“Grrrgh!”  Keris slashed with his left talon, then his right.  He followed both flesh wounds with a savage kick from his legs.  “Haaaugh!”

The monster stumbled off of him, teetering.

Keris hopped back on all fours, panting.  Squinting.

The Lieutenant watched in dumb silence as the deep lacerations in the monster's flesh sealed themselves up within seconds of being inflicted.  The beast tilted his elongated muzzle down, hissing with a surly growl.

Keris gulped.  “Oh bother...”

Stomp stomp stomp stomp!  The hulking abomination charged at full force, ramming hard into Keris.  The griffon was entangled with the thing's antlers, and he couldn't get loose in time.  CLANGGG!  The weight of the charge sent the both of them smashing through the door of their cell, littering the brig's corridor with clattering metal bars.





Monket rubbed his forehead, groaning.  “Even if you manage to conk out the Rainbow Rogue, Skagra, Chandler's gonna think that you've damaged the goods.”

Croche saw Monket's line of sight broken.  With Skagra's back to her, she took the opportunity to slither in and through the porthole.  She dropped down to the carpeted floor with feline grace, then slinked her way beneath a dusty table.

“If you ask me, the fat cat should count his blessings that she's still in one piece at all.”  Skagra's hooves shuffled immediately past her.  Golden bands rippled across the room from torchlight reflecting off the necklace being twirled around Skagra's fetlock.  “After all, it was his meddling that nearly saw her burnt to a crisp by Mudtop's finest.  Erm... no offense.”

Monket folded his forelimbs with a frown.  “I think you're putting too much stock into his desperation.”

Skagra's legs shuffled past Croche again.  “And you're not putting enough into it.”  Clink.  The Loyalty Pendant rested on the hoofrest of Skagra's recliner.  “Remember, Monket.  Chandler's not smart...”

Croche blinked.  Licking her lips, the filly inched forward, stretching a hoof out from underneath the table as she reached for the pendant—

“He's just rich.”  Skagra's hooves came to a scuffling stop, nearly brushing with her fetlock.

Croche jerked back beneath the table, wincing.  She heard the loud pop of a whiskey bottle directly above her.

“It ain't wise to mistake wealth for intelligence in this world,” Skagra said.

“Hrmmf...”  Monket grunted.  “And here we are, getting hard-ons over a big shipment of platinum bars.”

“Heh...” Skagra's voice rasped over the trickle of his pouring a drink.  “Very cute.”

Croche bit her lip, eyes locked on the pendant dangling from the hoof-rest.





Swab winced, knees wobbling as he supported the weight of the foals above him.  He looked up, whispering hoarsely.  “Does she have it yet?”

The topmost foal peeked through the porthole, then glanced down at him.  She shook her head.

Swab gulped.  Just then, he heard heavy hoofsteps.  He wheezed.  “Scatter... Scatter!”

The living pyramid disassembled.  The seven foals dashed off into opposite directions.  Some hid behind crates, others under loose bundles of equipment.  Swab—in the meantime—heaved himself over the balcony and hung off the side, holding his breath.

With dull, even steps, Digiff came trudging up the ramp.  He scuffled to a stop just outside Skagra's office.

“... ... ...”

His brow furrowed as he glanced left, then right.  The bearded stallion strolled a few more steps, gazing off the side of the balcony.

Swab dangled just beneath him.  The tips of his fetlocks felt the dredger's heated breaths.  Stifling a squeak, the colt hung there, glancing nervously south towards the distant entrance of the brig where Nixkit and several other stallions stood in a tight cluster.





Down below, Keris rolled painfully across the central corridor of the brig amidst a sea of loose bars.

The monster thrashed and hissed beside him—all fur and antlers and fangs.

Panting, Keris scampered away—tripping multiple times on the metal debris all around him.

Getting up, the beast slashed and clawed at the griffon's tail, creating fresh potholes in the metal floor.

Keris grunted under his breath.  He picked up speed, jerked to the side, then flung himself through the first doorframe he could find.  He rolled into an empty cell, jumped up, then sealed the door swiftly from within.  Clanggg!

No sooner was he stepping back when—

SMASSSH!  The beast plowed straight through the closed entrance to the cell, spilling bars all across the floor.  It perched several feet across from Keris, hissing, its extra-lengthy spine bristling with coarse gray hairs and a raggedy black mane.

Keris panted.  He looked down, grabbed one of the bars, then swung it hard.  “Grgnnngh!”

Wham!  The monster's face jerked left.

Keris swung again.  “Htttt!”

Wh-Whack!  The monster's face jerked right.  It slowly pivoted to sneer at Keris, and upon the griffon's third swing—CLAMP!—it bit down the middle of the metal bar and—CRACK!—snapped it in two.

Keris blinked.  Grimacing, his bound wings instinctively flexed as he dove sideways.

“Hrssssstkkkk—HRAAUKT!”  The beast lunged, claws swinging.

Sliiiiink!  “Aaaaaugh!” Keris howled in pain as blood flew from his shoulder.





“Eeeugh...”  Skagra slumped back into his recliner, swirling a glass of whiskey in his left hoof.  “You can't be blamed for being paranoid about... well... everything, Monketboi.”  He took a sip, fussed with his glossy red bangs, then rested his right hoof just inches away from where the ruby pendant dangled.  “Hell, if I was raised as a slave and then grew up to horsehandle other slaves, I'd question everything about the seven seas too.”  He took another sip, swallowed, and pointed with his whiskey glass.  “But you're missing one key thing.”

“Mrrmmmff...” Monket paced back and forth, eyes tracing the furthest walls of the office.  “Another one of your psychotic lectures, Skagra?”

“Dayum straight.”

Croche held her breath.  Now was her chance.  She snuck out from beneath the table and slithered forward across the carpet, one icy hoof after another.  Her gaze locked on the ruby lightning bolt wobbling just centimeters from where Skagra's right forelimb rested.





Nervously, Swab peered his eyes over the edge of the balcony.

Digiff was staring suddenly at the open porthole.  The dredger scratched his beard... fidgeted... then glanced at the front door to the Skag Hole.

Swab gulped, readjusting his grip of the ledge.

Slowly, Digiff shuffled over to the office's entrance.  He brought his hoof up to knock on it.

Swab grimaced.





“HraaAAAaaauckt!”  The beast's swung its claws again.

And Keris—again—was too slow to properly dodge.  A vicious scar instantly formed across his lower left leg.

“Gaaaaaghh!”  The griffon rolled across the floor, doused in his own blood.  “Mrmmmgghh...”  He squinted through pained eyes.  “Goddess—!”

GRIP!  A tight paw clenched around his throat.

“Grkkk—ssnkkkt!”  Keris' vision teared up as he clutched the beast's arm.  He dangled, struggling to breath within the creature's grasp.  His lower legs kicked and swatted the monster in desperation until one well-timed kick struck the middle of the thing's neck.

“Hsnkkkktt!”  The creature dropped him, stumbling.

Keris rolled backwards.  He tried standing up, but his bloodied leg throbbed in pain.  “Aaagh-haaaugh!”  He stumbled, kneeling.

With a hiss, the creature charged once more.

Holding his breath, Keris readied his body with both talons crossed in front of him.

WHUMP!  The creature tackled him.  Keris bit hard onto its shoulder, leaking blood and forcing the monster to shriek—although it only ran faster.  Soon, both of them went bursting through the wall of the next cell behind them.  POWWW!  Metal shards flew everywhere in a cloud of dust, bathing the beast and its prey.






Croche crept and crept towards Skagra's chair.

From her vantage point, she saw a flounce of red mane hair, then the swirl of a whiskey glass.

“Being born from the muck... living on it... it makes us adaptable.  Like liquid,” the top dredger said.

The ruby pendant was so close that the filly could see her sunken eyes reflected in its golden surface.





Swab held his breath.

Digiff blinked.  His ears folded suddenly... and he brought his hoof back from the front door.

The dangling colt quietly exhaled.

With a frown, Digiff snorted... then trotted briskly down the ramp and away from the uppermost balcony.

Swab watched the dredger depart.  Once the bearded stallion was gone from sight, he hoisted himself over the balcony's edge and hissed into the shadows.  The other six foals came scampering out of hiding, and they regrouped just beneath the porthole.





“But then there's me,” Skagra exhaled.  He raised his right hoof, clasping the other side of the whiskey glass as he twirled it in both limbs.  “Born a second time... through steam.”  He slowly shook his head.  “You think I'm crazy?  Mrmmmfff... I'm just evolved... evolved beyond the dull herd of penitent zealots who would otherwise let the waves and frost wash over them.”  He sighed, his breath fogging the lid of the glass, before it once again cleared to reflect both halves of his scarred face.  “And you know what the awful part is?  It sucks to know that you're the worst this world has to offer... and yet the most enlightened.  Be glad you can just... grab your platinum bars and run with them, Monket, instead of having to smell what you are underneath.  Cuz after so many long years... it still smolders... right through the flesh...”

Croche locked her rear limbs in place.  She leaned forward... stretching... stretching... until her little hoof made contact with the pendant.

And just like that, a reflection jerked in the gold surface of the necklace.  It wasn't hers.

Croche looked up... and a pair of cold red eyes stared right back down at her.  She paled instantly, sunken eyes wide.

Monket looked squarely at the filly, standing dead-still.

Croche was breathless.

“Monket?”  Skagra stifled a belch.  He shifted, leaning forward in his chair.  “Something... something you see?”

The slaver of the waves took a deep, deep breath.  “Yes...”  He nodded, lips curving.  “Yes, Skagra.  I do see.”  He turned to face the top dredger.  “I see that I was wrong to doubt you.  Clearly you are the better choice over Chandler.”

“Hrmmmfff...” Skagra leaned back, taking another sip.  “You can sure as Hell say that again.”

Croche blinked.

Monket trotted slowly to Skagra's left, causing the Red Barger's head to turn towards him.  “I see that... beyond your wanton bloodlust... your psychotic penchant for destruction... and your ugly-as-sin mane, you really are the eccentric genius the seven seas deserve.  And this plan of yours?  This wild... bold... daring vision you've got cooked up?”  He smiled again.  His eyes darted to the right, contacting Croche's once more.  “You should run with it.  Run very far.  Seal the deal... make the ones in charge suck on their own muck.”

Croche clenched her teeth hard.  She snatched the pendant off the hoofrest, spun in a circle, and scurried up the wall and through the porthole.

At last, Skagra hummed.  “Hmmm... glad you could come around to your senses, Monket, but yeesh...”  He took a final sip of his glass and tossed the thing into the corner of the room, shattering it.  “Ease up a bit.  I thought I'd partnered up with the Slaver of the Waves... not the Fluffer of Mudtop.”

“Heh... what can I say?”  Monket shrugged with a flounce of his dreads.  “I'm new to oceanwide domination.  Now... if you'll excuse me...”  He bowed slightly.  “...I think I need to go and... check up on my goods.”





“Grnnfff... mmff...”  Croche squirmed, slithered, shimmied—and finally threaded her panicked way through the porthole.  Sooner than she expected, she fell out the other side like a tiny anvil.  “Gaaie!”

Swab and the other foals caught her.

“Gotcha!” Swab exhaled, setting her down.  “Did you—?”

“R-right here!”  Croche held the pendant up with a victorious exhale.  “Now what?”

“We gotta get it back to the brig!”  Swab was already climbing over the balcony's edge, dropping down to the next ledge below.  “Then I'll put it back over Rainbow's neck so she'll be herself again!”

“Wait, what?!” Croche stammered.  The door to Skagra's office opened wide, and she heard Monket's heavy hoofsteps.  Gnashing her teeth, she vaulted over the balcony's edge, shimmying down the ledges along with the other six foals.





Trembling...

Bleeding...

Keris crawled achingly across the corridor of the brig, covered in dust and debris.

Deep, dull thuds echoed menacingly behind him, drawing closer.

He felt the shadow of the beast creeping over him like a shroud.

With a deep breath, Keris composed himself.  He locked his body up, pained muscles coiled.

He waited and waited...

At last, the talon of the beast grabbed tightly around the griffon's ankle.

Sneering, Keris uncoiled his body.  He sprung back onto the monster's grip and raked both of his claws across the creature's wrist, making sure to cut deep.

“Hraaa-aaaaussnkkkt!!!”  The beast stumbled backwards, bleeding profusely.

Panting, Keris clawed and scampered up the ramp of the brig, putting distance between himself and his foe before the chaotic flesh had time to heal.

Still, within seconds, he heard hissing and the pounding of feet clamoring after him.  He rushed his way towards the top deck in a cold sweat.





“Swab!  Swab!”  Croche flung the pendant around her own neck so she could finish climbing down to the bottom of the platform.  “You can't be serious!  Putting this back around her neck?!?”

Swab reached the floor first.  One by one, he helped the six foals down and shoved them in random directions.  “Scatter!  Take different paths back to the hold!” he exclaimed.  “Get out of sight and stay safe!”

“Swab!  Listen to me!”  Croche jumped down next to him, panting.  “If Rainbow Dash is all monstery right now, then she could rip you apart—”

“Do you have the pendant?”

“Of course—”

“Then let's go!”  Swab immediately began galloping towards the canals bordering the southern strut.  “If we get there quickly enough, there may still be time to save the Lieutenant—”

“Swab, how do you even plan to get down there?  I heard Skagra say something about the place being sealed off!”

“The same way I got thrown down there the first time!” Swab exclaimed, panting through a smiling muzzle.  He dashed over and under bulkheads.  “Through the loose steam pipe above the cell!”

“Loose steam pipe?”

“Come on!  Hurry!”





Hyperventilating, Keris reached the top of the ramp...

...only to run straight into the metal grate sealing the entrance to the brig off completely.

He hissed through his beak, then grabbed the grate with both talons.  Growling, he shook and rattled the obstruction—but there was no chance of jostling it loose from its foundation.

“Rnnnngh!  Come onnnn!”  His hawkeyes traced the edges of the thick metal bars locked horizontally in place.  “Let me out!”  His voice cracked.  He spotted the vague, emotionless shadows of Nixkit and his fellow dredgers standing directly above him.  “For Goddess' sake!”  He shouted above the dull reverberations of hellish claw-steps, growing closer, exploding in his ears.  “You have to let me out of—”

A serpentine tail wrapped around his torso.

The equine shadows above flinched.

Keris struggled to even gasp as his body was flung backwards—and over a pair of antlers.  He toppeled twice in midair before—WHAM!—colliding hard with a metal wall.  “Ooomf!”  He fell down—and almost instantly a thick brown hoof came slamming down over the middle of his forelimb.  CRACK!  His ears rang with the snapping of bone.  “Aaaa-aaaaaaaugh!” Keris wailed as his talon dangled at a hard right angle.

“Hrssskkkt!”  The beast crouched and rammed the maimed griffon's side, its antlers spraying blood across the bulkheads.

Keris rolled limply down the full length of the ramp like a slab of meat.  The chaotic abomination slinked after him, stalking ravenously...






“Swab... please...” Croche panted and wheezed.  “...can you... just...”  Her gallop lurched to an uneven trot behind him.  “...slow down... a l-little...?”

“There's no time!”  Swab stammered, already several spaces ahead of her.  He spanned the bridge and sped over the decks of the southern strut.  “If we stop for even a breather, it could be too late to stop—”

Just then, a blaring fog-horn lit the air.

Swab scuffled to a stop.

Croche did too.

Swab spun around, muzzle agape.  He lost visual contact with Croche—due to the bridge lifting between them.  “Oh no...”

Croche spun a look to the east.  A motorboat was waiting to navigate the canals.  Swab's section of the southern strut was drifting away from the central platform.  “Swab!  There's a boat coming!”

“Do you still have the pendant?!”

“Well, yes, but—”

Swab galloped up to the edge, holding his hooves out.  “Throw it!”

“What?!”

The colt hollered over the bubbling water and muck.  “We're only going to drift further apart!  You gotta toss it to me now!”  His teeth showed.  “Now, Croche!”

“I... I...”  Croche fidgeted, hugging the pendant to her chest.  “B-but what if I can't throw it far enough—?”

“I wouldn't have asked for your help unless I believed in you!  Now toss it!”

Croche jolted.  Biting her lip, she took a few steps back, galloped forward, and flung her forelimb with all her might.  “Nnngh!”

The necklace flew high, spinning.

Swab tilted his head up.  Limbs outstretched, he breathlessly reached for it.

Clank!  The pendant ricocheted off a guard tower and fell into the drink.

“Mmmm!”  Croche flung her hooves over her muzzle.  “Goddess—!”

“Gnngh!”  Swab lunged over the strut's edge, anchoring himself to a pipe with his tail.  Th-Thap!  He caught the pendant with the barest edge of his fetlock.  “Whew...”  He leaned back, holding the thing up and smiling.  “See, Croche?  If you just dare to cling onto hope—”

“Get going, you stupid mucking bastard!” Croche spat, waving her forelimbs frantically.  “Go!  Save Rainbow!”

Wincing, Swab spun around and dashed off in a little brown blur.  He huffed and puffed, rushing straight for the brig.

Croche stood in place, hugging herself as her breaths came and went in frantic bursts.





Keris panted and panted, his breaths seeping in and out in tiny, whimpering bursts.  He clawed at the rubble-strewn floor with his one good talon, dragging his haggard body across the length of the corridor.

“Hrssskkkt!”  The beast charged up, bucking his thick brown hoof into the griffon's side.

“Mrrrnnghh!”  Keris barely had the consciousness left to feel pain.  He continued shambling forward, inching over the floor like an injured snake.  His eyes were locked on a thick slab of debris that had collapsed from the ceiling supports during the pirate raid.  The rubble formed a right angle against the far wall with a tiny, shadowed space underneath.  In wheezing desperation, Keris slithered and shimmied towards it, dragging his broken arm alongside...

“Hrraaaaukkkt!”  The discordant thing rushed again, this time slapping Keris' ribcage with his paw.

“Unnngh!”  Keris rolled across the floor and away from his destination.  He winced, clinging desperately to a set of bars as the lumbering beast stomped towards him yet again...





Swab's hooves were practically numb as he rounded a final cluster of pipework.

He strafed left and right around random heaps of battle-strewn junk.  At last, he came upon a straightaway.  The brig lingered dead ahead... and above it he saw the raised platform full of vertical steampipes.

“Oh please... yes, please...”  Swab stammered, his lips curving as he tossed his mane back in mid-sprint.  “Oh Verlaxion, thank you—”

A thick leg stuck out from behind a random bulkhead, tripping him.

“...!!”  Swab face-planted.  Hard.  “Ooomf!”  The Loyalty Pendant flew from his grasp and slid to a stop several rusted feet in front of him.  Wincing, he stretched his legs to get back up.

That's when the stallion emerged, kicking the colt hard in the side.  “Rrrgh!”  Whap!

“Aaaugh!” Swab yelped, rolling over.  A dirty, bearded face blurred across his flashing vision.

“Hah!”  Digiff spat.  “Caught you, ya little seafoam shit!”  He stomped over, sneering.  “By Verlaxion's balls, I knew you were up to something!”  He reached down, grabbing the foal by his one scrappy ear.

“Owwww!”  Swab hissed, his muzzle scrunched in pain.  “Ow ow ow ow—”

“What were you doing up by the Skag Hole?  Huh?!”  Digiff hollered in his face.  “Answer me!”

Swab merely dangled, his eyes weakly squinting at the glittering pendant.

“Rrrrrghh...”  Digiff snorted.  “I've had it up to here with you!”  And he flung the colt hard to the ground before kicking him again.  “Raugh!”

Thwap!

“Unnfff!”  Swab rolled again, clutching his side in pain.  He panted and wheezed.  The polluted world spun.





WHAM!

The beast pummeled Keris yet again.

The griffon winced all over, spitting up blood.  His vision went foggy... then refocused.  He found himself staring at the chunk of debris yet again.

“Hraaaaaauckt!”  The monster swung his paw down yet again.

Clenching his beak shut, the Lieutenant expertly pivoted his body towards the incoming blow.  CRACK!  Just as he hoped, the strike was powerful enough to break the bands around his wings.  He stretched his feathers out, took a deep breath, and flapped as hard as he could.

His body bolted forward, bounced twice across the floor, then rolled against the far wall.

The monster howled in frustration, then charged towards him on bounding talons.

Grunting, Keris rolled to the side, ducking underneath the slab of debris.

“HRASSHAAAAUCKT!”  Angrily, the beast perched right on top of the rubble and began pounding... clawing... pummeling away.  Almost instantly, the thing snapped, forming a thick crack down the center.

Keris compensated by bracing the underside of the slab with two wings his three good limbs.  The very act sent ripples of agonizing pain shooting all through his muscles.  Nevertheless, he pushed against the weight of the beast as best as he could, even as shrapnel and flakes of rusted metal littered his feathery head in droves.  He swung his beak left and right, desperate for a clean breath.  His skull throbbed from the deaffening roars of the beast looming just a flimsy layer of buckling metal above him.





“Always snooping around...”  Digiff rambled, stalking the wilted colt with thudding hoofsteps.  “...throwing your nibbles away, left and right.  Don't pretend that I didn't see you, ya little sea foam waste of sperm.  You think you're a real smartass, huh?  Thought you could shove it in my face?  Like all the others?”

Swab shook, trembled.  Tears welled up in his eyes as he pulled, clambered, and tugged at the bulkheads.  His eyes were locked on the pendant as he crawled icily towards it, one glacial inch at a time.

“The worst part is...”  Digiff stood over the colt, growling.  “...you cost me the hardest worker of the bunch.  Just what did Quint see in you, huh?  Well, muck-for-brains?!  What did you infect that punk with so that he'd throw his flesh away and bloat?!  Did you really want to make my life that much harder?!  As if the poor dredge harvest wasn't cruddy enough?!”

Swab wheezed, reaching out for the pendant.  His hoof almost grazed it.

Suddenly, the necklace drew away—for Swab was dangling from the bearded stallion's grasp.

“I think it's high time you got yourself a healthy dose of humility, boy,” Digiff breathed in his face.  Th-Thwkkk!  He unfolded a switchblade and held it up to the little colt's skull.  “And I think...”  He smirked.  “...an exchange is in order.  Huh?  Let's see you keep a lesson shut in that dense head of yours once your last ear is gone—”

Th-Th-Th-Th-Thap!  A lithe body rushed up out of nowhere and—WHAM!—speared Digiff in the gut.

“Ooof!”  The stallion fell back, entangled with another pony.

“Guh!”  Swab fell down, collapsing atop the pendant.  He looked over, his amber eyes twitching.  “Whony?!”

“What are you waiting for?!”  The older colt flashed a look back, panting.  “Grab the thing and run!”

“I...”  Swab stammered, wincing from fresh bruises.  “I-I...”

“Get going, idiot!”  Whony snarled.  “I'm not going to tell you twice—”

“You!”  Digiff sat up, hissing.  “I'm going to make you bloat for this—”

Whony spun on his flank and bucked both of his legs straight into Digiff's groin.  “Grnngh!”

“Gahhhhhh!” Digiff curled into a fetal position, hissing in pain.

“Get the buck up there!  We've got his ass!”  As Whony said this, several colts rushed in from the metalwork around the scene.  They all piled on top of the twitching dredger, kicking and beating him with a motley assortment of bludgeons and clubs.

“Augh!  Gaaakt!”  Digiff flailed and punched at them in vain.  “Get off me, seafoam little buggers—Aaaugh!”

Swab nervously grabbed the pendant.  Two pairs of strong forelimbs hoisted him up with a gasp.

“You heard Whony!” one colt said, rushing with Swab towards the topmost bulkhead above the brig.  “It's now or never!”

“Right!” Swab clenched his teeth and climbed the rest of the way with both foals at his side.





Thud!  Thud!  Th-Thuddd!

“Hraaa-aaaulllkkt!”  The monster slammed and pounded Keris' makeshift shield with both forelimbs.  At last, it gripped the far corners of the metal slab and then rammed its horns straight through it.  CRACKKK!

Keris gasped as the rubble crumbled into a hundred pieces all around him.  He slumped flat on the floor beneath the beast, clutching a narrow strip of rebar.  With a grunt, he flung the thing desperately at the creature's snout.

The monster effortlessly batted the shard away, then gripped Keris again by the throat.

Keris wheezed, eyes rolling back as—Thwooooosh!—he was tossed clear across the corridor.

He ricocheted off a loose length of bars, then slumped up against a wall.

Limp, bleeding, the griffon looked up, squinting out one bruised eye as the shadow of antlers crossed over him once more...





One of Whony's lackeys was the first to reach the topmost bulkhead above the brig.  He reached down, dragging Swab up and over the edge.  The other colt climbed up behind the youngest foal, and all three rushed towards the centermost vertical vent.

“Here...!”  One colt flung the grated lid open.

“Good luck...!”  The other one hoisted Swab up.

“Thanks,” was all Swab said.  Holding his breath, he dropped...






...and slid his way down the tiny vertical crawlspace.

Rusted metal blurred past him.

He hugged the ruby pendant to his chest, shivering the entire way.

At last, he struck bottom...





...and somersaulted out through the opening in the cell room floor.

The colt looked around, panting.  His eyes scanned mounds of debris and shattered prison bars.

“Hraaaaaulkkkt!”  An unearthly voice shrieked just outside the shattered remains of Rainbow's cell.

Gritting his teeth, Swab dashed for the nearest hole.  He spotted bristled gray fur and antlers... a flash of red and brown feathers...

The chaotic beast raised a pair of talons over the crumpled, bleeding figure of Keris.

Swab scampered through the smashed hole.  He tripped and fell.  Picking himself back up, he clasped the pendant in both hooves and dove forward.

“Hresshaaaullkk—!”  The thing's claws swung towards Keris' neck.

The griffon winced, only to have a tiny, one-eared colt slide to a stop directly between him and the beast.  “Rainbow!”  A ruby lightning bolt pulsed directly in the monster's face.

With a high-pitched shriek, the monster reared back.  It raised its meaty forelimbs up, shading its yellow eyeslits.  A deep, gurgling noise ran through its neck as it glared down at the colt.

Swab panted... panted... then held the pendant up further.  “This... is not... you!”  He clenched his teeth, taking a daring step forward.  “Are you listening?  It's me!  Swab!  Remember?”

“Hrsssssssnkkkkttt...”  The monster's backhair stood up on end.  A serpent's tail lashed left and right, scraping the walls and floor of the battle-scarred place.

“You...”  Swab gulped, taking another step.  “You are not the monster that everypony says you are.  Do you hear me?”

“Mrmmfff...”  Keris struggled to keep both eyes open.  He squinted through a trickle of red blood cascading across his crown.  “Grnngghh... child...”  He fought down the bile rising from his throat, then reached out with his good talon.  “Swab.  You shouldn't... mmmm... sh-shouldn't be here...”

Swab kept staring boldly at the towering behemoth, his yellow eyes laced with tears.  “Deep beneath all of this lies a good mare... a kind mare...”  He gulped.  “A mare who was kind to me... who g-gave me something to hope for...”

“Hrskkkk-ssnnkkkkt...” Long ears twitched on either side of the beast's antlers.  Its talons curled and uncurled as it leaned forward, its shadow crossing over the colt's tiny figure.  The thing's eyes remained locked on the pendant.

“Get out of here...” Keris stammered, shaking his head.  “There's nothing of Rainbow Dash left, Swab.  G-get out while you still can!  I-I...”  He scooted and shuffled over, wincing.  “I c-can still distract it!  Now go!”

Swab shook his head.  “I'm not giving up...”  A tear trickled down his face.  “Do you hear that, Rainbow Dash?”  He took another step, holding the pendant out further.  “I'm not giving up on you.  You did something kind for me.  Now... let me do something k-kind for you.”  He gulped.  “Let me put the pendant back on.  Let me bring you back to the pegasus you were meant to be.”

The beast hissed inwardly.  Its legs scuffled across the floor, then locked tight.  Muscles coiled.

Keris saw it.  He gasped.  “Child—!”

“Help me bring back the pony that your friends love—”

“HRAAAAULKKKT!”  The beast slapped its talon across Swab's skull.

He flew down the corridor, landing into the opposite wall from Keris.  “Ooof!”  He slumped back, clutching the pendant to his chest.  Panting, he flung his yellow eyes up.

With a banshee cry, the beast dove across the hall.

“No!” Keris sat up, eyes wide.

Swab clenched his eyes shut... and held out the pendant.

The beast pounced on him, bringing the full weight of its body through a pair of jaws that sunk deep into the colt's neck.
> The Labors of Foaling Yesterday
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Keris panted and panted...

Gawking...

His hawkeyes wide...

The beast remained frozen in place across from him, its patchwork girth obscuring the tiny morsel of pony flesh beneath it.

Keris blinked.  He grimaced through a quivering beak.

Seconds passed... and still the beast did not move.

The Lieutenant gulped.  “Goddess,” he breathed.

And then...

A twitch... ...

A shudder... ... ...

From head to tail, the monster's body went limp.

The fur across its body turned black, molting.  The tail drooped, then melted into ashen bits all across the floor.  The leathery flesh of the creature's wings peeled off, its layers dissipating like blown sand in an invisible wind.

Keris held his breath.  Anxiously, he craned his neck to see better, wincing in spite of himself.

Slowly, with each passing second, the beast shrank in size.  The calico surfaces tore away, revealing soft blue fuzz underneath.  At last, there was a clatter of two antlers dropping to the floor, and there sat in the beast's place a petite pegasus with drooping wings and a sporadically twitching tail.  Color blossomed in the center of the brig, fountaining outward from the mare's neck and back.

Rainbow Dash shook... shuddered... heaved.  With an audible squeak, her shoulders buckled, and she turned to look back at the griffon.  A ruby pendant glittered beneath her chin, its golden bands having been clasped firmly around her neck.

Keris gazed back at her in dead silence.

Rainbow's muzzle hung agape.  Her ears twitched... then twitched again.  She interrupted her panting breath just long enough to gulp.  Her forelimbs shifted... feeling the dull weight of a tiny body hanging limply in her grasp.

The mare clenched her eyes shut.  Nostrils flared as she breathed in... breathed out... breathed in...

She faced forward, eyes still closed tight... muzzle scrunched.  “... ... ...mmmm... ... ...”  She swallowed a lump in her throat.  She struggled... she fought it... but finally she found the courage to raise her hoof... and brush it across the lightning bolt.

Keris squinted as a ruby glow intensified, chasing away the shadows of the room.

Rainbow shook... quivered... then at last opened her eyes.

The body of a small colt hung off her forelimbs... loose... drooping.

Rainbow clenched her teeth together.  With a shaky hoof she reached out... and tilted his head up.

Swab's neck came into the ruby light...

...and a circle of red whelts crossed his throat.  It was a grazed line of shallow scrapes, not even deep enough to draw blood.  Within seconds of observing this, the colt in her grasp wheezed, coughing up a whimpering tone as he drew breath.

Rainbow's muzzle hung wide open.  As Swab once again coughed and shuddered, tears instantly welled up in her eyes.  Her pupils rolled back as she dove forward, burying her face in his neck and mane.  She cradled the colt tightly to her body, rocking the two of them back and forth.  The mare shook... quivered... until at last an eternity of pent-up breaths burst forth from her chest, letting loose into Swab's dirty fur with a long, muffled wail.  She hugged him closer, sputtering, sobbing into his neck and mane.

Keris watched from across the corridor, exhaling heavily.  His hawkeyes blinked as he observed the scene, almost ignoring the pain in his limbs.

Rainbow Dash cradled Swab closer, whimpering in sweet, succulent waves.  As he continued breathing, stirring—it only made the moment even more fragile.  “Mmmmm... Celestiaaaa...”  Rainbow choked on another sob, lifting her tear-streaked face just so she could nuzzle the foal's cheek and kiss his missing ear.  She rested her chin atop his head as she continued rocking him, staring off into the distance with beaded lashes.  She breathed... she shuddered... she cried.  “I love... I love...”  A tiny trilling sound, and she quivered again, relishing in each lively beat of the foal's heart.

The Lieutenant clenched his beak tight.  At long last, his muscles uncoiled, and he leaned back against the wall, breathing in long spurts.

“Don't you see...?”  Rainbow Dash asked the air.  She sniffled, blinking until her eyesight was relatively clear once again.  “Don't you understand...?”  She nuzzled Swab's mane once again, staring off into the shadows to her left.  “This is not what I want to be...”  Another pent-up sob, and she gulped hard.  “This is not what I want to do.”  She stared into the shadows to her right.  “But this place... this whole place...”  She seethed.  “This whole world.”  Rainbow Dash approached the frothy crest of hyperventilating.  “It doesn't want to play nice!  No matter how hard I try!  No matter... no m-matter how much I want to avoid... to avoid...”

She took another look at Swab... at his pursed lips... at his twitching ear as he lingered beneath the penumbra of wakefulness.

Rainbow clenched her eyes shut.  She buckled... she wheezed... she cried, “I'm sorry...”  Another stifled squeal.  “I'm sorry...”  She shook her head viciously, fighting the urge to whimper.  “I'm so... so sorry...”  A sharp inhale, and the hint of a frown flickered across her face.  “Not for what I've done... but for how I did it.  Because... b-because if I had faith... the same faith in my friends as I once did... then I could easily have avoided the choice that I made... and the choices I still feel like making.  I...”  She gnashed her teeth.

Keris blinked.

Rainbow stroked Swab's cheek, gazing at him with moist eyes.  “I should have told you... I should have told all of you from the very beginning how bad this world was... how bloody it all could be.  But I held onto hope...”  She sneered.  “A lie that I told myself... that I could somehow let you all avoid it... so you wouldn't have to be destroyed inside.  So you wouldn't have to be emotionally and physically wrecked as I...”  A grimace, then a squeaking tone:  “As I was... when I lost the f-five of you...”  She seethed.  “And I had no choice but to throw myself into this grim... grim world... entangling myself in something far friggin' bigger than big.”  She gulped.  “I th-thought it'd be easier to lie to you... to protect you.  But then... the lie swallowed me up... and it was too big and too dirty and too late to claw my way out from the meaty center of it all.”  She closed her eyes.  “And ponies suffered for it.”

Swab stirred and stirred.  At last, his eyes fluttered open.  He gazed weakly up at the mare who was cradling her.

“But ponies are suffering again... right now... right here...”  Rainbow gritted her teeth.  “And all over the world.  And you know what?  You can't solve it by just sitting in place... using some white light to blind yourself to the ugliness... hoping it will all go away.”  She shook her head, jaws clenched tight.  “No... you have to keep moving.  You have to keep carrying the burden of all the terrible things you've lost... and all the terrible things you do to make up for it.”  She gulped.  “Just as I'll always carry the weight of Aridstone... Lerris... the Quade...”  She tilted her face up to the ceiling, stammering.  “Just as I've always chosen to carry the weight of you... and what it meant to the world... and to me... to be completely and utterly stripped of you girls once.  But again...?”  She whimpered.  “Again...???”

Rainbow Dash hunched over, eyes clenched as more tears squeezed out of her shivering body.

“I've done horrible... horrible things.  I've broken the rules of harmony time and time again.”  Rainbow gnashed her teeth.  “But I don't need harmony right now!  I need my friends!  Grkktt...”

She looked back into the shadows, panting, sobbing.

“Please... won't you h-help me?”  She sniffled, holding Swab close once more.  “Won't you help me help them?”  She shook her head.  “I can't do this on my own.  I could never do this on my own.  This is something experience has taught me!  Not Whitemane.  Not Verlaxion.  Not any of the friggin' Austraeoh junk.  Life.  And I'm sorry that you couldn't experience it all with me... but you can join me now!  We can learn together.  Like friends.  Please... I'm begging you... pleading with you.  Help me... help me make this world right...”

Rainbow Dash leaned down once again, nuzzling Swab as her sobs came now in quiet little bursts.

Keris watched with a dull expression, blinking blearily.  Suddenly, something made his hawkeyes squint.  He cocked his head to the side, studying Rainbow Dash closely.

Swab blinked, a tiny gasp escaping his muzzle as he looked up at a flickering pulse of ruby light.

Rainbow's eyes opened.  She looked down at her own pendant.  Her breathing halted, and she looked straight forward.  Her eyes blinked...





...and when they reopened, Fluttershy's gently smiling face gazed back.

Rainbow's lips moved silently, pronouncing all three syllables of the kind pegasus' name.

Fluttershy gave a tiny nod, then stepped aside, gazing into the shadows.  In a faint flicker of ruby light, a pink figure emerged, her blue eyes welling with tears beneath a drooping mane.

Rainbow stared, her muzzle agape.  Another flicker of ruby light—and she jerked her head aside.

A pale unicorn materialized, avoiding Rainbow's gaze.  She sniffled, quivering tightly where she stood.

Rainbow held Swab even tighter, sitting still and speechless.

“Well...?” Fluttershy cooed, staring both mares down.  “What do you two have to say for yourselves?”

Pinkie Pie was the first to whimper.  She blinked, and in that blink she shedded thick rivers of tears.  “Oh Dashie...”  She shook her head.  “You d-don't have to beg with us...”

“We're so... so sorry, darling,” Rarity stammered, muzzle quivering.  “Won't you ever forgive us?”

“I j-just can't stand to see you suffer like this...” Pinkie rubbed her face as her thick, heavy mane hung over like a fuchsia shroud.  “I c-can't stand to let any more of it happen.  It's so... so...”

“Horrible... abominable...” Rarity wept.  “...uncouth!”

“Hrmmmmm—!”  Pinkie buried her face in Rarity's mane, wailing.  “What she saidddddddddd!”

Rarity cried, holding Pinkie close as she stared Rainbow Dash.  “What h-happened to you just now.”  She gulped.  “Everything went all black!  We tried calling out to you, but there was no response!  And th-then when we came out of where we were...”  Her muzzle melted into a pained grimace.  “...it... it was like our very best friend had been replaced by some terrible monstrosity...”

“We th-thought we had lost you for g-good!  Our bestest pal, Dashie!”  Pinkie wailed.  “And it was all our fault!”

“There there...”  Fluttershy drifted closer, calmly nuzzling the other two.  “Neither of you girls infected Rainbow Dash with chaos from the get go.”  She wiped her muzzle try and continued to pat their shoulders.  “In fact, n-none of us are responsible for making this all happen.  But we are responsible for helping it all stop.”  She turned to glare into the deeper shadows of the brig.  “Isn't that right, everypony?”

Breathless, Rainbow Dash peered into the far corner of the place.

With a final, firm pulse of ruby light, a lavender figure emerged.  Twilight Sparkle shuffled forward from the emptiness, her head bowed... face frowning.

Rainbow blinked.

Twilight came to a quiet, shuffling stop.  Try as she might, she couldn't contain the frown forever.  It buckled—as did the rest of her body, shaking loose tears that trickled freely down her face.  Sniffling, the mare muttered, “I... I thought I had learned all I could ever learn about friendship.”  A muffled whimper.  “But I was wrong.  I wasn't even close.  But you, Rainbow Dash...”  She finally looked up, making eye contact with the pegasus.  Her ears instantly drooped.  “After all these months of flying alone... you know far more about life than the rest of us combined... d-don't you?”

“I wasn't always alone,” Rainbow Dash said, shaking her head.  She took a deep breath, and then murmured:  “Help me, Twilight,” she breathed.  “And we can learn together.”  A gulp.  “From now on.”

“I...”  Twilight winced.  She looked at the other three spectres, and she shuddered.  “I-I don't even know if I can...”

Rainbow nodded.  “Honesty's tough, isn't it?”

Twilight shook... heaved.  A breath rose up her throat, fought its way past a thick lump, and found a voice to carry out her muzzle.  “Mmmm... if... if I forgive you... for... for what you did back there in the Quade... and beyond.”  A sniffle.  “Would... would you forgive m-me... and the rest of us for disappearing on—?”

“Already done, egghead,” Rainbow exhaled.

Twilight instantly hung her head.  She clenched her teeth as the tears flowed freely.  Pinkie and Rarity floated in, hugging the unicorn from both sides.  She draped herself against them, sobbing.  Through moist eyes, she squinted at Rainbow Dash.  “I'm sorry... Rainbow Dash.”  A sharp inhale.  “Rainbow, I am so... so sorry.”  A squeaking sound.  “I had no idea it was all so... so horrible...”

“I did,” Rainbow said, shuddering.  A tear trickled down her cheek.  “And I'm sorry anyways.”

Keris blinked, glancing between Rainbow and the shadows.

Fluttershy leaned in, nuzzling Twilight and wiping her cheeks dry with a soft hoof.  She turned and smiled tearfully at Rainbow Dash.  “And I forgive you, Rainbow Dash.”  A slight shudder, and she hid behind part of her mane.  “Uhm... I-I mean... if that's quite alright with you, that is...”

Rainbow shuddered, smiling.

“Snrkk... Rainbow...” Swab wheezed, rubbing his sore neck.  “Does... d-does this mean your friends are back?”

Rainbow took a deep breath.  “Well, how about it, girls?”  Her ears twitched.  “Are you back?”

The spectral mares looked at one another.  In a pink explosion, Pinkie shoved the other three back and propelled herself forward.  Her mane fluffed out as she grinned a crescent moon.  “Twitchy tail!  Watch the kid!”

“...!”  Rainbow swung Swab to the side—just in time to avoid a falling chunk of metal debris.

“Whoah...” Swab cooed, eyes blinking wide.

“This place looks absolutely dreadful,” Rarity said, batting her eyes dry.  She sniffed, cleared her throat, and spoke evenly:  “But it's still structurally intact, save for a few weak spots in the wall behind your former cell.”  She pointed past a crumpled wall of bars.  “There are several metal pipes lingering just inches beneath the surface.  Quite vulnerable.”

“Half of them are full of hot, billowing team,” Twilight said, phasing out of the wall in question.  She pointed straight up.  “And at least seven of the thugs up above us are carrrying polearm tasers charged with lethal electrical leylines.”

“Your griffon friend is hurt pretty badly,” Fluttershy said, floating just above Keris.  “His right talon is broken in three places and he has multiple lacerations across the leg and torso, including a nasty cut across the forehead.”  She looked over.  “However, I think there're enough bandages left in one of the cabinets to patch up the wounds.  He shouldn't bleed out.”

“Also...” Rarity pointed at several shattered bars across the floor.  “Three or four of these should be the appropriate length to fashion him a makeshift splint.”

“You'll wanna be quick about it, though,” Twilight remarked, floating down from the ceiling.  “I spotted several containers incoming, full of what looks to be flammable material.”

“Yeah!”  Pinkie levitated besides her.  “Also, my left eyebrow is aching!  That means a bunch of lowlife thugs seek to pump a bunch of nasty dust into the brig in order to knock Dashie unconscious in her super freaky chaos state!”  The rest of the mares gawked at her.  “What?”  She shrugged.  “These baddies are—like—super specifically evil!”

“Okay...”  Rainbow Dash gently placed Swab down.  Smirking, she stood up, wiping her muzzle dry.  “Ahem.  Fluttershy, keep track of Keris' vitals, alright?  Rarity?  Help me scrounge up the perfect sized rods to make a splint.”

“Will do, darling.”

“Twilight.  Use your eggheady knowledge of first-aid to guide us with the griffon's talon.  Pinkie?  Keep an eye out for those specifically evil baddies.”

“Okie dokie lokie!”  The mare saluted before floating upside down through the ceiling.

“Uhm...” Keris winced, watching awkwardly as Rainbow Dash spoke towards the shadows.  “I know I've suffered several hits to the skull... but what exactly is happening before my eyes right now?”

“What else?”  Swab coughed, wheezed, and smiled weakly.  “She's being awesome...”

> Today at the Steam Sale
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Chandler shivered, clutching his bejeweled robe tightly around his figure.  He stood close to his steel steamship's bow, staring due west.  The fumes and smokestacks of Red Barge rose into full, foul clarity.  His nose wrinkled at the pungent odor of the polluted air.

With steady hooves, Longaze trotted across the deck and came to a stop beside him.  The blonde bodyguard stared at his shivering figure, then spoke:  “Would you like to go below deck and sit by the furnace, sir?”

“I'm not cold,” Chandler grumbled.  “Besides... I didn't come all this way to hide my face now.”

Longaze took a deep breath, staring west at the hazy lengths of the rusted struts.  “You know...”  She cleared her throat.  “It's not too late to turn back, sir.”

“No...”

“With extra resources dedicated towards company security, I can more properly assess any of Skagra's threats and prevent another incident like what happened in the harb—”

“No no no!”  Chandler hissed, stomping a hoof.  “For the thousandth time no!  I have to do this!”

“With all due respect, sir, you don't owe Skagra anything.”

“Oh, I owe him something alright,” Chandler muttered.  “I owe him several explosive things... all launched at his pathetic half-heads.”  His nostrils flared.  The steamship's engines roared beneath him as the vessel approached the eastern struts of Red Barge.  “Once the Rainbow Rogue is mine, I'll have what I need to ascend to the top of Rohbredden.  When the time is ready, I'll come back.  It might take years... even decades.  But I'll return to these seas of muck... and when I do, it will be with the merciless wrath of a million rampaging windigoes.”  He sneered through his teeth, “I'll make sure Skagra is still alive to feel every organ being ripped out of him.  Hrmmmff... let's see him laugh that up, the smug bastard.”

“And the first step to such revenge...”  Longaze raised an eyebrow.  “...is to suck up to the miscreant?”

“Longaze, I know you're paid to protect me... but don't forget that such a task starts with respect.”  He turned towards her with a limp smile.  “Above all things, I'm a politician.”  He adjusted his cloak of jades.  “Of course it all starts with sucking up.”  His ears folded.  “And when it comes time to spit it all back out, it'll be right into Skagra's gaping wounds.”

“Hmmm...”  Longaze looked at the incoming struts in the filthy water.  “Perhaps I should have looked into politics instead.”

“Stick to throwing yourself at dredge coal explosions, my dear,” Chandler muttered.  “You'll live longer... or at least smell less like a corpse.”  He coughed, then waved a hoof in the air.  “Let's announce our presence, shall we?”

Longaze turned and hollered at the sparse crew positioned across the top deck.  “Sound off the horn!”

A pair of cleanly uniformed stallions nodded.  They each grabbed a lever situated along a central mast and tugged.  Soon, a massive foghorn was blaring overhead...





...casting loud salvos of bass noise across the rippling muck and the platforms floating within it.

Skagra turned from where stood talking with a group of stallions next to a cart full of dredge dust.

“Ah!  My date's here!  And right as the sun kisses the seagull droppings just right.”  Skagra turned around four hundred degrees, brushed his bangs back, then cocked his head to the side.  “How do I look?  Hmmm?”  He blinked, then blurted:  “Like a sack of walrus testicles?  Good.”  He shuffled east, motioning to a pair of dredgers to follow.  “I wanna give Chandler something to weep over at night.”  He waved again.  “Bring your tasers, boys.  Make them extra tasery so he'll have something bright to squint at.  Bonus nibbles if you make him go cross-eyed.  Nmiaow...”

The other stallions with the cart grunted, pushing the supply of dredge dust southwest and towards the brig.





“Ah hah!”  Rarity spun from where she and Pinkie Pie stood beside a rusted wall deep inside Rainbow's former cell.  “Rainbow Dash!  Come here as soon as you can!  You absolutely must take a look at this!”

“Careful... careful...”  Twilight Sparkle murmured, floating close to Rainbow Dash.  She gestured with her hooves, delicately directing the motions which Rainbow used to fasten the splint to Keris' broken talon.  “You don't want to apply too much pressure.  Remember, this is a temporary solution until he can get proper medical aid.”

“I'm keeping focused on him,” Fluttershy said, smiling from the other side of the shuddering griffon.  “If he starts to feel pain, I'll know.”

“Mrmmfff...” Rainbow sweated, struggling to tie together a pair of metal rods situated around Keris' forelimb.  “I think he has the ability to tell me when or if I'm hurting him.”

“I would most certainly hope so,” Keris stammered, hawkeyes darting left and right.  “Uhm...”

“Don't worry,” Rainbow muttered.  “We're concentrating on what I'm doing.”

“I've gathered half of that, at least.”

“Dashie!” Pinkie called from the cell.  “Did you hear Rarara or didn't you?”  She pointed at the wall.  “We've got something to show you!  Come see!”

“A little busy right now, Pinkie,” Rainbow muttered, biting through another length of gauze.

“Yeesh!”  Pinkie frowned.  “Just how long does it take to tie a tourniquet to a cat-chicken?”

“It's a splint, not a tourniquet, Pinkie.”

“Huh?”  Blue eyes blinked.  “Then how come you guys called it a tourniquet earlier?”

“I don't even remotely remember saying that.”

“You totally did!” Pinkie Pie pouted.  “How 'bout we get Dashie to Mareguyver a time machine out of the rest of the metal bars here so we can go back and show you—”

“Focus, girls,” Rainbow grunted.  “I know you've been inside the Vanilla Zone for forever and a day, but c'mon.”

“Just let her do her work,” Fluttershy said.  “After all, a broken talon is no laughing matter.  It takes a great deal of care and attention to make sure that his limb is even remotely stabilized.  Even if it takes half-an-hour, we must be attentive or else—”

“There.”  Rainbow Dash brushed her hooves off.  “Done.”

“...”  Fluttershy blinked.  “Oh.”

Rainbow grasped Keris' other talon.  “Here... uh... try to stand.”

“So long as you try not to rip me asunder in a violent, beastly rage,” Keris wheezed.

“Erm... yeah...”  Rainbow grimaced, helping the wincing griffon onto his three good limbs.  “About that.  I just wanna say—”

“Dassssssshiiiiieee!”

“Friggin' what?!”  Rainbow Dash turned to glare.  With a roll of her eyes, she stomped across the rubble-strewn brig.  “Give me a just a second, Limptenant.  My newly reunited ghost alarms are summoning me.”

“I'm not sure we even have a second, Miss Dash!” Keris sputtered in a raspy voice.  He hobbled on three limbs.  “Skagra's stallions will be here at any moment with a deadly compound.  As soon as they hear how quiet it's become down here, they'll know the fight's over, and they'll suffocate us with the infernal stuff!”

“You hear that?”  Rainbow Dash said, pointing back at the griffon as she approached Rarity and Pinkie Pie.  “It's half past Death-Thirty, and we're expecting company.  Pleeeeease tell me you gals found something good.”

“Only the finest find, darling!”  Rarity smiled proudly, then pointed at a spot along the wall, approximately four hoof-lengths away from the corner.  “There's a narrow pipe full of condensed steam just beyond the rusted surface here.  It's old and in sore need of maintenance.”

“This isn't quite the time to go wrenching around, Rares.”

“Of course not.  It's not your style.”  Rarity pointed.  “But if you strike this wall hard enough, I suspect you'll knock the pipe loose, which will rupture the rest of the steam array that's squeezed between the bulkheads.”

“Uhhmm...”  Rainbow Dash blinked.  “Don't we wanna avoid that?” she asked.  “Seems like leaking steam around this place is bad juju.”

“Heehee...!”  Pinkie giggle-snorted.  “She said 'juju.'”

“Rainbow... Dash...” A tiny, hoarse voice echoed from the corner.

Rainbow turned around.

Swab limped into the center of the cell.  He rubbed his throat, squinting up at the mare.  “Are your friends talking about... mmfff... kicking some steam pipes loose?”

“Yeah.”  Rainbow arched an eyebrow.  “Is that doable, kid?”

“This place hasn't been looked at in ages,” Swab said.  He swallowed a sore lump down his throat and pointed.  “Long before this was a prison, it was just a chamber to house overflowing dredgers and their families.  Or so I've been told.”  He gulped yet again.  “Chalk it up to lazy engineering... but a bunch of excess steam has gathered around here.  But it shouldn't be too hot.”

“And what if we cause the array to rupture?” Rainbow asked.  She looked in Rarity's direction, then back at the orphan.  “Will it—like—scald us until we're super dead?”

Swab weakly shook his head.  “Shouldn't.  I'm pretty sure of it.”

“Rainbow Dash...” Twilight floated over towards the pegasus.  “A bunch of upwards flowing steam might be a good thing right now.”  She pointed straight up.

Rainbow's chin tilted.  Her pupils shrank as she spotted the shadow of a large wagon being rolled to a stop outside, followed by excited dredgers' voices.





“Is that what I think it is?” a dredger asked.

“Yup...”  Another patted the back of the cart as his companions began unloading the circular containers.  “Scourge of the shoreline processing plants.”

“Hrmmff... damn continentals always find soft ways to die.”

“Heh...”  Nixkit paced around the cart.  “Anypony hear anymore scuffling from below?”

A dredger tilted his ear towards the bolted doorway, then shook his head.  “Nothing, sir.”

“That griffin has gotta be deader than dead.”

“What'll it be, Nix?” another thug asked.  “Do we put her to sleep or what?”

Nostrils flaring, Nixkit looked east in time to see a spotless ship rolling into port.  “Chandler's already here.  It's now or never.”  He swung a hoof at the stallions.  “Pour it in, boys.”

The thugs nodded, rolling the grimy cylinders towards the far corners of the grated door.

“If nothing else, the fat cat will be thankful we delivered the product in its sleep.”  He motioned towards another stallion.  “Go to the Skag Hole and grab the freak's necklace.”  He frowned at a pair of dredgers.  “And be careful with that shit!  Cover your muzzles when you pour.  Pirates have sucked us dry of enough healthy blood on this hunk of junk...”





“Right here?” Rainbow asked, pointing at a patch of rusted wall.

Rarity nodded.  “Yes, Rainbow.”

“She's right.” Twilight phased her head out of the wall.  “Start hitting!”  She ducked back in with a flash of lavender.

“Okay...”  Rainbow gnashed her teeth and—“Rrrrnnngh!”  Th-Thap!  She bucked the wall.  “Grrrff!”  Thud!  And again.  “Grrkkk!  Wh-Whack!

“Any change, Twilight?” Fluttershy exclaimed.

The unicorn poked through the wall, shaking her head.  “Not that I can see!”

“It's working!” Rarity exclaimed.  “Trust me!  I feel it!  Just keep giving it the college try, Rainbow!”

“Rrrrrgh!”  Rainbow huffed and puffed, bucking and striking at the wall.  “Mrmmfffngh... come on!”  Whap!  Thap!  Whack!

The last impact sent a savage fissure forming between the wall and the corner.

Twilight's head shoved out again.  “Something's giving!”

“Yeah...”  Rainbow panted.  “But no steam leak.”

“You have to hit it harder, Rainbow,” Rarity said.  “It'll give way!  Believe me!”

Rainbow grimaced, rubbing her aching lower fetlock.  “I-I'm not sure how much harder I can hit.  Mrrmmfff... Celestia.”

Just then, a metal bar scraped across the floor.

“... ... ...?”  Rainbow turned, blinking.  “Birdboy...?”

“Hmmm... how I do tire of avian jabs.”  Keris nevertheless used the loose bar as a cane, hobbling over to the mare's side.  “I think I'm starting to see what you, Swab, and... ahem... the others are on about.”

“You do?”

“Well, perhaps not, but the inevitability of certain doom preparing to rain down from above is ample motivation.”  Squinting one hawkeye, he threaded the tip of the bar through the fresh crack in the wall.  “I do believe some localized pressure is in order.”

“Dude, you're... like... totally broken right now,” Rainbow said.

“There's a saying in Rohbredden,” the Lieutenant coolly spoke.  “I trust it's universal, even beyond the blight.”  He cleared his throat, smirking crookedly at her from beneath his beak.  “'It takes one to know one.'”

“... ... ...”  Rainbow Dash smirked.  “Keep your pole lodged in tight, guy.”

“Aye.”  Keris wrapped two of his limbs around the bar.

Rainbow exhaled, turning towards the wall.  “There's something I'd never thought I'd say out loud.”  She grunted and kicked.  “Grnnngh!”  Whack!  “Mrmmmff!”  Thwack!

“Hurry...” Swab wheezed, eyes tracing the rolling shadows above.  “I hear barrels rattling!”

Pinkie phased down from above, wide-eyed.  “The scamp isn't kidding!  Steamy-steamy time, girls!”

“Almost...” Rainbow grunted, hissed.  “Almost...”

“Here...”  Keris sweated, twisting and turning the bar, causing the crack in the wall to crumble further.  “Just aim a bit higher...”

“Grnnngh!”  Rainbow kicked and kicked.  Whack!  Th-Thwack!  She panted, sweating with each impact.  “Y'know... it deserves... mrmmff... being said...”  She gulped, kicking again.  “Sorry for totally turning demon-dragonequus on you and nearly stomping you into griffon goo.”

“Hey...” Keris exhaled through a limp grin.  “...those who go searching for monsters tend to find them.”

“Yeah... and?”  Rainbow hissed, kicking once more.  “Did you?”

“Let's discuss that once we're dead.”

“Deal.”  CRACKKK!  Rainbow's last kick caused a fountain of gray steam to billow out of the wall.  “Hah!  No deal!”

Twilight burst from the wall.  “You struck gold!”

“It's working!” Swab wheezed.  “The steam's spilling out!”

“Yeah, but not fast enough.”  Rainbow wiped her brow, then looked over her shoulder.  “Rares?”

“It still needs to rupture into the array,” Rarity said.  She pointed.  “See if you can tear it to the left.”

“On it!”  Rainbow gently shoved Keris aside.  He and Swab watched as Rainbow took control of the bar, then pulled it with all her might.  “Grnnnn-nnnnnnnnnnggaaaaugh!”

SNAP!

HISSSSSSSSSSSSS!

An explosive cloud of mist billowed out of the wall, instantly filling the brig from wall to wall.

“Happy New Year—!!!”  Pinkie yodeled into the wave of steam.





“And a one... and a two.. and a...”

“Dump it!” Nixkit hollered.

The thugs tipped over the first of several barrels of volatile dredge dust...

...right as an enormous jet of steam came rocketing up through the grate.

“Gah!”

“Whoah!”

“Holy shit—!”

“Back—Back!” Nixkit hollered, then held his breath—for dredge dust was being blown straight back at them.

The Red Bargers galloped in opposite directions, several dropping their shark prods altogether.  Before the first opened cylinder could tip over, Nixkit rushed in and pulled it up-right.  He threw a lid on, jumped away, then exhaled in a heavy wheeze.  He and the others stood their distance, nervously covering their muzzles as they watched the veritable geyser erupting in front of him.

“Verlaxion's sleet...”

“That was close...”

“What in the mucking hell is going on down there?”

“That dayum bitch blew a steam pipe array!”

“Yeah!  No shit!  But how?!”

“Cuz she's the same violent freak that Monket pulled out of the sea!  That's how! Goddess-dayum, dude!  Didn't you see how she was kicking the griffon's beak in just minutes ago?”

“Uhm...”  One thug gulped.  “Boss?”  He glanced at Nixkit while pointing at the billowing steam.  “I... uh... I think we have a problem.”

Nixkit clenched his teeth, sweating profusely.  The fog horn sounded again from a distance.  He glanced across the struts with beaded eyes, spotting Chandler's steamship as it moored into place.  “Yeah...”  He shuddered, staring at the mists once again.  “...we do indeed...”
> Rainbow Rogue:  Now With Ghosts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Chandler and Longaze trotted down the centralmost deck of the east strut, escorted by dredgers.  As they scaled a bridge, they crossed paths with a very familiar figure.

Monket's head turned in mid-trot.  His pale red eyes narrowed on the would-be-magistrate.  The slaver smiled.

Chandler glared daggers.  With an indignant snort, he stared straight ahead.

Monket turned his head with a flounce of his dreads and kept strolling in the opposite direction.

Longaze continued looking at Monket for a few more seconds.  Turning forward, she trotted closer to her boss.  “I fail to see what sort of trustworthiness you once perceived in that stallion,” she murmured.

“I allowed the manestyle to fool me into entrusting him with confidence.”  Chandler shuddered.  “Let this be a lesson to you, my dear.  Never measure experience by eccentricity.”

“I suspect the ultimate example lies ahead,” Longaze said, spotting a strip of glossy red bangs as Skagra trotted towards them.  “Who did the seaside business scouting for you?  The Consortium's executive hair-dresser?”

“Mrnnnghhh... don't get me started...”  Chandler cleared his throat as both groups met on a teetering metal bridge.  “Mister Skagra...”

“Brye Chandler!”  Skagra chortled, bowing.  “As I live and grow flaccid!  How're the wife and kids?  Trick question.  I haven't murdered them yet.”

“Aren't we a little bit past idle threats, Skagra?” Chandler muttered.

“Hmmm?”  Skagra tilted his head with a sideways grin.  “And what about good ol' fashion jokes?”

“I'm looking at you, aren't I?”

“My sides are splitting already.”  Skagra motioned at Longaze.  “I see you brought your severed appendix and put a blonde wig on it.  Must be fitting, seeing how your kidneys ran off and got itself some dreadlocks... not to mention a smarter business partner.”

“Must be easy identifying organs when you completely lack them,” Longaze droned.

“My dear,” Chandler muttered aside.  “Please leave the snappy comebacks to me.”

“Ahem.  My apologies, sir.”

“Mr. Skagra, neither you nor I wish to engage in too many pleasantries,” Chandler breathed. “Let's just get this over with so I can stop smelling you and this Verlaxion-forsaken Barge.  But mostly just you.”

“Agreed!”  Skagra bore a crooked smile, rubbing his hooves together.  “So how 'bout we go and take a dip into your ship's cargo hold and have a look-see at all the platinum and gold you brought me?”

“Out of the question,” Chandler retorted.

“I'm sorry?”  Skagra craned his good ear while gazing wall-eyed at his thugs.  “I fear the corpse doth protest too much.”

“I did not churn through all of these filthy waters just to stand here on the navel of filth and have you run laps around me, Skagra,” Chandler growled.  “My being here is a sign of trust in and of itself, not to mention a civilized travesty.”  He cleared his throat, taking a bold step forward.  “You will show me my end of the bargain first.  Then and only then will we proceed with this exchange.”

“Hmmm...”  Skagra glanced at a lackey, one eye fluttering.  “You have to love the sound of a shit gesyer in the morning.  Could almost dance to it.”  He cracked the joints in his jaw and shuffled forward.  “Alright, Chandler.  Let's go upstairs and do the fat cat chat in my office.  The appendix is also invited.  Come.  We have drinks.”

“You're insane,” Chandler hissed.  “You think I'm going guzzle down anything you have to serve me?”

“What, are you brain bloat?” Skagra sputtered.  “Pffft!  The drinks are for me, blowhole.  You can watch me sip while I watch you tip over and fall on your knees, begging for the precious Rainbow Rogue.”

“We had a deal, Skagra.”

“Fine, then.  Just teeter.”  Skagra stifled a yawn while trotting towards the central platform.  “Really, though.  We so do need to catch up.  We can take this face-to-half-face opportunity to demarcate the muck out of... well... the muck.  You get the high road and I get the low bloat.  We each go home to our dead friends happy.  Ya feel me?”

“There are many things I intend to do in this lifetime, Skagra,” Chandler muttered as he and Longaze followed the top dredger.  “The last thing is feel you.”

“Mrrmmmf.  Be careful what you wish for.”





Rainbow coughed, sputtered, and wheezed.  She waved a hoof in front of her muzzle as she shuffled through the dense, misty confines of the brig.

“Rainbow!”  Twilight gasped, floating closer.  “Is... is the steam suffocating you?”

“No...” Rainbow nevertheless winced, eyelashes saturated with moisture.  “...just really, really cramping my style.”  She tilted her body up, breathed from a dry pocket of air, then dashed across the room.  She found two figures huddled in the corner.  “Hey!  Guy!  Half-guy!  You two hanging in there?”

Keris—despite his forelimb in a splint—stood with his lithe body hunched protectively over Swab.  “We're... m-managing...” He wheezed.  He had to speak up to be heard over the continuous hiss of vented steam.  “...it would appear as though they've given up on dumping the toxic contents down here.”

“Yeah... for now.”  Rainbow narrowed her ruby eyes on the colt.  “Swab.  Kid... you know of any other way out of here?”

Swab shook his head, trembling slightly.  “Only the way I-I came down,” he said, wincing as he clutched his throat again.  “And it's not big enough for either you or the Lieutenant.”

“Dang it...”  Rainbow Dash looked around at the thickening mist, glaring.  “Rarity, I don't suppose there's—like—a loose strip of rust I can kick so that a jackhammer will miraculously pop out?”

“I'm afraid not, darling,” Rarity said, shaking her head.  “There simply isn't any more damage you can do.  Just short of...”  She gulped.  “...of removing that pendant from your throat, of course.”

“And that sure as heck ain't happening,” Rainbow grumbled.  “It's super awesome that this steam leak has bought us some time, but now what?”

Fluttershy drifted down, along with Pinkie.  “I don't think we'll have to wait for too long,” the ghostly pegasus said.

“Huh?”  Rainbow looked.

“Those mean stallions above us are looking very anxious,” Fluttershy said.

“They could pop just about any minute!” Pinkie squeaked.  “Just... KAPOW!  Slimey meaty morsels all over the place!”

“Hmmm...”  Rarity tapped her chin in thought.  “...a bunch of superstitious uneducated deviants gathered in one tight location could be rather fortuitous.”

“How so?” Rainbow asked.

“Rainbow?”  Swab blinked.  “What are you and the girls talking about?”

“Shhhhhhh... one second, scampster...”  Rainbow gently waved a hoof and looked at Rarity.  “Spit it out, Rares.  Just what do you have in mind?”

“No doubt they are feeling hellish pressure from their most deplorable lord and overseer,” Rarity remarked.  “At this point, I suppose the most pertinent question is:  whom do they fear more?  Him?  Or you?”

Rainbow rubbed her chin in thought.  She turned towards Keris, gazing at his piercing hawkeyes and razor-sharp beak.  “... ... ...or Verlaxion.”

“Huh?” Swab blinked.

“Miss Dash,” Keris remarked, waving the steam away from his face.  Sweat dripped over his cuts, forcing him to wince.  “If you're planning to... utilize my talents in some fashion, I'm afraid to disappoint you...”

“Not as afraid as those chumps will be to disappoint Skagra,” Rainbow said.  “Look... we haven't much time.  You came here to find a monster, yes?”

“I do believe that statement's been repeated multiple times...”

“Well, you're about to catch her.”  Rainbow looked left and right.  At last, her gaze fell on a sharp shiv of metal.  “Swab?”

“Yes?”

She pointed at the shrapnel.  “Go fetch.”

The colt scampered over, picking the object up.

“Now...”  Rainbow Dash squatted down to his level, fluffed her mane, and held out a tiny stretch of bangs towards him.  “How about we take a little bit off the top.”

“Huh?” Swab blinked.

“You heard me, kiddo,” Rainbow Dash said, gesturing at the fibrous ends.  “Just a slice.  Pretend you're making a scrap book.”

“Rainbow Dash...” Twilight's muzzle twisted.  “I've only followed your adventures for so long, but why do I get the feeling you just look for excuses to cut your hair off?”

“Silence, egghead,” Rainbow Dash said.  “You'll ruin the prestige.”  Her eyes darted over.  “Swab?”

“Do as she says, child,” Keris remarked, gently resting a talon on his shoulder.  “I suspect I know where she's going with this... and it's maddeningly genius.”

“It's called the power of stupidity,” Rainbow muttered as Swab began quietly, dilligently slicing at her bangs.  “You should try it sometime, dude.”

“You first, Miss Dash.”

“Eeeeeugh!”  Rarity covered her face, wincing as she turned away from the follicle butchering.  “I shan't look!”





“Nix...”  One of several thugs fidgeted above the brig.  “Come on, Nix.”  He shrugged dramatically.  “What are we going to do?”

“Shhhhh...”  Nixkit paced and paced around the dredge dust containers.  “I'm thinking.”

“Well, think harder!”  The other dredgers cast forlorn glances at the central platform and its structures.  “Skagra will be here any minute with Chandler and the pendant—and all we have is a bunch of fart gas to put the necklace around!”

“What do you want me to do, huh?!”  Nixkit scowled at the others.  “For all I know, the steam leak could have scalded the two of them into a burnt crisp!  If that's true, then the only thing either Skagra or Chandler will have is our balls for breakfast!  All day, every day, throughout the Verlaxion-damned Month of Thawing!”

“Well, neither of them will have the Rainbow Rogue, that's for certain.”

All of the dredgers gasped.  They spun, gawking at the metal grate that sealed the top of the brig.

“Will you look at that?”

“No way...”

“How in the muck...?!”

A weary, bruised, and wincing griffon pressed himself up against the narrow bars.  Steam billowed past his figure, fluttering at his feathers and headcrest.  Coughing and sputtering, the Lieutenant poked his beak between the metal spokes.  “She is no longer a concern of yours... or your boss.”

“What?”  Nixkit raised an eyebrow.  “Did she ram her beastly head into a pipe array and pass out?”

“Even better.”  After a deep breath, Keris raised his one good talon up and beyond the tufts of steam.  In his claws were several colorful strands of hair.  “I have slain her.”

The thugs went numb... pale.

Nixkit slumped to his knees, muzzle agape.  He leaned in, his eyes narrowing on the shredded mane fibers.  “That... th-that's...”

“Boss...”  Another stallion stammered, gripping his shark prod.  “All of her mane and hair had been replaced by... a gray and brown coat.  You saw it for yourself.”

“Did... did he really kill it?!  Did he kill the Rainbow Rogue?”

“But... b-but...”  Nixkit stared at him with twitching eyes.  “How...?”

“I'm the Lieutenant of the Right Talon of Verlaxion.  That's how.”  Keris frowned.  “Now would you kindly let me out of this wretched steam bath?  You can do whatever you wish to her wretched corpse down there.  I want nothing to do with it.”

“Uhhhh...”  Another thug gulped.  “Skagra's not going to like this... not one bit.”

“Shut up!”  Nixkit snarled.  After a deep breath, he gazed at the edges of the grate.  Then his pale brow furrowed.  “... ... ...unbolt it.”

“But—”

“We need to check!”  Nixkit turned to glance at the central platform and Chandler's ship beyond.  “While there's still time!”

“Okay, boss...”  The thugs dashed left and right, loosening the bolts.  “Whatever you say.”

Keris took a deep breath.  He frowned, hawkeyes narrowing as he slowly... icily withdrew back into the steamy depths beneath the grate.

“Quickly!  You two!  Polearms at the ready!  Go and sweep the floor and holler at the first sign of flesh!”





Multiple metal planks away...

“Mrnnngh... grkkkllkt... pteehhh!”  Digiff limped and slumped, spitting up blood.  His body was covered all over with bumps, bruises, and shallow cuts.  He glared through a black eye, trotting in a sideways shuffle.  “Damn... spineless... nibble-shitting kids...”  He cracked several aching joints in his neck and exhaled sharply.  “Going to skin them all alive.  I swear to Verlaxion...”

The bearded dredger froze in place.

He tilted his head up, gazing at the grate several deckplates to the south.

Nixkit oversaw as the other thugs before him slid the heavy bolts out of the brig's entrance.

Digiff blinked his one good eye.  He looked directly above the brig.

The vents were all spouting steam and mist.  A pair of colts stood on the very top, observing.  As soon as they saw Digiff make eye-contact, they galloped away—but not without knocking loose the lid to one vent... a vent that was conspicuously Swab-sized.

Digiff's jaw hung open... and then his good eye widened.  “No...”  He rushed forward, waving a hoof.  “Nooo!  You idiots!  Get away from that!  Get away—”

Nixkit glanced over, his beady eyes blinking from a distance.

It was too late.  Creaaaaak.  The grate lifted open, and—

Th-Thwooosh!  A pair of blue limbs blurred out of the steam and sank back.

“Aaaaaaaaa—!”  Two of Nixkit's stallions instantly disappeared, being dragged deep into the mist.  The thick door bolts fell down the stairs, rattling directly behind them.

Digiff pulled at his hair, shook in place, rocked back and forth, and finally stumbled forward with a breathy:  “Squidballs!”
> Getting a Little Misty-Eyed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Nixkit and a dozen other stallions stood above the misty stairwell that led down into the brig.

All was silent, save for the hiss of unimpeded steam rising up out of the chamber.

“Braak?” one thug stammered.  No response.  “Red Noose?”  No response either.  “Grrrr...”  The stallion sparked the taser at the end of his polearm and moved forward.  “That damn griffon!  He's gonna bloat for—”

Nixkit planted a hoof on the thug's shoulder.

The stallion looked back at him.

Nixkit shook his head.  Cl-Clakkk!  Extending his own staff, he motioned at three other thugs, then pointed down the steamy ramp.  Taking a deep breath, the lead dredger trotted down first, each step slow and icy.

Trembling, the other three nervously followed.  The group formed a line, traversing the inner bowels of the southern strut.





Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssss...

A thick, pea-soup fog rippled between the bulkheads.  The rusted walls of the brig were now covered with slick moisture, dripping, reflecting the four stallions' bodies as they descended step by step.

Nixkit slowed to a crawl.  He brushed his matted hair back, glancing left and right.  Beads of sweat formed along his pale brow.  With a deep breath, he motioned at the bodies behind him and slithered down a few more feet.

The stallions glanced from side to side, clenching their jaws.  As the third and fourth finally shuffled past... they were oblivious to a shadow looming directly overhead—a shadow with two ruby eyes, peering.  A blink, and the shape shifted into denser clouds, hugging the ceiling.





“You know, Brye...”  Skagra trotted up the ramp to his office with a slight skip to his trot.  “I've been thinking...”

Chandler muttered.  “Wouldn't that be rich.”

“You know what makes you and I so similar?”  Skagra turned about, trotting backwards.  “It's not our ambitions.  'Cuz that would be beyond coincidental.  After all, I'm not wanting to be a fat cat and you're not wanting to be dead sexy.”  He finished the last phrase while brushing back his bangs.

“Mrmmfff...”  Chandler hung his head as he trotted.  “How much more of this filth must I endure?”

“Just a little while longer, boss,” Longaze said.

“We're both what I'd like to call primeval assholes,” Skagra belched.  He twirled again, facing forward as he scaled the last two balconies of the central structure.  “We're like... a petite glimpse into an alternate universe where Unification never happened.”  His asymmetrical nostrils flared.  “Two last members of a bunch of bastard tribes who get the job done by killing, looting, and blowing shit up.”  He raised a hoof.  “Can't forget that last part.”

“Uh huh...”

“And the funny thing is...”  Skagra shrugged wildly.  “Who says it doesn't work this way?  Verlaxion?  Pffft... she certainly doesn't show her face around as of late.  I think I'd know, judging from the lack of stains on my bedsheets as of late.”

“Assuming she even exists at all.”

“Whoah ho ho ho!”  Skagra gave a lopsided grin.  “If only your precious Council could hear you now!  It's like the blind is being prepared to be led by the bitchy!”

“Is there a point to all of this rectal rhetoric, Skagra?”

“Namely this.”  Skagra trotted backwards again.  “I call for an ancient return to form.  Seas and dirtscapes run by tribes.  But I'm not talking about wyverns, ponies, griffons, squirrels—all that old gang shiet.  I'm talking a Tribal Age run by the dead and the deader.  That's you and me, Chandlerella baby.  We'll use Verlaxion's coffin as the dividing line.”

“Skagra, if I could peel you until all I had was just putrid poetry, I just might almost be able to stand it.”  Chandler's nostrils flared.  “Let's just get this meeting done with so I can inspect my pegasus.”

“Hell, you can huff her all you want once this is all said and done.”  Skagra marched on.  “I can't wait to be rid of the sack of shit myself.”

As they rounded the last curve in the balconies, Longaze stole a glance south.  The bodyguard did a double-take, her brown eyes flaring.

In the distance, a thick column of steam rose from a single position along the southern struts.

She opened her muzzle.  “Uhm... sir...?”

“Stay close to me, Longaze,” Chandler muttered from up ahead.

“Erm... you may wish to—”

“Don't make me ask twice,” the stallion grunted.  “You're the one thing blocking this maniac's insufferable odor.”

Longaze clenched her jaw shut.  Her gaze lingered on the haze down south.  Eventually, she turned, trotting obediently after her superior.  “Mmmmmmmmmmmmmhmmm.”





At last, Nixkit reached the bottom floor of the brig.

He froze in place, eyes darting all around.  All he could see was mist and more mist.  There was no sign of the griffon... no sign of a single feather... no sign of—

“Boss?  The Rainbow—?” blurted a stallion behind him.

“Shhhh!”  Nixkit raised a hoof.  He flicked his ears, struggling to listen past the hiss of steam.  He exhaled slowly... then strolled forward.

Cl-Clank!

The three thugs behind him jolted in fright.

Nixkit calmly looked down.  His fetlock had bumped into one of the thick door bolts.  Somehow, the object had rolled the entire curved length of the descending ramp and ended up in the middle of the rubble-strewn corridor between collapsed cells.

Curious, Nixkit knelt down to investigate the metal bar.  As he did so, some of the mist parted, and he noticed two bodies lying down in front of him.  They belonged to Braak and Red Noose, the thugs that had been grabbed violently and dragged down into the brig earlier.

“What in the Hell...?”  Nixkit murmured.

The two stallions stirred, wincing from fresh whelts and bruises.

Nixit's eyes narrowed.  “How did you two get down this far?”

A shadow blurred overhead.  A split second later, blue hooves reached down from above, grasping the stallion right behind Nixkit and hoisting him up by his shoulders.

“Aaaaaaaaaa—!”  THUD!  The body ricocheted against hard rust somewhere beyond the mists.

“...?!?!”  Nixkit shot up with a gasp.

The other three stallions behind him stammered in fright, clutching their polearms.

“Huh?!”

“Where'd that come from?!”

“Did you see that?!”

“Mucking Hell!”

“Quiet!” Nixkit hissed.





“Everyone, stay quiet!” the lead dredger's voice echoed from the far end of the the steam-filled brig.

Wh-Whump!  Rainbow finished pummeling a limp guard in the chest.  The dredger's eyes bulged... and then he slumped hard to the floor, surrendering to unconsciousness.

Fluttershy winced, phasing constantly through the mist.

Rainbow Dash looked aside, murmuring:  “You okay?”

“Yes, just...”  Fluttershy gulped.  “...c-could you not hit them quite so hard next time?”

“I'm just needing you to scope them out, Flutters,” Rainbow whispered.  “You don't have to sense everything about them.”

“It's... v-very hard to differentiate,” she stammered.

Rainbow nodded.  “Fair enough,” she said hoarsely.  “I'll try and ease up.”  She crouched low, body tight and prowling.  “Where are they now?”

Fluttershy aligned herself up with the pegasus.  After a brief stare, she pointed to the left.

“Two of them are right there.  Next to each other.  At the bottom of the ramp.”  She easily pointed to the right.  “The leader's right there.”

“Careful, Rainbow.”  Twilight floated in.  “The two thugs are very scared.  They won't let loose on the triggers to their tasers.”

“Good.”  Rainbow crept along, hissing.  “I'll go for them first.”

“What?”  Rarity floated in.  “Why?”

“Gotta turn their panic against one another.”

“Ohhhhhh...”  Twilight nodded.  “Alright, girls.  Keep your eyes peeled.  For Rainbow Dash.”

“On it!” Rarity said.

“Okie dokie lokie!” chirped a voice from beyond the mists.

Rainbow Dash slithered to the left, crouched behind a crumpled bit of wall, then craned her ears towards the group.

“It's a trap!  That damn griffon is picking us off one by one!”

“How?!  You saw how banged up the mucker was!”

“He's right Talon material, asswipe!  What else do you expect?”

“For the last time, will you two shut up?!  This isn't helping!”

“Rainbow...” Fluttershy's voice squeaked breathily.  She pointed.  “The one closest to the ramp has his back turned—”

“Got it...”  Rainbow Dash darted forward, slicing through the mists.  She pitter-pattered towards the stallion, jumped, and somersaulted over him.  In so doing, she stretched her right wing out, brushing her feather-tips against his shoulder.

“Gaaaaiee!” the stallion panicked, spinning about and swinging his polearm.  “Goddess!”

“Look out—”  The other thug took the full-brunt of the taser.  Bzzzzzzt!  His mane smoked as he fell hard to the ground in violent convulsions.

“You ass!” Nixkit snarled.  “What did I tell you about—?”

“Rainbow!” Rarity hissed in Rainbow's ear as the pegasus came galloping around for another turn.  “The lead one's right fetlock is positioned between two of the door bolts from above!”

“Right.  Thanks.”  Rainbow grunted, ending her charge in a slide.  Swissssh!  Coming through the blinding mist, she knocked one bar into the other, sandwiching Nixkit's hoof painfully from both sides.

“Aaaugh!” Nixkit hobbled back.  As he did so, Rainbow Dash jumped high, bounced off his figure, and dove through the air.

“To the lower left!” Fluttershy cried.

“Gotcha—” Rainbow gritted her teeth as she glided at an angle.

“The taser!” Twilight hollered.  “He's swinging high—!”

“Httt!” Rainbow grounded herself, sliding on her belly.  Wooosh!  The polearm swung high above her scalp.

“Behind you now!” Fluttershy exclaimed, her body translucent and yellow in the mist.  “Coming from the right!”

“There's a chunk of debris directly behind him!” Rarity said.

Rainbow charged in low, spearing the thug's lower legs.  He teetered back—only to trip over a mound of rubble.  “Gaaaagh!”

“Twitchy tail!” Pinkie hollered.

Rainbow reached a hoof up.  Clutch!  She grabbed his airborn polearm, twirled it, and shoved it hard into his gut.  Bzzzzt!

“Guuu-uuu-uuuh!”  The thug shook all over.  His eyes rolled back... and then he was down for the count.

Fluttershy gnashed her teeth.  “Rainbowwww...”

“Eheh...” Rainbow tittered nervously.  “Sorry, Flutters.”  She gulped.  “We're gonna have to work on that sooner than later—”

“Dashie!” Pinkie shrieked, her brow twitching.  “Behind!  Up top!”

“Hrnnngh!” Rainbow flung the polearm up in reverse.  Clankkk!  She deflected Nixkit's sudden downthrust with a shower of electrical sparks.

“His right knee is buckling, darling!” Rarity spat.

“Httt!” Rainbow spun, smacking Nixkit in the injured leg.

“Aaaugh!”  He hobbled backwards.  “Damn pegasus—”

“Rainbow!  His belt!”  Twilight pointed.  “It's made of iron and nickel!  Super conductive—”

Rainbow thrusted the taser at Nixkit's midsection.

Pinkie hugged Fluttershy from behind.  “Hold on tight, Fluttershy!”

“Eeep!”

BZZZZZT!

“Graaaaaugh!” Nixkit shook, convulsed, then stumbled backwards.  His vest was smoking in multiple places as he fell on his haunches, hissing in pain.  He rolled over, panting, desperately clawing away from the pegasus.

Fatefully, a patch of the white steam spread open, revealing a brief pocket of undisturbed air.  In that instant, Nixkit saw a trembling colt with a single ear.  Something overshadowed the foal.  Nixkit looked up, staring into the magenta hawkeyes of a griffon with his right talon in a splint.

“Looks like you found the monster too, good sir,” Keris said, then swung the remnants of a rusted cell bar.

WHAM!

Nixkit fell hard, spitting blood as he sunk into unconsciousness.

“Hrmmff...”  Keris spat.  “'Good sir' being a relative term.”

“Super relative,” Swab stammered.
> Once More, Doing the Impossible
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Dammit!”  Digiff spat, grunted.  He limped up a ramp, joining the jittery stallions standing around the misty exit to the brig.  “Stop it!  Stop throwing yourselves down there!”

The dredgers looked over, blinking collectively.  “Digiff?  What the buck—?!”

“It's a trap!” Digiff growled.  “Can't you see that?”

“What in muck's name happened to you?”

Digiff spat blood, rubbing his beard and bruises.  “Seafoam...”

“Kids?”

“A whole lot of them, okay?!  They beat me to the ground and then they scampered off!  I'm gonna skin every single one of them alive, I swear to Verlaxion—”  He shook his head, hissed, then grumbled:  “One of them had the pendant!  The monster's pendant, okay?!”

“What...?!”

“No way...”

“Nixkit went down there just now—”

“Yeah, well, the little shit with the pendant shimmied down one of the steam vents long before that!”  Digiff gnashed his teeth.  “Don't you get it?  He's got a filthy hard-on for the Rainbow Rogue!  Wanna bet the monster's got her shit together and is taking you all out one by one?!”

The stallions gawked at the steamy entrance.

“Goddess...”

“Nixkit!”  One called down.  “Hey boss—!”

“Shhhh!” Digiff hobbled the rest of the way towards them.  “It's too darn late.  I mean, if she's got the place steaming over like that...”  His voice cut off, and then he gulped.  “You've got dredge dust.  Have you tried dumping it?”

“The steam only expels it.”

“Muckin' A...”  Digiff pointed at the door.  “Lock it up!”

“But Nixkit—”

“You'll be facing Skagra's wrath at this point!”  Digiff glared.  “Lock the damn brig up already!”

“The bolts!  They... they fell down below.”

“Yeah.”  Added another stallion with a nod.  “Nixkit went with the others to investigate.”

Digiff paled.  After rubbing more blood from his chin, he snarled, “Close it anyway.  Somepony go... g-go find something heavy to keep it shut.”

“Right!”  Two stallions galloped off in opposite directions.

“Welder!”  Digiff hollered through the polluted air.  “Somepony go find a welder!  We're gonna seal this thing for good!”





Down below, Pinkie Pie descended, her bright eyes blinking through the cloudy haze.  “Bad news baked beans!” she squeaked.  “The baddies above are gonna hammer the lid on this copper coffin!”

“Then there isn't much more time to mess around,” Rainbow Dash said, rummaging through the stallions' things for tools and weapons.  The feathers of her left wing brushed against a bulkhead, and she winced.  “Mrrrffngh... gotta take the fight out there.”

“Huh?”  Keris looked over, blinking.  “And exactly how do you intend to do that?”

“Very... very badflankishly.”  Rainbow Dash tossed on a vest, winced again as she stretched her left feathers through, and attached as many wrenches and club to the article as she could.  “The freakjobs who run this place are both air-headed and violent.  It's a very unsexy combination.  I intend to teach them a thing or two.”

“Just like you taught the ponies of the Quade?” Keris remarked.

Swab winced in the steam.

Rainbow turned towards him, face deadpan.  “The monks of that place never tried skinning me alive.”

“Didn't stop you from leaving the place a disaster area once you made your mistake.”

“Yeah?”  Rainbow gathered some more tools and weapons, stuffing them into her vest's pouches.  “And who says I'm escaping this place?”

“What?”  Keris blinked.  “You're a wanted mare, Rainbow Dash.  Skagra and the others?  All they want is to sell you to the right party for—”  He stopped in mid-sentence.  His beak hung open.  At last, the Lieutenant blinked again.  “You... you aren't trying to escape, are you?”

Rainbow continued equipping herself, breathing quietly.  Tightly.

Keris' hawkeyes widened.  “You're going to try overthrowing Skagra, aren't you?”

Swab looked up at Rainbow Dash.

Keris continued:  “Rainbow... 'monsterous rogue' or not—you're outnumbered by over a hundred.”  He shook his bloody, feathered head.  “It's not only an impossible feat!  It's... it's...”

“...stupid?”

“As much as I hate to use the term, absolutely!”

“Then that's how I know it'll work.”  She took a deep breath, shaking her head.  “Been a while since I've done anything stupid.  Even back at the Quade, I was just lame.”

“Mmmmhmmm,” Rarity and Pinkie hummed at once.

“Rainbow Dash...”  Keris winced, hobbling closer on three limbs.  “Although I may not precisely be in the condition to do it, I must protest—”

“Shriek, if you want to,” Rainbow grumbled.  She gazed at the spectral marefriends to her side.  “But I'll be darned if I continue this journey leaving another tragic mess on the waters of this world.”

Fluttershy smiled, eyes moist.

Keris asked, “Is... this your way of making spiritual amends with your sinful mistakes?”

“Nope.”

“Because if you end up dying from this venture, then what precisely has been accomplished?”

“I won't die, dude.”

“Rainbow Dash, that is most unreali—”

“I've got my friends at my side.”  Rainbow Dash took a deep breath.  “More importantly, we're all on the same page.  For the first time since Val Roa, stuff feels right.  And that's when I last accomplished the impossible.”

Swab blinked.  A smile crossed his tiny face while his good ear flicked.

Pinkie Pie flew up through the ceiling, then ducked back down.  “They're coming, Dashie!”

Twilight rubbed her horn.  “Mrmfffngh... I'm detecting several sources of crystalline energy on the approach.”  She gulped.  “They're probably welding devices.”

“Okay.”  Rainbow Dash took a deep breath.  She trotted towards the ramp.  “Gotta make this fast... short... and simple.”  She shook her head as she came to a stop before the path leading up to the brig's exit.  “Beat 'em up... hide... rinse and repeat.”

“I suggest you put some distance between yourself and the exit,” Keris said.  On scuffling limbs, he hobbled over to Rainbow's side and stood next to her, muscles coiled.  “Make a splash.  Once the rest of the thugs rush in to gang up on you, I'll tackle them from the rear, halt their retaliation.”

Rainbow did a double-take.  “Huh?!”  She squinted.  “You're in no condition to do anything, dude!”

“Mmmm... a most stupid situation, yes?”

Rainbow sighed.  “Lieutenant Dude—”

“It is my sworn duty to protect the souls of this world,” he said.  “So long as creatures like Skagra are in charge, it's an affront to everything I believe in and fight for.”  He turned towards her with a tired smile.  “You just confirmed my supicions that you wish to bring him down.”

“I'm the criminal whom you've been sent to arrest.”

“That may be so.”  He nodded.  “But as of this very second, you're a key element in accomplishing my greatest aspiration here in the barges.”

“What will your boss think?”

“She can think many things,” Keris said.  He half-shrugged.  “That's the luxury of being alive.  I intend to share that luxury with the mares and foals living here.”

“... ... ...”

“After you, Miss Dash,” Keris remarked.

Rainbow Dash shuddered, staring ahead with a smirk.  “Guess I wouldn't mind having a wingpony again.”

“Alright, you two.”  Swab suddenly trotted in front of the pair, scuffling his hoof across the ground as he faced up the ramp.  “After me.”

“What?!”  Rarity gasped.

“What?!” Rainbow Dash mimicked.  She frowned, reaching a hoof out to yank Swab back.  “Oh no you don't, Kiddo.  You've already fought your fight—”

He spun around, frowning at her.  “Your job isn't done here.  And that means neither is mine.”

“Kid, if I recall, your job has been to scrub decks and earn... rice bags—”

“My job, since foaling, has been to help all of Verlaxion's children... to be the absolute best that I can be.  Because of Red Barge, I've not been able to.”  He sniffled, eyes blinking.  “Until now.”

Rainbow's brow furrowed.

“I... I-I know where all of the steam valves above deck are,” Swab said.  He gulped.  “I-I can flush the steam vents super quick!  Make this part of the Southern Strut super cloudy... just like the brig we're in!”

“Kid—”

“I'm tiny and I'm fast and I know my way around!”  Swab gestured with a hoof.  “None of the dredgers will be fast enough to catch me!  I promise!”

“He has a point,” Keris remarked in a dry tone.  “After all, if it weren't for his cunning and agility, both of us would have perished by now—”

“Don't friggin' rub it in, turkey!” Rainbow grumbled.

“Rainbow Dash...” Fluttershy chided.

Rainbow face-hoofed.  “Flutters...” She sighed.

“Rainbow Dash,” Swab reached forward, scraping his tiny hooves across her fetlocks.  “Please.”  He sniffled—but with an earnest smile.  “Let me be awesome for once in my life.  Just like you are.”

“... ... ...”  Rainbow Dash sighed, glaring up the misty ramp.  “...alright.”

Swab bit his bottom lip, beaming.  He spun around, hind quarters wriggling at the ready, his tail flicking.

“But wait for my signal.”  Rainbow looked over her shoulder at Keris.  “Make your entrance delayed.  Your tactic sounds super smart... too smart for me to buck up.”

“Mmmmm...”  Keris cracked his neck joints and smirked.  “I'll take that as a compliment.”

Pinkie flew down again.  “They're right at the door, Dashie!  It's now or never!”

“I'll buck the door open,” Rainbow said.  “Right after that, Swab, you run out and do your thing.”

The foal nodded breathily.  “Okay...!”

“But make yourself friggin' scarce once everything's all misty!  Got it?”  Rainbow frowned.  “Leave the tough stuff to me and Lieutenant Dude here.”

“Sure thing, Rainbow.”

“Alright...” Rainbow bent her legs, hunching down.  “Get ready...”

Twilight fluttered in.  “Rainbow Dash...”

“Almost game time, egghead,” Rainbow whispered aside.  “I'm going to need all of you gals' help.”

“And you'll have it, Rainbow,” Twilight said, nodding.  “But on one condition?”

“Yeah...?”

Twilight's eyes hardened.  “We don't want you killing a single one of these stallions.”

“... ... ...”

“No matter how mean they might have been.”

“... ... ...”

Twilight blinked.  “Are you on board with us?”

“Of course,” Rainbow said.  She exhaled.  “After all...”  A dumb smile.  “...you just made it a million times more challenging.”  A beat, and then she frowned as she spat:  “Now!”

Thwoooosh!  She and Swab both galloped up the ramp with Keris shuffling behind.





“Grnnngh!”  The stallions grunted as they swung the heavy grate back over the brig.

“There!  You got it!”  Digiff turned towards a group of stallions trotting up.  “Hurry up with those welding torches—!”

“Something's coming up!”

Digiff spun, jaw agape.  “Huh—?!”

CLAAAANG!  A blue shape soared out, knocking the grate wide open.  Dredgers went flying back, collapsing across the bulkheads.

“The monster!” A thug shouted, raising his shark prod.  “She's—”  WHUD!  A tooth or two flew from a hoof to the chin.

“Rrrrrgh—!”  Rainbow spun around, ducked a swing of two pole-arms, then unsheathed two wrenches from her vest's pockets.  Cl-Clang!  She knocked the staves aside, then slammed both tools into the guts of the stallions entangled with her.  She twirled and kicked one body into another cluster of guards—then backflipped to dodge their taser blasts before kicking the second body towards them, tripping more.

“Dammit dammit dammit!”  Digiff backtrotted, seething as he struggled to grab his own wrench.  “Everypony rush in!  Kick her brains out before she—”

Just then, a brown body shot past him, panting with tiny breaths.

“Huh...?!”  Digiff turned to see Swab make a mad dash for an array of steam pipes.  The foal's hooves sped over the valves, turning them in the space of three blinks.  “Hey!”  He pointed at the scampy youth, then turned towards the group once again.  “Look out!  They're trying to blind us—”

Digiff soon realized that there was nopony to shout at... at least nopony conscious.  Those attempting to flank Rainbow's rear were suddenly being pounced on by a body with brown and red plumage from behind.  Keris made short business of the hapless thugs, knocking them out with key punches and kicks to the stomach.  The rest were dealing with Rainbow Dash, and it was a pitiful, losing war.

“Get her!”

“Rip her ears off—”  WHACK!  “Ooomf!”

“Dammit!  Don't—”  Th-Thwap!  “Gaaah!”

“Go!  Go!”

“Get out! She's too—”  SMACK!  “—unghh.”  Th-Thwump!

Thump!

Thwap!

Digiff could only hear the bodies dropping.  Seeing them was another matter—something made impossible by the sheer opaqueness overcoming him.

Hisssssss!

Soon, the bearded dredger was swimming in milk-thick steam on all sides.  His flesh paled, itching... tingling in the extremities.  Hyperventilating breaths escaped his aching lungs.  A bottle of shivers, Digiff backtrotted nervously across the bulkheads, then galloped in a random direction—stumbling more than once against random structures.

All the while, a blue shape blurred in and out of the mists... slowly and icily trailing him.
> A Perfect Time to Vent
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Let me ask you just one question, Skagra,” Chandler said.

“Well, you already took the physical challenge by coming here,” Skagra slurred, trotting backwards up the ramp.  “Shoot.”

Chandler's green eyes narrowed.  “What exactly was it that won Monket's favor?”  His nostrils flared.  “That made him give up his loyalty to me so that he could serve a muckbag like you?”

“Aside from my good looks and your all-around douchemuzzledness?”

“Please, Skagra.  You can stretch my patience... but not my intelligence.”

“Very well.”  Skagra shook his glossy bangs to the side and cocked his head with a squint.  “I gave him kinship.”

Chandler snorted.  “You're kidding me, right?”

“Mmmm... our blood may be filthy, muck-riddled, spawned by bastards and bedsores at best... but...”  He reached the door to his office at last.  “We are all bloated before birth.  It's just that ponies like Monket and myself have the strength to smell it.  Morons like you?”  He shook his head.  “Tch... you're having to catch up to your bloat.  And when your nose so much as starts to tickle, you shove lots of money in the way—like pillows—hoping to guard you against the inevitable filth.”

“Are you really that deluded?”

“I like to think of it as endarkened.”  Skagra smiled crookedly.  “It's like being enlightened... only upside-down with your senses above you.  And that makes Monket and I more like brothers than you and him ever will be.”

“Forgive me if I don't pretend to be envious.”

“But you're so good at envy, fat cat.”  Skagra pointed.  “You've got the eyes for it.  Now... let's make 'em rosy, shall we?”  He turned towards the open office.  “Dredgers!  Fetch some dirty... dirty whiskey for—”  He froze, blinking.  “...what in the blue shit are you mucktards doing?”

Three... four... five dredgers were rummaging all over the office, turning all of the furniture, trophies, and trinkets over.  Upon hearing Skagra's voice, one of the stallions jumped a full three feet.  He spun about—jittering—and rushed towards the doorway.  Sliding on his knees, he bowed low, stammering:  “I'm sorry, boss!  I tried to fetch what you told me to!  I've looked everywhere!  I've even called in these guys to help!  But we can't... c-can't find it!”

“Can't.  Find.  What?”  Skagra's eyes glazed over with deathly frost.

The stallion gulped.  “The p-pendant,” his voice cracked.  “It's... it's n-nowhere to be found!”

“... ... ...”  Skagra gazed into the office, dead silent.

“Not on your hoofrest!  Not on any of the shelves!  Not beneath your cot!”

“Something the matter, Skagra?” Chandler asked, blinking curiously.

“Just one moment, Chandler—”

“Because you've taken enough of my time as it is.”  The would-be Magistrate frowned.  “Now will you tell me what the delay is or—?”

“Grnnngh!”  Skagra spun, eyes flaring.  “Will you make like a true fat cat and puss yourself inside out for once?!  I need time to think!”

“But you never do!”  Chandler frowned.  “Do you, Skagra?!”

Skagra shook... shivered... snarled.

Chandler didn't hold back.  “You think that you do, but you really don't!  You float out here in the middle of the lonesome seas like the god of fecal brine and yet you're still as brainless as the slave whore who foaled you.”  He gnashed his teeth.  “Well I've entertained it for as far as my money and the blood of the servants you've slain can carry!  But no more!”  He stomped his hoof.  “I want my damned Rainbow and I want her now!  So where is she, you half-headed moron?!”

“She's in the brig...”  Skagra hissed.  He pointed a shaking, angry hoof.  “I have it... under control.”

“Just like your steam?” Longaze droned from the back.

Every stallion spun to face her, blinking.

“Buh?”  Skagra burped.

Longaze pointed south.

Chandler and Skagra trotted up to the balcony's edge, squinting.  The top dredger's scarred jaw dropped.

A thick white mist was spreading swiftly across the bulkheads of the southern strut.  Along the edges, stallions scampered, panicked and breathless.  Something blurred in and out of the clouds, tripping a few of the dredgers along the way.  They fell with muffled shrieks, clambering wildly before being dragged back into the mists—silenced altogether.  From the sidelines, other dredgers and Red Barge families looked on with nervous expressions.  They gradually backtrotted away from the spreading steam—ultimately fleeing to the furthest edges of the platforms.

“That...”  Chandler pointed, fidgeting.  “That's not right.  Is it?”  He looked at Skagra and the others. “Is that supposed to be doing that?”

“Looks like the platform's venting steam to me,” Longaze said.

“You mean—like there was a rupture?”

“Not like any I've ever witnessed.”  Longaze shook her head.  “We would have heard the explosion—at least felt it if that was the case.”

“Skagra?”  Chandler glanced aside.  “Have you got an explanation for this?”

Skagra clenched his teeth.  He looked into his office—at the glaring absence of a ruby pendant.  “... ... ...”  Glaring, he turned to face the southern struts again.  “Nixkit, you sad... sad bastard.”

“Huh?”

CHIIING!

Chandler flinched as Skagra unsheathed a dagger.

“Stay right here, fat cat.”

“But—”

“Red Barge business!”  He hissed, perching up on the edge of the balcony.  “Bleed on the rust of your own home!”  He turned and shouted at his fellow dredgers.  “Grab every available stallion!  Even the non-dredgers!  We're going in!”  And he plunged completely over the side, agilely shimmying his way down via various lattices and bits of pipework.

“Skagra—!” Chandler barked, but it was far too late.

Skagra nimbly reached the bottom of the platform before Chandler had finished breathing.  Meanwhile, every dredger within earshot had galloped down the structure to join him.  Skagra whistled to the sidelines, summoning more and more strong hooves as they collectively galloped for the southern struts.  Very soon, a veritable army of Red Barge finest was charging the source of the billowing steam.

Chandler shuddered, stepping back from the balcony.  “Maybe... maybe it's nothing.”  He gulped, shivering.  “Maybe it's... yes... maybe it's something other than the Rainbow Rogue.”  He looked aside at his bodyguard, smiling crookedly.  “What do you think, Longaze?”

She spoke while her cool eyes remained locked on the steamy scene below.  “I think you've inhaled too much of the muck's fumes, sir...”





Panting, Swab ran towards another valve.  Kicking over a tool box, he stood his little body atop the thing for extra leverage.  His tiny hooves reached up, grabbed the valve, and began turning.

“Nnnngrh... grhhh...”  Swab gritted his teeth, sweating.  His right ear twitched several times, and—

Hisssssssss!  The valves all around him began venting steam.

He hopped off the toolbox and backtrotted, watching with an exhausted smile as the new wave of mist merged with the cloud that had already been conjured around the brig.  All in all, the vaporous veil grew larger... denser... spreading across the Barge one hull at a time.

And then Swab backed up into a body.

“Gaaah!”  He spun around, flinching.  “I-I was just... just—!”  He blinked, gasping.  “Whony?”

Whony panted and panted.  He wiped the sweat from his brow and squinted at the smaller colt.  “What the Hell, Swab?”  A few other colts snuck out of hiding, grasping bent clubs, wrenches, and bludgeons.  “I thought you went down below with the Rainbow Rogue!”

“And I-I did...”  Swab pointed at the mist.  “But now we've—”

“What's the big idea with all of the steam?!”  Whony pointed at the valves behind Swab.  “Are you trying to sabotage Red Barge or what?”

Swab took a deep breath, frowning.  “Enough is enough, Whony.  Skagra's gotta go.”

“Huh?!”

“I m-mean it's time to take him down!”

The colts murmured at one another.

“You friggin' serious?”  Whony glanced back at the other foals with a grimace, then turned to gawk at Swab again.  “Like... for serious serious?”

“What, you don't hate Skagra too?”

“Pfft!  Of course I do!  We all do!  But how in the heck is this helping?”

“It's making cover for the Rainbow Rogue,” Swab said.  He shivered, pointing into the mist.  “Right now, she and the Lieutenant are kicking the flanks of—”

“Wait a second.”  Whony placed both hooves on Swab's shoulders.  “Did... did you just say that the Rainbow Rogue is in on bringing Skagra down?”

“Uhhhh...”  Swab gulped.  “Yeah.”  He nodded.  “She is.”

Whony blinked once.  He spun and barked at the other colts.  “Everypony!  Run to the furthest ends of the strut!  Turn every valve and vent every pipe that you run across!”  He shook his hoof, snarling.  “I mean it, ya little shits!  I want this place covered in pea soup!”

“Yes, Whony!”

“Sure thing, boss!”

“We're on it!”

The foals ran in separate directions, moving as fast as their legs—and breaths—could carry them.  Swab gawked at them all, muzzle agape.  At last, he turned towards Whony, breathless.  “You're... you're on board with this?”

“Of course I friggin' am.”  Whony was already marching towards a valve.  He stood on his hind quarters and gripped the thing, struggling against the rust to turn it.  “I just didn't realize it was worth it until you mentioned the Rainbow Rogue.”  He licked his lips.  “'Cuz if this whole thing was spearheaded by you... we'd be friggin' bloat.”

Swab blinked... then smiled.  He rushed over, hopped up, then grabbed the edge of the valve.  The tiny addition of weight did the trick, and soon the thing spun—squeaking—in Whony's grip.

Whony turned the valve.  He smirked aside at Whony.  “Y'know... you're not so lame... once you've chosen the right pony to hang with.”

“Yeah... she is awesome.”

“You think the monster's awesome enough to save us?”

“With a little bit of help, sure.”

The air filled with loud hissing as the nearest pipes vented steam hotly into the air.  Swab and Whony backed up, watching breathlessly.  Three ears twitched to the sound of more high-pitched whistles spread across the Barge.  To the left and right of them, the whole of the southern struts gained a new ceiling in the form of impenetrable mists.





Croche poked her head out from beneath the bulkhead where she hid.  She stared—muzzle agape—as a dense cloud rippled across the southern decks.

Suddenly, the air filled with heavy thunder.

Croche winced, squatting low and out of sight.  On either side of her, dozens upon dozens of dredgers galloped, charging south with Skagra leading them.

“Move!  Move!”  Skagra hollered.  “Don't let me catch you dragging your tails—or I'll shove them into the nearest shelf harvester!  I mean it!  Instant ocean lasagna!  Now go!”  He perched briefly on a guard tower and waved his dagger, hollering:  “And bag her alive!  Carve her up if you have to, but the fat cat needs his product alive!”  Then he too dove into the mists...

Stallion after stallion...

Everypony went stumbling blindly into the mists.

Croche saw it.  She smiled.  The little filly slinked back into the shadows... and waited.
> If You Want Something Done...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Digiff galloped through the billowing waves of steam, panting and hissing for breath.  His eyes traced the bulkheads, sweeping left and right.  Years of experience and familiarity finally came together in his weary mind, and he recognized enough of the patterns to throw himself east, bounding over and below metallic obstructions with limping grace.

At last, he stumbled upon two shadows in the mists, and he skidded to a stop.

“Ah jeez...”  Digiff winced, crossing a pair of forelimbs in front of his muzzle.  “Ah jeez... ah jeez!  Make it quick—”

“Digiff?”  A dredger emerged from the steam, followed by another.  The two stallions brandished shark prods, standing within blinking distance of the bearded overseer.  “Digiff, what the hell?”

“What's going on here?  What's with all the vented steam?  Where's Nixkit and the others?”

“You... you...”  Digiff panted, lowering his limbs as he blinked at the stallions.  “...you mean you don't know?!”

“What's to know?!”  The stallion waved his shark prod.  “Skagra sent us charging in here like windigoes out of the frozen mountains!”

“Where's the Rainbow Rogue, huh?!”  The other dredger leaned forward, eyes hard.  “Skagra sent us in here to bag her!  Now where is the freak?”

“Uhhhh...” Digiff leaned on two legs, and then the others.  “Uhm...”  His ears quivered at the sound of more and more yelling, charging stallions beyond the mists.  “You... uh...”  He trotted backwards and away from the noise.  He pointed with a weary smile.  “...you muckers have fun with that...”  And then he galloped off again.

The two watched Digiff run away.  They turned to one another, blinking.

“...the Hell has gotten into him?”

“Well, Digiff gonna Digiff.”

“I know.  But... like... you could see it in his eyes.  Something super mucking crazy is going on h—”

The nearby struts echoed with loud shrieks, followed by an array of dull thuds.  Most of the nearby yelling ceased altogether, along with the pounding of hooves.

“What the—?!”

“Shit!”

The two dredgers spun about, wielding their polearms up high.  The tasers' sparkle did little to illuminate the dense soup of mist around them.

“Where... where's it coming from?”

“Where's what coming from?”

“You know—”

“Dude, I don't hear a damn thing.”

“Well, don't look at me!”

Both stallions stood back to back, shivering.

Seconds passed.

A minute.

They exchanged a glance—one glance too long.

Thap-thap-thap-thap...!

One stallion looked back in front of him.  WHAM!  He took a blue hoof to the face.

“...!”  The other spun around.

SWOOOSH!  A prismatic streak vaulted over him.

“Gaah!”  Her gnashed his teeth and swung the polearm high.  Thwissssh!  He missed the petite pegasus by a hair.

Rainbow flipped, landed her hooves against the side of a bulkhead, and vaulted off.  Swoooosh!  She came sailing back towards him.

He leaned back, twirled the staff, then held it out lengthwise.

Rainbow had already unsheathed a hammer from her vest, swinging it at the point of impact.  CRACK!  The stallion's polearm snapped in half, and Rainbow plowed him to the ground.  The two went sliding over the slick wet metal with Rainbow on top.  She grunted, punched him twice in the muzzle, then jumped straight up—only to come landing back down on his chest.  Her hooves instantly kicked the breath out of his lungs, knocking him out.

The other stallion looked up from the floor, muzzle dripping with blood.

“Good job, girls,” Rainbow stammered.  “Especially you, Rarity, for knowing where the wall was—”  She froze in place suddenly.  “What, Fluttershy?”

The stallion reached into his vest for a throwing knife.

“...he is?”  Rainbow spun towards him, ruby pendant glinting through the mists.

Gnashing his teeth, the stallion raised his hoof with the blade.  SLIIIINK!  A set of talons sunk deep into his fetlock from behind.  “Aaaaugh!”

“Rrrnngh!”  Keris wrestled the dredger to the ground, slamming him hard.

“Mrmmmff!”  Struggling beneath him, the stallion slithered forward, reaching his one good forelimb for his fallen polearm.

Keris saw it.  Schiiing!  His claws raked the air as he aimed for the stallion's throat to make a quick end of the fight—

“NO!”  Suddenly, a blue body slammed into Keris' battered figure.  Swoooosh!  Whap!

“Oooomf!”  Keris stumbled into a wall, wincing hard from his splint.  “Gaaaugh—Miss Dash?!”

“We do not kill any of them!”  Rainbow said, pointing an angry hoof.  Without looking, she bucked the stallion hard in the gut, knocking him out with a prolonged groan.  She panted... stumbling sweatily across the scene.  “Punch... kick... asswhoop... knock unconscious—for sure!  But no killing!”

Keris turned to watch her trot by.  “You do realize you're making this a great deal more difficult than it needs to be.”

“Exactly.”  Kicking the end of a polearm, she knocked the staff high into the steam.  “You wanna know the difference between a monster and a hero?”  Thap!  She caught the shark prod in midair, seething.  “It takes guts to do things the hard way.”  She tossed the weapon at him.

Keris pivoted so he could catch the staff with his good talon.  “And you're an expert on this?”

“I haven't always been.”  She fumed, trotting towards the next set of bulkheads.  “But it's never too late to tuck your guts back in.  Now are you with me or not?”  She looked over her shoulder, glaring.  “Because if you're not gonna dance by my tune, then I'll do you the favor of knocking you on your butt right now.”

“Oh, I can dance alright, Miss Dash...”  He limped over to her side, wincing.  “But when it comes to dispensing justice, it comes down to efficiency more so than 'guts.'”

She squinted.  “That something that your boss taught you?”

“Seraphimus has exemplified it quite masterfully, yes.”

“Well, I'm glad that you're here and not her.  Now are we going to save this stinkin' place or not?”

Keris took a deep breath.

“Well?”

“I'm on board, of course, Miss Dash.”  He gazed sideways at her.  “But to properly eliminate the venomous curse of this place, we may not have the luxury of mercy.”

“We do not need to kill everypony to save everypony.”

“Quite so.  Only just one.”

Rainbow clenched her jaw.

“Am I right?”

“Death won't free Red Barge,” Rainbow said, shaking her head.  “The little scamp's taught me that.”

“Swab?”

“Listen, Lieutenant Dude.  When the time comes, leave Skagra to me.”

“Then what?”

“Then watch...”  Rainbow Dash mounted the nearest bulkhead, her voice growing quieter, more focused.  “And I'll show you what I should have done at the Quade.”  Her eyes narrowed.  She raised a hoof, motioned Keris closer, then pointed down below them.  “Three dredgers... and a fourth further along.  Moving towards our left, a level below.”

“Do you see them?”

“No.”  Rainbow shook her head.

Keris blinked.  “Do the others see them?”

Rainbow didn't answer.  Instead she motioned, “The two on the left have tasers.  I'll point them out.  You wait a second then take out the straggler.  We'll converge on the third dude at the same time.  Got it?”

“Indubitably.”

“Be quick... and above all slick.”  Rainbow coiled her muscles.  “Swab's given us the fart gas.  Let's put it to good use.”  And—with a tiny grunt—she sprang forward.  Swooosh!

“Huh?!”

“What the—?!”

Whap!  Th-Thwack!

“Look out—!”

WHAM!

“The Rainbow Rogue!  She's here!”

Keris took a deep breath, smirked, then glided forward into the dense soup with his polearm held overhead like a javeling.





“She's here!  Oh goddess—mucking blue lightning!  Move—”

Bzzzzzt!

“Aaaaa-aaaugh!”  Thud!

The whole strut shook.

Skagra and two dozen other stallions frozen in place.  They twirled about, holding their breaths as they heard the struggling shouts go deathly quiet.

All was still—aside from the billowing mists.

Skagra's eyes darted left... then right.

The dredgers around him squirmed nervously.

Nostrils flaring, Skagra motioned to one half of the group.  He pointed south... then motioned to the other half and pointed north.

The small army split in two, marching in opposite directions with weapons drawn.

Skagra stood in place.  He twirled his dagger around his fetlock, licking his lips as his eyes traced every shadow, lattice, and shape jutting out of the mists.  One good ear twitched... twitched again...

And...

Th-Th-Th-Thap!  He briskly ran off in a random direction, hopped up onto a hanging bar, swung, and propelled himself up onto a bulkhead and out of sight.





Chandler paced and paced from atop the balcony of the central platform's tallest structure.

Longaze stood vigilantly along the edge.  The well-dressed mare stared south.  All of the struts below them had been covered in mist by that point.

“This is crazy... this is absolutely crazy!”  Chandler chuckled dryly, bitterly.  He shook his head, hooves scuffling as he shuffled in tighter and tighter circles.  “I should never have sent Monket to Red Barge!  That was the problem right there!  Shoulda just... swallowed my pride and bought out White Barge again!  Sent him there!  I'd never have gotten entangled with Skagra and none of this muckfest would have even started!”

Longaze droned without looking, “Sir, if I recall, White Barge issued several concerns that started the rift between them and the Consortium to begin with.  I very much doubt they'd be of a mind to accept your proposals even if you paid them.”

“Then I would have bought them with the blood of slaves and pirates!”  Chandler hollered, fuming.  “But that didn't work here, did it?!  I've appealed to both Skagra's bit bag and his bloodlust!  But the bastard only speaks crazy!”

“Still, White Barge wouldn't help us.  They'll never help us.”  Longaze's nostrils flared.  “You're down two barges now, sir.  Doesn't matter how this goes down.”

“Do I pay you to be my brain?”

“I would hope so, sir,” Longaze muttered.  “It's right above the neck that I've saved.”

Chandler sighed, facehoofing.  “Is... is there even any sign of the Rogue and her rainbow mane?”

“I'm afraid not, sir,” Longaze said.  “Or Skagra, for that matter.”

“Maybe...”  Chandler gulped, trotting over on jittery hooves.  “M-Maybe he's bagged her!  Or he's about to!  He could be locked in mortal combat with her right now!”

“Perhaps.”  Longaze nodded.  She brushed a few loose blonde bangs back into her bun.  “Or maybe he's being Skagra.”

Chandler bit his lip.  Hard.  Fidgeting, he blurted, “Investigate.”

Longaze turned to blink at him.  “...Sir?”

“You heard me!”  Chandler sneered.  “Go down there and check on Skagra's scalded derrierre!”  He pointed.  “I need somepony competent to give me something to go on!”

Longaze fidgeted slightly.  “...but you'll be alone up here.”

“And I'll be sailing down the dead drifts if I lose my last final opportunity here!”  Chandler squealed, “Go and investigate!  Bag the Rainbow Rogue on your own if you have to!”

Longaze took a deep breath.  “Very well, sir.”  Her horn glowed as she leapt over the side—gliding down on a wave of magic.  “If the battle comes here, head to the ship!” she called back, landing on the bulkhead and galloping into the haze.  “You'll be safe there!”

“The only way I'll be safe is if I'm standing behind the Grand Magistrate's podium!”  Chandler leaned against the balcony, panting.  He adjusted his bejeweled robe and sighed.  “Goddess help me... one day...”
> There's Something In the Mist
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Sounds of a chaotic battle echoed through the thick mists, rattling off each bulkhead and length of pipework.

Whony, Swab, and a gaggle of other colts scampered anxiously down a stretch of rusted decks.  They panted and panted, their hearts jolting from each pronounced shriek and yelp rolling across the southern strut.

Finally, as the bedlam reached a crescendo, the group scuffled to a stop at a dead end.

“What the...?!”  Whony grimaced.

“Dude!”  One of the colts frowned at Whony from behind.  “How did we end up here?!”

“We thought you knew all of the shortcuts like the back of your fetlock!”

“Hey!  Give me a mucking break!”  Whony spun around, frowning.  “It's a lot easier running across this shit without the fart gas!”

Swab tugged on his tail.

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Uhm...”  Swab's ear flicked as he pointed back the way they came.  “We should have taken a left turn two decks ago.”

The colts groaned—the loudest of all Whony.

“Why didn't you say anything?!”

“I-I didn't want to steal your th-thunder!”  Swab said, trembling.

“For muck's sake!  This is all your thunder!” Whony's voice cracked.  “You started it!”

“I-I'm not used to you believing in me!”  Swab gulped.  “Just days ago, you tried feeding me to a fearsome monster!”

“Eeeugh...” Whony face-hoofed, grumbling.  “Yeah, well, now things are different.”

“Shhhhh...”  Another colt squatted low.  “...speaking of monster.  Do you hear that?”

Whony turned around, squinting into the mists.  “Hear what?”

“Exactly.”

The fog drifted over them in dead silence.

“Did...”  Whony fidgeted.  “Did the monster and the griffon beat up all the dredgers?”  He turned towards Swab, speaking in a hushed tone.  “Ya think?”

Swab pointed at the earless half of his head.  “You're asking me?”

“I dunno... figured you two had—like—some spirit link.  Like with a dog, y'know?”

“Rainbow Dash is a living, breathing pony, Whony.”

“I wasn't calling her the dog, sea foam.”

“Shhhh...”  Another colt pointed down the foggy decks from which they came.  “Seriously.  I hear nothing.”

“This might be our big break.”

“Yeah... probably so...”  Whony nodded.  He trotted bravely forward, leading the group of orphans down the strut.  “Goddess, this pea soup shit is thick.  How long do you think until the steam tanks empty?”

“Uhhhhh—”

Swab spoke up.  “Probably five minutes or so, judging from all the vents we've opened.”

“Then we haven't got much time to get out of the heat of battle,” a colt said.

“Then there's no time like the present.”  Whony motioned.  The colts broke into a collective gallop.  “If Quint's legacy taught me anything, it's to be courageous and seize the moment—”

“Hold it right there!”  A stallion's grimy face emerged, followed by a crossbow aimed at Whony's lithe figure.

“Sonuvabitch!”  Whony hissed, scuffling to a stop.  Swab shivered behind him and the other colts as they held up their tiny clubs and shivs.  “Okay, pal!  Step aside!”

“Huh?!”  The dredger blinked, then frowned.  “You little shits!  You're in on this, somehow, aren't you?!”  His nostrils flared as he cocked his crossbow.  Klk-KLK!  “How much does she care for you, huh?  I bet spilling her blood will send the monster darting this way!”

“And who's gonna take her out, huh?!  You?”  Whony spat, smirking as he brandished his blade.  “You're not even a match for us, old stallion.”

With the reverberation of hooves against rusted metal, two dozen stallions emerged from the mist, standing angrily beside the dredger with the crossbow.

“... ... ...”  Whony blinked, tonguing the edges of his muzzle.  “...uh huhhhhh...”

“Out with it, muckstains!”  The lead stallion grunted.  “Which one of you let her free?!  Huh?!  What has she done with Nixkit?!  Did she kill the griffon or didn't she?!”

Swab gasped, pointing with wide eyes.  “Behind you!”

“Hah!”  The stallion with the crossbow smirked.  “Nice try, kid.  Like I'm really gonna fall for that one—”  WHUDDD!  A blue body landed in the small of his back, plowing his muzzle and body to the deck.  Grunting, Rainbow Dash swung both hooves out, punching the stallions on either side of her.  She grabbed one body—heaved—and tossed it violently into the gasping dredgers gathered at her side.

“Dumbass,” Whony exhaled.

“It's her!” One dredger picked up the fallen leader's crossbow and aimed.  “Kill—!”

“Haaaugh!” Keris leapt down from above, leg first.  He kicked across one dredger's chin, yanked the crossbow from him, and fired through the fetlock of another.  Schlunkkk!

“Aaaaah!”  The dredger clutched his impaled leg and hobbled back—just as Keris threw the crossbow over his mane like a javelin, knocking the skulls of two other stallions together.

Whony and his friends blinked—some of them cooing with wonderment.

“Rrrgh!”  Keris finished kicking another dredger.  Panting, the griffon stared down at the colts.  “Little ones!  You've helped enough!  Now run!  Due east!”  He ducked the swing of a shark prod and parried with his good talon.  Cl-Clank!  “Gnnghh...”  He ducked and rushed forward, headbutting the next stallion and shoving him back with a lion's paw.  Whump!  “Leave the rest to us!”

“No way!”  Whony pointed at his and his friends' weapons.  “We can fight too!”

“Not happening!” Keris side-stepped another dredger's attack and used the stallion's own momentum against him—shoving the gasping pony into a set of pipes.  WHUD!  Hisssss!  The mist grew denser as he spun towards the foals once again.  “Your place is back with the innocent citizens of Red Barge!”

“Says who?!”

Keris pointed behind him.  “Says her.”

“RaaAAAAaaaaugh!”  Rainbow Dash barreled her way viciously through six stallions with a flicker of ruby light.  All of them fell hard to the ground—only to be kicked and punched in the chests as the pegasus cartwheeled over them and then propelled herself thunderously into a pair of stallions, shattering their shark prods to a hundred clattering pieces.  WHAM!  Smack!  WH-WHAP!  POW!

Every colt flinched—except for Swab.

“Uhhhh... hey guys!”  Whony looked over his flicking tail.  “Let's go and check up on the mares and children!”

“Yeah!”

“Sure thing!”

“Yes!  Let's get out of here!”

“F-for glory!”

The colts collectively scampered off, following Whony's lead.

Swab lingered behind, blinking nervously at the battle.

Wh-Whump!  Two more stallions fell unconsciously across the deck.  A prismatic figure blurred in and out of the mists.  Keris saw Swab gazing into the fray.  “That means you too, child.”

Swab bit his lip.

“Fear not.”  Keris smiled under his beak.  “I shall watch out for her.”  Just as he said this, a pair of bruised stallions got up and rushed his side with desperate shouts.  The griffon dodged their attacks and backstepped, squaring off from the pair.

With a shudder, Swab took one last glance at Rainbow's rushing figure in the distance... then galloped off through the steam.





An uneven pair of eyes watched the foalish retreat.

“... ... ...”  Skagra hung from a lofty set of bulkheads positioned above the messy scuffle.  He propped himself in the niche of two conjoining hulls, his limbs coiled tightly as he sat in wait like some steam-scalded spider.

His vision followed the battle as it unfolded more and more.  Even as his own stallions dropped hard to the rusted decks, he remained still, waiting, watching, calculating.

A stallion charged Keris' blind side, swinging a staff.  The griffon side-stepped, but not without his injured limb being grazed by the dredger.  Wincing heavily, Keris stumbled, and the stallion prepared to shove the shark prod deep into the griffon's flesh.

Thap-thap-thap-thap-thap-thap!  Rainbow charged across the deck, plowing into the dredger's side.  She mounted him, giving him three hard punches to the gut before bicycle-kicking off his chin with a reverse somersault.  WHAP!  She landed in a slide, ducked a final dredger's attack, then vaulted him over her flank just in time for Keris to get back up and punish the stallion's plummeting figure with an uppercut.  WHAM!

And just like that, the last company of dredgers had fallen to the deck of the steamy battleground.

Keris panted and panted, looking every which way with twitching hawkeyes.

Rainbow—in the meantime—didn't take the time to catch her breath.  “Good job, girls!  You did great!”

Skagra's eyes narrowed.

“Just what we need.  Quick wits!  We're doing this!”

Skagra's nostrils flared.  Schiiiiiiing!  He quietly drew his dagger, holding it over his head.  Preparing to throw.

“I think that's all of them,” Keris said, his body in open view of Skagra from above.  The griffon's tail flicked.  “Should we start pressing towards the central platform?”

“Yeah, probably,” Rainbow murmured.  “I just don't want to draw the battle to where the families are holed up—”  She suddenly froze, all limbs locking up.

Skagra blinked, freezing as well.

“... ... ...what kind of metal, Rarity?”  The pegasus glanced left.  “Oh yeah?  Where at, Fluttershy?”  She jerked suddenly.

Skagra blinked.  Taking a deep breath, he quietly sheathed the dagger.  His limbs shifted.

“... ... ...for real?”  Rainbow looked straight up...





...and she saw an empty niche between two bulkheads, just beyond a thin veil of steam.

The mare's ruby eyes narrowed.

“What?”  Keris leaned in, squinting up.  “What is it?”

“I... I'm not sure,” Rainbow shuddered.  “The girls—they sensed something just now.”

“Was it another attacker?”

“... ... ...”

“Miss Dash?”

“I think we've used enough of the steam to our advantage,” Rainbow said.  She turned about.  “Let's make a break for—”

Just then, the mists shifted, rolling past them as if from a sharp breeze.

“...?”  Rainbow spun around.

Keris looked left... then right...

The mist blew past them faster, taking on a golden sheen.

“Do you see that—?”  Rainbow jolted in place.  “What, Twilight?!”  Her eyes widened.  “Jump!”  She hollered, already backflipping.

“What—?!”  Keris was too slow.  FLASSSSSH!  A yellow beam of magic ROARED down the southern strut, blowing away a solid swath of steam—an the griffon in turn.  “Oooomf!”  He grunted as his body pinballed down the line of bulkheads.

Rainbow's body spun like a pinwheel in mid-air from the manablast.  She dragged both sets of feathers out to balance herself—instantly wincing from her left wing.  “Grnnnngh!”  Nevertheless, she kicked off a bulkhead and landed on the deck with a slide, gnashing her teeth.  “Mrmmnnggh—Twilight!  Where's it coming from—?!”

FLAAASH!  Another beam of golden magic rippled down the decks.

Rainbow grunted.  She turned-tail and attempted to out-gallop the sphere of pulsating golden mana.  Along the way, she saw Keris struggling to get up.  With strong hooves, she shoved the griffon into a safe niche of metal before kicking off opposite bulkheads on either side of her.  “Rrrrnnngh!”  She backflipped, glided upside-down over the blast, then landed once again.

FL-FLASSSH!  Another manastream shot at her, aimed high this time.

Breathless, Rainbow slid under the blast, grabbed a fallen dredger's polearm, then swung it like a javelin the moment she got back up.  “Haaaa!”

The staff sliced its way down the clouds of mist.  In a blink, Rainbow saw a unicorn's figure flinching from the incoming projectile.  A pulse of energy shot out of the pony's horn, levitating the polearm in place.

Rainbow was already charging, jumping, and coming down with a drop kick.  “Rrrrgh!”

SMACK!  The unicorn dashed backwards, just in time to release the shark prod.  Rainbow kicked through it, littering the rusted deck with metal shrapnel.  Landing, Rainbow spun and glared across the empty pocket of blown steam.  “Okay!  Whoever you are, it's time to drop the magic act—Hello.”  The pegasus' blue jaw dropped.

Longaze stood several meters away from her.  The tightly-suited mare panted and panted, her horn glowing a bright piercing gold as she glared through a few tussled bangs of blonde mane hair.  “The Rainbow Rogue, I presume?”  She huffed, tossing her head back and tucking the bangs back in with excess magic.  “Playtime is over.  My boss has come to collect, so it's time for you to go back into your cage.”

Rainbow Dash stared and stared, ruby eyes wide.  Slowly, her muzzle moved from left to right, pronouncing a prolonged word that rhymed with “haaaam.”

Longaze's brown eyes narrowed.  “Did you hear me, creature?  It's time that you surrendered yourself to me.”

Rainbow's ears twitched, the fuzzy lobes turning red at the end.  Then redder.  Suddenly, she jerked.  “Uhhh!  Uhhhhh—it's n-nothing, Pinkie!  Just... uhm... s-surprised to see a unicorn out here.  Yeah.  That's all.”

“Hmmmmf...”  Longaze exhaled.  “I see the muck's had it's effect on you.”

“Yeah.  Among other things.”  Rainbow gulped.  “Say, could we just cut to the quick and have you walk away, defeated?  'Cuz it'd be a real friggin' shame to have to kick your teeth in—”

FLASSSSH!  With a grunt, Longaze fired another golden blast at her.

Rainbow sighed.  “Figures...”  WHAM!  She took the blast hard, tumbling back past Keris before recovering with a breathy grunt.  “Yeah... Yeah it's okay, Fluttershy.  It's okay.”  She came charging back, hissing.  “I've so go this.”
> Dredger, Dredger, Faster Than Lightning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	From a distance, tiny pulses of gold light billowed from deep within the fog.  Bursts of mana blew open pockets in the haze—only for them to close up after themselves with very little time to spare.

The mists covering the southern struts were beginning to recede, but at an agonizing slug's pace at best.

By now, a large crowd of nervous onlookers had gathered along the Central Platform of Red Barge.  Many families—consisting of non-dredger stallions, old mares, frail elder stallions, and dozens upon dozens of foals—gazed out at the southern decks.  The citizens of the Barge murmured among one another, squinting their eyes and gasping at each flash of gold or burst of errant steam.  Gradually, the edges of the misty cloud dissipated, revealing more and more slumped bodies of dredgers, stirring in and out of pained unconsciousness.  The eyes of the citizens lit up at this, and the commotion in the air stirred louder and louder... bordering on joyous.

All of this, Chandler observed from his lofty position.  He gazed due south over the balcony bordering Skagra's office.  His green eyes caught sight of a gaggle of colts galloping straight out of the mists—including a one-eared little foal who took up the rear of the scrambling procession.  The children reached a bridge between struts.  Once there, they stood on the sidelines of a deck full of steam vents.  Turning around, they gazed deep at the mists, watching as more and more groaning bodies of throttled dredgers littered the rusted decks.

Chandler's jaw dropped.  The shivers in his body doubled, and he clutched his studded robe in a vain attempt to keep himself still.  Swallowing a lump down his throat, the would-be-Magistrate stared deep into the remaining cloud, watching as the gold pulses flashed and flashed and—





FLASSSSSSSH!

Rainbow sweated.  She backflipped, barely avoiding the latest stream of gold magic by burning inches.  The steam in the air above her cleared, then went cloudy again as she rolled to the side, ran up a length of bulkheads, and leapt once more to dodge a blast—

FL-FLASSSH!  Longaze gnashed her teeth, marching icily forward as she fired beam after beam from her horn.  “Make this easy on yourself!  Give up!  You'll be taken in alive!  That is my boss' promise to you!”

“Grnnngh!” Rainbow grunted, spinning her body in mid-air and dodging another blast.

“Her boss?!”  Rarity exclaimed, phasing through steam and rust as she struggled to keep up with Rainbow's movements.  “What in blazes could she mean by that?”

“Have you been refusing to keep your receipts, Dashie?!” Pinkie Pie hollered.

“A... little help... here... guys...!” Rainbow snarled, struggling for breath.

“Unnngh!  I'm tr-trying!”  Twilight yelped, her ghost body sweating profusely.  Her horn burned with lavender energy as she struggled to keep her gaze locked on Rainbow's foe.  “But she's too well-trained!  I can't predict when or where her next blast will strike!”

“Maybe from her horn?” Pinkie exclaimed, pointing at the source of the mana-blasts.

“Nrnnngh!”  Rainbow crouched behind a bulkhead.  “Dang it, Pinkie!  No gold star for you—”  POWWW!  A golden blast shattered the bulkhead in front of her to bits.  “Luna poop!”

“This isn't the best place to fight her!” Fluttershy said.  She flew in to support Twilight's ghostly figure, holding the unicorn close.  “You should get out of here!”

“What?!”  Rainbow ducked low, avoiding another blast.  “No way!”

“I agree with Fluttershy, darling!” Rarity shouted.  “There's an open straightaway of decks just two left turns from here!  There's nothing to be ashamed of in a strategic retreat!”

“I'm not... g-gonna ditch Keris... mmrrrnngh... here alone with... the Secretary of Tartarus!”  ZAP!  “Ow!”  Rainbow shook a singed rear leg, collapsing to the deck.  “Friggin' horseapples...”

“Last warning!”  Longaze galloped and skidded to a stop, overlooking Rainbow's limp figure in the middle of the floor.  Her trained horn cast a golden spotlight around the pegasus.  “Give up!  I won't offer you an opportunity like this again!”

Rainbow stared back, sweating, gritting her teeth.

“Honestly, Rainbow, who did you tick off while we were gone that they would send the likes of this hussy?”

“I have a better question!”  Pinkie Pie leaned over, shrieking in Rainbow's ear.  “Why haven't you just hit her yet?!?

“Grnnngh...”  Rainbow Dash rubbed her fuzzy ear.  “...it's not as easy as it...”  She gulped.  “...looks.”

Longaze's brown eyes blinked.  “Who are you talking to?”

Fluttershy leaned towards Rainbow.  “Shhhh... Rainbow.”

The pegasus tilted her muzzle over her shoulder.  “What?”

“Wait for it...”

Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Thap!  Scraping claws—from the side.

Longaze turned aside to look—WHAM!—right into the fist of Keris.  “Oooomf!”  She flew back, bounced off a bulkhead, and straight into his one good talon.

“Rrrrrgh!”  He twirled, wincing from the force's pull on his injured limb.  Still, it didn't stop gravity from assisting him with the mother of all suplexes.  Whud!  Longaze crumpled across the deck in a dull heap.

“Unnngh...”  Her horn flickered, flashed, then went dim as her eyes rolled back.

Rainbow exhaled in relief.

Keris looked over, wiping his feathered brow.  He reached a talon out.  “You alright?”

“Peachy.”  Rainbow reached her hoof up.  As the griffon helped her back on all fours, she exhaled:  “Thanks a ton, Lieutenant Dude.  I'm pretty sure there's no way in heck I could bring myself to hit that.”

“You're a curious butterfly, Miss Dash.”

“Yeah.  Love you too.”  Gulping, Rainbow Dash squinted down at the suited mare.  “Where in the heck did she come from, anyway?  Everything about her is total... anti-muck.”

“That's a very good question,” Keris said.  He took several deep breaths, magenta hawkeyes peering.  “This... this is wild speculation at best, but I daresay her garb resembles Consortium hoofwork.”

“Consortium?”  Rainbow Dash stammered.

“An industrial organization responsible for the distribution of much dredge coal.”

“What are they doing way out on this junk heap?”

“Difficult to say.”  Keris' beak hung open as he stood over Longaze.  “Unless, of course...”  He blinked.  “My Goddess... could they be connected with all of this?”

“Huh?”  Rainbow cocked his sweaty head to the side.  “Could who be connected to what—?”

Fluttershy suddenly hollered.  “Rainbow Dash!”

“From the left!” Pinkie yelped, her legs quivering.  “Something sharp—”

“... ... ...!”  Rainbow noticed the skinny shadow on flurrying legs in her peripheral.  Her first impulse was to lunge forward, shoving Keris out of the way.  The injured griffon fell hard on his feline flank.  Meanwhile, a dagger—

Sliiiiiiink!  “Aaaaaaugh!”

—ripped violently across the pegasus' left fetlock, staining the rusted hull with blood.

“Rainbow!” Rarity shrieked while Twilight gasped.

“Ggrrrgh!” Rainbow stumbled backwards.

“Hrmmmf...”  Skagra twirled in the mists.  He threw his dagger up with one hoof and re-gripped it with the other.  Schiiiing!  “Fail, monster, FAIL!”  And he charged straight at her.

Frowning, Rainbow Dash leaned back, preparing for the attack with both forelimbs raised...

...or so she thought.  Skagra threw a curve, sliding underneath her at the last second and bucking both of his rear hooves up.  WHUMP!  They contacted Rainbow's flanking, causing her to fall forward towards his upper body.  He met her collapse with a sharp shive aimed at her soft belly.

“...!”  Rainbow shot her right wing out, catching the ground before she could fall on his blade.

Grip!  Skagra wrapped his fetlock around her neck and—“Hah!”—stabbed the blade straight into her throat.

Rainbow only had to twist her chin just the right way.  CLANK!  Sparks flew as the blade ricocheted off her pendant.  Skagra snarled, scrambling to stab again—when Rainbow knee'd him violently in the groin... a second time... and then followed it up with a hoof to the scarred half of Skagra's face.

“Unnnfff!”  Skagra rolled over until he slumped up against a set of pipes.  He hugged himself, curling up and sobbing in pain.  “Nnnnngh-guhhhhh... please... pleeeeeeeeeease...”  He covered his head with one hoof while waving the other fetlock around.  “Ohgoddesspleasepleaseplease don't hit me again!  It hurrrrrttssss... I surrenderrrr!”

Keris looked up, blinking.

With a seething breath, Rainbow stood up, leering down at the stallion.

“So sorry... sososososorrrrrry...” Skagra wept.

“Rainbow...”  Rarity drifted past the mare's head.  “His vest is full of metal blades.”

Twilight wheezed.  “He's faking it.”

“I know.”  Rainbow seethed.  Her hooves scuffled across the deck as her muscles coiled.  “Give it up, dude.  You're in a battle that you can't—”

“Rrrrrghh—HAAAAUKT!”  One eye flaring, Skagra spontaneously shot up, unleashing a veritable fan of knives in Rainbow's direction.

Rainbow leapt backwards, hugging her body and curling into a ball in mid-air.  In spite of trying to make her body as small as possible, several of the blades knicked the edges of her legs and shoulders.  Sl-Sl-Sliiink!  “Grrrghhh!”

Skagra hadn't even finished his last breath by the time he chose to spin towards the array of steam pipes behind him.  CL-CLANK!  He knocked a valve off with a club, snapping an array of metal tubes loose.  FWOOOOOSH!  Hot steam billowed out in misty white vomit.  The agile stallion leapt up, catching the gust of wind with his body, propelling himself like a bifurcated bullet straight at the pegasus.  “Burn with me!”

WHUMP!  Skagra speared Rainbow's figure, and the two went barreling off, collapsing over a ledge of metal bulkheads and falling into the fog beyond.  “Ooof!”

“Miss Dash!” Keris shouted.  Wincing, he struggled back onto his remaining limbs and hobbled swiftly towards the direction of the chaotic fight.

Meanwhile, behind him, a certain unicorn's eye fluttered open.  Longaze came to, glancing up.  Her horn pulsed, the magic instantly grabbing the first body she saw.

“Unngh!”  Keris grimaced, feeling himself being tugged backwards.  Frantically, the griffon looked left and right in mid-flight.  He spotted a crowbar lying beside a collapsed dredger.  Schiing!  Picking it up in his good talon, Keris spun around, swinging the bludgeon full-force at the soul who was pulling him in.  “Rrrrgh!”

Longaze squinted one eye.  The magic fluctuated, bending the crowbar at a sharp angle before the end of it could make contact with her skull.  With her mana spent, she spun around and flung the griffon's body down the corridor of metal pipes.

Keris slid to a stop on three legs.  He seethed, glaring at the mare.  “Stand down.  I have to help her stop that madstallion!”

“Not something I can afford.”  Longaze cracked the joints in her neck, summoning mana into her horn again.  “You're a witness, and you need to be neutralized.”

Keris shouted, “I am a Lieutenant of the Right Talon of Verlaxion!”

“And I don't care.”  Longaze levitated a mess of discarded weapons and projectiles.

Keris braced himself, breathing tightly through his beak—

“Rrrrgh!”  And Longaze flung all of her debris towards him at once.  Fw-Fw-Fw-Fwooosh!





Wham!  Rainbow exhaled sharply as she felt herself slammed to the rusted deck yet again.  She winced, struggling to get up.

“Dashie!”  Pinkie hollered.  “He's right behind you!  Coming from the lef—”

Rainbow barely had time to turn around.  SCHIIING!  A swing of a dagger nearly lopped off her nose.  She backtrotted, jerking left and juking right as Skagra came at him like a tornado of shivs.

“Hah!  Hraaugh!  Hkkkt!”  The enraged stallion seethed, practically foaming at the mouth.  His dagger-slices were so swift that they cleared tiny, temporary swaths of empty air through the steamy mists.

Rainbow dodged again and again—but barely.  Every other attack knicked at her skin or plucked away at her feathers' quills.  “Grnngh... augh!”  She tried lunging forward to punch the stallion—but instantly regretted it.

“Httt!”  He pirouetted to the side, spun on his front limbs, then bucked both rear legs into her.  “Haaaugh!”

Whap!

Rainbow slumped into a pile of scrap metal.  “Oooomf!”  Wincing, she spotted his galloping figure in the reflection of a water-slick steam tank.

“Now he's coming from up high!  To your right—” Pinkie hollered.

Grunting, Rainbow picked up a square slab of metal and raised it over her head.  Clankkk!  She met his dagger swipe with a shower of sparks.  “Make it short, Pinkie!”  Rainbow shoved against him with the slab—then instantly found herself on the retreat, shielding herself more and more desperately with the metal tile as he came in with relentless dagger stabs and knife swings.  Cl-Cl-Clank!  “Just give the bearings—”

“His weight's shifting!” Rarity cried.

“Top left!” Pinkie chirped.

Rainbow swung the shield up.  CLACK!

“He's sliding—!”

“Lower left!” Pinkie followed.

“Haaugh!”  Rainbow slammed the slab down, blocking Skagra's sliding legs.  For a second there, she thought she had the upper hoof—

CLANG!  Skagra punted the slab straight up with his hooves, uppercutting Rainbow with her very own shield.  The mare stumbled backwards, nose bleeding.

“Dashie!  Duck!”

Without thinking, Rainbow instantly fell limp.  Swisssssh!  A pair of outstretched daggers sang past her skull as she dropped to her back.  The stallion was presently diving forward her, his body stretched out.  If she reached her hooves up, she could catch his legs.

So she did just that—but her grip didn't last for long.  With grunts and hissing shrieks, Skagra wriggled out of her grasp and scampered off into the mists like a mad banshee.

“Mrmrrfffngh...” Rainbow stumbled to her hooves.  “Slippery little melon fudge...”

“I... I-I've lost him!” Pinkie gulped.  “He could be anywhere, Dashie!”

“Fluttershy?!?” Rainbow barked.

“I... I-I'm trying!”  Fluttershy stifled a sob, panting as her eyes darted all over.  “But... but he's just so fast!  I feel him everywhere at once—”

“Above us!” Rarity spat.  “Someone's picking up a loose pipe!”

“Twitchy tail!” Pinkie yelped.

“Guh!” Rainbow blindly somersaulted while—high above—a stallion's figure came billowing through the mists, swinging down a mercilessly heavy pipe.  POWWWW!

The sheer proximity of the impact sent Rainbow stumbling to the side.  She slumped against an array of valves and levers, panting for breath.

“Good Goddess!” Rarity stammered.  “He almost flattened Rainbow with that!”

“Rnngh...” Twilight rubbed her horn.  “Don't... d-don't think he's after Rainbow.”

“Huh?”

“He's coming again, Dashie!” Pinkie hollered.  “Even level with—”

Rainbow turned to meet him, hoof raised.

But Skagra was faster.  His hoof snaked in... wrapping around and under the mare's pendant.

Rainbow gasped.  The four spectral bodies around her flickered in and out of lavender existence.

“Srkkkkt—Rainbowwww!” Fluttershy yelped.  Her and the other girls warped, stretching inward as is being sucked towards a yellow vortex deep inside Rainbow's being.  “Your Element—”

“Hmmmm...?”  Skagra's leering faces reflected off a wide pair of ruby eyes.  “Did I find the monster's blowhole?”

“Grnnngk!”  Rainbow shoved him off her, then clutched her pendant, re-fastening it.

“Hehhhh-heheheheh!” Skagra's left muzzle grinned while the right side grimaced.  “Breathe it in, shiny shiny dolphins!”  Schiiiing!  He flung three daggers at the pipework behind the mare.  “Burn with every gasp!”

Cr-Crackkkk!  Hot mists screamed out of the tubes, cascading over Rainbow Dash.

The mare shrieked, rolling away from the scalding heat—only to make contact with Skagra's hooves.

“Rrrngh!”  WHAM!  He kicked her hard, shoving her across the deck as the air grew thicker... denser, resonating with his hissing voice.  “Mmmmmm—let's have a baptism, shall we?”  And he leapt upon the struggling mare once more.  “Haaaah!”





FL-FLASH!

Keris weathered blast after blast of golden manabursts.

Longaze sweated, concentrating denser and more complex leylines through her horn.  No matter what she threw at the griffon, the Lieutenant rolled with the punches, keeping his breaths even as he patiently dodged the bulk of her assault.

The distance between them closed.

Longaze noticed it, and so she started scuffling backwards, bracing herself at a junction of metal corridors.

At last, Keris caught his breath.  He ducked a chunk of debris being thrown his way via a wave of golden telekinesis.  Then, with agile paws, he sprinted straight for the mare.

Longaze was prepared for it.  “Grrrrrnngh!”  Her brown eyes flickered amber as she launched her thickest wave of mana yet.

As a result, the griffon came to a floating stop just a few feet in front of her.  He hovered limply in place, blinking.

“Hmmmff...”  Shaking, sweating, Longaze nevertheless smirked at her foe.  “Some Talon.  You're not used to fighting unicorns, are you—?”

The griffon's beak opened wide as—all of a sudden—the Lieutenant regurgitated the lumpy remains of breakfast from his avian stomach.

SPLUT!  “Aaaaaugh!” Longaze stumbled backwards.  The glow of her horn shorted out as she grimaced, swinging her head left and right to shake loose the curds and half-digested rice.  “Verlaxion's Sleet—!”

Keris dropped.  He twirled in the air before landing, sweeping Longaze's legs out from underneath her with his tail.  She lifted up—only to be met with Keris' paw to her belly and slammed straight back down onto her spine.  Clannnnnnng!

“Oooooof...”  And Longaze fell unconscious.

Keris brushed his feathers, then wiped the excess vomit from his beak.  “Filth is filth,” he spat.  “Now stay down.”

With a surly breath, he looked up, squinting across the steamy fog.  His headcrest ruffled at the sound of a distant scuffle, and he sprinted off in the direction of the noise.
> A Face Full of Dashie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Haaaaugh!”  Skagra charged forward and kicked Rainbow again.

“Ooomf!”  She winced, rolling across the steam-dripping bulkheads until she came to a stop beneath a wall of metal grates stacked against one another.

“Monster from beyond the Blight, hmmm?”  Skagra's good nostril flared as he loomed above her, twirling his dagger up and over his fetlock.  “If this is what the west is made of, then they're as good as bloat.”  His green eyes glinted—bright, uneven, twitching.  “A rogue like you can't even faze a top dredger like me.  I sprinkle death on toasted misery every morning and nibble.  You're just a bubble on a turd... and I'm about to pop you...”

“Dear Celestia...”  Rarity blanched, hovering close to Rainbow Dash.  “He's actually monologuing.”

“They all do,” Rainbow wheezed, pushing up on all fours.  She stared up at the stack of grated metal sheets.  Her brow furrowed.  “But there's something else they do as well.”

“What's that, Dashie?” Pinkie whimpered.

“Lose,” the mare exhaled, bringing a hoof up to her pendant.

“Rrrrngh!”  Skagra grabbed her mane with one hoof and raised his dagger with the other.  “Shut up, muckheap!  You got voices in your head?!  Huh?!”  Schiiiiing!  The knife sang through the air.  “Lemme empty it for you—”

“Now, Rainbow—!” Twilight shouted.

Grunting, Rainbow brought a hoof back, expertly catching the fetlock of his knife-wielding hoof.  With a twist of her muscles, she shoved his limb forward until the blade got caught in the bars of the metal crates.  Cl-Clank!

“Augh!  Shit!”  Skagra spat, trying to yank the blade loose—

Whump!  Rainbow's forelimb locked around his.  She pulled herself up on his weight, facing the stallion muzzle-to-muzzle.  “You wanna see what the west is made of?!”  She finished rubbing the Element, then thrust the ruby-lightning bolt straight into his two-faces.  “Take a good long look!”

FLAAA-AAA-AAAASSSH!

“Gaaaaaaa-aaaa!”  Skagra's eyes burned from the direct blast of bright energy to his sockets.  He would have stumbled back, but Rainbow's grip anchored the dredger in place, prolonging his torment.

She seethed through clenched teeth, tightened the muscles of her forehead, and—WHAP!—headbutted him savagely.

Skagra stumbled back, tripping, pratfalling.  He panted and hissed and yelped, clambering left and right like a skewered cockroach.  When at last he got back on his hooves, he continuously strafed around like an idiot, banging against the bulkheads on either side of him, limbs scuffling... scraping the water-slick rust.

“Rrrrghhh-raaa-haaaugh!”  He shook his head left and right, eyes clenched tightly shut, the skin twice as burnt around the edges.  “Mrfnngnh... shit... shit!  Mrmmmg-gaaaaaughttt!”

Rainbow stood up, brushing her bruised self off.  “Hmmmm...”  She spat, speaking out the side of her muzzle without looking.  “Fluttershy?”

“He's...”  The spectral pegasus gulped, covering her muzzle... and then her eyes.  “He's lost control of his senses.”

“Don't have to tell me twice.”  Rainbow cracked her neck joints once... twice... and charged forward.  Th-Th-Th-Th-Thap!  WHAM!  She uppercutted the stallion hard.

“Woooo!”  Pinkie pumped her hoof.  “Go for the glory, Dashie!”

“Hrrttt!”  Rainbow leapt up, collided with his body, and brought him down in a full-body press.  WHUD!

“Aaaugh—Bloat!  Bloater...”  Skagra wheezed and spat, his body spasming.  “Grnnntkkkt... Goddess... whiskey...”

“Nuh uh...”  Rainbow hoisted him up by his shoulders.  “You ain't getting numb to this.”  She raised both rear hooves.

At last, Skagra's eyes opened, squinting.  But it was too late to avoid—WHAP!  He stumbled back from Rainbow's bucking, then yelped as she came in with a savage knee to his chest, followed by another uppercut, this time sending him sailing through a barrel full of metal scraps and debris.  Cl-Claaaack!

Skagra collapsed across the rust, shuddering, rolling and fumbling over a sea of random nick-nacks.  At last, he stood up again, supporting himself with a flimsy strip of metal.  His pained eyes spotted a cup full of nuts and bolts resting on a shelf.  In desperation, he picked the thing up and spun around, tossing the tiny debris.  “Haaaaaugh!”

“... ... ...”  Rainbow Dash stared, deadpan, as the miniature pellets splashed harmlessly across her chest and rolled to the floor.

“Hrmmffff...”  Skagra slumped back, exhaling.  “Yeah, well... I'm still prettier.”  WHAM!  Rainbow answered with a hoof to the face.  “Ooof!”  He sprawled across the floor again, spitting up blood.

Even the girls were wincing at this point.  Rarity and Twilight exchanged glances, then looked at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow took a deep breath, stalking the pained dredger from behind.  “Fluttershy, is he dying?”

“I... I think he even he knows that he's lost the fight by now, Rainbow—”

“Is... he... dying?”

Fluttershy gulped.  She closed her eyes, already wincing.  “No.”

Rainbow took a deep breath, galloped, and punted her hoof straight into Skagra's gut.

“Oooomf!”  Skagra flew up two feet, then came down in an arc, tumbling limply across the corridor.  He even rolled by Keris as the griffon came strolling in from another juncture.

Keris' hawkeyes calmly glanced aside, catching Skagra's bruised, haggard figure.  He strolled in, standing by Rainbow's side.  “Well... I see that my concerns were unwarranted.”

“Was a different story minutes ago,” Rainbow muttered, slowly trotting after Skagra.  “I appreciate your support, regardless.”

“For what it's worth.”

She kept her eyes trained on the top dredger.  “How's the mare?”

“Blonde.”

“Lieutenant Dude...”

“Blonde and bruised and unconscious,” Keris emphasized.  “Figured I would spare you the details.”

“Mmmhmmm.  Thanks.”

Keris followed her steely gaze.  “I don't get it.  Isn't the fight finished?”

Rainbow shook her head.

“What are you waiting for?”

“For it to get pathetic enough,” she said.

As if on cue, a panting, hyperventilating Skagra scrambled up to all four hooves.

“Rainbow...”  Fluttershy gasped.  Eyes aimed ahead, she leaned in and whispered close to Rainbow's ear.  Rainbow blinked, nodding.

Skagra broke into a limping gallop, heading due north through the mists.

“He's running...!” Keris uncoiled his wings to fly after him—

Rainbow held her hoof out, anchoring the griffon.

He turned towards her, blinking.  “But I can catch him in an instant—”

She shook her head.  “This way's cooler.”  She nodded.  “Just look.”

Keris observed.

Skagra ran and ran.  He looked back once, eyes twitching at the stationary figures far behind him.  It was approximately then and there that he cleared an intersection of looming bulkheads...

...and a light pink hoof stuck out from behind the corner, tripping him.

“Ooof!”  Skargra face-planted, rolled forward, and came to a bumpy stop against a set of pipes.

Seething, Croche came out of hiding.  She stood above him, overcome with shivers... shivers that turned into growls.  “You... you...”  Her sunken eyes flared as she rushed up and kicked the scarred stallion again and again and again.  “I hate you!  I hate you!  My parents woulda been safe from the pirates if you didn't send them out during the raid!  Stupid monster!  It's all your fault!”

“Rrrrnngh... mrmmmff...” Skagra weathered the tiny kicks and bucks.  He gnashed his teeth.  “Damn... seafoam—”  The next kick found its way to his groin.  “Aaaaugh!”

“And don't call me that!” Croche's voice cracked.  She seethed and seethed.  “The only sea foam around here is you!  Stop using us all as stepping stools so you can smell the fumes better, you fr-freak!”  Next, she aimed for his half-faces—

“Alright, child...”  Keris hoisted her wriggling figure from behind.  He held her close with his good talon, giving Skagra a wide berth.  “That's enough therapy for now.”

“Rrrrgh!  Lemme go!”  Croche panted and panted, eyes moistening.  “I'm not done—”

“Oh, it's done alright, Scampette,” Rainbow Dash said, strolling in on cold hooves.  “All of it.  Finished.”

Croche blinked, watching breathlessly.

“Rrrnnngh... you... you h-haven't...” Skagra wheezed, scooting painfully away from Rainbow Dash.  “...h-haven't... won anything... mmrmfff... bloat bitch...”

Twilight's ears folded back.  “Yeesh... does he ever quit?”

“Isn't that the whole point?” Pinkie said.  She opened her muzzle to say something else, but stopped upon seeing Rainbow hoist the top dredger up again.

This time, Skagra found the energy to resist.  He kicked, punched, and gnashed his teeth at her muzzle—amounting to nothing but a raving, slobbering mess.  “Rrrrggh—Raaaukkt!  Hrmmmnngh—Hraaaugh!”

Rainbow held him at forelimb's length, emotionlessly observing his struggles.

“His... his heart's racing...” Fluttershy stammered.  “Rainbow, must you—?”

“Stay still,” Rainbow droned.

Skagra fought and bit at her.

Clenching her jaw, Rainbow shoved him—CLANG!—against a series of pipes.  She pressed her weight into him from behind, snarling into his ear.  “Stay.  Still.”  Her nostrils flared.  “I will not tell you one more time.”

“Get... bent...” Skagra gargled.  “Piss harpy... grnnnghhh...”

Twilight bit her lip.  Pinkie fidgeted in mid-hover, sweating.

Rainbow took a deep breath.  She glanced at Keris, then back at Skagra.  She raised her free hoof up high as if to whallop his skull again—

“Ahem... Rainbow, darling.”  Rarity floated in.

Rainbow glanced at her.

Rarity swallowed a lump down her throat, then pointed at Skagra's lower half.  “His... his lower left leg is fragile.  About two-thirds of the way above the fetlock.”  She cleared her throat.  “From a previous fracture, I suspect.”

Rainbow muttered, “How fragile, Rarity?”

Rarity stared back.  “Fragile enough.”

Twilight floated sideways, holding Fluttershy close, steadying her.

Rainbow frowned.  Her muzzle tightened as she pressed her hoof down to the back of the dredger's leg and—CRACKKK!

“Aaaa-aaaaaa-aaaaugh!” Skagra let loose a wailing yell, his voice rippling the scant mists above them.

Croche flinched in Keris' grip.

Fluttershy buried her face in Twilight's shoulder.

Rainbow Dash stepped off the savagely-bent limb beneath her.  She let go of Skagra, and the top dredger slumped to the rust.  His cusses and shouts had been reduced to a torturous, hissing breath as he clutched his broken leg.

In the next breath, Rainbow grabbed him by his other leg and started dragging him across the decks.  Skagra yelped instantly, then draped in her grasp, his body repeatedly knocking into pipework and the edges of bulkheads as Rainbow drew him swiftly north across the strut.

Keris blinked curiously.  He let down Croche and broke into a swift jog.  Croche followed after him, her wide eyes locked on Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow...”  Twilight gulped, floating forward to catch up.  “Where... are you taking him?”

“Where else?” Rainbow grunted, then narrowed her eyes as...





...she cleared the north edge of the misty clouds, approaching the Central Platform in a brisk blur.

Swab did a double-take.  Whony and the colts behind him gasped at the sight of the limp dredger in her gasp.

All across the bulkheads behind them, the gathered citizens of Red Barge rolled into sharp, astonished commotion at the sight of their lamed leader.  Wide eyes and dropped muzzles marked the populace.

High above, Chandler practically deflated.  His coat paled, and his ears drooped as he backtrotted from the sight, shaking his head in disbelief.  At last, he bumped into the opposite ledge of the balcony, trembling all over.  With a gulp, he looked north—at the struts where his steamship was moored.  Panting for breaths, he hiked up the hem of his bejeweled cloak and began scampering down the central structure... desperate to make a quiet exit.
> Why You're Here Right Now
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Skagra's fight ended at a fateful moment in time.  The reserve steam tanks in the bellies of so many welded hulls finally ran empty.  Even as Rainbow Dash began dragging the top dredger's limp body out of the southern strut, the mists and fog behind her dissipated, thinning into a scarcely visible haze.  This exposed the bruised and battered figures of multiple thugs, a scant few of whom were groaning, coming to, and rising up on wobbly legs from the dinted spots where a pegasus and a griffon had royally thrashed them against the rust.

Nixkit hobbled up out of the crumbling entrance to the brig.  The pale stallion barely had enough energy to walk straight, much less pick up any of the broken weapons or unconscious companions around him.  As soon as he breached sunlight, he collapsed to his chest, wincing.  With a raspy breath, he opened his eyes to squint across the bulkheads.  His vision caught Skagra's ragdoll figure in an angry mare's grasp and he froze in place.

Several decks away, Digiff clung to a bulkhead, shivering like a coward.  When the fog lifted, he cussed under his breath, then—at last—poked his nervous head out to see where the fight had gone.  He sucked his breath in sharply at the sight of Skagra.  His bearded muzzle hung agape.

One by one, a limping procession of dredgers lurched north.  They leaned against bulkheads and one another, watching dazedly as Rainbow Dash carried their shrieking leader towards the centralmost platform.  Behind them—hidden beyond metal shelves and pipeworks—a dazed figure awoke, stirred, then disappeared in a conspicuous haze of gold light.





Swab blinked, his muzzle hanging wide open.  He watched breathlessly—his little body pivoting as Rainbow Dash marched straight past him and the other colts.  Skagra slid behind her, his body rattling painfully over every curve and bump in the deckwork.  As Rainbow dragged him over the bridge spanning the canal, his broken leg grazed past Swab's fetlocks, nearly tripping the foal.

With a squeak, Swab teetered, nearly falling back.  A pink hoof held him in place.  He looked over his shoulder to see Croche supporting him.  The two shared a soundless glance, then gazed forward—along with a thickening crowd of mute Red Barge onlookers.

Keris limped and limped, coming to a wincing stop beside the two foals.  His hawkeyes narrowed on Rainbow Dash... trailing her as she approached the very center of a forest of vertical vents and steam grates.  His beak clenched shut, his feathers fluttering in the dirty air.





Th-Thwump!  Rainbow flung Skagra hard into the centermost vent.

“Aaaaa-aaaaugh!” Skagra arched his spine, hissing through clenched teeth.  His scarred muzzle rubbed against blood-stained metal as he lay sprawled across the centermost platform, surrounded by starving eyes and tight muzzles.  His eyes rolled back, catching a kaleidoscope of dazed, emotionless faces.  Watching.  Observing.  Devouring.  “Hrkkkt... friggin'... muck riders.”  He clawed and clambered in futility against the rustwork.  “Mrfffnnngh... come... come c-crashing against the barnacles for blood, have you?”  He spat up bile from another wave of pain from his shattered leg.  “Snkkkkkt—not gonna make it easy for any of ya sea foam. Hrkkkt—Hear me?!”  The top dredger barked, rolling, “Get your kicks from smelling each other's farts!  Aaaugh!  Goddess!”

The citizens of Red Barge gathered tightly together.

Families and foals.

Stallions and mares.

Elders and workers.

Whony and several of his fellow colts wriggled their way to the edge of the crowd.  They stared—gawking—at their once ominous leader, now a shattered waif of a stallion.

“I took us somewhere...”  Skagra wheezed.  “To a place the Continentalist snow huffers couldn't!”  He seethed, gurgling.  “All these years, they've used us.  Snorted us.  And when their mountains melt into their flankholes, who will float on top the muck?!  Huh?!  And who's thankful for it?!”

Swab gazed at the trop dredger.  Panting, he looked to the left.

Rainbow Dash was marching icily towards an array of levers, valves, and switches flanking the platform.

Four spectral ponies phased through the bulkheads, orbiting her closely with colors and breaths.

“Rainbow...?” Pinkie cooed.

“Rainbow Dash...”  Twilight took one cold glance at Skagra, then an even colder one at her anchor.  “What are you doing?”

“Making poetry,” Rainbow grunted.  She frowned and—THWAP!—slapped two levers to the side.

Hsssssssssssssssssssssssss!  The pipes rattled as the central platform's steam reserves poured into the tanks directly below.  The temperature in the air heated up.  Vaporous ripples danced above each vent surrounding the scene.

Swab blinked at Rainbow, then looked at Skagra.  He began to wince...

“Rainbow...”  Rarity floated in.  “Darling.  Far be it from me to preach to you—”

“Then don't.”  Rainbow switched to a nearby valve and began spinning it.

“We've opened our eyes to the worst this world has to offer,” Rarity said.  She pointed at Skagra's quivering figure.  “And there it lies.  Crippled.  Powerless.  What more needs to be proven?”

“Rarity, you don't know the 'worst,'” Rainbow snarled.  She slapped a button, and the hissing vapors in the air magnified.

The valves heated up, their grates turning red.  Skagra's neck made contact with the cylinder he was lying against, and he yelped from the scalding touch.  His body rolled aside—only to be gripped by Rainbow Dash as she marched back.

“But I do,” she continued, glaring past Rarity as she dragged Skagra's body up, pivoting him around.  “I made the mistake of being graceful before.  And it cost me more than I can put into words.”

“Whatever you're talking about, Rainbow, it's not here,” Twilight said, her brow furrowed.  She hovered across from the mare.  “And here... we made a deal.”

Regardless, Rainbow slumped Skagra's grunting body against the top of the vent.

“Yes... th-that's it...”  He wheezed in her grasp.  “Just... flush all the muck away.  That's right.  Red Toilet.  Red Toilet!  Hahahahaha—snkkktt... cheese and crackers...”

Using her weight, Rainbow pressed his scarred face to the grate at the top of the cylinder.  He lay against it, panting, sweating from the intense heat.

“Rainbow...”  Fluttershy looked at her with sad eyes.  “I might be able to handle the feel of more deaths...”  She sniffled.  “But from your hooves?”

Rainbow glared down at the stallion beneath her.  She inhaled... exhaled.  “He deserves to die...”  Her teeth showed above a shaking jaw.  “He needs to die.”

“We know, Dashie.”  Pinkie nodded, her mane limp, like the deflated tone of her voice.  “We know.”  A gulp.  “But he needs to do something even more.”

“And what's that?”

“Change.”

Rainbow clenched her eyes shut.  After a deep breath, she grumbled, “Pinkie.. he won't change.”  A snarling tone.  “None of them ever do.”

Pinkie shook her head.  “Who says it's gotta be for him?”

Rainbow's eyes opened, bleary... moist.  In a blink, she saw Swab standing far across the platform from her.  The little colt stood in the shadow of Keris.  His one ear folded back as he stared back at Rainbow with a glint in his yellow eyes that she had never seen before.

“Yes... fear...” Skagra hissed.

“...?”  Rainbow looked down at him.

“I... I get it now...”  He gargled on his own sweat, his bangs curling from the heat bubbling deep in the vent beneath him.  “Mrmmfff... I've lost it.  The strength.  The balls... heh... heheheheh...”  It started as a chuckle, but limped off into a squeaky sob.  “But you... you you you you... yesssss...”  He hyperventilated, staring into the polluted ceiling of his pungent existence.  “A beast from the west... the Rainbow Rogue.”  His throat swallowed hard.  “You can take the Barge where I couldn't... sailing high on a wave of muck...”  His eyes squinted up at her, tearing.  “Take it high... take it far...”  Clicking teeth.  “None of the sea foam her can... like we can... please...”

Rainbow fumed.  Jaws tight.

Fluttershy leaned in close—nuzzling range.  “Rainbow...”  She whispered.  “Our greatest... most loyal friend...”  A calm smile.  “The change... is you.  It's always been you.”

Rainbow blinked, eyes fogging over.

Her hoof reached out, grasping a lever beside the vent.

Skagra held his breath.

Keris's headcrest folded back.

“We'll accept your decision, whatever it is,” Fluttershy said, drifting back.  She looked at the other mares—but most especially Twilight.  “Won't we, girls?”

The others nodded their head, including Twilight—her eyes clenched shut.

At last, Rainbow let loose a pent-up breath.  “Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww frig.”  Frowning, she yanked the lever.

Skagra gasped—

FWOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!  Burning hot steam vomited up out of the vent.
> Something To Be Proud Of
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	—and the top dredger flinched, rolling across the bulkhead... for Rainbow Dash's hoof had just kicked him out of the way.  Sputtering for breath, Skagra stared up past a curtain of sweat.

The vent continued expelling vaporous heat.

And then Rainbow swung the lever back in place, cutting off the flow of steam completely.

Skagra blinked... then watched from a slumped position as Rainbow Dash marched around the platform, standing high before the crowd.  Tilting her head up with a glint of her pendant, she spoke loudly... boldly before the ponies of Red Barge.

“Blood!  Suffering!  Slavery!”  She hollered into the polluted mists.  “That's what this entire place runs on!  I mean... it ain't dredge coal!”  She waved her forelimbs.  “It's just one stupid friggin', endless cycle!  Huh?!  One jerkface rises up to the top of the muck pile and kills the guy bossing him around.  And then that guy gets offed by another pony even more ugly and pathetic than him!  Before you know it, your entire legacy is just one scrap of melting flesh after another!  But to what end?!  Like, do you guys just adore having some cruddy plop bucket shove his jerkfacedness into your lives without question?! When did all this crap start, anyways?!  And just when did having a license to be crazy become having a license to rule the rust?!”

She turned around, gazing at the crowd—and even at the few limping figures gathering along the edges of the Southern Strut.  She recognized the faces of Digiff and Nixkit, and she gave them the same iron glare.

“A lot of you have heard some nasty crud about me.  The 'Rainbow Rogue' this and the 'Monster from the Blight' that.  Well, yeah, I've done some pretty monstrous stuff, for sure... downright cruel, even.  But this jerkface you see before you is not gonna be your new Top Dredger!  Nuh uh!  It ain't gonna be that easy!  Not anymore!  After all, the easy way is the lame way, and you guys are made of stronger stuff!  You know this!  You power up an entire friggin' Continent, for crying out loud!”  Frowning, she brushed a hoof across her chest and placed it against her left eye.  “I swear on my wings that you guys aren't going to have a Top Dredger ever again!  Because... come on!”  She pointed at Skagra's figure.  “You see this?!  This right here?!  You all deserve better than this garbage!  I mean... who would want to live under that!”

“Snrkkkt... they... they won't listen to you,” Skagra sputtered.  “Once sea foam, always sea foam—”

Whap!  Rainbow kicked him, causing the dredger to yelp.  “Shuddup.  Heroic monologue here.  Ahem.”  She tilted her head up to face the crowd again.  “All your lives, you've been told that you're nothing but muck... scum of the seven seas... boils on the butt of the world—or whatever.  I dunno.  Doesn't matter.  It's all lies!  Complete and utter horse hockey!  Now I dunno who made you think that way about yourselves to begin with.  Maybe it was the guys who buy your dredge coal.  Maybe it was all of Rohbredden.  Maybe it was Verlax herself.  Doesn't matter.  The ponies who need to stop calling you that is you.”  She pointed.  “And unless you pull yourselves out of the trash that jerkfaces like this scumbag have made, then you'll never go anywhere!  And this crud...”  She pointed at the blood stained bulkheads.  “This right here?!  It will never... end.”

Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity hovered close together, watching as Rainbow Dash stepped down and started pacing before the circle of onlookers.

“I know it seems impossible to live life differently.  But I'm telling you... it can be done!  I've been to a lot of places in my travels, and I passed through many kingdoms—some of them as bad off as this place... if not worst.  Maybe you don't believe me.  You don't have to.  But believe this.”  She scuffled to a stop, pointing.  “Most of these places I've been to?  They had the power to change.  And it sure as heck didn't happen easily.  Most of the time, it didn't happen overnight.  But places... nations... ponies have the power to change!  So long as they don't give into despair... so long as they don't accept the horrible elements around them as... as...”

Rainbow bit her lip.  She shook... shuddered... then exhaled.

“...as fate.”  A hard gulp.  “And a pony's fate is not up to anyone or anything but that pony herself.  I... lost track of that for a while.”  She turned and looked at her four friends with glazed eyes.  “And I would do anything... anything to undo the mistakes I made in my despair.  But... thankfully... I have a new chance to make things right... if not for me... then for the ponies I continue to meet in my travels.”

Rarity sniffled, hugging Fluttershy closely.  Pinkie grinned while Twilight exhaled through a soft smile.

“But...”  A meager voice spoke up.

Rainbow Dash spun around.

Whony fidgeted where he stood.  “But how can we even begin to change?”  He gulped, waving at Skagra, the rust, and the muck beyond.  “This is all we know.”

“Look around you, kid,” Rainbow Dash said.  “With all the stuff that's gone down...”  Her eyes narrowed.  “Are you the same pony now that you were hours ago?”

Whony merely blinked at that.  He stood up tall, jaw tight.

Rainbow gazed at the others.  “This place just... doesn't have to be so stinkin' awful!” her voice cracked.  “I mean... other ponies are getting along fine, aren't they?!  Rust... Shoggoth... the other Barges...” She pointed.  “Was it really so bad to dredge coal shelves before psychopaths like this melon fudge right here started crapping into everyone's mailbox?!”

The citizens of Red Barge murmured with one another.

Voices—young and old—rang across the bulkheads.

“With... w-without Skagra...”  A stallion muttered, “Who will designate the new labor assignments?”

“Who will give us nibbles?” voiced a colt.

“Where will we establish housing?” asked a mare, nuzzling her child.

“And who will work the harvest chambers?” asked another stallion.

“Dude...”  Rainbow Dash shrugged her forelimbs dramatically.  “You guys will decide!  As a group!  As a team!  As friends!”  She turned around.  “Running a Barge... running anything doesn't have to be so friggin' cutthroat!”  Her glaring vision fell on the likes of Nixkit and Digiff from afar.  “And it certainly doesn't need a bunch of idiotic thugs telling other ponies what to do!  Does it?!”

The few dredgers conscious on the Southern Strut blinked at that.  Many of them exchanged anxious glances.  Some collapsed on their flanks in a contemplative stupor.  Others, weary and winded, limped forward... blending icily into the crowd.

Among them was Nixkit.  The bruised, lurching stallion made a sluggish bee-line for Rainbow Dash.

Keris watched warily from the sidelines.  His wing muscles coiled, ready to spring at any moment.

But once Nixkit reached the pegasus, he looked up at her... then stripped off his vest and all of the tools and weapons stowed away in it.  “Honestly...?”  He slumped to his knees beside Skagra, sighing.  “...I'm just so mucking tired of everything.”  He gulped, then glanced aside at the crowd.  “It's over, boys.  It's been over for ages now...”

To that, Digiff and several of the other dredgers hung their heads.  Meanwhile, a strange sound of elation bubbled through the crowd.

“Mrmmmfff... coward...”  Skagra hissed across the bulkheads as he glared at Nixkit.  “They shoulda named you 'Pixie.'  You're about as fleeting as a fart, anyways.”

“Yeah yeah... chew on shit, ya whalemuck,” Nixkit hissed back.  “It's the only thing you're good at, anyways...”

Skagra blinked.

Meanwhile, Whony and several orphans around him broke into insatiable giggles.  The oldest colt bore a dumb grin on his face.

“But... but Miss...”  A pony spoke from the crowd, forcing Rainbow to spin around.  “So much has happened to Red Barge...”

“How will we recover?” asked another.

“What if the pirates try attacking us again?!”

“Without a Top Dredger, we... we j-just don't know how to work!”

“How can we control the Barge as a group?”

Rainbow took a deep breath.  “These... are all very good questions.”  She gulped.  “Very important questions.  You guys don't just need each other... but Rohbredden itself needs you!  Which is fortunate...”  She turned and looked across the way at Keris.  “...because we happen to have a member of the Right Talon of Verlaxion right here in our midst.”

Murmuring, the crowd turned, following Rainbow's gaze.

Keris blinked as Croche and Swab looked up at him.

“This is Lieutenant Keris,” Rainbow Dash said.  “He may not look it at the moment—but he's one of the wisest, most badflank griffons in Rohbredden security.  His beak holds—like—super authority in the continent n'stuff.  You want guidance?”  She nodded her head towards him.  “Keris here will be here to help you get on track... to transition into something that's... y'know... friggin' sane.  After all, it's his duty to look after the innocent citizens of Rohbredden, be it on land or in the seven seas beyond.”  Her ruby eyes narrowed.  “...isn't that right, Lieutenant Dude?”

“Is what she saying true?” asked a citizen.

“Will you help us?”

“Do you have Verlaxion's blessing?”

Keris stood with all eyes upon him.  Wincing a bit from his wounded talon, he nevertheless took a deep breath and gradually said, “As a member of the Right Talon of Verlaxion, I am bound to protect the citizens of this kingdom, yes.  That being said, I am also bound by the rulings of the Council of Verlaxion.  At present, I've been charged by both the Council and my superior Commander to track down the Rainbow Rogue and bring her to justice.”

Swab bit his lip.

Rainbow stared back, silent.

Keris exhaled, his headcrest tilting back.  “However... due to having suffered... grievous injuries in the line of duty...”  There was a twinkle in his magenta eyes.  “I was... unable to fulfill the duties that were physically required of me in apprehending the suspect in question.”  He swallowed.  “Therefore, it is my obligatory decision to act as supervisory counsel for the citizens of Red Barge while they recover from a major event of social upheaval—as it is within my mental and emotional faculty at the present to do so.”

His last few words were nearly drowned out by an uproar from the crowd.  The air rang with voices—most of them jubilant and enthusiastic.

Rainbow Dash smiled from afar, and Keris grinned slyly back.

The four marefriends spun in a floating hug, meanwhile Croche and Swab exchanged squealing grins.

Clearins his throat, Keris tossed his booming voice at the crowd, “And my first advice is this—namely an order!”  He pointed at the surrounding decks with his good talon.  “That the chambers to the harvest machines be opened!  And that we retrieve every single body that's slaving away down there!  That we distribute them food!  Water!  Anything we can supply!”

“But Lieutenant...”  A stallion wandered up to the griffon.  “Our resources are stretched too thin.  We barely have enough nibbles to spare even the ponies you see before you!”

“He's right,” Nixkit muttered, lifting his head slightly.  “Hoofing over the Rainbow Rogue was supposed to get us the bars for resupply.”

“Very well then...”  Keris turned about.  “Who here can fly?!  Any able-bodied pegasi?!”

After a few seconds of silence, one... two... three dozen hooves raised from the crowd.

“Step forward!”

Several mares and stallions nervously complied, dwarfed by the earth pony majority.

“Listen to me carefully,” Keris said.  “I want you to fly north.  Head to White Barge.  Ask for a stallion named Elsaack.  The ponies of that Barge want to help you... they've been wanting to for years, and chief among them is Elsaack.  Tell him to bring food... supplies... medicine—hell—the whole damn Barge.  We all know these rust buckets can move.”

The crowd broke into louder and louder commotion.  All the while, stallions, mares, and workers alike galloped towards the lower holds, opening the doors with loud, metallic clatter.

“We'll unite their barge with ours!”  Keris exclaimed above the chatter.  “And working together, this day forward, we will clean the muck from the seven seas.  As Verlaxion is our witness.”

There was scarcely a spot left on the platform to stand straight.  Ponies were rushing in every direction to gather supplies and prepare for the influx of needy bodies from below.  Meanwhile, three dozen pegasi formed groups and took to the skies, flying due north as fast as their wings could carry them.

Rainbow Dash watched all of this in silent awe.  At one point, Twilight floated down, hovering behind her.

“For a second there...”  The unicorn shuddered.  “...I really thought you were going to go back on your word.  I thought you were going to kill the stallion.”

“Would you have blamed me for it?” Rainbow muttered.

Twilight hovered... floated... and then her voice blurted:  “No.”  She shook her head.  “Not anymore.  Not with this stallion.”

“Well I would have.”  Rainbow droned.  “And I think that's what matters.”

“I'm... I'm very proud of you, Rainbow,” Twilight said.

Rainbow turned towards her.  She exhaled in a squeak.  “And I'm just sorry I couldn't get you to say that sooner.”

Twilight smiled tearfully.

“Grnnffff...” Skagra grunted.

Both the pegasus and the spectre glanced down at him.

“Mrmmfff... should be dead...” Skagra shook his head, eyes clenched tight.  “I've g-got nothing being alive.  Mrmmmfff... just years and years of misery ahead.”

Rainbow leaned forward.  “I know,” she cooed.  “Plenty of time to meditate on it.”  With a flick of her tail, she trotted off.  “Shiny... shiny dolphins.”





Meanwhile...

Chandler panted... panted... huffed and puffed...

He ran along the mostly empty decks of the eastern strut.

Until... at last...

The Consortium Executive came to a slumping stop.

He bent over, panting... wheezing...

Then he looked up, his eyes framed with sweat, widening more and more as he gawked at the empty decks before him.

“... … …!!!”  Muzzle gaping wide, Chandler flailed his forelimbs and hollered:  “Where the Hell is my boat?!?”






“Heh heh heh heh...”  Monket grinned, his green dreads flouncing in the warm sea breeze.  “Hmmm-hah hah hah hah hah!” He gripped the rudder wheel and steered towards the northwest.

Across the deck of the Consortium steamship, several slaves and servants aimed crossbows at a tight group of surrendered workers.  As the ship rocked, a stallion turned towards the Slaver of the Waves.

“Boss...”  He cleared his throat.  “Do we slit their throats and dump them, or...?”

“Shut your muzzle, runt,” Monket grumbled.  “It's a calm sea, and you're still full of Skagra talk!”

Nevertheless, Chandler's crew shivered where they were forced to sit.  “What are you going to do to us?” one stammered.  “Sell us to Mudtop?”

“Are you kidding?”  Monket flashed them a crooked-eye stare.  “With all the bars in this ship's hold, I've got the money to buy Mudtop ten times over!  Including every family birthed beneath!”

“Wait... boss...”  One servant gaped at him.  He turned, squinting through a spray of ocean mist. “Does this mean...?”

“Paradigm shift, my little ponies!”  Monket's voice boomed as he twirled the rudder wheel again.  “Mudtop is getting a brand new polish!  What you do with your putrid little lives after we sail into port is no difference to me.”  He took a fresh breath of the western winds and grinned to himself.  “At least I'll be sitting atop the muck by the time I die.”  He grasped a cord to the foghorn for the heck of it.  “What other flankholes in the seven seas can say the same?  Savvy?”

And he pulled the cord, serenading the ocean with laughter.
> When the White Meets Red
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	One by one, the citizens of Red Barge opened the slitted metal doors to the lower levels.  Steam vomited skyward in fuming waves.  Shielding themselves, the ponies peered nervously into the depths.  They craned their necks, squinting past the billowing haze.

Bodies shuffled.  Bodies lurched.  In a limp march, dozens of equines stumbled towards the surface and into the light.  The sun's glow illuminated emaciated limbs and hollow cheekbones.  As soon as the enslaved souls reached the top deck, they collapsed—only to be caught in the forelimbs of the surface dwellers.  Overcome by a mix of ecstasy and hunger, the workers rolled over, sobbing into their comrades' embrace.  Several Red Bargers galloped down past them, scouring the mechanical depths for any survivors they could find.

Over the course of the next few hours, ponies were escorted—many carried—up to the surface of the centermost platform.  The citizens of Red Barge worked together like a fine-oiled machine, but instead of dredging coal or harnessing steam they were busy setting up a triage, pitching tents and gathering as many medical supplies as they could scavenge.  The entire Barge's stock of food was gathered, and hundreds of dishes were filled—only to be passed over to each of the infirmed souls being rescued from below.

Sweat-stained workers gobbled up rice and fish with ravenous fervor.  Those too weak to lift a spoon were gently hoof-fed.  When a group ran out of sustenance, the likes of Whony and other orphans were called upon.  With agile grace, the foals of Red Barge galloped across the struts, delivering food and medicine as swiftly as their expert little legs could carry them.

By nighttime, the upper platforms were filled up with tents and lean-tos.  A solid ring of shelters contained the slowly recuperating victims of the harvest chambers.  Souls accustomed to hellish conditions and unforgiving heat finally had a chance to relish in cool sea breezes and the comfort of other equines.

The atmosphere was quiet, and more than a little bit somber—save for the random outburst of joyous voices when separated families suddenly rediscovered each other.  This happened more than a few dozen times, with everypony turning to observe... and smile.  Mothers and foals—once resolved to a despicably lonely fate above-deck—found themselves reuniting with fathers who had been sent down below.  Loved ones and couples embraced each other for the first time in months, sharing nuzzles and tears.  A gaggle of “orphans,” freshly-branded, galloped into the forelimbs of their uncles, aunts, and grandparents.

Croche watched tearfully.  She held a pair of hooves over her muzzle while her sunken eyes glistened in the starlight.  Swab shuffled over, smiling as he rested a hoof on her side.  With a happy sob, Croche spun around and hugged him tight.  Swab patted her shoulder, gazing across the tents until his yellow eyes found Rainbow Dash.  The foal smiled, his one good ear twitching.

Rainbow Dash blinked back, then proceeded with trotting down the line of shelters and sleeping mats.  With the smokestacks overhead shut down, the stars peered down on the rusted scenery with unhindered brightness.  The mare observed as several bodies and faces smiled, sharing joy and mirth and comfort for the first time in as long as her mind could ever possibly conjure up.  Somewhere above the crowd, a griffon with his arm in a sling perched, observing everything with magenta hawkeyes.  His calm gaze met Rainbow's, and a smile drifted between them.

Rainbow heard the muttering of voices at her side.  She turned to look.  Several emaciated ponies huddled against a bulkhead, staring at her while their fellow Red Bargers pointed and whispered.  An old, wrinkled stallion beckoned the pegasus with a jittery hoof.

Blinking, Rainbow Dash trotted over—only to flinch.  The elder flung his hooves around her, holding her tight with featherlight limbs.  A tear rolled down his steam-scarred face as he nuzzled her close, smiling... trembling.

Rainbow Dash squirmed.  She returned the gesture—albeit tenderly, afraid of breaking his fragile figure.  Gulping, she looked over his trembling neck.

Dozens... hundreds of equine faces gazed her way in the starlight.  Some of them starving... others recovering... almost all of them smiling—at least as weakly as they could manage.

She gulped and managed a crooked grin in response.  It didn't last long, and as soon as she was disentangled from the elder stallion, she shuffled off, disappearing into the shadows.  A feathery figure quietly followed.





“They're making a remarkable recovery,” Lieutenant Keris said, slowly pacing after Rainbow Dash as the two shuffled over the welded hulls of Red Barge.  Night bled into morning, and a slight golden haze lingered across the horizon.  “Most of them, that is.  I ventured down there a few times during the extraction last evening.  There were... horrible sights down below.  Piles of petrified remains.  Deckplates where you couldn't tell the rust from the blood.”  The griffon gulped under his feathery neck.  “Who knows how many poor, innocent souls perished in those wretched chambers.”

“Yeah, well...”  Rainbow Dash squinted into the salty breeze.  “...at least you got most of them out, right?”

“Yes... we did.”  Keris' headcrest tilted back.  “None of this would have been possible if it weren't for your direct involvement.”

“Yeah, and I also owe my life to a one-eared scamp and a badflank bag of bent feathers.”  Rainbow glanced over her shoulder.  “Not to mention my friends.  If you live as long in this crazy world as I do, you realize that awesomeness is a thing best shared.”

“Mmmm... indeed.”  Keris took a deep breath.  “Even still, nopony here on Red Barge is going to forget you.  Not for generations, at least.”

“Yeah.”  Rainbow shuffled along.  “I figured.”

“And neither will Rohbredden,” Keris said, standing still.

Rainbow came to a stop.  She stared over the murky waters.

“You're a wanted mare.”  Keris' eyes narrowed.  “You've committed terrible crimes.”

Rainbow inhaled slowly.  “I know.”

“The Right Talon of Verlaxion has been charged with hunting you down.  And—from the sound of things—there's an enormous bounty on your head, covering the entire seven seas and the land beyond.”

Rainbow closed her eyes.  “I know...”

On shuffling paws, Keris strolled forward until he stood side by side with the mare.  After a breath, he stared out onto the reflective waves.  “I admire what you've done here, and I'm not alone.”  A clearing of the throat.  “But... I do hope you realize that I am... bound by my honorable code to Verlaxion.  I said that I was incapable of apprehending you at the present—and that is no lie.”  He shifted his good limbs.  “However, when the moment comes, I will have no choice... but to lend all of my strength and talent to the Talon in capturing you... and bringing you before the Council.”

“Figured,” Rainbow muttered.  “And—to be frank—I wouldn't have it any other way.”

“Hmmm...”  Keris smirked.  “You're a curious mare, Rainbow Dash.”

“More than you'll ever know.”

“And with powers that I may never understand.”  Keris leaned his head to the side.  “The realm beyond the Blight may have its many mysteries, but I for one can vouch for its tenacity.”

“You're welcome.”

“Is it true?”  He looked at her.  “Do the voices you respond to have substance?”  A blink.  “Are they what helped you overcome the worst Skagra had to throw at us?”

“I couldn't do anything without them,” Rainbow muttered.  Her eyes reopened, devouring the thin light across the horizon.  “And now I'll need them all the more.”

“And just where do you intend to go?”

Rainbow Dash's eyes lifted up... then squinted.

In the far distance, like a star above the ocean, an orange dot shimmered... strobing endlessly.

“East,” she muttered.  “Where else?”

“I suspect you'll wish to get a head start.”

“I will.”  Rainbow's nostrils flared.  “As soon as somepony can spare me a boat.”

Keris raised an eyecrest.  “You're still incapable of flight?”

Rainbow glanced at him... then turned to look at her feathers.  She held her breath, stretched her left wing halfway—and instantly winced.  A sharp breath hissed through her gritting teeth.

Keris leaned back with a thoughtful glance.  “Huh... interesting.”  He looked directly at her.  “After your dramatic transformation, I had almost assumed it would have... recovered.”

“Yeah, well...”  Rainbow Dash coiled the wings back again.  She fought the urge to grimace, ultimately smirking.  “Guess it's still a bit stiff.”  She looked at him.  “I've been challenged by worse before.”  She shook her head.  “Never stopped me.”

Keris nodded.  “Yes, well... your determination is admirable.  But mark my words, Rainbow Dash.  It's not a matter of if the Talon will catch up to you... but when.  And with your pegasus skills grounded—”

“Look, I get it,” Rainbow droned.  “Your friends will be knocking at my door anytime.”  A sigh, followed by a tiny smile.  “And when that happens, I'll be waiting with mine.”

“You really think such guile will carry you far?”

“Only to the ends of the earth,” she said.  “And if it helps to hear it in advance, Lieutenant Dude...”  She winked.  “...no hard feelings.”

Keris took a deep breath.  “It does.  And if it helps you...”  A calm smile.  “Best of luck.”

She extended a hoof out.

He shifted his weight and shook it with his good talon.

But before either could say another word...

“White Barge!” a voice shouted from a distance.  “White Barge is here!”

The two turned to look.  Right as the sun crested the east horizon, several bright spots glinted to the north.  An armada was incoming, followed by an immense pale shape looming behind them, churning slowly through the waves.





When the ponies of White Barge arrived, they did so in droves.  For each pegasus that Keris sent flying north, two motorboats arrived, stock-full of supplies, food, and medicine.  The White Bargers were so healthy and so well-equipped that any straggling dredgers who still believed in Skagra swiftly lost all faith in him by noon that day.

The mares and stallions of White Barge were welcomed on board with open hooves.  They wasted no time in hopping from strut to strut, dispensing their resources with liberal care and affection.

Elsaack trotted among them, leading the pack.  His dark coat stood out like an arrowhead as he explored each rusted deck of Red Barge, assuring that every ailing pony was tended to.  He met with multiple citizens, shaking hooves and sharing smiles.  An incurable gloss shone across his eyes, and the stallion found it difficult to contain his emotions.  Soon, hundreds of ponies from both Barges were comingling around him, shaking hooves, telling stories, sharing laughter—all the while caring for the infirmed and hungry.

Hours later, as Red Barge experienced joy and comraderie for the first time in generations, a lone figure huddled among a smattering of bulkheads.  With nervous shivers, Chandler poked his head out from hiding.  His green eyes reflected the pale sheen of White Barge's hull.  The neighboring platform suddenly occupied a huge chunk of the nothern horizon, nearly dwarfing Red Barge in size—and all of it pristine.

The would-be Magistrate bit his lip.  As he stared at the rations being hoofed out to one pony after another, he felt an insatiable rumbling in his stomach.  The stallion hugged himself, wincing... unaware of a shadow creeping up from behind.  All of a sudden, a hoof wrapped around his muzzle.  His eyes went wide, and he tried to shriek—only to be yanked out from his hiding place... and dragged off towards the southern strut.





“Uhm... Rainbow Rogue?” Whony said, trotting up with several other orphans.

Rainbow Dash turned from talking to a group of White Bargers.  She tilted her head down at the colt.  “Yeah, kid?”

“Uhm... the other boys and I were rummaging through Digiff's supply room overnight...”  Whony winced slightly.  “For... for no reason, r-really.  We were j-just bored, I guess.”

Rainbow smirked.  “Riiiight...”

“But... uhhhh... we stumbled upon something, and it's... it's too clean and shiny to belong to Red Barge.  So... uh... we figured that it must be yours.”  That said, Whony reluctantly held up a midnight purple saddlebag.

Rainbow blinked.  With lips pursed, she reached her hooves out and cradled the satchel in her forelimbs.

“Monket probably took it the night that he... well...”  Whony shrugged.  “Anyways, we didn't take anything out of it.”  A gulp.  “I swear.”

Rainbow was already digging through the bags.  She blinked... and smiled.  “And you're right.”  She sighed out her nostrils, then looked at the group of orphans.  “Thanks.”

“It's the least we could do,” Whony said.  “You're... uh... eheh... the best monster to ever show up at this place.”

Rainbow grunted, slipping the saddlebag over her sides.  She winced as she brushed her injured wing past the straps.  “Mrmmfff... I'll take that as a compliment.”

“And we figured you weren't going to stay long anyways.”

At the sound of Whony's words, Swab jerked away from talking to Croche.  He blinked wide, his muzzle agape.

“You got that right,” Rainbow said.  She noticed several dozen ponies staring from the crowd surrounding her.  “I've gotta make like a comet and streak.  I... uh... d-don't think I need to explain precisely why.”  Her eyes darted across the way.

Keris stared back, calmly nodding.

Elsaack momentarily left a group of caretakers and approached Rainbow Dash.  “Well, that's an awful shame.  But understandable, given the circumstances.”  He leaned his head to the side.  “Might I ask, madame, what your real name is?”

“Lyra.  Lyra Heartstrings.”

Elsaack blinked.  “Wow... really?”

“Snkkkt!  Hahaha... naw...” Rainbow winked, reaching out to shake his hoof.  “I'm just joshin' you.  It really is Rainbow.  Rainbow Dash.”  Her eyes darted aside, and she smirked, pointing at mid-air.  “Eh?  You liked that one, didn't you, Pinkie?”

Elsaack smiled.  “Well, Miss Rainbow Dash... I hope you have safe travels from here on out.  You've done so much for these ponies, from what I hear.”  He leaned forward.  “Is there anything we could do to help you?”

“Uhhhh...”  Rainbow glanced once more into thin-air.  Her ears twitched, listening to something.  She then turned towards Elsaack again.  “I could use... a boat?”  She winced, teeth showing.

Elsaack blinked.  He pivoted, facing his subordinates seated beside the recovering ponies.  A few White Bargers exchanged glances, then nodded.  With a smile, Elsaack faced Rainbow again.  “Consider it done.  I'll make sure it's one with a good engine, too.”

Swab scampered and fished his way through the crowd, breathlessly approaching the scene.

“Well, thanks a million... uhm... Deus Ex Mustang guy.”  Rainbow grinned from ear to ear.  “What you're doing for these dudes here is beyond awesome.  I hope you do that.”

“Believe me...”  Elsaack nodded with a smile.  “I've been waiting my whole life for this day to come.”  He gulped.  “As have my forefathers before me.  The seas were never meant to be divided by filth and avarice.”  The stallion shook his head.  “For so long, the Barges have drifted apart.  I almost gave up hope on there ever being a reunion.  But now?  We're ready to begin things anew.  I'm sure this can only bring warmth and prosperity to the mainland.”

“Yeah.  And speaking of which, I think it's high time I skipped these waves,” Rainbow said.  She pivoted about, preparing to trot to where the boats were moored.  “It's been real, everypony.  Real rusty.  But I'm afraid there's no stoppi—”  Spontaneously, Rainbow stopped on a dime.  “... ... ...what's that, Fluttershy?”

Swab stood in place, trembling.

Rainbow's ears twitched.  “... ... ...he is?”  She turned and looked over her shoulder.  Her eyes met the colt's.

Swab blinked  He smiled, raising a little hoof to wave at her.

“... ... ...”  Rainbow faced him entirely.  The crowd parted ways as she shuffled across the deck.  Eventually, she stood before the colt.

Swab sniffled.  A tremble overcame his figure, and he glanced down at the welded decks beneath them.

Rainbow squatted low until she was nearly face to face with the colt.  “Hey kid.  Uhhh...”  She cleared her throat, then tilted his chin up.  “I dunno if anypony's ever told you this before, but...”  Her brow furrowed.  “...you're totally missing an ear.”

Swab blinked.  His lungs burst with giggles, like a gunshot.  He grasped her hoof tightly—until his laughter melted into something far warmer, more fragile.  He leaned forward, nuzzling it, rolling through pent-up sobs.

Rainbow exhaled, then swept him up into a tight embrace.  She held Swab to her chest, allowing him to release more then a few crying breaths.

Whony watched with a stoneface expression.  Croche shuffled up, gazing curiously.

Rainbow leaned down, nuzzling the top of Swab's scrappy mane.  She murmured into his good ear, “You've saved this whole stinkin' platform, kid... and you've saved me.”  She kissed his forehead, then stroked his cheek.  “But I'm afraid the place I'm ultimately headed to is reserved for monsters... not for little colts.”

Swab cried, hiccuped, and exhaled:  “What pl-place could be worse than Red Barge...?”

Rainbow bit her lip, then muttered, “You don't want to know.  And—by Celestia—you'll never have to.”  She tilted his face up until they stared eye to eye.  “You've brought a wonderful, shining light to this place.  Revel in it.  Live joyfully.  Grow old.  Be happy and be you.”

“But how can I?”  Swab stammered.  “Not knowing what happens to you?”

“Oh, you'll know, alright.  Someday... somehow... and I bet on my last feather that it'll be something awesome.  World-changing.”  She winked.  “All 'cuz of you, kid.  You were...”  She shuddered, her breath coming out in a fragile squeak.  “...kindness.  You were kindness... when I thought that I had run out of it... and that didn't even d-deserve it.”  She clenched her jaw.  “And now, I'm off to do very... very kind things.  All thanks to you.  And that's the honest truth.”

Swab sighed, a tear running down his cheek.  “Maybe I was wrong.”  He smiled.  “Verlaxion was answering my prayers all along.”  A sniffle.  “She sent you.”

“Hmmmm...”  Rainbow's eyes were hard.  “Jury's still out on that.  But... I guess I'm going to find out... one way or another.”  She stood up, then pivoted to Elsaack.  “You see these kids here, guy?”

“Yes, Miss Dash.”

“Well, there are tons more—just like 'em.”  Rainbow Dash pointed east.  “They've been holed up in some Goddess-forsaken rust pit for who-knows-how long, stripped of their cutie marks and starved for food.”  She frowned.  “I want you to promise me that they'll all get good homes... and a plate to eat off of every day.  Can you do that?  Can you grant them nibbles from here to Ragneighrak?”

Elsaack was already nodding.  “Say no more...”  He waved a hoof.  “It's a promise.  You don't even have to ask.”

“We'll look after the poor things,” another White Barger said.  “There's plenty of room on our platform.”

“And even if there wasn't,” spoke a mare from the crowd nearby.  “There're homes for them here too.”

“Yeah... we're not afraid anymore.”

“Skagra has no hold over us.”

“Two Barges... one heart.”

Keris strolled in until he stood next to Elsaack.  “You have my word as a defender of Verlaxion's children...”  He turned to smile at Rainbow Dash.  “I'll see to it that everypony here has a future.”

Rainbow Dash nodded.  “Well... that's pretty snazzy.”  Swallowing a lump down her throat, she looked down at Swab.

Swab stared back, moist eyes blinking.

“Hmmmff...”  Rainbow playfully “punched” his chin.  “Get a haircut, kid.”  She turned and trotted off.  “And a new name.  Luna Poop...”  Sniffling, she rubbed her eyes and trotted steadily towards where the White Barge skiffs were moored.

While the crowd looked on, several White Bargers filed through, following Elsaack.  “Young sir?”  He asked Whony.  “Can you show us this... this orphanage?”

“Yes.”  Whony nodded, waving with his hoof as he galloped east.  “After all... they're my responsibility.”

“And now they're ours.”  Elsaack pointed at several of his subordinates and ordered them to follow the colt.  “Bring plenty of blankets and food.  And medicine!  Odds are Skagra never bothered to give any of the poor things check-ups.”  He turned about, spotting Swab.  He shuffled over, kneeling down.  “Hey there...”

Swab said nothing.  He kept staring north, to where Rainbow Dash trotted.  Soon, she was just a scant thread of colors, disappearing amidst the haze.

“What's your name again, child?” Elsaack asked in a soothing tone.

“Mmmmm...” Swab blinked.  Sniffling.  “Swift Song...”  A shudder.  “My parents called me Swift Song...”

“Are they still around?”

He shook his head.

“Well... don't you worry.  We're going to take care of you... find you a new home.  Same with all your friends.  You have my word.”  Elsaack squinted at the colt's skull.  “Come here...”  He gently beckoned, pulling Swab closer.  “Let me have a good look at that head of yours.”  He grimaced slightly at the many scars and bruises.  “Skagra, you bastard...”  He nevertheless smiled.  “Seems like you've been through it all, fella.  I bet many kids wish they were as courageous as you.”

“Awesome...” Swab murmured, a tear rolling down his cheek.

“Yes.  Certainly.  That too.  Now tell me...”  Elsaack gently pressed a hoof to Swab's left temple.  “Does this hurt at all?  Do you feel dizzy?”

Swab turned, his dazed expression meeting Elsaack's gaze.  His breaths came in tiny, fitful pants.

“Hey... look at me...”  Elsaack braced the child's shoulders.  “It's okay.  It's okay.”  He quietly nodded, caressing the colt's good ear.  “You're going to be okay now.”

Swab blinked.  He turned to look into the distance, his jaw quivering.

He saw Croche across the crowd.  A mare from White Barge was kneeling before her—much like Elsaack—examining the fillly's cuts and bruises.  Croche turned her head, seeing Swab.  She smiled... a long and healthy smile.

“Swift Song...?” Elsaack murmured.

The colt's eyes welled up with tears.  He let loose a whimper, smiled, and threw himself forward.  Slightly surprised, Elsaack held the orphan close, patting his back.  Swab sniffled, wiping his eyes dry as he nuzzled Elsaack's shoulder and murmured into the clean air.

“I love you...”
> A Rainbow And Her Colors
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Keep your head down, sir,” Longaze murmured.

“Grrrffff...”  Chandler grumbled, lying flat on a crooked slab of driftwood.

A gold aura encased the debris, causing it to drift further and further south from the muck splotch in the ocean where White Barge and Red Barge converged.

The pace of the driftwood was positively glacial.  The bodies of fish darted back and forth beneath the waves, and even they were going faster than the debris.

“Can't this damn thing go any faster?” Longaze hissed.

“And I would keep my voice down if I were you,” Longaze chided.  The bruised mare lay against the furthest tip of the debris.  She channeled a stream of energy through her horn, telekinetically shoving the driftwood south, carrying the two of them slowly away from the Barges.  “It would also be most prudent if you hid your body beneath the canvas.”

Chandler sighed, pulling a length of fabric over his body, camouflaging the two of them further.  “Seriously... this is the best that you could come up with?”

“I'm not a fan of it either, sir,” Longaze muttered back.  “Nor do I hold any pride in the way I had to rescue you.”

“'Rescue?!'”  Chandler stifled a loud growl.  “You grabbed me from behind like a common mugger!”

“I couldn't risk inciting you to scream and alerting the locals,” Longaze said.  “After all... I know that you are... erm... prone to dramatics.”

“What is that supposed to mean?!”

Longaze sighed.  Nevertheless, she concentrated on her magical task with sweaty dedication.  “We simply need to keep up this pace for as long as we stand to be seen by the ponies on both platforms.  Then, once we clear visible range, I can accelerate us into a swift cruise.”  She swallowed.  “I estimate that it'll take us two days to reach South Barge.  Three at most.”

“Goddess,” Chandler grumbled.  “They'd better still be loyal to me.”

“They haven't associated with Skagra in a long time, sir.  I suspect they'll be loyal enough.”  Longaze took a deep breath.  “I highly suggest we hide out there for a while until this most recent incident blows over.  No doubt the Talon will be swarming these seas soon.”

“What?  Pffft!  Buck that!”  Chandler sneered.  “I'm having them send me to Rohbredden on the first boat they can afford!”

“Sir...?”

“Skagra threatened me multiple times.  Skagra stole my trust and my steamship.”  Chandler snorted, wincing from a spray of seawater.  “I'm done with this whole mucking ocean.  I gotta get home in time for the Month of Thawing.”

“That... would be highly difficult, sir.”

“Says the confounded bodyguard who couldn't even bring down the Rainbow Rogue.”

“She had a pocket griffon.”

“So?!”

Longaze sighed.  “Sir, we've lost another Barge.  You're several thousand bars short of your previous fortune.  Dozens of workhooves died back in the bay.  The Consortium's connection to the seven seas relies on a single thread running through South Barge.  And—on top of all that—the Talon will likely want to conduct an investigation on our ties to Skagra.”

“I don't particularly care.”

“Have I mentioned we're stuck on a slab of wood?”

“I may be suffering several financial setbacks... but I can still float back from this.  After all...”  He adjusted what was left of his suit's collar.  “It's not my face that's on the wanted poster in every town.”

“You're... still betting on the Rainbow Rogue?”

“We have plenty of places left to go.  But her?  She has nothing.”

“If you want my advice sir...”

“I don't.”

“...I think you should give up on her... salvage what's left of your empire.”

“My dear, what's left of my empire is still worth half the Prefectures who run the Council of Verlaxion!”

“You only stand to fall even deeper.”

Chandler squinted.  “Help me get back to Rohbredden, and I'll increase your salary by three hundred percent.”

Longaze blinked.  “... ... ...three hundred percent?”

“Three hundred and fifty.”

The mare took a deep breath.  Her horn glowed brighter, and suddenly the driftwood accelerated to double the speed.  “It would appear that we've struck a fortuitous southern current, sir.”

“You bet your blonde bun it has.”  Chandler rested beneath the canvas, exhaling.  “Nothing is impossible so long as you have money.  The Rainbow Rogue?”  He snorted, glaring into seaspace.  “Just what wealth does she have?”





“Easy... easy, darling,” Rarity said, waving her hooves.  She stared at Rainbow's feathers as the mare drew a white bandage tightly around her left wing.  “Gentle... uh!  Almost... and... there.”  She smiled.  “Fabulously done, Rainbow.  Now... tie it.”

Rainbow winced despite Rarity's good efforts.  Following the spectre's lead, she leaned back in the tiny skiff and did as she was told, tying the white gauze into a neat ribbon.  The pegasus and her ghostly friends sat adrift in the middle of the ocean.  White and Red Barge were two diny dots on the west horizon.

“It may feel uncomfortable at first,” Rarity said, drifting around the mare.  “But—trust me—it will keep your limbs secure while they... erm... mend.”

“Awwww... poor Dashie.”  Pinkie Pie pouted.  “Does it hurt?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy said, nodding.  “It does.”

“Huh...”  Rainbow sat squarely in the middle of the book, fishing through her saddlebag.  “You feel it too, huh?”

“I feel a lot of things.  And... you know what?”  She glanced aside at the other ponies, smiling slightly.  “I th-think I'm getting used to it.”

“Still, Fluttershy, out of all of us—I do fear you got the shortest straw there ever was,” Rarity said with a sad expression.  She leaned in to nuzzle the ghostly pegasus.  “To feel the sort of things you've felt.  My heart aches for you.”

“It's okay, Rarity,” Fluttershy said.  “So long as I'm here to help Rainbow Dash, it's... I mean...”  A gulp.  “I-I can handle it.”

“I wish we all wisened up to your smartiness before, Fluttershy,” Pinkie said, pivoting towards Rainbow Dash again.  “Won't you ever forgive us, Dashie?”

“Pinkie, we've been over this,” Rainbow muttered, pulling out one of Professor Sinrar's maps and stretching it wide.  “Consider it forgiven.  I mean... for realsies.  We just had the knock-down, drag-out fight.  You're getting the order of things wrong.”

“Oh.  I guess you're right.”  Pinkie waved a hoof.  “My bad!  Rookie mistake!”  She blinked suddenly, then giggle-snorted.  “Heeheehee!  'Lyra Heartstrings!'  Oh my sides—I still can't get over that!  Ha ha ha ha!”

“Hmmmmm...”  Rainbow smirked, gazing at a watery space in the map.  “It's gonna be a long boat ride.”  Her eyes traveled to the right, spotting a large croissant-shaped continent, filled to the brim with topographical squiggle lines, growing tighter and tighter towards the north—peaking in the center.  “Very... very long...”

“Do you see her?”

Rainbow blinked.  She looked up.  “Twilight...?”

Twilight Sparkle floated off the bow of the skiff, facing east.  “Applejack.”  She waved a hoof from north to south.  “She's out there... isn't she?”  She turned and looked back with a solemn expression.  “Do you know where?”

Rainbow squinted at the orange dot on the horizon... then glanced at the map.  Her nostrils flared.  “Yeah... I think I do...”

“Oh?”  Pinkie leaned in, along with the others.  “Where, Dashie?”

“Where else.”  Rainbow gulped, folding the map back up.  “Verlax central.”

“Uh oh...” Fluttershy bit her lip, trembling.

“You mean...”  Rarity wrung her hooves together.  “...Yaerfaerda is... is taking us right to—?”

“Should we expect any different?”  Rainbow Dash muttered.  She tucked the maps back into her saddlebag.  “Verlax's made it perfectly clear she wants to test me.  She's done it before.  And... well...”  A shudder.  “...I don't think she's gotten all her kicks yet.”

“Well, we'll be ready for that big bully now!”  Pinkie Pie puffed her fluffy chest out.  “Won't we, girls?”

“Maybe it won't be as bad as we think,” Fluttershy said.  “I mean... after what Rainbow Dash has gone through—”

“Darling, this is a crazy dragon matriarch we're talking about,” Rarity said, eyes rolling.  “Of course it will be positively dreadful.”

“And with your wing out of order still...”  Twilight floated towards Rainbow and the boat.  “...this won't be easy.  I mean... have the dizziness and shivers returned, Rainbow?”

“The rules haven't changed any since the Quade, if that's what you're asking, Twilight.”

“Then... then we haven't much time to get to—”

“We'll make it.”

“B-but how can you say that so glibly?!”  Twilight frowned, sniffling.  “And after all the things we did to you... that I did to you.”  She hung her head with a sad sigh.  “Abandoning you...”

“You haven't.”

“Rainbow.”

“You haven't!”  Rainbow leaned forward.  “Look at me!  You have no idea how strong I am now!  What you've done for me.  What you k-kept me... kept me from becoming...”  She gnashed her teeth... then clenched her eyes shut.

The mares looked on, their faces awash with concern.

“Dashie...?”  Pinkie cooed.

Rainbow took a deep breath, shoulders shuddering.  “... ... ...honest.”  She cleared her throat.  “I need to be perfectly honest with you.  From now on.  So... first thing's first... there's something you have to know.  Something about the ponies... and monsters I've crossed.”

Twilight gulped.  “You've told us enough, Rainbow,” she said.  “And—finally—I think we're starting to understand.”

“No.  You don't.”  Rainbow looked up, eyes sharp.  “In my travels, around the time I banded together with Pilate and Bellesmith, I ran afoul of a... very... very nasty stallion.”  She gulped hard.  “A unicorn named Shell.  A Prime Enforcer of the Ledomaritan Confederacy.  Powerful freak of nature.  But that's not what made him so terrible.  He... was persistent... cold hearted.  And his only goal in life was to hunt me down like a beast so that the Council of Ledo could have their way with me and my pendant.  Well, while chasing us, Shell came across Imre... his daughter.  She... k-killed herself when she realized how hopeless her father was.”  Rainbow shuddered.  “She was my friend.”

“Oh Rainbow...”  Fluttershy murmured.

“That's positively awful,” Rarity said.

Rainbow shook her head.  “It doesn't end there.  Shell was already an unstoppable force to be reckoned with.  But as soon as Imre died, he... like... went completely nuts.  He chased the Noble Jury across multiple landscapes, murdering and destroying everything in his path.  Then—after Nevlamas died and Shell's ship went down—I thought the jerkface was gone for good.  It... w-was the worst mistake I had ever made.  At least before the Quade.  The Jury stumbled across a town named Lerris—a village full of innocent and humble farming ponies.  It was Lerris where our little filly friend Kera Tin Mehjj hailed from.  Since the Ledomaritan and Xonan war was ending, Pilate and Bellesmith decided to retire there with Kera and start a new life.  The Jury and I left them, thinking they'd be safe.  But Shell found them, and he...”  Rainbow gritted her teeth.  “...he murdered everyone in the village just to spite me.  Everyone but Pilate, Belle and Kera.  He made them watch the slaughter of every living soul in Lerris.”

The four mares watched, their muzzles twisted in silent horror.

“I... flew back as soon as I discovered he was there.  We fought... we always fought.  But this time—for once—I got the upper hoof.  I knew that I could no longer hold back.  And... and I killed him.”  She clenched her teeth.  “And though I regret a lot of things I've done since Discord struck Ponyville... that's the one death I don't flinch in remembering.”

Rainbow turned to face the mares.

“It took a long... long time for my Jurist friends and I to recover from what Shell did.  And even now, the wounds run deep.  I've thought and thought about him constantly ever since... about what could have motivated him to become the kind of creature that he was.  I mean... I know that he had an entire kingdom to protect.  The Council of Ledo relied on him to get the job done, and that's what he did... or at least strove to do.  And...”  She gulped.  “Whatever his task was, he put his whole mind to it.  But his heart?”  She shook her head.  “A creature like that didn't have a heart.  He couldn't.  There was so much riding on his shoulders—or so he thought—that he couldn't risk feeling anything about what he tackled.  I never thought I could ever understand a mindset like that...”  Her eyes blinked as her muzzle hung open.  “...until the Quade.”

Twilight gulped.  “Rainbow—”

“Think about it...”  Rainbow shook.  She rubbed a nervous hoof across the scar—still fresh—over her brow.  “Shell had an entire continent riding on his shoulders.  What... c-could possibly be bigger than carrying the entire plane?  Or Urohringr for that matter?”  Her eyes darted towards them, turning moist.  “Or you gals?”

“You made a mistake,” Twilight said.  “It was wrong, but you know better now.”

“Do I?”  Rainbow snorted, frowning.  “Or have I just staved off the frost in my heart for when an even harder decision has to be made?”  She squinted.  “The thing is, when I chose to do what I did, and I flew back into the Luminards' sanctuary, something had switched off inside of me.  Because it all made so much sense.”  Rainbow gulped.  “What I had to do and what I was doing it for.  All of your cries and warnings?  They fell on deaf ears.  It was the only way to get the job done.  And... you know what?  Until that one moment... that dang crazy moment where I... I-I had my freaky jaws around Swab's neck...”  She inhaled sharply, a tear trickling down her cheek.  “...I didn't regret any of it.  Not one bit.  And so now I know.”  She hung her head.  “What makes Shell tick... and what Verlax believes this dying world needs.”

Fluttershy flew in close, kneeling before the mare.  “But you're not him, Rainbow Dash.”

“You're compassionate, darling!” Rarity flew in.

“Awesome!” Pinkie chirped from behind.

“And you have something Shell doesn't have,” Twilight remarked.  She floated before Rainbow, smiling warmly.  “You have friends.”  She pointed west.  “You had the Jurists then...”

“And you have us now,” Fluttershy said.

“All of us!” Pinkie cooed.

“And you always have.”  Rarity smiled tearfully.  “Don't you realize that?”  She shook her head.  “Shell's story is ghastly.  Pitiable, even.  But the two of you are not cut from the same cloth.  Trust me.”  She sniffled, pressing a hoof to her chest while grinning.  “I'm a tailor.”

Pinkie giggled.

Rainbow shook... sniffled.  She looked up with teary eyes.  “I'm going to need you guys.”  She shuddered.  “I'm going to need you guys so hard.”  She wiped her cheek.  “Please... you have no idea.  If... if worse comes to worst... and Verlax tries to test me even harder... and y-you know th-that she's gonna...”

“We'll be there by your side,” Twilight said.  “You won't be alone.  I promise.”  She drifted in close enough, holding her hooves close to Rainbow's—as if they could almost touch.  “So long as you'll have us.”

Rainbow stared at the colorful group of faces.  She let loose a squeaky burst, smiling past her tears.  “I do.  I t-totally do have you...”

“There's a good mare,” Rarity said.

“Now...”  Pinkie floated around, smiling wide.  “Are we gonna go save AJ's freckled butt or not?”

“Yeah...”  Rainbow wiped her muzzle dry, sniffling one last time.  She reached back to grip the engine.  “Yeah... so much yeah.”

“Heehee!”  Rarity pointed east.  “Onward!”

Fluttershy breathily exclaimed, “All aboard!”

“Uhhh... Fluttershy?”  Pinkie squinted.  “That's what they say on trains.  Not boats.”

“They say that on boats too.”

“No they don't, Twilight!”

“How would you know?  Last time I checked, you were only an expert on cannons!”

“Boats have cannons!”

“Mmmmmmm...”  Rainbow sighed, powering the motor as she drew the skiff towards the dot on the horizon.  “Long... long ride...”  The spectres floated after her as they pierced the waves, carving a path through unbridled nothingness.
> All Aboard the East Boat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Snowflakes fell on the twisted braids of her mane.

Nevertheless, with solemn diligence, the mare continued drawing water from the half-frozen creek running behind a delapidated warehouse.  Two equine bodies waited deep inside the two-story shack atop a stone platform behind her, surrounded by a dense forest of drooping elm trees with twisted trunks bathed in snow.  Pitiable bursts of vaporous breaths wafted from the pilgrims' exhausted muzzles as they lingered and languished in silence.

Grunting beneath her breath, the mare filled one bucket... and then the other.  She flexed her sore muscles with a sigh, then heaved the wooden yoke of both containers over her flank and turned around.

“Good afternoon, madame,” spoke a stallion with a rich brown mane.

“Guh!”  She hobbled back, teetering from the loose weight of her buckets.

“Whoah!”  Goggles rattling, Theanim Mane reached forward, grasping her by a fetlock, steadying her.  “My goodness!  I swear I did not mean to frighten you!”  He smiled nervously.  “After all... it took me an awful long to get here.”  He cleared his throat.  “My word... Elm Prefecture, as I live and breathe!  Whew!  The Consortium truly felt it necessary to isolate the three of you, didn't they?”

She breathed slower... limbs steadying.  Then—once her lungs had fully recovered—she bowed her head, glaring at the cracks in the ancient, time-distorted courtyard.

“Again, my apologies for startling you.”  He smiled nervously, adjusting the weight of an insulated saddlebag wrapping tightly around his flanks.  “And I most certainly have no intention of disturbing this... erm...”  He looked around at the crumbling conditions of the age-old town square.  “... tranquil sanctuary of yours.”

“Then, by Verlaxion's blessing, you may be swiftly on your way,” the mare muttered.  Shouldering her buckets, she trotted towards the exposed structure atop the antique foundation behind them.  “I have my fellow brethren to tend to.”

“Mmmm.  Yes.  But of course.”  Theanim cleared his throat, shuffling after her.  “Perhaps I can be of assistance in that area.”

“That is kind of you to offer,” she muttered, hobbling up a set of worn stone steps.  Her hooves nearly slipped once or twice on a thin layer of frost.  “Grfff... But not necessary, sir.  We can look after ourselves.”

“Your self-dependence is admirable, my dear lady,” Theanim said.  “However, I shudder to notice and proclaim otherwise.  If I may be so bold, it would appear as if the Consortium has been less than forthcoming in caretaking for your ailing physique.”

“They've done no more or less than we've humbly requested of them.”

“That's precisely what I was afraid of.  Alas, I do believe I can be of much-needed assistance!”  He cleared his throat again, trotting up alongside her with a nervous smile.  “My name is Professor Theanim Mane of the—”

“I know who you are,” she grunted.

“Oh...?”

“Magistrate Chandler was kind enough to inform my fellow pilgrims and I along the way.”

“...oh.”  He clenched his jaw tight.  “Well, perhaps it might interest you to know that the esteemed Brye Chandler is not an official Magistrate in the Court's eyes.”

“I'm quite aware of that,” she droned.  “As I am also aware that you are endeavoring to defend the mare known as Rainbow Dash, in spite of her many atrocities.”

“Correction.”  He raised a hoof.  “I am a defender of the truth.  But I seek to fully ascertain it before making a firm judgment.”  He hopped up a few steps and stood directly in front of her.  “That is what brought me here.  To speak to you.  And—in the interim—to make sure that the three of you are properly nursed to health.”  He glanced around at the snowy surroundings, his muzzle scrunched.  “From the look of things, that hasn't exactly been on the Consortium's itinerary.”

The mare sighed, balancing the weight of the buckets on her flank.  “I know about the truth first-hoof, Professor.”

“Do you, now?”

She nodded gravely.  “It sank into the Shadow of Luminar, along with all the other scrolls of Verlaxion's wisdom, lost forever to the Quade.”

He bit his lip.

“We are... forsaken now,” she said, her voice wavering.  “Lost children in a lost world.  Goddess help us through this Month of Thawing.”  She shook her head.  “For we most likely will not survive.  We certainly don't expect to.”

“Mmmmmm... I see.”  He nodded... and then grinned suddenly with bright blue eyes.  “Well, then!  I'll take those, thank you!”  That said, he swiftly hoisted the buckets off her flank.

The mare reeled, blinking.  “Erm... Professor—?”

“Oh please...”  He hissed slightly from the weight, pivoting the buckets around as he shuffled crookedly up the stone steps.  “As if you're one to protest!  Mmmff.  After all!”  A stifled chuckle.  “You are forsaken... lost children!  Why should... grnnnff... Goddess Verlaxion c-care if you live or die?  Might as w-well endure the remainder of your years with... mrmmmff... a modicum of decency!  Yes?”  He huffed and puffed.  “My stars and garters, these are heavy.  Is the creek water frozen solid?”

“Uhm...”

“Well, you needn't worry!  I've got flint and tinder, my dear mare!  What your fellow pilgrims need is some warm water and even warmer food!  I'll get a fire going for them—and for you as well!”

“They are meditating,” she muttered... almost growling.  “They're concentrating on the pain of hunger and cold so as to connect with their truer, penitent selves!”

“Splendid!  Then I shall nurse them back to health so they can suffer again tomorrow!”

“Professor—”

“What's your name again, my dear?”

She sighed, rubbing her forehead.  “Sonikah.  My inducted name is Sonikah.”

“Pleased to meet you, Miss Sonikah!  Allow me to make this a more proper... mrmmfff... substitute monastery for you and your humble companions!”

Lethargically, she trotted up the steps and entered the hollow structure behind the stallion.

“Fear not!  I shan't burn this rustic shack down!  I've developed a knack for survivalism in recent months!  After all... heheh... I've learned from the absolute best!”





“What do you mean we're out of fuel?!” Pinkie Pie sputtered.

“How many other ways do you want me to say it?!” Rainbow Dash grumbled, kicking the motorboat's engine.  Clang!  “We're out of juice!  There's none left!  Zippo!  Nada!”

“But... but...”  Pinkie panted and panted, gawking at the swaying blue ocean surrounding them on all sides.  “We can't actually be empty in the tank, can we?”

“I'm afraid so, Pinkie,” Twilight said, her lavender face phasing out of the metal contraption in question.  “There's barely a drop left.”

“And each time Rainbow Dash tries priming the device, it only wears out the gears worse and worse,” Rarity said.

“Wow, Rarity.”  Fluttershy blinked aside.  “I had no idea you were so knowledgeable on boat engines.”

Rarity fluffed her spectral mane.  “It's a gift, darling.  After all, it's no different than a sewing machine!”  She cleared her throat.  “Only... with slightly more elbow grease.”

“But how could you have run out so quickly?!”  Pinkie cackled.  “Of all the salty places you could have gotten yourself stranded!  This is by far the saltiest!”

“Mrmmfff...”  Rainbow folded her forelimbs, plopping back into her seat.  “You're one to talk.”

“She does have a point, Rainbow,” Twilight muttered into the sea breeze.  “Couldn't you at least have conserved the fuel better?”

“Hey.”  Rainbow shrugged.  “It's not like the ocean's current was gonna help us any!”

Rarity pointed at the thick wake still lingering to the west.  “You gunned the motor at full speed for over a day!”

“I wanted us to get to Rohbredden fast!”  Rainbow snarled.  “You remember fast, right?  It's more or less my bag!”  She pointed at her flank.  “I didn't get this cutie mark because I like fruity cereal, y'know!”

“Rainbow...”  Fluttershy drifted in close, bearing a ghostly smile.  “Please.  Nopony wants to get to AJ any more than we do.”

Rainbow Dash hugged herself.  She bit her bottom lip.

Fluttershy continued.  “But if we want to get to where the Yaerfaerda beacon is currently resting, then we have to go about it the smart way!”

“We obviously can't rely on your wings at the time being!” Rarity said.  “So we have to make the best use out of what's available to us!”

“To be fair...” Twilight drifted around the rear of the boat, peering into the empty orange fuel tanks.  “...not even Sinrar's maps could have prepared us for just how daunting a trip this would be.”  She looked at the others.  “My nautical experience is just as miniscule as Rainbow Dash's.”

“You don't saaaaay,” Pinkie remarked, squinting.

“Yes, and—”  Twilight blinked.  She narrowed her eyes on the pink mare, shrugged it off, then continued.  “And there are many momentum-hindering factors we obviously neglected to take in.”  She waved her hoof from side to side.  “Such as ocean currents.  Wind drag.  The ebb and flow of tide.  And of course, sea brine.”

“Ohhhhhhhhh... Sea brine!”  Pinkie grinned from ear to ear.  “Can't forget about that!  Brine's a female dog!”

“Ughhh...”  Rainbow Dash slumped down in her seat, covering her head with her hooves.  “Mrmmmff... I'm such a friggin' idiot.”

“Now now, darling, let us not cry over... erm... spilled kelp!”  Rarity patted a phasing hoof through Rainbow's shoulder.  “You spent the last thirty-six or so hours brute forcing your way to a victory in Red Barge!  It's only natural that this latest venture would present itself as an unseemly hurdle!”

“Yeah!”  Pinkie nodded.  “And I'm certain there are many... many splendiferous ways to get out of this mess!”  She gulped, trembling slightly.  “I-I hope...”

“Oh yeah...?”  Rainbow pulled at her face muscles before lifting her head.  “Twilight, I don't suppose you sense Ultimo swimming around the bend once more?”

“Nope.”  Twilight shook her head.  “But with the day coming to an end, we'll have calmer waters overnight!  Perhaps with a little bit of wing propulsion, you could—”

“Uhhhhh...”  Rainbow pointed at her bandaged feathers.  “...egghead?”

“Oh.”  Twilight gazed down at the deck, ears folded.  “Right.”

“Maybe...”  Fluttershy rubbed her hooves together.  “...we can convince some of the sea animals to give us a friendly tug towards shore?”

“Or unfold the fabric from the White Bargers' supply bags and construct a crude sail?” Rarity added with a nervous smile.

“Orrrrrr...”  Pinkie peered west, squinting at the plume of smoke on the horizon.  “...we could totally ask that steamship full of ponies to give us a lift!”

“Yes!”  Rarity nodded, pointing.  “What Pinkie said—”  Her eyes crossed.  “Buh?”

“Whoah.  Wait.”  Rainbow sat up, head turning.  “What?”

“Huh?”  Twilight and Fluttershy gazed west.

Rainbow Dash galloped to the stern of the tiny boat, rocking it.  Perched along the edge, she shaded her eyes and gazed out at the horizon.

The smoke plume grew more visible, billowing into the air as a paddlewheel-powered vessel drew closer, churning the blue waves with wild abandon.  Within seconds, the craft was close enough for the roar of its steam engines to ring in the pegasus' ears.  Rainbow could make out three whole stories—built like whitewashed ziggurat platforms on top of one another.  The dotted figures of ponies shuffled back and forth across the deck.  More than a few of them stood along the starboard side, collectively staring at her and her friends' derelict little motorboat.

“Oh dear... oh dear oh dear oh dear!”  Fluttershy trembled, clinging tight to Rarity as her voice came out in higher and higher-pitched squeaks.  “They found us!  I'm so sorry, Rainbow Dash!  We should have tried harder to hide you from sight!”

“Fluttershy, get a hold of yourself.”  Rarity cleared her throat, nevertheless patting the delicate pegasus' head.  “We still don't precisely know who 'they' are.”

“Do you at least have a read on them?” Twilight asked.

“Uhm...”  Fluttershy gulped.  “There are easily... twelve... thirteen... fifteen on board?”

“That's a tiny crew for a boat of that size,” Twilight said.  “Perhaps they're hauling freight?”

“But just what kind of freight...?”  Rainbow glanced aside.  “Rarity?”

The unicorn shook her head.  “I don't detect any suspicious metals or volatile compounds, darling.  But—if I dare say—I sense a lot of lightweight bundles of... something.”  Her eyes lit up.  “OoOoOoh!  Textiles!  Could it be?”

“Twilight...?” Rainbow glanced over her other shoulder.

“It's steam-powered, alright,” Twilight said with a nod.  “I'm only detecting three tiny bits of mana.  If you ask me, it's likely three unicorns... or two unicorns and a simple navigation device.”

“Yeah!  And I'm detecting high quantities of pineapple!” Pinkie exclaimed, her left ear twitching... followed immediately by her right ear.  “Oooh!  With extra lime too!  Mmmmm!  Scrumptious!  Take that, scurvy!”

“Whatever they're out here for... or whatever they may be carrying...”  Fluttershy gulped.  “They're coming towards us.  And fast.”

“Yeah.”  Rainbow panted, watching as the ship veered slightly starboard, breaking off course to intercept the motorboat.  “I see that.”

“Rainbow...?”  Twilight trembled, fiddling her ghostly hooves together.  “What should we do?”

“More like what can we do, egghead?”  Rainbow glanced around, sweating.  “Even if I dove overboard and played dead—it wouldn't matter.  They've seen us.”

“They're slowing down!” Pinkie exclaimed.  “Pineapple Express ahoy!”

“Time is of the essence, darling!” Rarity exclaimed.

“Rainbow!  Careful!”  Fluttershy whispered.  “Over half the crew has trotted towards their half of the ship to meet us!”

“Right...”  Panting, Rainbow Dash looked all around.  She saw a metal pole hugging the bottom lip of the boat's outer railing.  Desperate, she reached down and tugged... tugged on the thing.

But it was too late.  The steam ship coasted to a stop, its engines rumbling quietly while its paddlewheels slowed down to an icy lurch.  The displaced water caused Rainbow's boat to dip and sag—but only briefly.  Once Rainbow was reacquainted with the sound beyond her throbbing heartbeat, she heard a melodic voice chirping from up above.

“Ahoy!  Ahoy there!”

Rainbow gnashed her teeth, fussing, fumbling.  “Uhhhh...”

“Let me guess!”  A mare exclaimed, adjusting a thick black cap on her head as she squinted down at the boat.  “Engine trouble?”

“... ... ...”  Rainbow squinted up at the heads peering over the deck.  “... ... ...yeahhhh...?”

“You're an awful long way from Rust or any of the Barges!  What, did a private trade ship toss you over board?”  The ponies smiled at one another.  “You can't be with the Consortium!  They dump all their unwanted guests in the harbor!”

The equines laughed merrily in the salty air.

Rainbow blinked.  “Uhm...”

“Seriously, though... do you need assistance, ma'am?”

“Err...”  Rainbow gulped.  She winced slightly.  “...maaaaaybe...?”

“Your bow's pointed east.  Are you headed to Osmanthus Prefecture?  Because we certainly are!  Gotta get these fine frocks delivered along the Silt Path in time for Unification Day!”  The mare up above squinted, smiling.  “Perhaps you could use a lift?  You certainly look like you could!”

The ghostly mare stared up, muzzles wide.

“Could it be...”  Twilight gulped.  “...that these sailors actually don't want to tear us limb from limb like everypony else in the miserable muck?”

“Why, of course they're friendly!”  Rarity gasped, waving a hoof.  “Didn't you hear them?!”  Her voice squeaked as she cupped both hooves to her rosy cheeks.  “They're delivering 'fine frocks!'”

“Uhhh...”  Rainbow Dash raised her voice.  “What would you all want in return for my hitching a ride on board your guys' ship?”

The ponies up above blinked at one another.  At last, the lead mare shrugged and said, “Nothing more than your fine company as we help you get to Rohbredden!  Safe and sound!”  She winked.  “Would be a shame if even one of Verlaxion's foals missed the Month of Thawing!”

“Errr... yeahhhh...”  Rainbow smiled nervously.  “Imagine that.”

“Stay put!”  The mare exclaimed, waving a hoof.  “We'll come about!  There's an extra space from when we lost a lifeboat about two storms back!  It should be the right size to hoist your vessel!”

“Jee... thanks.”  Rainbow gulped.  “I really mean it.”

“Hah!  Think nothing of it, friend!  Oh!  The name's Captain Farouche, by the way!  What's yours?”

“Oh, I'm—”  Rainbow started—only to hear a loud hiss from Pinkie Pie.  She looked over, blinking.

Pinkie charaded wings, a pendant, and a spectral mane.

“... ... ...uhhhh...”  Rainbow looked across her friends' nervous faces.  “... ... ...Rarishy!”

Rarity and Fluttershy blinked.  They glanced at one another.

“The name's Rarishy!” Rainbow exclaimed.  “And... uhm... thank you ever so kindly...”  She spoke out the side of a contorted muzzle.  “...dahling.”

“I swear...”  Rarity grumbled, folding her forelimbs.  “I'm going to pinch her something severe when we're all corporeal again.”

“Hmmmmm...”  Twilight smiled, fanning herself.  “And I'll watch.”





“Pretty snazzy ship you have here, Cap'n,” Rainbow said, trotting along the middle deck.  Starlight glinted off the polished wooden railings.  Behind them, the paddlewheels ceaselessly churned water and foam, filling the air with a delightful roar.  “Nice and sturdy.  Not too big.  Not too small either.”

“Aye, she gets the job done,” Farouche said, trotting around to the starboard side.  “Granted, we're usually not in this much of a hurry.  My apologies for the racket the engine's making.”

“Uhhh... that's... that's quite fine,” Rainbow said, adjusting her saddlebag.  “No complaints here, trust me.”

“Hrmmm... well, if you ain't a polite one, Miss Rarishy.”  Farouche leaned against the edge, peering along with Rainbow at the dim eastern horizon under nightfall.  “Mind tellin' me just what got ya stranded out here like a bloated whale?”

“Erm...” Rainbow shifted where she stood.  “I... guess you could say I ran into the wrong crowd.”  She gulped.

“Hah!  I getcha!”  Farouche winked.  “Happens to the best of us.  Worst of us too, but I ain't judgin'!”  She slapped Rainbow's shoulder.

The pegasus winced, rubbing the edge of her bandaged feathers.

“So... fancy pendant of yers...”  Farouche turned around, tilting the brim of her thick hat back.  “Is that thing solid gold?”

Rainbow turned to squint at her.

With a smirk, Farouche waved a hoof.  “Ain't meanin' to impose.  Just haven't seen anything quite like it before.”  She arched an eyebrow.  “Is it some family heirloom from down below?”

“Down... below...?”

“Y'know!  From Shoggoth!”  Farouche folded her forelimbs.  “I hear the muddredge elite get some pretty fancy bling from living in Camellia's glowin' shadow!”

“Heh... nah...”  Rainbow shook her head, resting a hoof on the Element.  “This ain't from Shoggoth.  Upper or lower.”

“Mmmm... I see.”  Farouche tucked her bangs back beneath her hat.  She spoke above the crashing water from the paddlewheel.  “More and more a mystery with each passing minute.”  She winked, pointing at the mare.  “I swear... you're the very reason I stick to livin' at sea.”

“I guess I'll take that as a compliment.”

“Good!”  Farouche blinked.  “'Cuz that's how I meant it!”

“Heh...”  Rainbow gulped, gazing up at the night sky.  “Are you Continentalist or Colonialist?”

“Pfft!  Now I know you ain't from around these parts!”

“Oh?”

“A regular seamare could tell without askin'!”  Farouche smirked.  “I guess ya could say I'm a little bit of both.  I lean towards where the platinum bars take me.  Savvy?”

“Uhhh... savvo.”  Rainbow nodded, squinting skyward.  “So... guess you don't hang around in port much?”

“Ehh... I hop in and out of Rust from time to time—just to pick goods up from the western archipelagos.”  She shrugged.  “I'd rather not stick around a place that smells worst than the salty air, if you catch my drift... or lack of one.  Hah!”  She exhaled through a smile.  “How about you?  Ever been to any of the ports?  Or—Verlaxion forbid—barges?”

Rainbow blinked, staring up at the moon.  It was waxing pale—and fast.  Almost full.

“... ... ...Miss Rarishy?”

“Huh?  What?  Barges?”  Rainbow snapped out of it, gulping.  “Heck no!  Wouldn't get within ten leagues of those... cruddy, rusty places.”

“Mmmm.  Smart mare.”  Farouche saluted.  “Well, no doubt you'll be wanting to catch some shut-eye.  We'll be reaching land soon enough.”

“Uhm... and then what?”

“Well...”  Farouche shrugged.  “As much as I'd like to extend my hospitablity forever, ma'am, I'm afraid you'll be on your own.  But don't you worry.  The river towns of Osmanthus are just as accomodatin'—or at least from what I hear.”

“You've... never been ashore?”

“Pffft!  Sure I have!  Plenty of times!  Just... not in the last decade.”  The mare cleared her throat.  “I mean, the rice farmin' folk are plenty polite and all... but it's when you go inland into the frosted prefectures that you run into the reaaaaal snobs.  Hah!  If it's all the same to you...”  She swiveled her hat around and trotted below deck.  “...I'd much rather enjoy the Month of Thawing out at sea.”  She waved a hoof as she disappeared.  “Verlaxion's snowy slumbers, Miss Rarishy!”

“Er... yeah...” Rainbow waved back.  “Back at ya...”  With a breath, she turned back to face the glittery currents.

It wasn't long after that several chattering voices wafted up to her—followed by giddy giggling ghosts.

“Rainbow!  Oh, Rainbow, darling!”  Rarity cooed.  “You must come down and take a look at their cargo!”

“I've never seen parrots with that kind of plumage before!”  Fluttershy hugged herself, smiling from ear to ear.  “Like little feathery phoenixes!  And their voices are so melodic!”

“Birds?  Pah!”  Rarity waved a hoof.  “Did you see all of that gold embossed silk?!  Absolutely exquisite!  I never knew the islands north of Nealend harbored such fashionable treasures!”

“Huh?!”  Pinkie rose up out of the wooden deck, blinking.  “What's the big deal about a bunch of shiny rugs, Rares?”

“Eugh...!”  Rarity rolled her eyes.  “Pinkie, my dear, you obviously wouldn't know what an exquisite cheongsam was if it galloped up and bit you!”

“Why would a... chung-something want to bite me?  Is it anything like a chimichanga?”  Her eyes brightned.  “Cuz then maybe it'd be trying to get some sugar!”  A beat, and she gasped in Rainbow Dash's direction.  “Anyways, they've got chimichangas down below!  Or... at least... they sorta look and smell like 'em!  Wanna come see?”

“Erm... no thanks, Pinkie.”  Rainbow wave a hoof while smiling.  “I'm good.  Thanks.”

“Awwwwwwww...”  Pinkie pouted.  “What's the fun of being picked up by an inexplicable bunch of westward sailing good samareitans if you're not gonna do it scrumptiously?”

“I'd like to see the chimichangas,” Fluttershy said with a smile.

“Ewww... what for, darling?”  Rarity grimaced.  “Don't you know it's absolute torture in our condition!  As if we can ever be bothered to eat anything in the near future!  So why torture ourselves!”

“Yeah!  But Rarity!”  Pinkie grinned a crescent moon.  “If you can't get hungry... then you can't get sick!”

“Hmmm...”  Rarity tapped her chin.  “I do suppose you make a valid point.”  She placed her hooves on her hips as she floated.  “Very well then, Pinkie!  Onwards!”

“Or... hehe...”  Fluttershy suppressed a giggle.  “Maybe it's 'downwards?'”

“H-heyyyy!”  Pinkie pumped a hoof.  “That's the spirit!  Come!”  She motioned, diving through the decks.  “Follow my nose!”

And like three colorful clouds, they descended.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath.  She gazed up at the moon, her ears folded back.  She swallowed a lump down her throat.

“You're thinking about what you're going to say to her, aren't you?”

“...?”  Rainbow glanced aside.

A lavender shape lifted up, phasing through the wooden railing.  Twilight gazed at her with a compassionate expression.  “To Princess Luna, I mean.”  She swallowed.  “About the Quade.”

Rainbow sighed.  She stared up again.  “It's only a matter of days now.  Guess I'd better think of... a pr-proper introduction.”

“Rainbow... so... so much happened in so little time,” Twilight said.  “We'll be lucky if we get a second talk with Luna before we reach the edge of the world.”

“Ya think?”

Twilightly shrugged.  “Who knows.  Point is... why complicate things?  Especially when we have Applejack to find?”  After a solemn breath, she put on a weak but poignant smile.  “If you don't want to tell Her Majesty, then we'll back you up.”

“Twilight, I have to tell her.  That's the whole point.”

“But... h-haven't you suffered enough for all that's happened?” Twilight bit her lip.  “I... I just hate to think of you dealing with more—”

“More what?  Pain?  Regret?  And will it be anything worse than what I put the Luminards through?”  She sighed out her nostrils.  “Or the Ledomaritans... or the Xonans... or Chrysalis' hatchlings?”

Twilight bit her lip.

“No...”  Rainbow shook her head.  “I have to deal with the path behind me as much as the path before.  Luna's helped me many times with stuff as bad as this... if not worse.  She'll deal.”  A gulp.  “I'll deal.”  She tilted her head east, spotting the distant orange speck hovering higher and higher with each passing league.  “I only wish... wish...”

“What, Rainbow?”

The mare sighed.  “...that I was as faithful and strong as other ponies I've known.”

Twilight drifted closer, smiling.  The sound of her voice was warm enough in Rainbow's ear.  “We'll help you get there.  All of us.”  A sniffling breath.  “You'll see.”

Rainobw smiled back.  Her eyes shut.





The lids twitched... quivered under the touch of warm daylight.

“Mrmmmf... gunngh...” Rainbow curled up into an even tighter blue ball of fuzz.

“Rainbow!”  Pinkie leaned in.  “Psssssssst!  Hey Dashie!”

“Grnnnnghhl...” Rainbow gnashed her teeth, nuzzling a circular spool of rope on the ship's deck that she was using for a makeshift bed.  “...mrmmfff... just five more minutes in the hammock, Belle...”

“Belle?  Since when did Dashie get my voice mixed up for your sister's, Rarity?”

“Honestly, Pinkie Pie, do you have a five second memory?”

“Hey!  That myth's been busted!  Maud tested it on her pet rocks!”

“Rainbow, darling, you might want to wake up now...”

“Mrmmff...”  Rainbow stuck her head up, squinting.  “Huh...?”

A pink shape hung her head in the sunlight.  “Granted, it stressed them out something awful.  Marble and I stood by and watched as Maud flushed them down the—”

“Shhh!” Twilight insisted.  “Rainbow!” She spoke, her voice full of mirth and wonder.  “Come!  Get up!  Come look at this!”

“Mrmmmfff...”  Rainbow's ears ached from the sound of churning paddlewheels.  She stood up, hobbled, and leaned against the railing of the topmost deck.  As her head started to clear, she heard the tell-tale shrieks of gulls.  The mare rubbed her eyes... then rubbed them again.  “What am I even looking at?”

Soon, she discovered precisely what.  Several green shapes rose up out of the water—jagged, but sloped into smooth humps at the summits.  These formations covered the distant horizon from north to south.  Overall, the emerald splotch of color rose up sharply, bleeding into a gray haze that occupied a good half of the cold blue sky.

“Well?”  Fluttershy turned to look back at Rainbow.  Along with Twilight, she smiled.  “Isn't it fantastic looking?”

“I dun get it...” Rainbow yawned, wincing as she rubbed her bandaged wings.  “Why's the sea all funky looking?”

“Rainbow, darling, that's land.”

“Land?”  Rainbow blinked.  Precisely then, she became lucid of several fog-horns blaring in the air.  The surf was dotted with dozens if not hundreds of steamships and sailing vessels, all rolling in to a series of platforms that formed an iron barricade before a mighty blue estuary.  “Huh...”  She blinked into the looming continent.  “Fancy that.”
> Sunset Tract Into Osmanthus Prefecture
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Hope you've got some bits on ya,” Farouche said.

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...”  Rainbow Dash continued staring at the jagged emerald peaks looming just beyond the western bluffs of Rohbredden.  At last, she turned to blink dumbly at the steamboat captain.  “Huh?”

Farouche finished gesturing at several of her deckhooves.  The paddlewheel vessel slowly made its way towards the docks of the iron platform looming just before the mouth of an enormous river.  “That's Sunset Tract.”

“What is?”

“That.”  Farouche pointed at the wide, voluminous estuary.  “One of the longest, most important rivers in all of Rohbredden!”  She smirked.  “It winds all around the mountains and hills, snaking deep into the heart of Osmanthus Prefecture.”

“But it'll take me to the Silt Path, right?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Only if you have the money to pay for passage!” The captain exclaimed.  She braced herself as the ship came to a gentle stop against the loading planks.  Sun-tanned ponies in work gear rushed up from a series of shaded huts.  They worked with the vessel's crew as they tied the steamship to the docks.  “Sunset Tract is a very busy river.  Full of ships carrying goods and passengers around the mountains.  They gotta keep a check on traffic somehow.”

“I see...”  Rainbow took a deep breath.  “What's the fee?”

“Twenty bits,” Farouche said.  “I know that may seem steep for river passage—but the Sunset Tract is the fastest way to Riverstem.”

“Riverstem?”

“The closest town to the Silt Path that'll take you out of the shoreline prefectures.”  Farouche whistled and directed more crew members to the docks as the vessel moored.  “There are dozens... if not hundreds of little towns and farming communities built around Sunset Tract, but Riverstem is by far the largest.  Any arriving ponies who wish to go anywhere in the continent will want to stop there first.”

“I see...”  Rainbow scratched her chin, turning to glance at the multiple ships docking at the iron platform.  Hundreds of ponies chattered and argued with the workers on board, bartering for passage through the estuary for themselves or for their goods or for both.  Her eyes lifted up, glancing past motorboats coming and going in the wide mouth of the river.  “And... what if I just wanted to... uhhhh... hoof it?”

“Pffft...!”  Farouche rolled her eyes.  She folded her forelimbs with a smirk.  “You'll be at it for days... weeks.”  A chuckle.  “If you're feeling adventurous, have at it!  But you'll be having to climb no less than two hundred mountains along the way!”

“You call those mountains?” Rainbow Dash remarked, waving at the jagged terrain beyond the bluffs with a lazy hoof.  “Looks like a bunch of giant groundhogs built a utopia while they were drunk and then abandoned it for a hundred years.”

“Hrmmmff... colorful... but cute.”  Farouche slapped Rainbow's shoulder before trotting off.  “Good luck, Miss Rarishy!  Don't say I didn't warn you.”

Twilight phased through the hull.  Clearing her throat, she whispered in Rainbow's ear.  “I'm really liking the boat option.”

“Me too, Dashie,” Pinkie Pie said, hovering closer.  “Let's not forget you've got a yucky alarm clock ticking in your harmony belly!”

Rainbow clenched her jaws.  “But...”  She grumbled under her breath.  “I haven't got any bits, though...”

“Then improvise, darling!” Rarity said.

Rainbow glanced over.  “Huh?”  She blinked.

Rarity smiled elegantly.  “Never underestimate the power of generosity...”

“... … ...” Rainbow Dash craned her neck to look past her friends.  “Hey Cap'n!”

Farouche finished talking to her first mate.  She turned towards Rainbow, blinking.  “Mmmmyes?”

Rainbow fidgeted.  “Uhm... I don't suppose you would... erm... be willing to—”

“Ach!”  Farouche snorted.  “Want me to spot you some bits, eh?”  She bore an amused squint.  “I only picked you up because it was the decent thing to do, Miss Rarishy.  Now that you're alive and all, best be lookin' after my own profits.  Ever since things went down in Rust, every little bit counts, y'know.”

“Uhhhh...”

“Course...”  Farouche adjusted the brim of her hat.  “I ain't no stranger to barterin'.”  She gestured at the glittering pendant under Rainbow's neck.  “Reckon you're carryin' a bigger fortune than you make yourself out to be.”

Rainbow gripped her Element.  She bit her lip... then blinked.  Ears twitching in realization, she pointed across the hull.  “My boat.”

“Hmm?”  Farouche blinked, then turned to see where the dinghy hung off its rope supports.  “What of it, ma'am?”

“I'll trade you!”  Ranbow said.  “My boat for the money to make the passage to Riverstem.”

“Echhh...”  Farouche raised her cap and scratched her scalp.  “But... it's out of fuel, Miss Rarishy...”

“Oh puh-leeease...”  Rainbow rolled her eyes.  “You said yourself that you lost a lifeboat before picking me up!  I mean... look!”  She trotted over, waving a hoof at the thing.  “It even fits the spot you got there perfectly!”

“Mmmmm...”

“Sure, it may need some fuel, but it's pretty friggin' sturdy.”  Rainbow grinned.  “It's built from the best metal White Barge has to offer—”

“Eeep!”  Fluttershy suddenly squeaked, eyes wide.  She and Twilight Sparkle waved their forelimbs dramatically.  “Nonononono—!”

Rainbow glanced at them.  “Wha—?”

“But...”  Farouche squinted curiously.  “...I thought you done said that you was never at the Barges, Miss...”

Rainbow grimaced hard.  Gulping, she turned and smiled nervously at the captain.  “Yeah... well... that's... uh... wh-what the pony who sold this to me said.”  She cleared her throat.  “Prime White Barge manufacturing.  They even whacked the hull with a hammer to test it for me.  Sturdy stuff.”

“... … ...”  Farouche stared.

Pinkie and Rarity bit their lips.

“...hrmmfff...”  Farouche snorted, then smirked.  She reached into her vest pocket and flicked several coins in Rainbow's direction.

The mare nimbly caught them.  Her ghostly friends gawked over her shoulder as she cradled the golden money.  “...thirty bits?”

“What, are ya complainin' now?” Farouche said.

“No.  Just... a bit surprised, to be honest,” Rainbow exhaled.

“Yeah, well...”  Farouche folded her forelimbs with a smirk.  “You just reminded me of somethin'.”

“And what's that?”

“Of how much I admire a soul who really... really needs to get somewhere fast in life.”  She winked.  “Headstrong, courageous, no-questions-asked.”

Rainbow took a deep breath.  “Wouldn't even think of it.”

“Aye, that's the spirit.  A good, stupid wind.”

“Heh... in another life, I'd totally join your crew, Cap'n.”

“Well, barnacles, ma'am!  Who says you haven't already?”

“Heh... still... thirty bits.”  Rainbow slipped the money into her saddlebag.  “Thanks a ton.”

“Don't.”  Farouche gestured at the raft.  “It's a good boat.  Better than you think.  But—all tide's the same—it's as much as I can spare.”

“Gotcha.”

“And if I were you, I'd spend the leftover ten bits on food... and some water to cool ya down with.”

“Huh?  Why?”  Rainbow blinked.  “Doesn't it get—like—super cold in Rohbredden?”

“Hah!  Not for another three Prefectures at least!”

“Wow, really?  Weird...”

“Ma'am, only weird thing around here is you.”  Farouche shuffled towards the bow.  “Not that I'm complainin'.  It'll be a dockin' to remember, that's for sure.  Ahem... now if you'll excuse me, Miss Rarishy, I've got me some silks to deliver.  Best be driftin' with ya, or else you'll be overwhelmed by the midday rice shipments.”

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, watching as Farouche trotted out of view, her sea-legs making her lean perpetually to the side.

“Well, if she wasn't Admiral Nice Pants!” Pinkie squee'd.

“I'd give good mind if she wore a less pungent pair,” Rarity muttered.

“Rarity...”  Twilight frowned.  “Honestly?”

“Oh, Twilight, cheer up!”  Rarity smiled.  “We have a fabulous boat ride to look forward to!”

“Woohoo!”  Pinkie cheered.

“Hmmmm...”  Fluttershy exhaled.  “A calm trip up river sounds... nice, actually.”

“Get your heads in the game, girls,” Rainbow muttered.  “I'm about to burn through twenty bits just to get us to where we need to go faster.”

“Awwwwww...”  Pinkie pouted, blue eyes sparkling.  “But Dashiiiiieeee...”

“I mean it!”  Rainbow said she strolled towards the platform.  “It may not look it, but this trip is—like—super dangerous'n'stuff.”

“She's right,” Twilight said with a nod, floating after her.  “We've dodged the bullet with Captain Farouche, but who knows how many Rohbreddenites up and down this... 'Sunset Tract' may be searching for the Rainbow Rogue and her bounty.”

“Right,” Rainbow said.  “We have absolutely zero time to sight-see.”





Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy all stared with their muzzles agape.  Glazed eyes sparkled, reflecting rising and falling greenery, rippling across their combined gaze in emerald waves.

“Uhhhmmm... Dashie...?”  Pinkie gulped.  “...you wanna take that back now?”

Rainbow's eyes blinked, fluttered.  “I'll... get back to you on that...”

The pegasus and her ghostly friends stood on the outer deck of a motor-chugging riverboat as it slowly churned its way up a thick winding stream.  All along the brown silt shore, tall grass waved in jets of warm summery breeze.  Beyond, shiny-green rice paddies loomed, rising in geometrically curved terraces that hugged the corners of countless mountains.

Mountains... rising up in a sporadic pattern—but multitudinous in their design, complexity, and numbers.  Covered in dense green foliage, these jutting formations shot out of the earth with such frequency that they devoured any possible horizon that Rainbow Dash could even be bothered to see.  There was no counting where the hilltops began or where they ended.  What's more, each unpredictable bend in the river revealed more and more of them—some so sudden and steep in their inexplicable presence that they towered directly above the boats navigating the Sunset Tract.

Sprinkled across the bumpy landscape, tiny farmsteads loomed, with humble one-story shacks made out of knotted, petrified wood—undoubtedly constructed hundreds if not thousands of years ago.  Other rustic settlements clung to the concave bends of the Sunset Tract, populated mostly by elderly ponies garbed in flowy brown peasant robes.  Those who weren't working the rice fields busied themselves with repairing fishing boats, bartering with tiny trade vessels along crooked docks, or beautifying the fronts of ancient cottages with all manner of colorful flowers.

Other than the occasional growl of single and dual-motor engines, the atmosphere over the mountainous tributary was the very definition of tranquil... serene.  All the while, a white hazy splotch of mountainous continent loomed in the far east, hovering like a granite thundercloud.

“Uhm... Twilight...” Fluttershy found the breath to speak.  “You're the most well-read of us all here.  Could... could you adequately describe what we're looking at?”

“Well...”  Twilight Sparkle cleared her throat.  “It would look like the direct result of thousands upon thousands of years of subsidence and limestone erosion, not to mention the redistribution of soft fertile silt in addition to what may have one time been a glacial plain long before the mountains ever formed—”

“Can't you just say it's damned beautiful, darling?” Rarity rasped.

Twilight gulped.  “Yeah...”  She nodded dumbly.  “It's darn beautiful.”

“Mmmm...” Rarity smiled, cheeks rosy as her eyes continued to shine.  “Close enough.”
> A Rainbow Shines in Riverstem
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	As the motorized skiff glided around another bend, it passed a trio of large riverboats—each packed to the brim with thick cargo and bulging baggage.

Rainbow Dash looked at the mares.  Taking a breath, Fluttershy lifted off.  She drifted outward, phasing through the riverboats, taking advantage of the full extent of her anchorage.

Rainbow and the other ghosts waited patiently.

At last, Fluttershy returned, clearing her throat.  “They're carrying rice, oranges, carrots...”  She smiled.  “...and apples.  But... uhm... mostly rice.”

“Well, that certainly explains that.”  Rarity glanced aside at Rainbow Dash.  “Rohbredden has the agricultural supplies that keep the Seven Seas afloat.”

“It explains where Red Barge got all its rice, at least.”

“I'm sure the continental islands have ways of growing their own crops,” Rainbow Dash said.  “At least, to some extent.”

The old, weary travelers packed on board the motorboat squinted curiously at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow glanced at them, then fidgeted, standing as far away from the other passengers as she could.  “Ahem... I'm gonna have to do something about that,” she muttered.

“About what?” Pinkie asked, blinking.

“If I wanna get anywhere in this trek, I'll have to take transportation like this,” Rainbow muttered, shrugging her shoulders and casting her voice to the water.  “That means lots of close quarters shared with total strangers.”  A gulp.  “They must think I'm a lunatic... talking to 'myself' like this.”

“Well, maybe.”  Pinkie tapper her chin, then smiled.  “But a fuzzy lunatic, at least!”

“Mrmmffff...”

“Will you just look at those mountains?” Twilight cooed, eyes sparkling as they passed more and more jagged emerald peaks.  “Almost every square inch is covered in vegetation!  We've got nothing like that back home!”

“I wonder if any animals live up on them,” Fluttershy said.

“What I want to know is...”  Rarity pointed at the farms and rice paddies packed between the hilly structures.  “...precisely how do ponies eke a living with so much random topography to deal with?”

“Quite well, it would seem,” Twilight said.  “I mean... just look at that efficiency!  And the terracing in the wider spaces!”

“Yes?  What about it?”

“Well, it seems obvious to me that the ponies here in Rohbredden have been doing this for a very long time?”

“We're talking centuries...?”

“Millennia even!”

“Say...”  Pinkie tapped her chin once more, thinking.  “Didn't Captain Farooq say that only the inland prefectures were all snowy'n'cold?”

“Farouche,” Twilight insisted.  “And yes.  She did imply that.”

“Then what does that mean, precisely?” Rarity asked.  “When Rainbow Dash first explained to me that Verlax was the Queen of Frost, I expected her entire continent to be covered in snow.”

“That's just the thing,” Rainbow muttered, careful not to attract too much attention from the other ponies riding the craft.  “She was supposed to have 'thawed' this kingdom, right?”

“Then why is this... 'Osmanthus Prefecture' so incredibly warm and humid while the more central provinces are cold?” Rarity asked.

“Elevation?” Fluttershy suggested.

“Or perhaps...”  Twilight glanced at the other mares.  “...Verlax herself is situated in the central prefectures... and that's why they're a great deal colder than the shoreline locations?”

“Ohhhhhh...” Pinkie nodded.

“Then...”  Fluttershy fidgeted.  “Does that mean that... that...”  She looked at Rainbow.  “...Yaerfaerda is leading us right to Verlax?”

Rainbow stared across the rippling waters of Sunset Tract.

“Because... because you did say that Yaerfaerda is located above the horizon line, right?  As if it's inside the mountains?”

Rainbow opened her mouth—

“Hey!”  Pinkie Pie chirped, pointing eastward past the next bend in the Tract.  “Look it!  Look it!”

The mares all crowded around, staring over Rainbow's shoulder.

The river opened wider—almost becoming a basin.  At this point, Rainbow's craft slowed, if only to avoid a thick assortment of rafts skimming back and forth.  The rafts were barely more than a few planks of wood tied together, and the ponies who “operated” them were almost all elder stallions—navigating the shallow waters with long wooden poles that they used to move the rafts around.  Several of them poked the depths to avoid Rainbow's incoming motorcraft.  They did this with ease, situating themselves on top of empty patches of riverwater.  As Rainbow drew closer, she and her friends noticed that each raft had one or two birds perched on board.  Thin spools of twine anchored them to the raft's prow.  Once the slats of wood stopped drifting, the stallion sheathed his pole through a loop of his saddle bag, reached over, and unceremoniously dumped one of the water fowl into the river.

“Uhhhh...”  Pinkie Pie blinked.

“They're fishing,” Fluttershy said.

“Huh?”

Rainbow was confused, until she glanced over to see other stallions on other rafts retrieving their birds, then feeling up their slender necks until they forced the trained creatures to spit up a whole, live fish.  With quiet ease, the elders next shoved the live catch into their saddlebags before proceeding towards another part of the river.

“Those are called coromant,” Fluttershy explained.  “Remarkably graceful creatures.  No doubt you've seen several of them around Equestrian rivers, spreading their wings out to dry in the sun.  But I've never... ever seen them domesticated like this before.”  She smiled with a happy sigh.  “This must have taken several... several generations to accomplish.”

“Ehhh... but... but what is it done for?”  Rarity grimaced as they passed by another set of rafts where stallions gently wrung the fish from their birds' necks.  “Why would a village need that much fish?  Seems like they don't feed them to their pet fowl.”

“It's not for the animals, Rarity,” Rainbow droned.  “It's for ponies.”

“Surely you jest?!”

“Haven't you figured it out by now?” Twilight asked.  “Ponies this far from Equestria eat meat.”

“Well, yes.  I knew that.  But...”  Rarity shivered.  “To go to such lengths...”

“Hey, Dashie?”  Pinkie looked over.  “Have you ever—”

“No.”

Pinkie tilted her head aside.  “Not even for curiosity's sake?”

“It's tough enough having done the decisions I've made just to survive,” Rainbow grunted breathily.  “Death sucks in general.  I... c-can't imagine slathering it onto a dinner plate.”

“That's our Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said with a smile.  “Ever loyal to her convictions.”

Rainbow's nostrils flared as she glanced aside.  “Yeah, well, when I can afford it.”

“Hmmmm... I wonder what fish even tastes like,” Pinkie remarked.

“Eugh...”  Rarity fanned herself, eyes rolling.  “Darling, must you?”

“It's thinner and stringier with chicken, with a slight oily aftertaste,” Fluttershy said.

The other mares gawked at her.

“...?”  She looked back.  “What?”  A blink.  “Uhm... Hairy described that to me once.”

“Hairy?”

“Mmmm... my best bear friend back home.”

“Ohhhhhhh...”

Fluttershy sighed, gazing across the waters.  “I do hope he's getting along well without me right now...”

“He's a bear, Fluttershy,” Rainbow muttered, causing more passengers to glance at her.  “The Everfree Forest is right there.  Plenty of woods to go crapping in.”

“That's a myth, actual—”

“Look!” Twilight said, pointing outward as the boat rounded its thickest bend yet.

The river opened up to a complex array of wooden docks, stretching out into the dark brown waters.  Beyond the rustic port was a thin gray line of stone buildings with wooden shingled rooftops.  Around the stone complex, a humble smattering of two-story buildings loomed, meanwhile—along the furthest edges of the township—several turf houses hung low to the ground, surrounded by meager rice paddies and orchards.  At last, in the very center of the riverside community, there stood a three story stave temple with multiple steeples sticking vertically from the corners of a multi-tiered rooftop.

“Riverstem?” Rarity breathed.

Rainbow gulped.  “I wouldn't doubt it.”  She watched as several small rafts, motorboats, and a few cargo ships lingered around the port.  The penumbra of an especially hilly mountain hung over the entire village, giving it a pleasant shade within which dozens upon dozens of bustling ponies went about their business and bartering.  “Well, girls, looks like our joyride has come to an end.”

“Pffffft!”  Pinkie stuck her ghostly tongue out.  “Says you!”





Rainbow Dash stepped off the dock...

...and onto soft, moist soil.

She froze in place, wobbling slightly.  The mare's red eyes blinked.

“Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked.

“Is something the matter?” Twilight turned around, eyes glinting with concern.

“No, it's...”  Rainbow took a deep breath.  She leaned back and forth, squishing her hooves even deeper in the soil.  “Just... for the first time since that one spot along the Quade...”  She swallowed a lump down her throat.  “Never mind.  It's... kinda awesome being on land again.”

“We believe you, Dashie,” Pinkie said.  She smiled sheepishly, phasing her forelimbs through the ground.  “Trust me.  We do.”

“Mmmmm...” Rainbow strolled forward before she could hold up the line of marching ponies and their supplies.  “Let's try and find a way to the Silt Path,” she said.

“Some supplies would be in order, Rainbow,” Rarity said.  “After all, it's bound to be a long trip.”

“Yeah, yeah...”

“Especially if Captain Farcry is to be believed!”

“Darn it, Pinkie...”

“Oooooh...”  Fluttershy cooed, staring past the immediate courtyard of fractured stone.  “Look!”

The spectral ponies looked over Rainbow.

With the aid of a ladder, several locals in glowy brown peasant wear were raising the last of many strings full of multi-colored paper lanterns.  The decorations hung between rows of stone buildings:  shops, merchant hovels, blacksmiths, and eateries.  Dangling from the corners of shingled rooftops were silken effigies of frost-white equines that billowed in the river valley's wind.

“OoOoOoOooooh...”  Rarity grinned.  “Not exactly chic, but I'm feeling positively charmed by the antiquity of it all!”

“What do you suppose they're preparing for?”  Pinkie remarked.  “My party senses are tingling off the chart!”

“It's... it's Unification Day, isn't it?”  Twilight glanced over her shoulder.  “Followed by the Month of Thawing.”

“No doubt,” Rainbow said with a nod.  She had to jump left and right to avoid sweaty locals carrying trunks and bags full of supplies.  Most of the Rohbreddenites utilized poles balanced over their flanks to carry such intense loads.  “That means villages like this are gonna get super crowded soon.”

“Like... how soon?” Pinkie asked.  “Last I heard, the Month of Thawing was gonna start five days ago!”  She tapped her chin.  “...or was it five weeks ago?”

“What are you even talking about?”
“Has anypony been keeping track of how long we were on that rust bucket?”

“What matters is that we've left the horrid place,” Rarity grumbled.  After clearing her throat, she turned towards Rainbow Dash.  “Rainbow?  Supplies?”

“Right...” Rainbow trotted briskly across Riverstem, approaching the inner city squares, where the traffic bustled the thickest.  “Let's get this over with.”





Rainbow crossed yet another ancient stone bridge that spanned a narrow canal filled with miniature rafts.  A gaggle of giggling foals ran past her, chasing a stallion who was flying a miniature kite of a snow-white horse.  The pegasus' fuzzy ears tickled to the sound of music.  Curious, she glanced at the nearest street to the bridge.  An old mare sat on a sleeping mat, dragging a bow across a long, spiked instrument protruding from a soundbox wrapped in snake-skin.

“Wow... would you look at that!”  Pinkie remarked.

“Sounds exquisite!” Rarity exclaimed.

“Is... that a cello?” Twilight asked.

“Since when did a cello have two strings?” Pinkie said.

“Who cares?”  Rarity cooed, closing her eyes as she enjoyed the melody from the performer's instrumental.  “It's positively heavenly!”

“Heehee...”  Pinkie winked.  “'Move over, harpsichord?”

“Now let's not get ahead of ourselves,” Rarity said, causing the other mares to giggle.  She observed a can of bits lying in front of the old mare, then turned towards Rainbow with puppy-dog eyes.

“Keep our eyes on the prize, girls,” Rainbow muttered.  “We're here just to do one thing.”

“But we passed by—like—a dozen shops and storefronts already, Dashie!” Pinkie said, pointing back across the village.

“Look, I'm just trying to find a place that... y'know... looks cheap.”

“They all look 'cheap' to me,” Fluttershy said.

“A matter of perspective, darling,” Rarity calmly chided.  “This is a place of antiquity.  Let us not allow the rustic aesthetics of it all fool us.”

“Speaking of rustic...” Twilight pointed up.  “Look at that.”

Rainbow tilted her head skyward—only for the heavens to be blotted out by the dark, mahogany terraces of the stave temple situated in the center of the village.  Beneath the sharp, jutting steeples, she saw the effigies of large equines with flowy, otherworldly manes positioned at each corner.  The wooden surfaces of the building were carved with the same motif of metaphysical horses, over and over again.

“A place of worship, perhaps?” Fluttershy remarked.

“Probably...” Twilight nodded.

“I can't help but admire the artistry that went into this,” Rarity said, waving a hoof.  “No doubt thousands of years old.  And those mares...”  She squinted at the effigies.  “The way their shapes flow... it almost reminds me of the tapestries of the Two Regal Sisters that hang in Canterlot.”

“Yes—only they aren't alicorns, see?”  Twilight pointed.  “What's more, their rear legs are missing.”

“They're missing?”  Pinkie sputtered.

“What kind of creature is that?” Rarity cooed.

“Windigos.”

Everypony looked at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy bit her lip.  “Uhm... after all, it would make sense, right?”

“So there you have it...”  Rainbow sighed, gazing up at the effigies.  “In every town, Verlax has the phantom ghosts of the past staring down at everypony from up high.”

“Huh?”  Twilight glanced over at her, blinking.

Rainbow gulped.  “I dunno.  It's just that... I can already tell how far she's stuck her claws into the culture of this place.”

“You're saying Verlax is a windigo?” Pinkie remarked.

“What?  No!”  Rainbow winced, glancing at other ponies trotting back and forth through the busy river town.  “Just that... ugh... I dunno.”  She shuddered.  “Just... from everything I know... everything we know... and everything that Chrysalis told me... I can already tell that this place is as blind as... as...”

“A happy hog thrown into a mud convention?!”  Pinkie belched.

Everyone looked at her.

“What?”  Pinkie smiled, fluffing her pink mane.  “We're off to rescue Applejack, aren't we?  I figured I'd toss a countryism in her honor!”

Rainbow sighed.  “We're wasting too much time already...”

“Rainbow, relax,” Twilight said, drifting closer to the mare.  “Does anypony here look like they're trying to tackle you?”

“Yes.  I must say...”  Rarity glanced around.  “This place is remarkably pleasant.”

“Looks can be deceiving,” Rainbow grumbled.  “Even the quietest spots in Ledomare... were still in Ledomare.”

“Well, let's not have a reason to freak out until it presents itself,” Twilight said.  “Sound good?”

“Uhm...”  Fluttershy trembled all of the sudden.  “You mean...”  She pointed down at the far end of a winding stone street.  “...like that?”

“Huh?”  Rainbow turned around.

A glossy, silver-embossed stagecoach had just rolled to a stop.  Four stallions in immaculate black uniforms stepped out, passing bundles of white paper between them.

“I don't see what the issue is, Fluttershy,” Rarity said.  “They look like company traders.”

“Yes...”  Twilight leaned forward, eyes squinting.  “And that emblem... on the wagon.”  She blinked.  “Looks like dredge coal on fire.”

“Look h-harder,” Fluttershy said.

Before the mares' eyes, the uniformed stallions planted the first of several posters on the ancient stone walls of the marketplace.  Sunlight peeked through the mountains, shining off the glossy colors of a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane.  Beneath the portrait, the words read:  “WANTED:  RAINBOW ROGUE – FOR COMMITTING CRIMES AGAINST VERLAXION IN THE QUADE AND THE SEVEN SEAS BEYOND – BOUNTY FOR BRINGING IN ALIVE: 750,000 BITS”

The stallions proceeded to plaster these posters on more and more walls, gradually bleeding their way through the streets of Riverbend.  In curious droves, locals stopped to stare at the posters, muttering to one another in contemplative commotion.

“Whoopsy...”  Pinkie gulped, glancing aside.  “...time to poopsy.”

“I do believe we need to make haste now, Rainbow.”  Silence.  She looked towards her anchor.  “Rainbow, darling?”

The pegasus' muzzle was scrunched.  “Only seven hundred and fifty thousand?!”

“Rainbow!”  Twilight hissed.  “Come on!  Let's get to the west side of town before news spreads!”

Rainbow backtrotted, her eyes still locked on the posters.  “For real, though!  That's—like—sneeze money to the Council of Ledo!”

“Dashie, hoof it!”

“I'm hoofing it!  I'm hoofing it!”
> The Legend of Dashie Master
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Well, no doubt about it, darling,” Rarity said, phasing through a nearby storefront.  She joined Rainbow Dash and the other girls as they crouched in a dark alley between ancient stone buildings.  “They're painting the town red.”  She blinked.  “And orange... and yellow... and green and blue and indigo and—”

“You made your point,” Rainbow grumbled.  She craned her neck, squinting down a side-street.  Stallions were slathering yet another poster against a wall.  “I guess it was just dumb luck that we made it this far without anyone catching up to me.”

“What does this mean for the rest of Rohbredden?” Fluttershy whispered.  “Could they all have seen the bounty for Rainbow by now?”

“Fluttershy, you don't have to whisper,” Twilight Sparkle said.  “Only Rainbow can hear us.”

Fluttershy gulped, trembling.  “Maybe I-I'm just doing it for me?”

“Flutters...”  Rainbow glanced at the ghostly pegasus.  “Can you tell how many of them there are?”

“Them?”

“Yeah.  Y'know.”  Rainbow motioned her head at the distant stallions in uniform.  “Them.”

“This town is bustling with ponies, Rainbow.”  Fluttershy slowly shook her head.  “I can't tell them apart from the rest.”

“Well, I have a fix on their wagon, for what it's worth,” Rarity said, inhaling.  “That immaculately plated steel is impossible to ignore.  At the present, if we steer clear from the north edge of town, we shouldn't be seen by whoever's operating their means of transportation.”

“But what about the rest of them?” Rainbow remarked.

Rarity shrugged.  “It's like Fluttershy said, Rainbow.  There's no easy way to tell.”

“If only you could just use those snazzy wings of yours to get us out of their eyesight in a jim-jam-jiff, Dashie!” Pinkie Pie remarked.

“Yeahhhhh...” Rainbow grimaced, staring back at her bandaged left feathers.  “That ain't happening anytime soon.”

“Mmmmmmmm...”  Pinkie rubbed her head with both hooves—then gasped.  “I know!  A diguise!”

“Pffft!”  Twilight rolled her eyes.  “Pinkie... what disguise?  Unless you're expecting Rainbow Dash to hang Luna's satchel over her head!”

“Hey!  Who knows?”  Pinkie shrugged.  “It could be in vogue!”

“Ughh...”

“Pinkie is onto something,” Rarity said, tapping her chin.  “If we could find the right materials, I'm certain I can dream up a perfect ensemble to mask her features!”  She glanced left and right.  “Now where in Riverstem might the locals have constructed a dress shop?”

“I'm not sure it's that kind of town, Rarity,” Twilight said.

“Unnhhh!”  Rarity exhaled, muzzle agape.  “A town without a dress shop?!  Surely the Continentalists aren't that barbaric!”

“... … …” Rainbow stared at a wooden shack situated several spaces down.  An elegant mare stepped out, her mane freshly arranged in a shiny updo.  She smiled gratefully at the equines standing inside the establishment.

A pair of young mares in pink robes bowed, smiled, and wished her a good Month of Thawing.  The patron trotted away with her new hairdo, humming pleasantly to herself.

“Uhm... Rainbow...?”  Fluttershy floated close.  “What are you looking at?”

“More thinking than looking,” Rainbow hummed.

“Okay... uh... what are you thinking about?”

“Maybe the key to a good disguise isn't throwing something on...”  Rainbow took a deep breath.  “But tearing something off.”

“Say wuhhhh...?” Rarity wheezed, blinking curiously at her.

With a bold step, Rainbow trotted briskly towards the establishment.  “Hopefully this won't take long...”





Rainbow Dash sat upright in a cushioned chair.  Her nose tickled from the smell of oils and burning incense.  The mirror before her reflected four squirmy, sad-faced mares.

“What are you fillies waiting around for?” Rainbow grumbled.  She tossed her mane loose and stared straight ahead.  “I've given you the bits you need.”  A sigh—out the side of her muzzle.  “Let's do this.”

“Mmmmm...”  The youngest of the manedressers stifled a whimper.  “But... but Miss... are... are you s-sure...?”

Another one fidgeted, staring at Rainbow's long, prismatic tresses.  “We've... we've never seen anything like... like—”

“Then that's a good thing,” Rainbow grumbled.  “Now get it over with.”  Her ears twitched.  “I'm going to be... uhm... picking lots and lots of rice in the hot sun.  The dumb hairs will only suffocate me.”

The lead hairdresser sniffled, trying her professional best not to shed tears.  “We are obligated to... uhm... ask our patrons who make this request one last time.”  She leaned forward, eyes quivering.  “Are you sure?”

“Rainbow...” Twilight breathed.

“Dashie...”  Pinkie blinked with puppy dog eyes.

“Rainbow, darling, please... please think hard about this!”  Rarity flew directly in front of Rainbow, muzzle agape.  “It... it will take ages!  Ages to grow back!  And... and the shine.”  She held her forelimbs in front of her quivering lips.  “Mmmmm!... Sweet Celestia, the sun glints off it just so!  I will sorely miss it—”

Rainbow whispered into the air:  “Applejack doesn't have 'ages.'  And neither do I.  It goes.”  After a deep breath, she turned towards the mares gathered melancholically around her.  “I'm sure.  Now...”  A slight shudder.  “...lop it all off.”

A squeak or two escaped the mares.  One looked close to fainting.  Nevertheless, the oldest mare weathered a depressed sigh, gravely drew a white apron over Rainbow's body like a funeral shroud... and picked up a pair of scissors.

“Oh no...”  Rarity shook her head, eyes glazing over.  “Oh no oh no oh no!”  She flew towards the side, curling up into a floating white ball.  “I-I shan't look!”

“There there, Rarity...”  Fluttershy held her close as the fashionista sobbed quietly.  Patting Rarity's back, Fluttershy stared at Rainbow, managing a slight smile.  “Who knows?  Maybe... it'll look awesome.”





“Awesome?!”  Pinkie fought the urge to vomit.  “I never knew you had such big fuzzy elephant ears, Dashie!”

“Pinkie!  Shhhh!”  Twilight insisted.  With a brave gulp, Twilight looked at their anchor from behind.  “So... uhhhhh... h-how does it feel, Rainbow?”

“... … ...”  A blue pegasus with a buzzed head trotted out into the sunlight.  She stared up at the sky, squinting.  Her ears twitched on either side of a tiny strip of scarcely colored stubble.  “... … ...cool.”  An exhale.  She looked over her shoulder.  “Did they get all the tail?  I can't see so well from here.”

“Yes...”  Rarity choked on a sob, fanning herself as she eyed the narrow thread of flesh with all its hairs lopped off.  “They m-most certainly did...”  Fluttershy leaned in to nuzzle her again.  “Can't... we j-just take some threads for the road?  Oh Goddess...”  She sniffled.

“Nuh uh.  Ain't gonna risk it.”  Rainbow took a shuddering breath.  “Now to address a new problem...”

“Think we can still buy some snackies for Rainbow's trekkie?” Pinkie remarked.

“That's just it.”  Rainbow gulped, fiddling with her saddlebag.  She heard only a slight rattle of leftover coins.  “We're getting kind of low.  That manecut took a lot out of me.”

“Mmmmmff...”  Rarity rubbed her eyes dry, frowning.  “Like a pinch of poison in the bitter tea...”

“Maybe there's somepony around town who's willing to pay Rainbow for a few menial tasks?”  Fluttershy remarked.

“That's the spirit, Fluttershy!”  Pinkie grinned.  “RPG thinking!”

“Huh?”  Twilight blinked.  “'RPG?'”

“Yeah!”  Pinkie blinked.  “Real Pony Guile!”

Twilight sighed, then glanced at Rainbow.  “If you're gonna do something, you'd better do it fast.  It's nice to lose your trademark colors and all—but I fear you just made yourself more conspicuous.”

“... … ...”  All the while, Rainbow was staring down the street and towards the west end of Riverstem.  Beyond the ancient stone buildings with shingled rooftops, there was what appeared—at first—to be a grassy clearing.  Upon further study, Rainbow observed the woolie humps of multiple turf houses.  In between them, tiny tables had been set up where elders gathered to play chess and other ancient games.  Around one particular table, a group of young stallions huddled, tossing bits at one another as they laughed and gambled.

One or two of the stallions in peasant robes had noticeably buzzed manes.

“Wuh oh...”  Pinkie leaned in, tracing Rainbow's eyesight.  “She's getting all gaze-y again!”

“What do you see, Rainbow?” Twilight asked.

Rainbow exhaled.  “Suckers.”  And she trotted west.

Meanwhile... within seconds of her departing...

A sad-faced mare shuffled out of the establishment, sweeping a bundle of rainbow-colored hairs out into the street.  With a sigh, she bent over and scooped the mess of prismatic fibers into a dust pan.

Right behind her, a pair of uniformed stallions marched up.  They slapped a wanted poster onto the stone wall just next to the circular entrance... then trotted away.

At last, the mare stood up... and turned around.  She froze in place, blinking quietly at the wanted poster right in front of her.  Her eyes bounced between the “Rainbow Rogue” on the sheet... and the bundle of colorful mane hair in her pan.  A furious blush spread across her features.  Gulping... she shuffled sideways... shuffled some more... and then silently dumped the hairs into a rubbish bin.  Whistling to herself, she threw a nervous glance to her sides... then dashed swiftly back into the salon.





With a grin, a jittery, thin pegasus lifted a cup off the table.  There was nothing underneath it.  He smiled.

“Aaaaaaaaugh!”  The fat pony across from him gripped his skull.  He gnashed his teeth while the others gathered around the clearing laughed and hollered.  “Dammit, Steve!  How are you so good at this?!”

“That's 'Lucky Steve' to you,” the other seated stallion slurred.  After adjusting the sleeves of his peasant robe, he scooped up the two remaining cups, revealing a red pebble beneath one of them.  “Although, I might go by Doctor Steve after prescribing you a pair of glasses, ya dimwit.”

“Rrrrnnngh...”  The fat stallion snarled, teeth showing.  “I swear!  There's a trick to this!”

“Of course there is!”  Lucky Steve leaned back, forelimbs folded.  “You're an idiot!”  He chuckled.  “Your mother's tricked you since birth!”

“Hahahaha!”

“Whew!  He got you there!”

“He's making you look bad, dude!”

“Well?”  Lucky Steve twitched, then smiled.  “Wanna have another go?”

“Mrmmmff... buck that.”  The fat stallion waddled out of the stool across from him.  “You done swallowed up all my rice pay for the week!”

“Yeah, well...”  Steve juggled the red pebble between his wing feathers.  He twitched again.  “If you wanna throw in the rice this time, we can wager half the earnings?”

“Pffft!  I'm not so desperate that I'll starve.”

“Hey...”  Steve shrugged.  “If you can't take chances, you won't go anywhere!  If you wanna squat in a ride paddy all your life, that's fine!  I'm not here to judge!”  He stifled a yawn, leaning back.  “Mmmmm... just here to get rich.”

“Heheheh...”  An old stallion looked over from where he fiddled with stacks of wooden tile—each marked with windigo intaglio.  “Ya ain't havin' no problem with that, son.”  He matched the tiles and piled them to the corner of his table.  “Why, if I had your luck back in my day, I'd own half of Riverstem by now.”

“That's not a bad idea, actually.”  Steve grinned from muzzle to muzzle.  He glanced across the crowd of stallions gathered around him.  “How 'bout it, boys?  Want a share of the town?  My treat!”  He pointed at his game table.  “All you gotta do is step right up and invest!”

“Hah!  Not on your life...”

“I'm not that desperate, Lucky Steve.”

“Yeah!  You gotta raise the stakes for me to bite!”

“Hmrmmmff... don't know what your guys' problem is.”  Steve twirled the red pebble at the end of his fetlock.  A convulsion ran down his forelimb, but he managed to catch the item in his wings.  “All it takes to get far in Rohbredden is some stones, ya feel me?  Now... who wants to celebrate the Month of Thawing early this year?  Heheheh...”

A petite blue body shuffled up, then sat in the stool across from him.

Lucky Steve blinked, his wings quivering in tiny jerks.

The other stallions gazed curiously.

“... … ...”  Rainbow Dash leaned forward.  “...so this is a game?”  She arched an eyebrow.  “...for bits?”

Dead silence.

And then—“Snnnkkkt—Haa haa haa haa!”  Lucky Steve's twitchy muzzle contorted into a smile as he pointed at the mare's shaved forehead.  “Get a load of this pony!  Yeesh!  What's the matter, dude?”  Several stallions around him chuckled as he smirked.  “You get caught in a steamboat's engines or what?”

Rainbow took a deep breath.  “You wanna wager some bits or don't ya?” her voice cracked.

“Whoah!”  Steve leaned back, eyes wide.  “You're a mare.”

“And you're a snotbag,” Rainbow grunted.  “Farts get around.”

“Hahaha! Whoah, Steve!”

“You've caught a live one!”

“Heh... Goddess help me.”  Steve smirked.  “Alright, noobette.  Let's do a game.  But I'm gonna have to up the initial wager from the usual minimum of two bits to five.”  He winked.  “Sass Policy, y'see.  Riverstem rules.”

“That's perfect.”  Rainbow slapped six coins onto the table between them.  “Here.  One to grow on.”

With silent curiosity, the other stallions crowded in.

“Hmmm... sassy and brash.”  Steve twitched and smiled.  “Did you shave your head with those teeth?”

“Just tell me the rules.”

“Ahem.”  Steve held the pebble up.  “Keep your eye on the stone...”  He placed it down on the table and—Clop!—slapped one of the wooden cups over it.  “...at all times...” He began shuffling the three containers around one another in a swift fashion.  “...and guess which cup it's under at the end.”

Rainbow stared, eyes squinting.

“Guess right... you earn fifty percent back.”  Steve smiled.  “Lose... and your bits are mine.”

“Hmmmmfff...”  Rainbow's nostrils flared.  “Foal's play.”

“Heh...”  Steve licked his lips, twitched, and began rearranging the cups in a veritable blur.

“... … ...”  Rainbow's eyes lifted up.  She made contact with Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie blinked back... then brightened.  “...!”  She dove under the table, phasing through with an ethereal glow.

Unknowing, Steve continued shuffling and shuffling the cups.  At last, he came to a stop, forelimbs outstretched.  He twitched once... twice... then leaned back, taking his hooves off the cups.  “So...”  He pointed with a grin.  “...ready to try your luck?”

Swoosh!  Pinkie lifted out of the table.  “Pssst!  Dashie!”  She pointed.  “It's the one on your left!”

“... … ...”  Rainbow reached hoof out... hovering it just above the one in the center.

“Mmm!”  Rarity squeaked.  “Rainbow, Pinkie said—”

“Shhhhh...”  Twilight insisted.  “She's baiting him.”

Rainbow's hoof lingered.  She stared at the cups, then at Steve.

Steve stood in place, smiling back.

After a breath, Rainbow's hoof traveled left... then lifted the cup.  The red pebble rest underneath.

Steve's smile left.

The crowd around the table murmured and chuckled.

“Oooooh...”

“Heheheh... she got ya, Steve!”

“Can't friggin' believe it.”

“Ha ha!”  The old stallion in the nearby table pointed with an antique pipe.  “Bit of beginner's luck to tip yours, eh?”

“Yeah...”  Steve rubbed the back of his head, twitching more than once.  “Imagine that.”

“I think I earned myself nine bits, pal,” Rainbow said.

“Huh?”  Steve blinked.  “Seven.”

“I gave you six.  Not five.  Remember?”  Rainbow arched an eyebrow.  “Fifty percent?”

Steve sat... twitching.

Rainbow noticed it.  “Got an itch, buddy?”

“It's... a condition...”  Steve cleared his throat, fighting convulsions.  “I was stung by a manticore years back in one of the north prefectures.”

“Aye!”  The fat stallion nodded, pointing.  “He was too!  Nearly killed him—the fortunate bastard!”

“That's why we call him Lucky Steve,” an old pony said.

“Uhm... Rainbow...?”  Fluttershy leaned in.  She shook her head, speaking close to the mare's ear.  “A manticore's sting is highly deadly.  Even if this Steve miraculously survived a direct sting, he'd be blind and at least half of his body would be paralyzed.”

Rainbow's jaw tightened.  She spoke to the stallion across from her.  “My bits?”

“Mrmmmff... alright, alright...”  Steve reached into his robe's pocket and hoofed a stack over.  “Yeesh.  I didn't think pirates would be coming this far inland to rob Riverstem blind.”

A few stallions chuckled at that.

Rainbow carefully counted the coins in her stack.

“We're going to need more for proper supplies, Rainbow,” Rarity said.

“You don't look all too happy with your winnings,” Steve said.  His muzzle curved.  “I don't suppose you're up for another game?”

“I dunno...”  Rainbow looked up with a calm squint.  “Think you can go a night without eating?”

“Ohhhhhhhhh...” A stallion or two chuckled.

“Ah... now that's the spirit.” Steve twitched, grinning as he shuffled forward in his stool.  “The kind I like to deflate!”  He smirked.  “How 'bout it?  Let's wager six again.”

“You're cute.”  Rainbow slid all the coins over.  “I wager all nine.”  Her brow furrowed.  “And double the earnings.”

All the stallions looked at Steve.

“... … ...”  Steve cracked his neck joints.  “Alright.  But... to make things interesting, if you lose...”  he pointed.  “I get that snazzy necklace of yours.”

All the stallions looked at Rainbow.

“Rainbow...!”  Rarity winced.  “Your... Your Element.  You can't possibly—”

“Deal.”  Rainbow said.

Rarity blinked.

Steve pointed.  “Slap it on the table.”

Rainbow shook her head.  “Play the game first.”

“But those are the rules—”

“You'll get my satchel too if you win.  The pendant stays on for now.”

“... … ...”  Steve took a deep breath, leaning back.  “Alrighty then... Noob Rules.  Strange... but I can adapt.”  He twitched one last time before tossing the pebble onto the table.  Clop!  He slapped a cup over and—swish-swish-swish-swish—spun all three at a maddening speed.

Pinkie took a breath and dove under again.

“Rainbow...”  Rarity shook her head.  “I can't believe you just bet our entire security on this... brutish game!”

“It's okay, Rarity,” Twilight said.  “We've got a Pie up our sleeves.”

“But don't you get it?!”  Rarity pointed.  “He's a charlatan of the most unseemly sort!  He's obviously going to take this opportunity to ruin Rainbow!”

Rainbow's eyes remained locked on Steve.

The stallion stared back while spinning his cups.  He smirked.  At one point, his body convulsed hard, his wings dipping forward.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

Before the stallion was even finished, Pinkie Pie lifted up.  “Dashie...”  She looked at her, wide-eyed.  “... the pebble!  It's gone!”

Twilight did a double-take.  “What do you mean it's gone?!”

Pinkie shrugged.  “It's vanished completely!  It's not under any of the cups anymore!”

“... … ...” Rainbow's eyes darted towards the stallion's wings.

“His feathers!”  Rarity pointed.  “Check his feathers!”

Pinkie shoved her body through Steve's torso, sticking her head into his left wing, then his right.  She froze—spotting the very tips of his feathers as they tossed a red pebble into a conical straw hat lying on the ground beneath him.  A tail brushed over, knocking the hat over to cover the item.  The tail remained wrapped around the hat's brim, ready to lift it back up at any moment.

“Duaaaaaah!”  Pinkie flew back up to Rainbow.  “He's got the pebble hidden in a cone... hat... thingy!”  She pointed.  “Right behind him!  He swiped it away with his wings and tail and everything!”

Rainbow took a deep, calm breath.

“Oh dear...”  Rarity fidgeted.  “What do we do?”

“It's actually quite brilliant, really!” Pinkie chirped.

“Pinkie Pie...”

“Shhhh...”  Fluttershy pointed.  “He's stopping!”

As stated, the cups stopped scraping over the tabletop.

Lucky Steve removed his hooves, leaned back, and smirked.  “So then...”  He waved a fetlock, grinning from ear to ear.  “Which cup is it?”

“... … ...”

The stallions stared.

Rainbow's mare friends watched, holding their breaths.

The maneless pegasus took a deep breath.  “None of them.”

The old stallion one table over jolted, knocking over several of his tiles.

The others gathered around blinked.

“Pffft... wh-what?”  Lucky Steve shrugged.  “Come on, now... play the game—”

“I would,” Rainbow droned.  “If it was fair.”

“You calling me a cheater?”

“I saw you swipe the pebble out from under the cups with your wing half-a-minute ago,” Rainbow said.  “If you don't call that 'cheating,' then I guess you and I didn't go to the same grade school.”

“Like I said.”  Steve shrugged.  “I was stung by the manticores.  I have a twitch.  You wouldn't know that cuz you're not from around here.”

“Or maybe that's just an excuse you use to sucker ponies into overlooking the fact that you're a sham.”

“Okay, look.”  Steve frowned.  “I was willing to play fair at first.  But if you can't, then I don't see why we should be having this conversation.”  He pointed.  “Pick a damn cup already!  Or else just gimme your stuff!”

“... … ...”  Rainbow smirked.

Her leg flew up.  WHAM!  She hit the table.

Everypony flinched—including Steve—as the cups lifted up, flipped over, and landed on their backs.  Not a single one had a red pebble inside.

The stallions gasped.

The old pony dropped the pipe from his mouth.

“... … ...” Steve gulped.  “Uhhhhm—”

“Check his hat,” Rainbow said, motioning with her head.  “On the ground behind him.  The pebble's in there.”

The fat stallion blinked curiously.  He shuffled over.

“I... uhhh—” Steve continued to stammer.  His leg muscles shifted—

Rainbow pointed with an iron frown.  “Do.  Not.  Move.”

Taken back by the tone in her voice, Steve hunched down on his stool, sweating.

The stallion brushed Steve's tail aside and tipped the hat over.  “Sonuvabitch...”  He raised the red pebble to a chorus of gasps.  “The chick's right!”

“Ehh... eheheheh...” Steve smiled nervously.  He brushed a hoof through his short, buzzed mane.  “I-I can explain...”

“Explain what?” Rainbow droned.  “Your convulsions?”

“Huh?”  He looked at her.

“... … ...You're not twitching anymore, 'Lucky Steve.'”

He bit his lip.  His coat hung pale beneath a cold sweat.

“You say you've been around?”  Rainbow huffed.  “Well, so have I.  Enough to know that nopony survives a manticore attack.”

Fluttershy cleared her throat, floating close.  “Direct exposure to manticore sting poison causes a pony to foam at the mouth.”

“After being stung,” Rainbow said.  “A pony foams at the mouth.”

“Followed by paralysis.”

“Then loses all feeling in their body.”

“Then, the onset of blindness.”

“If you actually did live through a manticore sting, you'd be blind.”

“Which is when at manticore... uhm... dines on its prey.”

“Assuming the thing got so bored that it didn't eat you then and there.”  Rainbow Dash scooped the coins back to her side.  “If you ask me, Steve, the only thing lucky about you is that nopony in any of the previous towns you've cantered through had the guts to gut you alive.”

“Eheheheh... uhm...” Steve cleared his throat, inching away from the glaring stallions around him.  “Exactly wh-who have you been talking to?”

“Nopony,” Rainbow droned.  “I'm just awesome.”  She rattled the coins together.  “And things can remain that way... if you hoof over the coins you owe me.”

“Right... uh... s-sure thing.  Let's see... double the earnings...”  Steve stammered.  “Uhm... uhhh... eightteen bits!”  He fished through his satchel.  “I-I got them right here—”

“Twenty five,” Rainbow said.

Steve stared at her, blanching.  “Tw-twenty f-five?”

“Health insurance,” Rainbow said.  Twilight and Rarity smirked at each other behind her back.

“Health insurance?!”

Rainbow stood up straight, throwing her voice at the turf houses surrounding the scene.  “Hey!  Who here wants to hear the 'Ballad of Lucky Steve?!'  I hear it's all the rage in Rohbredden's coldest prisons!  Or at least...”  She turned to glare at him.  “It's gonna be.”

“Okay... OKAY!  Thirty bits!  Just...”  Steve slid the gold coins over, shivering all over.  “Just d-don't yelp anymore, okay?”

“She's not the one who's gonna be yelping after today, bucko...”  The fat stallion hissed, cracking the joints in his forelimbs.

Steve gulped.  He looked at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow calmly scooped the coins up.  She took a breath... then looked at him, eyebrow raised.

The stallion whimpered.  “Please.  What else do you want?  J-just t-tell me and get it over with!”

“... … ...”  Rainbow's darted down, then back up.  “That's a nice robe you've got.”

He blinked.  “It is?”

“I also dig the hat.”





Ponies from all trots of life marched east and west across the Silt Path.  In the distance, the dirt road led up into a hilly crest of craggy limestone.  Thick wooden poles marched every half-mile, with deep wooden etchings of windigos and blizzardy swirls.

Shuffling up a grassy path leading uphill from Riverstem, a petite figure in a dull green peasant robe paused. She shifted the weight of her bulging saddlebag, then fussed with the brim of her conical hat. Tilting the straw thing back, Rainbow peeked her fuzzy face out and sighed.

“Okay... I hate this hat.”

“Awwwwww... but Rainbow...”  Fluttershy giggled.  “It looks so cute on you.”

“It ain't no pink beret.”

“Huh?”

Rainbow sighed.  “Nothing.”

“I agree with Fluttershy.”  Rarity floated along with a tranquil smile.  “It's... charming!  'Agricultural Chic!'  It's like you're headed to a Royal Rice Pageant!”

“Someone hit the marshmallow,” Rainbow droned, shuffling forward as she followed a distant caravan of travelers far ahead.  “She's stuck.”

“Let's see...”  Twilight phased her lavender muzzle through Rainbow's saddlebag.  “Six packs of rice.  Two loaves of bread.  Dried orange slices—six bags.”

“Twilight...” Rainbow sighed.  “You've counted the supplies five times already!”

“You... can never be too careful,” Twilight said, fidgeting slightly.  “We came from a town of shifty gamblers, after all.  I just wanna make sure that we weren't robbed along the way here!”

“One shifty gambler, egghead.”  The hat fell over Rainbow's face.  “Unnngh...”  She shoved it back atop her shaved head.  “And we totally owned him.”

“Yeah!”  Pinkie grinned.  “I'd say a victory song is in order!  One for the road!”

“Heehee...”  Fluttershy basked in the warm sunlight. “That sounds nice actually.”

“It'll be okay, Rainbow,” Twilight said.  “I'll be like... your travel secretary!”  A grin.  “You worry about trotting! Let me worry about taking stock on the supplies!”

“And let me do the travel ballads!”  Pinkie swam figure-eights in the air as Rainbow trotted the long, long road east between rice paddies.  “Ohhhhhhhhh there once was a punk named Steve!  Thought he was lucky!  He was only plucky!”

“Heeheehee!”

“When does the chorus come in?”

“That was the chorus!”

“Oh...”

“Mrrmmmfff...”  Rainbow sighed... although she smirked to herself.  “...just get it out of your system, girls.”  The hat fell over her muzzle again.  “Dangit!”
> Griffons are Nothing but Neat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Lieutenant Keris, sir!” the voice rang across Red Barge.

Keris looked up from fixing his sling.

Elsaack trotted up.  “We finally repaired the damage caused by the pirate attacks.”  He pointed north.  “The struts there should be completely mobile by sundown.”

“Mmmm... splendid.”  The griffon stood up, wincing slightly.  “When's the soonest we can transport supplies between the Barges?”

“I'd say within a day,” Elsaack said.  He blinked.  “Uhm... assuming it's okay with your friends.”

Keris squinted.  “'Friends?'”

“More like superiors.”

Keris jolted, then spun.

Commander Seraphimus touched down, charcoal brown eyes leering.  Three armored guardians landed beside her, gazing at the recovery efforts.

“You have much explaining to do, Lieutenant.”

Keris breathed.  “Indeed, Commander, I do.”
> The Art of Good Grace
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Keris marched across the struts of Red Barge, followed swiftly by Commander Seraphimus.  Pulling up the rear were Windburst, Starstorm, and—at last—Raptr.  The Sergeants looked around, their beaks agape at the sight of so many ponies working and recovering together.

“If everypony looks healthy to you, that's entirely due to the faithful and well-spirited cooperation of these locals here.  Two days ago, this was a completely different scene.”  He waved his good talon at the tents where hundreds of ailing ponies were still gathered, resting and being fed food and medicine.  “Shortly upon Red Barge's liberation from the heartless control of Top Dredger Skagra, hundreds of enslaved souls were brought up to the surface.  I'm talking about starved, steam-scalded, barely functioning bodies... all worked to the bone to keep this place afloat.”

“Goddess...”  Raptr stammered, his hawkeyes blinking wide beneath his helmet.  “They look like they just came back from the dead.”

“Many of them didn't come back, Sergeant,” Keris explained.  “A grand total of twenty-eight have died since we attempted extracting them from the harvest chambers down below.”  He exhaled.  “The bodies of over a hundred overworked ponies still linger down there.  I purposefully requested that we delay the burial at sea until after the Right Talon of Verlaxion had a chance to look for themselves.”

“And we shall document our observations in order to provide the Council with a full report,” Seraphimus said with a nod.  “Very well done, Lieutenant.”  She pointed at the pale white platforms floating due north.  “Can you explain why White Barge is here?”

“Even before the power structure here collapsed, Representative Elsaack of the White Barge community had repeatedly offered their services in assisting the ponies of Red Barge,” Keris explained.  “However, Skagra's dredgers were told to constantly refuse any and all help.  From what I've been told, it's been this way for generations, with White Barge constantly improving itself while Red Barge fell into abject poverty and destitution.”

“And... and it's true?”  Starstorm stammered.  “The Red Bargers were... re-appropriating their own citizens into work slaves?”

“And making orphan laborers out of the children belonging to those sent below,” Keris calmly said.  “Even going so far as to remove their cutie marks with steam burns.”

“Damn...”  Windburst glared across the bulkheads.  “These punks were asking for it.”  He cocked his helmeted head aside, talons gripping a crossbow.  “Where did you say the top dredger was sent again?”

“Skagra and many of his executive dredgers are currently being held deep in the lower chambers of White Barge,” Keris explained.  “It... is feared that if they were kept here, then they might be subjected to multiple assassination attempts.”  The Lieutenant cleared his throat and pointed at Windburst.  “Sergeant.”

“...?”  Windburst turned around.

“Do relinquish the crossbow, if you will,” Keris said.  “The ponies here will not harm us... or each other.”

Before Windburst could sling it over his back—

“Belay that order, Sergeant,” Commander Seraphimus said.  “And take wing.  I want you on patrol of both Barges.”  Her talons scraped over the rusted metal as she perched on the edge of a lofty bulkhead, overlooking the scenery.  It may come as no surprise that this is the largest power shift in the seven seas' social structure since the mobsters in charge of Rust had their empire implode.”  She looked over her armored shoulder.  “These platforms are likely prime targets for pirates and privateers.  I need you as our look-out in case the unthinkable was to occur.”

Windburst saluted.  “Ma'am, yes, ma'am.”  Thwoooosh!  He flew high, curving into a counter-clockwise glide as he flew circles over the two Barges.

Keris was dead silent as Seraphimus swiveled about, speaking past him.  “Starstorm.  Raptr.”

Starstorm looked up while Raptr jolted, still shocked by the sights.

“Yes, Commander?” Starstorm swallowed.  “You wish us to assist the locals?”

Seraphimus nodded.  “Affirmative.  Evidently, the Lieutenant's heavy injuries have immobilized him.  No doubt these ponies will need help that goes beyond the limitations of the average pegasus.  Seek out this 'Elsaack' and ask what he needs to accelerate the recovery process.  Assist him in any way possible.  If it's requested that you make a delivery trip beyond the Barges, consult me first.  Is that understood?”

“Ma'am, yes, ma'am,” Starstorm said with a salute.

“Very well.  Dismissed.”  Seraphimus squinted for a moment.  “... … …and look after the rookie.”

“Huh?”  Raptr stammered.

Starstorm sighed, then smiled slightly.  “Come on, featherweight.  Stick close.”

“Erm... y-yes, Sergeant.”  And both took wing.

Keris turned to face Seraphimus.  “On the topic of privateers, it may interest you to know that Monket—the infamous 'Slaver of Waves' was here at Red Barge, working closely with Skagra... as well as with a third party that I believe may be connected with the Main Land.”  He gulped.  “If I may be so bold as to suggest—”

“You may not,” Seraphimus said bluntly, marching past him.  “Your boldness ends here.”  She motioned with an icy talon.  “Come with me, Lieutenant, where nopony can see or hear us.”  Her cold charcoal eyes narrowed beneath her helmet.  “We need to talk...”

With a shudder, Keris nevertheless stood up straight and limped after her.  “But of course, Commander...”

The two headed down a metal ramp and into a chamber below deck...





A light blizzard showered the forest outside a two-story shack with powdery frost.

Sonikah shivered, but she tried not to show it.  With numb limbs, she trotted up the stone steps that made the foundation of the partially collapsed household.  Several strips of dry wood balanced on her flank, and a rosy light covered her coat and burlap tunic as she approached a soothing heat source.  The mare squinted, coming to a shuffling stop several feet from a flickering fire.

Theanim Mane squatted between two weak pilgrims parked by the flames.  He helped one sit up, half-cradling him with a forelimb.  Meanwhile, he tilted a mug of steaming soup to the emaciated stallion's lips.

“There... please... sip to your heart's content.”  Theanim smiled.  “Or—in this case—your stomach.”

The stallion winced slightly, but found the pace at which to relish both the taste and nourishment of the broth beyond his aching limbs.  He raised two hooves and used it to support the mug in Theanim's grasp.

“I threw in a special, curing agent made from a herb I discovered on the Nealend Atoll,” Theanim said in a pleasant tone.  “It relaxes the inner organs of the body.  It should help ease your hunger pains as you get used to a healthy diet again.”

The stallion paused in drinking.  He coughed once, then wheezed:  “Any... m-meat...?”

“Heh... no sir.”  Theanim shook his head.  “I've done my fair share of research on the pilgrims of the Quade.  I've no intention of disrespecting your time-honored beliefs.”  When the pony was done with the soup, he helped lay the stallion down, then drew a blanket over him.  “However, as a member of the Scientific Order, I would be remiss if I allowed you to suffer anymore than you already have.”

“Mrmmfff...”  The stallion sputtered, wheezed.  He nevertheless curled up beneath the fabric.  “Through p-pain and labor... we... m-meditate on... on...”

“So I've been told,” Theanim said with a nod.  “But what is the point of such a method if it threatens to end your life?  Hmmm?”  He arched an eyebrow.  “You've suffered many indecencies since arriving here.  It would be a shame to perish from your circumstances.  After all... how would one meditate then?”

“Perhaps...”  The other stallion stammered to the side of Theanim.  “...it would be the Goddess' will.”

“Ah.  A very good point.”  Theanim made a show of leaning back and tapping his chin in thought.  “Or... just perhaps... it may have been Verlaxion's will that I showed up to nurse you back to health.”

Sonikah's nostrils flared.  She trotted forward and dumped the firewood inordinately at Theanim's side.

Theanim jumped slightly.

“Thank you most kindly for your gracious assistance, Professor,” Sonikah said.  “But it is no longer needed.”

“I beg to differ, madame.”  Theanim pointed at the two stallions.  “Your associates here are still suffering digestion problems.  And with this blisteringly cold weather all around us, it's a wonder that all of you haven't come down with a case of hypothe—”

“Your actions are most welcome,” Sonikah said.  “But your words are not.”

“I'm afraid I don't quite read you.”

“Oh, but I think you do, Professor,” Sonikah said.  “If you so desire to nurse my fellow pilgrims back to health, then I welcome your good grace and compassion.”  She shook her head.  “However, I cannot and will not stand for you insisting on what is or what isn't Verlaxion's divine deliverance.”

“I only meant to imply that it may not be your lot in life to suffer unnecessar—”

“Our lot in life was altered the very moment we suffered a New Plight of Luminar!” Sonikah snarled.

“Oh, is that what you're calling it?”  Theanim smiled.

“This conversation is over,” Sonikah said in a growling tone.  “I've allowed you to perform your services up util now, but I'm afraid I must ask you to leave.”

“My dear madame—”

“When we were brought here, we were told that this place was a sanctuary for the Luminards to conduct their mourning in absolute purity before the presence of Verlaxion,” she said.  “I cannot allow you to disturb that any longer.”

Theanim adjusted his goggles.  “And just who said this, pray tell?”  He arched an eyebrow beneath his brown bangs.  “The materialist ruffians who unceremoniously dumped you into this woodland ghetto?”

Sonikah chewed on her lip.

Theanim squinted.  “Are these the same members of the Shoreline Trade Consortium that hauled you up to the Council at Frostknife just so you could act as a figurehead for Chandler's platform?”

With a sigh, Sonikah shuffled past him.  “I have no concern for the Consortium's politics.  Or for yours.”

Theanim spun about.  “But perhaps you should, seeing as how you and your friends here have been brushed under the rug.  Do you even know where this place is?”

Sonikah squatted by the fire, tossing in one log after another.  “It's secluded.  By Verlaxion's grace, that's all that matters.”

“Ms. Sonikah, this is Elm Prefecture,” Theanim exhaled.  “It's the least populated province on the east side of Frostknife.”  The Professor shook his head.  “Chandler and his stallions didn't send you here so you could meditate.  He sent you here so you could disappear.”

Sonikah clenched her jaw, staring into the flames.

“And I bet Chandler orchestrated it... knowing that you in your current miserable state of mourning would accept whatever was given to you.”  Theanim frowned.  “Well, I will not stand for it.”

“Professor...”

“As a foal of Verlaxion myself, I am honor-bound to protect my brothers and sisters of Unification—”

She flashed an angry frown at him.  “Do not twist the Goddess' good virtues against me!”  She planted a hoof over her chest.  “I dealt with that enough back in... in...”

Theanim stared.

Sonikah sighed, hanging her head.  “I know the real reason why you're here, Professor.”  She gulped.  “It is simply to find some foolish way to exonerate Rainbow Dash.”  She shook her head.  “I am telling you right now that such a thing will not come to pass.  By Verlaxion's glory, I cannot condone the actions she committed in the Quade.”

Theanim calmly said, “I am here to ascertain the truth, Ms. Sonikah.  Whatever that may be.”  His eyes narrowed.  “Including Rainbow Dash's guilt.”

She looked up at him.

“And... if that may be the case... or even if it may not be.”  He gulped.  “I-I do believe that I share in that guilt, madame.  I was a close companion to hers... and now I fear that I may have left her out of my sight too soon.”  His brow furrowed.  “I aim to fix that.  I aim to fix you.”

Sonikah slowly shook her head.  “There is no fixing us.  We are damned... forsaken.”

“You are also alive,” Theanim said, smiling gently.  “And life is the greatest gift Verlaxion has allowed us since the Thawing.”  His eyes narrowed.  “Would you deny her the joy of such godly generosity?”

“... … ...”

“Mmmm... something to meditate on indeed.”  Theanim stood up, gathering some supplies.  “I shall let you be.”

“You shall leave us alone entirely—”

“I'll be upstairs.  Just shout—for anything—and I will come straight down to provide more warmth and food.”  Theanim saluted as he trotted by, smiling.  “Cheers.”

“Mmmmmfffnngh...”  Sonikah face hoofed with a sigh.

One of the two stallions coughed, wheezed.  “... … …more soup, please?”

“Verlaxion, spare me,” Sonikah droned.
> Keeping Your Claws Razor Sharp
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	With scraping talons, Seraphimus came to a stop beside a series of moldy mattresses.  She lifted her silver helmet off her head, sighed, and held the item in her grasp.  She examined it coolly with charcoal brown eyes as she spoke.

“I know you're a wise griffon, Lieutenant,” Seraphimus said.  “Foolhardy, perhaps, but wise.  So it would be redundant—if not absurd—to suggest that your mind is capable of terrible lapses in memory.”

“You have my agreement, whole-heartedly,” Keris said.

“Hmmmm... 'whole-heartedly.'  There is a great deal of heart in that, Lieutenant.  Tell me...”  She pivoted her head sideways to peer at him, hawkeye leering.  “Which have you been listening to as of late?  The heart?  Or the mind?”

Keris leaned his battered body against an empty oil drum.  He sighed, his voice rolling quietly across the dim chamber.  “In all that I've done, and in all of the decisions that I've made, I've relied on the wordless wisdom of our Goddess Verlaxion.  Whether She chooses to speak to our minds or our spirits, that is up to Her divine will.”

Seraphimus squinted.  “Then you mean to suggest that the Goddess Verlaxion has been deliberately instructing you to disobey my command?”

“No, Commander.”

“Do you or do you not acknowledge that I—as commanding officer of the Right Talon of Verlaxion—represent the wisdom and righteous judgment imbued in me by our Goddess and the Council in Her charge?”

“I do acknowledge it, Commander—”

“Then why have you openly defied me?!”  Seraphimus' growling tone rolled off the rusted bulkheads.  A spark or two flew from her talons as she pivoted—scraping—to face him with an iron glare.  “Why did you allow the power struggle of the Barges to take precedent over my explicitly charged directions to seek out and subdue the Rainbow Rogue?!”

Keris took a deep breath, facing forward.  “I conducted the investigation as ordered, Commander.  My search brought me here—upon which I suffered injuries that made it physically impossible to properly arrest the Rainbow Rogue—”

“Polish your tongue before you use it to fling such filth at me.”  Seraphimus crossed the distance between them on thundering paws.  She stared him down, beak to beak.  “Such an excuse might work on Sergeant Windburst or Starstorm or the lowly rookie.  But I know you, Keris.”  She took a seething breath, feathers rustling.  “I gave you the mission to investigate the Quade because you are the most resourceful and wise among us.  But—for some damnable reason—you are also the most stubborn and fickle guardian I've ever served with.  However, when the Council chose—by Verlaxion's insight—to pursue the tragedy at the Quade, I assigned the task to you.  I did this in good faith, Lieutenant.  We live in a time wrought by terrorism inside Rohbredden and abroad.  Our numbers are spread thin and I simply cannot afford to put such random tasks into the talons of a less-capable griffon.”

Keris gulped, staring ahead.  “Commander—”

“I am not finished!”  Her voice echoed like a gunshot across the chamber, echoing in the Lieutenant's ears.  After a deep breath, she murmured:  “You have served our kingdom for a long, long time.  And yet, for all of your wisdom and fortitude, you never achieved the rank of Commander of the Right Talon.  Now why do you think that is, Lieutenant?”

Keris' beak opened slightly, but he hesitated.  At last, he stammered, “Do you wish me to be honest, Commander?”

She snorted.  “I would expect no less from you, Keris.”

He exhaled.  “The Council is wary of my skills in judgment.  They see in me a soldier who is highly talented in the art of combat and diplomacy, but...”

“But what?”

He gulped.  “...I have always displayed... inattentiveness in matters of spiritual intuition.”

“You choose your own interpretations of Verlaxion's commands, Keris,” Seraphimus said.  “I understand that versatility in the field requires a certain degree of improvisation, but you have to keep in mind...”  She paced around him.  “There is no wisdom greater than Verlaxion's.  The Council speaks for her.  And—by proxy—so do I.  When I was a young hatchling, I did not expect to someday hold such a lofty position... to be the leader of the Right Talon of Verlaxion.  But—be it destiny or divine will—this task was thrust upon me.  I've no choice but to do it just as thousands of guardians from countless roosts have performed it before me—in complete and faithful subservience to the Goddess of Thawing.”

She turned about, facing him across the rusted habitat.

“To perform our tasks outside of the Will of Verlaxion is counter-intuitive in preserving harmony for Rohbredden.  It's dangerous.  Self-destructive.  Entire legions of the Talon have died by making the horrible mistake of defying Her will as expressed by the Council.”  She pointed at Keris' bandages and sling.  “Look at what such defiance has done to you.”

Keris clutched his other shoulder, shuddering.  “There were ponies suffering, Commander—”

“There are always ponies suffering, Lieutenant.”  She strolled towards him.  “Especially out here... floating among the muck and filth of godlessness.  Who caused this suffering to happen if not these very ponies themselves?”  Seraphimus took a deep breath.  “Scholars and philosophers have pondered through the ages precisely why our Goddess has chosen the Continentalists of Rohbredden to receive Her holy blessings.  Well, such writers were never soldiers in the field.  I've seen first-hand the kind of filth and destitution that befalls the tribes who choose—however foolishly—to live outside of Verlaxion's good graces.”  She pointed one claw after another.  “Cannibalistic midnighters—clinging to pagan rituals on the edge of the world.  Apostate colonialists—fornicating and wasting their breaths along the fringes of the Blight.  Pirates and privateers—enslaving and exploiting each other across the forsaken seas.”  Her eyes narrowed.  “At long last, you've seen the misery of the seven seas for yourself, Lieutenant.  Can you now deny the depths to which these putrid souls have driven themselves?”

“I have seen misery, yes.”  Keris pivoted his head to face her directly.  “Do you know where we are standing at present, Commander?”

She blinked at him.  With a disgruntled sigh, Seraphimus leaned back, rubbing her eyes.  Nevertheless... after a few dull seconds, she murmured, “Do fill me in, Lieutenant.”

He waved his good talon at the rusted scenery.  “This was once an orphanage.  And by that, I don't mean a well-to-do foster home for needy foals... but a slave pit where children were forced to waste away in cold starvation.”  He rapped his knuckles against the rusted barrel next to him.  “They would burn pungent refuse here to warm themselves, night and day.”  He pointed at a partially collapsed bunkbed.  “Emaciated waifs slept, stacked on top of one another—like living lumber.  Anything to keep warm.”  He pivoted, nodding his beak towards the far corner of the room.  “Just this morning, before you arrived, Elsaack and I came down here with a group of locals and... scooped up the dried-out corpses of fillies and colts who had perished in their sleep.  They had long-decayed and their flesh reeked of deathstench... and yet the other orphans kept them there... rather than let them be tossed by Skagra's dredgers into the cesspool above deck.  That way—they felt—the souls of their ill-fated friends would still hold a chance to join the dead drifts... and find their way to the Spring Havens.”

Seraphimus' eyes narrowed.

Keris saw it—expected it.  “Does that surprise you?  That the children of godless heathens would hold the most precious... most ardent faith in our great Deliverer?”  He swept a talon through the air.  “There are prayers hidden across the purgatorial lengths of this domain... etched into the walls... hidden in little scrolls behind bulkheads.  Entire, fragile generations of children lived and died in here, praying to Verlaxion for deliverance.  And when I found myself thrown into the dank brig of this place—broken and battered—it was one of these very same children who came to my aid... who rescued me... empowered by the generosity and kindness of the Goddess herself.”

“You were fortunate,” Seraphimus said.  “You must still have a function in Her divine plan.”

“Not a day goes by when I don't think of that.”  Keris took a deep breath, readying himself for the weight of what he was about to deliver next.  “Nor does a second go by when I don't ponder... the plan that the Rainbow Rogue has.”

Seraphimus' headcrest lifted at that.

Keris continued, “She is... more than a mere pony, Commander.  She is... a force... benevolent?  Malevolent?”  He shook his head.  “Rather, I don't believe it is one pole or the other.  It is something far more complex... something nebulous... something that no living guardian of the Talon has ever encountered before.”

“You mean to suggest that a morally gray creature was responsible for the holocaust in the Quade?”

“She does not deny what she did in the Quade.”

“Then you should have followed through with your orders,” Seraphimus said bluntly.  “And committed every bit of energy to subduing her.”

“And even if I could have done that and succeeded, Commander...”  Keris waved a talon.  “...what would have become of the Barges?  This very room could still be filled with suffering... with needless death of hundreds of souls still loyal to Verlaxion—even in spite of their misery.”

“You're right, Keris,” Seraphimus said with a nod.  “Hundreds of muck-born creatures may have been suffering... dying.  But instead, now that the Rainbow Rogue is free, she stands to threaten the livelihood of thousands... millions of holy citizens living all across Rohbredden.  From the west coast to the edge of midnight.”

Keris gulped.  “C-Commander—”

“You said it yourself, Lieutenant,” Seraphimus droned.  “This Rainbow Rogue... this monster from beyond the blight is an unprecedented, 'nebulous' source of power.  Such dark magic should not be trifled with.  Bit now that she's escaped the boundaries of Red Barge... who can possibly... feasibly predict what she might be capable of?!”

Keris clenched his beak shut.  Exhaling, he hung his head.

Seraphimus gazed towards the sun-lit entrance.  With a sigh, she shuffled forward, then rested a talon on his good shoulder.  “The Council is waiting in great anticipation for a report from the Right Talon—to explain what we've found in the Quade and beyond.  It goes without saying that... they will not appreciate hearing what's transpired here, Lieutenant.”

“I understand, Commander.”

“And for that very same reason, you know that I cannot condone the fact that you aided the enemy, even in the least.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“And yet... at the same time...”  Seraphimus leaned back.  “They do not know you like I do.  It... takes an experienced guardian to understand the tenuous balance between hunting and protecting.  While what you did here was far from perfect...”  She clenched and unclenched her beak.  “...it was performed with the best interests of the immediate citizenry in mind.”  She muttered, “Godless or not.”

Keris looked up.

“In addition, what you've observed here—in the presence of the Rainbow Rogue—will be priceless in the inevitable act of subduing her.  Which—as you can well guess—we are now collectively charged with doing.”

Keris gulped.  “I understand fully, Commander.”

“I need more than your understanding, Lieutenant,” Seraphimus said, eyes leering.

Keris blinked.  Then, his magenta eyes twitched.  Wincing—fighting the pain in his battered limbs—he nevertheless bowed low on one feline knee.  He raised his good talon up, struggling.

Seraphimus met him halfway, placing her claws in his tender grip.

He leaned forward, pressing his beak to her limb.  Kissing it.

“I am the Right Talon of Verlaxion,” Seraphimus quoted.

“And... I am y-your Claw,” Keris said raspily.

Seraphimus nodded.  She leaned forward, helping him gently up into a standing position.  However, the gesture didn't end there.  As she exhaled, her claws lingered on his shoulders. She looked past his headcrest.

Keris blinked.  Her feathers were close.  At a glance, it almost resembled a hug.  “... … ...Commander?”

“There are so... so very few of us left, Lieutenant,” she murmured quietly.  “The righteous.”  A gulp.  “We lost Jordan to a fit of godless foolishness.”

Keris winced.

“I... would be remiss to lose you as well,” Seraphimus calmly said.  “There is much... much strife in the Continent.  Our enemies are invisible, and the presence of the Rainbow Rogue in our land does not bode well for a fragile kingdom.”  She leaned back, staring him squarely in the face.  “The Month of Thawing is almost upon us.  I need you to be wise... to be strong... and—above all—to be faithful.  Can I rely on you, Lieutenant?”

Keris slowly... slowly nodded.  “You can rely on me, Commander.”

“Defy my orders again—no matter how benevolent the motivations may be—and I will have you stripped of all your rank and armor.”  Her charcoal eyes glinted.  “Do you understand me?”

Keris stood up straight, his feathers cresting back.  “I understand you, Commander.  You have my allegiance.”

“Indeed I do.”  Seraphimus stepped back.  “Rest.  Mend.  Once I have made a proper assessment of the situation here, I shall appropriate all tasks of restoration to Elsaack of White Barge.  And then...”

“...we set out for the Rainbow Rogue?”

She nodded.  “The hunt resumes.  I will leave the briefing of the Sergeants to you.  This can be accomplished while we take wing to make time.”  She made to walk away, but lingered.  Turning, she squinted at him once more.  “I... trust that you will leave out no details concerning the monster's strengths and weaknesses.”

He gulped, then nodded back.  “None whatsoever, Commander.”

“Mmmmm...”  She placed her helmet on, pivoted about, and exited the shadowed stench of death.

Keris stood behind, meditating on the rust and detritus.
> No Time for Brevity, Levity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Raptr turned his helmeted head aside, blinking through the billowing clouds.  “Would you mind repeating that, Lieutenant?”

Keris winced.  He flew east over the seas with a modicum of grace, but it was evident from his tense muscles that the flapping of his wings constantly jostled his injured arm.  Nevertheless, he held the sling close to chest and maintained formation with the rest of the Talon.

“She has four separate spirits bound to her essence,” Keris spoke above the whipping winds.  “Each with a different name and personality.  What's more, they grant her four categories of extra sensory perception.”  He gulped beneath his beak.  “Magical detection, spatial awareness, empathy, and... a Pinkie sense.”

Starstorm blinked past Windstorm and Seraphimus.  “A what sense?”

“A randomly occurring, split-second and remarkably accurate prediction of spontaneous hazards.”  Keris took a deep breath, squinting against the high atmosphere over the seven seas.  “It's quite the long story, to say the least.”

“And what about the pendant around her neck?” Starstorm asked, gesturing.  “Several of the Barge citizens mentioned it.”

“It's an artifact from her home,” Keris said.

“From beyond the Blight, you mean,” Windstorm droned.

“That's right.”  Keris nodded.  “Rainbow Dash identifies herself as Equestrian.  Supposedly—several continents to the west—there lies a kingdom ruled by the 'Elements of Harmony.'”

“Did you say several continents?” Starstorm exhaled, once again flabbergasted.

Keris went on.  “The pendant around her neck is supposedly one such Element—chiefly the Element of Loyalty.”

“Heh...”  Windburst smirked cynically.  “That's rich.”

“On one fateful day, a year and a half ago, Rainbow's friends perished tragically.  They were the bearers of the other Elements.  Only hers survived, and due to some... cataclysmic exposure to a diabolical source of chaos, she currently needs the Element of Loyalty to sustain her so-called 'Harmonic self.'”

“And what happens if this... 'Element' comes off?” Raptr asked, blinking.

“This...”  Keris pointed at his sling.  His body hit a turbulent pocket of air, and he grimaced.  “Grnnghh... this is what happens.”  A shuddering breath.  “When the Rainbow Rogue was first captured by Monket, the Slaver of Waves stripped her of the pendant.  She mutated into a horrific beast and immediately maimed several of his sea slaves.”

“Verlaxion's sleet...”  Raptr murmured.

“Mind your tongue,” Seraphimus calmly chided, then gestured for Keris to continue.

He did:  “Days later, Skagra ordered the Rainbow Rogue's pendant removed again so that she would mutate once more and devour me while in a state of chaos.  It was the top dredger's plan to hide any and all evidence of my having been in his brig—or the entirety of Red Barge for that matter.”

“And after all you did for the stinkin' bastards too,” Windburst snorted, smirking.  “Glad he got what was coming to him.”

“How'd you even survive the encounter?” Starstorm asked.

“It's as I've stated briefly before,” Keris said.  “The divine intervention of our Goddess saved my life...”  He glanced aside at the Commander.  “...through the kind and selfless act of a little foal.”

Seraphimus clenched her beak shut, leading the flock east, slicing through the clouds.

“You make it sound as though the Rainbow Rogue never wanted to rip you apart to begin with,” Starstorm said.

“She can't control herself without the pendant.”

“Even though it makes her a hundred times fiercer and stronger?”

Keris calmly shook his head.  “She goes to extreme length to prevent herself from transforming,” he explained.  “Even as the mutation took place before my eyes, she urged me to keep my distance—not that it would have helped once.  She is... quite ferocious when her chaotic powers are unleashed.”

“What kind of a monster are we talking about?” Windburst asked.

“Larger than the average pony, but incredibly agile... nimble.  Like a serpent... or a lizard... or a mountain ram... or... or a lion...”

“That's quite a beak-full of clashing descriptions, Lieutenant.”  Raptr's headcrest ruffled under his helmet.  “You sure you weren't hallucinating?”

“As sure as my body still aches.”

“It was stronger than you?” Windburst asked.

“Stronger than an elephant,” Keris said.  “With unnaturally swift regenerative abilities.  I could scarcely slice her mutated flesh without the wounds sealing up right before my eyes.”

“Yeesh...” Raptr grimaced.

“It's a divine miracle indeed that you made it out of Red Barge in one piece,” Starstorm murmured.

“Even still.”  Windburst snorted.  “The beast can't be entirely invulnerable.”

Keris glanced aside.  “Sergeant?”

“Well, its wing was still injured, right?”  Windburst's armor rattled as he flew over a gust of wind, maintaining speed with the group.  “If this Rogue can regenerate while in its chaotic state, then what explanation do you have for why its wing was still as flightless when leaving the Barges as it was when it left the Quade?”

Keris shuddered, gazing down at the distant waves.  “I have none...”

“Well, there you have it.”  Windburst gestured with his talon.  “If the thing can break, then that means we can shatter it.  Snap its spine in two so it won't pray on any children of Verlaxion ever again.”

“Calm thoughts, Sergeant,” Seraphimus insisted.  “Our task is to apprehend the Rainbow Rogue and deliver her to the Council of Verlaxion so that she may be judged righteously.”

“You want to bring a beast like that to Frostknife?!”  Windburst grimaced.  “That pendant of hers is filled with black magic!  She'll corrupt the steps to the throne of our Goddess!”

“It could be like the Quade,” Raptr said, gulping.  “Or even worse.”

“The tragedy at the Quade stands to happen again if we don't use our Goddess-given talents to restrain the Rogue,” Seraphimus said.  “I will not rule out lethal action.  But—for the Council's sake—it must remain a last resort.”

“As if we could really do much against that... thing!”  Starstorm's voice snarled.  “If she can turn into a chaotic abomination at any moment—” 

“And I am telling you...”  Keris' eyes narrowed.  “Rainbow Dash will do anything to keep that from happening.”

“Then it's the Rogue's fault that it's stupid enough to let us wrangle it without contest,” Windburst said.

Keris shook his head.  “I don't believe it will be quite that simple, Sergeant.”

“Mmmmmyeahhhh...” Windburst groaned.  “It rarely ever friggin' is.”

“Rainbow's companions—albeit invisible—are far from useless,” Keris explained.  “I've no doubt that they will sense the Talon's arrival from kilometers away.  If worse comes to worst, they will do whatever is in their power to conceal their living friend and make her desperate trip east even stealthier.”

“Why is she so Hell-bent on making her way east, anyways?”  Starstorm blinked.  “All she'll find is the end of the world!”

“Don't matter how much teeth you put on a beast,” Windburst grunted.  “A monster's a monster.”

“And here's an even better question!” Starstorm leaned in while flying.  “Does she actually have invisible pony spirits galloping alongside her at all times?”

Before Keris could respond—

“Of course not,” Seraphimus droned.  “Any spirits dwelling on this plane would be headed towards perdition, or else granted swift passage to the Spring Havens via the Dead Drifts, by Verlaxion's grace.”

“And we are all in accordance with that, Commander,” Keris said.  His beak clenched.  “Even still, there is a force at play around Rainbow Dash.  Her keen senses are unnaturally gifted.  I've witnessed her strategize around an army that she couldn't even see or hear through a suffocating steam fog.  Because of her abilities, the two of us were able to overpower all of Skagra's forces with little to not contest.”

“No doubt.”  Seraphimus nodded.  A charcoal eye darted towards him.  “But I can also tell that suffering and malnourishment has had its effect on you.”

“Commander, I—”

“You spent an awful long time sitting and conversing with the company of our target, Lieutenant,” Seraphimus said.  “I'm afraid such anguish tainted your judgment with the illusion of trust and companionship.  Need I remind you that this same wonder from 'Equestria' performed more atrocious acts with the pendant on than with it off?”

Keris took a deep breath.  “No, Commander.  You needn't.”

“These... 'invisible friends' of hers are no doubt the disassociative personalities of her psyche that she's ascribed to the separate facets of black magic that the pendant has imbued her with.  They are curious anomalies at best—I am convinced—and we should be grateful that she lacks control over the totality of her beastly faculties.  It means she has a glaring weakness that we can aim to exploit.”

“Exactly!” Windburst said with a nod.  “Hit her where it hurts!”  He squinted and cocked an invisible crossbow.  “Pow!  The Council has their trophy.”

“But let us not assume that a creature as destitute as the Rainbow Rogue won't resort to desperation when the Talon catches up to her,” Seraphimus calmly warned.  “Where she's headed, the true foals of Verlaxion lie in wait.  So long as this beast is on the loose, she's a threat to all the innocent lives we've sworn to protect.  We must not fail in apprehending her, no matter her magical abilities.  After all, the Month of Thawing is upon us.  There won't be a more key moment in time to honor Verlaxion with our swift might.”

“And you have my sincere support with every step we take in this mission,” Keris said.  “But—if I may speak freely, Commander.”

Seraphimus sighed.  She smiled tiredly beneath her beak.  “When did you ever stop, Lieutenant?”

“I am convinced... truly convinced that there is far more happening here than even our hawkeyes can see,” Keris said.  “I insist that we approach this beast with caution.”

“I humbly suggest the opposite,” Windburst uttered bluntly.  “Commander, we should strike quickly and strike hard.  If it's Verlaxion's will—via the Council—then we must throttle this Rogue and knock her unconscious before she has a chance to employ any of her abominable abilities.”

“We won't get anywhere if we go about this impulsively, Sergeant,” Keris retorted.  “Unrighteous or not, Rainbow Dash has gifts... gifts that can and will greatly complicate all efforts to capture her swiftly.”

“I echo the Lieutenant's sentiments,” Seraphimus said.  “Insomuch that we musn't make the mistake of underestimating the Rainbow Rogue's wit and tenacity.  But mark my words—we can and will subdued this creature, and we will do so quickly, professionally, and without mercy.”

“Commander.”  Keris bowed in mid-flight.  “Yes, Commander.”

“Today is a very delicate, fragile day for the Six Tribes,” Seraphimus spoke as the barest hint of land rolled over the watery horizon, growing larger, darker.  “The blessed continent of Robhredden has become the unwitting host to a parasite of the most versatile kind.”  She took a deep breath.  “Even without the gift of flight, there's no doubt that our target has reached dry land.”

“Do you think she's already harmed any more citizens like did with the Luminards, Commander?” Raptr asked.

“That is a question that we will all have to live with until we confront the beast,” Seraphimus said.  She glared forward, beak muscles clenched.  “There's simply no telling what horrible, godless crimes she's committing right now...even as we speak...”





“Mrmmmmfff... nommfff... nommm!”  Rainbow Dash nibbled and nibbled on a breaded cluster of rice.  “Mmmmm...”  Her fuzzy blue muzzle wriggled like a squirrel's as she squat her petite self on the side of the road.  “Mmmf!  This stuff is...”  A burp.  She slapped her chest, causing her pendant to rattle.  “...pretty dang delicious, actually.”

“I suspect anything is an upgrade from the despicable slop you were forced to consume on the Barge, darling,” Rarity said, floating overhead.  “Even... mmmmm... rice.”

“I'm telling you—this stuff is friggin' amazing!”  Rainbow Dash said.  Several white and brown kernels stuck to her nose.  “It's like they spiced it with... with...”

Twilight Sparkle arched an eyebrow.  “Spice?”

“How would you know?”

Twilight smirked.  “Lucky guess.”

Rainbow took a deep... deep breath, then gobbled up the last of the rice cluster, along with the crumbly bread holding it in place.  Swallowing, she sighed, then leaned back against the trunk of a wind-blown lotus tree.  Before her, a long, winding road curved east, arching up through a craggy canyon where two mountainous slabs of porous limestone met—draped with moss, vines, and lichen.  Slowly lurching caravans of Rohbredden traders—both young and old—trotted the lengths of the path, seemingly ambivalent to the majestic sights of nature lingering on all sides.

“It's different than the seven seas,” Rainbow muttered.

“Heh... in what way?”  Twilight gestured.  “The complete lack of ocean?”

“The fact that everypony around you isn't suffering or inflicting wanton misery?” Rarity added.

“Just... everypony here is so... slow.  I-I mean chillaxed, y'know?”  She pointed at a passing caravan.  “I mean, just look at them!  Unification Day is coming around the bend, and yet they're acting like they can finish their delivery—I dunno—the next decade, from the pace they're trotting at.”

“Don't point, Rainbow,” Twilight muttered.  “You'll attract attention to yourself.”

“Pffft.  Please,” Rainbow smirked, tilting back the brim of her conical hat.  “Like these wrinkly old rice geezers give a darn.”

“Well, somepony gives a darn, Dashie!” Pinkie said.

“Pinkie's right.”  Rarity nodded.

“As much as I'd love to sit here with you and the munchies, we've gotta get skedaddlies.”  Pinkie smiled.  “See?  That's in the spirit of—”

“Applejack.  Gotcha.”  Rainbow rolled her eyes.  A sigh, and she folded her foodstuffs back up, sliding them into her saddlebag.  “Alright.  Intermission's over.  Time to hoof it.”

“Awwwwwww...” Fluttershy pouted, ears folding back.  “I was starting to enjoy how... peaceful it all was.”

“You can enjoy it on the road.”

“Really?”

“Sure.”  Rainbow shrugged.  “Why not?”

Pinkie squinted at the steep ravine up ahead.  “Just how long does this path go for anyways?”

“There's only one way to find out.”  With a grunt, Rainbow fought her injured wing and stood up.  “There's always... always a way to find out.”  She smiled, her eyes briefly glittering from the orange glow of Yaerfaerda from afar—until the front of the hat fell over her face again.   “Augh!  Darn it!”
> Through Mountains, Valleys, and Terraces
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow trotted east—or at least she assumed so.  The narrow granite pass through the two mountains was an erratic, winding thing, constantly lifting up with shallow steps.  Old, splintery boards had been hammered into the stonework many times over the past few centuries, allowing a crude ramp for ponies drawing wagons up the pass.  Not all of the ramps were in decent shape.  But it appeared that no one in Rohbredden was particularly in a rush to fix them... or use them.  Whenever an eastward caravan of wagon-pullers got stuck, everypony would come together to lift the cart and push it past the nearest obstacle.  Even perfect strangers—ponies trotting in the opposite direction—willingly set everything else aside to help the occasional traveler to overcome the current hurdle before resuming their own journey.

The pass was scarcely wide enough to allow more than six ponies' width to trot by.  This not only made the sojourn through the mountains feel claustrophobic, but it provided an issue when east-bound and west-bound travelers inevitably had to cross.  To solve this, several niches had been carved into the porous limestone of the mountains.  They were chiseled out of the northern mountain—spaced apart every twenty meters or so.  There was enough room in each alcove for at least three wagons to wait front-to-back.

Rainbow Dash found this out when she had to wait inside such a pocket for a good fifteen minutes, allowing a heavy caravan of ten wagon-pullers to pass by, heading west towards the rice fields she had passed earlier that day.  She stood side-by-side with several other ponies as she waited, crammed in close enough with them that she could smell their breaths.  At first, a terrible sense of discomfort overwhelmed her, and she constantly tilted her hat down—for fear that someone might recognize her.  However, as the minutes wore on, her worries proved unfounded.  What's more, the ponies gathered around her broke into cheerful conversation.  They were likely strangers to one another, but Rainbow could scarcely tell.  Rohbreddenites—both young and wrinkled—chatted pleasantly about rice crops, dredge coal prices, and the upcoming Month of Thawing.  The latter proved to be a conversation of intense interest and joy to the locals.  More than once, Rainbow glanced at the caravans—both coming and going—and spotted colorful packages full of what Twilight and Pinkie identified as fireworks.  Colors of bright fiery red and deep icy blue swirled in painterly contrast, a common motif in every piece of decoration bound for one celebration or another.

At last, the pass was clear once again for Rainbow to continue trotting.  A part of her missed the chance to listen in on the mirth of the locals.  It was a good thing to have her four friends nearby, but in such a tight space the pegasus could scarcely afford to chat with them.  No doubt the looming limestone would throw her voice in echoing salvos east and west so every fuzzy ear could hear her rambling.

Thankfully, there wasn't much length left for piercing the mountains.  Rainbow squinted, for a bright patch of sky opened up in front of her.  The path widened and the eastbound caravans spread evenly as they exited the ravine.  Soon, Rainbow's eyes were awash in an epic ocean of green.  The dewy smell of marshes mixed with the scent of rich fertilized soil.  Rainbow gazed left and right, and all she could see was wave after wave of rice paddies.  The Silt Path loomed above the wet fields on an elevated track of compacted dirt.

Gazing aside, Rainbow and her friends could see living rows of farmers rummaging through the tall grass blades.  The ponies pulled up thick clusters by the roots, bundling them together and hoofing them over to other ponies tasked with carrying the harvest back to the farm.  They accomplished this with dual baskets hanging in a delicate balance from a wooden yoke propped over their flanks.  Some ponies carried six... eight... even ten baskets at a time.  From the thickness of their leg muscles, Rainbow could tell that this is what these ponies did over the course of their entire lifetime.

Rainbow spotted no less than a hundred farmers working the paddies around her.  Even still, they were mere drops in the emerald ocean.  Humid breezes blew into the valley, making emerald blades dance in lengthy waves between the mountains.  For a brief moment, Rainbow teetered left and right in her gait.  She had been standing on barges and boats and other platforms for so long that the movement of the grass tricked her mind into thinking she was on the seven seas again.  To distract herself, she gazed south—watching with mute awe as the fields rose into multiple, elevated terraces.  The minuscule dots of pony farmers worked there as well, and Rainbow could spot tiny shacks and farmhouses dotting the edges of the circular platforms.  The geometric designs reminded Rainbow of the coral formations she saw beyond the aquakinetic shields of lower Shoggoth—only they were all green and full of rice.  There was no telling how long—or how many generations it took to carve such topography into the landscape.  The entire time Rainbow trotted the Silt Path, she could hear Twilight Sparkle and Rarity debating it with breathless interest.

The Silt Path curved slightly north, passing the edge of a massive hilltop.  There were a few elevated peaks here or there—but nothing like the breath-taking mountains that jutted out of the earth on either side of the Sunset Tract back west.  Here, the landscape stretched evenly before and behind Rainbow Dash, affording her a mostly uninterrupted view of the Silt Path and the traders trotting it.  The leisurely pace of journeyponies that Rainbow observed earlier was back in full-force, and occasionally she would come across groups of Rohbreddenite gathered along the edge of the elevated dirt road.  They paused with their wagons parked side-by-side, sharing information, stories, and goods.  More than a few of them smiled and gestured at Rainbow Dash as she passed by.  Each local who made eye contact with her would hug themselves with their forelimbs before drawing their right fetlock across their front left leg, then waving it towards Rainbow Dash with what looked like a half-hearted salute.  Rainbow noticed this gesture being shared between most ponies who stopped to chat with one another.  Fluttershy was most curious about the meaning behind it, and she struck up a rather dense conversation with the rest of the mares as Rainbow Dash pressed on.

An hour and a half into the trek, Rainbow wondered if there would be no end to the valley.  Indeed, she saw the mountains of central Rohbredden ever-looming in the distance.  However, it almost felt as though the rice fields were receding from her with each step that she took.  The pegasus' hooves ached, and not a second went by when she didn't sorely miss the ease and freedom of flying.

The ghostly mares took note of Rainbow's exhaustion, and they insisted on multiple occasions that she pause somewhere to catch her breath and allow her muscles to rest.  Stubbornly, she resisted—at least until Rarity mentioned that she sensed a series of structures up ahead.  Rainbow squinted and—sure enough—beyond the crest of a hilly part of the path, she took note of a series of wooded stave structures and turf houses.  It was the first village they had stumbled upon for miles, and it rested at the junction of three roads that converged with the Silt Path.  It was an obvious resting place for travelers from afar—judging from the thick brown field of dirt where dozens (if not hundreds) of wagons were parked.  There were tall wooden spires hammered into the soil along four corners surrounding the village, and Rainbow looked up to see burning braziers hanging from the chiseled effigies of windigos.  No doubt—at night—these fires burned bright, serving as a beacon to all who dared to traverse the Silt Path at night.

At first, the dense presence of Rohbreddenites gathered at the village turned Rainbow off.  However, at the insistence of her friends, she took a deep sigh and slowed her gait, searching for a spot in the village where she could rest for a bit.  Sure enough, the sun was coming down, and the towering mountains of limestone to the west meant that the valley would be covered in a thick shade long before the actual arrival of night.  It suddenly occurred to Rainbow Dash that the Sunset Tract was named appropriately, for it was quite likely that only the townships of Osmanthus Prefecture enjoyed the setting sun in this part of the continent.  Rainbow thought of how bright the starlight might be in a valley this remote.  And then she thought of moonlight, and a chill ran through her body.

There were spare bits in her saddlebag, and Rainbow could already detect the signs of an inn situated at the town.  Indeed, she figured, she might be staying for the night.
> It's All You Can Dash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Or m-maybe not,” Rainbow Dash said, wincing.

She stood in the foyer of a three story stave-building filled to the brim with patrons.  Wooden beams stretched over weary travelers bustling to and fro, chatting with one another, and munching heartily at a veritable buffet of rice and fish placed across long oaken tables in the center of the rustic tavern.  At the far end, several Rohbreddenites sat before a thick stone hearth with a crackling fireplace.  While a few elders shuffled up, the younger ponies filed out, gladly offering their seats to the wrinkled arrivals.  Ponies of various ages and backgrounds took the opportunity to chat with one another, bursting with anticipation for the Month to come.

“Good heavens!” Rarity exclaimed.  “It's like a shopping center during the twelve weeks of Hearth's Warming!”

Twilight Sparkle grimaced.  “Of all the innumerable Equestrian things you could have compared this to—”

“Well, it's not like you were coming up with something any faster!”

“I don't need to!” Twilight retorted.  “What's important right now is that we find Rainbow a way to remain inconspicuous!”

Rainbow grunted as a few tall stallions and mares brushed past her.  Half of the patrons pivoted, then swiftly apologized while performing the same gesture as the travelers outside.”

“Er... yeah.”  Rainbow hugged herself, shook, then brushed her right fetlock up past the length of her left foreleg.  “Back at ya...”

“I'd say she's getting better at the inconspicuous part!” Pinkie said, humming pleasantly.

“Hmmmm...”  Fluttershy craned her neck.  “You know, Rainbow, I've never noticed before.”  She held her hoof out at the other ponies' heads, then lowered it down until it was level with Rainbow's crown.  “But you're awfully peti—”

“Don't start,” Rainbow growled.

“Hello there, little one!”  A mare in an apron stumbled up, standing breathlessly before Rainbow Dash.  “Welcome to Four Brazier Inn.  Will that be teeth's fare or lashes' fare?”

“Uhhhhh—”  The conical hat slumped forward.  Wincing, Rainbow lifted the thing back.  “Huh?”

“Oh.  I'm sorry.”  The innkeeper smiled bashfully.  “I keep forgetting that not all ponies are from Seed Prefecture.”  She cleared her throat.  “'Teeth's Fare' means dinner, and the rate is five bits per pony.  'Lashes' Fare' means shelter for sleeping, and the rate is eight bits per pony.”

“Really?”

“I know.  The rates are up due to the huge rush of pilgrims returning home to celebrate Unification Day.”

Fluttershy stuck her head in.  “Did she say 'Seed Prefecture?'”

“What happened to Osmanthus?” Rarity remarked.

“Whew-wee!”  Pinkie giggled.  “Dashie sure knows how to get around!”

Rainbow hissed over her shoulder.  “Shhhh!”

“Hmmm?”  The innkeeper blinked curiously.  “Something wrong, Miss?”

“Erm... I just...”  Rainbow adjusted her hat.  “...didn't realize this was a different Prefecture.”

“Where'd you come from?”

Rainbow sweated.  “Uhhhhhh...” 

“Heehee... lemme guess.”  The innkeeper smiled.  “The Middle Seas.”

“Huh?”

“Just that lots of ponies from the small archipelagos shave their manes so that they can swim better.”  The mare shrugged.  “Or so I'm told.”

“Oh.  Right.  I'm... uh...”  Rainbow glanced left and right.  “...Twipie of the Nealend Atoll.”  She belched out the side of her muzzle.  “Whoop.”

“Oh bother...” Rarity rolled her eyes.

“Wait...”  Twilight squinted.  “Who did she say she was this time?”

“Heeeee!”  Pinkie leaned in, nuzzling Twilight's lavender cheek.  “You hear that, Twilight?  We're being baked together!”

“Buh?”

Fluttershy giggled.

“Anyways...”  Rainbow fidgeted as more locals shuffled past her.  “How much for... erm... Tooth's Fare again?”

“Teeth's Fare, ma'am.”  The innkeeper smiled pleasantly.  “And five bits.”

Rainbow fiddled a hoof through her saddlebag.  In so doing, her peasant robe slid open slightly.  The Element of Loyalty glinted in the light from the fireplace.  Grimacing, she yanked the bits out, adjusted her collar, and dropped the coins into the innkeeper's grasp.  “There ya go.  Uhm...”  She narrowed her ruby eyes.  “Is it 'all you can eat, or...'?”

“Help yourself,” the mare said, smiling.  “But if you're paying Lashes' Fare, then we kindly ask that you limit your stay to two hours.  There are lots of travelers marching the Silt Path, and each of them needs a meal to stay the course.”

“Guess that makes sense.  Thanks.”

“And thank you, Miss Twipie.”  The mare hugged herself, shook slightly, then brushed a right hoof across her outstretched left forelimb.  “May Verlaxion's Thawing Warm You.”

“Oh... uh... totally.”  Rainbow smiled, mirroring the gesture as well as she could.

The innkeeper slid the bits into her apron and trotted off to greet more waves of patrons entering the front foyer.  Rainbow was forced to shuffle towards the center of the tavern or else risk being bumped into by more bustling ponies.

“That went better than I expected,” Rainbow said.

“Rainbow, I'm surprised at you!” Rarity exclaimed.

“What for?” Rainbow muttered under her breath while swimming her way towards the rice table.

“Don't forget!” Pinkie swam through the crowd, phasing in bursts of pink and lavender light.  “Her name's 'Twipie' now!  Heeheehee!”

Rarity sighed, then floated close to the pegasus.  “You have enough bits!  Why not rent yourself some shelter for the night?”

“Because...”  Rainbow held her hat tight with one hoof while trotting towards the table.  She struggled to keep from bumping into conversing equines on either side of her.  “...I've got the energy to keep going.”

“Then why even eat?” Rarity remarked.

“It's not enough that I make my way east anymore,” Rainbow said.  “I've gotta keep up an appearance.”  She threw a look over her shoulder.  “You saw how quickly she noticed that my mane was friggin' missing.  Imagine how strange it'd be if I just turned tail and trotted out the same way I came?”

“She's got a point there,” Twilight said.

“There are so many blasted ponies in here, Rainbow,” Rarity said with a smile.  “I seriously doubt anypony would notice!”

“Maybe not now, but when the Talon that Keris spoke about combs through here?”  Rainbow shuddered slightly.  “They'll be asking for any details of weird ponies who stood out.  I don't wanna leave any more awkward an impression than I can afford to.”

“You... y-you really think it will come down to that?” Fluttershy remarked, gulping.

“It's not a question of if, Flutters.  Only when.”

“But...”  Pinkie bore a sad puppy dog face.  “Keris is your friend, isn't he?  He helped you save Red Barge!”

“And now he's gotta save his feathery scalp,” Rainbow droned.  “Face it.  The guy's got a job to do.  And that involves wrangling me up.  Maybe he's a cool enough guy to spare me at first glance, but I can't say the same about his brothers and sisters in the guard.  From the way he describes them...”  Her bound wings twitched beneath her robe.  “...they sound pretty hardcore.  If I stick around here for too long, my goose is cooked.”

“Huh?”  Fluttershy grimaced.  “Who on earth would ever want to cook a goose?”

Rainbow sighed, reaching the table.  “I rest my case.”

“But, still... I don't see why you can't stay night,” Rarity said.  “I mean, if the goal is to keep from looking out-of-place...”

“Did you see the moon last night, Rarity?” Twilight asked.  “Before we reached the shore?”

Rarity blinked.  She gasped.  “Do... d-do you really think Luna will be able to reach us tonight?”

“It's possible,” Rainbow said.  Another tavern worker shuffled up, placing down several freshly-cleaned bowls.  Rainbow swiftly took one before the crowd around her could.  Using a pair of utensils, she shoveled as much rice into her container as was manageable.  “And if I open communication with her, it can't be he.”

“Yes...” Fluttershy shivered slightly.  “That might... attract attention.”

“So, right now... let's just chillax, blend in... and gather our bearings.”  Rainbow tilted her head up, spotting two lofty levels looming above the bottom floor.  “And I think I know just the spot.”

“Good!  Get a booth if you can!” Pinkie said.

The other three mares glared at her.

“What?”  Pinkie shrugged.  “Chairs make my fluffy rump ache!”





“Say... saaaaaaay...”  A harbor master swiveled on the dock, pointing with a grin.  “Yes.  Yes!  Come to think of it, I did see a mare with the most extraordinary head of hair!”  He chuckled.  “Every color of the rainbow!  Just like you described!”  He exhaled, brushing his bangs back.  “Whew!  Thought she was some... exotic dancer or some shit!”

Seraphimus and Keris stood on the metal platform situated at the mouth of the Sunset Tract.  The horizon behind them bled a poetically fitting crimson as they collectively stared at the stallion in their shadow.

“Please, good sir,” Keris spoke calmly.  He adjusted his limb within his sling, wincing slightly.  “If you could tell us all you know about this mare's whereabouts, it will greatly assist us in our search.”

“What's she in trouble for?”  The stallion smirked.  “Did she do that to you?”  He pointed at Keris' limb.

Keris took a deep breath.

Seraphimus spoke up for him:  “A terribly ferocious beast did this to the Lieutenant.  The sooner you fill us in on what you saw, the quicker we can get to preventing an even worse fate from befalling other citizens.”

Keris clenched his beak shut.  His hawkeyes glanced up, spotting the three Sergeants hovering loftily over the docks.

“Hmmm... can't say I'm too keen on ponies getting beaten to a bag of battered bones,” the dockmaster muttered.  “Especially with Unification Day around the corner.”  He smirked.  “Well, I doubt the good Captain knew anything about the dangers of this colorful prey of yours when she allowed her to board her cargo ship.”

“Captain...?”

“Captain Farouche,” the dockmaster explained.  “One of the most trustworthy, friendly traders of these routes.  Around these platforms, we like to call her 'Furthest Ouch!,' on account that she has a habit of kicking stallions in the balls for so much as flirting with her!  Hahaha!”

Seraphimus took a deep breath.

“How very friendly,” Keris said with a subdued smirk.

“Heheheheh... yeahhhh...”  The dockmaster crossed his rear legs.  “I got 'inducted' into the fan club a decade ago.  Still feel it every time I do naughty push-ups, if you catch my drift.  Heheh...”

“Please, sir,” Seraphimus stifled a growl.  Her charcoal eyes glinted beneath her helmet.  “Do you know where she went to?”

“All I know is that the mare goes by the name of 'Rarishy.'”

Keris blinked.  “'Rarishy?'”

“Yeah, and she sold her motorboat to Captain Farouche so she could have the bits to take a steamboat up the Sunset Tract.”

“So she's heading east?” Seraphimus remarked.

The stallion shrugged.  “Most definitely.  Probably headed straight for Riverstem.  I mean—anypony who's anypony in Osmanthus Prefecture stops by that town.  But I bet you buzzards know that.  HaHA!”

Seraphimus nodded.  “Yes.  Thank you.  On behalf of all of Verlaxion's buzzards everywhere... you've been most helpful.”

“Hey.”  The dockmaster shrugged.  “I'm happy to serve.”

Keris bowed slightly.  “We must be on our way—”

“Oh!  Say...”  The dockmaster gestured.  “While I have you guys here, maybe you could clear something up for me.”

Seraphimus breathed, “We really... really must be goi—”

“What is it, citizen?” Keris asked.  Seraphimus bit her beak shut.

“There's been chatter all across the waves over the past two days!”  The dockmaster blinked wide.  “Dozens... hundreds of traders say that there's been a new shift in the seven seas' tide!”

“Oh?  In what way?”

“Word is that the rat bastard of Red Barge bit it.  Skagra!  Stripped of steam!  Hah!  Can you imagine?!”  The dockmaster grinned.  “That makes the muck instantly friendly overnight!  I mean... whew!  First the Syndicate takes a dive... and now the Barges are clearing up?  It's like Verlaxion's gift for this year's Month of Thawing!”  The dockmaster suddenly blinked, jaw agape.  “Saaaaaay... did...”  He gulped.  “Did you come from the Barges?”

“Mmmmm...” Keris nodded.  “That we did.”

Seraphimus looked over.  “Lieutenant—”

“Woo!  I knew it!”  The dockmaster slapped his knee, grinning wide.  “Leave it to the Rohbredden Guard!  You guys finally up-and-did it!”

“Did what, good sir?” Keris asked.

“Cleaned up shop in the Barge, of course!”  The stallion leaned back, folding his forelimbs.  “Flew in there with your armor all a'glinting and wiped that smug grin off both of Skagra's dirty faces!  Hah!  And here I thought the Council didn't care about us sea foamers!”

“Actually...”  Keris leaned back with a calm breath.  “That wasn't us.”

Raptr and Starstorm fidgeted high above.

The dockmaster blinked.  “It... it wasn't?”

“No.  I'm afraid the Talon had nothing to do with the liberation of Red Barge.”

“Oh... huh...”  The dockmaster blinked.  “Well, wh-who did?”

Keris turned his head, smiling calmly... patiently at Seraphimus.

Seraphimus exhaled heavily.  “Divine.  Providence.”  Fwooosh!  Her wings flapped, carrying her body skyward.  “Come, Talon.  Take wing.”

Keris whistled up at Windburst.

Windburst reached into a satchel beneath his crossbolt quiver and tossed the Lieutenant two coins.

Keris held them out to the pony.  “For your troubles.”

“Heh... what troubles?”  The stallion smirked, holding up the coins.  “Good luck with catching your mare!”

“Much thanks.”  Keris winced as he forced his body into a swift flight.  “I'm certain we will need it.”

Seraphimus waited for Keris to catch up.  Sweeping her forelimb, she pointed towards the estuary.  “We head east!  Follow the Sunset Tract!  Fan out and check the shoreline terraces!”  She sliced against the wind.  “We meet in Riverstem at Moonrise!"
> The Seeds Have Been Planted
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash scooped some more rice into her mouth, nibbled, and leaned back in the thick wooden chair situated on the third floor balcony of the tavern.  Below her, patrons gathered and gossiped over fires and a buffet of steaming fresh foods.  With her rear legs propped up on a tiny table before her, Rainbow munched away, calmly glancing at a map unfolded in her grasp.

“Mrmmfff... okay...”  She gulped the latest morsel down and gestured in the firelight.  “I think I'm starting to figure this all out.”

“Do tell,” Fluttershy said, hovering over her shoulder.

“Does the good Doctor Sinrar shed any light on this place?” Twilight remarked.

“Yes and no,” Rainbow mumbled.  “See...”  She pointed at the dividing lines snaking across the illustrated continent.  “These are obviously Prefectures.  It's just that Sinrar never bothered to label the provinces in this copy of the map.”

“Is it the only map of Rohbredden we have?” Rarity asked.

“No.  But it's the easiest one to make out.”  Rainbow made the face.  “The other one is... full of all these annoying, squiggly lines all over the place.  Bleah...”  She took another bite out of her bowl of rice.  “Makes me—mrmmff—wanna barf just looking at it.”

Twilight's muzzle scrunched.  “Rainbow, that's a topographical map.  And seeing how elevated you claim Yaerfaerda is, that's likely to be supremely important to us in the near future.”

“Yeah, whatever.  I'm trying to make a point here, egghead.”  Rainbow finished munching and gestured at the map.  “Captain Farouche brought us into—like—a huge inlet, right?”

“That led into the Sunset Tract, yes.”  Rarity nodded.  “Do you believe that you've found it?”

“Wham.”  Rainbow pointed at the illustration of a river slithering its way east.  “Right there.  And this blob-shaped province?  I'll bet my last nostril hair that it's Osmanthus Prefecture.  See how the river makes these two big bends and then thins off to the southeast?”

“Riverstem?” Fluttershy remarked.

“Exactly.  Up here, you can see the Silt Path.  Just a sneeze to the north.”

“Nice of Professor Sinrar to have bothered to illustrate that,” Rarity snorted.

“And here the Path thins and then thickens again, right at the border of Osmanthus and the Prefecture next to it.”

“That was the mountain pass,” Twilight said.  “And we've since crossed over into Seed Prefecture.”

“Oh wow...”  Fluttershy pointed at the noticeably large, figure-eight shaped province running north and south beyond the horizontal Silt Path on the map.  “Look how vast it is.”

“Rice paddies and terraces as far as the eye can see,” Twilight said with a smile.  “Nestled between mountains.”

“I do remember seeing some rather large mountains to the east,” Fluttershy said.

“Could that be where the Silt Path is leading us?” Rarity asked.

“Let's not get hung up on the Silt Path, girls,” Rainbow said.  She reached for the rice bowl again.  “Remember, it's Yaerfaerda that's leading us to AJ.  Not the road—”

“Say!”  A pink head with a pink mane burst out of Rainbow's chest, grinning.  “I just thought of something!  Seed!”

Rainbow grimaced, juggled the bowl twice... thrice... and managed to catch the thing before it could fall to the floor.  “Hssst... Pinkie...”

“Whoops...”  Pinkie blushed coyly.  “Sorriez.”  She hovered up until she was no longer phasing through the pegasus.  “I just got to thinking.  'Seed.'”  She pivoted to face Twilight and Rarity.  “Didn't you gals say that Professor Sinistar had helped you and Dashie come up with the locations of the Seeds?”

“Sinrar,” Twilight corrected.  “And yes.  Six locations of supreme importance to the Rohbredden community.”

“And coincidentally where both Yaerfaerda and the entrances to the machine world have been located,” Rarity said.  “Each.  And.  Every.  Time.”

“Well, that doesn't sound like such a coinkydinky to me!” Pinkie said, pouting.

“Join the club, Pinkie,” Rainbow muttered, cautiously glancing at a pony patron or two as they shuffled past her seat and on to other parts of the lofty tavern floor.  “It's rather obvious by now that—ages ago—Verlax saw fit to mess around with the entrances to the Machine World.”  She flared her nostrils, frowning.  “Turning them into cultural shrines to control the Six Tribes as well as stupid puzzles to test me.”  She sighed.  “To bait the Austraeoh.”

“Cool,” Pinkie said.  Before anyone could so much as blink at that, she continued:  “So that means that you and Sinrar already know where these spots are... kinda sorta... right?”

Rainbow blinked.

“Do... do you still have those notes from when you and Professor Sinrar charted the maps together?” Rarity asked.

“I... hope so...”  Rainbow fished through her saddlebag, again making sure that her pendant wouldn't pop free from her tunic in the process.  “It's on one of the smaller... simpler maps.  Here we go.”  She pulled a sheet out, unfolded it, and spotted six marks drawn darkly into the paper.  “Hmmmm...”

“Look, Rainbow.”  Twilight pointed.  “On the edge of the Blight, to the far west.”

“The Tower where I found you, right.”  Rainbow nodded.  “Then—out there in the middle of the ocean—is the Nealend Archipelago.”

“And southeast of that is Shoggoth, where we got Pinkie Pie,” Rarity said.

“And there's where we got Fluttershy!”  Pinkie gleefully pointed at the two narrow remnants of Luminar.  “Uhm... eventually.  Eheh...”

“Where's the Fifth Seed marked on the map?” Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow squinted at the tiny sheet, then lifted it to look at the far larger map of Rohbredden.  She repeated this gesture multiple times, blinking curiously.

“Well?”  Rarity remarked.  “What do you see?”

“It's... kinda...”  Rainbow cocked her head aside.  “...smack dab in the middle of the continent.  But, like, closer to the southern shore than the northern one?”

“Are you talking about that long narrow inlet?” Twilight asked, pointing.

Rainbow's eyes were directed towards an outrageously thin slice of water that knifed its way upwards from the southern shore, making a thin “V”-shape that ended one-fourth of the way into the heart of the continent.  The Fifth Seed was located a few centimeters north of the inlet's furthest tip on the smaller map.

“It's like Applejack's the cherry on the very top of a frozen pie!” Pinkie said, giggling.

“Doesn't sound very sweet to me,” Fluttershy said with a soft shudder.

“My goodness...”  Rarity fanned herself.  “Seems like Verlax really doesn't want us getting to Applejack very easily!”

“I... don't think even she has a choice in the matter,” Rainbow said.

“You really think so?” Fluttershy asked.

“I thought we had discovered a pattern, darling,” Rarity said.  She waved a hoof.  “In Nealend, you had to steal the hunt for Ultimo from the locals.  Perceivably un-generous.”

“That's a bit of a stretch—”

“I'm not finished.”  Rarity continued.  “In Shoggoth, you made a bad joke out of the Syndicate by breaking every rule and convention established there and abroad.”

“Heeeeee...”  Pinkie cartwheeled through a table.

“And... n-need I remind you of how unkind Verlax wanted you to be in the Quade?”  Rarity shrugged.  “It seems as though—meaning to or not—this Matriarch has figured out the nature of your friends at each Seed.”  She gulped.  “Perhaps she's learned through osmosis?”

“She's certainly lived long enough for that to happen,” Twilight said with a nod.  “But then the question remains.”  She shifted slightly.  “How dishonest is she going to want Rainbow Dash to be in order to free Applejack?”

“Huh?”  Fluttershy blinked.

“Relax, girls,” Rainbow muttered.  “There's no telling what she wants me to do once we get to the Fifth Seed.”

“But the pattern is rather glaring, darling,” Rarity said.  “And with each passing entrance to the machine world, Verlax has... erm... g-goaded you into doing more and more severe things.”

“Yeah?”  Rainbow growled slightly.  “Well I'm not buying into her bullcrap anymore!”

“Ooooh!”  Pinkie cartwheeled back.  “Dashie said the 'b' word!”

“Pinkie, all things considered...”  Rarity gestured.  “She heard an awful lot worst at Red Barge.”

“Don't you mean 'worse,' Rarity?” Pinkie stuck her tongue out.

Rarity blinked.  “... ... ...huh.”

“Verlax may be super crazy,” Rainbow muttered.  “And we all know she's planned a lot of wild things.  But...”  She shook her head.  “I don't think Red Barge was one of them.”

“Well, it's not like an entrance to the Machine World was ever beneath Skagra's operation,” Twilight said.

“Uh huh.”  Rainbow nodded.  “What's more, there's no hint of any of the Seeds being located anywhere near those muck waters.”

“What are you getting at, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked.

“Don't you get it?  Of all the tests that Verlax has been putting me through, Red Barge was not one of them.”  Her brow furrowed.  “It was a miserable, horrible place—a trial by fire all on its own.  But the only reason I got through it was because of Keris... Swab...”  She shuddered, smiling weakly.  “And you girls...”

Twilight hung her head.  “We should have helped you much sooner...”

“That's not the point,” Rainbow said bluntly.  “Don't you see?  Verlax was... doing so darn much to get us to drift apart.”  She gulped.  “And I fell into her trap.  I ticked you guys off... and f-for good reason.”  A sigh.  “... but now we're together again and it's awesome.”

“You suppose that it's the one thing Verlax doesn't expect?” Rarity asked.

Rainbow nodded.  “It could very well be the edge we need to trump her.”

“Eugh...”  Pinkie waved a hoof before her scrunched muzzle.  “Don't say that word.”

Rainbow blinked.  “What word?”

Pinkie sighed.  “Never mind.”  She instantly brightened.  “So what about the Sixth Seed?  Huh huh huh?”

“Uhhhhh...”

“Haven't you girls ever thought about it?”  Pinkie backflipped and landed on the table with ghostly finesse.  She leaned over and pointed at the six spot Sinrar sketched into the map, close to the edge.  “This thingy!  This thingy right here!”

“I suspect it's the last entrance to the machine world before the edge of the plane,” Twilight said.

“Of coursies, horsies!”  Pinkie's eyes thinned.  “But why?”

“I'm... sure the Professor had good reason to suspect that as being the Sixth Seed,” Twilight said.  “I suppose, when the time comes, Yaerfaerda will prove whether or not he's right—”

“And I don't doubt it!” Pinkie chirped.  “But why would we even need to go there?”

“Huh?”  Rainbow raised an eyebrow.  “What are you sniffing this time, Pinkie?”

“I mean, we'll have Applejack with us by that time, right?”  Pinkie shrugged.  “So why visit another Seed?”

“I can think of one reason,” Fluttershy said.  “Rainbow's health.  She needs to make contact with the beacons to prolong her life, doesn't she?”

“Yes.”  Rarity grimaced.  “And... am I-I the only one who's wondered if there'll even be places on the dark side of the plane for Rainbow to 'recharge' as t'were?”

“I've thought about it,” Twilight said with a shudder.  “Assuming the worst case scenario, then Rainbow will definitely want to access the ruby flame as close to her departure to the dark side as possible.”

“If the Austraeoh is meant to cross over to begin with, then I'm sure there'll be something to... g-give me more 'juice' on the far side,” Rainbow muttered.

“But do we know that for sure, Rainbow?” Twilight said.

“What, are you trying to make me paranoid, egghead?”

“It helps to be prepared, Rainbow—”

“Let's just worry about getting to Applejack for the time being, okay?”  Rainbow sighed.  “That's what matters more than anything.”

“Still...”  Pinkie tapped her chin, squinting at the last mark.  “That final Seed's gonna be a doozy.”

“How do you know that, Pinkie?” Rarity asked.

“Well, we all know that the big bad dragon lady runs this continent, right?”

“Yes.”  Twilight nodded.  “Rohbredden belongs to Verlax in more ways than one.”

“So, wanna bet that she's keeping a close eye on Applejack?”  Pinkie remarked, blinking.  “Like a super... super close eye?”

“I... don't get it,” Rainbow muttered.

“What I think Pinkie is trying to say...”  Fluttershy pointed at the fifth marking.  “...is that where the next Seed is located... makes for a prime location for Verlax to be holed up.”

“Like... where she lives?”

“A Goddess Queen has to have a throne somewhere,” Twilight remarked.  “And in the very center of the continent?  Where it's apparently the coldest?”  A shudder.  “Seems likelier than we think... or at least want to think.”

“So then...”  Rarity squinted at the last mark before the edge.  “What part would the sixth Seed play in Verlax's plan?  I mean... what could possibly be beyond the Element of Honesty?”

Rainbow gulped.  “Or... perhaps—despite all of Verlax's big winded monologues—she doesn't even expect me to reach it.”

Silence.

“Ehhhh... maps shmaps...”  Pinkie waved a hoof, then smiled.  “More rice, Dashie?”

“I... think I just lost my appetite.”

“Well...”  Rarity pointed out a tall set of windows.  “I think I know something that's sweeter than dessert.”

“Huh?”  Rainbow turned to look.  Her ruby eyes reflected a sheen of pale moonlight.  She smiled.  “Oh... hey.   Will you look at that.”

“Perhaps now's a good time for us to make an exit,” Twilight said.

“Uhm...”  Fluttershy gulped.  “Better make that a quick exit.”  She slid up to Rainbow and pointed down at the lower floors of the tavern.  “Look.”

Rainbow did so.

The mares spotted a group of travelers huddled around a stallion as he unrolled a wanted poster illustrating a colorful pegasus.  The Rohbreddenites chatted excitedly, gesturing at one another and pointing at their bit bags.

“Awwww fudge!”  Pinkie gulped.  “The fudge fuzz!”

“Not quite, but I'm not waiting around for it to get fuzzier.”  Rainbow rolled her maps up, gobbled down the rest of the rice, and shouldered her saddlebag.  “Mrmmmfff... hoof it time...”
> In the Pale Moon Light
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Well, no...”  A fat stallion stood by the Riverstem docks under a spread of glittery starlight.  “I didn't get a good look at her mane.  But that's probably because it was shaved.”  He tapped his chin, smirking.  “Yeah.  You know what?  It was shaved!  I was too busy watching Steve get ruined at the time to pay much attention!  But now that I think about it... totally shaved!  Ha!”

Keris strolled past Seraphimus as they stood along the southern edge of the town.  “Shaved... you say?”  He raised an eyecrest while pacing around the citizen.  “Did it look like a professional job?”

“Well, sure.  Pffft.”  He shrugged.  “Lots of ponies in town will lop off your mane for a few bits.  Or preen your feathers.”  He smirked.  “Come to think of it... she didn't have much in the way of tail-hairs either.”

“Did she say anything about where she was going?”  Keris squinted.  “Or give any indication whatsoever as to her purpose while in town?”

“I'm afraid not.”  The stallion shook his head.  “She just... strolled in on the game and cleaned house.  Heh... whooped Steve's flank too, I'll tell ya what.”

Seraphimus asked, “Who is Steve?”

“Pfffft... only the most pathetic waste of spit ever to share oxygen here in Riverstem,” the pony grumbled.  “It's just that... grnnghh... we had no clue that was the case until your elusive pegasus showed up to make him eat his own words.”

“What did she do?”

“Played him at his usual game of chance.  Only—she caught him cheating.  Turns out the bastard had been pulling a fast one on all of us in every game he played.  Pffft... 'Lucky' Steve owed me hundreds of bits.  And I'm not the only one.  This... 'rainbow rogue' character exposed his scam to all of us, and she milked him for bits because of it.”

“Well...”  Seraphimus exhaled.  “Gambling is certainly its own terrible reward.”

The stallion raised a hoof.  “Only—there are rules, ma'am, and Lucky Steve was robbing us the entire time!  Totally dishonorable.”  He leaned back, his nostrils flaring.  “I dunno who this 'Rainbow Rogue' is... but bless Verlaxion that she showed up!  Or else a whole bunch of us guys would be selling the mane hair off our necks just to get by!”

“Hmmmm...”  Keris smiled calmly.  “How quaint.”  He narrowed his magenta hawkeyes.  “And just how—may I ask—did she accomplish this?”

“You mean how did she catch Lucky Steve in the act?”

“Precisely.”

“Pffft... Hell if I know!”  The fat stallion belched.  “The mare just... magically knew that he was hiding the red pebble from his game inside his hat!  She kicked the table, knocking over all the cups and revealing that they were empty!  Whew!  Never seen something so slick... so badflank.”

“'Magically knew,' you say?”

“That's right.”  The stallion nodded.  “Like... like she had a seventh sense or something!”  He blinked.  “Wait... she was no unicorn.”  His plump muzzle scrunched.  “So... uh... sixth sense?  I dunno.  It was a damn miracle, I tell you... but a lucky one.  Hah!  The best luck to get rid of the bad luck!  'Lucky Steve' is gone for good, and we're all better off for it!  Maybe you griffons should be hunting him down instead!”

Keris turned to glance at Seraphimus.

Seraphimus sighed, then strolled forward.  “Back to the Rainbow Rogue, dear sir.”  She cocked her head aside.  “Are you certain you don't know where she headed off to?”

“Well... me and the other boys overheard her say that she was from out of town.  I mean... heck... odds are she came from the seven seas.  Most strangers do.  And—for that matter—most strangers who arrive in Riverstem are here for only one thing, and that's to make the long trek down the Silt Path.”

“So you think she headed east?” Seraphimus asked.

“It's the best way to go about doing it!” the stallion said.  “The Silt Path, I mean.  OH!”  He jumped in place, smiling.  “She totally took Lucky Steve's duds!”

“Duds...?” Seraphimus blinked.

“His wardrobe, Commander.”  Keris cleared his throat, then faced the pony again.  “Might you, perhaps, describe these 'duds?'”

“Eheh... what's to describe?”  The stallion shrugged.  “Lucky Steve dressed like your average Osmanthus nopony.  Green robes.  Straw hat.”  He squinted into the starlight, gesturing.  “Come to think of it... she did have a very rich-looking satchel on her flank.”

“Midnight purple, I'm guessing,” Keris said.

“Why... yes!”  The pony pointed.  “A-a-and the most shiny looking pendant around her neck!  Looked like... almost like a jagged red tooth or something.”

“A lightning bolt,” Keris said.  “I'm aware.”

“Pffft!  Then what are you guardians asking me for?”

“Trust me, sir,” Keris remarked.  “You've been most helpful.”

“Heh... if you say so.”  The pony smirked.  “You ask me, that mare's fit to blend in with damn near anyone in Seed Prefecture.  That's farming country!  And she looks more like a rice farmer than Lucky Steve ever did!  Although... the hat and robe were a bit big on her.”

“We'll be sure to make note of that,” Seraphimus said, gesturing aside at Keris.  “Let's regroup.”

“Aye.”

As the two griffons lifted up, the stallion called up after them.  “Say!  Uh... since there's such a huge bounty on this 'Rainbow Rogue's' head, I don't suppose you guys can give me a slice of the pie once you catch her?!”

“I assure you, good sir,” Seraphimus droned.  “The ponies who have created such a bounty have no affiliation with us.”

“Awwwwwwwwwwwww...” The fat stallion kicked at the ground.  “Well shit.”  He pouted, his forelimbs folded.  “Then just who is responsible for it?!”





“Skiff!”  A uniformed pony shouted from the deck of a steamship.  He pointed at the ocean waves reflecting with moonlight.  “Due west!  Incoming!”

Every crew member on board broke into anxious commotion.  They ran to their stations, pivoting the steamship in the harbor of a tiny island so that its broadside faced west.

A line of hired hooves stood cautiously along the port side, armed with cannons and crossbows.  They squinted at the waves—more specifically at the motorized craft that was swiftly splitting the glittery waters.  At last, the tiny vessel slowed down, arriving gracefully at the metal hull of the steamship in waiting.

“Who goes there?!”  Shouted one mercenary.  The sea air rattled from the sound of him and several other stallions cocking and aiming their crossbows at the lone figure on board.  “We demand that you tell us where the Executive is located!”

“Calm down, boys,” droned a calm voice from down below.  The ship's pilot lowered her hood, revealing a tight bun of blonde mane hair.  “I've brought Mr. Chandler.  Safe and sound.”

“Ms. Longaze...!”  The mercenaries lowered their weapons, blinking.  “But... b-but I don't understand!  We were told that you'd both be escorted by a contingent of South Barge's dredgers!”

“And we were,” grumbled a voice from below deck.  Longaze reached over and helped a jittery stallion as he limped out of hiding.  Shivering from the cold, Chandler snarled past his chattering teeth.  “And those damn double-crossers thought they could stall for time!  Force bits out of my own work force!”

“Uhm...”  Another crew member looked over.  “Just where are they?”

“Longaze tossed them all into the drink—which is precisely where she'll toss you imbeciles if you don't get me some warm food and clothing!”  Chandler stomped his hoof.  “Now lower the damn platform already!”

The crew members nodded.  They hollered commands to one another.  In swift order, a wooden plank was lowered, suspended by metal chains.  Longaze helped Chandler onto it, then joined him as the two were raised up onto the main deck of the steamship.  Once on board, several servants rushed up and supplied Chandler with a thick cloak and a mug of steamy coffee to drink from.

“Mrmmmfff... for Goddess' sake...”  Chandler took several sips while limping towards the cabin doors at the rear of the steamship.  “Can anyone in the Seven Seas be trusted anymore?”

“If I may interject, sir,” Longaze droned.

“You may not.”

She spoke anyways:  “The South Bargers who rode with us made no indication of a double-cross.  If I recall, they simply requested that you try and get some sleep.”

“Yeah... so they could slit my throat while I was unconscious.”  Chandler shuddered.  “Better to be safe than sorry.  You did the right thing as soon as I asked you to, my dear.  Rest assured that you will be paid handsomely for it.”
Longaze exhaled.  “Of that, I have no doubt...”

Chandler snapped at the crew gawking at him.  “Will you stop staring at me like I'm some sort of goddess-damn freak show?!  Get this ship on the move already!  Head towards HQ!  On the double!”

“Aye, Mr. Chandler, sir!”  A pony saluted, then turned to shout at the others.  “You heard the Executive!  Fire up the engines!  Steer us northeast!  We're headed for the Shoreline!”

“Aye, sir!”

“Clear the steam pipes!”

“Move out!”

As the ship veered about, Chandler stepped into the luxurious cabin, shutting out the noise behind him.  Two servants stood at the ready, bowing as soon as they saw the stallion.

“We have a warm bath and clean beddings prepared for you, sir.”

“Would you like to have a meal now or later?”

“Later.  For Goddess' sake—I have to catch up!”  He sat himself in a desk, slapping the wood with his hoof.  “Where're the profits and loss files from the last two days?”

“We have it here, s-sir.”

“Well bring it to me!  Dammit... everything is sinking into the muck and I'm the only one who can salvage it anymore!”

The servants obediently rushed to provide the stallion with his request.

Longaze stood against a wall, sighing as she rested her muscles.  “I could use a copy of the latest report as well.”  She easily lifted a sheet from their hooves with telekinesis.  “Much appreciated.”

Once the servants had slapped the material down on Chandler's desk, he took a lasting sip of his coffee and waved his hoof.  “Mmmm... leave us.  I'll call for more service when it's required.”

The two ponies nervously bowed, then galloped briskly out of the cabin, shutting the doors behind them.

Chandler rubbed his forehead, struggling to read in the dim candle-light while the whole ship teetered in its swift bend north.  “Mrmmmfff...”  He closed his eyes briefly.  “Longaze, you're a faster reader than I am.  Tell me... how bad does it look?”

“That depends, sir,” Longaze droned.  “Are you a faster or slower fainter than myself?”

“Rrrrgghh-gaaaah!”  Chandler slapped the sheets onto the desktop and leaned back in his chair, forelimbs folded.  “The chaos of this world baffles me at times.  Like... how could something turn so completely to shit in the blink of an eye?!”

“It... does have the tendency to float in these waters, sir.”

“Yes, well, my ass floats too.” Chandler's nostrils flared.  “That damn mare.  If she thinks—even for a second—she can get away with humiliating me... with humiliating the Consortium.”

“She... h-has gotten quite a bit of a lead on us, sir,” Longaze said.

“Like Hell, she has!”  Chandler stood up with a frown.  “So long as the company still has a fresh supply of dredge coal to dish out during the Month of Thawing, we run the western Prefectures!  I'll be damned if there isn't a single province between the Shoreline and Frostknife that hasn't seen the wanted posters by now!”

“Even still.”  Longaze cleared her throat.  “A griffon guardian survived the battle of Red Barge to witness most everything.  We might find ourselves in close competition with government defense when it comes to apprehending the Rainbow Rogue.”

“You honestly think a flock of buzzards can beat out an entire continent full of desperate ponies who have been drooling over an enormous bounty for days?!”

Longaze squinted.  “They're the Talon, sir.”

Chandler rolled his eyes, then face-hoofed.  “Unnnghhhh...”

Longaze exhaled.  “Perhaps—instead of heading to HQ—we can order this boat to stop by one of our trade lines.  There, we might catch word of whether or not the Rogue has been caught.  Because you do have a point, sir.  With a bounty that high, odds are the entire continent will be looking for her.  It just might give the Talon a run for the money.”

“Mrmmfff... no.  You're the one with a clear head over this, my dear,” Chandler muttered.  “The Talon shall always... always have an edge over a kingdom of idiots.”

“All the more reason, perhaps, for us to bring this ship further inland.”

“Darling, I have to go to HQ,” Chandler said with a frown.  “The company's suffered so much loss that I have to make an appearance to maintain solidarity.  Even if it's only a temporary gesture, it's the one thing keeping investors in line—what remains of them, that is.  The Consortium's entire financial future relies on my becoming the Grand Magistrate.  And that will only be possible with the capture of the Rainbow Rogue.”

“Then we are still headed north?”

“I will be heading north.”  Chandler cleared across the cabin.  “You, on the other hoof, will take a skiff and reach the mainland via the trade lines.”

Longaze raised an eyebrow.  “Me, sir?”

“You're my one and only ace, Longaze,” Chandler said, pacing.  “If there's any pony who can beat the Talon to the Rainbow Rogue, it's you.”

“I don't exactly have wings, sir.”

“No, but you will have every resource that's in the company's arsenal.”  Chandler pointed.  “And the home court advantage.  Something is drawing that rainbow freak east, and you're going to cut her off.”

“Then... you have no intention of paying the bounty price to anyone?”

“Of course not,” Chandler grumbled.  “The bounty is simply to stir the pot.  To make the hunt harder for everypony but us.” His brow furrowed.  “Which is why I'm going to double it as of tomorrow morning.”

Longaze did a double-take.  “D-double it... sir?”

“You heard me.”  Fuming, he spun to look out at the rippling waters beyond the window.  “If there's anything the seven seas have taught me from this recent debacle... it's to never underestimate the power of greed.  I swear on my life, it's more powerful than any love or any devotion to Verlaxion.  And that is why we're going to beat the Talon to this bitch.  They'll have to fight through the very morons they protect to get to their target.  Meanwhile, you'll be there in the right place and time to catch her as soon as the Talon foolishly flushes the Rogue into our nets.”

“You make it sound so easy, sir.”

“Simple, madame.  If it was easy, I wouldn't be paying you so much.”  He pivoted to glare at her.  “Get some rest.  Tomorrow... you become the sword of my company.”

Longaze exhaled.  “I do suppose that is some upgrade from 'dagger.'”

“Call it what you want.  Find the mare.  Grab the mare.  Spear the mare.” Chandler snorted, marching fitfully across the cabin.  “I swear—I will not quit until she hangs from the highest rockface in Frostknife.”

“I... don't quite understand.”  Longaze squinted.  “Do you want her dead or alive?”

“Whichever's easier.”  Chandler flung a lazy hoof at the moonlight.  “Thrill me.”





“Okay...”  Rainbow Dash took another deep breath, her hooves squirming in loose soil.  “...do you see the Silt Path from here?”

Rarity floated high above, squinting south.  “Yes.  But barely!”

“Any ponies trotting east or west?”

“I... I can scarcely make them out!”  Rarity looked down.  “Fluttershy, darling?”

“There are a few, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said above the sound of whipping winds.  “But—honestly—they're too far away to see you... much less hear you.”

Rainbow took a deep breath.  “Pinkie, keep your senses... erm... pink.  The first moment you notice anything out of the ordinary—”

“Aye, Cap'n Dashie!”  Pinkie saluted with a grin from where she floated.  “You can count on me!”

Rainbow smirked, then turned towards Twilight.  “I guess we're ready.”

“Yes.”  Twilight nodded, ears twitching.  “I guess we are.”

“Okay...”  Rainbow took a deep breath, clenching her eyes shut.  “Okay... okay okay okay...”

“She's our Princess, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said calmly.  “There's nothing you should be afraid of.”

Rainbow gulped.  “This isn't fear.”  Sniffling, she nevertheless lowered the collar of her robe, then raised a hoof to her exposed pendant.  Giving the thing a few circular strokes, she tilted it until it caught the full moonlight.

The tall grass around her swayed with the wind—so that the fields pulsated with rivulets of silver bands.

At last, a bright glow emanated from the ruby lightning bolt.

Within seconds, the air rumbled—resonating with a regal voice.

“Rainbow?  Rainbow Dash?”  Princess Luna spoke loud and clear.  “Is that you?”

Rainbow sucked in her breath.  “Yes... yes, Your Highness.  We're here.”

“Woohoo!”  Pinkie cheered.

“Yes!” Twilight pumped a hoof.

Rarity giggle.  Misty-eyed, she leaned in and hugged a smiling Fluttershy.

“It fills me with great joy to hear you yet again.  How might you be faring, child?”

“Oh... you know m-me, Luna.”  Rainbow sniffled again.  She opened her eyes, tears trickling down towards a soft smile.  “Whatever it t-takes to be awesome.”
> Here Comes the Night Again
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“I surely hope you have decided to stay clear of the main roads,” Luna's voice said with an air of concern.

“Believe me.  I'd love nothing more than to avoid them.”  Rainbow Dash gulped, strolling swiftly across the field full of swaying grass.  She turned her head to the right, staring at the Silt Path situated south of her in the moonlight.  “But... this central path is kinda sorta our only way of getting deeper into the continent of Rohbredden.”

“We're doing everything we can to help Rainbow Dash avoid the local authorities, Princess Luna,” Twilight Sparkle said.

“Twilight wants to remind you that she and the rest of the girls are helping me every step of the way,” Rainbow paraphrased.  “They've already saved my skin on more than one occasion.”

“Even still, this must be an extraordinary challenge for you.”

“Your Highness, with all due respect,” Rainbow muttered.  “It's not my first rodeo.  Back in Ledomare?  Every soldier who could pick up a mana rifle wanted to eat my guts for breakfast.  You remember Ledomare, right?  That place was—like—an explosion per day!”  A nervous chuckle.  “And yet I still survived!”

“Quite true.  Alas, you were able to fly then.  And—towards the tail-end of that experience—you possessed an aircraft full of traveling companions.”

“She's got a point there, Dashie!” Pinkie said.

Rainbow sighed, hanging her head as she stumbled down rows of rice paddies.  “Yeah... well... the girls and I have a head start over Verlax's finest, at least.”  She gulped.  “We had a good long look at the map earlier.  Once we get to the mountains, I'm... pr-pretty sure we can make ourselves scarce.”

“And you're certain the next beacon awaits you there...?”

“Right.”  Rainbow squinted, tilting her head up slightly as her eyes found Yaerfaerda, glistening orange and bright among the looming mountains.  “And where there's ruby flame, there's Applejack.”

“Rainbow Dash, it fills me with great joy that you have found Fluttershy.  No doubt her presence is of great joy and relief to you.”

Fluttershy hovered along, blushing.  The other mares smiled and nuzzled her close.

Rainbow smirked aside at the mare.  “Yeah... she's... she's been a real life-saver for sure.”

“But this new situation that you're in alarms me terribly,” Luna said, her regal voice crackling in the air.  “You're certain that there is no other recourse to the path you're taking?”

“Your Majesty, if I don't get to the Fifth Seed, I'm done-for.”  Rainbow gulped.  “And so is Applejack.”

“From the pattern of things, it seems likely that Verlax would seek to test you once you arrive there.”

“That's something we've considered through and through, Princess,” Twilight said.

“Rainbow shan't be alone when or if such a confrontation happens!” Rarity added with her jaws clenched.  “We will assist her with every sense and gift at our disposal!”

“... … ...my child?”

Rainbow exhaled with a smiling sigh.  “The girls were just voicing how prepared they are to help me if worse comes to...”  She blinked, then glanced aside at Rarity.  “...worst?”

Rarity nodded with a wink.

“That is a relief to hear, Rainbow Dash,” Luna said.  “To be perfectly honest, I was somewhat... concerned for your well-being the last time we spoke.”

“Oh yeah?”

“You seemed rather anxious... your thoughts muddled and your emotions strained.  It's been the deepest hope of my sister and I that you've been able to confront such fears.  Judging from the tone in your voice, it would seem as though you and your friends have found a comfortable middle-ground.”

Rainbow gulped.  “I dunno about 'comfortable,' given the situation.  But... I-I'll go with awesome.  Eheh...”

“Alas, you would not be Rainbow Dash if that was not the case.”

“Tell me about it.  Eheh...”  Rainbow cleared her throat.  “So... uh... you'll have Spike make contact with the ponies of Cloudsdale?”

“Yes,” Luna's voice said.  “He shall seek out Fluttershy's family immediately.  By the powers invested in me, I shall have a wholesome conference prepared for tomorrow night.”

Fluttershy exhaled softly, gazing down at the moonlit grass with a dull expression.  Pinkie and Rarity glanced at her curiously.

“That sounds super awesome, Luna,” Rainbow said.  “Feel free to bring in everyone else!  I'll... uh... I-I'll do my best to be someplace inconspicuous enough for a lengthy conversation.”

“We are all concerned for the well-being of you and your fellow friends, Rainbow Dash.  Your safety is the top priority.  If you must make forthwith to the next location of Yaerfaerda—”

“We'll get there when we get there,” Rainbow droned.  “Something tells me that...”  Her eyes traveled along the dim heights of the distant mountains, and she sighed.  “...we're gonna be here a long... long time.”  She gulped.  “We'll likely be doing this same song and dance again before I reach the edge.  At least... I-I hope so...”

“And Celestia, Spike, and I shall do our best to assist you by any means possible.”  Luna's voice took a breath, then returned:  “There is a pressing question that I feel must be asked.”

“Yeah?”  Rainbow blinked, tilting her chin up.  “What's that, Your Highness?”

“Your companions... the ones called Bard and Wildcard.”

“... … ...”

“Whatever happened to them, my child?” Luna asked.  “Why would such selfless, brave ponies depart from your presence?”

Rainbow bit her lip.  She gazed across the fields.

Pinkie winced, her ears folding.  Rarity hugged herself.  Twilight, meanwhile, took a deep breath, nodding at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow somberly nodded back.

“Okay, girls... let's... uhm...”  Twilight gestured with a weak hoof, drifting towards Rainbow's pendant.  “Let's rest for a bit.”

“Okie dokie lokie...” Pinkie dripped quietly, disappearing after her in a lavender haze.

Rarity followed third.  At last, Fluttershy lingered in front of Rainbow Dash.  Her eyes met the brave peagsus', and she spoke in a calm voice:  “Do not be afraid, Rainbow Dash.  She trusts you more than anyone.”

Rainbow nodded, closing her eyes as Fluttershy also vanished.

“... … ...Rainbow?” Luna's voice entreated.

Rainbow's pace slowed as she took several deep breaths.

“Are you still there, child?”

“I... I am, Luna.”  Rainbow gulped.  “And... it's only m-me right now.  The... the girls went off to chillax in the Vanilla Zone.”

“The... Vanilla... Zone...?”

“Erm... it's what we call the Harmonic place where they go to rest up.  Y'know... the essence of my pendant?”

“Does this mean that we are having another conversation outside their spectrum of knowledge, Rainbow Dash?”  There was a hint of an exasperated sigh from Luna's end.  “Rainbow, I had truly hoped you had learned your lesson from previous occasions.”

“And... I-I have, Luna.  I totally have.  That's the whole point.”  Rainbow gulped hard.  “We're all in the know, now.  Like... completely honest with one another.  It's just that... that n-now I need to be perfectly honest with you.”

“Oh?”

Rainbow's trembles were coming on.  Quick.  “About the real reason why I'm on the run from Rohbredden law... and why the Desperadoes aren't here any longer...”

“I am listening, Rainbow Dash.”

“There's...”  Rainbow came to a stop, fidgeting in the middle of the windblown field.  “There's n-no good way to put it, really...”

“You did something reprehensible,” Luna's voice coldly said.

Rainbow sucked in her breath.

“At least... reprehensible in the eyes of the Desperadoes and Rohbredden,” the voice continued.  “And for that reason, you are now a fugitive.”

Rainbow grimaced.  Hard.

Luna's voice went on:  “Are you so surprised, Rainbow Dash?  It was obvious to me from the details of our previous conversations that Verlax was desperate to test your resolve.  It was my hope that you would not give in to her demented idealism.  And yet... I perfectly understand that you have incredibly heavy burdens to carry.  Not only must you find a way to resurrect your friends, but all of Equestria hangs in the balance.  Nay, the entire world.  These are the kinds of crises that no mortal should be forced to weigh.  And yet, such a fate has been thrust upon you.”

“It's...”  Rainbow's voice shook.  Tears formed along her eye sockets.  “It's so m-much more worse than you can ever imagine, Luna.”

“Mmmmm... I have lived a long... long time, Rainbow Dash, and committed as many miracles as atrocities.  I can imagine plenty.”

“You don't get it.  I... I had to get to the beacon where Fluttershy was.  But... but this ancient society of monks sat in the way.  The only way to bring her back... to continue the journey was to tear their home apart.  Verlax set all of this crud up on purpose to make me do the unthinkable!”

“Rainbow Dash...”

“And... and if I-I had j-just been honest with my friends before and found a way to plan things out with them, then m-maybe I could have found a truly peaceful solution!  Instead... instead I-I let Verlax get to me, and... and I became the monster of the seven seas, Luna.”  Rainbow sniffled.  “That friggin' 'beast' that Shell was chasing all over Ledomare?  I finally became it!  Continents and oceans away, I finally gave into the weapon Ledomare saw in me.  I attacked and dismantled the home of innocent ponies and for what?!  They're all homeless and drifting now.  I-I even heard that some of them may have d-died because of me!”

“Listen to me—”

Rainbow stomped her hoof in the soil.  “I bucked things up!”  She hissed.  “I bucked things up and... and now the quest to free Applejack is in jeopardy 'cuz of the bounty on my head!  Not even Wildcard and Bard could stand me!  I sent them away like a total moron and—”

“Lower... your voice, child,” Luna said firmly.  “I know my blessed night shrouds you, but it would be tragic if you attracted attention to yourself where you currently are.

Rainbow shuddered.  Sniffling, she rubbed her muzzle dry, glancing south at the Silt Path in the distance.

At last, Luna calmly spoke:  “Nothing can erase the actions you committed to free Fluttershy.  You will be forced to live with the memory and the consequences of what happened for the rest of your life.”

Rainbow clenched her teary eyes shut.  She hung her head, shaking.

“I cannot pretend to say that the memories sting any less over time.  You must endeavor to learn from them... not obsess with them.  Is that understood?”

Rainbow nodded.  “Y-yes, your Majesty.”

“You are one in a million, Rainbow Dash.  Or—dare I say—one in ten billion.  Of all the ponies I've known in my extensive lifetime, you are the one who shares the most qualities with immortal alicorns.”

Rainbow shuddered.  She lifted her moist eyes.  “Your Highness...?”

“Indeed.  I do not exaggerate.  You carry burdens that are not unlike that which my beloved sister and I have had to contend with.  They are neither joyful nor desirous.  However, while they are still our burdens to bear, we are not so much defined by how we deal with them—but how we proceed to exist in the shadow of such actions.  Tell me, Rainbow Dash, do your friends know what you've done?”

“You... you m-mean the girls?”

“Affirmative.”

“Well...”  Rainbow rubbed her muzzle, sniffling.  “Y-yeah.  I mean... that place I was talking about earlier?  Red Barge?”  She gulped.  “We got out of there only because we finally made up.  And... and I-I've promised to be completely honest with them ever since.”

“Then, I am to understand that they have forgiven you?”

Rainbow stared ahead.  Blinking.

“Rainbow...?”

“Yes.”  Rainbow squeaked.  Another tear trickled.  “They h-have...”

“Hear me and hear me well, Rainbow Dash.  It does not matter what the world thinks of you or how big a price has been placed on your head.  The fact that the Desperadoes were forced to leave you saddens me.  But that's a minor loss compared to the strength that you now have.”  Luna's voice took on a firmer tone.  “What matters more than anything—more than harmony or morality—is the trust you have in your friends.  Events have proven time and time again that the Austraeoh's journey is defined by those that bring wind to her wings.  Your journey is your friendship, and without a solid foundation—all is lost.  Equestria.  Rohbredden.  The entire world?  It's utter ashes in the derelict drift of chaos without the successful completion of your sojourn.  So long as you can complete that in the sincere confidence of your companions, then there's still something to hope for.”

“Luna...”  Rainbow stammered.  “Shell... I...”  She clenched her eyes shut.  “I came so close to becoming him.”  She grimaced.  “I was him.”

“What monster exists that has won the love of such dear friends?” Luna said.  “Or the undying faith of two princesses?”

Rainbow shuddered.  She collapsed, falling on her knees as she buried her sobbing face in her forelimbs.

After a while, Luna's voice quietly returned:  “You are brave, Rainbow Dash.  You are remarkable... sympathetic... and caring.  I have no doubt in my mind the extent to which your actions have scarred you on the inside.  And it pleases me to know that you are endeavoring to make amends with your friends and in the lands beyond.  But—most important of all—you must keep going.  To allow your sins to weigh you down here and now would be the ultimate tragedy—one that none of us can afford.  And you are simply... too awesome to give up now.  Am I wrong?”

“No... y-your Highness...”  Rainbow looked up, smiling tearfully into the moonlight.  “You are totally right.”

“As I am likewise completely and utterly proud of you.  Now... get some rest.  Restore your strength.  And we shall both resume our mutual odyssey tomorrow.”

“Okay...”  Rainbow Dash said, nodding.  She stood up on wobbly legs, rubbed her muzzle one last time, and murmured:  “Princess Luna?”

“Yes, my child?”

“Does... does it ever get any easier?”  She gulped.  “Immortal decisions, that is.”

“Would you accept any less of a challenge?”

With a sigh, Rainbow shook her head.  “Nah...”  A devilish smirk.  “I guess friggin' not.”
> May Goggles Be With You
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Theanim Mane sweated, his teeth clenched around the handle of a brush.  At last, he finished varnishing the bottom end of a long plank of wood.  Exhaling, he stepped back and wiped his brow dry.  The scientist admired his hoofwork.  A perfectly stable horse trough stood on stilts above a sea of sawdust and wood chippings.

“It might be... off by a few tenths of a degree, but I do believe it'll do.”

He swiped his brow again.  Hoofsteps tickled his ear, and he turned aside to gaze across the crisp morning light.

Sonikah strolled up from the babbling stream, carrying two buckets stretched across her flank.

“My dear!  Look!”  Theanim pointed cheerfully at the trough.  “Do you like it?  I constructed the basin for you and your companions!”  He winked.  “All you need to do is pour a liberal amount into this once a week, and then you needn't make painfully laborious daily trips to the brook!”

“Mrmmfff...” Sonikah exhaled, braids flouncing as she shuffled straight past him and marched up the stone steps into the crooked, partially collapsed building.  “Where there is no labor, there is no meditation.”

“But...”  Theanim's eyes blinked below his goggles.  “...you can get so many more prayers done without pain and unnecessary hard work!”

“Let us let Verlaxion decide what is or isn't necessary,” she muttered, entering the domain above.  “And Verlaxion does not do woodwork.”

“But... it... it only makes sense...”  Theanim pointed at the trough, but she was gone.  He clenched his teeth... then gnashed them altogether.  “Rrrnnngh...!”  He flung the brush against the dewy ground.  “Quarks!”  Kicking at a few pebbles, he shuffled over and slumped down until he sat on the edges of the stone steps.  “I should have stayed with Rainbow Dash,” he grumbled out the side of his muzzle.  “I'd have built her a flame thrower to do the job in half the time!”

Silence.

“Unnnnghhh...”  Theanim leaned forward, resting his face in his forelimbs.  “Blessed Goddess... please help me.  How can I reach out to these ponies?”  His ears twitched as he moaned.  “Surely you do not want us all to suffer, do you?”  His tail flicked.  “Or is this your way of punishing me?”

“Uhhhhhh...”

“... … …?”  Theanim looked up.

A pegasus in a thick flight jacket lifted his frosted goggles and squinted down at the stallion.  His mane and wingfeathers were freshly coated with flakes of frost from high altitude gliding.  “Are you a supervisor of the Shoreline Trade Consortium?”

Theanim Mane muttered, “I'd much sooner be the bloated appendix of a leviathan.”

“Huh?”

Theanim sighed, then put on his best smile.  “My apologies, dear sir.”  Brushing himself off, he stood up straight and adjusted his goggles.  “I am Professor Theanim Mane of the Ninety-Seventh Rohbredden Scientific Order.”

“Oh.  Uhh... Nifty!”

“How might I be of service to you?”

“Uhm...”  The pegasus reached back into his saddlebag, fished around, and produced a scroll.  “I've got a message that's intended for...”  His eyes narrowed as he read off the tag.  “'The Representatives of the Luminar Retreat as Provided by the Shoreline Trade Consortium in Elm Prefecture.'  I was given these precise coordinates.”  The messenger arched an eyebrow.  “Verlaxion's sleet.  This place is a dump.”

“A fact that is not lost to me,” Theanim droned.  “I assure you.”

“Heh...”  The pegasus chuckled.  “Guess you really are a scientist.”

Theanim stared.

“Anyway...”  The messenger cleared his throat.  “If you can direct me to the nearest Consortium representative, Professor, I can finish this delivery.  It's Court Priority.”

“Wait...”  Theanim cocked his head to the side.  “Did you say Court Priority?”

“Yes, sir.”

“By whose mandate?”

“Uhmmmm...”  The pegasus turned the scroll sideways and scratched his head.  “There's a seal on it.  Like... a circle with sharp claw and wings?”

Theanim squinted.  “My good stallion, that's the Talon.”

The pegasus jolted so hard that he nearly dropped the scroll altogether.  “The Right Talon of Verlaxion?!”

“You haven't been delivering messages for long, have you?”

“Erm... f-five years.”  The pegasus gulped, shivering—but not because of the cold.  “I-I've never delivered anything for the Talon before!  I didn't even know they mandated deliveries!”

“Well, as a member of the Scientific Order, I'm granted universal authority to receive and transport messages mandated by the Court and its subsidiaries—which also includes the Talon.”  Theanim motioned for the scroll.  “Please.  If I may.”

“Yeah, sure th-thing.”  The pegasus gladly hoofed the item over.  “Besides...”  His eyes nervously scanned the snow-flaked woods surrounding the river-side ruins.  “Doesn't look like anypony beside you is here.  Jeez.  Just what is this place?”

“A dead end,” Theanim said, turning the scroll over.  “And a very quaint one at that.”  His eyes narrowed on the seal.  “Hmmm... curious.”

“What is it?”

“The seal is in green ink,” Theanim said.  “That means it was produced by proxy.”  His eyes darted up.  “Messages mandated directly by the Right Talon are done in blue.”

“So it's a general edict and not a personally written message?”

“Precisely.”  Theanim opened it up swiftly, undoing the scroll's ribbon.  Once the thing was rolled open, his eyes traced down each word and paragraph.  “Hmmmm... 'dear representatives of the Shoreline Trade Consortium and all affiliated organizations, in accordance with the supply operation as mandated by Lieutenant Keris of the Right Talon of Verlaxion'... mmmm... yes... uh huh... hmmmm...”  His blue eyes blinked, then widened.  “My stars!”  He shot up with a gasp.  “Why... why this is a goddess-send!  HaHA!”  He clutched the scroll so hard that it crumpled.  “As Verlaxion is my witness, it doesn't get much better than this!”

“Good news, professor?” the pegasus asked.

“Not only good!  But timely and fortuitous and... and...”  He froze in place.  Gradually, his smile faded.  “Hrmmm... oh dear...”  With a nervous breath, he turned around, staring up at two-story building at the top of the steps.  “...will they even care, though?”

“Huh?”  The pegasus blinked, craning his neck.  “I don't understand.  Who else is here?”

Theanim took a deep breath.  At last, he neatly folded the scroll up, and spoke:  “Hopefully, nopony soon.  At least if I have something to do with it.”

“Professor?”

Theanim sighed.  “Never mind.  You did your job, dear sir.  Now... if perhaps you would be willing to deliver a message for me.”

“Absolutely.”  The messenger nodded, whipping out the necessary materials.  “Where is this to be directed?”

“The Council,” Theanim said.  “Wait... in addition to that, I would like to prepare a secondary message to the prison bluffs within Frostknife.”

“... … …?”  The pegasus blinked.  “The... prison bluffs in Frostknife?”

“You heard me.”

Clearing his throat, the pegasus dutifully began scribbling with a pen.  “I only fly the letters...”
> Nopony Can Hear You Squee
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Mmmmfff... mrmmmfff...”

“Hey... I think she's coming to.”

“Finally!  Talk about a deep sleep!”

“Uhm... Miss?  Is everything okay?”

“Grnnnfhh...”  Rainbow's forehead tensed.  Her ears folded back, and her legs started shivering uncontrollably.  “Hmmmff—no... No!”  She shot up with a gasp, eyes twitching.  “Cloudsdale!  F-foundations... crumbling...”  She sat in the grass beside a boulder, heaving, covered in sweat.

Two ponies hopped back, startled—a mare and a stallion, both young and with matching blue coats.

“Verlaxion's sleet!”

“It's like she has a fever or something!”

“Ma'am, are... are you okay?”

“I... I-I...”  Rainbow looked every which way. 

It was an hour past dawn.  A bright sun peeked over the craggy rocks to the east, casting a mess of shadows across the tall grass and orange soil.  The Silt Path in the distance was full of early morning travelers hauling their wares east and west.  A few curious ponies glanced towards the scene where the two equines stood above Rainbow Dash and the boulder.

“My brother saw you as we were passing by,” said the mare.  “It's... eheh... very peculiar to see a traveler collapsed off the side of the road.”

“Are you okay?” the stallion asked.  “Did bandits beat you up or something?”

“We tried waking you up, but you seemed really... really out of it.”

“I... uhm... erm...”  Rainbow looked to her right—then did a double-take at a lavender shape.

Twilight hovered calmly at her side.  She smiled and said, “They've been here for around ten minutes, Rainbow.  Rarity and I tried waking you ourselves, but...”

“...you couldn't hear a single word we said,” Rarity uttered in an anxious tone.  “It was as though you were... deeply locked in whatever nightmare you were having.”

Rainbow Dash clenched her head, seething.  Bulbs of sweat clung to her muzzle and chin.

“For a moment there, we were afraid you were suffering another dizzy spell,” Twilight said.  She gulped.  “In your sleep.”

“Not... d-dizzy...” Rainbow murmured.  She clenched her eyes shut.  “Why do the nightmares keep happening?”

“Nightmares?”  The mare looked at the stallion.

“Are... you okay, ma'am?”  Her brother remarked.  With a nervous smile, he reached into his saddlebag and produced a canteen.  “Look... I know there are established rules about accepting gifts from strangers, but perhaps some water could—”

“I... I have my own...”  Rainbow rummaged through her saddlebag.  “At least, I think... I...”  She fumbled some more.

“We don't mean to pry,” said the mare.  “Only that, where we were raised, it's customary to assist other ponies in need.  Most travelers on the Silt Path—when they need to rest for the night—stay at an inn or a shelter.”

“You heading east or west?” the stallion asked with a friendly smile.  “Because if you're heading west, there's the Four Brazier Inn.  I know it's busy with the Month of Thawing coming up and all, but surely they'd have a room for you!”

“Been there,” Rainbow muttered.  She finally found her canteen and took a swig.  “Mmmfff... heading east.”

“Rainbow...” Rarity hissed.  “I know these may be a friendly pair, but don't give away your—”

“Hey!  What a coincidence!”  The mare grinned.  “We're heading east too!  Well... northeast.  To Kunmane!”

“Jewel of Stone Prefecture!” the stallion quoted with a smug grin.

“Heehee!  What he said!”  The mare rolled her eyes with a smirk.  “Of course, it's our hometown—hence the pilgrimage.  But still, it's where anypony who's anypony goes to celebrate Unification Day.”

“You making a delivery there?” the stallion asked.  “Or are you headed south to the limestone springs?”

“I... uhm...”  Rainbow Dash turned and gazed at the upper mountains.  Yaerfaerda shimmered slightly north of where the Silt Path was leading.  “Yeah.  I'm totally headed to Kunmane.”  She offered a fuzzy smile.  “What a coinkydink, for sure.”

“Rainbow!” Rarity hissed again.  “Honestly!  Do you need another two hours of shuteye?”

“Calm down, Rarity,” Twilight said with a wave of her hoof.  “We don't exactly know where the Silt Path leads.”

“So?”

“This could be the break Rainbow needs.”

“But she doesn't know these strangers!”

“No, but they seem rather harmless to me.  Also, if they knew Rainbow Dash was wanted, I'd imagine they would have done something to restrain her before she even woke up.”

Rainbow sat in tense silence, listening to both her friends.

Meanwhile, the two ponies were in the process of responding gleefully:

“—that fantastic?”

“Hey, if you need a guide, we're willing to serve!”  The mare winked.  “Free of charge, too!”

“It's the spirit of Unification Day, after all,” the stallion added.

“So, what do you say?”

“Rainbow...” Rarity said.  “Whatever you do, be cautious.”

“Rarity—” Twilight began.

Rarity floated closer.  “Not everyone here is a Keris or a Swab or a Sinrar.”

Rainbow took a deep breath.  “So... you two are headed to Kunmane?”

“Hehehe...”  The mare rolled her eyes.  “Did we repeat ourselves a thousand times or what?”

“And... mrmmff...”  Rainbow Dash stood up, catching her balance.  “...there are bandits about these spots or what?”

“Well...”  The mare bit her lip, glancing at her brother.

“They've been known to hide out in the Petrispines,” he said.  “Most ponies headed to Kunmane are safer in groups.”

“Well...”  Rainbow cracked the tired joints in her neck.  “I've been known to kick the butts of thugs in my day.  So, if you two are willing to guide me to Kunmane, I promise to protect you.”  She added with a wink.  “Free of charge.”

“Hey!  It's a deal!”

“Hehe!  Wow, this Unification Day is already looking up!”

As Rainbow gathered her things, Rarity sighed, folding her forelimbs.  “While I appreciate an optimistic attitude, forgive me if I'm a tad bit reserved in this country.”

“Oh calm down, Rarity,” Twilight said, starting to fade into a lavender light as she drifted into Rainbow's pendant.  “I'll wake the others, Rainbow.”

“You do that,” Rainbow said.

“Hmmm?”  The mare looked back while shouldering her belongings.  “What was that?”

“Er... you... uh...”  Rainbow cleared her throat.  “You carry heavy loads well...?”  She winced as the words exited her muzzle.

“Heheheh...”  The stallion nudged his sister.  “Told you that you make a good packhorse!”

“Oh hush.”  The mare rolled her eyes and led the three back towards the Silt Path.  “I swear... every foal of Verlaxion is born a comedian.”

“Only the pink ones,” Rainbow muttered.





Past a set of craggy hills, the Silt Path split into three smaller roads that then snaked off into three separate directions in the wilderness.  Rainbow counted her lucky stars that she actually stumbled upon a group of ponies who knew where the paths led.  The siblings drew her along the northernmost of the three paths.  It was a surprisingly even patch of land for a spell, flanked by short green grass and thick emerald shrubbery.  A tall face of porous limestone loomed to the distant northwest, and Rainbow could feel the multiple shadows of steep rockfaces crossing over their bodies as they approached the immense mountains that were still blocking rays of the morning sunrise at that hour.

Here, the pilgrims along the Silt Path were as casual as ever, strolling at a leisurely pace while they chatted and shared stories of the travels that brought them that far.  There were far more taking the path northeast than southwest, and—sure enough—next to none of them traveled alone.  The ponies marched in groups of five, six, or more.  Rainbow felt remarkably tiny with just two corporeal companions at her side.

“So, do you have a name, miss?” asked the stallion.

“Uhm...”  Rainbow glanced at Pinkie, Fluttershy, and the two unicorns.  “I'm... uhhh...”  She glanced at the thick green bushes flanking the path.  “...Scootabelle?”

Rarity did a double-take.  “I beg your pardon?”  Pinkie and Fluttershy giggled.

“Scootabelle...”  The mare slowly nodded.  “How interesting.  Must not be from around here because that's not a common name to Stone Prefecture!  Heehee!”

“My name is Reeds,” the stallion said, then pointed at his sister with the matching blue coat.  “This here is Sweet.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”  The mare stuck her tongue out.  “Just that.  Sweet.”  She gestured at her brother.  “We're twins, in case you can't tell.”

“Parents thought they'd give us super simple names,” Reeds said.  “Makes it easier for when they have to yell at us.”

“Hehehe!”

“So... uh...”  Rainbow Dash shifted the weight of her saddlebag.  “What do you two do for a living?”

“Well, a little bit of this and a little bit of that,” Reeds explained.  “Lately, we've taken to fishing in Lime Spring Lake.”

“Where's that?”

“Not surprised you haven't heard of it,” Sweet said.  “It's located far south of here, in a remote pocket along the southeastern tip of Seed Prefecture.”

“It's a deep lake, though!” Reeds exclaimed.  “Members of the Scientific Order believe that it's connected to the Sunset Tract through underwater aquifers!”

“Oh!  How interesting!”  Twilight grinned.  “I wonder how many ponies they know in the Order?”

“Maybe they know Thunker Meat!” Pinkie said with a grin.  “That's what you guys said the Nealenders used to call him, right?  Ask Sweet and Reeds if they ever heard of a 'Thunker Meat!'”

“No.  Don't.”  Rarity rolled her eyes.  “Honestly... morning ponies.”

“Eh... Rarity's right.”  Twilight smiled, blushing slightly.  “Let's not get too social.”

“Awwww... why not, though?”  Fluttershy sighed happily.  “These ponies are really nice.  I like them.”

“Just get the information you need from them, Rainbow,” Rarity said.  “Then find an excuse to break off so we can continue this journey on our own.”

“Agreed.”  Twilight nodded.

Rainbow cleared her throat.  “So... uhm... what's so big about Kenmare.”

“Huh?”  Reeds glanced aside.  “Do you mean Kunmare?”

“Er... yeah.”  Rainbow blinked.  “You said it's your hometown?”

“And an awesome place at that!” Sweet chirped.

“Heh...”  Rainbow smirked, tilting her hat slightly forward.  “I'll be the judge of that.”

“It's one of the oldest towns in all of Rohbredden,” Reeds said.  “On account of how isolated it is.”

“Yeah.”  Sweet nodded.  “The Petrispines used to act as a defensive barrier against outside intrusion.  Because of the forest, almost none of the other tribes could reach it during the Frost Wars.”

“Frost... Wars...?”

The two siblings gawked at Rainbow.

“Wow... are you Colonialist or something?” Sweet said.

“Erm... n-not that we have a problem with that or anything,” Reeds said with a nervous smile.  “Some of my father's oldest friends... erm... moved to the colonies at some point.  Ahem.”

“Heh... you caught me,” Rainbow said.  She ignored the multiple face-hoofs of her ghostly companions and continued, “Guess I could use a bit of a brush-up on my Continentalist history.”

“Well, the Frost Wars is what many of us call the battles between the Six Tribes before Verlaxion's Blessed Thawing,” Reeds explained.  “It was a horrible bunch of conflicts that nearly killed off everyone living in Rohbredden.  I mean... heh... as if it wasn't bad enough that we were dealing with such terrible weather and famine.”

“As a matter of fact, Kunmane was one of the last bastions of the Earth Pony Tribe to accept Verlaxion's Blessing!” Sweet said.

“Yeah!  Our ancestors were stubborn, bloody warriors to the core!”

“I know you can hardly tell now...”  Sweet stuck a tongue out, giggling.  “But get on our bad side and we can tear heads off!”

“That's... uh... nice to know,” Rainbow stammered.

“Oh, don't worry, Scootabelle,” Sweet nudged her.  “You're alright in our book.”

“You should totally stick around for Unification Day!” Reeds said.  “We celebrate the Month of Thawing super hard in Kunmane!  What—with our town being the last to accept unification.  We like to count our blessings with vigor, if you catch my drift.”

“Sounds nifty.”  Rainbow Dash glanced at the others.  “And... uhm... Stone Prefecture...”

“What about it?”

“You said that Kunmane was the jewel of the province.  Is it super tiny or—?”

“Nah.  Stone Prefecture is pretty big.”  Sweet snorted.  “If nothing else, it's almost super empty.”

“Yeah.”  Reeds rolled his eyes.  “So Kunmane isn't exactly a maretropolis, but it stands out at the foothills of the mountains.”

“Is there a path through it?” Rainbow asked.  “The mountains, I mean.”

“Oh!  Totally!  And a beautiful path at that!”  Reeds glanced over at her.  “But you'd better stock up on provisions before you even think of making the climb!”

“Which shouldn't be hard, considering that there's a celebration in town!” Sweet said with a giggle.

“Why is that?”

“Unification Day, ya silly filly!”

“No... er... I mean...”  Rainbow cleared her throat.  “Why's it so important to stock up for the mountain path?”

“'Cuz it goes on for—like—ever.”  Sweet rolled her eyes.  “I mean, my brother and I have lived here most of our lives, and even we haven't bothered making the climb!”

“Not that you'd really want to,” Reeds added with a chuckle.  “This is pretty much the last warm stop before the frost sets in.”

“We're talking snow or wars?”

“Heehee...”  Sweet smirked at Reeds.  “She's cute.  I bet she's gonna melt once she sees the fireworks!”

“Don't look now, sis...”  Reeds pointed straight ahead.  “But there they are.”

“Huh?” Sweet took one glance, then bounced in mid-trot.  “Oh goody goody goody!”

“Huh?” Rainbow squinted.

“This must be a treat for you, Miss Scootabelle,” Reeds said.  “Feast your eyes on the Petrispines.”

“What, the forest?”  Rainbow craned her neck.  “I can't see it through all of the stone spikes.”

“Heheheh... the stone spikes is the forest.”

Rainbow's ghostly friends all cooed at once.  Before them stretched a series of jagged stalagmites sticking up out of the ground.  The path wove through it, and Rainbow could see from the bodies of travelers strolling past the formations that the sudden spikes of limestone stood well over thirty... forty... even fifty feet tall.

“My my...” Rarity fanned herself.  “How... exotic.”

“Huh...” Rainbow blinked.  “A forest like that?”  She shook her head.  “I'm almost scared to see the squirrels.”
> Scootabelle of Latter Day Ships
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The path cut straight through the jutting stalagmite formations, winding left and right as it skirted pillar after pillar of craggy stone-gray rock.  The Petrispines looked far from natural at a casual glance, with almost geometrically perfect segments standing out horizontally from one another.  The earthen foundation beneath the shards looked almost perfectly flat.  Rainbow Dash imagined the structures as chess pieces that had been casually placed across a pale-white board with no rhyme or reason.  Several of the formations even appeared narrower at the bottom than at the top.  A part of the mare feared that a simple sneeze would knock the things over—crushing the Rohbredden travelers to a bloody pulp.

She was the only pony expressing any sense of concern, as was evident from the calmly strolling pilgrims who were predominantly taking the same path as she and her fellow companions.  For the most part, the path rolled its way north, worming through narrow spaces that had been cleared out ages ago.  The beaten floor had been reduced to loose gravel that crunched under everypony's hooves, and the walkway was wide enough for sunlight to easily shine through as the noonday sun peeked over the summits of the mountains to the north and east.

Glancing left and right—off the path—Rainbow Dash saw multiple thick bushes and various species of pine trees doing their best to fill up the spaces between the stone behemoths.  No matter how tall nature grew in that region, the twisted pillars of rock still dwarfed them.  Still, the flora took on remarkable vibrancy, populated by flowers of every color.  Rainbow saw camellias, lilies, magnolias, and azaleas.  The sight was so dazzling that the mare almost missed her mane for the first time since Riverstem.

At one point, there was a break in the Petrispines, and Rainbow spotted several shallow lakes and ponds with immaculately placid surfaces.  The water was so crisp and clean that it perfectly reflected the granite shards and flowers surrounding it—so that Rainbow almost thought she was trotting across a derelict island of jagged rock, floating in the clouds.  The buzz of insects and the chatter of Reeds and Sweet broke her out of the illusion, and they pressed on, spanning a plain wooden bridge that spanned the ponds—all the while hugging the stone formations flanking the water.

“These... these fabulous shapes!” Rarity cooed, eyes sparkling.  “They're like silk sheets to my senses!  Heeeeee...”

“Oh wowie zowie!”  Pinkie Pie couldn't stop flying and zipping through the rocks with splashes of lavender.  “If only Maud were here!  She'd have a field day with all of this!”  She turned to grin at Rainbow.  “Say, Dashie!  What if the Sixth Seed frees Maud from the Vanilla Zone?”

Rarity squinted at her.  “Pinkie.  Your sister Maud is back home.  Alive and corporeal.  We've even chatted with her, remember?”

“Mmmmm...”  Pinkie pouted, rubbing her forelimbs together.  “It could happen.”

“I... I just can't get over how astonishing it all looks!” Twilight said breathlessly.  “I've seen limestone and sandstone deposits taking on bizarre shapes from gradual erosion—but nothing on this scale!”

“Don't break the mystique, darling,” Rarity insisted.

“But... but the nature behind it is what's so spectacular!  Not just the superficial effect!” Twilight exclaimed.

“I, for one, really like how nature has found a way to grow in between the rocks.”  Fluttershy sighed dreamily, smiling at the dragonflies flitting over the ponds and landing on floating orchards.  “Even if this land is run by a big bad crazy ice dragon, the flora and fauna still know how to be beautiful on their own.”

“You said it, Flutters!” Pinkie giggle-snorted.

“Rainbow!  Quick!”  Twilight floated right in front of Rainbow Dash.  “Please.  You have to ask them how this fantastic place came about!”

“Ahem...”  Rainbow Dash cleared her throat, then glanced aside at the traveling citizens.  “So... uh... why do they call these the 'Petrispines' anyway?”

“Well...”  Sweet tapped her chin.  “Because they're petrified.”

“And they're spines!” Reeds added.

Both twins chuckled.

Rainbow sighed out a dumb smirk.  “Well there you have it.”

“Awwwwwww...”  Twilight folded her forelimbs with a pout.  “Where's Theanim when you need him?”

“Actually, the ponies of Kunmane have an age-old legend,” Reeds remarked.

Rainbow's ears twitched.  “Oh?”

“Yes.”  He nodded.  “The elder archives maintain that windigos treasured Kunmane above all villages during the Frost Wars.  In fact, they loved this city so much that they galloped circles around it—endlessly—freezing the land surrounding it while winding up the hearts of the ponies who lived in the eye of the frozen storm that their blighted manes created.”

Sweet joined in with a smile:  “And when all seemed lost and the ponies of Kunmane nearly succumbed to the evil windigos' heartless curse, the gracious and mighty Verlaxion sent a single gasp of her thawing breath southwest through the misty mountains and knocked the windigos off their hooves!”

“They tumbled all over each other like dominoes!”  Reeds smirked.  “And the grinding of their limbs against the earth made the Petrispines!”

“Talk about a frozen tumble!  Hehe!”  Sweet's blue coat turned rosy with mirth.

“Huh...”  Rainbow arched an eyebrow beneath her hat.  “And do you really believe that?”

“Mmmmm... nah.”  Reeds chuckled.  “But the elders get super happy when they re-tell the tale at each Unification Day.”

“Right...”  Rainbow Dash droned as she trotted along.  “We can't be letting them down, can we?”

“Don't tell me that there's no folklore where you come from, Scootabelle!” Sweet remarked.  “Nothing that makes you feel like you belong at home?”

“Eh... I suppose.”  Rainbow Dash shrugged.  A devilish smirk.  “But I'd rather make my own folklore.”

“Hah!”  Reeds smiled.  “I like that attitude!”

“I like my attitude too.”

“I... I'm kinda curious,” Sweet said.  “Do Colonialists believe in any sort of spirit or destiny at all?  I mean... I-I just can't imagine a life without Verlaxion!”

“Sweet...” Reeds chided.

“I'm only asking!”

“Yeah, well, I'm the wrong pony to pose that question to,” Rainbow muttered.

“Rainbow...”  Twilight whispered.  “You know better!  If you play silent and dumb all the time, they might suspect that you're not who you say you are!”

“A little imagination never hurt anyone, darling,” Rarity said.

Rainbow blinked.  “Uhhhhh...”  She fidgeted slightly in mid-speech, gazing up at the majestic spires looming above them.  “Come to think of it, many ponies on the island I grew up in believed strongly in...”  A beat.  Rainbow's eyes traveled back down to the water below the flat bridge.  She blinked.  “...shipping.”

“Shipping?”  Sweet blinked.

“Uhm... as in boats and shipbuilding?” Reeds inquired.

“No.  More like...”  Rainbow gestured with a hoof.  “...you put a pony in one boat and... like... a pony in another boat, and then you cast them off together.  And... like... their souls are married n'stuff.”

“Ooooh!”  Sweet grinned wide.  “Not only spiritual, but romantic!”

“Eughhh...” Reeds rolled his eyes.  “Give me a break.”

“Hey!”  Sweet swatted his blue shoulder with a frown.  “Be considerate!”

“Eh... it's okay.”  Rainbow waved a hoof.  “Our gods aren't too offended.”

“What are their names?” Sweet asked.  “Your gods, I mean.”

“Oh... uhm...”  Rainbow blinked blankly ahead.  “...the Mighty God Nick... and Beautiful Goddess Flare... of ermm... … … Mwapland.”

“Wow...”  Pinkie blinked, rubbing her chin.  “When did that ever happen?”  A lavender hoof swatted the back of her head.  “Ow!  Hey!”

Rarity sighed, face-hoofing.  “Okay... maybe not that much imagination.”

Rainbow smiled.

“Uhm...”  Fluttershy suddenly winced, rubbing her head.  “Girls?”

Twilight looked over.  “What is it, Fluttershy?”

Rarity breathed.  “Are you okay, darling?”

“Uhhh... I'm okay.”  Fluttershy gulped.  “But there's something... very peculiar.”

“Wuh oh!”  Pinkie floated closer.  “Flutter butters are a'shuddering!”

“It's ponies, right?” Twilight asked.  “You sense ponies?”

“Yes.   But...” Fluttershy bit her lip.  “These ponies aren't sticking to the road.  As a matter of fact, I think they're nestled somewhere above us.”

“Like on the stones?” Pinkie asked.

“Perhaps.  It's... a bit unclear.”  Fluttershy turned and pointed northwest.  “I'd say about two hundred feet in that direction.”

Twilight pivoted.  “Rarity?”

“There's... several even planks of wood,” Rarity remarked, rubbing her head as she squinted into the pondwater below.  “And they've been placed atop an even line of stone summits.”  She tilted her pale face up, lips quivering.  “Oh dear...”

“Wuh oh!”  Pinkie gulped.  She looked at Rainbow Dash.  “I think our Pilgrim Petrispine Party is about to get Pooped!”

Rainbow gazed at her marefriends.  With a calm breath, she spoke towards the two siblings trotting with her:  “You said that bandits like to hide out in this place?”

“Hmmm?”  Reeds looked up.  “Oh!  Heh...”  He waved a hoof.  “I was just blowing hot air.  There hasn't been a bandit attack in... oh... years, easily.”

“Yeah!  Besides...”  Sweet hummed to herself.  “...it's a day and a half to Unification Day!  No bandits ever attack so close to the Month of Thawing!”

“It just wouldn't be proper.”

“Hah!  You said it, brother!”

Rainbow clenched her jaws.  “Just like how honorable the seven seas are...”

“Huh?”

“What was that, Scootabelle?”

“Nothing...”  Rainbow Dash cleared her throat, then smiled calmly at the pair.  “Say... my hooves are getting tired.  Any chance we can rest a bit?”

“Funny you should ask!  There's a clearing up ahead!  Just beyond the bridge!”

“You don't say...”
> Something Is Rotten In Rohbredden
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Alright...”  Fluttershy gulped, floating above Rainbow Dash as she settled off the beaten path with Reeds and Sweet.  “There are definitely ponies moving towards us.  Swiftly.  From the west.”

“Are they pegasi?” Pinkie asked.  She glanced down at the blanket that the siblings were spreading.  “Oooh!  They have strawberry preserves!”

“Pinkie,” Rarity chided, then looked over at Fluttershy.  “They're earth ponies, aren't they?  I mean... the stone summits west of us are certainly positioned close enough to one another for wingless equines to scale.”

Fluttershy nodded.  “I detect at least eight of them.  They came from someplace northwest of this clearing.”

“That's about...”  Rarity squinted.  “...five rows of limestone structures from where their lofty wooden hideout is located.”

“Wowsers!”  Pinkie blinked brightly.  “They could get the drop on us at any time!”

“... ... ...”  Rainbow Dash glanced up.  Several jagged spires loomed above the grassy clearing where she and her fellow travelers had stopped to rest and enjoy a meal.  Bordering the grassy gnoll was an extended part of the watery pond that the bridge south of them had spanned.

“It's worse than that,” Rarity murmured.  “Now that they're getting closer, I... I-I can sense them too!”

“How?”  Pinkie looked at her.  “You don't have Fluttersenses!”

Rarity gulped.  “I detect the iron arrows that they're carrying!”

“Oh my goodness...”  Fluttershy grimaced.  “They have projectiles?”  She shuddered.  “Th-that might explain why two of them are hanging back in formation!”

“This isn't good.”  Twilight pointed across the clearing to where a tight group of a dozen ponies had also stopped to rest and eat.  “This is the perfect opportunity for a well-trained raiding party to steal fifteen ponies' worth of goods and valuables!  Judging from the characters we've met in the seven seas, there's no telling what these creeps might do!”  She looked at Rainbow.  “Rainbow, we gotta get everypony out of here!  Convince them to move on down the path somehow!”

“No way.”  Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath, eyeing the lofty roof of the Petrispines.  “If the bandits don't attack us here, they'll attack us somewhere further along.”  She gritted her teeth.  “Or just harm some other ponies.”

“Huh?”  Sweet looked up from where she laid out a picnic spread.  “Did you say something, Scootabelle?”

“Uhhhhh...”  Rainbow coughed aside, scratching her neck beneath the collar of her green robe.  “Just... h-humming an old tune I love.”

“Really?”  Reeds chuckled, gulping down a bite of bread.  “Wanna teach us?”

“Uhm... another time.”  Rainbow Dash sat down, still fidgeting.  “These ponies aren't like the dredgers of Red Barge,” she murmured, barely whispering.  “They don't deserve to get beat up over bits.  Or whatever.”

“Rainbow Dash, you can't be the one-pony police of Rohbredden!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Yeah!”  Pinkie Pie nodded.  “Besides, there's no place on your body that you can hide a nightstick!”

“But Rainbow's right!”  Fluttershy's eyes glistened.  “If we don't do something, the bandits will only hurt other ponies!”

“Isn't it enough that Rainbow's on the run from the Talon and an enormous bounty?!” Twilight exhaled.  “If she tries to be a hero, it will only get her more attention!  And then it'll get her caught!”

“Not if I'm awesome about it,” Rainbow muttered.

“Hmmm?”  Reeds looked up.

“Uhhhh...”  Rainbow tilted her hat back and reached a hoof out.  “Could you pass the jam, please?”

“Here ya go!” Sweet chirped, passing the jar over.

“Think of Sweet and Reeds here!” Fluttershy said, pouting.  “They're so innocent and fun-loving!  Rainbow here has what it takes to prevent more ponies like them from suffering!  She has us!”

Rarity phased through Rainbow to face Twilight.  “I'm with Fluttershy on this one.  We shan't stand for this!”  She folded her forelimbs.  “After all, can we run from this place perfectly knowing that we could have prevented a bloody debacle but didn't?”

“Rarity...”  Twilight sighed, then facehoofed.  In a calmer tone, she said, “Look.  I don't want these ponies to suffer any more than you and Fluttershy do.  But... at some point or another we're going to run into a situation that Rainbow Dash simply cannot tackle!  At least... n-not without sacrificing her well-being!  Or the journey's!  Or... or...”

“I can handle 'em,” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“Rainbow Dash!”  Twilight spun to face her, frowning.  “You don't know that!”

Rainbow nibbled on some toast, swallowed, and said, “There's one way to find out.”  She stood up, cleared her throat, and spoke in a firm tone:  “Say... uhm... is there a place around here... like... off the beaten path where a mare might do her business without bothering passing travelers?”

“Hmmm?”  Reeds looked up.  “Oh, you mean like bartering and trading?  You can totally do that when we reach Kunmane!”  He smiled.  “In fact, my father's quite the wealthy businesspony—”

“Dumb dumb.”  Sweet slapped his shoulder.  “She means go to the filly's room.”

“Oh!  Right!  Uhm...”  The stallion blushed, hiding behind a half-eaten slice of toast-and-jam.  “I knew that.”

“So... uhhhh...”  Rainbow pretended to hop from one set of legs to the other.  She bore a nervous smile.

“Hehehe...”  Sweet pointed.  “There are plenty of alcoves on the other side of the pond.  The bushes should block anyone from accidentally seeing you.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem, though... I-I don't see why you even had to ask.”

“Well... y'know...”  Rainbow Dash began backtrotting from the scene.  “I'm your regular, Shippist Colonialist.  Stranger to these lands.”  A shrug.  “I wasn't sure if—like—these Petrispines were hallowed grounds or something.”

“Heehee!  Nothing holy this far from the Throne of Verlaxion!”

“Great.  Guess the whole world's a throne... except her throne.  If... if you get what I mean.  Heheh...”  She coughed and waved.  “Be right back.  Won't take long.  Promise.”  And she scampered off with a twirl of her robe.

“Huh...”  Sweet reclined on the blanket with a warm breath.  “...what a silly mare.  Nice... but silly.”

“Mmmm...”  Reeds munched on more toast and jam.  “Cute too.”

Sweet rolled her eyes.  “Honestly!  Don't you get any ideas.”

“Pffft?  Right now???”  He also rolled his eyes.  “Ask me sometime when she's not making sissy.”





“Rainbow—” Twilight stammered, floating after the pegasus.

Now that Rainbow was out of sight from the Rohbreddenites, she broke into a full gallop, threading her way through underbrush and stalagmites.  “Not now, Twilight.  Got some bandits to squash.”

“Rainbow, I'm on your side, remember?”  The unicorn nevertheless groaned.  “Look, I won't try to talk you out of it anymore, 'kay?  But how are you even going to do it?!”  She gestured.  “You're down here.  They are up there.  And you can't fly at the moment!  Or did you forget?”

“Pfft!  I did not forget, egghead.  Patch up the cracks in yoru shell, will ya?”  Rainbow Dash slowed to a shuffling trot.  “I've got this covered!”

“Yeah?  How?!”

“I think on my hooves.  Only—now—I've got four awesome mares to help me with the thinking.”  With a smirk, she looked over at Fluttershy.  “Where are we in relation to the bandits now?”

“Uhm... pretty far, actually.”  Fluttershy rubbed her hooves together pensively as she phased through rock spires.  “At this rate, I-I'm kinda scared that we'll be gone for when they spring their attack.”

“Remember...”  Rarity pointed.  “They have arrows!  Likely more of those dreaded crossbows we keep seeing.”

“Right.”  Twilight nodded.  “They can do a lot of damage from afar.”

“All the more reason why we should find a way to get a jump on them.”  Rainbow looked aside.  “Pinkie!  Any ideas, girl?”

“Yeah!”  Pinkie gawked at the other mares.  “Just where have Sweet and Reeds got a toaster hidden?”

“... ... ...”  Rainbow turned towards Rarity.  “Rares.  Any ideas?”

“Yes... yes!”  The fashionista clutched her horn, grinning brilliantly.  “There it is!”

“There what is, Rarity?”  Twilight exclaimed.  “We haven't much time!  Be specific!”

Rarity grinned at the others.  “There's a particularly hewn spire of rocks about fifty feet from here!”

“How do you mean hewn?” Rainbow droned.

“There are several notches in its northwest side,” Rarity explained.  “Easily scaleable for an adult equine.”  She pointed in a nebulous direction.  “The platforms are hidden by another rockface, and there's a patch of uprooted shrubbery acting as a facade to hide the way to the top!”

“Lemme guess.”  Rainbow squinted.  “The wooden hideout isn't far away...?”

“Only five hops!  Six at most!”  Rarity nodded.  “And if Fluttershy's right about the position of the thugs—”

“—then it's completely abandoned!” Pinkie gasped.

“Better get a move on, Rainbow,” Twilight said.

“Hey, that's me.”  Rainbow galloped after Rarity's floating figure.  “Rainbow Move On Dash.”

“Huh...”  Pinkie blinked.  “I thought your middle name was J—”

“Don't you friggin' start with that crud.”





“Easy with the next hurdle, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said, floating backwards and waving her forelimbs like a crossing guard.  She and Fluttershy lingered atop a limestone spire with a polished flat top.  “It's a long leap, but the surface here is quite stable.  I assure you.”

“I've got this.” Rainbow muttered, grunted, then jumped.  She landed on the granite—her hooves scuffling a bit.

“Oh!”  Fluttershy gasped, clasping her muzzle.  “Careful!”

“I'm fine—”

“The stone is very smooth and slippery!” Rarity exclaimed, floating on the other side of the flightless pegasus.  “If you over exert yourself, you might fall—”

“I said I'm fine!”  Rainbow waved the phantomettes back.  “Friggin' chillax!  I don't need to be having panic alarms in stereo!  Luna poop.”

“Heeheeheehee!”  Pinkie giggled uncontrollably, floating through the scene.  “She said 'stereo'...”

“Ahem...”  Twilight floated through a rockface, motioning at Rainbow Dash.  “Over here, Rainbow.”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes, then slowly followed the lavender ghost around a curved bend of granite.  All around and beneath her, the Petrispines stretched like a sea of jagged granite teeth and emerald pines from horizon to horizon.  Suddenly, there was a wooden deck rattling under Rainbow's hooves.  The planks were hammered haphazardly to the polished summit of a particularly large stalagmite.  Three neighboring spires converged nearby—so that their shadow cloaked a triangular shack of wood looming high above the ground.

Twilight levitated at the entrance, pointing inside.

Rainbow ducked her head, then entered the dim confines.  She squinted left and right, observing wooden trunks, containers, boxes—all chock full of weapons, tools, and nick-nacks.  “Hrmmmfff...”  Her nostrils flared.  “Could use a hammock.”

“Eugh!”  Rarity shuddered.  “How dreadful!  If this is where such ruffians live, no wonder they desire bits so much!”

“It doesn't look like this place is only meant to sustain eight bandits,” Twilight said.  She looked at Fluttershy.  “You sensed eight, right?”

Fluttershy nodded.

“Judging from the stockpile of weapons...”  Rainbow pointed at the crates full of swords and arrows.  “...this is an arsenal made to equip an entire operation.”

“What kind of operation?” Fluttershy murmured.

“Nothing good, I bet,” Rainbow muttered.

“Hey!  Dashie!”  Pinkie gestured from where she hovered next to a wooden crate.  “Come here!”

Rainbow trotted across the creaking floorboards and knelt beside her.  “What did you find?”

“Nothing.”  Pinkie shrugged. “Just this neato keano logo here!”

“Mrmmmff...”  Rainbow sighed.  “Pinkie, I swear, if there's ever a picnic emergency... I'll go to you first.”  She shook her head.  “But not for this.”

Pinkie blinked.  “But I thought this was a picnic emergency!”

“Wait...”  Twilight floated in, levitating beside Pinkie Pie.  “That logo!”  She pointed at what looked like a circular banner encasing the illustration of a tiny harbor, complete with moored steamships and palm trees.  “I've... seen it before.”

“Oh!  Yeah!”  Pinkie grinned.  “That's just what I was gonna say!”  She turned to Rainbow.  “Dashie, do you remember when we were in Riverstem?”

“Those stallions...”  Fluttershy floated closer.  “The ones in uniform who were putting up the wanted posters of the 'Rainbow Rogue.'”

“Their wagons had this very same symbol!”  Twilight exclaimed.  “I know it!”

“I know it too!”  Pinkie stuck her tongue out, then folded her forelimbs.  “Just like I know that Reeds likes to put too many strawberry preserves on his bread!”

“But... I don't get it...”  Rainbow Dash stood back, leaning against a closed wooden crate.  “Why would ponies putting out a bounty for me be in league with bandits and thieves?”

“Hmmmm...”  Twilight tapped her chin, squinting in deep thought.  “I don't know.  But one thing's for sure.”  She glanced over.  “Something's rotten in Rohbredden.”

“Hehehe!”  Pinkie giggle-snorted.  “Rottenredden!”  She looked over.  “What do you think of that, Rares?”  Silence.  She frowned.  “Rarity, why aren't you laughing?”

“Mrmmmfff...”  Rarity rubbed her horn, wincing.  “Sorry, Pinkie.  I'm just... g-getting this fuzzy feeling all of the sudden.”

“Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked.

“I... I think so...”  Rarity sighed.  “Last time I felt like this was back at Red Barge when...”  She blinked, lifting her wide eyes.  “...when Skagra's stallions rolled in the crates of dredge dust.”

The mares all looked at one another.

“... ... ...!”  Rainbow Dash turned towards the wooden crate she was leaning against.  She hastily opened the lid.  Her ruby eyes reflected an entire load of dredge coal—still raw from dredging.

“Oh.”  Rarity blinked.  “Well, there you have it.”

“Whew!”  Pinkie floated backwards, nervously “hiding” behind Twilight's figure.  “Is... is that stuff—” 

“Explosive enough to rival the fires of Tartarus,” Twilight said, nodding.  “These bandits aren't playing around.”

“Yeah, well, me neither.”  Rainbow Dash tapped her hoof against the floor in thought.  “... ... ...”  She turned around, tilting her conical hat back.  Her eyes danced from shelf to wooden shelf.  At last, she rushed forward, rummaging through every container and compartment that she could find.

“Rainbow?”  Fluttershy cocked her head to the side.  “What are you doing?”

“What do you think?”  Rainbow motioned at the four mares.  “Come in closer.  Help me look.”

“Look for what?”

“You'll know it when you see it.”

“Huh?”  Twilight blinked.  All of the sudden, her ears folded back.  “Oh no.  Rainbow, you can't be serious.”

“What?”  Rarity blinked.  “Why's Twilight wincing all of the sudden?”

“Because Twi knows something awesome when she smells it.  Even if it's rotten.”
> Forward, Quarter Circle Forward, Buck
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Eight surly stallions and mares wearing leather vests huddled together atop a cluster of stone platforms overlooking a grassy gnoll.

Down below, Reeds and Sweet sat, both siblings munching and chatting amicably.  A few meters away, a dozen other ponies sat, looking over maps and sipping from their canteens.  Within minutes, more travelers came trotting north along the path.  They saw the other Rohbreddenites gathered and resting in the center of the Petrispines, and they gradually joined them.

“Verlaxion's sleet,” a stallion with a crossbow hissed.  “Here come five more!”

“Like sitting ducks.”

“Shhhh!”  A mare with a scimitar gnashed her teeth.  “Ducks can hear, morons!”

“We've waited around long enough!”  Another mare grumbled.  She glanced at the other seven.  “For crying out loud!  It's not gonna get juicier than this!  Let's spear a few of them to bloody the spines and then pounce already!”

“Just a little longer,” the lead thug grumbled.  “I want to wait until the five newcomers are completely seated.”

“Better make it quick, boss,” a stallion murmured, squinting south.  “It's about five minutes before another party shuffles up.  We better make our hit before we're outnumbered four to one.”

“We've gutted ten times as many ponies as these chumps before,” the leader grunted.  “But this?  This is perfect.  These stone turds will hide the bodies, no problem.”

“Yeah, but they won't hide us!”  A stallion hissed, gesturing with his crossbow.  “For crying out loud—this was never meant to be a blood gutter!  We've got precious stock here!”

“Mrmmmfff... what's so precious about it anymore, huh?”  The leader grumbled, squinting at the bodies down below.  “We've lost contact with the big whigs.  You ask me?  They've wiped their hooves of us ever since what happened in the central prefectures.  We've been on our own for far too long.  It's high time we made a hit and split before the Talon comes back.”

“With a body count this high, you can bet the Talon will hunt us down to the edges of Rohbredden.”

The leader shrugged.  “I can live on the muck of the seven seas if I have to.  I don't give a shit what you guys do.”

“Pffft.  Like you ever did.”

“Dammit, now's not the time!  Let's just get this over with!”

Meanwhile, four ghostly bodies hovered within earshot of the diabolical group.  Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle listened closely.  Exchanging nervous glances, they swiftly flew back west—phasing through several rock platforms.





Rainbow Dash perched low on the top of a stalagmite.  She craned her neck, cautiously peering at the group of eight thugs preparing their ambush.

Not long after, her friends returned like four colored shadows.  Catching their breaths, they gave the air to Twilight.

“They'll be attacking at any moment,” Twilight said.  “Three are armed with crossbows.  The other five have swords and are poised to jump down and raid the Rohbreddenites.”  She gestured.  “They all... appear to be wearing leather cloaks with foldable flaps... probably for gliding.”

“Hmmmfff...”  Rainbow nodded.  “My favorite kind of thugs.  The half-ass kind.”

“This is no laughing matter, Rainbow,” Twilight said, brow furrowed.  “These ponies mean business.  Their leader is a mare who's willing to shed blood and then run off to the seven seas.”

“Then she won't mind the fact that we've decided to redecorate their current home.”  Rainbow exhaled, tilting her conical hat back.  “So... like... any clues as to their connections with the bounty stallions back in Riverstem?”

“No.”  Rarity shook her head.  “And, quite frankly Rainbow Dash, is this the time?”

“They look super ready to super pounce!” Pinkie squeaked.

“Right...”  Rainbow nodded, crawling forward.  “Let's do this.”

“Do what?!”  Twilight stammered.  “Haven't you drummed up a plan?”

“Yes.  No.  Maybe.”  Rainbow shrugged.  “Look, after what we did back there, it's not like we have a choice but to interfere.”

Twilight sighed.  “I know... but Rainbow...”  She frowned.  “These ponies look very dangerous.”

“So what?  I'm very dangerous.”

Twilight face-hoofed.  “Ughhh...”

“Look.  I'll try it out the harmonious way at first.”  Rainbow shrugged, slinking forward.  “And if that doesn't work... then... fight scene!”  She smirked.

“Rrrrgh...”  Twilight shook, red-in-the-face as the other mares hovered after her.  “One of these days, Rainbow, you won't be able to solve a problem with a fight scene!”





“Ready boss?” asked one of the eight thugs.

“Ready.”  The lead mare shuffled forward to the edge of the cluster of platforms.  “We have the opportunity for three shots here.”

“Who do we spear?”

“Mmmmm...”  The leader pointed.  “Fire one into the larger crowd to make them piss themselves.”  She swung a hoof.  “Then shoot the other two at the twins down there.”

“Kill 'em both?”

“Yeah.  If this whole thing goes south, we can at least pick their corpses for valuables.”

“Why launch arrows?” cracked a voice from behind.  “You've got eight lousy corpses right here.”

“... ... ...!”  The mare spun around.  At first sight of Rainbow Dash, she unsheathed her scimitar.  Schiiiing!

The other thugs spun, gasped, and aimed their weapons at the mare.

Rainbow's friends flinched.  Meanwhile, she raised her forelimbs, waving them at swordpoint.  “Whoah whoah whoah!”  Her hat slumped forward.  She tilted it back, exposing a friendly smile.  “Chillax, guys!  Can't a pony approach a bunch of bandits without getting jumped?  Er... eheh... you know what I mean.”

“How in the Hell did you get up here?!” the leader snarled.

“I'm one fourth spider.”

“... ... ...”

Rainbow rolled her eyes and sighed.  “Okay, so I climbed those silly little notches in the stone pillar about twenty farts back.”  She squinted.  “You know, for a hideout, your place isn't very hidden or out.  Seriously... some shrubbery?!”  She smirked.  “Pffft... if this was the seven seas, you'd hide your place behind a herring.”

“Whoever you are,” the mare sneered, “you just won yourself a one-way ticket off the edge of my blade!”

“Cute.  But—y'know—who I am isn't nearly as awesome as what I can give you.”

The mare squinted.  “You came up here to bargain with us?”

“Totally.”  Rainbow gestured.  “You see, some of those ponies down there are buddies of mine.  And I would very much like it if you... y'know... didn't skewer them into a bloody pulp and take off with their valuables.”

“And just what are you going to do to stop us?”

“Nothing!”  Ranbow smiled pleasantly.  “However, I figure my bits might stop you!  And by that...”  She pretended to brush off some dirt from her left fetlock.  “...I mean the bits of my wealthy family.”

The thugs glanced at one another, fidgeting anxiously... yet curiously.

“A 'wealthy family,' you say?” the leader droned.

“Mmmm.  Yes.  Quite.”  Rainbow Dash looked up.  “You see, I was born from the amorous union of...”  She blinked.  “...Count Zaid and Duchess Props.  You may call me 'Lady Zaidops the Blue.'”  She winked.  “It's an aristocratic thing.”

“You're telling me you're the daughter of a Count and a Duchess?”

Rainbow did a double-take.  “What?  Was I speaking in mule?”

The leader pointed with her scabbard.  “And just what kind of formal wear is that?”

“Pffft?  You kidding me?”  Rainbow tugged at her cloak.  “This crud?”  She gave her conical hat a joyous spin.  “I'm merely undergoing the... pilgrimage of piety!  I mean... you ever heard of the Quade?”

“Yeah.”  The mare droned.  “I heard they got wrecked.”

“... ... ...Of course!  They got wrecked!  Which is why... uhm...they've established the Quade Two!”

“The Quade Two?”

“Yeah!  Now with twice the Luminards!  It's like having twice as many marshmallows in your cereal!  Super awesome stuff!”

A thug off to the side scrunched his face.  “What's 'cereal?'”

“Duaaaaaaaaaah!”  Pinkie Pie nearly shrieked.  “They don't know what cereal is—?!”  A white hoof clamped over her muzzle. “Mrmmmfffff!”

“And I'm the Quade Two's new initiate!”  Rainbow Dash bowed, hooves held together.  “I'm on my way to the new sanctuary along with my penitent buddies!”  She winked.  “Thinkin' of taking the anointed name of 'Zaidops the Yellow.'  It's a humbler color, y'see.”

“Then if you've given up everything to adopt this penitent lifestyle...”  The mare smirked, leaning on her scimitar.  “...you've got no valuables on you!”  The thugs behind her nodded and muttered.  “And you've got nothing to bargain with!”

“Like hay I don't!”  Rainbow smirked devilishly, then pulled the collar of her green cloak down.  “Feast your eyes, sunshine.”

The mare's eyes lit up with a ruby glow.  All of her subordinate thugs gathered around, cooing and stammering in awe.

“Yeah... yeah...”  Rainbow nodded, pointing at the Element of Loyalty.  “You like it?  I polish it every morning just to remind myself of how friggin' rich I am.  Or... at least... until I reach the location of the Quade Two, and then I'm ditching this thing like yesterday's alfredo.  Unless—of course—I can be given a karmic reason to part ways with it sooner.”

“Is...”  The leader licked her lips, leaning forward, stretching out a hoof.  “Is that real ruby?”

“Totally.”  Rainbow's voice took on a breathy tone as she raised her fetlock to the pendant's surface.  “Why don't you take a closer look...”

The mare did—FLASSSH!  “Aaaaugh!”  She stumbled back, clutching her eyes.

Before the other thugs could react—

“BANGARANG!”  Rainbow Dash dove forward, speared a thug, somersaulted backwards, then swept the hooves out from underneath two others.

The three bandits went plummeting over the spires' edge, screaming...





...and then plunged into the pondwater below.  Sp-SPLASH!

Reeds, Sweet, and the many other Rohbreddenites parked on the grassy gnoll looked over, startled.

“Huh?”  Reeds blinked at the floundering bodies, then gasped as he saw their weapons plopping into the drink beside them.  “Whoah!”  He shot up to his hooves, pointing and shouting.  “Bandits!  Real honest-to-Verlaxion bandits!”

“Nuuu!”  Sweet scooped up as many slices of bread as she could.  “Save the picnic!”

The other travelers stood up, stammering in mixed surprise and fright.  Not long after, the air filled with even more screams.  The ponies looked up to see even more thugs plummeting towards the water below.





“Haaah!”  Rainbow Dash finished kicking a stallion off the edge.  A metal barb glistened in her peripheral vision.

“Rainbow!” Rarity shouted.  “Look out—!”

Rainbow was already lunging backwards.  Thwifffffft!  An arrow flew past her nose.  The pegasus glared aside.

A pony with a crossbow cussed, then hastily reloaded her weapon.

Thinking fast, Rainbow took her hat off and tossed it across the platform.

The mare took aim—only to have the conical article land over her muzzle, blinding her.  “Mrmmmfffuuu?”

Thap-Thap-Thap!—WHAM!  Rainbow Dash galloped up and rammed her in the side, grabbing her hat as the pony flew off the platform with a shriek.  The bandit pinballed several times between that structure and an adjacent spire.  At last, she landed in a groaning heap atop a cluster of bushes below.

Rainbow plopped her hat back on her shaved head.  “Get a job.”

“Dashie!”  Pinkie yelped, her lip spasming.

“...!”  Rainbow ducked low as—SWISSSSH!—a scimitar swung over her head from behind.  WHAM!  Followed by a hoof that contacted with her flank.  “Ooomf!”  Rainbow sprawled across the platform, wincing.  “Darn it... knew I popped the catch phrase too early.”

“Alright, stinkin' witch!”  The bandit leader hissed, bleeding from the lip.  She held the blade to Rainbow's throat.  “I don't know what your real story is and I don't care!”  She spat.  “But you just cost me an entire posse of this Prefecture's best bastards!  Just for that, I'm going to shred that sorceror's stone from your neck and skin your corpse!”

“Good luck with that, ya melon fudge,” Rainbow spat back.  She glared up at the mare.  “After this crazy kefluffle, there's no place in Stone Prefecture where you can hide me!  Much less yourself!”

“Shows how much you know!”  She smirked.  “I've got a wooden shack atop this shitheap.  It's the perfect place to hide you... every piece of you!”

Rainbow bore a coy smirk.  “You mean that place with all the dredge coal that I just lit ten minutes ago?”

“... ... ...”  The mare's jaw dropped.

Rainbow's face scrunched.  “Come to think of it... it was a ten minute fuse too.”

KAPOWWWW!

Ten platforms away, the sky lit ablaze with flaming splinters and shards of dislodged limestone.  The entire platform beneath the two ponies wobbled.  The bandit leader lost grip of her sword and teetered backwards, flailing upon the precipice of the rock formation.  “Whoah... whoahhhh—!”

But just as she fell, a blue hoof reached out and grabbed her by the collar of her vest.  “Wait!” Rainbow's voice cracked.  She held the thug at a loose angle.  “Super quick!  Ask me if you can borrow my fetlock!”

“Wha... guh...”  The bandit's eyes twitched.  “Huh?!”

Rainbow stared at her, eyes wide.  “Say... 'Can I borrow your fetlock.'”

“Uhhhh...”  The bandit grimaced.  “Can I borrow your fetlock?”

“SUREYOUCAN!”  And Rainbow Dash impacted her chin with a rising uppercut.  With a groan, the bandit flew up... then fell down... plummeting towards the pondwater below.

Rainbow Dash landed, adjusted her robe and hat, and turned to smirk at the other mares—but mostly Twilight Sparkle.  “Fight sceeeeeeeeeeeene,” she hummed through grinning teeth.

Twilight Sparkle face-hoofed with a sigh.  Rarity and Pinkie Pie giggled.





Down below, the Rohbreddenites barely had any opportunity to gawk at the thunderous explosion when—

“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!”  The lead bandit fell into the waters between the spines and the gnoll.  SPLASH!  Her thuggish lackeys grabbed her and helped he ashore.  No sooner had they reached dry land when the collective group of travelers angrily charged them, tossing rocks, horseshoes, and all manner of expendable nick-nacks.  In a panic, the waterlogged thugs galloped and limped away—with several angry ponies giving chase.

“After them!”

“Don't let them get away!”

“Stupid punks... ruining Stone Prefecture for everyone!”

“Someone write to the Guard as soon as we get to Kunmane!”

From a distance, Reeds and Sweet stood side by side, breathless.

“Verlaxion's sleet...”  Reeds gulped.  “This... this...”

Sweet jumped in place, squealing.  “...is the best trip ever!”

“Wow!  Did you see those morons belly-flop into the water?!”  Reeds spun around, grinning.  “They sure got what was coming to them!”

“Hahaha!  Yeah!”  Sweet blushed slightly.  “And to think I was scared for my picnic supplies...”

“Mrmmmfff... picnic supplies...” Rainbow Dash stifled a yawn as she strolled back.  “Hope we're not done already!  I'm famished!”

“Scootabelle!” Reeds gasped.

“You missed the most awesomest thing!” Sweet said.

“Really?”  Rainbow glanced aside at the four spectral mares.  “Did I, now...?”

“Here we were, minding our own business, digging our muzzles deep in jam, when these thugs in bandit gear went plunging into the water like melting icicles!”  Sweet stammered.  “One by one!  Hah!  Silly saps must have been planning an ambush!  There was even an explosion!”

“An explosion, you say?”  Rainbow adjusted her hat.  “Now I do feel bad for missing it.”

“Oh... uhm...”  Sweet giggled nervously.  “I'm sorry.  Where are my manners?  You were gone a long time.  Is everything okay?”

“Oh... I just... had to take care of something.”  Rainbow cleared her throat.  “You know how it is.”

“Yes.”  Reed nodded.  “We know the trials of a long journey.  Feeling any better?”

“Yes...”  Rainbow sighed, staring up at the sky above the Petrispines.  “Much... much better now.  Thanks.”
> The Rainbow and Its Sparkles
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Not to sound like an impatient fuzzbutt... but...”  Rainbow squinted at her two traveling companions as they traversed the stone forest.  “The sun's going down.  Are we planning to... y'know...?”

“Heheh...”  Reeds smiled back at her.  “A valid concern..”  He shook his head.  “I'm afraid there's still quite a bit of the Petrispines yet to go.  We won't be clearing it by nightfall.  Not by a longshot.”

“Well, that stinks,” Rainbow muttered.  “I mean... stinks for you.”  She gestured at the other ponies trotting within close proximity along the path.  “Stinks for all of you.  I mean... I know how badly you wanna get back to your home town in time for Unification Day and all...”

“And we will!”  Sweet said.  “Think of it this way!  If we rest now, then we'll be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for when we actually reunite with our families!  Heehee!”

“And besides...”  Reeds smirked.  “The best celebrations are after Unification Day... during the first week of the Month of Thawing.  Isn't that right, Sis?”

“I can't wait to wear my tomato hat!” Sweet cheered.

Rainbow opened her mouth... lingered... then gave up with a nod.  “Nifty.  I think.”

“Heheheh... it'd take twenty pilgrimages to explain everything to a Colonialist,” Reeds said.  “It's best to sit back and observe it while it's happening.”

“And you're totally welcome to join our family, Scootabelle!” Sweet said.  “The fireworks are positively to die for!  Just... y'know... without the dying part.”

“Heh... I'm flattered.  Super flattered.  But...”  The pegasus gulped, squinting at the dull rays of sunshine melting into shadow across stalagmites and pines.  “I really can't be staying.”

“Awwwwwww...”  Sweet pouted, her ears folded back.  “Gotta go fast, huh?”

“Story of my life.”

“Where are you headed to?” Reeds asked.

“Erm... well beyond Stone Prefrecture, I can tell you that much.”

“Gotta spread the Religion of Shipping around, huh?”

Rainbow winked.  “You know me too well already.”

“Well, it's a real shame.  But I understand when you have to go somewhere to do something important,” Sweet said.  “I only wish you could hang around for a little while to see the celebrations!  You already missed the fireworks from earlier!”

“Fireworks?”  Rainbow blinked.  “You mean the bandits that got thrown off the rocks?”

“They were thrown off?” Reeds remarked.  “My sis and I only saw them fall.”

“Did you see something we didn't?” Sweet stammered.

“Erm...”  Rainbow winced slightly, shrugging.  “Guess I just... heard some gossip from the other travelers we passed.”

“Oh!  Heehee!  Common mistake!”

“Tell me about it.”  Rainbow cleared her throat.  “So... uh... where are we going to rest, exactly?”

“There's a spot in the northern Petrispines that's perfect for camping,” Reeds explained.  “Assuming it's not too crowded at this point.”

“They call it the 'Stone Eye,'” Sweet said.  “It's... it's n-not as big as it sounds.”

“But still, it's safe, sheltered, and has plenty of space for most travelers to lay their sleeping mats,” Reeds added.  “They even built a fort there.  We should be more than safe from would-be thugs.”

“Yeah!”  Sweet snickered.  “Especially since the bandits around these parts were scared off to Verlaxion-knows-where!”

“Heh... lucky us,” Rainbow murmured.

“It'll be a bit after sundown before we arrive at the Eye,” Reeds said.  “But don't you worry.  I have this place memorized like the back of my hoof.  I can get us there in the dark.”

“Cool beans, dude.”

“Say!  In speaking of beans!”  Sweet turned to Reeds.  “Did you bring those samples from the merchant we ran into in Seed Prefecture?”

“Sis, they're too dried up for anypony to eat.  I told you that when you bought them—”

“I don't want to eat them, silly!”  She stuck her tongue out.  “I think they'd make perfect beads for a necklace!”

“Yeah?  And would you really want beetle larvae hatching around your neck without warning?”

“Ew!  They are so not infected!”

“Girl, I'm telling you—”

While the blue-coated siblings verbally squabbled, Rainbow Dash drew back slightly.  When she felt that she was out of earshot of them, she gazed to her side.

Only Twilight Sparkle hovered over the gravel path.

Rainbow arched an eyebrow.  “Where are the others?”

“Hmmm?”  Twilight looked over.  “Oh.  Uhm...”

“Vanilla Zoning?”

“Yeah.”  Twilight gulped.  “They figured that way they'll be more awake for when it's time to talk to Luna.”

“And what about you?”  Rainbow cocked her head to the side as she murmured, “Don't you need rest as well?”

“I'm fine...” Twilight sighed through her nostrils.  “Maybe a bit antsy, but whatever.”

“Heh.”

“Besides...” Twilight brushed her bangs back as she hovered forward.  “Seems only right that you should always have one of us girls awake and present.”

“What am I, now?  Your prisoner?”

Twilight let loose a prolonged sigh.  “You know what I mean, Rainbow...”

“Twilight...”  Rainbow smiled.  “You know by now that I'm very... very good at thinking on my hooves.”

Twilight closed her eyes with an exasperated breath.

“Better than the rest of you girls, in fact,” she said.  “I mean—no offense.  I had a year and a half of intense practice.”

“I know that, Rainbow.  But still...”  Twilight reopened her eyes, staring squarely at Rainbow.  “This isn't the same as your previous travels.”

Rainbow gulped.  “I know.”

“Nor is it the same as your time with the Jury.”

“I know...”

“You're flightless and with a bounty on your head.”  Twilight gulped.  “I mean... certainly... you have the skills and finesse to handle dozens of meat-headed bandits—”

“Heh.  Dang straight.”

“—but for Celestia's sake!  What if you get hurt even worse?  Or if you draw attention to yourself?  I mean... need I remind you that some of Rohbredden's finest are chasing after your tail?!”

“I couldn't just let these ponies get skinned alive by those punks back there, Twilight,” Rainbow whispered.  “You overhead them yourself!  Weren't they—like—gonna shoot arrows through the Osmanes here?!”

“I'm not trying to say that what you did was wrong, or that you should refuse to save innocent ponies on this continent.”

“Hah!  Thought so...”

“But Rainbow...” Twilight gulped, looking sad.  “As much as you want to be a hero, one of these days you might find yourself having to let ponies be... if saving them means putting your overall quest in danger.  I mean... you of all ponies know what's at stake here with the course of Austraeoh.”

Rainbow turned towards Twilight, her expression serious.  “Like I knew at the Quade?”

Twilight blinked.  She hung her head with a mild glaze to her eyes.

After a deep breath, Rainbow said, “It's not easy having to balance what's on our shoulders is it?”

Twilight slowly shook her head.  “No.”  She gulped.  “It's not.”

Rainbow stared ahead at Reeds, Sweet, and the dimming path ahead of them.  “I'm convinced that there can always... always be a way to solve something.  The one time I failed to grasp that—back in Luminar—ponies suffered for it.  And why?  Because I wasn't honest with you, Pinkie, and Rarity.  If I had just leveled with the three of you, then maybe we could have figured out a way to get Fluttershy free without any madness or destruction.”

“That's hard to imagine,” Twilight muttered.  “I mean... looking back...”

“Guess we'll never know for sure,” Rainbow said with a nod.  “And it's my fault.”

“Rainbow...”

“But I've stopped giving up on being awesome.”  Rainbow clenched her jaw.  “It sucks what happened to you girls, but right now... you're a real gift to me the way you all are... an edge.  And I just know that we'll have what it takes to sneak past Verlaxion and rescue Applejack.”  She turned and winked at Twilight.  “Because I'm awesome again.  And it's because of you gals.  You... give me strength n'jazz.”

“I can't imagine how 'strong' you are if all I do is nag about how you're doing it wrong,” Twilight groaned.

“Please.  Keep nagging.”  Rainbow shrugged.  “One of these days, I'll probably have no choice but to listen to you.  That's a thing I didn't have before I cleared the Choke.  A voice of reason.”

“Yeah, well, your quest is anything but 'reasonable.'”

“Give it time.  It's a big plane.”

“Heh...”  Twilight smiled.  Then her eyes shifted as the thoughts in her head changed.  “Rainbow...”

“Yes, egghead?”

“What if the bandits back there really were being supplied by the same organization that's putting the bounty on you?”

“Then I guess the muck spreads beyond the seven seas.”

“Right when we broke out of Red Barge, Skagra was... trying to make a deal with somepony outside the platform... wasn't he?”

“Yeah, I got that impression too,” Rainbow muttered.

“What if there was always a connection between the Barge and Rohbredden?”

“You mean Skagra was always in cahoots with somepony on the inside?” Rainbow remarked.  She shrugged.  “Wouldn't be the first time I've seen that crud happen.”  Her nostrils flared.  “Back in Val Roa, Queen Chrysalis had corrupted the government—and in so doing she partnered with the Goblin Cartel to finance several raids on the outlying townships.”

“Did...”  Twilight tapped her chin in thought.  “...did we ever figure out who that one mare was connected with?  Or where she went?”

“I'm afraid you lost me, Twi.”  Rainbow glanced aside.  “What mare?”

“The unicorn,” Twilight droned.  “The one who attacked out of nowhere.”

“And she looked like she actually knew what a shower was?  Or a manedresser for that matter?”

“And she was very... very proficient at magic.”

“Heh...”  Rainbow sighed a bit too dreamily for her own good.  “Yeah, I remember.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow.

Rainbow cleared her throat.  “You... you think she represents the outside party?”

“Or she was the outside party.”

“So... what does this mean?”

“Simply that I'm right to be paranoid,” Twilight said, wincing slightly.  “As much as I hate to say it.”

“Uh huh.”

“There are more ponies ahead of you than I believe we're led to think, Rainbow,” Twilight said.  “Verlaxion isn't the only one keeping her eyes open.  You have to be careful.”

Twilight shuddered.  “Let's just... focus on one group of baddies at a time, shall we?”

“I'm not sure we can afford that luxury.”
> Believe In What You Invoke
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Sunlight was slowly replaced by flickering firelight as the sun set over the Four Brazier Inn.  The middle of Seed Prefecture's moist valley lit up as ponies gathered from far and wide.

While more and more equines filed into the densely-packed tavern, two figures shuffled out.  The crowd barely parted to afford Starstorm and Raptr room as they approached their Commander and the rest of the Talon outside.

“Well?” Seraphimus asked.

“Your report, sergeants,” Keris added.

“There's no sign of her inside the tavern, ma'am,” Starstorm said, shuddering slightly.  Her silver armor dulled under the onset of evening.  “The tavern owner was compliant with every question and request we made.”

“She even allowed us to search her basement and attic,” Raptr said.  “But there were noponies anywhere—hidden or not—that matched the Rainbow Rogue's description.”

“Any indication that she stopped by here?” Seraphimus asked.

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Starstorm said, her hawkeyes lighting up.  “After the other Sergeant and I gave the tavern owner a thorough description of the outfit taken from Riverstem, she recalled having received bits from a patron in a green robe and straw hat.”

“Complete with a purple saddlebag,” Raptr added.

“This was nearly twenty-four hours ago, though,” Starstorm said, gulping.  “The patron—a mare—paid for food, sat on the second floor until the moon rose, and then departed from the premises.”

“She headed east along the Silt Path.”  Raptr gestured.  “That's... that's all we got.”

Seraphimus' charcoal brown eyes narrowed.  “The owner has no knowledge of where she might have been headed?”

Starstorm shrugged.  “It's Unification Eve, Commander.  Thousands of ponies have been filing in and out of this township.  She's never bothered to strike up a conversation with even a fraction of them.”

“The Silt Path doesn't go on forever,” Windburst said, shuffling about with his crossbow shouldered.  He motioned with his beak towards the east horizon.  “It breaks up into multiple paths.  Some head north into the mountains.  Others continue due east.  A few lead south into fishing lakes.”

“One thing is certain,” the Lieutenant Keris spoke up, shifting the weight of his talon in his sling.  “Rainbow Dash has an almost pathological need to go east... and nowhere but.”

“Yes, but we can't just assume that she's taken the eastmost branch of the Silt Path!” Raptr exclaimed.  “I mean... she must know by now that we're catching up to her!  She could have gone north or south just to throw us off!”

“Perhaps,” Keris said with a nod.  “But I doubt she would willingly put her journey into that much strain.”  He glanced aside at Seraphimus.  “The mare is severely constrained by time, you see.  Or... at least... she genuinely believes so.”

Starstorm faced the Commander.  “Seraphimus, the Rainbow Rogue is currently flightless, and that gives us an edge.  However—with the multiple paths that she could have taken along the east edge of Seed Prefecture...”  She shook her head.  “...there's no easy way to track her.  She could be in... one of over a dozen different regions!  Any single one of them would take an entire day of thorough searching for all five of us!  And I'm pretty certain we can't afford to split up at this point.”

Seraphimus took a deep breath.  She gazed at the thick crowd milling about the Four Brazier Inn.  “... ... ...how many ponies here are westbound?”

“Commander?”

“How many ponies arriving here are doing so from the west?”

“I... I don't know, ma'am.”  Starstorm cleared her throat.  “Probably half of them—”

“More like three-fourths,” Windburst interjected.  “Considering that more roads connect to the Silt Path from the east than from the west.  There's a bulk of caravans returning form early shipments made to the central Prefectures to stock them up in advance of the Month of Thawing.”

“Very well then.”  Seraphimus marched forward, spreading her silver-blue wings.  “Unification Day is tomorrow.  Let's see how many ponies here are truly desirous of honoring our Goddess.”

“Commander...?” Keris blinked.

She didn't respond.  Taking wing, the griffon ascended until she was hovering in the dead center of the four burning braziers.  “Ponies of Rohbredden!  Foals of Verlaxion!  Lift your eyes and ears!  Hear my words!”

Everyone gathered around instantly went silent.  Breathless, they swiveled about, staring skyward.  Gawking.  Multiple equines trotted out of the buildings below—with many more gazing out the windows of the tavern and other establishments.

Seraphimus' armor glinted in the flame of the braziers.  Her eyes lit up even brighter.  “I am Commander Seraphimus of the Right Talon of Verlaxion!  As you may very well know, there is a dangerous fugitive in our midst: the Rainbow Rogue.  The crimes committed by this pony are numerous and shocking, and the Council of Verlaxion—with our Goddess divine blessing—has commanded us to track this creature down!  It has come to our attention that the Rainbow Rogue has traversed these grounds and eaten at this very inn!”

Seraphimus pivoted about, her glaring eyes sweeping sharply across the crowd.

“The Rainbow Rogue is a pegasus of petite stature,” she continued, booming.  “She is currently flightless, due to her left wing being inoperative and needing bandages.  Her coat is sky blue and her eyes red like brilliant rubies.  Once, she possessed a bright mane and tail with every color of the rainbow.  She has since completely shaved her mane hair, reducing herself to a shorn, bald state.  This pegasus was last seen wearing a green farmer's robe and possessing a purple saddlebag and a plain farmer's hat!  According to eyewitness testimony, she was last seen exiting the Four Brazier Inn and heading due east!  Now I know that many of you have come from the eastern regions beyond the Silt Path.  If you have seen a mare of this description, then it is in your best interest as a Goddess-fearing citizen of Rohbredden to report it to us here and now!”

The crowd was awash in murmurs, glancing curiously... worriedly at one another.

Raptr blinked.  “Does... does the Commander seriously expect this to work—”

“Shhh!”  Windburst hissed through his beak, squinting up at the griffon.  “Wait for it...”

Seraphimus bore an iron frown.  Her next words were frigid:  “Need I remind you that aiding an enemy—even through an omission of truth—is grounds for treason.  There are many sins that our gracious Goddess forgives.”  Her eyes narrowed icily.  “But treason... on Unification Eve?”  Her beak clattered.  “Such a soul would need a strong current indeed to reach the Spring Havens.”

Keris' feathered brow furrowed.

The crowd lingered in dead silence... at least until a tiny squeak frightfully emanated from the side of the tavern.

Seraphimus instantly spun about, her armor glinting in the flames.  “Who is it?  Who wishes to bear their testimony?”

A single body was shivering.  Hard.

Windburst saw it.  He gave a shrill whistle, drawing Seraphimus' attention.  He pointed across the town with a razor sharp talon.

A middle-aged stallion stood with rattling horseshoes.

FWOOOOOSH!  Seraphimus landed in front of him.  The sheer gust of wind nearly blew the already-frightened pony off his hooves.  “Yes, citizen?”  She arched an eyecrest.  “There is something you wish to share?”

“I... I-I...”  The stallion gulped.  He took his conical hat off, exposing a balding head.  “...a thousand pardons, Commander.  I do not mean to commit treason.  I j-just... wasn't certain if the information I had was relevant...”

“Speak your peace, my little pony,” Seraphimus said.  “We are all here to bring glory to Verlaxion on the even of Unification Day.”

“Okay... uhm...”  The stallion gulped.  “I was trotting southwest from the Petrispines.  And... a-and I saw these two ponies.  A mare and a stallion with matching blue coats.  They were twins—which is how I remembered them.  There aren't many twins from where I come from, Commander.”

Seraphimus sighed.  “The Rainbow Rogue has no known sibling, good sir.”

“That's just it!”  The stallion's eyes twitched.  “These twins... th-they had a traveling companion with them.”  He gulped.  “I... I-I couldn't see much of her from the green tunic and rice hat that she was wearing, but she did have a lighter shade of blue than the other two.  It struck me as strange... that they'd be trotting so closely with somepony who didn't match.”

“Was she carrying anything?”

“Just... a saddlebag,” he said.  “Very light.  Dark purple... like the evening sky above us right now.”

Raptr and Starstorm exchanged gaping expressions.

“I see...”  Seraphimus squinted.  “You crossed paths with them?”

“Yes, Commander.  We were going in opposite directions.”

“And where does this path they were taking lead?  You mentioned the Petrispines?”

“Well... to be honest, there's only one reason a pony would ever bother to pass through the Petrispines, Commander.”  The stallion blinked.  “To reach Kunmane.  Right on the edge of Stone Prefecture.”

The crowd murmured around him.

“Very well, sir.  Your contribution helps immensely.”  Seraphimus raised her talon.

“Ghhh!”  The stallion flinched... only to have the silver-plated claws resting gently on his shoulder.

“Verlaxion's blessings to you and your whole household, dear sir,” Seraphimus said.  “May you enjoy the Month of Thawing with good health and vigor.”

“Erm... yes, Commander.  I-I shall...”

“The rest of you!  Go about your business!  Thank you for your time!”  Seraphimus turned tail and shuffled back towards the group.

“Ma'am...”  Windburst leaned in.  “The Petrispines is a stone forest full of sporadic rock formations and pine trees.  It's an easy place for the Rainbow Rogue to hide.”

“Then let's hope that Rainbow Rogue is as restless as the Lieutenant suggests,” Seraphimus droned.  “And that she's headed straight for Kunmane.”

“Commander,” Keris walked up alongside her.  “If I may.”

“Whether you ask or not,” she moaned.

“Was it really necessary to... invoke the glory of the Spring Havens in that speech?”  His magenta hawkeyes blinked.  “Our job is to protect the interests of the Council and the citizens of Rohbredden, not dictate about the afterlife.”

“We cannot catch this beast on our own, Lieutenant,” Seraphimus said.  “Every foal of Verlaxion is a claw of the Talon, and I need every digit to sink into the prey—or else she'll slip away.”

“Yes, but to appeal to citizens' insecurities—”

“So long as the Rainbow Rogue is at large, all citizens are vulnerable,” Seraphimus grunted.  “Do not preach to me about 'insecurities.'”

“I only mean to remind you that you're a guardian,” Keris said with a frown.  “We all are.”

“Then perform your role faithfully, Lieutenant.  We've allowed the Rogue to roam far too much.  There is no time for pleasantries.”  Seraphimus stepped ahead of the Lieutenant, waving with her claws.  “Talon!  Take wing!”  She flew sharply into the air.  “We head northeast!  Sergeant Windburst, you know this area the best.  You take point.”

“Aye, Commander.”  Fwooooosh!

As the armored griffons flew skyward, Keris stood behind.  He hung his head, sighed, and reluctantly flapped his wings—joining swift formation.
> In All Things, Be Kind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Well, for the time being, the plan is for Shining Armor to wait until Princess Cadance receives word of your journey from these three nights' worth of conversation,” Spike's voice rippled through the moonlight.  “Once the alicorns have communicated with one another, Shining will then captain the airship west to explore the landscapes beyond Ward.  I mean, geographically speaking, they're not... too far away from the western edge.  After all, it'd make sense to explore the landscape of that area in case that's where you end up returning from, Rainbow Dash.”

Silence.

More silence.

“... ... ...Rainbow Dash?”

“Ahem...”  Rainbow suddenly trotted out into the open yet again.  Standing between the spires of the Petrispines, she rubbed a hoof over her pendant and renewed the glow to the Element in the moonlight.  “I'm here, Spike.  S'all good.”

“We lost you for a second there, child,” Luna spoke.  “Are you certain that everything's alright?”

“Totally.”  Rainbow stared across the Eye of the Petrispines.  A round patch of grass loomed under the full moon.  Dozens upon dozens of tents had been pitched, along with miniature camps and circles of parked caravans.  Reeds and Sweet slept soundly beneath the wooden lean-two of an antique fort.  In the distance, Rainbow could see the waking bodies of Rohbreddenites trotting about on communal patrol.  “I'm just... kind of in a tight spot,” she said.  “Remember those ponies I told you about?  The ones I joined in cross-country travel?  Well, right now, I'm doing everything I friggin' can to keep them and others from noticing our magical little conversation.  So if I go silent for a brief moment, I apologize in advance.”

“We understand, Rainbow Dash,” Luna said.  “Your safety is of our prime concern.”

“But... please... could you have Spike repeat what he was going on about just now—?”

Twilight Sparkle flew up, anxiously barking in Rainbow's ear.  “Wh-what's this about Shining Armor?!?”

Rainbow winced.  “That... thingy about Shining...”  She tried to brush Twilight away, only for her hoof to phase through her.  “He's taking the airship somewhere?”

“Yes, Rainbow,” Spike said.  “For months, Princess Cadance and Twilight's brother have been the royal guests of the Dragon Matriarch Sturke in her kingdom of Ward.”

“Right.”  Rainbow nodded at Twilight and the other mares.  “We remember that part.”

“In fact, the Divine of the Equinox has established a permanent base for the entire crew there, beside her palace.”

“It's something akin to an Equestrian embassy,” Luna clarified.

“Right.”  Spike continued:  “Everypony serving on board Cadance's airship is now an honored citizen of Ward.  They have full freedom to the Palace and all of its ammenities.”

“Heh...”  Rainbow Dash smirked.  “Funny.”

“What is?” Rarity asked.

Rainbow shrugged in the moonlight, adjusting her hat.  “Just that... what I wouldn't give to get that sort of lucky treatment on this side of the world, instead of... y'know... being hunted left and right.”

“You had that in Val Roa, did you not?” Rarity mused.

“Yeah, well, I couldn't stick around long.”

“Why not?”

“Pffft.”  Rainbow rolled her eyes at Rarity.  “Girl, do you want to become one with the Vanilla Zone?!  Jeez...”

Pinkie Pie giggled.

“Could we please get back to Shining Armor and Cadance?” Twilight frowned.

“Right.  Ahem... sorry, egghead.”  Rainbow pivoted and spoke straight into the moonlight.  “So what's with Shining Armor taking off, Spike?”

“Well, Princess Celestia, Luna, and Cadance have all communicated pretty intently about this over the past few months.  They figure that Cadance is most useful acting as ambassador for Equestria at Ward.  Meanwhile, with the airship at his command, Shining Armor will venture further west and explore the surrounding landscapes.  Not only will he gain useful new geographical data for Equestria, but he just might be able to assist you.”

“Assist me how?”

“Well, Rainbow Dash,” Spike took a breath.  “Have you put much thought into how you plan to return to the light side of the plane?

“I'll...”  Rainbow Dash blinked.  “...fly?”

“But you can't fly now, silly filly,” Pinkie Pie said.

“Not the friggin' point,” Rainbow grumbled.  “I'll get better, 'kay?”  She shrugged her shoulders, wincing slightly from her left side.  “I always get better... somehow...”

“It's a very valid question, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight gently prodded.

“Yeah... well... to be perfectly frank, Spike... and Your Majesty...”  Rainbow bowed towards the moonlight.  “...I'm kinda still scratching my head over just how I'll march through Rohbredden... much less approach the edge of the world... or even arrive at the Midnight Armory.”

“We have full faith that you can accomplish these feats and then some, child,” Luna's voice said.  “It certainly does not hope to think optimistically.”

“Well, sure, but—”

“If what Chrysalis said about the Trinary War is true,” Spike spoke.  “Then it stands to reason that you... probably won't be wanting to hang around the Midnight Armory for long.”

“Well... sure.  I mean, I've seen war.”  Rainbow gulped.  “Ain't no song and dance, that's for sure.”

“What's Spikey Wikey getting at?” Rarity asked.

“What's your point, Spike?”

“Only that you seem pretty good at doing stuff in a straight line, Rainbow Dash,” his voice said.  Rainbow could almost imagine the moonlight flickering from the dragon's cross-continental shrug.  “Maybe this will work for you on the dark side as it did on the light.”

Rainbow squinted.  “Going... straight?”  She blinked.  “Like through the Midnight Armory and beyond?”

“Wowie zowie!”  Pinkie gasped.  “The East Train never stops!”

“Well, what were you planning exactly, Rainbow?” Rarity remarked.

“I dunno...”  Rainbow shrugged, fidgeting with her hat.  “Figured I'd boomerang it, y'know.”

“You mean all this time you've intended to go to the Midnight Armory and fly back the same way you came?” Spike remarked, his tone more than a little bit flabbergasted.

“I've not... really intended anything, Spike,” Rainbow said, growling slightly.  “Up until I resurrected Twilight's... lavender fart spirit, I really... d-didn't believe I'd get to the Midnight Armory.”  She gulped.  “Much less the edge of the world.  I mean... I uh...”  She rubbed her forelimb with a shudder.  “...I told Belle, Pilate, and the Noble Jury that I'd get there.  But probably because... I-I needed to give them something to believe in.”  A shudder.  “Myself too.”

“But now we know that the importance of your journey goes beyond you and even the constraints of Equestrian interests, Rainbow Dash,” Princess Luna said.  “Need we convince you any differently.”

“Yeah, no.”  Rainbow grimaced.  “You needn't.”

“The beacons, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight breathed.

“Eh?”  Rainbow looked at her.  “What's that, Twi?”

Twilight stared at her with a look of epiphany.  “You've lit all of the beacons of the machine world that you've flown past so far.”  She gulped.  “If you flew back the way you came, they'd still be lit.”

“So what would Dashie use to keep away the chaos-sniffles?” Pinkie Pie murmured.

A cold shudder ran through Rainbow Dash.  “I... I-I guess I hadn't thought of that...”

“Thought of what, Rainbow?” Spike asked.

Rainbow lifted her head.  “If I have any hope of making it back to the rift in Equestria after finding the Harmonic Prism, then I'm gonna have to swing by the rest of the unlit beacons to... y'know... to extend... t-to extend my life.”  She cleared her throat.  “That won't be possible if I fly back the path that brought me here.”

“And would you really want to breeze over Rohbredden again, darling?” Rarity remarked.

“Or that big nasty Choke!” Pinkie Pie's voice cracked.

“I think Spike and Princess Luna are onto something,” Twilight said.  “You may have to scale the dark side the hard way.”

Rainbow blinked.  “... ... ...the silly part is... I'm not sure it even is the 'hard way' anymore...”

Rarity looked at Fluttershy, then back at Rainbow.  “We, of course, would vote for whatever choice means you surviving, darling.”  Fluttershy nodded.

Rainbow took a deep breath, then stared into the moonlight again.  “So... Spike... lemme guess... Cadance is sending Shining Armor to explore the lands along the west edge of the plane on my behalf?”

“Exactly, Rainbow.  Because if you do return from that edge, it would help most if somepony on your side had a knowlegeable grasp of what's there.”

“They could also wait in advance for your return,” Luna added.

“What for?”  Rainbow blinked.  “Are they planning to—like—escort me back to Equestria or something?”

“Well, child, most certainly!” Princess Luna's voice rang.  “That has been the general plan all along.  Why else did you think we sent the Expedition all the way to Ward to begin with?”

“Heeheehee!”  Pinkie Pie pumped a hoof in the air.  “I like it!  Best traveling partners ever!  Well...”  She blushed, smiling pleasantly in the direction of the sleeping siblings.  “Almost best.”

“But... b-but...” Twilight squeaked.

Rainbow sighed in the unicorn's direction.  “What now, egghead?” she smiled.

“It just... sounds so d-dangerous!” Twilight stammered.  “My B.B.B.F.F. ... he could be flying into a dangerous dictatorship... or a cave full of monsters!”  Twilight gawked at Rarity and Pinkie Pie.  “Hasn't Rainbow Dash told us enough about caves and monsters?!  For some inexplicable reason, this plane is absolutely full of them!”

“Do calm down, darling,” Rarity said with a wink and a grin.

“It's not like Shiny Shine-Shine is going alone, silly!” Pinkie stuck her tongue out.

“Rainbow, I think we've lost you again,” Spike's voice said.

“No, it's not that, Spike,” Rainbow droned.  “Twilight's freaking out about Shining Armor's safety.”

“Fear not, Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Luna said.  “The Captain of the Guard will have an entire company of expeditionary soldiers with him.”

“Yeah, you heard her, Twilight,” Rainbow said.  “He'll have a bunch of armored dudes with him.  Including that one guy... Fences Amending.”

“Flash Sentry,” Spike corrected.

“Whatever.”

“But now this means I'm going to have to go for a full month worrying over his well-being!” Twilight stammered.  “Or... or even longer if we reach the dark side before we even have a chance to chat with Luna again!”

“It's okay, Twilight,” Rarity said.  “You can distract yourself with... worrying over how we will help Rainbow get to this edge of the world.”

“Unnnnghhh...”  Twilight Sparkle face-hoofed, her ears drooping.  “Celestia help me...”

“Is... is Twilight okay?” Spike asked.

Rainbow took a breath.  “Twilight is Twilight, Spike.”  She looked up at the moon again.  “Give our regards to Shining and his soldiers.  We wish 'em good luck and all that jazz.”

“Heh... consider it communicated.”

“Now onto smexier stuff.”  Rainbow smiled, her ears twitching.  “Where're Fluttershy's folks?  Can we get a real awesome chat going here or what?”

“... ... ...uhhhhm...”

“I know it was all last-second notice n'stuff, but I bet they're dying to hear from her!  We're dying to hear from them!”

“Super dying!” Pinkie Pie hopped in place.  “Like... rolling over on gurneys with giggles!”

Spike was silent.

“... ... ...Spike?” Rainbow blinked.

“It's... it's okay,” Fluttershy said.  Her tone was dull, soft, and yet she conveyed it through a tranquil smile.  “They're not there.  I know they wouldn't be.”

Rainbow flung her a glance.  “Huh...?”

“Why, whatever do you mean, darling?” Rarity remarked.

“I... uhm... I-I'm sorry, Rainbow,” Spike reluctantly spoke.  “Fluttershy's family couldn't be here tonight.”

“What... are they—like—waiting until tomorrow night or something?”  Rainbow arched an eyebrow.  “That's kinda cutting it short.”

“That's not it either.”

“Did you not even come into contact with them?”

“We... we did, Rainbow.  I-I even went to Cloudsdale myself with Celestia's personal guard.  They're... they're not coming.”

Rainbow's brow furrowed.  She and the rest of the girls turned to gawk at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy exhaled, hanging her head.

“I'm sorry.”

“Did...”  Rainbow blinked, squirming in place.  “Did th-they give a friggin' reason or—”

“They didn't say.  Believe me... I... I've been stressing over it myself.  But I c-couldn't spend all of yesterday trying to get them to show up or else I wouldn't h-have all of the resources gathered to talk to you about anything else—”

“Well, buck it!”  Rainbow frowned.  “Have Luna teleport there or something!”

“Rainbow—”

“Their pegasus filly is alive, dang it!  Doesn't that mean something?”

“Of course it does, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said in a tone so firm that it shook the pegasus.  Her gaze was a steely thing.  “But there are far more important things to dicuss right now.”  Her features softened, as did her voice.  “Now, please... continue your conversation with Spike and Her Majesty.  Let's... just be thankful over the miracles we're allowed.”

Rainbow blinked, gaping at her.  Eventually, she murmured out the side of her muzzle:  “Scratch that, Spike.”  She gulped.  “Go... go ahead and say what you need to in order to bring me up to date.”

Brief silence.

“Erm... right.”  Spike cleared his throat as his voice came into greater clarity.  “Princess Celestia has vastly improved her meditative concentration on the rift in Ponyville.  It's only a theory at this moment in time, but she and Luna think it may be possible to create a spell that will allow the alicorn sisters to switch shifts in staving off the chaos anomaly.  That means that Celestia can potentially leave the sarcophagus for the first time in nearly two years.  If they time it so that they spend a few weeks each exchanging sun, moon, and rift duties, then we can still time it so that Luna will be able to speak with you at every lunar cycle and—”

Rainbow was only barely paying attention.  All the while, her eyes rested on Fluttershy.

Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie hovered close, nuzzling the mare with sad expressions.

Fluttershy closed her eyes, reciprocating their warm gestures.  Her breaths were calm, and there was no sign of a single tear beading her lashes...





The following morning, Fluttershy hovered slowly with the same placid expression.

Rainbow Dash trotted limply through the Petrispines.  The blue siblings were several hoofsteps ahead, and the “stone forest” was thinning, with less and less stalagmites jutting out of the grassy earth on either side of the gravel path.  After yet another sullen breath, Rainbow glanced aside at her ghostly pegasus friend.

Fluttershy's eyes traced the floor as she allowed Rainbow's presence to carry her along.  The other three marefriends were quiet, squirmy—stealing nervous glances at Rainbow ever since sunrise.

At last, with a coughing breath, Rainbow strafed sideways until she was trotting closer to Fluttershy.  “Hey... uhm... Flutters...”

“Yes, Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow bit her lip.  “Uhhhh... I-I mean...”  She shrugged in mid-step.  “How do I even start?”

“You can say anything you like.  Ask anything you like,” Fluttershy breathed.  “It's hardly taboo.”

“What's hardly taboo?  I mean... what is 'it?'”  Rainbow grimaced.  “I mean... I only ever got tiny glimpses of your Mom and Dad when we were foals hanging out together.  Sure, they struck me as a couple of living popsicles... but friggin' A.”  She struggled to keep her incredulous voice low so as not to attract attention from Reeds and Sweet.  “They learn that their daughter's alive after so many months and... and they just ditch her at the first chance of being able to communicate?”

“I come from a typical, large pegasus family, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy murmured.  “You know this.”

“What's that got to do with anything?!”

“More than you know.”  Fluttershy shrugged.  “When you have twelve brothers and sisters ahead of you, Mom and Dad get tired of good night kisses... until eventually they never make their way to you at all.”

“Fluttershy, honey, that's grotesque!” Rarity wheezed.

“No, that's family,” Fluttershy breathily retorted.  “I'm thankful for many things.  But—most of all—I'm thankful for the friends I've chosen to make.”  She looked over with a calm smile.  “And the surrogate relations I've been fortunate enough to find in all of my animal friends... and neighbors.”

“Flutters...”  Pinkie sniffled, eyes watery.  “Please, don't defend such cruel, cruel ponies.”

Fluttershy slowly shook her head.  “I'm not defending,” she said.  “I know my parents well enough... about the emptiness they've spread to my siblings.”  She gulped.  “And when I touched the ground in Ponyville... it was just the excuse they needed to drop me whatsoever.  One less mouth for them to feed... and fourteen less souls for me to worry about on a daily basis.”

“Oh Fluttershy...”  Rarity sniffled.

“It's okay.  Really, it is.”  Fluttershy smiled, hovering closer to the others.  “Right now, I'm where I am happiest.”  She nuzzled Pinkie Pie, and then Rarity.  “With my real 'family.'  The only family that's ever mattered to me.”

Twilight choked on a sob, then reached in to give Fluttershy a full-body hug.  “You're the best sister any of us could ask for.”

“Bestiest best,” Pinkie Pie stammered.

“We're only here because of you, darling,” Rarity said, nuzzling the mare close.  “If you h-hadn't talked us back to our senses, poor Rainbow here would be... sh-she would be...”

“I know.”  Fluttershy nodded, finally growing misty-eyed in their midst.  “All of my life, I've only ever endeavored to be nice and kind.”  A rosy warmth washed across her cheeks.  “I do believe it has paid off.  Wouldn't you agree?”

The other mares giggled, continuing to hug her.

“Yeah, but... but...”  Rainbow Dash nevertheless gnashed her teeth.  “None of it is fair, Fluttershy!  You deserve to have—”

“Scootabelle!”  Sweet chirped, dashing back to her.  “Scootabelle, look!”

“Huh?!”  Rainbow jolted, holding her conical hat in place.  “Wh-what?!”

“There she is!” Reeds' voice cracked.  He flung a hoof outward, rejoicing.  “Just as beautiful as the day we left it!”

“Wooohooo!”  Sweet bounced in circles.  “Home sweet home!”

Rainbow squinted her eyes.  The Petrispines faded entirely.  An emerald hill crested down into a final valley—a last niche nestled in the bosom of two steep mountains forming the southwest edge of the immense spires of Stone Prefecture.  There—in the shadow of a granite sky—was a town full of rolling turf houses and stave structures in the center.  A thick crowd of ponies had gathered inside the village as well as along the outskirts, numbering in the thousands—far too many than the township was naturally made to house.

“We'd better hurry!”  Reeds scampered on ahead, followed by Sweet.  “Or else we might miss the fireworks!”

“Unnnff...”  Fluttershy rubbed her head.

Pinkie gasped.  “You okay, Fluttershy?”

“Mmmm... yes...”  She smiled bashfully.  “Just... a bit of an overload.”  She gulped.  “I'll be fine.”

“Twilight?” Rainbow asked.

“I'm... detecting lots of unicorns and... magic ingredients enchanted for flammability,” Twilight said.  “I'm guessing they were right about the fireworks.  Eheh...”

“Well then...”  Rainbow tilted her hat forward and trotted over the crest of the hill.  “When in Kunmane... do as the Kunmaniacs do.”
> Consortium Junction, What's Your Function?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Somewhere...

In a low-lying prefecture bordering mountains and bubbling springs...

An angry mare fought against a line of uniformed stallions who stood guard beside a set of warehouses.

“Dammit!  I wanna speak to somepony in charge!”  She bit and bucked at the stallions pushing her back.  “Your boss owes me!  He owes me big time!”

“Lady, I've no friggin' clue what you're talking about,” a stallion stood with two clerks beside a stack of wooden delivery crates.  “You came here claiming to know whereabouts of the Rainbow Rogue, but now you're nothing more than a raving lunatic.”

“And you're just an ignorant motherbucker!”  She spat.  “Just how much do your higher-ups tell you, huh?!”

The stallion glared at her.  “The Shoreline Trade Consortium does not associate with riff-raff.  We are a legitimate distributor of dredge coal.”

“Ohhhhhhh ho ho ho how little that you know, buddy boy!”  She gnashed her teeth.  “I'd watch myself tonight while sleeping, if I were you!”

“Ma'am, is that a threat?!”

“Sir, is that a brain?!”

“That's it.”  The stallion pointed at several of his uniformed associates.  “Toss her outside the compound!  She can scream and holler at the rice fields, for all I care.”

“Verlaxion dammit!”  The mare kicked and fought as the ponies attempted to drag her away.  “I did not hoof it all the way from Stone Prefecture to be treated like garbage!”

“Madame, garbage is as garbage does.  Now, for the last time—”  His words were interrupted by a shrill whistling sound, followed by three more in swift order.  He froze in place upon hearing the signal.  “... … ...an arriving executive?”

“Huh?!”  The mare suddenly gasped, eyes flicking to the sky.  “Is... is that him?”  She gulped.  “Is that your big cheese Chandler?”

“Shut it!”  The stallion spun and barked at his clerks.  “Places!  Prepare for an impromptu inspection!”

A column of steam rose from the south.  Chugging along a set of iron rails was an onyx black, streamlined locomotive, dragging three thick metal supply cars.  Workers of the Consortium galloped up and stood at the ready, looking prim and proper.  Within minutes, the locomotive came to an icy stop alongside the loading docks.  Steam vented as a pair of doors behind the engine slid open.  A blonde unicorn hopped out, flanked by security guards.

The lead stallion at the platform blinked in surprise.  “Miss... Miss Longaze?”

“She's out of dredge coal,” Longaze droned, marching up to the pony.  “I need a refill, pronto.  Chandler's orders.”

“But... b-but...” The stallion fidgeted in place.  “All of our dredge coal here is bound for Frostknife and parts b-beyond.”  He gulped.  “They've already been signed for and... and...”  He squinted at the cars trailing behind the locomotive.  “Did you actually use up two cars worth of fuel to get here?  Verlaxion's sleet, ma'am, you must be in a hurry!”

“I am.”  Longaze tugged a specially-sealed scroll out of her suit's vest.  “Chandler's orders.  I must head north as soon as possible—to cut off the Rainbow Rogue.”

“Rainbow Rogue?!”  Sputtered the mad mare from beneath the platforms.  “You wanna find her?!  I've got the guts to spill for ya, lady!”

Longaze squinted down at the frazzled equine.  “Who is this... creature?”

The stallion before her sighed.  “One of the local waifs, Miss Longaze.”  He gulped.  “She claims to be from Stone Prefecture, having seen the Rainbow Rogue—”

“Blue coated mare?!  Scar on her brow?!”  The mare rambled.  “Rainbow stubble?!”

Longaze raised an eyebrow.  “Stubble?”

“Well, is that her or isn't it?!”  The mare smirked.  “It didn't occur to me until hours after she ran me and all of my buddies out of the Petrispines.  She found us out, blew up our hideout, and made off with a bunch of punk ponies to Kunmane!”

The stallion grumbled.  “She's an absolute mad mare.  I was just about to expel her from the compound, ma'am—”

Longaze silenced him with a raised hoof.  She descended the platform until she stood before the once-thug.  “Did you say the Petrispines?”

“Hah!”  The mare's dirty teeth showed beneath her smile.  “I figured one of the higher brass would know a thing or two about that shiny nugget.”  She then frowned.  “Why's Chandler been holding back, huh?!  Something in the seven seas must be really distracting him if he's cut off all our explosives!”

“Explosives?!” the stallion stammered.

“Shhhh...”  Longaze stared at the mare.  “Chandler has been... very preoccupied as of late.”

“Like Hell he's been!” the mare spat.  “You see the bastard a lot, don't ya?!  Well, you tell him that if he wants to keep the Talon busy in the granite mountains, he's gonna have to step up his game and stop chasing rainbow phantoms!”  She leaned back.  “And, confidentially, if he really needs to get that blue fuzzy bitch, then I'm the mare who can help you do it!”  Her nostrils flared.  “But I want my pay in advance!”

“Your pay...”

“Seven hundred thousand bits ain't nothin' to sneeze at, sister!  A girl can retire early on that shit!  And once I've got the mare Chandler wants in your hooves, I expect nothing less!”

“Indeed.”  Longaze trotted close to her, leaning an ear in.  “You say that the Rainbow Rogue headed to Kunmane?”

“That's right.  Rumor is, the Talon's hot on her tail, too!”

“How long ago was this?”

“Pfft!  I tangled with her in the Petrispines yesterday!  What's it to you?”

“Thank you for the information, my little pony,” Longaze droned, her horn glowing.  “You've been most helpful.”

The bandit leader blinked, her body twinkling all over with magic.  “Eh?”  WHOOOOOSH!  “Aaaaaaaa—”  She shrieked as she was flung back into a series of wooden crates.  WHAM!  WHUD!  TH-THWACK!  Her bloody, battered body rattled with each impact.  At last, Longaze tossed her into the cold dirty with a THWUMP!  “Unnnnnghhh...”  She twitched, spasmed, and fell unconscious.

The workers of the Consortium stood at a distance, muzzles dropped in shock.

Adjusting her mane and the collar of her suit, Longaze calmly turned towards the lead stallion.  “If you and your subordinates wish to keep your jobs and feed your families through the Month of Thawing, you will swiftly forget everything you've seen and heard just now.”

“Uhhhhhh...”  The stallion jolted in place.  “Huh?”

Longaze's brown eyes narrowed as her horn glowed even brighter.  “Is that clear...?”

“Ahem.”  The stallion stood straight and tall.  “Ma'am!  Yes, m-ma'am!”

“Good pony.  Now, do refill this train's supply of dredge coal as requested.  Do not worry about our shipment to Frostknife.  Chandler shall reimburse the central prefectures in due time.  If not...”  She glanced down at the beaten body of the bandit.  “...there are plenty of parties to blame the shortage on.”  She waved a hoof.

Nodding, a pair of stallions swiftly dragged the mare's body away, leaving a trail of blood.

“Erm... where are you headed, Ma'am?”  The stallion asked, still jittery.  “To pursue the Rainbow Rogue?”

“If she's truly headed to Kunmane, then she's out of my grasp... for now.”  Longaze took a deep breath.  “I'll be heading to Steamfall.”

“Steamfall?”

“From there, I'll be able to pursue her to all corners of Rohbredden, wherever she chooses to go.”  Longaze made to trot away, but paused.  “By the way...”  She turned towards the workers.  “The bounty for her has increased.  The southern Consortium stations know, but now I'm telling you.”  Her brow furrowed.  “The reward for catching her is now one million four hundred thousand bits.”

“What... what...?”

“You heard me.  Adjust the posters accordingly.”  Longaze marched back to the locomotive.  “And tell the artist to make an adjustment.  Apparently the mare has shaved her mane now.  Cute... but futile.”
> And a Melted New Year
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Verlaxion's blessings,” said the guards at the city gates to Kunmane.  They wore simple leather armor with shiny brown helmets.  The ponies smiled as they nodded at those entering the township's southern entrance.

“Verlaxion's blessings!” Groups of ponies gathered in clusters turned to smile and wave at those just freshly arriving from the southern pass.

“Verlaxion's blessings, children!”  Elder mares stood outside of storefronts.  On wrinkled limbs, they shuffled out, hoofing out necklaces with tiny white shards strung together.  They soon returned to their regular gossip, laughing and chuckling under an air of mirth.

“Uhhhh...”  Rainbow fidgeted slightly as an old mare approached her, stringing a necklace of tiny white crystals around her head.  “Thanks...”  She raised a hoof to keep her hat on.  “...what do I owe you?”

“Heheheh...”  The mare stepped back with a gray smile.  “Why... eternal respect to She who unified the Six Tribes, child.”  She leaned back on her haunches, hugging herself with a “shivering” gesture before brushing her right hoof across the length of her left forelimb and towards Rainbow.  “Verlaxion's blessings.”

“Er... yeah.  Back at ya—”  Rainbow's eyes twitched upon an invasion of pink fluff.

“Isthatarockcandynecklace?!”  Pinkie breathlessly belched.  “Please tell me that's a rock candy necklace!”

“How the heck should I kn—?”

“LICK IT!”  Pinkie Pie bellowed.  “LICK IT NOW!”

Rainbow flinched, then did as she was told.  She brought one of the crystals to her tongue, then let the thing dangle around her neck again.  “Tastes... like salt, actually.”

“Salt Ice!” Sweet chirped.

Rainbow looked over.  “Huh?”

“Heehee...”  Sweet smiled.  “It's a very special treat, shipped in from the east—where the Unicorn Tribes congregate.”

“Probably the one big tradition that comes from outside of Kunmane,” Reeds added as the three threaded through the dense crowds.  “Which is perfect, because today is all about celebrating unification.  And with unification there comes diversity.”

“Ehhhh...”  Pinkie Pie yawned.  “Close enough.”  She looked over Rainbow's shoulder.  “Oooh!”  Ears twitching, she floated the opposite way.  “Are they playing Rohbreddenite Skiball?!”

“So...”  Rainbow pawed at the necklace dangling beneath her chin.  “Unicorns made this stuff?”

“Well,” Reeds explained, “Originally ponies of the central provinces would hang literal icicles around their necks.  Then, once the shards thawed, they'd bow on their knees, thank Verlaxion, and then join the rest of their friends in games and song.  Butttttttt...”

“It's too warm in west Rohbredden to follow that tradition to a T!” Sweet pleasantly said.  “Same with the twilight farmfields to the east!  So a buncha unicorns fashioned a cross-continental version!  And, what's more, they made it edible!”  She giggled.  “Salt Ice!  Literally melts in your mouth!”

“...?”  Curious, Rainbow Dash stuck a crystal shard back into her muzzle.  She suckled on it for a bit, enjoying the salt flavor.  Within seconds—however—it dissolved, chilling her tongue and gums with an undeniably cold sensation.  “Mmmm!”  Her eyes twitched.  “Yeesh.  That's crazy awesome.”

“I know, right?!  Squee!”  Sweet bounced in a circle.  “We're home!  We're home!  We're home!”  She inhaled again.  “We gotta go find Mom and Dad and tell them all our fish tales and about how we got here and—ohmygoddess—we gotta introduce them to Scootabelle!”

“Ermmm...”  Rainbow Dash fidgeted.  “Y'know, guys, about that—”

“Heh... it's alright.”  Reeds winked.  “Consider yourself our guest.  We know you're a light traveler from afar.  In Kunmane, we don't force visitors to present gifts anyhow.”

“Well, I really going to say that—”

“Come on, Reeds!”  Sweet tugged the stallion along.  “We gotta get there before they give out all the tail tinsels!”

“Sis!  Calm down!”  Reeds chuckled, stumbling after her.  “We don't wanna lose Scootabelle, do we?!”

Rainbow Dash trotted briskly, but kept a measurable distance from her companions.

Rarity and Twilight floated up on either side of her.

“You know...”  Rarity took a breath.  “As much as I hate to say it, Rainbow darling, but it'd probably be for the best if we did let them lose you.”

Twilight nodded.  “We don't have the same luxury as everypony else here to stick around and celebrate... ermmm...”  She fidgeted, glancing nervously at the thick crowd of merry equines filling the streets and marketplaces around them.  “...the anniversary of a pretend Goddess' staged salvation.”

“Yeah...”  Pinkie floated back, muzzle scrunched.  “It's kind of pathetic when you think about it.  So many delusionally cheerful ponies giving into an ancient lie fabricated by a loco dragon—”  Her eyes lit up again.  “OH WOW!  They have chocolate covered pretzels!  With caramel rice squares!  Oh Dashie!  We gotta go munch on some!”

Rainbow made a face.  “How can you possibly taste the stuff?”

“I'll just smell it in your muzzle as you chew!”

Rainbow sighed.  “For realsies?  I could go without food for now”  Her brow furrowed.  “But for later...?”  She gazed ahead at the figures of Sweet and Reeds.  “If I'm to clear the heights of Stone Prefecture, I could use all the provisions I can get.  And it seems like these siblings and their family are willing to provide.”

“Rainbow Dash, I know that you need food and other things to make your journey happen.”  Fluttershy gulped.  “But... d-doesn't this feel a bit like taking advantage of Sweet and Reeds' family?”

“Hey.”  Rainbow shrugged.  “If they offer, they offer!  And I'm totally willing to receive!”  She smirked.  “Besides... I did save their hides back there in the Petrispines yesterday... whether they know it or not.”  The pegasus shrugged.  “Seems karmic enough.”

Fluttershy nodded.  “I guess that's true.”  She smiled gently.  “I don't see anything wrong in accepting kindness.”

“Well, I do,” Rarity muttered.  “Rainbow, whatever you plan on doing at these ponies' household, you must make it brief.  Time is of the essence and you must not attract attention.”

“And just how much attention do you think I'll attract if I suddenly bail on them, huh?”  Rainbow strafed form side to side to avoid the bustling crowd.  She trotted down a line of half-buried turf houses with obscured chimneys filling the air with the magnificent scent of home-cooked foods.  Families trotted up the front stairs, holding out dishes of every imaginable color and texture to share with neighbors and strangers alike.  “We gotta aim for a middle ground, here.  If I stay forever, I could get in deep manure.  If I leave right away—Celestia knows—Reeds and Sweet might get all worried and send a lookout party for me.”

“Well, let's hope your 'middle ground' is pretty low profile,” Twilight said.  All she had to do was gesture to the right.  “You're not exactly able to outrun infamy.”

Rainbow squinted.  She sighed upon seeing the blue profile of a rainbow-mane'd rogue.  “Well, at least they got my nose right.”

“Look out!” shrieked a foal.

Rainbow flinched.  She crouched low, dragging her hooves into a fighting stance—

A filly scampered past her, wearing a ghostly sheet of trailing white tresses.  A group of foals in paper armor chased after her.  “Everypony, watch out!” one of them shouted.  “A wendigo is on the loose!”

“We gotta herd it back into Verlaxion's throneroom!”

“Melt it!  Melt it good!”

The adults standing in the street turned to look, smile and chuckle at the scene.  Several more foals picked up fake armor and gave chase.  There were little earth ponies with fake wings—others with sea pony flippers, griffon beaks, or unicorn horns.

“Awwwwwwwwwww...”  Fluttershy smiled, hugging herself with a rosy complexion.  “You know?  Just... d'awwwwwwwww...”

“Yes...”  Twilight snorted.  “...religious ignorance is positively adorable.”

Rainbow took a breath.  She resumed her canter, pursuing the blue dots of Reeds and Sweet.  “You know... all things considered... I've seen worse.”

“Rainbow...”  Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes.  “What could possibly be worse than an entire continent full of thick-minded citizens worshipping a draconian pretender?”

“How about a floating mountain full of hundreds of pious unicorns all committing communal suicide?”  Rainbow glanced at her, ruby eyes dull.  “After torturously sacrificing countless Ledomaritan prisoners of war to the jaws of a chaotic psychopath?”

Twilight blinked, then shuddered.  “You know what...?”  Her ears folded back.  “...maybe I don't know as much as I think I do...”  She winced.  “Or want to.”

Rainbow nodded.  “Ignorance is more common than oxygen.  We don't know a whole lot about the alicorns, and I doubt the alicorns know a whole lot about themselves.  What Verlax has done to this continent is pretty sucky for sure.  But... all things considered?”  She gestured at the ecstatic crowd around her.  “This ain't all too shabby.”

“Meanwhile, amoral cretins are enslaving children on rusty platforms across the ocean,” Rarity muttered.

“Point well made,” Rainbow said.  “If there's anything I've learned in my travels, it's that there isn't a place that doesn't suck in some way or another.  But... y'know... let's not hate on the ponies for their blindness.  If I wasn't so dang busy having to headbutt my way east, I'd do something good to help out each and every one of these lands.  And—heck—I have done good stuff.  But... it's never simple.  Like... heh... don't even get me started on Durandana...”

“I understand, Rainbow Dash.  And I apologize.”  Twilight took a deep breath.  “It's just that... I get so bothered by this sort of thing.  There's so much information in the world and so few ponies who truly grasp the truth!”

“We're in that same boat too, Twi.”

“Yeah, but we're skimming on a higher tide and—”  Twilight winced, then waved her hooves.  “I'll stop.  Stopping.  My bad.”

“Hey... don't hold back.  For serious.”  Rainbow smirked.  “Just because you're an egghead doesn't mean you gotta trot on eggshells.”

“Hey!”  Pinkie Pie pointed at one of the colts galloping after a “windigo.”  “How come that kid's got a 'mane' and 'tusks?'”

“Erm...”  Fluttershy rubbed her forelimbs together.  “Maybe he's a wyvern?”

“Good heavens.”  Rarity shuddered.  “I hope we never run into those along our journey!”

“You wanna bet on it?”  Rainbow trotted along.  “Fluttershy?  How's the griffon alarm in your pink skull at the moment?”

“Uhhhhhm...”  Fluttershy rubbed her head, squinting.  “Nothing... out of the ordinary.  Of course...”  She gulped.  “It's all fuzzy at the moment with all these ponies.”

“Fuzzy is good.”  Rainbow ducked through the crowd.  “Now let's see Reeds and Sweet Senior.”
> Reunions of the Sweetest Kind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The estate of Reeds and Sweet was far more opulent than Rainbow Dash had anticipated.  It rested on the west end of Kunmane, surrounded by likewise wealthy properties.  The siblings directed Rainbow Dash past a park district full of prancing, playing, laughing foals and their families and towards a three-story building with staved rooftops and rippled shingles.  The structure was built like a large letter “C,” with a large wooden gate on the east side opening to a square courtyard.  Ancient stone blocks formed the floor in between a sparse assortment of planted trees and ferns.  Banners, flags, and paper lanterns were strung up between the north and south wings of the structure, and servants were still sweeping the floor clean of lotus blossoms in order to set up for the night's festivities.

“Yeesh...”  Rainbow Dash murmured.  “I had no idea you guys had it so big.”

Reeds blushed slightly.  “Yes, well, my sister and I chose a life of fishing these past few years to build character and experience.”

“Are all Continentalists so humble?” Rainbow asked.

“Nope!”  Sweet stuck her tongue out.  “Only the filthy rich ones!”  She hollered to the edges of the courtyard.  “Fwoofy mane and fuzzy pelt!  Guess who's come to see the ice melt!”

The servants looked up, chuckling and bowing at the two returning siblings.  Reeds and Sweet dashed over to greet them, shaking hooves and nuzzling.  Within seconds, a gaggle of foals galloped down the stairs from the south wing's second story.  “Reeds!  Sweet!”

“Bouncies!” Sweet hollered.  She giggled her head off as the children practically plowed her over.  “Gaaah!  Eeeh hee hee!”  The mare struggled to hug and cradle as many of the kids as she could.  “Why.  Can't.  I.  Hold.  All.  These.  Cousins?!”

A series of adults shuffled down the steps, some of them in intense conversation about business and party preparations.  Two of them—a blue coated stallion with a gray-streaked mane and a slightly wrinkled mare with a rosy smile—shuffled down and smiled collectively at the two arrivals.

“Well well well... it looks like Verlaxion's good will comes ahead of the thawing,” said the mother.

“Heh...”  The stallion winked.  “I knew I smelled haddock!”

Reeds took a deep breath and trotted towards them.  “Mother.  Father.”  He hugged himself, shook, then brushed his right hoof along his left forelimb and towards them.

“Oh, for goddess' sake!”  The mother rolled her eyes and leaned forward, scooping her son up in a deep hug.  “Being here is enough to be thankful for, son.”

“I see you survived traveling with your sister,” the father said.

“Heheheh... yeah...”  Reeds nuzzled his mom and smiled over her shoulder at him.  “This year, I set apart a special 'snack savings' just for her.  So we didn't arrive home bitless this time.”

“You know it wouldn't matter if you did or not.”

“Still, father, just trying to prepare.”  Reeds gulped.  “Like you taught me.”

“Experience is the better teacher, son.”  He patted the young stallion's shoulder and trotted past him.  “Don't let any Rohbreddenite tell you otherwise.”  He smiled down at the mare buried in giggling young foals.  “How's my bag of sugar lumps?!”

“Lumpier than ever!”  Sweet hopped up and nuzzle-nuzzle-nuzzled him.  “Heeeee!  This is the best time of year ever!  'Cuz I get to see you again!”

“Heheheh...”  He nuzzled her back.  “You know... it could stand to be the best time more often.”

“Yeah, but...”  Sweet gazed at him, pouting.  “...Fish!”

“Go on, now...”  The mother patted the little foals' heads and ushered them away.  “Go play out in the park.  Your mommies and daddies will be joining you shortly.”  As the kids scampered off—a few of them pausing to gawk at Rainbow Dash—the old mare shuffled towards Sweet and her husband.  “Your aunts and uncles just finished filling us in on the business in Frostknife.”

“Oh yeah?”  Reeds smiled.  “How's money flowing in the Heart of Rohbredden?”

“Well, the shipping industry has experienced a major boom,” she said.  “What—with the Syndicate falling and all.  Free trade is at an all-time high.  However, with all of the terrorist incidents taking place up in the north, it's had a major impact on the market.  Things have been a bit stilted lately.”

“Oh noes...”  Sweet frowned, turning towards her.  “I hope our aunties and unkies aren't hurting!”

“Well, as I said, the seven seas are now open to everypony.  And—by Verlaxion's glory—there hasn't been a terrorist incident in nearly a week.  So things are bound to pick up.”  She exhaled through a smile.  “By the frost, it's good to have you back.”

“Mmmmmmmmm...”  Sweet leaned in, enfolded by a deep hug.  She rested her smiling cheek against her mother's chest, tickling her chin with her blue mane.  “It's so good to have you having us bacccck...”

“Heheheheh...”  The mother kissed Sweet on the top of her head.  “I heard about the bandits in the Petrispines.  I'm so glad that you're safe.”

“Yes, well, we had a good luck charm during this trip!” Reeds said.

“You don't say?”  The father turned to look over at Rainbow Dash.  He nodded his head.  “Who's the farmer?  Someone you picked up at Seed Prefecture?”

“Totally!”  Sweet said.  “Her name's Scootabelle!”  She suddenly squinted, her muzzle mouthing:  “She's a colonialist.”

“Dear me...”  The mother blinked.  “I think I have a cream for that!”

“Hah hah hah hah hah hah!”  The family all laughed.

Rainbow blinked at the group.  Her marefriends twitched uncomfortably.  After a gulp, the mare wheezed forth a chuckle:  “Hah hah hah hah hah...”

The father strolled over and stood before her, bowing slightly.  “Any friend of my children is a friend of mine.  They're a good judge of character, after all.  Just like their great grandmother.”

“It runs in the familyyyyy!” Sweet said.

Rainbow Dash nodded, adjusting her conical hat.  “It's an honor to be here, sir.  Your kids are pretty snazzy.”

“Heh...”  He smiled.  “Best description I've heard of them yet.”

“By the way, father.”  Reeds blinked.  “Just how is Nana Pearl doing?”

The old stallion glanced up at a third-story screened window overlooking the courtyard.  “She's feeling much better, my boy.  After last year's scare with the stomach flu, she's recovered incredibly.  She's even gone on walks with the neighbors' children.”

“Oh, goodie!”  Sweet clapped her hooves together.  “Does that mean...?”

“Heheh... yes, dear.”  The mother patted Sweet's shoulder, winking.  “She'll be telling the children the Tale of Thawing before midnight.”

“Woohoo!  Best Tale-Teller everrrr!  Heeheehee!”

“Well that's fantastic,” Reeds said with a smile.  “Looks like we arrived just in time.”

“It's going to be a fantastic month,” the father said, nodding.  “The village elders have certainly outdone themselves this year.  We should be able to last the entire Month of Thawing on the bounty traded to us.”

“Well, Kunmane deserves it.  Especially after all that nasty business up north.”  Reeds smirked, pacing across the courtyard with his father.  “And on top of that, the Blight's fallen to the west... the seas are cleaning up its own muck... it's almost as if Verlaxion has something very special in store for us this year!”

“Perhaps.  But remember, son.  Rohbredden flourishes on what its children sow.  After all, it's been a long... long time since our Goddess has appeared before the council.”

“Yeah!  Let's not squander the squees!” Sweet chirped.  “... ... ...Squee!”

“Walk this way,” the mother said, gently ushering the two siblings towards the edge of the courtyard.  “The servants must finish their preparations for tonight.”

“But of course,” Reeds said.  “So, I see our aunts, uncles, and cousins are here.  Any news on the neighbors' families?”

“Heh... you saw the crowd outside the town gates, didn't you?”

“Yes, but I figured... y'know...”

“Lots of ponies are wanting to avoid the northern prefectures for celebration this year.  It's... sort of an unspoken truth, but it's evident in all of the bodies gathered here this evening...”

Rainbow followed the family and their conversation from a slight distance.  All of the sudden, Fluttershy made a squeaking sound.  Rainbow spun to look, eyes narrow.

“What's the matter, darling?” Rarity asked.

“You... sense something?” Twilight asked.  “Is it griffons?”

“No...”  Fluttershy rubbed her head.  “And... strangely enough... this is kind of soothing.”

“Soothing?”

“Yes.”  Fluttershy nodded.  “It almost makes the crowd around us bearable.”  She smiled gently.  “It's... it's like someone very strong... very warm just gave me a hug through the walls.”

“Walls?”  Twilight's muzzle scrunched.  “What walls?”

“Hey girls!”  Pinkie pointed straight up.  “Look!”

Rainbow tilted her nose up.

A shadow lingered before the screened window of the estate's third story overlooking the courtyard.  Within seconds of the pegasus glancing, the shadow limped... hobbled... and shuffled away.

“... ... ...”  Rainbow Dash slowly... pensively followed after the chatting family.





On glinting wings, Windburst rocketed up out of the Petrispines and ascended to a lofty position in the air where the Commander of the Right Talon of Verlaxion hovered.  He flew up and hovered before Seraphimus, catching his breath.

“Ma'am.”  A salute.  “Nothing to report from the path itself.  Might I suggest I join Starstorm in the east or Raptr in the west?  I doubt the Rogue will be hiding in open sight, and the other Sergeants could use all the help they can get.”

“No.”  Seraphimus shook her helmeted head.  “You may have the best eye out of all of us, Windburst, but don't discredit the skills of your partners.”  Her charcoal eyes narrowed.  “If they do find the Rogue, they'll undoubtedly flush her out—leading her straight to you.  Keep sweeping.”

Windburst bowed in mid-air.  “As you wish, Commander.”  FWOOOSH!  He dove back towards the sea of stalagmites, scouring the lengths of the path winding through it.

Seraphimus took a deep breath, scanning the mountains towards the north.

“Commander...” Keris spoke, hovering behind her.

Seraphimus sighed.  “Yes, Lieutenant...”

“You are conducting a very thorough search here, given the geography of the region,” Keris said.  He shifted his talon in his sling.  “However, I feel that I must reiterate my concern.”

“But of course...”

His feathered brow furrowed.  “It would not be like Rainbow Dash to hide in a place like this.”

“It would certainly serve to her advantage.”

“Maybe so.  But this isn't a pegasus who necessarily favors... intelligent choices.”

“Do tell.”

“She would much rather take the daring course.”  He nodded his head north.  “I'm almost certain she will have proceeded onwards to Kunmane by now... or even further.”

“...in order to complete her arduous, obsessive journey eastward.”

“Precisely.”

“Your wisdom is keen, Lieutenant,” Seraphimus said.  “However, imagine if we followed through with that assumption and it turns out we missed the opportunity to sufficiently locate her with a thorough sweep of the surrounding region?”

Keris exhaled.  “Your skill in efficiency is unparalleled, most certainly, Commander.”

“We are the Talon,” she remarked.  “It is our duty to accomplish everything with utmost tenacity and professionalism.”  She shook her head.  “I shall not leave any stone unturned.  Especially in the pursuit of this threat.”

“And if it turns out she isn't here, and we make our way to the crowded city of Kunmane...”  Keris arched an eyecrest.  “...do you truly expect that to be any simpler a task than sweeping the Petrispines?”

Seraphimus fumbled for a response to that.

Soon enough, she wouldn't have to formulate one.  Raptr suddenly came flying up from the west end of the stone forest.  “Commander!  Lieutenant!”  The rookie hovered beneath them, breathless.  “I found something!”

Seraphimus' armor rattled as she descended towards him.  “Is it the Rainbow Rogue?”

Raptr shook his head.  “No.  But believe me!  You'll be very interested to see this!”

Seraphimus and Keris exchanged glances, then looked at him.  “Very well.  Lead the way.”

The three dove westward in three silver streaks of metal.
> It's Mystical Mumbling Grandma Time
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Well, Miss Scootabelle, I can't say I've ever heard of the 'Church of Shipping.'”  Reeds and Sweet's father smiled as he and Rainbow strolled along the inner balcony of the estate's second floor.  “But it fills my heart with hope to think that the Kihutajan Archipelago has embraced some degree of spiritual awakening.”

“Heh... yeah, well...”  Rainbow Dash shrugged, careful not to lose her conical hat to the mountain breezes.  Beneath them, the servants had arranged a series of chairs and refreshment tables.  Above, the sky was turning red with the advent of evening.  The atmosphere of Kunmane was abuzz with joy and enchantment as one by one the paper lanterns were lit red, orange, and silver.  “Shipping is as shipping does.  I guess you could say that I'm on a long... epic quest for...”  She fidgeted in midtrot.  “...erm... Lunalestia glory...”

A lavender unicorn made a wretching sound behind her.  Pinkie Pie giggled.

“Mmmm... and from your vague descriptions, am I to assume your belief is polytheistic?”

“Uhhhh... sure...?”  Rainbow gulped.  “Doesn't all of this—like—offend you?”

The stallion turned to smile at her.  “And what makes you say that?”  He raised an eyebrow.  “Let me guess.  You've encountered some... fundamentalist representatives of Verlaxion along your journey?”

“Well, not really, to be honest,” Rainbow said, blinking.  “But, from my experience, the ponies of this world can be... pretty friggin' dedicated to their creed.”

“As it suits them,” he said with a nod.  “However, I've always believed that no religion is worth dedicating oneself to if it means severely truncating the rights and securities of others—no matter what they believe.”

“Heh...”  Rainbow Dash smirked.  “I... kinda wish there were more families like yours in the world.”

“Verlaxion forbid!” the old stallion stammered, eyes wide.  “The competition would wring our banks dry!”

“Eheheheh...”

“Ha ha ha ha ha...”  He leaned against the wooden railing and sighed into the light of glowing lanterns.  “But enough of that rambling.  I want to thank you for helping Sweet and Reeds along their journey.”

“Helping them?”  Rainbow leaned back, holding a hoof over her chest.  “No offense, sir, but what did I do?”

“Stability comes from the most curious of places,” he said.  “My children... have remained children.”  A slight sigh.  “And while that makes them all the more endearing in the eyes of my wife and I, I do feel like they could have used more... guidance.  These trips to the fishing prefectures are certainly doing a lot to mold them.  But what they need the most is a role model—and not one defined by monetary success.”  He cleared his throat.  “You're just the kind of personality that they can gleam wisdom from.  You're not too jovial... and yet you're not too serious.  You fall right down the center of the where Reeds and Sweet gravitate.  That kind of strength is... infectious.  Inspiring.  I can already tell that they've learned more from this latest exodus than the last three years prior.”

“H-hey...”  Rainbow smiled.  “I'm super flattered.  Really, I am.”  Coughing, she adjusted her hat and lost her smile.  “But... like... I'm not here to stay, sir.  Truth is, I've gotta head north... and I gotta do so super quick.”

“Indeed.  As I am quite aware.”  He nodded.  “And—as my chief blessing on Unification Day—I would like to assist you in that endeavor.”  He smiled.  “You are welcome to the food on our table, and extra blankets to keep you warm at night.”

“Well, that's super mega cool of you.”

“However...”  The stallion raised a hoof.  “No amount of provisions can make the journey easy,” he said.  “The direction you are headed is difficult this time of year.  Treacherous, even.  I know you have your own priorities, but I would insist that you stay here—even throughout the Month of Thawing if need be—and wait for trade traffic to resume so you can enjoy the safety of numbers on the road.”

“And as much as I'd like to do that—”

“Aye.  Time is of the essence.”  He bowed slightly.  “I may not understand your need for swiftness, my dear, but I shall honor it.  I  have many business partners among the Colonialists, but not until now have I had the pleasure of making a true acquaintance of one.”

“Believe me.  The pleasure's all mine.”  Rainbow smiled.  “You won't believe how awesome it is to have ponies... wanting to lend...”  She blinked, brow furrowed.  “... ...a helping hoof...?”

The stallion had turned away from her, gazing worriedly at a servant who was shuffling towards them.  A frazzled mare came to a stop, panting.  “Master.  I am so exceedingly sorry for interrupting...”

“What is it?” he asked.

“Well...”  She glanced at Rainbow Dash, then at him.  Biting her lip, she leaned in and whispered in his ear.

The stallion blinked... and then his eyes went wide.  He leaned away from the servant, gawking at her.

The servant merely nodded.

“Is... something the matter?”

“No...”  The stallion gulped.  “Just... remarkable.”  He bore a dazed grin as he turned towards her.  “It would appear that the matriarch of the family would like to have a word with you.”

“Matriarch... of the family...?”  Rainbow lisped.  She blinked, and then her gaze fell upon the third story screened window overlooking the courtyard.





“Nana Pearl wants to see you?!” Sweet's voice echoed across the lush, furnished hallways of the estate.

“I guess so,” Rainbow said, marching along, following a servant down the corridor.  “Is that a huge thing or...?”

Sweet and Reeds stumbled after her.  “It most certainly is huge!” Reeds said.  “She's the oldest, most important member of our family!  Kunmane's elders all look up to her!”

“Ponies would gladly throw themselves off a cliff if it meant having an audience with Nana!” Sweet exclaimed.  “She rarely ever sees anyone!  And when she does, it's only through some super-duper rigid appointment scheduling!”

“So... like...”  Rainbow Dash's muzzle scrunched as she passed dusty family portraits along the estate's third floor.  “Why is she asking to see me?”

“I... don't know,” Reeds murmured.  “But Nana Pearl is like that.”

“Like what?”

“She perceives stuff that the rest of us don't!” Sweet sang.  “It comes with being older than boulders!”

“Sweet...” Reeds groaned.

“What?  It rhymed!  That means it's wise, right?  Heehee!”

“Eugh...” Reeds face-hoofed, then smiled weakly in Rainbow's direction.  “Some of us believe that all of the wisdom got soaked up in her, while the rest of us became rich idiots.”

“I dunno.”  Rainbow smirked.  “Your mom and dad seem alright.”

“Heeheehee!”

“Shhhh...” The servant reached the door up ahead.  Quietly, she knocked on it, then stuck her head into a dark chamber beyond.

“Okies...”  Sweet leaned in.  “Remember... she's really quiet and... kinda mumbles at time.  So you'll wanna tilt your ears towards her.”

“She also tends to go on wild tangents at time,” Reeds said.  “Take it with a grain of salt.”

“And if she starts rambling about an epic war between the tribes, don't worry.  It's probably just a book she read about.”

“And don't get her started on her cat that died fifty years ago—”

“Wait wait wait!”  Rainbow wheezed, waving her forelimbs.  “...I thought you said this mare was old and wise.”

“Oh, the wise stuff will hit ya when it hits ya,” Sweet said with a wink.

“Trust us.  You'll know,” Reeds added.

“Very well then...”  Rainbow Dash exhaled.  “Time to get... pummeled by a great grandma.”

“Hehehe!”

The servant trotted back, turned with a smile, then bowed.

Reeds patted Rainbow's shoulder.  “That's your cue.”

“Go knock her dead!”  Sweet said, but winced.  “Erm... but really don't, though!”

“Right...”  Rainbow tilted her hat back and shuffled forward.  “Here I go... anti-knocking...”

Rainbow passed on through the doorway... and the servant silently sealed her inside.





The first thing Rainbow noticed was the thick smell of incense.  Tiny plumes of candle-light smoke billowed towards the ceiling on all corners of the heavily furnished room.

“Yowsers...”  Pinkie waved a hoof in front of her muzzle.

“This place smells like Zecora's,” Twilight mused.

“It's...”  Rarity squinted across the dim, dusky domain.  “...it's so dark in here.  Can anyone actually see her?”

“Uhm...”  Fluttershy pointed.  “She's over there.  By the window.”

Rainbow squinted.  Sure enough, across the way, she spotted a dark sihlouette against a series of criss-crossing white lines.  A hunched-over equine figure sat before the window that overlooked the courtyard.

The pegasus gulped.  “Uhmmm...”

“It's okay, child,” whispered a hoarse voice.  “I know you feel a touch bit unsettled.  So was I at your age.  Being in the presence of old ponies can be... very awkward.”  A slight wheezing sound.  “...the key thing is to be young in your head... as long as you can.  Then we are all the same... hmmm?  Hmm-hmm-hmmm...”

Rainbow gulped.  “And what if some of us are... old in the head?”

“...well that's a damn cruel way to go about it.”  A thin, wrinkly hoof lifted into the dusty light.  “Do come closer, child.”

“Sure...”  Rainbow took a single step.

“Watch your head.  They won't hurt, but they might alarm you.”

“Huh?”  Bonk!  “Gah!”  Rainbow jolted back, wincing.  Her eyes focused on one of several dangling objects from the ceiling.  It was the ornament of a crane—crafted out of delicately folded paper.  As a matter of fact, multiple paper facades hung from the ceiling on string.  When Rainbow so much as breathed near them, they all fluttered and shifted like a windblown flock.

“Sorry, Dashie,” Pinkie cooed.  “I shoulda warned you, but... I'm just too busy staring at them...”

“I know...”  Rarity exhaled melodically.  “What fabulous artwork!”

“It's a simple hobby of mine,” the old mare spoke, as if answering the spectral mane's statement.  “Trust me.  I'm only up here in this... proverbial damsel's tower because attempting to trot downstairs for a walk everyday would shatter my brittle bones.  So, I've made myself quite the collection over the years.”

“It's... uh...”  Rainbow gulped.  “Pretty snazzy.”  She bore an awkward smile as she hobbled over thick rugs and carpets to reach the large sofa where the old mare sat.  “And must be good to fend off burglars, too.  I'd walk miles to avoid a sea of papercuts, if I was a bandit.”

“I like your attempt at humor, child,” the old pony said.  As Rainbow drew closer, she saw a sea of wrinkles swishing together to form a chin and muzzle.  “It's like tapping your fetlock into the water.”  A gentle exhale.  “But we both know that you're capable of so... so much more.”

Rainbow shuffled to a stop, blinking.  “I'm not sure I know what you're talking about.”

“You don't know?  Or you don't want to know.”

“Uhhhhh...”

“Relax, child,” the mare said.  “And you may sit down if you wish.  You're in the safest place in all of Rohbredden.  Trust me.”

Rainbow exchanged glances with her friends.  At last, her gaze fell on Fluttershy.

Fluttershy sighed.  “I can only sense them, Rainbow Dash.”  She shook her head.  “I can't sense their thoughts.”

“Just sit down, Rainbow,” Twilight said with a smile.  “It'll be alright.”

So, nodding, Rainbow did.  As soon as she was level with the hunched-over mare, she gave her a prolonged look.

The old pony stared into the light from the window... only she didn't.  Her eyes were glazed over.  Gray.  There was no hint of pupils anymore.  Not even an outline.

“My name... rather unfortunately... is 'Nana Pearl.'”  Those wrinkles curved slowly.  “However, it's what the children love, so I'm proud to wear it.”  Her head leaned over, frazzled fibers flouncing.  “What might your name be, child?”

Rainbow took a deep breath.  “Scootabelle,” she said.  “You can call me Scootabelle, ma'am.”

Pearl nodded.  “Indeed I can.”  Her lips pressed tighter.  “But I asked you your name, child.”

Rarity and Pinkie winced.

Rainbow cleared her throat.  “What do you mean?”

“I think you know,” Peal wheezed.  “I've lived long enough to know when ponies are lying to me.  Even when they mean no harm.  Did I or did I not tell you that this is the safest place in all of Rohbredden?”

Rainbow's brow furrowed.  “Please forgive me if I find that hard to believe.”

“Mmmm... I do indeed forgive you.”  The old mare nodded.  “You've obviously bumped into a lot of unsavory rocks while drifting all the way here.”  Her nostrils flared.  “I smell the muck of the seas on you... the flakes of Rust... the salt of Shoggoth.”  Her leafy ears twitched as she tilted her head to the side.  “And... something else.  Sweat... but thicker... like blood.”  Her wrinkles went limp.  “You carry much guilt on your poor flank, dear.”

Rainbow slowly nodded.  “I'm guessing, at your age... you're well-acquainted with guilt.”

“Heh!”  It was both a laugh and a cough.  “As I am with shrugging it off.”  She waved a gnarled hoof.  “One learns to stop letting life be miserable—sins or no sins.  Especially when one comes this close to the afterlife... and becomes wise enough to know that there likely isn't one.”

“Uhm, Nana Pearl, why exactly have you—?”

“Shhhh...”  The old mare pivoted towards her.  “Curiosity, my dear.  As foalish as ever.  Now... fear not...”  She felt around until her wrinkled hooves met Rainbow's shoulder.  “...stay still, if you will.”

“Uhm...”  Rarity fidgeted.  “Rainbow?”

“Shhhh...”  Pinkie held a hoof before her muzzle.  “None of my nerves are going off!  Just relax, everypony...”

Rainbow did so to the best of her ability, even as Pearl's hooves felt around her neck, then up her face in gentle feathery brush strokes.  Eventually, Rainbow's hat toppeled off, landing on the sofa between them.  Rainbow clenched her teeth slightly, but allowed Pearl to brush her hooves over the rainbow stubble along her forehead and the back of her neck.

“Mmmmm...”  Pearl bore a wrinkled frown.  “...what a tragedy.”

“It was only necessa—”

“Shhhh!” Pearl insisted, making Rainbow shake.  Her hooves traveled down Rainbow's neck, gently.  Then, at last, they brushed the golden band of a necklace.  Pearl paused... then parted the green collar of Rainbow's robe.  At last, the aged fetlocks found their way to Rainbow's Element, touching the lightning bolt.  Pearl let loose a deep grasp, her gray eyes widening.  “Ah... there it is.”

“Uhm...”  Rainbow gulped.  “You okay?  I... uh... d-don't wanna give you an accidental heart attack or some crud.”

“Mmmm... healthiest I've felt in years,” Pearl said.  With motherly grace, she drew Rainbow's collar shut.  “I knew that my great grandfoals brought something lively to Kunmane.”  She felt around for Rainbow's fallen hat.  “And believe you me... it wasn't Verlaxion's blessings.”

Rainbow picked the hat up and held it out to her.  “What do you mean?”  Rainbow squinted.  “What exactly do you sense?”

“Change,” Pearl said, gently lifting the hat and placing it securely on Rainbow's head.  “Where you come from, it must stand for balance and stability... but there's something about this world... this old, groaning world that speaks to me between the sighs.”  She leaned back with a weathered smile.  “It's really just an old mare.  Like me.  And her bones are all warm... and she has to turn over in bed to relax.”

“So...”  Rainbow clicked her tongue.  “...the whole world's a big wrinkly grandma having a perpetual nap?”

“Hah!  And she's brash, too!”  Pearl leaned back into the couch cushions with a sigh.  “Please, child.  I only let my children think they can outsmart me because it helps them feel secure.  But you?  You know more than you let on.”

“Yeah, well, intelligence isn't exactly my strong suit.”

“Experience would suggest otherwise.”

“Well, sure, but I'm all about moving from one place to another, ma'am,” Rainbow said.  “Not all of us can just... stay in one place and get wise.”

“Aye.  But ponies like me envy those who can do both.”  Pearl's head tilted towards her.  “And those who aren't alone... even when they are.”

Twilight and Rarity flashed Rainbow a surprised look.

Rainbow stared at the old mare.  Swallowing, she murmured, “Just... who are you?”

“Oh child...”  Pearl shuddered.  “I'm old.  But you?  You are made of something far... far older.  And you're just now discovering that, aren't you?”

“... ... ...”

Pearl bore a wrinkly smile.  “You won't be staying long.  I know that.”  With a slight groan, she leaned forward on her aching haunches.  “Perhaps... you could use some advice on the road ahead?”  He ears flicked.  “The long... misty road... through the mountains...?”

Rainbow Dash twitched slightly.  “You're... like... the best friggin' grandma ever.”

“Heheheh...”  Pearl bore a gummy smile.  “Baking cookies wouldn't help you get to where you need to go, now would it?”

“Yeah, but they'd help!” Pinkie chirped.

“Shhhhh...”  Twilight waved a hoof.  “Not now, Pinkie!  Mystical talking grandma!”
	
> Trade Your Compass for Pearls
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“I'm... uh...”  Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.  She shifted where she sat in the sofa across from Nana Pearl.  “I guess you could say I'm headed east.”

“Now there's a vague job description if I ever heard one,” the great grandmother muttered.  “Dare I ask where you're headed to, specifically?”

“Would you believe me if I told you the dark side of the world?”

Nana Pearl gently nodded.  “Perhaps if I was in the mood to.”  Her wrinkled brow furrowed above a pair of gray eyes.  “Nevertheless, there's a continent between here and there, my child.  If you had in mind a destination within Rohbredden, I just might be able to tell you where to go.”

Rainbow tilted her head, looking out the window.  Yaerfaerda shimmered dimly in the distance.

“I hesitate to say it,” Rainbow muttered.  “But... I believe I'm headed for the top seat of the world.”

“By that, you mean Verlaxion's throne room?”

Rainbow exhaled.  “Most probably...”

Her mare friends fidgeted where they floated.

“You don't take much pride in this,” Pearl murmured.

“I'll only take pride once I've passed on through,” Rainbow said.

“You're the kind of mare who embraces what's uncomfortable, I take it.”

“I've been through enough hairy straits to know that we rarely get where we need to go with ease.”

“Yes.  Not all of us are as lucky as you.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

“Mmmmmm...”  Nana shifted her weary bones.  “Nopony... dear child... ever enters the actual throne room of our beloved Queen.”  Her muzzle scrunched, turning twice as wrinkled.  “No mortal or immortal—aside from Verlaxion and her frost vessels—have ascended or descended the frozen step in eons.”

“Frost... vessels...?”

“Spirits of the Goddess,” Nana explained.  “Empowered by her power to thaw.  The anguished essence of a windigo is compressed, harnessed, and used as a shroud to carry the voice and visage of our Queen.  Or—at least—so the legend goes.”

“And the legend has something to go on.”  Rainbow shuddered.  “I've... seen some of these frost vessels up close.”

Pearl sat still, although the dying afternoon light caught the slightest hint of goosebumps across her aged flesh.  “Somehow... I don't think you're blowing hot air up my skirt.”

“I'd do anything to avoid encountering those things again,” Rainbow muttered.

“And yet you're headed straight for Verlaxion's throne room in the hight mountains.”

Rainbow nodded.  “Mmmmhmmm.”

Pearl took a long breath.  “Most sane... self-respecting souls would only go as far as consulting the High Council.  To reach such a lofty court, they would take the passage up the bay of Frostknife.  The inlet begins far east of here, along the southern frozen coast.  The harbor slices a wedge out of the continent, forming the heart of all Rohbreddenite trade, diplomacy, and commerce.  There along the frigid bluffs, steep steps lead to the Council's auditorium upon the hooffalls of the Goddess' throne.”

“Yeah, that's... t-too many ponies to cross paths with.”

“Mmmmm... of course, there's the possibility of northern passages into the high seat.”

“And how many ponies have made it to Verlaxion that way?”

“None,” Pearl said.  “At least none that have lived to tell about it.”

“I see...”

“Up in those frosted peaks, the blight of yesterday's cold still looms, held at bay by Verlaxion's awesome power.”

“You don't say...”

Pearl nodded.  “A pony's blood can freeze upon contact with the very air there.  There is no heartbeat that can outlast those heartless, howling blizzards.  That's why the kingdom's left a circle-shaped hole in the middle of Rohbredden.  A place that no Prefecture or Magistrate can lay claim to.  They call it the Starkiss.”

“Heehee...”  Pinkie smiled at the others.  “Kinda cute!”

Fluttershy gulped, trembling slightly.  “Too cute...”

“Beneath the Starkiss, in the coldest, bleakest mountains, Verlaxion has set up her throne,” Peral said.  “It is there that she absorbs all of the frost of the world—a necessary burden that she's taken up since the first Month of Thawing, ages ago.”

“When she defeated windigoes and united the Six Warring Tribes.”

“Indeed.”  Wrinkled lips smiled.  “You know the story already.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow.  “'Story?'  You say that as if it's fictitious.”

“So are all things, given enough time.”

Rainbow frowned.  “I find that hard to believe.”

Nana Pearl gave a quiet shrug.  “What's it matter to most mortals?”

Rainbow blinked.

“Whatever Verlaxion may or may not have done eons ago, the fact of the matter is... she maintains the temperature of this land.  And to do so, she makes the coldest... bleakest spot in all of Rohbredden her home... so that we may not have to live there.”

“Sounds... uh... sounds like quite the sacrifice.”

“Indeed.”  Pearl nodded.  “So is any attempt made to reach her.”

Rainbow bit her lip.

“Have you given thought as to how you might reach there, child?”  Pearl swallowed.  “And live?”

“I... uh... plan on taking one hoofstep at a time.”

“Mmmm... a patient spirit.  But patience will only get you so far.  The rest depends on knowledge.”

“And you have plenty to give, I assume.”

“There is... only one chief way to head east from Kunmane,” Pearl said.  “And that is to head north.”

“Right.”  Rainbow Dash nodded.  “Your great grandfoals... Reeds and Sweet.  They mentioned something about a passage through the rest of Stone Prefecture.”

Pearl chuckled dryly.

Rainbow blinked.  She exchanged confused glances with Twilight and Rarity.

“Mmmff... 'passage' is such a cute way of putting it, my dear,” Pearl wheezed.  “It is more akin to an avalanche with features.  Nonetheless, it is beautiful.  Even if you fell to a grisly death, you'd be inspired to write poetry on the way down.”

“That's... not exactly making the route very appealing.”

“Mmmmf... what's to complain about when we have little to no choice in the matter?”

Rainbow had no response.

So Pearl continued.  “They call the landscape north of Kunmane the Mist Cliffs.  They are very old mountains... older than time itself.  Entropy and decay have done their damnedest to chip away at the weathered granite and weeping elm trees.  But nothing can fell them.  Not completely.  Like magic, they fight gravity, jutting out of the sundered earth at irregular intervals.  Practically floating.  Countless equine souls have fallen in their futile attempt to span the lofty reaches, and their souls are forever lost to the precarious limestone and marble.  Over the centuries, mists have settled in the crevices, sealing the spirits in.  The very air you breathe is filled with the dreams and fears of generations previous.”

“Soooooo...”  Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes.  “Can these dreams and fears keep me from falling?”

“No.  At best, they can only enlighten you as to why you made the suicidal sojourn to begin with.”  Pearl shook her head.  “Alas, braver souls than the two of us combined have not only scaled the mountains... but have hammered together structures to help successive generations in the otherwise fool-hardy trek.”

“Are we talking townships?”

“Bridges, child.  Beams.  Shacks.  Rest huts.  And—most important of all—support railings.”  She gestured with a gnarled fetlock.  “Most times of the day and night, it is next impossible to see one's hoof in front of one's face, much less the sudden drops into gaping canyons below.  You will have to rely almost entirely on your sense of touch.”

“So... I should find a railing and... follow it upwards into central Rohbredden?”

“Well, that depends.  For there are three separate sets of railings, and they will lead you to three completely different and perilous destinations.”

“Good heavens...”  Rarity fanned herself while looking at the others.  “I do believe I'll have my work cut out for me.”

“And just which path should I take?” Rainbow asked.

“Hmmmmmm...”  Nana Pearl laned back, rubbing her wrinkly chin.  “You say you wish to go east... and yet you are heading north.”  She smiled.  “I am intrigued by your unpredictability.  In truth, there is only one way to go.”

“Yes?”

“That would be the barbed path, child,” Pearl explained.  “Even if I was capable of seeing, I wouldn't be able to describe it visually.  For everypony who enters the Mist Cliffs is blinded at some point or another.”  She gestured.  “Those who built the railings ages ago hammered several iron pegs into the length of the eastmost path's railing.  They then varnished this over to make it more smooth.  However, with the passage of time, the wood has likely worn away, gotten frayed and splintery.  I would highly suggest you emply a set of gloves.”

“And... feel around for a railing with multiple notches in it?”

“Multiple metal notches,” Pearl explained.  “It will lead you along the Barbed Path... which takes you to the eastmost destination beyond the Mist Cliffs.”

“Got it.”

“Be sure that you do,” the old mare said, her voice taking on a deep tone.  “The smooth railing and the porous railing will take you too far west, and you will have to backtrack if you want to make it to Ivory Prefecture.”

“What's in Ivory Prefecture?”

“The closest way to ascend the mountains that eventually lead to Frost Plateau... and the northern crown of the Starkiss.”  Pearl took a deep breath.  “There are many townships in Ivory Prefecture, for it is one of the last provinces where the weather is generally gracious year around.  The first village you'll find is likely to be Braum.  And then there's its sister township... a large assortment of factories and train depots known region-wide as Steamfall.”

“Did...”  Twilight leaned forward.  “Did she say 'train depots?'”

“There are locomotives in Rohbredden?” Rainbow asked.

“Why, of course, child!”  Pearl nodded.  “Why wouldn't there be?  It's how the central prefectures receive their dredge coal, after all.  Without them... they simply wouldn't survive the cold.”

Rainbow took a deep breath, nodding.  “Very well then.  What lies after Ivory Prefecture?”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On what hardship you prefer over the other,” Pearl said.  “For no path taken alone into the mountains is easy.  That's why they built train tracks and steam lifts—to assist the citizenry who wish to dwell in such inhospitable regions.”

“If those places are so darn terrible to live in...”  Rainbow made a face.  “Why do ponies bother to begin with?”

“Mines,” Pearl swiftly explained.  “Rich deposits of iron... mountain coal... frost rods.”

“Frost rods?”

“Crystalline fossils of the hearts of windigos,” Pearl explained.  “Petrified by time with their enchantments richly preserved.  They make for a priceless resource that unicorns and can then engineer into the reagents of spells.”

“Nifty.”

“But over half of the mines still present in the northern prefectures are largely abandoned.  That is where it gets treacherous.  Choosing to climb a path through the likes of Dust Prefecture might assure a lone traveler some degree of anonymity, but it will be a grim fate indeed—devoid of any helping hooves—if one was to collapse or be stranded in those perilous reaches.”

“Yikes.”

“Heading northeast is path most ponies might take,” Pearl explained.  “A lot of the railroads span that area, stretching into Lichen Prefecture.  But it is difficult to travel throughout without getting noticed.  And my grandchildren have informed me that there's been a rise in abominable terrorist attacks as of late.”

“Yeah...”  Rainbow's ears folded.  “So I've heard...”

“And then, due northwest of Ivory Prefecture, there's a sparsely populated plateau of frost and frozen mountain peaks known as Wyvern Point.”

Rainbow's jaw dropped.  “Is... is that where...?”

Pearl slowly nodded.  “And next to no pony or griffon has ventured into those hidden, lofty sanctuaries in generations.  I don't even need to tell you how impossible such a path would be.”

Rainbow gulped.  “But...”

“Assuming anyone made it to Wyvern Point, it would be the most accessible way to trot across the Frost Plateau.”  Nana Pearl swallowed.  “At least, according to legend.”

“Like... when was the last time any mortal made it between there and the edge of the Starkiss?”

“At least one millennium ago,” Nana Pearl explained.  “There's no telling if the ice shelf to the north has fallen in that time span or not.  The oceanic passage between Northern Rohbredden and the skystone fields is far too narrow for even the most daring of seven seas privateers to sail, so there's no eyewitness account as to the structural integrity of that part of the continent.”

Rainbow Dash took a long breath.  “Jee... you make all of these routes sound so enticing...”

“Mmmmm... sarcasm.”  Pearl smiled lightly.  “Has such a bittersweet taste to it.  I can't say that I miss the sensation.”

“For real, though, Pearl.”  Rainbow gulped.  “You've been a super big help.”

“I can only mark the way for you, child,” Pearl said.  “The rest of the endeavor is up to you.”

“But why give me any pointers whatsoever?”  Rainbow cocked her head to the side.  “For all you know, I could be a big crazy imposter out to... like... betray all of Rohbredden or something.”

“You mean like a 'Rainbow Rogue?'” the old mare blindly blinked.

Rainbow winced—as did her marefriends.

“My eyes may not work,” she said.  “But my ears do.  The entire town is abuzz.  It's no wonder someone like you is so paranoid.”

“If... you know who I am... like really know... then why are you even bothering to talk to me?”

“Ah.  But I don't know you, do I?”  Pearl bore a wrinkled smile.  “Do you even know yourself?”

Rainbow was silent.

“I've said it before and I will say it again, child.  You bring change.  Is it good change?  Is it bad change?”  She performed a shuffling shrug.  “It is difficult to say.  But the last time anyone brought change to this continent, there were Six tribes at bloody war with one another.  And today... they are not.”

“And just what terrible stuff am I preventing, exactly?”

“You're the one brave enough to scale your way to the Throne of Verlaxion.  You tell me?”

Rainbow's ears folded.  She rubbed her other arm with her hoof... pensively.

Nana Pearl leaned forward.  “Quite frankly, you carry about you an air of mystery.  I find it exciting.  When you reach my age, you start believing it's not possible to be excited anymore.”  She shuffled back with a sigh.  “I am quite happy... quite ecstatic to be blisffully proven wrong.”

“Yeah, but isn't that dangerous?  For you, that is?”  Rainbow bit her lip.  “I mean... there are ponies out there who believe that... like... the 'Rainbow Rogue is the coming sign of the apocalypse' or some nonsense.”

“Let me tell you something about the apocalypse child,” Nana Pearl said.  “So long as there are ponies dying, it happens every day.”  He wrinkled brow furrowed.  “Don't concern yourself with the end of all things.  Focus on the next heartbeat... as you do with the next hoofstep.  If you spend too much time and energy concentrating on that which you can't predict, you'll find yourself looking back and seeing a life bereft of energy... bereft of excitement... bereft of joy.”  She shrugged her shoulders to the dying light.  “So what if a strange rogue from beyond the Blight brings an end to this continent?  Hrrrrmmff... I've lived in harmony and bliss with my family for over a hundred years.  I've made friends... and those friends have made friends.  End of the world or not...”  She smiled.  “...that was a world worth experiencing.”

Rainbow exhaled.  “I really hope I meet more ponies as thoughtful as you.”

“Every pony is thoughtful, child,” Nana Pearl said.  “Not every one of them is honest.  There are rarer things in this world, yes, but very few that matter.”  She sniffed the air, her brow furrowing.  “Baked sweets.  Mmmmmm... Unification Day is coming to a close.  Tell me, child.  How bright is the daylight?”

“It's almost gone, ma'am.”

“Mmmm... then that's my cue.”  Wincing, the mare struggled to get up.  “Mrmmfff...”

“Here... allow me.”  Rainbow Dash reached in with a helping hoof.

“Thank you, child.”  Pearl exhaled, taking on shivering step after another as she walked with Rainbow towards the nearest door.  “You never did tell me your name.”

“Uhhhh...”  Rainbow reached over, plopped her hat back on her head, and continued assisting the old mare.  “It's Rainbow.  Rainbow Dash.”

“Meh...”  Pearl's face frowned.  “I was expecting to be surprised, there.”

“Heheh...”  Rainbow smirked.  “Well, that's the honest truth.”

“Is it, now?”

“... ... ...I have a middle name too.”

“Mmmm... I suspect you do.”

“Do you wanna know it?”

“Tell me another time.”  Nana Pearl gently patted Rainbow's grip of her hoof.  “When you get back from your journey.”

“I... uhhhhh...”

“Yes, child?”

“I'm... really not sure if either of us will be alive for when such a time will come.”

“Ah...”  Pearl smiled.  “There it is, then.”

“There is what?”

“The surprise,” Nana Pearl said.  “Now, do help me down into the courtyard.  I have an annual story to tell...”

“I can't wait...”
> The Right Twitch of Talon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Starstorm shifted through the ashen mess of debris atop the peaks of the Petrispines.  With metal-laced talons, she lifted the handle of a charred axe, still-smoking.  After letting loose a dull grunt, she dropped it back into a pile of likewise smoke-stained weapons.  Ash and debris littered the remnants of pine trees below the blasted summit.

“A stockpile.”  Taking a breath, the Sergeant pivoted about to face the rest of the Talon.  “Large enough to arm hundreds of bandits, terrorists, arsonists... you name it.”

“Scratch out the 'arsonist' part,” Windburst muttered, pearched atop the smoldering remains of a wooden shack.  “All of the explosives here went sky high.”

“Yeah...”  Raptr shuffled through the debris, waving a talon in front of his beak.  “Not even any residual dredge dust remains.  Thank Verlaxion.”

“Who could have done such a thing?”  Starstorm asked, gazing at the others.  “Certainly, I can understand the bandits of this region wanting to cover their tracks.  But there has got to be less flashy ways to go about it!”

“Hrmmm...”  Seraphimus tapped her beak, gazing across the Petrispines in thought.  “It could very well have been an accident.”

“Oh, it was no accident.”

The other four turned to look.

Keris picked through the debris with his good arm.  “This was done on purpose.  And I think we all know by whom.”

Raptr took a deep breath.  “The Rainbow Rogue.”

“Yes, but what would be her goal?” Starstorm asked.

“What else?”  Keris remarked.  One magenta hawkeye darted up.  “To protect the ponies of this landscape.”

“Hrmmmff...”  Windburst snorted.  “That's rather presumptuous, wouldn't you think?”

“She could be wanting to ingratiate herself to the locals, perhaps,” Raptr said.  “Curry favor after such a big bounty has been placed on her head.”

“Or...”  Keris shuffled through the group, carrying a wooden slab.  “...she just likes explosions and ruining bad ponies' day.”  He smirked under his beak.  “After all, she's done it before.  Back at Red Barge.”

“Yeah, and why do it here?” Windburst gestured.  “Why again?”

“Because of a common thread.”  Keris lifted the wooden slab in his grasp.  A circular emblem barely survived a swath of burn marks.  “The bandits who built this hideaway didn't exactly supply themselves.”

“Hey...”  Raptr squinted.  “That insignia's familiar.”

“The Shoreline Trade Consortium,” Seraphimus droned.

The others looked at her.

“Commander...?”  Starstorm breathed.

“These ponies were packing dredge coal from the most expansive corporation in the continent.”  Seraphimus took a deep breath.  “Curious, Lieutenant.”  She swallowed.  “But not exactly surprising.”

“Anypony could have gotten their hooves on this sort of shipment,” Windburst said.  “After all, there've been robberies and seizures of goods for months all along trade routes just like this one.”

“Yes, but don't you think it's a bit too coincidental to ignore?”  Keris remarked.  His eyes traveled between the different griffons perched before him.  “The Shoreline Trade Consortium has been known to funnel most of its raw ore from the materials dredged up in both Red Barge and South Barge.”

“What about White Barge?” Starstorm asked.

“Negative.”  Keris shook his head.  “That ended months ago.”  He turned to look at the Commander.  “After the likes of Elsaack and other top dredgers disapproved of the Corporate Executive's price gouging and intimidating trade tactics.”

“Who's the Corporate Executive of the Shoreline Trade Consortium?” Raptr asked.

Seraphimus looked at him.  “Brye Chandler.  The would-be Magistrate of the Shoreline Prefecture.”  Clearing her throat, she looked at Keris again.  “Where, precisely, are you going with this, Lieutenant?”

“When I was in Red Barge, it's no secret that I... underwent great physical trauma.”

“We know...”  Starstorm sighed, eyes round and sympathetic.  “And that's most unfortunate, Lieutenant.”

“Despite my better training, I wasn't capable of hearing everything that Skagra and his lesser goons discussed.  However... I did get the impression that they spoke often of an inside contact from the continent proper.  A 'fat cat,' as they put it.”  Keris looked at the Talon as a whole.  “Supposedly, they were planning a meeting with this individual or party to discuss payment for transfer of the Rainbow Rogue.”

“And we all know how that went,” Windburst muttered.

“No, Sergeant, we don't.”  Keris shook his head.  “Many of Skagra's supporters fled west from Red Barge before I or any of the members of White Barge could apprehend them.”  He sighed.  “I fear they may have carried many secrets over the waves with them.”

“Secrets of what?” Raptr cackled.  “Some grand continental conspiracy about the handling of dredge coal and the Rainbow Rogue?!”

“The rookie's right,” Seraphimus said.  “There's far too little to go on.  And I am not in the position to make any unfounded claims about the Shoreline Trade Consortium or its executive representatives.”

“But Commander—!” Keris began.

Seraphimus raised a calm talon.  “However...”  Her charcoal eyes narrowed.  “...this is most certainly a distressing detail you've stumbled upon, Keris.”  She gently took the plank of wood from him, studying the company emblem up close.  “And if there is any truth to it... any truth at all... it only underlines how important our mission is in capturing the Rainbow Rogue.”  She looked up.  “She was far more cognizant of what was going on board the Rainbow Rogue than the Lieutenant was.  If she knows any answers to Skagra's reach into our continent, then only she can inform us.”

“From the look of things,” Windburst firmly spoke, “If she really did blow this place up... then she's probably trying to cover up the truth.”

“Or...”  Keris frowned.  “She's simply trying to eliminate a threat when she sees one!”  He gestured with his good arm.  “One that we're unable to stop because we're too damn busy trying to bag ourselves a flightless pegasus!”

“If she can do all of this while 'weak and flightless,' then she's more dangerous than we've anticipated!” Starstorm exclaimed.

“That's not the point, Sergeant.”

“Then just what is the point, Lieutenant?!”  Windburst frowned.  “With all due respect, we're just standing here, sniffing our own farts while the Rainbow Rogue hoofs it to Goddess-knows-where!”

Seraphimus snapped at him.  “Watch your tone when you address the Lieutenant, Sergeant.”

Windburst took a deep breath.  Finally, he bowed.  “Yes, Commander.  I'm sorry, Commander.”

Starstorm gulped while Raptr shuddered.

Commander Seraphimus stared at them all.  “Now...”  She breathed slowly.  “I know that this hunt has been tough.  We're low on sleep... low on food... and we've already spent countless months chasing down phantom terrorists who only seem to evade our every move.”

“My apologies, Commander,” Lieutenant Keris muttered.  “It was not my intent to sow discord and intrigue.”

“Do not apologize, Lieutenant,” Seraphimus said.  “These are all valid bits of information that we must consider.  However—most important is the task ascribed to us by the Court.”  After a deep breath, she pivoted about to squint across the spires of the Petrispines.  “The sun is going down, and we could be here all week.  I suggest we head straight for Kunmane.”

“You... you really think the Rogue would have reached there by now?” Starstorm remarked.

“It's nearly time for the Unification Day festival,” Raptr said.  “It... it may be an even better place to hide.”

“I think we've found the evidence we need to conclude that she's not here anymore,” Seraphimus said.  “If she indeed caused this explosion, then I very much doubt the mare intends to stay.  After all, she does strike me as the kind of pony who prefers to burn bridges behind her.”  She looked over at Keris.  “Would you concur, Lieutenant?”

He nodded.  “Absolutely, Commander.  And to head anywhere east—”

“—she has to pass through the Mist Cliffs,” Windburst said.

“Blessed Goddess...”  Raptr grimaced.  “Heaven help us if she decides to venture into that.”

“If the Rainbow Rogue descides to go into the Mist Cliffs, then heaven help her,” Seraphimus said coldly.  She flapped her wings, lifting up.  “To Kunmane, my flock.  We'll position ourselves around the edges of town.  Windburst, take the north exit... the one that leads into the Mist Cliffs.”

“Aye, Commander.”  FWOOOSH!

“Raptr, take the west side of town.  Starstorm, position yourself in the east.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“Aye.”

FW-FWOOOSH!

“Lieutenant, you're with me,” Seraphimus said as she flew northeast.  “We'll cover the heart of the village.  The streets should be bursting with ponies by the time we get there.”

“Allow me to guess...”  Keris smiled calmly as he followed her.  “You want me to lean on your shoulder in the state that I'm in?”

“Quite the opposite, actually.”  Seraphimus exhaled.  “I am... not well versed in addressing a crowd, especially one as thick as a night like this one invites.”  Her feathers crested back beneath her helmet.  “I will undoubtedly rely on your natural... charm.”

“Well then.”  Keris breathed.  “Is this a promotion?”

“You've been inhaling too much of the muck, Lieutenant.”

“I can respect that, Commander.”

“As you should.”
	
> Farewell and Adieu, Sweet Reeds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The air above the Kunmane estate's courtyard buzzed with continuous murmur and cheer.  A large, festive crowd had gathered both inside and outside.  As the stars broke out above, Rainbow could scarcely see them through the glow of so many torches and lanterns being lit up across the streets and abroad.

The atmosphere sent jitters up and down Rainbow's spine.  Compared to her, Nana Pearl was a calm glacier adrift in song, and for a moment there it almost seemed as though Rainbow was leaning on her.

“Do relax, child,” Nana said as Rainbow carefully... slowly guided her down the stairs.  In the courtyard below, dozens of adult ponies had gathered in the seats arranged to face the interior end of the courtyard.  Their children and grandfoals had all gathered up front, waiting to hear the annual story be told.  “This is a night of celebration.”

Rainbow gulped.  “I'm... n-not sure I have much to celebrate in the coming days, Pearl.”

“Well, that surprises me.”  The old mare's wrinkled lips curved.  “You've survived so... so much already.  Why wouldn't a pegasus like you be celebrating every day.”

Rainbow sighed.  She looked at the pony she was assisting with a dull smile.  “What I wouldn't give for a heart and mind like yours.”

“Give it enough time, child, and you'll have something for even me to envy.”

At last, they reached the floor of the courtyard.  A group of ponies gathered in the wings.  Among them, Rainbow saw a group of relatively petite equines.  Each sported noticeably pale coats and almost matching pairs of blue eyes.  Upon seeing Nana Pearl and Rainbow Dash, they bowed low and smiled collectively.

“Yavana klehm haas vaansunh, Pearl Frahn!”

“Verlaxion Haff Veem, Pearl Frahn.”

Rainbow blinked.  “Uhhhhh...”

The old mare bowed back, her voice raspy but loving.  “Verlaxion Haff Veem, mehm thuraasem.”

They hugged themselves, shivered, then stretched their right hooves up along the lengths of their left forelimbs.  Their fetlocks scuffled against the courtyard's stones as they did so.

The old mare heard it.  “Rainbow, child...”  Pearl whispered in the pegasus' ear.  “Would you mind—?”

“Oh, uhm...”  Rainbow let go of Pearl, adjusted her hat, and performed the gesture.

The pale ponies chuckled, smiled back at Rainbow, then trotted swiftly towards the gathered seats.

“I take it you've never seen or heard Snow Bloods before,” Pearl said.

“Huh?”  Rainbow pivoted towards her, taking the mare's shoulder once again.  “Snow Bloods?”

“They're indigenous towards the northern prefectures... especially Dust and Lichen.  They mostly live in miniature communities high up in the mountains where their body chemistry is more adjusted to the harsh climates.”  Pearl exhaled.  “A few of them like to congregate here every Unification Day and share in the lower prefectures' festivities.”

“And that hoppity speech of theirs?”

“Snow Blood Tongue,” Pearl explained.  “A difficult language to master... and an even more difficult one for the northerners to lose.  Not many of them acclimate to national Rohbredden dialects.”

“So... like... are they a Seventh Tribe or something?”

Pearl shook her head.  “No, child.  Simply a subculture of earth ponies... and a very sweet, humble group at that.”  She cleared her throat.  “And do be careful.  The 'Seventh Tribe' is a term used commonly to refer to midnighters of the twilight reaches... and it's not a very endearing term at that.”

Rainbow took a shuddering breath.  “I know a thing or two about that.”

“You're wiser than you let on, child,” Pearl said as the two shuffled towards the audience.  “In time, you would have learned enough about the Snow Bloods on your own.”

“Yeah, but it's really... really awesome having someone like you shed some light on the path ahead for once,” Rainbow said.  “I mean... totally.  Thanks a whole ton, Pearl.”

“And thank you for paying me a visit, Rainbow,” she said.  “This is undoubtedly a Unification Day that I won't forget.  Assuming I live to see another one.”

Rainbow pouted.  “Don't say that...”

“Why not?”  She chuckled.  “I have no regrets.”  She craned her ear towards the crowd.  “Well, maybe one.”  A slight sigh.  “I often wonder who's going to tell my children and great grand children about the story of Verlaxion's Thawing.”

Rainbow fidgeted.  “Can I ask you something, Nana Pearl?”

“Goddess!  So formal...”  The old mare tilted her head towards Rainbow.  “You may, child.”

“... ... ...do you really... truly believe any of it?”  Rainbow gulped.  “That Verlaxion saved this place and unified the tribes with completely innocent motives?  And that she still rules this place from on high today?”

Nana Pearl took a deep breath.  Her glossy gray eyes reflected the waiting ponies of her household.  She exhaled with mild melancholy.  “No.  No, child, I don't.”

Rainbow bit her lip.  “Then why do you keep telling the story every year.”

“Because it's not important.”

“Huh?”

“What is important is that each of us—through tradition and through loyalty—has unified each other under a pact far stronger than any Goddess'.”  Pearl smiled.  “Regardless of who protects us from that mountain throne on high... or if anypony protects us at all... I know that we've been the ones responsible for each other's prosperity.  I spent a lifetime ensuring the happiness of myself and my descendants.  And I have full faith that such will continue for decades... centuries after I'm gone.”

“I see...”

“Verlaxion has not chosen to show herself for ages anyway.  I find her to be an idea... a very beautiful idea for very beautiful hearts.  That, more than anything, is what keeps us going.  That is why I tell the story.  I'm in love with the idea... like a story that gets better with time and age.”  She sighed.  “It's a very noble thing, you see.”

“Yeah.  But is it honest?”

“Well, what do you believe, child?”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip.  She heard a lavender unicorn's voice whispering past her ear:  “Careful...”

Nevertheless, with a tight frown, Rainbow hoarsely said, “I believe that Verlaxion is a lie.  A divine dragon deceiver in disguise, and she's built this—all of this... Rohbredden and the seven seas and the Blight beyond—as a means of testing the single most important journey to ever take place on this plane.”

Nana Pearl nodded slowly.  “I see...”  She nodded some more.  “Well, let's hope—for her sake as much as yours—that you finally get a chance to meet her.”

“What for?”

“What else?”  Pearl blindl winked.  “You'll be pitting your honesty against hers.  I suspect that only one of the two is strong enough to sustain a victory.  Whichever the case, I have full faith in Rohbredden benefitting in the end.  Wouldn't you?”

Rainbow exhaled.  “I... never really thought of it that way before.”  She turned to look at her spectral companions.  Then, with a soft smile, she turned back to Pearl.  “You're one of a kind, Nana Pearl.”

“Hmmmm... don't let it get around, sister.”

The old mare winked, patted Rainbow's fetlock, then stood up as straight as she could.  On brave, strong legs, she trotted by herself towards the voices in the open courtyard.  Reeds and Sweet were there—along with their parents and grand parents.  They all greeted Nana Pearl with warm smiles and respectful bows.  Sweet and Reeds' mother gave Nana Pearl a hoof, helping her sit down before the adults and children gathered in the courtyard.

“Mmmmm... ahhh yes... so many young, warm, smiling faces.”  Nana Pearl smiled past her wrinkles.  “I can see them almost as though it's yesterday.”  Her fibrous mane hairs shimmered with suddan vibrancy in the lanternlight.  “I do suppose a story is in order...”

The courtyard rang with giggles and cheer.





Fw-Fw-Fw-Fw-Fwooooosh!

Five armored figures descended onto the rooftops of Kunmane.  The street were scarefuly visible; every avenue and alleyway was filled to the brink with living, writhing, celebrating equines.  All but one—a single street stretched through the heart of the town, and a narrow strait had been cleared to allow room for a brightly lit parade.  Ponies of all ages gathered along the marketsides and storefronts.  Some waved brightly-lit, glittering tassels in the shapes of windigoes.  Others stood in pairs, nuzzling each other as their eyes glittered in the lights of dangling paper lanterns stretched across the streets.

Up above, the five griffon guardians of the Talon floated in close proximity to one another.  They crowded, hovering neck and neck to hear the Commander's orders amidst all the bedlam below.

“Go to your stations!” Seraphimus shouted.  “Patrol the west, north, and east ends as you've been previously assigned!”

“It's... so cr-crowded,” Raptr stammered.

“Mind your orders, Sergeant,” Keris said.

“Sir, yes, sir.”  Raptr saluted.

“Keep to your positions!” Seraphimus shouted.  “Do not break off from your station unless you're positive that you've spotted the Rainbow Rogue!”

“Apprehend her and bring her to the Commander and me!” Keris exclaimed.

“Commander...” Windburst began.

Seraphimus pointed.  “You're the exception, Sergeant.  Remain at the northern exit and do not move.  If all else fails, we'll flush the Rainbow Rogue to you.”

“Aye, Commander.”

“Now go!  Verlaxion's blessings go with you.”

Fw-Fw-Fwooosh!  The Sergeants flew off in opposite directions, leaving Keris and Seraphimus alone.  The two floated down, standing loftily atop the rooftops of Kunmane.  From there, they marched slowly, their hawkeyes trained on the busy, crowded streets below.

“Mmmmm...”  Keris managed a smile beneath his beak.  “At least we get to be close to the festivities.”

Seraphimus exhaled with a grunt.  “Keep your mind focused, Lieutenant.”

“As I intend to, ma'am.”  Keris glanced over.  “I simply figured, in a way, this is precisely the kind of atmosphere your dedicated guardians need to recharge.”

“Mmmmm... maybe...”

“When was the last time you celebrated Unification Day, Commander?”

Seraphimus weathered a melancholic sigh.  “... far too long ago.”

Keris nodded.  He pivoted in the other direction, carefully scanning every body in the crowd.  “Well, for what it's worth, Verlaxion's blessings to you, Commander.”

Seraphimus swallowed.  “Verlaxion's blessings to you, Lieutenant.”

Both griffons continued their wary search, standing loftily above the festivities.





“Let me tell you a tale, children,” Nana Pearl spoke before the bright eyes of ponies gathered before her.  “A tale of wayward foals of various hoof and claw and fin.”  She leaned forward in her seat.  “Long ago... when the Prefectures were all buried in snow... and the seven seas locked in ice... all the foals of Rohbredden knew was twilight and blight.  It encumbered them from either side, locking them with binds of frost and bitter cold.  In their misery, six angry tribes turned against one another.  Earth ponies locked hooves with unicorns.  Wyverns grazed the scales of seaponies with their fangs.  Griffons and pegasi showered the sky with blood.  And in the midst of this chaotic melee, the windigoes came.”

Rainbow Dash stood in the wings, her body hidden in the penumbra of a flickering torch.  She watched from afar as an entire clan of wealthy earth ponies listened in, enchanted by the words of their chief elder.

“They emerged from the mountains, mindless and ravenous.  They feasted on the hate and discord of the poor, lost children.  With their numbers dropping, with their loved ones being consumed by the frozen banshees, the six tribes blamed each other, and their battles grew even bloodier.  This was the advent of the Frost Wars, and it painted the snow red with useless bloodshed.  All the while, the windigoes feasted, content to suck the continent dry of all love... and all life...”

All of a sudden, Fluttershy gasped.

Rainbow and her other friends turned to look at her.

“What's the matter, darling?” Rarity asked.

“Is...”  Pinkie Pie blinked, fidgeting nervously.  “Is it who we think it is?”

Fluttershy's muzzle quivered.  She turned towards Rainbow Dash with a pale expression... then slowly nodded.

Twilight clenched her jaw.  “That's it.”  She spun towards Rainbow.  “We can't stay here any longer.”

“Awwwwwwwww...”  Pinkie pouted.  “But... Nana's storrrryyy...”

“There's... there're five of them total,” Fluttershy said, rubbing her aching head.  “They're like hot knives slicing through the crowd.”  She gulped.  “One of them is flying not too far from here.”

“She's right.”  Rarity said, her horn pulsing.  “I sense it too.  A single set of armor.  Silver.  Jagged.  Unbreakable.”

“He'll be within earshot of the estate at any second!” Fluttershy exclaimed.

“Well, I don't need a greater invitation than that,” Rainbow muttered, adjusting her hat.  “Where'd I leave my stuff?”

Pinkie pointed northeast.  “Over there.  In the corner of the courtyard by the gate.”

“'Kay.”  Rainbow gave Pearl one last sad look, then galloped off.  “Go time.”

Her clopping hooves faded into the distance.  Pearl's ears twitched briefly, but she continued with her traditional tale:  “All seemed lost.  Then, all of a sudden, a miracle happened.  The windigoes started melting one by one.  The Six Tribes stopped fighting, and they turned their eyes and ears to the head of the bay that we now call Frostknife.  There—standing in all her glory, bright as the rising sun—was a bright shining Goddess.  Beautiful beyond compare.  She spoke like a loving mother to the battered souls of Rohbredden... and her voice carried a heat that thawed the frost away... and chased the banshees into hiding...”





Rainbow Dash zipped up a secondary saddlebag, full of food and provisions gifted by the family and their estate.  She strapped the leather brown thing to her flanks, just behind Luna's saddlebag.

“Is...”  Rarity shifted where she stood, pointing nervously at the varnished brown material.  “Is that stuff made from—?”

“Not now, Rares,” Rainbow growled.  She pivoted towards Fluttershy.  “Are any of them closer?”

“Just the one, Rainbow,” Fluttershy stammered.  “He's flying north and south in quick, elliptical patterns.”

“On patrol.  Just great,” Rainbow muttered.  “And you're sure he's a griffon?”

“Absolutely.”

“What about the others?”

Fluttershy closed her eyes.  Her ears twitched meditatively, and she eventually muttered:  “One in the north... one to the far east... and two in the center of town... right over the thickest crowd.”  Her forehead tensed.  “Mmmm... funny.”

“What is?” Twilight asked.

“One of the two is... familiar.”  Fluttershy quivered.  Suddenly, her eyes flew open.  “...Keris!”

“Really?”  Pinkie gasped.  “Our Keris Cake?!”

“I just know it!”  Fluttershy gazed at Rainbow.  “Rainbow, if it's truly him...”

“Maybe he'll give us some leeway?” Twilight suggested.

Rainbow exhaled heavily.  “Nah.  I doubt it.”  She gulped.  “You gals remember the words he said when we last parted ways...”

The four friends collectively shuddered.

“Well, he is a griffon of his word.  And a handsome one at that.”  Rarity bit her lip.  “I suppose he's given us enough leeway as it is.”

“Rainbow,” Twilight spoke.  “If one of them is positioned to the north...”

“Right.”  Rainbow nodded.  “This is gonna be super tricky.”  She tightened her conical hat.  “Whelp.  No way like the stupid way.  Let's roll.”  The mare spun towards the exit...

...and immediately bumped into the sad faces of Reeds and Sweet.

“Gah!”  Rainbow winced, hobbling backwards.  “Oh...”  She let loose a tight breath.  “You guys.”

“Er... yeah...”  Reeds blinked with concern.  “Us guys.”

“Where are you going, Scootabelle?”  Sweet pouted.  “We saw you gathering your stuff.  Aren't you going to stick around for the rest of Nana Pearl's story?”

“I'm afraid not, girl.”  Rainbow shook her head.  “I've got places to be.  Besides... I kinda sorta know how it all ends anyway.”  She gulped.  “Or at least... I will some time from now.”

“But...”  Sweet sniffled.  “You just got here.”

Reeds patted his sister's shoulder, then leaned towards Rainbow Dash.  “You and Nana Pearl talked for an awful long time.”  He raised an eyebrow.  “What about?  Is everything okay?”

“Yeah.  Everything's hunky dory.  I just... y'know...”  Rainbow shrugged.  “...can't stay in one place for too long.  It was the same situation when you both found me.”

“Well, where are you going?”  Sweet's eyes lit up.  “Maybe you could use a helping hoof or two for the hike—”

“No.  No.”  Rainbow shook her head.  “I gotta do this without you two.  But don't worry.”  A calm smile.  “I've gotten enough help as it is.  And... besides...”  She smiled over her shoulder.  “I won't be half as lonely as you think I'll be.”

Twilight and the others smiled dearly.

“Awwwwww...”  Sweet nevertheless sniffled, eyes watering.  “This was not how I wanted to start the Month of Thawing.”

“Hey... don't be sad.”  Rainbow smirked.  “Because of you guys... I just know I'll be having the best Month of Thawing ever.”

“For realsies?”

“Pffft.  Totally!”

Reeds smiled.  “We're going to miss you, Scootabelle.”  He winked.  “Somehow, I knew you were good luck from the start.  I hope it's enough to sustain you for your journey.”

“Hey.  C'mere.”  Rainbow leaned in, wrapping a forelimb around both siblings' necks as she nuzzled them both.  “Now listen to me.”  Her eyes narrowed.  “It takes more than good luck to get from A to Z.  Sometimes it just takes a warm smile and an awesome laugh.  Believe you me when I say that you two gave me both of that... and in record numbers.”

“We did?”

“Yup.”  Rainbow winked.  “Honest to Goddess... er... you know what I mean.”

Sweet giggled, wiping a tear away.  “You're a silly mare, Scootabelle.  Silly... but awesome.”

“Take it to your grave, kiddo.”  Rainbow said with a salute.  “And—as they say back home—zoop!”  And she was gone.

Sweet and Reeds stood side by side at the gate to their manor, watching with a melancholic breath as their pilgriming friend blended in with the festive colors of the night.
> The Thawiest Place On Earth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was a great deal louder than Rainbow Dash had anticipated.  She panted as she shuffled, waded, and swam through the ever-thickening crowd of celebratory ponies.

“Eeeugh!”  Rarity grimaced.  “How dreadful!”  She waved a hoof before her muzzle.  “I know nopony's body sweat can get on my fur, but—for Celestia's sake—do I still have to smell it?!”

“Keep your horn in the game, Rarity!” Twilight insisted.

“I'm... trying... darling...”

“My tail's going bonkers!” Pinkie exclaimed, trying to hold her fluffy appendange still as she phased through wall after wall of living equines.  “I'm not even kidding!”

Twilight looked over.  “Is something about to fall?”

Pinkie's nose scrunched for a prolonged period, as if she actually had to think about a response.  “No,” she finally blurted.  “It's more like a quifty-quiver than a twitch-a-twitch, but I just can't put my hoof on it!”

“Well, I can...” Fluttershy stammered, wincing.  “Rainbow Dash, you must find some cover!”

“What do you think I'm doing?!”  Rainbow grunted, clutching tightly to her hat as she struggled to thread her weay through the rambunctious crowd.  “Gotta make our way north.”  She gulped.  “This crowd is like twenty Summer Sun Celebrations poured into a glass jar, shaken, and spilled all over the place!”  The pegasus panted, sweating through to her cloak.  “If you ask me, there's no way in Tartarus anyone could spot an elephant in this mess, much less a—”

“Think again!” Fluttershy's voice cracked.

“Huh?”  Twilight twirled around.  “Where's the nearest griffon, Fluttershy?”

“Mmmmm...”  Fluttershy fought the urge to whimper.  “High above!  Gliding in from the west!”

Rainbow pivoted her head around—

“No no!”  Fluttershy yelped.  “Don't look up!”

“You heard the mare!” Rarity insisted.  “Run, Rainbow!  Run!”

Panicking, Rainbow scampered northeast, bumping into multiple citizens along the way.





Up above, Raptr glided over the streets and alleyways of Kunmane.  His expert hawkeyes traced left and right, weaving around the dangling lanterns and sparkling streamers.  At one point, he sensed a break in the crowd—like an eel disturbing a shallow pond's colored surface.  Instantly, his eyes darted to the scene.  He peered carefully through his helmet, spotting the wake of a rudely charging equine.  Just as the body reached the edge of a marketplace, the rookie guardian spotted a flicker of dull green color... and a conical rice hat.

“... ... ...!”  His beak clattered as he tightened his wings, tilted his body forward, and dove like a silver missile into the thick celebratory sea.





Cl-Clakkk!  Metal-plated talons landed on the old stone floor.

Five merchant stalls away, Rainbow Dash hunched low.  Her four friends gasped in fright.  Meanwhile, the mare stealthily snuck her way under a table full of edible wares, and she proceeded to hobble down a long corridor lined with claustrophobic open diners and buffet tables.  Ponies from all corners of Rohbredden had gathered to offer a cornucopia of foods to feast on.  Tables were full of rice, rolls of raw meat, fish heads, crayfish, and octopus tentacles.  Fat, happy ponies sat in droves, their flanks seated side by side in stools as they munched on curry, slurped noodles, and bit into meaty morsels.  Plucked pheasants and partially skinned rabbits dangled above them between strips of parsley and clumps of garlic.

Upon seeing the many meats on display, Rarity and Pinkie gagged more than once, having to hug each other to keep from wretching.

“Keep ahold of yourselves!” Twilight hissed, floating alongside Rainbow Dash.  “Rainbow, are you—?”

“I'm fine!” Rainbow whispered.  Nevertheless, she bumped into a table, knocking some samples of cooked goose onto the ground.  An angry pony barked at her from across the steamy display.  Rainbow performed the “Verlaxion's Blessings” gesture with awkward speed, then galloped two spaces ahead before the angry merchant could seize her.  “Fluttershy?”

“He's still in pursuit,” the pegasus murmured.  “It's too easy for a griffon to see in here!”

“You should leave, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight insisted.  “Get back outside where it's crowded.”

“Yes.  Please.”  Rarity leaned against Pinkie, struggling to keep a nonexistent lunch in.  “May we?”

“Now!” Fluttershy insisted.  “He's caught behind a serving table!  Now's your chance!”

Breathless, Rainbow skittered under two tables and broke past a few dangling slabs of roasted meat.  She burst back outside, charging into cacophonous lanternlight.

Desperately, Raptr shoved aside more than a few ponies as he dashed after her.  “Sorry!  Step aside!  Please!  Move!  Grnngh... A thousand pardons!”  He snarled:  “Official Court's business!  Move!  Move!”  At last, he reached the edge of the roofed market...





...and burst out into a side street.

Panting, the Sergeant looked left and right.  All Raptr could see was smiling, shouting faces—and none of them coated blue or topped off with a conical hat.  Colored lanterns dangled over the scene, and sparkling fireworks shimmered from the edges of carnival game tents.  The longer he stared, the griffon observed the crowd surging gradually towards the heart of town—where a loud parade was just then starting, accompanied by bombastic drums and fanfare.

Raptr blinked.  He looked at the crowd... then seethed under his beak.

“Rrrghhh...”

With a single flap of his wings—FWOOOSH!—the griffon shot up, throwing a few surprised ponies off their hooves.





Blocks away, in the center of town, Seraphimus and Keris stood side by side on a rooftop.  Their ears rang from the loud booming of drums and metal snares.  The parade had started, clanging and clashing its way southwest through the main thouroughfare of Kunmane.  Ponies in flowing robes with floral colors danced and sashayed as they proceeded down the channel that had been cleared in the center of the street.

Off in the distance, rising like a bright cloud, was the floating effigy of a windigo.  The thing was enormous—a collection of silver blue balloons floating beneath a translucent shroud of flowy white fabric.  A carefully constructed wire frame afforded the effigy a vaguely equine shape, with pulsing white torches for eyes and rippling tresses serving as the frozen banshee's ethereal wake.  The thing was supported by multiple wires anchored by the grips of strong stallions trotting the length of the main street below.

As the grand “windigo” hovered over the Rohbreddenite crowd, everyone within eyeshot cheered and clapped their hooves.  Lanterns and sparklers strobed across the marketplaces as the float gradually drifted southwest towards the very center of town.  There, a platform had been erected, and the mayor of Kunmane stood along with his family and a gaggle of foals, all armed with torches burning from old, hoof-carved hilts.

Keris kept his magenta hawkeyes trained on the crowd.  Nevertheless, as the noise of the traveling percussion group increased in decibels, he caught sight of a moving, glinting body in his peripheral vision.  The Lieutenant glanced west, instantly spotting the figure of Raptr hovering at a distance.

The Sergeant swung his arms and twirled his silver-laced talons.

The Lieutenant blinked.  As he “read” the gestures, he inhaled sharply.  “Commander!”  He turned towards Seraphimus, struggling to shout above the deaffening drumbeats.  “Commander!  Sergeant Raptr has spotted someone!  Moving northeast!”

Seraphimus' dull eyes clung to the streets.  She stared silently at a four-year-old colt, standing streetside with his parents.  The little thing was dressed in paper wings with a paper beak.  He spun in circles, his tiny muzzle gripping a sparkler that spilled shiny colors all across the stonework.  Thoroughly dizzy, the foal fell on his flank with a flounce of fake feathers.  He giggled into the bright lights.

The Commander sighed.

“Seraphimus!” Keris hollered.

She snapped out of it, twirling to face her number one officer.  “Lieutenant?”

Keris silently motioned towards her.  After several talon-signals, he pointed in the direction of Raptr.

Seraphimus' charcoal eyes lifted.  She spotted Raptr, and her headcrest lifted beneath her helmet.  With a firm nod in Keris' direction, she flapped her wings.  Both leaders of the Talon dove off the roof and swept their way west—where they met with the Sergeant and began combing the streets.





“Rrrrgh!  Stay still ya silly stupid tale!” Pinkie Pie snarled, biting onto her fuzzy fluff.  “Grrrrrr!”  She looked at the others.  “I just don't know what's gotten into it!  It's like it's got a mind of its own!”

“Well, when you get a fix on it, Pinkie, let us know!” Twilight said, panting.  Her body phased through the ponies of the crowd every second, causing her body to ripple with lavender light.  “Rainbow!”  Catching up with the pegasus, she stammered, “What are you doing?!  The exit to the Mist Cliffs is that way!” her voice cracked as she pointed north.

“I... rnnngh... know...” Rainbow grunted, stumbling along with the flow of ponies.

“Don't you know that you're moving with the crowd?” Twilight exclaimed, gulping.  “They're leading you straight towards the heart of this town!”

“Imagine if I try moving against the flow,” Rainbow grunted, bumping into confused pony after confused pony.  She sweated, hard.  “Just what citizen in her right mind would be doing that?  They'll friggin' spot me in an instant.”  Gnashing her teeth, she looked at the fronts of multiple storefronts and stave buildings, desperate for a place to escape to.  Every entrance was chock-full of ponies standing on building stoops, gazing and cheering at the incoming parade and its glowing, floating effigy.  “Luna Poop... this place is a madhouse.”

“You have to find a place to escape soon, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy breathed.  Her eyelids fluttered.  “Three of them are gathering up in the air above us.”  She gulped.  “They're heading our way.”

“Good heavens...” Rarity gasped.

“One of them is Keris.”  Fluttershy gasped slightly.  “And the other...”

“Huh?”  Rainbow looked at her, jostling through the crowd.  “What about the other?”

Fluttershy gaped at Rainbow.  She merely trembled.

Rainbow gulped.  “Well, then...”  Rainbow looked ahead.  “Month of thawing indeed.”

“Hey Dashie!”  Pinkie Pie pointed.  “Look over there!”

“A path!” Twilight gasped, grinning wide.  “And it's clear!”

“Thank you, Pinkie!”  Rainbow Dash lunged through the cloud, galloped down a narrow strait, and ended up in a small, circular, grassy clearing.  “... ... ...Screw you, Pinkie!”

“Huh?!” Pinkie blinked, struggling hard to contain her quivering tail.

“It's a blasted dead end!”  Rarity grumbled.  She flinched at the sight of drunken revelers vomiting against brick walls.  “...in more ways than one.”

“Eeeeughhhh...”  A greasy stallion propped himself up against a wall, brushing crusty bile off his stubbled chin.  “Verlaxion's... blessssssings to meeeeeee... HIC!”  He pivoted from the other sickly ponies, juggling an empty bottle as he smirked blearily at Rainbow.  “Heyyyyyyyyyyy there—HIC!—gorgeous.  Wanna melt with me?”

Rainbow grimaced, hobbling backwards.  “You're a few years and rehabs too late, bud.”  Sweating, she looked back at the single alleyway that brought her there.  “Wonder if I could double back...”

“They'll be over us any second now!” Fluttershy yelped.

“Whatever you do, Rainbow, you'd better do it fast!” Twilight insisted.

Rainbow Dash stood in place, shivering with each boom of the drums as they drew closer... closer.  “Right...”  Taking a deep breath, she tugged at her cloak and saddlebags.  “Fluttershy, keep your head open.”

“Uhm... I'll try?”





“You're certain of this, Sergeant?” Seraphimus growled into the whipping winds.

“As sure as I've ever been!” Raptr exclaimed.  “She was wearing the exact same clothes described in Riverstem!  And I saw a blue coat—just as described by the Lieutenant!”

“Did she stick to one place?”

“No.  She was heading northeast.”  Raptr gulped.  “And her movement increased dramatically as soon as I gave pursuit.”

“Sounds like Rainbow Dash alright,” Keris said.  “She must know we're here.  Courtesy of her invisible spirit friends—”

“Yes yes,” Seraphimus grunted.  “Where was she headed last, Sergeant?”

“I chased her out of a marketplace.  She joined the crowd in the street directly below us, and they're all headed in just one direction.”

Seraphimus nodded.  “Towards the parade.”

“In fact, there's next to no avenue where she could have broken off... except...”  Raptr squinted, his eyes spotting a narrow strip leading to a round, bricklaid enclosure.  His vision centered on a green figure with a conical hat.  “There!  I see her!”

“Where?”

“In that recess!  Due north!”

“I see it.”  Seraphimus whistled shrilly.  She and her two wingmates dove down.





One by one, they landed in the circular pocket—far from the main crowd.  The frazzled figures of drunken ponies jolted in surprise.

“Formation...”  Seraphimus droned.

All three griffons blocked the only exit with their armored bodies.

“You there!” Seraphimus' voice boomed, piercing the distant drumbeat.  She stared daggers at the figure in green.  “Face us!”

The pony merely shuffled along... teetering.

“By the authority granted me by the Council of Verlaxion, I order you to turn around!”

Keris exhaled.  “Something's not right...”

Seraphimus blinked at him.  Turning forward, she took a few bold steps and yanked the rice hat off the pony.

Raptr grimaced.

“Mmmrrrnnghhh...”  A slimy stallion stood before them, his body too thick for the green robe to perfectly wrap around.  He teetered about, puked up wine and rice, and smiled slimily at the group.  “I sssssurrender.”  He fell on his flank, giggling like a newboard foal.  “It was I who... mmmmplucked the tusks from... the wyvern princess... chuuuu...”

Seraphimus' feathers drooped.

“Dammit!”  Raptr spun to face the crowded street, seething.  “What now?”

“It's a bold gamble,” Keris said calmly.  He looked at the Commander.  “She's completely exposed now.”

Seraphimus flashed him a look.  After a deep breath, she motioned to both wingmates and took to the air.

Raptr and Keris swiftly followed.

“Heeeeeee...”  The drunken stallion hugged the conical hat close to his chest.  “...you and me, bucket.  We'll rule the seven seasssss—HIC!”





Rainbow Dash shivered.  Sweat coated her shaved mane and bandaged wing as she darted like a blue bullet through the crowd.  Somehow, without the peasant's robe and hat, she felt more agile, and she knifed her way between groups of ponies as if they were melting butter.

“It seems to have worked, darling!” Rarity exclaimed.

“Yes.  But only for a little while.”  Shivering, Fluttershy caught up with Rainbow.  “They've returned from the enclosure... flying above the streets again.”

“I'm telling you, Rainbow,” Twilight said.  “You're only more vulnerable now.”

“Yeah, well...”  Rainbow tightened the grip of her saddlebags as her pendant glinted with lanternlight.  “...all the more reason to make like a fart and float away.”

“Better make it a popcorn fart, Dashie!”  Pinkie held onto her tail for dear life.  “Something's about to go down!  I just feel it!”

Rarity's eyes lifted up to the windigo effigy as they came closer.  “She's not kidding.”

“Rainbow...”  Twilight pointed.  “Main street.”

“Yeah.  Everypony's facing one way.  I see it.”  Nodding, Rainbow galloped briskly towards the central thoroughfare, straight into the booming drums.  “It's our one clear chance.”

“They're getting closer!” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Go go go go go!” Pinkie insisted.

Rainbow bit her lip and darted down the storefronts.





Seraphimus shot out above the crowd.  She reached a high point, hovering over the staved structures.  As her charcoal eyes swept the crowd, she waited for Keris and Raptr to join her side.

Once they had all gathered, she signaled to Raptr.

“Go east,” she muttered.  “Grab Starstorm and bring her back here.”

“She has to be in the main street,” Keris said.  “It's the only clear way to cut across town at this point.”

“Right.  Lieutenant, you take the south side.  I'll take the north.”

“Sweep east?”

“We'll sweep east.  Ground level.”  As Raptr flew off, the Commander bellowed.  “Go!  Eyes open!”

Fw-Fwooosh!  Both leaders of the Talon dropped like anvils.





Keris touched down.  His talons scraped along the old stonework of the street.

Wincing, the Lieutenant adjusted his sling, then looked across the crowd.

A few nervous ponies glanced curiously at him.  Most of the citizens—however—were too busy cheering the oncoming parade.  The street was awash with color and sparklers.  Little foals waved windigo flags around while the scent of candies and ciders filled the air.

Keris took a steady breath.  With an icy gaze, he marched east, skirting in and out of the sidewalk as he forced his way against the grain.





Likewise, on the north edge of the street, Seraphimus clawed her way towards the incoming parade.

Her gait was strong, heavy, intimidating.  Nevertheless—when she brushed ponies aside—it was with remarkably expert grace.  Foals stared up at her, gawking and breathless.

She ignored them, marching east as her piercing eyes traced each face in the crowd.





Gulping, Rainbow Dash stood still for a brief moment.

She flung a shivering look over her shoulder.

Rows and rows of bodies stood along the edge of the main street—all except two.  One across the way... and one a few blocks behind her.

Fluttershy bit her lip.  Her eyes flashed nervously in Rainbow's direction.

Rainbow nodded, beginning to trot away.  She kept her pace slow... struggling to not bring too much attention to herself.  The pendant around her neck reflected a sea of sparkles as she surged deep into the beating drums and celebratory bedlam.





From his perch along the town's northern gates, Windburst squinted into the glowing aura of Kunmane.  His expert eyes traced the streaking silver figure of Raptr.  The rookie sergreant flew east—then made contact with Starstorm.  Windburst watched as both guardians exchanged a series of talon-signals.  Starstorm's figure jolted in mid-air, and soon she was following Raptr briskly as the two soared back west.

Windburst's eyes narrowed.  His beak clenched as she shuffled from side to side, feeling the dull weight of his crossbow.  His talons itched...






The front of the parade had reached Keris.

The Lieutenant's skull pounded from the travelling percussion band.  He stared past flowy figures dancing and twirling in the streets.  Behind them, a group of earth ponies darted back and forth, dressed as unicorns, wyverns, griffons, and pegasi as they “did battle” with dull, clashing wooden blades.  The crowd cheered them on, laughing merrily.

This was followed up by elaborate paper mache “sirens” on wheeled tracks.  The giant seapony figures twirled about, trailing bells and glittering tresses.  Another row of dancers followed the “warring tribes,” this time clad in snowy gowns bespeckled with snowflakes.

The drums increased in tempo...





...taking on a feverish, frenetic pace as Seraphimus worked her way through the crowd.

The Commander found a series of wooden crates.  She perched up on them, staring from her lofty position at roadside.

Her charcoal eyes had to squint—for the floating, glowing windigo effigy was coming up next, carried by stallions as they approached the wooden stage in the center of town.  The mayor of Kunmane and his family smiled, clapping jubilantly as the foals waved their torches.

With a heavy breath, Seraphimus hopped off the crates and sprinted past the line of parade gazers.






Fluttershy trembled.  She signaled to Rainbow Dash that one of the griffons was coming closer at an alarming speed.

Rainbow looked back, nodding.  She stood amidst a thick group of ponies who were blocking her way from crossing the entrance of a crowded market.  Citizens stood at every doorway and window, happily gazing out at the passing effigy.

In the silver blue light, Rainbow peered out from the crowd.  She spotted an opening in the parade—a gap behind the balloon-tugging stallions.  It was just wide enough for a petite pegasus like her to gallop on through to the other side of the street.

Holding her breath, Rainbow prepared to do just that—

Fw-Fwooosh!  Raptr and Starstorm suddenly touched down across the way.  Their silver helmets flashed in the fake windigo's ethereal glow.

“...!”  Wincing, Rainbow Dash drew back.  She bit her lip.

From a distance, she watched as Raptr and Starstorm gestured to one another.  Both griffons nodded, then shuffled in opposite directions.  Starstorm was drawing closer.

Pinkie Pie held onto her tail, teeth chattering.  Rarity squeaked something, but it was difficult to hear above the thunderous drums.  The orchestra was just then passing by.

Nervous, Rainbow slinked her way through the crowd, sliding past protesting onlookers as she struggled to make her way east.





Keris' talons scraped to a stop.

Standing perfectly still, he craned his neck to the left.

He peered across the street.  For a moment there, he thought he spotted a tight crowd parting ways from the center.  Upon closer inspection—between the bodies of parading drummers—he could only see hundreds upon hundreds of smiling faces.  Everypony pivoted left as they watched the windigo effigy reach the center of town.

Just then, Raptr reached him—almost startling the Lieutenant.  Raptr said something, but Keris could barely hear him.

He patted the Sergeant's armor reassuringly, then looked over in time to see Seraphimus marching parallel to him.  The Commander moved forward with intimidating grace, knifing her way through the crowd.





Fluttershy whimpered.  It was the only thing Rainbow could hear at this point.  Every where she turned, their was a body in the way.  Drums echoed from all sides, flipping the flickering night upside down.

By then, the rear of the parade had passed by.  At this point, ponies flooded the streets, surging west, following the effigy.

Twilight pointed this out.

Rainbow Dash was hesistant to move at first.  She felt a feathery touch nipping at her flank—and it startled her.  She looked back to see an infant filly dangling from her mother's saddlebag.  The child toyed with Rainbow's shaved tail, batting at it curiously while she drooled.

Rainbow exhaled.  Silver armor glinted in her peripheral.  A hint of something even colder... like frozen charcoal.

Twilight shouted something.

Rainbow leapt ahead, pushing against the crowd.





Seraphimus' eyes narrowed.

She sensed a breaking of bodies two blocks ahead.

Everypony was moving towards her... marching and surging towards the heart of town...

...save for a tiny, tiny spot where the crowd was forced to split apart in an eastward line.

Holding her breath, Seraphimus retracted her armored wingplates and flapped her feathers.

She shot east like lightning, causing many citizens to flinch.





Starstorm noticed her Commander's movements.

She broke her gaze from the west end of the crowd, then scampered desperately to follow Seraphimus' direction.

Somewhere up ahead, the shuffling bodies split and reformed.

Lanterns swayed in the wind.

On many rooftops, stallions stood up, cracking their joints as they prepared the evening's entertainment.





Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth.  She reached a wooden post and clung to it, crouching low.

Now that she was no longer moving, the crowd flowed past her freely.

Twilight glanced up, noticing the stallions moving along the rooftops.  Her horn glowed, and the spectral unicorn blinked.  She tried saying something to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow was too busy staring at Fluttershy.

The pegasus shook her head, then nervously motioned for Rainbow Dash to “stay still.”

Rainbow did so.  Rarity trembled at her side while Pinkie clutched her tail.





Fwooosh!

Seraphimus touched down in the middle of the crowd.

She blinked.

Ponies were surging past her... all moving west.

There was no longer a sign of a disturbance to the flow.

The Commander's eyes narrowed.  She pivoted around, looking at both ends of the street.





Starstorm lost sight of her Commander.

Breathless, the Sergeant calmly waded through the sea of citizens.

As the celebrators collectively surged west, the street grew less and less crowded.  The stonework and sidewalks cleared up.

Starstorm blinked, her eyes sweeping the central thoroughfare of Kunmane.  As she pivoted about, her silver armor reflected the panting, motionless figure of a blue pegasus squatting two paces behind her, clinging to a wooden post.

“... ... ...”  Starstorm looked west.  Her feathers shifted beneath her helmet.  The griffon's brow furrowed, and she spun to the east.

A wooden beam stood up from a street corner, lone and barren.

Starstorm clenched her beak tighter.  After a sharp breath, she pivoted again and followed the crowd, searching every pony figure marching up the rear.





Rainbow panted... panted... panted...

She stood on her hind legs, her bandaged wings coiled behind her as she planted her flank against the east edge of the wooden post.

A minute passed.  The drums stopped.  Her petite body relaxed, and she shifted her weight to peer west from behind the lone structure.

The effigy had come to a stop just above the central stage of Kunmane.





The crowd silenced as the Mayor gave an impassioned speech to those who had gathered from far and wide.

Citizens gathered in a large circle.

Couples leaned against one another, smiling.

Families hugged and snuggled their children close.

Standing side by side, Raptr and Keris continued to scan the crowd.

The Lieutenant took a deep breath.  He glanced east, then shuffled out into the clearing street.  He motioned for the Sergeant to follow.

Raptr scuffled along.  Behind him, the mayor finished his speech.  The leader of Kunmane signaled one of his children, and a little colt rang a bell.

On command, the stallions gripping the reins to the windigo effigy let go.

The bright white shroud drifted skyward, carried aloft by the bulging balloons underneath.

One wave after another, the crowd broke into cheers, counting down from twenty.





Twilight gazed at the silver-blue effigy floating up to meet the stars.  She turned and smiled at Rainbow.

Rainbow took a deep breath.  Flexing her muscles, she fell back on all fours, ditched the wooden post, and galloped out into the street.  She ran for an empty avenue that bent north.

Fluttershy gasped, yelping something.  Sweating.

Rainbow turned to glance at her.  Whump!  She bumped into a clattering set of armor.

A body twirled.

So did Rainbow Dash's.

Charcoal eyes met ruby eyes.

Both figures froze in the middle of the street.

Rainbow shivered, her ears twitching above a shaved mane.

Seraphimus glared, icy and still.

No breaths.





The crowd reached “zero” with a celebratory shout.

The mayor gestured to a group of foals.  They dashed out into the street with their torches.  Before the dangling reins to the effigy lifted entirely off the ground, the children struck their torches to them.  With multiple sparks, the flame danced up the tapering fuses, soared sky high, and met the combustible gases of the balloons holding the effigy above.

And then... with a brilliant explosion of sparks and streamers...





...the streets of Kunmane filled with ice blue light.

Seraphimus winced, instantly blinded.  Before her twitching eyes, the Rainbow Rogue flickered... and was gone in the next blink.

“...!!!”  The Commander lunged ahead, metal-laced claws raking the cold mountain air.  She landed, stumbling, talons completely empty.

And that's when the stallions above triggered their fireworks.  The night sky filled with explosions, bright blue and silver like melting ice.  With brilliant mirth, the city of Kunmane ushered in the beginning of the Month of Thawing.

Seraphimus spun in circles, breathless and frenzied.  She struggled to stare across the flashes of exploding lights and colors.  Figures and shapes were darting in every direction.  Citizens lit their streamers while foals pranced in the open street, tossing confetti and flags every which way.

With a clattering beak, Seraphimus attempted to launch herself skyward—but immediately flinched from a massive explosion of blue sparks.  The rooftops were launching fireworks left and right, and flying for so much as a block would risk her feathers catching aflame.

A growl rose from the base of her throat as Seraphimus cursed into the brand new bedlam.





“Go go go!” Twilight hollered, her horn flickering in time with each launched firework.  “There are plenty of magical charges left!  Now's your chance!”

“Head for the north exit!” Pinkie yelped.  “Before my tail goes off too!”

“But... b-but the one last griffon's there!” Fluttershy exclaimed.  “Guarding the gate!”

“I'll find a way!” Rainbow hollered, darting in and around cheering ponies.

“But how—?!” Rarity protested.

“One step at a time!” Rainbow growled.  “Nana Pearl believes in me!  So should you!”





Seraphimus tried and tried to fly upward for a better vantage point, but the exploding fireworks gave her no opportunity.  Every time she thought she had an open window, a blue burst of light would only force her back into the streets.

“Rnnngh!” She descended, panting, coughing up smoke and fumes.

“Commander!”  Keris ran up with Raptr and Starstorm.  “What do you think you're—?!”

“I saw her!”

“You saw the Rainbow Rogue?!?” Starstorm sputtered.

“She was right in front of me!”  Seraphimus snarled.  “She must be making a break for it!  I've got to get airborne!”

“But Commander!” Keris' beak clattered.  “You'll hurt yourself!  The fireworks—”

“It's the only way to signal Windburst!”  She pointed a furious talon.  “All of you!  Head north!  Take the streets!  You must cut her off!”

Keris gulped.  “You heard the Commander!”  He dashed northward with the two Sergeants briskly following.  “Move!  Move!”

“Ah jeez...”  Raptr panted, throwing a nervous glance behind him at Seraphimus.  “Ah jeez!”

“Careful, Commander—” Starstorm stammered.

“Just do as you're ordered!”  Taking a huge... huge breath... Seraphimus flew up into the exploding sky.  “Rrrrnnngh!”

Violent blue explosives lit up on either side of her.

The concussive blasts rocked Seraphimus, knocking her from side to side.  Nevertheless, with a breathy growl, she powered past the mayhem.  Her armored plates billowed with sparks and flame as she carved her way into the starlight.





Windburst's eyes twitched.

A sharp breath left him as he spotted a single figure knifing her way up past the colorful bursts above Kunmane.

He leaned forward on the edge of his perch.  “Commander...?!”

From a distance, Seraphimus could be seen slapping the fire out before it crawled up the rest of her armor.  With an iron-wrought frown, she signaled Windburst sharply from afar, then pointed towards the north edge of town.

“... ... ...?”  Windburst's eyes fell earthward.  His vision sliced from rooftop to rooftop... street to street.

At last, his body jolted.

He spotted her—a petite blue figure galloping past rows and rows of crowded marketplaces.

“Hmmmff...”  He reached a talon back.  “The rainbow stops here.”  Schiiing!  He unhooked his crossbow and twirled a bolt loose, loading it in.





“Rainbow!” Fluttershy gasped.  “He sees us!”

“And he's unsheathing something too...”  Rarity hummed into the blurring lights.  “A silver arrow.  Wooden stock.  Iron bolts.”  She grimaced.  “Good heavens!  A crossbow!”

“Bet he's a crackshot too,” Twilight muttered.

“Yeah, well I'm a crackpot,” Rainbow hissed in mid-gallop.  “Rarity?  Any safe places to hide?”

“Well, yes, Rainbow.”  Rarity gulped.  “But—”

“Keris and two others have given chase!” Fluttershy said.  “They're not far behind!”

“The fireworks will be ending soon,” Twilight said.  “There won't be anything left to hold them back!”

“He's taking aim,” Rarity said, glancing north.  “This is it!”

“What are we going to do?” Fluttershy squeaked.

Rainbow skidded to a stop, staring around a nearly-vacant intersection.  “I... I don't...”  She gulped.  “I don't—”

“Hey!”  Pinkie Pie suddenly chirped, grinning wide.  “Guess what!  My tail finally stopped quivering!”  She looked over, blue eyes reflecting the fireworks above.  “That can only mean one thing, Dashie!  It's time for you to kick the bucket!”

Rainbow frowned.  “Pinkie, now is not the time for joking—”

“Kick the bucket, Dashie!” Pinkie hollered.

Rainbow jolted.  Her head dropped, and she spotted a rusted metal container right in front of her.  “Uhhhhh...”  Gritting her teeth, she gave the bucket a firm kick.  Clang!  It flew across the street, coming into rough contact with a storm drain.  The old pipework rattled loose, then slid sideways.  The top of it grazed several shingles, causing the building's rooftop to slide loose.  A stallion up top gasped as he slid sideways—along with the collapsing firework launcher that he had just lit.  POWWW!  The thing fired at a steep angle.

“Whoah!” Twilight gasped.

Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Rarity watched—breathless—as the streaming missile soared its way north...





...and straight towards the gates of Kunmane where a certain griffon was perched.

The Kunmane guards shrieked and dove out of the way.

“What...”  Windburst lifted his squinting eyes from the sights of his crossbow.  His helmeted face lit up from the incoming blue flame.  “...the shit?”

POWWWW!

“Aaaaaaaaaaugh!”  The griffon's body went flying, his tail-feathers on fire.  He fell against a building front with a grunt, then collapsed into an unconsicous heap in the streets below.

Meanwhile...

BOOOOM!  The north gate was full of sparks and streamers, blue and white and flashing.  The wooden framework of the gate instantly caught fire.  A brilliant flame spread across the exit.

Rainbow Dash gasped as she came to a skidding stop before the spectacle.  There was just enough clear space left for a petite body to gallop through.

“What are you waiting for, Rainbow?!” Rarity hollered.

Rainbow looked at where Windburst had landed.  “Is... is anybody hurt?!”

“A bit shaken up, Rainbow, but nothing serious!” Fluttershy said.

“But... but he took such a bump and—”

“He'll live!”  Fluttershy suddenly glared into Rainbow's face, teeth gritting.  “You won't!  Now move!”

“Uhhhhhh...” Rainbow's ears drooped as she backed away from The Stare.  “Buhhh... b-buhhh...”  Holding her breath, she pivoted north and dove through the flame before it closed up entirely, covering the northern edge of Kunmane.

Seconds later, town guards came rushing in, carrying buckets of water and dousing the flames into a smoldering mess.

Seraphimus touched down beside Windburst.  She lifted his body, giving him a gentle shake.  The Sergeant woke up, dazedly waving a talon.

Not long after, the rest of the Talon caught up, gaping at the smoky scene.  Starstorm and Raptr looked in shock at Seraphimus.

Seraphimus patted Windburst's shoulder and stood up straight.  She gazed across the smoke and fumes at Keris.

Keris gazed calmly, emotionlessly back.

Tightening her beak, Seraphimus glared north.  Every griffon stood in place, forced to wait until the fireworks ended.





“Woohooo!”  Pinkie Pie cartwheeled ghostily in mid-air.  Behind Rainbow Dash, the town of Kunmane had been reduced to a narrow strip of flashing lights sandwiched behind a mountain pass.  “Oh yeahhhh!  Pinkie sense for the win!”  She floated down until she “reclined” across Rainbow's galloping flank.  “How's that for a Grand Finale?  Eh?  Ehhhh?”

“Very good, Pinkie,” Rainbow panted, following a jagged, ascending road into the mountains.  The air grew colder, breezier as her eyes adjusted to naked starlight.  Several ravines loomed ahead of them as she hugged the rightmost path.  “I'll be sure never to doubt your quivering tail again.”

“No time for celebration,” Rarity insisted.  “We must put as much distance as we can between you and Kunmane, Rainbow.”

“Are they following us, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.

“Not at the moment.”  Fluttershy gulped.  “But something tells me they're about to.”

“The fireworks.  I get it.”  Twilight took a breath.  “They'll be ending within minutes.”  She turned towards Rainbow Dash.  “You gotta keep moving, Rainbow.”

“Story of my friggin' life.”  And Rainbow disappeared into the misty mountains, where she was obscured by fog and moonlight.
	
> Birds of a Feather, Fudge...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“I had her... I had her!”  Windburst snarled, wincing.  Lieutenant Keris sat behind him, patching up his first degree burns.  “She was in my sights, Commander!  I... I didn't take the shot b-because I was afraid of inflicting a mortal wound if I wasn't careful enough.”  His beak clattered as he gazed across the charred gates to the north end of Kunmane.  Stallions wandered the ashen debris, gathering water in buckets as they put out the last few embers.  “Our mission is to bring the rainbow bastard to the Council of Verlaxion alive, is it not?”

“A wise precaution, Sergeant,” Seraphimus said, pacing.  “What matters to me is that you're still in one piece.  That was quite a fright we all suffered.”

“What I wanna know is how did she commandeer a friggin' firework launcher?!” Raptr exclaimed.

“She didn't,” Keris droned, wrapping bandages around Windburst's feline haunches.  “We saw her.  She was in the streets.  At ground level.  She never reached the rooftops.”

Seraphimus looked over at Starstorm. “Sergeant?  Your report?”

Starstorm gulped.  “The pyrotechnicians on the rooftops mention nothing about a pegasus mare attacking them or stealing their launcher.”  Her feathery brow furrowed in the starlight.  “However... the ones who dropped the launcher that fired at Windburst claim that a set of rooftop shingles... slid out from underneath them.”

“What do you mean 'slid out?'”  Raptr blinked.  “As if it was an accident?!”

Starstorm explained, “They say that a rusted rain spout fell over, causing a chain reaction.”  She looked at the other members of the Talon.  “According to eye witnesses, a fleeing figure kicked a metal bucket into the rain spout—which led to the calamity.”

“I don't believe this...”  Raptr plopped back on his haunches, beak agape.  “Are we expected to believe that the Rainbow Rogue can just... b-bend reality to her will?!”  He tossed his talons.  “That she can just wave a hoof and then stuff will explode into our faces for no reason?!”

“Get ahold of yourself, Sergeant,” Seraphimus growled.  “What occurred was nothing more than coincidental circumstances.”

Keris calmly looked up.  “Commander—” He breathed.

“Nothing more!”  Seraphimus shouted, her voice echoing across the mountainous slopes.  A few nervous citizens glanced over from afar.  “This beastly vagrant is capable of sly and unorthodox tactics, yes, but she is no damned wizard!”  She seethed.  “We've hunted down miscreants ten times more powerful and resourceful than the Rainbow Rogue.  So far, she has proven to be agile and lucky.  Nothing more!”

“Commander...”  Keris gazed at her.

Her claws scraped the ground.  “I will not let exhaustion and paranoia trick us into confusing fortune with finesse!  Now she is no longer masked by a crowd.  She's alone in the Mist Cliffs with very few supplies and resources.  If there was any opportunity for us to nab her, now is that time!”

Keris frowned.  Taking a breath, he boldly said, “I only mean to say that Windburst needs to rest.  His injuries are easily recoverable, but not if we work him to the bone.”

Seraphimus hung her head, sighing.  “Yes, Lieutenant.”  She gulped, her fury draining with each breath.  “Your advice is... sound and wise.”  She looked up again.  “Sergeant, remain here in Kunmane.  Hydrate yourself and catch some sleep.”

“Not necessary, Commander.”  Wincing, Windburst struggled to stand up.  “I need to pull my own weight after that disastrous show—”

“I need you at full health,” Seraphimus insisted.

“You're going into those mountains to find her and I'm your best eye in the sky!”

“Which is why I'll need you if worse comes to worst,” the Commander retorted.  “You are to stay in Kunmane with the Lieutenant until sunrise.  And that's an order.”

With a sigh, Windburst nodded.  “Yes, Commander.

Keris—in the meantime—blinked curiously.  “You... wish for me to stay?”

“The Sergeant isn't the only one injured and in need of recovery.”  Seraphimus pointed a talon at Keris' sling.  “You've flown long enough with that being punished by the winds.  I want you to rest as well.”

“But Commander... you'll need me in the mountains.”

“So long as the Rogue's flightless, she doesn't stand a chance against three airborne members of the Talon,” Seraphimus said.  “Nothing that's grounded in the Mist Cliffs can outrun us.  Those mountain paths are like self-devouring snakes.  We'll be onto her in no time.”

Keris took a deep breath.  “I wasn't speaking about the Rainbow Rogue...”

Starstorm and Raptr fidgeted.  They looked from the Lieutenant to their Commander.

Seraphimus glared at Keris.  “You have my word—as your leader and as a sworn guardian of Verlaxion—I will bring in the Rainbow Rogue alive.”  Her charcoal eyes narrowed.  “I saw her with my own eyes, Keris.  We stared at each other in the streets of Kunmane.  This 'Rainbow Dash' is small... fragile... pathetic.  A perfectly helpless vagabond, if I ever saw one.  I frankly can't see what could have made her so strong back at Red Barge.”

Keris gulped.  “That's precisely what I'm afraid of.”

Windburst winced.

Seraphimus' beak nostrils flared.  She turned around while icily slipping on her helmet.  “Raptr... Starstorm...”

The two Sergeants joined her side.

“We have a lot of ground to cover... both vertically and horizontally.”

“Aye, Commander.”

“Yes ma'am.”

Seraphimus looked over her shoulder.  “Lieutenant?”

Keris stood up.  “Yes?”

“At sunrise, take Windburst and fly ahead to Ivory Prefecture.  No mortal could have traversed the Mist Cliffs in that same time span.  If we haven't found the Rainbow Rogue yet, then that means we'll still be combing the mountain paths for her.”

He nodded.  “I understand.  You wish for us to stand guard?”

Seraphimus nodded back.  “Keep an eye out for all souls entering the province.  Ask the townsfolk of Braum to put their best guards on alert.  I get the strong suspicion that the Rogue will be heading for that village.  It's the only real establishment north of the Mist Cliffs.”

“Very well, Commander.  We will meet you there.”

“Verlaxion willing, we won't arrive empty handed.”  Seraphimus let out a whistle, and she shot up into the starlight, accompanied by her wingmates.

Keris and Windburst stood in place, watching the rest of the Talon fly off.

Gripping his burnt arm, Windburst shuffled over to the Lieutenant's side.  “So... uh...”  He gulped.  “These 'ghost friends' of the Rogue's...”

“Hmmm?”  Keris' beak tightened.  “What about them, Sergeant?”

“Can they manipulate fireworks and explosions?”

Silence.

Keris muttered, “Rainbow Dash is gifted.  But we are even more so.”  He sighed.  “Try not to pay too much heed to my warnings.  It's best to have faith in the Commander.  We are her claws, after all.”

“Still...”  Windburst looked at him.  “You're worried.  I can tell.”

Keris nodded.  “Indeed I am.  But for another reason.”

“What's that?”

“Braum isn't too far away from Steamfall.”

Windburst's eyes narrowed.  “You mean the transit hub for the Shoreline Consortium?”

“Indeed.”

“How... does that fit into all of this?”

“Namely that if we can't catch up to Rainbow Dash first, it's very likely that somebody else will...”  Keris exhaled icily as he marched back into the heart of town.  “And I doubt it's a party that will benefit any of Rohbredden whatsoever.”

Windburst looked after him.  Shifting his bandaged limbs, he cast another worried look into the misty mountains due north.
> Funny How the Night Moves
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Be careful, Rainbow,” Rarity murmured—then found herself gasping.  “Watch out!”

“Dashie!” Pinkie shrieked.

“Guh!”  Rainbow grimaced, teetering back with all her weight.  Just inches away from where her hooves lingered, a line of pebbles flew off into utter blackness.  After a space in time, tiny echoes sounded off from an unknowable distance below.  Trembling, the mare took a step to her right, clinging to a curved rock face.  “I can't... c-can't...”  She gulped, her breath coming out in pantings shudders.  “Can't tell nothing from nothing.”

“Trust me.”  Rarity flew in front of her.  “You're right in front of a dreadfully steep precipice.”

“A really nasty drop!” Pinkie added with a nod.  “I'm talking nastiest of nasties!”

“Well, how in the hay did I get here?!”  Rainbow snarled, looking straight up.  A narrow crescent of starlight peeked in between ink black masses.  “I thought I was sticking to the right!”

“And you have been, Rainbow,” Twilight said.

“This is where the path leads.”  Rarity pointed ahead.  “It continues north—ascending—for about thirty meters before bending to the east.”

“But... but th-there's—like—no friggin' room to breathe, much less move!”

“You have to trust us, darling,” Rarity said.  “And keep your pace slow.”

“Slow and steady, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight insisted.  “The Austraeoh is no good to anyone dead.”

“Not sure I can afford to go any slower.”  Clenching her teeth, Rainbow Dash nevertheless crept forward, one pensive hoof after another.  “My money's on the Right Talon being ticked off at a factor of eleven right about now.”

“There's still a lot of distance between you and them, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said.

“But... but they're coming, right?”  Rainbow wheezed, creeping along the wall.

“Their trajectory is off.”  Fluttershy rubbed her head while exhaling:  “They're... headed too far west to catch us.”

“But they're quick.  They've gotta be.”  Rainbow gnashed her teeth as she nervously followed the precarious cliffside.  A bitter mountain wind blew at her shaved mane and folded ears.  “All it'll take is one sweep of this area and—”

“Rainbow, think about it,” Twilight said.  “They're blind.  At least... blinder than we are.”

“You have the tactical advantage, Rainbow,” Rarity added.  She tried to offer a kind wink.  “You have us.”

“I know... it's just... just...”  Rainbow gulped, then shuffled along with her back to the wall.  “This is a lot hairier than I wanted it to be.”  She sighed.  “I-I really shouldn't have wasted all that time in Kunmane.”

“You got tons of helpful information from Nana Pearl, though!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“But—”

“Remember the stuff she said!”  Pinkie smiled.  “Look for the 'barbed' path and all that jazz!  By sunup, we'll have made a whole doughnut load of distance!”

“Yeah.  But by then...”  Rainbow clenched her teeth.  “There'll be no more hiding.”

“Maybe...”  Twilight rubbed her chin.  “Maybe not.”

“Huh?”

“Well, if this place lives up to its monicker of the 'Mist Cliffs,' then we might still have an advantage, Rainbow,” Twilight said.

“I can't pretend to hope for that, Twi.”  Rainbow blinked blearily.  She teetered slightly in her movement, but regained her hoofing.  “Just... g-gotta keep moving.”

“Wuh oh...”  Pinkie craned her neck.  “When was the last time you got any sleep, Dashie?”

“That's...”  Rainbow shuddered.  “...n-not important right now.”

“I'd say it is!” Rarity exclaimed.  “If you're not well-rested, then how can you expect to outrun those ruffians when—?”

“Look, I've made it through longer treks without sleep, okay?!” Rainbow growled.  “Rest is the last thing I can afford at the moment!”

“Rainbow... Rainbow...”  Twilight floated closer.  “You have to calm down.  Please.  I know this is a hairy situation, but you've been through worse.”  She bore a positive smile.  “You can do this!  We're by your side!”

“I know you're just trying to make me feel better, egghead.”  Rainbow sighed.  Her hooves scuffled, tossing more pebbles into the death-black vacuum beneath her.  “Mrmmff... I... I saw her...”

“Saw who, Rainbow?” Twilight breathed.

Rainbow trembled in mid-shuffle.  “The leader.  The Commander of the Right Talon.”  She gulped.  “The one that Keris spoke of.”

“You mean that creepy griffon with the cold brown eyes?” Pinkie remarked.

“I've... uhm...”  Fluttershy fidgeted as she floated along with the group.  “I've been tracing her ever since she and Rainbow ran into one another.”

Rarity gaped.  “You can do that?”

Fluttershy continued.  “She's one of the three griffons currently pursuing us through these mountains.”  A gulp.  “She's kept to the center of the flying formation at all times.  I'm pretty sure Rainbow Dash is right.  She is the leader of Keris' unit.”

“And she totally means business,” Rainbow muttered, sliding along.  The pathway gained more ground, and soon she was able to trot evenly on all four hooves again.  “I could see it in her eyes.  It's a total friggin' miracle that the fireworks went off when they did.  Otherwise... I'd be nothing more than a stain on the streets of Kunmane right now.”

“Why... I find that hard to believe!” Rarity exclaimed.  She glanced nervously at the others.  “After all, Keris made it clear that the Talon wish to bring Rainbow in alive...”  A beat.  “...am I right?”

Fluttershy merely bit her lip.

Rainbow sighed, trotting slowly along.  “Pearl made it clear that the path branches off in multiple directions at one point.  Let me just... try and get past that junction.  It'll give me a better opportunity to throw off the Talon.”  She gulped.  “Then I can rest... maybe.”

“Maybe there's a cave around here where Rainbow can rest her un-fuzzy head?” Pinkie remarked.

“I am sensings lots and lots of caverns in this region,” Rarity stated.  “Mmmm... however, they are almost all beneath us.”

“Well phooie.”  Pinkie Pie pouted.  “Phooie with a capital 'F!'”

“Not sure hiding will do me much good,” Rainbow muttered.  “So long as they can fly, then there's no square inch of mountain in this area that's safe.”  She clenched her jaws.  “And—y'know—all this talking isn't helping.”

“Huh?”

“Don't you feel it?”  Rainbow tilted her head up.  “How still and dead this place is?”  She gulped.  “Something tells me that sound travels far across these cliffs.  I love you girls, but we can't continue chatting forever.”

“Uhhhhhhhhh...”  Twilight nervously pointed.  “Rainbow...?”

“Huh?”  Rainbow suddenly found herself blinking into a pale silver light.  She grimaced, then looked up to see that the moon's glow had pierced the ceiling of the mountaintops looming directly above.  “Awwwwwwwww poopsicle.”

“Don't blame yourself, darling.”  Rarity shuddered.  “In all of this excitement, we forgot as well!”

“I... uh...”  Fluttershy gulped.  “I don't think this is a good time for a chat.”

“I agree.”  Rainbow flung a hoof to her pendant, giving it a tiny stroke.

Pinkie blinked.  “What are you doing, Dashie?”

“Being polite.”

Within seconds, Princess Luna's voice broke the mountain air.  “Rainbow Dash?  Is that you, child?”

“Your Majesty.  Look, I—”

“We were worried.  You've taken a longer time to bridge communication than normal.  Is something amiss?”

“Yeah.  You could say that.  Look...”  Rainbow pressed her back against a rock wall, staring out into the dark expanse.  Starlight and moonlight appeared in patchwork randomness above her.  “I've got Rohbreddenite griffons on my tail, and they're not happy.  I've already had a close call with them, and if I don't keep moving then they're gonna take me to the Council of Verlaxion and skin me alive.”

“You are in peril?”

“I'm always in peril, Your Majesty.”  Rainbow gulped.  “Just... now it's super duper ultra peril.”

“How may I assist you?”

“You can't.  That's just the thing.”  Shuddering, Rainbow slid along.  “I hate to cut things short, but I gotta let you go.  I just... c-can't risk giving my location to the enemy.  I'm up in the mountains, surrounded by ravines and canyons and stuff.  It's just... n-not a good time to talk right now—”

“Say no more, child.  I'll alert Spike and your friends' families.”

“Awwwwwwww...”  Pinkie sighed, ears folded.  “No Maud monologues or Sweetie Belle Soliloquies?”

“Shhhh!” Rarity insisted.  “A necessary sacrifice.”  She also sighed.  “Sad... but necessary.”

“I'll... uh...”  Rainbow Dash took a deep breath.  “I'll talk to you in a month, Princess.”  She tried to smile, but her face muscles weren't strong enough to maintain it.  “We'll... we'll talk again.”  A gulp.  “Before the edge of the world.  I promise.”

Silence...

Then, at last, Luna spoke in a cautious monotone:  “Indeed we will, Rainbow Dash.”  There was a slight shudder to the alicorn's breath—worrisome... almost motherly.  “Best wishes, harmony, and prosperity.”

And like a candle...

...Rainbow's pendant stopped glowing.

Twilight closed her eyes with a sigh.

“Mmmmm...”  Pinkie sniffled.  “What would Applejack say at a time like this?”

“That sucks,” Rainbow droned.

Pinkie squinted.  “Are you suuuure that's what AJ would say?”

“It's as honest as honesty will ever get.”

“Uhm...”  Fluttershy fidgeted.

Twilight looked over.  “What's the matter?”

“They... they've all stopped for some reason.”

Rainbow froze in place, blinking into the blackness.

“Do... do you suppose they've heard Luna?” Rarity said.

“There's no way to tell,” Fluttershy remarked.

Rainbow gulped.  “Well, I'm not waiting around to find out.”  She trotted swiftly forward, hugging the cliff.  “Rarity...”

“Right, darling.”  The unicorn floated ahead of her, horn glowing as she monitored the topography.  “I have it covered.”

And Rainbow slid on into the night.







“Commander?” Raptr asked, hovering in place.

Starstorm flapped her wings.  She levitated on the other side of the Talon's leader.  “What's the matter—?”

“Shhhhh!”  Seraphimus held a set of claws up in the air.

The three guardians lingered in place, listening beyond the sound of their own wings flapping.

Seraphimus' charcoal eyes darted coldly left and right.  All she could see were dark shapes layered over with even darker shapes.  Up above, a starry expanse full of moonlight lingered—but everything below the celestial canvas was questionable and chaotic geography.

The griffon exhaled, her headcrest flattening beneath her helmet.  “Could have sworn I heard something... saw something just now.”

“Do you know in what direction, ma'am?” Starstorm asked.

Seraphimus could only frown.

“I h-haven't heard a pindrop since we flew out of Kunmane,” Raptr said.  “This place is eerily still.  You'd think the smallest leaf flutter would turn into a wave of thunder against these rocks!”

“All the more reason why we shouldn't speak loudly,” Seraphimus growled.  “We'll give away our position to the Rogue.”

Raptr clenched his beak shut.

“Mmmmm...”  Starstorm murmured.  “...where's Windburst's expert vision when we need it?”

Seraphimus nodded, eyes dim.  “Or the Lieutenant's tenacious wit?”

“Huh?”

With a sigh, the Commander shook her head.  “We're accomplishing nothing by staying still.  The Rogue—even less so.”  Her trained eyes traced the mountain silhouettes against the starry heavens.  “If she tries hiding, it's only a matter of time until we find her.  If we give our position away, that might frighten her into a gallop, in which case the sound of her fleeing will reveal her position.”

“Then we've got this in the bag!” Raptr wheezed.

“Not yet.”  Seraphimus took a deep breath.  “The key here is patience.  It will take a long time for a pony on hoof to reach the northern edge of Stone Prefecture.  We have the gift of flight.  Let's not waste our energy, but instead rely on our greatest ally.  Endurance.”

“Your orders, Commander?” Starstorm asked.

“Visibility is nil,” Seraphimus said.  “I don't want us splitting up yet.  Under the shroud of night, we could easily slam into a mountainside, and that wouldn't bode well if there isn't another one of us nearby to help each other.”  She pointed forward.  “Let us ascend and perform a broad sweep of the area.  Keep your ears trained.  Do not speak until I give you permission—”

“Unless we spot the Rogue?” Raptr asked.

“Precisely.  Is that understood?”

Both Raptr and Starstorm nodded.

“Very well.  Follow me.  And in all things... stick to my wings.”

The Sergeants obeyed, and soon the three griffons flew up high, gliding icily over the many-many shadows of the uneven place.
> Stubborn Monks and Unobtainable Mountains
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Sonikah slept soundly... or at least as soundly as she would allow herself to.

The mare curled up under a burlap sheet of sackcloth, shivering.  Her breath came out in misty vapors.

“Mrmmfff...”

Wincing, she rolled over on her mat.  Doing so exposed her fuzzy face to the first rays of dawn.  Her eyes rolled beneath their lids.  Then, after a few tense breaths, she squinted into the morning haze.

An empty wooden floor stretched across the foyer of her run-down “sanctuary.”

“Hmmm...”  The monk's eyes fluttered closed.  Seconds passed.  All of a sudden, her eyes flew back open.  “...!”  The mare sat up with a gasp, gawking at the emptiness all around her.

The sleeping mats belonging to bother her two Luminard companions were gone... along with the Luminards themselves.

She sat in place, braids flouncing with each shiver that ran through her body.  Despite the pain in her cold joints, the mare hobbled up to her hooves and scampered out and onto the courtyard.  A thin layer of snow blanketed the old stones and patchwork grass.  The newly-constructed wooden trough had formed a fresh sheet of translucent ice along the top of its watery surface.  A pale rabbit lingered at the edge of the babbling brook—and upon sight of Sonikah, it dashed off into the powdered forests of Elm Prefecture that surrounded the abandoned habitat.

Sonikah stared left and right.  At last, her gaze fell to the floor—and she jolted slightly.

Three sets of hoofprints in the snow led away from the clearing, heading due west along the beaten path, surrounded by trees.

“... ... ...”  Sonikah's brow furrowed and she snarled:  “Theanim...”





“And—you know—the interesting thing is...”  Theanim smiled as he marched along the wooded path, his bulging backpacks flouncing under snowfall.  “...they only do it to make themselves more 'streamlined' for swimming.”

Two pious stallions trotted after him, carrying bags of their own.  “You mean it's not an exercise in ascetic cleanliness?”

“Well, I suppose one could say that the Nealand tradition of mane-shaving is hygenic in its own way, but it's not religiously motivated.”  Theanim looked over his shoulder with a smirk.  “The long and short of it is:  I've been to many... many places across Rohbredden and the seven seas abroad.  And in all of those travels, I find that manestyling—or the lack thereof—is the chief way one can identify culture.”

“Are there any ponies who bind their manes like the foals of Verlaxion?”

“You mean like your Luminard siblings and cousins?”  Theanim shook his head.  “Negatory.  Although I do hear that the Snow Bloods of Dust Prefecture like to use dyes to off-set the predominantly pale mane colors that are indicative of their geneology.”

“Oh?”

“Yes.  Through a rudimentary application of smoke embers and lichen pigments.”  Theanim fidgeted slightly.  “With a touch of bat guano so as to ward off prowling mountain manticores.”  He let loose a chuckle.  “A good old friend of mine is rather fond of that last detail...”

“Professor!” Sonikah's voice reverberated through the trees.

“Ohhhhhh defecation.”  Theanim cleared his throat, pivoting until he was trotting backwards.  “Looks as though the morning sun rises twice today...”

Huffing and puffing, Sonikah caught up to the trio on galloping hooves.  Flustered and frowning, she dragged her hooves and barked at the group—but mostly just at Theanim.  “Professor Mane, what do you think you're doing?!”

“Respirating.”  Theanim shrugged.  “Cellular regenerating.”  A smile.  “With more or less success, abominably  digesting.”

“What gives you the right to trot off with my brethren?!”

“Uhm...”  Theanim raised an eyebrow.  “I asked them?  Politely?  You do remember politeness, I hope.”

“This is outrageous!”  Sonikah stomped her hooves.  “How dare you attempt to make off with the forsaken foals of Verlaxion!”  She pointed east, back down the path.  “We were granted sanctuary!”

“Funny you should say that!”  Theanim beamed.  “Because that's precisely where I've offered to take them!”  He pivoted so that he was facing west towards where he was marching.  “Sanctuary!”

Sonikah blinked.  “Huh?”

“Dearest elder...”  One of the two pilgrims looked back at her.  “Pleace.  Patience and good temperament.  By Verlaxion's grace, we entreat you.”

“I have good temperament!!!” Sonikah growled.

The two monks winced, glancing at each other.  One stallion cleared his throat before saying, “We meant no direspect, elder.  You had made it clear that you wished to remain at this sanctuary.  That is why we did not wish to disturb you.”

“And yet you wished to abandon our holy station?!” Sonikah's voice cracked.  “How does this fall within Verlaxion's will?!”

“Our duty is to our fellow brothers and sisters, as well as to the gracious Goddess.  Have you not taught us that, as Kyron did?”

“Huh?”  Sonikah blinked, her muzzle awash in confusion.

“Oh!”  Theanim glanced over his shoulder.  “That's right!  Now might be a good time to relay the message, dear fellows.”

“Please, elder.”  One stallion hoofed her a scroll with the Talon's seal.  “Take special note of this.  Perhaps then you will see the necessity in our departure.”

Sonikah grabbed the scroll.  Hobbling along, she read it with squinting eyes.  Her lips pursed wide and wider in disbelief.

“We had every intention of returning, elder.  But—as you can see—it is necessary that we look after the remaining members of the flock—” 

“Professor!”  Sonikah scampered past her two fellow monks and backtrotted in front of the stallion in question.  “Theanim.  Explain this to me.”  She frowned.  “Is... is this some kind of forgery?”

“Pfft!  I would most certainly hope not.”  Theanim smiled.  “Or else the Lieutenant of the Right Talon of Verlaxion has a great deal of explaining to do.”

“But... but if this is real, then...”  Sonikah shook her head breathily.  “Why h-haven't I been told about it?!”

“It's like I keep trying to tell you...” Theanim leaned forward, his blue eyes narrow.  “The Consortium brought you here for their own interests.  They didn't want you and your fellow companions to prosper in some spiritual sanctuary.  They wanted you to perish, alone and miserable and forgotten in the dismal heart of Elm Prefecture!”  He took a deep breath.  “Well...”  He pointed at the scroll in her grasp.  “By the look of things, somepony else has a different idea.”

“This... has t-to be some sort of trick!”

“And just who would such a trick benefit, hmmm?”

Sonikah was silent.

“'A doubting soul deserves enlightenment.'”  Theanim smiled.  “Isn't that a basic tenet of worshipping our Goddess?  Regardless of one's loyalty to the ill-fortuned Quade?”

“Well, yes, but...”

“I implore you to come along with us, elder,” Theanim said.  “Indeed, we will have to take a train and a steamship to arrive at our destination, but... I promise you.”  He strapped his goggles over his eyes and smiled into the falling snow.  “It's a long, arduous, and undeniably painful trip on hoof to get even halfway there.  Plenty of time for ascetic introspection and meditation, yes?”

Sonikah frowned at him.

The professor merely grinned back.

“Mrmmmfff...”  Sonikah slowed her trot, taking position behind the two stallions.  “Very well.  But I am only doing this to oversee the safety of my two fellow pilgrims.”

“Splendid!”  Theanim continued forward with a slight skip to his trot.  “And—perhaps, along the way—you can teach me some of your awe-inspiring monk chanting!  I've heard it's a veritable world wonder of vocal accomplishment!”

“We will do no such thing.”  Sonikah grumbled.  “This journey is not meant to hold court to your whimsy.”

“Dear elder!”  One of the stallions smiled at her.  “Did you know that some cultures put bat guano in their mane for purely secular reasons?”

“That is irrelevant to Verlaxion's ultimate plan of mercy and retribution!”

“Ahhhhh yes...”  Theanim smiled twitchingly into the elm forest surrounding their path.  “This is going to be a long trip indeed...”








“Would you look at that...”

“Wowie zowie!”

“Just... h-how did those trees even manage to grow on such jagged peaks?”

“Time, Rarity.  Many... many eons of geological erosion mixed with the persistent moisture of an especially preserved microclimate.”

“I see tulip trees... dawn redwood... ooooh!  Look at those dove trees!  Aren't they absolutely gorgeous?”

“And that mist!  It's... it's almost as if the rocks are floating!”

“Heeheehee!  Oh look!  Dashie's waking up!  She's gotta see this!”

“Rainbow?”  Twilight's voice whispered.  “Rainbow Dash?”

“Mrmmmf... huh...?”  Rainbow Dash raised her head.  A red whelt persisted on her brow from where she had spent several nightly hours resting it against two crossed hooves.  The mare took one look at the hazy morning light around her, and she gasped.  “Holy—!”

Rarity and Fluttershy spun about.  “Rainbow!” Rarity reached out.  “Careful!  Don't move too—”

Rainbow Dash caught herself at the last second.  Teeth gnashing, she teetered backwards before she could plummet off the side of a sandstone cliff.  Overcome with panting breaths, the mare slumped back into a tiny curved niche of rock just two steps from the edge of that portion of mountainside.

“Just calm down, Rainbow—” Twilight insisted.

“You... you morons!” Rainbow gnashed her teeth.  “You let me fall asleep?!”  Her voice cracked.  “I thought I made it clear that I had to put as much distance between—”

Fluttershy suddenly floated in front of her.  Turquoise eyes burned like torches.  “Keep.  Your voice.  Down.”

Rainbow immediately zipped her lips.  She stood in place, shivering, eyes darting left and right.

Fluttershy sighed, then smiled gently.  “The Talon are far... far away, Rainbow.”

“Flutters thinks they missed us completely!” Pinkie said.  “For the last two hours, they've been searching in the wrong area!”

Fluttershy nodded, facing Rainbow again.  “As soon as they started making their way back to this location, we were prepared to wake you.  In the meantime—”

“—we felt it necessary to afford you some rest, darling,” Rarity said.  Her ears folded back as she murmured, “We only have your best interests in mind.  Please don't be mad at us.”

Rainbow sighed.  “I'm not mad,” she whispered.  “It's just... dang it...”

“We're looking after you, Dashie,” Pinkie said in the pale morning mists.  “It's gonna be okay!  You'll see!”

“Uh huh...”

“Are you...”  Twilight Sparkle floated close.  “Are you feeling well rested?”

“Uhhhh...”  Rainbow brushed at some bangs that weren't there.  “Yeah.  I... k-kinda am, actually.”

“Goodies!”  Pinkie grinned a crescent moon while floating backwards.  “Then fears your eyes on this!”  She swept a hoof at the northern sky.

“Mrmmmf... please, Pinkie.  As if anything you girls have to show would have a snowflake's chance in Tartarus of... surprising... ... ...me?”  She blinked.  Hard.

Before her stretched a sea of mists—a foggy ocean adrift with jagged stone formations jutting up out of nowhere.  Pale lengths of brown and yellow rock shone in patches beneath emerald vines and clusters of verdant green foilage.  The “mountains”—if they could even be called that—were more akin to sandstone needles, sticking up out of the mists to make inexplicable islands of geological wonder.  Some scraped the sky for hundreds of naked feet—only to be capped off with a miraculous rooftops of lush trees at the very top.  To Rainbow Dash, it looked like the Mist Cliffs comprised a forest that continued itself one impossible frog-leap after another across horizontal and vertical space.

What amazed her even more was the sheer scale of this topograhical phenomenon.  Through the occasional hole in the mists—affording brief, lengthy glimpses across the mountainscape—she could spot more and more ridges stretching up out of the canyon as far as the pony eye could see.  There was no telling just how far the sandstone needles went.  In the distance, some mountains even careened against one another, like granite lovers embracing with loose boulders balanced precariously atop their heads—all joined together by loose vines and thick foliage.  No matter how precarious the landscape, the forest simply did not cease.

To say that Rainbow Dash had been rendered breathless was an understatement.  It almost looked as though the Petrispines had made love to the mountains surrounding the Sunset Tract—and the union had given birth to an ocean of petrified mountain peaks, resting in a craggy valley like the ribs of a giant, slain beast, now awash in rolling fog and humid moisture.

“Well... that's something else,” the pegasus murmured.

“Isn't is just gorgeous, though?”  Rarity cooed.  “And inspiring too!”

“Bet it's giving you a headache, Rare-Rare,” Pinkie remarked.  “Still tihnk your horn you can guide Dashie around?”

“Oh please!”  Rarity waved her hoof while rolling her eyes.  “Pish posh!  I have this structural sensibility game down to a T!”  She smiled daintily.  “It's like sewing the hem of a dress with my eyes clothes and coming out with something fit for a princess!”

“Always the princess analogies with you.”  Pinkie squinted.

“Take it or leave it, love.”

“Now m-might be a time to leave it,” Fluttershy muttered.  “I feel the Talon sweeping their way east again.”

“Then there's no time.”  Rainbow Dash kept her voice down.  She re-fastened her saddlebag and shuffled along the cliffside path.  “Did we reach the barbed path that Pearl talked about last night?  I can't remember.”

“Not yet, darling,” Rarity said.  “That junction of converging paths is somewhere east of here.”

“Then it juts north?”

“Erm... more or less.”  Rarity nodded.  “Affirmative.”

“Shhhhhh...” Twilight insisted.  “We have to keep our voices down.”

“Don't you mean just Dashie?”

“I get what she means, Pinkie,” Rainbow whispered, crouching low.  She glanced aside, watching as the mists rolled swiftly through the stone needles like silent white froth.  “Something tells me this is gonna be like hide-and-seek... only with my neck on the line.”

“Ohhhhh...”  Fluttershy's ears folded.  “I was never good at that game.”

“That's fine, Fluttershy!” Twilight wheezed.  “You do the seeking while we help Rainbow with the hiding.”

“Uhm... okay.”

“Goodness gracious...”  Rarity shivered as she followed Rainbow into a patch of stone-grazing fog.  “...I've got a very bad feeling about this.”

> Don't Let Clouds Claim You
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Swooosh!

Cl-Clakk!!  Metal-laced talons dug into the top of a jutting sandstone peak.  Seraphimus perched atop the craggy spire.  With cold, charcoal eyes, she glared across a foggy cloudbed shifting through a forest of sporadic mountain peaks.  The cold, humid wind kicked at her fluttering wingfeathers.  Her armor glinted with hazy sunshine and beads of moisture.

She looked to her left.

Inexplicable trees rooted themselves in knifing mountain summits, their bent trunks and gnarled branches swaying green and thick in the wet breeze.

A deep breath.  Seraphimus gazed to the right, squinting.

Mists rolled across uneven walls of pale stone, washed over with dangling vines and moldy vegetation.  The air was deathly quiet, with nothing more than the occasional roar of gushing winds in the deeper valleys—beyond impenetrable fog and dipping clouds.

Seraphimus blinked.  Her ears tickled with the sound of flapping wings.  She tilted her head up.

Raptr soared on by, sweeping across the western reaches of the nearest canyon.  Starstorm shot past Seraphimus' right side, swooping low... slowing her speed so as not to slam into a random wall of stone beyond the mists.

After a deep breath, Seraphimus spread her muscular wings and leapt off the mountain summit.  The cloudiness in front of her parted ways as she pierced on through, ascending for a better look at the erratic topography.

Eventually, the three members of the Talon split up, silently... voicelessly searching the lengths of the Mist Cliffs.





“... … ...”  Rainbow Dash stood ice-still, her body pressed to a wall of rock.  Just a sneeze away from her blue muzzle, the cliff gave way to empty air and even vaguer fog.  Clouds shifted past her, creating the illusion of the mountain peaks themselves shifting through pale surf.

The mare tilted her head at a crooked angle.  An ear twitched, pivoting towards the morning sky.

She heard nothing but the dull rush of wind in the distance.  For a brief moment, trees rustled from their lofty perches—somewhere beyond sight.  Then they were still yet again.

All was cold, moist, and dead.

Rainbow gulped.  She looked at the floating figures beside her.

Fluttershy gestured quietly, pointing in the northwest direction with a slowly pivoting hoof.  She nodded.

Rainbow nodded back.  She looked at Rarity.

Rarity silently gestured a right angle with her hoof, followed by an ascending climb.

Rainbow held her breath.  Crouching low like a cat, she snuck forward, crawling her way up the cliff-face and hanging a right around the nearest jutting crag of rock.





Starstorm scraped the cloudbeds with her claws.

The white mists parted ways, revealing row after row of jutting peaks beneath her.

Starstorm's hawkeyes narrowed.  Her pupils danced from one tiny plateau to another.

Suddenly, a dark shape appeared to her right.

“...!”  She braked in mid-air, wings aching from the friction.  She pivoted to her side, talons raised.

A bough of leaves swayed in a cold breeze, full of fluttering leaves.  It belonged to a tree that leaned precariously off the crumbling summit of a teetering mountaintop.

Starstorm slowly exhaled.  Her ears echoed from the sound of whipping breezes.  “...?”  She spun and glanced west—or so she thought.  With a frustrated growl, she realized that she was disastrously close to losing any and all bearings.  What's more, the occasional howl of canyon winds was playing games with her senses.

Shaking her head with a rattle of her helmet, Starstorm refocused on the task at hand.  She flapped her wings, soaring forward, scaling the craggy walls to her right.





Fwooosh!

Rainbow Dash jerked in place, clinging to the mountainside.  She flung a breathless look over her shoulder.

Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie blinked curiously at her, then turned to look as well.

Rainbow held a hoof up to her muzzle, desperate to mask her panting breaths.  Her ruby eyes continued scanning the clouds—for she was almost certain she spotted the shadow of something darting through the clouds.  With a nervous expression, she glanced at Fluttershy.

The ghostly pegasus was in the middle of rubbing her aching head.  She struggled to get her bearings.

Rather than wait, Rainbow Dash courageously persisted, shuffling forward along the tiny space of stone hoofing afforded her.  Eventually, he path evened out, and she was able to trot evenly—all the while hugging the earthen face to her right.





Raptr blinked... then blinked again.

The Sergeant teetered left and right as he glided through cloud after cloud.

After days and days of flight, exhaustion was settling in.  Despite his better training, the rookie was finding it hard to keep his hawkeyes open.

He squinted, twitching.  The guardian's beak opened as he fought the urge to yawn.

He pierced more and more clouds.  The tips of his wingfeathers grew heavy with moisture.

The Mist Cliffs were intoxicating with their humidity... bathing him... soothing his feline flesh.  The rustle of unseen leaves were like lullabies to his ears.

His eyes blinked... blinked again... then lowered entirely.

Just then, the clouds parted ways, revealing a solid wall of stone.

“...!”  With a gasp, the griffon flapped his wings in the opposite direction.  He stopped just inches before he could plow bloodily into a looming mountainface.  Waking in a breathless instant, he hovered in place, shivering in his heavy armor.

Raptr looked up... and up and up.  The inexplicable spire loomed at the north end of a canyon.  As the mists parted to his left and right, he saw even more sandstone columns rising up out of the fog.

With a heavy sigh, the Sergeant flapped his wings harder.  He ascended briskly, scaling the stone needles as he continued his graceful glide northeast.





Rainbow Dash shuffled forward, her steps slow and steady.  Rarity floated ahead of her, keeping her horn aglow in a feeble attempt to light the pegasus' way through the fog.

Ruby eyes squinted against the crawling mists.  The stone wall had fallen to her right, and Rainbow Dash found herself traversing a veritable bridge formed by adjoining mountaintops.  It would have been a perilous sojourn even without the persistent fog.  The pegasus relied on all four of her friends floating in a circle around her—acting as markers.

At one point, Rarity froze in place.  She spun about, smiling, then waved with an eager hoof.

Rainbow Dash reached her, blinking curiously.

Rarity pointed straight forward.  Both mares waited for the cloud to part briefly.  In a momentary pocket of clear air, Rainbow and her friends spotted a flat plateau of converging paths.  One led northwest, another due north... and a third northeasterly.

Rarity grinned at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow smiled back, and she darted ahead in a brisk trot.

Pinkie gasped.  She wasn't quick enough to stop—

Cl-Clunk!  A loose row of pebbles made contact with Rainbow's hoof.  The tiny rocks fell clear off the cliff's edge.

Rainbow sucked in her breath.  Twilight and Fluttershy watched, flinching.

The pebbles fell into dull grayness.

Silence.

And then...

Th-th-thudddd...





“... … …?”  Seraphimus froze in midair.

Stopping on a dime, the Commander pivoted to her right.  Charcoal eyes narrowed as she absorbed the full brunt of a resonating echo.

Somewhere above her, Starstorm glided.  Seeing the Commander freeze, the Sergeant halted in midair as well.  Both griffons looked at one another.

Wordless, Seraphimus performed several brisk talon-strokes.

Starstorm nodded.  Swooosh!  She flew high.

Fwooosh!  Seraphimus flew low.





Fluttershy's ears folded.  Turquoise pupils shrank in her sockets as she pivoted to look at Rainbow Dash.  The mare grimaced.

Rainbow gulped.  She looked at Rarity.

Rarity nodded fervently, motioning Rainbow along.

Rainbow scampered as briskly as she could, galloping down the rightmost path as the fog overtook her.

All was dim and gray once again.

And then...

...dark, streaking shadows.
> Dash Silent and Dash Deep
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Seraphimus veered left and right, wings spread wide.  Starstorm glided closely beside her.

Both griffons pierced the clouds, in search of the source of the echo that brought them there.  The mists came in rolling vapors, parting ways only to reveal more humid puffs of pea soup obscurity.

Seraphimus' beak tightened.  She glanced to her left—but suddenly jolted as her wing struck something.

Scrkkkk!  With a shower of sparks, the guardian's right armor plates dragged across pure rock.  She retracted them with a loud clack, exposing her natural feathers.  Craning her head to the right, she traced the cliff-face until she found the remnants of a precarious, craggy path leading north.  Following the ridge, Seraphimus discovered that it jutted straight out into the open, connecting with another land bridge.

The Commander exhaled sharply.  She looked over her shoulder, then signaled at Starstorm.  Starstorm nodded, and both griffons descended, skirting over the stone surfaces... until they stumbled upon a plateau of converging paths.

They slowed down, hovering in place.  A brief opening in the mists allowed them a space in time to investigate the scene.





Rainbow had slowed her pace—if only to silence the clopping of her hooves.  With panting breaths, she shuffled along the rightmost path.  It ascended, its floor ascending in sudden steep steps without much warning.  Rarity waved her hoof at varying frequencies, indicating when to remain cautious and when to increase her speed.

Fluttershy looked behind at the merging clouds.  Her brow furrowed as she got a fix on the Commander and her sergeant.  Clearing her throat, she float up to Rainbow's side and whispered in her ear.

Rainbow heard the ghostly pegasus' update, and she nodded.

All of a sudden, Pinkie Pie's right cheek twitched.  She rubbed her muzzle, squinting curiously at Rarity.

Rarity blinked.  She turned around... then grinned.  Waving at Rainbow Dash, she gestured for her to approach the right edge of the path carefully.

Rainbow did so.  As she pierced the mists, she found a series of ancient wooden stakes chiseled into the granite surface of the platform beneath her.  At last, the remnants of a wooden support beam coalesced.  It was rough and splintery at first, but soon came together with a varnished coat.  What's more—a countless number of rusted rivets and nails had been hammered into the body of the railing at regular intervals.

It presented a consistently notched texture, skirting the right edge of the path as it ascended into the higher altitudes.

Twilight Sparkle smiled at Rarity, then at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow smirked back.  However—at the sound of Fluttershy's earnest whimpers, the mare swiftly picked up the pace.  Her marefriends followed along as she followed the railing up and in between several looming pillars of rock and sandstone.





Starstorm touched down, squirming where she stood on the plateau of converging paths.  She swallowed a lump down her throat, then looked back at her Commander.

Seraphimus flew close to the surface of the earthen platform.  She stared at the path leading to the northeast, the one sticking due north, and the one angled northwest.  She stroked her feathery neck in thought, armor rattling as she hovered in circles.

At last, Seraphimus stopped in mid-air.  Her eyes did the work, tracing every square inch of the landscape beneath her.

“... … ...”

Starstorm watched, waiting breathlessly.

Seraphimus looked left, then looked right.  At last, she touched down, talons grinding into the stone... anchoring her.  Then—with her breath held—she flapped her wings fiercely towards the north.  Fwooosh!

Some of the mists parted.  But—more importantly—a fine layer of soil and dust blew away from her... except in a few key places.

Starstorm blinked.

Seraphimus immediately locked her eyes on the spots of soil that hadn't moved.  She scrambled over, crouching low.  Her hawkeyes followed several round shapes where the weight of an equine body had applied pressure, sticking much of the moist dust and grit to the stone surface of the humid environment.

There weren't many hoofprints, but they were most certainly fresh.  In addition to that, they all headed up the northeast path.

Seraphimus' brow furrowed.  She stood up, signaled Starstorm without looking, and short northeast like a bullet.

Starstorm followed swiftly behind.





Fluttershy gasped.  Eyes wide, she looked behind them.

The world was a narrow slit of gray mists lingering behind a cleft of tall rocks.

Gulping, she rushed ahead, phased through the walls of the narrow corridor around them, then flew right in front of Rainbow Dash.  This caused the group to halt in place.  Twilight and Rainbow's other friends looked at Fluttershy curiously.

Fluttershy leaned in, murmuring in Rainbow's ear.  She pointed behind them—down the cleft through which they had ascended.

Rarity and Pinkie Pie exchanged worried looks.

Rainbow gnashed her teeth.  She looked behind her.  A narrow chasm lingered, devoid of mist, giving an open view to where she was positioned.  Rainbow looked straight ahead.  There was at least a good fifty meters of rising steps before she was clear of the narrow niche she was traversing.

Fluttershy bit her bottom lip.  She constantly glanced behind the group, shivering in place.

Twilight paced around in circles while Rarity squeezed her hooves anxiously together.

Pinkie blinked.  She looked straight up, her eyes tracing several jutting branches and oddly placed trees.  With a gasp, she signaled Rainbow and pointed straight up.

Rainbow tilted her head.  Blinking, she tightened her muscles and stood up on her hind limbs.





Seraphimus and Starstorm followed the path with the notched railing.  Ahead of them, a series of sandstone pillars loomed, overshadowing the path.  They saw a narrow pass forming, and they drifted until they were flying single-file with Seraphimus in front.

The Commander's trained eyes followed the granite surfaces of the craggy steps below.  Her vision darted from hoofstep to hoofstep, set deep and fresh within the narrow layer of dust and sediment.

She and her wingmate were about halfway up the pass...

...when the hoofsteps suddenly vanished.

“... … …?”  Seraphimus flapped her wings, hovering at a stop.

Starstorm stopped behind her.  She craned her neck curiously.

Seraphimus blinked.  She looked once more at the ground, drifting ahead slightly to study each step.  Sure enough, the hoofsteps had completely disappeared.

With a muffled growl, the Commander looked left and right.  It was very claustrophobic in that pass, and the looming pillars of rock were layered with solid granite faces.

Feathers ruffled, Seraphimus looked straight up.

Starstorm's vision followed her superior's.

A thin layer of green vegetation clung to the pillars on the left side.  High above, bent tree branches stuck out of the rock, swaying with lotus blossoms in the breeze.  The boughs were naked, exposed, with no room for any pony-sized body to hide.

Starstorm blinked curiously.  She looked at Seraphimus with a gawking expression.

Seraphimus fidgeted where she stood.  She paced back and forth, shuddered, then flew north up the pass at a brisk pace.

Starstorm flexed her wing muscles to follow. That's when she noticed a slight hint of movement out the corner of her helmet.  Curious, she glanced to her left, spotting a thick vine dangling in the humid mountain breeze.  Her gaze started traveling up the stringy vegetation—

Seraphimus whistled shrilly from ahead.

Obediently, Starstorm flapped her wings and followed after her.  Both griffons exited the north end of the canyon, split up, and followed both the east and the west edges of the next layer of pillars.

Meanwhile...

Up above, several lofty feet along the length of vine and hidden in a tiny... narrow niche of rock was a fuzzy blue figure, obscured by shadow.  Rainbow Dash waited... waited... then finally protruded her body outward from the narrow space so she could breathe.  Her lungs expanded and contracted as she wheezed, wincing.  She squinted at the pass ahead of her.

After several seconds, Twilight and Fluttershy came floating back.  Phasing through the rocks, they smiled and nodded at Rainbow, signaling that the coast was clear.

Rainbow nodded back.  She looked at Pinkie and Rarity.  Both mares calmly motioned up the rockface with gentle motions of their hooves.

Holding her breath again, Rainbow leapt upward with a muffled grunt.

Twilight and Fluttershy tensed—

Thwpp!  Rainbow grasped ahold of the vine.  Her bandaged wing twitched, and she grimaced slightly.  Recollecting her senses, Rainbow slowly... carefully climbed up the dangling vegetation until she reached the jutting trees up above.  Then—navigating one branch at a time—she ascended until she was perched against the very summit of the topmost pillars.

She hung there for a while, panting, trying to calm her heartbeat.  She waited for a shift in the clouds.  Then—very cautiously—she shimmied northeast, hugging the face of the pillars.  Up ahead there was a dip in the rockwork, allowing a spot where Rainbow and her friends figured she might be able to climb onto the very roof of the columns.
> "But Dogs CAN Look Up!"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Pinkie Pie floated up... up... up—FLASH!

“Unnffies!”  She winced, squinting one eye after having flown into a lavender barrier.  Rubbing her head, she peered down at the tops of the mountainous columns that Rainbow Dash was climbing.  Hovering as high as the anchorage would allow, the spectral pony looked around in a full circle.  She peered through the fog, watching as other chunks of earth shifted in and out of the tapering mists.

“Do you see any of them, Pinkie?!” Twilight called from below.

“Nope!”  Pinkie shook her head.  “Looks like the coast is clear!”

“They're close by,” Fluttershy said.  “I feel them buzzing all around us.”

“Then maybe Rainbow Dash should stay put!” Rarity exclaimed, hovering close by the struggling, flightless pegasus.

“If we stay here forever, then they'll just zero in on Rainbow,” Twilight said.  “They must know she's around here somewhere.”

Pinkie looked down.  “Hey Dashie!  In what direction is AJ's beacon?”

Rainbow Dash paused.  Panting, she clung to the rockface and looked around.  At last, her head tilted to the right.  Beyond the thick fogs, she spotted the distant glow of Yaerfaerda.  Clenching her teeth, she nodded her head in that direction.

Twilight pointed east.  “That way!”

“Oh!  That's good!” Rarity's voice lifted.  “This particular ridge stretches northeast!  She could use it to scale this part of the Mist Cliffs!”

“You hear that, Dashie?!”  Pinkie called down from above.  “Just climb a little bit further, and you'll have a walkway through the clouds!”

“Take your time, Rainbow,” Twilight said, levitating beside the sweating, breathless mare.  “There's plenty of mist here for cover.  Just... try not to make any noise.”

Rainbow nodded.  Gritting her teeth, she pulled herself up, inching icily towards the top of the spires.

“Just a little more...”  Pinkie waved towards herself with both forelimbs.  “That's it.  Thaaaaat's it, Dashie!”

“There're a few impressions to the upper right,” Rarity said, pointing.  “Your hoof should hold.”

Rainbow nodded, silently stretching her forelimbs as directed.

Twilight looked across from her.  “How are we, Fluttershy?”

“They... seem to be keeping their distance,” Fluttershy murmured.  “Their flight is very cyclical.”

“Could they come back at any moment, then?”

“I... I'm not sure.”  Fluttershy gulped.  “Right now, Rainbow Dash is above them.”

“Well that's a good thing!” Rarity said.  “This just might be the opportunity we need for Rainbow to evade their combined gaze!”

“You made it!” Pinkie exclaimed, grinning wide as Rainbow Dash pulled herself up onto the top of the ridge.  “Woohoo!  Three cheers for Dashie!”

“Shhhh!”  Twilight insisted.  “Pinkie, please.”

“What?”  Pinkie blinked.  “They can't hear me!”

“Still, Rainbow's nerves, darling,” Rarity insisted.

“You okay, Rainbow?” Twilight asked in a breathy tone.

Rainbow Dash hugged the surface of the summit, panting and wheezing.  She tilted her head up, eyes meeting Twilight's.  She nodded weakly, gulped, and pushed herself up onto all fours.

“Bet you're glad that you took your nap now, huh?” Pinkie remarked.

Rainbow kept quiet.  She tightened the straps of her backpacks, took a deeper breath, and shuffled forward.

“Just take your time, Rainbow,” Rarity said.  She floated ahead of the mare.  “The top of the ridge careens a bit to the left.  So, look for a slight turn after the next bed of clouds—”

All of a sudden, Pinkie gasped.  Her eyes widened.  “My stomach's gurgling!”

“How can you be hungry?”  Twilight murmured.  “We've all been spirits for as long as we—”

“No!   It's not that part of the stomach!”  Pinkie grimaced.  “Hold onto something, Dashie!  The wind is shifting—!”

Rainbow looked back.  Just then, a strong gust of air blew at her right side.  She teetered off balance.

“Oh no!” Rarity squealed.

“Rainbow!” Twilight hollered.

Rainbow shifted, flailed, and plummeted off the northwest edge of the summit.

All four mares gasped.  They shot towards her.

As they phased through the sandstone, they found Rainbow Dash clinging precariously to the cliff on the other side.  The mare grunted, hissing through clenched teeth as she struggled to pull herself up.

“Okay... okay okay okay...”  Twilight hovered in a circle, fidgeting.  “The key thing here is not to panic.”

“Relax your lower muscles, Rainbow,” Rarity insisted.  She gulped.  “Try to conserve your strength.”

“And whatever you do, don't look down!” Pinkie said.

Rainbow was already glancing past her dangling legs.  All she saw was surging mists and the hint of bone-breaking rock looming far below.  Her body shivered from the inside out, and she scuffled her rear legs against the wall of rock to find some hoofing—

Swoooooosh!  Th-Thap!  A silver body of armor suddenly perched beneath her.

All four of Rainbow's friends sucked their breaths in.

Rainbow froze, dangling like a blue icicle.

Directly beneath her, Raptr stood on an outcropping of rock.  Mist drifted between the griffon and his prey.  He peered left... then peered right.  His armored plates glistened with moisture and humidity.

Rainbow Dash's limbs tightened.  She fought the urge to squirm.  Her muscles ached and ached.

“... … ...”  Raptr reached up.  He removed his helmet.  With a panting breath, he wiped the sweat from his feathered brow.  He lingered there, his body still.  Muscles twitched.  At last, his head started tilting up.

Rainbow flinched—

“Sergeant!” Seraphimus' voice rang out.  “Keep your helmet on!”

Raptr jolted.  He slapped the article back on as two griffon bodies flew in from the mists, hovering right in front of him.  “Ma'am, yes, ma'am!  I'm sorry, Commander—”

“Shhhh!”  The Commander moved in close, bringing her voice to a low murmur.  “There's no telling how susceptible this environment is to rock slides and avalanches,” Seraphimus said, hovering just a ten meters below Rainbow Dash.  Streams of cloud billowed occasionally between the Talon and their dangling prey above.  “The safety of my wingmates is my top priority.”

“Yes, Commander.  Of course.”  Raptr bowed slightly.  He glanced at Starstorm.  “Any sign of her?”

“She's around here somewhere,” Starstorm said.  “The Commander discovered her tracks.”

“You did?” Raptr remarked.

“But they disappeared halfway up a narrow pass,” Seraphimus droned.  “She's trying to hide from us.”

“Or... or could she have regained her ability to fly?” Raptr remarked.

“Doubtful.”  Seraphimus shook her head.  “According to the Lieutenant's descriptions, she's far from recovering from her injuries.”

“So she must be nearby,” Raptr remarked.  “How likely is it that we've given away our positions?”

“I think that happened long ago,” Seraphimus said.  “The only way she's eluded us is because she knows where we are.”

“Her powers?”  Starstorm fidgeted in midair.  “Like Keris described?”

Seraphimus clenched her beak tightly.

Gulping, Rainbow Dash slowly... carefully climbed her way up onto the top of the ridge.  She made sure not to knock or brush any pebbles loose.  Some sand and dust fell free—but the high winds blew them far away before the Talon could detect it.

“Commander...?”

“Whether or not she knows where we are matters little,” Seraphimus said.  “We have greater numbers, and she can't outrun our flight.  We should focus on pressuring her into exposing herself.”

“You suggest we flush her out?”

“Perhaps... or perhaps something more advantageous...”

“Like what?”





Keris' magenta eyes reflected wave after wave of dull gray mists.  A contemplative sigh escaped his beak as he glided north.

Beside him, a thoroughly bandaged Windburst whistled.  “Will you just look at that mess.”  He waved a talon at the dense fog covering the lengths of Stone Prefecture beneath them.  “Heh... friggin' Mist Cliffs.  I really don't envy the Commander's task right now.”

“There really isn't a point in envying it,” Keris murmured.  “While I have full faith in Seraphimus' experience and abilities, I'm afraid that Rainbow Dash is nothing like we've ever faced before.”

“Do you mean to suggest that she'll actually evade the Commander, Lieutenant?”

“You of all griffons felt the full brunt of what the Rainbow Rogue is capable of,” Keris calmly said.  “What other prey have we chased that could boast of such luck?”

Windburst's beak clattered.  “Mrmmmfff... she's just one pony, though...”

“And yet she alone stands for far more than any of us can imagine.”  Keris took a deep breath.  He lifted his gaze, focusing on a snowy plateau looming north of the misty ravines.  “Even without her unearthly abilities, she has a stubborn spirit beyond that of mere mortals.  I fear it will take more than just the five of us at our best to subdue her.”

“You really don't believe that we can catch her, do you?”  Windburst squinted.  “I catch you making snide remarks to the Commander all the time.”

“Now's not the time to question my allegiance to our Commander, Sergeant.”

Windburst shruged.  “Who's questioning anything?  I'm just starting to wonder...”  His eyes narrowed.  “Could we be in over our heads?”

Keris stared forward as he glided along.

“... … ...Lieutenant?”

“That is not up to me to decide, Sergeant.”

“But if it was...?”

Keris sighed.  “I'd bring in an army.”  He glanced aside.  “...and then I would negotiate with the rogue.”

“You really think it would come to that?”

“I think of a lot of things.  But, as of right now, I have a job to do.  And so do you.”  Keris waved a talon.  “There.  That's the entrance to Ivory Prefecture.”

“Is that Braum in the distance?  Beyond the ridge?”

“Affirmative.”  Keris nodded.  “You take position along the east edge.  I'll guard over the northwest corner of the pass.  Keep our eyes front and center.”

“Aye, Lieutenant.”  Windburst veered right.

Keris hollered over the shifting clouds.  “Give a shout when you see the rogue!  We'll converge on her location!  Hold her until the Commander and the other Sergeants meet with us!”  Looking ahead, he sighed to himself and muttered, “Assuming everyone's still sane by the time they catch up...”



	
> Rain Clouds and Bird Brains
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash held her breath, trembling as she pulled herself slowly onto the top of the ridge.  Down below, Commander Seraphimus spoke to her two sergeants.

“Our chiefest obstacle is the lack of visibility,” Seraphimus said.  “We can't do anything about the geography, but we can eliminate the fog.”  Her charcoal eyes narrowed.  “At least within the area of our search.”

Rainbow Dash stretched her right wing for counter-balance.  Her limbs flicked—and a blue feather fell loosely.

“Dashie!”  Pinkie whispered, pointing with a wide-eyed expression.

Rainbow looked down.  Blinking.

The loose feather fluttered, twirled, and descended towards the three griffons.

Twilight and Rarity inhaled sharply.

“Are you suggesting we clear the clouds?” Starstorm remarked.

Seraphimus looked at her, then at Raptr.  “Remember what we practiced south of Frostknife?  Along the frozen mists?”

Raptr nodded.  “Aye, Commander.”

“Good.”  Seraphimus' helmet reflected the blue feather as it twirled down towards her figure.  Her wings spread.  “Get ready to perform Cyclone Gamma.  I'll take the base.  Starstorm, position yourself in the middle.  Raptr, cover the sides.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Move out!”  And Seraphimus flapped her wings.  The gust of wind blew the feather upwards and out of view.  Soon, all three griffons flew out from the rock cropping.

Rainbow and her friends exhaled with relief.  At last, the pegasus got an even hoofing.  With trembling breaths, she shimmied northeast along the line of sandstone columns.

“Did they leave?” Pinkie squeaked.

“For now...”  Fluttershy bit her lip.  “They're... down at the base of the canyon,” she murmured.  “Creating a cyclone.  Just like their leader said.”

Rarity's fuzzy ears twitched to the sound of whistling winds.  “Goodness!  I can even hear it!”

“Well, that's good, right?” Pinkie chirped.  “It'll give Dashie plenty of time to get away!”

“I wish it was that simple, Pinkie.”  Twilight gulped.  “You've seen Rainbow create a tornado before.  She alone could clear half of this canyon on her lonesome!  Imagine what three griffons can do!  Especially fliers as strong and well-trained as these!”

“So, what then?!”  Pinkie wheezed.  “Over cover's going to be blown?!”

“We have to move,” Fluttershy stammered.  “Put as much distance between us and them!”

“It's too late!” Twilight had to raise her voice.  The wind was picking up, filling the air with a high-pitched howl.  The fog and mists spun off to the immediate northwest.  Layer by layer, the blue sky above peeked through the soupy overcast.  “They'll have this canyon clear in less than a minute!  If Rainbow could fly, maybe she'd get out of eyeshot, but—”

Rarity shook her head.  “The landscape dips northeast of here.  There won't be any stone structures to block their view of Rainbow!”

“Then fine a crevice or something!” Pinkie squeaked.

“There aren't many around here, Pinkie!” Rarity said.  “And besides—with the fog cleared away—they'll sniff Rainbow out in a heartbeat!  There... j-just won't be any more places left to hide!”

“We have to do something,” Fluttershy said.  “Their bodies are rising.”  She winced as the shifting breeze morphed into a maddening gale.  “They're spinning higher... closer!”

Rainbow Dash panted and panted.  Then—all of a sudden—she skidded to a stop.  Tiny flakes of dust and soil blew into the twirling winds.  Blinking, she spun around and looked in the opposite direction.

“Dashie?!”  Pinkie grimaced.  “Why did you stop?”

“You haven't much time, darling!” Rarity exclaimed.  “Run!  Gallop!”

“Shhhhhh...”  Twilight held up a hoof.  “Everypony just calm down!”  Loose branches and pebbles were picked up by the wind, phasing through her and the other marefriends.  She drifted closer to Rainbow, squinting.  “What is it, Rainbow?”

Rainbow stared west, her eyes narrowing.

“What do you see?”  Twilight hollered above the cyclonic tumult.  “Talk to us!  What are you thinking?”

All the while, Rainbow's eyes narrowed on the center of the canyon.  Before her—at a stone's throw—a massive cloud of condensed steam rose from the depths of the canyon.  The three members of the Talon were spinning at a maddening speed, all the while ascending with professional grace.  They gathered all of the mists below in their revolutions, and soon all of the fog behind and above Rainbow Dash would be sucked up into the aerial rotation.

“Rainbow...?!”  Twilight yelped.

Rainbow watched as the gathered fog approached the top of the ridge... and her.  She gulped.  “You don't want to know what I'm thinking...”

“Huh?”  Twilight gazed below.  Her ears drooped.  “Oh no...”

Rarity blinked.  “Oh no what?”

Pinkie looked behind her.  The mare's tail was twitching.

Rainbow backed up until her hooves scuffed against the southeast edge of the ridge.  “Close your eyes if you're squeamish.”

“Oh Rainbow...”  Fluttershy squeaked, covering her eyes and trembling.  “Must you?”

“For Celestia's sake—!”  Rarity held onto Pinkie.

“Httt...!”  Rainbow galloped straight forward... and took a massive leap off the side of the ridge.





FW-FW-FW-FWOOOSH!

It was deafening inside the heart of the cyclone.  Commander Seraphimus knew this all too well.  She withstood the painful echoes ringing in and out of her silver helmet.  Clenching her beak, she peeked a glance at the sky above.

All of the fog in that part of the canyon had been collected into a humid column of mist—now trapped within the cyclone she and her wingmates had made.  The cloud condensed even further, turning stone dark... gray.  Once the Commander heard the slightest hint of thunder, she fought against the twirling gusts and raked a talon into the air.  Flexing her claws, she signaled to the other two griffons.

Starstorm saw the gesture first.  She nodded, then whistled across the cyclone at Raptr.

Panting, the rookie Sergeant registered Starstorm's alert.  He made eye contact with the other two guardians and waited for the Commander's signal.

Seraphimus held out three claws... two... one... then formed a fist.  With a grunt, she twirled upside down and kicked her feline limbs against the condensed cloud.

Starstorm and Raptr mimicked the feat.  The three griffons' combined thrust sent the gathered clump of moisture sailing skyward.  The effect was very much like shoveling a pile of white sand out from within a stone basin.  The skies of Rohbredden cleared up, and bright sunlight illuminated every craggy slope, incline, and crevice of the topography below.  The needle-like spires of the Mist Cliffs were exposed for all of their weathered sandstone glory.

“It's clear!” Starstorm hollered.  Relaxing her wings slightly, she descended from the gray cloud above.  “Won't be long until the outer fog fills in this area!”

“Right!”  Seraphimus nodded.  “Spread out!  Search every dip, rise, and niche!”  She shot southward.  “I have the southern end!  Raptr, go northwest!  Starstorm, cover the east!”

“Roger that!”

“Going!”

The griffons spread apart in three separate directions, streaking over the rocks and foliage with breakneck speeds.  Their eyes searched every inch for the Rainbow Rogue...





...meanwhile, high above...

A dazed pegasus clung to the very top of the rising swirl of clouds.  Rainbow gnashed her teeth—for the mists were still spinning.  With nervous spasms, her muscles took control, and she dislodged her pegasus limbs from where they had embedded after her haphazard landing on the cloudbed.

“Eeeeeeeeughhh...”  Pinkie teetered and reeled, her coat taking on a green complexion.  “Somepony gimme some cookies so I can toss them.”

“Pinkie, for goodness' sake!” Twilight hissed.  “Just because Rainbow's spinning doesn't mean we have to!”

“But... b-but I'm just trying to share in her—”

“We can help by keeping an eye out!”

“An eye out for what?”

“For a landing!”  Twilight craned her neck.  “Fluttershy, do you have a bearing on the griffons?”

“They're... they're on all sides of us,” Fluttershy stammered.  “But... but below!”

“Any of them bothering to look at the cloud they just formed?”

“I don't know.”  Fluttershy grimaced.  “And... uhm... I-I may not have passed flight camp at the top of my grade, but a cloud as hastily thrown together like this one won't last for long.”

“Good grief...” Rarity stammered.

Twilight flung Rarity a look.  “Rarity!  Try and sense a flat place for Rainbow to land!”

“R-right!”  Rarity snapped out of it, squinting northward.  “On it!”

“Rainbow?”  Twilight looked over at their anchor.  “Rainbow!”

“Mrmmmfff...”  Rainbow's eyes twirled.  She lost her balance, teetering.  Her limbs started sinking through the mists.  “Stop the vomit comet... mrrrrp... I want to get off...”

“Rainbow, concentrate!” Twilight yelped in her face.

Rainbow slapped herself, then gnashed her teeth.  “Of c-course.  Where to, egghead?”

“You tell us!”  Twilight gulped.  “It was your idea to hop on this thing!”

“Yeah, Dashie!”  Pinkie nodded.  “Can you steer it someplace before it goes poofy?”

“Uhhhhh...”  Rainbow Dash looked at her right wing... then at the bandaged set of feathers on her left side.  “Errr...”  She blushed with a dumb smile.  “Ooops.”

“Rainbow...”  Twilight facehoofed.  “One of these days... I swear to Celestia...”

“Relax, Twi,” Rainbow slurred, taking a step forward.  “The bird-brains don't know where I am—”  One hoof slipped through the cloud, making her stumble.  Rainbow blinked.  “Awww crud.”

“It's about to go poofy poof!” Pinkie sing-songed.

“Ah HA!”  Rarity grinned from ear to ear.  “I found a spot!”

“Huh?”  Rainbow and Twilight looked over.

Rarity faced north, pointing downward at a thirty-degree angle.  “About one hundred meters in that direction!  It's a flat-top mountain!”  Her eyes lit up.  “At the very north end of the ravine!”

“Could it be a way out?” Fluttershy cooed.

“Only one way to find—”  Another of Rainbow's hooves slipped.  “Dang it!”  She gazed straight down.  The misty cloud beneath her rumbled with thunder.  Rain poured from underneath, and the translucent structure began dissolving from the inside out.  “Ohhhhhhh kittens.”

“Oh gosh...”  Twilight danced nervously in midair.  “OhgoshOhgoshOhgosh!”  She slapped her own skull.  “Rrrrnnngh—somepony think of something!”

“Uhm...”  Pinkie smiled nervously.  “Maybe Dashie could blow south?”

“They're... uhm...”  Fluttershy winced.  “They're coming closer.”

“Huh?!”  Twilight looked back.

“They finished searching the southern end of the ravine,” Fluttershy said.  “All three of them are sweeping north!”

“Then they're bound to see Rainbow!” Rarity exclaimed.

“If this cloud lasts long enough,” Twilight whimpered.

Rainbow looked back.  She then gazed at the mountain ridges to the north.  A fine mist was regathering over the jagged slopes facing her.  With a deep breath, Rainbow propped herself sideways with her right wing aimed south.

“Uhm...”  Rarity gulped.  “You sure that's going to work—?”

“Nnngh!”  Rainbow flapped her good wing with all her might.

The raincloud surged north... then pulled into a dull glide.  Moisture dribbled off in every direction, pelting the rock pillars and crooked tree trunks looming below.

“That's it, Dashie!”  Pinkie cheered.  “You've got this!”

“A little bit more to the northwest, darling—”

“Right!”  Rainbow clenched her teeth, then flapped her wing again.  “...Rrrgh!”

This time, the cloud spun.  Rainbow's marefriends yelped in fright.  Two clumps of mist broke off.  Rainbow's right rear leg almost slipped off what was left of the foggy bed.

“It's breaking aparrrrt!” Pinkie bellowed.

“Two griffons are right below us!” Fluttershy cried.  “One of them's the leader!”

“What if it rains on them?” Twilight exclaimed.  “They'll look up—”

Rainbow Dash panted.  She flexed her wing muscles again—accidentally putting her left feathers into it.  “Aaaugh!”  She clamped a hoof over her muzzle to stifle the pained grunt.  Before she could recover, her body jolted again as another hoof sunk through the dissolving cloud.

“Nuuuu!”  Pinkie flailed in place.  “Don't go away, stormy weather—”

“You're almost there, Rainbow!” Rarity said, pointing at the line of mist rushing up towards them.  “There's a flat plateau right ahead!”

“Get ready to jump!” Twilight squeaked.

“Uhhhhh...”  Pinkie Pie's eyebrows twitched wildly.  “Wait!  Something's not—”

“The cloud's breaking!”

“Grnnngh!” Rainbow leapt straight ahead.  She plowed through a thin layer of mist and...

Th-Thunk!

...landed on a wobbly plank of wood.

“... ... ...”  Rainbow Dash blinked.  “Huh?”  She looked straight down.

As the cloud she had ridden on dissolved, a lasting stream of accelerated air blew at the mountain fog, revealing the rooftop to a rickety two-story shack, propped precariously on a series of stilts against the south edge of the canyon's final ridge.  There were several holes in the rustic structure—and at least half of them had been shoddily patched up over the ages with cross-beams and rusted nails.

“Ohhhhhh!”  Pinkie smirked.  “So that's what it means when both of my eyebrows go crazy!”  She giggled and looked at the other girls.  “'Beware of dilapidated old buildings that have been left abandoned on mountaintops over the last few centuries!'”

“I... I-I'm sorry...”  Rarity gulped.  “In all of the rush, I... I-I just assumed it was an extension of the plateau—”

“Don't be sorry, Rares,” Rainbow murmured.  She looked behind, panting as she watched the three glinting bodies of the griffons disappear behind a falling curtain of fog.  “What matters is that you helped me land.”

“Did they see us, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.

“No... at least...”  The ghostly pegasus gulped.  “I d-don't think so.”  She rubbed her head.  “They're still searching what's left of the cleared canyon.”

“Then I'd better make like Foxtaur and burn.”  Rainbow slinked ahead.  “Rarity, what's the fastest route to Ivory Prefe—”

“Dashie, stop!” Pinkie hollered.

“Guhhh!”  Rarity flapped her forelimbs around.  “Wh-what she said!  Cease and desist!”

Rainbow froze in place.  Right then, her ears heard a terrible crunching sound... followed by a prolonged, bass groan beneath her.  “... ... ...the fudge is that?”

“Something's not right with this building!” Pinkie squeaked.  “It's been left alone to rot in the mists for too long!”

Rainbow hissed through clenched teeth, remaining frozen.  “Could you be a bit more specific?”

“It's... it's terribly fragile, darling,” Rarity stated.

“Yeah?  Where, exactly?”

Rarity and Pinkie exchanged nervous glances.  The fashionista gulped.  “Everywhere.”

Hairline factures formed in the wooden planks directly beneath Rainbow's hooves.  The rooftop crackled, its edges splintering one inch at a time.  The pegasus gulped.  “Hoboy...”
> Rainbow Dash Saves Hearth's Warming
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Nopony moves...”  Pinkie Pie spoke in earnest, waving her forelimbs apart.  “...nopony dies.”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip.  Every tiny tremble caused more and more fractures to spiderweb across the petrified wooden planks beneath her.  Her marefriends held their breaths as she looked from left and right, desperately judging the scale of the fractured rooftop beneath her.

“Uhm... maybe...”  Twilight braved a hopeful smile.  “M-maybe it wouldn't be that terrible a height if you just dropped down through?”

Rarity vigorously shook her head.  “You think the roof is bad, darling?”  She gulped, gesturing downward.  “The two stories beneath us have already given way.  There's jagged rock and broken splinters exposed through the floor below.”

Rainbow grimaced.  “Frig...”

“Rainbow...”  Fluttershy murmured, drifting closer.  “Not to make a bad situation worse, but the griffons are sweeping closer.”

“Friggin' frig.”  Rainbow inhaled and exhaled.

The air crackled as more planks of wood bent and warped around her.  Cold mists wafted closely overhead, chilling the pegasus.  Goosebumps formed along her shaved scalp and next.

“Any chance you can hop on another cloud, Dashie?” Pinkie asked.

“There's nothing condense enough for that to work,” Rainbow grumbled.  “And I'm afraid to hop in any direction or... or...”

CRACK!

Rainbow's weight shifted down.

The four ghostly mares gasped.

Rainbow squinted one eye, wincing.  She jolted in place, barely supported by a crossbeam below.  Meanwhile, the loud crack of the fragile rooftop...





...echoed across the Mist Cliffs, dipping down into the ravine.  Every jutting needle and column of granite resonated with the noise.

Commander Seraphimus paused in mid-flight.  “...?”  She tilted her helmeted gaze up.

The two Sergeants heard it too.  Starstorm and Raptr stopped gliding across their respective sides of the mountains.  Their hawkeyes traveled up to the misty ridge overlooking the lower topography.

“What in Goddess' name was that?” Starstorm stammered.

Raptr blinked.  “A boulder, perhaps?”  He glanced across the group.  “We did kick up quite a breeze just now.”

Seraphimus took a deep breath.

“Commander?”

“Resume your search,” she ordered.  Wings flexing, she slowly drifted north.  “I shall go investigate.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

Fw-Fwoosh!  Seraphimus soared upward, eyes piercing.





Instantly, Fluttershy trembled.

“Mmmm!”  She spun about.  “Rainbow Dash!  Their leader—”

“Right.  Got it.”  Rainbow gnashed her teeth, staring down at her locked legs against the splintering wood.  “Time to move.”

“But where?!” Twilight Sparkle exclaimed.  “If you so much as tremble—”

Rarity spoke over her.  “Rainbow, if you can make it to the north end of the shack...”

“Yeah...?”

Rarity gulped.  “It'll surely be arduous... but...”  She pointed.  “There's a steep slope descending down the north end of the ridge.  If you can make it there, it should be an easy gallop into the plateau of Ivory Prefecture.”

“Whatever you do, Dashie, you'd better do it quick!” Pinkie squeaked.

“But... b-but...” Twilight trembled.

Rainbow exhaled, then took a step forward.

Crkkk!

A shingle of wood fell down into the second story below.  Nevertheless, Rainbow crawled forward, lifting one hoof after another.

Crkkk-crkkkk!

“Oh jeez...”  Twilight covered her muzzle with trembling hooves.  “Oh jeez oh jeez oh jeez—!”

“Could do without the paranoid soundtrack, thank you,” Rainbow hissed.  She exhaled vaporously through clenched teeth as she marched forward.  A savage crack formed in the ceiling behind her, shaping into a fractured “V.”

“Quicker,” Fluttershy insisted, gazing behind them at a silver dot as it approached the foot of the ridge, glinting.  “Quicker!”

Cr-Crkkkk!  More planks of wood fell beneath Rainbow Dash.

“Guhhhhhhh...”  Pinkie had to grasp her tail to keep it from twitching.

“You're doing good, Rainbow!” Rarity said with a sweaty grin.  “There's a support beam beneath you!  And it would appear that it's supporting your weight—”

CRAKKKKK!  The entire two-story shack shifted.

Rainbow froze in place, eyes wide.  She looked down.  The beam beneath her was bowing.  Every shingle slid apart behind her.

“Buck it!” Twilight shouted.

“Run, darling!”  Rarity shrieked as the shack gave way beneath her.  “Run like a maniac!”

“Rrrrrrrrrghhh!”  Rainbow desperately threw herself forward.  Wind shifted past her ears as the vertical columns supporting the building finally gave way and—

Scrkkkkkkkkkkk!





Seraphimus' charcoal eyes blinked.  Her armor rattled as she caught sight of a massive wooden structure completely spitting its support beams loose and careening down the side of the ridge...

...and towards her.
> Oh What Fun It Is
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Pinkie's spectral body shook from her grip to her twitchy-tail.  “Daa-aa-aa-aa-aa-shii-ii-ii-ii-ie!!!”

“Go go go go—” Twilight breathed.

“Hnnngh!” Rainbow Dash galloped.  Every plank of wood and shingle dissolved behind her.  Despite her full sprint, she remained in the same relative spot—on account of the building crumbling away and plummeting south over the cliff's edge.  “Guh!”  She leapt just as there was no more wooden surface left to traverse.

“Rainbow—!” Rarity yelped, flinching.

Teeth gnashing, Rainbow stuck her right wing out.  She glided in a circle—once swinging around towards the collapsing mess.  A spray of splinters and debris blew across her face.  She shielded herself with a forelimb, then gasped as she spun north again.  The rigid plateau flew towards her.  Her friends shrieked in her ear as she aimed her legs at something... anything...

Cl-Clankkk!

“... … ...”  Rainbow Dash's eyes fluttered open.  She blinked.  She looked down to see that she was standing neatly on a chunk of wooden deckwork, broken off from the rest of the shack and looming intact on the ridge's summit.  She exhaled, then glanced south at the sound of collapsing wood.





The two-story shack was reduced to an avalanche of splinters.  The mess of wood and rusted nail-work roared down the mountainside like architectural vomit.  The mists parted, revealing the debris in full-blown horror as it rampaged towards the pull of gravity.

Seraphimus' eyes twitched.  Although the shadow of the debris enveloped her, the griffon effortlessly swung herself to the side, dodging the collapsing wooden mess by a stone's throw.  At last, the ramshackle remains of the structure slammed into the bottom of the ravine, sending a blast wave echoing in the Talon's direction.

Powwwww!

The Commander shielded herself in mid-air.  Her feathers and tail billowed from the concussive wave.  In the distance, Sergeants Raptr and Starstorm wobbled from the force of air-disruptive energy.  They both gasped, looking the Commander's way.

Seraphimus relaxed, exhaling as she gazed at a veritable sea of twisted planks and crossbeams filling the basin below her.  She swallowed hard.  “Verlaxion spare me...”  Charcoal eyes narrowed.  “...if she's still in one piece...”





Rainbow Dash stood on the wooden deck, panting.  She could no longer see the ravine south of the ridge from her position.  With a gulp, she entreated Fluttershy:  “Did... did they hear that?”

“Are ya kidding?!”  Pinkie Pie wheezed.  “I'm pretty sure Granny Smith heard that!”

“Speak to me, Fluttershy!” Rainbow growled.  “Are they coming my way?”

“They... appear to be facing the ridge, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said.

Rarity nodded.  “That's where the debris landed!  South of us!”

“But...”  Fluttershy's eyes brightened.  “They're not ascending the ridge!”

Twilight beamed.  “They're distracted!  They probably think you were inside the shack when it fell!”

Rarity sighed, smiling weakly.  “It doesn't get much closer than that, now does it?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes.  “Whewwww...”  With a dumb grin, she sat her rump down on the deck beneath her.

Crkkkkkkkkkk!  A fracture formed across the wooden plank.

“... … …?”  Rainbow looked down.  “Huh—?”

CRACK!  The sheet of wood beneath her shattered loose from the rest of the deck.  The thing went sliding down the north edge of the ridge at a maddening speed... carrying the blue pegasus with it.

“Aaaaaaa-aaaaaa-aaaah!”  Rainbow's friends collectively shrieked, being dragged down with her by their lavender anchorage.





Sw-Swooosh! Starstorm flew in and levitated over the mess of wooden debris.  Her beak rattled, and she spun to gaze at the other two griffons.  “I... I-I can't even see through the splinters!  It's fallen so hard, the stuff is dense as rocks!”

“Could... could the Rainbow Rogue actually be under all of that?” Raptr wheezed.

“Sergeant, how did she even get up there?” Starstorm exclaimed.  “That's hundreds of meters from the last place we saw her!”

Seraphimus' headcrest shifted under her helmet.  “The clouds...”

The two Sergeants looked up.

The Commander sneered:  “The Rainbow Rogue must have ridden the clouds we had made when we cleared the valley.”

“But... h-how?!”

“Menace from the west or not, she's still a pegasus.”  Seraphimus pointed a silver-plated claw.  “Begin searching!  Cover every square inch!”

“Aye, Commander!”  Starstorm started skirting the edges of the settling debris pile.

“Commander...”  Raptr gulped.  “If she is beneath all of this, then what are the chances that—”

“No time for speculation, Sergeant,” Seraphimus said.  “Every second we waste compromises her livelihood.”  She exhaled fumingly.  “...I would very much want to avoid bringing a corpse back to the Council.”





“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiieee!”  Rarity shrieked, clinging to Pinkie Pie as the group slid violently downhill.

“Rarity!  Pinkie!  Everypony!”  Twilight snarled into the whipping winds.  “Try and concentrate!  Rainbow Dash needs us right—”  She yelped as their anchor hit a bump.  Rainbow went airborne for a moment, and then the wooden “sled” made contact once more with the granite slope, showering splinters and sparks.  “—now!”

“Okay!”  Rainbow gritted her teeth as she shifted left and right in her wild slide.  “If I wasn't just a sn-sneeze away from imploding into bloody bits, I'd be having lots of f-fun right now!”

“Just don't panic...” Fluttershy nevertheless covered her muzzle.  “Don't panic!”

“Rarity!” Twilight hollered.  “For Celestia's sake!  Lend us a hoof here!”

“Just... j-just...”  Flinching, the fashionista pointed a quivering hoof northward.  “F-follow the slope in a northwesterly direction and try to avoid the boulders.”

Rainbow's ears twitched.  “Boulders?”

All of a sudden, massive granite spheres loomed in Rainbow's immediate view.

“Luna poop!” she hollered.

Pinkie's whole body twitched.  “Left, Dashie!”

Holding her breath, Rainbow grasped the wooden plank beneath her and jerked towards the west.  She barely skirted the left side of the stone structure.

“Right!” Pinkie bellowed.

“Grnnngh!”  Rainbow jerked in the opposite direction as a chunk of hard rock appeared to her left.  Cl-clank!  The corner of the “sled” struck the boulder, and Rainbow spun several wild three-sixties in mid-slide.

“Whoaaa-oaaa-oaaah!”  The mares yelped, spinning and phasing through boulders.

Rainbow ended up sliding backwards.  The cold winds bit at her shaved neck.  The bitter kiss of falling snow tickled at her ears.  Panting, she looked over her shoulder.

An array of jutting rocks stuck out of the ground, stabbing the air and forming a haphazard ramp in her path.

“Uhhh... uhhhhh...”  Pinkie gulped.  “Your guess is as good as mine!”

“Celestia... Spark... Nagu'n... Valkyrie... anypony!”  Rainbow spun, grabbed the forward end of the plank, and lifted up with all her might.  “Hope you're k-keeping score!”

Cl-Clankkkk!  The sled struck the rocks and ramped off.  Rainbow went flying—as did the plank of wood—but in opposite directions.

“Aaaaaaaaiiiiieee!” Rarity yelped.

“Omigoodness!” Fluttershy sniffled, twirling upside down.

Twilight tried to maintain her concentration.  “Rainbow!”  She hollered.

“Snow!” Pinkie cried.  “Aim for the snow!”

“... … …?!”  Rainbow flashed an upside down look.

Amidst her twirling peril, the pegasus spotted a patch of powdery white earth sailing towards her.

“Htttt!”  Rainbow struck her right wing out, dragged air into her feathers, then steered herself awkwardly towards the wet earth.

“This is gonna sting!” Twilight curled up into a lavender ball.

Swoooooosh—Th-Thump!

“OOOF!” Rainbow grunted.  Snow sprayed into the air around her.

All of the mares jolted.

Rainbow rolled, toppled, then slid for meters down a snowbank.  There was a flicker of amber light—like a fire.  Bodies stood up, gasping.

Fluttershy saw them in a flash.  “Rainbow!”  She tried to point.  “Look—”

Rainbow could do nothing but tumble.  “Ooomf!  Unnf!  Gaaaugh!”  At last, her body careened backwards...

...and her head struck a wooden log beside a camp site.  Th-Thap!

Rainbow's teeth rattled—as did her pendant.  The mare's eyes rolled... vision teetering.  “Unnngh...”

“Rainbow!  Rainbow!”  Twilight Sparkle levitated above her.  She gave one worried look at the source of the firelight, then seethed into the pegasus' drooping ears.  “Rainbow Dash!  Whatever you do!  Don't pass out!”

“Phweeee...”  And with a drooling grin, Rainbow was out for the count.

Then...

...hoofsteps.
> What Madness Drove Them There?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Rnnnng-gnnnkkkt!”  Raptr yanked, pulled, and tugged at a loose crossbeam of wood.  At last—with expert strength—the Sergeant lifted the chunk of debris and tossed it further down the sloping ravine.  Sweating, he adjusted his helmet and peered beneath the pile of wreckage.  His hawkeyes had to squint in the dimming light.  After a thorough scan, he lifted his beak and shouted across the ravine.  “Nothing over here!  Even if she had been crushed to a pulp, I'd expect to have seen a hint of blood!  Or bone!”

“I'm not finding anything over here either,” Starstorm muttered.  She looked up at the overcast sky—which was growing dimmer and dimmer.  “The sun will be setting soon.  This is not good.”  She turned towards the silver body searching the north end of the wreckage.  “Commander!  It will be sundown in less than two hours!  We still haven't found any sign of the Rainbow Rogue!”

“I'm well aware of that, Sergeant,” Seraphimus said, combing the splintery debris.  “It's quite possible that her body is somewhere that we can't access with just our meager strength.”

“Then what?!”  Raptr wheezed.  “Should we go fetch Windburst and the Lieutenant so we'll have the muscle power to lift more of this stuff?”

“... … ...no.”  Seraphimus lifted her gaze.

“No?”

“Because it's also just as equally possible that she did not collapse with this building in the first place.”

“Then... then what was this?”  Starstorm's brow furrowed.  “A distraction?”

“Perhaps.  Although I doubt she meant it to be what it was,” Seraphimus thought aloud.

“I... I still can't fathom how she could have gotten as far as the north ridge to begin with!” Raptr exclaimed.  “I mean, sure, pegasi can ride clouds.  But how would the Rogue have found her way on the mists we condensed?!  She's half-winged right now, for Verlaxion's sake!”

“... … ...”  Seraphimus stared up at the looming ridge.

“I'm telling you!” Raptr exclaimed, looking at Starstorm.  “It's impossible!”

“Concern yourself with the search, Sergeant,” Seraphimus said.  “I must conduct mine elsewhere.”  She flapped her wings.

“Commander?” Starstorm blinked at her.

“Continue until sundown,” Seraphimus instructed.  “If there's still no sign of the Rogue's body, head northeast to the entrance to Ivory Prefecture.  Join up with Windburst and Lieutenant Keris.”

“But... but the search—”

“We'll sweep over the ravine again if we have to.”  Seraphimus flew due north, ascending.  “Besides, whatever calamity the mare may have survived, there's only one route she would have taken out of the Mist Cliffs to reach her eastward destination.”

Once the Commander had departed, both Sergeants looked at one another.  They took deep, sighing breaths and resumed their close glide over the wreckage.





Fw-Fwoooosh!

Seraphimus scaled the south edge of the summit.  There, she hovered, trained eyes scanning the former foundation to the fallen shack.

Several fractured crossbeams stood along the cliffside, splintered savagely at their ends.  The ones that were still mostly intact bent southward—towards where the weight of the shack had fallen.

“... … ...”  Seraphimus hovered over the ridge's summit.  She looked at where a rectangular shadow marked the former resting place of the two-story building.  Off to the right, a crooked path with a splintered hoof-rail rivered southeast—ending at a jagged cliff that had crumbled away countless decades ago.

Silent and studious, the griffon's gaze swept left again.  The light above was growing dim, taking on an amber hue.  In the last vestiges of the afternoon, she made out numerous strips of fallen wood—far lighter and less worn-out than the flimsy strips of debris that comprised the former building's foundation.  Levitating closer, Seraphimus observed fallen roof shingles and sun-blotched strips of varnish.

She breathed in and out, eyes darting across every single speck of detail... debris... detritus.  At last, her iron gaze traveled north—and that's when she spotted a length of wooden deckwork lingering, abandoned, intact.

Intact—that is—save for a single plank of wood that had shattered loose from the rest.

Seraphimus craned her bird neck at a sharp angle.  The armored plates rattled.  She caught sight of a series of savage scrapes across the sloping granite.  It led down the north face of the ridge and into the southern edges of Ivory Prefecture below.  Breathless, she glided down into the snowy valley beyond.  To the northwest, a dense thicket of lightly frosted trees lingered.  To the east, several ice-cold creeks and ponds glittered in the gray light of the dying day.

Seraphimus was far more concerned with a flimsy trail of wooden debris leading down... leading north towards a thickening layer of snow.  She flew faster, cascading into a swift, silver glide.





Windburst stifled a yawn.  Levitating in midair, he inspected his crossbow before throwing his voice over his shoulder.  “Any sign, Lieutenant?”

Keris gazed south, his magenta eyes glazed.  “Hmmm?”  He clenched his beak.  “Of the Rogue?”

“Of anything!”  Windburst exclaimed, his voice echoing across the mountainous ridges north of the Mist Cliffs.  “Who would have figured?”  He smirked wryly.  “It's the start of the Month of Thawing and the whole world's frozen on our watch!”

“I'm certain the Commander has good reason to be taking as long as she is, Sergeant,” Keris voiced back.  He glanced west, his eyes scaling the sharp ridges and sloping granite foothills.  “Our objective is to capture Rainbow Dash in one piece, after all.  It takes patience and a delicate touch.”

“Maybe that's your objective, Keris.”

“Do you wish to say something, Sergeant?”

“Heh... do I have to?”  Windburst smirked.  “I'm sure the Commander wouldn't mind breaking a few of the Rogue's limbs if that's what it will take at this point to reel her in.  Hell... I wouldn't mind doing a number on that other wing of hers with my crossbow, considering she nearly cooked my goose.”

“I presume this is going somewhere...”

“I just can't help but notice that you seem to have... an unhealthy respect for our target, Lieutenant... sir.”

Keris took a deep breath, his vision dragging northwest.  “Do we not—deep down—secretly admire the game that our criminal prey gives us?”

“It's more than that and you know it.”  Windburst smirked as he polished his crossbow.  “Face it.  Something happened to you back at Red Barge, and you haven't been the same griffon sense.”

“I've had my eyes open to the filth of this world, if that's what you need to know,” Keris murmured.  “It is our job to capture the Rainbow Rogue, and I've committed myself whole-heartedly.”  He gulped.  “However... I know for a fact that there are worse evils out there.  Rainbow Dash may not be sinless, but she's on a quest to achieve something far grander than herself.  It is a uniquely selfless endeavor.”  He sighed.  “What villain do you know of who can claim to be obsessed with the same?”

“The same kind of villains who can brainwash the griffons I care about and look up to.”  Windburst's eyes narrowed.  “I'm worried about you, Lieutenant.  While it's a good thing that you know so much about Rainbow Dash, I fear for what it's done to your psyche.”

“Uh huh...”  Keris suddenly blinked, his eyes narrowing on the northern slopes of the ridges west of them.

“And I'd hate to see it draw a rift between you and the Right Talon of Verlaxion.”

“... … ...”  Keris stared at a glinting, silver figure as it glided its way north into the snowy valley of Ivory Prefecture.

“... … ...Lieutenant?”  Windburst blinked over at him.  “Keris?”

Keris took a deep breath.  “Remain at your post, Sergeant.”

“But... but I am at my post—”  He did a double-take, almost dropping his crossbow.  “Wait.  Are you leaving?”

“I'm investigating, Sergeant,” Keris said, flying northwest.  “There's a difference.”

“But... b-but...”

“Wait for word from the rest of the Talon.”  Keris threw a look behind his shoulder.  “And I wouldn't be worried about any 'rift' if I were you.”  He smiled slightly beneath his beak.  “You underestimate how much the Commander depends on me.”  He flew off with a flap of his wings.  “It goes beyond the Rogue... beyond blood.”

Windburst hovered in place, blinking.

“Hrmmmff...”  He pouted beneath his beak.  “Oh yeah?  Well... can you kill a squirrel with a crossbow at three hundred meters?”

Silence.

“Meh.”





Seraphimus had just touched down in a fresh crater of snow by the time she heard flapping wings from behind.

“... … …?!”  She spun about, claws raised.  Schiiiing!

Keris held his good talon up, levitating in front of her.  “At ease...”  He gulped.  “It's only me.”

Seraphimus' feathered brow furrowed.  “Lieutenant?”

“Did you lose track of Rainbow Dash?”

“You're supposed to be minding the path between Stone and Ivory Prefectures.”

“I'm supposed to be helping you find our Rogue,” Keris said.  His magenta eyes reflected cold charcoal.  “With all due respect, Commander, let me help you.”

Seraphimus stared at him.  After a few fuming breaths, she calmed.  “It's getting dark...”  She reached under her armor and pulled out a crystalline stick.  “Here.”

Keris took the object.  He slapped the jagged end of it against a nearby rock.  As soon as the enchanted substance fractured, it produced a pale green glow.

“Hold it so I can see.”  Seraphimus stepped forward, eyes sweeping left and right between loose chunks of wood.  “Hmmmm... pieces of the deck from above.”  She breathed through her beak.  “Someone tried covering the debris up.  See the hoofprints?  Deep... sporadic.  They galloped about the task... and it was a hasty job at best.”

“I don't understand.”  Keris blinked.  “What do you think ponies were trying to cover up?”

“There was a monumental collapse back in the Mist Cliffs.”

“Oh?”  Keris gulped, holding the enchanted torch before her.  “Are Sergeant Raptr and Starstorm okay?”

“They're perfectly fine,” Seraphimus droned, stepping through the snow.  White flakes pelted their armor softly as they strolled along.  “An old, abandoned shack fell down the northern ridge.  At first, we assumed that the Rainbow Rogue was involved in the collapse.  My theory is that she hitched a ride on the mists that we had cleared from the canyon when we attempted to ease our search.”

“I take it you've stopped underestimating her abilities.”

Seraphimus sighed.  “This is still a matter of bizarre luck, Lieutenant.”  She gestured south of them, up the slope.  “I just followed the traces of an avalanche that led directly to here.”

“You think the Rainbow Rogue was caught up in the avalanche?”

“A chunk of wood had broken off from the foundation of the collapsed building,” Seraphimus said.  “Assuming your friend from Red Barge narrowly avoided a perilous death, she may have found herself swept up in a new and different calamity.”  Seraphimus glided faster.  “It led her down here.  The debris shattered... but her body?  It ended up somewhere... somewhere...”

Keris' eyes swept the snowy plain.  Something caught his vision, and he pointed at a circular array.  “Commander—”

“I see it.”  Seraphimus glided over.  She hovered above the center of the ring, then reached down.  Her talon dug through a rough pile of snow, then pulled loose a charred chunk of firewood.  “This... this was a camp.”  She brought the wood to her beak and sniffed... sniffed.  “Embers are still fresh.  This was stoked recently.”

“Six... seven... eight logs,” Keris counted.  “Enough to seat two dozen ponies.”

“This far west?”

“Could be loggers,” Keris said.  “Trappers.”  He glanced west, eyes traversing the wooden thicket.  “Only ponies that live that far into the wilderness are those who trade with the Wyverns...”

“Or Snow Bloods.”

“Not likely.”  Keris shook his head.  “Snow Bloods don't travel in such large numbers... at least not large enough to make a camp of this size.”

Seraphimus tapped her chin.  She flew north of the ring of snow-covered logs.

“You... you think whoever it was—they took the Rainbow Rogue?”

“Shhhh!”  She insisted, gesturing for him to come closer.  Keris held the enchanted light over her figure in the falling snow.  Seraphimus dug at the ground, sweeping her talon left and right.  At last, she uncovered a series of deep impressions—far more frozen than the rest.  “Wagon imprints.  See?”

Keris nodded.  “They were here for a while.  It's not like loggers or trappers to stick to one spot for so long.  Especially in the middle of the day.”

“What, then?”  Seraphimus looked north.  “Mercenaries?”

“Likely so,” Keris said.  “We're between villages.  And...”  He looked firmly at the Commander.  “...there is a very pricey bounty being issued in every town right now.”

Seraphimus glided slowly forward.  The Lieutenant followed.  Soon, they discovered a set of wagon trails leading northwest, towards a babbling brook that stretched before woods.

“Well, if they are mercenaries, they're not very good ones,” Seraphimus said.  She pointed.  “See how the hoofprints linger on the east edge of the river?”

Keris nodded.  “They sought to mislead us into thinking they were headed west.  It's too obvious an attempt at misdirection.”  He waved the torch east.  “I suspect they headed deeper into Ivory Prefecture instead.”

“Any ideas, Lieutenant?”

“Chiefly one.”  Keris exhaled.  “It takes a wealthy company to put out all of those bounties... and that company practically owns Steamfall.”

“They wouldn't have reached there by nightfall, though,” Seraphimus said.

“Then that leaves us with only one logical destination.”

Seraphimus nodded.  “Braum.”

Keris handed her the torch.  “I'll go fetch the rest of the Talon.”

“Thank you, Keris.”  Seraphimus glided ahead.  “I'll go ahead to scout.”

“Aye, Commander.”

“And Lieutenant?!”

Keris paused.  He looked over her shoulder.

Seraphimus spoke without looking back.  “Your patience and tenacity is much appreciated.  Now more than ever.”  She took a deep breath.  “We'll have to approach this carefully, for now we have more than just the Rogue to contend with.”

Keris nodded back.  “Never a dull moment.”  And he darted south like a pale bullet.

	
> Well, Here's Another Fine Mess
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	One ruby eye opened.

Torchlight.

A second eyelid fluttered.

An earthen ceiling loomed above, held in place by numerous wooden crossbeams.

"Mrmmmfnngh..."  Rainbow Dash stirred.  She squirmed left... then to her right.  Her fuzzy muzzle scrunched, unscrunched.  She moved her forelimb up to rub it... but it wouldn't budge.  "Huh?  What the...?"  Her head tilted down.

The mare's limbs and wings were locked behind her back with several lengths of tightly-tied twine.  She lay on a simple canvas cot, surrounded by stacks of wooden crates full of dredge coal and digging supplies.  Glancing down at her legs—as well as upside-down—she discovered that she was situated in the center of a very long tunnel stretching like a winding serpent somewhere underground.

"Mmmm... great..."  Rainbow sighed, eyes rolling.  She spotted a distant table beneath a dangling torch where her saddlebags were hanging off a chair's flankrest.  "With my luck, it's probably diamond dogs."  She sighed, nostrils flaring.  "... ... ...!!!"  She looked down at her neck.

The Element of Loyalty glittered with each flicker of flame.

"Mmmmm... whewwww..."  She slumped back down on the cot, staring straight up.  The mare gulped, twitching slightly.  "Unfamiliar ceil—"

Fl-Flash!  Fluttershy descended through the earthen material above, glowing with lavender light.  "Oh!  Oh thank goodness!"  A smile crossed her nervous lips.  "You're awake!"

"Flutters..."  Rainbow winced.  "So great to see you."  She gulped.  "Guess it's... hoping too much to ask if we're at a resort hotel."

"Mmmm... well..."  Fluttershy shrugged, squirming in mid-air.  "All things considered, we have been in worse places."

"All things considered..."  Rainbow Dash tiredly smirked.  "...that doesn't exactly mean much."

Fluttershy gulped.  "Good point."

"Chuuu?"  Pinkie Pie's head poked upside down through the ceiling.

"Pinkie."  Fluttershy pivoted.  "Go tell the other girls that Rainbow Dash has woken up."

"Chuuuuuu."  Pinkie nodded, then ascended the way she came.

"Mrmmfff..."  Rainbow Dash grimaced, quivering in her restraints.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Rainbow."  Fluttershy floated down to her, wincing.  "That must be putting so much pressure on your bad wing."

"Yeah, well, the key thing is not to think about it."

"Erm... good point..."

"So..."  Rainbow nevertheless grimaced, eyes darting across the underground environment.  "Should I start asking questions or will you explain it all?"

"Well, Rainbow."  Fluttershy cleared her throat.  "When you fell stopped sliding down the mountainside—"

"I banged my head and knocked myself out."

"—just twenty feet away from where a bunch of stallions were camped out.  They tied you up and brought you here."

"And where's here?"

"From what Rarity and Twilight have overheard, it would seem as though we're about thirty feet beneath the surface of Braum.  It's a major trading point for ponies trotting back and forth between Lichen and Dust Prefecture.  Lots of miners and economic partners to miners live here... with their families."  Fluttershy stifled a cough.  "The upper town is also... uhhhh... covered from head to hoof with Rainbow Rogue wanted posters."

Rainbow groaned.  "Figures.  Just my luck."

"The... uhm... particular band of stallions who brought you in took a very strange route to get here."

"Probably trying to elude competitors."  Rainbow's muzzle scrunched.  "Including the Talon."

Fluttershy nodded.  "We have heard them mention the Talon several times.  Looks like they would rather earn the bounty than turn you in to government officials."

"If they're so fond of making bits..."  Rainbow looked down at her neck.  "...then how come my pendant's still attached?"

"Oh, they tried taking it off."  Fluttershy winced, her coat forming goosebumps.  "But... b-but they put it back on as soon as they saw the horns glowing."

Rainbow closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.  "Thank Celestia..."

"You were really... really out of it, Rainbow Dash."

"Guess it's a good thing.  For their sake."

"I suppose."  Fluttershy bore a tiny smile.  "But, y'know, for a bunch of ponies bent on binding and selling an equine soul for bits, they're... actually not all that bad."

"Only you, Fluttershy."

"I mean it.  Several of them have families and foals and friends throughout the village—"

"How about getting out of here, huh?"  Rainbow's eyes stabbed like ruby daggers.  "What's the possibility of that?"

"Well, you're up.  That's... that's a first step."

"Any simple way out of this spot?"  Rainbow craned her neck.  "Just what are these tunnels for, anyways?"

"It's... not exactly clear."  Fluttershy brushed her bangs back as she looked both ways down the passage.  "Rarity says that at least two-thirds of Braum is built underground.  Most of the buildings are just turf houses built out of the earth."

"I guess it's how they keep warm."

"Right.  It's... v-very cold above ground," Fluttershy said.  "I guess it's the Rohbredden we all imagined while at Red Barge."

Rainbow nodded.  "Bet these tunnels come in heavy when they get snowed in."

"Right."  Fluttershy looked at Rainbow.  "Anyways, Pinkie, Twilight, and Rarity are above ground, listening in on as many conversations as they can."

"Just how many dudes brought me down here?"

"At least twenty.  But there hasn't been enough time to count them all—or tell them apart.  They're very important members of the village, it would seem."

"Just how big is Braum, anyways?"

"Not sure."  Fluttershy blinked.  "Smaller than Kunmane and Riverstem, but about as busy as the Four Braziers Inn.  Lots of ponies coming and going."

"I can see how it's easy to hide someone or something here."  Rainbow sighed, glancing at the torchlight.  "What of the Talon?"

"It's... fuzzy at the moment, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy explained.  "They're definitely interested in Braum, but they seem to be keeping their distance."

"They're smart enough to know what's going on here," Rainbow said.  "Probalby surrounding the place from all sides."

"Maybe."

"We're going to need more info if we wanna get an edge over both the Talon and these new flankholes.  Although... nrnnnghh... what I wouldn't give for a strong pair of scissors right about now."

"I'm s-sorry, Rainbow.  I really wish we could help you with that right now."

"Don't worry, Fluttershy.  I'll think of something."

"But—"

Rainbow motioned with her head.  "What you can do is fly back up to the surface and give the girls an extra pair of ears."  Her eyes narrowed.  "These punks think they can outsmart their competition, and I wanna know why."

Fluttershy nodded vigorously.  "Okay, Rainbow."  She flew up.

Rainbow called after her:  "And while you're at it, get Rarity to scan for the best route out of this town once we bust out!"  She looked left and right.  "...cuz we are gonna bust out... totally... g-gonna..."  She gnashed her teeth and started writhing in her binds.  "Rgggh!  Just once... I wanna get captured by bunch of harem fillies who don't know how to tie worth crud!  Rrnnngh—owwww!"  She squinted one eye shut, wincing from her injured wing.  "Ow ow ow ow..."
> Rob from the Rich And...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	After several moments of floating, Fluttershy finally emerged through a snow-flaked bed of grass.  She squinted in the gray overcast light of morning.  To her left and westard, row after row of turf houses lingered.  Ponies gathered outside in droves, huddled around burning kettles as they murmured to one another in the snowy air.  The outer circumference of Braum was marked by a meager stone barricade—mostly crumbled and weathered by time.  A line of tents formed a marketplace where travellers from far and wide exchanged wares, bartering and trading.

Towards the east side of town, a smattering of two and three story wooden buildings lingered—a far humbler sight than even Riverstem afforded.  Among the structures were an inn, a bank, two saloons, and at least three slightly decrepit barns.  Ponies filed in from the snowy hills east of Braum, leading caravans comprised of thick rolling wagons.  Everyone who entered and exited the town looked serious, determined, and hurried.  It was not so much a grim village as it was a very business-oriented one.  Ponies lingered outside for as long as it took to conduct an exchange, and then they wisely rushed back inside—retreating to their snuggly turf houses or the inn with its constantly smoldering chimney.

Towards the northeast, obscured by hilltops and nestled against the southern base of an enormously steep mountain range, was a continuously billowing plume of smog.  The air smelled vaguely of industrial grit, and howling sounds echoed from the distance—the tell-tale signs of train whistles.

Snow continued falling, and every tenth flake was polluted black, brimming with dust.

"Girls?" Fluttershy murmured, looking across the bright gray lengths of Braum. "G-girls?"

"Over here, Fluttershy!" Pinkie waved.

With a blink, Fluttershy craned her neck.  She saw her three friends levitating meters away.  She hurried over there, biting her lip pensively.

"Why are we so far away from the burrow?" she inquired.

"Cuz over here is where the bad guys are meeting up!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Pinkie..."  Twilight sighed.  "They're not exactly bad guys per se."

"Oh yeah?!"  Pinkie folded her forelimbs, frowning.  "Did they foalnap Rainbow Dash or didn't they?"

"Shhhh!"  Twilight squinted past a cluster of stallions as another group of ponies shuffled southwest from the snowy hills beyond.  "These aren't like the bandits who wanted to attack innocent travelers within the Petrispines.  These ponies have families here in Braum.  You've seen them yourself.  They only want to protect the interest of the village."

"And for all they know, Rainbow Dash is a fugitive," Rarity nervously added, her eyes locked on the converging groups.  "A... very clumsy... unlucky fugitive from justice."  She gulped and looked back at Fluttershy.  "Speaking of which, how is she?"

"Awake."  Fluttershy fidgeted.  "And not too happy."

"Her head's in one piece?" Twilight remarked.

"As intact as it'll ever be."  Fluttershy cleared her throat.  "These ponies walking towards us... I recognize them.  They were the ones who went to... uh... 'the factories' earlier."

"I do believe you're right, Fluttershy," Rarity said.  "No doubt to speak with someone there."

"Yeah?"  Pinkie blinked at the others.  "Like who?"

"Someone who can pay for Rainbow's bounty, no doubt," Twilight said.

"You mean those dudes who've been putting signs up all over Rohbredden?!"  Pinkie squeaked.  "See?!  I told you these were baddies!"

"Shhhh!"  Rarity insisted, leaning forward as far as the anchorage would allow.  "They're about to speak."

The ghostly mares witnessed...

...as a cloaked stallion with a gray-streaked brown mane approached the ponies in wait.

A younger pony with a yellow coat stepped forward, along with his companions.  "Well, Sarda?  How'd it go?"

The stallion adjusted his cloak and sighed.  "Just as badly as we expected, Kayman.  They want us to bring the Rainbow Rogue to Steamfall."

"Dammit!"  Kayman stomped his hoof in the snowy grass. "I knew it!  Those cold-harded Consortium bastards!  They'll sell out their souls but they can't be arsed to trust their very own neighbors!"

Rarity and Twilight Sparkle exchanged glances, muzzles mouthing "Consortium bastards?"

"It's the only way they're willing to go about an exchange," Sarda continued in a noticeably gruff voice.  He glanced pensively over his shoulder.  "I tried convincing them to come here, but they wouldn't bite.  The jerk I was speaking to implied that we were attempting to scam them."

"Hmmmfff..."  One stallion folded his forelimbs.  "Typical."

"I'm surprised you couldn't convince them to play ball, Sarda," Kayman remarked.  "I mean... just how many times have we saved their sorry-ass dredge coal shipments from bandits?"

"Yes, well..."  Sarda scratched the stubble on his chin.  "Seems the Consortium has the long-term memory of a mouth-foaming manticore these days."  He clenched his jaw muscles.  "I was this close from telling them about the Talon, but I wasn't sure if they were actually a viable threat."  He turned to squint at Kayman.  "You tell me.  Did the griffons pass on by yet?"

"What, didn't you see some of them along your way back?"  Kayman blinked.  "Our buddies out on the fringes spotted a total of five of them.  They're surrounding the village as we speak.  Forming a perimeter."

"Shit..."  Sarda sneered.  "They just had to have seen me returning from Steamfall."

"Well, for all they know, you're just returning from a trade deal."

"That might fool members of the Central Guard, but these are the Talon we're talking about, Kayman."  Sarda gulped.  "They likely sniffed us out from the camp we abandoned."

"Yeah..."  Kayman hung his head with a sigh.  "Sorry, Sarda.  I... I should have covered our tracks better."

"You... didn't have much time to work with.  Don't beat yourself up over it."  Sarda nevertheless eyed the skies with a sigh.  "Besides, there may still be a way to salvage this."

"Oh yeah?"  Kayman blinked.  "What's that?"

"I overheard some commotion while I was visiting our neighbors," Sarda droned.  "The white collars up in Steamfall are all abuzz about some... big whig visiting from the south."

"Who?  Chandler?"

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie blinked.

"No.  Not Chandler."  Sarda cleared his throat, ears twitching in the snowfall.  "But somepony almost as important."

"His right-hoof pony?"

"Something to that extent.  In other words... someone connected to the top.  Whoever he is, maybe he'll be willing to listen to what we have to offer."

"Just how long until this pony gets here?"

"Could be tonight.  Could be tomorrow."  Sarda looked at Kayman.  "I'm going to need you to pay Steamfall a visit when he arrives."

"What?"  Kayman blinked crookedly.  "Me?!"

"That's right."

"But... I don't get it.  How come, Sarda?  You speak for Braum.  Everypony knows that."

"Right.  Which is why I have to stay here."  Sarda paced through the frosted blades of grass.  "Pretty soon, the Talon's gonna conduct a textbook search.  According to Rohbreddenite law, they have the full right to inspect domestic habitats... owned businesses... you name it."

"I... I-I guess I gotta brush up on my Prefecture law."  Kayman gulped.  "Just how screwed are we?"

"I doubt these silver-plated bird brains know about Braum's hidden infrastructure," Sarda murmured, cautiously watching the skies.  "They're going to have to cross some major boundaries if they expect to find our tunnel systems."  A deep, vaporous breath, and he turned to squint at his fellow stallions across the light snowfall.  "If anyone can keep them distracted, it's me.  I just have to keep them busy long enough for you to meet up with this big whig, convince them that we've got the Rogue, then drag them back here for an exchange."

"That's... cutting it awfully close, Sarda."  Kayman gulped.  "I mean... if this risks getting us in hot water with the Talon..."  He grimaced before he could finish that sentence.  Clearing his throat, he stammered:  "Braum's dealt with Frostknife inspectors and tax collectors... but this?"

"I need you to follow me through with this, Kayman," Sarda said.  His eyes hardened as he stared at the rest.  "Same goes with all of you.  Braum has barely been able to squeak by these last ten years."  He gulped.  "The kind of bounty the Consortium is offering could help us float for another five winters.  It's just the edge we need!"

"Verlaxion's sleet, Sarda!" another stallion groaned.  "Why not just hand our village over to Steamfall on a silver platter?!  It's what the Consortium's always wanted these last few decades, anyway!"  The others chuckled and nodded.

Sarda glared.  "I'm not talking about selling out Braum to those flankholes at Steamfall."  His eyes narrowed.  "I'm talking about our families being able to eat throughout the Month of Thawing and beyond."  His nostrils flared.  "Anypony got a better idea on how to make that happen?"

The ponies stood in nervous silence.  They exchanged dull expressions.

Sarda nodded.  "Just as I thought.  Kayman, do your best to appeal to this Consortium representative.  Think of it as an exchange of goods and services.  Like normal.  Nothing more... nothing less."  He sighed.  "In the meantime, let me deal with the Talon.  We're on the same side, after all, aren't we?"

"Yes... only they're the ones with razor sharp wingblades."

"Which totally suck for digging.  Trust me," Sarda managed.

The stallions had a good-natured chuckle.

"Okay... okay... enough huddling."  Sarda cleared his throat.  "The Talon's eyes are likely on us as we speak.  Let's not give them a reason to suspect something."  He waved a hoof.  "Go and have breakfast with your families.  It's your right, after all."

"What of the Rogue?" Kayman asked.

"Huh?"

Kayman's eyes narrowed.  "What... what if she's just as dangerous as all of the wanted posters say?"

The four mares glanced at Sarda.

Sarda took a deep breath.  "All the more reason for us to get her out of here.  Even if the Consortium turn out to be bigger jerkholes and cut the bounty in half..."  He shook his head.  "It'll still be like a warm breath from the Spring Havens.  Now, move out."

"Sure thing, boss."

And the stallions went their separate ways.  Hoof prints formed a spreading star in the glinting white snow.
> Lengths That Desperation Will Go
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"The ponies who bound and dragged you here all answer to a stallion named Sarda," Twilight explained, her ghostly eyes glistening in the underground lanternlight.  "He seems to be a very important member here in the village of Braum."

"You mean like..."  Rainbow Dash squinted from the cot where she lay.  "The mayor or something?"

"A... bit more grizzled than a mayor," Twilight remarked.

"Mayors are seldom so handsome," Rarity purred.

"Yeah, and—"  Twilight froze.  She threw Rarity a look, sighed, then faced Rainbow again.  "And he seems to have done a whole bunch of business with the Consortium."

Rainbow squinted.  "The Consortium?"

"They're the ponies who control Steamfall," Fluttershy explained.  "Uhm... they seem to be very important."

"Not to mention wealthy," Rarity added.

"Intimidatingly so."  Twilight looked directly at Rainbow Dash.  "Whoever the Consortium us, they're the ones responsible for the bounty on your head."

"Hrmmfff..."  Rainbow exhaled, glancing at the crates and supplies surrounding her.  "Figures."

"But they don't seem to believe a word that Sarda or any of his other ponies are saying," Pinkie Pie said.  "When the head hauncho went to Steamfall to set up a rainbow exchange, they just... laughed at him n'stuff."

"Now Sarda's sending his number one stallion, Kayman, into Steamfall again to pick up from where he left off.  Meanwhile, Sarda's staying here in Braum to deal with the Talon."

Rainbow's head lifted slightly.  "Are they here in Braum now?"

"The Talon?"  Fluttershy shook her head.  "No, but they're circling the town.  Sarda and the others expect them to conduct a search of the village soon."

"Knowing Keris' griffon friends, I've no doubt."  Rainbow shuddered, resting her head again.  "Bet they're pretty cheesed about me losing them back in the Mist Cliffs."

"This is a different situation, Rainbow," Twilight said.  "I think the Talon's going to have trouble sniffing you out."

"What do you mean?"

"It... it just feels different."

Rainbow squinted.  "Has the egghead gotten a few cracks in her shell?"

Twilight frowned.  "Okay, fine.  I suspect that the Talon are going to have their claws full of legal procedure in this matter."

"They're the friggin' guardians of Verlaxion," Rainbow droned.  "Can't they search any village they want to?"

"Perhaps.  But it won't be an easy or a quick process," Twilight said.  "I definitely got that impression from the conversations Sarda had with his companions."

"Twilight's right."  Rarity nodded.  "It would seem as though Sarda is hoping to delay the Talon's search here so they can capitalize on the bounty."

Rainbow looked back at Twilight.  "I thought you said Steamfall scoffed at Sarda when he showed up at their doorstep the first time.  What chances are their of his buddy 'Kayman' having any luck?"

"Well..."  Twilight fidgeted.  "Sarda caught word of a high-ranking member of the Consortium headed towards the industrial facility just northeast of here.  They're hoping to catch the executive's attention and negotiate a transfer for the bounty."

"Aiming straight for the top, huh?"

"Something like that."

"So, lemme get this straight..."  Rainbow gazed collectively at her marefriends.  "I'm buried deep in the underground tunnels of Braum—that the Talon do not know about—"

"Well, that remains to be determined, darling," Rarity said.  "Sarda and Kayman seem to think that the Talon have no knowledge of it."

"Right.  So... Sarda's banking on the Talon not knowing where and how to find me, but they're likely going to be searching all over the village."  Rainbow turned to look at Twilight.  "And while they take their sweet time doing that, Sarda's buddy-pal is going to make an appeal to some super important member of this Consortium to come and fetch me for a price."

Twilight gulped.  She nodded.  "Precisely."

"That's the long and short of it!" Pinkie added.

Rainbow let loose a long sigh.  "So... the order of the day is finding out how to break these binds so I can then sneak out of town... somehow... and not get caught by Talon, Sarda, or the Consortium."

"With us by your side, Rainbow, anything's possible."  Fluttershy smiled.  "All you need to do is tru—"  She froze in place.

Rarity's eyes widened.  "Somepony's coming?"

Fluttershy gulped and nodded.

"She's right!"  Pinkie nodded, gesturing beyond the crates.  "Play 'casual-prisoner,' Dashie."

Rainbow clenched her jaws.

A stallion with a gray-streaked maned and dark stubble on his chin shuffled slowly up.

Rainbow tilted his head aside.  "Is that Sarda?" she whispered.

Pinkie nodded.

"Hmmm... 'grizzled' for sure..."

Sarda stood at the foot of her cot, gazing down at the mare.  "I see that you're awake."

Rainbow nodded back.  "I see that you haven's shaved."

"Difficult to do so without an abundance of clean water this far north," Sarda said.  With an exhale, he slid a box over to the side of Rainbow's cot and sat down on it.  "We... don't have an abundance of many things here in Braum."

Rainbow's brow furrowed.  "Except for deep, winding tunnels full of stolen supplies."

"These..."  Sarda waved a hoof at the multiple crates.  "...are not stolen."

"But you have them hidden," Rainbow droned.  "Even if I wasn't down here, you'd still be nervous about the Talon knocking on your door."

Sarda's nostrils flared.  "Desperation isn't pretty.  But some of us have to get our hooves dirty to get by.  Surely, you understand this well."  His eyebrow raised.  "Or was what you did in the Quade a matter of pleasure?"

The mares winced.  Rainbow clenched her muzzle shut.

"Look..."  Sarda loosened the wooly scarf around his neck, staring into the torchlight.  "I don't know precisely why the Talon is after you.  And I don't care.  All I know is that you mean bits... lots and lots of bits that my village needs to get by."  He gestured with his hoof.  "I've spent the better part of a decade doing bad things to ponies who have gotten away with doing worse to citizens who can't even protect themselves.  If I stopped to soak in the regret and shame of my actions... well... Braum wouldn't even be on the map anymore.  I can't expect you to respect that.  I can't expect the Talon to.  But what matters in the end is that our families have something to eat the next day."

"Funny thing about the 'ends justifying the means,'" Rainbow Dash muttered.  "Nothing ever  ends like you expect it to."  Her eyes narrowed.  "What you do here—well intentioned or not—you're still going to have to live with.  And living wouldn't be living without remembering."

Sarda stared at her.  "... ... ...if I only had me to worry about, I'd agree with that."

"You have more than just you."  Rainbow glared.  "So you should agree harder."

Sarda leaned back.  He blinked.  "...you're not at all what the Consortium paints you as."

"Watch it."  Rainbow's muzzle curved slightly.  "You're starting to care."

Sarda sighed, gazing away.  "Don't think for a moment that I take pride in this."

"I don't think that."  Rainbow fidgeted slightly.  "Thanks for not taking my pendant away."

"Yes, well..."  Sarda cleared his throat.  "I... wasn't too fond of what I saw when it came off."

"There are worse things to be afraid of."

The mares glanced at her.

Sarda raised an eyebrow.  "What do you mean?"

"I understand what you're doing here," Rainbow Dash said.  "I know that your village ain't exactly doing well for itself.  I know that you sent Kayman back to Steamfall to try and negotiate with the Consortium under the Talon's very beaks."

Sarda blinked.  His chapped lips pursed:  "How... h-how do you know—?"

"But understand this."  She glared at him.  "You're dealing with something that's way above Braum.  It's way above the Consortium... way above the Talon... and way above Verlaxion."

Sarda's eyes twitched.

Rainbow Dash winced from her left wing.  Nevertheless, she sat up as far as her bound body could allow her.  "Stronger... more resourceful ponies than you have tried to imprison me.  Entire friggin' armies have struggled to contain me."  She gulped and shook her head.  "It always... always ends up badly for them."  Her eyes darted towards the earthen roof above.  "You got a sweet little village here, and no doubt it's super important in Ivory Prefecture for staving off the corporate control of those jerks up in Steamfall.  But if you don't let me go... if you don't drop this messy 'Rainbow Rogue bounty' business and disentangle yourself while you still can..."  She gulped and said, "Then everything you've worked so hard for will crumble and burn from the pressure of everything that's coming to collect me.  You don't want that."  She shook her head.  "I don't want that."

Sarda leaned back.  He rubbed his stubbled chin in deep thought.

"Please..."  Rainbow spoke breathily.  "Let me go.  Or else, one way or another, Braum is going to vanish from the map of Rohbredden."  Her ears twitched as her gaze hardened.  "You can count on that."

Sarda sighed.  He rubbed his face and grumbled, "I'm sorry..."

Rainbow's ears drooped.

Sarda looked up.  "...but I simply cannot afford to make such a gamble."  He swallowed a lump down his throat.  "Not after all I've already risked."  He shook his head.  "You're the last pony I can trust right now."

Rainbow leaned back onto the cot with a sigh.  "Then you're totally... totally screwed."
> In Braum, a Pegasus Hides
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	From far away, a length of metal glinted, its strobing light piercing the snow fall.

Keris nodded.  With his good talon, he raised a gauntlet, catching the sunlight so that it glinted back over the rooftops and turf houses of Braum.  He looked aside at the Commander hovering next to him.

"That's Sergeant Windburst's signal," he said.  "He and Starstorm have checked all the ponies leaving Braum.  None of them have Rainbow Dash."

"Then that settles it," Seraphimus said with a grim nod.  "The Rogue is here."

"We've established a perimeter," Keris said.  "We've had our rest.  Sergeant Raptr confirms no outgoing travelers to the west of the village."  He gestured.  "Now is the time to conduct an interior search, Commander."

"I agree, Lieutenant," Seraphimus spoke.  "Signal Starstorm to join us at street level.  In the meantime..."  She began her descent.  "...I shall announce our presence to the townsfolk."

Keris gazed down at her, fidgeting slightly.  "Commander... are you sure... that... erm..."

Seraphimus paused.  She looked up at him.  "...you feel that you should be speaking on behalf of the Talon instead of me?"

Keris cleared his throat.  "Merely a suggestion, Commander.  Given... our previous experiences."

Seraphimus nodded.  "I understand.  However... I do believe here in Braum—this far removed from the central prefectures—a decidedly more authoritative voice is required."

"But—"

"And I promise, Lieutenant," she spoke firmly.  "I will not repeat the psychological tactics that I employed in Seed Prefecture."

Keris clenched his beak shut.  He nodded.

"All of our attempts to capture the Rainbow Rogue have failed so far.  She's tested the Talon like no other prey ever has."  She sighed.  "Even I know when it is time to change methods."

"Aye, Commander.  I shall signal Starstorm."

"Much appreciated, Lieutenant."  She glided down towards the snowy heart of the village.  "Join me as soon as you can."

"Will do."





"I don't know where you come from," Sarda said, sitting beside Rainbow's cot.  "And no doubt you're capable of strange... powerful magic."  His brow furrowed.  "But if you're as dangerous as you claim to be, then you're much... much better off in the hooves of the Consortium."  He bore a slight frown.  "They can deal with whatever you're frightened about."

"I never said I was frightened," Rainbow droned.  "And if experience has taught me anything in Rohbredden and the seven seas surrounding, then you shouldn't even attempt trusting these Consortium guys.  They'll backstab you... it seems to be the fad in this part of the world."

"Which is precisely why I must backstab them first," Sarda said.  "After all these years of them chokeholding us... bullying us..."  He exhaled.  "I'm tired of playing the nice guy."

"Careful with switching the nature of the game," Rainbow said.  "It's very... very hard to turn face again."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take... for my village's sake."  Sarda grunted, "Believe me."

"Sadly..."  Rainbow sighed, gazing aside.  "...I kinda do."

"Pssst!"  Fluttershy leaned in.  "Sorry to interrupt, Rainbow, but the Talon are descending onto Braum."

Rainbow did a double-take.  "Already?"

"Huh?"  Sarda squinted.  "'Already' what?"

"Aaaaaaand..."  Pinkie pointed down the earthen tunnel.  "Sarda's buddy is coming."

"Don't look now," Rainbow said with a nod.  "But here comes Kayman."

Sarda blinked at her.

"Uhm... boss?" Kayman spoke.

"...!"  Sarda jolted hard.  He knocked the crate out from underneath him from the force of his leap.

Kayman twitched in place, startled.  "Wh-what's wrong?"

Sarda gaped at him, then stared at Rainbow Dash.  "Uhhhmm..."

"Is everything okay?  You weren't taking the freak's pendant off again, were you?"

"No, I was... was..."  Sarda ran a hoof over his face, shuddering.  "Never mind.  What is it, Kayman?"

"The Talon, Sarda.  They're here."

"Very well."  Sarda nodded, marching away from the cot.  "That just plays into our hoof.  I'll keep their boss distracted while you take the hidden north passage to the wilderness."

"But Sarda—"

"Get back to Steamfall.  Talk to their head hauncho.  Tell them we're willing to do an exchange—at the north tunnel exit, if we have to."

"Sarda, the Talon's Commander..."

"What about him?"

"Not him.  Her.  It's Commander Seraphimus."

Sarda scuffled to a stop.  He turned to gawk at his companion.  "...you're sure of this?"

Kayman trembled slightly.  "Sure as I live and die."  He gestured with a hoof.  "A bunch of elders who've seen her can confirm, if you doubt."

"... ... ..."  Sarda stared up at the earth and soil forming a roof to the tunnel.  "What's she doing right now?"

"Entreating the crowd," Kayman said.  "Asking for the village leader to show.  Sarda, she's not going to wait forever."

Sarda gulped.  "And neither will we."  He pointed.  "Get your flank to Steamfall.  On the double.  No time to waste."

"But—"

"I mean it!"  Sarda scampered off to the nearest ladder.  "Go!  I'll take care of this!"

"You think you can actually pull the rug out from under Seraphimus?  That griffon has horror stories written about her!"

"Let me worry about me," Sarda said climbing up to the surface.  "We have more riding on this than even the Talon can imagine."

Kayman stood alone, shuddering.  Gnashing his teeth, he galloped off and called into a few branching alcoves, summoning a pair of stallions to join him.  Not long after, they made their way into the northern passages.





"With the authority granted me by the Council of Verlaxion—empowered by the Goddess herself—I, Commander Seraphimus, and the rest of the Talon have arrived to conduct a search of these premises!"  Seraphimus pivoted about, her vaporous breaths coming out in loud salvos, chasing the falling snowflakes away.  "We have reason to believe that the national enemy to Rohbredden interests—the Rainbow Rogue—is hiding here within Braum!  Evidence shows that she was carried away from her last known location and brought here to this township!"

One by one, ponies poured up out of the turf houses sunk in the snowy earth.

Nervous young couples clung to one another, their eyes glued on the Commander in her silver armor.

Elders lingered at the front stoops to taverns, smoking their pipes and squinting inquisitively.

Rosy-nosed traders paused in their snowy huddles, turning to gawk at the griffon.

Families and foals peered up from the windows of their houses, shivering slightly in anxious confusion.

"As loyal citizens of Ivory Prefecture... as Tribal members of Rohbredden... you are bound by your oath to Goddess Verlaxion's sanctity and the defense of Her blessed lands!  This town must be searched, and all those who live and do business here are charged with assissting the Talon with complete cooperation!"  Seraphimus charcoal eyes scraped across the breathless crowd.  "I ask this one more time!  Allow me an audience with your village leader, so that we may properly establish a way that we can undergo this process as swiftly and painlessly as possible for every citizen present!"

The villagers gazed at one another, murmuring worriedly.

Seraphimus observed them with scrutinous hawkeyes.

Sw-Swooosh!  Keris and Starstorm touched down beside her.

"Well, Commander?"  Keris leaned in, following her line of sight until it made contact with the equine faces.  "How does it look?  Do they know?"

"Hard to say..."  Seraphimus took a deep breath as she murmured aside.  "...they're not pleased to see us.  That's for certain."

"Can't imagine they're pleased to see anything," Starstorm remarked, shivering slightly.  "Living here is almost as masochistic as living in the Quade."

"Think again, Sergeant," Keris droned.  His eyes darted to the right, and he pointed.  "There, Commander."

Seraphimus followed his claw.  She watched as Sarda marched up from the center of town.  "The village leader...?"

"By my estimation."  Keris nodded.  "Yes."

"He's so..."  Starstorm blinked.  "...young."

"Survival is tougher this far north," Keris murmured.  "Those who dwell here make their exoduses to the Spring Havens at an unpredictable pace."

"Are you attempting to win sympathy for those who've harbored the Rainbow Rogue, Lieutenant?" Seraphimus muttered.

"No, Commander."  Keris shook his head.  "But it does help to get in their headspace."  He glanced briefly at her.  "Unlike the ponies in Steamfall, these villagers aren't directly connected to Frostknife by a corporate chain.  I'd say they're more in touch with desperation than the Council of Verlaxion."

"There've been no terrorist attacks this deep in Ivory Prefecture," Seraphimus muttered.

"Not that we know of," Keris said.  His words quickened the closer that Sarda approached.  "You don't have to live on a Barge in order to deal with the uglier shades of this world."

Seraphimus sighed out her beak nostrils.  "...this is going to be inordinately delicate."

"Glad you understand, Commander."  Keris cleared his throat and leaned away from her.

At last, Sarda stood before the three griffons.  His speech was just as deliberately slow as his arrival.  "I'm Sarda, head community organizer of Braum."  He squinted at the guardians.  "You wish to see me?"

"Are you familiar with the Rainbow Rogue, Mr. Sarda?" Seraphimus spoke.  "An enemy of the state, wanted for atrocities committed in the Quade and beyond?"

"I've... heard that the Council is chasing after some fruity-looking pegasus.  Yeah.  What of it?"

"What of it?!" Starstorm scoffed.  She waved a clawed gauntlet.  "You have posters of her sticking to half of your buildings—"

"Sergeant," Keris chided, silencing her.

"No doubt you saw them from your univited circling of our township," Sarda said, frowning.  "I don't know what your business is here in Braum, griffons, and I frankly don't care."  He adjusted his coat and exhaled.  "But we are all miners... traders... and farmers here.  None of which even remotely qualify as 'criminal.'"

Seraphimus nodded.  "That may be so, but we have evidence that our prey is being held here in your village."

"What kind of evidence?"

Keris took a step forward.  "About a mile and a half southwest of here, along the northern fringe of Stone Prefecture, the body of the Rainbow Rogue ended up at a camp... a camp that was swiftly abandoned within hours of the Talon's arrival.  Tracks show that a group of twenty or so ponies led her directly to this town.  It's more than likely that she's hiding within one of your structures."

"Well, you may wish to go back to griffon academy or wherever you earned your medals."  Sarda waved a hoof.  "Because obviously you're mistaken.  There is no strange pegasus being held here."

"We never said she was being held here," Keris remarked.  "Nevertheless, the evidence that brought us to this town necesitates that we search the premises in order to ascertain her true location."

"And I'm telling you, she's not here."  Sarda tried to glare, but swiftly found himself overshadowed.  He couldn't help but take a jittery step back.

"... ... ..."  Seraphimus' charcoal eyes peered out from the shade of her helmet as she stood above him.  "That... will be up to us to determine.  As it will be up to you to decide whether the actions of you and your fellow villagers remain either 'cooperative' or 'treasonous' in the wise scrutiny of the Council."

Keris' eyes darted over to Seraphimus.

Starstorm watched quietly.

Sarda took a deep breath, glaring back at her.  "We're all on the same side, aren't we, guardian?"

Seraphimus nodded.  "Indeed we are... or so I would hope."

Sarda took a breath.  "Very well.  You may conduct your search."

"That is very much appreciated—"

"But..."  Sarda raised a hoof.  "I wish to be present in all instances."

Seraphimus sighed.  She looked back at Keris.

Keris cleared his throat, then smiled.  "That can certainly be arranged."

"Very well."  Sarda turned and shouted towards the crowd.  "Everypony!  Return to your homes!  Stay there and obey every command given to you by the Talon!  There is a fugitive about and they need our cooperation in making sure she's not hiding in our midst!"

Keris shuffled closer to Seraphimus.  Eyes on Sarda, he leaned in and murmured:  "Commander, I could have sworn that a few minutes ago you gave me your word—"

"And I apologize, Lieutenant, but my patience was running thin."

"Something tells me we aren't the only ones suffering from that," Keris said, eyes on the crowd.  "Do you believe anyone in this town for one second?"

"Not even remotely."

"We'll have to play this safe.  Let's allow him to think he's still in charge."

"Agreed.  And Lieutenant?"

"Yes, Commander?"

"... ... ...please do the speaking from here on out."

Keris smiled slightly.  "As you wish, Seraphimus."

> Adventure Is an Awkward Thing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	With a screech of metal wheels against rails, the company steam train came to a grinding halt on one of many many tracks.  Several stations converged in the middle of a thick array of warehouses and factories.  Row after row of smokestacks pumped smog and smoke into the air.

Engineers leapt out of the train while servants in company uniform strolled up and down the metal-reinforced train cars.  At last, the second car following the steam engine was opened.  A ramp was slid in place just in time for a thickly-bundled unicorn to step out.

Longaze lingered halfway down the ramp.  She looked south at the gently falling snow, then north at the brown columns of rising smoke.  All the while, massive granite peaks loomed over the industrial center, giving the polluted township a dismal shower.

"Mrmmmff..."  Vapor expelled from the mare's muzzle as she lurched down the rest of the ramp.  "I hate the mountains..."

A stallion in a sparkling clean company coat stood before her.  "Ms. Longaze."  He smiled.  "Welcome to Steamfall.  How may I be of assistance to you on this visit?"

"Mrmmfff... did you not get the memo?"

The stallion blinked.  "I... was made aware of your arrival twelve hours ago.  I assumed it was for a company inspection."

"Grnnngh... I swear..."  Longaze tightened the scarf around her neck, trying her best not to shiver in front of subordinates.  "...nothing gets through Ivory Prefecture unless it's on rails."

The stallion pointed towards a group of workers lined up below the station.  "We are prepared to give you a grand tour of the factories.  Mr. Chandler should be pleased to know that the dredge coal refineries are operating at peak efficiency."

Longaze shook her head.  "I did not come here for an inspection."

"Oh?"

"Time is of the essence."  Longaze marched down the length of the station while the stallion accompanied her.  "How many ponies do you have employed here in your security division?"

"Ahem..."  The stallion cleared his throat.  "Steamfall's security is fifty-two ponies strong."

"Round all of them up.  While you're at it, gather as many excess employees who are currently not busy with factory assignments.  I'm going to need as much horse power as possible."

"Uhm... round up the employees."  The stallion fidgeted.  "Right..."

Longaze threw him a piercing look.  "Is there a problem?"

He grimaced.  "Just... j-just that the Month of Thawing has started and..."  He cleared his throat.  "Employing so many staff members right now will mean extra pay, based on procedure.  I'm n-not sure if the Steamfall budget can handle that—"

"Let me worry about what the company can or can't afford," Longaze said.  "Chandler has put the company's welfare in my hooves while he attempts to make things right with the Council."

"Yes, ma'am.  Of course, ma'am."

"Assemble the staff as I requested.  I wish to speak with them face to face."  Longaze stared at the smokestacks in the distance.  "Also, I would like a report on recent events in the surrounding Prefectures."

"If I may ask, ma'am, just what kind of events?"  The stallion blinked.  "I'm getting the strong sense that I'm vastly misinformed as to the real reason for your visit."

"Please tell me that the wanted posters for the Rainbow Rogue have arrived here, at least."

"Oh!  Definitely!"  The stallion squinted.  "Is that what this is about?"

"It would be in the company's best interest if such an individual was caught."

"Uhm..."  The stallion nervously glanced aside.  "I see..."

Longaze squinted at him.  "What is it?"

"It's... it's just that some unsightly peasants from Braum have been showing up at random lately..."

"Braum?"

"A putrid township just south of here.  Stubborn little buggers who refuse to accept our generous bid for their property."  He glanced at her.  "One of their leaders came on by recently, claiming to have caught the 'Rainbow Rogue.'"

Longaze's eyes twitched.  "And you didn't seize this opportunity... why?!"

"Erm... we d-didn't have any reason to take them seriously!"  The stallion gulped.  "You see, they're quite the impoverished, desperate bunch.  Every other month, they're showing up, trying to squeeze one favor or another from our reserves.  We've long since given up any and all respect for the ponies.  Like we have better things to do than provide handouts!  I know it's the Month of Thawing, but that means we're extra busy refining dredge coal for the surrounding prefectures!"

"Nnnnnghhh..."  Longaze face-hoofed, groaning.  "Verlaxion's sleet, I loathe the mountains..."

"Ma'am...?"

She looked up with a frown.  "Where are these villagers at present?  I would very much like to speak with them."

"Erm..."  The stallion turned and pointed towards Steamfall's southern gates.  "According to word from our employees, the village leader had pressing business to attend to at Braum.  He's since sent his subordinate to come speak with us in his stead.  I... I think they caught wind of your arrival and were hoping to gain an ear with company executives."

"Well, they shall have it."

"Ma'am?"

"Bring them to me at once," Longaze said.  "I shall deal with this situation, for it is of prime importance to the Consortium."

"And... erm... where should I tell them you'll be waiting?"

Longaze paused.  She stared at the surrounding factories and warehouses.  "Where might somepony find a place that's large...?"

"Large, ma'am?"

Her brow furrowed.  "Large and quiet..."





A family of ponies huddled in the corner of their turf house, quivering nervously.

"Don't worry," Sarda said, waving a hoof.  "This won't last very long.  I promised."  His piercing eyes swiveled aside, glaring at the griffons in the room.

Starstorm did her best to ignore them as she opened several doors and large cupboards, searching every inch of the room.  It was a very quiet, very awkward affair.

Seraphimus searched the other end, her charcoal eyes sweeping each exposed portion of the relatively tiny, claustrophobic abode.

Keris stood at the front stoop to the home, guarding the entrance.  He craned his neck, watching as the Commander and Sergeant went about their task swiftly, delicately.  There was a surprisingly small amount of clutter to toss about, which they avoided to the best of their ability.

"It's so... sparse in here," Keris found himself saying out loud.

"Of course, Sergeant," Sarda muttered.  "The ponies of Braum don't have much to hold onto."

Seraphimus glanced over.

Keris clenched his beak shut.

Seraphimus then glanced at Starstorm.

Starstorm sighed, closing the door to a lavatory.  She looked over, shaking her beak.  "Nothing."

Seraphimus nodded.  "Clear."  She gestured to Keris.

The Lieutenant nodded.  He and Sarda stepped out.  The other two members of the Talon exited up the steps of the turf house.  They felt the eyes of every pony in the village upon them.  With nerves of steel, they kept their cool.





Up above, Windburst hovered.  His wings flapped, disrupting the gentle snowfall.  He spotted Seraphimus and her two fellow wingmates as they exited one turf house and then stepped inside the next structure in the line of over two-dozen more.

He sighed, his beak producing vapors.  He glanced towards the west end of town, catching the glint of Raptr's silver armor in the gray daylight.  Raptr gestured from far, and Windburst waved back.

Shuffling the weight of his crossbow, Windburst continued scanning the lengths of Braum, making sure no strange bodies entered or exit within eyeshot.





"Mrmmmff..."  Rainbow Dash struggled and fussed with the restraints in the imprisoning tunnels below Braum.

"Maybe... uhm..."  Pinkie tapped her fuzzy chin.  "...maybe the edge of the cot is sharp enough to cut through the cords?"

"Pinkie, darling, it's just a normal cot."  Rarity glared.  "I assure you, the wood's varnished.  The edge isn't even sharp enough to scratch her coat!"

"So—like—what if she smashed it to splinters and used one of the sharp ends to slice the binds in half?"

"Grfff..."  Rainbow Dash siughed.  "Don't think I'd have enough strength to do that even if I was at full capacity, Pinkie."  Her stomach grumbled.  "I'm kinda running on empty here."

"But the ponies here were kind enough to feed you, Rainbow," Fluttershy said, fidgeting.  "Perhaps you should have partaken—"

"I don't like the dark stuff marinating in that broth of theirs, Flutters!" Rainbow snapped.  "Just... c-can't risk there being meat in it."

"Erm... I know that, Rainbow... but..."  Fluttershy bit her lip, staring aside.

Rainbow glared at her.  "What?"

"N-nothing..."

"I know what you're trying to suggest."  Rainbow gritted her teeth.  "Try putting yourself in my position and then ask yourself if it's such a smexy suggestion!"

Twilight sighed.  "Rainbow—"

Rainbow barked:  "And the first pony who even hints that I should consider removing the pendant to smash my way out of here is getting a swift kick in the flank once their butt becomes corporeal again!"

Twilight frowned.  "You.  Need.  To calm.  Down."

Rainbow clenched her eyes shut.  She slumped back on her cot.

After a few seconds passed, Twilight resumed speaking.  "Now... what I was going to suggest was that you focus your strength on exploring other parts of the tunnel.  We've all seen you perform remarkable feats of athleticism.  It's not a stretch of the imagination that you can afford some movement at least, despite the restraints."

Rainbow gulped.  "They'll just catch me and throw me back here."

"Who will?"  Twilight looked at Fluttershy.  "Fluttershy, are there any villagers nearby?"

Rainbow shook her head.  "They're all above ground, along with Sarda and the Talon."

"See?"  Twilight looked at Rainbow.  "The tunnels are empty.  You should take the opportunity to wander and search for something sharp to cut the binds with!"

Rarity gestured.  "There's a supply of metal... things about two turns in that direction, darling!"  She smiled hopefully.  "Could be digging tools!  I bet a pickaxe would help you right about now?"

Rainbow's ears drooped as she looked off in a dull direction.

Pinkie Pie craned her neck.  "What's wrong, Rainbow?"

"You're... you're all being so helpful."  Rainbow grimaced.  "And all I do is keep getting myself in worse and worse messes."

"Oh darling..."  Rarity shook her head.  "Don't be so hard on yourself."

"Shouldn't I?"  Rainbow frowned.  "This journey is—like—super friggin' important."  She gulped.  "And nopony knows it more than me.  And yet... I'm the one making stupid mistakes."

"But Dashie!"  Pinkie blinked.  "It's you versus an entire continent of baddies right now!"

"Wouldn't be the first time..."

"And who got you through those straits, huh?"  Twilight smiled.  "Eljunbyro.  You had friends to provide wind to your wings."

"And now we're providing oomf to your hoofsies!"  Pinkie beamed.  "It fits the pattern to a T!"

Rainbow sighed.  "...just sucks that you gotta do so much work when it's up to me to save you."

"We're friends, Rainbow," Twilight said.  "Let us work together to save ourselves... together."

"You've carried us this far," Fluttershy said.  "And we'll gladly carry you just as far, if not further."

"Especially since your wing is down for the count," Rarity said.

Rainbow gazed limply at the left side of her body.  "Yeah..."

"So, how about it?"  Twilight pointed down the tunnel.  "Think you can make it to where Rarity's sensed the metal substance?"

"Mrmmmfff..." With a grunt, Rainbow threw herself off the cot.  Thwump!  She winced, but nevertheless began inching along her belly.  "Unnnff... can't promise this will happen quickly..."

"That's the spirit, Dashie!"  Pinkie pumped a hoof in the air.  "Erm... I think."

"And don't any of you dare make a caterpillar joke."

"Hey..."  Fluttershy smirked aside.  "Where's a large green apple when you need one?"

Rarity and Twilight giggled.

"Eugh... friggin' back seat fliers..."  Rainbow nevertheless smirked under her sweat.  Grunting and panting, she inched her way down the tunnel, guided by flickering torchlight.
> From a Frozen Mile Away
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Right this way," muttered a stallion in company uniform.  He and a few other members of the Consortium led Kayman and two other villagers to the large square opening of a three-story building along the northeast corner of Steamfall.  "Our representative would like to speak with you."

Kayman glanced left and right.  He squinted at the lines of dormant trains and silent smokestacks beneath falling snow.  "Your smog town has quieted down all of the sudden."

"Company ponies are entitled to breaks," said the stallion.  "I can't expect a pony like you to know."

"Just this part of Steamfall, though?"  Kayman gestured towards the western edge of the complex, still brimming with smoke.  "And since when was this area so abandoned?"

"You don't make many visits here.  What would you know?"

"And furthermore..."  Kayman squinted.  "...why the sudden change of heart?  Your superiors practically threw Sarda out on his flank hours ago."

The stallion in uniform took a long, fuming breath.  His hooves scuffled as he stood before the warehouse entrance.  "We are here."  His nostrils flared, and yet he managed a calm exhale.  "Chandler's secretary will see you now."

"Brye Chandler's secretary?!"  Kayman's muzzle grimaced.  He exchanged disgusted looks with his two companions.  "Is this some kind of joke?!  We were told that we'd be talking with somepony important."

"Oh.  Believe me.  Ms. Longaze is as important as ponies get."  The stallion gestured through the square entrance.

Kayman blinked.  Fighting a frown, he bravely strolled into the interior.  His two fellow villagers from Braum followed him.

It was intensely dark inside.  As Kayman's eyes adjusted to the change in light, he found himself staring at a veritable forest of tall, looming steam-tanks.  They stood like brass obelisks, attached to one another via thick pipes.  Up above, a series of dark metal catwalks loomed.  Light filted in dull and gray through wide translucent windows that hugged the ceiling of the massive building.

"... ... ..."  Kayman sighed.  "This is manticore flop."  He looked at his friends.  "They're just wasting our time."

"On the contrary..."

Kayman jolted in place.  He and his companions looked up.

The tip of Longaze's horn glowed as she stepped to the edge of the catwalk looming above the trio.  "...you terribly risk wasting mine."  Brown eyes narrowed in the cold snowlight.  Her voice echoed off the many-many brass bodies looming between her and the villagers.  "Please.  I have the assets of a ginormous company to overlook.  Let us cut to the case.  The Rainbow Rogue—do you truly have her?"

Kayman took a deep breath.  "Yes."  He nodded.  "As my boss, Sarda, claimed during his first visit."  He frowned.  "But none of your sorry lackeys here bothered to believe him—"

"What was or wasn't said is neither her nor there," Longaze droned.  "I've summoned you to this place so we can conduct an exchange like civilized ponies."

"Then why don't you hop down here and let us talk muzzle to muzzle?"  Kayman smirked.  "Like civilized ponies?"

Longaze merely glowed.  The glowing tip of her horn formed angry shadows across her brow.

"Let me guess.  Can't stand the smell of 'putrid Braum filth?'"  Kayman sighed.  "Very well."  He shook his head.  "I can't conduct an exchange here."

"And why not?"

"Because the Rainbow Rogue is in Braum."  Kayman paced closer to the shadow of the catwalk where she stood.  "What I am here for is to discuss payment of the bounty so that we may then proceed with the exchange."

"That is hardly fair."  Longaze rested her forelimbs on the catwalk's railing.  "How do I even know that she's in your possession?  You can't possibly have evidence on you."

"I have my word as a loyal defender of Braum.  As does Sarda."

"What meaning is that to me?"

"I can't expect you to know," Kayman grumbled.  "You... a mare who's obviously sacrificed honor for a corporate facsimile of order."

"We can exchange insults all day, but that's not what I'm being paid for," Longaze said.  "The bitterness here in Ivory Prefecture is none of my concern.  The Rainbow Rogue is."  She leaned back and took a breath.  "If the money is so important to you, would you mind telling me why you left the Rogue in Braum?"

"Because we can't trust the Consortium to conduct a fair exchange on your own property."

"Well, that much is quite obvious."  Longaze's brow furrowed.  "But there must be an even bigger reason, isn't there?"

Kayman's friends bit their lips.

At last, Sarda's right-hoof stallion sighed and said, "The Right Talon of Verlaxion."

Longaze blinked.  "The Talon is here?"

"They're in Braum."  Kayman pointed in a vaguely southern direction.  "And they're scouring every inch of the village.  Every structure and turf house."

"I see..."  Longaze clenched her jaw tight.  "If they find the Rogue—"

"It's obvious that the Consortium wants the Rogue, considering how much you're willing to pay for her."  Kayman's eyes narrowed.  "And you... are willing to pay for her, yes?"

"We do.  But the Talon present a problem."

"I'm glad we can agree about one thing."

"Question..."  Longaze paced along the catwalk.  "If I know the Talon—then a thorough sweep of a Rohbreddenite village means that they will have cut off all traffic coming and going."  She squinted at the stallions below.  "Exactly how in Verlaxion's name did you make it out of there?"

"Braum has survived blizzards, famine, and bandit attacks from all sides for centuries," Kayman spoke proudly.  "We've grown quite versatile when it comes to surviving in Ivory Prefecture."

"In other words..."  Longaze cocked her head to the side.  "...you have a tunnel system."

"The Rogue is secured for now," Kayman said.  "That's all you need to know."

Longaze merely continued:  "And your tunnel system must afford you a way out of the village... where the Talon's eyes cannot see."

"That..."  Kayman glared up at her.  "...is none of your business."

"My little pony..."  Longaze spoke firmly from up high.  "I am putting my faith, my time, and my company's bits on the line for this exchange.  If we're truly to pass the Rogue from your hooves to mine, then I must know every detail involved in the process.  The more we fight and squabble over 'pleasantries,' then the longer this limbo continues, and the more risk there is of the Talon flying off with their prey.  In that case, nopony wins... nopony but the Council of Verlaxion, of course.  And we both know how much they care about Braum and its numerous issues here in Ivory Prefecture."

Kayman bit his lip.  He looked at his companions.  They hung their heads.

"Well?"  Longaze blinked.  "What will it be?  We've both come this far.  It's not too late to amend things between your village and Steamfall."  She inhaled.  "I'm certain your leader Sarda would approve of such measures."

Kayman sighed.  "... ... ...there's a passage that leads north."

"North?"

"The tunnels beneath Braum stretch beneath every building and turf house.  Only the villagers know how to enter or exit.  The Talon will never find it—at least not without compromising their respect for domesticate property."

"Is that how you were able to leave and enter Steamfall?"

Kayman said, "The north passage exits into a thicket of dense trees.  It is the best place for us to exchange the Rainbow Rogue.  If you send a small contingent of Consortium workers there with the bounty's reward, we'll meet with them and relinquish the Rainbow Rogue."  Kayman held a hoof over his chest.  "You have my promise that she's alive and in one piece.  She even still possesses the pendant around her neck as indicated in the posters."

Longaze leaned back, tapping her chin.  "I see..."

"So..."  Kayman took a step forward.  "I have made my show of faith.  Now I kindly request a show of yours."  His eyes narrowed.  "What assurance do I have that you will pay every single bit as indicated by the bounty?"

Longaze cleared her throat.  "Here is my assurance, Ivory peasants."  Within seconds, her horn glowed with a flash!

Scrkkkkkkkkk!  A massive sliding door made of metal closed behind them.

"H-huh?!"  Kayman spun around with a gasp.  All gray light from the outside world vanished.

THUDDD!  The door to the warehouse sealed shut.  Kayman's friends rushed up to it, grunting, struggling to force the thing back open.  In thick, shadowy blurs, a pair of metal wrenches ricocheted off their skulls.  Th-Thackkk!  The stallions fell hard to the ground, sputtering, twitching.

Th-Thap!  A set of hooves landed behind Kayman.

"...!"  Kayman spun around.  Upon seeing Longaze, he snarled and unsheathed a dagger from his cloak.  "Mrmmmf!"  Clenching the weapon in his teeth, he charged her.  "You conniving shitstain—"

"Please."  All she had to do was wink.

"Grkkkk!"  Kayman lurched in place.  His muscles quivered as his body was lifted up in expert telekinesis.

"I survived Red Barge," Longaze droned.  "Put some thought into your insults."  Another eye twitched and—

Fwoooooosh!  Kayman was slammed up against the door.  Clanggg!  "Aaaaugh!"  He yelped—but lost all breath when a length of brass pipework was pressed up to his chest.  He wheezed and sputtered for breath.

Longaze shuffled up to him.  She seethed as she applied telekinetic pressure.  "Now... you're going to tell me exactly how to find this 'north passage.'"  The air between them lit up from her burning horn.  "Or else I'm going to show you what your friends' entrails here taste like."

"Mmmrfff... grkkk..." Kayman writhed under the pipe.

"Yes.  It's quite fine."  Longaze's eyes glinted in the manalight as she pressed the pipe into him even harder.  "Scream if it will help you clear the pipes..."





Outside the warehouse, a line of uniformed stallions stood.

Just then, a loud, pained howl emanated from within the three-story structure.  It rattled the windows and shook clumps of snow off the roof's edges... but the sound was swiftly swallowed up by the immensity of Steamfall's scale... and drowned by the looming mountains bordering the facility.

Young workers bit their lips, fidgeted, but continued minding their posts.  A stallion in a company uniform cleared his throat, brushed flakes of snow off his shoulders, and continued staring off into the smoggy distance.  His eyes twitched to the sound of more and more screams.  He didn't move an inch.

> In the Absence of Blessings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Hours had passed since the Talon began their search.  The villagers of Braum—no longer quite as tense as they were at the start—now stood outside the entrances to their homes and establishments.  They watched as the armored griffons went about their business, filtering in and out of building after building.

Seraphimus stood in a white patch of snow.  She waited outside a two-story inn on the east side of town.  The Commander glanced west, spotting Raptr's figure from afar.  Despite the rookie's best efforts, he was visibly shivering from the constant chill of Ivory Prefecture.

Jaws clenched, Seraphimus glanced east.  She spotted Windburst—who was doing considerably better than the younger Sergeant.  Nevertheless, Seraphimus blinked thoughtfully, then gazed at Sarda.

The leader of Braum stood with his fellow stallions right outside the inn.  While his comrades spoke and murmured amongst themselves, Sarda stood dead-still, glaring ahead into space.  Lost in thought.

Seraphimus raised an eyecrest.  At the sound of scraping claws, she glanced at the inn's entrance.

Keris and Starstorm walked out.  Starstorm looked exhausted, her shoulder slumped beneath her armor.  The two guardians directly approached Seraphimus.

"Nothing?" Seraphimus muttered.

Starstorm exhaled, almost wheezing.  "Sorry, Commander.  The Rogue's nowhere to be found.  I... I've searched everywhere."

"Indeed she has," Keris murmured.  "I lent a second pair of eyes to make sure nothing was missed."

"Of that, I have no doubt."  Seraphimus looked across the village.  "Where does that leave us?"

"Two more rows of turf houses and three barns."

Starstorm shuddered, her limbs weak.

"Sergeant."  Seraphimus pointed west.  "Switch with Raptr.  Stretch your wings; rest your limbs."

"Yes, Commander..."  Starstorm straightened her helmet.  Arms dangling, she very gladly flapped her wings and drifted west.  "Thank you, Commander."

Keris cleared his throat.  "Am I right to guess that I'll be taking Windburst's post?"

"One thing at a time, Lieutenant."  Seraphimus looked at him.  "Tell me.  What is your assessment of the situation?"

"I think it's obvious to the both of us that the esteemed Mr. Sarda is hiding something."

"Mmmm... indeed."  Seraphimus nodded.  "But how could it be eluding us both?"

"I'm certain we have the power to find out," Keris said.  "But... perhaps not the good grace."

Seraphimus blinked at that.  "...something you wish to tell me, Lieutenant?"

Keris clenched and unclenched his beak.  All of the sudden, he signaled Windburst.

Windburst saw the gesture.  He left his post, swiftly gliding down to join the two.  Th-Thap!  "Lieutenant?"

Keris motioned the griffon to stand close.  All three members of the Talon drew in until they were whispers apart.  "Sergeant," Keris spoke.  "You're familiar with this region, are you not?"

"Reasonably so, sir," Windburst said.  He glanced at Seraphimus.  "Although not as knowledgeable as I am about Stone and Seed Prefectures."

"What sense would it make for the villagers of Braum to pack all of their goods and resources in two rustic barns?"

"None whatsoever," Windburst said.  "In this weather, the materials would risk being damaged by the cold.  For proper insulation, it would make far better sense to pack everything underground."

"But the turf houses here are for local residents," Seraphimus said.

"Only the ones that we've seen," Keris insisted.

Seraphimus squinted.  "...what are you implying?"

"Ivory Prefecture is a prime hotspot for bandits and raiders of trade routes," Windburst said.  "It would make sense for the ponies here to conceal their storage underground."

"Conceal?"  Seraphimus blinked.  "As in hidden tunnels?"

"Considering the age of this town, I'm certain such a system would be quite expansive," Keris said.

"Then how come we haven't found any entrance to such a place?" Seraphimus remarked.

"I suspect that we have," Keris muttered.  "Without knowing and without being told... because the entrances are likely hidden in such places that uncovering them would compromise the sanctity of these ponies' homes."  He cleared his throat.  "At least in ways that would go above and beyond the attention we've put into the search thus far."

Sarda stared at the huddled griffons afar.

Seraphimus saw him looking.  With a growling tone, she muttered, "And guess who is constantly watching us... making sure we don't find such a tunnel system."

"Well, screw him," Windburst muttered, glaring across the falling snow.  "If he's harboring the Rainbow Rogue, then that makes him an enemy of Rohbredden."

Keris pointed.  "We are not at war with the ponies of Braum, Sergeant."

"But—"

"But nothing."  Keris glared.  "We are cold, tired, and hungry from our search.  But let us not allow such frailties to mar our judgment."  He glanced at the onlooking crowds.  "If there is an underground storage area beneath us—and all things considered, that's looking quite likely—then Sarda and his stallions will risk anything to keep it hidden.  It compromises far more than the location of the Rainbow Rogue, but the future stability of this entire village."

"So you're saying we should just... let them have the Rainbow Rogue?!"

"I'm saying that if we try and take her by force, then it will turn into a national incident."  Keris took a deep breath.  "This is an old community, and the ponies who run this place are well acquainted with the law and legacy of the land.  If we start an issue, then they will take it to the highest reaches of the Court of Verlaxion.  Bringing in the Rainbow Rogue is one thing, but with our elite numbers so sparse... can we really risk the future stability of the Right Talon of Verlaxion?"

"But... b-but national security is at risk!"  Windburst hissed, crossbow rattling.  "The Court would understand—"

"You've seen the corruption of Red Barge," Keris said.  "The remnants of the bandit camp in the Petrispines.  Just what does the Court understand anymore?"

"Again with this, Lieutenant?!"  Windburst frowned.  "Just whose side are you on these days—"

"Shhhhh!"  Seraphimus insisted.  "Let us not squabble like children."

"But Commander!"  Windburst gestured wildly at Keris.  "You heard him just now—"

"Yes, Sergeant.  I do hear him."  Seraphimus dull charcoal eyes swam in the Lieutenant's direction.  "Believe me... there isn't a day that goes by that I don't hear his words echoing like midnighter song in my skull."

Keris stood tall, smirking ever so slightly under his beak.

Silence.

"So... so what do we do?!"  Windburst folded his arms with a frown.  "I enlisted with the Talon so I could hunt down criminals, not perform a ballet with snow-covered trade towns."

"You must expect every eventuality, Sergeant," Seraphimus droned.

"If I wanted to walk on eggshells for a living, I would have joined my sister at the nurseries up in Gale Roost!"

"A little light on the sarcasm, please," Seraphimus said.  "You'll be joining Raptr in the search now, after all."

"Right."  Windburst nodded.  "And... should I be ripping wall panels down in search for tunnel entrances?"

"Negative."

"But—"

"Carry on with the search in accordance with protocol," Seraphimus said.  She strolled forward.  "Let them think that we know nothing."

"What are you planning, Commander?" Keris asked.

"I am planning on you trusting me, Lieutenant," Seraphimus said over her shoulder.  "If intimidation doesn't work... and protocol won't help us extract the Rogue... then it's time for something else entirely."

"And what's that?"

"Honesty."

Keris blinked.

Seraphimus took a breath.  "I knew you would approve."  As Raptr and Starstorm flew back, she approached Sarda, standing in front of him.  Her charcoal eyes narrowed.  "Walk with me.  We need to talk."

"Whatever you have to say, you can say it to me here in front of my advisors," Sarda said.

Seraphimus leaned forward.  "Walk.  With.  Me."  Her eyes took on a steely glint, matching her voice.  "If you value the safety of your village as I value the lives of my wingmates, then you will perform this necessary act of good faith."  She strolled off, motioning for him.  "It is—after all—the proper burden of a true leader."

Sarda blinked at that.  He fidgeted in place... then eventually trotted after her.  A few stallions gasped, shuffling after him.  Sarda simply waved a hoof, ordering them to remain where they stood.  The villagers watched nervously as he strolled off on his own, joining the Commander's side.





"Commander..."  Sarda sighed, marching up a powdery snowbank as he followed the griffon.  Behind them, Keris and Starstorm took to the air while Raptr and Windburst carried on with the search.  "For Verlaxion's sake.  How long is this pointless search going to take?"  He frowned.  "All trade has ceased since you and your associates have begun the laborious process.  You've essentially shut all of Braum down, which is costing us money and resources.  And for what?  I kindly ask that you carry your wild hunt elsewh—"

Seraphimus swiveled to face him, claws kicking up snow.  "Cease your banal prattle," she seethed.  "I know the Rogue is here in your village.  You know the Rogue is here.  Every second wasted in the search is leeching my time as much as yours.  If there's anypony here who needs to relinquish this ongoing absurdity, it's you."

Sarda glared.  "How dare you.  I've been nothing but compliant all this time and—"

"You've been anything of the sort and you know it."  Seraphimus stared coolly back at him.  "The only reason my wingmates haven't found the Rogue's hiding place is because you haven't allowed us into your extensive underground storage area."

Sarda fumed.  His hard eyes fell to the snow.  "This is insane.  I've had about all I can take of you and the Court's distrustful attitude."

"Look at me," Seraphimus said.

Sarda stood in place.

"I said... look at me," the Commander's voice rang.

With a gulp, Sarda raised his grizzled muzzle.

Seraphimus stared into his eyes.  "I don't hunt the Rogue because she is a common criminal, and I don't chase her for sport.  My pursuit of her is something mandated by the highest Court of Law that the Six Tribes hold.  The Court of Verlaxion has deemed her a threat to our nation as a whole.  She's already destroyed an entire sanctuary of Goddess-fearing monks, and she practically laid waste to a whole dredge coal facility.  Can't you see why I must bring her in?"

"I can see that the Court needs its trophies to believe in itself," Sarda sneered.  "In an age where Verlaxion hasn't shown her holy face for practically centuries, it must be hard to prove one's legitimacy."

"That's an attitude befitting Colonialists and the Consortium," Seraphimus said.  "And every other heartless, godless organization that has risen to replace honor with money."  She shook her head.  "Somehow, I very much doubt that you count yourself amongst such heathens."

Sarda stared at her.

Seraphimus softly said, "The Rainbow Rogue is a threat.  A danger.  And right now... by harboring her where my wingmates and I can't see?  She's endangering everything you've sworn to protect your entire life."  She gestured.  "Your family.  Your children.  Your neighbors and your trading partners."

"Is this your plan, now?" Sarda murmured.  "To intimidate me?"

"No."  She shook her head.  "Dear foal of Verlaxion... I tell you this so I won't have to resort to that."  She gulped.  "This is no mere pegasus.  You don't understand... you haven't seen.  She..."  Seraphimus grimaced.  She squirmed slightly in place.  "She..."  Her eyes drifted to Keris in the distance.  "...she has powers."

Sarda blinked.  "Powers?"

Seraphimus sighed.  "Yes."  She swallowed.  "Mysterious.  Ungodly.  And annoying."  Her beak clenched as she paced around the stallion.  "My Lieutenant tried explaining her unearthly senses to me.  And... I must admit... I scarcely believed him at first.  I suppose it's an easy thing to doubt.  After all—these past few months the Talon has been dealing entirely with thick-headed terrorists and arsonists.  Nothing even remotely as elusive and... metaphysical as this creature from beyond the Blight."

"She's from west of the Blight?" Sarda wheezed.  "I... thought that was just a rumor."

Seraphimus scuffled to a stop.  "Oh yes.  She is.  I... can embrace that fact now."  She reached up and pulled her helmet off with a shudder.  "The way she's eluded us in the Mist Cliffs... the way she single-hoofedly sprung a trap for Windburst, my best eyes in the sky."  She tilted her head back, shaking flakes of snow off her silver plumage.  "The way she burned the Reed to a crisp in the Quade."

Sarda simply stared at her.

"And... and of course..."  Seraphimus exhaled.  "...my Lieutenant speaks of this... beastly form she takes on... when that pendant around her neck is so much as removed."

Instantly, Sarda jolted.  He brushed a nervous hoof through his mane as his eyes fell to the frosted grass beneath them.

Seraphimus saw it.  She pivoted her head icily to stare at him.  "You've... seen this, haven't you?"

Sarda cleared his throat.  "Your... uh... Lieutenant has a wild imagination."

"No."  Seraphimus shook her head.  "He doesn't.  Which is precisely why I've always trusted him... until now."  She exhaled.  "And such doubt has only served to confound our efforts.  Well..."  She shook her head.  "No more.  I've flown into this blind, as you have."

"You're blinder than you know," Sarda grumbled.  "You and the whole damn Council."

Holding her helmet, Seraphimus marched towards him.  "Then illuminate us so that we may see—"

"Like you'll give a damn!"  Sarda flung a frown at her.  "All you Talon griffons care about is bringing back heads on a platter for the fat horses in Frostknife to drool over!"  He shook a hoof.  "You don't actually bother with guarding the Prefectures!  It's all just a sacramental blood sport for you!  Disguised as sovereign justice!"

"The Goddess Verlaxion charges us with eliminating all threats to her children and we follow through—"

"Our 'Goddess' abandoned us long ago!" Sarda spat.  "Why else would Rohbredden and the seas surrounding it be filled with so much filth and garbage?!"  He leaned back with a hot breath.  "Only a dense, bird-brained warrior would think otherwise!  Hmmmff... probably explains why you're so damn good at your job."

Seraphimus stood quietly in front of him.  She stared at the stallion for a long time.  "...you have lived in doubt for so long.  How very bleak... so very empty.  I pity you."

"Heh... I bet you do, Commander."

"Indeed.  I do."  Seraphimus pivoted her helmet around until her dull expression reflected off the glossy surface.  "You think you're the only creature on this frozen continent that experiences doubt?"  She stared at her own charcoal eyes.  "I gave my heart and soul to the protection of Verlaxion's best interests when I was only a hatchling.  In all these years, has she rewarded me?  Absolutely... and yet..."  Her breath fogged up the silver surface, so she wiped it clean once again with a nimble wrist.  "...despite my best efforts, more and more criminals pop up in the deepest hiding places of Rohbredden.  Ancient monuments are defaced... families are terrorized... children are orphaned.  And... and my family..."

Sarda squinted curiously at her as she placed her helmet back on her feathery crown.

Seraphimus set the headpiece in place.  She sighed vaporously, her eyes closed.  "...my family dies slowly... one frigid month after another... poisoned years ago by dredge dust when a mine north of their village collapsed.  And I?  I was miles away... chasing bandits down... for Verlaxion's glory.  Over a decade has passed since they were placed into the frosted caverns west of Frostknife... waiting for a cure to their terminal condition."

Her charcoal eyes opened, sharp and glinting.

"I... have prayed for their delivery every day since.  I have entreated Verlaxion for her divine deliverance, and yet they still waste away in frozen storage."  A gulp.  "I suppose I've been a dishonest griffon.  I've... not admitted the depths of my anger and frustration to her.  I felt that channeling it into my hunt would only make me serve her all the stronger.  And someday—in reward for my faith—she will restore my husband and child to me.  And yet... I still wait."

At last, she looked at the village leader.

"We do not live in a perfect world.  You will always have struggles to contend with, as I will always have evil to eliminate.  I thought that by restricting my vision to the continent itself, my job would be done all the more efficiently, and innocent citizens like you and the residents of Braum wouldn't suffer.  And yet—here comes this Rainbow Rogue—a creature originating from an unholy place so far out of my jurisdiction that I haven't yet found the appropriate measures to stop her."

She stepped through the snow, closing the distance between them.

"But her threat to these lands can still be dealt with.  I need your help to do it.  I'm sorry, dear sir, that you've felt isolated and abandoned out here in Ivory Prefecture for so long.  The fact is... with the blessing of our Goddess or not... it is up to souls like us to ensure a healthy future for the kingdom that she so divinely unified ages ago.  We cannot expect her to do everything.  We wouldn't be responsible children if it was that simple, now would it?"

Sarda was shivering at this point.  His ears drooped slightly.

Seraphimus managed a tiny smile at least.  "I promise that I will do whatever is in my power to bring the issues of Braum to the Council once the Rogue is brought in.  But how far will we go on such paths if we are unwilling to assist each other?"

Sarda gulped.  He gazed off towards the north.

Seraphimus squinted, following his gaze.

"She..."  Sarda winced as he said it.  "...she is alive and in one piece.  I have her bound and isolated someplace where she can't escape."

Seraphimus clenched her beak.  "You are so certain of this?"

"Yes, I am."

Seraphimus exhaled vapors, staring off across the snow.  "That's what I was afraid of," she grumbled.

"You must understand..."  Sarda said.  "I cannot just... give her to the Talon."

"I promise you that there will be no legal repercussions if you just—"

"It's not about that either!" Sarda growled.  He glared at her.  "I need the bits."

"Bits?"

"The bounty!"  Sarda's brow furrowed under snowfall.  "You do know about the bounty, do you not?"

"Of course."  Seraphimus nodded.  "But who would you expect to receive payment from?"

"Steamfall," Sarda said.  "The Shoreline Trade Consortium conducts the bulk of their northern business from there.  They're the ones offering the bounty on the Rainbow Rogue's head."

Seraphimus leaned back.  "...the Consortium, you say."

"Has the Talon had reason to deal with them before?"

Seraphimus glanced nebulously south.  "In a manner of speaking..."

"I do not mean to insult your word of honor," Sarda said.  "But payment in bits will mean far more than a promise of future protection."  He gulped.  "After all, it's the Consortium themselves who have been choking Braum and other villages around here of profit.  If we don't get that reward for the Rainbow Rogue, then we'll sink!  They'll roll in and buy us out and cover this entire plateau with factories profiting them and only them!"

"The Court has sanctions in check to prevent such an outrageous monopoly."

"Uh huh.  Yeah."  Sarda nodded with a crooked frown.  "Is that the same Court that the esteemed Brye Chandler is attempting to climb the ranks of?"

"... ... ..."  Seraphimus' eyes darted about.  "That pony isn't even a traditional magistrate."

"Doesn't matter.  Fact is, the only thing that cripples his dominance over Ivory Prefecture is distribution of wealth.  Braum needs that bounty.  If you really want to help us, then you'll let us have it."

"What... exactly are you proposing, good sir?"

Sarda leaned in.  "Let us do the exchange with the ponies in Steamfall," Sarda whispered.  "We get the money.  They get the Rogue."  He gestured.  "Either way, you'll know where she is.  Once she's in the safe clutches of the Consortium, then you can seize her.  Blight monster or whatever... she won't be a 'danger' to anyone anymore.  You see?  Everyone gets what they want."

"Except the Consortium," Seraphimus droned.  "Who will be short several hundreds of thousands of bits."

Sarda frowned.  "Buck 'em."

Seraphimus took a steely breath.  "Forgive me if I don't exactly share your vindictive attitude."

"Hah!" Sarda's eyes rolled.  "You hunt criminals and thugs left and right... and yet you don't know true filth when it's under your very own beak!"

"What are you saying?"

"Simply that the Consortium deserves a hit to the knees, financial or otherwise."  Sarda snorted.  "Verlaxion knows they've done far worse to ponies less deserving of it."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Heh... as if that's ever the Talon's concern."

"Please... we've come this far."  Seraphimus took a step closer, helmet glinting.  "Talk.  I am all ears."






"No no no, Dashie!" Pinkie Pie hissed.  "You're doing it all wrong!  It's 'down the alley,' not 'across the street!'"

"Uhm..."  Fluttershy glanced aside.  "Are you sure you're still talking about cutting binds loose?"

"Oh, for sure!"  Pinkie Pie nodded.  "Maud described it to me all the time!"

"It's still not accomplishing anything," Rarity said, pointing in the lantern light of the tunnel.  "Those ropes are just as solid as they were twenty minutes ago, darling."

"Maybe you're using too blunt a tool," Twilight said.  "Try searching for a set of sheers or something, Rainbow—"

"Shhhhh-shhhhhhh!"  Rainbow hissed.  She lay on her side, sweating, panting, struggling relentlessly to rub her binds raw against an exposed pickaxe.  "For the love of tap dancing parasprites!  Will you all just... stop babbling so much!"

"But we're only trying to help, Rainbow!" Rarity exclaimed.

"This thing is super duper sharp, Rares!" Rainbow grunted.  She licked her lips and rubbed the bindings harder against the axe's blade.  "It's just this darn friggin' rope stuff!  What'd they build this out of, anyway?"

"From the looks of it, hardened goat sinew," Fluttershy said.

Twilight wretched at the ghostly pegasus.  "Fluttershy?!  How could you possibly know that?!"

Fluttershy squirmed, her body phasing through a stack of crates.  "I... read b-books too, y'know."

"Eugh..."  Rainbow slumped down, wheezing.  "...this is getting me friggin' nowhere.  Maybe if I just reposition myself—"  She rolled over, grazing her left wing.  "OW!  Ow ow owwwwww—"

"Well, doin't do that, darling!" Rarity squeaked.

"Grrrrr!  I know, Rarity!  I'm the one attached to the stupid, limp feathers, aren't I?!"

"Well..." Rarity folded her forelimbs, pouting.  "I'm on ly trying to hel—"  Fl-Flash!  She disappeared in a lavender blur.

Rainbow Dash blinked.  "...Rarity?"

"What... wh-what just happened?" Fluttershy gasped.

"Huh.  Weird."  Pinkie rubbed her fluffy scalp.  "Rarity just poofed!"  She looked at the others.  "You don't suppose she hoofed it off to the Vanilla Zone ear—?"  Flash!  Pinkie vanished like condensation being wiped off a lavender window.

"Pinkie—!"  Rainbow wriggled, struggling to stand up.  Suddenly, her eyes rolled back.  "Euuughhh..."  Overwhelmed with dizziness, she collapsed on the floor of the tunnel.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Oh no!  Rainbow!"  Fluttershy hovered closer.  "What's happeni—!"  Flash!

"Flutter... shy..." Rainbow sputtered, quivering on the floor.

"What..."  Twilight looked at her own limbs.  They flickered in and out of the visual spectrum.  "...this... just like..."  She looked down.  "Shoggoth."

"And... the Quade..."  Rainbow fought to tilt her head up.  "Twilight.  I... I-I think that..."

"Just hold in there, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight exclaimed, flickering constantly.  "Take deep breaths!  And whatever you do, don't lose the penda—!"  Flash!

"Twilight!"  Rainbow Dash sat up, drenched with sweat.  Her eyes locked on something in the distance... something moving.

With Twilight gone, Rainbow's vision caught a dark figure shuffling towards her down the long... long hallway.  A ragged cloak was draped over the equine shape.  The torches overhead dimmed slightly, and the temperature of the tunnel dropped significantly.

Rainbow shook, shuddered.  Her breath came out suddenly in gray vapors.

Tiny plates of ice formed where the figure's hooves landed.  It came upon an obstruction—a stack of crates in its way.  Instead of casually walking around, the figure trotted up the wall, across the ceiling, and back down onto the floor of the tunnel.  As it evened out, the hood of its cloak flounced.  Rainbow Dash saw a pair of glowing blue eyes, shimmering like enchanted ice.  A cold vaporous mist poured out of every sleeve.

Rainbow Dash blinked, and then she frowned.  "You..." she sneered, every hair bristled across her back.

"Mmmmm... Austraeoh, Austraeoh, Austraeoh..."  The Divine's voice filtered between them as the figure came to an icy stop.  "Why did you stop traveling east?  You had one job..."
> The Oldest Spring in Action
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth.  "I have a good mind to kick your frozen face in!"

"A challenging prospect, for sure," spoke the golem.  An ice blue glow shimmered from deep beneath its hood.  "Assuming, of course, that I still have a face."  The figure cocked its head in the prone pegasus' direction.  "Do you still have a brain?"

"Grrrrr!"  Rainbow Dash shook and thrashed on the floor.  She fought past the dizziness and snarled, "Just shut up and bring my friends back!"

"My little pony, only you can do that.  That's the nature of the experiment.  It's always been."  The golem stepped closer, forming icy hoofsteps in the ground.  "Although, it seems as though you've forgotten.  How else would you have ended up here?"

"I'm stuck down here because your friggin' brainwashed goons keep chasing me to death!"  Rainbow's brow furrowed.  "If you suddenly care so much about my journey, then call them off!"

"Oh Austraeoh..."  Cold blue vapors rolled over the pegasus' trembling skin.  "I can no sooner do that than a snowflake can stop a mountainous avalanche.  I've since lost my glorious agency in this world.  But you?"  Two blue eyeslits flickered.  "You're the hinge upon which everything turns.  That's why the experiment is yours, not mine."

"Meanwhile, you're just going to let hundreds of thousands of Rohbreddenites suffer and die in ignorance!"  Rainbow spat.  "You're worse than Nevlamas!"

"Is that you speaking, or the witch you met in Kunmane?"

Rainbow blinked.  "H-huh?!"

Cold mists spread throughout the tunnel.  "I'm not the only ancient thing in this land that's observing you, Austraeoh," the voice of Verlax hissed.  "But, believe me, I'm the only one who can help you transcend."

"Oh yeah?"  Rainbow gulped.  "Transcend what?"

"Yourself."  A sleeved hoof pointed at Rainbow's left side.  "Or do you truly plan on being flightless for your entire journey?"





"When the mining communities of Dust and Lichen Prefectures were attacked... bullied..."  Sarda's eyes narrowed.  "The Consortium's militia simply remained dormant.  They didn't even raise a hoof to defend the outlying villages from dredge coal smuggling terrorists."

"They likely had their own interests to protect," Seraphimus replied, gazing across from him in the gentle snowfall.  "Negligence and malice are two different things."

"Stop playing devil's advocate and listen to what I am saying," Sarda spoke, leaning closer to the Commander.  "The last few waves of terrorist raids on villages didn't happen unannounced.  Rumors had spread weeks in advance.  The communities prepared as well as they could, but there was no proper way to defend their resources."

Seraphimus leaned her head to the side.  "And the Consortium?"

Sarda spat, "As soon as word spread of attacking bandits, the employees of the Consortium all retreated to Steamfall.  I'm talking every mare and stallion who worked in the industry—laborer and militia pony alike."

Seraphimus' feathery brow furrowed beneath her helmet.

"I'm telling you... they knew about the raiders, Commander," Sarda said.  "What's more, these terrorists with their dredge coal explosives never once attacked a Consortium outpost.  Ever."

"What would the Consortium possibly benefit from aligning themselves with such despicable creatures?" Seraphimus thought out loud.

"A sense of supremacy?  Invulnerability?"  Sarda shuddered.  "In the last few years, dozens of villages have sold their souls over to Chandler's operations.  Meanwhile, the executive himself ascends the ranks of influential Rohbreddenites.  I hear that he's an acting Magistrate now... with his very own seat in the Council."

"Not exactly...

"—even still, he has a voice among the elite of Frostknife."  Sarda frowned.  "While societies like us here in Braum have to live in terror."

"The Right Talon has spent the bulk of the last year battling these sporadic terrorists," Seraphimus firmly said.

Sarda nodded.  "And Verlaxion's blessings on you for doing so, Commander.  But..."  He sighed.  "...I'm afraid that this is just a ploy on behalf of a masterful chess player.  Just as my stallions and I have been worn thin trying to protect Braum and our neighbors, somepony out there has been playing you and your griffons."  His eyes narrowed.  "And now... with this whole Rainbow Rogue business... we're being dealt the biggest distraction of all."

"The fact that the Rainbow Rogue is a threat cannot be argued," Seraphimus said.  "That much is clear and obvious... something witnessed first-hand by my wingmates and I."  She took a deep breath.  "But your accusations about the Consortium are wild at best..."

"And yet... can you afford to overlook them, Commander?"  Sarda shuddered, his breath vaporous in the cold.  "You have an opportunity here... an opportunity to grab the Rogue—yes—but so much more."  He gulped.  "You can help bring back glory to Braum and nab your target and expose the Consortium for all of their foul deeds."

"And just how will repossessing the Rainbow Rogue from the Consortium serve to 'expose' them?"

Sarda spoke, "A pony is most transparent when he's desperate."

"As I'm seeing."

"I'm being serious."  Sarda clenched his jaws.  "Chandler's playing a wild game here.  He's always been doing so.  Give him a brief moment of glory.  Let his eyes light up at the acquisition of his bounty."  He snarled, "Then take it from him... and watch as the would-be savior of Rohbredden shows his true, rotten colors."

Seraphimus sighed.  "I am not out here to make new enemies."

"There are monsters out there that are far worse than you even imagine," Sarda said.  He sighed.  "And failing to respect that is why you all fail as guardians."

The Commander's charcoal eyes hardened at that.





"I don't know why I'm surprised to see you like this..." the golem paced around Rainbow in the tight tunnel.  "This continent is a very large spring indeed, and I've spent millennia tightening it."

"A little late f-for regrets, don't you think?" Rainbow's teeth chattered from the intense cold.

The figure grazed past her.  "Please, Austraeoh.  You're so familiar with frustration that I'm surprised you can't smell it in the air.  I expected more from you.  But... then again... you are mortal.  That gives you as much a crutch as an edge.  Still... a little push is needed if you're ever to finish the experiment."

"Rrrrrrrrgh!"  Rainbow kicked at the wall.  "Dang it!  Stop friggin' calling it an 'experiment!'"  She frowned hard.  "Are you here to gloat and barf lame poetry?  Is that how ancient snow dragons get their kicks these days?!"

"Don't be absurd."  A ghostly chuckle emanated from beneath the golem's hood.  "I relish a good dance and twirl.  Circles being as circles do, after all.  Speaking of which..."  The golem leaned in, exhaling vaporously across Rainbow's limbs.

The pegasus flinched, expecting the worse.

Instead, the binds around her limbs turned solid, fractured, and crumbled to frosty bits... freeing her.

"There we are.  The end to a most ridiculous knot."  The golem leaned back.  "You don't have to thank me.  I'd call you a tangle-foot, but... we both know better—"

"Rrrrrrrrgh!"  Rainbow immediately launched herself at the figure.  She wrestled with the cloaked golem's frozen neck.  "Spit it out!  What's your friggin' plan?!"

"I simply await for you at the heart of the circle," the voice poured out, dissolving on icy blue streams.  The air of the tunnel filled with a gentle hissing sound.  "You're likely to meet many characters on your journey.  But remember, Austraeoh... only I can help you..."

"Shut up with that nonsense!" Rainbow growled.  "Tell me what's your game!"

The blue light faded from within the hood.

"What's your trap at the next Seed?!?" Rainbow yelled.  "What must I do to free Applejack?!"

But it was too late.  The figure had dissolved entirely.  A blue mist faded all around Rainbow Dash, and now she clung to a limp cloak.

The mare stood there, panting.

"...Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow grimaced.  She flung a look behind her.

Twilight Sparkle hovered in place, blinking.  "What... what just happened?"  Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy appeared one by one behind her.  "Is... is your dizzy spell over?"

Rainbow gulped.  She looked at the fabric dangling in her grasp.  "... ... ...I just had a visit from Verlax."

Fluttershy gasped.

"Oh my..." Rarity trembled.

"She was here?"  Pinkie Pie yelped.  "And you kicked her butt?!"  A wide grin.  "Way to go, Dashie!"

"I... wish it was that simple," Rainbow shuddered.

"Wait... Rainbow, your binds!"  Twilight pointed.  "How did you get out of them?"

With a dull sigh, Rainbow tossed the cloak behind her and began marching forward.  "I didn't."

"Huh?"  Twilight winced as she and her fellow marefriends were dragged through crates and supplies and earthen corners.  "Wait!  Rainbow!"  She phased through several structures and levitated beside their anchor.  "Talk to us!  You just got visited by one of Verlax's frost golems, yes?"

"Where is it... where is it..."  Rainbow Dash fumbled around the labyrinthine burrows.  "I swear to Celestia, if I had a dime for every friggin' time I had to recover Luna's saddlebag..."

"Rainbow!"  Twilight pouted.  "What just happened here?!"

"Ah-HA!"  Rainbow grinned, leaping towards a table where her two backpacks were hiding.  She slipped on Luna's midnight purple accessory, and then the saddlebag she got at Kunmane.  "Still has all my stuff in it too.  Heh... gotta hoof it to these... Braumites... but at least they're not thieves."

"Rainbow, please don't ignore Twilight," Rarity insisted.

Twilight gulped.  "Did... did Verlax just free you?"

Rainbow lingered in place.  She muttered, "Looks like it."

"But..."  Pinkie scratched her head.  "...why?"

"She kept insisting that I'm supposed to 'finish the experiment,'" Rainbow explained.  "And she claimed that only she 'could help me.'"

Fluttershy gulped.  "Crazy as ever..."

"Seriously, why must she be so cryptic?" Rarity remarked.

"She's obviously making a lot of assumptions," Twilight said, rubbing her chin.  "Both about Austraeoh and Rainbow Dash."

"Yeah... but just how blind is she?"  Rainbow looked at her friends.  "I mean... she has so much time on her side and—"

"You're not saying that you actually believe her, darling?" Rarity exclaimed.

Rainbow sighed.  "No.  Not at all.  It's just... she knows something."  Her jaw clenched.  "And she's hiding it from me... at least until the hammer falls."

"I don't like the sound of th-that hammer," Pinkie whimpered.

"Rainbow's being metaphoric, Pinkie."  Twilight trembled slightly.  "...right?"

"Look, all I care is that you guys are back."  Rainbow tightened the bags around her flank.  "And now I've got the opportunity to get the heck out of here.  Which way to the north passage that exits out of this crudhole, Rares?"

"Uhm..."  Rarity pivoted, then pointed.  "That way."

"Good."  Rainbow began galloping.  "Cuz screw this place.  Screw Braum... screw Sarda... screw the Talon..."  Her nostrils flared.  "But most of all... screw Verlax."

"I just don't get it."  Twilight shook her head.  "Verlax goes to all this effort to establish a society that utilizes a griffon attack squad.  And yet... she wants the chase to continue?"

"Don't question madness, Twilight.  I've run into it more than once.  Most uncool."

Fluttershy suddenly gasped.  "Rainbow...!"

"And I'm not trying to be unsympathetic to the mentally ill, Flutters," Rainbow said, galloping down a straightaway.  "It's just that some creatures are purely..."  She scuffled to a stop, staring muzzle-to-muzzle with a blonde mare blocking the exit.  "...evil."

"... ... ..."  Longaze's eyes narrowed.  "There's my bounty..."

"Eeeep!" Pinkie eeeep'd.

"Holy..."  Rainbow Dash stumbled back, eyes wide.

"It's the mare from Red Barge..." Twilight exhaled.

"How in Queen Ledo's gold-embossed butthole did you get here?!" Rainbow stammered.

Longaze's horn glowed brilliantly.  "The same way that you won't get out," she snarled, and fired a blast of magic down the tunnel corridor.  FLAAAAAASH!
> That's So Underground, Rainbow Dash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	SMASSSSH!

Smashed crates and wooden splinters rained all across the corridor.

Rainbow Dash slid to the side, pressing her body against the tunnel wall as debris scattered around her.

"Blblblblblblblblblbbbb!"  Pinkie twitched all over.  Overwhelmed with Pinkie Sense, the ghost collapsed entirely, her eyes rolled back.

"Gnnngh!"  Twilight Sparkle clutched her skull.  Her horn pulsed as she winced in Rainbow's direction.  "She's a very powerful magic user!"

P-POWWW!  Rainbow winced as an energy blast blew a hole wide in the wall above her.  She flinched, frowning through the falling dirt. "Ya think?!"

Fl-Flaaaaaaaaash!  Longaze calmly marched down the tunnel, firing stream after stream of mana.  "Give yourself up, Rogue!"  Flassssh!  The unicorn's brown eyes swept the walls and floors, searching for the barest hint of a blue coat.  "You don't have any steam clouds to aid you here!  No three-legged griffon to bail you out!"

"Hey!"  Rainbow stuck her head out from hiding.  "I could have kicked your lousy tail just fine back in Red B—"

"Rainbow!" Twilight hollered, her horn flickering.

Flaaaaaaaaaaaaaash!  A hot stream of magic burned towards her.

"Crud monkeys!" Rainbow dove for cover, narrowly dodging the blast.  BLAMMM!  Chunks of soil rained down all across the corridor.

"You have to be more careful than that, darling!" Rarity exclaimed.  She looked up, panting.  "This place wasn't built to withstand mayhem like this!"

"She came alone!" Fluttershy stammered as dust and debris phased through her.  "Maybe there's a way to lose her in this place?"

"Your stay in Braum is over with, Rogue!" Longaze hollered, marching closer.  Her hooves crunched over fallen chunks of debris.  "Come with me willingly like a good little mare."

"Goddess." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "I could write a book."  Twilight and Rarity blinked confusedly.

"Trust me.  You don't want the Talon to take you instead."  Longaze's brow furrowed.  "The pony I'm working for only needs you to make a statement.  If the Court had their way, they'd make literal mince meat out of you."

"You're the only one trying to mince anything here!" Rainbow hollered.  She peeked her head out from hiding.  "Just what did you do with Kayman and his buddies, huh?!"

"Who?"

Rainbow frowned.  "The ponies Sarda sent to make peace with Steamfall!"  Rainbow gnashed her teeth as more dirt and debris fell over her head.  "You work for the Consortium, don't you?  How the heck else would you know that I was here?!"

"Kayman and his friends are in one piece," Longaze droned, marching closer.  "If they hadn't started talking, however, they would have ended up in several."

Fluttershy gasped, clasping a hoof over her muzzle.

"You creepazoid!"  Rainbow hissed.  "You tortured them for the info, didn't you?"

"Don't concern yourself with the peasants of Braum," Longaze spoke in an emotionless tone.  Her horn glowed again.  "Right now, you should only concern yourself with holding your own blood."

"Rainbow!" Twilight yelped.  "She's about to unleash more magic—"

"Don't need to tell me twice!"  Rainbow dove out from hiding as—

FL-FLASH!  Two bright bolts of mana overshot her.  Rainbow flinched, her hooves grinding to a stop.  All of the sudden, she found herself sliding backwards.

"Huh?"  Rainbow blinked.  "What—whoah!"  The pegasus flipped backwards.

Longaze stood firmly in place, tugging Rainbow towards her with glowing telekinesis.  "I've wasted too much time and sweat on this stupid chase.  You're coming back to headquarters with me."

"Rainbow!" Rarity yelped, phasing through walls and crates.  "Do something!"

"I'm..."  Rainbow wheezed, spinning in mid-air.  "...flailing!"

"Dashie!"  Pinkie spontaneously stuck her ghostly head out of the blurring wall beside her.  "Kick the bucket!"

"...!" Rainbow spotted a rusted round container between her and Longaze.  "Not gonna question that twice!"  With a grunt—Clang!—she flung a hoof out and struck the object in question during her flyby.

Fwooosh!  The bucket spilled loose its contents—which turned out to be a pile of partially crushed dredge coal.  The rocks dissolved as they were swept up into Longaze's telekinetic current.

The unicorn gasped as she saw a fine cloud of toxic dust flying towards her nostrils.  Her horn pulsed, and she reversed the manastream completely.  Longaze leaned back, wincing.  After a few seconds, she inhaled clean air.  She squinted to see the material floating just a few bare inches in front of her.  With a frown, she parted the dust and marched on through.

A petite blue figure streaked around the nearest corner and bolted off to the side.

"Dammit..." Longaze gnashed her teeth.  With a boost of magic—POW!—she gave chase, forming a crater in the walls of the corridor behind her.





Rainbow Dash nervously galloped down the corridor, panting and sweating.

"She's chasing after us!" Fluttershy exclaimed.  "And f-fast!"

"Rainbow!" Twilight flew in front of the pegasus, slack-jawed.  "If she's the same mysterious mare that you fought at Red Barge, and she works for the Consortium, then that must have been the outside party that Skagra was associated w—"

"Dang it, egghead!  Does this look like the time for friggin' thinking?!"  Rainbow spun a look to her other side.  "Rarity!  I need a way out of here!"

"She blocked the only exit from Braum, darling!"

"Then find another one!"

"Uhm..." Rarity nervously pointed forward.  "Two spaces down, a left, and then the nearest ramp to the surface!"  She gulped.  "It'll take you to the cellar of the village tavern!"

"Good enough!"  Rainbow scampered faster.  "Let's make like Josho's butt and split!"

"But Rainbow!"  Rarity gasped.  "The Talon will be searching—"

"Let's outrun one peril at a time, okay?!"

"Woooooooooooo-boy!"  Pinkie hovered parallel, clutching her tail with all four limbs.  "Twitchy-tail times eleven, yo!"

Crkkkkkkk!

Rainbow's twitching eyes shot up.

The tunnel's rooftop ripped apart, showering dust and wooden planks down on the mare.

"When it rains..." Rainbow snarled, then juked left and right, dodging layers of debris by centimeters.

Thud!  Th-Thud!

All the while, blasts of mana surged through the streaming curtain of earth, slicing at Rainbow's figure.  Fluttershy and Rarity shrieked while Rainbow plowed through a mess of debris and scrambled to make a left turn.

A steely-frowned secretary angrily followed her from a distance, gaining speed, leaving the tunnels behind her in ruins.
> Bar's Closed Due To WHAM!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Snow fell in clumps off the branches of sporadic trees lingering along the northeast side of town.  Ponies standing outside their turf houses gasped and murmured amongst themselves as they felt the ground shake beneath them.

These details were not lost to Keris.  Hovering over the east end of Braum, the Lieutenant pivoted about.  His hawkeyes narrowed on the swaying tree branches, then at the citizens as they exchanged nervous glances.

Exhaling vaporous breaths, Keris floated a bit north of his location.  He passed the two-story tavern on the side of town, then lingered above a pair of warehouses.  A few spaces to the west, Starstorm emerged from having searched another turf house.

Immediately, the Lieutenant whistled, then gestured for her to meet with him.

Starstorm blinked.  The Sergeant looked over her shoulder at the conversation continuing between Seraphimus and Sarda.  Then, with a nervous shuffle, she flapped her wings and joined Keris' side.

"What's the matter, Keris?" she remarked.  "I'm still not finished with my search."

"Shhhhhh..."  The Lieutenant insisted, squinting across the snowy landscape.  "...do you feel that?"

Starstorm looked left and right.  "...feel what, sir?"

He glanced her way.  "When you were below ground level—just now—did you sense any... vibrations?"

Starstorm cleared her throat.  "I heard what sounded like a dull groaning.  But I assumed that was just the weight of the snow settling across the ground."

Keris took a deep breath.

"Why?"  Starstorm cocked her head to the side.  "What did you hear, Lieutenant?"

"I'm... not sure..."  He clenched his beak shut.  "Stay with me for a moment."

"Sir...?"

"Trust me."  Keris glanced quietly in Seraphimus' direction.  "I think something's happening beneath us."

Starstorm gulped.  "The Rainbow Rogue?"

"... ... ..."  Keris exhaled.  "Verlaxion willing..."





"Grgggnngh!"  Rainbow grunted, ramming her shoulder into a wooden slab at the very top of a set of earthen stairs.

"Just one more shove, darling!" Rarity exclaimed, worriedly looking down the ascending corridor.  The dancing lights of an approaching unicorn intensified behind them.  "It's giving way!"

"Raaaugh!" Rainbow Dash barreled through the trap door above her.

Her ears rattled with the sound of pots and pans scattering across a wooden floor.  Her head emerged into a fire-lit cellar.  A thick rug lay to her left, unrolled from where it had been spread over the entrance to the tunnels below.  Shelves and counters stretched all around her, covered with spices, ingredients, and cooking utensils.  A burning hearth loomed barely a sneeze away.

"Ooooh!"  Pinkie Pie blinked.  "Cozy!"

"We're not here for open house, Pinkie!" Twilight exclaimed.  "This must be the tavern's cellar, Rainbow Dash."

"Yes, but where's the way to the first floor?" Rainbow stammered.

"Over there!" Rarity pointed across the room.  "Just past the wooden barrels!  Beside the—"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaiiieee!" Fluttershy suddenly shrieked.

"What?!"  Rainbow spun, eyes wide.  "Is she here?!"

Teary-eyed, Fluttershy pointed at a series of dead rabbits hanging from a wooden rack next to the fire.  "They're barely past two winters!"

Rainbow sighed, ears folded.  "Fluttershy..."  She scrambled up and onto the cellar floor.  "Mrmmmffff... one of these days, I'm gonna need a map to figure you out."

"It's just that... that..."  Fluttershy sniffled.  "Nothing that fluffy deserves to slaughtered!"

"In case you haven't noticed, this fuzzy anchor of yours is in danger at the moment!"

"Rainbow!" Twilight pointed at the trap door.  "Maybe if you block it—"

"Good thinking, egghead!"  Rainbow Dash rushed across the underground kitchen and grabbed the end of a thick wooden table.  "Mrmmmmfffnngh!"  She shoved the thing—scraping—clear across the cellar until it loomed just above the trap door.  "Let's see Pretty Miss Mayhem march her way through this—"

Zaaaaaap!  There was a bright gold beam of energy and—POWWW!  The table exploded in brilliant splinters.

"Aaaaack!" Rarity and Pinkie shrieked, hugging each other.

Bug-eyed, Rainbow flew back from the blast, flailed, and scampered away under the rain of fresh splinters.  "Hooooooookaaaaaay!"  She gnashed her teeth, charging up the stairs.  "Flight over fight?!  Thought you'd n-never ask!"

Longaze emerged from the tunnels below.  She took one look at the steps and aimed her horn.  "Hrrrngh!"  Zaaaap!

A fresh crater formed in the side of the cellar wall just behind Rainbow's shaved tail.

"Verlaxion's sleet!"  Longaze hopped up onto the kitchen floor and gave chase.





Up above, on the first floor of the tavern...

The patrons froze at their seats and drinking spots.

Stallions and mares stared at one another across long wooden tables.  Villagers turned from where they squatted by the large hearth, warming themselves.  A bar maid with a tray of empty glasses balanced on her tray spun to face the bar on the far end of the room, blinking.

"Uhhhhh..."  A stallion wiped foamy cider from his muzzle.  "...did you all feel that?"

"Could..."  The bar maid gulped, trembling slightly.  "Could it be the Talon?"

"Mrmmmfff... wish they'd leave," grumbled the bartender as he polished a glass mug.

"Ugh..."  A mare at the bar rolled her eyes.  "Why won't they just leave us?"

"Yeah!  It's the Month of Thawing!  Time for celebration!"

"Eh... they think they can find the Rainbow Rogue here."  The bartender squinted down the mug, examining its translucent surface for spots.  "What a load of—"

Rainbow Dash's bulbous blue face materialized through the bottom of the mug.  "Fluttershy!  Why didn't you tell me there were so many ponies up here?!"

"HOSHIT!" The bartender dropped his mug and fell back on his flank.

Everypony stood up, gasping at the sight of the pegasus who had just scampered up the cellar stairs.

"Whoah!"

"Blessed Verlaxion!"

"Where did she come from?!"

"... ... ..." Rainbow Dash blinked nervously at all of the fire-lit gawking faces.  "...whew!"  She smiled stupidly, waving a hoof.  "Finally!  I found civilization!  And to think!  I lived underground as a hobo for five years!"

The citizens of Braum blinked.

Rainbow looked at her marefriends and groaned.  "Yeahhhhhh... didn't think it'd work either."

Hoofsteps rose in volume behind her.

"Rainbowwwwww—" Fluttershy squeaked.

"Right!"  Rainbow galloped for the exit on the far end of the tavern.  "I am so out of here!"

Longaze reached the first floor and threw her horn towards Rainbow Dash.  "You!"  A pulse of manalight and—

Scrkkkk!  Rainbow's hooves scuffled across the floor as she was anchored in place.  Telekinesis pulled the flailing pegasus violently backwards.

"Then again—!"  Rainbow looked left and right as she flew towards Longaze.

"Dashie!" Pinkie pointed at a wooden bar stool blurring past her side.

Rainbow threw a fetlock over and yanked up the wooden item.  With a grunt, she kicked against the bar, spun around in mid-glide, and met Longaze stool-first.  "Rrrgh!"  THWACKKK!

"Aaaugh!" Longaze stumbled back under a spray of splinters.  Dragging her hooves, she quickly regained her bearings and fired a wicked blast of energy at the pegasus.

Rainbow Dash—loosened from the secretary's telekinetic grip—fell flat-belly against the floor, covering her head.  The manablast streamed straight past her and—

FWOOOOMB!  A drinking table ignited into flames.  Surprised patrons hopped back, kicking the burning benches away from them.

"Hey!"  A stallion in thick wintry gear marched towards the unicorn, frowning.  "What's the big idea—?!"

"No!"  Rainbow raised a hoof from where she lay.  "You don't wanna—"

WHUD!

Rainbow winced as the stallion's body flew over her—only to crash through a series of chairs.

"Stay out of this!" Longaze shouted.  Before her, several frightened citizens began scampering out of the tavern altogether.  "This is between me and this pegasus here!"  Brushing off the yelps and shrieks, she looked down.  "Now, where were we—?"

WHAM!  Rainbow Dash ascended with a violent uppercut.

Longaze tumbled back—grppp—only to find herself clasped by two blue forelimbs.

"That's it!"  Rainbow gnashed her teeth.  "Enough friggin' running!  Raaaaugh!"

"Rainbow!"  Twilight stammered.  "Don't—"

Rainbow was already slamming her fetlocks twice into Longaze's belly—WHAP!  WHAM!—followed by a vice-grip from behind.  "I don't care how much your stinkin' bounty means to you!  You've caught me on a very... bad day!"  Then, with a blood-curdling roar, Rainbow Dash bent backwards, throwing Longaze earthward in a merciless suplex.

Flash!

"...!!!"  Rainbow Dash's eyes bulged, for she found herself encased in a bubble of telekinesis that froze her mid-suplex.

Twilight winced.  "I tried telling you!  She's too powerful!"

"Is that how you wish to do it?" Longaze spat, her glowing horn a mere two inches from the floor.  The magic exploded, tossing a voice-cracking pegasus off of her in a blue streak.  Thud!  With graceful telekinesis, Longaze uprighted herself, touched down beside the fireplace, and calmly stroked her blonde bangs straight.  "Fine.  I doubt the boss will mind if I bring you back paralyzed."

"Mrmmmfff..."  Rainbow Dash pushed her aching self back up.  Bodies fled past her, galloping out of the tavern.  "...!"  Rainbow realized how close she was to the exit.  Holding her breath, she rushed towards it—

Three burning logs flew over her head and landed, exploding in a brilliant splash of flame.  FWOOOMB!  The exit was blocked.  A dozen patrons skidded to a stop along with Rainbow Dash, staring at the fire.

Rainbow spun.

"Hrmmm..."  Longaze smirked, juggling three more burning logs in her telekinetic grasp.  She paced away from the fireplace, sneering:  "I thought you were done with 'running.'"

Rainbow gulped.  She shook her left rear leg.  "Something's running alright..."

The frightened crowd parted ways as Longaze marched towards her.  "I've struggled and labored far too long to reach this moment."  Flames built up along the edges of the besieged tavern, reflecting off the unicorn's brown eyes.  "Once I've bagged you, I can live like a queen for the rest of my life."

"Really?"  Rainbow cracked her neck joints.  "I didn't know they coronated manticore turds."  Her marefriends gasped.

Longaze's eyes twitched.  Her horn glowed as she snarled through her teeth.  "Rrrrrghhh..."

"Rainbow, d-darling..." Rarity gulped, staring at her anchor.  "You're sure that's the best choice of words?"

"For this psycho-witch?"  Rainbow sighed through a dumb smiled.  "...only the choicest."

"Raaaaaaugh!"  And Longaze came charging.

> When In Doubt, Fight Scene
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Panicked gasps and heavy hoofsteps filled the air of east Braum.

Keris' and Starstorm's heads spun towards the tavern.  With single, bursting wingflaps, they both soared over to the building's entrance.

Citizens slumped down in the snow, coughing and wheezing.  One group dragged a bloody, beaten stallion through the frosted soil behind them.

"What's wrong?!"  Keris touched down.  "What's happened here?!"

"It's... it's the Rogue!"  The bartender exclaimed.

Keris blinked.

"The Rainbow Rogue did this?!" Starstorm exclaimed.

"Yes!"  A mare nodded.  She spun and pointed at the entrance.  "She's in there!"

Keris rushed ahead in a red-and-brown blur.

"Lieutenant!" Starstorm exclaimed.

But before Keris could enter through the front—

PHWOOOMB!  Tongues of flame vomited out.

Keris winced, stumbling back and shielding himself with his good talon.

Starstorm rushed to his side.  Both griffons stood before the front entrance, gawking at the flames.

"She can start fires too?!" Starstorm exclaimed.

"This isn't the work of our prey," Keris slurred.

"There... th-there was a unicorn in there!" the bartender exclaimed.  "Fighting her!"

"A unicorn?!"

"They both came up out of the cellar!  I've no clue where they came from!  Honest—"

Keris turned to face the bartender.  "What does this unicorn look like?"

The stallion gulped.  "Blonde mane... a golden bun.  Uhm..."  She winced.  "Clean coat and a cleaner uniform..."

Keris' headcrest drooped beneath his helmet.  "My Goddess..."

Fwooooosh!  More flames erupted from the front entrance.

"Dammit to blazes!" The bartender hissed, stomping his hooves.  "I'm ruined!"  He looked at the Lieutenant.  "There's enough alcohol in there to reduce the place to embers in minutes!"

"Never mind that!" A mare shouted.  "A bunch of ponies are still in there!"

"Yeah!"  Belched the bloodied stallion from where he lay in the snow.  "Including Fuzzy Plots!  My favorite barmaid!"  His eyes crossed and he slumped back down, unconscious.  "Guhhhh—"  Thwomp!

"Sergeant," Keris hissed, shielding himself from the growing flames.  "Go fetch the Commander and the rest of the Talon—"

"Already on it!"  Starstorm made a running start, flapped her wings, then flew across the village.  Swooosh!

"For Goddess' sake!"  The bartender pulled at his mane as he slumped to his knees.  "Why fight here?!  Why in my bar?!"

"One concern at a time, citizen..."  Keris limped sideways, examining every window before him.  As soon as he came upon a rectangular pane, he saw fire rising violently on the other side.  "Blast...!"  Shuffling faster, he struggled to find an alternative entrance.  "Verlaxion, I'm praying for an opportunity here..."





Inside...

WHAM!  A floating chair slammed across Rainbow's cheek.

"Ooomf!"  The pegasus went flying.

Her friends gasped, hugging each other in mid-levitation.

Th-Thwump!  Rainbow landed on the burning tavern's floor and went sliding several feet.  "Guh!"  She stopped hard against an overturned bench.  Soot and ash speckled the floor beside her as she spat up blood.  "Grkkk..."  A snickering smile.  "...that all you got, toots?"

FLASH!  Golden telekinesis lifted Rainbow Dash up by her throat.

"Snkkkkt!"  Rainbow's eyes rolled back as she flailed in midair.

"Stop... talking..."  Longaze hissed from across the way.

A huddled group of ponies nervously watched as Longaze suffocated Rainbow Dash, lifting her up until she hovered just beneath the tavern's wooden wagon chandelier.

"Your luck has officially run out."  Longaze's eyes narrowed beneath her glowing horn.  She trained a heavy, glowing current of magic on the struggling pegasus.  "I'm here to finish what was started in Red Barge."

"What... t-took... you s-so long..." Rainbow sputtered, writhing.

"Didn't you hear me?!"  Longaze barked.  "I said shut up!"  Her horn glowed even hotter as the burning air tingled between them.  "Once you're down for the count, I'll tear this place to the ground and burrow our way back to freedom!"  She spat aside at the flinching citizens.  "No witnesses!"

"Pssssst!"  Twilight hovered up by Rainbow's side.  "Rainbow!"  She pointed at the stream of magic shimmering between the two.  "She's overloading her leylines!  A harmonic blast should be enough to cause a cascade failure and knock—"

"Less... words... snkkkkt-egghead..." Rainbow wheezed, turning bluer.

Twilight rolled her eyes then pointed at Rainbow's neck.  "Just touch the pendant, for Celestia's sake!"

"Easy... p-peasy..." Rainbow flung a limp hoof over her ruby lightning bolt.  Harmony pulsed bright and ruby from within.

Longaze sensed the ripple of energy in the corner of her vision.  "Huh?"  She looked straight up—and immediately regretted it.  POWWW!  Her condensed magic was shoved back into her.  "Ooomf!"  The secretary found herself barreling backwards and through a stack of firewood.  Th-thuddd!

"...!"  Rainbow Dash fell.  Instinctively, she flung her forelimbs upwards—grabbing the wagon chandelier by her fetlocks.  The mare swung, caught her breath, then released her grip at full momentum.

Surrounded by flames, Longaze stood up.  A shadow appeared over her.  "...?"  She looked up into a pair of leg-dropping hooves.

WHUD!

Longaze slammed against the wall.  Burning curtains lapped against her body, catching her neatly-pressed suit on fire.

"Augh!  Aaaaaaaugh!"  Yelping, the blonde mare thrashed, struggled, and finally stripped herself of the singed article.  Her eyes widened as she felt a violent tug on her tail.

"Jee, I'm flattered."  Then, with a grunt, Rainbow pulled Longaze's tail.  She body-slammed the unicorn chest-first against the tavern floor and wrestled her from behind.  "But you're about to get flattened—"

"Another spell incoming!" Twilight shouted.

"H-huh?"  Rainbow blinked as she felt the two of them encased in magic.

Twilight winced.  "It's a levitation spell—"

Fwooooooosh!  Longaze flew the two of them straight up and towards the ceiling.

"Oh come onnnnnn—!"  SMASSSSH!

The citizens on the first floor tilted their heads up and winced as they saw the two plow up—





—and into the second story above, leaving a gaping hole behind them.  Both combatants collapsed on both sides of a bedroom.  Smoke and ash filtered up through the wooden floorboards, forming a dense haze in the chamber.

"Mrmmff... kaff!... hckkkkt!"  Rainbow Dash wheezed, sprawled out on all fours.  "Celestia I hate fighting unicorns."  She gasped as she was yanked up from behind.

Longaze glared as she telekinetically lifted the pegasus in front of her.  "Then give up already!"

"Yeah..."  Rainbow limply reached aside, felt around, and lifted a tall mirror from atop a vanity.  "...about that."  SMASSSSH!  She slammed the thing full force over Longaze's skull.

"Aaaaaaugh!" The unicorn stumbled back, her face cut and bleeding in several places.

"Hah!"  Rainbow Dash landed in a squat.  "Not so pretty now, are ya?!"

"That's telling the hussy!" Rarity spat.

"Rrrrgh!" Longaze shook the cobwebs off and summoned another pulse through her horn.

"Careful, Dashie!" Pinkie shouted, ears wobbling.  "The creep's reloading—"

"Not today!"  Rainbow galloped at full force.  "Raaaaaaaugh!"  She rammed hard into Longaze as—

SMASH!  SM-SMASH!

—the two went sailing through wall after wall, reducing the rooms of the tavern's top story to dust and debris.

After plowing through the third straight wall, their momentum finally ended.  The mares spilled out into a hallway above the stairs, collapsing across opposite sides of a mountain of fresh debris.  Coughing from the increasing smoke, they struggled to get back on their hooves.  Meanwhile, flames climbed up the walls with blazing orange tongues growing... spreading...





"Commander!" Starstorm shouted.

Seraphimus and Sarda spun, blinking.

"What is it, Sergeant?"

Starstorm hovered above the group.  "The Tavern!  Northeast side!"  She pointed with a trembling claw.  "You must come quick!"

Seraphimus blinked.  "Where's... Lieutenant Keris—?"

"Verlaxion spare us..." Sarda suddenly gasped, his eyes following a fresh trail of smoke.

Ponies stood in tight clusters, their voices coalescing into a worrisome murmur as they watched the smoldering plume.

"... ... ..."  Seraphimus' charcoal eyes glinted.  "The Rogue..."  She whistled shrilly in the air.  Windburst and Raptr saw her gesturing from afar.  In quick bursts of speed, they joined their griffon companions, violently streaking northeast towards the source of the violent, burning fiasco.

Sarda stood briefly alone, his muzzle agape.  "... ... ...Goddess, what have I brought to this town?"

> Rainbow Didn't Start the Fire...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Mrmmfff... grnnngh..."  Longaze stumbled up to her hooves.  Panting, sweating, dripping with blood... she looked left and right.  Smoke and haze filled both ends of the debris-strewn second floor hallway.  The mare blinked.  Just as she charged magic into her horn to see better...

"Pssssttt..."

Longaze turned around.

Rainbow Dash was already swinging a thick wooden chair in her grasp.  "Have a seat!"  WHACK!

"Guhh!"  Longaze toppled backwards from the blow, slammed into a doorframe, then collapsed onto the second story floor with a groan.  Her body lay still.

Rainbow Dash exhaled.  Her muscles slumped beneath her wheezing breath.  "Whew..."

Just then, shrieks emanated from below.

"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy exclaimed.  The ghostly pegasus pointed a nervous hoof downward.  "The villagers!"

"...!"  Gnashing her teeth, Rainbow Dash leapt over Longaze's figure and galloped down the steps.





When she reached the bottom floor, the entire tavern was blazing.

FWOOOMB!

Rainbow winced from a fountain of flame erupting at the base of the steps.  Wincing, she skirted around a pile of smoldering ash, then galloped across a narrow strip of open floor.  On the far end, she found several ponies huddled by the west wall of the tavern.  Nervous and shivering, the villagers of Braum desperately kicked and bucked at the wooden barrier behind them.

"Harder!  H-harder!" a stallion shouted.

"Rnnngh!"  Another rammed his shoulder into the wall.  "We gotta get out!"

"Together!  On the count of three—!"

As Rainbow approached the dramatic scene, Rarity exclaimed, "That's no use!  If they kick against that any harder, a chunk of ceiling will fall on them—!"

"Hey!  HEY!"  Rainbow Dash whistled and shouted, waving her forelimbs wildly.

The coughing, smoke-stained group looked over.

"This place is collapsing on top of us!" Rainbow yelled above the sound of billowing flames and crumbling wood.  "That's not a safe spot to do that at!"

"Any better ideas, Rarity?" Twilight exclaimed.

"Yes!"  Rarity pointed two spaces over, towards the southwest corner.  "Just to the right of the window frame!  That spot is weak enough that you just might be able to break through!"  She gulped.  "If you all work together!"

"She's right!"  Pinkie winced, her tail twitching.  "If they stand here, they'll get crushed soon for sure-sure!"

"Over here!" Rainbow pointed at a patch of wall.  She galloped over.  "If we all focus our strength on this spot, we should be able to smash our way to safety!"

"How..."  A stallion coughed and sputtred.  "...do you know th-that?!"

"Just trust me!" Rainbow frowned.  "Do you wanna end up as smoked horse for the rest of your life?!"

The villagers shared a brief glance of uncertainty, then galloped over to where Rainbow was.

"Alright!  Now... with me!"  Rainbow Dash swung around, lifting her rear legs.  "One... two... three!"  She bucked with all her might.  "Nrnngh!"

The other ponies slammed the wall at the same time.

WHUDDDD!

"Again!"  Rainbow wheezed.  Chunks of debris and burning ash fell around them.  "One... two... three!"

THACKKKK!

A noticeable fissure ran up the wall from the floor.  Hot air and smoke fled through a tiny crack.

"There!" a mare shouted.  "It's giving way!"

"It's working!" exclaimed a stallion.

"Good job, everypony!" Rainbow stammered.  She bore a sweaty grin.  "Just a few more kicks!"

"Wait..."  Fluttershy winced.  "What... what about the unicorn that attakced us?"

"What about her," Rarity droned.

"I know she's a meanie and all..."  Fluttershy gulped.  "Well we can't just leave her upstairs!"

"Uhhhhh..."  Pinkie's eyebrow quivered.  "...wait for it."

"H-huh?"

SMASSSSSH!

Rainbow Dash and the other ponies looked up at a fresh hole in the ceiling.

Longaze landed amidst a pile of smoldering debris.  Her horn glowed, illuminating a furious frown.

Rainbow coughed.  "Well then—"

"Rrrrrrgh!"  Longaze fired a beam of magic at the group.

"Duck!"  Rainbow Dash yanked three yelping ponies to the ground with her.

P-POW!  The mana blast struck the wall behind them, ripping loose several strips of wood.

The ceiling groaned, and a massive support beam came swinging down like a giant gavel.

An oblivious stallion stood in the way of the calamitous debris.  His muscles locked in place as he was gripped by fear.

"Rainbow—!"  Twilight pointed with a gasp.

"Look out!"  Rainbow sprung her rear legs.  One wing spread, she glided in a curve and slammed the stallion to the floor just milliseconds before the collapsing beam could smash him to a pulp.  "Ooomf!"

Longaze blinked at the pegasus' heroics.  "... ... ..."  A wicked smile crossed her bleeing muzzle.  She leaned forward, her horn glowing brighter.

"H-huh?"  A breathless bar maid looked down to see her limbs glowing.  She was suddenly yanked across the room with malevolent telekinesis.  "Eeeep!"

"Mrmmfff..."  The stallion Rainbow had saved stood, then helped the pegasus up to her hooves.  "Wow... th-thanks..."

"Don't mention—"  Rainbow's ears pricked to the sound of shrieking.  "—it?"

"Oh no..."  Twilight grimaced hard.  She pointed across the tavern floor.

Rainbow pivoted to see Longaze standing square across from her.  She held the trembling bar maid in a headlock, all the while levitating three carving knives snatched from the bar counter.  She raised the floating blades to the nape of the mare's neck and hissed, "We could fight each other all day, Rogue.  But I seriously doubt these ponies can afford it any longer."

Rainbow spat above the noise of burning rubble.  "Let her go, ya friggin' coward!"  She took a step forward—

Sliiiink!  Longaze cut a bloody slit across the bar maid's cheek, causing her to shriek.

Rainbow winced, limbs locking in place.  Her marefriends watched in pale horror.

"I'm not the pony responsible for her life anymore!"  Longaze exclaimed.  "I've paid enough for your capture... with blood, sweat, and self-respect.  Now it's time that you owned up to the price of your freedom!  Tell me, Rogue!"  She held the blade tighter to the sobbing maid's neck.  "Is it worth it?!"

Rainbow stood still.  Panting in the haze and smoke.

The villagers looked on in horror.

"I'm going to give you on the count of three to hand yourself over!" Longaze growled.  "Or else you'll be drowning in the blood of these ponies!  I swear to Verlaxion..."

Rainbow's eyes traveled to the floor.  She caught a frying pan lying just a few inches away from her fetlocks.  Not daring to move, she looked back up.

Longaze sneered.  "One..."






Outside, Keris frantically sprinted around the outer edge of the burning building.

His magenta eyes searched every square inch.

At last...

"...!"

The Lieutenant spotted something.  He skidded to a stop in the snow.  His eyes remained locked on a single window pane.

The flames dancing on the other side of the glass were far thinner here than at the rest of the windows he had spotted.

Taking a deep breath, he coiled his leg muscles and outstretched both silver-plated wingblades.  Sch-Schiiiing!





"Gottadosomethinggottadosomething!" Pinkie whimpered.

"Like what?!"  Rarity squeaked.  "That poor mare's in her grasp!"

"Two..."  Longaze growled from afar.

"Celestia help me..." Rainbow whispered.

"Rainbow..."  Twilight turned to her, trembling.  "Maybe if you just pretend that you're giving yourself up—"

"Everypony, wait!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

The other ghost friends gawked at her.  "Are you out of your mind?!"

Fluttershy's brow furrowed.  "Just trust me."

Rainbow blinked.

Longaze's eyes reflected the glint of a blade.  "Three—!"

Crasssssssssssh!  Behind her, a griffon came sailing into the burning tavern on a stream of flames and broken glass.

Longaze spun to look over her shoulder.  "What the—?!"

"Now, Rainbow!" Twilight shouted.

Rainbow looked down at the frying pan.  "Httt...!"  She slammed her hoof over the handle, flipped the thing up from the floor, then pivoted to buck the thing in mid-air.  Clack!  The instrument flew across the tavern.

"Eeeek!"  The bar maid slumped down in Longaze's grasp.

"Huh?"  Longaze looked back.  CLANG!  "Aaaugh!"  She stumbled back from a frying pan to the face.  Her ears tickled with a pony's hooves as they stomp-stomped-stomped closer.  As soon as her pained eyes opened...

...she got a muzzle full of Rainbow Dash's right hook.  WHAM!  Growling, Rainbow Dash grabbed Longaze by the shoulders and flung her into a wooden table.  Crasssssh!

Meanwhile, Keris recovered from his dramatic entrance.  He stood up, retracting his wing-blades.  Cl-Clakkka!  He glanced over at the angry pegasus.

Just as Longaze tried getting up, Rainbow hoisted her neck back, then slammed her skull repeatedly into a collapsed tabletop.  Wham!  Whud!  Thuddddd!  With a breathy groan, Longaze fell into deep, numb unconsciousness.

The villagers across the burning tavern exhaled with momentary relief.

On swift paws, Keris rushed over to the sobbing bar maid.  The Lieutenant examined her bleeding cheek, then helped her to her hooves.  As debris crumbled in the background, he looked at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow was still trying to catch her breath when she pivoted about and caught his eyes with a weak gaze.  Gulping, she waved a hoof and murmured, "I... d-didn't start this fire..."

Keris nodded.  "Somehow, I'm inclined to agree."

"That mare...!"  The bar maid sniffled, frowning at Longaze's quivering figure.  "That cr-crazy mare threatened to kill me!"

"Yes, she'll do that," Keris muttered.  He looked across the way at the group of ponies.  "Do I spy a break in the wall?"

"Yes!"  Rainbow dragged Longaze's body towards the narrow fissure.  "We're almost through!  Dude... think you've got enough healthy limbs to spare?!"

With a shuddering breath, Keris led the bar maid over to the location in question.  "You didn't even need to ask..."
> Your New Verlax Damned Partner
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Seraphimus touched down and sprinted the rest of the way on crunching snow.  At last, her limbs locked, and she scuffled to a powdery stop along the western edge of the burning tavern.  The rest of the Talon landed all around her, gaping at the scene.

"Verlaxion's sleet!" Raptr exclaimed.

"Where in the Hell did this fire come from?!"  Windburst exclaimed.

"The ponies who ran out of the blaze claim that a unicorn was battling with the Rainbow Rogue," Starstorm said.  "They must have started a fire in their struggles."

"Yeah, well that fire has spread," Windburst said, his expert eyes narrowing.  "All of the windows are blocked by the blaze on the inside."

"Do we have any explosives?" Raptr exhaled.  "Maybe we could blow a wall open and rescue those inside!"

"Not a good idea."  Windburst shook his head.  "That structure looks old... and weak.  Any wrong move could tear the whole thing down."

"Well we have to do something!" Starstorm said.

"Commander..."

The Talon looked over their armored flanks to see Sarda rushing up with several ponies.  "My villagers are drawing as much water that we can from the well."  He gulped.  "But much of it is frozen.  I-I don't think we have the resources to put out this fire in time."

"Be at ease, Mr. Sarda," Seraphimus said.  "We will lend you our might."  She turned towards her subordinates.  "Starstorm, Raptr, assist the villagers in drawing water.  Use your manatorches to thaw the surface ice of their well."

"Aye, Commander."  Both griffons flew off.

Seraphimus turned to give a command to Windburst.

"Where's your Lieutenant?" Sarda asked.

Seraphimus blinked.  "...Keris?"

"Wasn't he on this side of town?"

"I... I don't see him, Commander," Windburst remarked.

One of the villagers parked worriedly outside the tavern looked over.  "The griffon with the injured arm?" she remarked.

Windburst looked over.  "Did you see what happened to him?"

The pony bit her lower lip.  "He... he threw himself through one of the burning windows barely a minute and a half ago."

"I-I think he went in to help the ponies trapped inside!" exclaimed another pony.

"Goddess..." Sarda exhaled.

"Commander, at the rate this tavern is burning..."  Windburst clenched his beak tight.

Seraphimus gawked at the scene with wide eyes.  Her feathertips rose under her helmet, and a howling voice escaped her beak:  "Lieutenant!"





"Grnnnngh!"  Keris, Rainbow Dash, and a pair of stallions rammed their shoulders against the crack in the wall of the tavern.  Whudd!

"Again!" Keris hollered.

"Rrrrrr-grrrghh!"  Th-Thuddd!

The fissure refused to widen.

Keris winced.  The griffon had to lean back and rub his injured arm as he surveyed the burning scene.

"It's no use!"  A stallion wheezed and coughed amidst the thickening fumes.  "This part of the foundation is stuck hard in the ground!  It'd take an enraged manticore to knock it loose!"

"Make that five manticores!" another stallion whimpered.  "Face it!"  He coughed and sputtered.  "We're all gonna roast in here!"

"Yeesh, is every pony in Rohbredden either a coward or a criminal?" Rainbow Dash growled as she looked around.  "Let's just think!  There's gotta be something we can use to ram the wall down!"

"There's no time to think!" a mare whimpered.  A loud groan rolled through the flaming tavern.  "You hear that?  It's collapsing as we speak!"

"In Verlaxion's name, let's all remain calm," Keris said.  Taking a deep breath, he turned and squinted across the flickering ashes at Rainbow.  "Miss Dash, do your ghostly friends sense a solution?"

"The Hell is this catbird going on about?" stammered a stallion.

"Rarity?  Pinkie Pie?"  Rainbow Dash grumbled.  "Could really use a miracle right about now."

"I'm afraid there aren't many options, darling," Rarity said.  She pointed at the fissure.  "It's given way about as far as it'll manage."

Twilight fumbled for words.  "Maybe... we could wake up the unicorn who attacked us and see if she values everypony's lives enough to force the hole wider with her magic?"

"Yeah, I doubt that," Rainbow grunted.

"Rainbow, the Talon is outside," Fluttershy whispered.

"Duly noted, Flutters."

"Well we can't just give up!" Twilight Sparkle frowned.  "Let's ask the Lieutenant if he has any bright ideas!  He's experienced enough!"

"Pffft!  And just what is Mr. Handsome Bird gonna suggest?" Pinkie Pie shrugged.  "That we detach that big hulking wagon wheel over our heads and use it as a steamrolling battering ram?!"

"... ... ...!!!"  Rainbow Dash looked straight up.

The tavern's wagon wheel chandelier wobbled precariously overhead.  The chain holding it up dragged out of the ceiling, one inch at a time.

"There!"  Rainbow pointed.  "That!"

"Huh?" a stallion blinked.

"That thing looks dense as heck!  And it can roll into the wall!"  She looked over at Keris.  "Lieutenant, think you can bring it down?"

"Everypony stand back!"  Schiiiing!  The villagers flinched as Keris unsheathed his wingblades.  The griffon narrowed his eyes, uncoiled his muscles, and—Swisssssh!—soared straight for the ceiling with expert grace.  SN-SNAP!  The tips of his blades lopped the chain holding the wheel up.

The heavy thing fell straight down and plowed through a set of tables, reducing them to burning splinters.

"Come on!"  Rainbow rushed over, waving at the the other ponies.  "Help me stand it up on end!"  She grunted, pushing up on the thing with petite blue hooves.  "Snkkkkt!"

"You've gotta be kidding me..."  One stallion protested as he nevertheless rushed to the wheel along with everypony else.  "This is too stupid to work!"

"Do you... even... h-hear yourself...?!" Rainbow gnashed her teeth.

Keris landed, then threw his good shoulder into the wheel.  "Have a little faith, friends.  On three.  One... two... three..."

"Heave!"

Everypony grunted and wheezed.  Nevertheless, with their combined muscular strength, they were able to lift the massive wheel up on end.

Rainbow took one side with two stallions while Keris took the other side with one stallion and two mares.

"What next?!" the bar maid stammered.

"Now..."  Panting, Rainbow nodded her head towards the fissure in the wall.  "We roll it!"

Fwooomb!  The bar went up in a brilliant blaze.

"Better h-hurry!" a stallion exclaimed.

"Keep it steady..."  Keris glared at the crack.  "...aaaaand..."

"Roll!" Rainbow hollered.

The survivors steadily shoved the wheel along.  Halfway along its path, the hulking object picked up speed.  When it came into contact with the fractured wall, it did so with a collossal THUD!

Crkkkk!

"Oooh!"  Pinkie grinned.  "I like that sound!"

The wheel wobbled, but the ponies managed to hold it upright—even as it teetered back.

"Did that do it?!" a mare yelped.

"Rarity!" Rainbow hollered.  "How's it look?"

"Seriously, who is she talking to?"

Rarity phased through the wheel.  One and a half seconds later, she came flying back with a smile.  "One more hit should do it, Rainbow!"

"You heard her!" Twilight exclaimed.  "Let's free everyone!"

"One more hit!" Rainbow yelled, already pulling the wheel back.  "Come on!  We can do it!"

"Is she nuts?!"  a stallion yelped.  "It's clearly not working—"

"Do as she says or we'll use your head instead!" Keris suddenly growled, silencing the group.  Once the ponies had rolled the wheel back a sizable distance, he flashed a sweaty look at Rainbow.  "You say when."

"Alright..."  Rainbow Dash cracked her joints and gripped the wheel tighter.

"Ohmygoodness!"  Fluttershy covered her eyes.  "I can't look!"

"One... two... three..."

"Heave!"

Tongues of flame erupted around the ponies as they made their last run.  The heavy wheel grinded loudly over debris and splinters.

"This is it!" Pinkie chirped.  "I'm feeling it!"

"With all your might!" Rainbow hollered in mid shove.  "That's it!  Raaaugh!"

SMASSSSH!

A burst of gray light and cold air swam into the tavern.  Almost immediately, a fountain of flames shot outward.

"Duck!" Keris dragged two ponies to the floor with him.  The rest of the group leapt to the ground as waves of fire exited the tavern overhead.

In the meantime, the wagon shattered completely, forming a tiny pile of wooden debris in the fresh hole that had been made.

"It's open!" a mare cried.  "We're through!"

"Good!" Rainbow shouted.  "Everypony out!"

Keris was already standing up, helping ponies up to their hooves and out the broken wall.  "Put as much distance between yourself and this building as you can!"

"He's right, Rainbow!"  Rarity exclaimed.  She pointed at several spiderweb fissures froming from the hole.  "It won't last for long!"

"Yo, Lieutenant!" Rainbow hollered.

"We haven't much time."  He nodded.  As the rest of the citizens rushed out, he glanced down at Longaze's body.  "I suspect this creature has many answers."

"Yeah."  Rainbow nodded.  "Better carry her out."

Both knelt down and heaved the unicorn's figure over Keris' flank.  "Rainbow," he managed between panting breaths.  "I can't exactly promise clemency, but if you gave yourself up after what's happened today—"

"It's not gonna fly, dude," Rainbow said, lifting Longaze's limp legs over.  "Verlax doesn't even want me captured.  She said so herself."

Keris' magenta eyes twitched.  "The... the Goddess spoke to you?"

"Erm... yes and no.  An ice golem freed me."

"Ice... golem...?"

"Long and short of it: I can't give myself in.  There's too much at st—"

"Rainbow!" Rarity's voice shrieked.

Crkkkkkkkk-kkkkkk!  The ceiling of the tavern cracked and bulged above them.

Keris and Rainbow's eyes widened.  They looked at each other.

That's when Rainbow shoved Keris' body with her forelimbs.  "Rnnngh!"

"Rainb—!"  Keris fell back through the blistery hole.

A chunk of burning debris consumed the spot where they were standing.  CRASSSSSSSH!





"Oooomf!"  Keris collapsed in the snow.  Longaze's limp body rolled down the opposite bank.

The griffon winced from his injured limb.  Sitting up, he flashed the tavern a look of horror.

The west half of its roof had collapsed entirely.  Brilliant flames leapt up, licking at the snowy air.

"There!" Sarda's voice shouted.  "I see your Lieutenant!"

"Keris!" Seraphimus flew over, followed by Windburst and several villagers.  "Lieutenant, are you alright?!"

"I..."  Keris blinked, stammering out his beak.  "I-I'm..."

Seraphimus clenched her eyes shut, weathered a deep sigh, then calmly rested a talon on his shoulder.  "That was excellent work you did, Lieutenant, in saving all of those citizens."  She cleared her throat.  "But I truly wish you had utilized the assistance of Starstorm or another member of the Talon, considering your injured state."

"I... d-didn't save them on my own..."

"Huh?"

"Yes...!"  The bar maid nodded, frazzled.  A villager draped a blanket over her shivering figure as she spat:  "The blue pegasus!  With a shaved mane!"

"The Rainbow Rogue helped us!"

Seraphimus blinked.  She looked at Keris.  "Is this true?"

Keris nodded numbly from where he sat.  He pointed a trembling claw at the partially collapsed tavern.  "She's in there..."

Seraphimus' charcoal eyes rested on the burning scene.
> All Just Smoke and Murk
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow coughed, spitting up soot and ashes.

Wincing, she rolled across what little was left of the tavern floor.  Bright blazes lingered to her left and right.  There was scarcely any clean air left to breathe.  When Rainbow opened her teary eyes, all she saw was fountains of smoke erupting from hot gold furnaces all around.

"Not good not good not good..."  Rarity floated in panicked circles.  "This is most certainly n-not good!"

"Why'd you have to do that, Dashie?"  Pinkie pouted.  "Just a bit more oomf and you could have gone out the hole with them!"

"Can't you see that there's nothing she could have done?!" Twilight hollered.  "She saved their lives!"  She sniffled, looking forlornly at the scene all around.  "She... saved everypony's lives..."

"But what about Rainbow's life?!" Rarity yelped.  "Let's not just stand here arguing!  We've got to help her!"

"You're the one with structural senses!  Is there a way out of this mess?!"

Rarity's muzzle hung open.  She simply hovered there as falling, smoldering debris phased through her.

"Well?!" Twilight exclaimed.

"My senses aren't helping any either..."  Pinkie whimpered.

"I'm sorry, girls."

Everyone looked down at Rainbow.

Rainbow coughed, curling up into a little blue ball.  Her eyes teared from all the smoke and ash.  "I thought I c-could get us to the end..."  She sputtered, wincing from the heat.  "But I-I couldn't even g-get us to Applejack..."

"Don't... d-don't speak, Rainbow!" Rarity fought a lump in her throat.  "Conserve your oxygen!"  She looked across the smoke-covered ceiling.  "Surely, a solution will... pr-present itself..."

"Mmmmmm..." Pinkie covered her muzzle as she fought tears.

Twilight grimaced.  After a heavy shudder, she sniffled and floated down to Rainbow's level.  "Rainbow Dash..."  She bore a tiny smile.  "I just want you to know that despite all that's happened... the mistakes as well as the triumphs..."  A tear rolled down her cheek.  "We are all so very proud of you.  We love you... and... and we never stopped..."

"Mrmmmff..."  Rainbow squinted and coughed.  "...friggin' sap."

Twilight frowned.  "Well excuse me for being earnest you... you..."

"...fuzzhead..."

"Thank you!"  Twilight's eyes crossed.  "Wait, 'fuzzhead?'  That's the best insult you have for yourself?"

"It's..."  Rainbow coughed.  "...awesomely silly..."

"Eugghhhh..."  Twilight tossed her hooves.  "Is this really how you want to die?!"

Rainbow laughed, wheezed.   "Heh heh heh—kaff!  Koff!"

"Twilight, please..." Rarity sighed.  She looked back at Fluttershy, then did a double-take.  "Uhm... not trying to be melodramatic, darling, but why aren't you bawling in tears right about now?"

"Mmmmmm..."  Fluttershy bore a strangely rosy-cheeked smile.  "...because."

POWWWW!  The east wall of the tavern exploded.

"...!!!"  Rainbow's head tilted up.

A gaping gray hole loomed across the way.  The flames split.

"What are you waiting for, fuzzhead!" Twilight hollered.  "Go!  Go!"

"Going—!"  Rainbow hopped up to her hooves and galloped towards the hole.

Crkkkkkk!  The top of the fissure was already caving in.

"Hurry, darling!" Rarity shouted.

"Go go go go go go go go!" Pinkie squealed.

"Rrrrrrrrrrrrgh!"  Rainbow did a running leap as—





THUDDD!  The east wall of the tavern collapsed completely.

Rainbow rolled over several times in the snow.  At last, she came to a grunting stop.  Breathless, she and the ghost mares looked back behind them.

With an enormous crunch, the tavern finally imploded.  A vomitous column of flames spat out, climbing sky high and obscuring the entire east end of Braum with smoke.

"Wooohooo!"  Pinkie Pie pumped a hoof in the air.  "Yeah!  I knew we could make it!"

"That was unbearably close," Rarity said with a shiver.

"You're telling me..."  Rainbow Dash pushed herself up.  At last, she stood on wobbly knees and squinted at the smoldering scene.  "Do any of the villagers or griffons see us, Fluttershy?"

"No, Rainbow."  Fluttershy gulped.  "But Rainb—"

"Enough questions!" Pinkie blurted.  "Let's make like a tree and bark!"

"But... but..."  Rainbow squinted.  "What happened?"

"Do we really need to know?!?" Pinkie hollered.

"That was clearly an explosion," Rarity said.  "The weight of the tavern didn't make that hole."

Rainbow turned to look at Twilight.  "Twi?  What's with your horn?  You're rubbing your head like you know something."

"Only... I don't.  Not really."  Twilight cleared her throat as her horn stopped glowing.  "There was definitely something magical about what happened."

"The unicorn?"

"No, she was down for the count.  Besides, Keris carried her out on the other side of the building."  Twilight blinked.  "If I didn't know any better, I'd say someone just used an enchanted explosive to free us."

"An explosive?"

Twlight nodded.

Rainbow blinked.  She looked back at the flames with a stupid expression.  "But who around here would have used an expl—?"  Just then, a metal talon reached in from behind and clamped its mechanical claws over her muzzle.  "Mrmmmmfff!"  A wide-eyed Rainbow found herself being hoisted skyward in a black-and-blue blur.

Swoooooosh!

Twilight blinked.  "Wat."  Fw-Fw-Fw-Fwoooosh!  She and the rest of the mares shrieked as they were yanked towards the heavens by a silent figure, becoming one with the smoke.





Minutes later...

Seraphimus and Keris paced around the burning remains of the tavern.

"You're certain that she didn't start this fire, Lieutenant?" Seraphimus asked.

"I know what I know from eyewitness testimony, Commander," Keris said, limping slightly in his gait.  His armor was stained with smoke and the tips of his feathers were singed.  "But I did witness the unicorn combatant threatening one of the innocent civilians at knifepoint."

"And you say she's the same mare you and the Rogue encountered at Red Barge?"

"Affirmative."  Keris remarked, staring with dull eyes at the blaze.  "Witnesses confirm that she was the aggressor from the very second that she and the Rogue entered the tavern.  At least two stallions claim that she began tossing burning logs from the hearth at her target."

Seraphimus took a deep breath.  "This complicates things.  Not just for us, but for the state of affairs here in Ivory Prefecture."

"Or perhaps it simplifies things," Keris said.

"In that the Rainbow Rogue is now dead?"

Keris looked at the Commander.  "I was going to say because it supports much of our prey's innocence."

Seraphimus grumbled.  "The fact that she's saved the life of several ponies and my prized Lieutenant does not strip her of the crimes committed in the Quade."

"Of course not, Commander."  Keris shook his head.  "But it certainly might strip her of all wrongdoing since."

Seraphimus looked at him.

Keris' eyes narrowed.  "Was this mare truly worth the effort we put into chasing her?"  He blinked.  "Or the emphasis that the Council put?"

Seraphimus was preparing to respond to that...

...when Windburst walked up.  "You won't have to worry about the firestarter now."

"Report, Sergeant," Seraphimus said.

"I knew there was a reason why we always kept a spare magic suppressor around."  Windburst smirked as he stood before them.  "That unicorn won't be casting any spells with that cap on her horn."

"Has she awoken?"

"Not yet, Commander."  Windburst shook his head.  "We've got the pony locked up in the largest barn here in Braum.  Starstorm's keeping a watchful eye on her, awake or not, as was ordered."

"Well done, Windburst."  Seraphimus nodded.  She stared at the flames once again.  "She will have much to answer to once her eyes are open."

"So then..."  Windburst sighed as he faced the remnants of the tavern.  "...this is the end of our hunt."  He cleared his throat, frowning.  "I must admit.  It's not very... cathartic."

"No, Sergeant," Keris droned.  "It's not."

Seraphimus glanced aside at him.  "Surely you can't believe she's still alive."

Keris looked at Seraphimus.  "And what has this crazy world tossed at us that isn't worth believing in?"

Seraphimus merely blinked at that.

Just then, Sarda's voice rang across the snowy village from east of the tavern's ruins.  "Commander!  Lieutenant!  You should come and see this!"  The stallion waved from afar.  "I've found hoofprints!  Fresh ones!"

Seraphimus' eyes fluttered shut.  She closed her beak while weathering a deep, deep sigh.

Keris merely smiled.

"Hoofprints, you say, Mr. Sarda?"  Seraphimus calmly turned around and flapped her wings.  She glided over to where Sarda was gathered with a few of his fellow villagers.  Touching down with the Talon, the Commander leaned in for a better look.  "You're certain they don't belong to any of your companions?"

"They're too small to belong to any of us," Sarda said, rubbing his stubbled chin.  "And none of the mares have been out this side of the tavern in the past hour."

"They're Rainbow Dash's size, alright," Keris said.  "Look..."  He pointed at a line of tracks.  "Looks like she ran straight from the tavern."

"How's that even possible?"  Windburst exclaimed.  "That place was collapsing right when the Lieutenant made his death-defying exit!"

"I'm just telling you what I've seen," Sarda droned.  He gestured.  "Now you can see for yourselves."

"How very curious..."  Seraphimus stood up, glancing at the snowbank.  "The tracks just end right here."

"Well, the Rogue is a pegasus," Sarda remarked.

Seraphimus looked at Keris.  "Did her wing look healed while you were inside with her?"

Keris shook his head.  "It was still bandaged.  And she threw all of her weight to her right side."

"Wait..."  Windburst's limbs locked in place as his eyes narrowed.

Keris looked at him.  "You see something, Sergeant?"

"Indeed."  Windburst flapped his wings, then hovered closer to the burning remains of the tavern.  "Tracks.  Griffon tracks."

"I saw them too," Sarda said, trotting after the feathery group.  "I figured they belonged to the Lieutenant."

"I did circle the tavern before braving an entrance," Keris said.

"Right."  Windburst pointed at one particular print.  "But you haven't used your left talon since Red Barge."

Keris and Seraphimus leaned in.

Indeed, there was a series of left-talon prints in the snow.  Not only that, they left the tell-tale signatures of metal seams and rivets.

The Lieutenant's beak parted.  With a gaping expression, he looked at the Commander.

Seraphimus stared in silence.  Her headcrest's feathers paled.
> We Ride Together, Die Together
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Trees, branches, and clumps of snow whizzed past Rainbow Dash's vision.

She grimaced slightly, twitching in a heavy metal grasp.

At last, the horizon pivoted as she dipped.  The mare gasped, then threw her vision ahead.  She saw a decrepit barn lying in the midst of a sparse forest.  The figure carrying her aimed straight for a gaping hole in the structure's roof.

Thwoooooosh!

The two landed with insane grace.  At the end of such a blindingly swift flight, Rainbow was gently placed down onto the frosty ground.  She stood—trembling slightly—and spun around.

A mess of feathers retreated swiftly into the shadows, talons scraping.  The figure rummaged through a pile of supplies.

Rainbow's maw dropped.  "Wildcard...?"

She heard the crunching of snow behind her.

"...?"  Rainbow spun around completely.

A stone blue figure stood in the shadows on the other side of the barn.

Rainbow's eyes narrowed.

The figure shuffled slowly forward, coming into the snowlight.  Rainbow saw a scruffy brown beard, a brown mane, and a pair of dull hazel eyes... glaring.

"Bard!"  Rainbow's feathertips fluttered.  Both her right and left.  She winced in pain, but was nevertheless a smiling mess.  "Omigoshomigoshomigosh!"  She spun back and forth between the rummaging griffon in the corner and the deadpan stallion in the center of the barn.  "You guys!  You guys are here!  Luna Poop!  You have no friggin' idea how... h-how jazzed I am to see you!"

Bard took a deep, surly breath.  He folded his forelimbs and looked away.

Rainbow blinked at that.

"Uh ohhhhhh..."  Pinkie Pie gulped.

"My my..."  Rarity leaned in.  "...quite a forest Mr. Bard has grown on his chin."

"He... doesn't seem too cheerful," Twilight Sparkle remarked.  "Not very like him."

"Is it not?" Fluttershy asked.

"Shhhh!"  Pinkie pointed.  "I think Bardy's about to say something!"

Bard simply clenched his jaw tight and glared off into the corners of the bar.

"Eheheheh..."  Pinkie smiled nervously.  "Or not!"

"It... is you..."  Rainbow squinted.  "...right, Bard?"

Bard inhaled, tilting his head up and keeping his flank to Rainbow.

Rainbow opened her muzzle to say something—

Th-Thwump!  A bag landed behind her.

"...!"  The mare spun, startled.

With dark feathers and even darker goggles, Wildcard squatted beside the bag and began untying it.  He looked up, his lenses flickering in the gray snowlight.  He lifted his talons and hand-signed swiftly.

"What... uhm... what's going on with you dudes?" Rainbow remarked.

Suddenly, Bard spoke, "'You was doin' fine on yer own until these last two days.  Now yer drawin' too much attention to yerself, which is why we had to intervene.'"

Rainbow flashed a look at the bearded pegasus.  "Wait... what?"  She blinked.  Hard.  "You guys were following me?"

"Is that true?" Twilight gasped.

"If so, I-I didn't sense them," Fluttershy stammered.

Bard stood in silence, his back to Rainbow Dash.

"Hellooo."  Rainbow's brow furrowed.  "You gonna answer me or what?"

Wildcard hand-signed, then returned to the bag.

At last, Bard spoke:  "'We had eyes on ya, but we had to be elsewhere.'"  His voice was dull and emotionless, as if he was reading off a telegram.  "'We've still got some loose ends to wrap up, but dun worry.  I'm gonna hook ya up with some thangs to help ya get past them varmints in Steamfall.'"

Rainbow's eyelids fluttered in confusion.  She flashed a look between Bard and Wildcard.  "What... what's going on here?"  She gulped.  "Bard... why are you being so stand-offish?"

Wildcard paused in what he was doing.  Fidgeting, he flung a few hesitant talons through the air.

Bard took a deep breath and spoke: "'Bard ain't talkin' to ya right now.  This was my idea from the very start."'  The stallion's nostrils flared.  "'Just as it was my idea to go fetch the Job Squad so you could finish yer journey.'"

"Uhhhhhh..."  Rainbow's head jerked back and forth.  At last, she squinted at Wildcard.  "...what?"

"I'm c-confused," Fluttershy squeaked.

Wildcard sighed.  With a nervous smile, he gestured in the air.

Bard's voice rang behind Rainbow Dash:  "'Bard protested from the very start, but t'ain't no matter.  He's here 'cuz I'm here.  And while I'm too busy to escort ya, that dun mean I can't lend a talon where it helps.'"

Swiveling, Rainbow narrowed her eyes on Bard.  "Really?"  Her ears twitched.  "Is that so?"

Bard frowned into the shadows.  The muscles in his folded forelimbs tightened.

Wildcard shifted where he sat.

"Well then... Wildcard..."  Rainbow Dash smirked devilishly in Bard's direction.  "The next time you see Bard, you tell him that he's a smelly off-key melon fudge, and that his new beard looks like the inside of a buffalo's dirty buttcheeks."

"Snkkkkkt!"  Bard gnashed his teeth.  Her jerked in place, hissing.  "Sonuva—"  As quickly as he started, her froze in place, locked into an iron frown.

"But..."  Rainbow Dash's ears folded back as she sighed through a soft grin.  "...make sure he knows that I'm super... super happy to see him."

Bard breathed in and out.  His hazel eyes swam across the dark confines of the barn.

Rainbow turned towards the griffon.  "And you too."

Wildcard's dark goggles reflected the double faces of an apologetic mare.

"No words can properly share how friggin' sorry I am for what I did in the Quade."  She gulped hard.  "And it was a totally idiotic thing to send you two away... especially after you saved me."  A cough.  "Multiple times."

Her marefriends hovered in tense silence.

The mute griffon exhaled.  Looking away, he gestured sharply in the air.

"'We ain't got much time,'" Bard said.

Wildcard pulled a few things out of the bag and resumed hand-signing.

"'We've gotta hurry our keisters northeast to Lichen Prefecture to find the last members of the Job Squad.'"

"Who in the blue fudge is this Job Squad?" Rainbow asked.

"'Old partners of the Desperadoes.  Before Bard's time.'"  The stallion snorted, adjusting his black stetson.  "'Like I said.  T'was my idea, not his.'"

"Well, alright then."  Rainbow Dash nodded at the griffon, then cracked her joints.  "Let's get going—"

Wildcard dramatically held a metal palm out, glinting in the pale light.  He shook his head.

"'No?!'" Twilight reacted.

"What do they mean?!" Rarity breathed.

Rainbow blinked.  "What's wrong?'"

Wildcard gestured.

Bard interpreted:  "'There's too much at risk now.  You're bein' hunted.  We can't delay you gettin' to yer destination.'"

"Yeah!  I know!"  Rainbow nodded.  "So are you gonna come with me or not?"

Wildcard sighed and gestured.

"'You won't survive yer journey unless we round up the Job Squad.'"

"Why not?"

"'It'd take too dang long to explain.  But ya need them.  So while Bard and I go fetch them, you've gotta make yer way to Wyvern Point.'"

Rainbow nodded.  "Ah, I see—"

"Wait, what?!" Twilight sputtered.

"Wait..."  Rainbow's eyes bulged.  "What?!"

Th-Thwump!  Wildcard dumped a black button-up uniform at Rainbow's hooves.

"'Here,'" Bard interpreted as the griffon paced across the barn, collecting more equipment and adding it to the pile.  "'These here duds were grabbed from the lockers in Steamfall.  They should fit ya... help ya blend in with the Consortium fellas.'"

"And just what in the hay am I supposed to be doing in Steamfall?!" Rainbow cackled.

Wildcard shuffled up, shrugged, and gestured.

"'Hijack a train, of course,'" Bard said.

"A train?!?  Grkkkk!"  Rainbow clenched one eye shut as if she burst a vessel.  "Yo... dudes... what the buck?!  Like... seriously!"  She scampered after Wildcard's tail-feathers with an incredulous expression glued to her muzzle.  "Are you trying to help me or aren't you?!"

Wildcard's talons sliced the air.

"'We are.  But as I plum told you, the Job Squad—'"

"Look, I get it!  You're trying to round up 'the old gang' for some important half-assed reason."  Rainbow frowned.  "But what's hijacking a train got to do with any of this?"

"'Because without bein' able to fly, a train's the quickest way you can get through Dust Prefecture and reach Wyvern Point to the northwest.'"

"That... it..."  Rainbow's muzzle hung in the air.  She flashed her marefriends a stupid look and received four identical expressions back.  At last, she squinted at Wildcard again.  "Wyvern Point."

The feathered mercenary nodded.

"Uhm... yeah..."  Rainbow leaned back on her haunches and folded her forelimbs.  "I don't know if you remember the whole Austraeoh thing.  Y'know... east horse?  Flying towards the rising sun?"

Wildcard nodded again while rummaging through supplies.

"Well, in case you have forgotten..."  Rainbow frowned and gestured.  "Wyvern Point is kinda sorta northwest of here!"  Her wide eyes reflected in Wildcard's emotionless goggles.  "Oh yeah!  I know!  A shriveled old lady in Kunmane told me!"

Wildcard stared at her, stared off into the shadows... then shrugged.

"Wildcard!!"  Rainbow sputtered, forelimbs flailing.  "Dude!  I'm supposed to be heading east!  That's where Yaerfaerda's pointing me!  That's where Verlax is waiting!"  She shuddered, her breath forming vapors in the sparse light.  "...where Applejack is needing to be saved..."

Wildcard paused to gesture.

"'We know,'" Bard interpreted.  With a soft expression, he looked over.  "'But if ya keep hoofin' it on this journey alone, you'll plum kill yerself.'"

Wildcard nodded, then added a few more talon-swipes.

"'Or get nabbed by the Talon, which I can promise you is just as bad.'"

"They have a point here, Rainbow Dash."  Twilight Sparkle leaned in to murmur.  "You've always excelled when you had help."

Fluttershy nodded.  "It certainly wouldn't hurt to accept any assistance at this point."

Twilight smiled.  "Remember Eljunbyro."

Rarity nodded.  "The Noble Jury."

"Yeah!"  Pinkie nodded.  "And the Lunar Ninth!"

"I know, girls, but it's just—"  Rainbow's eyes crossed, and she grimaced at Pinkie.  "The heck?"

"'We've got friends at Wyvern Point who can help ya.  And you can bet yer bottom bit that the creatures that there place is named after can be trusted.'"  Bard waited until Wildcard finished hand-signing some more words before interpreting:  "'And once Bard and I show up with the Job Squad, then we'll be ready to get the show rollin'.'"

"That's all well and good, but... like..."  Rainbow Dash shrugged.  "Can't we just head east now?  I mean... is Rohbredden so dang awful that we can't take it on?  Just the three of us?"  A twitching grin.  "Like old times?"

Wildcard and Bard stared at her.

"... ... ..."  Rainbow Dash blinked.  Her eyes rolled.  "Unnnnnnnnngh..."  She rubbed her muzzle then waved her forelimbs.  "Okay okay okay!  Fine!"  A deep sigh, and she muttered, "But still... don't you think that it's... it's..."

"Counterintuitive," Twilight suggested.

"—counterintuitive to say that I need help and then... j-just send me packing on my lonesome?!"  Rainbow frowned.  "I've heard enough about Dust Prefecture and Wyvern Point to know that it's no friggin' walk in the park.  I mean... how do I know you're not just sending me some far off place to die?"

"She brings up a good point," Rarity murmured.  "She did rub them the wrong way in the Quade."

"Shhhhh!"  Twilight hissed, eyes locked on the Desperadoes.  "Not now, Rarity."

"I'm just saying..."

"They don't seem cruel enough to abandon Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said.

"I'm with Team Flutters on this one!"  Pinkie grinned wide.  "Despies for lyfe!"

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat, looking in particular at Wildcard.  "Well?!?"

Bard glanced aside at his partner.

Wildcard's beak clenched and unclenched.  He sliced the air with flesh and metal talons.

"Ahem..."  Bard looked at Rainbow Dash.  "'You won't be alone.  Part of why we was gone for so long was that we searched far and wide for Remna.  She's gonna be yer ticket to Wyvern Point.'"

"Remna?"  Rainbow Dash blinked.  "Who's Remna?"

"Who's Remna?!"  Bard blurted.  "Only the most bang-up bounty hunter in the history of Rohb—"  He bit his own tongue, turning instantly mute.  Clearing his throat, he took a step back with a frown.

"... ... ..."  Rainbow looked at Wildcard.

The griffon rolled his goggled eyes and gestured swiftly.

At last, Bard continued:  "'Remna's taught me everythang I know about bounty huntin'.  Dun worry, she won't double-cross us or nothin'.  I paid her somethin' no other client ever can ever hope to surpass.'"

"You... uh..."  Rainbow fidgeted.  "You sure about this?"

Wildcard gestured.

"'Also, she owes me big time.  Call it a code of honor.'"

"Alright... so lemme get this straight..."  Rainbow Dash pointed at the clothes.  "You want me to put on this uniform... pose as a Consortium worker... waltz into Steamfall... steal a train... then look for a bounty hunter chick named Remna who'll escort me to Wyvern Point while the two of you hop around looking for a bunch of old traveling partners to round up?"

Wildcard and Bard exchanged glances.  They both looked at Rainbow Dash.  Bard nodded while Wildcard held a metal thumb's up.

"Well, you have to admit..."  Rarity smiled crookedly at Rainbow Dash.  "...at least they're loyal."

"The one in goggles is cute," Fluttershy said, giggling.

"Darling, don't you even start."  Rarity fanned herself.

"Soooooooo... okay..."  Rainbow Dash picked at the dark uniform.  "...let's say I actually play along with this craziness."  She looked up at the two.  "Where am I to run into Remna?  I mean... like... what does she even look like?  How am I to find her?"

Bard looked at Wildcard with an expression just as inquisitive as Rainbow's.

Wildcard forced a smile and gestured.

"'Dun you worry...'"  Bard looked back at Rainbow.  "'You won't find her.  She'll find you.'"

Twilight and Pinkie grimaced.

"Why... do I not like the sound of that?" Rainbow wheezed.
> A Game of Destinations, Investigations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The ground beneath Sonikah's hooves was dry, covered occasionally with blankets of disintegrating leaves.  The pilgrim stared at the path beneath her and the rest in her group.  With a blink, she tilted her head skyward, gazing at the stars overhead.

"It's getting warmer," she eventually muttered.

It was the first thing anypony had uttered in hours.  It caused Theanim Mane to glance over his shoulder.  He looked past the other two monks and smiled at Sonikah, who was taking up the rear.

"Are you disatissfied, elder?"

"Hmmm?"  Sonikah's eyes darted towards him.

"Well, I mean... I do suppose a lack of snow makes this trek far less arduous."  Theanim motioned ahead at several steep hills, rising and falling.  Their path ran straight over the forested humps, heading due west into the lower altitudes of west central Rohbredden.  "Rest assured, the path becomes only more erratic from here on out.  And the only places to relax are on gnarled roots and exposed stone."

"Just because I have chosen an ascetic life does not make me immune to sarcasm," Sonikah droned.

"Oh, I know."  Theanim nodded.  "No unnecessary levity intended.  I'm just making sure you're aware that this entire journey is most certainly worth your while."

"That will depend on the destination," Sonikah muttered.

Theanim chuckled.

Sonikah raised an eyebrow.  "What now?"

"Nothing."  Theanim smirked as he led the group around another woodland turn in the path.  "Just that it doesn't sound quite like what a monk would say."

"As of right now, my chief concern is the welfare of the pilgrims under my guidance."

"How about it, gentlecolts?"  Theanim adjusted his goggles over his mane and smiled at the two Luminards between them.  "Are you feeling winded yet?  Hmm?"

One shook his head.  "Verlaxion... gives me strength," he huffed and puffed.

"Indeed."  The other nodded.  "We are more than adequately strengthened for the time being."  He turned to look over his shoulder.  "By your grace, dear elder."

Sonikah sighed out her nostrils before murmuring, "Let us continue."  Her brow furrowed.  "See what the morning light brings."

"Hmmm... illumination..."  Theanim hummed.

Sonikah raised an eyebrow beneath her flouncing braids.

"Simply the one thing we all seek in this existence."  Theanim led the group down a forested slope.  "I promise you, at the end of this trek, you will all find it."  He smiled.  "It won't be long now."

"I can only hope so, Mr. Mane," Sonikah remarked.  "You currently how my faith, however thin."

"All I ask for is your trust."

Sonikah said nothing in return.  The nightly pilgrimage continued.





Thick manacles hung around her fetlocks, and a dimly glowing cap covered the top half of her horn.

Nevertheless, with steady breaths, Longaze looked up from where she sat—slumped in a chair in the furthest corner of a rustic barn.  Her deadpan expression lingered calmly, although a hint of a scowling glare glistened in her eyes.

Seraphimus stood before her.  The Commander cradled her helmet in her arms while her charcoal eyes narrowed on the prisoner.

Longaze sat icily still.  She said nothing.

After a cold, lengthy staring contest, it was Seraphimus who spoke first.  "We have gone to great lengths to mend the wounds that the Rainbow Rogue has inflicted on you."  Her headcrest lowered.  "As we have likewise tended to the ponies you've ruthlessly inflicted pain on in this village."

"... ... ..."  Longaze stared.  Her brown eyes were solid, unflinching.

"I see you're exercising your right to silence," Seraphimus said.  "You are obviously a pony of great restraint."  One eyecrest raised.  "When it lasts."

Longaze simply sat in place, breathing calmly... wordlessly.

"You are not from Braum.  That much is certain."  Seraphimus slowly paced across the interior of the barn.  "The leader of this township, Sarda, has since made the Talon aware of a north passage that connects to the underground tunnel system built beneath us."  Her claws scuffled to a stop as she turned to squint at the prisoner.  "Did you enter the bowels of Braum from there?"

"... ... ..."

"Did you come from Steamfall?"

Longaze took another breath.  She casually looked to the side, offering no expression.  Not even a muzzle twitch.

"You do realize..."  Seraphimus' voice took on a growling tone.  "...that we have over two dozen local eyewitnesses testifying that it was you who knowingly and willingly put the lives of multiple civilians in danger."  Her muscles tightened around her grip of her helmet.  "Including a brazen act of arson and another act of taking an innocent hostage."  She stepped closer to the seated unicorn.  "While you may have been in direct combat with the Rainbow Rogue—a known criminal and fugitive of the state—the evidence currently gathered does not legitimize the wreckless tactics that you employed in subduing her, bounty or not."  Her beak clenched tightly.  "Do you understand the gravity of this situation?  Willful cooperation could lead to a gentler sentence, should this evidence prove substantial in finding you guilty of being a public menace and a terrorist."

The corner of Longaze's muzzle curved slightly...

...but she said nothing.

Seraphimus sighed.  She lifted her helmet and placed it back on her head.  "I see.  So be it."  She cleared her throat.  "In a matter of days, you will be relocated to Frostknife to be tried for your actions here in Braum.  For your sake, I would reconsider utter silence.  I have far more nefarious things to pursue in my hunt.  Any assistance you can provide in that matter could be... beneficial to you."

Longaze's ears twitched once or twice, but she remained silent.

"Consider that in the next few hours to come."  Seraphimus turned tail and shuffled out of the barn.  "I fear you will have very little else to meditate on."

At last, the unicorn was left alone in the corner of the interior.  She stared at the walls of the place, felt the weight on her horn, and sighed with sagging limbs.





Sarda turned from a conversation he was having with two of his subordinates.  As soon as he saw Seraphimus marching out of the barn, he gestured for them to return to their posts, then trotted over to meet with the guardian.

"Commander..."  Sarda gulped.  "Any luck?"

Seraphimus simply clenched her beak and glared into the starlight over Braum.

Sarda shuddered, his breath producing vapors between them.  "To be honest, I didn't expect much."

"She is stubborn in an experienced... practiced way," Seraphimus droned.  "There is a glint in her eyes... a steely determination not found in most common thugs."  She stared across the snow-frosted village while speaking.  "She is undoubtedly protecting someone... someone higher than her."

Sarda frowned.  "The Consortium."

Seraphimus waved a claw.  "That remains to be determined."

"But isn't it obvious?!"  Sarda hissed, waving a hoof at the barn.  "The Consortium has a bounty on the Rogue's head!  I go to them.  I inform them of the fugitive that we have in our possession.  And then—while pretending to not believe us—they send in one of their most powerful agents in to steal her from under our noses!"

"It's a valid theory," Seraphimus said.  "But still just a theory."

"The reality of the situation is right there before you!  Steamfall wanted to rob us of the only opportunity Braum ever had!  So... go investigate them already!"  Sarda frowned.  "I mean... are you a guardian of Rohbredden or aren't you?!"

"The safety and protection of all Verlaxion's foals is my prime concern."  Seraphimus' charcoal eyes sliced into him.  "And it is exceedingly difficult to live up to my oath when the citizens of this land refuse to cooperate with me."

Sarda drew back, wincing.  A sullen sigh rolled through him, and he knelt in the cold snow before the griffon.  "I... am most sorry, Commander."  He gulped.  "As leader of this village, I take full and complete responsibility for any crime of misinformation that has been committed here."

"You wouldn't be a noble stallion if you didn't."  Seraphimus raised her claws and rested them on his shoulder.  "However, this is a very delicate situation.  One that is constantly evolving, I fear.  I will need your assistance if I am to ascertain what's truly at hand."  Firmly, she lifted him back to his hooves.  "Morning comes in a few hours.  When my wingmates return, I'll hopefully have a firm report on the whereabouts of the Rainbow Rogue.  Then and only then will I make my next decision."

"She's... still your main priority, I see," Sarda remarked.

"She's Rohbredden's main priority," Seraphimus said.  "Although, at this point, I'm not certain there's much that can be done to track her down."  She exhaled.  "I'm already dreading my report to the Council."

"Because a griffon took off with her," Sarda said.  "She could be miles away by now."

"... ... ..."  Seraphimus looked past him.

"I mean... right?"  Sarda leaned forward, eyes narrow.  "It was a griffon who took her.  I saw the tracks."  He gulped.  "And I saw the look on you and the Lieutenant's faces when you saw them."

"Nothing is certain yet."  Seraphimus shuffled away from him.  "If anything, this entire mission is falling apart.  My wingmates are exhausted.  A new party has joined the hunt, and violently so.  On top of that, it's quite possible that the Rainbow Rogue has gotten an impossibly huge lead on us.  I simply do not have a strategic position to claim at the moment."

"All the more reason to conduct an investigation of Steamfall."

"We shall see—"

"Commander," Sarda spoke in a breathy, emphatic tone.

She turned to look at him.

He stared her in the eye.  "It's been hours since I last saw Kayman and two others of my village.  If that... creature locked up in my barn was savage enough to burn down an entire tavern, then I greatly fear for the well-being of my companions."  He gulped.  "Assuming they're still alive.  I know that I haven't done much to deserve your trust, but please... will you help me?"

Seraphimus turned and stepped back towards him.  She rested a talon on his shoulder.  "Verlaxion's blessings extend to all.  Including her might."  She nodded.  "I shall do what I can to find out the fate of your companions.  And you are welcome to join us in Steamfall when we do so."

Sarda exhaled sharply.  "Oh... th-thank you, Commander."

"But first thing's first..."  Seraphimus' eyes reflected winged shapes soaring in from the north, west, and east.  She marched firmly through the snow.  "...I must hear the report from my Lieutenant."
> You're Waiting for a Train...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A dim gray glow peeked over the mountaintops east of Braum.  Morning light pierced the snowy haze in errant rays as Seraphimus and Keris paced through a woodland thicket north of town.  Raptr, Windburst, and Starstorm hung back in the village where they enjoyed a blissfully short but much-needed rest.

"Were there any tracks at least?" Seraphimus asked.

Keris gravely shook his head.  "None, Commander.  And if the being who swept up the Rogue left a single feather behind—you can bet that Windburst's expert eyes would have spotted it."

Seraphimus sighed heavily, producing vapors in the growing dawnlight.  "There aren't many creatures in this world with the wingpower to outfly the Talon."

"No."  Keris shook his head.  "There aren't."  He swallowed hard, then breathed, "Save for a few."

Seraphimus clenched her beak tightly shut.

"Commander..."  Keris stepped closer, peering at her.  "What if it is him?  What if, after all this time, he's come back?"

"He perished in noble conflict," Seraphimus said in a low voice.  "I saw it with my own eyes."

"I saw it with mine as well."  Keris squinted.  "And what I witnessed was merely what was left of him."

"He gave his life for the protection of Verlaxion's kingdom," Seraphimus said.

"Yes, but what if he survived, Seraphimus?"  Keris breathed, "What if he survived and now he's within our midst once again?"

"I refuse to believe that."

"But you saw the tracks—"

Seraphimus suddenly growled, "I refuse to believe that he's capable of anything traitorous!"

The echo of her voice rang out, then settled.  Snow fell off the tree branches around the two, and then everything softly settled.

"Besides..."  Seraphimus managed calmly.  "Any griffon could have left those tracks."

"I know what I saw."  Keris inhaled.  "You know what you saw."

"What you suggest is outlandish, Lieutenant, and far from simple."  Seraphimus stared off through the snow-flaked trees.  "It... simply would not make any sense."

"We've seen ponies and griffons survive far worse than—"

"I mean the motivation required to make off with the country's chief fugitive," Seraphimus said, turning to look at the Lieutenant.  "It simply wouldn't be like him."

"Many years have passed, Commander," Keris said.  "I've changed.  You've changed."

Seraphimus merely glared back.

"I'm simply saying that it's possible," Keris remarked.  He cleared his throat.  "And if it is indeed the case, then we need to reconsider our stakes in this situation."  He gestured vaguely north.  "The Sergeants and I searched the skies and mountaintops vigorously, and we found no sign of the Rainbow Rogue.  Now... that could be the fault of our exhaustion.  But if it's true that he's taken her... then I don't know what hope we ever have of finding her at this point."

The Commander closed her eyes.  She took a deep, fuming breath.

Keris blinked.  His headcrest drooped beneath his helmet.  "You're mad at me," he said.  "You're angry that I did not do more to subdue the Rainbow Rogue while I was inside the burning tavern with her."  His eyes sank to the snowy floor.  "I understand."

"I did not say that," Seraphimus droned.

"As a guardian of the Talon, I should have seized the opportu—"

"As a claw of the Talon, you should have protected the foals of Verlaxion with all your might," Seraphimus said.  "Which is precisely what you did."

Keris merely gazed at her.

Seraphimus sensed it.  She reopened her eyes.  "You think that what happened in Braum is evidence enough to absolve the Rainbow Rogue of most her crimes."

Keris smiled beneath his beak.  "I did not say that..."

Seraphimus clenched both talons into fists.  She spun and faced northeast, towards the distant plume of rising smog.  "That is evidently not our concern at the moment.  The Rainbow Rogue—for as much as we know—is currently lost."

"Do we return to Frostknife?" Keris remarked.  "Surely the Court must be desiring an update in person by now—good news or bad."

"There are newer... far more pressing concerns at the moment," Seraphimus said.  "And as guardians of this kingdom, we would be remiss to ignore them."

Keris' brow furrowed.  "The unicorn."

"She's been silent ever since waking up in Sarda's hold," Seraphimus said, pacing through the crunching snow.  "But I know an accomplice when I see one.  She's working for a higher authority... a dastardly one.  Sarda believes she came from the Consortium's operations in Steamfall."

"What do you believe?"

Seraphimus lingered slightly, then said, "I believe that there's been a cancer eating away at Ivory Prefecture for far too long.  Sarda's a headstrong, deceitful young stallion... but to a fault.  He's charismatic about defending his brothers and sisters.  Such enthusiasm is noble, but blinding."

"Sounds positively awful," Keris said with a smirk.

Seraphimus flung him a look.

Keris cleared his throat and stood up straight, deadpan.

The Commander exhaled.  "He needs our help, and we are in the position to lend aid.  I'm certain you understand."

"And I respect any decision you make to assist these ponies, Commander," Keris said.  He opened his beak again, but hesitated.

"Go on, Lieutenant," Seraphimus said.  "Say it."

"Say what, Commander?"

Seraphimus looked away from him, sighing into the dawnlight.  "That if I had been around the Barges to witness such atrocities, I would be making a sympathetic decision similar to what I'm strategizing now."

Keris blinked at that.  He fidgeted slightly, then muttered, "You... uh... had your orders from the Council.  We all did."

"And yet, what have we accomplished for kingdom or our Goddess?"  Seraphimus clenched her beak tight.  "All other assignments, we have followed through with great triumph and success.  But this?"  She shuddered.  "Perhaps this is Verlaxion's test?"

"Her test?"

"To shatter our contentment and reinforce fear and respect for Her glory."

"If... that's even remotely true, Commander," Keris said, "Then it suggests that the Rainbow Rogue is simply a mechanism in Her divine plan."  He shook slightly.  "It... somewhat trivializes what happened in the Quade."

Seraphimus looked over at him.  "Yes.  It does, does it not?"

Keris blinked.

Seraphimus kept staring at the Lieutenant.

At last, Keris murmured, "Rainbow Dash... believes many things.  All of them are... bizarre and otherworldly, to say the least."  He slowly shook his head.  "But she does not believe in Verlaxion.  I assure you of this."

Seraphimus glanced at the snow as she contemplated that.  At last—as a sunny sheen crossed the snowy landscape—she pivoted to face northeast once again.  "Alas, our concern is now with finding an explanation behind this powerful unicorn's assault of Braum."

Keris cleared his throat.  "Agreed."

"I've already promised Sarda that we will investigate Steamfall and seek answers there."

"Will we be bringing him with us?"

Seraphimus nodded.  "I think it would be most beneficial to cooperate as much as we can with the locals."

"Agreed, Commander."

"But—for the next hour at least—you should rest.  We've hunted long and hard, and I need our collective wits to be sharp when we enter Steamfall."

"Shall I inform the Sergeants that our hunt for the Rainbow Rogue is being put on hold, then?"

"It would be most wise," Seraphimus said, marching out of the thicket.  "We need to remain focused while in the vicinity of the Consortium.  Besides, all things considered, there's not a chance in Hell that we'll be finding the Rogue in Steamfall."





Rainbow Dash, Bard, and Wildcard approached the southern fringes of Steamfall.

Wildcard squatted low behind a fallen tree.  He adjusted the lenses of his goggles and peered at the polluted pocket of industry at the foot of massive mountains.

An interconnecting web of train tracks converged between two-story concrete warehouses and supply stations.  Along the southwest edge of town, row upon row of bunkers stood, serving as living quarters for the vast amount of ponies employed at the complex.  Towards the north—on the other side of the tracks—large factories loomed with towering smokestacks that pumped smoldering plumes high into the air.  The southern faces of the mountain range were permanently stained dark-gray from years of exposure to dredge coal refining.  Any snow that fell on the rooftops and streets of Steamfall promptly melted.  So much heat was generated from the factories, furnaces, and steam boilers that the Desperadoes could even feel it from hundreds of yards away.  Trains rolled in and out of Steamfall constantly from all directions, filling the air with perpetual hissing as they chugged steam and spat sparks across metal tracks.  Meanwhile, workers in dark black company uniforms filed in and out of buildings, drawing wagons full of ore from warehouse to warehouse, and occasionally milling about the bunkers while on break.

With a deep breath, Wildcard looked at Bard.  He then peered over the bearded pegasus' shoulder and gestured wildly at Rainbow Dash.

"'Move yer flank already!'" Bard hissed.

"You sure you're still interpreting?"

Bard clammed up.  He turned to face the smoggy complex with a frown.

"Eugh... sorry, it's..."  Rainbow Dash fidgeted, shaking a leg with every step.  "...it's super duper hard to gallop in this friggin' thing."

She was clad from head to tail in a stiff black uniform.  The jacket part had a series of silver buttons rising up the middle.  It ended around her neck with a suffocatingly high collar that allowed her to hide the Element of Loyalty—but at the cost of turning her neck left and right.  Her pant legs ran a little long, and the petite pegasus had to roll the bottoms up a few inches to keep from tripping.

"And I'm not a big fan of this... bulky satchel thing either," Rainbow Dash said, distastefully dangling a stone-gray bag in her grasp.  "Do Consortium workers really carry crud around in this?"

Wildcard gestured.

"'Eeyup,'" Bard nodded, staring at the town.  "'And it's the finest thang we could come up with that'll hide yer Equestrian backpack and other supplies.'"

"I think there's something... elegant about it," Twilight Sparkle observed with a slight smile.  "Makes you look very distinguishing-looking, Rainbow."  She looked behind her.  "What do you think, Rarity?"

"Very classic."  The fashionista smiled.  "Like a pre-modern preparatory school uniform."

"Meh," Rainbow uttered.

Bard and Wildcard looked back at her.

"Not you."  Rainbow pointed at the air behind them.  "Them."

"I do believe there's one last thing to finish the ensemble, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said in a sing-songy tone.

Wildcard whistled and pointed.

Rainbow groaned, then slapped on a glossy lidded black cap.  She stood in place, fidgeting.  "I kinda miss having the conical hat."  Nevertheless, she cleared her throat and looked at the Desperadoes.  "How do I look?"

Wildcard smirked and signed in the air.  Silence.  His feathery brow furrowed, and he jabbed a shoulder into Bard.

"Guh!  Sonuva..."  Rolling his eyes, Bard cleared his throat and said, "'Reckon you look like a million bits there, Rainbow.'"

"Jee, thanks, Bard."  Rainbow batted her eyelashes.  "That's so very kind and friendly of you to say."

"Grrrrrrrrrrrr..."

Wildcard snapped his claws.  The other two looked at him as he pointed at the complex, then gestured swiftly.

"Ahem..."  Bard folded his forelimbs and spoke for the griffon:  "'Two westbound trains have rolled into station over the last hour.  They should be reloadin' on fuel for their steam engines right about now.  I highly suggest you nab yerself the one that's on the northernmost track.'"

"Uhhhhhhhh..."  Rainbow Dash fidgeted.

Wildcard signed some more, and Bard translated:  "'It should take you through the mountain range and into the upper plateau of Dust Prefecture.  Once yer past the last checkpoint, ditch the engine and make yer way northwest towards Wyvern Point.'"

"Dudes..."

"'The Talon won't suspect that yer headed in that direction.  Also, that's where Remna was last situated, accordin' to her latest missives—'"

"Hang on!"  Rainbow frowned, holding up her hooves.  "Look.  I know that... uh... we've been over this all night.  But... seriously... how can I expect to steal and operate a train?!"

Bard looked at Wildcard.  The griffon hand-signed delicately.  Bard turned to face Rainbow again.  "'Shouldn't be too hard.  They usually only go in one direction.'"

"That... it... guhhh..."  Rainbow Dash face-hoofed.

"Don't worry, Dashie!"  Pinkie Pie grinned.  "If worse comes to worst, we'll help you when the time comes!"

"Yeah..."  Rainbow glared at the air beside her.  "But have you ever operated a train before?"

"Uhhhhhhh..."  Pinkie Pie curled her forelegs to her chest, blushing.  "Eh heh heh heh..."

"I've read about steam engines plenty of times!" Twilight grinned.

"And... uhm... I rode in the front of one before," Fluttershy said.

Rarity blinked in surprise.  "You rode in the front of a train, darling?  When?"

"Erm..."  Fluttershy sank a bit into the ground.  "...it was a cloud train..."

"Ughhh..."  Rainbow facehoofed again.

Wildcard patted her shoulder.  She looked up to see the goggled griffon smiling and giving a metal thumb's up.

"Look... I'm super jazzed that you two have shown up out of the blue to lend me a hoof."  Rainbow managed a weak smile.  "Really, I am."  Clearing her throat, she adjusted the collar of her uniform and mumured, "But... I-I just don't see why you can't—like—join me.  Y'know... like old times."

Wildcard began gesturing—

"Yeah yeah—I know that you're heck-bent on finding this... this..."

"Job Squad," Bard blurted.

Rainbow looked over.

He flinched, then swiveled his head, glaring away from her.

Rainbow arched an eyebrow.  "I'm guessing that's your name for them, not Wildcard's."

"Mrmmffff..."

Rainbow looked at the griffon.  "Bard's obviously not so thrilled to be here.  So this must be your doing."  She blinked.  "Why?  Why go through all this trouble?"

Wildcard sighed.  With a bittersweet smile, he swung his talons through the air.

"'Because...'"  Bard muttered.  "'...I have an oath that I gotsta keep.  Plain and simple.'"

"You do?"  Rainbow squinted.  "But Bard doesn't?  Since when was there a 'disparate' in 'Desperadoes?'"

"Goddess dang it all..."  Bard shrugged his shoulders and marched away from the fallen tree.  "We done what we came here to do, Dubya-Cee.  I've humored you long enough.  Now let's go grab yer old friends already."  He adjusted the weight of his guitar case.  "Assumin' any of them are still alive."

"But wait!"  Rainbow stretched a hoof out.  "I... I need to know more!  Who's this 'Job Squad?!'  What am I going to find in Wyvern Point?!"

Wildcard answered swiftly with swinging talons.  When nothing was said, he flung an angry look over his shoulder and yanked Bard towards him by his long mane.

"Augh!  Consarnit!"  Bard cleared his throat and angrily interpreted:  "'Just trust me, okay?  Fetch a train.  Head northwest.  Look for a surly mare named Remna.  She'll give ya the guidance that yer whinin' somethang awful for.'"  He squinted at Wildcard.  "There, Dubya, ya happy?"

Wildcard glanced at Rainbow Dash.  With a shuddering sigh, he nodded, goggles rattling.

"Good.  Let's mosey."

Wildcard spread his wings and—Fwoooosh!—rocketed east on dark wings.

Bard spread his limbs, preparing to do the same.

"Hey... look... Bard..."  Rainbow Dash approached him, squirming visibly.  "You have every reason to be mad at me.  Celestia knows it took ages before the girls could speak to me after what I did in the Quade.  But still... I just want you to know that I'm thankful."  She gritted her teeth.  "Please don't mix up my confusion for ungratefulness.  I'm in a real bind right now, and if what you guys are offering me at Wyvern Point can help me get past Verlax... then... then it's a real swell thing, y'know?"

Bard lingered in place.  At last, he sighed, his thick muscles slumping.  "... ... ...t'ain't me ya should be thankin', Rainbow."

Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy looked on, eyes wide and breaths held.

"It's all Dubya.  He's got his oath... and I've got my oaths to him.  That's all."  The stallion glared into the smoggy sky.  "Desperation and honor are too very different thangs, and only one of 'em deserves forgiveness."

"Bard..."

"Now move yer dayum tail," Bard grumbled, flapping his wings.  "It'd be a cryin' shame if all of Dubya-Cee's work amounted to a whole heap'o'nothin'."  Fwoooooosh!  And he was skyborne, disappearing to the east.

Rainbow Dash stood in place, shivering.  She and her marefriends watched as the Desperadoes vanished along the glowing horizon.

Rainbow sighed.  "...how I do miss that."

"Well, at least he's... as articulate as ever," Rarity muttered.

"Don't let his mean words get to you, Rainbow," Fluttershy said with a hopeful smile.  "He showed up here.  That counts for something, yes?"

Rainbow tilted her black cap forward and muttered, "Bard's not the one who's done mean things."

Fluttershy bit her lip.  She and Twilight exchanged nervous glances.

"Whatever," Rainbow muttered.  "I've moved on from the Quade."  She stepped forward.  "It's a crying shame that Bard hasn't."

Rarity pumped her hoof.  "Now that's the spirit, darling!"

"Let's just deal with one crazy situation at a time," Rainbow muttered.  "Verlax is the one obsessed with the 'big picture.'  Maybe by sticking to the small stuff, we'll... I dunno... have an edge over her?"

"I'm... not sure it works that way, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said.

"Typical egghead," Rainbow droned.  "Bring a brain to a stupid fight."  She took a sniff of the smoggy air and almost puked.  "Eughhh... Luna's nipple... what does this town burn to keep warm?  Parasprite turds?"

Pinkie gulped.  "I think we're about to find out..."
> Song of Ice and Latrines
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"So, uhm..."  Raptr's armor rattled as he marched along with the group.  "We're just leaving Evil Miss Unicrazy back in Braum?"

"Affirmative," Seraphimus said.  She led the Talon through the snow and towards the southern gates of Steamfall.  "I intend for us to question the supervisors of the facility on their knowledge of the Rainbow Rogue.  When and only when it becomes advantageous to expose a weakpoint in their testimony, we'll announce our possession of the mare who burned down the tavern."

"A fine plan, Commander," Sarda said, accompanying the group on hoof.  "That way, you can use her as a bargaining chip."

"That is not my intent," Seraphimus growled ever so slightly.  "She is to be brought to Frostknife and tried for her crimes.  The Talon is above taking hostages to exploit a suspicious party, Mr. Sarda."

"Still..."  Windburst smirked.  "It wouldn't hurt."

Starstorm chuckled.

After a deep breath, Seraphimus muttered, "I suppose that—if she has associates here in Steamfall, associates that even remotely respect her—then the knowledge of her capture just might provoke them into a confession."

"A confession to what?" Raptr inquired.

"Willful harm committed against the citizenry," Windburst remarked.  "Seems cut and dry to me."

"If only our job was ever that simple," Starstorm droned.

"Mr Sarda," Lieutenant Keris spoke.  "How do you normally approach the ponies of Steamfall for amicable negotiation?"

"I don't," Sarda grunted.

Keris sighed.  "In all seriousness, sir..."

"My apologies."  Sarda cleared his throat.  "When I have to, I approach the guards at the southern gates up ahead."  He pointed at the distant barrier.  "Kayman and his two associates would have done the same."

"In their absence, I wonder, would they be expecting the leader of Braum to arrive?" Keris remarked.

"What are you getting at, guardian?"

"Yes, Lieutenant," Seraphimus murmured.  "Do fill us in."

"The ponies of Steamfall likely know that we have arrived in Braum.  What they do not know is that we have any reason to approach them."  Keris glanced at the others.  "I suggest we capitalize on that possibility."

Seraphimus and the other members of the Talon scuffled to a stop.

"You mean take them by surprise?" Windburst remarked.  "Show up unannounced?"

"That... could be beneficial in exposing their true motives," Starstorm said.  "The element of surprise works wonders."

"But how would we even set that up?" Raptr remarked, squinting in the morning light.  "They already know we're in Ivory Prefecture."

Keris looked over at Sarda.  "Mister Sarda.  I know you've been through a great many tribulations as of late.  However—for the good of our mutual investigation—would you be willing to exercise one final act of courage and faith?"

Sarda nodded.  "You should know by now that I'm willing to do anything that will settle the score here with the Consortium.  And they are scum.  You must believe me."

"We may or may not find proof of that, provided we approach this the right way."  Keris turned towards Seraphimus.  "Commander?  With your permission?"

"Please..."  Seraphimus took a calm step back, gesturing.  "...by all means."





"Hmmmmmmmmm..."  Pinkie Pie tapped her chin, squinting into the morning light.  "'Remna'... 'Remna'... 'Remna...'"  Her ears twitched.  "Where have I heard that name before...?"

"Stop stressing over it, Pinkie Pie," Rarity said as she and the other girls floated after Rainbow.  "So perhaps we've heard the name before.  What of it?  It's a small world."

"Actually, no," Rainbow droned.  "It isn't."

"Well, you know what I mean."

"Rainbow, what are you doing?" Twilight asked.

"I'm... uh..."  Rainbow Dash shuffled in a zig-zag direction as she approached the southeast warehouses of Braum.  "...flailing casually."

"Well stop flailing and start trotting normally," Twilight insisted.  "You'll blow your cover before you even have it!"

"But I-I just can't tell which direction I'm supposed to approach the streets of this place from!" Rainbow grumbled, eyeing the complexes and bunkers as they drew closer.  "What if—like—I'm expected to be on a scheduled patrol or at a specific post or—?"

"If I were you, Dashie, I'd learn to stop worrying and love the uniform!"  Pinkie waved a dainty hoof, smirking.  "It looks super snazzy on you!"

"You wear this stupid friggin' cloth sarcophagus around your flank and neck and you tell me how 'snazzy' it feels."

"Shhhhhh!"  Fluttershy hissed.  "A pair of ponies are coming around the corner!"  She pointed up ahead and towards the left.  "Workers!  Just like you!"

"Okay, everypony," Twilight Sparkle spoke.  "Let's be quiet.  Give Rainbow Dash some air to concentrate and talk herself through this."

"Right..."  Rainbow gulped, cracking the joints in her neck before calmly trotting straight ahead.  "...cuz that's the one thing I'm good at: talking.  Not headbutting."

"Here they come!"  Fluttershy whispered.

Two mares in uniform waltzed around the corner, chatting with one another.

"And so the wyvern says to the seapony, 'No!  YOU have chicken mouth!'"

"Hahahahaha..."  The other mare sighed through a smile.  "I still don't get it."

"Girl, you never get it."

"Whoah, hold up."  They both scuffled to a stop, blinking at Rainbow Dash.  "Where in the heck did you come from?"

"Me?" Rainbow blinked.

"Yeah, you."

"Uhm..."  Rainbow's eyebrows twitched.  "The woods."

Twilight and Rarity simultaneously face-hoofed.

One mare squinted.  "The woods?"

"Yeah.  My... uhm..."  Rainbow fidgeted on the sidewalk.  "...my steam supervisor told me to go and... g-gather pinecones to decorate her office in the bunker... forrrrrrr the Month of Thawing."  She shook her bag.  "See?"  A gulp.  "And who am I to ruin the boss' holiday spirit, y'know?"

The two mares stared at Rainbow.

Fluttershy chewed on the ends of her hooves.  Pinkie Pie stuck her ghostly head into the ground.

"Hmmmmm... heheh..."  One mare smirked.  "...yeah, right."

Rainbow winced.

"Let's be real."  The mare pointed at the snowy trees in the distance.  "You were out there taking a crap, weren't you?"

Rarity did a double-take.

"Ehhhh..."  Rainbow Dash rubbed one leg against another.  She forced herself to blush.  "...you caught me, huh?"

"Hahahaha... ya poor little thing."  One mare giggled.  "They're still being cruel to newcomers over in Bunker Beta, huh?"

"It was a good few weeks before they allowed me access to the company latrine."  The other pony shook her head.  "Friggin' jokers."

Rainbow shrugged.  "I just don't want to step on anypony's toes."

"Or smell up the bunker.  Which is good!  They'll adore you sooner than later, kid."

"Heeheehee!"

"Hey... if it helps..."  One mare winked.  "You can use the latrine at Bunker Alpha."

"Really?"  Rainbow cracked a smile.  "Oh, Verlaxion's Sheet!"

"Sleet!" Twilight hissed.

"That too!"  Rainbow sighed.  "I've dreamt of this opportunity.  To... ahem... make waste in freedom and comfort."

"Enjoy it while it lasts.  Cuz soon enough, they'll make the rookies dig the new latrine."  The mares shuffled off.  "So much for comfort then!"

"Hahaha!"

"Say—good job on scoring a uniform in your size, kid!  It looks snazzy on you!"

"Verlaxion's blessings!"

"Errr... yeah..."  Rainbow Dash waved a hoof.  As the two trotted off, she looked at herself with a frown.  "Like... seriously.  I don't see it.  Do you girls see it?" she whispered, standing up tall and straight.  "I'm the same size of any other mare my age."

Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, and Rarity all floated up so that they "stood" alongside Rainbow Dash.  Everypony's shoulders and ears reached undeniably higher.

"Eughhhhhh..."  Glaring, Rainbow Dash slumped along.  "You're all ghosts.  You don't count."

"Heeheehee!"  Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie giggled.

"Horses for courses, love," Rarity said.

"Okay..."  Twilight gestured ahead.  "Looks like it's getting busy up ahead.  Let's cross this compound and find ourselves a train."

Rainbow's jaw muscles tightened.  "Easier said than done..."
> It's Jerk Season In Steamfall
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"You're doing this in exchange for what again?" questioned one guard to another.

Four stallions stood along the southern gates of Steamfall.  They rubbed their hooves together and fought shivers in the cold air along the fringes of the compound.

"Three week vacation in mid-summer," said another pony.  "Gonna take the family to Osmanthus Prefecture and not look back."

"Oooooh..."  One employee nodded, adjusting his black cap.  "That's a pretty place any time of year."

"But, for real, is it worth it?"  A third frowned.  "I mean, you're working half of the Month of Thawing in exchange for a measly trip to the west coast.  Most of us get to do this crud in shifts, and it's soul-crushing."

"Believe me," the stallion grumbled.  "A three week vacation to the beach is just what the family needs.  Especially the Missus."

"Oh yeah?"  Another stallion winked.  "And what of the mistress over at Lichen Junction?"

"Eh... she hates warm weather.  And my wife.  Why the Hell else do you think I'm doing this in the summer?"

"Hahahahaha..."

"Heh heh heh..."

"Haaaaaa... goddess, it's cold."

A slow, crunching sound rolled across the snowy field.  The Consortium workers lifted their heads, facing south.

"What... in the heck is that?" asked one stallion, squinting.

"It looks like a pony."

"No shit it's a pony.  But why's he all by himself?  Where's his wagon?"

"Ah jeez... more riff raff begging for a stack of bits."

"Month of Thawing brings the worst scumbags out of hiding."

"Seriously, though.  What's with this guy?"

"Wait... wait... yup."  One stallion nodded.

The other guards looked at him.  "What?"

"He's coming straight from Braum."

"How do you know that?"

"Cuz it's the village idiot extraordinaire, Sarda."

"That's Sarda?"

"Yup.  In the flesh."

"Heheheh..."  One stallion smirked at the others.  "I've always wanted to meet this joker in person."

"You won't be disappointed.  Buncha coal huffing bums, the whole lotta them."

"Shhhhh..."  One stallion shuffled forward from the gate.  "Let me take care of this."

"Good luck, buddy."

Slowly, Sarda marched towards the approaching guard, his gaze cold and surly.

"Hold it right there, sir," the lead guard said.  He adjusted his cap and squinted at the grizzled stallion.  "What business do you have in Steamfall?"

"You would ask me that..." Sarda exhaled.

"It's my job."

"And yesterday, it was somepony else's job," Sarda grumbled.  "Are you ponies paid so little that you force yourself to confuse bureacracy for responsibility?"

"Hey, man."  The guard shrugged.  "It's modern times.  If Braum can't catch up, it's not our fault."  The employees behind him chuckled.  He smirked.  "And just what did you come here to kindly chew my ear off about?"

"I sent three stallions here to speak with someone in charged," Sarda spoke firmly.  "They haven't been back since.  I want to know where they are."

The guard shrugged again.  "Doesn't sound like our problem."

"They're trusted colleagues of mine," Sarda said.  "They always report back to me before making random, unnecessary ventures."

"Well, obviously not, because you're here bothering me about them."  The guard stifled a yawn.  "Look, dude, don't harass us 'cuz you're not competent enough to keep an eye on your number one stallions during the flippin' Month of Thawing."

Sarda's eyes narrowed.  "I'm not harassing.  I'm asking—"

"Oh, cut the bull."  The guard frowned.  "We know you have it out for the Consortium, pal.  If you're not bitching about the smoke from our refineries, then you're yanking our chain over some made-up monopoly on local trade."

"That's neither here nor there."

"Glad we can agree on something for once!" the stallion exclaimed, then waved his hoof.  "Now scram back to Braum.  Enjoy time with your family during the Month of Thawing—assuming they can stand the smell of ya."

"Kayman is a little shorter than me," Sarda calmly said.  "He was wearing a coat—"

"Dude!"  The guard was nearly snarling at this point.  "I'm telling you—I don't know where he is—"

"But you know where they were."  Sarda's eyes narrowed like chiseled daggers.  "You saw them.  You had to.  Or else somepony else did."

The guard leaned back.  He glanced lethargically back at his fellow associates who were shifting about anxiously.

"The sooner I find out what they were up to last," Sarda remarked, "The sooner I'll be out of your mane."

"Look..."  The guardian shuffled closer.  His was voice low, tense, impatient.  "I was covering the western rails yesterday.  I heard that Braum had sent a second party to bug us, but I wasn't there, pal.  If this... 'Kayman' spoke to anybody here at the southern gate, I wasn't here for it, so I dunno where they went afterwards."

"I asked them to seek audience with the Consortium executive."

"Huh?"  The guard blinked.

"You were being visited by a representative of the central offices of the Consortium," Sarda said.  "That's what I discovered during my last visit."  His eyes searched the group of guards.  "I specifically tasked Kayman with meeting this pony to conduct a business transaction."

"Pffft!" another employee broke into chuckles.  "Braum?  Hammer out a deal with Longaze?!"

Sarda's eyes twitched.  "Longaze?"

"Yeah, she's visiting at the moment," one stallion barked.  "What of it?"

"Could Kayman have met with this... Mr. Longaze?"

"Ms."

Sarda raised an eyebrow.  "She's a mare."

"She's a very important member of Consortium management," the guard in front of him grumbled.  "And she does not cater to Ivory Prefecture peasants."

"Please..."  Sarda took a deep breath.  "I must speak with her."

"No go, dude."

Sarda clenched his jaw.  "I have three close associates who are missing.  I would very much appreciate her assistance in this matter, especially if she wants amicable relations to continue between the Consortium and the citizens of Braum—"

"She doesn't owe you or your friends anything, buddy.  Get over it.  Besides, she's too busy here in Steamfall to bother with your stupid problems."

"So she's here in Steamfall right now?"

"What is this?!  An interview?"  The guard spat.  "Yes!  She's here in Steamfall!  And she's preoccupied!  Now scram!"  The other ponies chuckled as he waved a hoof at the horizon.  "High-tail it back home!  If you're so friggin' desperate to find your missing butt buddies, then—I dunno—fill out a 'missing pony' report with Central Defense!"

"Very well."  Sarda swiveled about completely, then spoke loudly into the air.  "Commander?  Lieutenant?  Could you be of some assistance?"

"Huh?"  The guard blinked.  At the sound of whistling feathers, he and his associates looked straight up.  Their muzzles instantly paled as their ears drooped.

Sw-Sw-Sw-Sw-Swoooooosh!  The Talon descended from the clouds like five heavy stones.  Snow splattered across the guards' hooves and uniforms from their expert landings.  Commander Seraphimus stood in the center, serrated and menacing.  She took a few icy steps forward, her beak carving through the air between them.

"Dearest employees of the Consortium.  I am Commander Seraphimus of the Right Talon of Verlaxion, and there's been a terrible incident in Braum.  Somepony has committed a barbaric act of terrorism, and now I have three innocent stallions unaccounted for.  As I am told, they were last seen heading here to Steamfall to speak with the pony in charge of operations."

"Uhhhh... uhmmmm..."  The lead stallion quivered in his horseshoes, knees rattling.  "Uhhhhhh..."

Seraphimus' charcoal eyes glinted as she stared him down.  "Now, it is my understanding that this executive... this Longaze is situated here in Steamfall as we speak."  She took a deep breath, glaring out from under her helmet.  "This investigation is now a matter of the Talon, so I would very much appreciate it if you took us to her so we may continue this discussion with utmost swiftness and professionalism."

Sarda glanced back at Keris.  The Lieutenant merely smirked in silence.

"Uhmm... uhhh-hehhhh..."  The guard sweated despite the bitter cold.  "Well, there... uhm... m-maybe be a problem, m-ma'am..."

"What... kind... of problem?" Seraphimus exhaled, her beak nearly poking his brow.

The stallion's muscles scrunched inward as he cowered under her shadow.  "Eheheheheheh..."  His gnashed his teeth, pupils shrinking.





"Hey!"  A stallion drawing a wagon full of supplies paused to wave at Rainbow Dash.  "Sweet duds!  I didn't know they made them in that size!"

"Uhhhh... yeah."  Rainbow Dash cleared her throat and shuffled past him as quickly as she could manage.  "Me neither, pal."

"What department did you order them from?"

"Oh... y'know..."  Rainbow tilted her black cap forward, shuffled the weight of her bags, and coughed.  "... ... ...Blue Nova department."

"Huh... Blue Nova..."  The stallion tapped his chin.  "Must be one of those new Prefectures Chandler's trying to ratify from the west isles."

"Yup!  Bye!"

"Wait wait wait!"  The stallion waved his forelimb again.  "Who's the requisitions officer of Blue Nova department?  I gotta memorize this!"

"Eh... you probably haven't heard of him..."  Rainbow gulped as she shuffled along.  "... ... ...Chief Executive Zaap Nator...?"

"Zaap Nator!  Got it!  Great!  Thanks!"  The stallion smiled and trudged along, dragging his wagon.  "My little sister's turning sixteen and she wants to start doing part-time for the east trade outposts!  Judging from you, I bet this Zaap guy has an outfit just in her size!  Thanks, noobie!"

"Don't mention!  Seriously!"  Rainbow Dash finally made it to the edge of a warehouse and she flung herself around the corner.  "Whewwww..."  She slumped against the wall behind her.  "If this is what it takes to cross one street here in Steamfall, I'm not going to make it even halfway."

"You're doing fine, darling!" Rarity said.  "Quite the effective use of random misdirection!  Pinkie would be proud!"

"Hey!"  Pinkie pouted.  "Don't speak about Pinkie Pie in the third pony as if Pinkie Pie wasn't here!"

"She's right, though, Rainbow Dash."  Twilight Sparkle smiled at Rainbow as their anchor resumed her casual trot.  "You have such a rich history of memories and past interactions from your travels that you can pull just about any name out of the hat and it'll convince everyone that you're telling the truth!"

"Yeah, thanks."  Rainbow fidgeted in mid-step.  "I think."

"It begs the question," Rarity remarked.  "Just who was this 'Zaap Nator?'"

"Oh... uhm..."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Just some... technopheliac powermongering duke who for some superstitious reason felt it was his duty to toss innocent foals to their death down a deep, dark pit."

"... ... ..."  Rarity looked ahead.  "Let's go find that train."

"Yes, let's." Twilight shuddered.

"What do you think I've been trying to—?"

"Guh!"  Fluttershy suddenly flinched.  She clutched her head and veered left and right at random, phasing through structures.

"Wuh oh!" Pinkie remarked.  "Flutter senses!"

"Fluttershy, darling!"  Rarity drifted over and braced the ghostly pegasus in mid-air.  "What ever is the matter?"

Fluttershy gulped.  "I... I just felt something."  She looked at the others with quivering eyes.  "Something important.  Familiar."

"Is it the Talon?!" Twilight stammered.

"No.  I mean..."  Fluttershy winced, nodding.  "Well, yes, they're here too."

"Wuh oh again!"  Pinkie chirped, rolling into a floaty pink ball.

"Dang it!" Rainbow hissed under her breath.  A few passing workers glanced at her as she made for a distant intersection of concrete paths.  "Will I ever shake these guys?"

Rarity caressed Fluttershy's forehead.  "What was it that brought forth the startled outburst, though, dear?"

"It's... the stallions..."  Fluttershy stared at Rainbow Dash.  "Kayman... and the other two that Sarda sent here to speak with the ponies of Steamfall."

"Wait, you know where they are?" Rainbow asked.

"Yes, Rainbow."  Fluttershy.  "And they're... not doing so well."

"Huh?" Rainbow blinked.

Twilight leaned in.  "How... bad are we talking, Fluttershy?"

The mare gulped.  "Bad bad."
> As Verlaxion Is My Witness...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow quietly shuffled past an open warehouse door where several employees were loading crates full of dredge coal into the backs of wagons.  She tipped her cap forward and stealthily snuck through the crowd.  Once she was well out of earshot of the group, she cleared her throat and spoke into the air:

"Okay, Fluttershy.  Where are they at?"

The ghostly pegasus phased through her, pointing northeast.  "In that direction.  About three blocks."  She nervously looked at Rainbow.  "They're slightly elevated... almost as if they're on the second floor of a building."

"Rarity?"  Rainbow murmured aside as she avoided other workers crossing the paved streets.  "Got a read on what kind of building it is?"

"Uhm..."  Rarity fidgeted.

"Come on, Rarity.  I need you to be sharp here."

"It's... not exactly a warehouse, darling," Rarity said.  "But rather a structure containing dangling catwalks and..."  She rubbed her horn, squinting.  "...a thick mesh of pipeworks."

"She's onto something," Twilight Sparkle said.  "I'm sensing several enchanted thermal regulators.  If there's a lot of pipework there, then I imagine there are lots of steam tanks.  I think it's the source of all of Steamfall's hot water distribution."

"No wonder this place feels so toasty!" Pinkie Pie said.

"Alright."  Rainbow nodded, taking a sharp right and marching along the north end of a warehouse.  "Now we've got something to go on."

"But Rainbow Dash..."  Rarity bit her lip.  "Do think carefully about this.  And I emphasize the word 'think.'"

"What's to think about?"

"Plenty!" Rarity exclaimed, teeth showing.  "Rainbow, we... I mean you don't have much luxury to do anything but flee at the moment!  Especially now that Fluttershy has sensed the Talon arriving..."

"Yeah, and?"

"It's... it's just so much to deal with," Rarity gnashed her teeth.  "I mean, isn't it enough that we have to head west now?!  The Desperadoes have you tasked with acquiring a blasted locomotive, for Celestia's sake."

"Yeah!"  Pinkie nodded, blinking wide.  "Just how are we gonna do that with the grumpy griffons on our tail?"

"Perhaps if we made straightway for the railyard, we could manage an escape unnoticed," Rarity said.  "But now—?"

"Fluttershy."  Rainbow Dash looked behind.  "You said the three stallions aren't doing so hot, right?"

Fluttershy gulped and managed a nod.  "Their life signs are stable... but faint.  I think they've suffered some horrible... horrible injuries..."

"No doubt inflicted by the unicorn who attacked Rainbow," Twilight grumbled.  "I think it's rather obvious by now.  Sarda sent them to negotiate, and instead she beat them up for information."

"And I sympathize for them!" Rarity exclaimed.  "I really do!"

"Buttttttt?" Pinkie squinted aside.

Rarity sighed.  "I just... wonder if maybe Rainbow doesn't have her priorities straight."  She swallowed a lump down her throat.  "Are we not on this journey to salvage Applejack?  And then to venture towards the dark side to lend aid to this terminal world of ours?"

"These three stallions got hurt because of us, Rarity," Fluttershy said.  "If we weren't here, they'd never have been sent to Steamfall to begin with."

"I'm not denying that!" Rarity exclaimed.  "But what are three ponies' well-being worth in the face of getting Rainbow Dash to where she needs to be?  Doesn't the whole world depend on Rainbow's success?"

"I think Rares is telling us not to forget the big picture!" Pinkie said.

"You mean like how Verlax is obsessed with the big picture?" Twilight droned.

"Ew..."  Pinkie's ears drooped.  "...well, when you put it that way."

"Twilight, don't be so hard on Rarity," Rainbow muttered.

"But I wasn't—"

"Rarity, I dig what you're saying," Rainbow said, trying her casual best to avoid the Consortium employees.  "And the me who destroyed the Reed back in the Quade would totally agree with you."

"I don't think it's heartless of me to put your interests in the forefront, darling."  Rarity sighed.  "I just... don't understand how you expect to be able to do this."

"Do what, Rarity?" Pinkie asked.

"To save everypony that crosses her path!" Rarity exclaimed.  "And yet somehow still have the strength and energy to complete the whole journey unimpeded!"

"Y'know, the Jurists I flew with felt the same way," Rainbow remarked.  "Even if some of them didn't have the guts to say it out loud."

"Well, we are ghosts attached to you, Rainbow," Twilight said with a nervous smile.

"But you gotta understand, Rarity, that the whole point of my journey isn't just to make it to the dark side.  Otherwise, I'd totally be there by now."  She took a moment to squint aside at the mare.  "If I'm not taking every opportunity that I can to make this world a better place as I fly around it, then what's the point in saving the stupid chunk of Urohringr in the first place?"

Fluttershy gulped.  "I'm all for doing the kind thing."

"I can't let self-importance get to my head."  Rainbow bit her lip.  "You all know what I'm capable of when I do."

Rarity sighed.  "I... I just worry that one of these days, Rainbow, you're going to pull one stunt too many."

"And I feel ya, Rarity.  And thanks for having my back."  Rainbow smiled.  "But there are three suffering stallions in this city and we're the only ones who know where they are.  That's a super rotten thing to turn our flanks on."

"Of course, dear."  Rarity nodded.  "And you have my full assurance that I shall help you recover them with all the talents at my disposal."

"And don't be afraid of letting me know when you think that a plan of mine sucks," Rainbow remarked, crossing another street.  She coughed briefly in the smoggy air and squinted ahead.  "It ain't easy helping ponies along the way.  But that's the challenge, I guess."

"Doesn't feel like a fun game to me, though, Dashie," Pinkie pouted.

"No, Pinkie.  No, it doesn't."  Rainbow paused at a street corner, taking a deep breath.  "How much further, Fluttershy?"

"Just one more block, Rainbow."

"And the Talon?"  Rainbow glanced back at her.  "How close are they at this point?"

"Erm..."  Fluttershy fidgeted.  After a heavy gulp, she said, "It's probably best that you keep trotting..."





In central Steamfall, the majority of uniformed workers stopped what they were doing entirely.  They stood on the sidewalks in droves, gazing with wide eyes as five heavily-armored griffons marched down the main street and approached a three-story office building.

Sarda glared left and right.  Nervous employees shuddered from his glinting eyes, and they took a step or two away from the curb.

Keris glanced up at the rising columns of smoke.  At the sound of clambering hoofsteps, his gaze fell upon the office building.

Seraphimus' cold charcoal eyes reflected a finely-suited stallion as he exited the building, flanked by a pair of nervous guards.  The sentries whispered into his ear, all the while gazing worriedly at the Talon.  Seraphimus came to a stop, and the executive stood before her, clearing his throat.

"Commander Seraphimus."  He put on a plastic smile.  "Welcome to Steamfall.  My name is Dillon.  Please..."  The stallion gestured towards the structure behind him.  "Won't you come in?  You must be weary after flying all the way in from Frostknife!  I have refreshments and—"

"No, thank you," Seraphimus spoke in a firm tone.  "We do not require any of your luxury.  And we didn't come straight from Frostknife.  As a matter of fact, we were conducting a hunt for the Rainbow Rogue when a series of unfortunate circumstances stole our attention in the village of Braum."

"Erm... y-yes."  Dillon nodded, adjusting his collar.  "My guards told me.  Something about an accidental fire?"

"Not accidental."  Seraphimus' eyes narrowed.  "Arson."

Dillon blinked.  "I see..."

"A unicorn female of unknown origin attacked the Rainbow Rogue, inflicting much harm and damage on the local populace of Braum in the process."

"I-I do hope that nopony was hurt!"

"Ungh..."  Sarda rolled his eyes.  Keris rested a talon on his shoulder.

"No, but the Rainbow Rogue made a clean getaway, and we now have the unicorn assailant in our possession."  Seraphimus took a few icy steps forward.  "Considering the Consortium's plentiful resources here in Ivory Prefecture, I was hoping you could be of assistance to us in ascertaining exactly what is transpiring here."

"Well, from the looks of it, your Rainbow Rogue has been abducted," Dillon remarked.  "There's a large bounty on her head, after all—"

"Yes.  One that the Consortium is directly funding, if I'm not mistaken."

"Erm... well... uhh..."

"But the Rainbow Rogue is no longer our primary concern."  Seraphimus stood before the executive, leering.  "We come in search of information regarding three stallions."

"Uhhhh..."  Dillon sweated, leaning back from the Commander and her imposing beak.  "...stallions?"

"They were sent here yesterday by Mr. Sarda, the lead protector of Braum.  They have not returned to the village since."

"Well, surely we can help you determine what happened to them."

"I have no doubt that you could.  However, we seek a higher authority."

"Pardon?"

"Longaze," Sarda spat.  "She's the head hauncho ever since she arrived by train the other day."  He glared from the main group of griffons.  "Let us talk to her."

"It was this visiting executive of the Consortium that Sarda's stallions sought to hold conference with," Seraphimus said.  "We would very much appreciate it if you could arrange a visit between us and her."

"Uhhhm..."

Seraphimus' beak muscles tightened.  "Do not assume that this is a request," she breathed.  "The Right Talon of Verlaxion is conducting an investigation in your town, and as a citizen of Rohbredden you are sworn to assist us."

"Of c-course!  You wish to see Longaze!"  Dillon smiled, sweating.  "And... and that is something that needs to happen!  Absolutely!  It's... uhm... it's just that—"

"Just what?"

Dillon winced, leaning back.  "Well... you see, Commander... I don't... that is, we haven't—"

"Out with it."

The executive was trembling at this point.  Dillon cleared his throat and eventually murmured, "We don't know where she is at the moment."

Seraphimus raised an eyecrest.  "Excuse me?"

"She... is no longer in Steamfall," Dillon said.  "At least not as far as I know.  And, believe me, Commander, I've scrambled all over to locate her.  I was in the process of sending messengers out to Dust and Lichen Prefectures when you showed up."

"How can you possibly lose track of somepony so important in your own company?"

Lieutenant Keris calmly trotted up, his hawkeyes locked on Dillon.  He leaned in and whispered beneath Seraphimus' helmet.  "Commander, look at his eyes.  I do believe he is telling the truth."

After a sigh, Seraphimus whispered back, "I know he's telling the truth.  But that doesn't make this situation make any more sense."

"There are a lot of ponies stationed here in Steamfall," Keris remarked.  "That's plenty of eyes and muzzles to hide information in."

"True, true..."

With a nervous shuffle, Sarda trotted up to the two lead griffons.  "What the Hell is going on here?"

"We are attempting to ascertain that, Mr. Sarda," Seraphimus said without looking back.  "Whoever knows the truth about our mysterious, malevolent unicorn should hopefully know the whereabouts of your companion.  I implore you to be patient."

Sarda huffed, folding his forelimbs with a frown aimed at Dillon.

Keris cleared his throat.  "Mr. Dillon..."

"Y-yes?"

"If you and any other pony at the top have no clue as to Ms. Longaze's current whereabouts..."  He craned his feathered neck to the side.  "Mayhaps you'll know another pony within your facility who might?"

"Uhmmm..."

"Would you kindly direct us to the last ponies—executives or otherwise—who did see her last?" Seraphimus asked.





"Awwwwwwww rats," Rainbow Dash grumbled.

"What?"  Twilight Sparkle phased through the edge of a building to join her at streetside.  "What is it?!"

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwww rats," Rainbow repeated, glaring across the street.

"Wowie!"  Pinkie floated to a stop.  "This place is a real steam party!"

"Oh my..."  Rarity grimaced, staring at a veritable flood of ponies in the street ahead of them.

The final path between Rainbow Dash and her destination was filled with workers trotting back and forth, carrying supplies and drawing wagons.  If that wasn't enough, a group of three dozen or so ponies in uniform stood on the sidelines, sharing a communal midday break as they chatted and rambled up a storm.

"Fluttershy?"  Twilight Sparkle looked over Rainbow.  "Are you sure this is the right place?"

Fluttershy nervously nodded.  "Y-yes."  She pointed forward.  "See that large, three-story building there?"

"You mean across the big mosh pit of uniformed laborers?" Pinkie squeaked.

"Shhhh!" Twilight frowned.  "Pinkie..."

"They're on the second story of that building," Fluttershy said.  "And they're very weak."

"I'm sensing three sets of iron chains," Rarity said.  "I... I do believe the stallions are tied up in some fashion.  Manacled."

"Well, that's not our first big problem," Rainbow said.

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow pointed through the crowd.

Her marefriends craned their necks to see four large muscular stallions standing before sliding metal doors of the large building.  Their facial muscles were tight, frowning, and they looked considerably more tense than the rest of the ponies trotting to and fro across the paved street.

"Uhhhhhm..."  Rarity gulped.  "Perhaps they've crossed paths with the dastardly unicorn?"

"Probably her friggin' coltfriends," Rainbow grumbled.  She sighed, looking across the crowd.  "I was expecting one goon, maybe two... but not a bunch of marines keeping watch over a sweat convention."

"Well, it's only four of 'em, Dashie!"  Pinkie grinned.  "You've kicked harder flank before!"

"Somehow, I doubt these Consortium Clowns are gonna be a happy audience."

"Heehee!"  Pinkie giggled.  "'Consortium Clowns!'  I like that!  Mind if I steal it?"

"Focus, girls," Twilight insisted.  "Rarity, is there another entrance that Rainbow can take to get inside the building?"

"I'm trying to get a read on it," Rarity said, wincing slightly.  "There's just... s-so much random clutter inside.  The pipework is driving my senses crazy..."

"Uhm... I-I hate to make this more stressful," Fluttershy said.  "But the Talon is getting closer."

"Yeesh!  Do those catbirds have built-in radar or what?!" Pinkie barked.

"Just stay cool," Rainbow Dash droned, eyes locked on the four guards and the entrance.  "Those four punks are the key.  They wouldn't be here if it weren't for the fact that they're hiding the three stallions.  If we can get them to... like... stop bouncin' for this friggin' building, then we'll be in the clear."

"Then maybe you should give them something better to bounce!" Pinkie chirped.

Rainbow blinked aside.  "Huh?"

"You ever been to a professional wrestling event, Dashie?  Miss Cheerilee used to tell me it's the bomb"!

"... ... ...the buck are you talking about, Pinkie?"

"Anyways, they always have these dudes in yellow shirts at those events who rush into the crowd and break things up when stuff gets rowdy!"

"Are you going somewhere with this, darling?" Rarity asked.  "Because, if so, you know very well that none of us can accurately bounce to your rhythm."

Pinkie pointed at the crowd.  "If there's a big fuss, then abandon their posts they must!"  She winked.  "I just now thought of that."

"Pinkie Pie..."  Twilight sighed, shaking her head.  "If you think for one moment that Rainbow Dash is actually going to bring more attention to herself by risking a spontaneous riot, then you've got another thing com—"

Rainbow Dash stepped towards a circle of workers standing on the street curb.  She took a deep breath, squatted low, and belched in a deep voice:  "Were your born that ugly?  Or is your collar taking a huge crap?"

A stallion turned around.  "H-huh?"

Whap!  Rainobw bucked him hard in the rear.

"Ooomf!"  He bumped into three other ponies in uniform.

"H-hey!"  One spilled his canteen of water and frowned in the smoggy air.  "Watch it!"

Meanwhile, Rainbow had slinked to the other side of the group.  She cupped a pair of hooves around her muzzle:  "Oh yeah?!  You look like a manticore made love to a windigo!"  And she bucked another pony in the rear.

"Ooof!"  The worker stumbled forward, accidentally clipping another pony's jaw with her forelimb.  "What the—?!  Where did that—?!"

"Friggin' moron!"  Another mare shoved her, frowning.  "What's gotten into you?!"

Rainbow snuck through the crowd, which was growing louder and angrier.  "You're the worst thing to happen to the Month of Thawing since midnighters burned a bunch of farms to the ground!"  Sweeping her leg out, she tripped three ponies into one another.  "Yeah, well, your mother clops to colonialist magazines!"

"That's a lie!"  One stallion punched the ever-loving snot out of another worker.  "My mother's a saint!"

"Rrrrgh!  You stinkin' jerk!"

"Flankhole!"

"Snow-blower!"

Soon, the crowd crunched together as flying hooves and bucking limbs were exchanged between rattling skulls.  The hazy air filled with a tumult as the large fight grew even larger, consuming a good chunk of the street.  Those who weren't fighting stopped what they were doing and turned to gawk at the furious melee.

Twilight Sparkle blinked.  With a groan, she rolled her eyes then dipped her muzzle into a prolonged face-hoof.

"Hey!  Lookie!  Lookie, Twi!" Pinkie pointed.

"Mrmmmfffgh..."  Twilight grumbled.  "But what if I don't want to look?"

"Then look anyways, silly!"  Pinkie stuck her tongue out.

Twilight finally gazed up with dull eyes.

The four guards craned their neck, observing the rowdy fight with concern.  At last, they murmured to one another, nodded, and abandoned their post.  Galloping across the street, they threw themselves into the free-for-all, using their large muscles to slowly break up the commotion.

"Smashing!"  Rarity grinned with sudden enthusiasm.  She looked aside.  "Rainbow?"

"Don't need to tell me twice."  Rainbow scampered across the street, keeping a low profile.  At last, she reached the metal doors and took a cautious glance over her shoulder.  Once she was certain that nopony in the crowd was looking, she pushed against the sliding entrance with all her might.  "Rrnnnngh!"

"Other way, darling," Rarity said.

"Er, right..." Rainbow wheezed, switching positions.  "I knew that."  She shoved until the doors opened just a crack...

...and she slipped inside like a blue blur.
> Why the Cat Bird Sings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Inside, the three-story building was incredibly dark.  A sliver of sunlight shone through the crack in the sliding doors and glinted off the bodies of tall, metal steam-tanks.  Up above, the faint shadow of a catwalk loomed.

"Okay..."  Rainbow muttered.  She lifted her cap, wiped sweat from her brow, then looked all around.  Her ears twitched to the sound of the riotous fight outside.  "Better make this quick.  That distraction is not gonna last forever."

"There's an elaborate catwalk system above us," Rarity said.

"So many thermal enchantments..."  Twilight rubbed her horn.  "This place is packed.  Watch where you step, Rainbow.  You might bump into something."

"One bruise at a time," Rainbow muttered, shuffling ahead.  "Fluttershy?"

"They're directly above you, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said.  "All three of them.  Probably on the catwalk."

"Shhh!"  Pinkie raised a hoof.  "You hear that?"

Rainbow craned her neck.  Her ears perked up.  It was difficult to tell beyond the sound of angry workers outside, but she caught the faintest hint of a pained moan up above.

"That's them!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

"Cool beans."  Rainbow trotted briskly ahead.  "Rarity, find me a way up the catwalk."

"On it, darling!"

"The rest of you girls, keep an eye out for something I can use to break a bunch of chains."  Whump!  She bumped nose-first into a dormant steam tank.  "Owie!"

"Told you," Twilight muttered.





"Where are you taking us?" Seraphimus asked as the Talon shuffled behind Dillon and a few other workers.

"Towards the northern factories," Dillon nervously explained.  "I... uh... I-I recall that Ms. Longaze had arranged an emergency meeting with Steamfall security around that part of the facility.  A few guards have been asked to move their post to the secondary boiler compartment."

"For what purpose?" Keris asked.

"I was never told."  Dillon gulped.  "Longaze answers directly to Brye Chandler.  She has Omega Company Clearance, which goes way above my head."

"Figures."  Sarda groaned.  "What you boys have here is a mighty fine bureacracy."

"Why, thank you, Mr. Sarda."

"Eugh..."  Sarda face-hoofed.  "For Verlaxion's sake—"

"Hold up."  Windburst suddenly spoke up.  "Do you hear that?"

The Talon froze in place.

"Sounds..."  Starstorm blinked.  "...like a riot."

"In Steamfall?" Raptr blurted.

Windburst pointed.  "Somepony's galloping this way."

Seraphimus and Keris squinted.

A panicked, sweating worker rushed down the street, approaching the group.  "Sir!  Sir!  Mr. Dillon!"

Dillon stepped up, frowning.  "What is the meaning of this?"

"There's a f-fight, sir!"

"What do you mean 'there's a fight?!'"

"It broke out of nowhere!" the nervous worker reported.  "A bunch of off-the-clock employees in front of the secondary boiler chamber started beating the hell out of each other!"

Dillon bit his bottom lip.

Keris exhaled.  "Coincidence...?"

"...there's no such thing," Seraphimus droned.  "Rest easy, Mr. Dillon.  We've got this."  She broke into a sprint, wings spreading.  "Talon!  Take flight!"

Fw-Fw-Fwoosh!  Dillon flinched as the griffons flew overhead, sharply slicing the smoggy air.

"Rrrrgh!"  The executive stomped his hooves.  "For the love of Verlaxion!  Will somepony please tell me what's going on here?!"

"Dude, if you ask me..."  Sarda calmly marched past him.  "...you're totally screwed."

Dillon stood in place, ears drooping.  After a gulp, he murmured, "I should have followed Mom's advice... become a rice farmer..."





"Rrrgh... hrkkk!"  Rainbow bucked the locker for the third time in a row.

Crack!  The door broke off its hinges.  A large set of bolt-cutters fell loose.

"Httt!"  Rainbow caught the tool in nimble hooves.  She smirked into the shadows of the catwalk.  "Good find, Pinkie."

"No problemo!"  Pinkie bore a proud smirk as she waved a hoof.  "I knew my spontaneous bolt-cutter senses would come in handy someday!"  Her tail twitched.  "Whoops!  Better take a step back, Dashie!"

Rainbow slid back across the catwalk.  Two seconds later... Cl-Clang!  A bowling ball fell off the locker's top shelf and rolled to a stop beside her.

"... ... ...'kay, then."  Rainbow turned around to face three limp shapes fastened to the catwalk's railings.  "Pony saving time."

"They look so limp."  Twilight gulped.  "And look at all that dried blood."

Rainbow knelt before the middle-most stallion.  "Are they still alive, Flutters?"

"Yes, Rainbow Dash."

"Then that's all that matters..."  Rainbow lifted the bolt-cutters in her grasp.  "Stay still, buddy."

"Mrmmmffff..."  The weak stallion managed, his head nodding.

"That's right..."  Crkkkk-SNAP!  One link at a time, Rainbow cutted through the chains that fastened him to the railing.  "I'm gonna get you out of here."  SN-SNAP!  "Your friends too."

"Grnnngh... must... warn Braum..."  The stallion winced, coughing through chapped, bruised lips.  "...she's coming."

"News bulletin for ya.  She already showed up."  Rainbow licked her lips as she snapped through the last link.  "And totally got her but whooped."

No longer anchored, the stallion slumped forward.  "Mrmmfff..."

"Whoah there!"  Rainbow dropped the bolt-cutters and caught him.  "Easy does it!  Just breathe easy and... and..."  She looked aside.  "Any of their limbs broken, Rares?"

Rarity shook her head.  "No, but they do appear to have suffered multiple lacerations."

"Yeesh..."  Pinkie grimaced.  "Those are the worst kind of lacerations!"

"Grffff..."  The stallion leaned back.  His pained eyes squinted at her.  "Rainbow... Rogue...?"

"Meh... just call me R-Squared."  Rainbow gently lowered him to the catwalk floor.  "It takes less of a breath."

"Why..."  The stallion grimaced.  "...are you doing this?"

"Cuz what happened to you sucks and you deserve better."  She picked up the bolt cutters again.  "Come on, dude.  Any other pony would do the same."

"Right there, Rainbow."  Fluttershy pointed at the chained stallion to the left.  "That's Kayman."

"Gotcha."  Rainbow dug at the metal links.  SNAP!  "How's the crowd outside?"

"They're... uh... starting to dissipate."

"We have to figure out a way to get these three out of Steamfall safely," Twilight said.

"I think we just might have an opportunity."  SN-SNAP!  "Fluttershy, how far away are the Talon?"

"Uhhhhhhh..."

"Quickly, girl.  We gotta come up with a plan."

Fluttershy gulped.  "You sure you wanna know...?"  She smiled nervously.





Fw-Fwooosh!  Seraphimus landed in the middle of the paved street.  She was soon joined by Keris and the others.

Her charcoal eyes darted across the rambunctious crowd.  Ponies were reeling on the sidewalk, clutching their bruised limbs and muzzles.  Others were wrestling with the Consortium guards, snarling and biting at the air.

"Oye..."  Startstorm grimaced.  "Some Month of Thawing celebration."

"Hell..."  Windburst shrugged with a smirk.  "Count me in."

"We need to break this up somehow," Raptr remarked.  "I-I'm not sure we have the resources to do it non-lethally."

"Perhaps if we allow the fight to run itself into the ground," Keris suggested.  "There'll be fewer miscreants to deal with and we—"

"CEASE THIS BRAWL AT ONCE!" Seraphimus shouted, her voice echoing off every piece of concrete.

The ponies instantly froze.  All eyes locked on her.  Within seconds, the workers stepped away from one another and stood at attention.  The smoggy air was silent—save for the groans of the injured.

Keris took a deep breath.  "Or that will do."

The Commander marched forward, glaring through the crowd.  "Now..."  Her eyes glinted.  "...will somepony kindly tell me how all of this got started?"

There was a brief pause...

...and then the street filled with bickering, rambling, and hoof-pointing.  The commotion rose and rose as the workers growled and spat at each other, trying to get the loudest word in.

Seraphimus sighed.  She slid a claw beneath her helmet and rubbed her temple.

"Well, you got us halfway there, Commander," Keris said with a smirk.

Raptr gulped.  "I think I'd much rather have punched them all to sleep."





"Mrmmmfff!"  Rainbow Dash grunted as she marched down the catwalk, supporting a slumped stallion's weight with her shoulder.  "Yeesh... feels like it's getting louder outside?  What's going on now?"

Pinkie's head phased through the building's wall.  "Now they're just arguing over who started the fight!"  She giggled snorted.  "Boy will this take a while!"

"What matters is that they're holding the Talon at bay."  The tall metal steam tanks reflected Rainbow's figure as she shuffled towards the cracked sliding doors.  The first of three stallions lay on his side, wincing in pain.  "We're halfway through.  Grfff... then we can ditch the stallions for the Talon to pick up and make our way to the railyard!"

"Rainbow..."  Twilight murmured.

"It'll be the perfect distraction!"  Rainbow smiled as she dragged the second stallion to the door.  "Won't the Desperadoes be proud!"

"Rainbow, we've attracted enough attention as it is."  Twilight gulped.  "Maybe... m-maybe if we found a place to hide while all this clears over."

"Yeah, and what are the chances of that happening?" Rainbow muttered.  "Besides, we've gotta rendezvous with this 'Remna' chick sooner than later.  I'm not sure I can make it to Wyvern Point alone."  With a deep breath, she heaved and dropped the stallion next to his companion.

"Careful, darling—!" Rarity reached out.

"Aaaaaugh!" the stallion yelped loudly.

Rainbow hissed.  "Ah jeez!"

"His flank is terribly bruised!" Rarity growled.  "You can't just drop him like that!"

"Well why didn't you tell me his body was sore there?!"

"I thought it was terribly obvious from the copious bruises all over his handsome posterior!" Rarity snapped.

"Girls!  Girls!"  Fluttershy hissed.  "Shhhh... Rainbow Dash..."

Rainbow winced, frozen in place.

"Uhhhhh..."  Pinkie phased in again.  "Third stallion time?"

Rainbow nodded.  "Third stallion time."  She galloped back to the catwalk's stairwell.

"Go!  Go!" Twilight insisted.  "Hurry!"





A few seconds ago...

Seraphimus twitched.  She looked away from the arguing crowd, blinking curiously.

Keris saw it.  He tilted his head towards her.  "Commander?"

"..."  Seraphimus held up a talon.  She craned her neck towards the large building across the street.

A door lay cracked open.  Through the shadows, the Commander thought she spotted two equine figures lying on the ground.  Her helmet still rang from the unmistakable sound of a yelping voice.

"That..."  Keris squinted.  "Judging from the size of it, that looks like the Boiler Chamber that Dillon spoke of."

Seraphimus quietly nodded.  She motioned with one claw.

Silently, she and the Lieutenant crossed the street.  They left behind the other three members of the Talon as they dealt with the arguing, bickering employees of the Consortium.





"They're coming!" Fluttershy squeaked.  "Rainbow Dash!  Keris!  Keris and the Commander!  They're coming this way!"

"Right... right..."  Rainbow gritted her teeth as she hurried down the steps with Kayman leaning against her shoulder.

"This is no joke, Rainbow!" Twilight grunted.  "You have to leave!  Now!"

"Right right right right right!"  Rainbow ultimately slumped Kayman down onto the floor just beneath the catwalk's stairwell.  "Let's make like a donkey and bray!"  She galloped straight for the sliding doors.

"No, not that way!" Fluttershy stammered.  "That's where they're coming from!"

"Ahhhhh-jeez."  Rainbow scampered in place, spun about, and ran for the far side of the interior.  "Better find another way out!  Rarity!  Start looking!"

"But Rainbow Dash—!" Rarity protested.

"You can do it!  Just scan!"  Rainbow hissed as she threw herself into the shadows.

Milliseconds later...

Keris and Seraphimus stood in the narrow space of the doorway.  They heard nothing but the echoing groans of the stallions.

"Good Goddess..."  Keris immediately knelt down.  Despite only having one front limb to work with, the Lieutenant fished through his armor and produced a first aid kit.  "This must be them!  Sarda's companions!"

"Yes, Lieutenant."  Seraphimus squinted, peering through the shadows.  She saw row after row of dormant tanks lingering beneath a catwalk.  "An expert observation."

"But... b-but where's the third?"

Seraphimus blinked.  She spotted Kayman beside the stairwell.  "I see him."  She marched into the interior.

Keris looked up from where he was bandaging one of the stallions' limbs.

"Take them outside!" Seraphimus called over her shoulder.  "Into the daylight!  Starstorm is good at healing!  Have her take a look at them and then send Raptr to find Sarda!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Seraphimus knelt down low.  With gentle arms, she scooped up Kayman, helping the aching stallion to his hooves.  "Do not worry.  The Right Talon of Verlaxion is here to assist you.  We shall take you home."

"Mrmmmffghhh... goddess..."  Kayman winced.

"Yes, she is most merciful."  Seraphimus gave him an armored shoulder to lean on.  "Take your time.  Gather your wits."  She shuffled across the floor.  "Perhaps you can tell me who freed you?"

"It... it..."  Kayman hissed, then quietly exhaled.  "...it was the Rainbow Rogue."

"... ... ..."  Seraphimus froze in place, blinking.

"She's... she's still in here..."  Kayman murmured, limbs limp.  "She h-helped us..."

Keris trotted in to drag the second stallion out.  "Everything okay, Commander?"

"..."  Seraphimus cleared her throat.  "Yes, Lieutenant.  Please proceed."  She marched toward him with Kayman.





"Rarityyyyyy..."  Rainbow hissed, trotting down a solid wall of concrete.  She slid under and over pipes, frowning.  "Rarity... gonna need that exit right about now..."

"Blast it, Rainbow, you didn't give me a moment to say my peace!" Rarity pouted.

"Huh?"

"I was trying to tell you!  There is no other exit!"

Rainbow froze in place.  "...what do you mean there's no other exit?"

"It's the front entrance and that's that!"

"What kind of a stupid company would build a boiler room with only one entrance?!"

"I don't know... the same kind of company run by lunatic unicorns who set taverns on fire?!"

"Oh for the love of—"

"Shhhhh!"  Pinkie hissed, glancing across the dim interior.  "Something's happening."

"Like what, Pinkie?"  Twilight asked.

Pinkie gulped.  "Wait for it..."





Outside, Keris finished sliding the second stallion into place.

"Just rest here.  We'll get you taken care of.  That's a promise."  The Lieutenant turned tail and trotted up to the door.

"Here."  Seraphimus hoofed the last victim over.  "Be careful.  He's hurt the worst."

"As I can see."  Keris braced the stallion with his good shoulder.  "Mr. Kayman, I presume."

"Didn't... d-didn't mean for it to end like this..."  Kayman stammered.  "Sarda..."

"...will be very glad to see you.  Don't worry."  Keris laid Kayman on the ground.  "Commander, would you mind looking after these gentlecolts while I go to fetch Starstor—?"

His ears rang with a loud, grinding sound.

"... ... ...?"  Keris looked up.  "Commander—?"

THUD!  The massive, sliding doors to the complex slammed shut.





Commander Seraphimus slid a large bolt in place, locking the entrance from the inside.

On scraping claws, she swiveled around.

A deep breath, and then...

"I know that you're in here, Rainbow Rogue."





Rarity covered her muzzle.  Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie trembled behind Twilight.

Rainbow froze in place, glaring across the shadows.

The Commander's voice echoed:  "And I know that you saved these stallions... and that you protected the lives of the villagers back in the fire at Braum..."





"Nevertheless..."

Seraphimus slowly slid her helmet off.

"...none of these actions—however noble—absolve you of the crimes that you've committed.  Such is the nature of Rohbredden law... as authorized by the Council of Verlaxion... the same Council that has charged me with your capture."

She held the helmet at her side as she gazed calmly across the sea of steam tanks and pipework.

"So, that puts us at quite an impasse.  By Verlaxion's authority, I cannot ignore your wrongdoings.  And yet, by her grace, I cannot deny your good deeds."

Her voice echoed against the lingering metal...

Then, silence.

"There is no way out, Rogue," Seraphimus spoke.  "But fear not."  She clenched her beak.  "I only wish to talk."
> Report To Commander Cat Bird
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash said nothing.  She stood with her limbs locked in place, crouched on the northwest corner of the building's dim interior.  Several steam tanks and catwalks loomed between her and the source of the echoing voice.

"Every time we catch you, you get away," Seraphimus' booming voice rang off the metallic structures all around.  "And yet every time you flee..."





"..we catch up with you."

Seraphimus glared into the shadows as she took her first step, pacing slowly away from the front entrance.  On icy claws, the Commander strolled through the dormant pipework.  Her charcoal eyes swept every space and niche inside the building.

"It is a pursuit that profits no one..."





"...and all that we manage to accomplish is chaos and property damage.  This doesn't do you any more good than it does Rohbredden..."

Rainbow's marefriends bit their lips, staring at their anchor.

Rainbow inhaled and exhaled with very shallow breaths.  She didn't dare make a sound.  On cat-like hooves, she slinked backwards and away from the griffon's reverberating voice.

"Except for one thing..."





Seraphimus took a deep breath.  She paused in her steps, staring limply into the shadows.

"What you do... and the actions you commit..."  She fought the urge to snarl, then eventually exhaled, "...they produce tremorous effects all across this countryside."  Seraphimus slowly shook her head.  "And I am none too proud of the ugliness that I see between the fissures.  Already, I have a real mess here in Steamfall to attend to... a corruption that infests Ivory Prefecture and possibly even deeper."  She craned her naked head around.  "I've no clue why the Consortium wants you so terribly.  But trust me, I will find out."





"But I simply cannot pursue this corruption and chase you at the same time.  And yet, to ignore both problems, I would be abandoning my loyalties to Verlaxion and the Tribes that she unified so many years ago..."

Rainbow Dash found herself backing up into a wall.  The mare gnashed her teeth—at least until she spotted a lavender hoof waving in her peripheral vision.  She glanced over, blinking.

Twilight gestured at Rainbow Dash, then emphatically pointed at the nearest steam tank.  Rainbow followed Twilight's hooves to a series of valves and a steam gauge.

Rainbow blinked, then glanced at Twilight.

Twilight and Pinkie Pie exchanged looks, then nodded back at Rainbow.

"I would like to believe that you are a civilized pony, Rogue."

Holding her breath, Rainbow Dash rushed over to the steam tank and gripped a valve in her fetlocks.  Slowly—with careful precision—she rotated the large metal wheel.  A dull hissing sound echoed from within the pipes—too quiet for Seraphimus to hear at a distance.

Rainbow Dash didn't stop there.  She scurried up to every over valve in front of her, rotating them quietly while her ghostly companions watched.

"My biggest mistake was assuming you were nothing more than a cretin of beastly nature."





"But my Lieutenant... Lieutenant Keris..."  Seraphimus weathered a melancholic breath.  "He gave me a very thorough... very honest testimony of what transpired at Red Barge.  If I had only taken his words more seriously... if I had respected his account of you as a flesh-and-blood creature beneath the shadow of your crimes, then perhaps I would have approached you like this earlier... and we both could have avoided many... many unnecessary moments of pure calamity."

With a steelly gaze, Seraphimus lifted her beak.  She growled into the shadows and pipeworks.

"Wherever you come from, surely it is a place full of respectful pegasi..."





"...and surely you must have a deep-seeded respect for what is lawful... for what is harmonic."

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth.  She sweated as she twisted one valve after another.  Her eyes darted over, watching as the dial in each gauge rotated until it registered in the red.  The hissing in the interconnecting pipes intensified, and the air surrounding the tanks raised in temperature dramatically.

"I doubt that you wish to see this great kingdom collapse into ungodly corruption any more than I do.  And I know that you are not completely bereft of compassion."





"You saved the ponies in Braum.  Several ponies testify of this, as does my Lieutenant," Seraphimus said.  Her eyes swept left and right across the catwalks above.  There was a slight hint of warmth in her feathers as she spoke:  "Keris also speaks of the heroics that you nobly performed in Red Barge.  At first, I refused to believe that a pony capable of so many atrocities in the Quade could somehow be the sole reason for a completely different community's salvation."

Seraphimus took a deep breath.

"But nothing is ever going to change if all I do is approach this situation with a stubborn, spiteful heart.  It takes courage and tenacity to lead the Talon, and it takes even greater fortitude to protect this great nation."

She came to a shuffling stop, exhaling.

"And thus," Seraphimus muttered into the shadows.  "I concede that there is some good in you, Rogue.  At least... enough that is worthy of honor.  You have... no idea how difficult it is for me to say that... to choose to set aside my anger and resentment over the actions that you have committed in maligning Verlaxion and the Goddess' divine will."

She closed her eyes.  Swallowing a lump down her feathered throat, the guardian eventually said:

"And now... I propose that you attempt something very courageous and difficult yourself."  Her eyes reopened—charcoal slits adrift in darkness.  "Turn yourself in, Rainbow Dash.  Keris says that you are desperate to make your way east.  Well then..."  A deep breath.  Then deeper.  "Let us make that happen for you."





"...!"  Rainbow Dash froze, clinging to a valve.  Her muzzle hung open.  She looked over her shoulder.

Her four friends stared back, wide-eyed.

"If you give yourself up to the Talon, willingly and peacefully, I shall do my best to escort you east, through the heart of Rohbredden and beyond... to the midnight waters, if need be..."

Rainbow bit hard on her bottom lip.  Fighting heavy trembles, she glanced between the walls and the hissing pipes.

Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity and Fluttershy exchanged worried, uncertain expressions.

"You are obviously on a trek of great importance.  And as it currently stands—with such turbulence and opposition—it is benefitting nopony.  So why must we continue to let such strife reign?  What purpose does the hunt serve?  For you, for the Talon, or for Rohbredden?"





"Lieutenant!"  Starstorm flew over, followed shortly by Sarda and Raptr.  "You signaled for us?"

"That I did, Sergeant," Keris said, applying more bandages to the injured stallions.  "We have quite the development here—"

"Kayman!" Sarda shouted.  Breathless, he fell on his knees and grasped the pony's shoulders.  "Speak to me!  How badly did she hurt you?!"

Kayman winced.  "It... it was..."  A gulp.  "...v-very painful."  He shuddered.  "Boss, I... I-I'm sorry."  His eyes clenched shut.  "I... I told her.  I t-told here where to find the Rogue—"

"None of that matters, you lucky bastard."  Sarda managed a crooked smile.  "You're alive.  That's all I care about."  He looked over at Keris.  "How are the others?"

"Weak, but stable," Keris said.  "Alas, I'm not the expert."  He looked up.  "Starstorm?"

"My pleasure, Lieutenant."  Starstorm knelt down and began examining the villagers' wounds.  "Just relax.  We're going to get you back to health."

"Where..."  Raptr blinked, looking left and right as his helmet rattled.  "Where's the Commander?"

Keris took a deep breath.  With a single claw, he gestured behind him.

Raptr's beak hung open as he flashed a look at the structure.  "She's in there?!"

"Yes."  Keris nodded.  "And according to these gentlecolts, so is Rainbow."

Startstorm looked up, eyes blinking wide.  "She's in there with the Rogue?!"

Sarda and Kayman gaped at the sealed metal doors.  "Just what in the Hell is your boss planning?"

"To be perfectly honest..."  Keris gulped.  "...I'm not entirely sure."






"Dashie, don't even pretend to listen to that metal goose!" Pinkie Pie hissed.

"It's a trick, darling!" Rarity remarked, nevertheless trembling.  "It h-has to be!"

"But... think about it," Fluttershy murmured, looking over Rainbow's shoulders.  "Think about what she's offering!"

"And just what does she have to gain from escorting Rainbow through Rohbredden?!" Rarity exclaimed.  "There's no 'glory for Verlaxion' in it!"

"She obviously knows that this hunt is futile and pointless," Fluttershy murmured.  She waved a hoof.  "If Keris can change his opinion of Rainbow after dealing with the plain and simple facts, then surely his Commander can!"

"You sure of that?"  Pinkie muttered.  "She's the sliciest-and-diciest of the catbirds chasing Rainbow Dash!"

"Not to mention quite prone to anger," Rarity said.  "Keris himself implied that."

"You're all forgetting one key thing," Twilight Sparkle said, attracting the attention of everypony.  "This Commander is—above all things—loyal to Verlaxion and the Court named after her."  Twilight gulped.  "It's a dedication that transcends rationality... if not usurps it."

"So what are you saying, Twi?" Pinkie whimpered.

"She might think she's cutting Rainbow a break," Twilight said firmly.  Her brow furrowed.  "But when push comes to shove, she'll just revert back to a silver-plated witch hunter."

"Then that settles it!" Rarity exclaimed.  "We can't trust her!"

"I wouldn't," Twilight said.

"But she's offering us a free an unobstructed trip through Rohbredden!" Fluttershy exclaimed.  "That's precisely what Rainbow needs now!"

"Not everypony is as sincere and kind as you, Fluttershy," Twilight said.

"And what about when we get to Applejack?" Pinkie stammered.  "Isn't she—like—stuck in Verlaxion's HQ?"

Rainbow Dash's ears drooped as she slumped against the wall.  She clutched her skull, clenching her eyes tightly shut in deep thought.

At last, Seraphimus' voice rang through the building once more:  "Did you hear me, Rainbow Rogue?  Or are you busy contemplating what I've just offered you?"





Seraphimus looked left and right across the catwalks.

"I desire peace," she said.  "Peace for Rohbredden.  Peace for Verlaxion's foals."  She shuddered slightly.  "Peace for all families... and children under the Goddess' warmth."

Her grip of her helmet tightened.

Nevertheless, she relaxed her muscles in time to regather her words:  "And this chase... this absurd game that we're playing across the continent is not wholesome.  It is a catastrophic mess.  And we have the power to stop it—you and I."

Seraphimus strolled forward, her claws scraping coldly against the hard floor.

"So, how about it?"





"Will you be a responsible mare and accept my offer?  As I'm being a responsible guardin in giving it?"

Rainbow's ears twitched from the high-pitched whining of the pipes.  The air around her grew hotter and hotter as the gauges of the steam tanks fogged over from the overloading pressure.

"I dunno about you girls," Pinkie murmured, her hair limp and shiny.  "But I'm feeling party pooped."  A gulp.  "And I just dunno how much more of this Dashie can take!"

"But the Desperadoes have been so kind as to provide us a solution already!" Rarity whispered loudly.  "If we just find a way out of here and rendezvous with this Remna mare—"

"But Wyvern Point takes us in the opposite direction of Applejack!"  Fluttershy nervously squirmed.  "If Seraphimus sticks to her word—"

"But she's already given her word to Verlaxion."  Twilight gulped and looked straight at Rainbow Dash.  "Rainbow... it... it..."  She seethed, "All of this is up to you.  You've dealt with this kind of craziness before.  What do you think should be done?"

"... ... ..."  Rainbow Dash took a deep breath.  Her eyes opened up.

A scalding mist began venting from the seams in the red hot steam tanks.

Rainbow Dash slowly stood up.  With the mares watching, she lifted her head up to the ceiling and spoke out loud, "We can agree on one thing, lady!"





"...!"  Seraphimus slid to a stop.  She craned her feathery head to the side.

"We both have immense respect for Keris."

Seraphimus gulped.  "The Lieutenant and I go far back.  We've struggled through many trials together."  She tilted her head towards the reverberating sound of Rainbow's voice.  "His calmness and patience in the face of adversity has always been a major inspiration to me."

"Huh.  Would you imagine that?"





Rainbow paced slowly towards the center of the building.

"If you respect the Lieutenant so much, then you must respect his decisions."

"Indeed."

Rainbow waited until the Commander's voice was echoing back, and she spoke so that her voice rang along with it.  "Then it must mean something that he let me go..."





Seraphimus blinked curiously into the shadows.

"I... I'm afraid I don't read you."

"He let me go, Commander.  Back in Red Barge—he could totally have bagged me."

"Absolutely not."  Seraphimus frowned.  "He was gravely injured and—"

"He had Elsaack and the entire friggin' crew of White Barge at his back.  Sure, I could have given one heck of a fight, but I doubt I'd be here today if your beloved Lieutenant followed through with the same stupid orders that the Council gave you."

The guardian raised an eyecrest.  "What are you trying to say?"





"Isn't it obvious?"  Rainbow Dash spoke as she threaded her way through the pipes.  One by one, the metal tubes glowed hot red behind her.  The air on her end of the building grew thick with fog.  "I left Red Barge without any fight.  I entered Osmanthus uncontested.  In Seed Prefecture, I made some travelling buddies, and we giggled and trotted our way happily through the agricultural heart of your great nation."

She lurched to a stop along with her marefriends.

"Don't you see, Commander?  There was no fuss... no fight... no craziness or pain or struggle..."





Seraphimus glared into the darkness.

"... until you decided to intercept me.  So who's the one causing calamity here, huh?"

The Commander grumbled in a dull tone:  "You've committed terrible crimes and it's my duty to—"

"Yeah yeah.  You know what?  I've heard it all before."

Seraphimus breathed heavily, looking left and right in a desperate search for the source of that raspy voice.

"I've seen more sights and I've spanned more countries than you can even begin to imagine.  And someway, somehow, there's always some self-righteous goon who forcibly trips me along the path, insisting that might-makes-right and that their cause is pure without even bothering to question it.  And you know what happens?  Every time and without fail?  Those same melon fudges who refuse to think about what they're fighting for end up being totally burned by their own fruitless passions.  You seem like a pretty respectful griffon, Commander.  I would really... really hate to see you crash and burn like so many others who've butted heads with me before just because they could.  I mean—if you're the kind of friend to Keris that you say you are—then there's too much good in you to go to waste."

"And what of you, Rogue?"  Seraphimus spoke calmly.  "How do you know that you're trotting the righteous path?"

"Most of the time, I'm not.  But at least I have the courage to admit it."

Seraphimus blinked.

"What happened in the Quade was a mistake.  At the time, I felt like I didn't have any other option than to tear down the Reed.  I was wrong.  I was wrong, and I've since suffered a whole heck of a lot for it.  But that still doesn't change the fact that my journey is super friggin' important and I can't risk giving it up—not for you and not for me."

"Then take a leap of faith," Seraphimus said.  "Accept my offer."

"I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because I hear in you the same fool that I was a month ago... the soul who refused to think that there was more than one option... the pathetic idiot who thought that everything could be fixed in nothing but a straight line.  You wanna talk about leaps of faith, Commander?  Let me go."

Seraphimus tightened her beak muscles.

"Let me go... let it all go.  Your anger... your remorse... your insistence that catching me is somehow going to solve everyth—"

"You cannot begin to imagine what the stakes are," Seraphimus growled.  "How much I owe Verlaxion.  How much..."  She gulped hard.  "...how much she possesses."

"Well, that's the cost of faith, lady."

"...?!"  Seraphimus spun around.

Across a narrow space between tanks, the pony and griffon faced each other, naked eyes gleaming.

"It's not all about risking things for your Goddess."  Rainbow's ruby gaze glinted.  "But risking it all for yourself."

"Then let us take that risk together," Seraphimus said, turning to face her.  The sharp silver plates shifted on her taut muscles.  "Let us take you to the Court of Verlaxion.  Let us take you to the shadow of the Goddess' throne."  Her charcoal eyes narrowed.  "Let me fight for your freedom.  I and only I can get you to where you wish to go at this point."

"Really?"  Rainbow raised an eyebrow.  "And what if I refuse to acknowledge the 'glory' of your Goddess?"  She clenched her jaw.  "What if what my journey... what if everything I've learned and accomplished only serves to prove that she's not what she says that she is?  Would you and the Council still be so merciful then?"

Dead silence.

Seraphimus stared at Rainbow.

Rainbow looked straight back, unmoving.

"I refuse..."  Seraphimus growled.  "I categorically refuse to allow any creature—born this side of the Blight or beyond—to undermine the sanctity of our beloved Goddess in such an abominable fashion."

Rainbow took a deep breath.  "Figured as much..."  She slowly shook her head.  "And that's why I can't afford to let you take me anywhere."

Four ghostly mares blinked at Rainbow Dash.  Nervously, they turned to look at Seraphimus.

The griffon sighed.  "Alas..."  She dropped her helmet.  "...you need not worry about affording anything."  FWOOOOOOOOSH!  She crossed the distanced between them in a silver streak.

"...!"  Rainbow scarcely had the time to blink.  CLANGGG!  She found herself shoved against a concrete beam with Seraphimus' gauntlet around her neck.  "Aaaauckkkt!"  The mare winced from the pressure to her left side.

"Do not struggle," Seraphimus snarled.  "And I promise you no pain."  She raised the other claw towards Rainbow's face.  "It will be the last thing I can provide in your favor.  The rest will be up to the Council."

"Snkkkt..."  Rainbow's eyes teared as she dangled in the Commander's strong grip.  "Mrmmfffgkkkt... y-you hear thatttt...?"

"Hmmm?"  Seraphimus blinked.  Suddenly, her feathers fluttered from a hot gust of air.  She looked at the tanks beside them, only to discover that they were burning a hot red and rattling.  "What...?"

Rainbow managed a crooked grin.  "Shoulda let me go, ya turkey."  Whump!  Her lower hooves slammed into Seraphimus' breastplate.  Cl-Clank!

"Augh!"  Seraphimus dropped the pegasus.  Within milliseconds, she was lunging for the pegasus again.

And that's precisely when the overloaded tanks ruptured.

POWWWWWWWW!!!

Rainbow Dash was already diving.

Seraphimus—

"Rrghkkkt!"  She shielded herself with her wingblades as a misty mess of shrapnel and pipes cascaded violently across the building's interior, blanketing both of them in industrial chaos.  CRASSSH!
> It Is Not Over Yet
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Thudddd!

Outside, the ponies of Steamfall gasped.

Windburst spun from where he was questioning a large group of workers.  His beak hung agape.

A column of loose debris flew from the three-story boiler chamber, followed by a hot burst of steam that screamed sky-high.

The streets and pavement of the compound still shook from the inexplicable explosion.  Raptr and Sarda fell to their haunches.  Keris held Kayman steady while Starstorm flapped her wings to hover in mid-air.

"What now?!" Sarda exclaimed.

Keris stood up tall, shouting, "Commander!!!"





The Lieutenant's hollering voice barely made its way through a collapsed mess of steel and pipework.  Towards the center of the room, a pile of debris slowly shifted, accompanied by a muffled groan.

A few paces towards the north end of the building...

"Grnnngh..."  Rainbow Dash crawled out from underneath a criss-crossing pair of steel beams.  "What I wouldn't give to be back in a kingdom that runs off mana again..."

"Rainbow Dash!"  Rarity gasped.

"What?"  And just as Rainbow blinked, there was a loud crumbling noise.  A wall of gray light washed over her frazzled features.  She blinked towards a gaping hole blown through the north end of the building.

"Look, Dashie!"  Pinkie Pie pointed.  "An exit!"

"You can say that again!"  With a stupid grin, Rainbow hopped up to her hooves and scampered over debris.  "Pizz Fah Whizz!"

Pinkie blinked.  "What?"

"Better take advantage of the distraction while everyone's freaked out over the explosion."  Rainbow reached the hole, shuddering from the cold air.  "Fluttershy, how's the cat bird?"

"She's... uh... stable," Fluttershy said.

"Really?" Twilight wheezed.

"Stable enough."  Fluttershy's sharp-eyed gaze darted to Rainbow Dash.  "Go!  Run!"

"Running—"  Rainbow Dash leapt out of the steaming building in a blur.





"Rrrrrgh!"  Keris and Starstorm struggled with the heavy metal doors at the front of the building.

Sarda had to step aside to make room for Windburst's landing.

Fwooosh!  "Was the Commander in there?!" he asked.

"I'm afraid so..." Keris grunted.

"Then what are you waiting for?!"  Windburst snarled.  "Open the door!  Let's get her out!"

"It's... bolted from the inside!"  Starstorm panted, glancing at the others.  "Did we bring any explosive charges?"

"Not a good idea," Sarda said.  "You heard how big that explosion was.  You wanna bring the entire building down on your boss?"

"The stallion's right."  Keris gestured.  "Windburst.  Raptr.  Circle the building.  Look for an alternative entrance."

"Aye!"  Swooosh!

"Don't need to tell me t-twice!"  Fwoosh!

"Lieutenant," Starstorm spoke in the wind of the two Sergeants' exit.  "The Rainbow Rogue was in there too, right?  So who do you think caused the explosion?"

Keris had no words.  He just panted and sweated...





Fw-Fw-Fwish!  Windburst and Raptr flew around the building in opposite directions.

Consortium workers from all departments rushed through the streets of Steamfall, converging on the scene.  A privately owned group of firefighters drew a wagon full of water tanks and fire extinguishers.  The air was full of panicked shouts and commands.

Meanwhile...

A single figure pressed herself against the wall, staying icy still while the rest of Steamfall surged towards the northeast sector.

"We really woke the sleeping dragon with this one, Rainbow," Twilight remarked.

Rainbow nodded, gulping.  "Then let's not stick around for breakfast."  She looked at Rarity.  "How far to the railyard?"

"Three blocks due northwest—"  The unicorn's eyes bugged.  "Rainbow, darling, you can't still be thinking that—"

"Of course I'm still thinking that!"  Rainbow took a deep breath and then broke out into a gallop.  With the street emptied of Consortium workers, she galloped—unimpeded—towards the converging railways.  "The Desperadoes gave us a free ticket, and I intend to capitalize!  At least now we have a distraction!"

"Yeah, but..."  Pinkie Pie gulped.  "But for how long?"





A pile of debris stirred.

"Mrmmfff..."

The pile of debris shifted.

"Grffff...!"

At last, the debris exploded upwards with a flash of silver.

"Raaaaaaugh!"  Seraphimus waded waist-deep in dust and detritus.  She was not smiling.  One claw at a time, she pulled herself out of the mess, crawling into the light.

Two shadows converged at the northwest exit of the building.  Windburst and Raptr threaded their way in, flinching as chunks of broken catwalk fell past them, filling the wasted boiler chamber with even more echoes.

"Commander!" Raptr's voice cracked as he looked around.

"Commander Seraphimus?!  Where are you?!"  Windburst wheezed.  "Give us a sign!"

"For Verlaxion's sake, stop shouting!" Seraphimus stammered, pulling herself forward.  "This whole pl-place could come crumbling down!"

"Commander!"  Raptr gasped.

Both Sergeants flew towards her, giving her a helpful talon.

"The Rogue..."  Seraphimus snarled, shaking the dust off her feathers.  "...she d-did this..."

Windburst looked around, squinting.  "Is she still in here?!"

"Mrmmfff... is life ever that fair?"

"What were you both even doing, locked away in here?"  Windburst blinked.

Seraphimus frowned.  "It doesn't even matter anymore."

"Commander..."  Raptr stood back up, lifting a crumpled item in his grasp.  He dusted off a silver bowl and handed it over to the leader.  "Uhm... your h-helmet."

"... ... ..."  Seraphimus gingerly grasped the horrifically broken article.  She shook... she growled... and then with a flash of claws, she flung the thing to the rubble.  Clank!  "The Rainbow Rogue exited through that hole!  We have to catch her before she leaves Steamfall!"

"Ma'am!"  Raptr saluted before swiftly taking wing.  Swiiish!  "Yes, ma'am!"

Windburst accompanied Seraphimus as the Commander flapped her wings.  "The streets outside are crowded.  Everypony in Steamfall is right here now."

"Then she's likely headed to where it's not crowded."  Seraphimus flung a claw.  "Head northwest!  Sweep the streets!  Use any means necessary to neutralize our prey!"

Windburst blinked.  "Ma'am?"

"Any.  Means."  Fwooosh!  Seraphimus exited before her own growling voice could catch up with herself.





Outside, Starstorm and Keris swiveled about at the sound of slicing wingblades.  They looked up and saw Seraphimus sailing sky-high with Windburst and Raptr.

"Commander!"  Keris exhaled.  He shuddered, suffering a brief smile.  "You're in one p-piece!"

"Never mind that!"  Seraphimus shouted.  "The Rogue is on the run!"

"Again?" Starstorm exclaimed.

"Sergeant, come with us!" Seraphimus pointed.

"Affirmative!"  Starstorm leapt off the ground.  Fwooosh!

"Wait!"  Keris raised his good talon.  "This explosion!  What—?!"

"You!"  Seraphimus pointed.  "Return to Braum with Mr. Sarda and the wounded stallions."

"But—"

"We need them to be somewhere safe and sound!" Commander hollered, flying off.  "We'll question them later!  I'm counting on you, Lieutenant!"  Then, with silver streaks, the rest of the Talon flew northwest.

Keris leaned back, clenching his beak tight.

Sarda was shivering at this point.  "Verlaxion's sleet..."  Nevertheless, he hoisted Kayman up and over his flank.  "...this is utter madness!"

Keris shuddered.  "My good stallion..."  He pivoted about, lifting one of the two remaining villagers.  "...you don't know the half of it."





"They're taking wing!" Fluttershy exclaimed in mid glide.

"Who, exactly?" Pinkie asked.  "The whole Talon?"

Fluttershy gulped.  "Everyone but Keris."

"That means the gloves are off," Twilight said with a shudder.  She looked aside.  "Rainbow Dash—"

"I heard it."  Rainbow huffed and puffed as she ran northwest.  "Let's not stick around for an encore."

The buildings ended as the compound opened up to an enormous sea of gravel.  Converging railroad tracks sliced through the pale floor.  Most of the engines were dormant, while a few chugged east and west at a lazy pace, dragging lengthy cars full of heavy freight and filling the air with smog.

"My goodness..."  Rarity shiverged.  "There are so many locomotives!"  She looked at Rainbow.  "Which one should we even bother taking?"

"Better make a choice soon!" Twilight exclaimed.  "They'll be closing in on us at any second!"

"How about a train with a helicopter blade!" Pinkie suggested.

"Trains don't fly, Pinkie," Twilight said.

"Awwwwww..."  Pinkie folded her forelimbs.  "It really stinks this side of the Blight!"

"Ah-HA!"  Rainbow grinned sweatily.  "We have a winner."

"We do?"  Fluttershy craned her neck.  "Where?"

Rainbow nodded her head in mid-sprint.  Everypony's gaze wandered towards an engine stationed on the northernmost track, facing west along the foothills of the snowy mountains.  It was a sleek, jet-black locomotive, with three matching cars attached.

"Now that is light travel!"  Rarity exclaimed.  "Smashing!"

"Whatever it takes to hitch a ride."  Rainbow made a bee-line for the vehicle, threading her way in and around slowly chugging freights in the process.  "Cross your hooves, girls..."

Meanwhile, up above...





...four silver shadows sliced the smoggy sky.

Seraphimus led the pack.  Her charcoal eyes swept the buildingtops of Steamfall, then squinted at the sheen of white gravel below.

"Commander," Starstorm spoke.  "A railyard.  You..."  Her beak clattered.  "You don't suppose—"

"This pony is mad enough to try anything."  Seraphimus pointed a razor sharp claw.  "Check every engine!"

"Right!"  Raptr dove low, followed by Windburst.

Starstorm and Seraphimus descended with thunder-inducing wing blades, ripping the smog to dark gray bits.





Schwissssh!  A black mechanical door slid open along the left side of a locomotive's engine compartment.  Yawning, a stallion in Consortium fatigues shuffled out, carrying an oil can.  He shook the cobwebs out of his skull, trotted down the length of the engine, then began examining the dormant reserve tanks.

"Hey Farouche!" another stallion hollered from a nearby supply shack.  "Do you sleep inside that thing or what?"

"It's my baby, so you bet!"  Farouche managed a tired smile while oiling the exposed valves and wheels.  "It'd take a Tribal War to get me out of it for good!"

"Heh!  So old-fashioned, dude!"

"Say..."  Farouche looked up, his muzzle scrunched.  "What's with all that commotion on the other side of the complex?"

"Hell if I know.  Probably a runaway manticore."

"Again?"  Farouche shook his head, chuckling.  "And that's why the best kind of life is one on the move.."

As he knelt to examine another piece of the engine, a sweaty mare in a disheveled uniform rushed up, panting.

"Hey... wh-where does this train go?"

"To the furthest end of Dust Prefecture," Farouche muttered, applying more oil and rubbing it with a rag.  "Why?  Does Dillon have a message to deliver?"

"Does it get anywhere near Wyvern Point?"

"As close as anything can get."  He turned towards her with a lazy smirk.  "Don't tell me we're trying to make another business deal with those freaks again."

"Eh... something like that..."  Rainbow Dash pointed.  "Say, you missed a spot."

"I did???"  Farouche squinted just inches away from the engine's surface.  "Where?  I never miss a sp—"

Rainbow shoved a hoof against the back of his head.

CLANG!  Farouche's skull ricocheted off the helmet.  "Unnnngh..."  His eyes rolled back and—FWUMP!—he collapsed cold amidst a spray of gravel.

Rainbow winced at her own hoofwork.  Clearing her throat, she rushed in, then dragged his body a safe distance away from the rails.

"Oh Rainbow Dash..."  Fluttershy pouted.  "Did you have to?"

"Don't fret," Rainbow droned.  She took her jacket off and bundled it around the stallion's unconscious body to keep him warm.  "Somehow I doubt he'll swear off a life of trains just 'cuz of this."  Slipping her bag back on, the mare ran up the length of the engine and leapt up into the engine compartment.

"Oooh!"  Pinkie's eyes sparkled.  "Sleek!"

Rainbow Dash frantically looked all around.  A series of glossy metal instrument panels and levers reflected her exposed blue coat.  Overhanging pipes hissed with pressurized steam, and several mana-powered crystals gave off a dull blue glow.

"Friggin' space train, swear to Luna," Rainbow muttered.  She looked over her shoulder.  "Rarity?  Any ideas?"

"Uhm..."  Rarity cleared her throat daintily.  "We're inside a train."

Rainbow glared.  "Rarity."

"Darling, I can only sense the construct!  Not pilot it!"

"Don't worry, Rainbow," Twilight said, floating forward.  "I've got this."

Rainbow groaned.  "Please tell me you know more than just from reading books."

"Well... uhm..."

Rainbow facehoofed.

"Look, half of this engine is mana-powered," Twilight said, turning around.  "It speaks to me, if that makes any sense."

"It had better make sense soon," Fluttershy said with a tremble.  "The Talon's almost on top of us!"

"Okay, look..."  Rainbow gestured.  "Do you at least know how to turn it on?"

Twilight faced the instrument panels.  She hovered in place, tapping her chin in thought.

"Twilighttttt..."

"Just give me a second!"  Holding her breath, she then shoved her head forward, phasing her skull through the mess of metal and pipes.

Rainbow and Pinkie Pie blinked.

Twilight came back, an adorkable smile plastered across her muzzle.  "Okay!"  She pointed.  "Pull that lever back, then turn that dial, then push the same lever forward."

"Uhhh... okay then..."  Rainbow Dash cleared her throat and did as she was told.  She winced from the having to shift weight towards her left side.  "Here's hoping the Twilight Express takes us somewhere."  She shoved the lever forward.

The pipes hissed.  A loud roar came from the front of the engine, rattling the panels.

"Did... did that do anything?" Rainbow stammered.

Just as she said this, the vehicle lurched forward.  With a squeal of wheels against rails, the locomotive chugged its way northwest.

"We're moving!"  Rarity beamed, grasping Fluttershy's shoulders and twirling in midair.  "We're moving!  We're moving!"

"Yeah, this would be great if we were outrunning the Right Turtle of Verlaxion," Rainbow grumbled.

From outside:  "Huh?  Farouche?!  What the Hell happened to—Hey!  Hey!  Stop!  Stop the train!"

"Uhhhh... uhhhh..."  Rainbow looked all around.  "Twilight, the door—"

"There's a switch above you!" Twilight pointed.

Rainbow jumped, slapping her hoof across a black diode.  Schwissssh!  The door shut tight, sealing the mares in dim blue darkness.  The squeal of wheels was reduced to a dull hum.

"Okay..."  Rainbow exhaled.  "Now to make us go faster."

"Yeah..."  Twilight looked all around, the tip of her horn glowing.  "Working on it."

"Uhm, Twilight?"  Fluttershy fidgeted in Rarity's grasp.  "Maybe... w-work on it quicker?"





"Stop!"  The stallion waved his forelimbs as he stood over Farouche's figure.  "None of the freight are attached yet!  Are you out of your mind?!"

He watched—helpless—as the engine and its three cars accelerated at a maddening pace.  The rails curved north-by-northwest.  A group of stallions saw it approaching a barricade.  They waved for the engine to stop—but swiftly panicked.  In desperation, they attempted to raise the barricade at the last second.

SMASH!  The train barreled through the wooden rods and tore its way out of Steamfall, approaching the forested mountain slopes beyond.

The stallion winced.  Standing above Farouche, he hollered into the air, "Somepony!  Anypony!  We've got a runaway train!"





Windburst's ears tickled.  The Sergeant froze in mid-air.

Wings flapping, he hovered in place, scanning the industrial landscape below.  At last, his eyes caught a trail of smoke and steam heading northwest.  Several stallions in Consortium uniforms gathered around an abandoned station, shouting and gesturing in panic.

"...Commander!" Windburst hollered.

"...?"  Seraphimus looked over.

Windburst simply had to point a single claw.

Seraphimus' eyes followed the gesture until they reflected a tiny black engine surging its way through an alpine sea.

"There she is."  FWOOOSH!  She dove like a bullet.

Windburst joined her side.

Not that long after, Starstorm and Raptr caught up, joining them wing-by-wing.





Rainbow's hoof wandered over a black switch on the right side of the compartment.

Schlack!

A metal window slid open, flooding the compartment with gray light.

Rainbow squinted at a blurry scene of snow-speckled fir trees whizzing by.  Beyond them, the dull gray haze of a mountainface loomed.

She pressed the switch again.

Schlack!

Cast once again into dim blueness, she pivoted to face the instrument panel.  "Twilight... faster."

"Rainbow, there is no switch that'll magically make the train go 'faster.'"

"I thought you said this darn thing runs on mana!"

"Some of it runs on mana!  Like the instrument panels and internal operations!"  Twilight turned to look at her.  "But the engine?"  She gestured behind her shoulder.  "It's all steam!  It requires the constant and manual distribution of fuel to stay heated!"

"Like what kind of fuel?" Rainbow's voice cracked.

"Uhm... ladies?"  Rarity floated in.  "I believe the answer we seek is one compartment behind us."

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash blinked.

Rarity calmly pointed at a thick metal door at the rear of the engine compartment.

"... ... ..."  Rainbow trotted across the narrow space and slapped her hoof over a panel.

SCHWISSSH!  A door slid open.  Just past a black snow-guarded coupling platform, Rainbow saw an entire car filled to the brim with shelf after shelf of dredge coal.  The highly flammable material rattled in their dark metal cages, glistening slightly from strips of blue manalight overhead.

"Oh... my..."  Fluttershy trembled.

"So we just hijacked a giant powder keg on wheels," Rainbow Dash muttered.  A blink.  "Cool."

"I do believe it's enough fuel to get us across half the continent in a week," Rarity said.

"Or fart our way out of the Talon's reach in seconds," Rainbow said.

Rarity did a double-take.  "Huh?"

"Rainbow, how?!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

"We're on rails!"  Rarity said.  "They'll track us down eventually!"

"All we have to do is find a good jumping-off point to misdirect them!"  Rainbow said.  "So... like... th-they'll have no choice but to chase the train instead of us!"

"And just what kind of a 'jumping-off' point are you even talking about?!" Rarity exclaimed.

"I dunno..."  Rainbow fished through the bag the Desperadoes gave her, ultimately finding Luna's satchel.  "You tell me!"  She yanked out one of Sinrar's maps and tossed it across the engine room floor.

"Huh?"  Rarity blinked.  "Rainbow, what are—?"

"Look for the one and only railway track heading into Dust Prefecture!" Rainbow exclaimed.  "Or at least the northernmost one!"

"How do you expect me to find something to divert the Talon with?!" Rarity barked.

"I dunno!"  Rainbow shrugged, rushing back into the fuel car.  "About as well as I expect to accelerate this darn train!"

"Rainbow..."  Twilight pointed at a wide-wide shovel.  "You can start with that, maybe."

"... ... ..."  Rainbow gripped the shovel in two hooves.  "Guh!"  She flailed from the weight of it.  Taking a deep breath, she lifted the heavy thing, then shoved it deep into a cage full of dredge coal.  At last, she hoisted several rocks onto the massive spade, then lifted it—trembling.  She looked across the car.  "Egghead?"

Twilight motioned Rainbow into the engine compartment.

Rainbow limped over the coupling platform with the shovel.  She phased through Rarity and Fluttershy as they squatted on the floor, pouring over the map.

"In here!"  Twilight gestured at a large metal box protruding from the engine panel.

"Twilight, it's closed."

"Hit the lever, genius."

Rainbow awkwardly balanced the shovel against the wall.  Grunting, she slapped one of her rear hooves over the level.  FWOOOSH!  She winced from a wave of hot air and bright orange light.  The train's furnace was exposed, flickering wildly.

Twilight gestured a "tipping motion" with her forelimbs.

Biting her lip, Rainbow sweated, heaved, and finally emptied the contents of her shovel into the chute.

FWOOOMB!  The furnace burned hotter upon contact with the fresh supply of dredge coal.

The metal hull of the compartment groaned.

Rarity and Fluttershy looked up as they felt a shift in momentum.

"It's working!"  Twilight grinned wide, examining a series of instrument panels up close.  "It's working, Rainbow Dash!"  She turned to blink at the pegasus.  "We're accelerating!"

"Good!"  Rainbow kicked the furnace chute shut.  Clank!  "Then all I gotta do is rinse and repeat until we're at meteorite speed and then work from there."

"Uhmmm..."

Everypony looked up.

Pinkie phased down through the engine's ceiling.  Her pink mane drooped as she gazed at the others.  "Here they come..."
> All Aboard the Rainbow Express
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	FWOOOSH!

Fwooosh!

Fw-Fwoosh!

Four silver-plated bodies swooped down through the snowy mountain air, following the northwest tracks.  Far below the Talon, in the shadow of granite peaks, a black steam engine with three rattling cars sped along a narrow path flanked by frosted fir trees and sloping snowbanks.

The Sergeants fanned out so that they formed a solid "V" behind their Commander.

"She's crazy," Raptr wheezed as they crossed through the smoggy plume left behind by the chugging engine.  "Does she honestly think she can lose us in that thing?"

"Wait until she hits you in the face with fireworks," Windburst grumbled.

"No squabbling."  Seraphimus seethed.  "Let's discuss options."

"Commander."  Starstorm pointed.  "The rearmost car is constructed of wood."

"Good observation."  Seraphimus nodded.  "That'll be our point of entry."  She shouted over her shoulderplates.  "Does everyone have their hatchets?!"

"Aye, Commander!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Good."  Seraphimus glided lower and lower.  "Stay even... above the tree-lines."  Her charcoal eyes narrowed.  "Wait for the forest to clear a bit.  Then close in.  Sergeant Starstorm and I will take the top.  Raptr?  Windburst?  Take the left and right sides of the car, respectively."

"Gotcha."

Seraphimus hissed through her beak.  "On my mark..."





"See anything yet, Rarity?" Fluttershy asked, squinting at the map on the engine compartment's floor.

"I'm looking as hard as I can, dear."  Rarity clenched her jaws.  "I do wish the good professor was as proficient at his hoofwriting as he was at his geography."  Frowning, she snarled into the air:  "And I do wish it was a tad bit brighter in here!"

Fluttershy reached out and gingerly grasped Rarity's horn.

Rarity blinked.  "Fluttershy, darling, what are you—?"  Her horn glowed, illuminating the map before their ghostly eyes.  "Oh.  Fabulous."

Their vision was obscured by Rainbow's hooves as she phased through them, hoisting another heavy shovel full of dredge coal.

"Rnnnnngh!"  Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth, kicking the furnace's chute open again.

"Hold your breath, Rainbow!" Twilight insisted.  "Just in case!  You don't want to inhale any dredge coal!"

"Wouldn't... that be... the lamest... way to go...?!"  Rainbow struggled as she finally lifted all of the dredge coal up and dumped it down the chute.  The fire within the furnace flickered hotter, and she could feel the train lurching forward at a higher velocity.  "Whew..."

"Great!"  Twilight grinned as Rainbow slapped the chute shut.  "You're getting the hang of this!"

"Yeah... but..."  Rainbow leaned on the shovel as she wiped the sweat off her brow.  "Can we make it go faster?"

"Uhm..."  Twilight gazed at the instrument panel.  "Maybe."

"Cool."

"But I wouldn't recommend it."

Rainbow frowned.  "Twilight, for real—"

Pinkie phased through the ceiling once again.  "Whewwwwwww boyoooo!  They look super duper mad this time!"

Rainbow spun towards her, blinking.  "Have they caught up?"

"They're tailing us as we speak!" Pinkie gestured wildly.  "Like a bunch of fleas!  Only with wings..."  A gulp.  "...and silver armor."

"..."  Rainbow trotted briskly towards the next car.  "Guess I should have a look-see."

"Huh?"  Rarity looked up.  "Guh!"  She and Fluttershy flinched as a lavender shield dragged them after their anchor.  "But... what... Rainbow!"  She frowned, pointing at the map behind them in the engine compartment.  "...aren't we supposed to find a jumping-point?!"

"It'll have to wait."  Rainbow passed the shelves and shelves of dredge coal until she reached the next coupling platform.  "I'm bird-watching."  She slapped a panel, opening the metal door to the second car.  Schwisssh!  "Catbird-watching."

Squinting, Rainbow looked down a narrow walkway.  To her left, several thick cabinets were built into the metal body of the second train car.  To her right, shelves were filled to the brim with long, narrow iron bars.

"The next car is made of wood," Rarity said, floating alongside Rainbow.  "I can bet you a million rubies that—"

"—they'll try breaking in through that.  Got it."  Rainbow nodded with a shudder.  "Looks like we've got some staves to fight them off with."

"You mean..."  Twilight nervously cleared her throat.  "If it comes to that?"

"Twilight..."  Rainbow sighed.  "It always... always comes to that."

"Oh!"  Fluttershy suddenly squirmed in mid-hover.  Her eyes were locked on the cabinets.  "Oh d-dear."

"What is it, Flutters?" Rainbow asked.  She heard a loud rattling from within the cabinets.  Curious, she reached a hoof over and slid one of the panels open.

"Hressshaaaa!"  The cabinets were full of tiny frenzied lizards.  Their spines protruded as they hissed and snapped at Rainbow's fetlocks through their cage.

"Eeeeeek!" Rarity shrieked, flying backwards.

"Rrrgh!"  Thud!  Rainbow slammed the cabinet back shut, panting.  "Friggin' Razzar cousins..."

"Must be food for the wyverns," Fluttershy said, trembling.

"We're going to be food for the wyverns if we don't find a way to lose the Talon," Rainbow muttered.  Upon a flicker of lavender light, she looked up.  "What's the sitch, Pinkie?"

Pinkie sank through the ceiling.  "They're just... gliding behind us!  Keeping at an even pace!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!"

"Must be strategizing a way to stop the train," Twilight said.

Rainbow blinked.  "Lemme see..."  She trotted over to a door and slapped a console next to it.  Fwoooosh!  Snow and icy mountain air roared into the compartment as she peered skyward, squinting.





Seraphimus blinked at the open doorframe in the second car.

"Sergeant."  She pointed with a claw.

Windburst nodded.  "I see it, Commander."  He reached back for his crossbow.





Rainbow grimaced into the cold air, her ruby eyes reflecting the four bodies.

"The hay are they waiting for?"

Pinkie's ears twitched.  "Dashie!" she shrieked.

The air sang.

With a gasp, Rainbow yanked her head back as—

Swisssssssh!  A crossbolt sliced past her fuzzy blue cheeks and—CLANK!—embedded into the opposite side of the train compartment, quivering to a stop.

Schlump!  Rainbow shut the automatic door immediately.  She stood in the dim blue light, panting.  A wet sensation trickled down her chin.  "...?"  She raised a hoof up, feeling blood leaking from a shallow cut on her cheek.  "... ... ... must go faster."  And she galloped back towards the engine compartment.

"But... but..."  Pinkie pointed towards the rearmost train.  "What about the catbirds?!"

"Rainbow doesn't stand a chance against all four of them!" Twilight hollered from up ahead.

"Here we go again," Rarity droned as she, Pinkie, and Fluttershy were swept up by the same lavender force.





"The train's accelerating even more!" Raptr exclaimed, pointing.

"Rats."  Windburst frowned, shouldering his crossbow.  "Guess I missed."

"The forest is clearing up ahead!"  Starstorm pointed.  "That gives us a window!"

"Right."  Seraphimus nodded.  "Let's move in."  She led the charge, wingblades howling against the mountain downdrafts.  "Remember your positions!"

"Aye!"

Fwoosh!

Fw-Fw-Fwoosh!





"Nrnnnghhh!"  Rainbow struggled and heaved.  Amber furnace light bathed her sweaty figure as she shoveled the last pile of dredge coal out of a single, solitary crate parked before the engine's instrument panel.  "How about n-now, Twilight?!"  She winced, shielding herself from ashes and sparks vomiting out of the chute.  The temperature of the engine compartment rose significantly.  "Are we going any faster?"

"Yes!"  Twilight nodded, gazing at the instruments.  "But only slightly!"

"Darn it!  I thought th-that would do it!"

"The Furnace is burning through the dredge coal too quickly!"  Twilight looked at Rainbow.  "At this rate, I don't know what it will take to reach maximum velocity!"

"Well, couldn't we... I dunno..."  Rainbow Dash slapped the chute shut, panting.  "...redirect the... uhm... reserve steam auxiliary banks... or s-something?!"

Twilight frowned.  "Steam doesn't work that way, Rainbow!"

"Do I wear a pink diaper?!"  Rainbow barked, frowning back.  "Since when has steam ever worked properly in this stupid continent?!"

"Rainbow!  Rainbow!"  Rarity waved a hoof from the floor.

Rainbow phased through Twilight, squatting beside the map.  "Did you girls find something?!"

"We did."  Fluttershy nodded, then pointed at Sinrar's scribbles.  "There's a southern stretch of mountain crossing directly over the tracks."

"Over the tracks?"  Twilight stammered, leaning in.  "How's that possible?"

Rainbow blinked.  "A tunnel."

Rarity nodded.  "A tunnel.  Right after a bridge that goes over a deep chasm."

"What do you think, Rainbow?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow brushed a hoof over her shaved head.  "That... sounds..."  A blink.  "Perfect, actually."

"What do you plan to do?" Fluttershy bit her lip.  "Jump off while we're in the tunnel?"

"Then the Talon will follow the train on the other side!"  Rainbow exclaimed.  "It'll give us time to hide in the forest then book it up the mountainside!"  She smirked stupidly.  "Wyvern Point or bust!"

"I dunno, Rainbow."  Twilight fidgeted.  "That seems awfully optimistic... even for you."

"Well, anything is better sticking here on the Griffon Food Express!" Rarity whimpered.

Th-Thump!  Several dull vibrations rolled up the length of the train.  The mares blinked at one another.

"Uhm."  Fluttershy gulped.  "Wasn't me."

"Hey, uh..."  Pinkie's head sank upside down from the ceiling.  "Poopy news, everpony."  Her teeth chattered.  "We've got passengers."

Rainbow's eyes widened.  "The wooden car!"  She jumped to her hooves.

"Rainbow!"  Twilight yelped, floating after her.  "If they're trying to board, then the safest place to be is sealed off here in the engine room—"

"We haven't any time to wait it out!"  Rainbow galloped down the cars, calling back.  "You heard the girls!  We're a bridge and a chasm away from the tunnel!"

"How are we going to make it?!" Fluttershy exclaimed, flying after them.

"Ggghhh!"  Rarity hissed.  "Will everypony please stay put for just one sec—"  The ghost and her voice were both swept up by the lavender shield once again.





Schiiiiing!  Seraphimus unsheathed a razor-sharp hatchet from her armor.  Her exposed headfeathers rippled in the howling winds as she clung to the roof of the last car.  She looked up at Starstorm... and nodded.

Starstorm nodded back.  She raised her own hatchet, timed it with Seraphimus' swing, and—CRACK!

Both guardians hacked and carved at the surface of the car's wooden roof.  Splinters sailed off in the whipping winds, disappearing into the column of dark smog pumping from the engine's smokestack towards the train's front.  Meanwhile, along the sides of the speeding car, Raptr and Windburst likewise clung to the surfaces, slicing inward with their own mini-axes.  Crack!  Chunk!  Thwack!





Schwissssh!  The metal door to the last car opened.  Rainbow crossed the coupling platform—then froze in her tracks, blinking.

The last car was mostly empty, save for a few lazily placed crates that rattled across the floor.  Gradually, the dark interior of the compartment was severed by tiny slivers of bright snowy light along the ceiling and walls.

Rainbow blanched as the rays of light intensified, settling across her and the ghostly mares' nervous faces.

"So, like..."  Pinkie floated in.  "...they have axes."

"I know that, Pinkie!" Rainbow hollered.  She danced in place.  "Darn darn darn darn."  Her eyes danced worriedly between the brightening strips of light.  "There's gotta be a way to throw them off!"

"Maybe if we asked them nicely to stop?" Fluttershy trembled.

"Everypony put on their serious saddles for once!" Twilight grumbled.

Fluttershy folded her forelimbs.  "Well, Rainbow had just shut Pinkie up, so I figured—"

"Rainbow, darling."  Rarity leaned in.  "The structure of this car is very weak."

"I can see that, Rares."

"Ahem..."  Rarity calmly glared.  "I mean from the inside as well as the outside."

"... ... ..."  Rainbow turned and gazed at the second car's interior.  Her ears twitched to the sound of rattling metal rods.

"Care to tell us what you're thinking, Rainbow?" Twilight asked.

"No."  Rainbow galloped back the way she came.  "You'd slap me if I did."

"Ugh..."  Twilight groaned.  "And since when was that different from usual—"

The lavender light scooped Rainbow's friends up, dragging them after her.





"Rnnngh!"  Raptr grunted, shielding his face from strips of wood as he hammered harder at the wall of the car.  "It's... it's... grghhhh..."  He reached a talon under his helmet and wiped some sweat away.  "...it's not giving way!"

"Keep at it, Sergeant!" Seraphimus hollered, hacking away with her own hatchet.  "Windburst?!"

"Making some progress!" Windburst shouted above the tumultuous winds.  The looming mountainside threw his voice in a haunting echo.  "I'll let you know when I'm through!"

"Commander!" Starstorm exclaimed.  She gestured at a loose plank of wood between them.

Seraphimus nodded.  "Well done."  Crawling across the roof of the speeding train, she joined the Sergeant's side and wedged her blade beneath the loose panel.

Starstorm holstered her hatched, then gripped the panel with both talons.

"On three," Seraphimus said.

Starstorm nodded, tensing her muscles.

"One... two... three!"

"Rrrrgh!"  Starstorm pulled with all her might.

Seraphimus clenched her beak tighter, chiseling the edge of her blade deeper into the body of wood.  Gradually, the two guardians peeled the single panel back, exposing the dark interior of the train car below.





"Rainbow... uhm..."  Fluttershy winced.  "Are you sure this is going to work?"

"No," Rainbow sweated.  She stood up on her rear legs as she shoved three metal poles deep into the mouth of the engine furnace's chute.  "But I can tell you what would not work:  standing around doing nothing."

Fluttershy sighed.  "I was afraid of that."

"Don't worry, Fluttershy," Twilight said.  "There's some method here to Rainbow's madness."  She gulped and squinted at Rainbow.  "You are planning what I think you are, right?"

"Probably..."  Rainbow winced from the hot fumes.  Nevertheless, she twirled and turned the far ends of the metal poles, shoving them even deeper into the furnace.  Coughing to avoid the sparks, she murmured aside, "Rarity, how close are we to the tunnel?"

"You're asking me?"

"You're the one with friggin' magical... structural... itchiness... or whatever."  Her brow furrowed as she fiddled with the metal bars.  "Can't you sense the geography around us?"

Rarity took a deep breath.  "I... I-I can vaguely sense the path ahead."  He pale brow furrowed.  "There's a deep drop..."

"That must be the chasm," Fluttershy said.

"And north of that... yes... yes!  The mountain ridge!"  Rarity's eyes flew wide open.  "I can sense it!"

"How far away do you think we are?"

Rarity fidgeted.  "Erm... minutes.  Five... ten.  Depends on whether or not we maintain this speed!"

"Good.  You're officially our alarm clock."  Rainbow took a breath and leaned backward.  She hoisted the three rods with her, and their ends were hot red with blazing heat.  "Alright... that should just about do it."

"Do what?"  Fluttershy asked.

"You'll see."  Rainbow tucked the "cool" parts of the rods under her right wing.  "But the Talon will see even harder."  She galloped down the cars.

"Careful, Rainbow!"  Twilight insisted, hovering after her.  "Don't let the hot tips touch any of the dredge coal!  We don't want anything setting off the reserve fuel!  No matter how small!"

"Oh, Celestia forbid..."  Rainbow panted as she carried the burning staves toward the rearmost car.





Crkkkk-rkkkk!  The one panel lifted slowly off the roof of the wooden car.

"Almost..."  Starstorm sputtered.  "...got it!"

"Easy... easy..." Seraphimus shouted over her shoulder.  "Raptr!  Windburst!  When I give the signal, join us on the roof!"

"Aye, ma'am!"

"I can see the interior!" Starstorm wheezed.





"Dashie!  Dashie!"  Pinkie dipped through the splintered ceiling as Rainbow reached the last car.  "They're breaking through!"

"Not for long..."  Rainbow lifted one bar out from from beneath her wing and hoisted it in her forelimbs.  The glowing hot tip illuminated her pendant in a red sheen.  "Okay... time to see if they get the point!"

Teeth gritting, she shoved the heated metal end of the staff up into the ceiling.

Clunk!

Sparks and ash flew.  A patch of wood instantly caught fire from the hot metal's contact.

"Rainbow!"  Fluttershy winced.  "You'll set fire to—"

"Wait for it..." Rainbow sneered, shoving up against the pole.  More ashes fell as the staff gradually shifted upwards.





"... ... ..."  Starstorm blinked.  She paused in lifting the panel, looking up at Seraphimus.  "Commander?  Do you smell that?"

Seraphimus squinted through the snowfall.  "Burning...?"

Schlunkkk!  A red-hot iron pole emerged beside them.

"Gaaah!"  Starstorm yelped, flinching.

"...!"  Seraphimus' charcoal eyes widened.





Pinkie hovered at the ceiling level.  She lowered her phasing head.  "A little to the left, Dashie!"

"Httt!"  Rainbow pulled the staff down, repositioned herself, and shoved up again.  "Get... off!"

Schlunkkk!





"Move!"  Seraphimus shoved Starstorm back as she too rolled aside.  "Move!"

Crkkkk!  The sharp metal sliced up, impaling their position just milliseconds after they toppeled out of the way.

Starstorm and Seraphimus clung to the rooftop, panting.  Within four heartbeats, the metal retracted—then shredded its way up once more, landing even closer to them.

"Ooomf!"  Starstorm toppeled backwards and clung to the back of the train.

"Commander!"  Windburst hollered from below.  "What's going on back there?!"





"They're still on the sides!"  Fluttershy exclaimed.

"Right..."  Rainbow ditched the first pole—which had since cooled to a dull gray.  She hoisted the second rod from under her wing—still hot—and shoved it through the right wall with a burst of flame.  "Rghhh!"





Cl-Clank!  A burning rod shoved Windburst's hatchet from his grasp.

"Gaaah!"  Windburst wheezed, clinging on by one talon.

The rod retracted, and a hot patch of warmth formed in the wooden surface directly beneath Windburst's chest.

"Mmmf... dammit!"  Windburst let go.

Crkkk!  The burning metal sliced the air where he was.





Rainbow let go of the rod.

She grabbed the last pole from under her wing, twirled the hot metal in her forelimbs, then shoved it through the opposite wall.

Crkkk!





The burning metal ricocheted off Raptr's helmet, showering sparks into the snowy air.

"Augh!  What...?!"

Up above, Seraphimus frowned and kicked off the train.  "Get off!  Get off!  Take wing!"

"But Commander—"

"Get off the train, Sergeant!  That's an order!"

Raptr shuddered.  He sheathed his hatchet and kicked off the side of the train just as the pole stabbed through once more.  Snow melted upon contact with the metal, filling the blurry air with white steam.

All four griffons converged, gliding evenly with the rear of the train.

"How in the Hell did she know where we were?!" Windburst hissed.

"I think we all know how," Starstorm muttered.

Seraphimus took a deep breath.  "Starstorm?"

"Yes, Commander?"

Seraphimus spoke without looking at her.  "Still have the explosive charges?"

Starstorm blinked.  She reached beneath her armor.  "Yes, Commander..."

Seraphimus pointed.  "Blow the rear door open."

"Now we're talking," Windburst grinned.

Raptr watched nervously as Starstorm produced a mana-powered charge and flew up to the rear of the train.





"Woohoo!"  Twilight cheered.  "You did it, Rainbow!  You got them off us!"

"Smashing, darling!"

"Hey..."  Rainbow wiped her brow and shrugged.  "What can I say?  Like fending birds off with sticks."

"Uhhhhm..."  Pinkie phased through the ceiling again.

Rainbow slumped, her right wing drooped.  "What now?"

"So... like... they've got explosives?"

Fluttershy blinked wide.

Pinkie pointed.  "One of them's trying to get in through the back door."

"She's right!"  Twilight grimaced, rubbing her horn.  "An enchanted crystal fuse."

"And judging from the ordinance, it'll blast the back of this car clean off!" Rarity exclaimed.

"What'll we do?" Fluttershy stammered.

Rainbow bit her lip.  She turned... turned... then turned some more.

"Rainbow..."  Twilight pointed at the second car.

Rainbow spun around.  Her eyes locked on the coupling platform.  "...yes."  She galloped forward.





Starstorm's claw pressed two buttons, spun a dial, then struck a final switch.

The explosive beeped, flashing wildly.

"Charge primed and set, Commander!" Seraphimus exclaimed.

"Good!"  Seraphimus nodded.  "Fall back!"

Starstorm lifted off, flapping her wings as she joined the rest of the group.

"Prepare to take point, Sergeant," Seraphimus said.  "We'll cover you."

"Aye."  Schiiiing!  Starstorm unsheathed a fan of knives between her claws.  She glared at the rear of the train.  "Ten seconds."

Raptr and Windburst watched warily.  Trees and boulders whizzed by on either side of the guardians.

Starstorm grunted into the snowfall:  "Three... Two... One..."

P-POWWW!  The back of the train exploded in a splash of splinters.

The Talon lifted to avoid the debris wall.

"Now, Sergeant!" Seraphimus hollered.  "Go!"

Swisssh!  Starstorm dove in.  She threaded her way through the gaping hole in the train car, claws landing on the wooden floor.

TH-THUMP!  She crouched, wings and muscles settling.

Then—from outside—Windburst's voice hollered:  "Sergeant!  The car!"

Cl-Clakka!

"...?!"  Starstorm's eyes flashed up.

The second car was drawing away.  The Sergeant caught sight of a blue pegasus yanking a lever, uncoupling the rear car from the rest of the train.  In the naked snowlight brightening between them, Rainbow's ruby eyes glinted, making contact.

"Rrghhh!"  With an angry snarl, Starstorm flung all her knives forward.

Th-Th-Thwisssssh!

Rainbow ducked behind the doorframe of the second car.  Cl-Cl-Cl-Clank!  The knives embedded into the black metal flame.

"Ungh!"  Cursing beneath her breath, Starstorm broke into a full sprint.  She ran the length of the car as it drifted away from the rest of the train.  At last, when there was no more wooden floor beneath her, she took a savage leap.

A blue hoof slapped a console.  Schlummp!  A metal door sealed directly in front of her.

Starstorm's hawkeyes twitched.  "...oh."  WHUMP!  She slammed beak-first into the next car.  Before she could collapse entirely, her talons reached out, and the griffon clung to the doorframe by her claws.  "Mrmmmfff... gnnghhh..."  Tensing, she tried pulling herself up.

Schwissssh!  The door reopened.

Starstorm looked up.  "Huh?"

Rainbow's hoof bucked her in the helmet.  CLANGGG!

"Ooomf!"  And Starstorm lost her grip.  As the rear door to the second car shut again, she fell, her body ragdolling across the rails and into a snowbank.

Raptr gasped, looking behind them.  "Starstorm!"  He glided back—

"No!' Seraphimus hollered.  "Maintain formation!"

"But...!"  Raptr pointed.  "But Starstorm—"

"The Sergeant can handle herself!"  Seraphimus glided forward, wingtips forming vapor trails in the air.  "She'll rejoin us!  Stay in pursuit!"  She pointed.  "Windburst!  The side doors!"

"On it!"  Windburst swerved right, whipping in and around fir trees.  "I've got the right!"

"Raptr!"  Seraphimus motioned.  "Try and pry the left door open!  I'll work on the rear!"

"Y-yes, ma'am!"  Visibly rattled, Raptr nevertheless obeyed.  All three guardians flapped their wings harder, catching up to the train.  The rails pivoted towards the west... where a chasm loomed.





"Somehow, I think you only made them madder," Fluttershy said.

"Yes..."  Rainbow backtrotted across the second train car, panting in the blue manalight.  "And hopefully a bit stupider."  She gulped.  "Both tend to run hoof-and-hoof."

Cl-Clank!  Clank!  The walls of the train echoed all around them.

Rainbow twirled about, blinking.

"They're herrrrrrre!"  Pinkie cooed.

"Surely they can't get into this car any easier than the one we just lost," Twilight wheezed.

"Not if they find a weak point," Rarity said, then spun around as she heard chiseling sounds.  She pointed up at the doors.  "Alas..."

"Rainbow, we're losing momentum," Twilight said.  "I suggest we go back to the engine room and give 'er more oomf."

"Yeahhhh..."  Rainbow took a deep breath, glaring at the doors as the chiseling continued.  "But first thing's first..."





Raptr winced, his beak and talons coated with frost.  Nevertheless, he fought the high winds and continued carving at the seams in the metal doorframe with his hatchet.

"If I can... j-just get... at the door mechanism..."

Suddenly, the panel slid open before him.  Schwissssh!

Raptr blinked.  His beak flew open.  "H-Heeeey!"  Smiling, he hollered up at the roof of the car.  "Commander!  I got it open!"

Seraphimus blinked into the cold winds.  "That... easy?"  She grimaced, then spat, "Sergeant!  Get away from—"

Raptr heard a hissing sound.

"Huh?"  He looked at the open door.  Fwoooosh!  A tangling mess of lizards covered him from head to tail.  Then the door slid back shut.

"Hressssssssha!"  They clawed and scurried all over the griffon, biting at his limbs and feathers.

"Aaaaaaaaaugh!"  Raptr hollered.  "Get 'em off!  Get 'em off!  Get 'em off!"  He grabbed and yanked at his arms.  Flailing, the rookie dropped the hatchet and flew completely off the train, tumbling to a stop on the sloping mountainside below.

Seraphimus watched his body drift into the distance.  Grunting, she slammed her hatchet blade hard into the rear door and shouted.  "Windburst!  Raptr's down!  Join me in the back!"

"Aye, Commander!"  Windburst crawled over from the side.  Seraphimus gave him a helping talon, and soon both clung to the rear door together.

"Let's get this door open!  I hold the hatchet in place and you pry the mechanism apart!"

"Got it!"





Rainbow leaned against a cabinet full of empty cages.

"Hope the wyverns have plenty of bread crumbs to spare," Rainbow wheezed.

"We've still got two of them clinging on!" Pinkie said.

"One of them's the commander," Fluttershy added.  "It's only a matter of time before the other two catch up."

"Rainbow!"  Rarity floated in front of her.  "The chasm's up ahead!  The bridge as well!"

Cr-Crack!

Rainbow and her friends looked back.

A sliver of light formed along the edge of the doorframe.  Cold mountain winds howled.

Rainbow frowned.  "That's it."  She turned tail and marched up the first train car, approaching the engine.  "I'm bucking these clowns off our back once and for all."

"Are you going to speed us up?" Twilight asked.

"I'm going to speed us up and a half!"

"No!  Wait!"  Rarity stammered as she was swept up in the lavender barrier.  "Rainbow, don't!  Not yet—"





"Mrmmmggghh-aaaaaugh!"  Windburst hollered, pulling hard at the stubborn door with his bare talons.

"Don't overdo it, Sergeant!" Seraphimus grunted, holding the hatchet in place.  "I need your arms in one piece!"

"Trust me..."  Windburst growled.  "...I have every intention of pummeling that damn horse's face in when we're through!"

"We'll let the Council take a swing first."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Okay..." Windburst wheezed as he peered beak-first into the second car.  "...almost got it."





Rarity hovered breathlessly into the engine compartment.

"Rainbow!  This is important!"  She gulped.  "Before you try and accelerate the—"  Her eyes blinked.  "What in blazes are you doing?"

"'Blazes' is the key word here, Rarity!"  Rainbow Dash's muscles quivered as she pressed off the engine room floor, hoisting two cages full of dredge coal across her flank.  "Let's see those backward albatrosses cling onto this!  Grnnngh!"

With that said, both cages emptied their contents into the furnace.  No sooner had the fuel rattled down the chute when—

FWOOOOOMB!  Tongues of brilliant flame vomited out.

"Rainbow, no—!"  Rarity shrieked.

"Get down!" Twilight hollered.

The boiler roared and the train lurched ahead.

"Whoah!"  Rainbow yelped as her body toppeled back into the second train car.

Pinkie and Fluttershy shrieked as they flew along with their anchor.





The wheels screeched against the rails beneath the train.

Windburst and Seraphimus looked down.

"The Hell...?!"  Windburst wheezed.

"The train!"  Seraphimus hollered, letting go of the hatchet and grabbing a metal bar.  "It's acceler—"

FWOOOOSH!  The landscape around them blurred into a mad white streak.  Sparks flew from the railing.

"Aaaaa-aaa-aaa!"  Windburst slipped and flew back from the car.

"Grfff!"  Seraphimus flung a talon back, grabbing him by the arm.  Her muscles rippled as she struggled to stay ahold solely by her grip to the metal bar.  The wind howled to a deafening degree, and screeching metal wheels added to the bedlam.  Eyes tearing, she looked up—then grimaced.

The bar was rattling loose.

Seraphimus growled, feeling her body pulled taut between the train and Windburst's weight.  She tried repositioning her claws—

Clackkk!  The bar broke loose.  Seraphimus and Windburst went sailing backwards.

Windburst snarled, reached for his crossbow, then loaded a cabled crossbolt.

"Sergeant!" Seraphimus hollered as she flew upright behind the train.

Pow!  Clank!  Windburst's projectile embedded into the back of the car, and he instantly regretted it.  "Whoah!"  He yelped as the momentum flung him to the right.  Whump!  Wham!  He slammed across two trees, flew to the left, and—THUDDD!—plowed into a mess of snowy branches.  At last, the cable broke, and he flew back.  "Aaaaaugh!"

Seraphimus caught him with her arms.  WHUMP!  The two slowed, hovering in mid-air as they watched the train tear off without them.

"Commander..."  Windburst wheezed, still wincing from fresh bruises.  "I'm sorry.  I-I thought I had—"

"Shhhh!"  Seraphimus pointed ahead, eyes wide.  "The chasm."





"They're off!"  Pinkie phased through the walls, hovering above Rainbow Dash in the first train car.  "Dashie, they're thrown off!  You did it!"

"Boo-yaa!"  Rainbow Dash pumped a hoof in the air as she lay on her back.  She grinned, despite the rattling of the dredge coal on either side of her.  "Suck on that cracker, Polly!"

"Rainbow!"  Rarity floated above Rainbow, frowning down.  "You buffoon!"

"What?"  Rainbow sat up, blinking.  "Since when were you a parrot enthusiast?"

"Didn't you hear me?!"  Rarity gnashed her teeth.  "I told you not to accelerate the train!"

"I had to lose them somehow, Rarity!"

"But we're about to span the bridge!"

"Yeah?"  Rainbow rotated one forelimb, wincing.  "So?"

"Rainbow..."  Rarity squinted.  "...the bridge is curved."

"... ... ..."  Rainbow froze where she sat.  The dredge coal rattled harder and harder.  She looked into the engine room.

Twilight was staring at the instrument panels, and every needle was in the red.  She turned back to gape at Rainbow with a pale expression.

"... ... ..."  Rainbow blinked.  "Awwwwwwwwwwwww sh—"





FWOOOSH!  The speeding train hurled over the chasm.  Flakes of snow fell off the bridge from the sparkling wheels, and each flake sailed hundreds of feet down into a murderously looming ravine below.

Seconds later, the train hit the curve.  Sparks flew brighter.  The weight of the train groaned as it swung around the bend.  Wooden support beams shook, wobbled, buckled.





"Aaaaaack!"  Fluttershy and Rarity clung to each other as they flew across the train car.

"Oooomf!  Guhh!"  Rainbow grunted as she rolled and toppled.  At last, she felt her body being pressed to the right side of the car during the violent turn.

"Rainbowwwww!" Twilight hollered, sailing back from the engine compartment.





Screeee-eee-eeeech!

Sparks flew from both sides of the train...

...and then from one side.

This was because the left wheels of the train cars were lifting off the rails in mid-turn.

Slowly—inch by suicidal inch—the right side of the train lurched towards the forested ravine below, pulled over by their weight.





"We're toppling!"  Rarity hollered, clinging to Fluttershy tighter.  "We're toppling over!"

"No!  No!"  Pinkie spun in the air as dredge coal flew off their shelves.  "Bad train!  Bad!"

"Rainbow!" Twilight sputtered.  "At any second, we'll—"

"Grrgh—Raaaugh!"  Rainbow uncoiled her leg muscles and sprang off the wall.

Fluttershy gasped, her turquoise eyes reflecting a blue streak.

Rainbow flew across the train and rammed her shoulder into the left side.  Thuddd!





With a metallic groan, the left wheels of the train slammed back onto the rails.

Sparks rained down.

The entire bridge below wobbled, shaking loose snow and icicles.

But the train wasn't done.  The weight was still shifting.  And within half-a-second—

Screeeeeeech!

—the right wheels lifted up, slicing at the snowy air.





"Other side!" Rarity sputtered into Fluttershy's mane.  "Other side now!"

"Htttt!"  Rainbow dove off the wall again, phasing through Pinkie Pie.

"Weeeeeeeeee!"  Pinkie managed in mid-cartwheel.

"Grnnngh!"  Rainbow slammed her butt hard into the right wall.  THAP!





Scr-Screeeech!

The wheels of the train slammed back down onto the rails once again...

...all except the wheels belonging to the second car.  The rear of the train was sailing crookedly behind the rest of the speeding vehicle.  Even as the bridge angled into a straightaway, the last car progressively teetered left, leaning towards the southern mouth of the chasm.





"Ooomf!"  Rainbow collapsed hard onto the floor of the first car.  She coughed and sputtered between rattling clumps of dredge coal.

"We still have a problem!" Rarity's voice cracked.

"Mrmmfff... seriously?"  Rainbow looked upside down.  Through the doorway, she saw the interior of the second car pivoted at a forty-five degree angle.  "Luna poop!"

"Rainbow!"  Twilight pointed.  "The coupling!"

Huffing and puffing, Rainbow rolled over and galloped towards the second car.

Her hooves slipped on round clumps of dredge coal.

"Ooomf!  Grnngh!"  Rainbow fell flat on her belly more than once.

The second car teetered more and more.  Fifty degrees.  Sixty.

The air filled with metal screeching.  The left wheels of the first car lifted again.

"Hurry, Rainbowwwww!" Fluttershy covered her muzzle.

"Aaaagh!"  Rainbow flapped her right wing and threw herself forward.

Her hoof grabbed the lever, yanking it.

Clak-clakka!  The second car detached from the rest of the train.  The manalights inside dimmed instantly.

Thwumppp!  Rainbow fell onto the floor of the first car as the wheels evened out.  She watched—breathless—as the second car drew away, teetered, and...





...fell off the bridge completely.  The car spun, toppling several times in mid-air.  It ricocheted off the support beams of the bridge, sailed into the thick forest below, and exploded in a cloud of shrapnel and snow.

The resulting thunder from the impact sent shockwaves across the canyon, shaking clumps of snow off clifffaces and mountain slopes.

Seraphimus and Windburst heard this.  They hovered at the ravine's edge, struggling to catch their breaths.

Seraphimus blinked.  Her eyes traveled up from the smashed fir trees, trailed the length of the bridge, then settled on the plateau up ahead.  The railway led directly into a mountain redge that occupied the entire horizon.

"... ... ...a tunnel!"

"The train had to have lost momentum from that," Windburst said.

"We must take advantage of this."  Seraphimus slapped Windburst's shoulder.  "Fire a flare so the others will join us."

"Right!"  As Seraphimus flew ahead, Windburst loaded a red barb into his crossbow, took aim at the sky, and fired.  Thwiffft!

Both griffons sped straight across the chasm, sailing for the mountain ridge as a bright red explosion rippled brightly overhead.  POW!





Meanwhile, far back...

"Rrrgh!  Mrmmf!  Gaaagh!"  Raptr rolled around and around in the snow, batting the clingy-biting lizards off him.  Each scurried off into the shrubbery as he stood up, struggling with the last.  "Get off!  Get... off!"

Fwoooosh!  Starstorm landed next to him.  "Hold still, Sergeant."  She leaned in and used the tip of her wing-blade to knock off the last few creatures.

"Rnnngh—ghaaah!"  Raptr—finally free—hovered in mid-air, shivering all over.  "Bleahhhh... oh thank Goddess none of the Six Tribes is reptilian."

"I'm sure you'll live," Starstorm said with a smirk.

"Barely..."  Raptr gazed at her.  "You okay?"

"A little rattled, but yeah."  Starstorm gulped.  "Where's the train?"

The top of the forest around them lit up with a red strobe.  Both griffons gawked at the sky, spotting the flare.

"Over there, I bet," Raptr pointed.

"Come!"  Starstorm took wing, ascending rapidly.  "They'll need backup!"

"Mmmmmmmmmmm..."  Raptr clenched his beak shut as he tore skyward after her.  Swoooosh!





Rainbow struggled groggily to her hooves, shielding herself from the cold mountain air at the rear of the train.

"I know this is the last thing you want to hear, Rainbow, but..."  Fluttershy gulped.  "...they're catching up."

"Really?"  Pinkie pouted.  "Awwwww... these birds are worse than pigeons!"

"Mrmmf..."  Rainbow limped towards the engine compartment, hobbling over loose dredge coal.  "Where from, Flutters?"

"The Commander and her wingmate are taking a straight path across the chasm," Fluttershy said.  "The other two will be catching up as well in a minute."

"Well of course they're catching up!"  Twilight exclaimed.  "We have rails... they have air."  She flung a forlorn look towards the engine compartment.  "And we're slowing down again."

"We're not through yet..."  Rainbow wheezed.  "Rarity?  How close is the tunnel?"

"Very close, Rainbow."  Rarity's forehead tensed as she rubbed her horn.  "And... and there's something else."

"What is it, Rares?"  Rainbow squinted back, rubbing her aching back.  "Go on.  I'm listening this time.  For real."

"Well..."  Rarity cleared her throat.  "There's something... hollow about the mountain ridge."

"Hollow?"  Twilight blinked.

"There are passages... yes..."  Rarity's eyes lit up.  "Yes.  There are passages inside!"  She looked at Rainbow.  "A few of them even lead into the tunnel!"

"Huh?"  Rainbow blinked.

"Passages... passages..."  Twilight thought out loud.  Suddenly, she gasped.  "The mines!  Rainbow, it's the mines that Nana Pearl talked about!"

"Could we be so lucky?" Fluttershy exclaimed.

"Maybe..."  Rainbow frowned as she marched into the engine room.  "But only if the Talon get unluckier."

"Whatever you're planning, Rainbow, do it quick!"  Rarity stammered.  "The tunnel entrance is approaching quick!"





"Commander," Windburst spoke, squinting against the wind.  "The tunnel.  She's about to—"

"I know."  Seraphimus nodded.  "Keep your elevation."

"But Serap—"  Windburst's beak clattered as he gestured.  "We can easily catch up with the train if we—"

"The ridge isn't too wide.  That means the exit of the tunnel isn't far away.'  Seraphimus nodded at the treeline atop the mountain.  "We'll fly over and cut the train off on the other side."

"And what about Raptr and Starstorm?"

"We can trust them to cover this end of the tunnel."

Windburst swallowed.  "I understand now."

"We'll surround the Rogue on all sides."  Her eyes narrowed.  "Whatever she's hoping to achieve, there's no longer any escape for her."

"Right.  After you, Commander."

"Stay close."  Seraphimus held her breath and flapped her wings harder.  Soon, both griffons ascended, skimming over the mountain ridge and piercing the snowy foliage beyond.





"Wait a second..."  Fluttershy squirmed in mid-hover.  "They're doing something new."  She blinked, concentrating.  "... ... ...the Commander and her wingmate have flown ahead."

Rarity closed her eyes.  "The tunnel."  She swallowed.  "Its exit is only a short distance away from the entrance."  Her eyes fluttered back open.  "They're trying to cut us off!"

"And the baddies behind us?" Pinkie asked.

"Still at our rear," Fluttershy said.  "We're being surrounded."

"Best news I heard all day."  Rainbow shoved more dredge coal down the chute.  "Pinkie?  You've been a good pair of eyes.  Try and find me some cloth.  The more flammable the better."

"Okie dokie lokie!"  Pinkie Pie zipped off, phasing through the walls of the engine and first car.

"Dare I ask?" Twilight remarked.

"First, lemme ask you something."  Rainbow pointed at the instrument panel.  "Which of these pipes or conduits is—like—super important for maintaining the 'steam equilibrium' or whatnot?"

"Well..."  Twilight rubbed her chin, then pointed at a horizontal length of metal tubing.  "I suppose these are super important for maintaining the pressure—"

"Cool.  Good to know."  And Rainbow Dash bucked the pipework hard.  Clank!

The tubes burst, spraying mist and steam all across the compartment.  The marefriends gaped as every needle along the instrument panel surged into the red.

"Whoah whoah whoah!"  Twilight Sparkle gasped.  "Rainbow, are you crazy?!"

"About as crazy as I was back in Steamfall when we pulled the same stunt!" she exclaimed.

"But, without those failsafes, the train's engine risks a catastrophic overloa—"  Twilight froze in mid-speech.  She blinked, then lifted her head with a pale expression.  "This is what you want."

Rainbow frowned as she turned every valve as far as they would go.  "These freakie-deakie ducks want this train so badly?  They can have it.  In pieces."

"And what about you, huh?!" Twilight exclaimed.  Then, a nervous gulp.  "What about us?"

"We've already got ourselves an exit," Rainbow said.  "Isn't that right, Rarity?"

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."  Rarity whimpered.

"Dashie!"  Pinkie flew back into the engine compartment.  "There's a bunch of rags in one of the overhead compartments!  Like... bundles of 'em!"

"Good, Pinkie!" Rainbow had to speak above the whining steam leaks.  "Rarity, Fluttershy... care to refresh me on how to tie proper knots?"





SWOOOOSH!

Chugging loudly, the train roared into the tunnel, entering with a burst of smoke and steam.

Not that far behind...

...two griffons in silver armor closed in.

"It's inside!" Raptr exclaimed.

"Best to keep our pursuit!" Starstorm droned.

"But... the Commander—?"

"She and Windburst are trying to cut it off from the other side!"

"You sure?"

"Pretty sure!"

Raptr took a deep breath.  Hold onto your ears...

Fw-Fwoooosh!  Both wingmates threaded their way in after the train.





With glinting claws, Seraphimus and Windburst landed on the other side of the ridge.

They faced the exit, standing on either side of the railing.

"It's coming," Seraphimus stammered, panting for breath.  "You see it yet?"

"No."  Windburst unholstered his crossbow.  Clak-Clak!  "But I hear it."

"Ready an explosive bolt," Seraphimus commanded.  "Aim for the engine's left wheels."  She glared into the dark tunnel as the sound of screeching wheels intensified.  "We're stopping the Rogue, even if we have to stop the train to do it."

"As you wish, ma'am."  Windburst raised his crossbow, aiming into the darkness.





"Careful, Rainbow..." Twilight nervously said.

Pinkie's beady eyes bounced.  "You're telling her to be careful now?"

"Shhh!"  Fluttershy insisted.  "Let her concentrate—"  She stopped as her face was lit up by a bright red blaze.

Rainbow Dash had tied together a half-dozen rags and dipped one end of them into the chute.  The furnace caught the material ablaze, and the fire was swiftly traveling up the length of the material.

"Okaaaaaaay..."  Rainbow clenched her teeth, gingerly holding the makeshift fuse.  At last, she laid it across the floor of the first car, draping the un-lit end all over the crates full of dredge coal.  As soon as she released the burning fuse, she hopped back into the engine compartment and bucked the lever with her hoof.

CLAKKA!

The coupler loosened.  The car drifted back from the engine.  Rainbow gave it a slight boost with her hooves, pushing and grunting.  The walls of the tunnel blurred by on either side while cold air blew at her ears.  Undaunted, the mare climbed up the rear of the engine until she mounted the top of it.

"The tunnel exit's coming, Rainbow!" Rarity exclaimed.

"Right..."  A gray light blossomed dead ahead, catching each bulb of sweat across Rainbow's muzzle.  "Now where're those passages?"

"You didn't think that far ahead?!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Above!"  Rarity pointed.  "Up above us!"

"Where above us?!" Rainbow shouted into the rippling air.

"Something's hanging down from a vertical shaft!"

"I sense it, Dashie!"  Pinkie Pie said, squinting.  "My shoulder's going crazy!  That means a ladder's coming up on you super fast!"

Rainbow gritted her teeth.  "Then you'd better time this for me, Pinkie—"

"Look out!" Twilight suddenly shouted.  "The dredge coal!"

Rainbow looked behind her.  Just then, her ruby eyes lit up with a splash of amber.

KAPOWWWWW!  Several spaces down, the fuel car exploded.  An enormous plume of fire erupted.

"Oh goodness!" Fluttershy yelped.

"Now, Dashie!"  Pinkie Pie hollered.  "Jump, Dashie, jump!"

"Ah jeez—"  Rainbow turned and did a blind leap.  The locomotive engine soared ahead of her, screaming.  Rainbow flew and—Clank!  To her surprise, her forelimbs clasped onto the bottom rung of a rusted ladder.  "Grgghh!  Wh-whoah—"

"Now climb!"  Pinkie hollered over the sound of billowing flame.  The tunnel lit up red and orange around them.  "For the love of all that's fuzzy, climb as though your life depended on it!"

"Climbiiiing!"  Rainbow wheezed, grasping onto each rung.  She sped her way up the narrow shaft as—





—thunder rolled down the tunnel.

"Holy—!"  Raptr braked in midair, blinking.  "Did you hear that?!"

"Sounds almost like..."  Starstorm squinted ahead... then didn't have to squint any longer.

A burning wall of flame fountained towards them.

"Back..."  Starstorm slapped Raptr's helmet and turned-tail.  "Fly back!"

"Ah jeez!"  Raptr whimpered as both Sergeants flew back the way they came.  The flamewall chased after them, singeing their tails.

With combined shrieked, the two barely made it out of the tunnel, leaping both ways as—

FWOOOOOOOOMB!  A murderous plume of fire vomited out of the east end of the tunnel.





On the other side...

Seraphimus' headcrest lifted at the sound of a horrific tremor.  "...something's wrong."

"What are you talking about?"  Windburst chuckled down the sight of his crossbow.  "It's coming straight for us."  All of a sudden, his hawkeyes widened.

The locomotive engine came screaming around the last turn, hurdling itself out of the tunnel at a murderous speed.  As it sailed towards the two griffons, its pipes and metal plates bursting one after another.  At last, its smokestack exploded, spilling shrapnel and scalding hot steam in every direction.

"It's coming straight for us!" Windburst shrieked.

"Move!  Move!"  Seraphimus flung him to one side, then dove towards the other.

SCREEEEE-EEEE-EEECH!  The bursting engine soared past them, flew off the rails, then plummeted down the mountainside below.  The air rumbled with crunching trees.  Seconds later, the furnace erupted, spilling flames and metal debris sky high.

"Aaugh!"  Windburst shielded himself as flakes of red-hot metal joined the falling snow.

Seraphimus winced, squinting at the destruction.  Just then—to her left—a mess of flames billowed from the tunnel's exit, forcing her to gasp.





"Climb Dashie!  Climb!"  Pinkie hollered.

"How... far... does... this... thing... go...?!"  Rainbow wheezed above the loud rumbling.

"Just a little bit further!"  Rarity pointed.  "There's a metal seal with a hinge at the top—"  Her eyes widened as the entire shaft lit up.

Fluttershy stared down at a deathly circle of bright orange light.  "Oh no..."

"Rainbow, move!"  Twilight shrieked.  The flames roared up the shaft at an alarming rate.  "Move or you're toast!"

"Ah jeez ah jeez—" Rainbow scurried as fast as her legs could carry her.

"There's the lid, darling!" Rarity hollered as Rainbow reached the top.  "Close it!"

"Mrmmf!"  Rainbow rolled up onto the bottom of a vertical earthen passage.  She threw herself over and clapsed the top valve of a round seal.

"Hurry, Dashie!"  Pinkie crouched at Rainbow's side.  "Hurry hurry hurry hurry hurry!"

Flames slammed against the metal lid from below.  Ashes flickered all around Rainbow.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr-raaaugh!"  At last, using her full weight, Rainbow sealed the door entirely, casting her and the four mares into total blackness.

All was shadow and rumbling.





Seraphimus and Windburst stood up, panting.  Smoke poured out of the tunnel exit, casting ashes and embers across the superheated railroad tracks.

The Commander gazed into the flames.  Fire filled the tunnel from wall to wall, forming a reflective orange line against her charcoal eyes.  The griffon's headcrest drooped as her muscles went limp.

Fw-Fwooosh!  Starstorm and Raptr descended, landing behind the other two members of the Talon.

"Oh, you're both safe!" Starstorm wheezed.  "Praise Verlaxion!"

"We barely got out with our feathers intact!"  Raptr exhaled, wiping the sweat off.  "Holy smokes!  Where... where did the train engine go?"

Windburst pointed southwest.  "About a quarter of a mile down the mountainside."

A reserve tank exploded in the distance, scaring birds into the snowy air.  The Sergeants flinched.  Commander stood dead-still.

"So..."  Starstorm gulped.  "What... wh-what do we do now?"

"Do we go in, Commander?" Raptr asked.  "I... I-I can't imagine the Rogue stayed on board the engine when it plummeted!"

"There still may be a way to explore the tunnel!" Starstorm insisted.  "Post Talon members at both exits while we conduct a search?"

"... ... ..."  Seraphimus stared into the flame.  Her charcoal eyes matched the smoke and haze.  "... ... ...no."

Windburst did a double-take.

"No, Commander?"  Raptr blinked.

"Gather your breaths," Seraphimus said.  Slowly, she pivoted away from the tunnel and shuffled across the tracks.  "When we're all well-rested, we return to Braum."

"But... but..."

"We'll reconvene with the Lieutenant... and I'll prepare a report for the Council."

"You can't be serious," Windburst stammered.

Seraphimus said nothing.

Starstorm blinked at Windburst, then at Raptr.

"Commander, she's... she's in there!" Windburst sputtered.  "She has to be!  I can't believe you'd just le—"

"We are returning to Braum!" Seraphimus spun around, eyes flaring.  "Do you understand?!  This hunt is over!"

"But... but..."  Raptr gulped.  "The Talon never loses its prey!  You said so yourself!"

"I've also never encountered anything like this before," Seraphimus said.  "And it's time that I accepted the difference between our duty and Verlaxion's will."  Fuming, she turned once again towards the snowy forest.  "Too much is at stake for us to continue this charade."

"But..."  Starstorm gulped.  "What of the Council."

"If they don't understand, I will make them understand."  Seraphimus marched off.  Firmly.  "Besides, there are other pressing concerns in Ivory Prefecture.  And unlike the Rainbow Rogue, they do fall within the purview of our control."  A deep breath.  "Now... when you're ready... take wing and join me in Braum.  Failure to do so will result in the termination of your commission."  FWOOOSH!  On razor-sharp wings, she took off, rocketing southwest from that location.

Starstorm and Raptr looked at one another.

Windburst clenched his beak tight, shaking.  Fuming, he finally ripped his helmet off and flung it into the ground.  "Gaaaaaah!"  Kicking at chunks of debris, he stormed off, pacing angrily.

Starstorm hung her head while Raptr gazed woefully at the mountain... and the drifts of snow rolling off its rumbling exterior.

> Shoulda Called it "The Chase"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Darkness.

Rustling.

Shuffling.

Then...

A pulse of ruby light.

Twinkling... fading...

Then once again...

Darkness.

"... ...mrmmff... come on..."

In a blinding flash, the ruby glow returned.  Ripples of crimson light branched outward, illuminating jagged rock and splintery support beams.

Vaporous breaths issued from Rainbow's muzzle as she held a hoof over her pendant.

With a gulp, she turned and looked one way.

A ruby halo illuminated a claustrophobic corridor leading into pitch blackness.

Rainbow exhaled.  Pivoting about, she aimed her Element in the other direction.

The light caught a trickle of water from a miniature stalactite.  Abandoned mining equipment and dilapidated wooden crates lined the edges of a crooked burrow.  Unevenly spaced wooden rungs led towards a higher shaft positioned somewhere above.

All the while, a dull vibration rolled through the foundation of the mountain, issuing from below.  Ever so slowly, the reverberations subsided, reduced to a dull hush.

Four colorful faces phased into the visible spectrum, anchored to the pegasus.

"Did... did Dashie make it?" Pinkie Pie asked.

Twilight sighed.  "We're all here, Pinkie Pie.  Of course Rainbow made it."

"You never know."  Pinkie blinked.  "She could be a ghost too now!"

"Nah..."  Rainbow Dash's teeth chattered as she rubbed her forelimbs.  "I'm too c-cold to be a ghost."

"You poor thing."  Fluttershy gazed sympathetically at her.  "Now that the craziness is over with, maybe you can set a fire to warm yourself?"

"Sorry, Flutters, but..." Rainbow cast a nervous glance at the metal lid a few spaces over from where she sat.  Steam rose from the circular edges.  "A fire is the last thing I want at the moment.  Besides..."  She stood up, wincing from fresh bruises.  "...I gotta find a way out of this mountain."  She shuddered.  "Then I gotta make my way to Wyvern Point."

"Are..."  Twilight Sparkle blinked.  "...are the Talon still after us?"

Fluttershy squinted into darkness.

"Well, Fluttershy?" Pinkie asked.

"They... seem to be leaving the tunnel exits, actually," Fluttershy remarked with a blink.  "They're gradually flying southwest, one by one."

"Could it be?"  Rarity gaped at the others.  "We finally gave them the slip?"

"Probably think Rainbow's dead," Twilight said.

"Yeah..."  Rainbow shuddered, gazing up at the moist ceiling.  "For all intents and purposes, I probably am."

"Fear not, darling."  Rarity smiled.  "This mountain is most certainly hollow."

"Oh yeah?"

The unicorn nodded.  "There are mining shafts and corridors carved all throughout the thing."

"And is there a way out?"

Rarity chewed on her lip.

Rainbow glared.  "Rarity..."

"There is, Rainbow.  But..."  She winced slightly.  "It's quite a bit of a trek to get there.  A full day's journey without the aid of flight.  Maybe two."

"Wowie zowie!"  Pinkie blinked wide.  "They really tore this place inside out!"

"From the look of things, it's abandoned," Twilight said.  "These tunnels probably went out of use years ago.  Decades, even."

"Rarity..."  Rainbow turned around.

"Yes, but of course, Rainbow."  Rarity nodded.  "I shall assist you in traversing this jagged labyrinth."

"Well, could you at least give me a general idea to start with?"  Rainbow arched an eyebrow.  "I'm not asking you to point or anything, but—"

"The key is to go up, darling," Rarity said.  "There are dozens upon dozens of corridors, and several of them lead laterally across the mountain like invisible spiderwebs—invisible to everypony but me, of course."

"But an exit?"

"Somewhat northwest of here, and quite a climb."  Rarity's horn pulsed as she spoke, "The next few levels above us are quite thoroughly interconnected.  So, if you want my advice, I'd suggest that you ascend as often as possible.  Once we get high enough, I'll step in to give you some more pertinent directions."

Rainbow sighed.  "Works for me."  She gulped.  "Anyone else in here?"

"No, Rainbow."  Fluttershy shook her head.  "It's just us.  Although, there's quite a few colonies here or there."

"Colonies?"  Rainbow blinked.  "Colonies of what?"

"Bats."

"Oh."

"Finally!"  Pinkie grinned.  "Someone to hang out with who won't try and kill us!"

"Brbrbrbrrrr..."  Rarity grimaced.  "Remind me to close my eyes when we get near them, thank you."

"Oh Rarity, bats are nothing to be afraid of."  Fluttershy smiled.  "They're like rats with wings."

"You're not sweetening the image any, dear."

Twilight spoke up.  "Can we all agree that now would be a very good time to pause and catch our collective breaths?"

"I agree with Twilight."  Pinkie nodded.  "I'm party train pooped after all that."

"Sorry."  Rainbow shuffled head, shining the ruby light ahead of her.  "But we can't afford to stick around here... even for a breather."

"Why not?" Rarity remarked.

Rainbow waved a hoof at the ceiling.  "Somewhere up there... a bounty hunter named Remna has been hired by the Desperadoes to find me and provide escort to Wyvern Point.  She's not going to help anyone if she can't find me—all because I'm stuck down here."

"Rainbow has a point," Twilight said.  "Sorry, girls, but we're going to have to stay sharp for a little bit longer."

"But of course."  Fluttershy nodded.  "Rarity?  Care to lead the way?"

Rarity pointed.  "The closest vertical shaft is right there, Rainbow."

"I see it.  Thanks."  Rainbow pensively grasped a set of old wooden rungs and began climbing.  "Whew... chilly..."

"You feel a draft?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, actually."

"Good!"  Rarity remarked.  "That means somewhere high up above the exit to these mines is still open!"

"Boy did I pick a bad day to give up my one and only coat," Rainbow muttered.

"Keep moving, Rainbow," Twilight suggested with a smile.  "That'll warm you up."

"Mmmm... here's hoping."

"Do... do you really think they assume Rainbow is dead now?" Fluttershy asked.

"Who?"  Twilight glanced back.  "The Talon?"

Fluttershy bit her lip and nodded.

"Doubt it," Rainbow muttered.  "Between Keris and the Commander... something tells me I've made at least two converts."

"Why do you not sound proud of that?" Rarity remarked.

"Just 'cuz..."  Rainbow sighed.  The light bled out of the lower corridor as she climbed her way up a narrow shaft to the next level.  "Seems like—ever since Red Barge—I've been doing nothing but causing chaos."

"Extenuating circumstances, Rainbow," Twilight said.  "I bet that... uhhh... being Austraeoh is a great deal easier when you're not being chased."

"Well, write a book and read it out to me, egghead," Rainbow muttered into the darkness.  "Because that's all that Austraeoh's ever had to look forward to."
> A New Home to Roost
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Amber rays of sunlight bled through a final layer of trees as the group of four hiked along the uneven mountain trail.

"It begs the question, Mr. Mane," spoke Sonikah, sweating.  "Was all of this distance and physical expense truly worth it?"

Theanim Mane panted for breath, but nevertheless managed a smirk as he glanced over his shoulder.  "Surely you are not complaining, madam."

Sonikah frowned.  "It is merely curiosity, professor.  You've been rather... minimalist in your details regarding our destination."

"Leave it to the Shoreline Trade Consortium to relocate you someplace so far removed from a location such as this."

"This?"

"Behold..."  Theanim stopped at the crest of a rocky hill and gestured before him.  "The glistening peaks of Sun Roost."

The other two pilgrims were already breathless.  With a curious squint, Sonikah joined the other three and peered down the hilltop.

What she saw was a series of sharp rocks sticking up out of the earth, formed out of eroded limestone.  Moisture collected around the base of the rock structures, collecting into a tranquil pool of crystal blue water.  In a strange way, the combination of jutting formations and shallow water almost resembled the Quade—if only at a glance.  Upon further inspection, Sonikah noticed wooden structures built around the summits of each hilltop.  Lengthy rope bridges connected between the peaks, although they hardly seemed built for ponies.  As the elder's eyes focused, she took notice of dozens upon dozens of feathery figures flying and diving from one peak to another.  Griffons filled the dense skies—parents and children, practicing flight in tight groups as they leapt between structures.  The families kept close, working cooperatively to allow the hatchlings to learn the fine art of staying aloft by wing.

"These..."  Sonikah blinked.  "...are nesting grounds?"

"Some of the best in all of Rohbredden," Theanim Mane said.  "Thousands of griffon families come here from all across the kingdom to lay their eggs and raise their young."  He smiled.  "It is a place of joy, optimism, and comraderie."

"I fail to see what this has to do with any of us."

Theanim sighed.  "I was afraid you would say that."  He gestured a hoof down the hillside.  "Nevertheless, if you were to practice a little more patience..."

"Look, elder!" one of the two stallions exclaimed.

The other pointed.  "Do you see?  There, towards the southern shore of the lake!"

Sonikah was already leaning forward, eyes narrow.

A dock formed at lakeside, and several small wooden structures had been erected there.  Ponies gathered there in droves.  Some of them were fishing.  Others were knitting woolen little outfits sized appropriately for griffon hatchlings.  Most of them—however—were weaving.  Sonikah watched as ponies sat in droves, slowly and patiently constructing round and shallow baskets out of twine.

"It so happens that these ponies are experts at making the perfect egg baskets," Theanim explained.  "Without them, the griffons coming here would have a hard time collecting their young before hatching.  Now imagine that!"

Some of the ponies down below caught sight of the four atop the hill.  One mare broke from the rest of the group and trotted up an uneven path to meet them.

Theanim cleared his throat and stepped back.  At first, Sonikah was confused.  But then, she saw the mare's face, and her breath left her in a surprised wheeze.

"Nicro...?"  Sonikah craned her head to the side.  "Sister, is that you?"

"Greetings, dear elder," Nicro said.  Her mane was completely shaved, and she wore nothing, so that her blemished cutie mark was exposed.  "It is a blessing to see you and my other brethren again."

"Your mane."  Sonikah's brow furrowed.  "What have you done with your braids?"

"They have been cast out," Nicro calmly replied.  "As I have done away with all shackles."

The two stallions squirmed.  They looked aside at Sonikah.

Sonikah fumed.  "Who did this to you?"  Her teeth showed as she snarled, "Who brought you to this place and made you do such abhorrent things?!"

"I chose to do it," Nicro answered.  "By Verlaxion's grace."

"By Verlaxion's grace?!"  Sonikah stammered.  "Blasphemy!"

"I understand that you would think that way," Nicro remarked.  Despite Sonikah's temper, the mare was smiling.  "For I felt that way too.  I once accepted defeat when there was no need to feel miserable save for the need itself.  However, the spirit changes, much like the flesh.  And I have been shone a new light here in Sun Roost."

"You've been deceived," Sonikah spat.  "And I can already see it's led you to abandon the humble tenets of Luminar's Plight."  She glared aside at Theanim.  "Just who was it who brought you down this abominable path—?"

"We were shown the way, but the path was ours to make."  Nicro took a deep breath.  "And now we have a purpose here.  We have a home."

"Our home is in the Quade."

"The Quade is gone, sister," Nicro said.  "There is no serving Verlaxion in that flooded grave.  But here?  We can still bring glory to our Goddess..."  She smiled.  "By bringing glory to others."

Sonikah blinked.

"Please..."  Nicro curtsied low.  "...dear elder, my brothers, let me show you what has transpired here...





In another part of the continent...

Deep within the mountains...

...Rainbow Dash shuffled down a claustrophobic mineshaft.  The craggy ceiling hung low, and all available trotting space was mostly devoured by dormant mine equipment and supply crates.

Four ghostly mares floated ahead of her, peering across the rocky space illuminated by her ruby pendant.

"You really think they dug out all the stuff they needed from this place?" Pinkie remarked.

"It certainly feels like it," Rarity said.  "I'm not detecting any precious jewels or rubies."

"I think she means dredge coal or other types of fuel, Rarity," Twilight Sparkle clarified.  "Somehow... I-I don't think Rohbredden values gemstones quite like Equestria does."

"Well, that's a shame."  Rarity pouted.  "Maybe their society would be a great deal better off if they did."

"I don't know."  Fluttershy fidgeted in mid-glide.  "From what we've witnessed, they would probably be fighting over the gems and finding new and more horrible ways to suppress one another."

"Yeah, what's up with that?"  Pinkie's muzzle scrunched.  "These ponies just wanna stink all over one another!  Is it something in the water?"

"Without the likes of Celestia and Luna to inspire peace and respect for harmony, Pinkie, I imagine it's very hard for any society to get along nicely."  Twilight gulped.  "Rainbow's testimonies about Xona, Ledomare, and Darkstine only further serve to prove this."

"You really think it's that simple?" Fluttershy remarked.

"I would like to think as much."  Nevertheless, Twilight sighed.  "Still, we've only seen just a bare slice of what Rainbow Dash has witnessesd.  And even that is only one quarter of this plane.  So... who's to know?"

"Yeesh..."  Pinkie shivered.  "...when you put it like that."

"It just magnifies how important her journey is!"  Twilight bore a crooked smile.  "Once we get to the Midnight Armory and Rainbow has her hooves on the Harmonic Prism—"

"What, then?"  Rarity raised an eyebrow.

"It would be awfully nice to have our bodies back," Fluttershy said.  "Assuming that's what the Prism can do once it's back in hooves of Celestia and Luna.  But just how is that going to improve things around the world?"

"Fluttershy, with the Elements of Harmony fully restored, it can only be a good thing."  Twilight blinked.  "Maybe this entire situation has been a massive wake-up call.  You know... so that Rainbow and the rest of us can see how badly the rest of the plane needs harmony?"

"So... what then?"  Pinkie blinked.  "Once Rainbow's all done bringing us back and stuff... we're supposed to visit every place and everypony again?"

"Oh, heaven forebid!"  Rarity exclaimed.  Clearing her throat, she flung a nervous glance at Twilight.  "No offense."

"I'm not sure what our future has in store," Twilight said.  "Or what it will mean with Urohringr at large."

"Yes, isn't that what Verlax was telling Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy remarked.  "That this is somehow all about restoring the entire structure?"

"And are we so quick to believe that draconian cretin now?" Rarity grumbled.

"She knows a lot, Rarity," Twilight said.  "She's a Divine—if only a demented one."

"How come Luna and Celestia are the only super old ponies in this world who haven't gone nutso?"

The other mares chuckled.

"It only serves to prove my point," Twilight said—right before slamming into a translucent wall of lavender light.  "Ooomf!"  She winced.  "Rainbow, what's holding you back—?"  She turned around, and her eyes widened.  "Rainbow!"

"Omigoodness!"  Fluttershy gasped, immediately flying back to where their pegasus anchor had collapsed on the stone floor.  "Rainbow Dash, are you okay?!"

Rainbow curled into a blue ball, shivering all over.  Through chattering teeth, she wheezed, "It's... it's h-happening again..."

"What?!"  Rarity looked around, frowning.  "Is one of Verlax's deplorable golems here?"

"No... just... j-just..."  Rainbow's eyes rolled back as she shuddered.  "...the usual..."  She fought a wave of nausea and sputtered.  "The fr-friggin' usual..."

"Oh Dashie..."  Pinkie pouted, squatting beside Fluttershy.  "Is there anything we can do?"

"No."  Rainbow gulped, quivering.  "There isn't."

Fluttershy sniffled.

"It's... it's okay... r-really..."  Rainbow looked up through thin eyes.  "I... I-I just need..."  She shuddered, ears folding back.  "...n-need to rest.  That's all.  Gotta... let it run it's course..."

Twilight looked around.  "It's... probably for the best."  She flew down beside the mare's side.  "Just lie still, Rainbow Dash.  We'll... uh... take five!  Sound good?"

Rainbow clenched her jaw and nodded shakily.

"G-good..."  Twilight gulped.  "Once the dizziness had stopped, you should get some sleep.  I think the rest of us could do the same, right girls?"

Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy stared at Rainbow with moist eyes.

Twilight cleared her throat.  "Right, girls?"

Jolting in place, the other three nervously nodded and complied.  One by one—their eyes still locked on Rainbow—they glided into her pendant, fading into ethereal light.

"You too, Twilight," Rainbow remarked, just on the virge of unconsciousness.  "I'm gonna be fine.  Just... j-just gotta let the last few days catch up with me."

"I understand."  Twilight nodded.  "Just remember, Rainbow.  No matter how bad it might feel... no matter how dark it might get..."  She bore a weak smile.  "You're not alone, do you understand?"

"I understand, Twi," Rainbow said.  Her eyes stopped rolling back long enough to see normally.

And she saw an empty mineshaft full of darkness.

"I'm not alone..."  Rainbow hugged herself in a fetal position, staring into dull shadows and rock.  "I'm not alone... not alone... n-not alone..."
> From One Foal To Another
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Sonikah, Theanim Mane, and the two stallion pilgrims followed Nicro across the lakeside dock.  Above them, griffons swooped high and low, escorting young hatchlings between tall stone roosts.  A setting sun glistened fiery and gold across the calm waters.  Dozens upon dozens of Luminards sat at the docks, dipping their hooves calmly in the liquid while they wove baskets and knitted tiny flight warmers.

"This was all made possible by a kind and humble guardian," Nicro said.  "A one Lieutenant Keris of the Right Talon of Verlaxion."

"Talon?"  Sonikah blinked.  "A member of the Talon brought you here?"

"Well, no."  Nicro glanced over her shoulder.  "He did not bring us here personally.  However..."  She opened a door to one of the lakeside shacks and escorted the four inside.  "...after his inspection of the Quade, he signed his name on an official document, arranging a new home for the Foals of Verlaxion to relocate."

"Being a member of the Talon grants a griffon like him a great deal of power," Theanim passively explained.  "The Council has must invested in this nation's guardians.  No doubt somepony saw his signature and made contact with the Sun Roost Community Committee to make this transfer possible."

Nicro nodded.  "For the longest time, Sun Roost has been requesting a larger working staff to support the families who come here to hatch.  However, the Council's been incapable of providing monetary assistance."

"Most likely unwilling," Sonikah muttered.

"Perhaps," Nicro said.  "The fortune of this land has never been the Luminards' concern.  Well-being and prosperity, however, is another matter.  Which is precisely why our brethren have such a purpose here in Sun Roost."  Nicro waved a hoof at the shack's interior.

Sonikah and her two fellow elders gazed upon a gathering of griffon families.  Mothers and fathers stood in line with pensive young hatchlings.  One after another, the groups approached a line of monks.  The former pilgrims of the Quade smiled as tiny griffons were gently presented before them.  The ponies examined the creatures closely, sized them up, then presented an appropriately-tailored outfit.  In swift order, the hatchlings slid into woolen little flight jackets.  It was a snug fit each time, and the children shared happy smiles with their adoring parents.  Sonikah watched as fathers and mothers put their children on their backs, approached an open wooden patio, then lifted skyward with wings spread.  The hatchlings clung tight, learning the ways of flight without having to worry about staying warm.

"A marvelous industry," Theanim said.  He winked.  "If I do say so myself."

Nicro turned to smile at the group.  "We also assist with feeding, bedding, and providing innoculations," she said.  "There is much work to be done to assure that the families that hatch here are given the opportunity to raise their young without mishap.  The tasks are numerous, complicated..."  She looked at Sonikah.  "...and taxing.  A challenge for any humble servant of Verlaxion.  And rest assured, dear sister, that much of the work here is monotonous enough that it can serve as simple means through which one can meditate."

Sonikah frowned.  "Are you meaning to imply that this... this Sun Roost habitat is a substitute for the Quade?"

"No, elder."  Nicro shook her head.  "No substitution.  But transcension."

Sonikah took a step back.

"We have been punished by many things," Nicro said.  "By Verlaxion... by Rainbow Dash... and by ourselves."  A gentle smile crossed her muzzle as she shook her head.  "But not here.  Here... we can be useful.  We can bring good to other foals of Verlaxion."

"Unacceptable."  Sonikah grumbled.  "This... this den is far removed from Luminar's Plight."

"The plight is everywhere, elder," Nicro said.  "It infects and corrupts the entire world."  She raised an eyebrow.  "But we can do our best to stave it off by helping others, not just ourselves."

"You say that... and yet you cut your braids and discard the sackcloth of humility?"

"Just paper surfaces obscuring a greater truth, sister."

"Do you even hear yourself?!"  Sonikah spat.  "Only pain and labor—"

"—breeds more pain and labor," Nicro completed.  "Verlaxion unified the tribes for a reason, elder.  We are meant to prosper in this life.  Look around you."  Nicro gestured.  "We have not abandoned humility or piety.  And those among us still retain the teachings of all former Kyrons.  If not on paper, then in our hearts."  She cocked her head to the side.  "In what fashion have we abandoned the glory of Verlaxion?  Or the majesty of the Goddess' divine plan?"

Sonikah simply stood in place, trembling... breathing...

Theanim calmly glanced between her and Nicro.

"I shall always regret what we lost in the Quade," Nicro said.  "But I refuse to allow myself to be lost in there as well."  She gulped.  "Verlaxion's grace was always meant to save us from the Plight, not become one with it.  Now is the time that you should ask yourself, dear sister."  She leaned forward.  "Are you a foal of Verlaxion?  Or a slave to that which she's already conquered?"





Seraphimus trembled.

She sat on a lofty cloud overlooking the tiny circle that was Braum.  With her expert hawkeyes, she peered down into the snowscape below.

The tiny figures of Keris, Sarda, and the members of the Talon could be seen at a distance—dark specks against a frozen, pale world.

Seraphimus shuddered.  She clenched her eyes shut and covered her feathered face with a shaking talon.  At last, after several heavy breaths rattled through her, the tears dried.  A final shudder, and she lowered her talon.  Chiseled charcoal eyes pierced the frigid air.

Limbs crackling, she stood up, spread her wings... and dove off the cloud.





"They're recovering quite nicely," Sarda said, his voice producing vapors in the last vestiges of daylight.  He stood with Keris, Starstorm, Windburst, and Raptr in the center of the village.  "A warm fire and some warmer soup did a number on their spirits."

"Are there any grave injuries?" Keris asked.

"Kayman is going to have to rest his left forelimb for a while."  Sarda cleared his throat and managed a smile.  "But, thank Verlaxion, nothing severe."  He glanced at the other guardians.  "The unicorn inflicted great pain... but obviously wanted them alive."

"She obviously knows the fine art of torture," Windburst said.  He cast an angry glare at one barn in particular.  "How I'd love to return the favor."

"Once we bring her to Frostknife, you just might," Starstorm muttered.

"None of that kind of talk," Keris grunted.  "We're above that, after all."

Raptr sputtered, "But she obviously knows about what's actually going down in Steamfall—"

"And that will be up to the Council to pursue," Keris said.  "Right now, our prime concern is drafting a report on the situation."  He adjusted his sling and sighed.  "Including the Rainbow Rogue."

"She's alive... I'm telling you," Raptr exclaimed.  "We've seen her survive worse than what happened back in that tunnel!"

"Give it a rest, rookie," Starstorm said.  "The Commander says we're returning to Frostknife—then we're returning to Frostknife."

Windburst looked at Sarda.  "Have you gotten any word from Steamfall since your companions were discovered?"

"Ohhhhhhhhh yeah."  Sarda smirked crookedly.  "They've seen at least three parties since the incident—all bearing 'gifts.'  Crap that we don't need, obviously."  He spat on the snow, frowning.  "As if they can ingratiate themselves to us after all the nonsense that's gone down."

"Maybe they're making a bid for the unicorn," Keris said.

"They can go piss in the snow and then eat it," Sarda grunted.  "For the first time in decades, we have them digging their own grave... and they know it."

"Well..."  Starstorm saluted with a smile.  "Congratulations."

"I'll be happy to know whatever this unicorn fesses up in Frostknife," Sarda said.

"And you'll be the first to find out, I assure you," Keris said.  "And don't think of our departure as a final parting either.  I've already begun formulating a plan to distribute resources here in Ivory Prefecture so that you may reconstruct your tavern."

"It's a small loss in the grand scheme of things," Sarda said.  He gulped.  "I... I know that I have said many... less-than-honorable things about you and the Council.  And... I-I haven't been entirely helpful in assisting your hunt of the Rainbow Rogue."

"By that you mean not helpful at all, right?" Windburst droned.

Keris held his talon up before the Sergeant.  "I see where you're going with this, Mr. Sarda," Keris said.  "And given the circumtances, I do believe we can understand."

"What I want to say is that I am grateful..."  Sarda stared at them.  "I am grateful for your intervention, and if there is anything we the ponies of Braum can do to help you..."

"Holding the unicorn here has been help enough," Starstorm said.  "Verlaxion knows that she may be the one and only key we have to unlocking the truth behind all this mayhem."

Swooooosh!  A strong set of talons landed in the snow between the group.  Raptr jolted in place, and immediately regretted it.

"Good to see you, Commander," Sarda said.  "I was just saying how honored I've been by your presence here, and that I am sorry for not being cooperative sooner."

Seraphimus stood icily silent.  Her charcoal eyes swept the group.

Sarda cleared his throat.  "I... regret not being of greater assistance with the Rainbow Rog—"

"Let us not waste time with regret," Seraphimus spoke coolly.  "There has been enough of that as of late."  The sunset reflected off her armor as she turned towards Keris.  "Are you well-rested, Lieutenant?"

Keris bowed.  "I am, Commander."

"Good.  We need to bring the unicorn to Frostknife.  However, it's far more pertinent to get word to the Council on this development.  And information flies faster than prisoners."

"Then we're to split up, Commander?" Starstorm remarked.

"Affirmative."  Seraphimus nodded.  "Half of us will go and appear before the Council while the other half carries the unicorn to the Frozen Shelves."

"They're not going to want to hear from any griffon but you, Commander," Windburst said.  He cleared his throat.  "With all due respect."

"You're not wrong, Sergeant.  However, the unicorn prisoner is now of prime importance to our investigation.  That makes her my responsibility."

"You intend to escort her to the Frozen Shelves yourself?" Keris remarked.

"Yes."  Seraphimus spoke, "And I will report to the Council thereafter.  In the meantime..."  Her charcoal eyes wandered.  "...they will need to hear from someone graceful and well-spoken enough to pacify their concerns until I can make an appearance."

Keris took a deep breath.  "It will be my honor to speak before Hymmnos' assembly, Commander."

"Good.  Take Sergeant Starstorm and Raptr along with you," Seraphimus said.  Her head tilted to the side.  "Sergeant Windburst?"

"Commander?"

"Stay behind.  You will be assisting me in the prisoner transfer.  We will be leaving eventually."

"Why the delay?" Starstorm asked.

"I need to make a final observation of Braum and make sure that the situation here has been pacified."  Seraphimus looked at Sarda.  "With your assistance, of course."

The stallion nodded.  "By all means."

"Good.  You have your assignments.  I expect you to carry them out."

"Aye, Commander."  Raptr nodded, then slipped on his helmet.  "We shall meet you in Frostknife."  He turned towards Starstorm.  "Ready to take wing?"

"Rookie, I was born ready."  Starstorm took a few bold steps and lifted off.  "I'd kill for a warm fire at roost-side."

Keris spread his wings—

"Not yet, Lieutenant," Seraphimus spoke firmly.  "If I can have a word with you."

Keris blinked.  "But of course."  He tilted his head and shouted towards the two Sergeants.  "Glide slowly!  I shall catch up in a short while!"

The two saluted, then continued their flight southeast.

Windburst and Sarda shuffled off, leaving the Lieutenant and the Commander alone in the center of the village.

"Lieutenant," Seraphimus spoke.  "Please understand the importance of my transporting the prisoner.  I... do not take joy in putting the burden of an initial report on you."

"Say nothing of it, Commander."  Keris managed a smirk under his beak.  "I know very well how to tap-dance around the glaring eyes of the Council.  Sometimes I think it's how I truly became a member of the Talon."  He gestured at his injured talon in a sling.  "I certainly didn't earn my armor for my brawn."

Seraphimus smiled briefly.  "You've been... very patient and understanding with me."  She cleared her throat.  "Through thick and thin, despite all the obstacles thrown at us."

"And it's been a pleasure and an honor, Commander."  Keris bowed.  "As it shall continue to be."

Seraphimus nodded.  Her eyes looked distant.

Keris saw it.  He cleared his throat and said, "Do... do you suppose she's still alive, Commander?"

Seraphimus clenched her beak shut.

"Even after all the carnage wrought on the railway?"

"You weren't there, Lieutenant," Seraphimus said.  "But, somehow, I don't think you had to have been... to know the truth."

Keris nodded.  "She is made of stern stuff."

"I certainly wonder about that... among other things."  Her eyes swept across Keris' face.

Keris stared back.

Charcoal eyes narrowed.  "Exactly how injured were you at Red Barge, Lieutenant?"

He took a deep breath.  "Enough to know that even worse injuries would be suffered by those around me if I attempted to stop the Rogue's departure."

Seraphimus blinked.

"That's what this question is about, yes?"  Keris cocked his head to the side.  "You had yourself some alone time with Rainbow Dash before she attempted her last escape... and successfully, I might add."  A deep breath.  "Yet, you still feel the need to question my devotion."

"It's not about devotion, Keris," Seraphimus muttered.

"Isn't it?"  Keris faced her squarely.  "Could I have tried harder to stop her from leaving Red Barge?"  He nodded.  "Most assuredly.  If you wish to define that as a crime against the Talon's mission or your authority, then I cannot blame you... nor will I fight the fact.  Albeit, if I had an opportunity to go back in time and change the decision I made, I wouldn't.  Hopefully what's transpired here in Ivory Prefecture lends credence to my judgment... or else it would have transpired in Red Barge instead."

Seraphimus exhaled with a shudder.  "Something tells me it transpired there enough."

"And ever since, I have done nothing but warn you of the formidable power we were dealing with," Keris said.  "Perhaps you think that I, in some fashion, admire the Rainbow Rogue."

Seraphimus glared at him.  "I did not say that."

"Let it be known that I deplore her acts committed in the Quade, just like you do, Seraphimus," Keris said.  "And while I recognize the good she has done in Red Barge, that was not the reason for why I let her go.  More than anything else, I've been concerned about the good that I could do for my fellow foals of Verlaxion.  And so far, making attempts to stop the Rogue has only risked the safety of citizens in Red Barge and abroad.  That is why our hunt for her must cease, and that is the explanation I'm already planning to give the Council, by your grace, Commander."

Seraphimus slowly nodded.  "And you have it."

Keris lingered.  After a few seconds of silence, he leaned in and spoke, "Being the Right Talon of Verlaxion makes it easy to feel far removed from the Goddess' heart.  Sometimes, I fear that the severity of our role has made us forgetful of the righteousness of it.  We've suffered far too much from the sacrifices made to keep this land well protected.  Our livelihood... our families..."  He gulped.  "Jordan..."

Seraphimus closed her eyes.

"You're not the only one who wanders sanctuaries and graves, Commander, entreating she who unifies... yet isolates."  Keris took a deep breath.  "In Red Barge, I did not see a monster.  I saw a pony trying to do what we were tasked with... and doing so magnificently.  And while I may not wish to emulate her dark past, I certainly don't see an advantage in curtailing her future.  Unless Verlaxion was to finally appear before us and tell us differently—"

"That is up to the goddess to decide, not us."

"Indeed."

The Commander clenched her beak tightly.

Keris cleared his throat.  "Would you, perhaps, wish to reverse tasks?  You can go to Frostknife early.  I'll stay behind with Windburst and oversee the transfer—"

"No, Keris."  Seraphimus shook her head.  "I have a responbility here.  I am the Right Talon of Verlaxion."

Keris slowly nodded.  Wincing, he got down on one knee and reached for her talon.  "And I am your claw—"

Seraphimus reached out and yanked him back up to his paws.  "Please.  Simply go."

Keris blinked at her.  He glanced aside, then eventually nodded.

"And thank you, Lieutenant."

"My pleasure, Commander."  Then, with silent grace, Keris turned around and took to the skies.

As he soared southeast, Seraphimus clenched her eyes shut.  After a heavy sigh, she turned around and walked in the opposite direction.

From a distance, Windburst and Sarda watched silently.  Sarda opened his muzzle to say something, but Windburst silenced him with an outstretched talon.

Quietly, the ponies of Braum watched as Seraphimus shuffled slowly through the snow, approaching a thicket of trees outside the village... and the setting sun beyond.
> The Lengths That We Go
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Sonikah limply trotted up a steep hill overlooking the glittery waters of Sun Roost.  Griffons darted like shadows overhead, briefly slicing the last rays of sunlight across the warm rockscape.

Theanim Mane stood on the dock at lakeside.  He stared up the sharp incline, gazing at her lone figure from afar.

Sonikah didn't dare look back down.  She shuddered with every step, as if overcome by a deep and bone-splitting chill.





Vapors escaped Seraphimus' beak in rapid bursts.  They did not stop her.

The sun had disappeared behind the mountains, casting the world in a frozen gray sheen.

The Commander's paws crunched through the snow as she threaded her way through the trees.  One plate at a time, she shrugged the silver armor off her body.  Shoulderpieces and chest guards littered the wet snow behind her.  Soon she was alone with her fluttering feathers in the cold evening wind.

She shut her eyes, inhaling frost and the scent of pine.





Sonikah tried sitting down.  Instead, she collapsed on the hilltop.  Everywhere she looked, the world was warm, rosy.  A golden crispness invaded her every sense, and it jarred the mare.

Shuddering, she reached up, touching one of her flouncing braids.  It hurt to the touch, because suddenly... she was no longer numb to it.

Without a second thought, she found herself toying with the rigid twine that bound the braids in place.  It surprised her how little effort it took to unravel the material.  Within seconds, a portion of her mane dangled freely in the warm breeze.  It had a smell to it: rancid, dirty, likely infested with lice.

Sonikah couldn't remember the last time she ever bathed... or needed to.  Did she always smell so horrible... feel so horrible?  All those years spent above the waters of the Quade... with zero baptisms.

The mare was finding it increasingly hard to breathe. She reason, she deemed, was due to the sackcloth tunic ensnaring her like a noose.  She fought with it... struggled with it.  Her fetlocks rubbed red and raw against the coarse material... and it hurt.

It hurt until she cried... unleashing tears in deep, guttural sobs as she fought and pried at the imprisoning material.





Seraphimus paused dead in the snow.

At last...

...she fell to her knees.

The snow stung through her exposed limbs.  Nevertheless, she knelt there... crouched there... collapsed there.

She breathed in rigid waves.  Her charcoal eyes fluttered shut, blind to all sparks.

"Please..."

She bowed low.

"Please forgive me..."

She bowed lower.

"Please... speak to me..."  Her talons rested in the snow on either side of her head.  "...I seek your presence... your wisdom..."

Her beak scraped into the soft layers of frost.  Her voice echoed like whispers against the dead pine trees around her.

"...I have failed the Council and I have failed my wingmates... but I do not wish to fail you..."

Her tail laid at her side, coiled and dead.  Her headcrest drooped as her words poured out in earnest.

"...please, tell me what I must do.  As a faithful child, I entreat you.  As a humble wife and mother, I beg of you..."  Her brow furrowed, tight and tighter.  "How can I make up for my mistakes?  How can I please you so that you may bless these tribes and bless them through me...?"





A warm pair of forelimbs reached out and grasped Sonikah's.

The mare gasped.  Through a layer of tears, she looked behind her.

Nicro sat by her side.  "Shhhh... do not fuss with the sackcloth, dear sister," she said.  "It is not your true surface."

Sonikah shook... shuddered.  "They... they took..."  She sobbed like a foal.  "They took us..."

"I know."  Nicro nodded, jaw clenched.  "The Consortium—they used you.  How many brothers and sisters died on the journey to this continent?"

Sonikah clenched her eyes shut.

"Do not blame yourself, elder," Nicro said softly.  "For it is not the first time that we've been used.  Over the eons, we have grown accustomed to suffering.  But to suffer is noble only once.  It is the beginning of something... the transcendence that Verlaxion desires for all of us.  Why else would she unite the tribes unless she wanted us to surpass the greatest plight of all?  The plight of misery in the absence of her glory... a glory that is magnified in the presence of each other... and in helping each other..."

Sonikah hiccuped on a sob.  "The texts... are drowned.  The Kyrons... the Kyrons are all gone..."

"As was their choice.  To suffer and diminish.  But is that truly what Verlaxion desires of us?"  Nicro slowly shook her head, and she hugged Sonikah in the last remnant of daylight.  "To heal, sister.  To heal means to live... and to enjoy more years of bringing glory to our Goddess."

"I... I don't know..."  Sonikah whimpered.  "I don't know how..."

"Let us learn together."  Nicro squeezed her.  "Will you help me?  Will you help me heal... and heal you?"

Sonikah clenched her eyes shut.  After several pent-up breaths, she eventually nodded.

Nicro patted her shoulder.  Leaning in, she fished her hooves under Sonikah's tunic... then tore the sackcloth article apart completely.

Sonikah's chest stuck out.  She arched her head back, inhaling, filling up...

...and she released with a long wail, echoing into the heart of the eroded continent.  Nicro held her closely, weathering each sob and shake with strong forelimbs.  The two pilgrims shivered together, like sisters, upon the warm roof of a new home.

Down below, several observing Luminards bowed their heads and murmured quiet prayers.

Theanim Mane watched quietly, deadpan.  His moist eyes glistened in the sunset.  He fixed them by sliding his goggles down, then turning around to stroll across the lengths of Sun Roost, absorbing the warmth in the air.





Seraphimus bowed alone in the woods.

"Speak to me, eternal mother... Goddess of the Thawing..."

She shook and shivered in the gray dimness.

"...I need to hear from you.  Please... tell me what I must do."  Her beak clattered.  "Do I fix the ugliness that I see before me?  Or do I follow what your Council has directed, and chase the Rogue... even in spite of the chaos and madness such a pursuit wreaks?"

Silence.

"I am your humble servant... your righteous talon.  Show me the way, for I cannot see it on my own."  Seraphimus shuddered.  "Please, Goddess.  I have... I-I have given so much for you."  Seraphimus shook.  "I have lost so much for your gain..."

Silence.

"Will... will you not help this child of yours?"  Seraphimus gulped.  "...as she has helped so many foals of yours?  Please... I entreat you.  Speak to me.  Just one word... just one breath... and I shall aim my wings to that current.  I shall fly the lengths of this continent... and even the s-seven seas beyond... if you will only speak to me... just... just speak to me..."

The woods hung around her, still and sterile.

Seraphimus stopped shaking.

"Mrmmffff..."

Her claws raked against the snow and the rich earth hidden underneath.

"... I hate you..."

She looked up, eyes like charcoal daggers that scraped at the frost, chiseling.

"I hate you."  Her tail flicked.  "When will it be enough?  When will it ever be enough?"  An angry beak hung open.  "I've given my life... my wingmates.  Must I give myself as well?  What, then, will they have to wake up to?  Do you want them to hate you as well?"

More silence.

Seraphimus bowed her head once again.  Her talons clawed at more snow, made fists... then went limp.

"Alas..."

A breathy sigh.  Vapors rippled up through the branches above her.

"...it is only for y-you to know."  A sniffle.  "And for th-this humble child to follow..."

She closed her eyes.  Her beak pressed once again to the snow.

"Please forgive me... and guide me... as you h-have been guiding me."  She cleared her throat.  "For this child... mmmm... knows b-better than to question your wisdom..."

Her eyes reopened.  They reflected the grayness of the dying dead.

"...your will be done."

Eventually, the Commander stood up.  She picked up her armor, slowly putting it back on.  Snow was clinging to the silver plates, making each square inch of them even colder than before.  With a sigh, seraphimus girded herself anyways, and soon she was shuffling off... somewhere.
> All Evils, and Then Some
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Talons scraped against the floor of the barn.

Longaze looked up from where she sat.  A cold suppression cap rested on her horn.

Windburst turned around.

Commander Seraphimus marched into the room.  Specks of frost still clung to her armor as she shuffled to a stop.  The griffon stood before Longaze, staring down at her.

Longaze stared back.

"Ahem..."  Windburst cleared his throat.  "Still silent as ever.  Even when she asked to use the bucket, she merely gestured with hoof-motions."

Seraphimus spoke without taking her gaze off the mare.  "I beg your pardon?"

"You know..."  Windburst shrugged, then pointed into the opposite corner.  "The bucket."

"Hmmm."  Seraphimus exhaled.  "Knew I smelled something."

"I... uh..."  Windburst fiddled with his crossbow, sighing.  "I got one of the villagers to cough up a jacket.  It's old, but it's just her size.  It should keep the creep from freezing for the trip to Frostknife.  From then on, well, I guess she's in the Court's hands."

"Thanks, Sergeant.  It's very much appreciated."  With a calm squint, Seraphimus stared down at the unicorn.  "Our business in Steamfall is far from over with.  Rest assured, I will get to the bottom of the matter.  As for you... we'll be bringing you to Frostknife, where you will now be answering for the willful abduction and mistreatment of three innocent civilians in addition to the crimes you've committed here in Braum."

"... ... ..."  Longaze sat in place, her head lifted steadily despite the weight of the magic suppressant.

"I cannot speak for the Council," Seraphimus murmured.  "But—from prior experience in working with them—I can assure you... they will show a certain degree of leniency in your sentence.  But only if you prove willing and cooperative in assisting the impending investigation into the Shoreline Trade Consortium."

Longaze barely blinked.

Seraphimus leaned forward.  "And, if need-be, I will use my influence to make sure that you're imprisoned someplace that is... shall we say... 'agreeable.'"  A breath.  "But only if you are willing to help us."

Longaze's eyes narrowed slightly.  She didn't say a word.

Seraphimus stood back.  After a sigh, she managed:  "Where was this steel-cold resolve the other day?  Hmmm?  You know, I spoke extensively with the executives up in Steamfall.  Many of them claim ignorance of your actions, and the truth of that has yet to be determined.  But each and every pony had word to describe you:  'professional.'  And as much as I like to believe that, I know for a fact that the cretin who burned down a tavern was nothing less than a madmare."  The griffon's eyes glinted.  "A psychopathic terrorist of the most banal variety.  And it's a shame, really.  For a professional would see the situation she's in and realize that the ponies responsible for putting her here need to share the blame for that which drove her to such extremes."

Longaze's nostrils flared, but she said nothing.

Seraphimus' beak clenched tightly.  She turned around and shuffled across the barn.  "Sergeant..."

Windburst snapped at attention.  "Commander?"

"Keep an eye on her a little longer," Seraphimus said.  "I need to have a final word with Sarda and his associates, and then we'll be taking off."

"Very well, Commander."

Seraphimus made for the exit.

And then...

...a cold voice rolled across the interior.

"You claim that you can help me in Frostknife?" Longaze droned.  "I heard about what happened today.  You found the Rainbow Rogue.  And after senselessly blowing up a warehouse, a mountain tunnel, and an entire train, you couldn't capture her either."  Her brow furrowed.  "Now who's unprofessional?"

Seraphimus stopped icily in place.

Windburst glanced at Longaze.

Longaze glared across the way.

Windburst's eyes darted quietly towards Seraphimus.

The Commander's feathers shook... then were still.  After a cold breath, she spoke without moving.  "Would you be so kind as to leave us?"

Windburst coughed.  Slipping on his helmet, he ducked his way out of the barn.

Seraphimus turned around and marched towards Longaze.

The unicorn snorted.  "What, am I supposed to be scared?"  She shook her head.  "You don't intimidate me.  So save your menacing speeches for somepony who—"

Without breaking her stride, Seraphimus reached out and gripped Longaze's horn, jerking the metal cap to the side.  A sickeningly loud crack emanated from somewhere inside the magic suppressant.

"Aaaaaugh!"  Longaze howled.  Her lower body writhed, manacles rattling.

Seraphimus maintained her grip, lifting Longaze so that the unicorn's flank floundered off the edge of the wooden stool.  "The time for fear is over," she said.  "Would you like to forfeit your spine?"  Clenching her beak, she jerked her grip of the horn again.

"Haa-aauchkkkt!"  Longaze sputtered, grimacing in agony.  "Mrmmmgh—h-hurtssss—"

"Yes."  Seraphimus' eyes flared.  "Pain, you fecal insect.  The same thing you inflicted on three innocent stallions without their approval.  Why should you be spared any less?"

"Mmmmmfff—goddessss..."  Rivulets of blood trickled out of the cap from all sides.  Longaze dangled from Seraphimus' grip, hyperventilating.  "Please... please st-stop—"

"Stop?  Stop?!"  Seething, Seraphimus raised Longaze to her beak.  "Cowards torture.  The righteous punish."  She yanked her grip, causing more blood to roll down Longaze's whimpering face.  "You are going to tell me who authorized this:  your presence in Steamfall, your attack on Braum, your entire pursuit of the Rainbow Rogue.  And if you don't—I swear on all the holy power invested in me—the sheer wrath of Verlaxion herself will be a respite after what I have done to you."

Longaze's eyes popped open.  Hot tears mixed with the blood.  "Can't... I-I can't... t-tell... snkkt..."

"You may wish to rethink that," Seraphimus hissed.  "Unless you truly don't value your tongue."

Longaze shivered.  All she managed were ragged breaths.

"Take your time if you must.  I have plenty of patience, and you have plenty of blood."  Seraphimus raised her other talon, barring its claws.  "We will see which runs out first."

Schiiiing!





"Gaaah!"  Rainbow Dash sat up, eyes wide and covered in cold sweat.  "The Elements!  Don't... don't use..."  Her face scrunched up, and she covered her pale face in a pair of shivering hooves.  "Mrnnnngh... dang it... dang it..."

"Another nightmare?" Twilight's voice murmured.

"Mrrrrnghhhhh..."  Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth, shook, then finally slumped with a heavy sigh.  "... ... ...yeah..."  She swallowed a lump down her throat, rubbing her tired eyes dry.  "Another friggin' nightmare..."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that."

"The same darn stupid thing since freeing Fluttershy... Pinkie Pie... heck, even after Rarity they were getting bad."  Rainbow shivered in the cold dark.  She hugged herself and grumbled.  "Starting to wonder what's the point in even falling asleep anymore."

"Perhaps... it's related to your dizzy spells?"

"No.  It's... it's almost every time I sleep, regardless."  Rainbow gulped, composing herself.  At last, her shivers stopped, and she blinked into the darkness.  "Wait... Twi?"

"Yes, Rainbow?"

Rainbow rubbed her pendant.

Ruby light exposed the cold dark rock walls of the corridor.  Twilight Sparkle levitated a few feet away from the pegasus.

"What... I mean..."  Rainbow squinted.  "Why aren't you doing the vanilla shuffle?"

Twilight shrugged.  "I tried... but it wasn't doing anything for me."  She gulped.  "Besides, it... only seems right that at least one of us should be watching over you while you're sleeping."

Rainbow blinked.  "Watching over me."

Twilight nodded.

"Twilight, it's—like—pitch black in this darn place.  How are you going to watch over me?"

"Well, hear over you, then.  Whatever."  Twilight sighed.  "Just... I-I need to feel like I'm being useful.  And you've been going through so much to make sure that this journey is finished to completion and—"

"Okay.  Right.  I get it.  Mrmmmff... sorry if I sound grumpy."  Rainbow rubbed her forehead with a slight shudder.  "I guess I never once stopped to think about it."

"Think about what, Rainbow?"

"Well..."  Rainbow bore a tired smile.  "Once upon a time, we girls went on adventures... and it was always you leading the charge.  Y'know... being alpha mare or what-crap."

"I was never an alpha mare, Rainbow," Twilight said with a pout.  "I was just... just..."

"Bossy."

"Yeah—No!"  Twilight snorted.  "'Assertive' is more like it!"

"Sure, I'll buy that."  Rainbow stifled a yawn.  "I mean... you were the apprentice to Princess Celestia.  We all sorta looked up to you as an authority figure."

"Well, I wouldn't know abou—"  Twilight blinked.  "...really?  You 'looked up to me?'"

"Don't let it get to your head," Rainbow said, squinting.  "Your eggheadedness sorta pegged you down a notch, kept you from being awesomeness supreme n'all.  But, y'know... ever since Nightmare Moon came back, it seemed like you were the most important pony around Ponyville.  So... guess that made you party leader during most of our crazy hijinks."

"Heheh... I guess you're right."  Twilight exhaled.  "And then you became the Austraeoh."

"And then I became the Austraeoh..."  Rainbow stared off down the dark corridor.  "I was already the most awesome pegasus ever, so why not upgrade?"

"How's it feel like to be the most important pegasus ever?"

Rainbow blew out the side of her muzzle.  "...wanna trade?"

"What I want is for you to be safe and secure," Twilight said.  "And... there was a time when I could make that happen."

"Well..."  Rainbow Dash stood up, knees wobbling.  "...think of this whole crazy trip as my wacky, flank-over-elbow way of returning the favor."

"Don't..."  Twilight stretched a hoof out.  "D-don't you need more sleep?"

"Ugh... really, Twilight?"

Twilight rolled her eyes.  "Fine.  Don't you need more rest?"

"Mrmmff... I think my legs could use some stretching."  Rainbow flexed her limbs.  A loud growl emanated from her stomach.  "And my belly could use some grub."

"You've got the supplies from Bard and Wildcard, right?"

"Yup.  The Desperadoes Diet.  This should be good."  Rainbow Dash fished through her bags.  "The other girls are enjoying some quality vanilla snooze?"

"Most likely."

"You should join them, Twi."

"I'll have my turn," the unicorn said.  "Right now, I'd rather be with you."

"Well, aren't you swell."

Twilight smiled calmly.  "I try."

Rainbow squinted down the corridor once again.  "I wonder if I could make some progress..."

"Uhhhhh..."  Twilight fidgeted.  "Do you really want to try proceeding without Rarity to chart the way?"

"You can ghost through the walls n'stuff, right?"

"Er... yes... but only for a limited distance."

"Good enough."  Rainbow Dash gathered her things.  "We'll see how far we can spelunk, and once Rarity wakes up, we'll hopefully have made it far enough that she can lead me the rest of the way."

"You sure that's a good idea?"

"Better than sitting here, wasting both my time and Remna's."

"Assuming she hasn't already lost you."

"Gotta make it to Wyvern Point one way or another," Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight pointed.  "What about your meal?"

"Think I'll eat on the go."

"Sounds like a clumsy idea."  Twilight raised an eyebrow.  "All these months of traveling east, and you never once thought of fetching yourself a feed bag?"

"Heh... breakfast and entertainment..."  Rainbow bit onto some celery and hummed.  "Mrmmmff... coulda used this back in the Grand Choke."
> Of Mines, Bards, and Breakfast
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Sergeant Windburst."

Windburst finished speaking with a gaggle of villagers.  He turned around and gazed across the snowy heart of Braum.

"Yes—"  His hawkeyes twitched and his beak rattled.  "...Commander?"

Seraphimus marched towards him.  She wasn't alone.  Stumbling in front of her on wobbly hooves was a very dazed, very pale Longaze.

"Please proceed with escorting our prisoner to Frostknife," Seraphimus calmly said.  "And once she's locked away in the Frozen Shelves, rendezvous with Lieutenant Keris and await further instructions."

"But of course, Commander.  Uhmm..."  Windburst squinted at Longaze.

Copper streaks of dried blood stained the unicorn's face and neck on all sides.  She had her head hung, gazing down into the snow with shrunken pupils.

Windburst blinked.

Seraphimus raised an eyecrest.  "Is there something wrong, Sergeant?"

The subordinate cleared his feathered throat.  "Erm... n-no, Commander."  He shifted the weight of his crossbow.  "I'll take her to the heart of Rohbredden speedily."

"Very well.  Be sure to alert the Lieutenant that I will be at least two days behind you."

Windburst did a double-take.  "You're not coming with me?"

Seraphimus shook her head.  "I have business with the Consortium south of here, along the Central Harbors."

"The Central Harbors?"  Windburst blinked.  "Why... that's just below Osmanthus Prefecture!"  His beak hung agape.  "Since when did you have a reason to backtrack that far?"

"Since I pledged my life and my spirit to the protection of all Rohbredden's interests."  Seraphimus glared.  "As have you."

"Erm... r-right."  Windburst walked over to Longaze's side and held her tightly by her manacles.  "And I know better than to question that."

"Indeed you do."  Seraphimus spread her wings.  "Be speedy in your flight, Sergeant.  There are deeper... darker things at work in this kingdom.  Verlaxion willing, I'm about to get to the bottom of it."  FWOOOOSH!  And she soared southward at such a blazing speed that it turned the heads of milling villagers all across Braum.

Windburst watched her turn into a silver speck.  He sighed.  "I thought giving up on the Rainbow Rogue would mean something."  He gulped.  "But this whole situation just keeps getting screwier and screwier."

Longaze shuddered.  "Please t-take me to Frostknife n-now," she murmured.

"Yeah yeah..."





"For realsies, Twi!"  Rainbow Dash cackled as she climbed to the top of a vertical shaft.  Using the ruby pendant to guide her path, she carefully stepped out onto another tunnel and began spelunking down a long passage.  "What's your big beef with Bard and Wildcard?"

"I'm not trying to come down on them, Rainbow!  How many times do I have to keep telling you that?!"  The ghostly unicorn beside her sighed.  A blink.  "Also, what's 'beef?'"

Rainbow winced.  "Errr... n-never mind."  Clearing her throat, she spoke while trotting through the mine.  "Seriously, though, can't you see that the Desperadoes are doing me a favor?"

"Of course I do—!"

"Then why are you ramping the pessimism gear into overdrive?"

Twilight tossed her forelimbs.  "I don't know, Rainbow.  Guess it's just what I'm good at."

"Relax, Twi," Rainbow muttered.  "I'm glad that you're trying to look after me, but... come onnnnnn... they're my friends!"

"Correction... they were your friends," Twilight muttered.  "You shoved them off back in the Quade pretty emphatically."

Rainbow winced in mid-trot.  "Rub it in, why don't you."

"And—you have to admit—Wildcard came off as... a bit mercenary in his calculated means of yanking you out of Braum."

"Well, the dude's thorough, Twi."

"Need I even start on how stand-offish Bard was?!"  Twilight blinked.  "He didn't even want to be there!  It's just that..."  She sighed.  "Nothing about what they're doing seems personal.  It's almost as if they're painting by the numbers just to make this whole arrangement happen."

"Well, Bard did say that Wildcard was doing it out of some sort of sense of duty or dedication or something."

"Did Bard say that or did Wildcard through Bard?"

"Wildcard did.  Er... I mean Bard did.  I mean they both did.  I mean... rrrgggh!"  Rainbow rolled her eyes.  "Now you're confusing me again!  Dang it, Twi!  Why do you always gotta do this?!"

Twilight winced.  "Sorry..."

"Maybe they just... y'know... rolled into Braum and saved my skin to prove that they're both the better pony... griffon.  Whatever."  Rainbow sighed into the dark confines of the place.  "Wouldn't be the first time I messed up big time and somehow miraculously won my friends back."

Twilight looked at Rainbow.  Her ears drooped slightly as she said, "You have a large bounty on your head, Rainbow.  And they are telling you to go opposite of east... into the company of a vaguely intimidating bounty hunter named 'Remna,' no less."

"What are you suggesting now?" Rainbow grumbled.  "That they're trying to double-cross me?"

"Just how much do we know about them in the grand scheme of things?" Twilight remarked.  "I mean really."

Rainbow clenched her jaw shut.

"The first time you ever met them, you fought to a stand-still in Rust," Twilight continued.  "They only agreed to work with you in taking down the Syndicate when it was convenient for them.  And the same thing went for Shoggoth."

"I see where you're going with this, Twilight," Rainbow said.

"Do you?"

"But remember."  Rainbow Dash remarked.  "As soon as they realized how big I bucked things up in the Luminards' sanctuary, they still went out of their way to fish me out of there."

Twilight exhaled sharply.  "That is true..."

"And if they wanted to make big on my bounty, they had their opportunity back in Steamfall."  Rainbow squinted.  "Why go through all the effort to help me get my flank on a train and arrange for me to get to Wyvern Point?"

"I... I don't really know, Rainbow."

"Could it be that there really is some... I dunno... all-important team that Wildcard is wrangling together?"

"I wish they could have given us more information to go on," Twilight grumbled.  "Just who is this infernal 'Job Squad?'"

"Some very, very important ponies, I'm guessing."

"Yet another part of Wildcard's charming mystique," yawned Rarity.

Twilight and Rainbow glanced back.

"Rares!"  Rainbow exclaimed.  "Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!"

Rarity fully materialized, rubbing her ghostly eyes.  "I beg your pardon?"

Rainbow winced.  "Er... sorry.  Something Ebon Mane used to say."  Clearing her throat, she looked ahead.  "Anyways, I dunno about that.  Something about the phrase 'Job Squad' just screams 'Bard.'"

"A more important subject matter to discuss."  Rarity folded her forelimbs with a frown.  "Just why have you taken it upon yourselves to proceed through these mines without my assistance."

"It's cool, Rares.  We've got this."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah.  Twilight's been scouting ahead of me when necessary.  And I already figured out that I generally need to be going... y'know... up, soooo..."

"Hmmmf!"  Rarity tilted her nose up in a pout.  "As if it's really that simple!"

"Heh..."  Rainbow smirked.  "You don't say."

"You never know if there might be any structural weaknesses that could escape the naked eye!  Or the ghostly eye!"  Rarity waved her forelimbs.  "Or what if there's a passage sealed off by a door that could provide us an even shorter route to our destin—?"

"Hey Rainbow."  Twilight floated closer.  "There's a door just to the left.  A large cavern lies on the other side."

"... ... ..."  Rarity sighed, then proceeded to recline defeatedly in mid-air.  "I should have just stuck to vanilla dreaming."

Flash!  Pinkie Pie materialized with a grin.  "Did somepony say 'vanilla?!'"

"Pinkie, you were just there!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Oh..."  Pinkie blinked.  "Well, I'm awake now, so let's talk about vanilla anyways!"

"Goddess..."  Rarity rolled her eyes, suppressing a moan.  "What I wouldn't give for a sinful treat for the taste buds these days!"

"Yeah!"  Pinkie nodded, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.  "Like a tall chocolate sundae!"

"Or hunger to begin with," Twilight droned.

Rarity and Pinkie blinked at her.  "Well, when you put it that way," Rarity muttered.  "Yeesh, how existential."

"Girls."  Rainbow pointed at the metal barricade.  "The door."

"Oh yeah!"  Pinkie squinted.  "Looks super rusty!"

"Now, I know you wish to open it, Rainbow," Rarity said.  "But I suggest caution.  There's no telling how badly the hinges might be—"

CLANGGG!  Rainbow kicked the door down with a mighty kick.  She waved the dust out of her muzzle and stuck her head through the frame.  "Hmmm... was expecting it to be louder."

"Ugghh..."  Rarity face-hoofed, but swiftly composed herself.  "If that's the case, then I shudder to think what explosions your poor ears have endured in the past, darling."

"Oh, girl..."  Rainbow smirked.  "I could write a book.  Twelve of them, in fact!"

"I think you used that joke already, Dashie."

Rainbow blinked at Pinkie.  "Since when?"

"Mrmmmfff..."  Fluttershy materialized, rubbing her eyes.

"Hey!  Flutter's here too!"  Pinkie smiled.  "Say Flutters!  What do you like on a chocolate sundae?"

"Uhm..."  Fluttershy bit her lip, rubbing her eyes some more.  "...fresh air and plenty of sunlight."  She squinted at the rusted doorframe.  "Where are we?"

"I think I'm just about to find out."  Rainbow stepped fully through the frame.

"Careful!" Twilight exclaimed.  "You don't know what's in this cavern!"

"Pffft... please..."  Rainbow stroked her pendant some more, intensifying the ruby glow.  "I eat big scary caves for breakfast."

"Can we please stop talking about food?!"  Rarity moaned.  Suddenly, her pale coat and sapphire eyes reflected a glittery sheen from all directions.  "OooOooOoooh!"

"Neato keano!"  Pinkie cooed, gazing at crate after crate full of shiny crystalline cylinders.  "Looks like the Gemstone Convention forgot to pack up when they left!"

"I... don't think these are gemstones," Twilight said, gazing at the cylinders.  She floated past dusty mining equipment to examine more crates full of the things.  "In fact, they look..."  She blinked.  "...organic."

"Eugh..."  Rarity winced.  "I'm already not liking this.  Can we go back into the dull, dark corridor once more?"

"Well, you tell me, Rarity."  Rainbow looked over her shoulder.  "What's a faster way out of this crazy labyrinth."

Rarity closed her eyes.  A pulse of light emanated from her horn, and she said, "Mmmm... indeed.  Onward and upwards."

Rainbow Dash tilted her head up.  Using her hoof, she raised the lighting bolt of her pendant so that the ruby light rippled above her.  The penumbra of the glow illuminated row after row of lattice-like platforms looming above her, affixed together by rickety ladders, ramps, and pulley systems.  Somewhere—high up above at the top of the spiral—a single square dot reflected her beacon.

"That's..."  Fluttershy gulped.  "...th-that's a long way to climb."

"Awwwwwww..."  Pinkie pouted.  She looked over at Rainbow Dash, batting her eyelashes.  "I don't suppose that now is a good time for your left wing to start working miraculously?"

"We'd much sooner have Verlax show up with an army of puppies."

"Oh well," Pinkie sighed.  "A long... long ascending trek it is."  She then brightened.  "Who's for singing?!"

"Mrmmff..."  Rarity moaned.  "...I'd much rather talk about food again."
> A Slice of Cave Chapter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Uhhhhhhhhhhh..."  Pinkie Pie fidgeted in mid-hover.  "Are you sure you're supposed to be touching those, Dashie?"

Nevertheless, Rainbow Dash continued examining one of the crystalline cylinders up close.  Its pale surface—although rough and porous—still managed to reflect much of the light emanating from Rainbow's pendant.

"It doesn't seem to be sprouting legs anytime soon," Rainbow muttered.  "So I doubt I'll have to fight it to a stand-still."

"Even still."  Pinkie gulped.  "Half of the stuff you touch in this continent explodes.  And I'm not talking about the confetti type."

Rainbow snorted.  "Since when were you called 'Paranoid Pie?'"  She turned the cylinder over.  "Is any part of your body twitching?"

"Well... no."

"Then I think I'm good."  Still, with a sigh, Rainbow dropped the cylinder back into an abandoned mine cart and continued trotting her way up the vertical, spiraling shaft.  "Twilight, you said you figured these... things were 'organic?'"

"They certainly look that way, Rainbow," Twilight said.  "Judging from the overall make-up."

"However, I am sensing them on some basic level," Rarity interjected.  "Whatever they may have been in the past, my horn is detecting them just like any other gemstone or jewel."

"Maybe they were once some part of an ancient animal," Fluttershy suggested.  "But time and pressured turned them into... these?"

"Are we talking about dragon poop here?"  Pinkie Pie droned.  "Cuz if so, then sign me out."

"I doubt Verlax has gone that mad, Pinkie," Twilight remarked.

"Whatever it is, the whole mine is filled with it," Rarity said, looking up at the distant speck of reflective metal at the top of the shaft.  "It must have been incredibly valuable to whoever dug this place out."

"Until it wasn't," Fluttershy said.  "They all left in an awful hurry.  Just look at all the stuff left behind."

"If so, it was years ago," Twilight added.  "Judging from the dust and decay."

Rainbow Dash sniffed.  She glanced at the crates full of crystalline matter as she trotted onwards and upwards.  "Cylinders... tubes... rods..."  Her brow furrowed.  "Frost rods..."

"What are you on about, darling?" Rarity saked.

Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Remember that stuff that Nana Pearl talked about?"

"'Frost rods?'" Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow nodded.  "She said that a bunch of the caves of Dust Prefecture—I think—had 'frost rods,' which were fossils made up of the hearts of dead windigos."

"Well, there you have it!" Twilight said.

"Could it be that simple?" Pinkie blinked.

"Back in Equestria... some creatures are known to leave body parts and waste material that become highly susceptible to enchantment over time," Fluttershy said.  "Basilisk eyes are a good example.  Oh... and hydra excrement—when heated to a high temperature—becomes very volatile after—"

"We get the picture, Fluttershy," Rarity droned.

"So, Nana Pearl forewarned us about these materials?" Twilight said.

"Not like we've got anything to worry about," Rainbow remarked.  She gestured at the crates as she passed by them.  "She just said that this stuff is mined a lot here... and that it's used to power up much of the magic that the Rohbreddenites use."

"Sooooooooo... that meansssss..."  Pinkie Pie blinked at the walls of the cave.  "That this place used to be a major windigo hot spot?"

"Probably," Twilight said.  "But we're talking ages ago, Pinkie.  We haven't seen a single Windigo since we came here.  If there's any truth whatsoever to Rohbredden's Unification Myth, then they may have once roamed the entire continent at one time."

"Now they're likely all relegated to one place," Rarity said.  She gulped.  "Where Verlax is located.  The... the Starfire?"

"Starkiss," Rainbow corrected.  "Just southeast of the Frost Plateau."

Rarity blushed.  "I knew that..."

"Good memory, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said with a smile.  "I'm actually impressed."

"Don't be," the mare droned.  "The last year and a half has basically consisted of me listening to all sorts of expositional monologue so I could know in advance which skull to bust-in when I got to it."  She shuddered.  "I'm... still not looking forward to when cross paths with Tchern."

"Who?" Pinkie squinted.

"Assuming you even have to encounter Queen Chrysalis' sister on the dark side," Twilight said.

"True."  Rainbow nodded.  "But considering there's a huge friggin' war happening around the Midnight Armory... meh... seems pretty inevitable."

"Again, who?"  Pinkie squinted harder.

"Uhm..."  Rarity fidgeted as she followed Rainbow's ascending path.  "With all of these 'frost rods' filling this place, you don't suppose there's some residual effect that could be deleterious to Rainbow's health?"

"I think we'd know that by now," Rainbow muttered.

"I wouldn't be too concerned, Rarity," Fluttershy said.  "Without unicorn magic to enchant these things, I doubt there's very much they can do."

"But it begs the question," Rarity remarked.  "What caused the miners to abandon this place to begin with?"

"I'm guessing economic reasons."  Twilight gestured.  "Just look at the abundance of this material.  Their value must have dropped very low very quickly."

"Yeah!"  Pinkie nodded.  "Almost like gemstones and rubies back home!"

Rarity shuddered.  "I... can't imagine adorning any of these on my ballgowns back at home."  She cleared her throat.  "Just what part of the windigos were these at one time?"

"Their hearts, I think Nana Pearl said," Rainbow remarked.  "Knowing we we know about windigos, they probably shrivel up and become hard-as-stone as soon as those things die."

"Do windigos even kick the bucket?" Pinkie exclaimed, blinking.

"Well, of course, Pinkie," Fluttershy said.  "Everything dies."

"Yeah, but... like... do they die harder?"

"You know how the traditional Hearth's Warming songs go!"  Rarity managed a smile.  "It's the fire of friendship in our ancestor's hearts that drove the monsters away!"

"Huh."  Pinkie pouted.  "Too bad none of the grandpas and grandmas of Rohbredden knew that trick!"

"It does beg the question," Twilight said.  "Just how was Verlax able to intervene and meddle with ancient Rohbredden affairs so that civilization took such a drastic turn here when compared to Equestria?"

"Well..."  Rainbow Dash sighed while climbing a wooden ladder.  "She... did suggest one time when she spoke to me that she caused the Grand Choke."

"I still find that hard to believe," Rarity droned.

"Yo, these Divines are pretty friggin' powerful, Rares," Rainbow said.  "Axan—wherever she is—once leveled an entire civilization without blinking.  Silvadel was once a huge, proud empire that spanned one third of a continent.  Then one day... boom... instant rubble just so Axan could build her nest."

"Yeesh... how rude."  Rarity shuddered.

Rainbow reached another level of the shaft and kept trotting.  "So, I'm thinking that way back... like waaaaaaaaaaay back, when even Equestria hadn't unified yet, there were windigos all over the friggin' place.  There were six major tribes here in Rohbredden.  Seven if you count the sarosians—"

"I think they arrived later, Rainbow," Twilight corrected.

"Yeah.  Sure.  Whatever.  Anyways... you had a bunch of ponies, griffons, wyverns, sirens... all struggling with one another for resources amidst a huge ice age caused by the windigos.  They fought and fought, and their anger and strife made the windigos even stronger.  Unlike Equestria, they didn't have a whole bunch of land to explore and settle a new kingdom elsewhere."

"And even if they tried to, there was the Grand Choke acting as a blockade to the west," Fluttershy said.  "Verlax could have created the blight just to pen these poor ancestors in so she could have greater control over them."

"Exactly."  Rainbow nodded, trotting along.  "So, instead of finding out on their own that joy and friendship could stave off the windigos, Verlax threw herself into the mix, drove the windigos away with her own magic, and claimed godesshood."

"Forgive me, Rainbow, but I do believe we've all contemplated this before," Rarity said.  "What I want to know is... what came first?  Verlax or the windigos?"

"Wuh oh..."  Pinkie hissed aside.  "Rarity's trying to chicken-and-egg-it."

"It was Verlax, obviously," Rainbow said.

"Are you so certain about that?" Twilight asked.

"Windigos are just as natural as any other creature in Equestria," Fluttershy said.  "It's just that... there was an overabundance of them ages ago... f-for some reason."

"And just what brought that on?"  Rarity asked.  "Could Verlax have been... breeding them somehow?"

"I... I dunno..."  Rainbow's muzzle scrunched.  "She was never originally the 'Divine of Frost.'"

"According to her?" Pinkie asked.

"And Luna confirms it," Rainbow said with a sigh.  She looked aside.  "Twi, do you remember what Starswirl wrote about the Windigos?"

Twilight rubbed her head, squinting.  "He... never could come up with an origin of them."  She cleared her throat.  "Clover the Clever—shortly after the founding of Equestria—tried to put together an expedition to pursue the remaining herd of wraiths into the frozen north and study them.  However, she needed a band of strong pegasi to make such a venture possible and... well... we all know what became of Commander Hurricane."

"Things are different here in Rohbredden, though," Rarity said.  "I mean... not all of the windigos are completely gone, correct?  I do believe I recall that from Nana Pearl's forewarnings."

Rainbow exhaled out her nostrils.  "It freaks me out to think what's locked away beyond the Starkiss."

"You're thinking that maybe the windigos are all there?"  Pinkie blinked, eyes wide.  "Basically, Verlax has a bunch of pocket ghosts?"

"Why not?"  Fluttershy smiled.  "Rainbow does."

"Heh..."  Rainbow smirked.  "As awesome as that sounds... I doubt any of you could kick windigo butts in your condition."

"Don't even entertain the idea," Twilight said with a shudder.  "Windigos are no laughing matter."  She gulped.  "Less than a dozen instances of encountering windigos have been chronicled since the days of Starswirl the Bearded."  She gravely shook her head.  "Very few survive to share the account.  And the ones that do usually lose limbs due to frostbite and... other conditions."

"Yeeesh..."  Pinkie shook.  "Talk about a cold reception!"

"I wonder how much the Desperadoes know about the windigos," Rainbow said.

"Bard and Wildcard?"  Rarity blinked.  "Well, wouldn't that be convenient."

"They probably don't."  Pinkie glanced back and forth.  "But the wyverns?"

"Pinkie makes a good point."  Twilight nodded.  "The wyverns have been described as a reclusive, intellectual bunch."

"Yeah!"  Pinkie hopped in midair.  "They hide out in their sanctuary and pour over a bunch of ancient archives'n'stuff!"

"Sounds like a dream come true for Twilight," Rainbow said.

"Mmmmmm..."  Twilight pouted.

"Maybe that's how they're helping us," Fluttershy said.  "After years and years of isolation and study, perhaps the wyverns have figured out a way to get past windigos that doesn't depend on the 'power of Verlaxion.'"

"I... think there's more to the Desperadoes' plan than that," Rainbow said.  "Why else would they be throwing Remna and this 'job squad' into the mix?"

"An escort?" Rarity suggested.  "You must admit, Rainbow, you sorely need one."

"And with the Talon off your back, it's a perfect time for Jogging Season!" Pinkie chirped.

"We have no guarantee that the Talon is off our back, Pinkie," Twilight said.

"Uhm... actually..."  Fluttershy spoke up.  "I-I haven't sensed them in proximity since Rainbow Dash had her dizzy spell."

"Well, we do have a mountain around us, darling," Rarity said.

"Even still, they're nowhere within range."  Fluttershy shook her head.  "In fact, the only life-forms I detect are three ponies up above us."

The others did a double-take.

"Ponies up above us?!"  Twilight remarked.

"How and since when?!"  Rarity exhaled.

"Oh... erm... s-sorry..."  Fluttershy sank a little bit into the floor.  "I-I was distracted by our windigo conversation."

"When you say up above..."  Rainbow pointed.  "...you mean past that reflective metal panel?"

"I do believe that's a door, Rainbow," Rarity said.  "Perhaps meant to seal off this abandoned mine."

"Have any idea where three living ponies might be parked in the nearest vicinity?"

Rarity squinted.  Hard.  "I... I can't tell for sure.  It's a bit fuzzy."  She winced.  "Too much detritus in the way.  But..."  She looked up.  "...I-I think I detect something wooden."

"Well, my 'inexplicable wooden shack containing ponies' senses isn't twitching," Pinkie said.  "So I guess we're just gonna have to trust Rare-Rare!"

"Want us to fly up there and check, Rainbow?" Twilight remarked.

Rainbow looked up at the metal lid.  It was so close that she could almost see her reflection in the glossy surface.

"This is our only way out of the mines," Rainbow said.  "So, if you ask me, seems like we're going to make this discovery together."

"Be very careful, Rainbow," Rarity said.  "I'm detecting an open cavern.  Whatever's beyond that seal, it's exposed to the elements."

"So... a cave opening?"

"Something to that extent.  Odds are, you'll be exposed to light."

"Assuming it's daytime," Pinkie said.  "Being in the Vanilla Zone sorta throws your breakfast and supper centers off."

"I don't think we have much to be afraid about," Fluttershy said.

"Really?" Twilight blinked.

Fluttershy nodded.  "All three ponies aren't moving very much.  And... uhm..."  Her brow furrowed.  "... ... ...one of them is curiously faint."

"Faint?" Rainbow remarked.

"Yes.  It's hard to explain.  But... but I'm a bit worried."  Fluttershy blinked.  "For them, I mean."

Rarity chewed on her bottom lip.  "Well, that's a bit disconcerting."

"Guess we'll have to see for ourselves."  Rainbow reached the topmost level of the shaft.  Once she was within forelimb's reach of the seal, she took a deep breath.  "I wonder just how cold it's going to be outside."

"We've done an awful lot of climbing," Twilight said.  "Which means we're at a high altitude.  So... I suspect pretty cold."

"Oye."  Rainbow pressed against the door and grunted.  "Never thought I'd be reluctant to actually leave a cave.  Mrmmffff!"
> I Am a Mountain Mare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The metal lid shifted... shifted again... then lifted altogether.  Its opening was a slow, groaning thing.  Frost and snow crumbled and flew off in powdery streams from the edges of the doorframe.  From beneath, a petite pegasus with a snarling expression fought against the weight of the thing.

"Mrmmfffnnghhh!"  Her voice echoed against the sound of howling winds.

"Just give it a bit more oomph, Dashie!" Pinkie cheered as she phased up through the cavern's floor.

"You've got this, darling!"  Rarity insisted.  "Just a little bit more and the weight will do the rest—"

"Graaugh!"  Rainbow Dash shouted for effort, then gave the door a shove.

Fwooosh!  Clangggg!  Noise reverberated up and down the lengths of a shallow cave.  The air was bone-chillingly cold, and Rainbow Dash shivered instantly.

"Brrbrbrbrrrr..."  She sat on the lid of the open doorframe, rubbing her forelimbs over one another.  "Is... is it b-bad that I sorta wanna go back underground and dig my way to Wyvern Point?"

"Dashie, look!"  Pinkie Pie pointed.

Rainbow looked over her shoulder.  She found herself having to squint.

A round patch of blinding light loomed before her.  Eventually, Rainbow's eyes focused, and she made out a snowy mountain plateau full of fir trees covered in frost.

"Heh..."  Rainbow managed a tired smile.  "Daylight.  Go figure."

"This is daytime?"  Fluttershy shuddered.  "I'm scared to think how cold you'll be at night."

"Relax, Flutters," Rainbow said, pulling the rest of her body out of the doorframe.  "I'm sure it'll be a lot toastier once I'm in direct sunlight."

"Now that's the spirit!"  Twilight Sparkle said with a grin.  "Although, not to sound like a mother hen or anything, Rainbow, but you might want to bundle up."

"Way ahead of you."  Rainbow was already reaching into the bag that the Desperadoes had given her.  "It's a good thing Wildcard set this whole thing up.  If this was all Bard's idea—I swear—the most I'd have gotten was a friggin' rag to wear."





Hooves bound in woolen shoes trotted out of the cave, crunching in glistening white snow.

Rainbow Dash squinted into the sunlight as she emerged.  Her petite blue body was clad in a thick bundle of gray furs, wrapped tightly under a leathery brown tunic.  She wore both saddlebags on the outside, which only hugged the insulating material even tighter around her shivering figure.  Slowly—minute by minute—she felt warmth cocooning her all over, and she began to relax.

A smattering of abandoned mining equipment lingered just outside the cave.  Rainbow Dash noticed that several translucent icicles had formed horizontally along the southeast edges of each crate, tool, and container.

"Guess the wind only blows in one direction here," Twilight Sparkle said.  She pointed at the first layer of trees that were also adorned with similarly pointed icicles.  "And it's a moist gale too."

"Believe me, I feel it."  With a shudder, Rainbow reached for a woolly hood and drew it over her shaved head.  "Probably because of the way the mountaintop is formed."  She turned around and looked directly up, spotting a dark shape jutting into the sky.  "I think we're right in the crook of two summits, and this whole place is acting like a frigid wind funnel."

"The mountains east of Canterlot Castle are like that in the winter time," Twilight said.

"Say Rarity.  Can you confirm if there's another summit just northeast of us or something?" Rainbow asked.

Dead silence.

Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder.  "Rares?"

Rarity pouted, glaring away from Rainbow.

The pegasus rolled her eyes.  "Look... I didn't choose this jacket.  The Desperadoes did because they knew it would keep me alive.  So will you please get over it?"

"You're committed to not eating meat, and that's most commendable."  Rarity's sharp gaze glinted.  "But you'll wear leather and fur?!"  She upturned her nose.  "Hmmff!"

"But Rare-Rare!"  Pinkie Pie bore a puppy dog pout.  "Do you really want Dashie to freeze out here?!"

Rarity spat, "Do you honestly even know who or what Wildcard slew to... to m-make that ghastly thing?!"

"Looks like a combination of wolf fur and bear gut," Fluttershy said.

Rarity blinked at her.

"What?"  Fluttershy gulped, then bore a weak smile.  "I know my animals... both inside and out."

"See?"  Rainbow Dash shuffled forward through the crunching snow.  "Fluttershy's cool with it!  Why can't you be, Rarity?"

"Mmmm..."  Fluttershy's cheeks and eartips burned.  "...I didn't say I was okay with it."

"Eughhh..."  Rainbow rolled her eyes.  "...what do we need, now?  A Red Barge Two?"

"Let's just explore a bit, shall we?" Twilight voiced, taking command of the situation.  "The more we know about our surroundings, the better."

"Easy for you to s-say," Rainbow Dash shuddered.  Vaporous breaths exited her muzzle in misty waves.  "Feels like walking into the Noble Jury's freezer."  She fought the chattering of teeth, then glanced over at Twilight.  "Aren't you cold too?"

Twilight bit her lip.  "Sorry, Rainbow..."

Fluttershy shook her head.  "It's not affecting us like it's affecting you."

"Meh..."  Rainbow marched forward, getting the blood flowing.  "I thought ghosts were supposed to—like—vomit frozen ectoplasm and be covered in a buncha ice cold chains."

"Not these ghosts!"  Rarity smiled.  "We would never be caught wearing anything so ghastly!  Even beyond the afterlife!"

Fluttershy winked at the others.  "Especially not ghost furs."

"Oh hush!"  Rarity upturned her nose.  "Honestly, though.  Give me a white sheet, and I'm certain I could fold a few decorative pleats into it at least."

"Can we please talk about something more serious?" Twilight grumbled.  "Fluttershy detected some living bodies not that far from here, and Rainbow needs to be on her fetlocks!"

"Let it rest, egghead."  Rainbow Dash managed a shivering smile.  "Believe me, this is something I sorely missed back in the early days of journeying."

Twilight blinked innocently at her.  "And what's that?"

Rainbow sighed vaporously.  "You."  A gulp.  "All of you... with me."

The mares exchanged soft expressions.

"We can't imagine how terribly lonely it must have been for you, darling," Rarity said softly.

"No."  Rainbow gulped.  "You can't."  She squinted forward.  "And I don't want you to.  So... let's keep g-going, sh-shall we?"

"I just can't stand to hear your teeth chatter, Rainbow," Fluttershy said with a pout.

"Not much that can be done about it, Flutters," Rainbow stammered.

"I think different, Dashie!"  Pinkie Pie flew over, then pointed at Rainbow's neck.  "How about giving that thing a rub?"

Rainbow squinted.  "I beg your pardon?"

Pinkie stuck her tongue out.  "Your pendant, silly filly!"

"Huh?"  Rainbow held a hoof over the front of her coat.  "What about it—?"  Even through the material, the Element of Loyalty responded.  A ruby glow emanated from the inside of Rainbow's hood, bathing her all over in harmonic toastiness.  "OooOoooOoooh..."  Her eyelids thinned dramatically, twitching.  She bore the dumbest of smiles.

Twilight smirked.  "Feel good?"

"Like I'm in a mobile hammock."

"Hehe..."  Pinkie winked aside.  "I think that's Rainbowish for 'definitely.'"

"Where are these ponies you're sensing, Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked.

"Uhm..."  The ghostly pegasus pointed through the trees.  "Northeast... about three hundred paces."

"Shouldn't we... be avoiding anyone up here?" Rarity remarked.

"Thanks for the caution, Rares."  Rainbow Dash pressed on through the crunching snow.  "But they're not the Talon... and I super-seriously doubt the Consortium will have anypony stationed up here.  I don't think it'd hurt to see if there's someone... anyone who might at least be able to give some directions..."

"Yes!"  Pinkie giggled.  "Think positive!  Heehee!"

"Believe me..."  Rarity folded her forelimbs with a slight frown.  "I'd like nothing better."

"Who knows, Rarity."  Twilight Sparkle smirked.  "Maybe they're the only three ponies in all of Rohbredden dressed in pageant wear."

"Oh, we should be so lucky..."





Rainbow Dash marched through permanently bent, windblown fir trees.  All of the trunks curved to the southeast, in the same direction as the horizontal icicles clinging to the partially barren branches.  The wind rolled savagely through the forest, causing the icicles to rattle together and form an eerie percussion.  It broke the otherwise dead hush of the high-altitude stretch.

The plateau wasn't entirely dead.  Random hares and snow-speckled foxes stirred in the path that Rainbow Dash was trotting.  They took one glance at the mare and... simply let her pass by.

"Oh wow..."  Fluttershy exhaled, gazing at the animals.  "They're not running away."

"Maybe they wanna make friends?" Pinkie Pie remarked.

"I think it simply means that there isn't much up here that preys upon them," Fluttershy said.  "Especially not ponies."

"Well, that's a nice sign."  Rarity gulped.  "Isn't it?"

"Some of my Noble Jurist friends had experience with foxes," Rainbow Dash muttered.

"Oh?"  Fluttershy smiled.  "Was it a sweet, cuddly experience?"

"Nah.  They killed a bunch of them while escaping a moving train."

Fluttershy blinked.  "... ... ...maybe it's a good thing I wasn't around until the Quade."

"This world's big," Rainbow Dash said.  "And sometimes it gets bored.  When you least expect it, something you thought was just a backdoor pest may actually turn out to be sentient."

"I find that very interesting," Twilight Sparkle said.

"Heh..."  Rainbow smirked as she marched through the frozen forest.  "Of course you would."

"So, what you're saying," Rarity remarked, "Is that given enough time and geography, we could come across any kind of intelligent life?"

"Yes?  Maybe?  I dunno."  Rainbow exhaled with a cold shudder.  "Kinda makes me scared of what we'll see on the dark side."

"Ooh!  I know!"  Pinkie Pie grinned.  "Intelligent telekinetic squirrels!"

"Already checked off, Pinkie," Rainbow grunted.

Pinkie Pie nodded.  "Well, shoot."  She slumped in mid-hover, blinking across the snow and branches.  "What kind of a world do we live in if I can't be random in it anymore?"

"Don't worry," Rainbow muttered.  "It'll grow on you."

"Granted, it's not all random," Rarity said.  "Even here in Rohbredden, there's a purpose to it."

"Yeah."

Rarity gulped.  "Although it may be... a dark... nefarious purpose."

"I just can't get over the fact that Verlax wanted Rainbow Dash to escape the Talon," Fluttershy remarked.  She blinked at the others.  "I mean... that is why that golem of hers freed Rainbow, yes?"

"I don't think we should put too much rationality into what Verlax does or what motivates her," Twilight muttered.

"'Cuz we all know what happens when I put stock in it."  Rainbow gulped.  "I swear... I should have been listening to everypony but her at the Quade..."

"You didn't exactly have much to go on, darling," Rarity said.

"That's no excuse," Rainbow muttered.  She rubbed her pendant through the jacket once again, reenergizing the warm harmonic glow.  "I had most of you girls back.  I had Luna's words of wisdom to glean from.  I had..."  She winced.  "...Bard and Wildcard backing me up."

"Well, we're all here."  Fluttershy managed a smile.  "And the Desperadoes are helping you again.  You're in a much better place, Rainbow."

"Yeah, well..."  Rainbow Dash turned her head in the same direction as the icicles.  Yaerfaerda twinkled orange in the distance—at a slightly more elevated level. "...I can think of even better places... and worse."

"I wonder if the Talon fits into the Evil Dragon's plans," Pinkie said, tapping her muzzle in thought.

"Pinkie, dear, what did Twilight say about rationalizing Verlax?" Rarity remarked.

"But just think about it!"  Pinkie Pie blinked.  "That big ol' queen meanie is constantly obsessed with 'testing' Dashie!  And yet, since she got out of Red Barge, the Talon has been her biggest obstacle!"  Her pink muzzle scrunched.  "And yet... when they're about to get the drop on her... Verlax just lets her go?"

"She obviously wants everything done on her terms," Twilight said.  "Regardless of how nonsensical."

"A good point."  Fluttershy nodded.  "After all, if Keris and his wingmates actually caught Rainbow and brought her to the Court of Verlaxion... well... wouldn't that be what Verlax wants?"

Rarity glanced over.  "You're suggesting that Verlax intends for Rainbow Dash to cross paths with her at the next Seed."

"Doesn't she?"  Fluttershy blinked.  "I mean... every place since the Choke where Yaerfaerda has pointed Rainbow, Verlax has purposefully intervened in some way or another."  She gulped.  "She's been testing Rainbow Dash... making sure she travels east in a way she wants.  Why should the Starkiss and the Throne of Verlaxion be any different?"

"Then..."  Twilight squinted.  "...if there's any truth in that—no matter how mad—it means that Verlax wants Rainbow Dash to be taking this long detour."

"You can't mean to suggest that Verlax intended for Rainbow to cross paths with the Desperadoes!" Rarity exclaimed.

"I'm not suggesting anything!  I'm just... just..."  Twilight rolled her eyes and groaned.  "See... this is exactly why we shouldn't be trying to get inside her crazy, draconian head!"

"Crazy or not, Fluttershy and Pinkie are right to bring up these issues," Rainbow muttered.  "No matter how we shake it, it seems likely now... that Verlax wants me taking this trip to Wyvern Point."

Rarity and Pinkie Pie exchanged glances.  They bit their lips.

"Whatever that means..."  Rainbow slowly shook her head.  "...it can't be a good thing, and we gotta be cautious."  The mare stopped in her tracks, blinking.  "Hello."

"Huh?"  Twilight turned to look.

The forest had suddenly ended.  A narrow strip of snow-covered land bridged the gap between two tall mountains.  Nestled in the middle of this powdery stretch was a two-story wooden cottage with a stonelaid foundation.  Two sets of fences—also made of piled rocks—surrounded the structure.  Rainbow spotted a pair of stables to her left, and a doubly-reinforced wooden entrance to what appeared to be a privately-owned mineshaft towards the northeast.

The pegasus and her friends collectively blinked.  They scanned the countryside, spotting more piles of stones, along with wooden supply sheds and a series of tall wooden poles with ropes attached.

"Heeeeeeeeee-eeeee!"  Pinkie Pie hugged herself, smiling rosily.

Rarity looked over.  "What is it, Pinkie?"

"Oh, nothing..."  Pinkie sniffled, grinning.  "Just feels like home during Hearth's Warming."

"Fluttershy..."  Twilight leaned aside.  Her eyes followed a column of smoke pumping out of the cottage's stone chimney.  "Is this where you sensed the pony life signs?"

Fluttershy nodded, gulping.  "There are three of them nearby."

"And one of them's faint?"

"That's right."

Rarity pointed.  "I don't suppose you got them confused with those, did you?"

Rainbow looked over.  Within one of the fenced-in areas was a tiny herd of mountain goats.  They huddled along the edges of the partition, chewing away at exposed grass and weeds.

"There's more of them up above us!"  Pinkie Pie pointed at woolen specks hopping along the distant mountain summit to the northeast.  "I guess they're... uhhhh... 'out grazing?'"

"Guess you gotta make do with whatever's available at these altitudes," Rainbow muttered.  He trotted towards a fence.

One of the rams tilted its head up.  The thing chewed on a scrap of brown-and-green grass, staring Rainbow up and down with bored eyes.

Rainbow stared back.  She gulped... then leaned forward with a vaporous breath.  "... ... ...Hello?"

The ram said nothing.

Rainbow sighed, then shrugged.  "Well, it was worth a shot."

"Rainbow, look!" Twilight exclaimed.

Rainbow followed her lavender hoof.  She shuffled across the mountain farm, ultimately stopping before a frosted tower of wood and metal.  A series of ropes were attached to the structure, and they stretched off into the cold, gray north.

"A... ski-lift?" Rarity remarked.

"A conveying apparatus of some sort," Twilight said with a nod.  "And it leads north!"  She turned to smile at Rainbow.  "How convenient is that?"

Rainbow was too busy staring at the rows upon rows of massive mountains looming along the frigid horizon.

"Yeah..."  Her ears drooped beneath her hood.  "...super convenient..."

"Oh wowsies..."  Pinkie grimaced.  "Those are a lot of mountains!"

"You can say that again," Rarity said, trembling.

"Where's Wyvern Point in all that mess?" Pinkie asked.

Rainbow sighed.  "I think beyond it."

Pinkie winced.  "Sorry I asked."

"There's gotta be some way to operate this machine," Twilight said, floating around it.  "I... think I understand how it works."  She tapped her chin in thought.  "It's rather simple.  But there's something missing."

"The lift?" Rainbow remarked.

"There's... a wooden platform on the far side of the expanse," Rarity said, her horn glowing.  "I do believe that's what you're referring to."

Twilight nodded.  "And from the way the pulleys are positioned, they're prepared to retract."

"Must be how the ponies up this high reach the valley below," Rarity remarked.

"Then what are we waiting for?!"  Pinkie chirped.  "Let's drag it back over!"

"Not so fast, Pinkie," Rainbow said.  "We don't exactly own this... thing."

"So?"  Pinkie pouted.  "Wouldn't be the first time you committed grand theft elevator, I bet!"

Rainbow sighed.  "Pinkie—"

Fluttershy suddenly gasped.  "Rainbow!  Don't look now, but—"

The creaking of wooden hinges lit the air.

"... ... ...?"  Rainbow and her ghostly friends spun around.

The entrance to the miniature mineshaft was opening.  The mares watched as a pale figure shuffled out.

Rainbow squinted.

A stallion with a pale coat and a matching white mane shuffled out of the sealed entrance to the underground passage.  Despite the blistering cold, he didn't wear a single thread of fur or cloth on his figure.  In swift order, he carried a yoke with two buckets of steaming hot water from the mineshaft to the two-story cottage.  He made it about halfway when his ice-blue eyes lifted up—and he froze in place.

Rainbow Dash stared at the stallion.

The stallion stared back.

Silence...

Th-Thud!  The pony dropped the buckets.  Breathlessly, he galloped straight towards Rainbow Dash.

"Oh goodness!"  Rarity flinched, along with Twilight.  "Oh goodness, Rainbow, run—!"

"Run from what?"  Rainbow murmured.  "He's just... some dude."

"Yeah, Rarity!  Look!" Pinkie pointed.

As the stallion came within speaking distance of Rainbow Dash, the mare had to tilt her head down.  He was actually the smaller of the two.  Panting, he scuffled to a stop, staring up at her with a look of desperation.

"Haam!  Haam!" he exclaimed in a passionate, high-pitched voice.  "Fuundle, basaava lamaadraan?  Klehm, mehm havaana klaasa grum, haam frahn!"

The mares gaped.

Rainbow blinked.  "... ... ...'kay."

His eyes twitched.  The stallion's hooves fidgeted in the snow like an anxious dog's paws.  "Klehm... klehm..."  He gulped, motioning towards the cottage.  "Mehm havaas klaas, haam frahn!  Klehm!"

"Alright..."  Pinkie glanced at the others.  "Does anypony hear know Blabberese?"

"The poor thing," Rarity remarked.  "He's obviously in some kind of distress..."

"Yeah, but what's with the mumble-muzzle?" Pinkie squeaked.

"It's not a common Rohbredden language, Pinkie," Fluttershy said.  "These are mountainfolk, after all."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow squinted.  "But just what language?"

Twilight gasped.  "Snow Blood Tongue!"

Rainbow glanced aside.

Twilight looked at her.  "Remember?  Back in Kunmane?  There were ponies just like this one!  Snow Bloods!"

Rainbow's muzzle scrunched.  "Snow Bloods?"

The stallion gasped.  "Haat!  Haat!"  He nodded, then contorted his muzzle awkwardly to produce:  "'Schnew Bluuds'..."  Clearing his throat, he stammered.  "Klehm, hehm havaas klaas!"

"Nana Pearl talked about them, remember?" Twilight said.  "They live up here in the mountains, super isolated... very snow hardy."

"If they're so snow hardy, then what's this guy's deal?" Rainbow muttered.

"Mmmmfff..."  Gritting his teeth, the stallion reached in and tugged at Rainbow's fetlock.  He pointed into the cabin.  "Maastaana frehm bleehm, haam frahn!  Haamsum grunnudda threemdeel!"

"I think he wants us to go inside the cabin!" Fluttershy said.  "To help him with something!"

"Like what?"  Pinkie remarked.

Fluttershy gulped.  "Somepony must be in trouble.  There are two living ponies inside that cabin."

Rainbow looked over.  "One of them's 'faint,' right?"

Fluttershy nodded emphatically.  "I think someone's hurt.  Or injured.  Or worse."

"But... but..."  Pinkie pouted, gazing at the mechanical apparatus along the mountain's edge.  "...Rainbow's ticket out of here..."

"If they need help, then I'm gonna give it."  Rainbow Dash said firmly.  "Something tells me these dudes haven't had a clean break in ages."

"Then what are we waiting for?!"  Rarity exclaimed.  "Tell him you'll lend a hoof!"

"How?!" Pinkie cackled.

"Uhhhhh..."  Rainbow Dash leaned forward.  "Lead the way, big guy..."

The stallion blinked at her.  "Vendeel?  Haavaaso?"

"Uhhhhhh..."  Rainbow bore a nervous grin.  "...dreit?"

The stallion turned-tail and galloped for the cottage.  He paused every now and then to motion at the pegasus.

Rainbow shuffled after him.  "Say... uhhh... what's your name?"

"Mehm havaas klaas, haam frahn!  Klehm!"

"I'm Rainbow Dash!  Rainbow Dash!  And you are...?"

"Klehm!  Ehm gaasa mundeel!"  And he opened the front door and dashed inside, leaving the wooden entrance open.

"I... don't think you're going to bridge that communication gap so easily, darling," Rarity said.

"Yeah, well..."  Rainbow Dash reached the entrance, then stomped the snow off her shoes.  "...until I learn otherwise, I'm calling him Sweetie Belle."

"Snkkkk!"  Rarity's eyes crossed.  "You cannot name some random pale mountain stallion after my little sister!"

"Watch me."  Rainbow smirked as she stepped inside.  "Yo, yo, Sweetie Belle!  Hold up!"

"Oh, for the love of Celestia—"

Rainbow shut the cottage door behind her, blocking out the cold.  Thud!
> Crusaders of the Lost Root
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Havaanem seemdeel, haam frahm!" the voice of the stallion resonated through wooden walls and rustic support beams.  "Mehm theem kavaan!"

"Not so fast, Sweetie Belle," Rainbow grunted.  The cottage was evidently built for smaller ponies, and she found herself having to duck multiple times.  "I'm coming!  Yeesh..."  Rainbow Dash sniffed the air.  "What's that smell?  Milk of Mudnesia—?"  Thud!  "Ow!"  Rainbow rubbed her skull..

"Watch your head, darling," Rarity said.

"Yeah.  Thanks for the tip."  Rainbow squinted past an assortment of antique furniture and generations-old weaving material.  "Yeesh, this place feels ancient."

"Heee!"  Pinkie grinned.  "Feels like Granny Pie's house!"  She winked aside.  "Could use the undying smell of gingerbread, though."

"Where's that light coming from?" Rarity asked.

"There's a bright fire lit somewhere," Twilight said.  "They must have a remarkably big hearth."

"Oh... so that's it," Rarity said.

"What's it?" Rainbow blinked.

"There's a remarkably large stone foundation for this cottage.  It occupies the east side of the building where the chimney is."

"Huh.  Well they did a good job."  Rainbow ducked through another doorframe.  "It's nice and toasty here on the roof of a landberg."

"Aaaaaiee!" Fluttershy shrieked.

"What?!  What?!"  Rainbow gasped.  She realized that she had just bumped into a dangling mess of dead rabbits.  Just a few inches down, garlic and parsley bunches also hung over a kitchen cutting table.  "Whew... dang it, Flutters..."

"S-sorry..."  Fluttershy produced a shuddering breath.  "I... j-just can't get used to that."

"Seems like these Snow-Bloods have plenty of preparations," Twilight remarked.  "I wonder what they could need?"

"Maybe they'll show us."  Rainbow ducked low to look into the adjacent chambers of the cottage.  "Just where is our host, anyways?"

"Haam frahn!" the stallion's voice echoed from a corridor down.

"Uhm... in that direction, Rainbow."  Fluttershy pointed.  "Ten paces."

"'Ten paces, she says."  Rainbow shuffled around a corner.  Flouncing amber light forced her to squint as she stood at the far end of the cottage's largest room.  Before an enormous fireplace, a cot had been assembled with a mountain of blankets stretched over it.  The pony who had summoned her stood beside the makeshift bed, which was warming a sickly elder stallion beneath the woolen bundles.  On the other side squatted an old mare with thick worried lines etched across her wrinkled muzzle.

"Klehm..."  The young host bit his lower lip and pointed anxiously at the ailing resident.  "Laamaadraan ehm haam kumundeel.  Havas kunemdrem evu haas theem, haat?"

Sniffling, the old mare looked up from the sick stallion's bedside.  "Verlaxion meff vennden, haam frahn.  Klehm..."  She fought to contain a sob, her aged body shuddering.  "Klehm havaana klaasa grumdeel...  Klehm."

"Hey!"  Pinkie pointed.  "I understand one of those words!"  She looked at the others with a grin.  "She said 'Klehm!'"

Rarity face-hoofed.

"I think they're just invoking Verlaxion's name," Twilight remarked.

"Well, that's their second problem."  Rainbow slowly strolled forward, approaching the cot where the sick stallion lay.  "As for their first..."

"Careful, Dashie!"  Pinkie gestured.  "You don't wanna catch anything!"

"...are any of your 'infectious' body parts acting up?"

"Uhm.  No."

"Then I think I'm good."  Rainbow squatted by the stallion's head.  "So... uh... let's take a look at this dude, shall we?"

"Basaava lamaadraan?" the young host inquired.

"Er... yeah, sure thing, Sweetie Belle."  Rainbow waved back at him without looking.  "'Haam frahn' and all that."  She leaned in, squinting at the bundled elder.  "He... seems to be feverish with something."

"What if he fell off a snowbank and broke his hip or something?" Pinkie remarked.

"Negative."  Rarity shook her head.  "His bones may be brittle, but I'm not detecting a single break."

"He definitely looks sick," Twilight remarked.  "That much is for sure, Rainbow."

"Is he even awake?" Pinkie remarked.  "His eyes are swolen shut!"

"Let's see if we can have a look, huh?"  Licking her lips, Rainbow rubbed her hooves together, then reached in.  Delicately, she pulled one eyelid back.

There was barely any cornea to see from a veritable river of jaundice.  Yellow mucus streamed out in pungent tributaries, staining the stallion's wrinkled muzzle and forcing a cough from his throat from the sheer odor.

"Ewwwwwwww..."  Pinkie winced.  "Sticky icky!"

"Whew... that's unsexy."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "I think this dude's been dealing with this... whatever illness for a while now."

"I'd say as much," Rarity said.  "Seemed like they pulled a bed out here just so they could keep him warm by the hearth."

"And Sweetie Belle was grabbing hot water when we showed up," Rainbow said.  "So... severe chills?"  She tapped her chin in thought.  "And all that nasty buildup in his eyes.  I'm guessing that... uh... something's poisoning him from the inside.  Maybe one of his organs has gone kerplunk."

"Is that your best assessment?!" Rarity exclaimed.

Rainbow growled aside.  "Yeah, and?"

"Well..."  Rarity blinked.  "I just figured that—from all of your many months of violent escapades—you would have learned a thing or two about advanced first aid!"

"It was never my department.  I was always the butt-kicker of the Noble Jury, not the brains."  Rainbow sighed out the side of her muzzle.  "Sadly... Imre didn't live long enough to teach me any of the medical tricks she knew.  And Booster Spice... well..."  Her eyes rolled.  "Who could understand any of the wild stuff that flew out of his muzzle?  I mean honestly."

Fluttershy leaned in.  "Looks like a severe allergic reaction to mountain wasp venom."

Rainbow and the other three mares did a double-take in Fluttershy's direction.

Fluttershy blinked.  "What?"  She pointed.  "He's got a swollen neck.  Chills.  Extreme drop in temperature.  And excessive mucus buildup in his eyes."

"How in the heck do you know that, Flutters?"  Rainbow wheezed.

"I... I-I've had to treat several of my furry creature friends for it.  The wasps migrated into the Everfree Forest from Canterlot." Fluttershy said.  "Angel got stung once, and he was sick for an entire week.  I had to give him shots and everything."

"Wait... she's right!"  Twilight Sparkle gasped.  "She's completely right!"  She pointed at the stallion.  "I remember reading up on allergic reactions to mountain wasp stings in Princess Celestia's Annual Almanac of Allergies and Ailments!  This stallion's symptoms match mountain wasp venom to a T!"

The young host and old mare glanced at one another, then squinted in Rainbow's direction.

"Evv mehm suum kalvan, haam frahn?" asked the old mare.

"Just a second, Apple Bloom," Rainbow raised a hoof.  "Just... figuring stuff out."

"Since when was she 'Apple Bloom?'" Rarity barked.

Rainbow ignored her.  "I... I'm not a complete idiot about this, actually."  Her muzzle hung open as she thought aloud.  "Moutain wasps... mountain wasps..."  Rainbow looked at Twilight.  "Aren't all foals back home... like... given shots for that kind of a thing?"  Her eyes narrowed.  "I vaguely remember grade school lessons going on and on about how there used to be 'mountain wasp epidemics' all across Equestria."

"Yes."  Twilight nodded.  "There used to be entire hives nestled within the hollows of the Canterlot Mountains.  So many ponies taking up residence agitated them, and they flocked down into the valley.  About thirty percent of the average equine population is terribly allergic to their stings."  Twilight's eyes brightened.  "Oh!  Commander Easy-Glider nearly died from a sting.  That's one of the most famous cases."

"But he lived... and because of that, the Wonderbolts still exist to this day."  Rainbow blinked.  "But that was... like... seven to eight friggin' decades ago!"

"Over a century, Rainbow," Twilight corrected.

Rainbow looked at the sickly stallion.  "...these ponies are suffering from something that Equestria fixed over a hundred years ago?"

"It's... the other side of the Grand Choke," Twilight said.

"To say the least!" Rarity added.

"Rohbredden has a completely different history than us."  Twilight nodded  "You know that."

"Well... okay then..."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "What's the cure?"

"It's pretty simple, really... if you know what to look for."  Twilight glanced across the way.  "Fluttershy?"

"Uhm... aside from a modern innoculation?"  Fluttershy fiddled with her fetlocks.  "...essence of stoneroot... combined with tree sap... then mixed into a rich protein liquid... warm.  Preferably milk."

"Is that the only thing that can be used to fix this dude up?" Rainbow exclaimed.  "I don't even know how to begin translating all of that for Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom here!"

"Why try translating it when we can just look for it?" Pinkie suggested with a grin.

"Eugh..."  Rainbow face-hoofed.  "Pinkie..."

"No, she's got a good point!" Twilight said.  "The original remedy for mountain wasp infections were found... in the mountains!.  Stoneroot tends to grow in high altitudes with scarce amounts of natural soil."

"And there are plenty of pine trees out there to procure sap!" Fluttershy said with a nod.

"And surely it can't be that hard to procure milk around this cottage," Rarity offered, smiling.

"If we try going out there to... to find this 'stoneroot'..."  Rainbow gulped.  "You think you can find it, Fluttershy?"

"It's been a while, but I'll know it when I see it."  Fluttershy blinked.  "Rainbow, we haven't much time to waste!  This poor stallion's in the later stages of infection.  Trust me—it's not looking good."

"The sun will be going down within the next few hours," Twilight added.  "I suggest we follow her suggestion and get a move on."

"Darn tootin' we will!"  Rainbow Dash stood up, pointing at the ailing stallion.  "I'll be darned if I let Scootaloo kick the bucket!  Come on, girls!"  She gestured for the young host to follow as she galloped out the cabin.  "Let's uproot some root!"
> A Bunch of Milk Drinkers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Mrmmmf!"  Rainbow Dash grunted as she hammered and hammered a nail into the side of a tree.

"Not too deep, Rainbow!" Twilight insisted.  "You want to get at the sap!  Not pierce the tree straight through!"

"Sorry..."  Rainbow shuddered, her breath producing visible vapors in the afternoon air.  "I'm a tad bit lacking in 'Treeology.'"  Clearing her throat, she turned around.  "Okay, Sweetie Belle.  Hoof me the—"  She blinked.  She tilted her head down.

The petite Snow Blood stared back up at her.

Rainbow Dash pointed at the supplies in his pale grasp.  "I need that... twisty turny thingy..."

"'Spigot,'" Pinkie corrected.  "It's called the spigot."

"How in the heck am I going to translate that?" Rainbow grunted.

"It's the thought that counts!  Heehee!"

"Ugh... here..."  Rainbow simply reached in and snatched the tool in question.  "Now... Are.  You.  Watching?"  She pointed at the stallion's eyes, and then at the spigot.

The stallion blinked wide, then nodded vehemently.  "Haat.  Haat, haam frahn."

"Good."  Rainbow looked at Twilight for approval as she stuck the spigot into the hole she had made.  "Stick.  It.  Into.  The.  Hole.  You.  Made."  She placed the bucket beneath it.  "Put.  This.  Below.  Like so..."  Licking her lips, she turned the nozzle... then smiled as a dribble of tree sap slowly poured out.  "Then.  Twist.  Until.  It.  Pours.  And.  Collect.  The.  Sap."

"I do believe he gets it from the display, Rainbow," Rarity droned.  "No need for the forced dialogue."

"Well, you can never be sure what will or won't get through to the dude," Rainbow said.  "He is Sweetie Belle after all."

"Mrmfffffff..." Rarity growled inwardly as she folded her forelimbs.

Pinkie giggled.

"Heem saavana brehm."  The stallion gestured to the spigot and the bucket below.  He turned the nozzle, squeezing more sap out in a liberal stream.  "Heem kemkavas, haam frahn?"

Fluttershy smiled.  "I do believe he's done this before."

"Good!  Good.  Job."  Rainbow Dash nodded at him with a bright expression.  She pointed at four more buckets and spigots stacked up atop one another.  "Do.  The.  Same."  She pointed at the nearest group of pine trees.  "With.  All.  Of.  These." She nodded heavily.  "Can you do that?"

"Ehhh... haat!"  The stallion nodded, pointing at the buckets, then the trees.  "Haat, haam frahn.  Veemdeel kremma saamdaas!"  He nodded again, then forced a wink.  "'Schweetie Bellaad.'"

"Ehhhhhhhhhhh..."  Rainbow's eyes twitched.  "... ... ...good enough!"  She scampered off through the powdery snow.  "You get that sap, okay?  We'll work on the uproot!"

The stallion merely nodded and trotted to the next tree with a hammer and nail.





"Capital plan, Rainbow, dear," Rarity said.  "But while we have the stallion procuring the sap, exactly how do we plan on finding some stoneroot atop this mountain?"

"Uhhhh..."  Rainbow panted while running in her wintry gear.  "...simple!  We just look for the spots where there's still soil!"

"And how exactly do you plan to do that?!"  Rarity gestured wildly.  "There's nothing but snow!"

"Pffft.  Please, Rarity."  Rainbow smirked as she ran past a final layer of pine trees.  "It's not all snow—"  Just as she was saying this, she ran into a veritable wall of light.  "Aaaaaugh!"  She skidded to a stop, covering her squinting eyes with a forelimb from the sheer sheen of the setting sun against a blinding white plateau of snow.  "Cheese and crackers!  Way to play dirty, ya stinkin' mountain!"

"Yes, Rainbow," Twilight grumbled.  "Reflected light can hurt."  She arched an eyebrow.  "Haven't you encountered this before?"

"Pfft!  Totally!  Only... most of my flight into Emeraldine was done at night or underground..."  Rainbow winced, squinting past the glistening array.  "...and I was too busy battling zombie pegasi in Stratopolis to sight-see the icebergs below."

"Well, this presents a problem," Rarity said.  "If one wants to find stoneroot, one has to see.  There won't be much of a better opportunity once the sun's down."

"I could use my pendant at night," Rainbow wheezed.

Twilight flung a hoof.  "Against an entire plateau?"

"Grrrrrrrrr..."  Rainbow shaded her eyes with a hoof, stumbling forward.  "Friggin' A... y'know, if the Desperadoes really loved me, they would have hoofed me Wildcard's goggles for the dang trip to Wyvern Point!  Luna Poop..."

"Let us be your eyes, Dashie!" Pinkie said.

"Huh?"

"We're ghosts, right?"  Pinkie grinned.  "We haven't got eyes that need protecting anymore!"

"Erm..."  Twilight fidgeted.  "...that has yet to be objectively proven, Pinkie."

"Pffft!  Oh please!"  Pinkie waved a hoof.  "There's nothing real that can touch us!  So how can light hurt?  Face it!  We were made to help Rainbow with this!  Especially me!  Why... days got so boring back at the rock farm that sometimes I'd just sit on the porch staring into the sun for hours!  And I turned out alright!"  She looked to her left.  "So just what does this 'stoneroot' look like, Fluttershy?"

"It's me."  Rarity pointed at herself.  "Rarity."

Pinkie looked to her right.  "So what does the stoneroot look like?"

"Uhm..."  Fluttershy drew a figure eight in the air with her fetlocks.  "It's dark brown with glittery white specks... and it usually splits just to come back together.  Like a chain."

"Okie dokie lokie!"  Pinkie pointed forward.  "Get to marching, Dashie!"  She dove into the snowy earth like a professional diver.  "Pinkie's peepers and the rest of us girls will find this stuff amidst all the snow and not-snow!"

"Uhm... alright..."  Rainbow fumbled a bit, then drifted into the brightness.  "You... you sure that you've got this?"

"Totally!"  Pinkie stuck her phasing head out just long enough to grin at her.  "Easy as pie!"





Pinkie gasped, her ears and facial features sagging.  "This is the most rottenest pie I've ever swum in!"

"Just keep looking!" Twilight Sparkled huffed.  She dove in and out of the snow, her body phasing in little lavender bursts of light.  "Any luck, Fluttershy?"

"No!"  Fluttershy stammered, "swimming" through the plateau several meters away.  "Not a single thread!  I swear—the hillsides of Equestria were covered in stoneroot!"

"Well, that's our problem right there!"  Rarity emerged from a set of frosted boulders.  "Not every land is Equestria!"

"But this spot of Rohbredden matches the east end of the Canterlot Mountains almost perfectly!" Twilight sputtered.  "The climate!  The flora!  The fauna!"

"Girls, hate to break it to you," Rainbow Dash exhaled with a shudder.  Her eyelids fluttered.  "...but I can totally see now."  She gulped.  "And what I see is a whole lot of darkness."

"Ohhhhhhhhhh..."  Pinkie pouted, staring at the blackening sky.  "We'll never find the stuff that stallion needs at this rate!"

"I'm not sure he can make it to morning!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

"Well... erm..."  Rarity pointed towards the pine trees.  "At least our Snow Blood friend will have gotten lots and lots of sap by now!  That's a good thing, yes?"

"Sure, if we want to glue his insides together!" Twilight snapped.  "Without the stoneroot, Rarity, there's no point in even attempting a brew!"

"Quick, Dashie!"  Pinkie's forelimbs flailed.  "Grab a rock and throw it at the sun!  Maybe it'll get Celestia to pause the afternoon!  Hurry!"

"Dang it, Pinkie, that's not going to work!" Rainbow growled.

"Oh.  You're right."  Pinkie slapped her own forehead.  "Luna controls the Sun now.  Well, let's throw a rock against the waning moon and hope for a longer tomorrow!"

"Just... everypony stop searching and... and come on!  Let's huddle."

The four marefriends closed in tight around Rainbow.

"'Kay..."  Rainbow took a deep breath.  "If we can't find stoneroot... then maybe our biggest mistake is not stopping to think like stoneroot."

Rarity arched an eyebrow.  "I beg your pardon?"

"What's the use in looking all willy-nilly for something that... like... probably has its own way of growing, y'know?"  Rainbow turned towards Twilight.  "Save us, egghead.  What makes stoneroot tick?"

"Well..."  Twilight cleared her throat.  "Technically, it's not even the part of a typical plant at all.  It's more like a weed... and it requires the roots of another species of flora to spread."

"Like what species?"

Twilight gnashed her teeth.  The unicorn's ears drooped guiltily.

"Eughhhh..."  Rainbow Dash face-hoofed.  "...Celestia, what I wouldn't give for Applejack's ghostly green hoof right about now."

"Whelp..."  Pinkie shrugged.  "...maybe you could lickety-split gallop to Verlaxion's Throne, free her from the Yiffy-Light, then hop all the way back here to cure Scootaloo."  She gulped.  "Erm... if you feel that it's all worth it."

"Of course this dude's life is worth it!" Rainbow barked.  "We're here, aren't we?!  We've got the knowledge!  Now we just need the last ingredient to rescue him from drowning in mucus!"

"One must admit, Rainbow," Rarity said.  "It... would take something of a miracle at this point."

Rainbow spun, blinking.  "Huh?"

"It was... pretty fortuitous that we showed up when these ponies needed help," Twilight interjected.  "But... you have so few resources on your person as it is... and you're already in a race against time to be somewhere."

Rainbow squinted.  "Are you suggesting that we ditch these Snow Bloods, Twi?"

Twilight sighed.  "No, Rainbow.  I'm just saying that... that you can't fix every single thing."  A gulp.  "As much as you want to... and as much as we want you to."

Rainbow stared at her.  She turned to look at the cottage situated atop the plateau.

The last rays of sunlight dissipated, capping off the summits of the mountains north and south.  In the ensuing darkness, sparks of flame emanated from the chimney, illuminating the rising smoke with a dim amber hue.

The wind blew over Rainbow in a frigid gust.  Despite the urge to shiver, she remained steadfast against the blackening day.

"Fluttershy..."

"Hmmm?"  The pegasus looked up.  "Yes, Rainbow?"

"You said that you had to give Angel shots for the mountain wasp sting, right?"

"That's correct."

"...did you get him innoculated overnight?"

"Well, no."  Fluttershy shook her head.  "I had to stave off his fever with a remedy much like what you're looking for now."

"And just how long did it take you to find the stoneroot?"

"Uhm... just a few hours."

"Just a few hours?!"  Rarity glanced over.  "However did you manage?"

"Well, it certainly wasn't snowing," Fluttershy said.  "Plus, there's a bunch of stoneroot growing in the Everfree Forest."

"Did you find that on your own?" Rainbow asked.

"No.  My animal friends helped m—"  Fluttershy's eyes widened in mid-speech.  She blinked at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow leaned forward.  "Were any of those animal friends... carnivores?"

"No..."  Fluttershy's ears twitched as she smiled.  "No, they weren't!"

With a smirk, Rainbow turned-tail and galloped towards the stone fences of the farm.

"Hurry, Rainbow!" Twilight insisted, flying after her.  "We haven't much time!"

"Weeeeee!"  Pinkie flew along with the rest.  "I've no idea what's going on, but I'm glad that everypony's cheery about it!  Woohooo!"





Minutes later...

"Hyaaa!  Hyaaaa!"  Rainbow Dash shoved a herd of woolie rams into the snowfield.  She slapped their hairy flanks, forcing their grazing bodies forward as the stars broke out above.  "That's right!  Late night snack time!  Dig up all that scrumptious grass so we can see it!  Hyaaa!"

"A little less of the hyaa's, Rainbow," Fluttershy insisted.  "They're already digging up plants from beneath the snow.  No need to pressure them."

"She's right!"  Pinkie pointed at the cloven hooves of the rams as they poked and prodded at the snow.  "They totally are!"  She grinned as several sets of teeth yanked the grass up by their roots.  "It's like you set off a Scootaloo-saving buffet of awesomeness!"

"We only get to call it that if it works," Rainbow huffed, pushing the rams so that they were more evenly spread apart.  "Now keep your eyes peeled, girls!"  She lifted her Element so that the lightning bolt was exposed above her coat's collar.  With a vigorous rub, she shone a beam of ruby light across the plateau.  "As soon as you see some dark, spotted root—give a holler!"

"Way ahead of you, darling," Rarity said, aiming a glowing horn at the faces of the rams and goats.

"Yeesh."  Rainbow winced.  "Don't shine it in their eyes, Rarity."

The unicorn hummed without looking up.  "I think only we and you can see such a light, Rainbow."

"Oh..."  Rainbow blinked.  "... ... ...huh."

"Oooh!  Oooh!"  Pinkie pointed.  "I think this one's got some root—no, wait... it's a horseshoe."  At a loud crunching sound, the earthy pony winced.  "Never mind."

"Everypony, please be patient," Fluttershy said.  "My creature friends back in Equestria were on a personal speaking basis with me."  She gestured.  "I doubt this herd of adorable farm animals is especially trained in pulling up stoneroot.  So it will likely take most of the night before we discover any—"

"Found some!"  Twilight shouted.

"... ... ..."  Fluttershy fidgeted.  "Then again..."

Rainbow spun about.  "You absolutely sure about that, egghead?"

Twilight pointed with a frown.  "Come and see for yourself, stubblehead."

Fwooosh!  Rainbow streaked over.  Sure enough, a relatively large ram was pulling up a strip of grass in its dirty teeth—and attached to it was a noticeably thicker loop of white-spotted vine.

"That's it!" Fluttershy gasped.  "Three loops of it!  That should be enough for a brew!"

"Awesome sauce!"  Rainbow reached in.  "Okay, buddy, time to hoof it over—"

WHUD!  The ram replied with an instinctual headbutt.

"Ooof!"  Rainbow fell into a powdery snowbank.

"Oh!"  Rarity gasped.  "How rude!"

"Quick!"  Pinkie pointed.  "Quick!  He's gonna totally scarf it down!"

"Not on my watch!"  Growling, Rainbow pounced on the ram.  "C'mere, ya melon fudge!"  She grunted and wrestled with the strip of vegetation caught in its molars.  "Rrrrgh!  Cough it up!  Come on!  The Power of Grinder compels you!  Graaukkkt!"  At last, she tore the grass loose and cradled the precious stoneroot in her trembling forelimbs.  "Whew..."

"Sooooo... this 'Grinder'..."  Rarity leaned in.  "Friend of yours?"

"Nah... but a friend to Belle."  Rainbow gulped.  "Goddess rest his butt."  She stuffed the root into her bag.  "Okay then.  Now to find Sweetie—" She spun around...

...and found the stallion standing with several buckets full of sticky sap.  He gaped at all of the loosened livestock.  "Gehm sehm haajaak?!"

"Er... yeah... sorry..."  Rainbow Dash patted the bulging root in her saddlebag.  "But I kinda had too."

"Hrmmmf..."  The stallion sighed, then nodded towards the cottage.  "Baasaavo laamadreenseel..."

"Not so fast."  Rainbow looked over her shoulder.  "Twi?  Flutters?  Are we missing anything?"

"Uhm..."  Twilight rubbed her forelimbs together.  "Hot water could technically work... but..."

"Warm milk would be much... much better," Fluttershy said.

"And we do want to save this poor Scoo—stallion's life," Rarity said, shifting awkwardly.

"Think you can charade 'milk,' Dashie?" Pinkie suggested.

Rainbow stared at the stallion.

The stallion stared back.

"We.  Need.  Milk."  Rainbow mouthed the word.  "MILK.  Y'know..."  She motioned "drinking from a jug" followed by "cow horns" against her head.  "Mooo.  Milk.  That... uh..."

The stallion simply squinted quizzically.

"... ... ..."  Rainbow rolled her eyes.  At last, she stood up on her hind legs and pointed at two fixed spots right above her crotch.  "The stuff that comes out of here."

He blinked one last time, then opened his muzzle wide.  "Haat.  Sehm var!"  He grabbed a spare bucket then marched over to one of the rams.

Rainbow and her friends watched in dead silence.  Pinkie leaned over, "He's... uh... gonna pick one of the woolies without horns, right?"

The stallion parked a bucket beneath a creature, knelt low, and began rubbing his hooves together beneath it.  The creature let loose a disgruntled sound or two, but was content to stand in place, munching on an exposed strip of grass.  Soon enough, the sound of dribbling liquid echoed inside the bucket.

Pinkie winced.  "Yeesh!  Super cold!"

Rainbow gulped.  "Must come out like a pressure hose."

A few minutes later, the stallion stood up, balancing a sloshing bucket in his grasp.  "Sehm var!"  He smiled.  "Moooh milek!"

Rainbow smiled.  "Heyyyyyyyy... way to go, Sweetie Belle!"  She took the bucket from him.  "Goat whisperer of the hour!"

"Rainbow..."  Rarity grumbled into her hoof.  "I swear to Celestia..."

"Save it."  Rainbow galloped towards the cottage, motioning for the stallion to follow.  "Time to move mountains."
> Truth, Liberty, Pursuit of Snuggles
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Keep stirring," Twilight said, leaning over Rainbow Dash's shoulder.  "Just a little bit longer."

"Oh!  Add one more sprinkle of the stoneroot!" Fluttershy insisted.

"Yes, she's right."  Twilight nodded.  "That should top it off."

"Uhhhh... okay..."  Rainbow reached over with one hoof and gathered some more root flakes while stirring a hot broth with a ladel in the other hoof.  She stood before a steaming pot situated at the Snow Bloods' cabin hearth.  "It still seems... pretty goopy."  She gulped.  "Ya sure that's not too much of the tree sap—?"

"Nah, Dashie.  Trust Flutters and Twilight," Pinkie said.  "It's like they're making fine medicine molasses!"

"Eesh..."  Rainbow muttered.  "If I had a bit for every time I heard somepony say the word 'molasses'..."

"Pay attention!" Twilight hissed.

"I am!" Rainbow grunted.  "How much harder do you want me to stir this stuff?"

"Okay... okay..."  Fluttershy smiled.  "Mmmmm... smells perfect."

"Does that mean I'm done?" Rainbow remarked.

"Yes, Rainbow."  Twilight nodded.  "The remedy should be done.  At least... that's what I remember from the almanac I read."

"It better have been a pretty thorough edition."  Rainbow removed the label, tapped it clean, then grabbed a wooden bowl.  "Alrighty..."  She dipped the container into the broth, gathering a few gulps' worth of the steaming hot medicine.  "...magical stoneroot cure, here we come."

"Quickly!  Quickly, Dashie!" Pinkie insisted.

Rarity looked up from where she squatted at the ailing stallion's bedside.  "His breaths are getting shallow and shallower."

"Not on my watch."  Rainbow gingerly cradled the bowl in two hooves as she turned around and trotted across the cabin.  "Move over, Sweetie Belle... Apple Bloom..."  The young host and the elder Snow Blood trotted aside, watching worriedly.  "Don't fret.  I know what I'm doing... sorta."

"You'll have to feed it down his throat, Rainbow," Fluttershy said.

"Does he have to be sitting up for it?"

"Yes."  Twilight nodded.  "I'd highly suggest it."

Rainbow whistled.  The other two Snow Bloods shuffled over on command.  With one hoof, Rainbow gestured for them to sit the stallion up.

"Haat..."  The young host nodded, then reached in to lift the ill pony.  "Mevada seemdeel hassa keem."  He looked across the bed at the elder mare.  "Cassa Frahn?  Klehm..."

The mare nodded and braced the stallion's shoulders as he sat up, wincing.

"You hear that?"  Pinkie smiled.  "I think the old mare's name is 'Cassa'!"

"Uh uh..."  Rainbow shook her head with a slight smirk.  "You ain't fooling nopony, Apple Bloom.  Now..."  Rainbow brought the lid of the bowl to the stallion's lips.  "...this might stain your bed, Scoots."

"Careful," Fluttershy insisted.  "Be slow about it."

"Gotcha..."  Rainbow squinted one eye as she dribbled the steamy broth into the stallion's throat.

The wrinkled pony winced slightly.  His eyes watered, causing more mucus to flow freely.  Nevertheless, holding his tender breath, he took meager sips of the medicine.

Feeding him was a slow process, taking the better part of five minutes.

"Is... this right?" Rainbow muttered.

"Best that he ingest it at his pace," Flutterhy said.  "Blessed Celestia... he's so fragile..."

"I wonder if he's always like this," Rarity remarked with a gulp.  "The poor thing.  The allergy's reduced him to noodles."

"Well, here's hoping a strong dose of Equestria brings him back to non-noodle-normal."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "He... seems to be breathing easier?"

"It's just the heat of the broth clearing his sinuses, Rainbow," Twilight said.  "We won't know if the medicine's had an effect until an hour or two has passed at least."

"She's right."  Fluttershy nodded.  "He's drank the entire bowl.  Let's let him rest and keep an eye on him."

"Shouldn't we give him more?" Rainbow asked.

"Of course."  Fluttershy nodded.  "But not for another two or three horus at least."

"We need to keep a close watch," Twilight said.

"Well, sure."  Rainbow remarked with a shrug.  "I wasn't going anywhere.  How about you girls?"

"Let's lie him back down," Rarity insisted.

"Way ahead of you."  Rainbow gently lowered the stallion with the help of the other two Snow Bloods.

"Is it just me... or does he already look way calmer?" Pinkie exclaimed.

"I dunno, Pinkie," Rainbow shuddered.  "He seems... just as sick and wrinkly as before."

"Have patience, Rainbow," Twilight insisted.  "We were in the right place at the right time."

"Yeah, well, here's hoping..."

"Verlaxion Haff Veem, haam frahn."  The younger stallion smiled aside at Rainbow Dash.  His ice blue eyes were moist as he bowed low and added, "Grumdeel basaavo lamadraansem.  Kaffneel thressum drum.  Kaffneel."

"Hehehe..."  Pinkie giggled.  "Well, looks like somepony is thankful, at least."

"Yeah, well..."  Rainbow Dash leaned back with a sigh.  She stared across the firelight of the toasty little cottage.  "...only time will tell if he has a reason to."





Starlight.

Nebulae.

A shooting star or two...

The canvas of night stretched over Sun Roost.

Far below the jutting limestone habitats of the griffons, a series of wooden docks lingered around a crystal clean lake.  Torchlight flickered in the grasp of multiple Luminards as they shuffled slowly back to their humble quarters.  The pilgrims took their time, following Nicro, humming and chanting after her lead.

They passed Theanim Mane who sat calmly on the edge of the docks.  As Nicro passed, her eyes swam his way.  A smile passed between the cleric and scientist, and soon the remnants of the Quade entered the lakeside huts, retiring for the evening.

On his lonesome, Theanim sighed.  He gazed up at the celestial ceiling stretching over the tranquil prefecture.  The goggles against his mane glistened with the grace of a kaleidoscope.  Moved beyond words, he reached into his saddlebag and produced a camera.  Licking his lips, he aimed the instrument so that the lens caught the tall limestone formations forming shadows against the starry backdrop.

But as soon as he struck the shutter button, the apparatus let loose a dull clunky noise.  The scientist was out of film.

"Phweeeeeeeee...."  He exhaled through a bittersweet smile.  "...figures."

His ears tickled to the sound of murmuring breaths.  He looked to his right.

A lone Luminard stood before a family of three.  A mother and father griffon stood with their tiny, trembling hatchling.

"These were woven by the most gifted siblings in my congregation," Sonikah said.  "I... was not present to observe their artistry, but I have faith that they put their best skill into it.  And... and it should protect your child for the extent of your journey back home."

The father chuckled through his beak.  "You need not explain."

"We observed the industry ourselves," the mother added.  "We know that your brothers and sisters do good work."  Her headcrest drooped as she smiled.  "It was... more than we expected when we first came to Sun Roost."

"We're really blessed.  Truly, we are."  The father blinked.  "Now we have a chance to reach home before the Month of Thawing is over.  It's all thanks to you."

Sonikah nodded.  "I am... happy that we could assist you in some fashion."

"And we're happy that you have a place here," the mother said.  "Your fellow pilgrim, Nicro, told us all about your arrival."

"Did she now?"  Sonikah raised an eyebrow.  "Was it done through a lyrical hymn?"

The parents chuckled.

Sonikah managed a smile.  "I... was wrong to misjudge her and the other ponies here at first," she said.

"I'm certain they will forgive you.  What's happening here is a marvelous thing," the father aid.  "We intend to spread the word."

Sonikah nodded.  She leaned over, staring at the young hatchling in the face.  "Are you feeling warm?  Ready for a safe trip home?"

The tiny catbird trembled slightly.  She backtrotted, standing between her mother's legs.  A few tiny chirps and squeaks escaped its stubby beak.

"It's... going to be a year at least before she masters equine words," the mother said.  "I assure you, she's not scared of you.  She's just shy."

"She has every reason to be," Sonikah said.  "Life makes humble souls out of all of us.  Sometimes too humble."  She gently reached a hoof out.  "I'm certain you two will guide her along the right path."

The hatchling looked at Sonikah's hoof.  Adjusting the sleeves on her talons, she reached out, grasped the pilgrim's fetlock, then leaned in to nuzzle her limb like a feline.

Sonikah smiled.

"Awwwwwww..."  The mother griffon chuckled.  "She learns fast."

"I... I see."  Sonikah cleared her throat.  She stepped back.  "I suppose you had best begin your journey."

"Yes... if we hope to reach our home by next evening."  The father gently lifted their daughter and positioned her safely between his wings.  Once she had a good grip, he looked at the Luminard.  "Thank you kindly, dear elder.  You've been more than gracious to us."

"Verlaxion's blessings, sister," the mother said, gesturing.

Sonikah hugged herself, then brushed a hoof across her left fetlock.  "And to you..."

The two griffons pivoted about.  Side by side, they lifted off, flying for the northeast horizon.

Sonikah stood on the docks, watching with glossy eyes.  She sniffled once or twice, her ears drooping.

"...is there something the matter, elder?" Theanim's voice quietly graced the night's air from behind.  "You... don't seem too cheerful, if I may be so bold."

Sonikah shuddered.  Without looking, she quietly replied, "You mistake humility for melancholy, Professor.  Being here in this place... reunited with my brothers and sisters in such a beautiful place is... somewhat overwhelming."

Theanim stood behind her at a length.  "I would say that I understood, but that would be an utter lie."

"Indeed it would be.  And yet... you understood the importance of bringing me here."

Theanim nodded.  "And do you?"

Silence.

At last, Sonikah turned around.  She inhaled, then murmured, "You're a good stallion, Professor.  Of that—I am quite convinced.  However..."  Her eyes narrowed.  "...you are always... always playing a game."

"Am I, now?"  Theanim smirked.

"Hmmmm..."  Sonikah squinted back.  "You gave up your time... your calling... your fortune and your resources to make this personal trip to Elm Prefecture to fetch me and my companions.  Even before you knew of Nicro's plight or Sun Roost, you endeavored to appeal to me... to enlighten me.  While I want to believe that it was completely and utterly devoid of ulterior motives, I must remember that you are—above all things—a scientist.  And a scientist rarely has a spiritual reason for doing anything."

"My pursuit—dear elder—is one aimed at uncovering the truth," Theanim said firmly.  "Above all things, truth is the one supreme virtue that must be preserved, no matter the cost."  He nodded towards her.  "You were in sore need of being shown the truth of your situation.  I would like to think that you've discovered it here."

"That I have.  And I am thankful."  Sonikah nevertheless sighed.  "But... I suppose gratitude is not enough for a stallion such as yourself."  She clenched her jaw muscles.  "You illuminated me when I needed it... so it is only fitting that I provide you with illumination in like turn."

Theanim took two quiet steps forward.  He leaned his ear towards her.  "I'm listening..."

Sonikah's soft eyes wandered the roosts.  "...when my fellow pilgrims and I were ferried to Frostknife, not all of us survived."  She swallowed hard.  "We were so miserable and destitute that we accepted such misfortune as Verlaxion's fate.  The crew knew this, I believe, and they treated us as less than vermin... as livestock that only had one purpose to serve before the Council, and then Mr. Brye Chandler and the rest of his organization would be done with us."

"Indeed."  Theanim Mane nodded.  "I've... assumed that for quite some time now."

"They thought so low of us, that they didn't expect us to have the intelligence to understand half of the things that we overheard," Sonikah muttered.  "But we did hear things... many things."  Her eyes met his in a glare.  "And we remember..."

Theanim stared at her.

Sonikah's brow furrowed.  "There is something terribly awry with the Consortium—and with the Council at large.  It is something horrible, evil, and festering.  At the time, this did not concern us.  But now... we have a greater stake in this world... and the beautiful things contained therein.  It would bring me great closure to relay such observations to you, dear Professor."

With a nod, Theanim briskly whipped out a notepad and twirled a pen at ready.  "I'm listening, elder..."





"Awwwwwwwwwwwww..."

"Yeesh, Flutters.  Keep at it, and you'll spill ghost drool all over the place."

"I just can't help it.  They look so adorable.  They're like... big white bunny rabbits with hooves."

"I must admit, they're a great deal more agreeable when they aren't uncontrollably leaking phlegm all over the place."

"Thanks for the input, Rarity..."

"Well, excuse me for acknowledging the good that we've done!"

"The good that Rainbow's done, you mean."

"Don't deny it, darling.  I was there; this was a group effort through and through."

"Still, you gotta give it up for Rainbow and her willingness to go the distance."

"True.  I like to think her tenacity has infected the rest of us."

"Yeah.  Who'd a thunk it?"

"Speaking of which, wouldn't she like to see this?"

"Yeah, probably."

"I'll wake her up."

"Nah, Twi.  You're not as good at it as I am.  Ahem... WAKE UP DASHIE!"

Rainbow Dash snorted, twitching in a rocking chair.

"YO!  DASHIE!  UP AND AT 'EM!"

"Snrkkkkt!"  Rainbow jolted awake, nearly falling out of the chair.  "Right!  Got it!"  She reached for a wooden bowl, juggling it in her hooves.  "Guh!  Friggin'... goddess darn—"

"Rainbow, relax!" Twilight hovered in front of her.

"But... b-but..."  Rainbow fluttered her tired eyelids.  "I gotta give Scoots the second dosage and—"

"Just take it easy," Twilight exhaled, waving her forelimbs.  "We'll do that.  It's gonna be okay."

"Why..."  Rainbow squinted at her.  "Why are you telling me to hold off?"  She suddenly paled.  "Ah jeez... did... did he—?"

"Rainbow, he's fine.  Better than fine, even."

"...he is?"

Twilight smiled, then hovered aside with a forelimb extended.

Rainbow leaned forward to see.

The stallion was sitting up in bed before the hearth, his blue eyes clean and clear.  A happy, content mare leaned against him, resting her wrinkled chin in the crook of his neck.  He gently stroked her gray mane while staring across the cottage.  His gaze met Rainbow's, and he murmured in a hoarse voice:  "Kaffneel, h-haam frahn."  He cleared his throat and smiled warmer.  "Verlaxion Haff V-veem..."

Fluttershy and Rarity exchanged grinning faces.

"Well then..."  Rainbow leaned back in her chair with a crooked smile.  "...that's a thing."
> Lift Me?  No, Lift YOU
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	One wobbly hoof after another, the old stallion trotted across the snowy lawn to the mountain cottage.  The elder mare shuffled alongside, assisting him with each step as he regained his bearings.  The two murmured to one another in the Snow Blood Tongue, with the stallion smiling and nodding between vaporous breaths.

Rainbow Dash watched them from across the morning-lit plateau.  Behind her, rams and sheep grazed between the stone fences of the farm.

"Well, I've heard of swift recoveries, but this is ridiculous!" Rarity exclaimed.

Pinkie squinted at her.  "Are you seriously complaining?"

"No.  Not particularly."  Rarity rubbed her neck with a sigh.  "Just... not used to things going our way."

"Not like we were outrunning the Talon to find a remedy that worked," Fluttershy murmured.

"Good point!"  Pinkie blinked.  She looked at Rainbow.  "What do ya think, Dashie?  Did we finally give them the slip or what?"

Rainbow cleared her throat.  Instead of replying to that, she looked at Twilight.  "You think we overdosed him on the medicine?"

Twilight shook her head.  "I just think the Snow Blood physiology is somewhat different from... well... Equestrian earth ponies.  These folk are obviously very strong and hearty.  I'm guessing their bloodstream is considerably more efficient than the likes of Pinkie or Applejack."

"I beg to differ!"  Pinkie stuck her tongue out.  "When cinnammon gets into my blood... whewwwwwww boyoooo!  Stuff is potent!"

Rarity chuckled.  "Well, at least they now know the ingredients in case a mountain wasp stings one of them again."

"Are we so certain of that?" Rainbow remarked.

"I saw it in their eyes, Rainbow."  Fluttershy winked aside.  "They know."

"Well, okay then, Mentalshy.  If you insist."  Rainbow sighed, gazing at the two elders as they shuffled through the snow.  "Who knows?  Maybe we just... like... cured an entire civilization of mountain wasp allergies."

"Wouldn't that be the bee's knees?!"  Pinkie Pie giggle-snorted.  "Get it?!?"

"Anywaaaaaaaaays..."  Rarity looked at the others.  "I certainly hope that means our job is done here.  Mayhaps we can carry on to Wyvern Point?"

"Definitely."  Twilight nodded.  "Although I'm sure these three would give us shelter for as long as Rainbow needs it."

"Is that... something we should accept?" Rarity remarked.  "I mean, generosity is generosity, but these aren't exactly wealthy individuals..."

"Don't worry, Rarity."  Fluttershy smiled.  "I'm certain they have plenty of goat cheese to spare."

"Yeah, okay."  Rainbow stretched her muscles.  "Time to go."  She scanned the mountain plateau with squinting eyes.  "Say, where's Sweetie Belle?"

"Don't look now!" Pinkie chirped, pointing.

With a creaking sound, the miniature mineshaft door's opened.

Rainbow looked over.

The young stallion came hobbling out with a bundle of gray cylinders strapped to his flank.  He saw Rainbow Dash, then made a bee-line for her.  "Haam frahn!  Emfava glaam seemdeel havaglaan!"

"Yeah, uh... it's been fun, dude," Rainbow spoke aloud.  "Glad your grandpappy is doing well and all, but I gotta hit the snow like... well... whatever it is in Rohbredden that hits snow and suddenly bamfs to Wyvern sanctuaries."

"I think he has something to give us, Rainbow," Fluttershy murmured.

The stallion stood before her, then held out the bundle of glossy pale cylinders.  "Hreff!  Sadrava mebeelem fava graam!  Klehm!"

Rainbow merely blinked at him.  "Errrr... sorry, but... unless there's a tattooed little filly around these parts that likes eating snow grasshoppers, I doubt I can understand a single word, buddy..."

The stallion merely smiled.  Keeping his eyes trained on Rainbow, he slid one cylinder out and lifted it in his grasp.  "Vreem?"  He winked, then shoved the rod into the snow.  Crunch.  Leaning forward, he breathed hotly on the length of the cylinder.

Within seconds...

Fl-Flasssh!  The cylinder strobed from top to bottom.  Toasty warm heat wafted from it, causing some of the nearby snow to melt and steam.

"OoooOoooOooh!" Pinkie cooed.  "Shiny!"

The stallion smirked and pointed at the heated object.  "Favo graamsam, vreem?"

"Uhhhhhhh..."  Rainbow stared at the rod while speaking aside.  "...egghead?"

"It's... it's a frost rod," Twilight murmured.  Her horn glowed as she stared at the glowing thing.  "Still enchanted!"

"I guess all the ones we stumbled upon in the mine earlier were duds," Rainbow remarked.  "But these three have a fresh, magical supply.  No wonder they're parked up here in the middle of nowhere.  This is friggin' snow-traveling gold."

"Does it work with Rainbow as well?" Pinkie remarked.  "Or does it only have Snow Blood triggers?"

"There's only one way to find out," Rarity said.

Rainbow leaned in.  She breathed on the heated cylinder.

It glowed even brighter in response, causing more steam to rise from the surrounding snow.

The stallion giggled, smiling up at Rainbow.  "Graamsam vedava, haam frahn, haat?"

"Heeheeeeee..."  Fluttershy hugged herself, smiling rosily.  "Can we take him with usssss?"

"Watch it, darling."  Rarity winked.

"Errr..."  Rainbow turned to the stallion.  "Haat.  Totally haat, dude."  She reached out and grasped the bundle of cylinders from him.

"Careful!"  Pinkie gestured.  "Don't breathe on them all at once, Dashie!"

"Boy, would that suck."  Rainbow slid the material protectively into her saddlebag.  After a deep breath, she said, "Well, Sweetie Belle... Scootaloo... Apple Bloom... it's been fun, but I gotta jet."  She contorted her muzzle while pointing northwest.  "Gotta.  Go.  Fast.  Now."  She pointed harder.  "Wyvern Point!"

"Haat!"  The stallion nodded fervently.  "Whyvernum Pointava!"  He scampered across the plateau.

Rainbow's eyes followed him, blinking.

At last, he reached the tall wooden structure at the edge of the mountain.  He yanked several ropes, then pulled a lever.  A dull groan issued from the interior apparatus.  Cussing in Snow Blood Tongue, he gave the tower a swift buck.  It groaned to life, and Rainbow witnessed as several ropes, gears, and pulley rattled against one another.

Slowly, she shuffled over to the mountain's edge.  Within minutes, a crickety wooden lift was drawn in by a series of far-stretching ropes.  They led to and fro from the lower hills to the northwest.

The stallion swiveled to face her with a proud smile.

"Heh..."  Rainbow drew the hood over her shaved head.  "...just what the doctor ordered."

"It's true what they say, isn't it?"  Rarity smirked.  "Virtue is its own reward."

"Hehehehe..."  Pinkie sighed.  "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh silly marshmallow."





Standing side by side on the edge of the mountain, the three Snow Blood farmers waved their pale forelimbs.  They smiled from a distance, shouting kind words in their lofty language.

Rainbow waved back—then grimaced as the entire lift beneath her wobbled.  She steadied herself, cautiously riding the flimsy wooden platform as it glided slowly northwest towards the far end of the windy pass.

"You okay, Rainbow?" Twilight asked.

"Oh yeah," Rainbow wheezed, trembling slightly.  She gripped the splintery edges of the lift with tight fetlocks.  "Just peachy."

"Oh please..."  Rarity smirked.  "Don't tell me that you're actually afraid of heights, darling."

"Of c-course not."  Rainbow cleared her throat, standing upright again and adjusting the weight of her saddlebags.  "I'm just less a fan of them when I've only got one wing working."  She gulped.  "And Celestia on a bike... I feel like a massive tank with all of this stuff clinging to me."

"It's all for the best," Twilight said.  "We've got a long way to go before Wyvern Point.  You need to keep warm any way you can."

"Thankfully those adorable Snow Bloods have given you the ticket," Fluttershy said.

"Flutters, why don't you marry them if you love them so much?"

"Heeheehee..."

"While it was a nice diversion," Rarity said, "It does feel good to be on the move again... and hopefully without the Talon to contend with."

"Well, I don't know about you gals, but..."  Rainbow sighed.  "...I think I really needed that."

Pinkie looked over.  "Needed what, Dashie?"

Rainbow smiled at the three atop the plateau as the farm drew more and more distant.  "I needed to feel like a hero again."

Fluttershy leaned in as if to nuzzle her.  "You've always been a hero, Rainbow Dash."

"You just... had to deal with a lot of obstacles," Twilight said.

"Yeah..."  Rainbow muttered.  "...a bunch of unsexy obstacles."  She turned and squinted northwest.

Row after row of snow-capped mountains loomed into the hazy distance.

"Hopefully it'll be enough to keep me going for a while."  Rainbow tightened her saddlebag straps and clenched her jaw muscles.  "Bring it on."





Elsewhere...

North of Sun Roost, a town rested in a forested junction of criss-crossing tade routes.

Ponies congregated in the marketplace, sharing brief Month of Thawing blessings in between business transactions.  There were stallions hailing from the north, dressed in thick winter wear.  Then there were ponies from the west wearing rice hats and green peasant wear.  Griffons flew overhead, clad in government issued armor as they resumed their countryside patrols.

With brisk steps, a pegasus in a flight jacket bounded out of a two-story stave structure.  He fumbled with a messenger bag, slipping a few last envelopes in.

"Hey Icewing!" a pony shouted from inside the building.  "Don't forget to swing by Feather Prefecture!  Word is that Frostknife is needing more recruits to reinforce the Central Guard!"

"Yeah yeah yeah..."  Icewing grumbled, strapping on a leather helmet.  "What am I, a town crier?"  He stretched his wings, preparing for the long flight again.  "Last year I do this during the Month of Thawing, I swear to Verlaxion..."

From across the street, a series of heavy hoofsteps bounded.

"You!  You right there!  Stay put!"

"No can do," Icewing grumbled.  "I've got my route to cover."

"Are you headed to Frostknife?"

"And how."

"Please..."  Theanim Mane came to a stop, wheezing.  "I must be taken there at once.  I'll pay anything."

"Hah!"  Icewing smiled bitterly.  "Fat chance, bud!"  He gestured at the stave structure behind him.  "You have any idea how overbooked the flight routes are now?!  If you wanted personal passage to Frostknife, you should have registered months in advance.  Tch... moron."

"You don't understand."  Theanim frowned.  He reached into his saddlebag and unrolled a scroll with an official seal.  "This is top priority."

The pegasus did a double-take.  Blinking, Icewing gawked at the scroll.  "You're... you're with the Scientific Order?"

"Affirmative."  Theanim Mane nodded.  "I must get to Frostknife immediately.  This is urgent business."

"Wouldn't a train be a more comfortable ride?"

"I can't afford to waste anytime.  Will you take me there?"

"I... uh..."  Icewing stammered.  "Of c-course!  Top priority is top priority!  I... I-I'm sorry, sir—"

"Mane.  Professor Mane.  And it's quite alright."  Theanim trotted up close, bracing himself.  "I know it's very unexpected."

The pegasus flapped his wings and grasped the scientist from behind.  "Be warned.  It's gonna be bumpy."

"Indeed."

"I promise to get you to the Council of Verlaxion p.d.q."

"Negative."  Theanim shook his head.  "Take me to the Frozen Shelves."

Icewing's eyes twitched.  "The... the prison?"  He nevertheless took off, carrying the Professor in his strong limbs as he glided north.  "Why in the heck would you wanna go to such a miserable place?"

"There's somepony I need to speak to on the double," Theanim shuddered, pocketing his scroll away.  "Time is of the essence... as it's n-never been before..."
> Swing Low, Sweet Bat Pony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Resting high above the icy gray waters of Frostknife's Bay...

High above the iron docks and the granite shelves and the wooden platforms built into the V-shaped canyon's west side...

Above the walkways and suspended buildings and lofty balconies...

...the largest entrance to the Frosted Shelves loomed.  The prison gates were enormous steel doors built into a rigid square frame carved into the icy stone surface of the wall.  No less than twenty members of the Central Guard stood at watch: griffons, unicorns, and pegasi clad in silver armor with windigo intaglio.  Those who weren't standing at stalwart attention were instead marching in patrol, covering every possible crevice and niche that could conceivably lead in or out of the sprawling labyrinthine facility.

It was here that Lieutenant Keris stood along with two other members of the Talon.  The three of them could not look any more out of place—their armor and feathers worn from days upon days of exhausting flight and combat.  While Sergeant Raptr and Sergeant Starstorm stood calmly along the edge of the frosted balcony before the doors, Keris paced and paced in an exceedingly anxious manner.

Raptr clenched his beak.  He gave Starstorm a nervous look.

Starstorm cleared her throat.  "Uhm... Lieutenant?"  She squinted at Keris' shuffling figure through her helmet.  "I mean no disrespect, but perhaps you would be better off in the Central Guard's Infirmary.  The rookie and I can wait here for the rendezvous.  Meanwhile, you can have that arm of yours looked at.  After all... just how many days have you gone with it in a sling?  Surely it needs a physician's expert eye."

"I've suffered worse injuries and endured greater lengths of time before recuperating," Keris murmured, continuing to pace.  "Right now, my duty is here... awaiting the Commander."

"She appears to have been delayed... uhm... sir..."

"Yes, but with what?"  Keris hissed under his breath, continuing to pace.  "With what?"

Raptr shuffled.

"Well, perhaps you could... cease pacing... s-sir?" Starstorm asked.

Keris shuffled to a stop.  His magenta eyes blinked at her.

She smiled nervously.  "I think it's making the rookie nervous."

"Hmmm..."  Keris looked over at Raptr.  "Is this correct, Sergeant?"

"Uhhhhh..."  Raptr glanced at Starstorm, then back at the Lieutenant.  He gulped.  "Maybe?"

Starstorm face-palmed.

"I must admit... I share the other Sergeant's concern for the well-being of your talon," Raptr said.  "It's been through a lot these past few days."

"We've all been through a lot, Sergeant.  Including the Commander."  Frowning, Keris squinted up into the skies.  "Where is she?"

"Look!"  Starstorm pointed towards the sky, causing a few nearby guards to jolt at attention.  "Incoming!  From the northwest!"

Keris exhaled with a small smile.  "Verlaxion be praised.  It's about time."  He turned to look—and instantly his headcrest drooped beneath his helmet.

From a long glide, Windburst landed with a shivering prisoner in his grasp.  He lowered Longaze onto her hooves, and a group of guards immediately rushed up to surround her.  Shuddering, the mare swiveled about and trotted into their company without protest.

Raptr blinked.  "...huh."

Windburst looked at Keris.  "Lieutenant."

"Sergeant..."  Keris squinted back.  "...where is the Commander?"

"She... uhm..."  Windburst cleared her throat, then stood up straight at attention.  "She decided to investigate the Central Harbors, sir."

Keris blinked, his beak agape.  "The... Central Harbors?"

"That is correct."

"To what end?"

Windburst gulped.  "She did not give too much clarification, although I suspect it's to investigate the Shoreline Trade Consortium even further."  His expert eyes narrowed.  "The last time I saw her, she was headed southwest..."

"That's..."  Raptr gaped at the others.  "...that would lead her back to Osmanthus Prefecture!"

"And... and..."  Starstorm glanced at the other guards, then leaned in to whisper to the Talon.  "We've got a report to give to the Council of Verlaxion!"

"I have a report to give to the Council."  Keris took a deep breath.  "I've put a lot of faith in the Commander.  But now... I'm starting to wonder if perhaps I've been putting too much faith."

Windburst looked over.  "She said that she would still meet with us, sir."

"And I'm sure she intends to, Sergeant."  Keris sighed.  "But... it's obvious now that she also intends to do a lot of other things, and I fear for what that might do to our image... much less the integrity of our authority here in Frostknife."

"She... she'll come around."  Raptr attempted to smile  "She's never let us down before!"

Silence.

"R-right...?"

"Her concerns are her concerns now, Sargeant," Keris said.  "Her actions have made that more than evident.  Right now... we still have several loose ends to look after."  He gestured the others to follow.  "Come with me."

"What would you have us do, Lieutenant?" Starstorm asked.

"For now, I wish to oversee the securing of this unicorn in the Frosted Shelves."  Keris followed the guards and Longaze towards the massive gate.  "Then... I suppose... I shall prepare the mother of all reports to present to the Council."

"I'm sorry that I didn't attempt to talk the Commander into flying with me, sir," Windburst said with a shudder.

"Do not blame yourself, Sergeant.  The Commander has more enemies in her life than all of Rohbredden combined.  If she must deal with them, then we can only extend the Goddess' blessing to her.  For now, we have much to contend with here in the heart of the continent."  Keris clenched his beak in mid-stride.  "The state of things is turning out to be far more complicated than we thought."

"What do you mean by that, sir?" Starstorm asked.

Keris replied, "Now, more than ever, I'm starting to suspect that our entire debacle with the Rainbow Rogue was a distraction.  Whether it was intended or not, I can't pretend to say.  But there's a great deal of blindness afflicting us, our Commander, and the Central Guard in general.  It fills me with great worry.  We must be vigilant..."





Meanwhile...

Far below, inside the dimmest, deepest reaches of the Frosted Shelves...

...an equine figure with leafy ears hung upside down.  He breathed in and out in calm motions.  Then—with seemingly no provocation—a pair of slitted eyes opened, reflecting the tiniest hint of meandering gray sunlight from far beyond his cell.

Within a minute, the hoofsteps of a guard clattered into existence.  A unicorn in silver armor marched around the corner.  He approached the bars of the cell and levitated an envelope out from under his breastplate.

"Hey... Midnighter."  The unicorn squinted at the rusted plaque above the cell, then back at the envelope.  "You go by 'Echo,' yes?"

A pair of fangs reflected the unicorn's glowing horn.  "I've been called much worse these past few days."  His ears twitched.  "But yes.  That would be my name."

"Mrmmfff... whatever."  The guard tossed the envelope limply onto the floor of the cell.  "Try not to get any of your guano on it."

"Charming."  Th-Thwisssh!  Echo flipped down from the ceiling and landed on spry hooves.  "Do you drool on your mother with that mouth?"

"Watch it, freak!"  The unicorn frowned, pointing a hoof.  "Or I'll come in there and nail those stupid ears of yours to the wall."

"Careful."  Echo bore a lazy grin.  "One bite from us, and I hear daylight stallions never get it to rise again."

The unicorn blinked, his frown disappearing in a flash.

Echo whispered, "All the... guano in the bloodstream, you see."  His eyelashes fluttered.  "Unless you want your girlfriend to shit out a poop baby."

The unicorn grumbled.  "'Bleak's pissant'... that's what you are."  And he turned tail and marched off.

Echo picked up the envelope.  It flopped in his grasp, and his brow furrowed.  "This has been opened."

"Of course it was, dipshit!" the guard spoke over the sound of his hoofsteps.  "What do you think we are?  Stupid?"

Echo opened the note and looked all over.  "And... there're no words on here.  Just a blank page with the sender's name at the bottom!"

A cackling voice echoed back.  "Sounds like you're the butt of some loser's dumb joke!  Hah!  Only fitting!"

As the sound of hoofsteps dwindled, Echo looked at the name on the bottom once again.  His velvety muzzle scrunched.

"...just who in the blue Hell is 'Jordan?'"
> In the Hills, She Holler
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash trotted north.

This was no easy task; half of the visible horizon was swallowed by mountains.  Polished ivory triangles of ice blue and stone gray sliced at the sky with jagged peaks.  Rainbow spotted a potential "pass" through two of the stouter ridges, but it was still a flagrant exercise in steep torture.  From afar, Rainbow could hear the shrill whistle of frigid winds howling between the rock structures.  It greeted her as she marched up a shallow incline of tundra and sporadic snowbanks.  Rainbow shivered from the cold—then shivered harder from knowing that there was still even more altitude to climb.

At last, she reached the highest point along the ridge between the two peaks.  Upon first the blink beyond the crest, she couldn't tell if she was looking north or south anymore.  An identical sea of sprawling snow peaks loomed ahead of her as well as behind.  With a dull sigh, the mare tightened her coat and marched onward to the next plateau.  She paced her hooves evenly so as not to accidentally tumble downhill.

Rarity spoke the most out of anypony during this journey.  Her muzzle was full of advice, directions, suggestions for alternate routes.  At one point, it was obvious to her as much as it was to everypony else that she was overcompensating for the situation.  There was simply no way to make Rainbow Dash's trek any less arduous.  All the pegasus or her marefriends could do was wait it out... while Rainbow Dash walked it out.

"Well, look on the bright side," Twilight randomly sputtered.  She smiled at Rainbow as she attempted to crawl through a swath of powdery snow.  "You got yourself some good practice in the Grand Choke, right?  I mean... you couldn't fly for most of that either."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow grunted, floundering to scale a hill of deep snow.  "Mrmmmfff... but I also wasn't plot deep in friggin' ice and sleet."

"Erm..."  Twilight bit her lip.

"And I had pretty much lost my mind at the time, so almost all of it's a blur to me now," Rainbow added.  "Today, I'm as sane and cold as I am flightless."

Twilight folded forelimbs with a pout.  "Well, forgive me for trying to be optimistic."

Rainbow did, and she pressed on.  Two ridges later, she found a stretch of plateau between mountainsides.  Here, the snow layer was thin, replaced instead by a chaotic assortment of gravel and loose pebbles.  Twilight claimed that it was likely a spot of exposed limestone from when and where an ancient ice shelf had once slid across the earth's surface.  Rainbow merely kicked the tiny rocks aside and kept on trotting.

Beyond the next ridge, Rainbow encountered a windblown valley absolutely covered in rolling mounds of snow.  This was somehow worse to deal with than the mountains, for the reflective white material was literal murder to the poor pegasus' eyes.  It certainly didn't help that the sky above the mountains was a crystal clear blue with a bright golden sun shining the entire time.  Rainbow found herself squinting throughout the entire march, and she could already feel her face blistering from the solar exposure.

Sympathizing with her plight, the ghostly mares came up with a plan.  They talked Rainbow Dash into drawing her hood completely over her face.  Although she was blind from it, the four coordinated with one another to survey the landscape and give Rainbow audible directions for how to proceed safely.  Rainbow wobbled from side to side at first, but soon she and her incorporeal companions discovered a rhythm.  The mare relaxed for the first time in hours, and she shuffled forward at an even pace, mostly paying heed to Rarity's words as she directed her safely up and over each surmounting hilltop.

The day came to a close.  The sun was so low that the snowscape was no longer punishing.  Rainbow Dash raised her hood and squinted at the landscape ahead.  A dull purple shadow hung over the east ends of the mountains as the setting sun sank beyond.  Razor-edged beams of darkness issued eastward from the tallest peaks, making it look as though the whole world was spinning to the left with oozing motion blur.  All the while, Rainbow kept heading northwest—as best as she could judge from Yaerfaerda's position to her right.





Schlunkkk!

Rainbow stuck a frost rod into a patch of snow.  She leaned her muzzle forward and breathed against it.  Sure enough, it glowed from top to bottom in a pale gray light.  Rainbow shuddered delightfully from the heat being generated, and she proceeded with pitching a tent along the south edge of a mountain, blocked from direct wind.

Meanwhile, her friends were arguing...

"Rainbow's a tough mare, Rarity!" Twilight exclaimed.  "She can handle a steep incline!"

"I'm not denying that, Twilight."  Rarity upturned her nose.  "But I don't see why she should.  There are plenty of even plateaus for her to traverse around the mountain peaks!"

"Yeah... but those plateaus take three times as long to traverse!"  Twilight frowned.  "Rainbow's running on borrowed time!  And very little of it!  It's enough that we have to travel away from the next beacon!  We shouldn't be putting off her next rendezvous with Yaerfaerda any longer with all of these unnecessary detours!"

"Look, I'm the best scale Rainbow has to measure a safe and secure path through these mountains, Twilight!  Who's going to help her get to Wyvern Point?  You?!  Oh!  I know!  Let's have Fluttershy guide her by steering her past all the mountain goats!"

"Uhm..."  Fluttershy bit her lip.  "...actually, I-I haven't sensed a single living thing since we left the Snow Bloods back at the farm."

"Oh, now you're keeping an eye out for things!"  Pinkie Pie grumbled.  "Where were you when somepony needed to remind Rainbow Dash about the map of Rohbredden that she left inside the runaway train?!"

"Well?"  Fluttershy frowned back at her.  "Where were you?"

"Alright, look. Pinkie Sense is really... really distracting, okay?!"

"Well one of us should have thought of that map!"  Twilight exclaimed.  "We can't pin it all on Rainbow Dash!  She was doing all she could at the time to shake the Talon—"

"Let's... not worry about the map, okay?" Rainbow muttered as she finished with the tent and crawled inside.  "I've still got a few of Sinar's scribbles left.  I'm sure I can figure out where Wyvern Point's situated—"

"Yeah, in about a week!"  Twilight Sparkle grit her teeth.  "Because at this rate, Rarity won't stop treating you with foal's gloves—"

"Well excuuuuuse me, Twilight, if I want our dear beloved Austraeoh to reach Wyvern Point in one piece!  Lest we forget, she's going to need me all the same for the edge and the dark side beyond!"

"She's going to need you?!"  Twilight cackled.  "Pffft!  The dark side is full of chaos and Celestia-knows-what!  She's going to need my magic sensitivity for sure!"

"Uhm... hello?!"  Pinkie frowned.  "'Chaotic' is my middle-name!  Sandwiched between 'Diane' and 'Scrumptious!'"  She twisted her head upside down and stuck her tongue out.  "Pinkie senses for the winnnnnnnnnnn!"

"Can we please stop arguing?" Fluttershy shivered.  "Please..."

"Fluttershy's right," Rainbow said, lying down and warming her hooves before the frost rod.

Twilight and Rarity spun to look at her.  "But—"

"Put a cork in it!"  Rainbow snarled.  "Yeesh... if this is what a bunch of dumb mountains will do to you girls, I'm scared to even think about Bleak's Plummet."

Silence.

Twilight and Rarity hung their heads.  After a shuddering breath, they murmured to one another.

"I'm sorry, Rarity."

"No, I'm the one who's sorry, Twilight.  I just... feel so stressed."

"At least you have an excuse.  I feel just about as helpless as Fluttershy out here in these mountains."  Swallowing a lump down her throat, Twilight pivoted to face Rainbow.  "I don't know how you do it, Rainbow... how you remain cool during so much... nothing."

"Believe me..."  Rainbow's teeth chattered as she embraced the glow of the rod.  "It's... n-no trouble staying cool in this friggin' continent."  She bore a brief smirk before coughing.  "Ahem... and... I-I'm the one who should be sorry for the map."

"You were juggling so much at once, Rainbow," Fluttershy cooed.  "Pinkie's right.  I could have done a better job being your eyes and ears when you needed them.  We all could."

"Yes..."  Pinkie sniffled, her ears drooping.  "And 'Scrumptious' really isn't one of my middle names."  A whimper.  "I made it uppppppp..."  She broke into sobs.

"Erhm..."  Rarity shifted awkwardly.  She reached over and patted Pinkie's shoulder.  "There... there...?"

"You should get some sleep, Rainbow," Fluttershy said.  "I think we all should."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow gulped, glancing into the glow right in front of her.  "Although... uhm..."

"What is it, darling?" Rarity asked.

"If... if it's not too much to ask?"  Rainbow's hooves squirmed against a leather sleeping mat.  "Could... mmmm... one of y-you stick around?  While I sleep?"

Twilight bilnked.  "You're expecting more nightmares again?"

"Yeah, well..."  Rainbow bore a tiny smile.  "It'd at least be a relief that... if I wake up screaming... th-that I wouldn't be so alone when I wake up."  She cleared her throat.  "You've no idea how dark it can get out here in the middle of nowhere."

The mares exchanged glances.

"Of course it's not too much to ask, Rainbow," Fluttershy said with a smile.  She drifted over and sat by her side, phasing slightly through the tent as she did so.  "I will be right here all night."

"You sure?"

Fluttershy winked.  "Pinkie Pie swear."

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"  Pinkie fell back.  "Shnorrrrrrrrrrrr!"  She vanished into lavender light.

Twilight rolled her eyes, then stifled a squeaky yawn.  "Good night, Rainbow Dash.  Here's to a long journey tomorrow."

"Only the longest..."  Rainbow waved at Twilight and Rarity as they both vanished into the light.  She sighed.  "That's never going to stop sending chills up my spine."

"Forget about it," Fluttershy said.  "Just close your eyes and rest."

Rainbow shuddered, lying down on her belly.  "One good thing about traveling west."

"Yes?"

Rainbow closed her eyes.  "I don't have to have Yaerfaerda staring me down as I try to sleep."

"Let's not think about that right now.  Oh!  I know!  Want me to tell you a bedtime story?"

"Mmmmmmmm..."  Rainbow Dash nuzzled her sleeping mat as her breaths grew more and more softly apart.  "Nah."

"...how about a lullaby?"

"... ... ..."  Rainbow Dash swallowed.  "...maybe a short one."

"Heehee..."  Fluttershy's wings fluttered.  "Considered it done."

And Rainbow Dash smiled rosily into the darkness.
> Trusted Friends and Tin Foils
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Hey!"

Rattling chains.

"Freak!"

Echo's slitted eyes opened.  "I swear."  His fangs glistened in the dark as he grumbled, "When it rains, it shits."

Nevertheless, the guard grunted, "You've got a visitor!"

"Oh please, darling."  Echo tilted his head about from where he hung and purred at the cell doors.  "Anypony who longs for my soft fuzzy flank that much can settle for 'home owner.'"

"Mrmmmfff... whatever."  The guard opened the doors and took a step back...

...allowing a breathless Theanim Mane to step forward.

"Oh."  Echo blinked.  In a heartbeat, he leapt down to his hooves and stood before the stallion.  "Well, I guess there's that, then."

Clang!  The doors rattled shut behind the Professor.  "No funny business, midnighter!  I mean it!"  He marched away.

Echo craned his neck after him as he trotted down the prison corridor.  "Think nothing of it, my love.  The Mother of Nightmares has a warm, moist cave prepared for you and me alone!"  A beat.  He turned to wink at his friend.  "Best that you don't let them choose how they get entertained, am I right?"  He yawned, performing a brief sonic shriek in the process.  "Iiiiiiiee... still... mmrmmfff..."  He stretched his back like a cat.  "I've imagined worse honeymoons in my life."

"Please, old chap," Theanim stammered.  "Now is not the time for vaguely homoerotic jocularity!"

"Holy shit."  Echo blinked.  "Things must be serious for something that atrocious to come out of your science hole."  He shuffled over and leaned against the cell wall with a sigh.  "What's up, buddy?  Beside my head, of course."

Theanim adjusted his goggles and whispered.  "Have you gathered your wits about you yet?"

Echo's slitted eyes bounced around.  "Uhhhh..."  He squinted at Theanim with a frown.  "If you're asking me whether or not the psychological side effects from years and years of huffing coral like a frenzied bum have dwindled from my inner being, then you can go buck yourself, ya selfish impatient prick."  He nevertheless cleared his throat.  "But... for what it's worth... mmmmmyeah... I'm no longer seeing lobsters with top hats and razor-thorned tits in the wall... or whatever."

"Good."  Theanim gulped.  "Then I need you to remember.  Back in Rust... back in Mud Top... you ran circles with the Syndicate..."

"And then some.  Yeah.  We all know this, Theams."  Echo cocked his head to the side.  "What are ya sniffing at?"

"Did you ever cross paths with a certain character named Monket?"

"Pffft.  Unfortunately.  Nasty Mister Bastard still owes me for a bunch of Peace Foam I smuggled for him while I was splitting hairs with Revan."

"Peace Foam?"

"Erm..."  Echo fidgeted.  "A... sissy name ponies in the business give for a sedatitive that's administered to the slaves bred at Mudtop so that they're less resistant to forced labor."  Echo gulped.  "Among other things."  He brushed a shaky hoof through his mane.  "You know, Theams... for all my sass, I really... really don't thank you enough for pulling my sorry ass out of all that crud."

"Well, if you wish to pay me back, now's the time, Old Chap."

"Name it, Goggles."

"I've spent the last twenty-four hours situating myself here in Frostknife and doing an extraordinary amount of paperwork.  However... I do believe I've finally gotten the permission I need to seek an audience with an imprisoned former member of the Syndicate."  Theanim's eyes narrowed.  "And I just had it authorized for you to join me."

"Uhhhh..."  Echo blinked.  "What former member of the Syndicate?"

Theanim took a breath.  "Boss Jeryn of the Southern Hoof."

"Hah!"  Echo snorted.  "That slimy queef magnet?!  Pffft... I'm done with his sorry ass.  Unless."  He blinked.  "The Council's finally ready to conduct an investigation?"

"No."  Theanim shook his head.  "This is all my choosing.  I have reason to believe that Jeryn knows a great deal about the Consortium and it's secret, sordid connections with the criminals of Mudtop and beyond.  Jeryn is one link in a chain.  Monket is the other.  If I can piece them together, then I can prove a connection between the Syndicate and the Consortium—which exposes a very alarming conspiracy that reaches to the very courtyard of the Council of Verlaxion itself!"

"You're going after Brye Chandler's head?!"  Echo grimaced.  "What the hell, Theams?  I thought you were off skirt-chasing Luminards in order to figure out what made Rainbow Dash go nuts!"

"And I just got back with speaking to them," Theanim said.  "Elder Sonikah was so kind as to give me a very personal testimony of her voyage from the Quade to Frostknife.  She related several frightening details about the Consortium and its connection to various insidious organizations.  Tell me... have you ever heard of Top Dredger Skagra?"

"Uhhh... yeah."  Echo nodded.  "Some... half-headed pretender with a death-wish who runs Red Barge.  Or—at least—he used to.  Word around the Frozen Shelves is that he took a major dip in the ocean and now a bunch of dredge coal is up for grabs."

"Dredge coal that the Consortium has had a major investment in."  Theanim nodded.  "I think it's no coincidence that Skagra bottomed up while Chandler's been enjoying a disproportionate amount of popularity and attention as of late with the Council.  I need to know more about what happened on board that ship the Luminards rode here.  Since I can't even pretend to seek an audience with the infamous Monket, I must settle for Jeryn."

"And since he and I have history together..."  Echo squinted.  "...you think that I'm the right stallion to leverage against him... make the milk-drinker crack."

"Affirmative."

"And exactly what did you tell the warden of the Frosted Shelves that convinced him to allow this sort of... dual interview?  Or are your Sciency Balls just that huge?"

"Erm..."  Theanim looked over his shoulder.  His goggles rattled in the shadows.  "I claimed that we're here to... erm... prepare a detailed testimony about the 'Rainbow Rogue's crimes across the Seven Seas.'"

"So, let me get this straight."  Echo's fangs glinted.  "You, Professor Theanim Mane, Purveyor of Truth in Rohbredden, as Goddess Verlaxion is our witness, are fabricating a huge-ass lie and soiling Rainbow Dash's good name just to cover your ass while you try to unravel some stupidly improbable conspiracy?"

"Erm..."  Theanim gulped and nodded.  "As a manner of speaking."

"That's super dirty, dishonest, and shitty."  Echo produced smiled as his slitted eyes lit up.  "I am so on board."

"You're certain you're up for this, Old Chap?"

"Hell bucking yes, I'm up for this.  It's too cold in this damned cell to clop anyways."  Echo shuddered.  "Let's go before the blood rushes back to my butt and I change my mind."

"You must allow me to do the majority of the speaking, friend," Theanim said.  "This is a highly delicate situation, and I want Jeryn to be as much in the dark about our purposes as the warden."

"So the veil's over his eyes too.  Got it."  Echo nodded.  "Wouldn't be the first time."  He raised an eyebrow.  "Why all the friggin' secrecy, anyways?  The Consortium doesn't own the Frosted Shelves, y'know.  The Syndicate controlled this place from the inside more than anypony else."

"It's not the Consortium I fear," Theanim said.  "Nor what's left of the Syndicate.  But rather..."  He shuddered.  "...I was rather rattled by the sights and sounds of Frostknife when I arrived yesterday.  Everypony in the capitol appears on edge.  In fact, there's talks of angry verbal disputes in the Court and... and..."

"And what?"

Theanim gulped.  "The Talon are delaying their report of the hunt for the Rainbow Rogue.  It's been weeks, Echo."

"You think Rainbow gave them the slip?"

"I wouldn't doubt her of being capable," Theanim remarked.  "Especially if she has more invisible companions at her side by now.  Even still... something is ahoof.  Something rancid.  You can feel it in the air of this place."

"Yeah, no shit."  Echo nodded.  "It's like something's about to blow.  And... y'know... the strangest thing happened to me."

"Oh?"

"You said you just showed up yesterday?"

"That's correct."

"You... didn't send me a letter or anything?"

"I ordered a telegram or two.  Why?"

"... ... ..."  At last, Echo shuffled over to the cot, reached under the pillow, and procured an envelope.  He came marching back.  "I'm guessing this wasn't one of them."

Theanim slid his goggles down over his eyes and scrutinized the letter.  His brow furrowed above the lenses.  "Why..."  He lifted the goggles, blinking at Echo.  "...this is blank."

"So I'm not going crazy."

"And who is 'Jordan?'"

Echo shrugged.  "Was hoping you'd know.  It's not the guard's name; that's for sure.  The letter's not perfumed."

"Curious and curiouser..."  Theanim rubbed a hoof across the sheet.  "...would you mind if I take this?"

"I wouldn't mind if you pissed on it."

"Something about the texture of this paper..."  Theanim murmured out loud.  "...could be some sort of enchanted lettering."  He sniffed the surface.  "No doubt legible with the right kind of chemical.  But which one?"  He bit his lip.  "And who is this 'Jordan?'"

"You don't suppose it's from Rainbow?"

Theanim looked at Echo.

Echo fidgeted.  "I... honestly don't know anypony else who would write me."

Theanim exhaled.  "We'll fix that in due time, Old Chap."  He patted Echo's shoulder.  "I promise.  I will get us out of this mess."

"Yeah, well..."  Echo smiled faintly.  "Let's work on the mess Rohbredden is in, huh?"

"Right."  Theanim knocked his hoof against the bars.  The guard's hoofsteps returned as he muttered, "After all the messes we've been in, it should be a veritable sleigh ride."

"Wow.  Nice snow segue."
> Seven Degrees of Kevin Buckin'
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash's hooves crunched through a frosted snowbank as she trudged her way up yet another hilltop.  Her breaths came and went in dull vapors.  Eyes squinting, she rounded the top of the hill, then stood for a few silent seconds, surveying a sprawling plateau full of wind-blasted mounds between there and the next mountain.

"This is growing terribly monotonous," Rarity moaned.

"Let's not rub it in, Rarity," Twilight said.  She turned towards Rainbow Dash.  "If you need a break, Rainbow, just say the word."  She forced a smile.  "There's plenty of sunlight left."

Rainbow gulped.  "No."  She pressed onward, marching over the soft snow.  "No time for resting.  Gotta make it to Wyvern Point before my supplies run out or..."  She gulped.  "Or worse."

"And you're making good speed, Rainbow," Twilight said.  "We've covered a lot of distance."

"Yes, well, it won't be that easy once we reach those mountains," Rarity said, pointing at the looming peaks that consumed the northwest horizon.  "I'm still feeling for a suitable face for climbing."

"Uhm... does anypony else feel that?" Fluttershy murmured.

"Feel what?" Twilight asked.

"I... I don't know..."  Fluttershy's brow furrowed.  "For some reason, I'm feeling very... uneasy."

"What for, Flutters?" Rainbow asked.

"Lemme guess!"  Pinkie phased into view, her voice cracking as she flung her hooves at the pale expanse.  "Is it all the endless snow laughing at us every hour of every day with its... snowy snowiness?!"

"Honestly, Pinkie..." Rarity face-hoofed.

"No, I mean it!  This is beyond cruel!"  Pinkie pouted.  "So much of a winter wonderland and not being able to toss snowballs?!"  She dipped her forelimb through the cold earth below.  "No making snow ponies or horse angels?"  The sound of a dog whimper escaped her muzzle.

"Let's just focus on the journey ahead of us," Twilight said.  "Ahead of Rainbow."  Her eyes narrowed.  "Once we get her to the Midnight Armory, then we can talk about a future where we're able to play in the snow again!"

"This... is very strange..."  Fluttershy murmured.  "I feel... I-I feel like someone is watching us."

"Where?"  Twilight Sparkle spun about.  "Is it the Talon?"

"No.  Not the Talon.  It's..."  Fluttershy bit her lip.  "...it's not in the air.  I... I-I just can't describe it."

"Maybe it's Remna?" Rainbow Dash wheezed as she marched over another snowbank.  "It's friggin' about time I ran into her."

"It's not a pony either.  Or, if it is, it's a bunch of ponies."  Fluttershy gulped.  "I've never sensed anything like this before."

"Well, now you're starting to alarm us, darling," Rarity said, turning to blink at Fluttershy.  "I don't suppose experiencing the absence of other ponies for so long has made you aware of other more subtle living things?"

"Like grass... lichen... or even large colonies of bacteria?" Twilight remarked.

"No.  I don't think it's that."  Fluttershy's ears twitched.  "I just started sensing this within the hour, and—"  Her eyes widened all of the sudden.

Rainbow scuffled to a stop.  "What is it?"

"Wowie-zowie!"  Pinkie Pie suddenly reeled.  Her eyelashes batted in alternate patterns against her control.  "Now that's a Pinkie sense and a half!"

"Pinkie too, now?!"  Rarity gaped.

"What's the eyelash thing mean, Pinks?" Rainbow asked.

"I... I-I dunno, Dashie!"  Pinkie rubbed her fuzzy forehead and winced.  "Doesn't feel good, that's for sure!"

Rarity sighed.  "Next thing we know, Twilight's horn is going to wild with magic sensitivity—"

"Uhhhhh..."  Twilight bit her lip, touching her glowing forehead.  "...girls?"

Rarity barked, "Oh you've got to be kidding me!"

"What is it, Twi?" Rainbow asked.

"I... I don't know."  Twilight gulped.  "It's faint, but very... very large."

"Huh?"

"It's hard to put into words.  But... b-but I haven't felt this since..."  Twilight's ears folded back.  She swiveled her head to face Rainbow.  "...Ultimo."

Rainbow Dash paled.  She glanced at her left to see Pinkie Pie—overwhelmed with spasms—falling through the snow.  She looked to her right.  "Fluttershy?"

"It..."  Fluttershy sputtered in a dry voice.  "...it's getting closer."

"But what is 'it'?"

"Uhm..."  Rarity lifted her ghostly hooves off the snow.  "The ground is shaking..."

Sure enough, the snow and frost beneath Rainbow was cascading downhill in separate directions.  The air rumbled from a dull vibration, increasing in intensity by the second.

Rainbow fidgeted, glancing all around.  At last, she shared a glance with Fluttershy.

Fluttershy gulped and pointed southeast.

Rainbow followed the path of her forelimb.

In the distance, a suspicious mound rose from beneath the snow.  The lump was surging towards Rainbow... and fast.  The closer it came, Rainbow could make out the rear of the shape lashing from side to side like a gigantic serpent's.

"Uhhhhh..."  Twilight floated nearby, shivering.  "...Rainbow?!"

At last, the snow burst.

Rainbow's eyes twitched.

A supple mass of stone blue scales emerged from the snow.  The front of it crested into a pink head with lifeless, slitted eyes, marked with red streaks.  A red neck frill flared out, and the creature's front split in three, exposing a spongy pink maw lined with barbed teeth and flaring black tendrils.

"Shriiiiiiiii-iiiiiii-iiiiiii!"

"Aaaackies!"  Pinkie pointed.  "Big thing!  Big ugly thing!"

"Actually, it's a giant frost wyrm of the tatzl variant—!" Twilight began.

"I like Pinkie's description better!"  Rainbow turned and galloped down the snowbank.  "Time to dodge the big ugly thing—!"

POWWW!  The creature's muscular momentum sent it plowing through the snowy hilltop.  Its body surged through the mountain air, tri-partate jaws snapping at Rainbow Dash's flesh.

"Grnngh!"  Rainbow threw herself forward and landed on her belly.  The giant wyrm flew overhead, missing her skull and spine by mere inches.  When it slammed back into the earth, it burrowed instantly, filling the immediate vicinity with massive tremors.  Rainbow looked up, panting.

"Is... is it g-gone?" Pinkie squeaked.

"No!  No!"  Rarity stammered.  "The ground beneath us is forming sudden tunnels.  Rainbow Dash, it's coming back!"

"Beneath us!"  Fluttershy yelped.  "Rainbow, move—"

"Httt!"  Rainbow rolled to the side.

A burst of snow and rock exploded right where she was.  The air filled with debris as the wyrm's head lifted high, flaring wild and bright like a large flower.

Shivering, Rainbow Dash threw herself back on her forelimbs and galloped due north.

"Shriiii-iiii!!"  The wyrm thrashed its head towards Rainbow.  Several black tendrils were flung in her direction.

"Dashie!"  Pinkie shouted.  "Dodge left!"

Rainbow did as commanded.  TH-THAP!  The snow to her right exploded from a thorned tentacle.

"Right!"

Rainbow hopped again.  CRACK!  An exposed boulder to her left exploded.  She forced her way through the rain of pebbles, then slid swiftly down a steep snowbank on the north side.  "Gaaaaah!"

The ground shook once more.

"It's burrowing again!" Rarity exclaimed.

"It must have an echanted spatial sensitivity gland at the core of its nervous system!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed.  "There are creatures similar to this in Equestria's bestiary!  Rainbow, so long as you're grounded, it'll know where you are!"

"Then how can we make it unknow me?!" Rainbow grumbled, reaching the flat plateau and breaking into another gallop.  "Huh?!  Options, girls!"

"Uhm..."  Pinkie Pie fidgeted.  "Sing its song?"

"Its belly is empty!"  Fluttershy exclaimed.  "I don't think the poor thing has eaten in months!"

"Then adopt the dang thing—!" Rainbow shouted, only to be interrupted by a loud shriek.  She looked up behind her.

The wyrm was bursting out the top of the snowbank that Rainbow Dash had slid down.  Its scales glistened for the entirety of the time it was airborne.  At last, it struck the snow again.  This time, it remained surfaced, gliding after Rainbow Dash like a snake atop whitewater.

"What I mean is that this thing won't stop until it's had a meal!"  Fluttershy gulped.  "It's either it or us!"

"Not sure I c-could skin the dang thing even if I wanted to!" Rainbow hissed, struggling to outrun the beast.

"The mountains!"  Rarity pointed at the nearest peak.  "The foothills are pure stone!  Rainbow, if you could just make it to a stone foundation—"

"That's like fifty hoofball fields away!" Pinkie cackled.

"And we don't know how powerful this thing is!" Twilight said.  "It could burrow through stone just as easily as snow!"

"So far, it's the best idea I've heard!" Rainbow huffed and puffed.  "Foothills it is!"

"Better go fast, Rainbow—"  Fluttershy's voice was cut off by another piercing shriek.

Rainbow looked behind.

The wyrm caught up to her.  Its pink crest spun like a drill.

"That forward momentum—!"  Twilight gasped.

"Right!"  Rainbow turned tail, suddenly galloping towards the beast.

"Aack!  Dashie, what are you—?!"  Pinkie's voice was muffled by Rarity hugging her and shrieking.

Rainbow didn't break her stride for a second.  As the air between her and the monster vanished, she leapt hard, hooves making contact with the monster's neck.

The red frill of the wyrm flared outward.

"Ooomf!"  Rainbow tripped, tumbling forward.  She rolled across the scaled length of the monster, bouncing two or three times.  At last, the creature passed beneath her, and Rainbow collapsed in the deep trench left behind the thing's lashing tail.

With a frustrated growl, the beast raised up, then plunged its head once more.  A spray of snow flew sky high, then settled.

"It's... it's burrowing again!" Fluttershy stammered.

"Quick, Rainbow!" Twilight hovered next to Rainbow's collapsed figure.  "Head for the hills!  While it's turning about!"

"Mrmmmfff..."  Rainbow Dash pushed herself back onto her hooves.  "Dirty rotten freak.  That's against the rules."  She gritted her teeth, wincing.  "Shoulda stuck to caves..."

"Move, Dashie!  Move!"

"Moving!"  With a wheeze, Rainbow sprinted north.  "Moving and a half!"

"Faster!  Faster, darling!"  Rarity exclaimed.  "So long as you're above ground, you have less friction than that thing to slow you down!"

"Uhm..."  Fluttershy pointed behind the group.  "It's still coming up fast!"

"The magic is intensifying!" Twilight added.

"Rrrgggh..."  Rainbow panted vaporously, eyes locked on a gray swath of stone beyond the last layer of snow.  "Just what I need.  A shoutcast for my d-death..."

"Go, Dashie!"  Pinkie pointed at the mountain's foothills.  "Go go go go go go!"

The air exploded with shrieks and powdered snow.

"It's surfacing—!"  Fluttershy yelped.

Rainbow felt a hot, moist breath against her flank.

"Rggght!"  Rainbow launched herself forward...

...and landed on granite ground.

THUD!  The beast's momentum came to a stop against the rock-solid earth.

"Yes!"  Rarity pumped a hoof in the air.  "Smashing, darling!"

"Ha!"  Pinkie spun about, sticking her tongue out.  "How do you like that, you dirty, dirty earthworm?"

"SHRIII-III-III!"  The beast reared its frilled neck back, then thrusted it forward again with a gross squirting noise.

Thw-Thw-Thwppp!  A mass of tendrils flew true and coiled around Rainbow's legs.

"Gah!"  Rainbow fell on her belly, being dragged backwards.

"Ah jeez!"  Pinkie bit onto her fetlocks.  "That's even dirtier!"

"Rainbow!" Twilight gasped.

Breathless, Rainbow spun about with wide eyes.

The thorned tentacles of the beast were pulling Rainbow down the stone slope and towards its glistening pink maw.  Serrated teeth dripped with moisture while poisonous veins throbbed in the direction of a rank, slimy esophagus.

"There's no coming out of that, Rainbow!" Fluttershy yelped.  "I know venom when I see it!"

"Rrggh!"  Rainbow kicked and kicked and kicked at the organic material coiled around her legs.  "Let... go... you oversized demon t-turd!"

"Something sharp, Rainbow!"  Rarity squeaked, eyes twitching at the distance dissipating between the beast and its fuzzy blue prey.  "Slice it!  Cut it, s-somehow!"

"Uhhh... uhhhhhhhh..."  Rainbow fumbled around in her backpack.  She pulled out a hatchet that the Desperadoes had given her.  "How's this?!"  She swung the blade with all her might.

CRACK!  The thing shattered to a dozen shards.

"Shoot!" Pinkie blurted.  "It's like Taffy from Tartarus!"

"Rainbow..."  Twilight murmured.  "...there is something else..."

"I know... I know!"  Biting her bottom lip, Rainbow Dash pulled out a frost rod.  She trembled, then glanced down again.

Steam rose off the exposed throat of the beast in the cold mountain air.  The vapors rippled up Rainbow's flank and legs.  Rancid moisture clung to her hairless tail.

"Yeah, no..."  Rainbow reached her hoof into her saddlebag and pulled out all of the Frost Rods.  Bundling them in a spare cloak, she breeeeeathed on the pale cylinders.

They instantly flickered to life.  Brighter than the sun, the combined heat of the rods made the bundle of cloth catch fire in Rainbow's hooves.

"Aaaaugh!"  Rainbow yelped.  Her eyes teared from burning pain, and yet she summoned the strength to aim the cluster of rods like a javelin and—"Nnnngh!"—throw it down the beast's maw.

When the frost rods struck its esophagus, the enchanted material burned through like a hot knife through butter.  The air filled with a fine red mist, and Rainbow smelled the creature's bowels burning in cold air.

"SHRIII-iii-III-iii!!!"  With a pained whimper, the creature's tentacles went limp.

Panting, Rainbow scampered out of the thing's reach.

But the beast was already sinking, lashing about in untold agony.  There was a puff of smoke—coated with evaporating blood—and then the thing disappeared completely beneath a bubbling puddle of melted snow.

Rainbow slumped across the stone foothills of the mountain, struggling to catch her breath.  On limping muscles, she crawled to the snow's edge and thrust her burnt fetlocks into the cold frost.  She clenched her jaw shut, seething through her teeth as she allowed the adrenaline of the moment to be replaced with steadfast pain.

Her heart pulsed... pulsed... pulsed...

At last, she reopened her eyes, staring sweatily across the mountains and snow.

Her friends hovered close by, slowly calming down.  They exchanged nervous glances.

"Fluttershy...?" Rarity breathed.

The mare sniffled.  "I know it's the only choice Rainbow had."  She rubbed her eyes.  "But... but it will take a while for the poor thing to die."

"Then... let's..."  Twilight murmured, ears drooping.  "Let's just p-put it behind us."  She closed her eyes, shuddering through the next dry breath.  "Have to keep moving.  Just... k-keep moving."  She reopened her teary gaze.  "Rainbow...?"

"Are you okay, darling?" Rarity asked.

"I... I'll live."  Rainbow leaned back, squinting at her reddened forelimbs.  "For now."  She tilted her head north.  "Onwards and upwards, huh?"

"How's she going to make it to Wyvern Point now?!"  Pinkie pouted.  "Dashie's fire-starters just bit the dust to save her!"

Twilight bit her lip.

"Hrmmmfff..."  Rainbow Dash stood up.  Wincing, she straightened her saddlebags and said, "Guess we'll have to just... rely on the old-fashioned tools the Desperadoes gave us."
> Into the Mountains of Madness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Tchank!

Tc-Tchank!

Tchank!

At last, after a final swipe of flint, sparks landed on the pile of fibers, starting a tiny... tiny fire.

Rainbow Dash dropped the metal pieces and squatted down low.  She shivered in the darkening day as she gently blew on the miniscule flame.

Slowly, with each breath, the flickering light grew into a sizable blaze.

Rainbow Dash sat back.  Reaching into her saddlebag, she grabbed a few more fibers and tossed them onto the measly excuse for a "campfire."  Her shivers lessened, but only slightly.  She squatted in place, rubbing her forelimbs together and holding them before the flame.

"Blessed Celestia.  Finally!"  Rarity floated closer.  "Are you feeling any warmer, darling?"

"Mmmmm... good enough..."  Rainbow clenched her teeth together.  "Must be nifty not being bothered by the cold.  What I wouldn't give for a ghost body right about now."

"Don't say that, Rainbow."  Rarity pouted.  "At this point, there's only one way for that to happen."

"What are you doing just sitting there, Dashie?!"  Pinkie Pie pointed at the saddlebag.  "You've got more of those flammable little strings in there!  Throw 'em on the fire so you can get all toasty!"

"No can do, Pinkster."  Rainbow gulped.  "Gotta spare as many of them as I can for later.  There's no telling how much distance there is between me and Wyvern Point."

"She's right, Pinkie Pie," Twilight said.  "Without any dry wood or branches out here, these special fibers that the Desperadoes gave her are all Rainbow's got."

"You've gotta be kidding me!"  Pinkie cackled.  "That's not even enough to roast marshmallows to!"

"Mmmm... m-maybe we should have talked Rainbow into grabbing a few branches from the trees surrounding the Snow Blood farm," Fluttershy said.

"Didn't seem to be a p-point," Rainbow Dash muttered.  "I was given the frost rods.  You'd think that... after all this time traveling east... I would know better than to put all my eggs into one basket."  She clenched her eyes shut and hissed.  "Stupid... friggin' stupid idiot."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Rainbow," Twilight said.  "Nopony could have expected a monster like that attacking you out of nowhere."

"Nopony except me."  Rainbow frowned into the meager flame.  "I've fought nasty monsters like that more times than I can count—and almost all of them before breakfast."

"You sure there was no other way you could have scared that big wriggling meanie away?" Pinkie remarked.

"We've been over this, Pinkie," Fluttershy said.  "The poor thing was hungry.  It wasn't going to let Rainbow Dash go so long as it was alive."

"Yeah, but without those Frost Rods, Dashie might freeze!"

"She had no choice.  It was the only way she could live through that attack."

"And just how is she gonna live through the long-term, huh?"

"Pinkie, there is no 'long-term' if I can't take make it past the friggin' 'short-term'!"  Rainbow Dash growled.  She clutched herself, shivering again as the flame dwindled.  "Believe me.  I wish I had found another way to have shaken that nasty-nasty, but I'm here right now because of what I did."  She sighed, gazing straight up.  The jutting face of a mountain swallowed most of the stars.  "Might as well make the best of it."

Pinkie Pie sniffled.  Her ears drooped as she let loose a tiny whimper:  "I just c-can't stand to see you shivering like this."  She gulped.  "Or worse."

"It'll be okay, Pinkie."  Rainbow tried to smile, but it came out crooked.  "I've... uh... I've been through worse."

"You sure about that?"

Rainbow bit her lip.

Rarity cleared her throat.  "Have something to eat, darling.  Let's not try to overthink... things."

"Mmmm... right."  Rainbow pulled a strip of celery out of her bag and nibbled on it.

Pinkie blinked.  "Aren't you going to have more?"

"Gotta preserve that too," Rainbow muttered, taking another bite.

Pinkie shuddered.  "I don't think I like adventuring anymore..."

"Rainbow's been doing this far longer than any of us can imagine," Fluttershy said with a gentle smile.  "Just relax, Pinkie.  Our loyal friend's an experienced pony."

"Mmmmmm..."  Rainbow gulped the last of the morsel and gazed skyward.  "Yeah..."





Rainbow Dash's hooves scuffed and slid down a stone incline.  Loose pebbles and random patches of gravel made the entire descent extra perilous.  She gnashed her teeth, flexed her right wing, and balanced herself at the last second.

Finally, she reached the bottom of a jagged granite ravine.  The marefriends floating around her sighed with relief.

Catching her own breath, Rainbow Dash trudged along.  Despite it being midday, it was exceptionally cold inside this ravine.  Towering mountain peaks blocked out most of the sun, covering the pegasus with a bitter chill.

Teeth chattering, she looked up.  A slender patch of sky burned with blue intensity.  Rarity devised a plan to scale the cliff-faces ahead.  Rainbow Dash nodded and proceeded forward, slipping occasionally on the random pebble or two.





The snow bled with amber light that reflected the setting sun.

Rainbow grunted, pulling herself up onto another thick boulder.  Once she stood evenly atop the stone structure, she paused to catch her breath.  The mare looked down the way she came.

The southeast mountainface was nothing more than a series of crooked steps made out of massive rock clefts and jutting cliffs.

Gulping, Rainbow Dash looked straight up.

The mountainpeak high above was a towering knife of a structure.  A cold, brisk wind blew clouds of snow against the summit in a parting fashion, so that the cold precipitation spread beyond Rainbow Dash and settled in the hilltops southeast of her.

She knew that once she was on the northwest side of this mountain, she'd no longer have any protection against the blistering elements.

After a brief shudder, she pressed on.  Her friends hovered helplessly around her, watching with nervous expressions as she threw her forelimbs up... then slowly pulled herself up yet another boulder clinging to the mountainside.





Rainbow Dash huddled under a blanket, staring intently into a small patch of flame.  She tried scrimping as many of the flammable fibers as she could.  Somehow, it didn't feel like enough.  Rainbow settled for what she had, hoping that the insulation of the blanket would do the rest of the work.

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie "sat" close to her, their faces blank, their muzzles mute.  Rarity hovered a few feet away, fiddling her fetlocks.  Twilight paced back and forth in a straight line, gnawing on her bottom lip.

Nostrils flaring, Rainbow squinted past her breath's vapors, then tilted her head up.

Starlight disappeared behind a wandering veil of deathly gray clouds, growing thicker and thicker.





Frost clung to Rainbow's blue ears.  She could scarcely feel them anymore from the numbness.

The mare clung to the west edge of a mountain.  The ledge she was traversing had grown thin—the cliff shrinking into a shallow shelf with barely any room for two hooves to stand on, much less one.

Here, she faced the full wrath of the high elevation's weather.  A blizzard's murderous winds blew at her, pelting her petite figure with flakes of snow and miniature daggers of ice.

Rarity and Pinkie acted as the mare's eyes, carefully surveying the frosted landscape and guiding the mare along her path.

Maintaining her grip to the mountain's edge was a painful feat in and of itself.  Attempting to shuffle sideways made the task ten times as difficult.  Every five minutes or so, the mare had to pause and relax her muscles—at least as well as she could manage.

At one point, she braved a shuddering look over her shoulder.  All she could see was a haze of gray madness flurrying through the mountain pass.  Looking down, Rainbow saw a two hundred foot drop—and then nothing beyond it.  The mare knew better than to pretend it was anything but empty nothingness for untold lengths.

At last, having fully "rested," the mare continued her sideways shuffle, shimmying towards her left while Rarity and Pinkie guided her along.





This evening, the flame barely had the luminosity of a candle.  Rainbow had found a protective niche within the northwest edge of the mountain, but it didn't shield her from the cold... nor did it shroud her ears from the constant howl.

Just two feet away, the screaming blizzard scraped the mountainside.  Every now and then, there would be a particularly strong gust, and Rainbow would feel the freezing temperatures knifing their way into her bones.  She found heat by piling all of the blankets, saddlebags, and even the tent canvas over her figure as she pressed her body into a stone wall, shivering.  She could see that the flame was dying out, but Rainbow decided that she could stay warmer by just remaining where she was, unmoving beneath all of the improvised insulation.

"There's..."  Twilight gulped.  "There are some more fibers inside your saddlebag, Rainbow," Twilight managed.  Her violet eyes lifted nervously.  "I'm sure you can spare one or two of them... if you want to."

Rainbow gulped.  "I can manage, Twilight."

Twilight bit her lip.

Rainbow's eyes made contact with hers.  She managed a chapped smile.  "I will manage.  Don't you worry, egghead."

Nevertheless, Twilight sniffled.  "I... I-I just wish there was some way that... that we could make this easier for you, Rainbow."

The other mares hung their heads, shuddering.

"It's... it's just so much to go through."  Twilight gulped.  "It's too much.  It's not fair, Rainbow.  It's not fair."

"One way or another, I'm gonna get to Wyvern Point," Rainbow said.  "Twilight... girls, look at me."

They lifted their heads.

Rainbow's ruby eyes flickered with the last light from the fire.  "I'm gonna make it, okay?  Don't you worry."  She bore a devilish smirk.  "Wyvern Point.  Bleak's Plummet.  The Midnight Armory.  The whole nine yards."  She swallowed, then bore the hint of a frown.  "I'm going to get the Harmonic Prism.  I'm gonna bring you girls back.  That's a promise."

The four exchanged glances, fidgeting.

"You hear me?  I'm not gonna friggin' let you down—"

"We never said that, darling," Rarity said.

Rainbow looked at her friends.

They stared back at her.

Exhaling, Rainbow flicked her ears and snuggled tighter under the material.  She turned her head and stared out the entrance to the tiny niche.

The winds grew calmer and calmer as the world turned darker and darker...





The next morning was nightmarishly bright.

This was because the blizzard had dwindled completely.  A partly cloudy sky hung over the mountain peaks as Rainbow Dash marched up a steep incline of thick snow.

"Well, this is nice!"  Pinkie Pie said with a smile.  "For a change!"

"Ahem..."  Twilight leaned in with a frown.  She pointed at Rainbow Dash.  Pinkie craned her neck to look.

Rainbow was gnashing her teeth with the effort it took to march up the powdery slope.  Every step she took sunk deep into the snow so that the surface of the bank was nearly up to her belly.

"Oh."  Pinkie gulped.  "Well, I meant 'mostly.'"

"How are your legs, Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked.

"Nnnngh..."  Rainbow's teeth chattered as she struggled uphill.  "Wet... but I can still feel them."

"Maybe you should take a moment to rest."  Fluttershy gestured.  "Expose your fetlocks to the sun before the moisture freezes them."

"I'll be good for a little bit longer, Fluttershy," Rainbow muttered.

"But... b-but you've been going at it for hours now—"

"I just want to reach the summit!" Rainbow hissed.  A slight wince, and she blurted, "Thanks for your concern, Flutters, but I need to make as much ground as I can before another blizzard rears its ugly gray head."

Fluttershy sighed, her features drooping.  "I was afraid of that."

"Wow..."  Twilight blinked at the thick snow surrounding them.  "Last night's storm certainly laid it on thick, didn't it?"

"Don't worry, Twilight."  Rarity winked aside.  "There's still a mountain hidden beneath it all."

"Got your senses on overdrive, eh, Rare-Rare?" Pinkie said.

"Without a doubt!"  Rarity nodded.  "I'm keeping track of every square inch of this ridge as Rainbow climbs higher!"  She flew along the pegasus' side.  "Just keep straight, darling.  See that boulder up ahead?"

"Mmmm... y-yeah...?"

"It should be a good resting place," Rarity said.  "Once you've gathered your strength, it won't be all that long until you've reached the summit.  Why, I daresay you have this day's climb—"

Just then, the mountains all around them groaned with a deep bass roar.

Rainbow Dash froze in place, as did all four of her ghostly marefriends.

"—in the bag."  Rarity blinked.  "What the devil?"

"Uhhhhh..."  Twilight looked all around.  The mountain and the snowy topography surrounding it remained absolutely still.  "What was that?"

"Another darn snow snake?" Rainbow muttered.

"No."  Fluttershy shook her head vigorously.  "We're the only living things up this high!  There's not even a bird in the sky!"

"Then..."  Twilight squinted.  "...what in Equestria's name was—"

"Uhhhhhhhhhh..."  Pinkie stammered.

The others turned to look at her.

The mare's fluffy tail was twitching nonstop, practically becoming a blur.  Pinkie pointed at it with a blank expression.  "This can't be good."

Before Rainbow Dash could say something...

...another loud groan issued forth from the mountain.  This time, Rainbow felt it in her fetlocks.

"Rarity...?"  Rainbow gnashed her teeth.

"I don't get it!"  Rarity hovered in an anxious circle.  "The mountain isn't moving one bit!  It's not an earthquake or a tremor.  It's almost as if—"  Just then, she froze in place, eyes twitching.  "Oh goddess.  The snow."

Rainbow flashed her a look. "What about the snow?"

Another groan—this time from high above.  Everypony tilted their heads up.

Crkkk-rkkkk!  A dark gray fissure formed in the snow clinging to the mountain summit.  The frosted face of the peak shifted a couple of inches... then feet... then meters.

"Avalanche!" Rarity shrieked.  "Rainbow, darling!"  She spun around, gaping.  "You must move!"

"Where?!"  Fluttershy squeaked.

"Down the mountain!"  Rarity pointed at the pegasus tracks leading up to that spot.  "Quick!  You might be able to outrun it!"

"I don't th-think s-so!"  Pinkie vibrated, her eyes reflecting the incoming wave of snow.  "It's c-coming s-super f-fast!"

"I don't care!"  Twilight barked.  "Rainbow, just move!"

"... ... ..."  Rainbow stared up at the incoming wall of death.  Her eyes fixated on the thick boulder lingering between her and the accelerating calamity.

"Rainbow—?!" Twilight gasped.

Rainbow Dash darted uphill, galloping briskly through the snow.

"Rainbow, what are you—?!"  Fluttershy began.

"Pinkie's right!"  Rainbow huffed and puffed, kicking frost with each bounding step.  "There's no outrunning it!  Gotta find a safe spot and I see one!"

"Rainbow, that boulder isn't entirely stable!"  Rarity yelped.  "You have a noble idea, but I can't promise it work!"

"Leave the promises to me!"  Rainbow hollered as she slid forward, pressing her back to the exposed gray stone.  The collapsing snow was virtually deafening at this point.  "Rarity, keep your senses open!  Pinkie, tell me when the avalanche has stopped completely!"

"But... unngh..."  Twilight hyperventilated, her violet eyes greeting the pale white bedlam sweeping over them.  "What are you going to do?!"

"Hopefully..."  Rainbow Dash yanked the tent canvas out of her bag and flung it over her curled figured.  "...breathe!"  She huddled into a little ball as—

THWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

—a thick layer of snow and ice rolled over the boulder with screaming speed.  The previous day's blizzard hurled itself over the pegasus with the force of ten runaway trains.  There were four ghostly shrieks, a flicker of lavender light...

And then...

...nothing.
> I Have Become Comfortably Numb
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Stillness.

Wind lightly brushed the mountainside... blowing at trailing bands of powdery snow.

Clouds shifted overhead.  Columns and beds, shifting, breaking apart, coming back together, then dissipating.

Sunlight dwindled, then intensified again.

And the snow beneath the summit...

...began breaking from underneath.

A crack formed... a tiny fissure.

Then streams of trickling frost spread in opposite directions.

A hint of blue... a glimpse of fuzz...

...and then—

"Grnnghh-aaugh!"

A shivering figure burst out of the snowbank, covered in a tattered swath of tent canvas.  The pegasus fought with the material from underneath, pulling at it, tugging, yanking it clear.  At last, with her muzzle exposed, Rainbow took a mighty gasp, inhaling as much as she could.

Then, with chattering teeth, Rainbow pulled herself the rest of the way out of the buried patch of snow.  The hole in the frozen material closed beneath her with a brief groan.  At last, littered from head to tail in bits of frost, the mare rolled onto her back and simply lay there, staring up at the hazy blue sky and panting.

Four spectres had emerged alongside her.  They too hyperventilated—if only through sheer relief.

"Oh goddess, Rainbow!"

"Are you okay, darling?"

"Speak to us!  Say something!"

"Please!"

Rainbow panted... panted... panted... swallowed a tight lump, and muttered, "Ow."

"Sweet Celestia!"  Rarity fanned herself.  "That was... was..."

"Woohooo!"  Pinkie Pie pumped a hoof.  "Way to go, Dashie!  You teach that bullying avalanche what for!"

"But... b-but are you hurt, or...?"  Fluttershy fidgeted.

"None of her bones are broken," Rarity said.  "Unless..."  She squinted Rainbow's way.  "...you're feeling any pain in your extremities?"

"I'm... fine... Rares... I... think..."  Rainbow sat up, wincing.  Eventually, she gave up with a groan, slumping back on her flank.  "Mrmmmfff... just... a breather... please..."

"Erm, Rainbow?"  Twilight floated up close.  "I hate to be a downer, but..."

"What... egg... head...?"

The unicorn pointed past the mountain summit.  The sky was darkening... broiling.  One layer at a time, the blue atmosphere disappeared, giving way to a fresh new blizzard rolling in from the north.

"... ... ..."  Rainbow's eyes rolled back.  "Eunnngh..."  She clutched her shaved head and gnashed her teeth.  "Why couldn't Verlax be the Divine of Tropical Paradises instead?"

"You'd rather have this or giant diseased dragon mosquitoes?" Pinkie remarked.

"I don't plan on having any foals."  Rainbow frowned.  "You?"

"Rainbow..."  Twilight stared at her.  "I'm sorry, but... you must get moving again.  If this storm is as bad as the last one—"

"Right.  Right.  Find sh-shelter."  Aching, Rainbow pushed herself back onto her hooves and gathered her supplies.  "Rarity...?"

"Senses peeled and already searching, darling."

"Good."  Rainbow Dash shuffled uphill, one pained hoof after another.  "Stay frosty."  She winced at her own words.  "Y-you know what I m-mean..."





Within hours, Rainbow wished that she hadn't pulled herself out of the avalanche.  The blizzard hit at full force—and she was in the thick of it.

The mare had formed a haphazard scarf from one of the surviving blankets.  She covered her nose and muzzle as she trudged across a steep plateau.  The ravaging fingers of the blizzard knifed against her, nipping at her eartips and flank with every howling second.

Stifling her grunts, Rainbow Dash pushed against the maddening gusts.  She faltered every now and then, forced to crouch on bent legs.  Her body shuddered, and after a brief struggle she picked herself back up again and resumed her lurch.

"This... this is intolerable!" Fluttershy stammered through the blinding bedlam.  "How can we continue to force Rainbow through this?!"

"If she doesn't keep moving, she'll be worse off!"  Twilight turned around.  "Rarity?!  Any luck?!"

"There's some porous rock in the mountains to our right!"  Rarity tried pointing through the blizzard, but her pale limb only blended with the obscuring precipitation.  "There m-might be a place to rest in there!"

"How far away are we talking about?!" Pinkie hollered.

"It's closer than the other mountaintops!" Rarity yelled.

"You hear that, Rainbow Dash?!"  Twilight shouted in their anchor's direction.  She clenched her teeth as wave after wave of blizzard phased through her lavender body.  "It might be best to head due north!"

Rainbow Dash was too busy battling the blistering winds to respond.  She squinted into the haphazard frost being flung her way.  Her eyes teared, but it was far too cold to risk blinking.  She rubbed her lids dry with a forelimb instead.  This blinded her, and the mare stumbled.

"Unf!"  Rainbow collapsed in the snow—and her whole body instantly screamed with frigid pain.  "Grnnngh... mmfrfff..."

"She c-can't just lay there!" Rarity's voice cracked.

"Rainbow!"  Twilight flew in.  "Get up!  The blizzard's one thing, but if you lie still while exposed to the elements—"

"Right.  Right."  Rainbow hissed, her breath turning to frost in front of her and being blown away by the whistling winds.  "Right right right... nrnnghhh..."  Her limbs refused to function at first, battling waves of numbness.  Then, with gradual motion, she lurched back into an accelerated trot.

"Good.  Just head north, Rainbow.  If nothing else, the mountainside should provide a bit of wind resistance."

"Uh huh..."  Rainbow pivoted to the right, teetered, then continued her trek.  The wind was blowing constantly against her left side, which somehow felt even more challenging.  The mare winced from her left wing, until the sheer exposure to the blizzard eventually numbed it.  "Just... g-gotta climb a mountain..."  She gulped.  "Never d-done that before."

"Rainbow..."

"Heheh..."  Rainbow seethed through chattering teeth.  She didn't have the strength to bear a smile that matched her breathy tone.  "Just... a joke... egghead..."

Twilight merely bit her lip.

"Any luck, Rares?" Pinkie squeaked.

"I... I-I haven't sensed anything yet."  Rarity squirmed.  "Just... k-keep moving, Rainbow, dear."

"Oh dear..."  Fluttershy looked around as the blizzard only grew thicker and more menacing.  "Oh goodness... mmmmm..."

Rainbow marched and trudged and...





"Oomf!"  Rainbow Dash tripped and fell hard on her chest.  She winced... though her body hardly understood why.  At best, she felt a flutter of tingling sensations rolling up and down her spine, then nothing.

Nothing but cold.

Her ruby eyes twitched, squinting past the mounds of snow before her muzzle.

A steep mountainside loomed before the mare... above her.  Rolling patches of ivory whiteness hung under billowing curtains of gray mists, carried sideways by the merciless storm.

There was a murmur against her ears.

Rainbow shifted.  She tilted her head to the left.

A lavender shape danced in the fog, then came into focus.  Twilight's panicked face looked back at her.  Lips moved, damnably desperate and flickering from the snow phasing through them.

With a wince, Rainbow sat up.  She shook her head until the cobwebs in her neck and skull dissipated.

"...back up, Rainbow!  Did you hear?!  Rarity's sensed something!"

"A cave!"  Rarity hollered, hovering ahead of the mare and point up the crooked mountainside.  "There's a cave up ahead!  A deep one!  You can get there very easily, Rainbow!"

"Mrmmmff..."  Rainbow hobbled forward, tripped, then caught her shivering weight with wobbly legs.  Gnashing her teeth, the mare tigthened her muscles and forced herself uphill.  It was a slow, lumbering battle.

Four bright shapes swirled around her in the blinding blizzard.

"That's it, Dashie!"  Pinkie huffed. Puffed.  "Just keep moving!  Get that blood flowing in your—"

"Augh!"  Rainbow yelped.  It took her three belated seconds to realize that she had stubbed her fetlock against an exposed chunk of rock.  She collapsed again, falling hard on her belly.  The world faded, then flickered back along the current of panting yelps.

"Rainbow!  Get up, darling!"

"Rainbow, you must get up!"

"Please, Rainbow.  Just a few more steps.  The cave isn't very far."

Rainbow panted and panted—but she could no longer feel the breath pumping in and out of her lungs.  The world shifted.  She knew that she was tilting her head up, but she sensed as though somepony else was moving her head from the outside.  Her body was a cold, shivering shell, and it suddenly felt a lot more comfortable to just... leave it altogether.

"Mrmmff... I'm..."  Rainbow hissed.  She heard a clattering sound that she once recognized as her own teeth.  "I'm... I'm sorry, girls..."

"Don't say that, Rainbow!"

"Rainbow, don't say that!"

"You have to keep moving!"

"You're awesome, Rainbow!  Nopony can move like you!  Now get up!"

"Not... giving up..."  Rainbow wheezed.  Her breath solidifed and clung to her nose.  "I could h-have gotten us there faster.  You don't even know."  She drifted.  "But right now, just..."  Her lids lowered, as did her head.  The snow didn't feel quite so cold any more.  "Just so... t-tired..."

"Rainbow..."

"Sorry... just... t-tired..."

"Rainbow."  Twilight dropped until she was even-faced with the pegasus.  "Rainbow, look at me."

Rainbow's eyes twitched.

Twilight furrowed her brow as she spoke:  "I know you're tired.  And I know it hurts to keep fighting the blizzard.  But if you don't make it to the cave, you're done for.  And so are we."

"And so's everything!" Pinkie yelped.

Twilight gritted her teeth.  "Would the Noble Jury settle for you quitting now?  Do you want to give up on Princess Luna and Ponyville?"

"Mrmmff... Twilight..."  Rainbow whimpered.  Her ears twitched, digging into the painful blizzard.  "Twilight... I-I just... can't..."

Fluttershy's voice pierced the howl.  "We can't leave Applejack hanging..."

Rainbow's pupils instantly shrank.  She gnashed her teeth as a deep snarl formed deep in her throat.  "Mrmmmfff..."  She pushed against the earth, rising one trembling inch after another.  "Ngrnnngh..."

"Yes... yes..."  Twilight nodded, drifting backwards through the onslaught.

"That's it, darling!" Rarity cheered.

"You've got this, Dashie!"

"Rrmmmgfff..."  Rainbow Dash stood up on numb limbs.  She took one step forward, then fell again.

"Oh goodness—!" Fluttershy whimpered.

"Rkkk!"  Rainbow bit at the air.  She pushed again.  This time, a pained breath ripped through her lungs, and she released it in a haunting scream.

Rarity and Pinkie trembled, their ears drooping.

Shouting into the blizzard, Rainbow trudged forward.  She heaved and heaved.  For every five steps, there was another scream, followed by a whimpering inhale as she powered through the next few meters of snow.

"That... th-that's it, Rainbow!"  Twilight bravely maintained focus as she motioned the mare along.  "Just keep it up!"

"You've got this!"  Pinkie stammered.  "Just keep—"

Rainbow screamed again—but it was not enough.  Her knees buckled, and she fell flat on her face.  A stab of pain rolled through her chin, electrifying her.  The air was too cold for the blood to ooze out.  She stared up with trembling eyes.

A dark shame loomed beyond the miasma—a hole.  A cave.  It wafted in and out of reality as Rainbow was reduced to a sluggish crawl.

"Rrrnnngh... g-goddess!" Rainbow cried, tears forming along the edges of her eyes.  They warmed her, mixed with her pain, and drew her forward, hyperventilating, one trembling fetlock after another.  "Rnnngh... haaaaugh!"

"Just keep moving, Rainbow."

"I know it hurts, Rainbow.  But you're almost there."

"Don't stop now."

Somewhere, Fluttershy was weeping.  Rarity let loose a pitiable moan.  Colors and shapes huddled together, forming a harmonic halo around a quivering strip of fuzzy misery.

"Oh Rainbow..."

"We believe in you, Dashie!"

"We're right with you, Rainbow.  You can do this!"

The pegasus clenched her eyes shut.  She sobbed into the darkness.  The darkness echoed back with the voices of dead friends.  Somewhere, off to her right, Yaerfaerda pulsed.  A distant orange.  Faithful and strong.  Rainbow's nostrils flared.  She forced her eyelids apart and glared through the melting tears.  A snarl, a hiss, and she shimmied back onto her feet, finding even hoofing on slick, wet stone.

"That's it, Rainbow!"

"Just a few more feet!"

"You feel it clearing, darling?  You're almost at the cave!"

"You've got this, Dashie!  You've got this!"

"Mmmrff-hrrrghh!"  Rainbow threw herself onto dry rock.  The still air was a shock to her system.  Her lungs emptied, and she shivered at the sound of her own echoing breaths.

"It's not over yet, Rainbow."

"Your limbs are super blue.  Quick, make a fire!"

"Use the rest of the Desperadoes' fibers if you have to!"

"Rainbow, you must make a fire!  If you're to survive—"

"Your body will feel much better. Trust us, darling."

Rainbow wheezed and coughed.  She found herself sitting up.  Looking down, she saw a pair of blue forelimbs unbuckling her saddlebag and reaching into the contents within.

Pinkie's head phased through the material.  "The flint's on the left side!  The bag of flammable strings are in the middle!"

"Take your time."  Twilight gestured.  "Be slow.  Steady.  Don't want to drop your supplies now—"

Huffing and puffing, Rainbow threw the whole bag's worth of fibers into a gross pile on the floor of the cave.  The world was growing black along the edges of her vision.  The blizzard's howl dissipated, quieter than a kitten at this point.  Rainbow saw a pair of pegasus limbs striking the flint together.

"Just a spark, Rainbow."

"Just one spark."

"That's all it needs."

"You'll be warm in a moment, Rainbow.  Trust us."

"We're all with you on this, Rainbow.  You can still make this work."

"Just start the fire.  Then you can rest."

"We promise."

Rainbow's breaths had been reduced to periodic, animalistic grunts.  She struggled and fussed with the flint.  Sparks formed, but they landed on sterile stone.  Growling, she fought and struck the rocks some more...

...until the metals fell completely out of her grasp.

Pinkie blinked.  "Dashie?"  She looked up, her eyes widening.

Rainbow's lids had grown heavy.  Her ears folded back and her eyes rolled.

"Rainbow!"  Fluttershy yelped.

The mare teetered.  The world went black.

Twilight's voice shrieked:  "Rainbow!  Stay awake!"

"No, Rainbow!"

"Stay with us—"

Rainbow fell.

And when her body hit the floor of the cave...

...she didn't feel a thing.

> In a Land Without Honor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"What do you think she's doing with all of Dashie's stuff?"

"Pinkie, we've been through this.  Rainbow's clothes were sopping wet.  She risked freezing to death.  This mare just saved her."

"She's gotta be up to something.  I don't like the looks of her!"

"I share Pinkie's concern, Twilight.  This bazen vixen is... far too displeasing to the eye."

"Let her actions speak for her, Rarity.  Not her looks."

"But where did she come from all of the sudden?  Don't you find that the least bit suspicious?!"

"She came from the south, Rarity.  I... I-I think she was tracing Rainbow's steps."

"Certainly, Fluttershy, but even you said that you had a hard time sensing her at first."

"Ermmm..."

"Just something about this seems off, is all I'm saying."

"Well, she did save Rainbow's life."

"Did she?"

"Shhh!  Girls!  I think Dashie's waking!"

"Oh, thank Celestia!"

"Rainbow?  Are you there?"

"Speak to us, Dashie!"

"Mrmmmff..."  Rainbow Dash stirred.  She winced.  Her limbs moved—and she experienced a brief lapse in heartbeat upon realizing that she could feel them.  She moved her head, feeling the scratchy stroke of hard leather against her naked figure.  Her nose brushed against furs and pelts.  The mare realized she was lying under a thick sheet of indulating hides.  "Hrmmfff..."

With a wincing expression, Rainbow lifted her weary head.  Her ears twitched, exposed to the bitter cold of a dull, shadowy cave.

Her vision was foggy.  At first, all she could make out was a sliver of gray light.  Howling winds rippled in her direction.  Standing in the path of the blistery gusts was a thick, muscular equine figure.  Rainbow caught the supple outline of a mare's snout.  Strong forelimbs stoked a fire burning between them, and in each flicker Rainbow caught the glinting highlight of a full mane of fiery red dreadlocks.

"Mmmmm..."  Rainbow squeaked.  She trembled harder, and a tear gathered at the edge of her eyes.  "...Roarke?"

The figure's rummaging slowly came to a stop.  With icy grace, she turned to look at Rainbow.  A pair of chiseled green eyes glistened in the dark.

Rainbow blinked.

Muscles rippled.  The mare marched towards her.  The light of the fire shifted, revealing a dark violet coat and heavy muzzle lines.  At last, a granite specimen of a pony loomed above Rainbow Dash.  She spoke in a deep, deep voice.  "I am nopony you know."  She thrusted a hoof down.

"Guhh!"  Rainbow Dash winced as she was forced into a sitting position.

"However..."  The mare leaned in, green eyes squinting as she studied Rainbow's eyes, ears, and complexion.  "...someone who cares... or feels like they should... has promised a great, golden reward for your safe transport.  Thus, here I am to save what's left of the merchandise."  Her nostrils flared as she tilted Rainbow's chin up.  "I can't say I'm all that impressed."

Rainbow gulped hard.  "Remna."

"You know, there was a time when saying my name out loud was a sin, and one I personally chose to punish with great mercilessness."  The mare's voice rolled rich and reverberating off the cold walls of the cave.  The howling wind outside provided a tense backdrop.  "It would appear that Wildcard's lost his touch... dulled his minds with the musical levity of a backwater charlatan."  She lifted one of Rainbow's eyelids, examining her cornea.  "Hmmmm... no wonder she takes pity on a mere child turned fugitive..."

Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy hovered into view, gazing at Rainbow.

"She showed up within an hour of you collapsing, Rainbow," Twilight said.

"I-I hadn't noticed her at first," Fluttershy added with a gulp.  "I was so scared... so focused on you and your condition."

"She saved you, Rainbow."  Twilight fidgeted in mid-air.  "But she hadn't spoken a word up until now."

Rainbow glanced over to the side as she hung in Remna's grip.  She spotted her saddlebags.  "My stuff..."

"Leave them be," Remna grumbled.  She ran a hoof over Rainbow's stubbled scalp, checking her skull for bruises.  "They're still drying.  They were nearly the death of you."  She grasped Rainbow's forelimbs, examining the fetlocks.  "Among other things..."

Rainbow sense a glint of gold.  She glanced down.  "You... d-didn't take my pendant off?"

"What do you take me for?"  Remmna's muzzle resembled a gargoyle's when she frowned.  "A thief?"  She grunted out the side of her muzzle as she reached for Rainbow's side.  "Thieves are cowards.  I learned years to ago to just skip straight to murderer.  It's harder and pays better."  With that said, she stretched Rainbow's left wing out to its full length.

"...!!!"  Rainbow arched back.  "Aaaaaaa-aaaaugh!"  Her marefriends winced as she thrusted a rear hoof out and knocked Remna's grip away.  "Ya friggin' melon fudge!"

Remna merely blinked.  "Hmmm..."  She arched an eyebrow.  "I see."  Shifting, she stood up and trotted back to the flame.  "Well, at least your muscles have recovered their reflexes."

"Grnnngh..."  Rainbow fell on her side, shivering with pained spasms.  Gnashing her teeth, she hissed across the cavern floor.  "Did Wildcard really send you?!  Huh?!"

"You're awake, aren't you?"

Rainbow blinked.  "Huh?"

Remna fished around through a separate selection of supplies.  "If I was doing this purely for myself, you would be on your way back to Steamfall by now.  The Consortium is offering over ten times more for your body than Wildcard is promising.  They'd even pay me more if I brought you in as a popsicle."

"Then wh-what's stopping you?"

Rarity looked aside, trembling.  "Is that truly a necessary question, Rainbow?"

Remna turned to squint at her from across the cave.  "What the Consortium lacks in honor, our griffon friend provides.  For years, I've sought favor with the wyverns.  They've always rebuffed me."

"Jee, I wonder why."

"If I can fulfill my promise to Wildcard, his associates up in Wyvern Point are bound to notice.  Their influence spreads far and wide throughout this continent.  It is an ancient code of honor, even older than Verlaxion's.  Something more priceless than all of the Consortium's gold."  At last, she grasped a strip of dark brown jerky and wandered back to Rainbow.  "Some bounties are nameless, you see, much like that nebulous thing which motivates you."

"What... nebulous thing?"

"The hell should I know?"  Remna's jaw muscles tensed.  "You use more energy than thought, little pony, which is precisely why it runs out all the time.  I had to trace an exploding train tunnel, an abandoned mine, and a dead frost wyrm just to find your pathetic flesh nearly frozen to death.  Quite frankly, I will be greatly relieved once I've finished escorting you to your destination."  She thrusted the morsel towards Rainbow's muzzle.  "Now.  Eat."

"That..."  Rainbow's pupils shrank as soon as she got a whiff of the smoked material.  "That's meat, isn't it?"

"It is nutritious, full of protein, and it will give you strength.  Far more than that, it will save your pissant life."  Remna grabbed Rainbow's head from behind and thrust the jerky towards her muzzle.  "Now, eat."

"Nrnnngh!"  Rainbow struggled.  "Friggin'... cut it out!  I won't—"  Her weak muzzle scraped the dried material, and she nearly wretched.  "Rrrrgh... flippin' psycho jerk!"  Her eyes flickered red on yellow.  The pendant briefly strobed, and suddenly Rainbow was shoving Remna away with a violent burst of energy.  "Raaugh!"  She hopped up to her hooves, trembling.  "I said no!  I will not eat meat!"

Remna simply stared her down.  "Hmmmm..."  With scuffling hooves, she turned around and trotted back across the caves.  "Looks like it gave you strength after all."  She reached towards Rainbow's things and tossed a wet bag of brown lettuce her way.  "There you go, little pony.  A feast for fools."

Rainbow grimaced.  "What... h-happened to it?"

"Cold moisture and neglect, which is the best you could provide for yourself thus far.  Meditate on that the next time I tell you to do something for your own good."

Rainbow huffed.  Squatting to her aching haunches, she nevertheless grabbed a wet clump of lettuce and bit into it.  She grimaced from the taste, but persisted.  "I was doing fine until the friggin' frost wyrm..."

"And like a frightened child, you wasted all your frost rods on deterring it."

"How would you know?"  Rainbow took another bite and squinted.  "Were you watching?"

"I deduced enough from the carcass of the beast."

"You dug the thing up?"

"Where else do you think I got the meat?"

Rarity made a wretching sound.  Fluttershy reached over and patted her back.

Rainbow tilted her head to the side.  She spotted the cutie mark of a crimson-colored broadsword across the mare's flank.  "Without frost rods, just how did you get a fire started?"

"Very, very easily."

Rainbow frowned.  "Look.  You might think I'm some moron or something."

"And you might be right."

"But I-I've been dealing with every nasty thing this continent has to throw at somepony!" Rainbow barked.  "And before that, I was constantly avoiding death by the skin of my teeth!"  She took another bite of lettuce, winced, and pointed.  "Mrmmff... I'm willing to bet I've seen more crazy things and been on more dangerous adventures than you can even shake a stick at!"

"As Wildcard was keen to suggest..."

"...so don't treat me like some stupid rookie!  And do not call me 'little pony.'"  Rainbow glared.  "I've just been unlucky, that's all."

"You've been a dead mare trotting," Remna grumbled, gathering her things.  "And a corpse is still a corpse."

Rainbow blinked.  "Huh?"  She twitched.  "Wait... are you getting all your stuff together?"

"Indeed I am."

"You're... you're leaving already?"

"Correction.  We are leaving."

"But... b-but..."  Rainbow blinked out the cave.  "The blizzard!  It's still blowing something fierce!"

"I'm glad that you acknowledge that.  Now, please acknowledge that I care little."  Remna hoisted a large bag over her flank and turned to glare in Rainbow's direction.  "The storm will lessen eventually, but we cannot afford to wait for it.  We cannot afford to wait for anything.  There is more at hoof here than Wildcard's insistence that we get you to the wyvern sanctuary."

"Oh yeah...?"

"The Prefectures of Rohbredden are shifting power.  The Council stands upon the brink of a collapse that they're not willing to admit."

"Since when...?"

"And Verlaxion—the goddess of unification—stirs somewhere, unseen and uncontested.  These are anxious times indeed, times in which we cannot afford to hesitate any longer."  Remna's green eyes narrowed, chilled, chiseled.  "Can you see now why I seek the support of the continent's most tenacious tribe?"

"Hmmmff..."  Rainbow Dash fumbled to gather her cloak and things.  They were dry to the touch, if only barely.  "Well, let's get going then... so you can get the support you need."

"That's more like it."  Remna trotted out the cave.  "I'll scout for a good hiking path.  Try your best not to collapse again.  I haven't the wood left for too many more fires."

Rainbow shuddered as the muscular mare left.

"She's... uhm..."  Fluttershy fidgeted.  "...abrasive."

"Yeah, well..."  Rainbow grumbled.  "I can think of another A-word."

Pinkie grinned.  "'Awesome?'"

"No, not awesome!" Rainbow sputtered.

A deep voice pierced the howling winds outside:  "What was that, little pony?"

"Wasn't talking to you!"  Rainbow snorted, slipping through her cloak.  "Butthole."

"You must admit," Twilight Sparkle said.  "For a bounty hunter thinly described as a 'mentor' to Wildcard, she certainly fits the bill."

"Yes, quite, but a certain degree of civility was lost along the way," Rarity added.

"Rarity, do you even remember how tough Rainbow's first fight was against Wildcard and Bard?"

"I only remember a bunch of wind and loud noises, Twilight.  Are you attempting to make a point?"

"Eugh..."  Twilight face-hoofed.

"As much of a meanie-head this Remna seems to be, she did save Dashie's life," Pinkie said.  "Seems like a good reason to give her the benefit of a dumbell."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow's nostrils flared.  "But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Just try being nice to her, Rainbow," Fluttershy said.  "After all, this is more about Wildcard's favor to us."  She smiled.  "Don't the Desperadoes, at least, deserve such consideration?"

"As far as I'm concerned..." Rainbow Dash finished garbing herself and then reached for her saddlebag.  "...this is gonna make us even for the friggin' Quade."
> It's Always the Red Heads
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Remna's violet coat and red dreadlocks stood out like a bloodstain against the cold gray peaks of northwest Rohbredden.  She trotted briskly at all times, her shoulders strong and her head lifted high.  There wasn't a time when she wasn't gazing around, scanning the landscape, or surveying the mountains looming above.  Despite her intense scrutiny of all surrounding details, she kept her pace even, swift, and undaunted.

Rainbow Dash found herself having to struggle just to keep up.  Whenever she fumbled behind, her sudden and inexplicable guide made sure she knew about it.

"Do try to trot faster, little pony," Remna droned.  "I was not requested to carry you."

"I'm f-fine."  Rainbow nevertheless gnashed her teeth as she struggled to scale a jagged row of boulders.  "And stop calling me 'little pony.'"

"The moment you earn a different title, I shall consider it."  Remna cleared her throat, marching down a snowy slope between mountain peaks.  "We're already exceedingly behind schedule because of you."

"Jee.  I'm so sorry."

"I highly doubt that."  Remna snorted and trudged up a frosted incline.  "There's a level plateau ahead.  I'll go forward and scout since you're still busy catching up."

Rainbow bit her muzzle shut.  The tips of her ears turned red as she stomped forward.

"Yeesh!"  Pinkie Pie blinked.  "Who took a dump in her tuba?"

"I would have expected Bard and Wildcard's trusted friend to be a tad bit more..."  Rarity fidgeted.  "...agreeable."

"She's Wildcard's friend more than Bard's," Twilight stated.  "If this was Bard's companion, perhaps we'd be enjoying a serenade along the way to Wyvern Point."

"You kidding?!"  Pinkie squinted.  "The way he gave Rainbow the cold shoulder the last time?"  She growned up the snowbank.  "I hate to say it, but I think we actually got the tastier half of the pie with this deal!"

"Uhm..."  Fluttershy bit her lip.  "...I have a question."

"Yes, Fluttershy?" Twilight looked over.

"How do we know she's even taking Rainbow to Wyvern Point?"

Pinkie stuck her head in.  "Well, we're headed northwest, aren't we?  That's where Wyvern Point is!"

"You think she's deceiving us, Fluttershy?" Rarity asked.

"Lots of ponies seek to profit from Rainbow Dash's capture."  Fluttershy shrugged.  "And she is a bounty hunter."

"I know a thing or two about bounty hunters," Rainbow muttered between fuming breaths.  "Especially surly female ones.  If she wanted to bag me, she already had her chance back in the cave."

"But couldn't she still be trying to take advantage of this situation?" Rarity remarked.

"That's just too complicated at this point," Rainbow replied.  "Bounty hunters are direct and they don't like delays.  I really think she's legit about wanting to get me to Wyvern Point.  Just because she's a jerk doesn't mean she isn't sincere."

"Did you say something, little pony?" a deep voice echoed from above.

Rainbow and her marefriends flinched.

"Whew!"  Pinkie bit her lip.  "She's a jerk with good ears!"

"Well...?"

Rainbow cleared her throat  "Just trying to get the blood flowing down here.  You want me in this for the long haul or what?"

A brief pause.  Then:  "Hmmmff..."  A red flicker of dreadlocks disappeared behind the looming boulders.  "Whatever.  Just as long as you don't start singing.  I have lots of rope on me and I'm not wasting it by tying your dinky muzzle shut."

Twilight winced.

"Definitely not Bard's friend!" Pinkie remarked.

"I'm not sure how much more of this surly attitude I can take!" Rarity said, folding her forelimbs.

"Not like we have a choice," Rainbow murmured as quietly as she could.  Her eyes remained locked on Remna's last location as she scaled the incline towards the next plateau.  "If I can endure continental wars, the Grand Choke, and Red Barge—then I'm sure I can deal with a jerkwad's attitude for a little while."

"At least until Wyvern Point, right?"  Pinkie bore a nervous grin.

"I'm... not sure what's going to happen at that point," Twilight remarked.  "The Desperadoes said that they would meet us there."

"Yeah!"  Pinkie nodded.  "With the 'Job Squad!'"

"You don't suppose she's one of the Job Squadders?" Fluttershy remarked.

Rainbow shuddered.  "Let's deal with the nightmares when they come."

"The plateau's clear, little pony!" Remna shouted from afar.  "Move your flank!  I want us clearing the next layer of mountain peaks by sundown!"

"You know..."  Rarity muttered, hovering close to Rainbow's side.  "She might know the lay of the land, but only I can sense how the geography is truly shaped ahead of us.  It might make the trip faster if you pretend to know the way but simply use my guidance to put her to shame."

"No."  Rainbow shook her head as she climbed.  "Thanks, Rarity, but if she's so insistent on being the boss here..."  She squinted.  "...then I want her to friggin' work for it."
> A Slime Ball a Day...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Hoofsteps.

Chains.

Howling winds.

Theanim Mane bit his lip as he trudged down the cold stone corridor.  With a shuddering breath, he turned to look behind him in the dim prison manalight.

A pair of eyeslits announced Echo's location behind him.  The flightless sarosian trotted calmly between a pair of armored stallions.

Theanim took a deep breath, then looked ahead to the two stallions leading them.  He had to trot sideways to avoid other members of the Rohbredden Central Guard trotting in the opposite direction.  Gradually, the group of six trudged their way deeper and deeper through the frigid underbelly of the Frosted Shelves.  Slick stone bridges spanned an enormous black gap.  Rigidly carved walls were dotted with rusted doors and barred windows for as far as the scientist could see—both above him and beneath him.  Pegasus guards flew every which way, armed with crossbows.  Meanwhile, a never-ending roar of echoing voices, banging metal, and rambling shouts filled the ancient penitentiary with perpetual bedlam.

At last—as the howling and shouts reached a fever pitch—the escort stopped at what appeared to be a dead end.  Theanim swiftly noticed a pair of guards positioned next to a complex pulley system.  The head of the escort conversed with the stallions, and the guards nodded back.  Twirling a set of valves and levers, they set off a chain reaction of moving ropes and gears.

Theanim looked up and Echo calmly blinked as a broad metal balcony lowered from an unseen ceiling.  Descending from darkness, the rusted ledge hugged a flat wall of hanging prison doors.  At last, the balcony came to a rattling stop, aligning with a line of doors two levels above the ledge where the group was standing.

One of the guards jerked a lever, and a ramp stretched out from their platform, connecting with the hanging ledge.  Thuddd!  The stallions escorting Theanim looked back and nodded.

Theanim nodded back.  Under careful watch, he and Echo spanned the ramp, then stood on the platform.  A ruckus split the air as emaciated prisoners reached their forelimbs out of their door windows, spitting and gargling nonsense.  One of the guards banged his spear against the doorframes, forcing the trembling inmates back.  They then brought Echo and Theanim to a single rusted door and spent a full minute unlocking it in three places.  Then, with a metallic groan, they opened the door and gestured for Theanim and Echo to enter.

The two did so, with only a slight bit of reluctant on Theanim's part.

"We will be right outside, Professor," one of the guards said.  "The prisoner should be properly restrained.  But if you have any issue with him..."  He turned to glare at Echo.  "...or from the midnighter, then do not hesitate to summon us."

"Thanks, good sir."  Theanim nodded.  "I will try to exercise caution."

Echo drifted by, flashing a fanged smile at the guard.  "And I will try not to sodomize you with mind."

The guard tried frowning, but a noticeable shudder rolled through his armor nevertheless.

Theanim sighed, rolling his eyes.  He waited for Echo to walk into the cell...





...and then followed him inside with a shuffling trot.

Cl-Clannnng!

The rusted clap of the closed door took a full thirty seconds to finish echoing across the cell's claustrophobic walls.  As soon as the noise finished, and all was silent save for the hush of mad prisoners in the abysmal chambers outside, a weak voice hissed out of the shadows, three times as slimy as everything else in that place.

"Well, if it isn't the self-righteous robbers of Lower Shoggoth."  A figure shifted atop a rancid excuse for a cot.  "No doubt you've arrived to gloat in what's left of my muzzle."

"Hmmmm..."  Echo smiled tiredly at Theanim.  "Friggin' typical.  Why's it that every time you have a reunion with a real jerkoff, they begin the conversation with 'Well, if it isn't the guys who totally whooped my ass'?"

Theanim grumbled.  "Old chap..."

"No, by all means, Professor," the voice resumed, weak and raspy.  "Allow your blood-sucking friend the chance to gloat.  I would if I was in the freak's position."

"Hah.  'Blood-sucking.'  How original."  Echo turned and pointed at a grimy wooden container on the floor.  "Well well well... if it isn't the shit bucket they gave you."

"What about it—?"

Cl-Clank!  Echo bucked the thing savagely.  The putrid contents of the bucket splashed across half the cell.  A horrible odor immediately filled the air.

Theanim clenched his eyes shut.  "Did you really have to do that...?"

"Eh... all things considered," the voice slithered.  "He gave this deplorable place an upgrade."

"Yeah."  Echo casually grabbed a metal chair and perched on it.  "A shithole for a real shitstain."  In half-a-breath, he hung upside down from the back of the chair, staring comfortably across the dark expanse.  "I'm surprised a cradle robber like you has lasted this long, Jeryn."

Theanim squinted.  "I... I-I'm afraid I don't follow..."

"Some knowledge you can't get from scientific observation, professor.  Sometimes the only truth that matters is word of muzzle.  Or... in this insufferable prison's case..."  There was a rattle of chains, and a scrawny figure shuffled out of the shadows at a bent angle.  Jeryn's muzzle was scarcely recognizable from a superfluous amount of whelts and permanent bruises marring his face.  "...word of fetlock."

Theanim grimaced.  "Verlaxion's sleet..."

"Do you like it, Professor?"  Jeryn winced.  He spoke out the less lumpy side of his muzzle and squinted with one good eye.  "Do you like the fruits of your thievery?"

"Did... the guards...?"  Theanim couldn't finish the inquiry.

"Hrmmmff..."  Jeryn almost laughed.  He could only manage a wheezing cough.  "I'm surprised you would be so pessimistic.  A lot must have happened on the outside since you destroyed all I lived for in Shoggoth."

Theanim merely blinked.

"No, this...?"  Jeryn gestured at his battered face.  "...this is the work of the deplorable monsters that I've been forced to share these walls with.  The so-called 'enemies of the state' arrive swiftly here in the proverbial sphincter of Rohbredden.  But word travels faster... regardless of its merit."  He pulled over a stool and slowly sat down in it, wincing.  "The stallions of this sewer have been made to believe certain rumors about me, and this is the result of their mutual opinion."

"And would some of these rumors be true?" Theanim remarked, eyebrow arched.

"Hrmmmff..."  Jeryn reached to his left, fumbled, then found a pitcher of water on a nearby table.  "Truth... lies..."  He took a sip.  "...the only thing that holds weight down here is a properly swung hoof.  But you wouldn't know that, I suppose."  He wiped his muzzle dry and placed the pitcher back down.  "You still believe in a purpose behind all things.  What else would have brought you to these depths?"

Echo's fangs showed in a bittersweet smirk.  "To stare into your lovely kisser."

"Echo..."  Theanim grumbled.

"No!  Honest!  I think it's an improvement!"

"Forgive me if... I'm rather slow to the draw as of late."  Jeryn rubbed his head, and it was only then that Theanim noticed his straight mane had been haphazardly shaved.  "When I first came down here, they sent me into the gravel pits.  I barely lasted a day.  So... they tried shuffling me through the upper level labor halls.  I..."  He coughed.  "...nearly bled to death after a rather unfortunate encounter with a concealed dagger.  And that was after a very thorough beating.  I'm... afraid my wits aren't quite what they used to be."  He squinted.  "Concussions will do that."

Theanim cleared his throat.  "I've been told that the warden decided to keep you locked up in this cell.  For your own protection."

"The only thing left that's worth protecting is my sanity.  Tell me—how does this accomplish that?"  Jeryn smiled crookedly.  "I was never meant to be placed into solitary... and yet, alas, here is my lot in the buttocks of life."  He shuddered.  "You obviously came a very long way for a very grandiose purpose, Professor, but perhaps now you see with absolute certainty that there is nothing I even remotely possess that can be of any use to anypony.  There is a certain depth that a stallion sinks—"

"And he begins to reassess the mistakes that he made?"

Jeryn's muzzle hung open.  He stared into the darkness past his two visitors.  "I... mmmm... do not regret being a part of the Syndicate."  He cleared his throat, his one good eye lifting up to meeth Theanim's gaze.  "I only regret what I chose as my safety net.  I expected to fall upon a cushion of salvation.  Instead, I got wrangled up like a fish and tossed before the sharks."

"Spoken like a true blue guppy," Echo said.

"Considering the fact that you brought the junkie with you," Jeryn hissed, his gaze slicing between the two.  "I assume you're after information that your bosom buddy here can't provide, Professor."  Jeryn squinted.  "Before we even pretend to begin, I want to know what's in it for me."

"And I have to be honest with you, dear sir."  Theanim leaned forward.  "I'm not particularly sure I can offer much."

"Mrmmmff... anything... anything would be better than this festering pit that they've resorted to chaining me in."  Jeryn's good eye twitched.  "Believe me.  If I could just die in some place with a bed that's not covered in fleas."  He gulped.  "The last shred of me will be at peace."

Theanim took a deep breath—instantly regretting it from the perpetual stench.  "I'm a scientist with the Order," he spoke at last.  "I'm certain that—if I gave them a candid psychological review of your battered psyche—I can at least convince them to isolate you from the rest of the population."

Echo gestured.  "Less blunt force makeovers, if you catch Theams' drift."

Jeryn gradually nodded.  "Somehow... I doubt it will work."  He coughed out the side of his swollen mouth.  "Still... I suppose it's worth the shot.  In the end, however, there's only one real thing that will make me feel a sense of retribution.  There's one pony who I stand to see suffer in all of this."

Theanim opened his muzzle, but hesitated.  He fidgeted where he stood.

"Come now, Professor."  Jeryn squinted his way.  "What is it that you convinced the guards this meeting was about?  Fact finding?  An assessment of the 'Rainbow Rogue?'  You know enough about what transpired down in Shoggoth to bear a full report to the Council on your own.  It's about what lies beyond the murk of the seven seas that truly reeled you down to these depths."

"Eugh..."  Echo's upside ears twitched.  "Enough with the shit-show."  He spat, "You gonna sing about Chandler or not?"

Theanim growled, "Old Chap..."

"Yessss..."  Jeryn smiled, revealing two missing teeth.  "Let's talk about Brye Chandler."  He growled.  "Let's talk about the master of puppets... the wielder of strings made out of gold and blood."

"You want back at him?"  Echo's eyeslits narrowed.  "Give Theams something to work with and we'll do what we can to bring him down."

"Erm... one th-thing at a time, Old Chap," Theanim said.

"Please, Professor, allow your midnighter coltfriend to do the spearheading for once."  One of Jeryn's nostrils flared.  "I can detect the odd tonality of a sober mind within him.  It's quite unbecoming of the freak, if I do say so."

"Yeah.  Whatever."  Echo folded his forelimbs.  "I heard Chandler's name tossed around plenty of times.  Along with Monket's.  But I was never that deeply involved with the Shoreline Operations to get the full scoop of that guano."

"And so you've come to me to clear the impasse," Jeryn said.

"Do you know how Monket of Mudtop is connected?" Theanim asked, leaning forward.  "Has Chandler been dealing personally with the slaver?"

"Dealing with him?  Pffft... Chandler had Monket personally escort me to Frostknife, along with the Luminards whom your illustrious rainbow blighter so mercilessly thrashed."

Theanim swallowed a lump down his throat.  "So you can testify that Monket has been in a criminal partnership with the head executive of the Shoreline Trade Consortium?"

"Mmmmm... absolutely.  As a matter of fact, they've been working for some time now."

"Define 'some time.'"

"The full duration of Chandler's rise to power."  Jeryn's eye narrowed.  "He didn't gain everything through a rich inheritance, Professor.  Mr. Chandler knows the ins and outs of the muck—every putrid square inch of the Seven Seas is what the bastard drinks every morning.  He's made deals with creatures even nastier than myself, if that can be believed."

Theanim exhaled.  "I shudder to think."

"I'll take that as a compliment."  Jeryn continued, "Chandler has monopolized the dredge coal business for years as a cover for a far more insidious operation."

"As in...?"

"I'm speaking of the purposeful supplication of explosive ordinance to bandits and political terrorists throughout the heart of central Rohbredden."

Theanim and Echo glanced at one another.

"There's... an anxious undercurrent of ennui in the shadow of our beloved Goddess."  Jeryn gulped.  "While most Rohbreddenites are willing to worship Verlaxion on the surface, there are many who believe—deep down in their hearts—that she's abandoned us for good.  Or, even worse, she's never existed to begin with."

"That's preposterous," Theanim grumbled.  "There is scientific validity behind the sacred tales of Unification.  The power of Verlaxion keeps the chaotic elements at bay.  She's even appeared before the Council within the last generation—"

"Her blasted frost golems have appeared, but not Verlaxion herself."  Jeryn shuddered.  "Please, Professor, I am not... truly attempting to challenge the legitimate essence of our Queen."  He gulped.  "I merely mean to imply that there are many ponies who do doubt her.  And this doubt... this deeply-seeded mistrust is twisting Rohbredden at the fulcrum of all Six Tribes.  Prefectures are struggling to stay in solidarity.  Council Members wander home to their Frostknife embassies every evening, secretly wishing each other dead.  Maybe you've been too busy sailing the Seven Seas to notice this in person.  I personally don't blame you.  That's why I stayed so deep in Shoggoth myself.  I knew that—at one point or another—things were going to pop off, and it would be a sad day for the Tribes when it did."

"And Brye Chandler..."  Theanim cocked his head aside.  "What's his mission in all of this?  Is he feeding the unrest?"

"Yes and no.  Moreover, I'd say that he's planning to fix it."  Jeryn leaned back with a sigh.  "Why deal with a problem you can't solve?  Better to create the problem yourself and then fix it from the outside while hoping nopony's the wiser."  His bruised brow furrowed.  "Throw a little fuel on the fire and let the foundation of the house burn down.  Then, when it comes time to rebuild, you're in the right place and time to take charge."

"So, then, Chandler—the leader of the Consortium—is working on both the inside and the outside?"  Theanim blinked.  "He's funding terrorists to add to the unrest from within Rohbredden's borders... while using Monket to wrest controls of the Seven Seas?"

"The stallion knows how to operate on two fronts."  Jeryn gulped.  "At least... he used to."

"I beg your pardon?"

The prisoner sighed.  "As I said, word travels the fastest down here.  Rumor is that Monket and his previous employer are no longer an item."  Jeryn's good eye darted about.  "No that long ago, something... intense went down in Red Barge, the location of one of Chandler's largest investments.  Since then, Mudtop has been claimed exclusively by the Slaver of the Waves."

Echo clenched his fanged jaws.  He looked at Theanim.

Theanim looked back, then sighed towards the floor.  "Then it's a loose end.  Monket is holed up in Mudtop.  You no longer work for Chandler.  There's nothing left to pull his facade apart."

"I wouldn't be so quick to give up, Professor."

Theanim blinked.  "Oh?"

"Chandler is nothing if not fast," Jeryn said.  "The stallion is constantly three steps ahead of everyone else.  He orchestrated the arrival of the Luminards to Frostknife.  And—in so doing—he forced the Council to relocate the one elite team of guardians responsible for sabotaging the bulk of his terrorist subterfuge."

"The Right Talon of Verlaxion," Theanim murmured.  "They went off to chase Rainbow Dash."

"They were sent on a wild goose chase."  Jeryn yawned.  "Suitable for a gaggle of meatheads, if I do say so myself."

"I was there when it happened," Theanim said.  "Chandler's charisma certainly took ahold of the Council."

"Hrmmfff..."  Jeryn smirked crookedly.  "Is that what you think persuaded the Council to vote the way it did?  Charisma?"

"I'm... afraid I don't feel you."

"It's like I said.  Chandler is constantly three steps ahead.  The Council was always meant to send the Right Talon of Verlaxion on a fool's errand.  It was all a matter of timing on Chandler's part."

Theanim blinked.  "Huh?"

"Theams..."

Theanim glanced over.

Echo's eyeslits peered back.  "Chandler must have members of the Council in his pocket."

The Professor grimaced.  "You... know of this?"

Echo exhaled.  "Isn't it obvious?  How else could Chandler have moved on up the ladder as quickly as he has if there wasn't some sort of support from within."

"And..."  Theanim blinked, gazing off as he thought aloud.  "...if he's supplying criminal activists with weaponry..."

"When he can't motivate Council Members by bits, he does so by intimidation," Jeryn said.  "Between all his friends and enemies, he'll soon have a sizable enough bulk of the prefectures' representatives in a choke-hold.  But that isn't enough on its own to edge him over."

"No, I suppose not.  He needs to become a hero in the public's eyes."  Theanim sighed.  "He needs to capture the Rainbow Rogue."

"Indeed."  Jeryn nodded.  "The creature from beyond the blight has excited and terrified Rohbreddenites everywhere.  Even down in these depths, the prisoners talk of her.  Some think she's a living torch come to melt the legacy of Verlaxion."

"Now there's a frightening thought."

"Professor..."  Jeryn arched an eyebrow.  "Some ponies look forward to the notion."

Theanim bit his lip.

"But there's one thing I don't get."  Echo's eyeslits narrowed.  "If Monket's no longer wheeling and dealing with Chandler, then... hasn't he lost the game?"

"I must admit."  Jeryn sighed.  "I didn't expect him and Monket to have a falling out."  He smirked.  "I wish I was there to see the look on Chandler's face... when he lost so much."

Theanim cleared his throat.  "I suppose the glorious leader of the Consortium lost a few of his forward steps."

"Possibly.  But Chandler doesn't take pride in setbacks."  Jeryn grunted, "I'm to take it that the Rainbow Rogue is still at large."

Theanim sighed.  "Affirmative."

"Then I hate to be any of Chandler's secretaries at the moment."  Jeryn fiddled with the chains attached to him.  "As we speak, the bastard is undoubtedly attempting a bold move... one that he may regret."

"A stallion that conniving must still have connections within Rohbredden proper," Theanim said.  "Can you point us in the right direction?"

"I can try."  Jeryn shuddered.  "You see... I'm not the only former associate of Chandler's who occupies these frozen halls.  There are many... many more wasted shells of the Syndicate's former glory, all shoveled down here to act as the gravel for the Consortium's hooves to tread upon.  Chandler's biggest problem is that he hasn't acked quickly enough.  Because of that, several cretins have attempted to conquer the vacuum left in the Syndicate's wake.  Monket succeeded, but what makes him so capable of survival is that he's limiting his reign to Mudtop.  Others have... not been so subtle.  They've been chaotic... they've been noisy... and they need to be restrained.  And yet, allowing them to fall in the hooves of the Central Guard or the Right Talon would mean damnation for the Consortium.  So he either has to appease these loose ends or he has to silence them.  With his resources strained as of late, he can't really afford to do the latter with any relative ease."

"Do you know where one of these loose ends is being unraveled?" Theanim asked.  "Has any of the rumors echoing across these prison halls given you even the slightest inclination?"

"I may have heard of a meeting about to take place," Jeryn said.  "One in which a member of the Council is having to pay his due and cover up for Chandler's latest mistakes."

"A member of the Council is meeting up with one of Chandler's partners in crime?"

"Affirmative."

"Who's meeting who?"  Theanim gulped.  "Is... is Revan involved?"

"Revan's gone," Jeryn spat.  "He's a ghost at best.  Forget about Revan."

"Okay..."

"No, Professor, we're speaking of even filthier game," Jeryn said.  "If you can help relocate me to a slightly... less putrid cell, then I shall tell you where this meeting's being held."  He frowned.  "I will give you an opportunity to die for... and when all is said and done, you can proceed to bag both a traitor and a scoundrel and turn the entire Consortium upside down."

Theanim and Echo exchanged glances.

"How can we believe that you're being totally honest with us?" Echo asked.  "I know you, Jeryn.  You're the master of opulence.  What if all of this is just bullshit so you can find a way to make yourself feel better until you croak, ya slime pisser?"

"All the meat of my body has been wrung dry in this infernal place."  Jeryn shuddered.  "All I want... all I want in this goddess-forsaken life is a warm bed to sleep on..."  He smiled crookedly.  "...while I drift away in the sastisfaction that Chandler's been burnt to a crisp for all his damnable smugness."

Theanim leaned back, rubbing his chin in thought.

"So what will it be, Professor?"  Jeryn wheezed.  "Win win?  Or lose lose?"  He shrugged.  "Either way, the only thing you stand to gain... is the truth."

Theanim's eyes twinkled.

"Oh goddess dammit..."  Echo face-hoofed upside down.  "...you went and triggered him."
> The Humble Talon of Verlaxion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Loose lotus blossom petals fell past Keris' feathery headcrest, joining the flakes of frost coating the cold granite floor below.  With a resounding breath, the Lieutenant lifted his head and squinted his magenta eyes at the rows of stone seats surrounding him.

"So, in conclusion, dear Council."  He clenched his beak tight.  "I must with great reluctance state that Rainbow Dash—the 'Rainbow Rogue' of the Seven Seas—has eluded our grasp.  Although the circumstances of her last sighting were indeed very catastrophic, I have every reason to believe—due to the nature of her tenaciousness and versatility—that the suspect still lives."  He cleared his throat.  "It was the Commander's Executive decision to cease the hunt, but it was I who escorted the majority of the Talon back to Frostknife.  And—in the absence of Commander Seraphimus—I bear full responsibility for our failure to capture the Rogue in any physical capacity."

At the end of his speech, the Lieutenant bowed low.  The utter silence of the moment shook him more than anything.  His grip of his helmet rattled slightly, and he took a deep breath in order to maintain his composure.

A thick group of anxious magistrates, representatives, and delegates stared down at him from the half-circle of seats.  Their expressions were just as cold and sterile as the frosted clifffaces looming above them within that niche.

Grand Magistrate Hymnos coughed slightly before standing up straight behind her podium.  She struck a gavel and spoke loudly, projecting her voice over Keris' head.  "The Council now offers the air to the voices and concerns of its Magistrates."

An old mare in a fancy robe stands up.

"The Council recognizes Magistrate Vilcheez of Lotust Prefecture," Hymnos spoke.

"Lieutenant Keris."  Vilcheez's eyes narrowed.  "You claim that you take full responsibility for the failure to collect the body of the Rainbow Rogue—alive or dead."

"I claim and I do."  Keris nodded.  "Madame Magistrate..."

"And yet, when the illustrious Commander Seraphimus made the decision to cease all pursuit of the Rogue, you did not think it in this kingdom's best interest to challenge her command?"

The crowd murmured in a low voice.

On the sidelines, Windburst, Raptr, and Starstorm stood side by side in brand new sets of armor.  They exchanged nervous glances.

Keris blinked.  "I'm... afraid that I do not understand the question."  Keris cleared his throat.  "Commander Seraphimus holds authority over the entirety of the Right Talon of Verlaxion, including myself.  So when she ordered that our hunt be discontinued—"

"The Right Talon of Verlaxion operates via the good grace of the Council, Lieutenant," Vilcheez said.  "Certainly I need not remind you of that."

Another Magistrate stood up, blurting.  "Did we not make it clear that the Rainbow Rogue was to be captured and brought to Frostknife to answer for her crimes?"

Hymnos frowned.  "The Council is currently giving ear to the Magistrate from Lotus Prefecture—"

The stallion ignored the Grand Magistrate, barking in Keris' direction, "You acknowledge that the Rogue may indeed still be alive!  And yet, you and your Commander both agreed to openly defy the Council by letting this detestable... creature run free?!"

The Council broke into an angry clamor.

Keris spoke firmly against the bedlam:  "We deemed it too great a risk to the stability of Ivory, Dust, and Lichen Prefectures to continue.  Every attempt to capture the Rainbow Rogue previously brought explosive destruction and damage to the outlying northern settlements—"

A griffon in a fur coat stood up, frowning.  "All the more reason to stop the Rogue in her tracks!"  She swung a talon, snarling.  "Now she's still out there, wreaking havoc!"

"Order!"  Hymnos banged her gavel.  "The Council will only tolerate one speaker at a time—"

"That injury of yours, Lieutenant."  Vilcheez nodded her head.  "Did you receive it during your flight in Rice or Osmanthus Prefectures?"

Keris adjusted the weight of his hanging cast.  "No, Magistrate.  I suffered a series of injuries while imprisoned at Red Barge along with the Rainbow Rogue."

"So this was before you and the Commander even set out to find the Rogue?!"

"It was during the first leg of my investigation, as mandated by this Council, Madame."

"So you had an unfortunate run-in with the Rogue prior to the hunt."  Vilcheez folded her forelimbs.  "One that brought great injury to your body and—undoubtedly—your countenance."

Keris' hawkeyes narrowed.  "I'm... afraid I do not understand what are you meaning to imply, Madame."

"Don't you?"  Vilcheez snorted.  "Would the Commander have been so keen to give up on the Rogue if you hadn't constantly been filling her ears with pessimistic rhetoric?"  She grumbled.  "You're supposed to be the righteous fury of our beloved Goddess.  But where has the fire gone if our greatest defenders are defeated by their foes before the hunt even starts?"

Frowning, Raptr stepped out towards the center of the court.  Windburst and Starstorm swiftly yanked him back before the rookie's brazen movement could be noticed.

Keris calmed evenly.  "I reiterate before the Council:  I do not know the reason behind every decision the Commander makes.  As for myself, I assure you that my loyalty to this Council and the Six Tribes has never been stronger."  He swallowed.  "Any advice I gave the Commander—whether it cautious or headstrong—was given in the best interests of the safety of all our Prefectures—"

"The safety of your tail is more like it!" another pony blurted out of order, forcing Hymnos to bang the gavel again.  "Where was the courage you displayed in the central territories?!  Is one creature from beyond the Blight so much more terrible than a marching phalanx of terrorists?!"

"How dare you speak of terrorists!"  A fellow magistrate snarled from aside the first interrupter.  "Did your citizens have any of their town halls blown up?!  Any of their crops burned to ashes?!"

"Stop trying to gain sympathy before the Talon!"  A unicon barked from the front row.  He turned and frowned up at the other magistrates.  "Commander Seraphimus patrolled your lands for three weeks while the Council decided to ignore the rest of our pleas!"

"Is that why you voted to send the Talon after the Rogue?!  To spite the rest of us who had our lands defended?!"

By now, the entire Council had collapsed into unintelligible yelling.  Keris winced, glancing at every arguing pony, elder, and griffon with wild eyes.  "Council!  Council Members and Magistrates, please, this is no time for—"

"Order!  Order!"  Hymnos finally snarled and signaled a series of guards flanking the Court.

The guards nodded back.  They pulled a hammer out of a velvet bag and slammed a ridiculously large gong situated along the edge of the room.

Windburst, Starstorm, and Raptr winced.

This managed to silence a good portion of the Council, if only somewhat.  The ponies looked front and center as Hymnos stood tall behind her podium.

"Alas, you've all witnessed it."  Hymnos frowned.  "The brass has spoken, and this meeting is adjourned."

"Grand Magistrate—" Vilcheez began.

"Silence!" Hymnos' voice reverberated off the looming statues of ponies, griffons, and sirens behind her.  "This session was to discuss the mission of the Right Talon and their apparent failure.  It was not meant for tossing petty insults between the various Prefectures.  As Grand Magistrate, I cannot and shall not allow this Council to dissolve into a banal bloodbath!"  She pointed.  "All delegates are dismissed!  I shall reconvene at a time that's yet to be decided!  If you seek an update, send your servants to ascertain the schedule from the central board!  If that isn't good enough, then take a swim in the Seven Seas!"  Frowning, she slapped her book shut and marched off while an escort of guards scurried to catch up with her.

Despite the finality of her words, the magistrates took a prolonged time in exiting the lofty chamber.  Many glared vicious, angry daggers at one another before eventually descending the steps and venturing off into the lower reaches of Frostknife.  Many like-bodied pegasi, earth ponies, griffons, and unicorns banded together.  The water chambers were practically devoid of sirens.

Keris hung his head, sighing as the Council dissipated around him.  His three subordinates marched out and stood by his side.

"Well, could have been worse," Windburst muttered.  "They could have pissed on you."

"Sergeant," Keris muttered aside.  "The Throne of Verlaxion..."

"Right."  Windburst pivoted and bowed towards the frosted steps leading far beyond the granite statues.  "A thousand pardons, dear Goddess."

"Is it just me...?"  Starstorm fidgeted.  "...or were they... bloodthirstier than usual?"

"They're a bunch of ungrateful pen-pushers, is what," Raptr snarled.

Keris stood up to frown at him.  "They are still the Council, Sergeant.  Just because they don't respect us in the manner that we desire doesn't mean we—the Right Talon—should be neglectful in our vigil."

"But—"

"By duty or by spirit."

Raptr gulped.  "They're not even respectful of each other!  You saw them, Lieutenant!  We all heard them!  They're... they're like a bunch of schoolyard bullies biting and clawing at each other!"  Raptr pivoted about, staring at the empty seats.  "I think they were angrier at each other than they were at us!"

"Did something terrible happen while we were gone?" Starstorm remarked.

"If so, we were not in the right place to protect or defend them."  Keris gulped.  "And now that they need the Commander to inspire confidence, she's a complete no-show."

"There must be a reason for all of this squabbling," Starstorm said.  "Have we been so entrenched with fighting terrorists and chasing rainbows that we've failed to pay close enough attention?"

"Did you see Hymnos?" Windburst remarked.  "The Grand Magistrate can barely even hold this room together.  And just where are the sirens?"

"I don't know..."  Keris rubbed his beak, sighing.  "But one thing's for sure, I could really use Seraphimus' strength right now.  Goddess, I could use anything right now... Verlaxion help us..."

A voice cleared from behind.  "Excuse me, Lieutenant."

The four armored griffons turned around.

"Ahem..." Theanim slid his goggles up over his mane.  "I am Professor Theanim Mane of the Ninety-Seventh Rohbredden Scientific Order.  You are Lieutenant Keris, I presume?"

"Yes, Professor," Keris said with a nod.  "I am indeed the griffon in silver that every magistrate has been leering at for the past hour."

"Indeed."  Theanim took a step forward.  "I do believe we've met before, if only briefly."

"Do forgive me if I currently lack the ability to recall."  Keris cleared his throat.  "I have, however, heard of your noble exploits across Rohbredden and the seas beyond."

"Then perhaps you know that the two of us have something in common."

"Affirmative."  Keris squinted carefully.  "We both have run afoul of the Rainbow Rogue."

"But only one of us tried to bring her to justice," Windburst added.  Starstform and Raptr glared at the stallion.

Theanim gulped.  "That might be true.  But it's our other commonality, Lieutenant, that kept us from fulfilling such a task so easily."

"Oh?"

"I speak of our sincere pursuit of the truth," Theanim said.  "And if one spends even an hour with Rainbow Dash, they realize that such a thing is not found quite so easily."

Keris blinked.

Theanim stared squarely at him.

"Eugh..."  Raptr rolled his eyes.  "I swear... all that will ever happen in this damn chamber is intrigue and harassment."  He stepped towards Theanim.  "Go back home, citizen.  The Grand Magistrate adjourned all meetings for the time being and she meant it—"

Keris stretched his good arm out, halting Raptr completely.  The air silenced as he trained his gaze further on Theanim.  "Good Professor..."  He spoke calmly, "Do forgive our... edginess.  It's been a tense Month of Thawing so far.  Perhaps you would do well to explain your motivation in stealing my attention."

"I don't mean to steal anypony's attention," Theanim said.  "But to enlighten it."

"Is that so?"

Theanim nodded.  "Your subordinate is correct.  This Council has been nothing but hoof pointing and teeth gnashing as of late.  For a long time, I've been blind to the problems rotting beneath the frozen shelves of this kingdom.  However, several recent events have awoken me to a dark, grisly reality... something that I'm just now coming close to unraveling.  And yet... I do not believe I can accomplish it all on my lonesome."

"Professor, you are a scientist."  Keris raised an eyecrest.  "Perhaps you can make your sentences more... scientific?"

"There's a pony in power who is sowing all of the distrust and dissent in this land," Theanim said.  His voice took on a hushed tone as he leaned in closer.  "I've just returned from the Frosted Shelves, where I learned of an upcoming meeting—a secret rendezvous between two nefarious parties—that may very well reveal just who or what is responsible for all of the problems that have been turning the Prefectures and Tribes against one another."  He gulped.  "But I suspect that I will need the assistance of the Talon to properly catch such a meeting as it goes underway.  This... this may be our one opportunity to strike at the heart at what's been festering within this continent."

"Is he serious?!" Raptr hissed.

Starstorm added.  "We're here because we failed to catch the Rogue, and now the Scientific Order is rambling about conspiracies!"

"You mean like the strange bullshit that held our Commander back at Braum?" Windburst droned.

Starstorm and Raptr instantly silenced themselves, blinking wide.  All three looked at Keris.

Keris exhaled.  "I feel like I've been doing nothing but chasing after shadows as of late, Professor.  If this proves to be another fleeting phantom—"

"I honestly don't know, Lieutenant," Theanim said.  "But while I might have an inclination, I lack the resources on my own to investigate thoroughly."  He held a hoof out.  "Thus, I have come to ask for your strength."  He blinked.  "And hopefully your trust."

"My strength, you and your Order have without question," Keris said.  "My trust?  Well, that's something we can work on, yes?  Let us move."  He waved a talon in the air, directing the Sergeants to follow him as he walked out of the Council with Theanim.  "If this is indeed the kind of discussion that I think we're going to have, then we must do so elsewhere."
> The Theam and Preen Connection
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Raptr squinted.  "And you got all of this from... a beat-up prisoner?"

"Not just any prisoner," Theanim Mane replied.  He stood inside a stone-carved barracks deep within Frostknife.  The gray walls of the narrow chamber were lined with sets of silver armor and serrated gauntlets.  "But Jeryn, the leader of the Southern Hoof."

"You mean the Syndicate," Starstorm said from where she sat across the table.

Theanim nodded.  "That is correct."

Windburst leaned against a wall, sharpening his crossbolts.  "And no doubt this slimy cretin wants something in return for supplying this information."

Theanim cleared his throat.  "He... uhm..."  He shifted where he stood.  "He simply wants to be relocated somewhere distant from the general population of the Frosted Shelves."

"Because Verlaxion forbid that he should suffer more undue punishment for the pain and agony he's caused countless souls:  continentalists and colonialists alike."  Starstorm grunted.  "Piece of filth got off easily."

"Still..."  Raptr scratched his headcrest.  "...seems a bit too good to be true."  His hawkeyes narrowed.  "You sure he's willing to give us all this information just to be relocated?"

"I'm certain the whole lot of you are familiar with seeing the eyes and faces of the desperate," Theanim Mane said.  "Even beneath all of his whelts and bruises, Jeryn has that same look tenfold."  He gestured.  "This is his chance to live out the rest of his years in relative peace.  And it's our chance to unearth the final link to the Syndicate that's infected this continent.  Believe me, there'll be nothing more satisfying in Jeryn's grimy heart than to bring ruin to his former collaborator."

"And..."  Starstorm's eyes darted between Windburst and Raptr.  She looked back at Theanim.  "...just who is this former collaborator, according to Jeryn?"

"Yes."  Windburst looked up, his gaze narrowing.  "Just how far does the hammer fall?"

Theanim took a deep breath.  "I speak of Brye Chandler."

The three sergeants clammed up.  They turned to look towards the far end of the corridor.

Lieutenant Keris stopped pacing.  His talons scraped against the stone floor as he stood still before a series of gray vertical windows.  "... ... ...Chandler of the Shoreline Trade Consortium."

"That's right."  Theanim nodded.  "Jeryn's testimony corraborates with the eyewitness accounts given by the pilgrims of the Quade who boarded his company vessel bound for Frostknife.  According to the Luminards, Chandler's worked closely with Monket, the alleged Slaver of Waves."

Keris pivoted to stare fixedly at Theanim across the way.

Theanim blinked.  "This... isn't the first time you've heard of Monket?"

"Hardly."  Keris adjusted the weight of his cast and shuffled closer.  "As a matter of fact, I met him."

Theanim swallowed.  "At Red Barge."

Keris nodded.  "Indeed."  His eyes glanced across the hanging weaponry and armor of the Right Talon.  "I know that he was there to conduct an illicit deal between the Red Bargers and an outside party.  We also happen to have a representative of that same outside party situated in a temporary holding cell located within the upper bowers of the Frosted Shelves.  She attacked me while I was in Red Barge, and the Talon encountered her again... in Braum."

"Braum?"

Keris nodded.  "Her name is Longaze.  And she is a high ranking executive of the Shoreline Trade Consortium.  After engaging in a violent battle with the Rainbow Rogue—one in which Longaze willfully put multiple innocent civilians at risk—she was swiftly incapacitated.  We soon learned that she arrived in Steamfall shortly before her infiltration of Braum."

"Then... then the Right Talon already knows that the Shoreline Trade Consortium is participating in criminal activities abroad!"  Theanim's jaw dropped.  Suddenly, his brow furrowed.  "Why didn't you bring these details up when you presented your report to the Council?"

Keris raised an eyebrow.  "Would you?"

Raptr winced.  Starstorm hung her head while Windburst lethargically returned to sharpening his crossbolts.

Theanim sighed.  "Well, I suppose you have a point."

"I was expected to present my report concerning the Rainbow Rogue to the Council, and that is precisely what I did."  Keris stood across the table from Theanim.  "In truth, we expected to resume with our investigation into the Consortium as soon as the Commander arrived in Frostknife."

"But Seraphimus has been... noticeably absent."

Keris clenched his beak.  "My... hope is that her veteran experience and wisdom is currently assisting her in gathering some much needed evidence concerning the Consortium."

"That's why she hasn't arrived?"  Theanim leaned his head aside.  "She's investigating the Consortium?  On her own?"  He looked at the other members of the Talon.  "...and you just let her wander off without any support?"

"The Commander's authority supercedes our own," Starstorm murmured.  "It's not our place to challenge her—"

"And precisely what good does blind faith accomplish?"  Theanim frowned.  "I've been in that place before, and I came to realize I was not doing any good for this world and the ones who dwelled in it."

"The Commander is more than capable of handling herself," Raptr said with an edgy tone.

"I'm certain that she is!"  Theanim nodded.  "And what of the ponies in her way?  How will they handle her hard-edged tenacity?  Hmmm?"  Theanim leaned back.  "Your Commander is a brave soul, but also happen to know she's quite a passionate one."  He clenched his jaw.  "Or am I the only soul in Rohbredden who's seen what's hidden below in those frozen stasis chambers?"

Starstorm stood up to angrily retort.

Keris calmly rested his good talon on her shoulder.  "The Commander... has much to fight for."  He walked slowly around the table.  "Just as she has much to protect.  That's what the Right Talon is all about, Professor.  Protection."  He came to a stop beside Theanim.  "Without the Commander's insight, we are at a loss to understand the Consortium's nefarious role as of late.  Longaze is proving... stubborn when it comes to giving information."  He glanced at Windburst.  "It certainly doesn't help that Seraphimus paid her a rather tense visit shortly before she was brought to Frostknife."

Windburst's eyes fell to the floor.

"Every day that we wait for the Commander is another day that the Consortium gains greater subterfuge."  Keris took a shuddering breath.  "And I've seen enough partial evidence to infer that Chandler's organization is as big a threat to Rohbredden as the Rainbow Rogue."  He swallowed.  "If not more so."

"Then allow me to help you complete the picture," Theanim said.  "Come with me to Sunset Prefecture.  Together, we'll catch this criminal exchange in the process and pull the rug out from beneath Chandler and his entire operation!"

"As a scientist, aren't you supposed to go into an experiment with a null hypothesis?"

"At the heart, I am an anthropologist," Theanim explained.  "Not everything in the field works by beakers and centrifuges, Lieutenant."  He tilted his head aside.  "You have to read the surface of ponies before they unfold the rest of their substance to you.  Right now, everything Jeryn has said, breathed, and gestured tells me that this lead is solid.  The meeting happens in just a few days, and I don't think we can afford to waste this opportunity.  Do you?"

Keris leaned back with a sigh.  He stroked his bottom beak with his good talon.

Starstorm cleared her throat and leaned forward.  "Lieutenant... the Commander is expecting you to wait for her here in Frostknife."

"Send one of us to Sunset Prefecture with the Professor if you have to," Windburst said with a shrug.  "I'm sure whatever's going down, it's nothing we can't handle."

"Mmmm... yes."  Keris nodded.  "But we've been guilty of that sin before."

Raptr gulped.  "It... c-can't be as bad as what was going down in Braum."  He blinked.  "Could it?"

"I have a duty to the Commander," Keris said.  "But I have an even greater duty to the interests of the Council... and Rohbredden at large.  Coincidentally, it's the same duty she has."  Keris paced past Theanim, speaking to his sergeants along the way.  "I can't in good spirit force one of my subordinates to make this journey in my stead.  At the same time, I can't presume to guess that it won't end explosively, judging from our previous dealings with Longaze."  He scuffled to a stop, gazing at the rest of the Talon.  "For that reason, I will accompany the Professor personally, but I will not go alone."  He looked to his left.  "Starstorm, you will go with us.  In my condition, I will especially need the backup."

Starstorm saluted.  "Aye, Lieutenant."

"Windburst."

"Yes, sir?"

Keris pivoted to face him.  "You and Raptr will maintain the status quo in our absence."  He gestured with his good talon.  "Keep an eye on Longaze and play face for the Consortium.  If they ask about my absence, tell them that..."  He shifted slightly.  "...tell them that I am assisting the Commander in her investigation."

"Heh..."  Windburst slid his crossbolts back into a quiver and folded his arms.  "This should be interesting."

"You won't regret this, dear guardians," Theanim said, standing up straight.  "I can promise you that."

Keris slowly turned to squint at the stallion.  He marched slowly towards him.  "Professor... you could have gone to the Ninety-Seventh Scientific Order with this information.  You could have hired innumerable peers from your field to conduct this... 'study.'"  He came to a stop, facing the pony.  "Why come to me?"

Theanim stared back.  "Do you plan on informing the Council as to what precisely you'll be doing in Sunset Prefecture?"

Keris blinked.  "I think the answer to that is evident by now."

Theanim leaned forward, speaking in a low tone:  "Rohbredden is under attack, Lieutenant.  Not from the outside... but from the inside.  You saw the Council.  Everypony is at each other's throats.  The Great Goddess Verlaxion is nothing but a shadow as of late, and her foalish tribes are growing anxious."  He slowly shook his head.  "Now is not the time for public fearmongering.  I don't trust the other members of my Order to keep secret about what I'm discovering here.  If the truth is to be unraveled, then it must be done so in a swift and deliberate manner.  That requires the work of a soldier, not a lab technician."

"But why come to me?"  Keris tilted his head aside.  "I am merely curious.  If you're aware of all the dissent in the Council, then why do I have your trust?  The Talon and the Council perform as separate organs of the same body."

"I need a soul of integrity, Lieutenant."

"That's difficult to define, don't you think?"

Theanim took a breath.  "You've met Rainbow Dash, have you not?"

"Indeed."

"And you let her free?"

"Yes."  Keris nodded.  "If you keep score—like the Council—then I've done so twice."

Theanim smiled.  "Need I say more?"

The sergeants blinked awkardly at that.

Keris clenched his beak.  "She is a criminal, I hope you know."  His hawkeyes glinted.  "She's committed numerous misdeeds.  While it may still be up to the Council to investigate, it's quite likely that you were an accomplice in one or two of those acts—between Rust and Shoggoth."

"And how much better are the Seven Seas after the disbanding of the Syndicate?" Theanim remarked.  "And how safer will the Rohbredden be after Chandler steps down?"

Keris merely stared at him.

"I wasn't there in the Quade, Lieutenant."  Theanim sighed.  "More than ever... I wish that I was.  Truly, I do."  He gulped.  "Maybe I would have saved Rainbow Dash from performing the grossest error ever committed this side of the Blight.  But the time for trying that pegasus is not now.  No one knows that more than you and your fellow brothers and sisters of the Talon."

"You know, if my Commander was here, she would rebuke me for even speaking to you here in this armory," Keris said.  "She would claim that I've lost the strength and vigor of my conscience... that I've allowed the sinful deceit of a beast from beyond the Blight to poison my mind and plant doubt in my heart."

"What do you have to say in her stead?"

"I cannot pretend to guess.  But right now, I am looking at a pony with all of the good will and courage of Rainbow Dash, but devoid of the blemishes."  Keris nodded.  "Let us set out early so we can arrive at Sunset Prefecture on time."

Theanim smiled.  "Agreed."

"Well then..."  Starstorm walked briskly to a weapons locker.  "...shall I pack extra daggers?"

"Carry whatever you can, so long as it is light," Keris ordered.  "After all..."  He marched across the corridor and grabbed pieces of armor.  "...in the shadows, there's no telling how many steps ahead or behind our new prey may be."
> Steam Ships and Snow Banks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Master!"  A deckhoof hollered into a spray of stormy water across a steamship's starboard side.  "Master Chandler!"

Brye Chandler marched across the teetering deck.  Two servants struggled to keep in pace with him as the vessel rocked back and forth.  One nervously held an umbrella.

"Mrmmmfff... damn squalls..."  Chandler huffed and puffed, bundling himself with an extra-thick cloak studded with jades.  "Alright, out with it!"  He stood, shivering before the sailor.  "I expected to wait out the whole trip to the outlying harbors below deck.  This had better be good."

The sailor gulped and said,  "Sir, that pegasus-shaped shadow we spotted earlier?  Along the northern horizon?"

"What about it?"

"Turns out it wasn't a phantom after all."  He gestured at the rolling waves.  "We lit a beacon, and the winged figure is incoming.  Appears to be a messenger."

"Yes, so?!"  Chandler frowned.  "Probably come to alert us of a passing convoy!  It's standard procedure!  Why bring me out in this... mmmfff... torrent?!"

"Sir, he's bearing blue and white colors."

Chandler's eyes widened.  "...that message is coming from Steamfall!"  He shoved his way past the two servants and approached the starboard side.  "Well, where is he then?!  Brighten the beacons!  Give him the signal to land!"

"Sir, he has the signal!  Right now, he just needs room!"

With a grunt, Chandler backed up.  Voices hollered across the steamship.  Bright lights swam through the drizzle.  Then—within a hot minute—a soaking wet figure landed in a heap of wings and leather.

"Mmmmf!"  An exhausted pegasus collapsed across the sea-stained deck.  He winced, panting and wheezing for breath.  "Important... news... fr-from the n-north...!"  He coughed and sputtered.

"Well?!"  Chandler stomped his hoof.  "Procure the letter!"

A deckhoof reached in, fumbled with the deliverer's forelimbs, and grabbed a cylinder.  He opened it up, then slid a scroll out.

"Dammit—allow me!"  Chandler swiped the scroll from servant and ripped the seal.  His green eyes swam swiftly across the unfurled page.

"Mmmm... w-water... fresh water, please," the messenger wheezed.

Chandler merely stepped over him.  He paced and paced... then came to a stop.  The executive's ears drooped as his expression paled.

"Sir?"  A deckhand leaned forward.  "What is it?"

"... ... ...dammit, Longaze..."  Chandler stared across the sea, snarling.  "I thought you had it under control."  His teeth gritted.  "Now I have my tail lifted for all of Rohbredden to gawk..."

"Sir?"

"Rrrrnngh..."  Chandler crumpled the sheet up and tossed against the wincing body of the messenger.  "Change course!"

"But, sir!  We're almost to the shoreline—"

"Damn the harbors!"  Chandler marched angrily towards the lower deck.  "All the coal from South Barge is tainted anyway!  Set course for Consortium HQ!"

"Aye, sir!"  The deckhoof hollered.  "Hard to starboard!"

Bells rang and ponies galloped back and forth.  Chandler marked into the dark underbelly of the teetering ship until all that shone was the green sheen of his hard eyes.  "I'm going to be running this damned kingdom even if I have to grab it by the genitals!"






Thick violet hooves plowed through the snow of a mountain peak.

Remna came to a stop for the first time in hours.  Her breath produced powdery vapors in the lofty morning air.  With her back to the rising sun, it afforded her an easy glance at the jagged ridges looming to the northwest.

"We're getting close," she muttered, green eyes narrowing.  Her hoof pointed at a trio of sharp peaks.  "Those... those mountains over there?  They're the final barrier... the lasting bulwark of the Wyvern Tribe's hidden sanctuary!  We'll be there within days.  Should be an easy stretch.  Nothing between us and our destination, except for Snow Bloods and the occasional manticore of course."  Her hard nostrils flared.  "And if worse comes to worst, we can feed one to the other and skate on by."

Silence... save for panting breaths, light and stifled.

"...?"  Remna pivoted, gazing down the mountain slope.  "What's taking you so long, little pony?"

"Grfff... jee... I dunno..."  Rainbow huffed and puffed, fumbling to catch up with the deep hoofsteps left by the bounty hunter.  "Maybe the mountains... or the sl-slick snow... or... y'know..."  Rainbow frowned.  "Gravity."

"Hrmmfff..."  Remna merely turned tail and began her heavy march down the western slope.  "For a pegasus, it must be terribly taxing to use your spindly legs for any length of time."

"Yeah, well... for an earth pony..."  Rainbow gnashed her teeth, pausing to wince and catch her breath.  "It m-must suck..."  She stretched her back like a cat, grimacing.  "...having to leak the fertilizer... out of your ears every morning..."  She huffed.  "...jerk."

"Uhm, Dashie?"  Pinkie hovered at Rainbow's side.  "I really really really wouldn't suggest joking with this super cereal meanie-head."

"Who said I was joking..." Rainbow grumbled, glaring uphill.

Remna's fiery dreads gradually disappeared as she descended the other side.  "If the trek is so exceedingly laborious, then perhaps you could try using your wings to cut down on time."

"Believe me!"  Rainbow grunted and struggled to push herself up over the mountain crest.  "If I could use my wings... I would!"  She yelped slightly from aching joints.  "Just so I could fly away from you!"

"Cute," Remna grumbled, growing more and more distant as she marched swiftly ahead.  "Do us both a favor.  Conserve your breath for screams.  If your helpless body is almost eaten alive by another errant frost wyrm, I need to know as soon as possible so you won't die before my delivery to the Wyverns is made."

Rainbow frowned.

"Yeesh..."  Rarity hovered close by.  "Charming to the last."

"Why'd the Despies have to fix Dashie up with somepony so... so...?"

Twilight interjected.  "'Sociopathic?'"

Fluttershy looked at the others.  "Remember everypony, she is helping Rainbow Dash despite her obvious misgivings.  I'd much rather describe her as... 'abrasive.'"

"Fluttershy, I can handle 'abrasive,'" Rainbow Dash grumbled.  "Heck, I have handled 'abrasive.'  Nuzzled it like a friggin' pillow, even.  But this?"  She shook her head with an iron frown.  "This is downright jerksuckery."

"That's not a word, Rainbow," Twilight Sparkle droned.

"It is as soon as this melon fudge ups and croaks, swear to Celestia."

"Are you plotting my death up there?" Remna's voice echoed.

"No ma'am!  Neither of us are that lucky!"

"Well, keep it down!  You might spark an avalanche!"

"But I was just answe—"

"Shhhhh!"  And the violet figure continued marching.

Rainbow Dash growled.  "I'm not sure how much more of this brow-beating I can take," she muttered.

"You have to hoof it to her," Rarity remarked.  "She's quite observant."

"Yeah, Rainbow."  Pinkie nodded.  "You might wanna save talking to your invisible friends for when it's slightly less crazy to talk to your invisible friends."

"Not like it's going to matter with this mare," Twilight Sparkle remarked.  "I doubt any sudden concern for Rainbow's mental health is going to distract her from her task."

"Yes."  Rarity blinked.  "She's quite intent to drag you to Wyvern Point—whether you're a prancing pony or a crazy corpse."

"Girls, please..."  Fluttershy shivered.  "Let's use the 'c'-word less, please?"  She gulped.  "Rainbow's been through enough scary scrapes as it is."

"You gotta admit!"  Pinkie smirked.  "With this mountain of muscle nearby, you can at least count on Rainbow being safe!"

"Don't be so certain, Pinkie," Rainbow muttered.

"Huh?"  Pinkie blinked.  "Why not?"

"A funny thing about tough ponies."  Rainbow shuffled awkwardly down a long, long snowbank.  "The harder they look on the surface, the softer and more dependent they are on the inside."

"And just how is that relevant to anything, darling?" Rarity remarked.

Rainbow merely exhaled, her ears drooping.

Twilight Sparkle stared at her, raising an eyebrow.

"Let's just keep moving," Rainbow murmured.  "The sooner we arrive at Wyvern Point, the quicker we'll be done with this meathead."

"Careful, Dahie," Pinkie said.  "She can already hear your murmurs!  What if she can hear your thoughts as well?"

"If that was the case, she would have murdered me hours ago."

"Brbrbrbrrrr..."  Fluttershy trembled.  "Let's not use the 'm-word' either."

"No promises."  And Rainbow marched on.

> Keep a Warm Fire Burning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Two tiny specks inched their way across a sea of white.  Tiny gray trenches trailed after them—eventually dissolving amidst the snow-blown wind behind their hooves.

Remna led the trek.  She always did.  Even when the bounty hunter appeared to be slowing down, a huffing and puffing Rainbow Dash could only manage to get within three meters of the pony before she resumed her steadfast march once more.  Rainbow let loose a dull groan and resumed following.

The winds shifted.  The sun sank towards the bleak horizon.  A dull blue sheen hung over the frozen world.  Before the stars broke out, Rainbow's marefriends caught sight of a shadow far darker than the rest.  Rarity flew in front of Rainbow Dash and gestured to the north.  Rainbow tilted her head to the right and peered across the snowy plains.

In the distance, an enormous plateau loomed.  It stood like a wall of ice, connecting the last line of mountains to the northwest with some unseen shelf of stagnant land to the northeast.  Just beyond the solid line of glacial proportions, Rainbow and her friends could have sworn they saw flickers of light.  Curious colors broke the surface in psychadelic blinks, then vanished altogether.

Rainbow's brow furrowed.  She exchanged curious glimpses with her friends, then shrugged the sensation off.  With a sullen breath, she resumed her lurch, following Remna at a distance.





A campfire flickered in the shadow of a granite crest that blocked the northern winds.  Remna and Rainbow Dash sat several paces away from one another, all the while facing the flame and warming themselves.

Remna munched liberally at a strip of stringy meat.  She gazed straight into the flame, her hard eyes glistening with momentary luster.

Rainbow, in the meantime, struggled to eat her fill from a few remaining scraps of lettuce and celery.  She took her time with the matter while her friends looked on with pensive expressions.

Remna's gaze lifted from the flames.  She stared emotionlessly in Rainbow's direction.  After a gulp, the bounty hunter muttered the first spoken words between them in hours:  "You really should eat the meat."

"Mrmmmmmmff..."  Rainbow struggled with the mother of all frowns.

"I've had a glimpse at your rations," Remna droned.  "Even if we're nearing the end of our journey, it's pure foolishness to think you'll last on just those scraps alone."  She took another meaty bite, chewed, and swallowed.  "There's no point in bringing you all the way to Wyvern Point if you arrive as an emaciated corpse—"

"Will you give it a rest?!"  Rainbow Dash snapped, making her marefriends flinch.  She glared into the flames while taking another bite of rusted lettuce, grimacing.  "Look, I'm glad you're helping me get to Wyvern Point in one piece, but lay off the 'meat thing,' okay?  I'm not having it and that's that."

"I assure you, it's no creature that you could ever possibly have crossed paths with."

"I said shut up!" Rainbow snarled.  "That's not the point, okay?!  Just... I-I'm just not going to eat meat, alright?!  Now give it a rest..."  She shuddered, rubbing her forelimbs as she sat closer to the campfire.

Remna's hard green eyes blinked.  "Hmmm..."  She took one final bite and swallowed.  "...how curious."

"Mmmmmm... what is?"

Remna slid the remaining jerky into her bag and brushed her hooves off.  "Just your scale of morality, little pony," she murmured.  "You refuse to eat the flesh of another creature... and yet you will not hesitate to beat other ponies senseless or cause rampant destruction if it simply means escaping your pursuers."

Rarity and Twilight flinched.

Rainbow looked up, eyes narrow.  "I haven't murdered anypony since showing up on this side of the Blight."

"Doesn't mean you haven't tried," Remna said coolly.  "Steam explosions certainly aren't set off for the sake of making friends."

Rainbow frowned.  "If you're talking about what happened in Steamfall, I didn't have much of a choice.  It was either make a crazy exit or hoof myself over to the Talon.  And if Wildcard and Bard have told you anything, then you know that I can't afford to let that happen.  Not even remotely!"

"Uh huh..."

Rainbow's teeth glinted.  "I've never thrown anything at anyone in Rohbredden that I knew they couldn't handle.  Take the Commander of the Talon, for instance.  She had me grabbed by the throat.  That steam explosion was the only way to shake her off!  And she recovered from it just fine!"

"And what of the frost wyrm that you slaughtered?"  Remna remarked, unrolling a sleeping mat.  "Did you regard it with the same mercy?"

Fluttershy bit her lip.

Rainbow Dash leaned forward.  "Look... just what do you want from me?  I've done things that I regret, for sure.  But I still have to keep moving."  She gulped.  "Each day I happen to find myself still alive is merely another day to try to improve myself... for the good of this world."

"Spoken like a true criminal."

"Huh?"

"There's a reason why you need this escort to Wyvern Point," Remna said.  "No matter how noble your struggle, you'll always have a criminal taint branding you as a filthy rung below the rest of civilization."

Rainbow grimaced.  "You... mean the Quade?"

"Indeed."

"Not a day goes by when I don't think about the crud I did to the Luminards."

"And just what do you think, I wonder."

Rainbow merely blinked at her.

Remna lifted her head, squinting in Rainbow's direction.  "Do you feel remorse?  For the masochistic monks you drove to suicide?  For the centuries upon centuries of history that you drowned in those cold waters?"

Rainbow bit her lip.  She leaned back, her gaze falling to the flames.

Remna continued.  "There are ponies dead now because of you.  There are legacies forever unwritten because you simply had to destroy something that stood in your path.  And yet, here you are, alive and well, carrying on with the blessing of outcast mercenaries."  Remna sat atop her sleeping mat, folding her muscular limbs beneath her.  "Don't get me wrong.  I have no intention of making a profit from the bounty that the Consortium and others in Rohbredden have put on your head.  But I can't help but wonder.  Is it the memory of your wrongdoing that keeps you going?"  She arched an eyebrow.  "Or the willfull ignorance of it?"

Rainbow gulped.  "Maybe it's neither..."

"Hmmmfff..."  The furthest edge of Remna's muzzle curved.  "A hollow answer."

"Or..."  Rainbow inhaled.  "...it's the fact that I know something that very few other ponies know."  She lifted her head, glaring.  "That for all the loss and pain I've inflicted, this land... this entire world stands to suffer even worse if I fail to follow through with my journey to completion."  She shuddered.  "And that no amount of apologizing or humility is ever going to change the fact that I still have so very far to go on fulfilling a duty that I never once asked for."

"So, you're a victim then."

"I'm just unlucky," Rainbow said firmly.  "But I'm trying to make the best of it."  She gulped.  "The Quade... was a major buck-up on my part.  It's n-not something I ever wish to repeat."

"And yet, I wonder."  Remna reclined on her sleeping mat, exhaling.  "Will you ever truly grasp the sheer loss you've wreaked?"

"Look, just what are you?  The guilt police?"  Rainbow gnashed her teeth.  "There's a time and a place for remorse.  But I'm not the kind of pony who can afford to wait around in any one place, cradling my own tears!  I've got places to be!"

"Or else... we all suffer a terrible 'loss,' somehow...?"

"Y-yes!"  Rainbow breathed.  "And, for the record, I happen to know a thing or two about loss!  And I wouldn't wish it on the whole world if, instead, I can help stop it!"

"I know what it means to lose everything," Remna said.

Dead silence.

"Do you, now?" Rainbow asked, almost regretting it.

The bounty hunter slowly nodded.  "I had a home once.  And... a family."  Her eyes narrowed before the flame.  "Mmmmmfff... a nebulous term at best, I suppose, but they were 'family' to me.  Even more, I was wealthy... the wealthiest soul you could ever imagine."

Rainbow stared at her.

Remna exhaled with a hot breath.  "Curious how... small even the most precious of fortunes can appear in hindsight... after you've lived in the ashes of your own failure for so long that the next sunrise is the only forseeable reward for existing.  I used to be terribly angry about it.  Still am, in a lot of ways.  But soon I realize I had become the same as that which I once naturally despised.  In so little time..."  She swallowed.  "...hate has became such a paltry, insipid emotion.  The necessity of life dwarfs it from all angles.  Now, all I can hope for is... understanding.  And at this current juncture, even that eludes me."

Rainbow's marefriends stared at one another.

"This poor mare has dealt with a lot," Fluttershy said in a sympathetic tone.  She gulped.  "And from the sound of her voice, I-I'm not sure she's ever had any friends to share her feelings with."

Nevertheless, it was a deadpan expression that Rainbow Dash asked, "Who took everything from you?"

Remna's eyes lifted, shiny and reflective in the firelight.  "It wasn't taken.  I lost it."

Rainbow blinked.

"I had my own foolishness to blame... my own shortsighted ennui that was my undoing.  However, unlike you..."  She took a heated breath, turning over on her mat.  "...I wasn't moving.  I stuck myself to one place, locked deep in the heart of defeat.  And while there, I had done many... cruel things to countless ponies."

"And now..."  Rainbow arched an eyebrow.  "...lemme guess, it's a lot easier to do cruel things to other ponies on the go?"

"Rainbow..."  Twilight chided.

"Shhhh..."  Rarity upturned her nose.  "Let her roast, darling.  It's her own fault she exposed herself."

In the meantime, Remna had prepared a sullen reply:  "Let's just say that I've had quite a bit of time to analyze the merits of loss... and inflicting loss."

"Then what are you brow-beating me for?"

"... ... ...I simply wish to understand if there's a point to it all."

Fluttershy and Pinkie exchanged blinking expressions.

Rainbow leaned her head to the side.  "Wildcard's... like... your former protege or something, right?"  She swallowed.  "And Bard is his best buddy.  They both seem to believe in me.  Isn't that enough for you?"

Remna lay silent.

"... ... ...Remna?"

"Rest your mind and body, little pony," the bounty hunter muttered.  "And next morning, perhaps we will find out whether or not you're a waste of my sweat."

Rainbow frowned.  She rolled out her sleeping mat, turned around three times, and collapsed with an angry fwomp.  "Have a nice sleep, jerk.  Hope you dream of not being a total flankhole."

"As if either of us can be that lucky."  Remna stifled a yawn.  "Silence now."

For once, Rainbow obeyed.
> The Mountain, Starring Spencer Dashie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Uhhhhh..."

It was a bright morning.

It was cold.

It was windy.

And two flightless ponies stood at the foot of a steep vertical cliff.

Rainbow gulped, glancing aside.  "You sure there's no way around this mountain face?"

Remna nodded.  "Indeed there is."  Schiing!  She produced a pair of metal hooks.  "But it would take far too long to trot around them."  She slid her fetlocks through the loops that the hooks were braced to, so that it looked as though her forelimbs had curved talons.  "The bowers of Wyvern Point exist just beyond this promontory.  I assume you're experienced in mountain climbing?"

"A little bit, yeah."  Rainbow blinked.  "But what's with the hooks?"

Remna let loose a grumbling sigh.  "I can see you've answered me without trying to answer me..."

"Could you just friggin' speak straight for once?!"

"Just do as I say."  Remna unraveled a lengthy rope.  "Here.  Tie this end around your waist."

"Uhmmmm..."  Rainbow fumbled with the cord in her grasp.

"Fasten it beneath your wing if you're going to be finicky about it."

Rainbow frowned.  "You're serious about this, aren't you?"

"I'm afraid so."  Remna nodded.  She tossed the dreadlocks out of her face so she could see her own forelimbs as she tied the rope around her muscular girth.  "We'll be lucky if we arrive there before Wildcard and his companions.  You've wasted enough of my time as it is."

"Jee, I'm sooooo sorry," Rainbow muttered.

"Darling—"  Rarity floated in, gesturing at Rainbow's hoofwork.  "That's not going to be tight enough.  Here.  Follow my motions."

Rainbow kept her eyes locked on Rarity's gestures as she continued tying the rope around herself.  "Bet you can't wait to chat the Desperadoes up about how much of a burden I've been to you."

"I doubt there'll be much opportunity for that," Remna said, tightening the rope around herself and reaching into her satchel again.  "As soon as the exchange has been made in Wyvern Point,  you'll be back in their capable hooves."

"At last..."  Rainbow afforded herself a smirk as she finished tying the rope.  "You've actually given me something to look forward to."

"However..."  Remna pulled out another pair of hooks.  "Rest assured, I will be keeping an eye on you for the trek that follows."

"The... trek that follows?"

"Indeed."  Remna nodded.  "I need to know that all of my labors have had a purpose.  Whatever the Desperadoes have planned, I'd hate for my delivery to go to waste."

"Or you could just... y'know... buck off."

"All in good time."  Remna handed Rainbow the extra pair of hooks.  "Here."

Rainbow cradled the curved blades, blinking.  "What the hay am I supposed to do with these?"

"Keep up," Remna said, and she spun to face the icy cliff-face.  Chtunk!  She stuck one blade in.  Scnkkkt!  Then the other one an affordable distance higher.  With sharp, stabbing motions, she climbed the mountain's vertical surface, slowly inching towards the lofty summit high above.

"She..."  Pinkie squeaked, jaw dropped as she tilted her head up to follow the ascending bounty hunter.  "...she can't be serious!"

"She is," Twilight Sparkle droned.

"Hrmmmm..."  Pinkie pouted, folding her forelimbs.  "Why does it feel like everything's turned into a super big joke that I don't find funny?"

"Trust us, Pinkie.  You're not alone."  Rarity turned to their anchor.  "You'd better hurry up, Rainbow.  The rope is losing slack."

"... ... ..."  Rainbow fumbled with the hooks.  The metal loops on them were large, so that her fetlocks fit through them loosely at best.

"...Rainbow?"

"Mrmmmfffnghhh..."  With a snarl, Rainbow flung the blades over her fetlocks and began clawing her way up the mountainface—awkwardly so.  "Y'know, I think I would honestly have preferred headbutting armored griffons all the way to Frostknife over this."

"Hurry up, little pony!" Remna grumbled from above.  "You're making us lose even more valuable time!"

"Oh—go sit on a Durandana tower and rotate!"






Rainbow Dash couldn't remember a time when her legs hurt so badly.  The ascent put a terrible toll on her limb muscles.  If she wasn't struggling to swing her fetlocks forward and stab the hooks into the stone face of the mountain, she was dangling helplessly from her loose grip as she waited for Remna to climb the mountainface above her.

The pattern was as monotonous as it was muscle-numbing.  Every so often, Remna would pause to strategize the best vertical path up the cliff-face.  Rainbow would have to wait, dangle, and gnash her teeth from the strain.  Then, eventually, Remna found her hoofing.  The bounty hunter would claw her way up.  Rainbow would wait for the rope to lose slack, and then she'd begin shuffling up after her climbing partner.

"How about letting me take the lead for a while?" Rainbow Dash huffed and puffed.

"Don't joke, little pony," Remna's voice floated down through the whipping winds.

"I'm not... joking..."  Rainbow wheezed.  "It's a valid plan!"

"Valid, yes.  Applicable?  No."  Remna grunted as she thrust the hooks in, up, out, and in and up again.  Chips of ice and stone littered the air between them.  "I practically carried you through the wasteland below.  Only fitting I lift you past this obstacle all the same."

Rainbow clammed up with a frown.

"Is it just me...?"  Rarity hovered up alongside Rainbow Dash.  "...or does this creature take pleasure in berating you?"

"It's not just your imagination, Rarity," Twilight Sparkle muttered.  "There's this... sadistic tone in every single thing she says."

"Tell me about it!"  Pinkie squawked.  "What crawled into her cereal and spoiled the milk?!"

"It beats me.  But the sooner we reunite with the Desperadoes, the better."  Twilight cleared her throat and turned to smile at Rainbow.  "Don't let her words get to you, Rainbow.  Just keep climbing.  You're doing fine."

"I know... I-I'm doing f-fine!" Rainbow wheezed.

"What was that, little pony?" Remna asked from above.

"Wasn't talking to you!" Rainbow growled as she shivered from a chill wind.

"Hmmm..."  And Remna simply continued climbing.

"I wonder if she knows..." Pinkie remarked.

Rarity looked over.  "Knows what?"

"Y'know..."  Pinkie shrugged.

"Uhm, if it makes this climb any easier..."  Fluttershy smiled.  "Remna's right.  Wyvern Point is just beyond this cliff."

"It is?" Twilight remarked.

"Well... I would imagine so."  Fluttershy blinked.  "I'm sensing a dense cluster of living things up in the mountain peaks.  What's more..."  She grinned, dimples rosy.  "...several of them are flying."

Twilight exhaled.  "Sounds like Wyverns alright."

"I wonder if they're pleasant in person?" Pinkie remarked.

"Compared to present company..."  Rainbow wheezed, sweating and climbing.  "...they're bound to be friggin' kittens."





The climb lasted for more than an hour.

Rainbow Dash felt as though she was dying.  Her muscles had grown numb right around the time that she sensed a noticeable jolt in the rope.  The cord between her and her climbing partner had grown taut, tugging at her waist ever so slightly.

"Uhm... Remna?!  What's up?"  Rainbow tilted her head towards the sky.  Remna had disappeared.  Her eyes twitched.  "Remna?!"

"Shhhh..."  Fluttershy levitated nearby.  "It's okay, Rainbow."

"But... b-but..."  Rainbow squinted.  "Where...?"

Remna's voice hollered down:  "I found a niche within the cliff!"

Rainbow looked to see that the cord was bent around a jutting edge of stone, leading into a shallow impression carved into the face of the mountain.

"It's even hoofing up here!  Brace yourself, little pony.  I'm lifting you up."

"Uh... well okay then—Whoah!"  Rainbow gasped as her body shot up.  Her hooks dangled in the naked air, and she was forced to look straight down at the murderously distant earth while she was lifted... lifted... and...

Th-Thwump!  Remna heaved her up and onto a flimsy platform of dead rock.  Rainbow immediately collapsed on the earthen balcony, her every muscle quivering as she lay like a limp blue noodle.

"Mmmmmmmmmmfff... goddess..."  Rainbow's eyes fluttered shut as she relaxed for the first time that morning.  "The next time I see dirt... soil... even a single puddle of mud, I swear... I'm diving straight into that crap."  She gulped.  "I don't care how many earthworms get caught in my mane."

"Please..."  Fluttershy shuddered.  "Don't say 'wyrm.'"

"Yes."  Rarity gulped, staring painfully at Rainbow's stubbled scalp.  "And while you're at it, don't say 'mane.'"

"Everypony calm down," Twilight Sparkle said.  "This is great!  Now we can let Rainbow Dash relax and gather her strength for—"  Violet muscles phased through her.  The ghostly unicorn blinked.  "Wait..."  She spun around.  "...where's she going?"

"Hrmmm?"  Rainbow lifted her tired head.  "What's the deal?"

"We must keep moving," Remna said.

Rainbow's ears drooped so hard they nearly fell off.  "You've gotta be kidding me..."

Schtinnk!  Remna jabbed a hook into the cliffface above the ledge and resumed her climb.  "Wyvern Point is up ahead.  No time to wait."

"No time to rest our aching muscles?!  Are you serious?!"  Rainbow cackled.  "Mountain climbing is no walk in the park and this friggin' niche is a goddess-send!  For real, Remna!  I'm no use to you as a noodle!"

"You're no use to me period," Remna said in a grumbling tone.  "If we're out here at nightfall, we'll freeze to death.  And I'm not sure I have enough materials to make a decent campfire anymore."

"I-I'm not suggesting we go on a friggin' vacation up here!" Rainbow sputtered.  "Just a little breather so we don't climb the rest of the mountain as limp windsocks!  It's the smart thing to do!"

"I can handle it," Remna said, climbing.  "I can handle us both."

"Dang it—what are you friggin' made of, girl?!"  Rainbow frowned.  "You're like... a big bucket of tempered jerksteel."

"The rest of this climb will be a great deal easier without speaking."

Rainbow hung her head with a sigh.  "Eugh... I give up."

"Well, look at it this way, Dashie."  Pinkie bore a crooked smile.  "We're more than two-thirds of the way up.  Maybe it's nothing to worry about!"

"I'm almost tempted to just let her carry Rainbow Dash the rest of the way," Twilight said with a frown, forelimbs folded.  "But we simply can't afford to let her swallow her own words right now."

"Yeah, I know."  Rainbow nodded with a gulp.  "There's too much at risk, Twi.  And I know that.  Thing is..."  Her eyes narrowed.  "Does she?"

Suddenly, Rarity shrieked.

The ghost mares flinched.

"What's wrong?!"  Fluttershy asked.

"That stone!  The one she's climbing!"  Rarity pointed up.  "It's fractured down the middle!"

"Huh?"  Rainbow squinted up.  "Seems fine to me—"

"It's not, Rainbow!" Rarity hollered.  "It's loose and worn out and about to crack!"

Rainbow's eyes caught the swing of Remna's metal.  "Remna!" she barked.

Too late.  The bounty hunter's hook stabbed deep into the problematic patch of stone.  Loose pebbles and gravel lit the air beneath her violet figure.

"Hmmm?"  A pair of green eyes peered down.  "What is it?"

Rainbow forced herself up on all four hooves.  "Get down from there!  That part of the mountain isn't safe!"

Remna merely grunted.  "Preposterous."  She stabbed even further.  Schnkkt!

"It's starting to fracture apart from the inside!" Rarity yelped.

"Rainbow, make her stop!" Twilight's voice cracked.

"Dang it, Remna!  I'm not kidding!"  Rainbow stomped a hoof down.  "I... I-I have magical senses and I'm telling you!  It's going to break!"

Remna merely squinted.  "'Magical senses...?'"

Just then—CRACK!  The stone face beneath Remna split in two.

"Oh no!"  Fluttershy gasped.

Remna looked at the mountain—and then looked at pure blue sky, for she was toppling backwards along with a smattering of loose stones.

Pinkie's tail twitched like mad.  "There she blows—!"

"Rainbow—!" Twilight shouted, her eyes reflecting Remna's falling body.

THUD!  "Ooof!"  Remna struck the ledge hard.  All oxygen in her lungs swiftly evacuated, though she didn't have a chance to notice.  The bounty hunter's muscular body bounced, toppling through the air and falling clear over the edge.

Rainbow gnashed her teeth at the sight of the rope flying between them.  She turned tail and ran straight into the mountainface.  "Grnnngh!"  Sch-Schunnk!  She stabbed both hooks into the cliff and held on for dear life.

The rope sped between them, grew taut, and—Thwkkkkk!

"Gaaaaugh!"  Rainbow's petite body was immediately yanked away from the mountain.  Time slowed down as she flew backwards, staring at the loose claws looped around her fetlocks.  Then—THUD!—she struck the surface of the ledge.  Milliseconds later, she was sliding backwards across the stone, the friction burning her flank through her gear.

Somehow, Rainbow found the strength to spin her body around.  Within a twitching blink, she saw the edge of the cliff sailing straight at her as Remna's weight dragged her towards oblivion.  Something gray flickered in Rainbow's vision, and she spotted a jutting formation of rock.  The rope dragged over it at burning speed, tugging her.

"Hrttt!"  Rainbow slapped her rear legs up against the rock formation.  She simultaneously gripped the rope attached to her waist with both forelimbs and braced herself just in time.  Thwumpp!    A sharp pain rocketed up and down Rainbow's spine as her body anchored in place.  She felt the pressure through every bone, threatening to break at any moment.  "Gaaaaugh!  Hmmmm—aaaaugh!"

She tightened every muscle as she locked her body back against the stone ledge, bracing herself with her lower limbs.  Vaporous breaths seethed in and out of clenched teeth.

"Hrmmmm... gnnnngh—guh..."  Rainbow finally opened her eyes, panting.  She didn't dare bend her body at the waist—or even tilt her head up at the slightest angle.  Doing so would risk gravity taking over and dragging her over the mountainside along with Remna's weight.  "Grnnngh... mmfff... Remna..."  She gulped dryly, wincing.  "Remna?!"  Her nostrils flared; her fetlocks turned bluer and bluer from the vice-like grip of the rope.  "Remna, say something?!"

Fluttershy lifted up from below the ledge.  Her muzzle was pale.  "She's unconscious, Rainbow!"

"That fall was a real doozie!"  Pinkie Pie squeaked.  "How could anypony have survived that?!"

"How could anypony survive this?!"  Rarity flew towards Rainbow in a panicked white streak.  "Rainbow, you can't hold onto her forever!"

"What... else... c-can I do?!" Rainbow wheezed.  "Not like any of you girls can wake her up!"

"What I mean, is..."  Rarity pointed.  "If your limbs don't give way, then the rock you're bracing yourself against will!"

"What in the hay is she m-made out of?!"  Rainbow shook from the strain.  She spat, "Friggin' hippo in pony's clothing... I swear!"

"Rainbow..."  Twilight spoke.

"At least twenty Joshos!  I'm telling you—"

"Rainbow, concentrate!"  Twilight frowned.  "Now... breathe in... breathe out..."

Rainbow did so to the best of her ability.

"Can you lift her up?" Twilight asked.

"For real?!"  Pinkie squeaked.

"Hold on... just... just... hold on..."  Rainbow wheezed and wheezed and...  "Mrmmf... grnnngh—htttt... guh!"  Her body almost slipped from her muscles' failed attempt to tug the weight towards her via the rope.  "It's... it's no good... no... no..."  She gulped, sweating bullets.  "Hoboy... hoboy..."  Rainbow's eyes darted all across the platform.  She was literally stuck in that prone position, tied to Remna's weight.  "...I've been in awesomer places, I'll t-tell you that much."

"What are we gonna do?!"  Pinkie stammered, looking at the other mares.  "Rainbow's tethered to twenty tons of idiot and it's a long, long drop to the ice below!"

"Maybe..."  Fluttershy fidgeted in mid-air.  "...maybe she'll wake up?"

"Fat chance!"  Pinkie shook her head.  "You think Dashie can even last that long?!"

"Could... could Rainbow fasten the rope around a rock or something so all the pressure won't be on her?" Twilight suggested.

"I don't see how she can!" Pinkie said.  "The only thing within reach is what's holding her in place!"

"If... I move... even an inch..."  Rainbow strained to say.  "...kersplat."

Twilight gritted her teeth.  "Rainbow, if you fall, you're done for.  We're done for."  She gulped.  "Equestria... Urohringr..."

"You don't think I know that?!"  Rainbow shook all over.  "Come on... come on, girls.  Options!"

"M-maybe she can just try pulling her up again," Fluttershy said.

"Or there could be another way," Rarity said in a distant voice.

"...?"  Rainbow's eyes darted towards the fashionista.

Rarity instantly clammed up.  With drooping ears, she looked away.

"..."  Rainbow looked at the rope... then at how close the serrated tips of her hooks were in proximity to the taut cord.

Fluttershy clasped two hooves over her muzzle.

Pinkie Pie winced.

Twilight Sparkle held her breath.  Floating over, she hovered in front of her anchor.  "Rainbow..."

"You heard her, Twilight..."  Rainbow Dash gulped.  "...she... mrmmmfff... has no home... no family..."

"You're right, Rainbow Dash."  Twilight nodded.  Then, in a quiet voice:  "But neither did Swab."

Rainbow's eyes locked in place.

"And... for the longest time... neither did you..." Twilight added.

Rainbow breathed and breathed and...

"We all came back for a reason, Rainbow.  I know it all seems hopeless, but so did the Quade," Twilight murmured.  "Trust me when I say this.  You're the Austraeoh for a reason.  Nopony in this world... dark side or light... is awesomer..."

Rainbow clenched her eyes shut.

Her friends looked on in tense silence.

Rainbow frowned.  She twisted her fetlock... slowly... achingly drawing a length of the rope over her right forelimb.  She then gripped with her left fetlock.  Several deep breaths rolled through her body, and...  "Mrmmmfffnngh..."  She pulled at the rope, slowly, with deliberate icy motions.

Inch by inch, the rope slithered back towards her.

Rainbow's legs wobbled.  Her spine throbbed with lightning-bright pulses of pain.

"Grnnngh... hssssttt-ttkk..."  Rainbow gnashed her teeth, pulling and tugging.

Pinkie watched closely as the rope grinded over the rock structure.  Loose threads dangled from heat and friction.

The marefriends drifted in a loose circle as Rainbow pulled and tugged at the full length of rope.  Her eyes finally opened, and when they did, they were flickering red-on-yellow in brief splashes.  Her pendant strobed, and—with a final monumental tug—she lifted her body at a forty five degree angle and slumped back onto the ledge with a violet figure sprawled at her side.

"Ooomf!"  Rainbow curled up into a little ball, shivering all over.  She held her fetlocks to her chest.  A tiny pool of blood formed on the stone surface beneath her; the rope had sliced hard into her flesh from the effort.  She hyperventilated, weathering waves of pain and exhaustion.

"Smashing..."  Rarity fanned herself, her pupils shrunken in abject wonder.  "Absolutely... positively..."

"There there, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy "stood" at her side.  She smiled, her eyes moist.  "You did the right thing."

"Just rest now, Rainbow," Twilight wheezed.  "You've earned it."

"Mmmrfff... can't... c-can't..."  Rainbow gnashed her teeth.  Despite the torture it induced, she forced herself to sit up.  "Remna... gotta... gotta check..."

As soon as the mare reached for the bounty hunter's head—a pair of green eyes flashed open.

"Aaaaaaaie!"  Pinkie flew behind the others.  "Zombie!"

"Relax, Pinkie," Fluttershy.  "She's just..."  The pegasus blinked.  "...recovered suddenly."

"Remna...?"  Rainbow wheezed.

"... ... ..."  Remna sat up straight like a statue.  Her eyes blinked.  "...the cliff broke beneath me."

"Yeah."  Rainbow frowned, shivering.  "No crap."

Remna blinked.  She stood up on creaking joints.

"You should have friggin' listened to me," Rainbow grumbled.  She wiped the blood from her fetlocks.  "Nearly killed us both, ya skunkwad."

"How... am I back on the ledge?"

"How else?  I pulled your sorry flank up."

Remna squinted.  "You?"

"That's right."

Silence.

"Well then."  Remna cracked the joints in her neck and shuffled calmly back towards the cliff-face.  "We won't be using that stretch of rock again.  Now, get up."  She slid the hooks back on her fetlocks and approached another rock.  "We'll have to try a bit to the west."

"You..."  Rainbow's eyes blinked crooked.  "...you're not even going to thank me?!"

"We've wasted enough time as it is.  Now get something to wrap those wounds up in.  I need you to stay on point with me from now on."

Rainbow opened her muzzle to say something, but she ultimately slumped in place, glaring up at the bounty hunter with thin eyes.

Twilight floated close by with a dull sigh.  "On second thought... maybe you should have just let her drop."

"Whatever."  Rainbow spat out the side of her muzzle then reached into her satchel for some bandages.  "Shoulda figured... she's not nearly as cuddly as Swab anyways."
> The Roof of the World
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Hours later, the two mares had reached the summit of their mountain.  A craggy plateau stood at the roof of the world.  The air was was moist here, and yet it wasn't nearly as cold as Rainbow Dash had anticipated.  Twilight noticed this as well, and her horn glowed as she detected unseen spots of interest around her.

Soon, Rainbow's ears twitched to the sound of errant hissing noises.  Twilight and Rarity pointed through the mists, and eventually their anchor saw what they had spotted: random jets of steam billowing upwards from cracks and fissures in the uneven mountaintop.  Thermal pressure from deep within the earth was venting its heat from numerous pores within the rock.  While it certainly increased the temperature of the plateau, the air was far from sweltering.  Rainbow noticed that much of the ice had dwindled past a fading snowline, but not much else.  The air still had a cold sting to it, and the clouds dipped constantly from overhead, carrying blistery patches of frosted air.

Rainbow and Remna continued trekking northwest, shuffling their way gradually down a craggy incline bathed in cold fog.  The floor here was a polished marble, scalded to a glinting sheen by an untold number of hot steam bursts throughout the eons.  Loose rocks lingered across the sloping path—from tiny pebbles to large, looming boulders.  Gradually, the path narrowed and narrowed until the two ponies found themselve shuffling through a winding trench.  The clouds shifted and twirled briskly around them, so that it almost felt as though the mountain itself was flying in random cardinal directions through the troposphere.

And yet, throughout the entire march, an impenetrable stillness permeated the landscape, numbing Rainbow's figure and teasing her ears until tinnitus set in.

Thankfully, Remna's voice—of all things—broke the unbearable lull:  "You said that you had 'magical senses.'"

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie jolted, startled by Remna's sudden dialogue.  The ghostly mares blinked blankly at Rainbow.

"Ahem..."  Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.  Her limbs were still sore from the near-death debacle back at the cliffface.  Nevertheless, she trotted as evenly as she could manage.  "Yeah.  I suppose I did."  She arched an eyebrow.  "What about it?"

Remna rounded a boulder or two.  She talked without looking back.  "I trust that you were not born with such extra sensory perception," her deep voice rolled.  "A gift that was bequeathed to you, perhaps?"

"Why are you so interested all of the sudden?" Rainbow grumbled.

"Rainbow," Fluttershy calmly chided.  "This is the first time this mare has shown any legitimate interest in you.  Would it hurt to respond with a modicum of good faith?"

Rainbow sighed, hanging her head.  "I'll never have that kind of patience, I swear."

"That... was not spoken to me," Remna declared.

Rainbow blinked.  Twilight and Rarity squinted at the bounty hunter.

Remna exhaled.  "How many are there?"

"How many what?"

"Souls freed by the beacons," Remna droned in response.

Twilight flashed Rainbow a look, her muzzle agape.

Rainbow squinted at her guide.  "So Wildcard did tell you..."

"I'm not speaking to Wildcard right now.  I'm speaking to you," Remna grunted.  "If you do not wish to answer, then don't."

Rainbow rolled her eyes.  "Yes, Remna.  The Seeds—... the machine world beacons that hide deep beneath us react specifically to me.  I've... always encountered them in my travels.  Only—since the Blight and beyond—they have been... releasing the spirits of my old friends."

"And how many have been freed by now?"

"Uh... four.  Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy."  Rainbow gulped, shivering slightly.  "Only Applejack remains.  Once I've freed my last friend from the machine world's torch, all of the Elements of Harmony will have reunited.  Erm... at least in sp-spirit."

"I see..."  Remna nodded, marching ahead through the fog.  Her voice took on a curiously breathy tone.  "Then... it is truly happening."

"Hmmm?"

"What you are... what you're meant to do..."  Remna exhaled slowly.

"Something you're not telling me, Remna?"

Silence.

Rainbow's brow furrowed.  "Hellooo?"

The bounty hunter cleared her throat.  "This... Applejack.  This last Element... where is she?"

"I'll give you a hint," Rainbow grunted.  "Not where we're headed right now."

"She is in the east, then?"

"Yes.  Totally."  Rainbow Dash turned around.  Facing east for the first time in days, she was startled to find Yaerfaerda missing.  Before panic could set in, she simply tilted her head down slightly.  The orange beacon was still there, only it was actually below her on the invisible horizon.  "Huh..."  She murmured.  "We've climbed a long way..."

"You can sense the location of the next beacon, as well?"

"Erm... yeah."  Rainbow looked back.  "Have Wildcard and Bard seriously not told you all of the details?"

Remna ignored her.  "How lofty a destination is this next torch located?"

"Look, what's with all the questions—"

"An answer will make me cease the interrogation."

Rainbow sighed, hanging her head.  "The location of Yaerfaerda—the marker for the next beacon—is pretty darn high.  Well, normally it is, but now that we're up here in these mountains, we're actually kinda sorta above it."

"But before now, it was always positioned above you?"

"Yeah.  Due east.  In the heart of Rohbredden.  Why?"

For once, Remna stopped in her tracks.  She gazed icily into the fog-slick stone.  "Then it is true.  She guards it.  She watches over the last Element."

"Who... are you talking about?" Rainbow breathed.  She cocked her head to the side.  "Verlax?"

Remna shuddered suddenly.  "You... do not call her by her butchered name."

Rainbow merely shook her head.

Silence.

"Hmmmm..."  Remna clenched her jaw muscles and marched forward.  "And so it is."  She motioned for Rainbow to follow.  "We are almost there.  Let us tarry no longer."

Rainbow's hooves scuffled as she caught up.  "Do you and the Divine of Frost have some sort of history together?"

"It matters not," Remna grumbled.

"To me it does!"  Rainbow galloped until she trotted alongside the bounty hunter.  "Most Rohbreddenites would probably freak out at hearing their goddess called simply 'Verlax.'  But you?  You're not brainwashed to whole 'Unification of the Tribes' myth, are you?"

"I know what it means to survive in this dying world," Remna replied with a snort.  "That is all, and it is enough."

"Oh please."  Rainbow frowned.  "Don't play coy.  You know more about Verlax and the beacons than you let on.  Tell me... have you ever heard the name 'Austraeoh' before?"

"Mrmmmm..."  Remna's jaws tightened as she frowned.

"Well?!"  Rainbow glared daggers.  "What did the Desperadoes tell you?"

"They told me enough," Remna grumbled.  "But it doesn't matter."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means..."  Remna sighed suddenly.  "...that I thought it was my place to protect you.  But now..."  A dull exhale.  "...I see that perhaps I was mistaken.  You have enough resources to protect yourself.  The beacons sustain you; the wheels of fate are turning.  It is as it should be."

Rainbow's mare friends glanced at one another.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Pinkie squeaked.

"I think this mare's hiding something," Twilight muttered.

"You think?"  Rarity remarked.  "Still, whatever knowledge she possesses, if she wanted to take advantage of Rainbow Dash's vulnerability she would have made a move by now.  Stabbed her in her sleep or something."

"Can we please stop expecting the worst from this pony?" Fluttershy remarked with a frown.  "She's simply lacking in social grace.  She's not the enemy."

"You don't know that for certain, Fluttershy," Rarity remarked.

"No, but I have faith that there's something good in her.  And this may be the one chance Rainbow has—or any pony has for that matter—to reach out to her."

Silence.

Rainbow sighed.  "Look, Remna..."  She trotted side by side with the bounty hunter.  "You and I have our differences.  Quite frankly, I find your cold-hearted attitude to be mind-numbing and I think you could use a serious attitude adjustment."

"So you're a pony psychiatrist now," Remna muttered.

"I wasn't finished ya melon fudge."  Rainbow frowned.  "You've done nothing but badger and berate me since we met."  A heavy gulp.  "But all of that still doesn't change the fact that... you saved my life."

Remna's brow furrowed as she looked ahead.

"I was nearly freezing to death back there, cold and starving and without fire.  That's when you strolled in and nursed me back to health.  I'd be dead right now if it weren't for you.  My friends... the Elements... this whole world would be royally screwed... if you hadn't intervened.  So... y'know... you've protected me quite a bit, I'd say."  She bore a tiny smirk.  "If that helps you at all to know."

"It would help me even better if you didn't crowd me in this narrow chasm."

"Ugh!"  Rainbow face-hoofed.  "Okay, look."  She swung a forelimb.  "I'm being grateful, ya sorry sack of sass!  Would it kill you to show a little gratefulness too?!"

"I think we both know what should have happened back there."

Rainbow blinked.

Remna's violet nostrils flared.  "You should have cut the rope.  Trying to haul my body back onto the cliff-face was risky, dangerous, and stupid.  You're lucky to be alive."

"Look, it worked, didn't it?!"

"Someday, it might not, and nopony but yourself will be there to protect you."

"What is your deal?!"  Rainbow Dash barked.  "For realsies!  If the Desperadoes told you anything about me, then you'd know that I don't give up on doing the right thing that easily!"

"Except that you did," Remna's voice grumbled.  "Back in the Quade.  It got you this far, yes?"

"Rrrrrgh!"  Rainbow tossed her hooves.  "I give up.  You know what?  I give up!  Just... just take me to the friggin' nest of the Wyverns and let's call it a day."

"Consider it done," Remna muttered.

"Huh?"

The bounty hunter merely pointed.  "Behold..."

Something was flapping in the misty air.  Rainbow's ears twitched, and she turned curiously towards the source of the noise.

The chasm around them opened up.  A gusty cold wind blew in, kicking at Remna's red dreads.  Something shifted to the left.  Rainbow looked to see several bright colors emerging from the mists.  As the two shuffled on, Rainbow spotted a long rope dangling between two heavy boulders.  Several rectangular flags hung from the rope, dyed with every color of the spectrum.

"OooOooOoooh!"  Rarity's eyes dazzled.  "Now this is a nice change of pace!"

"Look!"  Twilight pointed.

More rustling sounds traveled along the mountain breeze.  The fog rolled apart, and Rainbow saw more ropes clinging to cliffs and promontories, dangling with colored banners.  Each tiny flag bore the tell-tale illustration of a windigo, surrounded by indistinguishable script.  Some of the banners looked as though they had been planted along the mountainous walls centuries ago, where they hung for eons, touched only by breeze and cloud.

As the two strolled along, Rainbow spotted a narrow gravel path lining a cliff that clung to the east side of a jutting mountain.  This ledge stretched on and on, winding its way north as the landscape gradually ascended once again.  Splintery beams lined the edges—a meager barrier of protection from what appeared to be an incalculably deep plunge into a deep stone abyss.  At last, the last wave of fog rolled away, and the air tingled with Rarity's and Fluttershy's gasps.

There, at the northwest roof of Rohbredden, the plateau had been sundered by a deep vertical wedge, filled with boulders and bent trees that magically jutted out of the rock.  The ledge with a gravel path rose up and joined with other precarious platforms winding in from the west and northeast.  At the heart of this lofty crater, a cluster of houses loomed.  They were tiny, humble, crooked hovels, constructed out of old cracked stone that had been worn charcoal black from the limping slouch of age.

There was life here... old wrinkly life in the form of pale equines trotting about, carrying baskets full of dull green vegetables and herding goats with thick, thick wool.  Snow-white mares could be seen drawing water from an ancient well in the center of a village.  Elders sat along buildingfronts, smoking pipes and squinting down the path.  A few stallions stopped talking with one another, turning to gaze at the arrivals.

"These... uh..."  Rainbow Dash muttered, eyes shifting about.  "...these aren't wyverns."

"Yet again, little pony," Remna's lungs shook.  "Your witty observation is astounding."

Rainbow was too busy staring at the village to bother rolling her eyes at that.  She saw tall wooden stakes—to which several ropes full of colored banners had been attached like dilapidated merry-poles.  As she came within earshot of the tiny villagers, the wind carried a familiar tongue.

"They're Snow-Bloods," Fluttershy said with a smile.  "Look at them!  They must have been living up in this mountain for ages."

"Why are they looking at us like that?" Pinkie remarked.

"These... uhm..."  Rainbow murmured aloud.  "These ponies seem a bit shocked to see us," she said.

"I believe it's simply that they're not used to ponies arring here on hoof," Remna said.  "Very few central Rohbreddenites come here.  That's why it makes for such a secure sanctuary for the wyverns."

"Errr... yeah..."  Rainbow shifted nervously as a couple of villagers shuffled up, staring at her wide-eyed.  The pegasus trotted sideways.  "Speaking of those dudes... do they even live here?"

Just as she said that, a loud deafening crash rippled past her ears.  Only after the mountains afforded four layers of echo did the sound even come close to resembling a musical note.  Rainbow wasn't certain whether to smile or wince.  The villagers simply shrugged off the noise, even as a second round of thunder roared through the canyon... followed by a third.

"What in the fuzz...?!"  Rainbow wheezed.

"Up there," Twilight pointed north.

"My stars!"  Rarity cupped her muzzle.  "Will you look at that?!  Simply marvelous!"

Rainbow's head tilted skyward.  By the time a fourth salvo shook the mountaintops, she spotted a rectangular structure capping off the summit due north.  Several of the colored flags led up to this structure, and as the building came into focus, Rainbow made out polished bowers, ivory-white pillars, and rich mahogany roof shingles.  An enormous palace of untold antiquity clung to the peak overshadowing the ravine.  Tall vertical windows laced with bronze and silver devoured the glinting sunlight as it pierced the clouds.  Some wings of the palace stretched so far that they seemingly clung to the mountainside, defying gravity.  Rainbow's eyes traveled up, and soon she spotted enormous balconies lined with epic hanging gardens and old, petrified trees.  At the very top, a rigid rectangular tower pierced the heavens.  An enormouse stone bell hung from within its hollow neck, and a thick iron rod suspended on ropes was rhythmically striking the instrument, filling the skies with glorious thunder.

"It's... it's like a castle in the sky!" Rarity mewled.

"Whew!"  Pinkie exhaled.  "Must be great for parties!"

"Pinkie, I... don't think anypony has parties up there," Twilight said.

"My goodness!"  Fluttershy blinked.  "Have you seen anything so old?"

"I have," Rainbow muttered.  "But this?  This is something else."  Suddenly, she squinted.  "Wait."  The mare leaned forward, her eyes locked on several dark shapes swirling around the topmost level of the palace.  "Those..."  Her pupils twitched, following each furry triangle.  "...are those?"

Swooosh!  A flash of claws and hair.  Th-Thump!  A beastly figure perched on the wooden barrier in front of Rainbow Dash.  The mare found herself staring into a pair of sabre-teeth framed by a white woolie mane.

"Gaaah!"  Rainbow Dash fell back on her haunches.  She curled up into a little blue ball.  "Manticore!"

"Ha HAH!"  The creature roared with a booming laugh.  A grin formed between his pronounced fangs as he lifted a scaled tail ending in a barbed stinger.  "And a fine grreetings to you, oh lithe rrainbow rrogue!"  Something flickered between his nose and his eyes.  Rainbow's eyes opened to see him raise a claw to his face, adjusting a pair of round, thin-framed spectacles resting on his feline muzzle.  "Or, should I have the pleasurre to say, Austrraeoh?"

"Who... how..."  Rainbow wheezed and wheezed, gawking up at him.  "What the buck... what the buck...?!"

"Hmmm!"  The beast tilted his head aside.  A pale lion's mane surrounded his pale lion's face.  The rest of his body was hunched, like a bat's, and was covered in spotted brown fur.  "Currious... most currious indeed," he purred.  FWOOSH!  His limbs spread, attached to each other with a flabby membrane that he used to glide over Rainbow in a blink.  Landing behind her, he drew a paw gently across her skull.  "I see the rrogue... but verry little rrainbow!  Alas, the prrice that must be made for the safety of anonymity, yes?  Ha-HAH!"  He curved his tail around, drawing the scaled appendage along her side.  "Still, she is... a grreat deal smaller than I expected.  Hmmm... I wonderr if the mountain matrron anticipated this."

"Uhhhhh..."  Rainbow squirmed and sweated.  Her shrunken pupils followed the glinting point of his stinger as it neared her skull.  "Uhhhhhhhh..."

"Do not frret, azurre one," the creature purred, examining her hooves through his bifocals.  "Even if I was to prrick you, it has verry little venom left.  Grranted, it's been severral decades since I last tested that.  HAH!"  He grinned through his sabre teeth.  "Oh, what a fine age we live in.  What a fine age indeed."

"Hello, Kepler," Remna said, stepping up.  "It is... agreeable to see you in good health."

"Well met, Rremna!" the wyvern replied.  He raised a claw to his forehead and twirled it in the air, bowing low.  "No doubt you've endurred many trrials just to get to this sanctuarry.  The mountain matrron shall be verry pleased.  Gods know, I am!  Hahah!"  His feline nostrils flared.  "Hrmmmmm..."  The spotted hairs along his curved backside bristled momentarily.  "You have a most strrange smell about you, Rremna.  I trrust these last few yearrs haven't been too unkind to your rresilient health."

"I've done what I can to get by, Kepler," Remna said.  "But that is of little importance now.  Nothing is more important than the journey ahead.  Tell me."  The bounty hunter leaned her head to the side.  "Any sign of Wildcard?"

"Negatorry."  Kepler shook his head with a brief frown.  "But if I know that grriffon as well as you do, then surrely he shall not sleep a wink until his oath is securred.  No doubt he will be rreturning with his collective compatrriots soon.  Then the seven shall be rrejoined!  Hah!  Most glorrious indeed!"

"The..."  Rainbow fidgeted on the floor.  "The seven?"  She blinked.  "Are you referring to the job squad?"

"Hah hah hah hah!"  Kepler's booming laughter nearly threw his bifocals off.  "Oh, what hilarrity!  I see that musical misfit is still colorring the grriffon's claws with all the words of whimsy!  Is that what they chose to call it?"

"Uhhhh..."

"Bah!  No more frritterring!"  Kepler coiled his tail beneath Rainbow and hoisted her onto her hooves.  "The Austrraeoh has arrrived!  This is cause for celebrration!  Come!  Please!"  FWOOSH!  He took off, his limbs stretched out so that his body formed a brown triangle that glided skyward.  "We must celebrrate!  Tonight, a feast for the mind and soul!  For tomorrrow, we set out!  Even unto oblivion!  Hah!"  He lifted higher and higher.  "Brrothers!  Eyes to the earrth and tails to the wind!  The rrainbow grraces the rroof of the world!"

Rainbow shuddered, fidgeting in her leather gear.  "What... j-just happened?"

"I don't know."  Pinkie Pie giggled.  "But I like him."

"Who... is this 'mountain matron?'" Twilight remarked.

"Never mind that!"  Rarity made a face.  "Who are 'the seven?'"

"Hrmmff..."  Remna marched towards the long gravel path leading towards the palace above.  "I'd get moving if I were you.  There's no rest until we're in the sanctum."

Fluttershy glanced at the gawking Snow-Bloods, then over at Rainbow.  "I think it'll be okay to follow her.  Perhaps, soon enough, we'll get our answers."

Rainbow nodded with a gulp.  "Yeah, okay..."  She trotted ahead, looking skyward as the air filled with more and more gliding bodies.  Several booming shouts answered Kepler's call.  "...so long as these dudes mind their stingers..."
> "Kepler!  I said NO camels!"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Look!  Lookie!"  Pinkie Pie pointed skyward.  Several triangular figures with dangling tails dotted the sky in circular formation.  "There's more of them!"

"Absolutely incredible," Rarity murmured.  She and the other ghostly mares floated around Rainbow as the pegasus marched up the mountainside after Remna.  "They've got a great deal of poise and grace... erm... for such beastly spectacles."

"I don't see what's so 'beastly' about them, Rarity," Fluttershy said.

"Didn't you see them, Fluttershy?"  Rarity gulped.  "They're like miniature manticores!"

"Manticore diet!"  Pinkie Pie giggle-snorted.

Fluttershy shrugged.  "Is that so strange?  Different species have different levels of intelligence.  You remember the diamond dogs back in Equestria?"

Rarity shivered.  "How can I?"

"Fluttershy's got a point," Twilight Sparkle said with a nod.  "Diamond dogs share several physiological traits with domestic canines, and yet they can speak, walk upright, build an underground society... etc."  She waved a hoof at the sky.  "These... wyverns evidently have much in common with manticores, and yet they're not the same.  I'm guessing where their larger cousins evolved to dominate by strength and brute force, these creatures grew to be more social, articulate, rational..."

"...and thespian!"  Pinkie chirped.  "You heard that cool dude with the glasses, right?"  She tapped her chin.  "Feels like I've heard that voice somewhere before..."

"I think they're absolutely amazing," Fluttershy said.

"Fluttershy, darling, you've barely seen just one of them!" Rarity exclaimed.

"I know."  Fluttershy giggled through a soft smile.  "And already I want to know more."

"From the sound of things," Twilight said, "Their tribe has been living up here in isolation for decades... centuries."  She blinked at Rainbow Dash.  "Who knows what we can expect from them?"

"I'm hoping to get a friggin' explanation for why I've been dragged here," Rainbow muttered.

"You will get one, little pony," Remna spoke from above.

"I wasn't talking to you."

"I know," the bounty hunter replied.

Rainbow blinked.

"I will tolerate your disagreeable attitude when launched in my direction.  But with these friends of mine?"  Remna looked back, glaring over her violet shoulder.  "You will not harass them.  Is that understood?"

"Gracious me."  Rarity folded her forelimbs.  "Touchy."

"Look.  Chillax."  Rainbow waved a hoof as she and the bounty hunter ascended.  "Despite what you think, I don't go forth biting the heads off every pony that I meet."

"Indeed."  Remna looked ahead.  "Only the ones who try to help you."

Rainbow rolled her eyes with a sigh.  "I just want some answers.  Is that too much to ask for?"

"And you will get them in time," Remna said.  "But not directly from these sanctuary-keepers."

"Then from who?"

"The mountain matron."

"And just who is she?"

"You shall find out."

"Eugh..."  Rainbow face-hoofed in mid-stride.  "...you're not making this any easier for me."

"Such was never a promise..."

At last, Pinkie blurted:  "I got it!"  She grinned at the others.  "Any of you gals seen Raiders of the Lost Oats?!"





It took more than twenty minutes for Remna and Rainbow to march their way up the rest of the path.  Eventually, they came upon a thick mahogany gate, bent by the winds of time.  Several colored flags were tied to the framework of the door along gnarled strings.

A quartet of Snow-Blood stallions in thin leather armor stood at the gate, chatting amicably in the nippy mountain air.  After a collective chuckle, the guards glanced down the path.  All four of them froze at once, startled at the first sight of visitors in decades.

One stallion paused in the middle of sipping his canteen.  He spat out the contents, rubbed his muzzle, then turned towards the others.  "Havanna sehm kleem!  Shravan!"

Weathering an awkard jolt, the four rushed to the doorframe, lifted a heavy crossbeam, and opened the barrier with a massive creaking sound.  As the door swung open before Remna and Rainbow Dash, the two mares saw the grand looming entrance to the mountain palace.  The four Snow-Bloods bowed low, eyes to the floor.

Remna shuffled quietly past them.  Rainbow followed, glancing nervously at the Snow-Bloods.

One of the stallions looked up, instantly winced, and avoided her gaze.

Rainbow blinked at her friends, shrugged it off, and continued.

The cold air was fragrant here.  Despite the wages of time, the courtyard before the palace was pristine... immaculate, even.  This was made all the more incredible—considering the fact that several sporadic trees lined the granite entrance, blooming with bright pink lotus blossoms.  Rainbow watched as several petals fell loosely to the ground... only to be swept up by the gentle motions of a wispy, threadbare broom.  Wyverns with graying fur occasionally dotted the courtyard, hunched over and sweeping the petals away with meditative care.  Between each motion, Rainbow could spot their lips moving from beneath their sabre teeth, almost as if wordlessly chanting prayers.

While Remna marched ahead, Rainbow lingered for a moment. She stared at a furry specimen hunched over a few spaces away.

After a few broom-strokes, the wyvern looked up.  He was a very old specimen, with a mane that had grown gray and sparse with time.  Nevertheless, upon first sight of Rainbow, the senior monk smiled.  He leaned the brush over his shoulder and lifted two sets of claws.  His digits performed several swift motions in the air, timed with articulate movements of his aged lips.  He finished his wordless greeting with a smile, then resumed his sweep of the courtyard.

Rainbow blinked.  She opened her muzzle to say something—

FWOOOSH!  A brown body descended, followed by a pair of lenses reflecting her blue muzzle.  "Alas!"  Kepler boomed.  "Herre she is, brrotherrs!"

"Gah!"  Rainbow hopped back.  As the blood rushed back into her ears, she heard a series of bombastic exclamations in the air around her:

"Indeed!"

"The Austrraeoh lives!"

"Well met!"

"Grreetings, eastwarrd one!"

Rainbow fidgeted.  "Uhhhh..."  She found herself surrounded by hunched figures with brow and black fur.  Their tail-stingers stood up over their heads, almost as if they were aimed at her.  "Ahem..."  She waved a hoof.  "Hiya, boyos..."

"And!"  With a toothy grin, Kepler adjusted his bifocals and then crawled on his claws until he stood at her side.  "You may happen to notice!"  Without asking, he grasped Rainbow's skull and tilted her head back, pointing at her ruby pendant.  "A surrviving piece of harrmony!  An alicorrn jewel of the sun-and-moon bearrers, no less!"

"Verrily!"

"By the gods!"

"So the old scrrolls werre rright!"

"Powerr still rreigns in the west!"

"Beyond the Blight, even!"  Kepler smiled.  Out the side of Rainbow's eyes, she noticed a bandolier around his hairy body that was filled with tomes, almanacs, and scrolls instead of weapons.  "Ha HAH!  What morre evidence do we need, brrothers, of the necessarry task of the seven?!  I tell you, the Harrmonic Prrism is out therre!"  He gestured with an elegant set of claws.  "Just waiting to be grrasped by a rrighteous hearrt!"

"Uhhhh..."  Rainbow Dash wheezed.  "...could you let go of my neck, now?"

"AH!"  Kepler smiled.  "But of course, rrainbow one."  He took a step back, bowing.  "A thousand parrdons yet again."

"Sure..."  Rainbow rubbed her neck and tucked the Element back into her hiking coat.  "Guess I've been expected, huh."

"In morre ways than one, Austrraeoh."  Kepler's eyes narrowed above a thick grin.  "We live upon the brrink of a new erra!  Rrebirrth and balance is upon us!  No longer shall the ancient prretenderr of Rrohbrredden cloud our mountain matrron's progrress with her vile deceit!"

"Aye!  Down with the prretenderr!"

"Harrmony forrevermore!"

"Hah!  Well said, brrotherr!"

One wyvern in particular, wearing feathers tied to his furry ear, performed a series of finger-motions with his claws.

Kepler spun and effortlessly replied with like-minded grace.

The wyvern in question replied with a nod.  He shared a mute smile with three other monks standing next to him, also adorned with feathers.  They gestured a few swift words between each other.

"Twilight..."  Rarity leaned in, pointing.  "Do you see how...?"

"Yes."  Twilight nodded with a gulp.  "Just like Wildcard."

"How curious..."

"Ahem..."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Not to be rude or anything, but..."  She squinted.  "How come you guys know about the Harmonic Prism—?"

"Ha HAH!"  Kepler spun, immediately booming in Rainbow's wincing face.  "A fine question, little pony!"

Rainbow groaned.  "Ugh... not you too..."

"Forr it is ourr place to know!"  Kepler continued.  "The Harrmonic Prrism, of courrse, is the fulcrrum upon which the worrld revolves!  It is what makes the line into a cirrcle!  Of courrse... haHAH!  If you've made it this farr, dearr friend..."  He slapped a paw across her shoulder.  Wh-Whap!  "You alrready know this, don't you?!"

"Guh...!"  Rainbow's knees buckled.  She managed to stand back upright after his gesture.

"Pssst!  Hey, Dashie!"  Pinkie leaned in.  "Tell him to say 'They're digging in the wrong place!'"

"Shush!" Rainbow hissed aside.  Then, collecting herself, she looked straight at Kepler and his companions.  "Look... I know stuff.  But... like... I've been all across the world.  And the beacons of the machine layer beneath us?  They talk to me... uhm... in ways that they don't talk to anypony else."  Her brow furrowed.  "Just how is that you guys know so much up here in these mountains?"

"Poor rrainbow wisp!"  Kepler's eyes blinked with surprise from behind his spectacles.  "You've been from the west!  Have you trruly not met any of ourr kind beforre?"

"You... mean wyverns?"  Rainbow shook her head.  "Uhm... no.  Unless you count manticores... but... uhhh..."

"How rremarrkably currious!"  Kepler stood back, his toothed jaw agape.  He looked aside.  "Rremna!  Old frriend!  Have you trruly told herr nothing?"

The bounty hunter sighed.  She stood up on the high steps to the inner palace.  "Kepler, please.  We must get her to the mountain matron.  If you know anything about the Austraeoh, then you must realize that time is of the essence."

"Hmmmm... but of course!"  Kepler spun back to face Rainbow Dash.  "Come, brrotherrs!  Let us escorrt our westerrn specimen!"  A blink, and he tilted his head down.  "I say...!"

"Gnnngh..."  Rainbow Dash had collapsed to the floor, overcome with shivers.  She gnashed her teeth as she struggled to keep her eyes open.  "Rrggh... friggin'..."

"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy gasped.

"Oh dear!"  Rarity clasped her muzzle.  "It's happening again!"

"Okay!"  Twilight Sparkle spoke aloud.  "Nopony panic!"  She flew over to Rainbow Dash.  "Rainbow... just calm down.  Try to relax."

"Easy... f-for you to say..."  Rainbow wheezed as her eyes flickered red-on-yellow.  "Rnnngh... dang s-sucky timing..."

"Stay with us, Rainbow!" Twilight insisted.

"Little pony!"  Remna shouted.  The air thundered with her bounding steps.

The wyverns craned their neck.  "What is happening to herr, brrotherr?"

"Hmmm..."  Kepler stroked his furry chin.  "A most starrtling predicament—AH!"  He pointed with a claw.  "See!  Herr eyes just then!  The colorrs!  As it is wrritten!  Quick, brrothers!  Help me pull herr eyelids back so we can have a betterr look—"

"Dammit, Kepler!"  Remna's voice growled as her violet body bounded in.  She shoved several monks away and crouched at Rainbow's side.  "Give her space!"

"But of courrse, old frriend!"

"Keep it together, little pony!  Hey!  Hey!"  Remna growled, shaking Rainbow Dash and slapping her cheek.  "For blazes' sake!  Can't you be strong for one second?!"

"Grrgghllg...."  Rainbow gurgled.

"Dammit!  At least stay in one piece until Wildcard and Bard get—"

Rainbow teetered.  She saw a blur of mountains and ice...

...and all went black.
> "Filler?  I hardly know her!"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Professor Mane."

The stallion clenched his eyes tightly shut.  His jaw muscles pressed together, tense and rigid.

"Professor... we've landed.  It's quite alright.  You can let go of me now."

Ears twitched.  At last, Theanim's eyes flickered open.  He clung to Lieutenant Keris' backside with a vice-like grip.  Meanwhile, the griffon shuffled to a stop, positioning the two of them beneath the spreading branches of a dense forest canopy.

"Erm... r-right..."  Clearing his throat, Theanim release his grip of the guardian and stood on numb hooves.  "A thousand pardons."  He shuddered.  "Blessed Verlaxion.  I have no idea how half of the Tribes manage to do that."

"Perhaps you should ask your midnighter companion," Keris said.  "No doubt he's properly experienced."

"Correction:  he used to be."  Theanim slid his goggles up over his mane.  "The poor chap had his wings clipped by the miscreants of Bleak's Plummet ages ago."

Keris' magenta hawkeyes blinked.  At last, he said, "I am most sorry to hear that."

"That pleases me."

Keris hummed curiously.

Theanim explained:  "It's just that very few souls on this continent sympathize with those of Echo's kind."  Theanim swallowed.  "It's refreshing to witness a far more amicable opinion."

"Several 'bat ponies' dwell peacefully with the rest of the Tribes along the northeastern bluffs of the Twilight Lands," Keris said, gazing about the forested setting.  "They are Verlaxion's foals to protect as much as the rest."

"Indeed."  Theanim gazed aside.  "And your Commander?  Does she express the same compassion?"

Keris' beak clenched.  "Please, Professor.  The Talon is not what we've set off to investigate."

"Erm... r-right..."  Theanim grimaced.  "I'm always disastorously inquisitive.  Please forgive me."

"Only be sorry when it's appropriate," Keris said, peering about.  "It was your inquisitiveness that brought us to this juncture to begin with."

Just as he said that, the air whistled from another pair of wings incoming.  Keris calmly pulled Theanim aside.

Thwoooosh!  Starstorm landed behind the pair.  She panted for breath, looking considerably more exhausted than her superior.  "Lieutenant..."  She tilted her helmet back so she could peer solidly at him.  "I believe there's a settlement just to the south."  She swallowed.  "A river runs through the mountain due west of it, and there's a steamship station there."

"No doubt where supplies arrive from the southwest farmlands."  Keris nodded.  "Best that we get a good eye on just who we're dealing with."

"Would you wish me to scout out, sir?"

"Yes.  The Professor and I need to survey the supposed meeting area."

Starstorm saluted.  "Rendezvous at the final coordinates?"

"Indeed."

"I won't be long."  Starstorm sped off through the trees.

Keris exclaimed hoarsely:  "Stay low!"

"How long are we resting this time for?" Theanim asked.

"This is not a rest spot, Professor," Keris replied, pivoting east.  "We're here."

Theanim blinked.  "...we are?  This... this is Sunset Prefecture?"

"Affirmative."

"My stars..."  Theanim brushed his bangs back.  "That was far faster than I had anticipated."

"As a member of the Talon, speed is your second most important quality."

"And what is the first?"

"Tact."  Keris sniffed.  "Or so I always believed."

"Shouldn't... shouldn't we be quieter?" Theanim remarked.  "After all, our... uhm... 'quarry' can't be too far away."

"I was telling the truth when I said the three of us landed in Sunset Prefecture," Keris said.  "However, we are a good two miles from our destination."

"Two miles?"  Theanim blinked wide.  "What do you intend for us to do?  Walk the rest of the way?"

Keris simply looked at him.

Theanim coughed.  "Right."  He nodded.  "I suppose—if these parties are wishing to remain hidden—they would have their eyes trained to the skies."

"Surprise can be your greatest ally, one that I haven't exercised quite so well as of late.  But that can be amended."  He motioned along and began marching through the foliage.  "Come, Professor.  If we keep our momentum, we should reach the site detailed to you within thirty-six hours."

"Yes."  Theanim stumbled after the griffon.  "It would behoove us to be there early, so we can observe any scenario that might unfold."

"Precisely what I was thinking."

"And what of your Sergeant?  Will she okay on her own?"

"I trust Starstorm's restraint and skill in stealth," Keris said.  "She will be more than fine.  For the time being, it is my duty to look after you just as much as it is to investigate this potential situation."

"Well, I'm more than thankful," Theanim said.  "But what of you?  You look like you could use some assistance."

"Do not worry," Keris replied, shaking the left cast in question.  His left limb hung at his side, braced in reinforced metal.  "The aid I received in Frostknife has been enough to sustain me—at least for the time being."

"Your resilience is admirable," Theanim said.  He craned his neck while the two trotted over and under wooly vegetation.  "Tell me.  How did you receive such an injury?  Terrorists?  A flight mishap?  Agents of the Consortium?"

"Actually, if you must know, my limb was broken by your old companion back at Red Barge."

Theanim's lips pursed.  "...you mean Rainbow Dash?"

Keris nodded.

Theanim grimaced.  "But... but I-I can scarcely believe she would inflict physical harm on a representative of the Council of Rohbredden!"

"If it helps to know, she was... not her usual self."  Keris cleared his throat.  "For lack of a definition."

"I'm afraid I don't read you."

"She had transformed into a horrid beast... neither pegasus nor pony.  Not even a windigo could match its terrible qualities."  Keris' eyes narrowed.  "With claws and teeth the likes of which can rend a manticore in twain."

"Blessed Goddess..."  Theanim gulped.  "How... h-how did this happen, pray tell?"

"It started the moment that the despicable dredgers of that platform stripped the mare of her gold and ruby pendant."

Theanim blinked.  "Oh... well, that... would explain it then."

Keris chanced a look back at the stallion.

Theanim coughed.  "To say that it's the source of her magic would be oversimplifying things.  Suffice to say, she's always been mindful to those around her never to remove the jewel.  I can't count how many times she gave the Desperadoes a death glare for so much as looking at it."  He rubbed his head, shuddering.  "Dear Verlaxion... to think it was holding back such a monstrosity..."

"I've been meaning to ask, Professor..."

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

"Precisely how much do you know about the creature that's come to be called the Rainbow Rogue?"

Theanim took a deep breath.  "I know that there's enough good in her to afford a thorough examination of the actions committed in the Quade."

"As a scientist, don't you think that's rather subjective?"

"Mmmm... perhaps."  Theanim craned his head to the side.  "But then, if a highly decorated guardian of the Talon was there with her in Red Barge, how—precisely—did she manage to leave the place?"

Keris clenched his beak shut.

Silence.

At last, Theanim spoke:  "The mare comes from a distant land.  She bears much information—much of it downright heretical at first glance.  However, one thing is undeniable: she has an innate desire to bring about change... a change for good.  The Syndicate would still be at large if it weren't for her intervention.  When we were in Shoggoth, the monarch of the Sirens herself reached out to the mare—both in mind and in spirit.  If that isn't a sign of healthy trust, then I don't know what is."

"From what I understand," Keris said, "The royal family of Shoggoth deeply desired a fundamental power shift for years.  Would it have mattered at what cost they procured it?"

"Lieutenant, is Red Barge still riddled with filth and corruption?" Theanim pointedly asked.  "Look at me—or any other equine soul in the eyes—and try and tell me that the place is any worse off than it was previously."

Keris suffered a long sigh.

Theanim glanced from behind.  "You feel the same way that I do, hmmm?"  He blinked.  "That despite all of your misgivings and loyalties, a part of you can't deny the fact that there's less 'rogue' and more 'righteousness' in this mare that's gotten all of Rohbredden riled up."  He exhaled.  "I went through a crisis of morals when I first encountered the mare.  Everything she had to present me was radical—both scientifically and spiritually.  And yet, simply by observing her in her element, I discovered enough to lend credence to her cause... and her journey as a whole."

"And did all of these observations still legitimize the actions she committed in the Quade?"

Theanim hung his head in mid-trot.  After a while, he muttered, "No.  They do not.  Which... is what brought me to investigate the Luminards who had been sequestered by the Consortium to begin with.  I wanted to find answers."

"Have you gotten any closer to them, Professor?"

Theanim gulped.  "I assure you, Lieutenant.  I would tell you if I had an inclination."

"But you still have faith."

Theanim looked up.

"That she still has good in her," Keris murmured, rounding a series of trees and bushes.  "And that denying that would be embracing the same blindness that has allowed so much corruption to blemish this kingdom of ours already."

Theanim slowly nodded.  "Something very... very important is happening right beneath us, Lieutenant," he said in a solid tone.  "I don't know if Rainbow Dash is fully conscious of it... but she knows a great deal more than we do.  We... simply cannot afford to throw all of that into the Frosted Shelves and continue to pretend that everything is pristine with the Six Tribes."

"Perhaps, with our collective knowledge combined, we can attempt to reach a point of understanding."

"Huh?"

"I'll share with you what I learned at Red Barge," Keris said.  "In the meantime..."  He looked back.  "You tell me what about Rainbow Dash and her journey is so 'heretical.'"

Theanim instantly paled.  His ears drooped beneath the straps of his goggles.

"Is there a problem, Professor?"

"Erm... n-no!"  Theanim gulped.  "At least... not at the moment."

"Because you've yet to relate to me what you've learned from her."

Theanim sighed.  "Let us simply... find a place to sit first, dear guardian.  Then I will fill your feathery ears."

"Very well."  Keris looked forward.  "This should be quite interesting."

"Yes."  Theanim shuddered.  "Quite."
> Leave Moseyin' to Moseyin' Itself
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	She winced.  Her muzzle tensed... tensed again.  With a trilling sound she shifted beneath a cloud of satin sheets.  A cool breeze rolled in from the great beyond, fluttering at her eyelashes.  Her ears twitched every few seconds, especially as a melodic sound echoed against the walls of a spacious room.

One string at a time, an acoustic guitar plinked to life.  A harmonic ballad bled inside out.  As it formed a structure, it caressed Rainbow Dash's ears, anointing her head with sonic oil.

At last, starting low and breathy, a twangy set of vocal cords accompanied the melancholic ditty.  It slowly drew Rainbow back to the waking world—where sunbeams and sighs awaited:


Wind and wing and go
Wind and wing and go
The years roll back
The storm rumbles black
And your sweet voice calls me home

Rivers ebb and flow
Rivers ebb and flow
Every brook that winds
Constantly reminds
Of the tears flowing back to my home

Oceans black and blue
Oceans black and blue
Foam churns at the edge
As I make my pledge
And carry you back to our home

And with every tide that comes, it's you
And with every sun that sets, it's you
And with every smile that stays, it's you
And with every breath I sob, it's you

Wind and wing and go
Wind and wing and go
Please don't let go
You're my song, you're my soul
And they're calling us back to our home
One of these days
We'll follow them back to our home


Rainbow Dash fought a lump in her throat.  Hissing, she found the strength to fight past it.  "Who... who's the song about?"

Silence.  Even the guitar plinking stopped.

Rainbow's eyes fluttered open.  A bright burning world stretched past the foot of her bead.  A stallion's silhouette sat in a chair, facing perpendicular to her.  A long mane billowed in a cold mountain breeze.


"Because..."  Rainbow cleared her throat as every muscle came to life.  She sat up, wincing.  "...I know that it's not about me."

The stallion pivoted his head towards her.  A sigh evaporated between them, and his hazel eyes materialized against the brightness, dull and somber.  Like his voice.

"T'ain't about nopony in particular," Bard said.  "At least... no more."  He strummed the guitar again, gazing off into the brightness.  One peak at a time, mountains solidified beyond a spacious balcony.  The world dimmed with each second that Rainbow Dash's eyes adjusted, revealing a massive ravine lined with palace walkways and distant Snow Blood villages.  "Nopony livin' to give it sweetness.  Now it's just a spur in my side, urgin' me forward."

Rainbow rubbed her eyes.  She exhaled, "I suppose we all... could use the push in our lives."

"Mmmm... I reckon."  He played with the strings.  Acoustic notes wafted outward, carried aloft by the mountain breeze.  "When we try to carry the momentum ourselves, we end up pushin' ourselves a mite bit too much.  That's when we do thangs that we regret."

Rainbow clenched her jaw shut.

Bard breathed:  "My life is full... chock full to the lid... with regrets..."

Rainbow hugged herself, staring at the blankets of the bed she was in.  "Kinda wish I could play guitar..."

"Don't."  Bard strummed a few notes regardless.  "It only means yer stuck with bottlin' it all like sour wine."

Rainbow looked to her right.  Luna's satchel—along with the rest of Rainbow's gear—had been stretched across a dresser and table.  With a nervous flinch, the pegasus raised a hoof to her neck... then exhaled with relief to feel the cold kiss of her pendant.

"These mountain folk know ya more than you'd guess," Bard said.  "They sure as rain wouldn't strip ya of everythang."

Rainbow shuddered.  "Guess that makes me lucky."

"Hrmmmfff..."

Rainbow's eyes darted towards the rustic wooden walls of the bedroom.  "Twilight?"  She blinked.  "Fluttershy?"

"They still talk to you?"

"Yes, Bard."  Rainbow briefly frowned.  "They do.  Just—"

With a flicker of lavender and pink light, a ghostly mare materialized upside down.  Pinkie Pie yawned, blinked at Rainbow Dash, then gasped.  "Dashie!"  She twirled until she was rightside up and grinned in the anchor's face.  "You're up!  Oh goodie goodie!  I knew my leg was shaking in my sleep for a reason!"  She twirled about.  "Just gimme a sec and I'll wake the other gals from the Vanilla Zone—"

"No no..."  Rainbow waved a hoof in the air.  "It's okay."

Bard glanced over.

"Ya sure?"  Pinkie blinked.  "I swear, we tried doing shifts at first to watch over, but then when Bard showed up... well... we figured—"

"It's okay, Pinkie.  Really..."  Rainbow Dash smiled.  "I'm... I'm doing fine, it looks like.  You and the gals catch up on your shut-eye."

"Awwwwwww... you sure?"  Pinkie pouted.  "Because there's nothing I wanna do more than stay right here and watch over you like a vigilant stewa—SHNORRRRRRRRRRRR!"  The mare blew ghostly bubbles as her etheral body went limp.

Rainbow merely smiled.

One layer at a time, Pinkie dissolved into lavender strings.

Rainbow's pendant glowed, and all was still once again.

"They're alright, then?" Bard asked.

"Of course they are."  Rainbow glared his way.  "You think that just because they're attached to me they're in some sort of prison?"

Bard merely strummed the guitar, staring out onto the sanctuary of Wyvern Point.  Distant flags flapped in the breeze, accompanied by the occasional shrieks of eagles.

Rainbow sighed.  She hung her head and rubbed her brow.  "We... we had a rough patch."  She cleared her throat.  "Nopony's fault but mine.  But... but after a long while, they came around."  She looked up, eyes glossy.  "We all came around."  A gulp.  "Down in Red Barge... surrounded on all sides by rust and grime... I nearly bought it.  More th-than once."

"That must have been downright miserable," Bard muttered.

"It was," Rainbow grunted.  "Mrmfff... maybe it pleases you to know that."

"What pleases me, Rainbow," Bard grumbled, "Is that there are ponies bigger than myself in high places, or else we wouldn't be havin' this conversation right now."

Rainbow glanced at him, her ears drooped.  "It's... it's really swell of you to look after me."

"Who's lookin' after who?"  Bard shrugged, strumming.  "Ain't nothin' to worry about up here but the cold."

Silence.

At last, Rainbow asked, "Where's Wildcard?"

"Mrmmmmff... how the Hell should I know these days?"  Bard exhaled, plucking.  "Bein' Desperadoes together simply wasn't enough for him to share everythang with that big beak of his.  I mean... I knew I was gettin' entangled with a big heapin' mystery the day I decided to share lots in the bounty huntin' business with the fella.  But... just didn't expect it all to come to a head so sudden-like."

"Did..."  Rainbow blinked.  "Did he not tell you about this place before?  About Remna?"

"He told me bits... but... shucks."  Bard flung a hoof towards the balcony.  "Just take a gander at this place, will ya?"  A sigh.  "It's like findin' out yer long lost brother's a prince in pauper's clothing."

"You always knew about him and the wyverns, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but all of this... 'matron mountain' business is so beyond me it ain't even funny."

"You're not... I-I mean..."  Rainbow hugged herself, fidgeting in bed.  "...I-I'm not drivin' a wedge between you two, am I?"

"Pfffft..."  Rainbow saw Bard's muzzle curve for the first time in months.  "Naw..."  He struck a few playful cords on the guitar.  "It'd take a damn civil war to split the two of us apart."  He slowly shook his head.  "Though I have felt like stranglin' him somethin' awful a few times over the past few weeks.  What matters is... is..."  His nostrils flared as his jaw tightened.  "He pulled me out of the muck when I needed it most.  I owe him... I owe him more than a pony's ever need to make due before."

"So that's the only reason you're here?" Rainbow asked.  "Because you owe Wildcard?"

Bard stopped strumming.

Rainbow blinked.  "Bard...?"

"Grffff..."  Bard sat up, muscles aching.  "The day ain't gettin' any younger.  Dubya-Cee should be here with the Job Squad any second."

"What's... taking him so long?"

"A load of pony fat."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

"Dun ask."  Bard picked his hat back up and plucked it onto his handsome head.  "Them's a good bunch of varmints—the Squad.  But somethin' tells me you're about to learn more about them than I ever did."  He exhaled.  "Whatever's happenin'... whatever's goin' down... reckon it means a whole heapin' lot to Dubya... and so it means a lot to me to let it unfold."

"I get it, Bard."  Rainbow nodded.  "I promise I won't ruin things for your best friend."

"Ya kiddin'?"  Bard squinted at her.  "You done ruined thangs weeks ago... why else do ya think we're in this lofty overdressed outhouse in the mountains?"  He extended a hoof.  "Here.  Why dun ya get up.  Let's go for a stroll... stretch them legs."

"Where are we going?" Rainbow Dash asked, gently taking his grasp.

"The Hell if I know."  Bard lifted her onto her hooves with a shrug.  "Leave moseyin' to moseyin' itself."
> Birds of a Frantic Feather
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Does this mean you're both friends again?!"  Rarity grinned wide, pressing her hooves to her plush cheeks as she floated after Rainbow.  "Oh, that would be absolutely smashing!"

"Please, Rainbow!"  Twilight Sparkle hovered closer.  "Tell us!  What have you been talking about?"

"Are you both catching up?" Fluttershy cooed.

Rainbow's eyes darted across her friend's faces as she softly strolled down a long, long corridor lined with massive wooden pillars.

"Reckon they're all awake now, huh?" Bard asked.

"Awake... and anxious," Rainbow said.

"Heh..."  The stallion adjusted the weight of the guitar around his flank.  "Bet that gets annoying."

"Mmmmm... sometimes."  Rainbow bore a brief smirk.  She winced, shifted her bandaged left wing, and continued trotting along.  The inner heart of the wyvern palace stretched before them: a seemingly endless forest of wooden pillars built over a dark mahogany floorboard.  Every few spaces, a large bronze brazier loomed, crackling with hot coals.  Mountain breezes carried the heat of the braziers from one end of the palace to the other.  Aside from the torches, the only other source of light was the massive open balconies to the east and west of the epic interior.  "Sometimes I just shake the pendant just to watch them fight like beetles inside a glass jar."

"Hey!"  Pinkie frowned.  "We're less like beetles; more like pill bugs!  Get it right!"

The other mares merely giggled in the moment.

"But really, though."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "They're friggin' happy to see you... and talking to me no less."

"Good to know that somepony is."

Rainbow bit her tongue.

Bard sighed.  "There are bigger fish to fry in this world.  There's always been.  Let's leave it at that."

"I... uhm... I'm sorry if... I've dragged you and Wildcard away from your bounty contracts or—"

"I said leave it."

Twilight and Rarity winced.

"Er... s-sure thing."  Rainbow replied with a shudder.  She heard the scraping of claws, and she looked to her left.

A cluster of wyverns had frozen in their tracks.  Feathers dangled to a stop from their ears as the bat-like creatures gawked at Rainbow with gaping lion-maws.  As she passed on by, they gestured briskly to one another with their claws, smiling in wonderment.

"So many of them wyvern-folk tried visitin' yer room overnight," Bard said as the two strolled on.  "Figured they're so smitten, they wanted to get a single glance of the 'Austraeoh.'"  Bard tilted the brim of his hat forward.  "Almost had to shove 'em off with a stick.  Like clearin' bats from a belfry."

"How... uh... h-how long was I out?"

"Pretty long."

Rainbow squinted at him.  "You... really sat down and watched over me the whole time?"

The stallion merely grunted out the side of his muzzle.  Staring ahead, he spoke:  "Yer pretty big news in this place.  Go figure."

"Yeah..."

"I mean, considerin' you was a virtual no-name between the Blight and Rust... until us Desperadoes found you, of course."  Bard shrugged.  "I dunno... it just strikes me funny."

"You're not the only one," Rainbow said.  She glanced at Twilight.  "I mean, it's nice to know I'm... crazy appreciated and all, but this whole journey since you and Wildcard redirected me at Steamfall has been completely out of my control."

"Does he know anything about Remna?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow turned towards Bard again.  "You know what's up with Remna?"

Bard instantly frowned.

Rainbow blinked.  "Oh... you too?"

"I've heard... stories..."  His nostrils flared.  "Let's just say it's a dayum miracle that Dubya-Cee ended up as awesome as he did."

"Heh... tell me about it..."

"Nearly had to headbutt the dreadlocked piece of muscle just to sit by yer side."

"Wait..."  Rainbow's lips pursed.  "You... fought over the right to stand guard over—?"

"Somethin' ain't right about that mare," Bard grumbled.  "I know I ain't exactly Verlaxion's gift to bounty hunters, or a paragon of greatness by anypony's standards, but Dubya's got some explainin' to do once he gets back.  I really... really wanna know how that psycho death valkyrie got a claim on bein' his mentor."

"Yeesh, Bard."  Rainbow smirked, raising an eyebrow.  "Jealous much?"

"I dun get jealous."  Bard shrugged.  "Only... anxious."

"You and me both, brother."

"Hrmmmfff... at least we'll have the Job Squad around," Bard said.  "If ever that redhead gets testy, at least I know morons have got our backs."

"You know the Job Squad personally?"

"Eeyup.  We've met a few times.  Done some local raids together."

"Define 'local raids.'"

"Collectively kicked the keisters of pirates and privateers for the right loot," Bard said with a slight smirk.  "Up and down the Rohbredden coast.  Strolled in and cleared house—a five pony group, y'know.  Classic shiet.  Heh... made lots of wealthy friends... and a buttload of poor enemies."

"Is that why you two eventually flocked west into the colonies?" Rainbow Dash asked.  "Because the heat got too much to bear?"

"You got that right.  Plus... well..."  Bard shuddered.  "I'm not the only one with stormclouds at his back."

Rainbow raised a brow.  "What's that supposed to mean?"

THWAP!  A pale lion's head landed in her face.  "AH!  You'rre awake!"  Kepler boomed.  "A fine morning indeed, Rrainbow one!"

"Gaaaah!"  Rainbow flinched backwards, shuddering all over.  "Friggin'... Starswirl pulling a kite!  Stop doing that!"

Kepler folded his wings and bowed.  "A thousand parrdons, Austrraeoh.  My brrotherrs and I werre simply worrried overr yourr well-being durring this bleak interrim."  His spectacled eyes swam towards Bard as he bore a toothed smile.  "But it is a blissful thing to find you in such rrich company!"

"Mrmmfff..." Bard exhaled.

"Grreetings, handsome fellow!"  Kepler waved a claw.  "I prresume you arre the brrave steed known as Barrd, Wildcarrd's sibling in spirrit?"

"And in coin and in woodshedding and in owning the seven seas," Bard said, tilting his hat.  "Them's the Desperadoes for ya.  Ain't no gettin' off this train we're on."

"Ha-HAH!"  Kepler grinned wide, his spotted backhair bristling.  "And so it is true!  Rright down to everry catch phrrase!  Good sirr, I shall have you know that our grriffon's brrotherr's exploits are celebrrated in grreat rreverrie up herre in these peaks!  Even in the prresence of the Mountain Matrron herrself!"

"Are we ever going to meet this mysterious Mountain Matron?" Rarity remarked.  "Oh goodness, now he has me doing alliteration..."

Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Uhm... about this 'Matron of the Mountains...'"

"Ah, yes yes..."  Kepler turned towards her.  "Verrily, you must be brrimming with curriosity.  While norrmally the Matrron only holds courrt with the brrethern of the wing and claw, she will most definitely seek audience with the fair and esteemed Austrraeoh."  His spectacles twinkled.  "It is why she nested herre to begin with, afterr all."

"Now I'm brimming with curiosity," Twilight exhaled.  "Just what are these lofty monks planning?"

"Well, if Wildcard has had a talon in it, then it must be for the goody-good, right?" Pinkie remarked.

"Say... uh... 'Kepler,' is it?" Bard spoke.

"Aye!  Fine and well met, Mr. Barrd!"

"Righto."  Bard cleared his throat, stepping closer. "Have ya seen where Remna's trotted off to?"

"Ah!  You mean our featherred brrother's crryptic mentorr?"  Kepler smirked.  "While I do not prride myself in being distrracted, I must admit that my senses have been rratherr currtailed by the prresence of the rrainbow one as of late!  I must humbly confess that I have lost trrack of that marre.  Grranted, she is rrather fond of taking long, contemplative walks."

"Fine by me," Bard muttered.  "So long as she keeps her distance."

"Oh?"  Kepler adjusted his bifocals while his tail swished.  "You have me at a loss, pony frriend.  Is there something amiss?"

"Not so long as that mare is around, sportin' her angry looks to glare in our faces."

"Uhm..."  Fluttershy drifted in.  "Bard may not want to say those things so glibly, especially considering the fact that Remna's trotting down from the higher level of the palace as we speak."  She pointed past the group.

Rainbow pointed in the same direction.  "You do know that she's trotting towards us, right?"

"Indeed," Remna's voice echoed past the wooden pillars.  Her heavy hoofsteps shook the cold air, rattling the ashes in the nearby braziers.  "And I would very much appreciate any and all unpleasant words being told to my face."

"Well, suits me fine!"  Bard swiveled to face her.  He tilted his hat back and folded his forelimbs.  "Hell, I'll even write a polka song and yodel 'em straight into yer muzzle!"

"Eeep!" Fluttershy shrank.

"A curious proposition."  Remna raised a thick red eyebrow.  "And just how many lyrics do you intend to produce before your head flies free of your neck?"

"Oh my..."  Rarity grimaced.

Pinkie pumped a hoof in the air.  "Fight!  Fight!  Fight!  Fight!"

Twilight yanked her down.  "Pinkie...!"

"Now, now, good frriends!"  Kepler leapt in between the glaring ponies.  "Most undeniably have ourr emotions been strrained as of late, what with the tense situation in Rrohbrreden prroperr!"  He smiled amicably.  "But let us not turrn against one anotherr, especially since the hour of prroperr flight is upon us!"

"I'm amazed we've reached anything at all, or that Rainbow is in one piece."  Bard glared over Kepler's mane.  "Considering how many times she's nearly lost her skull from the crazy climb to get here!  What's this rumor I keep hearin' about the two of you nearly plungin' off a mountainside?"

"I wouldn't speak much of mountainsides, Mr. Bard," Remna grumbled back.  "Considering she nearly blew up one with that infernal train you both convinced her to hijack."

"We didn't tell her to explode nothin'!" Bard cackled.  "We just gave her the keys to an easy westward hike!  If you hadn't been so bogged down in Goddess-knows-what, then maybe she wouldn't have to be riskin' her neck on her own for so long in the first place!"

"So... much... yelling..." Fluttershy whimpered.

Before Remna could retort, Rainbow barked:  "Alright... alright!"  Rainbow stretched her hooves out.  "If you can't listen to Kepler here, then listen to me when I say knock it off!"  She frowned at Remna.  "Bard and Wildcard did everything they could to send me safely on my way.  It was my stupidity that brought me to blows with the Talon to begin with, or else no train would have exploded anywhere."  She swiveled to glare at Bard.  "And... yeah... while Remna's no friggin' saint, she did save my butt from freezing to death.  Like it or not, I owe her as much as I owe you.  So can we all just... get along for a little bit?"

"Aye!"  Kepler nodded.  "Comrraderrie, dearr frriends!"  He smiled.  "For the seven..."  He winked at Bard.  "...and those quite ardently attached."

Twilight and Rarity exchanged blinking expressions.  "What was that supposed to mean?" Rarity asked.

"I... think Bard is not one of 'the seven.'"

"Huh..."

"Hrmmmff... fine."  Bard folded his hooves.  "Yer off the hook, Remna... for now."  His brow furrowed.  "But mark my words; I've got my eye on you."

"My life's ambition, most certainly," Remna droned, rolling her eyes.  She turned towards Kepler.  "I just spoke with the Matron.  She's still awaiting Rainbow's appearance."

"Ah!  Brrilliant!"  Kepler nodded, rubbing his claws together.  "Most brrilliant!"

"Wait..."  Bard's lips pursed.  "How come you get to speak to this high-and-mighty Matron so willy-nilly?"

"Concern yourself with the Austraeoh if you care about her so much," Remna grumbled.  "You can't choose to be in two places at once."

"The Hell I can't!"  Bard stomped a hoof.  "She ain't the only one wantin' answers!"

"You want answers?"  Remna's green eyes narrowed.  "Ask your 'Desperado' friend."

"I've got news for ya, red," Bard muttered.  "Dubya-Cee ain't particularly talkative about yer frumpy flanks."

"I most certainly wouldn't blame my protege," Remna calmly said.  "If anyone called me by such an inane nickname, I'd leave him in the dark as well."

"Grrrrrrr..."

"Oh!"  Kepler's ears twitched as he waved a claw in the air.  "Speaking of which!  Ha HAH!  He motioned after himself as he scampered briskly towards a nearby balcony.  "I do believe my earrs pick a weighted shift in the winds!  Forrsooth!  Ourr companions in courrage arrrive!"

"Eeee!"  Pinkie pointed.  "Follow the bouncing Wyvern!"

"I certainly have no objection."  Rarity turned towards Fluttershy.  "Especially if this means the return of Wildcard..."

Fluttershy nodded.  "Yes."  She smiled.  "And he's joined by three others."

"Squee."  Rarity curled her forelimbs to her chest.  "Then what are we waiting for?"

"I, for one, wanna check this out," Rainbow said, trotting after Kepler.

"Aye..."  Bard nodded, shuffling after her.  "Reckon it'll be mighty sobering havin' Dubya around as a feathershield to present company."

"Mrmmmff..." Remna grunted, taking up the rear.





A bright blue sky hung over the outstretched wooden balcony along the east end of the sanctuary.  Kepler perched on the palace's edge, waving his winged limbs.

"Overr here, pony frriends!  Hah!  What a find day for a landing!"

"Shucks... I dun even see them."  Bard trotted up beside Kepler, squinting into the heavens.  "Where in the hell is Dubya?"

"Ah!  I do believe yourr brreath-stolen companion is dirrectly behind the larrge equine mass strrapped to steam-powered mechanizations, musical one!"

"Large... equine... mass?"  Bard blinked.  Then his ears drooped.  "Aww hell... I thought he was gonna go on a dayum diet."

"Huh?"  Rainbow Dash moved in.  "Who was?  What are you talking about?"

Just then, she heard an outrageous hissing sound, growing louder and higher in pitch, followed by a cacophonous wave of angry grunts and shouts.

"No!  No, dammit!  You're coming in too fast!"

"I know what I'm doing..."

"Clearly you don't, seeing how it took me seventy-two minutes and thirty-six seconds to recalibrate the thrusters to your flank chassis!"

"Well if you didn't pack it so hard with melted snow, then maybe we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"Right!  We'd be stuck back in Lichen District, scooping you out of that cheap-ass brothel—"

"How many times do I gotta keep telling ya?!  It was a convent!"

"Yeah, and since when did pious sisters of the Verlaxion Order dress in Snow Blood lace—?!"

"Will you two stop bickering?!  Wildcard's doing all the steering for your fat asses and—oh great."

"Oh great what?!"

"Oh, nothing... save for the big hulking wyvern sanctuary you're about to smash into—"

"Damnation!"

"Holy shit!"

Three tangled figures embroiled in gusting steam flew into view.

"Luna Poop!" Rainbow's voice cracked.

"Whoah dayum!"  Bard spun, diving for Rainbow.  "Get down—"

"Look out!"  Remna simultaneously lunged for the mare—only to collide with Bard.  "Augh!"

"Ooof!"

Both "protectors" fell to a meaty heap before the mare.  Meanwhile, the bodies sailed inward with violent force.

"To the right!" Pinkie hollered, eyebrow twitching.

"Grnngh!"  Rainbow rolled sideways, narrowly avoiding the weighted figures.

Th-Th-Thud!  Two stallions and a griffon collapsed, somersaulted, and slammed into a wooden pillard.  Wh-Whump!  Wildcard landed upside down, breathless and twitching.  A series of steam thrusters attached to the two stallions sputtered to a standstill, filling the air with hot fog.

"Hrmmmff..."  A pegasus mare hovered above the hectic scene.  She folded her forelimbs with a huff.  "You guys are bunch of friggin' idiots.  I swear..."

"Hah hah hah!"  Kepler picked himself up, straightening his mane and spetacles.  "A most glorrious landing!  Verrily, it is yesterrday again!"

"Heya, Kepler."  The mare smiled from above.  "Super nice seeing you again."

"And a blessed day to be grraced with yourr beauty once again, fairr one!"  Kepler bowed.  "I trrust that yourr frriends arren't too terrribly injurred?"

"Only my big fat pride," slurred the larger of the two stallions.

"You meat-headed imbecile!"  The smaller stallion stood up.  From afar, Rainbow spotted a petite unicorn with a light brown coat.  He wore a metal apparatus around his flank, equipped with steam thrusters.  Wirey brown mane hair spilled out of a black visor strapped to his head.  "How many times do I have to go over it?!  I control the power source... you control the thrusters!"

"And I'm telling you..."  The bigger stallion stood up with a frown.  "The thrusters you calibrated for this stinkin' tin can of a pack ain't enough!"  He was a hulking round specimen of an earth pony, with a stone blue coat and a dull red mane—almost rusted.  He fussed with the straps around his shoulders before ultimately peeling the apparatus off entirely.  "I can barely stay aloft for a friggin' minute, you genius insect!"

"Well if you didn't shove so many glacier cakes down your fatass since the last time we kicked flank together—"

"Oh here we go."  The earth pony rolled his sleepy eyes.  "You're supposed to be the brains of this outfit!  Not the guilt."

"Will you two cut it out?" grumbled the mare, floating in a different spot above them.  "Look at what you did to poor Wildcard!"  She pointed at the dizzy, breathless griffon in question.  "He was the one working his wings off to get our lame butts up here all this time!"

"And we would have gotten here a lot faster if we had taken my calculations seriously!" the unicorn spat, shaking an abicus.

"Yeah yeah..."  The earth pony stifled a yawn.  "Why don't you sleep with that calculator if you love it so much?"

"I'd still be getting more action than you've gotten in years, ya lumbering walrus prick."

"Grrrrrr—!"

"Uhhhhhhh..."  Rainbow Dash grimaced, gawking along with her ghostly companions.  "I have... questions..."

Upon hearing her voice, all three strangers spun to face her.  Wildcard stopped reeling in time to look straight.  His headcrest lifted, and a smile graced his beak.

"Grnnngh..."  Bard slowly sat up, brushing the dust off his limbs.  "Yyyyyyyeah... like old times for sure."

"Bard, is..."  The unicorn shifted, his black visor rattling.  "Is this her?  Like... really her?"

"Hell, Dubya can answer that question."  Bard stepped over Remna as the bounty hunter was still getting up.  "Or maybe yer 'Mountain Matron,' I reckon.  But as far as I know, she's that crazy flank-kickin' mare from beyond the Blight."

"Holy Hell, dude."  The large stallion shook his head with a smirk.  "That shit that went down in Rust sounded epic.  What I wouldn't give to have been a part of that raid."

"Looks like yer about to be part of somethin' even bigger," Bard said with a smirk.  He reached out and hoof-bumped both stallions, one after another.  "So keep yer chin up."

"Aren't... aren't you coming with us?" the unicorn asked.

"Ehhhhh... let's take it one step at a time, ya hear?"  Bard pivoted to face Wildcard.  "Dubya?  You doin' okay?"

The griffon shuddered, but nevertheless offered a metal salute.

"Guess ya deserve some shuteye, what with pushin' these fat asses around."

"Hey!"  The earth pony frowned.

"Hah hah hah!"  The unicorn slapped his knee.  "Tell it like it is, Bard!"

"I wasn't bein' exclusive.  With you in the picture, that's a fatass and a half."

"Oh..."

"Sure hope Dubya wasn't talkin' yer ears off somethin' awful along the way here."

"Naw..."  The mare's voice echoed from another spot overhead.  "...we're cool."

"Good."  Bard glanced at Remna, Kepler, then back at Rainbow.  "Whelp... reckon some introductions are in order!"

"Yes."  Rarity nodded as the stallion trotted between them and Rainbow.  "That would be most fortuitous."

"Rainbow..."  Bard gestured the mare over.  "I want ya to meet some good 'ol friends of mine... but even older friends to Dubya.  This here's the slightly sexier half of the Job Squad."

"Mrmmfff..."  Remna folded her forelimbs.  "A fitting name."

"Nopony's talkin' to you," Bard grumbled without looking.

"Ha Hah!" Kepler laughed.

"This..."  Bard patted the unicorn's shoulder.  "...is Flynn.  The smartest dang pony I've ever seen.  Aside from yer gal pal Twilight of course, but—well—none of us exactly see her, do we?"

Pinkie and Fluttershy giggled while Twilight blushed.

"Uhm..."  Rainbow Dash held a hoof out.  "...hiya, Flynn."  She glanced at the steampack on the petite stallion's backside.  "Dig the swell... jet pack."

His metal-laced hoof shook as it graced her.  "Yes... f-far more streamlined than my previous prototypes, I assure you."  With a jerk of his neck, he flipped the visor up, revealing a metal left eye.

Rainbow flinched slightly.

"Great burning gases..."  Flynn cooed.  Mechanical lenses rotated within each other as his vision "zoomed in" on the mare in front of her.  "Are... are you truly the Austraeoh?"  His jaw hung agape.  "For a mare named Rainbow, there's... not much of a rainbow."

"Yeah, well, not all things stay put."  Her eyes traveled to the stallion's round, brown bald spot behind his horn.  "I'm sure you understand..."

"Most egregiously!"

"A fine pleasurre to have you back in these mountains, fellow frriend Flynn!"  Kepler stepped up with a grin.  "I would verry much enjoy exchanging inforrmation concerrning Rrohbrredden's rrecent technological exploits!"

"Heh... sure thing, Kep."  Flynn knelt low, training his mechanical eye on Rainbow's pendant.  "For what it's worth.  I mean... we're not exactly staying in this continent, are we?"

"Ha HAH!  Well said!"

"Hmmmm..."  A feminine voice purred from directly behind Rainbow Dash.  "She's even smaller than Wildcard described."

"...!"  Rainbow spun about, staring face to fuzzy face with the gray-coated pegasus.  "Yeesh..."  She blinked.  "You're f-fast."

"Mmmmm... definitely."  The mare nodded.  Ocean blue eyes shone beneath a flowing, raven-black mane.  "Bet you're even faster."  She smiled.

Rainbow blinked.  "Uhm..."

"Nice cutie mark, by the way."  The mare sauntered past her, her outstretched wings brushing barely above Rainbow's head.  "Many of us would die to be gifted with something half-as-awesome."

Rainbow blinked after her.  "Yeah..."  She bore a dumb smile.  "Totally."

"And this little darlin'..."  Bard gestured as the pegasus stood calmly at his side.  "...is Ariel."

"Pfft... please, Bard."  The mare rolled her eyes.  "I'm not exactly the 'littlest one' anymore, am I?"

Bard continued:  "The five of us would be nowhere if it weren't for her ability to spin heads back east."

"And don't you forget it."  FWOOOOSH!  In a blink, Ariel floated above the outer edge of the balcony.  "Sometimes I even spin them clean off."

"Pfffft... please."  Flynn rolled his one good eye.  "You couldn't be that merciless if you tried."

"Hmmmm..."  Ariel pouted.  "I guess he's right.  Besides..."  She tossed her black mane with a wink.  "From what I hear, that's Remna's job."

The violet bounty hunter merely grunted.

"Last but not least—" Bard turned to the earth pony—

"Logan the Magnificent!"  The hulking stallion marched over to Rainbow, brushing Bard and Kepler aside.  "Smasher of pirate skulls!" he spat.  Every thudding hoofstep made the balcony beneath them shake and wobble.  "Destroyer of dirty dames' hearts!"  He winked, bowing as low as his flabby girth could manage.  "Which means I'd never harm yours while it still beats, milady."

"Ugh..."  Ariel rolled her eyes.  "Please, Logan..."

"How... uhm..."  Rarity fidgeted.

"Charming?"  Fluttershy attempted.

"To each her own," Rarity inhaled.

Bard cleared his throat.  "We like to call him 'Big Show.'"

"Jee, I wonder why."  Rainbow smirked.

"I'll tell you why!"  Logan boomed, turning to glare at the others.  "It's because I've made a big show of raiding the hidden hovels of terrorists between here and the Twilight Plains!"

Flynn and Ariel laughed.

"What?!  I really have!"  Logan's nostrils flared.  "Sent them smoldering sky high with flames and smoke and—"

"Quit while yer ahead, chief."  Bard patted his shoulder.  "Say, do us all a favor, Big Show.  Would ya kindly mind standin' between Rainbow and Remna at all times from here on out?"

"Huh?  What for?"

"Grnnngh..." Remna shook her head, glaring into the mountains.

"So... there ya have it."  Bard shrugged, posing alongside Wildcard's companions as the group of five stared her away, along with Kepler and the braided bounty hunter.  "The Job Squad... and then some."

Twilight looked at Rainbow.

Rainbow could only gawk at the gathered group.  "It... this... this is... I mean..."  She cleared her throat.  "You gotta understand... I've been on the run for so long... ever since... well..."  She grimaced.  "...mistakes that I made in the Quade..."

"Right..."  Ariel nodded.  "We heard."

"And we're here to make things right," Flynn said.

"Onwarrds and into the brrink!"  Kepler grinned.  "Even beyond!"

"Yeah... and I get that now.  Problem is..."  Rainbow shifted.  "I don't quite understand why.  I mean..."  She tilted her gaze to the side.  "Wildcard?  I heard this was all your idea."

The griffon calmly nodded back, his goggles reflecting the mare's petite figure.

"But... why put this together?  I mean, it's obvious that you and your friends have been through a whole heck of a lot together.  But after what happened before... I mean... after the th-things that I said back in Luminar..."

"If you recall, Rainbow," Twilight spoke, "Wildcard was acting very... very protective over you back when we were guests of Elder Kyron."

"She's right, you know."  Rarity nodded.  "Even when you... parted ways, I recall our handsome feathered friend being very reluctant to follow Bard in leaving."

Rainbow glanced at her ghostly friends, then back at the group assembled before her.  "Just... just what's going on here?  I mean... for real.  After all the things that I've done, what... what's convinced you to come back and help me?"

Bard sighed.  He glanced over at his partner.  "Dubya...?"

"Yes, Wildcarrd, brrotherr," Kepler spoke in a calm tone.  He smiled.  "I do suppose that now is as opporrtune a time as any."

Wildcard nodded.  Bard stepped aside as the griffon marched up.  He came to a stop, standing directly in front of Rainbow Dash.  Slowly, he lifted his metal left talon.

Rainbow blinked.

Making goggled eye contact with the mare, Wildcard flicked a claw across a metal panel.  Schlunk!  A slitted layer rolled back, exposing a paper band situated within the prosthetic.  The band had an emblem on it, etched with every color of the rainbow.

Behind Wildcard's feline flanks, Flynn, Ariel, Logan, Kepler, and even Remna mimicked the gesture.  The four ponies and wyvern raised their left forelimbs, revealing hoofbands bearing the same rainbow colored rune.

Rainbow blinked, her jaw dropping.

"What... what is it, Rainbow?" Rarity asked.

"They... they're all wearing the same symbol," Fluttershy said.

"Huh..."  Pinkie squinted.  "Looks like a bunch of seagull wings chasing an arrowhead."

"Odrsjot..." Rainbow murmured.

Twilight snapped a glance at her.  "Odrsjot?"

"They're all wearing the symbol of Odrsjot.  But... but that means..."  Rainbow's ruby eyes twitched, finally settling on Wildcard.  "The Herald."  She stared, her muzzle agape.  "You're the Herald of Angels..."

Wildcard smiled.

"But... but h-how?  I mean..."  Rainbow gulped.  "Khao, Lead Wing of the Herald, was guiding her flock continents west of the Grand Choke!  And—"

"Khao?"  Flynn blinked.  He glanced over at Big Show and Ariel.  "You ever heard of a 'Khao?'"

"How the Hell should I know?"  Logan blinked back.  "Is there an eighth of us?"

"Don't be silly," Ariel grunted.  "There's seven.  There's always seven.  Just ask the Matron."

Rainbow's eyes twitched.  "Of course..."  She gulped dryly.  "Of course you wouldn't have heard of Khao.  That was... tens of thousands of miles away... not to mention years of separation... centuries."

"I think this is a different Herald, Rainbow," Twilight said.  "Didn't you once tell me that they were pretty much spread all over the Light Side?"

"Well, right.  I always figured.  But just never thought that... that I'd run into..."  Rainbow glanced at Bard.

Bard stood near the back, forelimbs folded.  He glanced back at Rainbow, expressionless.

Remna quietly observe the eye contact between them.

Rainbow's vision darted towards Wildcard again.  A soft smile graced her lips.  "Awesome..."  She exhaled gently, her right wingtips fluttering.  "...yeah... I can definitely roll with this."  Glistening teeth.
> Good Angels and Bad Angels
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"So he didn't always know?"  Twilight Sparkle asked.

Rainbow looked past her at Wildcard.  "When did you first figure me out?"

Wildcard's flesh and metal talons sliced through the high mountain air of the balcony.

Flynn surprised Rainbow by translating instead of Bard.  "'It was when the Princess of the Moon spoke to us through your pendant.  By then, all of the puzzle pieces were starting to come together.'"

"That explains why he was so protective at the Quade," Rarity murmured.  "He... he knew at that point."

"Or at least he had an inclination," Twilight said.

"All this time..."  Fluttershy murmured.  "...he had this knowledge weighing on him.  No wonder the Desperadoes came around."

"Even after Dashie sent them away," Pinkie said.

Rainbow and the other ghostly mares winced.

"Well..."  Pinkie shrugged.  "...I'm just saying."

"What... uhm..."  Rainbow shifted her weight from one set of hooves to the other.  "...what convinced you to come back for me?"

"You mean come wrangle us from our exciting, adventurous lives for a suicide run?!"  Logan boomed.

"Hey..."  Bard frowned from the shadows.  "Big Show."  He pointed.  "She's talkin' to my partner.  Let Dubya answer, ya cow plopper!"

"Eughhh..."  Logan rolled his dark brown eyes.  He waved a meaty hoof towards the Heraldite in goggles.  "By all means.  Crow away, rooster."

With a shuddering breath, Wildcard swung and twirled his talons in the air.

It was Ariel's turn to interpret:  "'I needed to do some fact checking.  So I sent a message here, inviting Kepler to rendezvous with Bard and I.'"

"Ah!"  The wyvern adjusted his bifocals.  "I do believe that this is wherre I can pick up the dazzling tale!"  He nodded his head in Wildcard's direction.  "If I may have yourr perrmission, old frriend."

Wildcard nodded back with a soft smile.

Kepler cleared his throat, pacing before Rainbow like a college professor.  "Togetherr, we pourred over volumes and volumes of text:  prriceless scrrolls immaculately trranslated frrom ancient rrunes.  I speak, of courrse, of the timeless worrds given us by the prrogenitorrs of old!  They might seem like prrophecy to some, and undoubtedly my brrotherrs and I have prreserrved theirr magnificence thrroughout the yearrs with no less zeal!  Ha Hah!  Verrily, we rrefrreshed our somewhat ill-temperred memorries with frresh bounties of inforrmation and—"

"Basically..."  Bard interrupted, facing Rainbow.  "They found a whole heapin' load of connections between them ancient texts and the crud we witnessed while escortin' ya from Rust to Luminar."  He glanced at Kepler.  "My apologies, Kep, but we can't be here forever."

"Heheheh... nothing to be sorrry for, music maestrro."  Kepler leaned back, his tail curling.  "Gods know I do have the tendency to prrattle on like a vorracious frrost wyrrm with its pedipalms chock full of—"

"The matching patterns were far too numerous to deny," Remna said, trotting slowly through the assembled group.  "The tenuous balance between balance and chaos.  The mortal dependency on a harmonic vessel."  Her green eyes sliced their way towards Rainbow.  "... ... ...the less-than-fortuitous origins of your journey."

Rainbow Dash gulped.  "Yeah.  I'd be... awfully curious about all of that too."

Wildcard gestured some more.

Logan cleared his throat and spoke:  "'But the real kicker was when you turned out to be resurrecting the harmonic energies of your ill-fated companions.'"

"Hold the sound stone."  Rainbow Dash leaned forward, lips pursed.  "You... you mean that these... ancient prophecies actually predict the Austraeoh 'foaling yesterday?'"

Six sets of eyes—plus Bard's—glanced curiously at one another.

Rainbow stared at them.

Twilight leaned in, whispering:  "'Yaerfaerda.'"

"Yaerfaerda!"  Rainbow exclaimed.

"Ah!"  Kepler exhaled, nodding.  "But of course!"

"For the Austraeoh to complete her journey, she needs more than just the wind to supply endurance to her wings," Flynn said, his mechanical eye adjusting between each syllable.  "She needs the power that sustained her in the past to be restored.  For it shall give her the strength and energy she needs to complete her journey."

"In yourr particularr case, that would appearr to be these... mysterrious 'Elements of Harrmony' that Wildcarrd has spoken so poetically about."  Kepler grinned through his tusks.  "A most intrriguing way to manifest the Austrraeoh, if you ask me!  I would love to learrn more along the trrip ahead!"

"Yeah, I... figured that the spirits of my friends played a part in getting me to my destination."  Rainbow blinked.  "...eventually."

"I'm a little bit confused here," Ariel said, squinting down from where she hovered above the group.  "From the way you reacted to us just now, it seems as though you've run into representatives of the Herald before."

Rainbow nodded.  "And I did."

Ariel cocked her head to the side.  "Then... how is it that you haven't learned all of these details about Yaerfaerda until just recently?"

Remna glanced calmly from Ariel to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow gulped.  "The... Herald and I... d-didn't exactly get along well when we first met..."

"In what way?" Flynn asked.

"Their leader... Khao?"  Rainbow cleared her throat, brushing a hoof over her shaved head.  "She... kinda sorta foalnapped one of my friends... attacked our airship... then attempted to abduct me..."

Bard raised an eyebrow.

The group stared on in silence.

"Holy shit!" Logan eventually blurted.

"Rnnngh!"  Flynn swatted his fat hide.  "Big Show!"

"For reals, though!"  Logan pointed with a thick hoof.  "That's messed up!  And to do those things to the Austraeoh and her Eljunbyro!  I mean... she's gone through that already, right?  Or do we gotta do the whole 'Eljunbyro' schtick as well?  Cuz if that doesn't involve cracking skulls, then I might not be the hot wind that this chick needs."

"Goddess, dude..."  Flynn rolled his good eye.  "How long did you spend rolling around in that brothel, anyways?"

"Oh, lay off!"

"Quick, someone go fetch this tub of lard an Austraeoh fact checker!"

Kepler raised his claw, smiling.  "I vorraciously volunteerr!"

Logan grumbled, "I know you do ya... mangy cat vampire..."

"Am I the only one super p'd off by this?"  Ariel grimaced at the others.  "I mean, what kind of whacked-out ponies would call themselves the 'Herald' and then try to make the Austraeoh's life miserable?"

"They... th-they turned around in the end!" Rainbow insisted.  "Especially their leader!  Khao!  She..."  She shuddered.  "...she sacrificed her life and the lives of her crew in order to fend off Nevlamas, the Dark Divine."

"Too little, too late."  Remna grumbled.

Rainbow turned to frown at her.  "It was a very noble act of heroism.  If it wasn't for her, I'd be toast... and an entire continent might still be embroiled in bloody war to this day."

"And yet the most important thing suffered:  your quest."  Remna's nostrils flared.  "This... Khao... this so-called 'Lead Wing of the Herald of Angels' was obviously a misguided misanthrope, poisoned with her own egotistical presumptions of a dirtied truth."

"She... must have been a surviving descendant of one of the migrating sects," Flynn remarked.  He glanced at the others.  "You know... the two ancient cabals that ventured west beyond the Blight in order to set up sentries for the advent of the Harbinger?"

"There's three of you guys?!"  Rainbow's voice cackled.

"Well, if you take the centurries into account," Kepler said, "They could verry easily have brranched into dozens of stalwarrt grroups at this point, taking station at varrious locations all acrross the light side!"

"Wowsies, Dashie!"  Pinkie turned towards her anchor, smiling.  "Ponies were celebrating your birthday eons in advance!"

"My goodness..." Rarity cooed.

"That..." Rainbow winced as her ears folded back.  "...is freaky."

"And a poorly planned venture at best," Remna said.  "It was a long time ago, a dark time... an ignorant time.  Khao obviously suffered from lacking the Mountain Matron's insight, and the Austraeoh suffered for it."  The violet bounty hunter turned towards the others in the group.  "Let this be a living reminder for the importance in maintaining the Stalwart Seven."

"Aye."  Logan nodded.  "I can get behind that."

"Dude..."  Flynn leaned in.  "Your behind is that."

Ariel laughed.

"I... I don't get it..."  Rainbow Dash looked at the group.  "Is... there something so important about there only being seven of you?"

"Ah!  But of courrse!"  Kepler remarked.  "And a verry interesting tale to it there is—"

"All of which the Mountain Matron can explain to the Austraeoh personally," Remna said.  Her brow furrowed.  "And I do believe it is high time she paid our leader a visit."

Wildcard nodded in agreement.

Rainbow turned to look at Bard.  Her eyes fell on his crossed forelimbs.

"He..."  Fluttershy spoke the obvious.  "He doesn't have Odrsjot on him."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow exhaled.  "Say, uh, Bard?"

"Y'all heard Dubya-Cee's dreadlocked mentor," Bard hummed.  He stood up straight and motioned his hat for the upmost tier of the palace.  "It's time the ladies had their chat."

"Indeed so!"  Kepler said.  "Wildcarrd, old frriend?  Carre to lead the way?"

"But... but..."  Rarity squeaked.  "There are so many questions that need being answered!"

"Yeah!"  Pinkie pouted.  "Like why the earth pony is called 'Big Show!'"

Rarity glared at her.  "Seriously, darling?"

Wildcard stepped up to Rainbow Dash.  His smile persisted calmly beneath his beak.  With a metal talon, he gestured towards the wooden heart of the sanctuary.

"Your friend seems so content, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said.  "Like he's at peace."

"He wasn't always that way, Fluttershy," Twilight remarked.  "At a glance, I would have once described him as... 'intimidating.'"

Rainbow nodded.  "Guess you're home right now, eh, Wildcard?"

Wildcard shrugged, then nodded.

Rainbow glanced to the side at Bard.  "Home is a nice place to be."  She looked back at the griffon.  "I'm honored to be here.  Shall we?"

The two turned and walked side by side while the rest of the group followed, with Remna and Bard lingering at the rear and Ariel zipping about in a gray blur.
> That Which Is Waiting Beyond
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Slowly, side by side, Rainbow Dash and Wildcard strolled through the spacious interior of the mountain sanctuary.  Bard, Remna, and the others followed at a distance.  To the left and right, braziers full of slowly burning embers crackled.  Sporadic groups of wyverns paid their respects—both mute and non-mute—by bowing and signing to the pair as they strolled along.  All eyes rested on Rainbow Dash.

"While I admittedly enjoy being placed on a pedestal," Rarity murmured, glancing about.  "I do find this a tad bit... awkward."

"Yeah, Dashie."  Pinkie Pie nodded.  "Did you have to deal with this before from Khao and her Herald, only ten times as worse?"

"That was way different, Pinkie," Rainbow Dash muttered as she marched forward.  "Khao and her fellow cultists were obsessed.  They sacrificed life and limb just to get me on my way."

"And this is different how?" Rarity remarked.

Rainbow paled slightly.  Her ears folded back as she glanced over her shoulder at the likes of Logan, Flynn, and Ariel.  "Yeesh... don't friggin' say stuff like that, Rarity..."

Wildcard glanced at Rainbow.

Rainbow saw her reflection in his goggles.  She gulped.  "You've... always been about protecting me, eh, big guy?"

Wildcard bore a calm smile.

Rainbow exhaled with a shudder.  "I guess that's not really changed.  Still..."  Her eyes fell on the griffon's prosthetic—where his Odrsjot band was concealed beneath metal and mana.  "The fact that you've been waiting all this time for the dots to connect simply blows my mind."

Wildcard shrugged, shuffling forward.

"He's been waiting a long time, most certainly, Rainbow," Twilight said.  "But I don't think he's been waiting all his life."

"What makes you say that, darling?" Rarity remarked.

"I can't be the only one who assumes that there's more to Wildcard's life than what's on the surface," Twilight remarked.  "There's depth to his past as well as to his motivations.  I think this—all of this—is something that's manifested itself rather recently."

"You mean he wasn't always a badflank butt-kicking no talkie griffon?" Pinkie chirped.

"What I mean is that being a part of the Herald is something that likely happened only recently," Twilight said.  "Probably gave him a second chance... along with Bard."  She swallowed.  "Thus, his fierce loyalty to his partners... both in the Desperadoes and the Job Squad."

"But if Bard means so much to him, then how come he's not a member of the Herald?" Fluttershy asked.

The other ghostly mares exchanged glances.

"Don't you find that strange that the poor stallion's left out?" Fluttershy said.

"Maybe he's just shy about showing off his rainbow friend bracelet!"  Pinkie suggested.  "He could be Mister Seven!"

"I don't think so, Pinkie."  Fluttershy shook her head.  "I think this seventh member of the Herald lies before us."

"You mean the Mountain Matron?" Rarity hummed.

As this was spoken, Wildcard and Rainbow Dash reached the bottom of a steep set of wooden stairs.  They led up into the utmost tier of the sanctuary:  a building raised on pillars that stood as a solid wing apart from the rest of the wyvern palace.  It was especially dark here, and even the temperature dropped in the noticeable absence of braziers and torches.  An invisible line of reverance held the wyverns at bay.  Wildcard and his companions stepped no further.  Instead, they stood in place and looked at Rainbow Dash with a patient gaze.

Rainbow hesitated slightly.  "I don't suppose there's any chance we can turn this into a convention, huh?"

Wildcard slowly shook his head.  His flesh-and-metal talons raised into the air, twirling and signing.

From afar, Flynn interpreted:  "'The Mountain Matron has been waiting a long time for this moment.'"

"'Don't be afraid,'" Ariel added.  "'She's simply the meditative type, and seeing the Austraeoh alone will benefit the two of you greatly.'"

Wildcard added a few more words.

"'At least for the time being, Rrainbow one,'" Kepler said with a smile.  "'Then shall we all commune as a trried and trrue grroup laterr...'"

Rarity leaned in.  "Anypony notice how Remna never translates for her very own protege?"

Rainbow stole a glance at the bounty hunter.

Remna seemed distracted.  Fidgeting, the violet mare gazed out towards cold gray daylight.

Rainbow blinked.  She took one last glance at Bard.  For the moment, the two looked and felt gloriously identical: a pair of confused idiots stuck in the middle of precarious heraldry.  Rainbow removed by winkest link by stepping forward... and ascending the dark wooden steps towards her destination.

Wildcard and the rest of his companions looked on in silence.

"This isn't ominous or anything," Pinkie cooed.

"It's okay, everypony," Fluttershy said.  "Just relax."

"How can you say that?" Pinkie whimpered.

Fluttershy bore a calm smile.  "Because I have every reason to believe that these are Rainbow's friends.  This isn't some sort of wicked trap."  She pointed up the dark stairwell.  "There is indeed somepony waiting for us in the lofty wing."

"Oh yeah?"

"And..."  Fluttershy fidgeted slightly.  "...the life sign is faint.  Whoever or whatever it is, I doubt they'd present too much of a threat to Rainbow Dash... or anypony else for that matter."

"I'll count that as a good sign."  Rainbow looked to her right.  She saw a distracted expression on Twilight's lavender muzzle.  "Egghead?"

"Hmmm?"  Twilight snapped out of it, glancing back.

Rainbow's brow furrowed.  "Something concerning you about what's ahead?"

"Well... no, not exactly."  The mare nevertheless fidgeted.  "But where Fluttershy is feeling something weak..."

"...you're feeling something strong?"

Twilight gulped.  "More like... something that was once strong.  It's... not a sensation I've ever felt before."

"Well, that's reassuring," Rarity grumbled, staring ahead.  "For what it's worth, everything ahead of us is old, wooden, and decidedly decrepit.  If someone or something wanted to spring a trap, this would be a poor place to do it—at least where the Austraeoh's concerned."

"And nothing on me is twitching!" Pinkie exclaimed.  "I'd say listen to Fluttershy, Rainbow!  Go on ahead and check it out!"

Rainbow gulped.  "Not sure there's any point in pretending to back down right now even if I wanted to."  She strolled up into shadows.  Her hoofsteps echoed all around her as she ascended into the dusty haven.  "Gosh dang... the older this stuff gets in preparation for my arrival, the weirder I feel..."

"I'd say cherish it, darling, but I'm not sure how I would in your position," Rarity said.

"Jee, thanks, Rarity."

"Shhhh..."  Fluttershy insisted as the group was covered completely in darkness.  "We're... we're in her presence."

"Whose?" Pinkie asked.

"I sense her too."  Twilight said.  She and Fluttershy hovered above Rainbow, pivoting towards the far end of a dusty room.

Together, they peered past piles upon piles of books, scrolls, maps, artifacts, and rolled-up tapestries.  The windows were dim.  Each slitted set of blinds had been pivoted so that they turned opaque, blocking out all but a few slivers of sunlight.  Rainbow imagined that—had she lived there all her life—she'd grow accustomed to the darkness, but not to the isolation.  It was deathly still in that wing; every shuffling step she took sounded off with cataclysmic vibration.  Clouds of dust rose and fell with each trotting motion of her legs.  Only once she was fully immersed in the shadows of the place did she catch sight of shapes dangling from the ceiling.  They resembled ornate reconstructions of birds, dragons, and wyverns—only crafted from tightly folded sheets of paper.  The familiarity was not lost to the pegasus.  Before she could say anything, however, she caught sight of Fluttershy and Twilight pointing towards the far end of the room.

Rainbow Dash craned her neck for a better look.

Something was alive in that chamber, albeit barely.  Rainbow heard ragged breaths, spaced out and laborious.  Something shuddered, undulated with each inhalation and exhalation.  At last, she caught sight of a long, narrow stalk.  It was a horn, she guessed, although it was wrapped ten times over in something:  rags?  Wool?  Twine?  Tapering bands waved in the dusty air with each bob of an obscured elder's head.

Then, just as Rainbow was approaching the visible horizon, she heard a cold, deep voice resonating across the forest of tomes and artifacts:  "What is beyond?"

Rainbow scuffled to a stop.  She and her ghostly friends blinked.

"... ... ...I'm sorry?" Rainbow murmured.

The horn moved.  Its owner was standing up, and Rainbow could already tell it was somepony far... far taller than herself.

"What is beyond, my little pony?"

"Uhm..."  Rainbow shifted slightly, eyes darting.  "Beyond what?"

A pair of violet eyes peered out of the darkness.  There was a brief flicker of light, a hidden fire.  "Death, of course."

Rainbow stared back.  She leaned to the left... then to the right.  "I... uhm..."  A shrug.  "I dunno.  I mean, who does?"

"Ignorance is a poor color for you."  The figure shuffled closer, slowly navigating a sea of ancient detritus that separated the two of them.  "A pony who has traveled the lengths that you have would be quite acquainted with death.  It's a flavor that lingers, a stain that refuses to go away.  Now, meditate calmly, and answer me again."

Rarity and Pinkie squinted at one another.  They turned to gawk at Rainbow.

The pegasus was busy shuddering.  "I... I really haven't put much thought in it."

"Faith, perhaps?"

"Huh?"

The figure came to a stop behind a stack of books—a final barrier between the two.  "If knowledge—or the lack thereof—hasn't prevented you from assaulting the bastions of your own mortality, then what—might I ask—is the impetus to your eastward lurch?"

"I... I..."  Rainbow gulped.  "I suppose it's b-because I know that if I just stay put, then I risk ushering an end to my friends..."  Her ears twitched.  "...not to mention an end to all things related to this world."

The horn swayed, its loose bandages swaying.  "But was that always the spark that drew you to flame?"

Rainbow blinked.  After a few seconds, her jaws clenched.  "No..."  She took a deep breath.  "I first set out because I knew that there was no stopping my death.  There was this... thing I learned about:  a crazy, epic place beyond the edge of the world... something called the Midnight Armory... and I needed to get there... I wanted to get there."

"For fame?  Fortune?"  The voice wheezed, then collected weight:  "All matters little within centuries... decades of your mortal passing."

"I... guess that's true."

"Does it matter?"

Rainbow stared for a prolonged space in time.  "No," she said firmly.

"Why not?"

"Because in my last dying breath, I will have discovered first-hoof something far bigger than me beyond the edge of that which holds everypony else back... and I will fade away knowing that I conquered it."  The hint of a devilish smirk.  "And that's an awesome thing."

There was no response.  A pair of dim, violet eyes peered through the dust of ages.

Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Does that... uh... does that answer your question?"

"I knew the answer before you even arrived here," the deep voice replied.  "But I needed to hear it spoken out loud by the Spark of the World."  At last, she shuffled out of deeper shadow.  "You see, the Queen of Frost isn't the only one testing you, Austraeoh."

Rainbow peered.

A tall, tall mare trotted to a stop before her.  She was lanky, emaciated, and yet—in every other curve and shade—Rainbow could make out a faint luster in her faded blue frame.  Everything about her was faded, drawn out—from the gray streaks in her midnight black mane to the wrinkles beneath her eyes.  She stood on bent legs, and despite a slight wobble, she maintained a posture that was remarkably straight, rigid.  Her voice—like her eyes—was full of immortal youth and wisdom that defied her invalidic condition.

"I am the last sheen of light that rests upon death's forehead," she said, her voice metallic and emotionless.  "I await... for there are very few left who can.  But you are not a stranger to this, Austraeoh."  Her violet eyes narrowed.  "You are not a stranger to many things... except the Dark Side.  Alas, I am here with my Herald to assist you in this last venture, and to carry you beyond."

"Are you really their leader?" Rainbow asked.  She gulped, leaning forward.  "Are you really Lead Wing of the Herald of Angels?"

"Very curious vernacular."  The mare tilted her raggedy horn aside.  "Something Remna had said, perhaps?"

Twilight blinked.

"Uhm... no."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "I met the Herald before.  At least... a bunch of ponies led by 'Khao' who called themselves the Herald.  They... were pretty forceful with their ideas.  In their attempts to lend me a hoof, they almost brought an end to my journey altogether."

"Did they number in the dozens... hundreds?"

Rainbow nodded.  "Thousands, for all I know."

"Hmmm... a tragedy."  The mare blinked.  "For they were truly not the Herald."  She reached a hoof up to her horn and clasped an edge of the dangling rag.  "Do forgive my fellow associates for keeping you in the dark, Austraeoh."  Slowly, one strand at a time, she undid the bandages wrapped around her horn.  "In this day and age, caution is the utmost priority.  After all, her eyes are everywhere.  But one can learn from such a game..."

"Game?" Rainbow blinked, her eyes locked on the mare's movements.

Suddenly, Fluttershy and Rarity sucked their breaths in.

The mare had pulled the last of the rags off, exposing a narrow horn that was porous, bent, and hollow in many visible places.  Much of the alicornia had peeled off, exposing bone and nerve endings that twinkled with residual mana.  "Like you, I've been wounded for my righteousness.  Alas, it takes more than one stalwart soul to thwart the last barrier between here and beyond."  She leaned forward, aiming her horn at Rainbow and her pendant.  "Now, stay still, Austraeoh.  Hopefully, this won't kill me..."

"What... uhm..."  Rainbow leaned back, raising a forelimb pensively.  "...what are you doing?"

"Looking into a window," she said, wincing in pain.  A dull glow rippled through her horn.  While this happened, a pair of bony wings stretched out from her sides.

Twilight gasped.  "Rainbow, look!"  A lavender hoof pointed.  "She's an ali—"  And in a bright FLASH of light, Twilight disappeared.
> Hope for the Harmonic Stewards
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Twilight?"  Rainbow spun around.  All of her friends were gone, completely replaced by a pristine marble room with flickering torches and breeze-blown curtains.  She spat:  "Twilight!  Pinkie Pie!  Flutt—"  With gnashing teeth, she spun around.  "What did you do with my friends?!"

"Relax, my little pony," the voice echoed, bodiless.  "The spirits that accompany you are safe.  It's only you who've disappeared, so to speak."

"I don't get it!  Where in the hay are we—?!"  Just then, a pale figure trotted through, Rainbow Dash in a flicker of lavender light.  Rainbow watched as a majestic pale alicorn strolled across the marble balcony, bathed in starlight.  "...Whitemane?"

With motherly grace, the mare in question strolled past several marble pillars before coming to a stop before a bed of velvet pillows.  She stood in silence, gazing at a petite blue figure, slumbering peacefully.

"Tell me, Austraeoh," Whitemane murmured in a voice long forgotten, a voice sounding like bells and birdsong.  "What is it that you see, child?"

Rainbow's lips pursed.

"Ah... I see that Verdestone still stands."

"...?"  Rainbow spun about.

The Mountain Matron stood beside her, only—she was no longer an emaciated alicorn.  A metallic blue coat shone in the Emeraldine starlight, complemented by a flowing mane of midnight black silk.  Strong, healthy wings stretched outward as the alicorn inhaled and exhaled deeply.

"After all these years, she's kept her ambitions in check, protected the mortals of our kingdom.  Father would be proud."  She swallowed a lump down her throat.  "As would her mother, I suppose..."

"You..."  Rainbow blinked rapidly.  "...you knew Whitemane?"

"All too well.  Not a day goes by when I'm not taunted by the faintest aura of her youth... her vigor... her biting optimism.  But this?  This is the strongest I've felt her presence in centuries."  She looked down at Rainbow Dash, violet eyes piercing.  "She has blessed you greatly, Austraeoh."

Rainbow gulped.  "Whitemane's spell has... g-gotten me and my friends through quite a few scraps.  But..."  She squinted at the lengths of Verdestone's lofty palace around them.  "...every time I think that her magic has completely and utterly faded, stuff like this keeps getting dug up to surprise me."

"An alicorn's magic never fades, my little pony," the Mountain Matron explained.  "Even if the original vessel does."  She tilted her head back up, horn glowing.  "For instance..."

FW-FW-FW-FWOOSH!  Rainbow winced as the scene around them dissolved.  She and the alicorn were thrown several continents and daybreaks away.  At last, upon a dark dimming sphere, they both landed within the crumbling remains of a besieged throne room.

"Luna, I will not fight you!"  Princess Celestia's voice boomed.  "You must lower the moon!  It is your duty!"

Rainbow spun, gasping.

"Luna?!"  A dark spectre of a mare stood across from her sister, engulfed in black and wearing polished blue armor.  "I am Nightmare Moon!  I have but one royal duty now..."  Rearing her hooves, she launched a beam of black magic at her sibling.  "To destroy you!"

Rainbow Dash winced as the spell shot through her.  She turned to see Princess Celestia dodging the blast, then fleeing through a hole in the palace ceiling.

"And where do you think you're going?!"  Nightmare Moon soared upwards.  Against a starry canvas, she pursued her sister, lighting up the bleak countryside with errant blasts of mana as the two fought a desperate battle above the Everfree canopy.

"Holy c-cow..."  Rainbow slurred, squinting at the dramatic clash.

"Her betrayal was catastrophic."

"...?"  Rainbow looked over.

The Mountain Matron stood at her side, calmly watching the dueling sisters.  "Not since Tchern's treachery had the stewards of this land suffered such a calamitous setback.  It was the last straw for the race of alicornia.  My father, Onyxxus, would have lived longer—perhaps—if the celestial siblings hadn't poisoned their harmonic duties with their needless squabbling."

"I..."  Rainbow grimaced.  "I-I don't even know what to say."

"And you needn't try.  I knew that there was a change to the sun and moon in the last few years.  I felt it in my bones—weak as they may be."  She turned to gaze at the pegasus.  Their ears twitched to the sound of exploding spells, followed by Celestia's agonized sobs.  "But now I know for certain—from the power of your attachment to the Lunar Princess—that Nightmare Moon is indeed no more.  The Princess of the Night has returned to her core self.  It pleases me greatly to know that the heart of the Light Side is being watched over."

"Yeah, well..."  Rainbow Dash gulped.  "No thanks to me."

The alicorn raised her eyebrow.

Rainbow hung her head.  "If I hadn't screwed things up big time in Equestria... Celestia wouldn't have her hooves full like she does to this day."

"Interesting that you say that."  The Mountain Matron waved a hoof.

FW-FW-FW-FWOOSH!  The centuries peeled back.  Millennia dissolved in a blink.  Once the colors stopped spinning, they streaked to a stop, and a tiny alicorn with a rippling pink mane stood upon an enormous terrestrial shelf overlooking a bleak wasteland.

"Those flashes of light!"  The filly pointed, her jaw agape.  "Are those what I think they are, Mother?"

A glowing equine figure trotted to a stop.  "Yes, my child."  The aura about her dimmed, revealing a gold face of immaculate beauty and wisdom.  Above the two, several winged figures sliced the dark sky, spreading warmth and light from horizon to horizon.  "Those are the focus points for our spells.  The leylines of this plane intersect most elaborately, forming dense webs that are prime for harmonic channeling."

"It's... it's almost like someone put them there, mother."

"That is correct."

"But who?"

The radiant mare shook her head.  "We do not know, Celestia.  In time, you will have the power to find out for yourself.  As for right now, we must oversee the manifestation of this spell.  It is the only way to properly bring light and warmth to the forsaken denizens of this realm."

"But... what of the other side, mother?"  The filly looked up, muzzle agape.  Her pale wingtips fluttered.  "Won't they be needing light as well?"

"Even with all the magic at our disposal, we cannot maintain harmony on both sides of the plane.  You may be immortal, my little pony, but even you—like the rest of us—have your limits.  You must remember this, Celestia, and keep your ambitions in check... or else you and all of the stewards to come will lose governance over these precious creatures."

Celestia gulped.  "I will do my best to maintain harmony, mother."  She stood tall and proud, wings spread.  "You have my word."

"Hmmmm..."  The mother leaned down to nuzzle her child.  "...all I desire is your love.  Share it with your mortal kin, sweet Celestia.  Maintain peace through friendship and trust, and this plane shall endure.  I promise you that."

Celestia suddenly gasped, gazing upwards at a sudden cascade of light.  "Mother!  Look!  The spell!"

"Ah... indeed.  The Harmonic Prism is channeling its energy into this realm's leylines."  The alicorn pointed.  "Now, watch... as your father and his siblings focus it into a self-contained sphere—"

FLASSH!

Darkness fell.  Rainbow Dash found herself reeling in a forest of dust and detritus.

"Rainbow?"  Rarity cocked her head to the side.

"Rainbow Dash?"  Twilight and the others floated in front of their anchor.  "Are... are you back?"

"Guhhhh..."  Rainbow rubbed her head.  She muttered into the air, "How... h-how could I contain that memory?"

"Because the Alicorn of the Sun has blessed you as well," the Mountain Matron said.  Rainbow and her friends turned to see the alicorn shuffling to a stop along the edge of the chamber.  "The last guardians of harmony have granted you the extent of their power.  The celestial siblings have enchanted your armor while Whitemane surveyed your spirit and—no doubt—found you fit for the journey ahead.  No doubt she had a hoof in the mechanisms that brought you to me, a personal delivery, so to speak."  Her violet eyes dimmed as she hung her haggard head.  "I... suppose I should be thankful to her.  But that would be awfully short-sighted.  After all, this moment... this very conversation upon the brink of everything has been set into motion long before our very forebears stumbled upon this plane."

"Rainbow," Twilight leaned in.  "Did she just give you a vision?"

"Yeah... kinda sorta..."  Rainbow cleared her throat, murmuring.  "I think she's Whitemane's sister..."

"Half-sister," the alicorn said, her voice taking on a briefly abrasive tone.  "But I am blessed to be related, nonetheless... and it gives me a spark of joy—however brief—to know that she still draws breath from beyond the Plains of Magical Drought."

Rainbow narrowed her eyes.  "What's your name?"

"The Mountain Matron, of course."  Violet eyes swam her way.  "Patron Matriarch to the Wyvern Brethren, Stalwart Guardian to the Angelic Scripts, Immortal Overseer of the Heraldic Seven..."

"Yeah, I get all of that, but... like..."  Rainbow leaned forward, along with her spectral companions.  "With all due respect, ma'am, what's your name?"

There was the tiniest of twinkles in the alicorn's eye as she gazed towards the slitted windows of the dusty place.  "Hmmmm... a long time ago, I went by the title of Princess Mortuana of Emeraldine, daughter of Queen Mesmer and King Onyxxus.  That... was several millennia into the past."  A shuddering breath.  "I remember everything in shadow: nights when sarosians peacefully shared the skies with pegasi, a kingdom full of enormous effigies built by mortal artisans, a continent to the east ruled by harmonic caribou..."  She grimaced.  "That was several lifetimes ago.  I have seen many... many friends die... and my soul dissolved layer by layer with them.  But such was my station... my focus, as it befits the name given me upon foaling.  Alas, as fate would have it, that name now has come to define me.  You see, Austraeoh, this creature you see before you... this pallid shade of 'Mortuana' is dying."

Rainbow blinked.  "Dying?"

"And I haven't much time left... which is why we must make haste to ferry you boldly and courageously past the instrument of my demise..."  Mortuana's jaw clenched.  "...even now as she threatens to sacrifice this very continent that she's deceived for eons."

Rainbow took a deep breath.  "Verlax."

"Your destiny and the Divine's are locked together, Austraeoh," Mortuana said.  "The fire of Yaerfaerda cannot be quenched with both of you surviving.  It is the necessary task of the Herald to make sure that you survive to rekindle the dying flame of this world.  In the end, only one spark can transcend beyond."
> East, Unto Twilight, and Beyond
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A pair of wooden doors creaked open.  Mortuana limped through and into another chamber of the dim wing.  In the center of the room there rested a mahogany pedestal, and on the other side of it an antique bed.

"My plight began over six hundred years ago," the alicorn explained.  "Six hundred years of withering away into the waif you see before you now."

"Oh goodness..."  Fluttershy's ears folded back.  "She's... been dying for six hundred years?"

Rainbow took a calm breath.  "What did Verlax do to you?"

"Essentially nothing."  Mortuana stood before the pedestal and looked over her bony wings.  "In fact, she befriended me at first."

"She befriended you?"

Mortuana inhaled.  "For centuries, my father had warned me of the vile deceptions of the Queen of Frost.  Whenever we crossed the Plains of Magical Drought to visit the Harmonic Foundations, we always made a sharp detour in our voyage to avoid this continent.  Verlax's treachery was seldom spoken of, most likely because my alicorn kin secretly loathed the fact that they were incapable of stopping her.  When she grew depressed and descended into madness, they failed to lend her a wing.  When she ventured over into the Dark Side in search of Endrax, we neglected to stop her.  And then—when she returned and created the Plains of Magical Crought and subjugated the tribes of this land—we were too late to prevent it."

"So it's true," Rainbow Dash remarked.  "Verlax created the Grand Choke."

"Whatever powers of chaos she gleaned from the dark side of the plane, they allowed her to harness her magics to a knife-edged point," Mortuana said.  "Not only that, but she was suddenly on a mission... a mission to reconstruct the continent of Rohbredden into a fashion that she saw fit.  By then, my father—King Onyxxus—was dying... losing his ghost to go join Queen Mesmer's spirit in the Plains of Harmony.  Whitemane, my half-sister, was the product of Onyxxus and his... residual love for a mortal equine named Commander Sun Sheen."  The alicorn's nostrils momentarily flared, but she quickly calmed down.  "To put it bluntly, Whitemane—for all of her strengths—lacked the magic and immortal fortitude to stand against Verlax's treachery.  I had made countless trips with my father to the east edge of the world in order to check on the progress of Darkreach, but Verlax's presence was making that increasingly difficult with the passing centuries.  It was time that something had to be done in order to intercede on behalf of the Six Tribes of Rohbredden."

"What did you do?"

"I simply approached the Queen of Frost personally.  To my surprise, she welcomed me into her throneroom.  For weeks, I was an esteemed guest of her frozen palace deep within the spacious bowels of Starkiss.  During such a time, I endeavored to talk her out of perpetuating the inane theocracy that she had concocted for the hapless mortals of this realm.  At all times, I practiced caution.  Verlax has an entire army of windigoes at her disposal.  It was true then, and it's most certainly true now.  One wave of the hoof, and she could have launched thousands of frozen banshees at me in an instant."

"Did you hear that, Rainbow?" Twilight looked at her anchor.  "'One wave of the hoof.'"

"Is... is Verlax really a pony now?" Rainbow asked.

"Hmmmm... on the outside," Mortuana said.  "And yet, perhaps, deep within the shell that she has casted—Verlax truly believes she is the equine matriarch of Rohbredden, the Mother of Tribal Unification.  As I've stated before, her powers were heavily augmented by her trip to the dark side.  Whatever her true motivations, she's manifested her crusade in as literal a fashion as possible.  She's been playing this role of 'Verlaxion' for so long and with such intensity that... I sometimes wonder if she even has the ability to revert back to her true dragon form..."

"Wow, that's... uhm..."  Rainbow shuddered.  "That's nuts..."

"Indeed.  And I, too, considered her the very paragon of insanity.  This was especially true when—upon meeting—she regailed me with wave after wave of hysterical nonsense, pontificating about... a distant and forsaken world... a structure... to which this plane belonged, having somehow been 'sundered' and lost to the drifts of galactic chaos."

"Urohringr," Twilight murmured.

Rainbow cleared her throat.  "But all of that nonsense... isn't exactly nonsense, is it?"

"Indeed not, my little pony."

"Urohringr is real," Rainbow said with a nod.  "That much I know.  Just... how much does Verlax know?"

"A great deal more than both you and me, I fear," Mortuana said.  "However, such knowledge is grotesquely tempered by a fine layer of madness, born out of despair and a deep... deep sorrow over the loss of her sister, Endrax."

"That's..."  Fluttershy sniffled.  "That's sad."

"Hey..."  Pinkie frowned.  "This is super evil Verlax we're talking about!"

"Still, it does shed light on quite a few things," Rarity said.

Rainbow spoke up.  "Uhm... I've had a few... occasional run-ins with Verlax..."

"Have you?"  Mortuana asked.  "Or have you merely met the magically projected extensions of her spirit?"

"Erm... right.  Those 'frost golems'.  Sure."  Rainbow nodded.  "Anyways, she's insisted that everything... and I do mean everything that she's sculpted out of the landscape and culture of Rohbredden has been—like—an elaborate setup to test Austraeoh on her... on m-my journey to the dark side of the plane."

"Indeed."

Rainbow gulped the mother of all lumps down her throat.  "So, is she... like... for real or what?"

"Her actions are real," Mortuana said.  "Her logic is frayed at best, but there is the slightest glimmer of sense in all of it."

"Really?"

"Mmmmm... it is difficult to explain.  I think you would understand better if you knew how I came upon the Herald."

"Well, h-how did you get out of Verlax's clutches in the first place?"

"I had no need nor desire to... at first," Mortuana explained.  She pressed a latch on the side of the wooden panel.  It opened with a creak, exposing over twelve notches... but only one that was filled with a dark glass vial.  "I held court to her madness, digesting her... rather patchwork explanation of Urohringr and its constituent parts.  Then, one night, when I thought she had stabilized enough for me to appeal to her, I confronted the Divine in her equine form... demanding that she relinquish her hold on Rohbredden, the Six Tribes, the Windigoes—everything."

Rainbow bit her lip.  "Then what happened?"

"Verlax's craftiness was my greatest underestimation.  It turns out she had anticipated the exact time and place of my confrontation.  She trapped me in the deepest hold of Starkiss and made one final plea for me to join her.  I refused, of course, and that is precisely when she staged her attack."

"With... with her windigo army?"

"No."  Mortuana shook her head.  "Which is why I was unprepared for what happened next.  Instead, the Divine of Frost sacrificed half of the windigoes at her command.  She then harnessed their blighted essence into a deathly beam of frozen black magic that she launched at my horn."  The mare pointed at the porous stalk emerging from her skull.  "My inner alicornia was fractured from the inside.  It was... a deliberately cruel wound... one that she knew—as I knew—would not result in a quick death... but a slow, painful, and agonizing one... a death that would drain my senses, sanity, and any semblance of purpose."  Her nostrils flared as she reached for the pedestal and picked up a solitary black vial.  "I had less than a century to live at best.  It was Verlax's twisted plan—I do believe—to appeal to my sudden state of mortality and insist that I help her with the preparations for Austraeoh's arrival.  After all, from that point onward, every time I used my horn to channel my alicorn magic, I would only kill myself faster and harder."

"You're... you're kidding me..."  Rainbow's ears drooped, as did her one good wing.  "You mean... she did all of that to you..."  She gulped.  "Because of me?"

Mortuana swiveled around.  Her dull violet eyes crossed Rainbow's gaze with the barest hint of warmth.  "Do not think so simplistically.  That is Verlax's fallacy... and one day, I swear on the Plains of Harmony, it shall be the dragon's undoing."  She slowly crossed the distance between them.  "I rejected Verlax's invitation, of course.  Though I knew it risked my utter demise, I used my frayed magic to evade her.  After much trial and error, I escaped the Divine's clutches.  However, I was far too weak and... infirmed to make the return trip to Emeraldine, much less cross the Plains of Magical Drought in my condition."

"What did you do?"

Mortuana came to a stop, standing right before Rainbow Dash.  "I sought refuge... in the one place in all of Rohbredden that could provide me shelter from the eyes and ears of the Queen of Frost."

"You came here, didn't you?"  Rainbow Dash remarked.  "To Wyvern Point."

"Eventually, yes.  But it took much struggle... and even more pain," Mortuana said.  "I knew that my days were numbered.  Every major magic spell I cast would only quicken my passing.  After all I had learned from my encounter with Verlax, I simply could not afford to fade away and leave the mortals of this continent to her devices.  I strove to find a way to extend my own livelihood, one day at a time, if only so I could pass on my knowledge and wisdom.  In a land that's poisoned by frozen windigoes, only harmony and the power of friendship can keep the chaos at bay."

"Did anypony eventually help you?"

"Yes."  Mortuana nodded.  "The wyverns.  These creatures lived in Rohbredden far longer than any other tribe.  They were here long before the Queen of Frost ever bothered to subjugate the continent's citizens.  They were even here eons before any pony, griffon, or siren flocked over from the west.  More than any other tribe, they secretly harbored intense doubt concerning the truth of Verlaxion's 'Unification.'  They simply joined the Council at Frostknife in order to eliminate any suspicion of their legitimate concerns.  Geography, isolation, and general anonymity has allowed them to perpetuate a bastion of free thought and archival information here in this sanctuary... a last resort free of Verlax's vile deceit."

"That sounds kind of cool, actually."

"Indeed.  And I was not the only creature besieged by Verlax's power to have found refuge here.  Within decades of my arrival, I crossed paths with a nomadic faction of seemingly mad ponies... pilgrims who had no home, for they were ostracized at every turn... persecuted for a seemingly heretical belief in a prehistoric tribe of otherworldly pegasi who were present at the 'sundering' of the world."

Rainbow's lips pursed.  "The Herald."

Mortuana nodded.  "The Herald."

"So... you didn't found them?"  Rainbow blinked.  "They discovered you?"

"Aye.  And I discovered them," Mortuana said.  "Like me, they too were dying... dying in spirit and in cohesiveness.  Once upon a time, the mortals who made up the Herald numbered in the tens of thousands.  But the ignorance and ennui of ages had not been kind to them.  It certainly didn't help that the creation of the Grand Choke completely cut off the pilgrims from their western brothers and sisters.  Everypony who met them treated their organization as a cult, and there were very few souls willing to lend an ear to their warnings from the nebulous past... especially here in Rohbredden."

"So... you fostered them?"

"We had ways of helping each other out.  I taught them the values of harmony and friendship.  In return, they opened up to me... teaching me of the knowledge contained within their ancient manuscripts.  To my... unmitigated shock, most everything they had to share possessed commonalities with the rambling words of Verlax.  What I previously thought had been complete nonsense suddenly had an ounce of truth.  Combining that with my knowledge of this plane and the Midnight Armory on the far side, I suddenly developed a brand new, eye-opening cosmology."

"And that is...?"  Rainbow leaned forward while Twilight and the others listened in eager silence.

"Alas, in so few years, child, you've learned as much if not more than I have in centuries," Mortuana explained.  "The fact that you are here now—after so many trials and tribulations—proves that you are the Austraeoh, and that the beacons burn at your harmonic touch."  She nevertheless took a deep breath.  "This world we live on is a piece of a machine... a habitat built ages ago by races too old and too remote to ever possibly conceive.  At some point, due to calamitous circumstances, one piece of the machine broke off—one of twelve.  It has drifted aimlessly across the nebulous heavens for untold epochs, its inner flame slowly dying.  Once the last torch has gone out, there will be nothing to sustain life on either side, for it will drain away even alicorn and dragon magic along with it.  The only hope now is for a cosmic reboot of the machine's inner core, a spark manifested by the powers invested in the plane throughout the ages, so that—once reenergized—it may summon the strength to once again rejoin with that which has been abandoned."

"So... Verlax was right."  Rainbow grimaced.  "There was once a Sundering... and now all life on this friggin' floating dishplate depends on everything rejoining."

"Verlax has a great deal of proper knowledge... but not a proper application."  Mortuana sighed.  "I know that she seeks to test you, Rainbow Dash.  Considering the difficulties and challenges that lie in wait on the dark side, I can understand how she is attempting to... temper your strength and tenacity in preparation.  However, what the Queen of Frost fails to take into consideration is that there's been an elite organization working on a way to assist the Austraeoh long before she ever ventured to the dark side on a voyage spawned out of her infantile sorrow over Endrax.  The Herald has faithfully and relentlessly fought to keep from dissolving completely, if only to be there for when the Harbinger appeared to fulfill her fated obligations.  I witnessed their struggle, and I knew that within their ranks stood the only hope of properly assisting the spark in rekindling this dying world.  For the first time in ages, the task ahead of me was crystal clear.  I had to assist these preservers of the past with all my might.  After all, Darkreach was long abandoned.  There were no more alicorns on this plane who could afford to abandon their harmonic posts and come to my aid.  It was time that I prepared for the coming age of twilight, in hopes that Austraeoh—along with mortals—could ferry this plane back to Urohringr and usher in a new age of livelihood among the stars."

"How did you stay alive for so long?"

"With the help of both the Herald and the Wyverns," Mortuana answered.  "I was taught methods of meditation that were new to me.  Through careful concentration and exercise, I was able to let go of the magic that threatened to consume me through my own inner alicornia.  I spent the years pouring over the books archived here in this sanctuary.  I learned all about the runes of the ancient pegasi... about the mythical race that had been spread thin over millennia.  I learned how all mortal ponies—as both you and I know them—originated from this very same race, only to evolve into different subsets after the alicorn arrival splintered their genealogy through equine magic."

"Eeeeeee...!"  Twilight Sparkle did a ghostly jig in the air, biting onto her fetlocks.  "Mmmm... I-I wonder if maybe I can read some of these amazing books while we're here!"

"Highly doubtful, darling," Rarity said out the side of her muzzle.

Mortuana continued:  "The Herald possessed a magic of their own... a form of runic spellbinding hoofed down through the ages, originating in the wisdom of the ancient pegasi themselves."  She held the black vial up for Rainbow to see.  "With their help, I had much of my blood drawn and sealed away in these containers, protected by a runic cap.  It's... not unlike traditional alicorn practices of olde.  Only, in this case, these containers contained samples of my magic along with my blood.  I've kept them here for safekeeping all these years."

"What for?"

"When opened, they've allowed me to harness enough magic for a single concentrated spell without endangering myself."  Mortuana sighed.  "Alas, in waiting, I've been forced to use the majority of them to protect myself and this sanctuary from outward incursion.  Up until just this year, I had only two of them.  Now I am down to one."

"What... happened to the other one?"

Mortuana seemingly ignored that:  "Once this vial is used up, I can no longer perform any magic without great harm to myself.  In fact... I do believe a final discharge of mana would extinguish my feeble life altogether."

"But... what about those visions we shared earlier?"  Rainbow Dash gestured.  "Wasn't that magic?"

"Aye, but it channeled the spells placed on you by the likes of Princess Celestia, Luna, and my half-sister."  Mortuana exhaled.  "As much as I would wish otherwise, I'm afraid their residual enchantment is not enough to assist us on the completion of your voyage, Rainbow Dash.  That is up to the Heraldic Seven."

"Which... you are a member of."  Rainbow leaned her head aside.  "The leader?"

"Indeed."  Mortuana calmly, carefully placed the vial back into its notched pedestal.  "Only by necessity, mind you.  The wisdom of these mortals are enough to rival my own—especially Kepler's.  Hmmmm... he's one of the most remarkable wyverns I've had the pleasure of being acquainted with in years.  And believe me, I've been acquainted with several."

"Why seven?"

Mortuana looked at Rainbow.

"I mean..."  The pegasus shrugged.  "Seems like such a tiny number.  Wouldn't—like—an army of the Herald be better-suited in helping me get to the Midnight Armory?"

Mortuana calmly breathed:  "And just what assistance has an angelic 'army' given you in the past, Austraeoh?"

Rainbow winced hard... as did Twilight.

"Mortals are such precious creatures.  Sadly, however, they are also highly susceptible to corruption."  Mortuana closed the wooden pedestal shut and paced around the dusty interior.  "This, ironically enough, was a folly of the group that I met as well.  Their leader at the time told me how the group had suffered a terrible setback when one of their forebearers—three generations back—had incorrectly assumed a random pegasus was the Austraeoh.  This led to a splintering of the group.  They fought each other... lost in squabbles and anger.  It became clear to me that the knowledge hoofed down to the Herald by the ancient pegasi was far too precious and potent to harmlessly share among so many members.  I hypothesized, then, that a small group of elite defenders would be more apt to preserve the knowledge at their hooves."

"Did they agree with you?"

Mortuana nodded.  "They did."  She winced, lowering her emaciated body onto the edge of the bed.  Once her limbs settled, she continued with a shuddering breath:  "Thus, the Order of the Heraldic Seven was born.  It took a few generations to balance out.  Those who were once zealous members of the Herald moved on to enjoy peaceful lives, siring foals and grandfoals.  Obscurity aided them in blending in with the general population of the equine tribes of Rohbredden.  And while time and offspring dissolved the memory of the prehistoric 'Angels,' the knowledge of the Herald and their purpose was preserved immaculately here... at Wyvern Point.  Seven souls—and only seven—would be granted with the authority to bear the prismatic band of Odrsjot.  I, the Mountain Matron, watched over the other mortal six as they shifted and changed throughout the centuries.  In that time, I've made many friends... and I've watched them pass on from this mortal plane... even more memories that I've been loyally tasked with preserving."

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie sniffed.

Rainbow hung her head.  "That... uh... that must have been super hard for you."

"It would be folly to assume for even one second that I've regretted it in any fashion, child," Mortuana said.  "These past five hundred years have been peaceful... enlightening... and filled with purpose.  You must understand; all my life I have been deeply acquainted with death.  For the first time since the creation of Darkreach, I've felt as though I've been working towards a glorious end.  And—when I could afford to—I made friends with mortal souls beyond the limitations of Wyvern Point.  In my travels—or in witnessing the pilgrimages of others—I've found souls old enough and wise enough to bear the mark of my vigil.  In good faith, I've christened them with my enchanted blood and sent them back out to assist the Herald in seeking evidence of the coming Harbinger."

"You... sent them back out?" Rainbow Dash murmured.

"Rainbow Dash..." Twilight murmured.

Rainbow looked at her.

Twilight mouthed three syllables.

Rainbow blinked, and her ears folded back.  "Nana Pearl...?"  She gaped at Mortuana.  "Nana Pearl!  No... no wonder she knew so much!"

"Aye, an old friend that I'm pleased to know is still alive," Mortuana said.  "But she was not the first instance in which I was made aware of the Austraeoh's presence."

Rainbow blinked.  "Huh?"

"After your encounter with the lost and envenomed sentinel of the Angels, you crossed paths with another one of my loyal guardians."

"'Lost and envenomed sentinel?'"  Rainbow's muzzle scrunched.  "... ... ...you mean Stratopolis?"

"That had to have been back in Alafreo," Twilight said.

Suddenly, Rainbow's pupils shrank.  "Boxer..."

"No waaaaaaaaaaay!" Pinkie wheezed, then blinked at Fluttershy.  "Who's Boxer?"

"That... makes so much sense... and yet it doesn't."  Rainbow shifted.  "How'd he even cross the Grand Choke?"

"Very... very slowly, I imagine," Mortuana said.

"Heh..."  Rainbow slowly shook her head.  "Friggin' crazy.  Like... what's up with you and blind prophetic friends?"

"I extend their lives and they extend the scope of my senses.  For the pursuit of wisdom, I do believe it is a fair exchange."  Mortuana took a deep breath.  "Alas, I've known of your existence for some time now.  Realizing the hour of the Austraeoh was upon us, I informed Kepler.  He attempted to inform the rest of the Seven.  However, they were all spread across Rohbredden, assisting civilized society with their keen strengths and talents—as is their charge in life.  After all, the task of a Heraldic member is not to simply sit in one place and assist nopony."

"Right."  Rainbow nodded.  "I'm guessing the 'Job Squad' was just a cover, then."

"The same can be said of Wildcard and his 'Desperadoes.'"

"It was him, wasn't it?"  Rainbow remarked.  "It was Wildcard who made all of this possible."

"He was fortunate enough to have been in the right time and place to facilitate your arrival in the Seven Seas.  But he needed to commune with Kepler and myself in order for us to know with absolute certainty.  In the meantime, I sought out Remna.  She had been... detained due to various circumstances.  But soon, we were able to assemble the Seven as originally intended.  Now, with all of our strengths and talents combined, we are ready to assist the Austraeoh on the final sun-lit leg of her journey."

"Uh huh..."  Rainbow nodded, though she could not avoid a noticeable grimace.  "Yeahhhh... about that..."

"Is there a problem, child?"

"You... you know an awful lot, Mortuana.  And that's pretty nifty.  But... but even with all of that considered."  Rainow shifted where she stood, waving a hoof.  "You gotta know... I mean you have to know that the dark side is no laughing matter!"

"Indeed."  Mortuana nodded.  "It is a landscape so perilous that no alicorns have bothered to venture there on their own accord in eons.  Even the Divines—Endrax and Verlax—have not survived the voyage... at least with their sanity intact."

"And... like... I traveled across the Grand Choke by myself for a reason."  Rainbow gulped.  Hard.  "I knew it would be the death of the Noble Jury.  I knew it would be the death of my friends."

"Alas, you now have the harmonic essences of your past friends to assist you, do you not?"

"Well..."  Rainbow glanced at Twilight and the others.  "...y-yeah!"

"She totally does have us!" Pinkie squeaked.

"From here to oblivion!" Rarity added loudly.

"Rarity..." Twilight groaned.

"Sorry, darling."  Rarity blushed slightly.  "It's... just such a poetic moment, right here..."

"But... but the trip ahead can't harm them like it can me," Rainbow Dash said.

"Their lives are anchored to you, Rainbow Dash.  You will need them at the Midnight Armory and beyond."  Mortuana slowly shook her head.  "The Harmonic Prism will prove dull and useless unless the Austraeoh arrives by the full grace of Yaerfaerda.  If you perish... if the violent rift between chaos and harmony that resides inside of you rips your body asunder, then your friends will fade along with you.  Then the spark will be gone, along with all hope for this world or Urohringr."

Fluttershy let loose a feeble squeak.

"So... so what do you suggest?" Rainbow Dash remarked.

"Precisely what we have been planning for generations," Mortuana said.  "We—the seven—will accompany you as far as we are able."

"Mortuana... dude..."  Rainbow winced.  "This trip would have killed Eljunbyro.  It would have killed Khao and her friggin' army of Heraldites.  And... look at you!  You're an almighty alicorn and yet you're already dying and down to one vial of enchanted blood.  How... how could you and only six mortals survive such a journey?"

"We do not need to," Mortuana said.  "Only the Austraeoh needs to survive."

"Oh goodness," Rarity exhaled.

Rainbow stared back at the alicorn, her muzzle agape.  "That... that is not even remotely fair."  She gulped.  "Or cool."

"I'm inclined to agree.  But when the stakes are this high, Rainbow Dash, would you argue against having assistance of any kind in your endeavors?"

"But... that's Verlax's reasoning, isn't it?"  Rainbow shuddered.  "Making the impossible happen at all costs... because of absolute necessity?"

"And in her fear and cowardice, she is holding an entire continent of innocent souls hostage, just to needlessly test your strength and commitment to a cause that you scarcely understand, much less she."  Mortuana tilted her emaciated head to the side.  "What are seven noble souls worth against the immensity of all that?  Or the entire plane, for that matter?"

Rainbow clammed up.

"I asked you when we first met in person, Rainbow Dash, 'what is beyond?'"  Mortuana shifted her weight on the bed and let loose a pained sigh.  "Well, in truth, that is for you to discover.  We can only bring you past the brink.  It is the purpose of the Herald... it is the purpose of this world..."

"'Ynanhluutr,'" Rainbow Dash murmured.  She gazed warmly at her marefriends.  "I know my place within purpose..."

"Then you know your place at the head of our trek."  Mortuana breathed.  "Soon... we will pursue the rising dawn together, even unto twilight."

"After all these years... are you and your friends actually ready to die?"

"Depends."  Mortuana raised an eyebrow.  "Are you ready to live?"
> A Job for Nopony Else
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Alright... just a final adjustment of the lateral couplers..."  Flynn licked his lips as his mechanical eye rotated within itself.  He twisted the screwdriver in his telekinetic grip.  "...tightening the mana intake... aaaaaaaand..."  His ears flicked.  He gave the screwdriver a finaly twist, and—

Whirrrrrr—Click.  The plates surrounding Wildcard's mechanical prosthetic popped tightly into place.  With a dim glow of manalight, his metal joints rotated freely once again.  The griffon tilted his head aside, examining the expert hoofwork through dark lenses.

"Viola!"  Flynn leaned back with a grin.  He tucked his tools away into an engineering satchel and gestured at the Desperado.  "Should be good as new!  Give it a whirl!"

Wildcard backstepped until he stood in the center of the lofty wooden balcony.  A setting sun bathed the ridge below in a crimson sheen as the members of the Herald gathered to examine their tools and sharpen their weapons.

With a concentrated breath, Wildcard flicked his metal wrist, then curled and uncurled each delicate claw.  The prosthetic made slight humming sounds as he tested out each servo nestled deeply within.  At last, with a shake of his shoulder muscle, he propelled the forelimb until it spun around in a complete circle.

"Hah!"  Flynn grinned.  "Hahah!  Only you can make it look so natural, buddy!  I swear... I've never built something any sexier in my life!"

"Gotta admit," Ariel said, smiling as she polished a pair of round, serrated discs in her grasp.  "He managed to keep it in good condition this time."

"True that."  Flynn nodded, then knelt to rummage through a toolbox along the edge of the windblown balcony.  "Considering all the scuffles he's evidently been through these past few months, it's a wonder that I didn't have to do more maintenance on the talon!"

Bard looked up from where he reclined, strumming his guitar.  "That's because I've been protectin' him all this time."

"Is that so?" Ariel asked.

"Mmmhmmm.  Dayum skippy."  Bard plucked at his strings with a combination of his forelimbs and wingtips.  "If Dubya had just kept his bird-beak shut half the time, I swear, we wouldn't have gotten in even half of them scrapes.  Still, no matter.  The Desperadoes ride together, we die together.  But mostly we just kick butt together."

"Good to know the two of you are keeping the flame going," Ariel said.

"Meh..."  Logan stifled a yawn as he ran a grindstone against his axe.  "The Desperadoes are waaaaaaay overrated."

Bard struck a chord off-key.

Flynn shrunk.  "Wuh oh..."

"Care to repeat that, Big Show?" Bard droned icily.

"You heard me the first time!"  Logan frowned.  "Always the first to charge in and the first to flee."

Bard shrugged.  "So what if know the best way to save feather and skin?"

"It's pathetic is what it is," Logan said.  "You two were always the weakest half of the Job Squad, I swear on my fine handsome flank."

"Careful, Big Show."  Ariel smirked.  "Your fine handsome flank is liable to be taken to the woodshed."

"Pfft!  Fine!  Bring it!"  Logan held his axe up to examine the serrated edge.  "I'm not afraid of a pair of salty blowhards."  Just then, the hilt of the axe vibrated—then shot out of his grasp.  "What the—?!"

Swisssssssssh—Thap!  The blade's handle flew into Wildcard's outstretched prosthetic.  The griffon cut off the magnetism, held the axe high... and smirked at the earth pony.

"OooooOOoooh..."  Flynn grinned from ear to ear.

"Oh, it's on now, buckaroo."  Logan stood his massive weight up, cracking his joints with an evil smirk.  "You'd better give me my axe back if you know what's good for ya."

Wildcard merely leaned back, tossed the axe up, and balanced the hilt on the tip of his beak.  He held it there with extreme grace, his wings outstretched.

"Cute," Ariel said.  "Hey Big Show.  He's making a circus act out of your honorable hand-me-down."

"So what does he want?"  Logan snorted.  "A cracker?"

"Hey Dubya!"  Bard called out.  "I think there's a malfunction in yer metal talon!  Better let Logan see it!"

Wildcard whistled.  He slowly spun his flesh arm in a "cranking" motion.  In the meantime, the middle claw of his metal prosthetic rose and rose until it ultimately flipped the earth pony off.

"Oh lookie!"  Bard smiled.  "A bird!  Now what was that about givin' someone a cracker?"

"Very funny."  Logan snorted.  "I'll take you both on."

"As much as I'd fancy puttin' yer muzzle where yer buttocks is..."  Bard yawned.  "I'm just as keen to sit right back and watch Dubya royally own ya all the same."

Ariel giggled.

Logan frowned at her.  "Which side are you on?"  A thrown axe struck his skull, handle-first.  Bonk!  "Ow!  Dammit!"  He snarled and picked up his blade.  "I'm stuffin' you in a pillow, ya overgrown turkey!"

Wildcard merely smirked and—chiiiing!—drew both of his nightsticks.  The two Job Squadmates squared off from one another.

"You gonna let him make a fool outta you, Big Show?!"  Flynn's voice cracked.  He cupped two hooves around his muzzle.  "Roast his goose!"

"Believe me... I want nothing less!"  Logan's nostrils flared.  "How about it, birdo?"  He raised his forelimb, brandishing the Odrsjot band.  "Wanna make things interesting?"

Wildcard's goggles glinted as he replied with a nod.  He opened his prosthetic, drew forth two prismatic bands, and then wrapped them around the ends of his bludgeons.

Meanwhile, Logan plastered one band against the end of his axe.  "Don't forget to charge the runes proper."  That said, he exhaled against the Odrsjot symbol, making the colors glow with spectral vibrants.

Wildcard similarly blew on his bands.  The air twinkled as if a dozen tiny bells hovered overhead.  He twirled both sticks and paced across from Logan.

"I'll keep score!"  Fwooosh!  In a blink, Ariel was airborne, hovering above the spontaneous sparring match.  "How about it?  Job Squad rules?  The first to three knock-downs—"

"I know the rules, dammit!"  Logan spat.  "If you're gonna tell anyone, dictate to birdpuss!  He's the one who's been masquerading all this time as a Desperado!"

"You had your chance at mercy," Bard said, plucking his guitar at a higher tempo.  "Go get 'em, Dubya—"

FWOOOSH!  Wildcard pounced in a murking streak.

"Aw sh-sh-sh—"  Logan blocked lengthwise.  P-POW!  Tiny blasts of ethereal color emanated between them from each impact of the runically charged nightsticks.  "Rgggh!"  Logan shoved Wildcard back and swung horizontally with his axe.

The Odrsjot band attached to the weapon produced a miniature clap of thunder.  Wildcard spread his wings and drifted back.  His talons dug into the balcony, and he stopped himself just centimeters from plunging over the side.

"Aww yeah..."  Logan cracked the joints in his neck again and lurched forward with a grin.  "There you are, sweet adrenaline.  Come to sexy pappa.  Let's go."

"Buck 'em up, Big Show!"

"You've got this, Dubya."

"Woot!  Woot!"

"Dun let him smear the good name of Desperadoes!"

"Rrnnngh!"  Cl-Clank!  Thwack!

While this "battle" went on along the edge of the sanctuary, Rainbow Dash emerged from another balcony built high above.  She leaned against the railing, staring down at the merry members of the Job Squad.  The reddened valley gave a colorful backdrop to the high mountain duel.  In the distance, Wyverns flew in triangular clusters, singing and chanting ancient hymns into the high altitude breeze.  The Snow-Blood villages clinging to the slopes below glistened with amber light as chimney after chimney billowed soft gray smoke into the crisp air.

"To think, all this time, Bard and Wildcard had a whole bunch of friends just as nifty as them!" Pinkie said.

"Yes."  Rarity nodded, then murmured in a somber tone:  "And to think, all this time, they had committed their entire lives to a cause older than Rainbow Dash... older than everything."

Rainbow clenched her jaw tight.  Her ears folded back.

Twilight Sparkle saw it.  After a deep breath, she murmured, "You shouldn't be so worried for them, Rainbow."

"Who says I'm worried?" Rainbow murmured.  She slowly blinked.  "If everything Mortuana says is true, then these guys are perfectly fine with having their fate horribly sealed by something that's ultimately going to destroy them."  She sighed.  "...and will probably destroy me as well."

Pinkie winced.

"You... don't know that, Rainbow," Fluttershy said in a calm tone.  "The Desperadoes have gotten you through tougher scrapes before, haven't they?"

"Erm... y-yes!"  Rarity found the courage to smile and nod.  "And if these other three are anything like the faithful companions that got us through Rust and Shoggoth, then you should know that they're more than capable!"

POW!  A pair of nightsticks to the chin sent Logan falling on his flank.  THUD!  The whole balcony shook.  "Ow!"

"Wildcard: One!  Big Show:  Zero!"

"Grrrr!"  Logan used his axe to pick himself back up and spat, "I was just getting my bearings!"  He charged again.  "Yaaaugh!"

Rarity cleared her throat.  "Well... uhm... there's always Remna and that Kepler fellow!  Surely they're the strongest, wisest backup you could ever possibly ask for!"

"Guys, let's face it."  Rainbow sighed.  "I left the Noble Jury because I knew that crossing the Grand Choke would murder them.  But now?  I haven't got the same luxury.  I certainly can't face Verlax on my own and expect to survive it.  And do I even need to get started on the edge of the world?"

"I don't think you're giving the Herald enough credit," Fluttershy said.  "They're prepared for this longer than you even knew you were the Austraeoh."

"Still..."  Rainbow sighed.  "It doesn't sit right with me."

"You're the reason the Herald even exists, right?"  Pinkie Pie fidgeted.  "Couldn't you... just... I dunno... dismiss them if you felt it was in their best interests?"

"And crush their hopes and dreams?  Their aspirations?"  Rainbow's muzzle scrunched.  "Everything that they have trained for?  Including all of the work committed by hundreds of generations of Heraldites before?"

"Oh yeah..."  Pinkie hung her head.  "That would be... kinda poopy, wouldn't it?"

"Rrrrgh-Gaaah!"  Logan swung his axe again.

Wildcard ducked the blow, somersaulted around Logan, and effortlessly flung a nighstick into his back.  POW!  With a blast of prismatic energy, Logan fell onto his knees.

"Oof!"

"Wildcard:  Two!"  Ariel shouted.  "Big Show—"

"I know the score!"  Logan shot back up, huffing and puffing.  "Sing it to me once I make things even!"

"That's right, buddy!"  Flynn pumped a fist.  "Get mad!  You're at your most badass when you're mad!"

"Rrrrgh!"  Logan slapped himself in the muzzle several times and re-gripped his axe.  "Weak coffee and tax collection!"

"The Hell kind of a battlecry is that?" Bard sputtered.

"Stuff that makes me mad!  Rrrrrrgh!"

Ariel laughed as Logan charged Wildcard again.  This time, the griffon had his talons full—blocking and parrying the earth pony's axe at every turn.

Rainbow sighed.

Twilight leaned in.  "Mortuana has made it clear.  She's already dying.  This occasion... this opportunity to escort you to Starkiss and the edge of the world?  It's the one last thing she's capable of doing before she gives her last breath.  And these ponies, Rainbow Dash?  I think this is their opportunity to live.  To do something together as a team and make themselves useful in the salvation of this world.  You should be glad for them... be glad for the honor of having so much support in this time of need."

"It just... doesn't seem right," Rainbow Dash murmured.  "I think these dudes are pretty cool."  She gulped.  "Why do they gotta throw themselves into the fire on my account?"

"Rainbow Dash... you are the fire," Twilight said.  "You're the spark that's meant to ignite this world.  Let them help you.  Let them be the torch-bearers."

Rainbow Dash clenched her jaw.

"I don't want to see them suffer any more than you do," Twilight added.  "But... I want to see you perish even less.  Yes, it's risky... but you knew the risks before you even set out from Ponyville to begin with."

"I knew some of the risks... totally."  Rainbow nodded.  "Just... d-didn't know that so many friggin' ponies would be involved."

"Everyone is involved, Rainbow," Fluttershy said.  "You.  Me.  Rohbredden... everypony back in Equestria... Ponyville.  Luna, Celestia... Scootaloo..."

Rainbow looked back at her pegasus friend.

Fluttershy swallowed.  "They're counting on us... depending on you.  If you had some help along the way... even in the smallest of places... well... don't you think they'd be glad for it?  Glad for the hope it brings?"

Pinkie, Rarity, and Twilight looked on.

Rainbow closed her eyes with a sigh.  "... ... ...alright.  I'll play along with the Herald's game."

"To be perfectly honest..."  Rarity bore a nervous smile.  "...I'm not altogether sure they would accept it if you told them to stay."

"I'm aware of that," Rainbow said.  She began trotting down a rickety staircase towards the populated balcony.  "Which just means that when the time comes that I see that it's in their best interest, I'm ditching them and heading for the edge of the world on my lonesome."

"But... Dashie...?"  Pinkie squinted in confusion.  "How do you plan to do that?"

Rainbow was silent.

"Rainbow...?"

"Trust me.  I can and I will."  Clearing her throat, Rainbow approached the group with a practiced grin.  "Hey, guys!  What's with the rainbow light show?  Is this a crazy fan club or what?!"

Wildcard's head jerked in her direction.  His goggles reflected her smiling muzzle—

"Hiii-yaa!"  Logan swung the blunt end of his axe.

WHAM!  Wildcard took the full blast of Odrsjot and went reeling towards the edge.  Ariel zipped down and caught him in a pair of lithe hooves.

"Whew!  Uhm..."  She looked up.  "Wildcard:  Two.  Big Show:  One!"

"Hah!"  Logan leaned back and pumped his own chest with a hoof.  "Eyes and beak front, dodo!"

"Awww Hell..."  Bard tilted the brim of his hat forward.  "Stop embarrassin' me, Dubya."

"I do believe gravity has shifted," Flynn mused.

"We'll see about that."  Ariel shoved the griffon back into the fray.  "Let 'em have it, handsome!"

Wildcard exhaled, shook his joints, and crouched his body low.  Cl-Cl-Clakka!  Armored plates extended from his prosthetic, forming a heavily shielded guard.

"Uhhhh..."  Logan blinked.  "That's a new trick.  Flynn?!"  He called to the side, eyes locked on the griffon.  "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means ya done pissed him off, ya talkin' tub of lard," Bard droned.

FWOOOSH!  Wildcard blazed a black streak towards him, shoulder first.

"Awwww hell—"  Logan held his axe out broadly to deflect a sudden sea of swinging nighsticks.  Clank!  Cl-Clank!  Clakka!

"Woohooo!"  Pinkie Pie cheered.  "Desperadoes Represent!"

"Get him, Wildcard!" Rainbow's voice rasped.  "Get him!"

Meanwhile, from up above:  "What in the gods' name is that rracket?!  Forr the Mountain Matrron's sake!  Stop scuffing up ourr prrecious balcony!"
> When Evil Leaves Its Residue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"I saw it with my own eyes, Lieutenant," Theanim Mane quietly said as the two crouched in the dark underbrush.  A night sky hung over the forest canopy of Sunset Prefecture above them.  "Deep within the lagoon of Nealend Atoll, a most profound structure lay hidden.  But then—after Rainbow Dash's direct interaction—the structure opened up to us.  There were runes inside, Lieutenant... doorways that reacted only to Rainbow Dash's touch.  To this day, an enormous obelisk protrudes from the location that was previously a sanctuary to our Goddess Verlaxion.  It remains there for every living soul to see.  I even took photographs from inside the anomaly itself."

"Photographs that you've neglected to share with me," Keris murmured.

"I... felt it was imperative to conduct this present investigation," Theanim replied.  "Regailing you with all of these details—I feared—would only complicate the matter."

Keris rubbed his feathery brow with his good talon.  "Well, they're certainly complicating things now."  He gulped.  "And you said this... machine world was witnessed also in lower Shoggoth?"

"Indeed.  I was not there to presently see it unfold, but Rainbow Dash's companions did.  Mr. Bard and Wildcard... the Desperadoes—"

"I've heard of them," Keris droned.  "They were present at the Quade."

"Well..."  Theanim cradled his camera as he spoke.  "In Shoggoth, they claimed to have seen suits of frozen armor, animated by frosted magic, speaking directly to Rainbow Dash."

Keris' eyes narrowed.  "Messengers of the Queen?  In Shoggoth?"

"Well, it was a sanctuary gifted to the royal siren family... or so that's what history would have us think."

"What... could Verlaxion possibly desire from the Rainbow Rogue?"

"Hmmmff... anything, hypothetically.  However, Lieutenant, if we were to take Rainbow's account into consideration—"

"I'm... not entirely certain that I wish to."  Keris gulped.  "An artificial world?  Equine goddesses who control the sun and moon?  A... a b-beastly creature of flame and scales posing as our merciful Unifier?"

"Did Rainbow Dash not relate these things to you while the two of you were imprisoned at Red Barge?"

"She... tried to, I think.  In her own, subtle ways."  Keris shuddered.  " But these details that you are sharing with me, Professor, are admittedly horrific... heretical, even."

"Aye.  And I've thought so myself on multiple occasions.  But think about it, Lieutenant."  He waved a hoof in the guardian's direction.  "The things that you have witnessed."  He pointed at himself.  "The things I've witnessed... and collected evidence of!"  He gulped.  "Do they or do they not corroborate with the cosmology that Rainbow Dash has thusly presented?"

"They are bizarre phenomena, to be certain, Professor," Keris murmured.  "But anypony can make any claim about anything.  The facts of Verlaxion's teachings are—"

"Are what?"  Theanim raised an eyebrow.  "That we must blindly trust old and uncontested narratives far more than the senses that we have been so graciously granted?"

"I do not speak of blindness, Professor.  But faith."

"Indeed.  Faith sustains a soul... but only for so wide a gap.  At one point, one must ask what is the purpose for traversing such a rift in the first place."  Theanim pointed.  "Rainbow Dash's claims are bold, complex, and perfectly inconceivable at a glance.  But ask yourself, Lieutenant, what are we being expected to believe instead?  That an immortal equine of frost once saved our forebearers from an army of indestructible windigoes?  She hasn't appeared to give us a single word in decades.  One may argue that Verlaxion has never once appeared to the Six Tribes at all.  We've only ever seen her messengers... her enchanted vessels.  The very nature of magical phenomena only tells us so much on the surface.  How do we know that whoever controls the messengers is the same being written about in our most sacred texts?  That was eons ago!  Nopony's alive who can verify those writings with empirical data!"

"What you're saying, Professor, is very dangerous."  Keris cleared his throat.  "Especially for you, I fear.  After all, would you have shared any of these thoughts in Frostknife?"

"No.  Nor would I have spoken at great length about the malevolent intrigue that brought us here... to this exact spot where we are currently hiding."  Theanim looked at him.  "Truth is a very... very dangerous thing, Lieutenant.  But I think you would be just as remiss as I am if you did not try—with every resource in your possession—to pursue it with absolute determination."

"But everything you're suggesting—about Rainbow Dash, Verlaxion, this world—is fragmented at best.  Tell me, Professor, with everything you've learned... do you believe that you are in fact pursuing the truth?  Or simply a labyrinthine patchwork of misinformation?"

Theanim stared off into the underbrush.  He sighed.  "I must admit... the portrait that all of these colors are painting is... far from pristine."  He spoke firmly:  "I do not desire to live in a world without a nurturing goddess like Verlaxion, and I feel nauseated at the idea of a mere pretender occupying her space.  However, in light of the Queen's glaring absence—especially in Rohbredden's current time of strife—I find this information far too alarming to ignore.  I merely seek to put all of the pieces together to ascertain the meaning behind it all, and Rainbow Dash is the biggest part of that puzzle.  You've spent time with her yourself, Lieutenant.  In fact, you witnessed her in a far more painful and intimate state than I ever did.  For all I know, you've gotten far closer to the truth than I have."

"Forgive me if I do not share your intellectual enthusiasm in the matter."

"Indeed.  And, naturally, I wouldn't expect you to.  Your task is to enforce justice and restore peace.  Still..."  Theanim exhaled.  "If... if you could only see the things that I have witnessed... such as the obelisk in Nealend... then perhaps you would also come to conclude that not all things in this world are as they appear to be.  Perhaps they never have been."

Keris clenched his jaw tight.  His headcrest tilted back tightly.

Theanim noticed it.  The Professor looked over.  "Lieutenant...?"

The guardian was silent.

"What... what's the matter?"  Theanim blinked.  "I'm familiar enough with griffon anatomy to detect a look of 'alarm.'"

"It's... quite possible that I have seen the things that you speak of, Professor."

"Huh?"

"In Luminar... in the Quade..."  Keris closed his eyes as he exhaled slowly.  "...I observed such a structure."

Theanim gasped loudly.  "Another obelisk?!  In the Quade?"

"Shhhhhhh!" Keris hissed, raising his good talon to yank Theanim back to the underbrush.

Theanim grimaced.  "You... saw such a thing?  Where the monks made their sanctuary?"

After a breath, Keris nodded.  "Aye.  Just as you and the so-called 'Desperadoes' witnessed otherworldly phenomena in Verlaxion's sanctuaries at Nealend and Shoggoth."

Theanim shuddered.  "And you never thought to mention it before?!"

"I never thought there would have been a connection before."  Keris's hawkeyes darted between the trees and foliage.  "But now, looking back, I recall... runes."

"Runes?"

"Dull.  Disenchanted.  Faint patterns etched into otherwise immaculate metal."  He gulped.  "I confronted the monks about it.  The Luminards claimed that it was some... apostate manifestation of the culture that dwelt in the sundered continent long before the formation of the Quade, when the Reed took root."

"Well, naturally the metal is old!" Theanim exclaimed with a nod.  "Older than time itself."

"Only... if we're to take Rainbow's cosmology into account..."  Keris glanced aside.  "...it is merely an extension of this... machine world."

Theanim simply stared.

"Professor, why would such a thing exist?" Keris asked.  "And why would these structures manifest themselves in the exact places that our Goddess had once chosen to consecrate with her glory?"

"Or... perhaps... they were never consecrated by Verlaxion at all," Theanim said.  "But enchanted by a Divine Matriarch with dark intent... who foresaw the destruction of the Blight and this prismatic puzzle peace that's happened to have crossed it in our lifetime."

Keris could only grimace.  "I... I'm afraid I do not understand."  He glared off into the foliage.  "It is most frustrating."

"Indeed."  Theanim nodded.  "Perhaps now you understand the anger that's taken your Commander's soul hostage?"

Keris merely glanced at the stallion.

Before either of them could say anything further—

—bushes shook across the clearing.  A melodic nightingale cry pierced the air softly.

Theanim looked up.  "What was that?"

"A signal," Keris said, crouching low.  "From the Sergeant."

"Starstorm made that sound?"

"Shhhh..."  Keris signaled for Theanim to stay still.  "It means that company has arrived."

Theanim clammed up.

Keris' hawkeyes scoured the forested landscape.  At last, his pupils zeroed in on something.  He pointed with his talon.

Theanim slid his goggles down over his eyes and strained to see.

At last, two groups emerged from opposite sides of the glen.  One party was a surly bunch of thuggish stallions in leather armor.  The other group consisted of four hefty earth ponies.  As the bodyguards stepped aside, an old stallion shuffled into the starlight, facing the bandits from afar.

Theanim's jaw dropped.  "My stars... is... isn't that...?"

"Indeed."  Keris nodded, glaring from where they nestled in the shadows.  "Magistrate Timplan."

"And... and this is his Prefecture!"

"Shhhh... I'm quite aware of that, Professor."

Theanim crawled forward until he squatted side by side with the griffon.  "He wasn't present in Frostknife for the past six meetings of the Council of Verlaxion.  What in blazes could be so important that it's dragged him here?"

"Something that your contact in the Frosted Shelves obviously knows," Keris said.  "And I think we're going to find out for ourselves.  Listen."

Sure enough, the old stallion stood in his hiking robes, shuddered, and addressed the grim bunch across from him.  "Let's make this quick," he said.  "My absence up north is bound to rouse suspicion.  What exactly do you need from me this time?"

"What do we need?!"  One of the thugs spat.  "Pffft!  We need everything, old stallion!"  He pointed with a dagger.  "Enough stalling!  Where is he!"

Magistrate Timplan sighed.  "Care to be more specific?"

"Who else could I be talking about?!"  The thug snarled.  "The big boss!  The fat cat himself!  Chandler!  Where is his bejeweled flank when you need him?!"

Theanim glanced at Keris.  The Lieutenant merely observed in silence.

"Wouldn't you know yourself?" Timplan responded.  "You underworld vagabonds are in contact with him far more than I ever am."

"Don't kid yourself, old stallion."

"Son, I don't kid."  Timplan's wrinkled muzzle formed a frown.  "Chandler hasn't shown up in Frostknife since Monket arrived.  From what I hear, there's been a great deal of unrest in the Seven Seas."

"You bet your ass!" the lead thug wheezed.  "Bastard dipped his head into the muck and it dragged him hunder!  Now Red Barge is being whitewashed by those pussies in the north sea and there's no more damned dredge coal coming our way!  How are we supposed to make any smoke without the fuel to spark it with?!"

"You're under contract," Timplan briefly growled.  "If you have to make do without flammable materials, then that's your burden to deal with.  Chandler's paid you to rattle the sabre all across the neighboring prefectures.  Now it's Sunset's turn.  Why haven't you acted yet?!"

"No resources, old man!"

"Did you waste all of the gold already?!  Where's your sense of self-restraint?!  Where's your honor?!"

"Pffft... you big wig jerkoffs speak of honor when it suits ya."  The thug twirled his dagger.  "You want us to shake your own citizens out of their homes?  Give them something to be afraid of?  Then get us some dredge coal!  Chandler knew how we operated!  If he didn't tell you, then that's not our problem!"

"I don't believe this..."  Timplan drew a hoof over his face, exhaling.  "Verlaxion damn it, Brye... where are you...?"

"You mean you don't know?!"  The thug sputtered.  "Hah!  Dig this, fellas!"  He smirked over his shoulder.  "Even the Magistrates are up shit creek at this point!"  He turned to glare at Timplan again.  "Buddy, if you don't know where Chandler is hiding his cowardly keister... then this whole trip has been a big bucking waste of my time.  I know you high-and-mighty politicians have trouble understanding anything that isn't vague rhetoric, so lemme spell it out for ya, old stallion."  He grunted:  "No Chandler means no dredge coal.  No dredge coal means no fires.  No fires means 'no way'... as in no contract."

"Alright.  Fine.  Is that the way it's going to be?"  Timplan turned and whistled at his bodyguards.

The stallions marched up and laid a heavy trunk down in the middle of the clearing.  Thunk.  They opened it up, exposing row after row of shiny gold bits.

"A lifetime's payment," Timplan said.  "Ten times over.  You can even share it between yourselves if you like.  I know how dog-eat-dog the seven seas can be."

"No... you don't!"  The lead thug was livid at this point.  "How many times do I have to tell you, old stallion?!  We.  Don't.  Need.  Gold!  What are we supposed to do with it out here?!  There's no Prefecture that will let us in!  And with the Syndicate gone and the Barges in flux, Monket's controlling the new exchange rate of the central ocean!"  He pointed.  "There's another cruddy thing you can thank Mr. Brye No-Show Chandler for!"

"Dammit, will you ruffians please follow through with your obligations?!"  Timplan gestured.  "I'm desperate here!  If you don't shake up Sunset's northern settlements, this entire operation will look like a joke!  Chandler won't get the leverage he needs and Frostknife will be forever stuck in its asenine theocratic state!"

"Chandler can go lick himself."

Timplan spat, "Without Chandler, you have no future!  He's promised you all new homes along the western shoreline!"

"Yeah yeah... and I'm sure he's promised you a golden bidet to polish your ego in."  The thug smirked.  "Face it, pops.  He's played you.  He's played everypony in that shiny senate of yours.  The difference between you and us?  My brothers and I can deal with it!"  He twirled his dagger and snorted.  "That's how it pays to be born in filth."

While watching, Keris quietly muttered:  "So Timplan is assisting Chandler with the terrorist incursions."

"Looks like it," Theanim nodded, raising his camera.  He took shot after silent shot.  "I wonder just how many other magistrates are part of this miserable little party."

Keris gulped.  "You collecting evidence?"

"Haven't stopped since the exchange began."  Theanim took another shot.  "Still," he murmured.  "Why would Timplan go to such great lengths to harm his own citizens?"

"From the sound of it, he and several other Magistrates have a severe distaste for the current state of the Court."  Keris frowned.  "No doubt brought on by our beloved Goddess' silence."

"You see, Lieutenant?" Theanim muttered.  "I'm not the only pony who holds doubt.  However, in Chandler's case, that doubt is proving an opportunity for insurrection."

Keris' headcrest fluttered.  "That makes him a far greater threat than the Rainbow Rogue—"

The air was kissed by the chirping sound of a meadowlark.

Keris' eyes twitched.  He looked around.

Theanim blinked.  "The Sergeant again?"

"Something's wrong," Keris hissed.  "Somepony else is here."

"Somepony else?"  Theanim looked aside.  "Who?"  Two crossbolts whizzed past his head.  He gasped and dropped down low.

Thwisssssssssh—Th-Thunk!  Suddenly, two thugs lurched in place across from Timplan.

The elder magistrate narrowed his eyes.  "Good Goddess.  What's the matter?"

Eyes wide and pale... the two thugs collapsed hard to the forest floor.  Th-Thud!

The remaining thugs unsheathed their swords and shouted, "Ambush!  You rotten bastard!"

"It... it's not m-me!" Timplan hollered.  "I swear—"

"Magistrate!"  A stallion pulled the old stallion aside.  "Come with us!  We must—"  A crossbolt flew into his throat, bloodily.  "Grkkkkk!"

"Aaugh!" Timplan stumbled back as more projectiles flew into the clearing.

Thugs and bodyguards dropped like flies.  A sour copper stench filled the air.

"Lieutenant!" Theanim panted.  He looked all around.  "We... y-you and the Sergeant must do something—"

"Shhh!"  Keris merely yanked him back to the ground.  "Stay down."

"But the Magistrate—"

"None of the projectiles are being aimed at him," Keris grunted.  He glared calmly into the blood bath.  "Starstorm won't do anything unless I signal her.  We must find out how deep this rancid hole goes."

At last, all of the bodies around Timplan had collapsed.  Theanim watched—trembling—as several shadowed figures marched out of the underbrush from all sides of the clearing.  A few of the assassins came within a hair's breadth of where he and the Lieutenant were hiding.

Standing alone and vulnerable, Timplan shivered in his robes.  "Oh Goddess..."  He paled visibly, gritting his teeth.  "...oh sweet... sweet Goddess..."

"Spoken like a true heretic," droned a voice.  A crooked specimen of a stallion side-stepped his way towards the Magistrate, dragging a limp leg in a haphazard splint.  "You know, for a guy who's so keen on overthrowing Verlaxion's Court, you're pretty quick to call upon her when you're pissing yourself yellower."

"You..."  Timplan gasped, eyes darting.  "That... that scar!  I... I-I've heard about you!"  He stumbled backwards from the shuffling stallion and his fellow goons.  "I... I thought Chandler did away with you!"

"That bugger couldn't be arsed to clean the muck out of his own nose.  And trust me—I know!  I saw him swim scrotum-deep in the shit.  Right after Monket made a mockery of him... and my paradise in the middle of the ocean, the dreadlock huffing scum bucketeer..."  The stallion smoothed his bangs back, only for them to dangle slimily back in place.  "Hmmm... but Chandler's days are over, whether he knows it or not.  I've just come to collect on the bastard's residue... not including yours-most-handsome, of course."  He raised a hoof to Timplan's trembling figure, examining the collar of his robes.  "Hmmm... nice duds.  Shiny shiny dolphins..."

Keris jolted at that.  He looked up, hawkeyes squinting.  "... ... ...oh no."
> The Last Blessings of Harmony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"'Oh no?'"  Theanim Mane whispered, squinting at the decrepit stallion standing before Timplan.  "Is that a bad 'oh no' or an even worse 'oh no?'"

"It's Skagra," Keris murmured back.  He frowned beneath his beak.  "Former top dredger of Red Barge.  The wretch had countless families whimpering for mercy under his filthy fetlocks.  Rainbow Dash effectively drove him out, along with several of his cretins.  Seems as though they've inexplicably fought their way inland."

Theanim gulped.  "'Oh no,' indeed..."

"Seriously, though, I just can't stop feeling up this nice silk!" Skagra wheezed in Timplan's face as he continued ruffling the elder magistrate's collar.  "Say this much about Chandler:  the bastard keeps up with some fabulous company."

"You... you want the robes?"  Timplan gulped, shivering.  "You can have them!  Along with all of the riches I've brought here!"

"Hahahahahaha!"  Skagra laughed in Timplan's face.  The stallion's booming voice echoed off the surrounding trees.

The thugs standing behind Skagra gripped their weapons, exchanged nervous glances, then laughed as well.  "Heh heh heh heh—"

Skagra spun around, his green eyes flaring.  "SHUT UP!"

The stallions jolted, standing dead still.

Skagra swiveled to face Timplan again.  A crooked grin blossomed between them.  "Riches?  Riches?  I had a brief, beatiful glimpse at power back in the muck, you bit-gargling fart nugget.  But everypony's favorite bejeweled bastard blind-sided me.  And before I had a chance to recover, a brightly colored windsock and her pet stork pushed my shit in."  He shoved Timplan hard.

"Unff!"  Timplan fell to the forest floor, wincing.

Skagra leered above him.  "If I had only backstabbed Chandler and his wind-up Monket toy when I had the chance, I wouldn't have lost my hoofing!  But... hey!  Live and let leak, am I right?"  He strolled past a few of the corpses lying on the ground and yanked loose a crossbolt that had been skewered in the dead flesh.  He held the bloody barb up to his squinty eyes and watched the crimson juices dribble down the stalk of the projectile.  "All that's left to do is burn everything out from under him.  Then, once the fat cat understands what it means to have his house of cards fall flat, I'll expose him before the rest of the so-called 'virtuous' Council.  I can't imagine there's very many left who aren't crooked.  But... hey!  A crucifixion is a crucifixion, right?"  Skagra licked at the barbed tip.  He collected the blood in his mouth, snorted, then spat a wad of red phlegm onto the forest floor.  "Chandler's going to suffer for what he took from me, even if I have to burn half the Prefectures in this crud-sucking continent to make it happen."

"It... it d-doesn't have to come to that!"  Timplan raised a shivering hoof.  "You want revenge on Chandler?  Let us work t-together!"

"Hrrmmmfff..."  Half of Skagra's face formed a slimy grin.  "How quick the seagulls turn on each other."

"I'm serious!"  Timplan frowned.  "Chandler is losing his cool!  He hasn't been present in Frostknife for weeks!  The militants he's been paying?  They're starting to rear their ugly head!   You saw them just now!  Everything is bursting at the seams, and there's little hope left of putting a c-cork in it all!  But... but if we expose Chandler together... all of us... then there's still time to shift all the blame on him and come away from this unscathed—"

"Grkkk!"  Skagra spun, flinging the crossbolt.

Timplan gasped, his whole body flinching.  Chtunk!  The projectile embedded into the ground just a few inches away from where his legs met.

Theanim winced from afar.

Skagra crossed the distance between them and held Timplan up by his collar.  "I will not tear Chandler apart through pens, parchment, and pissant politics!"  He spat.  "I want the bastard alive to smell his own bowels being torn from his belly at the hooves of his very own mistresses!  I'm talking about a revenge so bloody... so sweet... that they'll start a whole mucking religion about it!  Now... stop being pedanting and start being useful, ya talking bottle of testicle extract!  Where is the fat cat?!"

"You think I know where he is?!"  Timplan sputtered.  "I'd have wrung his neck myself if I had a clue!  That includes me and every other magistrate he's made his hollow promises to!  Now stop strangling me and let's establish a plan to work together!"

"The only thing I'm planning is what to say when I feed your raw butt-flesh down Chandler's throat!"  Skagra's nostrils flared.  "Now give me a list of every Consortium base of operations or I start slicing, wrinkle-cheeks!"

"I... I-I have no clue!  I don't possess Chandler's records!"

"Oh yeah?"  Skagra unsheathed a dagger.  Schiiing!  "We'll see about that—"

"Uhm... boss?" a thug wheezed.

Skagra sighed.  While Timplan dangled limply in his grasp, he turned to look over his shoulder.  "What is it?  Can't you see I'm about to prepare a barbecue here?"

"Er... I was just wondering." The thug rubbed his head with his hoof as he glanced over.  "The goggled stallion and the griffon over in the bushes... did they come with us?  Or did you send for them ahead of time?"

Theanim gasped sharply.

Skagra blinked.  "... ... ...I beg your pardon?"

Keris' beak clattered.  His feline legs sprang into action, launching his body forward.  With an avian shriek, the guardian launched himself at the thug—plowing his body hard into the ground with the full weight of his armored figure.  THWUMP!  He swept his leg out, tripping another guard.

"Holy shit!" Two other thugs aimed their crossbows at the Lieutenant.  "Hit 'em where it hurts—"

Sw-Swissssssh!  A pair of daggers flew in from the foliage, severing the drawstrings of the crossbows.  Pt-Pting!  The crossbolts sprung back, ricocheting off the stallions' foreheads.

"Guh!"

Fwoosh!  Starstorm leapt out of the forest.  She spread her wings and slammed both thugs to the ground.  WH-WHUD!

"Lieutenant!" Theanim hollered as a stallion with a machete came charging through the clearing.

"Yaaaaaaugh!"  The thug swung at Keris' exposed neck.

The Lieutenant blindly raised his good talon back, expertly clamping his claws around the stallion's snout.  As he held the thug at bay, Starstorm flung a fan of knives across the clearing, skewering the stallion's flank.

"Aaaaaaaaugh—!"  The thug shrieked—only to have his bleeding figure body-slammed by Keris into one of the two recovering thugs, knocking both of them out.

Within seconds, Keris and Starstorm leapt past each other, criss-crossing as they plowed and pummeled the remaining goons.

Skagra's head jerked left and right, his green eyes tracing the expert Talon as they laid waste to the entire contingent of criminals.  In slow motion, a stupid grin spread across his face.  His teeth grinted, and he hoisted Timplan up from behind.

"Aaah!" the elder stallion yelped.

"Rrrnnngh!"  WHAM!  Keris punched the last waking thug to the ground.  He stood back to back with Starstorm, panting.  "Shining punctuality."

Starstorm gulped  "There's still one remaining—"

"Look!" Theanim Mane shouted, rushing up to the two guardians' side.

Schiiiing!  At the sound of a pair of daggers kissing the air, the three spun to glance across the clearing.

"Hah!"  Skagra bellowed through a grin.  He held Timplan from behind, raising two serrated blades to the trembling magistrate's neck.  "Hah hah hah hah hah!  Ohhhhhhhhhh buck me... if it isn't my favorite pelican!"  Skagra's left eye twitched as he tilted his head to the side, bangs dangling.  "How's the arm, Lieutenant?  Did that fuzzy blue beast do wonders for your love life or what?"

Fuming, Keris squared off with the former dredger.  "Relinquish the Magistrate of Sunset Prefecture, Skagra."

"Oh, is that who this insepid puke pile is?"  Skagra nuzzled the stallion's mane from behind, sniffing and blowing at the gray bangs.  "Thanks for hammering that down, chuckle-cluck.  Now I'll know how valuable his coat is after I skin it."

"Please... Talon..."  Timplan wheezed.  "If there's any ounce of Verlaxion-blessed respect in you left—"

"Shhhhhh—shh—shh—shh..."  Skagra hissed in the stallion's ear, digging the blade-tips deeper into his neck muscles.  "...don't ruin the reunion."

Theanim trembled, grasping his camera.  He watched with a grimacing expression as Keris addressed the psychopath.

"You lost back in Red Barge, Skagra," the Lieutenant said.  "You lost your platform... you lost your minions... and you lost your mind—whatever threadbare piece of it was remaining to begin with."

"Hmmmm... you so certain about that, birdo?"  Skagra twisted his neck so that he was peering out from behind Timplan's other shoulder.  "Or maybe..."  He licked his lips, eyes twitching.  "...we just got a ticket to the winning team."

Starstorm glanced aside, holding her knives at the ready.  "Are we really going to entertain this half-witted nutjob, Lieutenant?"

"This ain't no circus, toots," Skagra spat.  "Think about it.  Think hard."  He grinned.  "What exactly have you been doing these last few weeks?  Hmmm?  Don't tell me those flights through the central prefectures have been a wonderful wintry vacation!"  He cracked his neck muscles, re-gripping the hilts of his daggers.  "No... no no no no you've been after the Rainbow Rogue.  Why?  Because he's been spinning you.  Chandler's been spinning you hard.  And you know what?  I'm willing to bet he's not the only one!"

Keris sighed.  "We're going to give you the count of ten to let the magistrate go—"

"And I'll give you the count of five to wake the buck up!"  Skagra barked.  He took a step back, yanking the whimpering stallion along with him.  "If you're here, then that means you know a sliver of truth!  Chandler's been playing all of the magistrates for fools!  He's got them all in a dirty blood pact to betray their own kin!  First, the bits roll in... then the arsonists... then everything goes up in smoke and Chandler sweeps in for the rescue!"  Skagra's green eyes narrowed.  "The bastard's turning this continent inside out for his own benefit, and he's got a bunch of highly-paid pussies like sunshine here..."  He gave Timplan a shake.  "...supporting his grand galloping gut-punch to your all-precious Court!"

"Yes, that may indeed be so," Keris said.  "But the solution to chaos is not more chaos.  Relinquish your weapons, and we'll—"

"You'll what?!"  Skagra wheezed.  "Give me a nice, shiny bunk in the Frozen Shelves? Buck that... and buck yourselves up the egghole!  The only way the Talon knows how to clean shop is with a claw to the jugular!  But I'm not going to give you the opportunity to waste everything!  I know how this filthy world works, Lieutenant.  And unless you want your precious jewel of Verlaxion to get even filthier, the only recourse is to set fire to Chandler's careless trail of burning fart gas!"  Skagra lifted his chin, nostrils flaring.  "So... how about it?"

Keris' beak clenched.  "If you think for even one deluded second that I'm actually going to humor the thought of joining ranks with you..."

"Say it!"  Skagra pointed a dagger.  "Say it out loud and know that you mean it, birdo."  He hissed.  "Know that it is the only thing that can save your stupid Rohbredden from full on civil war between the Tribes!  You really want to turn down an opportunity to clean house?  Take it from a shithead born from the muck: this continent is as gross as it gets, and you're wasting your time chasing rainbows and rapscallions!"

"Lieutenant..."  Theanim leaned in, speaking past Starstorm.  "...as unsavory as this character may be, he obviously retains a great deal of inside information regarding Chandler and his operations."

"I appreciate the observation, Professor," Keris replied without looking.  "But as noble as truth may be, some prices are simply too high to be paid, even in the pursuit of it."  His right wingtips fluttered with subtle motions in the stallion's direction.  "Never underestimate your ability to illuminate the situation on your lonesome."

Theanim blinked at the griffon's motioning wings.  He cleared his throat.  "Right..."  Stealthily, he flipped a notch on his dangling camera.  "...wise advice as always, good sir."

Starstorm's eyes darted between them, and she resumed glaring at her target.

"So what will it be, Captain Turkey?"  Skagra drew a thin red line across Timplan's wincing cheek.  "Dead... or deader?"

Keris sighed.  "You know, Skagra.  You went into the wrong business, dredging coal.  With an infallible wit like yours, you could very easily have made it up to the highest seats of the Court with very little effort."

Skagra craned his neck, blinking.  "Really?"

Keris snorted.  "No."  He coiled his muscles.  "Now, Professor!"

Theanim struck a switch on his camera and—

FLASH!  The entire clearing lit up like a shooting star.

"Gaaah!"  Skagra flinched for one second too long.

"Htttt!"  Starstorm spun, flinging a knife with murderous speed.

Swissssssssh!  The sharp blade flew and—SCHLUNK!—embedded hilt-deep into Skagra's left eye.

Timplan gasped as the criminal's neck savagely jerked back.

Theanim and Keris watched from a distance.

Skagra teetered... tottered... then lowered his chin.  Blood ran down the former dredger's face in thick rivulets as his one remaining eye blinked.  "... ... ... Ow."  And he fell hard to the ground with a dull thud.

Timplan collapsed on the grass in a panicked puddled, hyperventilating and spitting up bile.

Theanim shuddered, clutching the weight of his whirring camera.  "Now there's one for the collection," he said, gulping.

Starstorm rushed over to Skagra's limp body.  She felt his neck with a bare talon.

Keris craned his neck.  "Sergeant?"

Starstorm cleared her throat.  "I'm surprised his brain even had the energy for that last breath, sir."

Keris nodded. "He died as he lived: a stain."

"Lieutenant, I'm... I-I'm terribly sorry."  Starstorm retrieved her bloody knife and stood with a sigh.  "Things were tense, and I simply didn't know another way to free the magistrate with his skin in tact."

"You will get no complaint from me, Sergeant."  Keris walked over and gave Skagra's body a shove with a paw.  The dredger's corpse rolled over, the bangs still refusing to slope sideways, even beyond the grave.  "Rainbow Dash spared his life as a message of peace and good will.  A shame he didn't pay heed like his subordinates did back in Red Barge, or else he may have found a way to truly prove useful in the end."

"Then... how far have we been set back?" Theanim remarked.  He turned about, grimacing at the veritable sea of corpses and knocked-out criminals.  "This Skagra knew an awful lot about Chandler's true nature."

Keris calmly turned around.  "He wasn't the only one..."  He slowly marched towards Timplan.

The Magistrate was hunched over, coughing and dry heaving.

"There's an old griffon proverb:  'honesty starts with puking.'"  Keris knelt beside the elder stallion's figure.  "Would you like to share the truth with us, Magistrate?  You've already covered the first step."

"Grnnnkk... mmmfff..."  Timplan looked up, eyes tearing as he wiped froth from his wrinkled chin.  "So... so much blood and death..."

"And even more misery can be prevented... if you own up to your misdeeds and assist us in exposing the cretin who's empowered you with this blatant treason."  Keris stared the trembling politician down.  "Trust me.  You do not wish for my commanding officer to learn of this before I'm through with you."

Timplan's eyes shrunk at the thought.

Keris growled:  "Who else is connected with Chandler's wretched plan?"





Sparkling clean horseshoes clopped across a thick wooden deck.

Brye Chandler shuddered, adjusting the folds of his robe as he marched from the boat to the storehouses situated at the end of the company harbor.

"Sir!"  A group of servants trotted closely behind.  "Please!  We insist!  You must allow us to make a thorough check of the facilities before you step in!"

"I'll be fine..."  He growled, marching on.

"I beg to differ, sir!  With... erm... with the b-budget cuts that you—er... I mean that the company's made as of late, security is a great deal thinner than it was months ago and—"

"I said..."  Chandler spun, shouting down the uniformed workers.  "Leave me be!  I have important business to attend to!  This company won't even be able to afford a boat oar if I don't tend to these issues at hoof!  Or do you think you can speak to the Council on behalf of the Consortium?!"

"Uhm... n-no, sir!  We m-meant no direspect, sir!"

"Everypony... please... leave me alone."  Frowning, the richly-attired stallion swung the wooden doors to an office building open and stepped inside.  "When I am ready to disembark for Frostknife—and only when I am ready—I will summon you!  Not the other way around!  Now... keep a close eye on the waves and I don't want anypony entering or leaving port until my business is through!"

THUD!

He slammed the door shut.  Once inside a spacious office, he leaned against the frame, panting and wheezing.

Dead silence...

... until ...

"...Goddess Verlaxion, ever wise and ever loving, gave Her foals sound advice the day she first unified the tribes."

"...?!"  Chandler turned around.

Only then did he realize that the entire office had been ransacked from the inside out.  Layers of files and unrolled scrolls littered the floor between overturned pieces of furniture.  An intimidating figure leaned in the shadowed corner.  From a glint of distant candle-light, Chandler made out silver armor and razor-sharp gauntlets.

"She said, 'Harmony blesses those who bless each other.  Chaos preys upon those who devour each other.'"

Chandler gulped.

Slowly, one scraping claw after another, Commander Seraphimus emerged into the light.  She cradled in her talons a thick ledger detailing several of Chandler's business operations.  "It would seem that chaos is encroaching you on all sides, Mr. Chandler."  Her charcoal brown eyes lowered from beneath her helmet.  "Sadly, I've seen the corpses of those you've preyed upon.  I've come to tell you... that harmony has run out of blessings to give."
> Righteous, Rhetorical, and In Between
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"It's one thing to bully small innocent towns such as Braum in Ivory Prefecture," Commander Seraphimus said.  "But to maliciously and willfully fund terrorist activities throughout the heart of Rohbredden?"  Her beak muscles clenched.  "That is an entire new level of malevolence.  And just what would you hope to achieve out of it?  Some sort of... hero status in the eyes of the Court of Verlaxion once you've swooped in to provide a temporary solution to the matter?  To work the Six Tribes against one another from the inside and the outside is something beyond evil... beyond traitorous."

Chandler merely stared at her.

She slapped the ledge shut and allowed the book to fall limply across his cluttered desk.  With icy talons, the head guardian marched towards the Consortium leader.

"You are a cancer to this continent... a tumorous abomination that seeks to leech every citizen in the absence of our glorious Goddess.  Since it is my station as the Right Talon of Verlaxion to protect all of the Queen's foals, I am obligated to uproot any and all enemies to the supreme government righteously ordained within Frostknife.  You, Mister Chandler, are going to confess the crimes you've committed in Ivory Prefecture and abroad, along with your meddling connections to the Syndicate, the slavers of Mudtop, and all of the other godless gangsters of the Seven Seas and beyond."

At last, she came to a stop, glaring the stallion down.

"It will be in the best interest of your soul—and the feeble flesh attached to it—if you complied fully."

Silence.

Brye Chandler took a deep breath.  At last, he trotted forward...

...and shuffled straight past Commander Seraphimus.

The griffon blinked.  With rattling armor, she pivoted to follow him, charcoal eyes narrowing.

Chandler shoved a few piles of refuse away, brushed clean a liquor cabinet, and reached inside for a bottle and a glass.

Seraphimus' beak slowly opened.  "What... are you doing?"

"Grfff... getting a drink," Chandler muttered.

"Getting a drink...?"

"Yes.  I'm quite thirsty, you see."  He poured himself a glass, placed the bottle down.  Then—after delicately sniffing the contents of the container—he took a long, dainty sip.

Seraphimus blinked several times.  With an inner snarl, she shuffled towards him.  "Do you not understand the gravity of—?!"

"How much do you think this coat of mine cost?" Chandler asked without looking at her.

Seraphimus scuffled to a stop.  She frowned.  "You are doing a heinous job of changing the topic."

"Oh, I do believe this is very relevant."  Chandler took another sip.  "This coat is well over five thousand bits worth of emeralds and fur.  That might seem vain... opulent, even, until you take into account the way that I've earned it... through years and years of hard work conducting an honest-to-Verlaxion business... or... at least as honest as you can be to a Goddess who never shows herself."

"You are a criminal and a seditionist," Seraphimus said.

"No, I am a successful entrepreneur."  Chandler turned around with a frown.  "And for my legitimate efforts, I've been paid more handsomely than meat-punching egotists like you and your Talon.  You speak of bullies and terrorists?  Look no further than your own damned claws."

"Silence."  Seraphimus growled, leaning forward.  "I have mountains of evidence against you and your organization—"

"You have nothing."  Chandler's nostrils flared.  Angry eyes locked with hers while he took a final sip of his glass.  Exhaling, he slapped the container down.  "Circumstantial evidence and frayed testimony at best.  If that wasn't the case, I'd be in irons by now and you know it.  There'd be no need for this inane attempt at brutish intimidation."

Seraphimus glared at him.  She was silent.

"Did you think I would be so feeble as to cowardly cooperate with whatever banal conspiracy theory you've concocted?  Just because you barge in here... vandalize my workplace... and bear your fangs like an enraged manticore?"  Chandler huffed.  "I've dealt with them all, my dear.  Lawyers, Magistrates, Union Committees... every single bit-jingling blowhard that draws breath has taken a swung at me and missed.  And you know why?  Because everypony's jealous of whoever's on top, but very few of them have the mettle to tear the establishment down without stooping to venomous tactics.  And you... dearest guardian..."  He pointed while squinting.  "You are stooping... stooping low."

"You wish to speak of venom?"  Seraphimus hissed.  "I've followed a poisonous trail of exploitation and criminal intrigue, and every tributary has taken me straight to this spot... straight to you."

"Spoken in such delightful ambiguity!"  Chandler waved a hoof.  "I'm certain that will impress the Council even half as much as it's frightening me!"

"Your very own secretary, Longaze, has confessed to committing arson and murder to accomplish your demands!"

"And under what circumstances did she state such claims, hmmm?  I wonder!"  Chandler spat.  "Do tell, high and mighty Supreme Commander of the Right Talon of Verlaxion!"  He performed a mock salute.  "Just what kind of barbaric duress did you have to put a member of my own clientele under in order to extract such hyperbolic information to substantiate your wild accusations?!"

Seraphimus opened her beak, but no words came out.  For the first time in days, beads of sweat kissed the edges of her armor.

"Well?!"  Chandler barked, staring daggers.  "What exactly did you do?  Would you care to tell me?  A law-abiding citizen of Rohbredden?"  He waved his hoof towards the slatted windows.  "And just how do you think that will go over with the Council?!  To think of it!  Their very own Talon!  At her wit's end!  Attacking and butchering ponies at random!"

At last, Seraphimus swallowed and said, "The Council trusts me.  I've been granted the wisdom and strength of Verlaxion.  By the merit of our own righteousness, the Talon shall perservere—"

"You are not righteous!" Chandler shouted.  "You're angry!"

Seraphimus' claws tightened.

"And you know what?!  We're all angry!  I'm angry!  The Council is angry!"  He pointed once more out the window.  "The Tribes are at each other's throats with fury and discontent!  But unlike you and your meandering griffon friends, we've been hard at work trying to do something about it!  My company—the Shoreline Trade Consortium—can revolutionize Rohbredden industry!  We can bring warmth to the confused and anxious citizens of this land!  And you?  Pffft... you represent ancient prehistory... fossils chasing ghosts in the name of an idea—and a very fractured one at that."

"How dare you..."  Seraphimus marched towards him, hissing.  "It is by Verlaxion's mercy that we even breathe!  If she didn't unify the tribes... if she didn't thaw our forebears' provinces, then none of us would be alive today!  We owe her our gratitude with each second that we live."

"And yet the greatest threats to our kingdom continue to permeate this great continent!  Who's going to do something about this?  You?"  Chandler blew out the side of his muzzle.  "You can't even catch the Rainbow Rogue!  Some Right Talon of Verlaxion you are!"

"Rrrggh!"  Seraphimus swung her gauntlets.

For the first time since meeting, Chandler flinched.

POWWW!

The desk beside the stallion exploded.

The pony's eyes blinked open.  Catching his breath, he looked aside.

Seraphimus was slumped in a pile of rattling armor and pale feathers.  She raked the floor, inhaling and exhaling through angry, fuming breaths.  At last—as she felt his nervous eyes upon her—she swallowed and stammered:  "I should have been chasing you from the very beginning.  You... you disgust me."

"You'd better get used to that nausea, Commander," Chandler said.  "We're living in a new age... a godless age.  For better or for worse, the mythical queen of our past refuses to show.  Ponies in Frostknife have wasted time and tax dollars waiting for a sign to legitimize her absence.  Me?"  He shook his head.  "I'm not willing to wait any longer.  I'm making efforts to change and improve this world while the rest of the magistrates wallow in anger and misery."

He waved a hoof at her.

"And you, my dear?  You must be the angriest of them all."

Seraphimus pivoted her head to glare up at him through her helmet.

"Oh yes... not only a servant to your goddess, but a slave... with your own family as ransom."

The Commander blinked.

"Don't think that I don't know about what you have at stake."  Chandler cocked his head to the side as he spoke:  "Your so called Unifier has you on a leash.  How many years have you deceived yourself, confusing righteous fury with desperate sorrow?  This whole... debacle with the Rainbow Rogue is only the first of many failures, I assure you.  At least I have a solid foundation to fall back on.  But you?  What do you have waiting in Frostknife save for apathy and regret?"

"The Council still holds faith in the Talon."

"You say that, Commander," Chandler remarked.  "And yet, where are your wingmates now?"

Seraphimus avoided his gaze.

"Perhaps you knew that you could not rely on their support... because there is simply nothing to support.  You've chased me down on a nebulous crusade of vengeance.  And for what?"  Chandler took a breath.  "I'm sorry that you could not catch your Rainbow prey.  Trust me, I understand that pain and frustration."  His teeth showed.  "But do not take it out on me with your insipid excuses of 'righteous duty'  You want a confession?  Neither of us are strangers to violence and intimidation, Commander.  But at least I know... and soon you will know... that what I'm doing will matter in the long course of a new and more functional Rohbredden."

He leaned back, folding his forelimbs.

"Now," Chandler exhaled.  "I do believe it's high time for a confession of your own... that the hour has come to hang the helmet and sword and allow civilization to take is proper course without the worn-out protectors of yesteryear.  Are you waiting to make that bold step, Commander?  Heaven knows I am."

Seraphimus slowly stood up.  She leaned her head back, taking a deep breath.

Chandler squinted at her curiously.

At last, the Commander glared down at the pony.  "By the power invested in me by the Court of Verlaxion, you—Brye Chandler of the Shoreline Trade Consortium—are under arrest."  She pivoted, facing him full-on.  "I shall hereby escort you to Frostknife, where you will be tried for crimes committed and funded in the name of treason... and heresy."

"Hrmmmfff..."  Chandler snorted.  "I am telling you, Commander... you have absolutely nothing to go on."

"That will be up to the Court of Verlaxion to determine," Seraphimus said.

"And if they rule that this is a huge waste of our time?"  Chandler squinted.  "Which it is?"  He clenched his jaw.  "You will lose your rank... your position... your entire career."

"Well, then that will be the chance that I take."  Seraphimus stepped towards him.  "A pity that a stallion in your position doesn't know what true risk is."  She produced a series of manacles and slapped them around his front fetlocks.  "Here... stay still so I do not soil your honestly-paid-for cloak."

Chandler muttered, "You're a puppet... dancing to an ancient lie."

"And you're lucky I didn't rip your spleen out upon first eye contact."  Seraphimus forced him around and shoved the shivering stallion towards the door.  "Let us hope that the magistrates in Frostknife are just as merciful."
> Don't Let Bed Shies Bite
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Aaaaaaaaaaugh!"  Rainbow Dash shot up in bed, clutching her skull.

Fluttershy flinched, looking at her with bright eyes.  "Rainbow...?!"

The pegasus panted... panted.  Then, with sweat rolling down her face and neck, she hugged herself and leaned over.  "Grnnngh... dang it... Celestia dang it to Tartarus..."

Fluttershy gulped.  "Oh Rainbow..."  She floated over, phased through the bed, then hovered at the anchor's side.  "You poor thing.  It was another one of those horrible nightmares again, wasn't it?"

Rainbow rubbed her face, shuddering.  "Mrmmfff... not sure why I expect any different each time I lay my head down."  She gnashed her teeth.  "Friggin' A... no matter what I do, I'm never leaving those stupid... friggin' castle gardens..."

"Well, you're safe here at Wyvern Point... with us and the Herald."  Fluttershy made a gesture as if to "pat" Rainbow's shoulder.  "Speaking of which, just wait.  I'll go fetch the girls.  Wouldn't that make you feel better?"

But just as Fluttershy's body faded with a lavender glow—

"No—No."  Rainbow held a hoof out.  "Hold on."

Fluttershy rematerialized fully, her eyes blinking.  "Hmmm?"

"It's..."  Rainbow gulped.  "It's not necessary.  For realsies."  She sighed, forming a weak smile.  "This is just... regular crud, y'know?  No need to wake the girls from the Vanilla Zone."

"Rainbow, you're so unbelievably important to each and every one of us," Fluttershy said.  "You deserve our full attention if it will make you feel better."

"Flutters, what will make me feel better is knowing that someday I'm gonna get you all back."  She rubbed her tired muzzle again, sighing.  "By hook or by crook."  Silence.  She peeked one eye out from behind her fetlock.  "Did you volunteer to watch over me again?"

Fluttershy shrugged.  "Is... that a bad thing?"

"Well, no."  Rainbow relaxed slightly, sitting up in the rustic bed.  "I just... feel like you're the one I've woken up to... like... a gazillion times in a row.  Don't any of the other girls volunteer for 'sleeping Rainbow duty?'"

"Hmmmm... but of course."  Fluttershy smiled bashfully.  "But... I guess you could say I volunteer harder."

"Heh... no joke."

"I can't help it."  Fluttershy shrugged.  "I was foaled a caretaker at heart."

"Isn't that depressingly ironic."

Fluttershy blinked.  "Huh?"

"Never mind."  Rainbow waved a hoof.  "It's super sweet of you."

"I rather enjoy it, actually," Fluttershy said, wingtips fluttering a bit.  "You never would have let me look after you before Discord showed up."

Rainbow's muzzle scrunched.  "The hay is that supposed to mean?"

"Hehe... simply that you're a precious pegasus, Rainbow Dash.  All those years of being brash and daring and daredevilish?"  Fluttershy shrugged.  "Seems like a loyal mare like you never got a chance to be properly taken care of."

"Well... seems like that time has come at last," Rainbow murmured.  "What... with the Herald and all."

Fluttershy gulped.  "I hope that... that you accept their help, Rainbow."

Rainbow blinked at Fluttershy.  "I never said I wasn't going to."

Fluttershy shrank, blushing slightly.  "Oh."

"I have no friggin' clue how I'll make it past Verlax on my lonesome," Rainbow said.  "Mortuana and her posse here are giving me something super priceless."  She gulped.  "I'd be an idiot to pass that off."

"But... the Dark Side..."  Fluttershy cocked her head to the side.  "Do you really think the Herald can survive such a trip?"

"I... often wonder how I can survive such a trip."

Fluttershy bit her lip.

"Ngrnnngh..."  Rainbow buried her face in her forelimbs again.  "Just... gotta treat this whole thing one step at a time."

"But of c-course, Rainnow."

"Only... I don't really have the luxury of doing that for much longer, do I?"  Rainbow looked up, gazing at the palace's slitted windows of antique wood.  "Verlax is right about one thing.  To truly ascertain the role of Austraeoh, somepony has to be thinking in the long term."  She gulped.  "Sometime soon... sometime really friggin' soon... I'm going to have to start thinking about what I'll be doing on the Dark Side."

Fluttershy fought the urge to tremble.  "Do... do you think Mortuana knows enough to shed some light on the opposite side of the plane?" She gestured.  "Literally?"

"I dunno.  I hope."  Rainbow sighed.  "Because even though Chrysalis gave me a lot to go on... it was still pretty vague."

"Plus... she was evil."

Rainbow looked at Fluttershy.

"Erm... r-right?" Fluttershy smiled nervously.

"Chrysalis had actually been to the dark side," Rainbow said.  "But Mortuana?  Despite being a super powerful alicorn, she's only ever seen this side of the plane."

"Well... she was once powerful."

"Point still stands, Flutters.  Mortuana is about as wise as Whitemane.  Don't get me wrong... that's super crazy wise.  But I'd guess that Chrysalis knew a lot more about my destination than the ruler of Emeraldine.  She saw it."

"The Changeling Queen saw the Midnight Armory?" Fluttershy remarked.

Rainbow blinked.  "I... I don't know.  I'm sure her sister did."

"Oh, right.  What was her name again?  Churning?"

"Tchern."

"I meant to s-say that."

"There's a war waging on the far side as we speak, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said.  "A war that's been tearing the land around the Midnight Armory for eons."  She gulped.  "How could the Herald have any clue over what that's all about?"

"Well... their information was given to them by the ancient pegasi, yes?"

"Well, yeah.  But that was a crazy long time ago.  And from what Tchern described to me, the Trinary War began between the Sarosians, changelings, and Night Shard long after the alicorns landed.  So I doubt even the Herald have much info to go on..."

"Oh my goodness..."  Fluttershy suddenly blanched.

"What is it?"

"Just... something I thought about."  Fluttershy paled slightly.  "What... what if we discover some of that horrible... absolutely horrible living ooze on the dark side?"

Rainbow blinked.  "You mean the crud that attacked me and the Jury in Stratopolis?"

Fluttershy nodded, squeaking slightly.

Rainbow managed a soft smile.  "Just relax, Fluttershy.  If the ancient pegasi left that stuff on the Dark Side, I'm sure there'd be no surviving factions around to have a Trinary War to this day."

"Oh... good..."  Fluttershy exhaled.

"No, in fact, I'm sure whatever we find there will be way... waaaaay worse."

"Eugh..."  Fluttershy face-hoofed.  "...I don't know why I asked."

"Erm... my bad."  Rainbow squirmed in bed.  "I guess that's not of much help."

"Don't blame yourself, Rainbow."

"I'm not blaming... I'm just... guh..." With a grunt, Rainbow kicked the covers off and limped out of the bed.

Fluttershy looked over.  "You're not going back to bed?"

"Too antsy now," Rainbow muttered.  She winced as she adjusted the weight of her left wing in its bandages.  "Is it morning yet?"

"Uhm... no."

"Meh.  Think I'll go for a stroll anyways."

"It's going to be cold, Rainbow."

"Yeah?  What isn't in this friggin' place?"

"Well... good point, I suppose."

Rainbow was about three steps away from the door when she shuffled to a stop.  Her head tilted towards the slitted windows, catching a tiny glimpse of gently fluctuating light.  "What... is that freaky glow?"

"Oh, you haven't seen it yet?"

"Seen what?"

Fluttershy managed a smile.  "Go on and step outside."

"Erm... alright."  Rainbow Dash pulled the door open with a creak.  She squinted against a chilly mountain breeze... then squinted at something else entirely.  "Whoah..."  Her head tilted up, ruby eyes and pendant reflecting an undulating band of crimson light.   "...now that's pretty snazzy."
> Mares of a Feather, Flutter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The most poetic way to describe it was a rhumba of rattlesnakes aloft in the sky, swirling, curling, and undulating with loose bands of red, orange, and fuchsia light.  They pierced the clouds, scraping the stratosphere due north of the frozen peaks flanking the lofty sanctuary of Wyvern Point.

As a matter of fact, the tapering luminescent bands were so bright that the wooden palace scarcely needed torchlight.  Rainbow noticed in her peripheral vision that only half of the brazers were lit.  In place of their golden glow, the wooden rooftops and spires of the sanctuary structure were fluctuating with crimson hues.

Rainbow shuffled along the balconies, her body kissed by errant mountain breezes.  She gazed down into the valley—but found herself having to squint.  The icy snow reflected the red aurora with a shimmering sheen.  In fact, the valley was almost brighter than the sky.  Rainbow had no clue how the Snow-Bloods living outside the front entrance of the Wyvern managed to sustain such a mesmerizing light show.  And yet, the village lingered downhill, quiet, asleep, and peaceful.

"Isn't it absolutely spectacular?"  Fluttershy remarked.  "It started about two hours after sundown."

"It's... something else, alright," Rainbow managed with a nod.

"I almost went to wake up Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy said.  "But they're resting right now and I didn't want to be rude."

"It's probably just as well," Rainbow droned.  She came to a stop against a balcony and leaned against its wooden railing.  Her head craned harder, eyes scraping the living sky.  "Knowing Twilight... heh... the poor egghead would just beg for a scientific explanation and friggin' ruin it for everypony else."

"It's the skystone deposits," said a soft voice from behind.

"...?"  Both Rainbow and Fluttershy spun around, looking up.

The gray silhouette of a pegasus mare perched on the pointed edge of the rooftop above.  Ariel's raven black mane flowed against the fiery light show, and a playful smile wafted in and out of existence with each crimson strobe.  "We're positioned so far north that the enchanted materia's scarcely a sneeze away."

"No kidding?"  Rainbow pivoted to look north.  There—the majority of the undulating bands were most densely situated.  "Must be friggin' hard to fly around here if we're that close."

Ariel winked a blue eye.  "No trouble for this mare.  You can count on that."

"Heh..."  Rainbow did a mock curtsey.  "...I didn't mean to insult the token filly of the Job Squad."

"And I didn't mean to interrupt the Austraeoh's quaint conversation."

Rainbow squirmed.  "Uhm..."  She looked aside at Fluttershy.  "...about that—"

"Please."  Ariel leaned her head to the side from where she perched against the breeze.  "There's no reason to feel awkward."  She nodded.  "You were simply speaking with one of the spectral bands of the Spark."

"Huh..."  Fluttershy blinked.

"Is that..."  Rainbow winced.  "...really what the Herald's prophetic text call my friends?"

"Heeheehee..."  Ariel giggled.  She rolled her eyes and smirked.  "Yeah... it sounds super stiff and silly to me too.  That's what you get when you have a bunch of nerdy wyverns translate an ancient, dead language."  She stood up, spreading her wings.  "But, if you must know, yes... the old books speak of the Austraeoh's Eljunbyros... both corporeal and incorporeal."

"Well, nice to know that I have a lot less explaining to do," Rainbow said.

FWOOSH!  Ariel was suddenly standing behind Rainbow.  "If I may ask... what's their names?"

Rainbow spun around.  "Huh?"

"Your friends," Ariel said with a calm smile.  "The ones only you can see."

"Uhm..."  Rainbow glanced aside.  "I was just talking to one of them at the moment.  The rest are... resting."

"Even still."  Ariel stifled another giggle.  "I would love to know their names... if... that's not too much for a Heraldite to ask of the almighty Austraeoh."

Rainbow looked at Fluttershy.  Fluttershy smiled.  Rainbow looked back at Ariel with a smirk.  "Well... this right here is Fluttershy.  She's a super sweet... super cool pegasus with a talent for taking care of animals."

"How do you do, Miss Ariel?"  Fluttershy curtsied.  "I really like your mane."

Rainbow shrugged.  "She says that she really, really has to poop."

"Rainbow Dash!"  Fluttershy gasped, her cheeks puffing red with a pout.  "That is not what I said!"

"Heeheehee..."  Rainbow giggled raspily.  She rolled her eyes and winked at Ariel.  "Okay.  For real.  She says she likes your mane."

Ariel's muzzle opened.  "Awwww... that's stupidly sweet."

"That's Fluttershy."

"Ahem..."  Ariel pivoted to face the spectre's general direction.  "Greetings, Fluttershy.  It's a real pleasure to meet you.  Any friend of Austraeoh is a friend of mine."

"And the others—the ones who are... uh... 'sleeping' right now..."

"Yes?"

"They're called Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie."  Rainbow gulped.  "And... and the last one that Yaerfaerda has yet to cough up is Applejack.  Ahem."

Ariel raised an eyebrow.  "All mares?"

Fluttershy blinked.

Rainbow cocked her head aside as she looked at Ariel.  "How do you know one of those ponies isn't a handsome hunk of a stallion?"

Ariel gave a bored stare.  "'Pinkie Pie...?'"

"Heh... okay.  You got me.  All girls."

"Hmmm... as good as it gets."

"Heh... yeah."  Rainbow gulped.  "We... uh... all met in Ponyville, except for me and Fluttershy.  The two of us hung out in flight school."

"'Flight School?'"  Ariel leaned against the balcony with a grin.  "Is there really such a thing beyond the Blight?"

"Girl, in Equestria we have whole cities made of clouds floating in the sky!"  Rainbow smiled proudly.  "Cloudsdale is home to tens of thousands of pegasi alone."

"Wow..."

"And don't get me started on Las Pegasus... Stratosfillia... Pegasopolis."  Rainbow gulped dryly.  "Although... uh... the last one is just an ancient relic these days... a few freely floating fumes at best."

"Still, I had no idea so many pegasi permanently flocked together like that."  Ariel sighed.  "I knew that meeting the Austraeoh would mean I'd learn a thing or two about the Dark Side... but the rest of the world as well?"

"Heh... the stories I could tell."

"I bet."  Ariel nodded.  "I... I know we all had our opportunity to say it as a group, but it really... truly is an honor to finally meet you in person, Austraeoh."

"Were you seriously waiting your entire life for my arrival?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Of course!" Ariel said.  Her muscles flinched, and she glanced aside, ears drooping.  "Well..."

"...?"  Rainbow stared.

Ariel brushed her bangs back, smiling and avoiding Rainbow's gaze.  "There was a time when I didn't care at all about this... 'Austraeoh mumbo jumbo.'"

"Mumbo Jumbo?" Fluttershy blinked.

"How'd you hear about it, then?" Rainbow asked.

"My mother was a member of the Herald," Ariel said.  "Up until... a chance ambush by heavily armed Seven Seas privateers.  Then she was no longer a member of the Herald... or my mother for that matter."  She gulped.

Fluttershy bit her lip.

"I'm... uh... sorry to hear that."

"Don't be."  Ariel shrugged.  "I'm not.  My mother and I?  We aired our grievances years before she kicked the bucket.  She was a strong mare... the fastest and most badass pegasus around... besides me of course."

"Heh, sure."

"I'm proud of her."  She cleared her throat.  "I wasn't always, though.  For years, I could never understand her obsession with being One of the Seven."

"How long was she a member of the Herald?"

"All of her life.  Thus... all my life too."  Ariel exhaled heavily.  "She was such a strong mare... capable of doing so many things.  I just... could never understand why she sacrificed all of that for a seemingly suicidal pledge to ancient texts."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow squirmed.  "...one might wonder."

Ariel gave her a knowing glance.  "I thought she was foolish only because I knew she could have had it so much better.  A mare with those kinds of talents?  She could have owned a Barge if she really wanted to."

"That's... not exactly an enviable position."

"Heh... I know that now.  But I didn't when I was younger and stupider."  Ariel snorted.  "Eventually, I came around to see precisely what she was fighting for."

"What happened?"

"I was a mercenary for higher.  It... was a dangerous profession.  I think part of me chose it to get back at my mother.  But, while doing various jobs across Rohbredden, I learned pretty quick that... nothing is quite as it seems.  And Verlaxion?"  Ariel gravely shook her head.  "Not exactly the pristine goddess everypony claims that she is."

"Amen."

"Shortly after, Mom introduced me to her six partners—including the immortal Mortuana.  Well... mortal to a fault.."

"Right."

"And I could tell... I could just tell that these crazy 'Herald' guys and gals were up to something.  When my mother passed, they needed a new member to fill the missing spot among the Sacred Seven.  By then, I was... practically part of the family.  They offered me the position and—naturally—I took it in a heartbeat."

"Even though it's far less glamorous or promising than mercenary work?"

"Look... what stakes are bigger than the fate of this entire friggin' world?" Ariel remarked.  "If we don't look after the Austraeoh and her journey, then all is lost."

"Hmmmm..."  Fluttershy looked at Rainbow.  "What a remarkable story."

"Uhm..."  Rainbow glanced at the lower balconies of the sanctuary.  "Do the Sacred Seven switch seats often?"

"When you make a pledge to the Herald, you pledge for good," Ariel explained.  "Ponies, griffons, wyverns... creatures of all trots and feathers of life?  They've all filled the six slots constantly throughout the years.  Mortuana's been in the number one spot forever, of course.  She's the central thread that holds us all together."

"What about sirens?"  Rainbow Dash asked, leaning her head to the side.  "Can seaponies join?"

"Pffft.  What, you stupid?"  Ariel bore a stupid grin.  "Big Show's just a bunch of seaponies in a water-filled earth pony suit!"

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy giggled.

"Heeheehee..." Ariel finished chuckling.  "Yeah..."  She stared up into the fluctuating sky.  "I joined kinda late.  After the Mountain Matron, Kepler's the oldest."

"How old, exactly?"

"Not... sure, really.  He's made his mark in the archives of this sanctuary decades ago.  He knows the ancient texts inside and out.  None of us really know just how long wyverns live for.  None of us but the wyverns... and Mortuana too, I imagine."

"Right."

"Then Remna's the third most experienced of us.  She's lasted longer than the entire job squad... even trained half of us"

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me."

"She knew Wildcard before he became a member of the Herald," Ariel explained.  "Helped him recover from his injuries."

"Injuries?"

"Erm... I only know so much... Wildcard being Wildcard and all."  Ariel shrugged.  "But... from what Kepler says... Wildcard showed up at the sanctuary in pieces shortly before Flynn and Logan joined.  Poor guy had been through a lot... don't let his tough exterior fool you.  There was once a time when he was so bloodied and battered that you couldn't even recognize him."

"Awwwwwwww..."  Fluttershy sniffed.  "Now I want to hug him."

"Remna worked him back into fighting shape," Ariel said.  "And she wasn't soft about it either.  Whew boy... that griffon learned to be a badass again through a real trial by fire."

"Who gave him the prosthetic?"  Rainbow asked.  "Flynn?"

"Damn straight."  Ariel grinned.  "Built it for him... using the same tech as he channels into his and Big Show's steam packs."

"Bet that made Wildcard's day."

"Eh... kinda.  In truth, Wildcard... used to be a real hardass."

"Jee."  Rainbow smirked dryly.  "What a shocker."

"I'm serious!"  Ariel frowned.  "He was... like... Diet Remna.  But that was a long frickin' time ago.  He's loosened up a whole bunch ever since.  Now you can actually approach him without almost getting your eyes pecked out."

"Yeesh... what got him to change?"

"What else?"  Ariel smiled warmly.  "Bard happened."

"They've... known each other for a while?"

"Eh... long enough," Ariel said with a shrug.  "Bard ran raids with Flynn and Big Show in Central Rohbredden to drive pirates out of the mainland.  It was almost a coincidence that it turned out they all knew Wildcard as well.  Soon after I joined, the five of us became a group.  And during lulls in the responsibilities of the Herald, Remna and Kepler volunteered to watch over the western reaches while the rest of us contributed our talents to the safety of Rohbredden civilization."

"The five of you... the Job Squad plus Bard?"

"That's right."

"So... can I ask a friggin' obvious question?"

"You can try."

Rainbow squinted.  "Why isn't Bard one of the Herald?"

"Heh... it's not as if we haven't offered," Ariel said with a wave of the hoof.  "The dude's passed it off every time."

"Really?"  Rainbow exchanged glances with Fluttershy, then looked at the mare again.  "What for?"

Ariel squinted.  "You mean he hasn't told you?"

"Told us what?"

Silence.

"Erm... never mind..."  Ariel shrinked back.

"No.  Out with it."  Rainbow leaned forward.  "What's up with Bard."

"I... it..."  Ariel cleared her throat.  "I think it's best if the cowcolt to you himself someday."

"What's the big deal with—"

"It's Bard's choice," Ariel said, her voice taking on a briefly sharp tone.  "Years back, I made a promise to him.  So did the rest of the Squad.  His past is his own business... nopony else's."

"Oh."  Rainbow blinked.  "Okay."

"Please... don't take it the wrong way," Ariel said with a nervous grimace.  "You're the Austraeoh and all... but..."

"Hey."  Rainbow waved.  "Your word is your word.  I wouldn't want to step on anyone's fetlocks."

"Even still... I'm just... super surprised that Bard hasn't opened up more to you."  Ariel's blue eyes reflected the red sheen overhead.  "You three have been through so much in Rust and beyond.  From what Wildcard says, you single-hoofedly saved their lives more than once."

"Pffft..."  Rainbow shrugged.  "I only did the same that they would... do for me."  She winced at the end of that utterance.

Ariel marely stared at her.

"I... uh..."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "...I did a lot of things to... ruin our friendship."  She exhaled hard.  "Or at least I thought I did... until they came back for me in Braum."

Ariel smiled.  "They were doing things to help you from the shadows long before that."

"Yeah, and I get that now... but for a while there... I thought that I had messed things up for good.  Celestia knows it's what I deserved."

"Still, you managed pretty well on your own."

"Heh... barely..."

"Seriously!"  Ariel grinned proudly.  "You outran the Talon in a train!  The Talon... in a train!"

"Pffft..."  Rainbow Dash waved a hoof.  "Couldn't have done it without my friends there by my side.  Fluttershy and the rest, I mean."

"I know.  And that's precisely the point."  Ariel sighed through a smile.  "You really are the Austraeoh.  Nothing can stop you."

"Yeah, well, stuff has stopped the Austraeoh before."

"You seem to have managed just fine.  Chalk it up to Eljunbyro."

"No, I mean the Austraeohs before me," Rainbow said.  "Like Commander Hurricane.  She met her end in Stratopolis."

Ariel blinked wide.  "There have been... other Austraeohs beside you?"

"Uhm... kinda sorta?"  Rainbow shifted uncomfortably.  "Commander Hurricane lived her heroic life millennia ago.  Time and Urohringr have had... a lot of time to reload its gun, so to speak."

"Wow..."  Ariel stared off with numb awe.  "...that just blows my friggin' mind."  She gulped.  "I wonder what would have happened if Mortuana crossed paths with her instead."

"My life would be a lot more simpler."

"Yeah.  Boring too, I bet."

Rainbow chuckled.  "You said it, girl."

"Heeheehee..."

Rainbow ran a hoof over her buzzed head.  "You know... this whole 'Herald' thing isn't quite as freaky as I thought."

"Jee.  Thanks."

"I mean... from past experiences, I've sorta been prepared for the worst.  But you guys?  You and Kepler and Wildcard?  You're not half bad.  Bard too.  Even if he isn't... well... you know."

"Heheh... right..."

"Still, what I wouldn't do to learn more, y'know?"  Rainbow shrugged.  "About the texts... about the Sacred Seven..."

"About the Dark Side," Fluttershy said.

Rainbow pointed at her with a nod.  "Right.  About everything."  Rainbow looked at Ariel.  "I don't supposed you did a decent amount of reading in between all of the pirate butt-kicking?"

"Can't say that I have," Ariel said.  "Still..."  She bore a smile.  "...if you want some light shone on your journey, there is someone you can talk to."
> A Case of Cataclysmic Cosmology
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Ah!  And how wonderrfully joyous I am that you would come visit me with such deep-hearrted questions, Austrraeoh!"  Kepler said, gliding swiftly across the dusty library.  He slapped several windows, pivoting the wooden slats open to allow morning light to waft into the rustic room full of stacked books, scrolls, and tombes.  "I know it may look like a disastorrously disorrderrly assorrtment of literrary bric-a-brac, but I assure you, rrainbow one, that it is the grreatest rreserrvoirr of ancient inforrmation this side of the Blight!"

"Wow!"  Pinkie Pie blinked, floating through tables full of parchment.  "He sounds just as excited I am on Muffin Baking Day!"

"At least the kitchen at Sugarcube Corner had an element of cleanliness to it."  Rarity grimaced, her eyes reflecting dusty mountains of stacked books.  "Guh... goodness!  For such enlightened creatures, wyverns have the interior decorating skills of a moth!"  A blink.  "Or my sister."

"Ahem."  Rainbow Dash trotted across the wooden floor of the den.  She stood at a table beside a window.  "Well, I'm really thankful to have a word with someone in the know.  Ariel says you're a pretty knowledgeable guy, Kepler."

"Mmmm... such a fine maiden, that marre!  She compliments me farr too liberrally.  Just like herr motherr, gods rrest herr soul."  THUD!  He slapped a stack of books across the table, causing more dust to fly.  "But now's not the time to mourrn lost frriends!"  He adjusted his spectacles, bearing a sabre-toothed grin.  "What intellectual purrsuits would benefit the Austrraeoh on this prristine morrning?"

"Well, I hardly know where to begin!"  Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder.  "Say, Twilight... you're good at this kind of library work.  Where would you wanna start?"

"Duaaaaaaaaaaaaah..."  The unicorn twirled in a lavender blur, her sparkling eyes reflecting the mountains of text all around them.  "So... much... ancient information..."  Her eartips fluttered.  "Heeeeeeee..."

"Dang it, egghead," Rainbow grumbled.  "I could really use the help here."

"Buhhhhhhhhh..."  Twilight blinked.  "Huh?  Yes.  Ask him questions.  Questions are niiiiiice..."

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy giggled.

"Best that you take the initiative, darling," Rarity said with a smile.

"Yeah.  Sure.  Whatever."  Clearing her throat, Rainbow faced the wyvern directly.  "What do you guys not know about the Dark Side?"

"Now that's one way to narrow it down!" Pinkie said.

"Hmmmff..."  Twilight frowned.  "I could have asked a better question."

"When you're not book drunk!" Pinkie squeaked.

"Mmmmm..."  Kepler's scorpion tail curled as her stroked his furry chin.  "It is with sublime rregrret that I must admit that we know verry little of the developments that have unfolded overr the past few centurries.  This... Trrinarry Warr that you speak of..."

Rainbow cocked her head aside.  "Yeah?"

"It is a rremarrkably new development!  One that I would verry much like to discoverr forr myself when we rreach the Darrk Side."

Rainbow winced slightly.  "Let's take it easy, now."  She gulped.  "We won't be going to the Midnight Armory to sight-see."

"Hah Hah!  Well said, my prrismatic frriend!  Still, if I may add my own golden bits to the knowledgeable pile."  He waved a claw, gesturing.  "The Sarrosians have a prresence on the Darrk Side.  This much is known.  And alicorrn lorre supporrts this whole-hearrtedly!"

"Is Mortuana old enough to have been around when the army of Nightmare Moon made its pilgrimage past Bleak's Plummet?"

"Almost old enough!"  Kepler pointed.  "Herr fatherr, the grreat Onyxxus, documented much of it in the texts that he hoofed down to his royal daughterrs!  Many sarrosian trribes flocked Rrohbrredden's way about a millennia ago!"

"That was right after Luna was banished to the moon," Twilight remarked.

Kepler went on.  "Frrom what the harrmonic agents of Onyxxus documented, therre was a drramatic splinterring among the surrviving sarrosian exodus.  Not everry lunarr zealot—it would seem—actually desirred to go to the Darrk Side.  Therre was a brief skurrmish, something we wyverrns call the 'Twilight Warr.'  It ended with half of the sarrosians crrossing overr to the Darrk Side while the other half rremained at Bleak's Plummet.  The latterr's descendants arre the ones whom the Rrohbrreddenite xenophobes label as 'midnighterrs' to this day."

"Does he mean those same ruffians who mistreated Echo so terribly?" Rarity remarked.

Twilight nodded.  "Sounds like it."

"Oh..."  Fluttershy bit her lip.  "The poor stallion..."

"Hey Twi!"  Pinkie grinned.  "What's it like to have a war named after you?"

"Not now, Pinkie."

"Now..."  Kepler raised a claw, rummaging through scrolls as he thought aloud.  "...as for the changelings..."

"You ever heard of Queen Tchern?" Rainbow asked.

"Mmmm!"  Kepler nodded.  "Absolutely!  Morrtuana's family librrary maintains a rrich historry of alicorrn genealogy!  I doubt this is news to you, rrainbow one, but all changelings owe theirr existence to the corrrupted magic of a few trraitorrous alicorrns who hailed frrom the farr west!  Possibly even yourr homeland, I suspect!"

"Yeah..."  Rainbow nodded with a sigh.  "Princess Luna had a long talk with me about them."  She gulped.  "Chrysalis and Tchern were once alicorn siblings who were just as harmonic and peace-loving as the rest of their kin.  But... like... ages ago they camped out in the deep caverns of the Canterlot Mountains where... uhm... they siphoned powers from the crystals there that mutated them... or something."

"Ah!  But it's farr from a simple mutation, dearr pony!"  Kepler remarked.  "Morrtuana and many of herr closest family memberrs maintain the theorry that the siblings Tcherrn and Chrrysalis absorrbed chaos into theirr hearts which then inverrted the balance of harrmony that they once masterred.  At some point and onwarrds, the alicorrn siblings could only find peace through vampirric consumption of otherr ponies and theirr emotions.  The enerrgetic byprroduct of their feasting was wild and unprredictable, so they channeled it through a conjurration spell utilizing the essence of an ancient strain of insectoid crreaturres found dwelling deep within theirr mountain hovels!  This led to the evolution of the firrst changeling brreed, and they've been prrocrreating everr since!  Rrefining and biologically engineerring morre and morre complex ways of channeling corrrupt harrmonic enerrgies."

"How fascinating..."  Twilight Sparkle blinked.  "I wonder how Tchern and Chrysalis were able to harness chaos in the first place."

"How else?"  Pinkie Pie blinked.  "They lived deep in the mountains, did they?  Maybe they got it from the machine layer!"

"You can't just blame the machine layer for every instance of chaos, Pinkie," Rarity said... but ultimately blinked.  She flashed Twilight a look.  "Right?"

"Who... can know for sure?"  Twilight tapped her chin in thought.  "Divines like Verlax and Nevlamas have tried to make sense of Urohringr, only to go mad with power or magical corruption."  She gulped.  "The alicorns mostly died out.  Could it have just been old age?  Or is there something about this plane that's... siphoning life from everything that dwells on it?"

"Yeesh!"  Pinkie Pie grimaced.  "Does this whole world have bad juju or what?"

"Might explain Tchern and Chrysalis, at the very least," Rarity said.  "Maybe they first went deep into the mountains of Canterlot to try and solve this plane's predicament.  However, they eventually got misdirected... exposed to chaos... and then drunk with power?"

"Hmmm... possibly."

Rainbow digested this silently.  Her ears twitched as she turned to face Kepler again.  "What about the Night Shard?"  Her nostrils flared.  "Know anything about them?"

"Hrmmmm..."  Kepler shook his head.  "I am afrraid not, good frriend.  Of all the terrms you have presented the Herrald upon yourr arrrival, I must say that the 'Night Sharrd' is the most unfamiliarr.  Even Morrtuana's texts—voluminous and comprrehensive as they may be—do not mention a single worrd of such a mysterrious faction."

"Perhaps you should have asked Chrysalis more about them back in Val Roa," Fluttershy said.  She instantly blushed.  "Uhm... n-not that I would have thought of it myself if I talked to the big scary changeling queen."  A gulp.  "Pleasedon'thateme..."

"Chillax, Flutters."  Rainbow began pacing.  "So... we know that the Sarosians are on the dark side... or at least half of them... the ones so crazy desperate to protect Nightmare Moon's legacy that they'd flock to the most inhospitable place in existence."

"Aye.  But they should verry much be in theirr element overr therre," Kepler said with a slight smirk.  "Constant darrkness and cold temperraturres would be theirr grreatest allies."

"And Tchern is over there with her brood," Rainbow remarked.  "The fact that Chrysalis ditched her in the first place makes me think that the changelings... aren't exactly winning the Trinary War."

"If I may be so bold, rrainbow one..."  Kepler tilted his head aside.  "...should we prresume that any faction is winning the warr?"

Rainbow looked at him.  "Huh?"

"Well, we do of course speak of a conflict that has lasted centurries... eons!"  The wyvern waved his claws.  "Considerring that these elusive 'Night Sharrds' are parrt of the same apocalyptic battle, then one could suspect a monumental stalemate on at least thrree frronts!"

"He's got a point, Rainbow," Twilight said.  "Think about it.  A war with three factions... none of them willing to get along with the other two.  There are no deals made... no alliances."

"And when one faction makes headway against another..."  Rarity began.

"The third rolls in to kick the first faction's butt!" Pinkie finished.

Twilight nodded. "Allowing the weak army to recover from its setbacks and grow powerful once again.  A war like this could go on forever."

"Really, though?"  Fluttershy blinked.  "Forever?"

Kepler smiled at Rainbow.  "Arre you deliberrating with yourr invisible Eljunbyrro frriends?"

"Huh?"  Rainbow gave him a double-take.  "Erm..."  She fidgeted.  "Sorry for the silence."

"Ha hah!  Quite alrright, Austrraeoh!"

"For the most part I just... stand around and let them ramble with one another."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Well, mostly Twilight just rambles."

"Hey!"  Twilight pouted.

Pinkie giggled.

"So... like..."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "What if one of the factions of the Trinary War did win the conflict?"

"I beg yourr parrdon?"

"For real.  How would we know?"

"Hmmmm... I'd theorrize that Morrtuana and yourr matrriarrchal goddesses of the Sun and Moon would be the firrst to sense it."

"Huh?"  Rainbow blinked.  "How?"

"Because it would mean that the Harrmonic Prrism had fallen into the wrrong hooves."

"The Harmonic Prism?"  Rainbow blinked.  "You mean what's inside the Midnight Armory?"

"Indeed."

"You think the Sarosians, Changelings, and Night Shard are all fighting over that?"

"It would make the most sense!" Kepler exclaimed.  "It is, afterr all, the only thing of any value on the Darrk Side!"

"Really?"

"Any crreaturre stationed on the Darrk Side who gets ahold of the Harrmonic Prrism would hold powerr overr chaos and darrkness!  They would be verritable gods among theirr peerrs!  This violence would verry likely lead to the utterr corrruption of the Prrism.  Considerring it is the last purre vessel of alicorrn magic on this plane, it would leech frrom all of the harrmonic magic that had been placed herre by the otherrworrldly equine's blessings.  Eventually, the sun and moon would lose theirr lusterr.  Unicorrn magic would become sporradic and unprredictable.  Lastly, the likes of Morrtuana, Whitemane, Celestia, and Luna would perrish long beforre theirr time!"

"Oh..." Fluttershy winced.  "Oh my..."

"Well no wonder those factions are fighting so desperately over possession of the Midnight Armory and its contents!" Rarity exclaimed.  "Whoever controls the Dark Side would eventually wield power over this half of the plane!"

"I... doubt that any of them could actually control the Harmonic Prism," Twilight said.  "It was built by alicorns... for alicorns."

"Still, it would really really stink if they got their evil soul muck all over the thing!" Pinkie remarked.  She gulped.  "Wouldn't it?"

"But..."  Fluttershy looked at the others.  "...if Rainbow got to it first?"

"That seems to be what all of the powers of Austraeoh are trying to make happen," Twilight said.  "In a desperate attempt to reboot this dying world."

Rainbow muttered aloud:  "If I get to the Midnight Armory first, then it won't matter any longer who wins the Trinary War."  Her eyes darted towards Kepler.  "Because I'll be bearing the torch that powers the furnace at the heart of this world."

"No finerr job exists for the Sparrk," Kepler said with a proud smirk.  "Whateverr still enchants this ancient plane, it knows that the Harrmonic Prrism is the key... and the Austrraeoh the vessel."

"But... if after all this time the three factions of the Trinary War haven't gotten inside the Midnight Armory, then how do I know it's possible for me to find a way inside?"

"No doubt the powerrs of Urrohrringrr have grranted the Austrraeoh with the capability of bypassing the alicorrns' ancient defenses!"

"Like... how?"

Kepler shrugged.  "We can only assume that such will make itself manifest when you arrrive there.  The ancient texts supporrt this, and the Herrald can only do what we can to make surre you get therre in one piece!"

"Just what kind of challenges will the Midnight Armory present?  I mean... like..."  Rainbow brushed a hoof over her shaved head.  "...just how beefy and formidable are the security devices there?  I can't imagine the alicorns had a bunch of laser guns and buzz saws built into the stupid thing."

"Awwwww..."  Pinkie pouted.  "...that woulda been cool!"  She smiled at Fluttershy.  "'Legends of the Hidden Armory.'"

"No," Fluttershy said.

"The Midnight Arrmory is essentially a massive strructurre built out of harrmonic metals—allegedly ferrried over frrom the Harrmonic Plains by the alicorrns themselves.  It is highly rresistant to chaotic interrferrence.  Furrtherrmore, its entrrances and interriorrs are rreplete with warrds enchanted with spells to rresist discorrdant magics."

"So... it's like some... big anti-chaos mausoleum?"

"The Mountain Matrron's descrriptions arre somewhat vague, most likely because she's neverr set hoof inside the strructurre herrself," Kepler said.  "But, supposedly, any soul lucky enough to step thrrough the initial thrresshold shall find his or herr soul essence rrunning a gauntlet of highly concentrrated magic.  It is suggested that those unworrthy of passing thrrough will pay the prrice with theirr sanity."

"Why do I not find that very reassuring?" Fluttershy remarked.

"Well, I do!"  Twilight remarked.  "It means that even if a faction won—like the changelings—someone like Tchern wouldn't be able to just... waltz into the Armory and grab the Prism!"

"Not without some difficulty, at least," Rarity said.  "Remember, darling.  She was once an alicorn at some point in the past."

"Still, something tells me it's something the Austraeoh was built to do.  Not the leaders of these evil factions."

"I dunno, Twilight."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "I'm not sure I'm... game for a 'gauntlet of highly concentrated magic.'"

"What's wrong, Dashie?"  Pinkie smirked.  "You wanna back down from a challenge?"

"I don't mind putting my body through crazy stunts."  Rainbow gulped.  "But mental stuff?  That freaks me the buck out."

"Can't be worse than what Verlax is putting you through here," Fluttershy said.

"Hmmm... I suppose."  Rainbow looked at Kepler.  "You think the Midnight Armory would just... y'know... open up for the Austraeoh?"

"It's harrd to say," Kepler hummed.  "While it's evident that Urrohrringrr's enerrgies are choosing to channel themselves through the magics that the alicorrns have prrovided, the Midnight Armory still isn't parrt of the orriginal strructurre.  The Angels—afterr all—arre farr olderr than any marrk the alicorrns have made on this plane."

"Sometimes I wonder about these so-called 'Angels,'" Rarity remarked, folding her forelimbs.  "They don't appear to excel in the area of foresight."

"What can you tell me about the Angels, Kepler?" Rainbow asked.

"Ah!  Glad that you asked!"  Kepler grabbed a cluster of scrolls and unrolled them, grinning.  "This is something I can elaborrate on!  Even if only an inkling."

"Well, I'm all ears," Rainbow said.

"Yes."  Twilight leaned forward, eyes bright and voracious.  "We are."

Kepler adjusted his bifocals and ran a claw across a series of ancient runic text—some mysterious and a few familiar to Rainbow's mind.  "Frrom the oldest trranslations we have, it would seem to suggest that the firrst living, brreathing ponies of this rrealm found places to live across the side of the plane that the alicorrns would eventually illuminate."

"They chose the Light Side?"  Rainbow asked.  "Why?"

"Well, it wasn't the 'Light Side' yet, rrainbow one.  Much rratherr, the texts speak of the Angels' need to 'obserrve the strreak of starrs,' most likely to ascertain the location of the grreaterr strructurre of Urrohrringrr."

"Right!"  Twilight exhaled.  "Because if the Sundering occurred, then this plane must have floated free from the rest of the whole!"  She looked at Rainbow.  "The ancient pegasi were likely needing to set up observatory posts all across the plane to keep their bearings."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow nodded.  "But why choose this side?"

Kepler answered:  "Because this edge is concave."

"Huh?"  Rainbow glanced at him.

"The plane is not flat, Rrainbow Dash."  Kepler adjusted his bifocals.  "It is currved... concave on one side and convex on the otherr.  Surrely, in yourr eastwarrd trravels, you have noticed this."

"Er... yeah.  I guess."  Rainbow sniffed.  "But I've always sorta known that the horizon was... bent."  She blinked.  "Wait... so on the other side of the world—"

"—the horrizon bends inwarrd," Kepler said with a toothy smirk.  "Hah!  Most interresting, is it not?  If you looked strraight forrward, the sky would be mostly devourred by the furrthest edge of the plane.  By my estimation, if you faced 'east' on the Darrk Side, you would have to tilt yourr head over forrty degrrees upwarrd to see actual starrlight!"

"That's... freaky," Rainbow said.

"I guess the ancient pegasi would have gotten a better glimpse of the stars from this side," Fluttershy said.

"Right."  Twilight nodded.  "And it also explains why the alicorns chose to light the half that they picked."

"I dunno..."  Rainbow fidgeted in the middle of the old library.  "...attempting to light a convex side seems... harder?  I mean... if it was a matter of a challenge, then way to go Luna and Celestia."

"I'd venturre to guess that the alicorrns werre attempting to simulate a globe forr the morrtal rresidents of this plane," Kepler said.

Rainbow flashed him a look.  "A globe?"

"Mmmm.  Indeed."  Kepler smiled.  "Surrely Equestrrians have a basic grasp of astronomy."

"Uhhhhhh..."

"He's referring to stars and planetoids, Rainbow," Twilight Sparkle said.  "All observable bodies in space have a round, spheroid shape."

"You mean stars and moons and asteroids and stuff?"

"Precisely."  Twilight nodded.

"Then... why isn't our world a globe?" Rainbow rambled.

"Because we do not live on a naturral worrld!" Kepler remarked.  "That is the beauty of Urrohrringrr!  It was built!  The alicorrns knew this, though they did not know who built it orr forr what rreason.  They could only illuminate it in a manner most comparrable to all of the naturral rrealms that they had prreviously obserrved in theirr celestial trravels.  The cycle of day and night that we have all grrown to accept as norrmal is—in fact—a basic rrecrreation of a planetoid's naturral rrotation.  This is a cycle that most univerrsally speaks to the biological prrecepts of a morrtal's physiology."

"So... you're saying that all creatures were originally meant to live on round bodies in space?"

"Aye.  In fact, I do believe all crreaturres—save forr maybe the Alicorrns and the Divines—arre evolved from those who werre borrn and brred on such naturral habitats!"

"In accordance with natural law," Twilight thought aloud, "Gravity necessitates that the mass of objects are drawn to one another.  Stars and planets ultimately form round bodies because of this."

"But... then why isn't this plane completely round?" Rainbow remarked.  "It's super friggin' massive, isn't it?"

"Hmmm?"  Kepler leaned his head aside.

Rainbow sighed.  "Twilight is saying that... like... all big things should get 'round' at some point.  But... like... this plane is super huge and super old, but it's still mostly flat... if only a bit curved."

"Ah, she is most likely invoking the naturral laws of grravity!  Howeverr... and this is the beautiful parrt..."  Kepler winked.  "...this machine worrld is farr from naturral!"

"Huh?"

"Simply that whoeverr built it—the Angels or their peerrs—they harrnessed so much powerr over the eons that they werre able to crraft a device that could defy grravity."

"Defy gravity..."  Twilight bore a dumb smile.  "That... that explains it!"

Rainbow looked over.  "Explains what?"

Kepler interjected:  "If therre wasn't some sorrt of arrtificial powerr sourrce staving off grravity, then this plane—as we know it—would ultimately collapse into a compact spherre due to the laws of physics acting against it."

"So... what's keeping that from happening?"

Kepler shrugged.  "One can only guess.  Something at the corre of the machine."

"And isn't that core on the decline?" Rarity remarked.  "Both the divines and the alicorns have maintained that this whole plane is dying.  Imagine what would happen if the last spark of the inner flame went out?"

Rainbow gulped hard.  "If Austraeoh can't reboot this realm in time... it'll collapse, won't it?"

Kepler gravely nodded.  "Such an implosion would be a cataclysm of epic prroporrtion... forr both the light side and the darrk.  I verry much doubt that anything would surrvive such a catastrrophe... at least not forr long."

Rainbow shuddered.  "All the more reason for me to finish my journey in one piece."  She leaned against a window, sighing.  "As if the pressure wasn't intense already..."

"Aye, I suspect that yourr jourrney is prrecisely what this worrld needs to rrestorre itself," Kepler said.  "Barrring, of courrse, an imprrobable scenarrio in which the rrest of the Urrohrringrrs somehow find us firrst."

Twilight and Rarity did a double-take.

Pinkie's eyes floated apart.  "Buh...?"

"Wait..."  Rainbow leaned forward.  "Did... did you just say Urohringrs?"

Fluttershy gulped.  "I believe he did."

"As in..."  Rainbow's eyes twitched.  "...Urohringrs plural."

"Indeed."  Kepler blinked.  "Why, rrainbow one, what did you suspect?"

Rainbow merely gawked at him.

The wyvern raised an eyebrow.  With swift wings, he glided across the library, then returned with a large dusty book.  He unfolded its contents, flipped through pages of runes, then finally opened to a page where an ancient etching had been preserved.

"Herre... obserrve..."

He pivoted the book around so that Rainbow could see.  Several circles within circles were illustrated crudely upon one another.

"There... are several rings," Rainbow murmured.

Rarity gulped dryly.  "They get larger and larger..."

"The ancient texts suggest that the cylinderrs are multiplicitous," Kepler said with a proud smile.  "Each comprrised of twelve segments, joined togetherr to form a hollow tube of astrronomical prroporrtions.  Habitats dwell along both convex and concave sides, taking full advantage of the arrtificial rreal estate.  Ha hah!  Most genius, if you ask me."

"What..."  Rainbow pointed at faint squiggly lines between the solid rings.  "...are these supposed to represent?"

"We suspect an magical forrm of illumination.  Much like the sun and moon that the alicorrns have prrovided, but farr morre delicately manipulated.  It would appearr as though they dwelt in constant suspension between the habitats, prroviding warrmth and enerrgy for those who dwelt within each segment of the cylinderrs—facing or not facing."  Kepler pointed.  "Notice how the twelve segments of a parrticularr rring possess a completely differrent rrunic symbol?"

"Yeah...?"

"Accorrding to the texts, that is the segment's designation."

"Designation?"

"In perrtaining to the rresidents assigned to the habitat."

Rainbow blinked.  "Residents..."  She gulped.  "...you mean different creatures lived on different segments?"

"Aye.  Assigned by class, perrhaps... or maybe physiology or biological prredilection.  Those who lived on the Urrorhringrrs, afterr all, verry likely came frrom a completely rrandom assorrtment of planetarry orrigins.  Hah!"  The wyvern grinned wide, his spectacles glinting.  "One can only imagine what a rremarrkably heterogenous population of intelligent beings this must have led to."

"And... ponies?"

"Yourr prredecessorr's... everrypony's prredecessorr's... the Angels... the ancient pegasi..."  Kepler's pale nostrils flared.  "They all hailed frrom this singularr plane that brroke off frrom the rrest of theirr assigned rring, sunderred forreverr frrom the otherr eleven pieces."  He waved a claw.  "We believe that this rrealm was once one of the middle cylinderr pieces, judging from its size and the angle of its currve.  Whetherr it was assigned to the outerr edge of its rring or it hailed frrom somewherre else within the granderr strructurre—we cannot say—but we suspect that the sunderring was a very sudden, trraumatic thing."  He adjusted his bifocals.  "In fact, it likely happened so suddenly that those belonging to otherr habitats that werre currrently dwelling on the plane found themselves strranded... perrmanently separrated by theirr families who lived theirr own rrespective homes within the Urrorrhrringrrs."

"Stranded?"  Rainbow blinked.  "You... you mean non-ponies."

"Oh my goodness!  Rainbow!"  Twilight gasped, staring at her anchor.  "The deer of Val Roa.  The ancient caribou of Ledomare!"

"Griffons," Rarity exhaled, her muzzle agape.  "Diamond Dogs.  Naga.  Goblins.  Buffalo... even sirens and wyverns."

"Don't forget ursa majors and sea serpents," Fluttershy said.  "So many incredibly diverse creatures... all living inexplicably in the same place..."

"You mean they're all aliens?!" Pinkie Pie cackled.

"Pinkie Pie, we're all aliens," Twilight Sparkle said.  She gulped.  "If we're to glean anything from this information, it's that none of us actually belong to this plane... and yet here we all are."

"Because this was originally the habitat of pegasi?" Rarity remarked.

"Precisely."  Twilight nodded.  "And someone... somepony broke it off from the rest of their neighbors, bringing a few hapless passengers along for the trip.  And those who survived... well... their descendants still live with us today."

"And when the alicorns came," Fluttershy said, "They... must have identified with the equine residents of this plane."

"That or they recognized ponies' predilection towards harmony," Twilight said.  "They blessed us with their magic, and over the course of several thousand years—by their sun and moon—we evolved into different races and established a huge civilization."

"Holy moley!"  Pinkie exclaimed.  "And here I thought we were all stardust!  Turns out we're actually all stardust and pixie dust!"

Rainbow looked at Kepler again.  "Just... just where did everypony... erm..."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Where did everything come from?"

"The Angels neverr made that clearr in theirr wrriting," Kepler said.  "But I do not think the truth is too difficult to ascerrtain."

"Oh?"

"The univerrse is an old place... unbelievably old, Austrraeoh."  He smiled.  "So old and complex and vast that no single one of us can scarrcely grrasp the magnitude of it.  In all of those unnamed eons, civilizations rrose... civilizations fell.  Entirre societies—isolated by astrronomical distances frrom theirr nearrest neighborrs—likely collapsed in on themselves, snuffed out like tiny candles in a grreat black emptiness.  But a few civilizations—the luckierr childrren of the starrs—found each otherr... chose peace overr strrife... and set upon crreating the most elaborrate prroject everr conceived by intelligent minds—morrtal or immorrtal.  The Urrohrringrr's arre the rresult of this epically cooperrative venture, a testament to peace, prrosperrity, and harrmony."

Rainbow merely bit her lip, staring straight forward.

Kepler raised an eyebrow.  "This is no longerr fazing you?"

"I've... more or less heard this stuff postulated before," Rainbow muttered.  She gulped.  "During one of the times that Verlax's spirit lectured me."

Twilight and the other spectral mares shuddered.

"She... ascertained most of this, somehow," Rainbow remarked.  "During her chaotic dive into the celestial expanse in search of her sister, Endrax."

"Mmmmm... Verrlax... quite a wise Divine, all things considerred."  Kepler pointed.  "But infinite wisdom is a very venomous thing when not put in check.  That is one of the many rreasons why Mortuana has enforrced the mandate of the Sacred Seven.  Despite ourr good intentions, ourr wealth of knowledge could empowerr us to do many deleterrious things.  No doubt you have experrienced that yourrself."

"I have."  Rainbow nodded.  "The West Herald were self-righteous as all get out.  It's a dang good thing they pulled through for me in the end."

"Indeed."

"Is... is that what happened to the Angels, though?"  Rainbow remarked.  "Did... all of the power and prosperity that they enjoyed on the Urorhringrs get to their head?  I mean..."  She sighed, gazing anxiously out the window.  "What corrupted them in the first place?  What led them to make the Sundering happen?"

"Is that something you deterrmined on yourr own, rrainbow one?" Kepler said.  "Orr the worrds out of Verrlax's mutated muzzle?"

Rainbow glanced at him.  "Huh?"

"If she suspects that the Angels arre rresponsible, then perrhaps that is why she is attempting to temperr you into a Demon."  He smirked.  "The Divine of Frrost must suspect that the beginning and ending arre both mirrrored by the sparrk of Austrraeoh."

"Isn't it, though?"

"In a mannerr of speaking, yes.  But I fearr Verrlax puts farr too much emphasis on the flame and not on the torrch."

"Well... what do the ancient texts say about the Sundering and who caused it?"

"It's stated that this plane brroke off as 'matterr of necessity.'"

"Huh..."  Rainbow blinked, glancing aside at Twilight.

"But who it was necessarry forr is up to debate.  The pegasi werre definitely the ones rresponsible for this plane brreaking off.  But they werren't entirrely alone."

"Oh?"

"The rrunic trranslations speak of something that can best be descrribed as 'a new sparrk,' in that this... nebulously defined 'sparrk' existed long beforre therre was everr a Sunderring, and someone orr something attempted to intrroduce a substitute.  This... did not go well, and the rresulting chain rreaction led to this plane being detached frrom the rrest..."

"Like... to save the rest of Urrohrringrr?"

"One would hope, Rrainbow," Kepler said grimly.  "The opposite would not be verry forrtuitous... forr anyone..."

Rainbow Dash blanched at that.  "Kepler..."  She gulped.  "...what... what if the rest of the Urohringrs no longer exist?"

"Oh no..."  Fluttershy clasped a pair of hooves over her muzzle.  Rarity and Pinkie exchanged nervous glances.

Kepler took a deep breath.  "The surrvivorrs of the Sunderring—at least on this plane—filled theirr texts with this... intense desirre to find the rrest of the cylinderrs.  It is why they set up theirr settlements on the convex side of the plane, afterr all.  They werre in searrch of theirr lost neighborrs... like foals wishing to rreturrn back to its parrents.  Severral tomes arre dedicated extensively to starr charrts and astrronomical studies.  Forr the firrst few eons, this plane was adrrift, lost in darrkness, obscurred in a cloud of chaos that seemed to... follow it wherreverr it went.  It's a marrvel that any crreaturre surrvived the grreat emptiness, intelligent orr not.  It was severral ages beforre the alicorrns landed herre, afterr all.  Forr centurries—maybe even millennia—the childrren of the Sunderring werre alone... abandoned to the bleakness of theirr fate.  Despite the copious amount of rrecorrds they kept, theirr attempts werre larrgely in vain.  The starrs changed farr too much to be prroperrly trracked, and the rremnants of the Angels faded—much like the location of the otherr Urrohrringrr's they so arrdently sought.  These ponies dissolved into waywarrd trribes berreft of the knowledge that otherrwise would have linked them to theirr celestial orrigins."

"That's... so sad," Fluttershy muttered, sniffling.  "We're... we're all lost foals, in a way."

"An interresting fact that you may wish to meditate on."  Kepler pointed.  "The oldest trranslations suggest that, despite the misforrtune of the Sunderring, the 'trrue sparrk' was prreserrved among the Angels herre.  And it's suggested that the Urrohrringrrs—in being rrobbed of this flame—arre severrely lacking in prrosperrity."

"What's that supposed to mean?"  Rainbow Dash remarked.  "That... the other planes that make up the cylinders are needing Austraeoh just as much as this one?"

"Hmmm... or so it would seem that the ancient pegasi believed..."

"Yeesh..."  Rainbow sighed.  "...does it get anymore stressful?"

"I beg to differr."  Kepler tilted his hairy chin up.  "I do believe we arre living in the most exciting age that has everr occurred in the historry of everrything!  Ha hah!  Think of it, Rrainbow!  You and yourr jourrney is prrecisely what the collective cabal of this galaxy's collective intelligent civilizations has been waiting forr!  This is not so much a moment forr panic as it is for reejoicing!  Both intelectually and emotionally!"  He winked hard, smiling.  "I, forr one, am blessed to be a passengerr along forr the ride."

"Yeah, well..."  Rainbow winked back.  "...just be glad that you're not in the driver's seat."

"Naturally!  One cannot read the map while steering the flame!"

"Heh..."  Rainbow glanced out the window, squinting at the sun-lit lengths of the sanctuary.  "One could say the same about flying and holding the torch all at once."

"At least you can do one of those things, hmmm?"

Rainbow clenched her jaw tight.

"Therre is farr... farr more to illuminate you with, good frriend."  Kepler rested a claw on her good shoulder.  "But that can be sharred durring the voyage, yes?  Afterr all... we have much grround to coverr... both light and darrk!"

"Yeah..."  Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.  "...just... when do we head out, exactly?"

"To be perrfectly frrank, I'm surrprrised we haven't alrready."  Kepler blinked.  "I can only suspect that the mountain mattron has been summoning the strrength for the arrduous trek ahead."

"Just what has Mortuana been up to these past few hours anyway?"

"Hmmm... speaking with Rremna, I believe."

"Remna?"

"Aye.  The marre went into the mountain motherr's chamberrs overrnight.  They've been communicating quite intently with one anotherr as of late."

"What about?"

"I've not been inforrmed."  Kepler folded his limbs and leaned back.  "Remna, from what I suspect, has most rrecently recoverred from a terrrible affliction."

"What kind of affliction?"

"Overr a yearr ago, the bounty hunterr contrracted Ice Rust.  It's a most terrrible degenerrative disease that prreys upon the bones and muscles of an equine body.  As fate would have it, Rremna's been healed virrtually overrnight.  I suspect Mortuana lent herr a hoof."

"Did she really?"  Rainbow blinked.  "Huh... that must explain why she's down to one vial of her own blood."

"Hmmm?"  Kepler blinked with surprise.  "Her last vial?"

Rainbow flashed him a look.  "Didn't you know?  Mortuana told me when we met that she used her second-to-last container of enchanted blood... like... just a few weeks ago.  She's down to one now."

"My starrs..."  Kepler's mane turned paler.  "I was not awarre of this.  Still, it would make sense."

"I mean, I'm all for Wildcard's mentor surviving and stuff... even if she is kind of a jerk.  But..."  Rainbow squinted.  "...is she super important to Mortuana's cause or what?"

"Well, she is technically second-in-command within the Sacred Seven."

"Is that all there is to it?"

"Hahah!"  Kepler slapped Rainbow's shoulder.  "Dearr Austrraeoh, I can answerr many questions concerrning the cosmology of this wonderous plane of ourrs... but if you need to learrn the truths behind Rremna, I'm afrraid you arre on yourr own."

"Still, it begs the question."

"Does it now?  Then therre is only thing thing to do."

"Yeah?"

"Indeed."  Kepler adjusted his bifocals with a smirk.  "Ask Rremna."  He shuffled off with several tomes in his grasp.  "But do so beforre we set off on ourr most epic quest!  As harrd as it may be to believe, the bounty hunterr is even less talkative when she's on the move."

"Trust me," Rainbow muttered, trotting off with her marefriends in tow.  "I can believe it."
> Music Rasps the Savage Beast
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash slowly, pensively trotted across a wooden rampart of the lofty sanctuary.  She came to a stop, squinting down at one of the lower balconies of the wyverns' palace.  The mare craned her neck, ears twitching in the cold mountain winds.

"Hmmm?"  Pinkie Pie peered over Rainbow's stubbled scalp.  "What is it, Dashie?"

"Do you see something, Rainbow?" Twilight asked.

Her friends followed Rainbow's line of sight.  Down below, through a set of open windows, a pair of figures stood in the dim shadows of a serene meditation chamber.  A sliver of midday light caught graceful hooves lingering across from thick, muscular fetlocks.

"Anypony we should know?" Rarity asked.

"It's Remna and Mortuana," Fluttershy said.

"You sure of that?" Rarity asked.

"No, she's right."  Rainbow nodded.  "I could recognize Remna's fat hooves in my sleep at this point."  She swallowed.  "And Mortuana... seems like the type to stick to the shadows."

"What could they be meeting about?" Pinkie asked.

"Anything."  Rainbow's nostrils flared.  "Nothing.  How am I to tell?  So far, it seems that all things pertaining to Remna is a need-to-know basis where Austraeoh is concerned."

Pinkie looked at their anchor.  "You suppose it's true?"

"Mmmmm... what?"

"That Mortuana used her last blood capsule thingy on saving Remna from her disease?"

"Is that a bad thing?"  Fluttershy remarked.  "These 'Sacred Seven' very obviously care for one another.  Wouldn't we do the same for each other if a terrible affliction struck us?"

"Royal generosity notwithstanding..."  Rarity cleared her throat.  "...I think that what Pinkie Pie's getting at is that such blood samples would be priceless for the completion of our journey, and now Mortuana is narrowed down to just one."

"We can't blame her for that, though," Twilight said.  "It's not like the Austraeoh could have arrived here at Wyvern Point any sooner."

"I'm sure I could have if I tried harder," Rainbow muttered.

"Oh, Rainbow..."  Twilight sighed, giving the pegasus a weathered smile.  "Don't start beating yourself up again.  You're hardly in the opportune place for self-deprecation."

"Yeah!"  Pinkie grinned from ear to ear.  "These Heraldites practically worship you!"

"Except for Remna," Rainbow remarked, squinting down at the distant meeting taking place.  "To her, this whole 'Sacred Seven' thing is all business."

"A true bounty hunter to the core," Rarity droned.

"I've seen my fair share of bounty hunters throughout my travels," Rainbow said.  "They're  a great deal more open to friendliness and emotional expression than one might think."

"You mean like Bard and Wildcard?" Pinkie Pie remarked.

Rainbow gulped.  "Yeah.  Bard and Wildcard.  Those are who I meant."

Fluttershy blinked at her anchor.

"If what Kepler says is true, then Remna is the highest ranking mortal among the Herald," Twilight said.  "Perhaps Mortuana is giving her an extra special briefing.  We are due to start travelling east soon."

"Makes a great deal of sense," Rarity said with a slight shudder.  "If Mortuana is as far gone as she claims, then Remna will likely have to bear the alicorn's torch."

"It's... just so sad."  Fluttershy sniffled.  "The only alicorn we've met out here—and a sister to Whitemane, no less."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow gulped.  "Still can't get over that."

Fluttershy gazed melancholically at the others.  "Maybe... maybe if we can relinquish Verlax of her power before it's too late, Mortuana can still have a chance of enjoying a longer life?"

"I... don't think that's quite how the curse on her works, Fluttershy," Twilight said.

"Yeah."  Rainbow nodded.  "And Mortuana's made it clear that the only way to get past Verlax... is to end her... once and for all."  She swallowed a lump down her throat.  "Mortuana's very clearly prepared for the end of her journey.  We owe it to her to carry the torch past the edge of the world."

"Yes, but do we owe it to her enough that we must end Verlax as well?" Twilight Sparkle remarked.

Rainbow stared limply at the unicorn.  "What else would you have me do, Twilight?"

"I don't know.  Just... yes Mortuana seems to know Verlax in and out.  But it has been several eons since the two last met.  Maybe..."  Twilight shrugged.  "I don't know.  P-perhaps enough has changed to allow for a different option..."

"I don't like the idea any more than you do, Twilight," Rainbow said.  "But do you honestly think that Verlax is the kind of dragon who will change her ways after doing the same friggin' thing for millennia?"

"Uhm... but she's in 'pony form,' remember?" Pinkie blurted.  "Mortuana said so."

"Doesn't make a difference!" Rainbow growled, causing Pinkie to flinch.  "Not every bad guy can be saved and... redeemed like Princess Luna was."  She shuddered.  "I just... don't know if there can be another option here..."

"I just don't like how obsessed Mortuana is with death," Fluttershy said.

"You must admit, darling."  Rarity pointed.  "It's in her nature.  Just as Celestia is an alicorn of the Sun and Luna an alicorn of the Moon."

"Even still.  Our Princesses have shown that they're more than capable of transcending the framework that binds them."  Fluttershy turned to look at Rainbow Dash again.  "Mortuana has been obsessed with the same task at hoof for lifetimes."  She gulped.  "But can't the same thing be said of Verlax?"

Rainbow blinked at that.

"What are you suggesting, Fluttershy?" Twilight said.  "That Mortuana could be mistaken?"

"I'm just saying that the universe we live in is an incredibly complicated realm," Fluttershy added.  "Kepler's information only confirms this.  With so many factors at play... what makes Mortuana any more correct than Verlax when she insists that one and only one option is necessary for Austraeoh to finish her journey?"

"And free Applejack!"  Pinkie Pie remarked.  "Let's not forget that!"

"Believe me," Rainbow Dash muttered.  "I haven't."

"Rainbow, you know where the girls and I stand on desperate actions and desperate measures," Twilight said.  "But in Verlax's case—"

"What, Twilight?"  Rainbow flashed her a glare.  "What about 'Verlax's case?'  Does our 'Equestrian moral center' suddenly have a wobble to it that I don't know about?"

Twilight winced, ears folding back.  "I just..."  She avoided Rainbow's gaze.  "...I just think that, if Verlax has spent countless centuries setting up a horrible trap in the heart of Rohbredden... then what's to say that it isn't being made for her?"

Fluttershy and Rarity exchanged glances.

"A tragedy is a tragedy, no matter who suffers the most from it, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said.  "The only thing I know with certainty is that..."  She gulped hard.  "...getting to Bleak's Plummet and beyond is not going to be easy."  Her eyes twitched.  "Only difference now is that I realize... none of it is really my fault... at least not yet."

Twilight bit her lip.

There was a wooden creak of a doorframe below, followed by heavy, heavy hoofsteps.  Rainbow and her friends stared down from their lofty position.

Remna marched away from the meditation chamber.  With a neutral expression, she briskly passed brazier after brazier.

"Hey!"  Pinkie hissed, pointing to the left.  "Look!"

Rainbow followed her gesture.  She and the girls spotted Wildcard shuffling in from a long corridor.  Upon seeing his mentor, the griffon stood dead still, holding up a metal hoof.

Meanwhile, Remna...

...simply walked past him without saying a word.

Wildcard stood numbly in place.  Slowly, in a teetering motion, he turned to gaze after her.  His headcrest lowered, and soon the Desperado was lowering his metal hoof, staring at the distant bounty hunter with solemn confusion.  Adjusting his goggles, Wildcard exhaled, then resumed his walk to the meditation chamber to speak with the Mountain Matron.

"Now what was that all about?" Rarity murmured.

"She... didn't even look at him," Twilight breathed.

Rainbow frowned.  "What kind of a mentor is that?"

"A lousy one, I reckon," spoke a deep, male voice.

"...!"  Rainbow jumped in her skin.  She spun about, her pendant glinting in the sunlight.

Bard leaned against a side of the ramparts, glaring down at the last position where Remna had been spotted.  "A selfish soul with no sense of common courtesy.  Ain't got the time to check up on Dubya or so much as write the fella."  The stallion grunted, tilting the brow of his hat forward.  "Builds him up from ashes and feathers to be a killin' machine, but dun teach him a single smidgen about savin' lives... just takin' 'em."

Rainbow cleared her throat.  "I take it you're not a big fan of Remna."

"Hrmmmfff... is piss wet?"  Bard huffed, trotting lazily across the ramparts with his guitar case in tow.  "Well, maybe not so much around her.  One of these she's gonna catch on fire and I'll be the last stallion to put her out."

"Wow..."  Fluttershy blinked.  "...I didn't realize this 'Bard' character was so capable of hate."

"He's hated Rainbow Dash before!  That counts, right?"  Pinkie said.  Upon receiving several glaring faces, she rolled her eyes and sighed.  "Right.  Zipping up, Pinkie."

"Ahem..."  Rainbow trotted after Bard.  "Just what's so horrible about her?  I mean... aside from being horrible, I guess."

"She ain't got no heart, is what."

"Didn't she save Wildcard?"

"Pffft.  Barely.  Ain't much of a lease on life if yer immediately turned into a weapon."  Bard nodded into the mountain air.  "Yer better off thankin' Flynn and Big Show for shapin' Dubya into somethin' closely resemblin' a sane citizen of Rohbreden."

"And Bard as well, I would imagine," Twilight said.

"What about you, scruffy?" Rainbow translated with a smirk.

"Hmmmfff..."  Bard cracked his neck muscles and trotted on.  The furthest edge of his muzzle curved slightly.  "Guess you could say I'm the anchor that reins the badflank griffon in."

"From one anchor to another, I'll totally buy that," Rainbow said with a wink.

"You dun know the half of it," Bard grunted.  "When I first butted heads with Dubya-Cee, he was a regular destroyer of worlds.  Icy to the touch... especially the sharpest parts."

Rainbow squinted.  "The two of you fought when you first met?"

"In my defense, I landed a few good hits in."  Bard coughed.  "But... yeah... he took me to the woodshed."

"What stopped the handsome fellow from gutting Bard like a fish?" Rarity asked.

"Rares..."  Rainbow growled aside.

Bard twirled to face her.  "Just what are yer fillyfriends askin', darlin'?"

Rainbow cleared her throat.  "How come you... y'know... survived...?"

"Dubya saw somethin' in me that he had never met in an opponent since Remna salvaged him."

"And what was that?"

"Regret."

Rainbow blinked.

Bard turned around, staring into the mountains beyond the sanctuary.  "He and I had a lot in common.  He could see it in my eyes; all the tears were gone.  Must have seemed like a reflection, really.  Somethin' horrible had wrung the mirth clean out of both of us, and he stood to gain nothin' by extinguishin' my rotten life."  Bard cleared his throat.  "So... he gave his purpose in this world some mighty deep reevaluatin', then decided to stop clingin' to Remna's fat fetlocks."

"How did Remna react?"

"Who cares?" Bard grumbled.  "She went off to her own corner of the world to die... only she didn't.  And Dubya and I?  We combined our two rotten halves and made a somewhat useful whole.  I picked up the guitar again for the first time in years, and the chatty griffon found a way to be badflank and classy.  A difficult combination to manage.  Believe me.  I've tried."

"Is that when you and the other members of the Herald formed the Job Squad?"

"Round about, yeah."

"So... like... why didn't you join up with the Sacred Seven?"  Rainbow arched an eyebrow.  "Not a fan of Remna being on the team?"

Bard was dead silent.

Rainbow blinked, waiting for a response.

Eventually, Bard muttered:  "I understand that you've got a lotta questions on account of all this 'Austraeoh' nonsense."  He turned to squint at her.  "But I ain't no Kepler."

"Yeah...?"  Rainbow squinted back.  "That much is certain.  Would be pretty hard to sing with sabre teeth in the way."

"Hrmmmfff..."  Bard turned away.  "So yer a joker now?"

"I'm a mare that you can trust," Rainbow muttered.  She gulped.  "Or at least... I was once."

Bard said nothing.

"Bard, whatever it may be that you regret in life... please know that I've been there.  I really have.  You and Wildcard aren't the only souls to have stuff like that in common."

"Yeah, well..."  Bard sighed, resting a hoof on the edge of the ramparts.  "...some of us never leave regret behind, now do we?"

Rainbow's lips pursed.

But before she could respond to that...

...the sound of shouts and a deep bass growling fluttered past their ears.

"Uhhhhh..."  Pinkie shifted uncomfortably.

Bard's muzzle scrunched as he faced east.  "The Hell...?"

"You hear it to?"

"I'd be damned if the whole continent didn't hear it," the stallion grunted.

The two ponies leaned against the east edge of the sanctuary.  They peered past the ravine, eyeing a snowy plateau where several hairy figures surrounded a large dark shape leering about.

"What's up with those wyvern fellas?" Bard remarked.

"You asking me?"  Rainbow blanched.  "I'm totally new to this place."

"Girl, I ain't ever vacationed here myself.  I only know about as much as Dubya and the other Jobbers are willin' to tell me."

"Guess there's only one way to find out what's up."

Bard gave her a look.  "Is yer damned wing healed yet?"

Rainbow merely glared at him.

"Hrmmff... whatever."  Bard spread his wings out and offered a spot on his backside.  "Just dun poke me with yer pendant."

"Wow..."  Rainbow climbed onto his shoulders.  "...if I had a golden bit for every time I heard—"

"Hush, you."  Fwoooosh!





Flynn and Logan stood on the western edges of the snowy plateau, facing east.  Big Show leaned against his axe while Flynn constantly zoomed his mechanical eye in and out.  Both stallions' jaws hung low as they gawked and gawked.

"Alright... I give in, Flynnster," Logan grunted.  "What in shit's name are they doin' to the big lug?"

"What do I look like, an anthropologist?"  Flynn adjusted the steam pack on his flanks.  "My expertise is engineering... not zookeeping."

"Careful with the 'z' word," Logan belched.  "These friends of ours are practically cousins to the thing... I mean... aren't they?"

The air thundered with a loud hiss.  Within milliseconds, a bruised wyvern flew past them, crash-landing through a snowbank.  The other monks hollered and shouted at one another as the bass growls intensified.

"Not for long, they aren't," Flynn stammered.  "Should... should we intervene?"

"Nah.  I think these motherbuckers got it."  Logan turned to Flynn.  "It's almost noon!  You hungry?"

"Big Show..."  Flynn face-hoofed with a sigh.  "...I swear to Goddess..."

Fwoooosh!  Bard landed with Rainbow Dash clinging to him.  The two stood up, gaping at the scene.

"What in tarnation, guys?!" Bard wheezed.

"Seriously, Bard," Big Show droned.  "Isn't it a tad bit early for the 'tarnations?'  Save it for the journey eastward, ya one hit wonder."

"For real, y'all."  Bard pointed at the scene.  "I thought these folks were the peaceful kind.  Why are they gangin' up on that big one?"

"Look harder, Bard," Flynn said.  "You'll notice a great deal of anatomical differences."

"Rainbow, are you seeing this?" Twilight stammered.

"I am..."  Rainbow Dash stepped forward, squinting.  Her hooves crunched to a stop in the snow as she breathed misty vapors outward.  "And I don't get it."  She looked over her shoulder.  "Fluttershy?"

"Oh my goodness... oh my goodness..."  Fluttershy hovered in a nervous shoulder.  "He's so distressed!  The poor thing!"

"He looks positively ravenous to me!" Rarity exclaimed.  "He must be attacking the sanctuary!"

"This far out, though?" Pinkie remarked.

Before Rainbow and her friends, a lumbering manticore stood in the center of no less than two-dozen wyverns.  The hunched-and-hairy creatures closed in, wielding staves and poleaxes.  With ceremonial grunts and hisses, they forced the manticore to stay put.  The beast was not pleased about it—not one bit—and he swung razor-sharp claws at the gang, stabbing with his massive stinger, all the while growling and hissing up a storm.

The wyverns kept their distance, nevertheless putting the pressure on the beast, attempting to shove it back east towards the snowy wilderness beyond.

"Haaah!"

"Back!  Back!"

"Not herre and not now, Big Brrotherr!"

"Back to the whites wherre you belong, Big Brrotherr!"

Rainbow squinted.  "'Big Brother?'"

"Why do they keep callin' him that?" Bard remarked.

Swooooooosh!  Kepler suddenly landed from a smoothe glide.  "Because beneath his abrrasive exterriorr, he is simply a biggerr and morre confused verrsion of us!"

"You kidding?"  Rainbow waved a hoof.  "He's a manticore!"

"An astute obserrvation, Austrraeoh."  Kepler shuffled forward, adjusting his spectacles.  "Morre accurrately, he is ourr manticorre... and ourr rresponsibility by blood to deliverr back into the wilderrness!"

"You mean... you don't aim to hurt 'em?" Bard asked.

"Hah!  Gods, no!"  Kepler nevertheless cleared his throat, approaching the thick of the circling gang.  "Howeverr, in his furry and confusion, a Big Brrotherr will not hesitate to hurrt us.  Leave this to the Wyverrns.  We shall escorrt him verrily frrom Sanctuarry."

Swooosh!  Ariel flew in, hovering breathlessly above the scene.  "Rainbow Dash!  There you are!  When I saw you missing, I was worried that—"  She suddenly blinked at the wyverns encircling the large, hairy beast.  "Holy shit.  What the Hell's going on here?"

"The wyverns regularly deal with their next of kin, apparently," Flynn said.  "It would appear that they have things under control."

"Right.  Nothing to see."  Logan smirked.  "You can head back to your safe bedroom, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow retorted, "Not all of us are a lazy bag of bones, Josho—I mean Big Show... dang it."  Rainbow's eyes crossed and she face-hoofed.  "Already?  Eugh... might as well start keeping count, Pinkie."

"Okie Dokie Lokie!"  Pinkie grinned proudly.  A beat, and she blinked.  "Wait... keep count of what?"

"Back!"  Wyvern hollered, waving a claw at the growling manticore.  "The glorrious wilderrness waits forr your mighty rreturn, Big Brrother!"

"Grreat hunts, Big Brrotherr!" chanted the other wyverns.

"Singing starrs and whistling winds!"

"The valleys of Rrohbrredden arre your kingdom!  Leave the sanctuary to smaller siblings!"

Those few monks with feathered earrings signaled to one another and kept the pressure on.

"I see..."  Fluttershy breathed easier, managing a smile.  "They... they really aren't going to hurt the precious thing."

"Must you always call the most disagreeable of beasts 'precious,' darling?" Rarity squeaked.

"He's just grumpy and confused, Rarity.  Nothing more."  Fluttershy pointed.  "Seems as though the wyverns here understand that.  It's... comforting."

"Amazing," Twilight Sparkle cooed, her eyes glued to the scene.

"Mrmmfff..."  Rainbow muttered aside.  "If you say so, egghead.  After all, life's not so surprising after you've personally watched a Durandanan milk a flying manta ray."

"No, I mean... if what Kepler's explained to us is correct... then not a single one of these creatures before us is an actual native to this plane."  Twilight looked aside at Rainbow.  "Nor the griffons nor the windigoes..."

"Yeah... so?"

"Just... this ceremony of theirs is so ancient... so pristine... and yet Urohringr is still incalculably older than all of it!  How... incredible is it that so many unique cultures came to rest in the places where we now find them?"

"Hmmmm..."  Rainbow Dash exhaled through her nostrils.  "I guess you've got a point.  There is a certain degree of... awesomeness to it."

"If your journey does what's expected of Austraeoh, then... just think about it, Rainbow," Twilight spoke breathily.  "You're not only giving every civilization on this plane a new lease on existence... but you're reuniting all of us with our long lost neighbors of the past... and future."  She smiled wide.  "These wyverns... manticores... griffons... everyone—they'll actually have a chance to return home again."

"With all due respect, Twilight," Rarity said.  "They are already home."

Twilight nodded thoughtfully.  "I suppose you've got a valid point there."

"It's okay, Twi."  Pinkie winked.  "We're just as excited as you are."

"Let's wait until after we've freed Applejack before deciding when it's safe to be 'excited,'" Rainbow Dash muttered.

"Awwwwwww..."  Pinkie pouted.  "...since when were you such a party pooper, Dashie?"

Rainbow merely clenched her jaw.

Meanwhile, the manticore growled louder and louder.

"Yeesh..."  Logan frowned.  "Sure is taking them a friggin' long time to drive off their dirty uncle."

"Maybe..."  Ariel shrugged.  "...we should help them out a bit?"

"You heard that Kepler fella," Bard said.  "They've got this in the bag."

"Yes..."  Flynn stroked his chin in thought.  "...perhaps."  Nevertheless, he cleared his throat and spoke loudly:  "Are you certain you have a handle on this, Kepler?"

"Aye!  Frret not, pony frriends!"  Just as he said that, Kepler had to lean back from a swiped set of claws.  The air filled with gasps as he adjusted his bifocals.  "Zounds!  Big Brrotherr is parrticularrly stubborrn today!  I think this calls forr some bitterr salts."  Swiftly, he unsheathed a tall glass container from his bandolier and popped the cap loose.  "Ho!  Back, Big Brrotherr!"  He waved the vaporous concoction before the ravenous beast.  "The sanctuarry is a smelly place!  Hah!  Trrust me!  You will prreferr the wilderrness—"

With a loud snarl, the manticore spontaneously bounded forward, headbutting Kepler in the chest.

Wham!

"Oh no!"  Fluttershy yelped.

"Ooomf!"  Kepler slid back several feet.

The other wyverns dove in with their staves.

Enraged, the manticore swung its tail around in a high arc, knocking the monks collectively back.  Bodies flew, falling to the snowy field with sporadic grunts.

"Grrrnnngh!"  Kepler sat up, squinting in the absence of his bifocals.  "What brrassh misforrtune!"  He fumbled for his lenses.  "Would a dearr brrotherr kindly assist me in gaining my eyes back?"

The manticore howled, then dragged its paw across the snow.

"Rainbow, look!"  Rarity pointed.  "You remember what that means?"

Pinkie squealed, her back bristling against her control.  "It's chargiii-iii-iiing!"

"Oh no!"  Twilight gasped.  "Kepler!"

Th-Th-Th-Thud!  The manticore bounded through the snow, making a murderous beeline for the collapsed and blinded Heraldite.

"Rainbow!"  Fluttershy shrieked.  "There's only one thing that can calm a wild beast—"

Fwooosh!  Rainbow galloped straight towards the scene.

Bard gasped.  "Rainbow!  What are you—"

"Somepony stop her!" Ariel yelped.

It was too late.  Rainbow met the manticore head on.  She planted her rear hooves between it and Kepler, then reared up with a hoof outstretched.  She took a deep, deep breath and...

...hummed a slow-tempo chorus.

More confused than anything, the manticore lurched to a stop.  Its muscular girth stopped just inches from Rainbow's muzzle.

Powdery snow littered Rainbow's body.  Nevertheless, she stood her ground, holding a hoof out towards the manticore and continuing to hum loudly.  Her voice cracked between each raspy breath as she struggled to maintain a melody.

At last, Kepler found his spectacles.  He took one look at the event unfolding before him and fell back with a frightful gasp.  "Grreat galloping grrapefrruits!"

The manticore's bloodshot eyes darted towards the wyvern.  It hissed, lurching forward.

"For Angels' sake, Kepler!" Flynn hollered.  "Don't move!"

"Aye, brrotherr's!"  Kepler waved at the other monks to hold their ground.  "Stay back!"

"Shhhh!"  Ariel insisted.

Once Kepler was silent, Rainbow's humming dominated the air once again.

The manticore growled, snorted, and pivoted its angry maw towards her yet again.

The wyverns all looked at one another, holding their staves in trembling claws.

Vapors poured out of Rainbow's mouth and nostrils as she hummed and hummed.  Her eyes twitched as she stared at the gaping maw of the monster in front of her.

"That... that tune..."  Rarity murmured.

Pinkie blinked.  "Is Dashie humming what I think she's humming?"

"Probably the first thing she thought of," Twilight said.  Clearing her throat, she hovered closer to their anchor, muttering:  "Just like that, Rainbow.  Keep humming.  You're starting to calm him down."

Rainbow did her best to keep from trembling.  She locked eyes with the beast, knowing that one tiny falter would invite instant impalement or decapitation, courtesy of the manticore's fangs.  Despite her versatile lungs, her voice was starting to spread thin.

Suddenly, guitar cords lit the air.

The manticore snorted, his bat-like ears perking up even higher.

Rainbow's eyes glanced aside.

Bard calmly strolled in, his gaze similarly locked on the beast.  He cradled his guitar and plucked away, matching the tune of Rainbow's humming with his feathertips.

"Reckon you've got some lyrics to go with that tune of yers, Rainbow?"

"I... I forgot 'em," Rainbow whispered.

"Well, now might be a dayum good time to unforget 'em," Bard insisted.  "If not you, then one of them invisible other-you's."

Rainbow gulped.  She glanced aside.  "Fluttershy?"

"Just repeat after me, Rainbow."

Rainbow nod-nod-nodded.

Clearing her throat, Fluttershy filled the air with honey'd words:  "'Hush now, quiet now.  It's time to lay your sleepy head...'"

Rainbow opened her muzzle wide and did her raspy best to follow Fluttershy's harmonic example:  "Hush now, quiet n-now, it's time to lay your sl-sleepy head."

Pinkie and Rarity clung to one another.  They and Twilight watched intently as Fluttershy and Rainbow sang to the beast.

"Hush now, quiet now.  It's time to go to b-bed..."

The manticore blinked rapidly.  Slowly, it lowered its paws, leaning back in the snow with a curious swish of its tail.

"I think it's workin'," Bard whispered.

Rainbow slowly lowered her hoof, singing more calmly:  "Drifting off to sleep.  Exciting day behind you.  Drifting off to sleep.  Let the joy of dream land find you."

Tired eyes hung low on the manticore's face.  It teetered slightly, its fangs disappearing into its relaxed maw.

"Huh..."  Kepler grinned wide as he watched from behind Rainbow and Bard.  "...how delightfully currious..."

Then, from behind the group:  "Austraeoh!"

The manticore jolted.

Loud hoofsteps broke the scene, forcing Flynn and Logan to twirl about, gawking.

"Awwwwwww snap," Flynn muttered.

Bard did his best to strum the guitar peacefully, all the while turning his head around to glare.  "The Hell...?"

Remna galloped up, breathless and furious.  "What's the meaning of this?!  Why is Rainbow out here?"

"How'd you get all the way up here—?" Ariel murmured.

"Answer me!" Remna snarled.

"A completely innocent coincidence," Kepler said, waving a claw.  "I assurre you."

"Yeah..."  Bard growled out the edge of his muzzle.  "And you ain't helpin', neither—"

"And you are putting the Austraeoh in unnecessary danger!"  Remna marched up, frowning.  "Rainbow Dash... step away from the manticore this instant."

"Yo..."  Rainbow managed an unmelodious whisper or two.  "...I've got this.  I'm helping these bro's out—"

A deep, rising growl issued from the manticore's throat.

"Your only business is in helping Urohringr out!"  Remna clasped Rainbow's shoulder.  "Yaerfaerda's waiting.  Do you wish to perish in between here and your destination?"

"Remna, there's a time and a place for bossin' around..."  Bard's notes grew more and more discordant.

The manticore's growl had evolved into a full-on hiss.  It raised its paw once again.

"Watch it!"  Ariel pointed.

"Whoah, therre, Brrotherr!"  Kepler stretched his claw out.

"This is a waste of time."  Remna reached to her satchel and pulled out a crossbolt.  "If you must eliminate the threat... then eliminate it."  She notched a bolt.

"Whoah damn—!" Logan blurted.

"Are ya plum crazy?!" Bard sneered.

"Yo, back off!"  Rainbow grumbled, sweating profusely.  "We can handle the manticore."

"You'll handle nothing once it's dead."  Remna aimed.  "Now step aside."

The wyverns gasped.

"No!"  Kepler winced.  "Rremna, I implorre you—"

It was too late.  She fired the shot straight at the manticore's throat.  Thwffft!

Fluttershy covered her eyes.

Swissssssh—Clank!  A metal talon caught the projectile in mid-air.

Remna blinked, lowering her crossbolt.

"... ... ..."  Wildcard hovered in place, glaring at her.  Crack!  He snapped the bolt in two with a fist.  Then—without removing his gaze—he reached into his bandolier and pulled out his harmonica.  Finally, his goggles pivoted in Bard's direction.

Taking a deep breath, Bard smirked and resumed his guitar strumming.

Bard joined in, adding a harmonic backdrop.

Pinkie Pie swiftly tapped Fluttershy's shoulders.  Trembling, the mare looked up, blinked, then resumed quoting the lyrics.

Soon enough, Rainbow Dash was singing once again, with Bard and Wildcard providing instrumentals.

"Hush now.  Quiet now.  It's time to lay your sleepy head.  Hush now.  Quiet now.  It's time to go to bed."

The manticore lowered is claws.  Once more, it breathed calmly, teetering slightly.

Kepler smiled.  He whistled to his brethren.

Flynn, Ariel, and Big Show watched in awe as the wyverns all gathered around the beast, waving their staves and polearms closer and closer.  The beast provided no resistance this time.  Ushered off by a gentle chorus, the manticore turned tail and lurched off for the snowy plains east of the plateau.

"Drifting off to sleep.  Exciting day behind you.  Drifting off to sleep.  Let the joy of dream land find you..."

Once the manticore was a significant distance away, the wyverns all raised their staves and collectively whooped, hollered, and whistled.

"So long, Big Brrotherr!"

"God speed to you, Big Brrotherr!"

"May you hunt and feast well!"

The monks with feathered earrings bowed to their knees and gestured delicately towards the horizon.

One by one, the sanctuary monks took off, gliding back west to mind the ramparts of their mountain palace.

Rainbow and Bard slumped to the snow, catching their breaths.  Wildcard pocketed away his harmonica.  He patted each pegasus on the shoulder, then strolled through the collective Job Squad.

... ... ...he passed by Remna icily... without stopping to make a single gesture.

"... ... ..."  The violet bounty hunter stood dead still, her crossbow hanging by her side.  At last, the mare cleared her deep throat, then tilted her head up.  "Well..."  Hard green eyes narrowed.  "It's a good thing I taught him masterful dexterity."

Silence.

"Of course you know you're full of shit, right?" Logan droned.

Ariel and Flynn snorted, trying not to chuckle.

Remna frowned.  At last, she huffed, eyes rolling as she trudged off through the thick snow.

Ariel was hovering above Rainbow Dash in a blink.  "So... uh..."  She winked.  "...who knew you were such a crooner, huh?"

Rainbow coughed, then gripped her throat as she rasped:  "Been a long time since I had a proper shower for it..."

"Mmmmm... we oughta fix that, huh?"  Fwooosh! Ariel was gone in a black streak.  In her place, Kepler stepped up.

"Well, rrainbow one..."  He adjusted his spectacles with a smile.  "...now morre than everr, I do believe you have prroven to us that the Austrraeoh is rready forr the jourrney."

"Dude, I was born ready."  Rainbow smirked.  "But... like... gimme a few hours of shuteye so I can be born again later."  And she slumped onto the snowy ground with a grunt.

> In Mead Halls Like Bookends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"I hear you were most instrumental in assisting the monks with a manticore incursion," Mortuana said.  She sat across a forest of dimly flickering candles, leaning her bony figure over a desk as she wrote across an unrolled scroll by hoof.  "That is most fortunate."

"Yeah, well..."  Rainbow Dash paced past the night-shrouded windows of the dusty study.  "...no thanks to Remna."  The mare frowned, ears twitching.  "If she had her way, the manticore would have died—by her hoof, no less."

"An efficient solution," Mortuana said.

Rainbow turned to gawk at her.  "Are you friggin' serious?"

The alicorn slowly pivoted to squint back at Rainbow with dull eyes.  "Notice I said 'efficient,' not there best.  There is a difference."

Rainbow gulped.  "Verlax doesn't seem to have that figured out."

"That Divine functions by a one-track mind," Mortuana said, returning to her written words.  "She and Remna have much in common."

"Yeah."  Rainbow grumbled.  "They're both bloodthirsty morons."

"Hmmmmm..."  Mortuana exhaled.

"'Hmmmm' what?"  Rainbow blinked.

"Nothing to be concerned with, I assure you," Mortuana eventually said.  She swallowed.  "Simply the frailty of a slowly dying mind... and body"

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but wince.  Shuffling slowly towards the decrepit mare, she murmured:  "Just what are you writing, anyway?"

"A final record," Mortuana calmly explained.  "A conclusion to my long... long tenure here as the Mountain Matron of Wyvern Point."

"Why... do you make that sound so somber?"

"Only because it is, I suspect."  Mortuana paused to cough, took a deep breath, then continued writing.  "Tomorrow morning, the Herald sets out for the Starkiss.  I will be departing as well."  Her nostrils flared.  "It is not a trip that I shall return from."

"You know, I've been thinking about that..."

"I imagine you have."

"For real... why do you have to be so fatalistic about all of this?"  Rainbow pointed with a frown.  "And don't say it's your 'alicorn essence' or whatcrap."

"Then you have me at a disadvantage, Austraeoh."

"What's with this plane?!"  Rainbow Dash waved her forelimbs incredulously.  "Why is every super old dragon or pony so Tartarus-bent on extinguishing?!  Even Luna's dark as all get-out, and I can already bet that Celestia has her own somber streak as well!"

"It's the double-edged sword of enlightenment, my little pony," Mortuana said.  "When the entire universe is illuminated, you become aware of every shadow."

"You're cool and all, Morty..."  Rainbow bore a tired smile as she leaned against a stack of books.  "...but even you can't know anything.  Same with Verlax.  Heck..."  Rainbow shrugged.  "Why can't you be more like Whitemane?  She's got insane gaps in her comprehension, and yet she fills 'em all with joy and optimism."

"I..."  Mortuana's jaws clenched slightly.  "...am not my sister."

"Look, it doesn't take an immortal mind to tell that you hold some kind of grudge against her.  What, were you ticked off that Onyxxus—your starry-eyed dad—found a new mate?"

"It matters little," Mortuana muttered.  "Whitemane and I said our good-byes centuries ago.  Verlax's curse only solidified a wedge that was already there... something far deeper and darker than the Plains of Magical Drought."

"Do..."  Rainbow cocked her head to the side.  "...do you hate Whitemane?"

Mortuana slowly shook her head.  "Duty has always necessitated the divide between us.  Even when we visited the Harmonic Bulwarks along the edge of the world, we meditated separately."

"That's... kinda sad."

"I once came to believe that—in the absence of love—one cannot recognize the texture of sorrow."

"And now?"

"I've long ceased to think so selflessly," Mortuana said.  "My entire life's work has been devoted towards ascertaining what it takes to assure that the denizens of this world survive the coming twilight... and enjoy a future where they reunite harmoniously with the rest of Urohringr."

"Well, that's pretty noble."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "But it's also an obsession."

"So is a singular trip in one cardinal direction."

"Heh... yeah... I'll give you that."  Rainbow brushed a hoof over her shaved head.  "Go figure... you... me... Verlax?"  She gulped.  "Three separate parties who only know how to do things in one direction... and we're about to meet up in one spot."

Mortuana nodded while writing.  "A very accurate analogy, if I ever heard one."

"But in the ultimate game of 'chicken,' who flinches first?"  Rainbow's ears drooped.  "And who's the winner and loser after it happens?"

"I'm afraid that you have actually managed to lose me, Austraeoh."

"Just think about it."  Rainbow Dash waved a hoof.  "Verlax's testing me.  You're resisting her.  I'm flying towards Yaerfaerda."  She narrowed her eyes.  "All three of us are doing precisely what all the others expect.  Is... anything actually going to come out of that?  Or anything profitable for this world, for that matter?"

"I have every faith that the Herald's strength and fortitude will surpass whatever trap Verlax has in store."

"And that's the sort of attitude that Khao had... no offence."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "And you know what?  Khao was never a positive contributor until she switched gears... shook the system up, y'know?  I'd be Nevlamas food today if it wasn't for her."

"Are you suggesting that we alter a plan that has been set in motion for hundreds of years?"  Mortuana tilted her emaciated features aside, staring at Rianbow.  "You cannot make the voyage to the Dark Side—much less the Midnight Armory—without touching the final fire of Yaerfaerda.  It waits for you at Verlax's throne, deep within Starkiss.  The only way to complete the spark is to cross paths with her."

"Yeah, and I get that," Rainbow grumbled.  "But... you seem pretty set on what I have to do to get the flame.  Verlax seems to expect it as well.  Heck, from what I've seen, Remna would do it herself if she had the chance."

"It is not her place."

"It's mine, right?"  Rainbow raised an eyebrow.  "If I'm the Austraeoh and I'm so friggin' important, then can't I be the one to make the decision when the time comes?"

"Of course."

Rainbow blinked.

Mortuana continued:  "But with the consequences of this entire plane stacked up against you and the Herald, I doubt you can make any choice but one very easily."

Rainbow sighed, face-hoofing.  "Can't... can't this journey go better than you're making it out to be?  Can't we find a way to get you un-cursed?  Or... or to make Verlax see the light?"

"Verlax has seen the light," Mortuana said.  "All things considered."

"Then what makes either of you so different from the other?"

The alicorn looked at Rainbow squarely.  "Verlax's shadows sink in the other direction.  They encompass, rather than frame.  I fear she does not give enough credit to the incalculable sorrow over Endrax's unknown fate that ultimately dominates her cold-hearted decisions."

"Heh... no wonder you're so big on not obsessing over your sister."

"I've decided to leave affection for the mortals who will live on in my stead," Mortuana said.  "This includes the Herald... and yourself."

"You... expect members of the Herald to survive this journey?"

"The strong ones, perhaps."

Rainbow gulped hard.  "Will... I survive this journey?"  She gritted her teeth.  "Is Austraeoh—... is it the Spark's duty to die out in the end?"

"As it suits."

"Uhhhh..."  Rainbow fidgeted.  "Which question was that an answer to?"

Mortuana said nothing.  She merely returned to her writing with a calm, quiet breath.

Rainbow sighed heavily.  "Friggin' immortals..."  She rubbed her temple, leaning against books.  "I swear... if I ever actually run into Sturke, that dragon had better give up monologues for bungie jumping."

"If I were you, I would dwell on one side of the plane at a time," Mortuana said.  "There are many obstacles to cross between here and the Throne of Verlax."

"No kidding..."

"I would venture to say some rest is in order."  Mortuana cleared her throat.  "The Sacred Seven—most of them, at least—are congregated in the wyverns' mead hall."

"Oh yeah?"

Mortuana nodded.  "It might benefit you to join them."

"Yeah.  It just might."  Rainbow Dash gulped.  "Why don't you come with me?"

Mortuana slowly shook her head.

"Why not?"  Rainbow pointed.  "Is that darn letter so important?"

"It's not a letter so much as a lasting imprint," Mortuana said.  "I would very much like the future generations who grace this temple to know of the mission of hope that was assembled here."

"Well, that sounds spiffy enough..."

"Besides, I do not socialize with the mortal members of the Sacred Seven," Mortuana continued.  "To impress any more upon them so will only invite distraction in the coming days of travel."

"But it's A-Okay to have secret meetings with Remna, huh?"  Rainbow folded her forelimbs with a slight glare.  "That cold shoulder of hers must have quite a chip on it by now."

Mortuana inhaled.  "You disapprove of my choice to use enchanted blood in restoring the mare."

"Uhhhh..."  Rainbow squirmed.  "I didn't..."  She coughed.  "I didn't say that."

"But it is what you feel at heart."

Rainbow winced.  She hung her head.  "I... I know she saved my life and all, but... I've been through enough crap and seen enough sights to know that saving a life isn't enough on its own.  If... if you don't strive to live better after that... then what's the point?"  She shrugged.  "It's the same for the rescuer as it is for the rescuee.  Take that as... testimony from somepony who's saved a lot of lives... for better or for worth."

"I do take heed of it," Mortuana said, finishing the last stroke of the pen and signing her ornate name.  "And in time, Remna will as well."

"You really believe that?"

"I have to."

"Why?"

Mortuana slowly pivoted around.  "Imprints..."  She held the scroll up.  "We all have one to leave.  Including Remna.  She may not realize how ardent her desire for this is... but you can help her discover it... especially when Urohringr needs it the most."

"Uhhhh..."  Rainbow Dash shrugged.  "I figured—as a member of the Herald—it was Remna's mission to help me."

"Odrsjot works both ways," Mortuana explained.  "There will come a time, Rainbow, when even the most disagreeable of allies will not only carry the torch... but be a flicker within the flame.  Have faith in Wildcard's mentor.  She will not let you down.  Of this, I am absolutely sure."

Rainbow sighed.  "If you say so, Morty."

"Indeed, I do."  Mortuana gazed emotionlessly at the scroll in her grasp.  "Several lifetimes of sayings... a mountain palace built on words.  But no longer.  Tomorrow..."  She stood up from the desk, shuddering slightly as her decrepit bones ached.  "...I live... I live a little longer to do instead of speak."  Exhaling, she trotted across the dusty study to her bed.  "Be proud, Austraeoh, that you are capable of doing both... and masterfully.  That's why you are the spark, and so-called immortals such as I are merely the watchers."





A rickety wooden mug slid across a long table, resting to a stop in front of Ariel's scrunching muzzle.

"Uhhhhhh..."  The mare squinted at her reflection in the bubbling froth of the beverage.  "...I'm glad for your hospitality, Kepler.  Really, I am... but just what in the buck is this?"

"What's it matter, pussy lips?!"  Logan grinned wide, cradling another mug as it slid to a stop in front of him.  "A hearty drink's a hearty drink!  Now bottom's up, girl!"  That said, the thick stallion chugged away at the quaff.  Milliseconds later, his brown eyes bulged, and he doubled over, coughing and wheezing several octaves.

"Whoahhh... easy there, partner!"  Bard chuckled from where he sat next to Wildcard.

"Dammit, Big Show."  Flynn rolled one eye.  "Were you born an insipid farttard or what?"

"Gnkkkkt!"  Big Show hissed, clutching his throat.  "My uvula... is m-making love to a cactus...!"

"Ha hah!"  Kepler grinned as he filled another mug from a large barrel's tap.  "As well as you should feel the burrn, my swift-to-swallow frriend!"  He cradled two mugs and shuffled on his wing-claws, crossing the distance of a grand torchlit hall overlooking the starlight ravine beyond an open balcony.  "Forr this is Wyverrn Firre Mead!  The hearrtiest of the hearrty!"

"You sly devil, Kepler."  Ariel smirked.  "Who knew that—beneath their humble demeanor—wyvern monks are the most conniving brewers of Rohbredden moonshine."

"They damn well should!"  Flynn grinned, sniffing his mug.  "They've got the mother of all mountains for it!"

"And the matrons of all mountain mothers," Bard added with a wink.

"Pfft..." Ariel rolled her ocean blues.  "Friggin' poet."

"How..."  Logan sputtered, twitched.  "...how do you even down this liquid lava sh-shit?"

"By not being you," Flynn grunted, examining the brew with his mechanical eye.  "Give it a try sometime."

Wildcard gestured briskly.

Bard tilted his hat back and translated:  "He says 'the key is to take tiny sips and savor the drink over time.'"

A metal talon faced out, and Wildcard added a few more signals.

"Pffft!"  Bard chuckled.  "And if you think it burns now, Big Show, wait until yer pissin' the lava out, ya lughead."

"Grrrrrrr..."  Logan frowned while Flynn had a good laugh.

"Wildcarrd is not wrrong!"  Kepler cleared his throat.  "About the patient arrt of drrinking Firre Mead, that is."  He adjusted his spectacles with a smirk.  "Aside from a grradual intake that is most frriendly to one's bowels, the brrew encourrages all merrry parrtakerrs to take even brreaths and sharre theirr thoughts and feelings so as to best digest the spicy mix!"

"Hey..."  Ariel smiled.  "That's pretty cool, actually."

"Bah!"  Kepler winked.  "Arre we trruly such mysterrious crreaturres, madame Arriel?  I assurre you, my brrotherrs and I rrelish meditation in all forrms and facets."

"And farts," Bard mused.

"Hmmmm... to smell is only naturral... to make scent divine."  Smiling, the wyvern slid a mug directly across from him.  "Herre, Austrraeoh.  Do let us see what happens when a sparrk meets sparrk!"

Rainbow Dash stared down at the mug of sloshing liquid in front of her.  She gulped, then glanced aside at her marefriends.  Rarity shrugged while Twilight winced nervously.

"Well?"  Ariel smirked.  "You game?  Or are you going to embarrass the Herald by being a total soft-hoof."

"Heheheh..." Flynn took a tiny sip, and his light brown ears instantly turned red.  "Spastic sprockets, that's something else!"

"Erm... thanks, guys, but..."  Rainbow fidgeted in her seat.  Off to the edge of her peripheral vision, she noticed a faint streak of orange light.  "...I don't suppose you have anything a bit smoother... tangier?"

"Tangier?"  Bard made a face.  "Like what?"

"Cider?" Fluttershy remarked, eyebrow raised.

Rainbow gripped the table's edge.  "Mmmmm... cider?"

"Mmmmmmmmmciderrrrrr," Pinkie Pie cooed.

"I'm afrraid not, rrainbow one," Kepler said, shaking his head.  "But we shall not forrce you to consume something that you do not wish to."

"It's... not that I wanna be a stick in the mud or nothing," Rainbow said.  "I just... prefer drinks that don't make me feel like I'm burning alive inside."

"Come on.  Try it, Rainbow," Bard said with a casual wave.  "Maybe it'll be an eye-openin' experience."

"Besides, it's only fitting," Flynn said, breathing heavily between words as he fanned his smiling face.  "A little bit of discomfort can be tantalizing."

"Especially considering the fact that we're headed for something even less gentle on the horizon," Ariel said, nevertheless smirking.  "Some challenges are more invigorating than others."

"Yeah..."  Logan stood up straight, finally breathing calmly.  "A real snazzy exercise.  Hmmmf."

"You done forr the evening, larrge frriend?" Kepler asked.

"You dense, ya friggin' bat-bug?"  Logan slid his empty mug over.  "Fill 'er again!"

"Hah hah!"  Kepler hobbled back to the tap.  "Now that's the spirrit."

Rainbow merely sighed.

"Dashie... get with it," Pinkie tried nudging her, only for her pink hoof to phase through.  "You're pooping up the mountain herald party!"

"Something the matter, darlin'?" Bard asked.

"See!"  Pinkie cackled.

"He... seems to be getting friendly all of the sudden," Rarity remarked.

Twilight smiled.  "Once a Desperado, always a Desperado."

"Yes, Rainbow.  Talk to us," Ariel said.  "You know you can."

"I... I don't mean to be such a downer," Rainbow muttered.  "It's just... mmm..."  Her shoulders bunched inward as she shrank where she sat, staring straight into the table-top.  "...the last time I sat a dinner table like this... surrounded by so many cool friends..."  She gulped.  "...it was at the tail-end of something very... very special to me."

"Oh Rainbow..."  Twilight murmured sympathetically.

"You've come a long way and you've crossed paths with many ponies," Flynn said.  "But rest assured, we are through this thing with you to the end."

"That's... exactly what I'm freaked out about," Rainbow said.  Her ruby eyes lifted, glinting in the torchlight along with her pendant.  "Do you guys really have to... to commit like this?  I mean... you know me... you know the obstacles I've crossed and..."  She gulped.  "...and the ones I've yet to encounter."

"Rainbow, I want you to look at me," Ariel said.

Rainbow did so.

The other mare's eyes narrowed.  "Every soul in this room wouldn't be here tonight if they did not have absolute faith in the merit of this journey that's ahead of them."

"Including Remna?" Pinkie asked.

"Darling, please," Rarity gently shushed her.

Ariel went on.  "Nobody here is any longer a daughter."

"Or a son," Flynn said.

"Hrmmff..."  Logan stared off suddenly.  "...or a husband... coltfriend... stud."

"Aye..."  Kepler marched back, sliding the big stallion a drink.  "No otherr lives do we possess that arre so prrecious that we would not sacrrifice them in an instant."  He sat down and calmly folded his wing-claws, his voice tender and straight.  "Especially forr an underrtaking so glorrious and noble, Austrraeoh."

Wildcard gestured.

Flynn translated:  "'It is not about throwing our lives away.  It's about getting the job done.'"

Ariel bore a gentle, proud smile.  "And there's no job that's too scary or big for the Job Squad."

"Buck yeah!" Logan belched, taking a tiny sip of his brew and weathering the fiery backlash.  "Rrrrrgh!  Raiders for life!"

"Heheh..."  Flynn nudged him, smirking.  "Spoken like a true pirate frigate.  Full anchor too."

"Choke on my axe."  Logan sipped again.

Rainbow Dash looked across the table until her eyes wafted over a cowboy hat.  "And what of you, Bard?"

Bard snapped out of staring at a fixed point in the tabletop.  "Hmmm?  Little 'ol me?"  He blinked once, twice, then slapped a hoof on the griffon's shoulder beside him.  "Where this chatterbox goes, I go."

Wildcard smirked, swinging his metal talon left and right.

"He said it."  Bard winked.  "Once a Desperado, always a Desperado... and ain't no gettin' off this train we're on!"

The two bumped metal fist to hoof.

Rainbow sighed, smiling helplessly.

"Rainbow..."

She looked at Ariel.

"This one dinner you had... with old friends."  Ariel asked:  "Was it a happy memory?"

Rainbow gulped.  Her eyes misted slightly.  "The happiest."

"Then I think your life could use some bookends."  Ariel smirked.  "It's too awesome to deserve any less."  She stood up and raised her mug.  Clearing her throat, she squinted at Rainbow.  "Well... a name, please?"

"Hmmm?"

"Every posse of friends has a name."

"Heh..."  Rainbow sighed, her ears drooping and her cheeks turning rosy.  "...the Noble Jury."

Ariel lifted her muzzle to the ceiling.  "To the Noble Jury!"

"And the Job Squad!" Flynn raised his mug.

Bard and Wildcard stood up.  "To the Desperadoes!"

Logan nearly fell out of his cheer.  "Here's to everypony shutting up so we can drink already!"

Chuckles filled the room.  The group took tiny, daring sips.  They exhaled hotly into the torches, laughing and breathing heavier.

Rainbow looked at her ghostly companions.  As she braved a sip of her own, the ponies giggled and raised invisible "mugs" to the festive air of the hall.

The spicy brew made drinking a bold exercise at best.  The group filled the gaps in between with tales of old, full of close scrapes and battles against dimwitted two dimensional thugs.  Logan made boasts while Flynn cut him down.  Kepler laughed while Bard lazily strummed his guitar.  At some point, Ariel swam circles in the air while dramatically retelling a bounty her mother had once pursued.

Rainbow Dash sat... and she listened... and she smiled.  At one point she noticed—or imagined—a scant shadow of a violet figure lingering beyond the nearest doorframe.  The color was gone before a second flicker of torchlight, but Rainbow didn't bother to look twice.  Somewhere between Logan's slurring anecdotes, Fluttershy's gasps, and Pinkie Pie's giggles...

...she relaxed, and shifted calmly into place like a little blue book on its shelf.





The next morning...

"Dammit, Big Show!" Flynn grumbled, squeezing into his steam-pack with a shake of his flank.  "Will you lose the damn flasks?!  My tech is barely strong enough to lift your fat ass—much less an entire brewery!"

"Nuts to you!"  Logan spat.  He stood with the rest of the Herald on the snowy banks east of the sanctuary.  While Bard, Wildcard, and the rest sheathed their weapons, the stallion fumbled to attach the sloshing cannisters to his belts and bandolier.  "I swear!  If I drink this stuff just as much as water, I'll be in the position to friggin' melt any damned windigoes by just looking at them!"

"Big Show, I know you made yourself look like an idiot by taking that first swig last night."  Ariel flew blurring black loops above the group.  "But you don't have to overcompensate.  Jeez."

Bard struggled to follow Ariel's movements with his eyes.  "Antsy, much, darlin'?"

"Just want to friggin' go already!  Come on!  What's the delay?"

"Ariel, have a little heart," Flynn said.  Strapping the belts of his pack together, he pointed behind them.  "This is harder for some of us than it is for ever."

"Only hard thing around here are your skulls," Remna muttered, marching past them.  "Signal me when everyone is finished with their melodrama."

Ariel rolled her eyes, then pivoted to look across the snowbanks.

Kepler marched to a stop, drawing a miniature chariot full of supplies, provisions, and oodles of ancient manuscripts—covered in runes.  "Ahhhh... how I will miss this crrisp, crrystalline smell."  No tear was to be seen as he smiled at the bright blue sky above the mountains.  Then, with a steady breath, he pivoted about to face several long-faced wyverns perched all across the rocky bluffs behind him.  "Brrotherrs.  Wherre I go, I shall not rreturrn... save forr in the same almighty spirrit that bound us all togetherr frrom birrth."  He beat a claw over his furry, matted chest.  "May the gods sharre theirr glorry and honorr with you in my stead.  A wyverrn's soul is one that rresonates with wisdom, and yourr hearrts arre the most harrmonious of all."

They all bowed low.

"Godspeed to you, brrotherr."

"May you unite the cirrcles beyond."

"Ourr spirrits shall follow you, into everry sky... down everry abyss."

As they finished bowing, one bore a soft smile.  "If you stayed any longerr, we might have called you 'big brrotherr' as well."

"Ha hah!"  Kepler smiled wide.  "It is a good thing that I am leaving, then!  I fearr I lack the stingerr for that!"

"And the teeth, brrotherr!"

"Aye!  Quite rright!"  Kepler nodded one last time.  "Trreat ourr larrge siblings with rrespect, and Rrohbrredden shall rremain peaceful.  That is a..."  His eyes drifted up.  "...prromise."

"Brrotherr?"

Kepler cleared his throat.  "Silence now."  He bowed low.  "The Mountain Matrron apprroaches."

Gasps filled the air.

The Heraldites turned to see two figures trotting up from the lower sanctuary.

Snow-Bloods parted wide, forming a straight path.  One by one, the mountain villagers bowed low before Mortuana.

The alicorn marched as evenly and proudly as she could muster.  Pale gray bandages dangled breezily from where they hung in a loose spiral around her decaying horn.  With narrow limbs, she trudged through the snow, coiling her bony wings to her side.

Rainbow Dash shuffled closely behind, clad in warm winter leathers beneath her satchels.  She and her close friends gazed blankly at the many-many bodies bowing before the reclusive matriarch's gait.

At one point, Mortuana shuffled to a stop.  Her eyes met Remna's.  A few seconds later—after a deep breath—Mortuana spoke loudly... albeit raspily to those assembled.

"I have left my final words here in the sanctuary.  However, it is only fitting that I bless you with my wisdom, however fading."  She reached a trembling hoof up, touching a solitary vial of dark blood that hung from a silver chain around her neck.  "Do not dread the end; it only completes us."  She stared ahead.  "We go to complete that which has begun... so that we may begin again."

The monks and Snow-Bloods remained still in silent reverance.

Mortuana inhaled, wobbling slightly.  She mustered the strength to address the gathered team.  "Herald..."

Wildcard raised his talon first.  Schliiink!  A metal panel opened, exposing a rainbow rune.

Flynn, Ariel, and Logan raised their hoof-bands.

Bard and Rainbow watched as Kepler and Remna added to the gesture.

At last, Mortuana raised a frail limb, adding to the glowing prismatic radiance all around.  Then—once she had lowered her hoof—she exhaled with a jolt.  "Let us go."

"Right."  Ariel nodded, looking over at Rainbow.  "Austraeoh—"

"I shall take point."  Remna marched briskly forward.  "Protect the spark."

"Aye, Remna," Kepler said with a nod.  "We shall."

Flynn and Big Show exchanged glances.  They rolled their eyes, smirked, and marched after Remna.

Ariel zipped overhead, covering the skies.  Meanwhile, Bard and Wildcard closed in on either side of Rainbow, giving her a reassuring look.

Rainbow nodded.  Soon, she trotted along with them and Mortuana, with Kepler taking up the rear with his cart.

In such a steady fashion, the nine figures set off across the flat white plains east of Wyvern Point... and into the massive ridge marking the west edge of Frost Plateau beyond.

The monks and snow-bloods watched longingly.  Then, with a melancholic stupor, they turned about and walked back to their humble lives...

...all save for one figure.

A single snow-blood stood in the shadow of a rock cropping.  She stared eastward as a brisk wind blew at her cloak.  Once the Herald and their anchor was merely a series of dots along the horizon, she exhaled vapors... and a pair of ice-blue eyeslits pulsed before dimming once more beneath her hood.





Somewhere...

Far away...

Deep in the frosted bowels of an ice-filled cavern...

Something stirred...

And then something else...

A pair of blue eyeslits glowed to life... then a second... then a fourth... a tenth... a thirty-ninth... a hundredth...

Vapors billowed every which way as frosted metal limbs shook and crackled to life.

And from the deeper depths—starting at first as a low whine—the cavernous air filled with a veritable chorus of hellish banshee shrieks.  The temperature dropped violently, and everything turned white with the galloping of ethereal frozen hooves.

Everywhere.
> This Is My Mother's House
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Frostknife's harbor echoed with noise and bedlam.

Along the walkways, earth ponies galloped.  Through the air, pegasi and griffons glided swiftly.  Even in the cold waters far below, schools of seaponies swam in multicolored waves towards the steep bluffs of the jagged inlet's northernmost point.

Above all of this, a lone griffon flapped his wings, weaving in and out of dense air traffic.  Raptr panted for breath, slipping on his helmet in mid-flight.  His armor jostled as he hurried towards the upper lengths of the frozen bluffs.  Walkways converged on the lofty position of the Court of Verlaxion, and every square inch was covered in workers, traders, politicians, secretaries—countless citizens all clambering to catch a single glimpse of the scene transpiring just beyond the lotus trees and cold doorways to the chamber.

A wall of armored guardians formed a living chain.  Together they staunchly held back the sea of loud, curious, angry Rohbreddenites.  Raptr flew up to the barrier, showed his badge, and was allowed past with a nod and a salute.

Within seconds, he was surrounded by noise and commotion.  The Council of Verlaxion were in full attendance—and then some.  Every single seat of the Court was filled, and various delegates even stood on the sidelines, occupying the edges of the frosted courtyard.

Raptr blinked.  A familiar voice echoed against his helmet, and he gasped.

"Commander...?"

Squinting from where he hovered, the Sergeant caught sight of two figures standing in the middle of the court before Hymmnos' podium—with hundreds upon hundreds of eyes plastered on them.

Raptr's hawkeyes twitched.  Before he could produce another confused thought—

"Sergeant."  It was Windburst.

Raptr glanced down.  He took a full five seconds before locating the other guardian within the crowd.  On gently gliding wings, the young rookie touched down, joining Windburst in the Court's sidelines.

"What in Verlaxion's name is going on?!"  Raptr stammered.  "I was checking on Longaze's cell when I heard about an impromptu session."

"Never mind that crazy horse," Windburst droned.  He nodded his helmet towards the center of the court.  "We've caught ourselves an Ace."

"My goddess..."  Raptr wheezed, wincing.  "Is... is that Brye Chandler?"

"Mmmhmmm."  Windburst gravely nodded, hawkeyes glaring.  "Seraphimus personally carried his rich flank all the way from the shoreline."

"No way.  Did... did she have permission from the Council?"

"Nope."  Windburst shook his head.  "Arrested him without warrant."

"But... she'd need probable cause."

"Didn't stop the Council from meeting per her arrival."

"When did she get here?"

"Two hours ago.  She's been grilling Chandler before the Council ever since."

"Windigoes on fire..."  Raptr gulped.  "You... you think the Commander knows what she's doing?"

"Yes."  Windburst nodded.  "But I don't know if she has much more to bank on than her own trustworthiness."

"That's... not very reassuring," Raptr said.  He caught a glint of metal out the corner of his eye and looked aside.  "...you have your crossbow drawn?"

"Mmmhmmm."

Raptr clenched his beak tight.  "May I ask why?"

"This place is like a pressure cooker," Windburst droned.  He gazed up at the rows and rows of filled seats.  Above the ampitheatrical layers, tanks bubbled, full of anxious sea ponies communicating with one another via telepathic strobes.  "All it takes is one shove and this place could go off like a powder keg."

"Yeah, no kidding."

"In a situation such as this, it's the highest priority that we protect the Grand Magistrate's life at all costs."

"Right.  Got it."  Raptr nodded.  "Shhhh... please.  I wanna hear what case the Commander's making..."

As both guardians of the Talon listened in, Seraphimus paced between Hymmnos' podium and a thoroughly windblown Chandler.

"...it was then that the mare known as Longaze—who now resides within the deepest hold of the Frozen Shelves to be tried for her crimes in Braum—related to me the details of her tasks in Ivory Prefecture and abroad."  Seraphimus scuffled to a stop on the cold stone courtyard.  Her glaring eyes swam across the gawking Council.  "Beyond her clerical responsibilities to Brye Chandler, Longaze was personally tasked with chasing down the Rainbow Rogue and bringing her before the Council in the name of the Shoreline Trade Consortium.  It was Chandler's desire to claim responsibility for the capture of the creature from beyond the Blight, in hopes that it would advance his political gains.  To this effect, he gave Longaze full authorization to utilize any and all resources of the Shoreline Trade Consortium, along with the express permission from the corporate executive to operate outside the boundaries of the law.  I believe this was the impetus Longaze needed to torture citizens of Braum in Steamfall and threaten even more ponies with her unwarranted attack on the local village."

The crowd broke into stronger gasps and murmurs.

Magistrate Vilcheez fiddled with a diamond necklace from where she sat along the crowded steps.  Her lips hung open in anxious thought.

Chandler merely rolled his eyes, positioning his weight from where he stood in shackles behind the Commander.

Seraphimus continued, her booming voice echoing off the cold white statues flanking the steps to Verlaxion's Throne:  "When the Consortium representatives of Steamfall were approached about the crisis at Braum, they denied any culpability.  And yet, the tortured citizens missing from Sarda's village were discovered in the Consortium's very own warehouse, bound against their will.  All survivors testified Longaze as being the one responsible for their maltreatment.  When confronted about this, the employees of Steamfall ultimately acknowledged the presence of Longaze at their facility just hours prior to the attack on the neighboring village of Braum.  However, when questioned about Longaze's purpose in Steamfall to begin with, they claimed ignorance."

Vilcheez suddenly blurted:  "For heaven's sake..."  The mare flung a hoof, frowning.  "The Right Talon of Verlaxion interrupted a Month of Thawing Communion for this?!  All of this evidence is circumstantial at best!"

"Yes!"  Another magistrate stood up, barking:  "Where is the physical evidence to support Chandler's agency in these crimes?!"

"Sounds to us as though his employee acted alone—"

Hymmnos slammed her gavel, frowning.  "Will the Magistrates of the Prefectures please exercise patience and restraint?!"  She pointed beyond the podium.  "There will come a time for cross-examining the case, with full consideration of the facts involved.  However, for the time being, Commander Seraphimus has to complete her presentation."

The air filled with dull muttering.

Taking a deep breath, Hymmnos looked at the griffon.  "Commander, please... for the sake of the Council and my sanity... tell me that you have more for us to go on."

Seraphimus nodded.  "I do, Grand Magistrate."  She paced in a wide half-circle before the seats.  "After questioning Longaze in Braum, I flew south along the shoreline prefectures, investigating every Consortium trade depot and clerk's office I could find!"  She threw her voice so that every Magistrate—even the delegates in the highest seats—could hear her without fail.  "I interrogated high ranking members of Chandler's Corporation.  Prefecture after Prefecture, I was exposed to extensive financial reports detailing the transfer of money to unnamed departments within the company.  These corresponded with shipments of raw dredge coal ore funneled eastward and into the heart of Central Rohbredden over the course of the past year and a half.  While I found evidence of such money and ore being delivered in large quantities, the Consortium possessed no existing documentation of the materials being received."

"What are you trying to imply?!"  Vilcheez blurted again.  "That the Consortium has been losing assets due to clerical error?!"  Hymmnos' gavel banged, but she managed to get a few last words in:  "A company that big?!  It's only a natural error!"

"But it is no error, Magistrate," Seraphimus said, glaring icily into the crowd.  "In fact, I do believe the Consortium has been transporting money and ore into unmarked destinations for a purpose."  She took a deep breath, facing Hymmnos' podium again.  "And that purpose is to supply the insurgents and terrorists of Central Rohbredden of the resources they need to commit arson and sieges all across our Prefectures."

It was difficult to hear Seraphimus' last sentence from the roar of commotion angrily thundering across the domain.  Even outside the walls of the Court—where citizens crowded against the lines of guards—mad outbursts could be heard at varying decibels.

"Are you insane?!"

"He's an outstanding citizen of Rohbredden!"

"A very model of a foal of Verlaxion!"

"How could a Continentalist turn against his own kin?!"

"Lies... the Talon shouldn't have ventured beyond the Shoreline!  Now they're poisoned by Colonialist propaganda!"

"Have we become the Seven Seas now?!"

The angry chatter reached a boiling point.  Windburst and Raptr silently glanced at one another.

"Order!"  Hymmnos hollered, gnashing her teeth.  She slammed the gavel louder and louder.  "Order!  I will have order in my Court—!"

Seraphimus' voice raised, swallowing up the noise of the crowd in its righteous fury.  "Brye Chandler has betrayed his own kind!"  She glared into the ponies surrounding them.  "While you esteemed delegates have fought and squabbled uselessly with each other, wringing the blessed Court of Verlaxion of all wisdom and sincerity, venomous vipers like Chandler has slithered in to devour what's left innocent and unprotected in our very own nests!  He's been using money and dredge coal to sow strife just so he could sweep in and win the hearts and trust of the very same Rohbredden he's betrayed... and all for a vain grab at political power in the favor of the Council!"

"Alright..."  Chandler waved his shackled hooves in the air.  "We've had a chicken metaphor.  This Council has reached a new low."

Whack!  Hymmnos slammed the gavel and then pointed it at the stallion.  "You will speak when you are all—"

"With all due respect, your honor, the righteous commander of the Right Talon of Verlaxion has been allowed a damned hour to curse and defile my name while I stand here like a vagabond in chains."  Chandler glared.  "May I now be allowed to present my case?"

Hymmnos took a deep, shuddering breath.  She turned to look at Seraphimus.  "Are you done presenting the details of your case, Commander?"

Seraphimus swallowed, then nodded.  "I am, Grand Magistrate."

"Very well then..."  Hymmnos leaned back.  Exhaling, she pointed at the Corporate Executive in question.  "You may proceed."

Chandler cleared his throat with professional delicateness.  The crowd suddenly quieted, giving him a hushed space to speak plainly.  "Dear Council... the Talon has been very... very pressured as of late."

Raptr rolled his eyes before casting a lethargic gaze at Windburst.

"Yes!  In fact, they've been dealing with stressful circumstances the likes of which none of us can even relate to!  Being forced to chase a... veritable ghost of unholy repute across the Seven Seas and the western prefectures!  From Red Barge to Dust Prefecture, they've chased this monster of the Quade.  Were they successful in catching the beast?  Well, no, despite their loss of sleep and health—they have not been successful.  Which—of course..."  He gestured at Seraphimus.  "Is no slight against the competence of our dedicated defenders."

Seraphimus' beak tightened as she tapped her claws against the cold stone below.

Chandler went on:  "We are, after all, talking about a corrupted abomination of a pegasus with no love or respect for Verlaxion.  This is a beast empowered by the dark magics that exist beyond the Blight.  The Consortium has recognized this threat.  Did I authorize a campaign to catch the vile creature?  Of course I did!  Everypony knows that!  Right now, even in this Month of Thawing, there simply is no greater threat to the kingdom as a whole.  There's no telling just... what kind of a deleterious effect this beast may have on the conscience and moral center of those who cross its demonic path."  He took a deep breath.  "I... regret the actions that my secretary has taken in her attempts to capture this... banal chaotician from the west.  But I assure you—and the entire council—that I never once gave her permission nor encouraged her to harm innocent citizens or break the law in any capacity."

Hymmnos leaned forward.  "Mr. Chandler.  Is it the understanding of this court that you deny authorizing the criminal actions testified as having been committed by Longaze, the mare formerly in your employ?"

"That is correct, Grand Magistrate."

"And..."  Hymmnos glanced at Seraphimus before raising an eyebrow at Chandler.  "...you are attempting to imply that... the Rainbow Rogue's evil presence may have had an effect on Longaze?"

Seraphimus blinked.  She opened her beak—

"Not just Longaze, your honor," Chandler spoke before the Commander could interject.  He waved a hoof in the griffon's direction.  "But the Talon as well."

A nervous murmur rolled across the Court.

"Did my secretary come to blows with the Rainbow Rogue in Braum?  Yes.  That fact cannot be disputed.  But the Right Talon of Verlaxion?"  Chandler turned to squint at Seraphimus.  "They've been in close contact with the Rainbow Rogue for weeks... pursuing her... fighting her."

Seraphimus' headcrest lowered as he gazed back at the stallion.  The commotion above and around them grew louder.  Windburst and Raptr shifted nervously in their armor.

"And not only after several instances did they fail in catching the Rogue... but Seraphimus spontaneously decided to cancel the hunt!  What did she do then?"  Chandler turned to look gravely at Hymmnos.  "She sent her Lieutenant and Sergeants back here to Frostknife with no support or representation of the chief authority of Talon.  And then—as if that wasn't unusual enough—she proceeded to brutally and mercilessly interrogate my former secretary..."  He raised a hoof.  "Through torture, mind you..."

The crowd shifted anxiously in their seats.

"...and then—after a brazen act that was not authorized by the Council, she proceeded to abandon her wingmates entirely and fly on a personal, vindictive, and entirely groundless campaign to soil the image of an organization that's not only had absolutely zero affiliation with our common enemy, but has been working very hard around the clock to see to the capture and imprisonment of the Rainbow Rogue from the very start!"

The Council was grumbling and hissing at this point, and Chandler fed them.

"I fear that years of fighting countless threats all across Rohbredden has filled the good Commander's minds with shadows.  Being in such close proximity to the Blighted monster certainly hasn't done any good for her sanity.  Year in and year out, we expect the most out of the Talon and we give them the least.  This, is the result, your Council."  He held his forelimbs out, rattling the chains connected between them.  "An innocent member of our Verlaxion-fearing society being framed for a crime that simply does not exist."

Seraphimus took a fuming breath.  "Grand Magistrate—"

"You'll find that the Commander of the Talon has no physical evidence to support her demented hypotheses," Chandler interrupted, facing the mare behind the podium.  "She is tired, confused, and constrained by paranoia—to such a point that she has unjustly intimidated and tortured—not one—but several members of my Company without any divine authorization of the Goddess' wisely appointed council!"

By now, members of the Senate were standing on their hooves, shouting and hissing angrily.  Griffon beaks clattered.  The sea ponies flickered brightly from within their chambers.

Raptr gulped.  "Not good..."

"Eyes on the Commander and Grand Magistrate," Windburst murmured.  His muscles tightened beneath his armor.  "Be prepared for anything."

Raptr nodded.

"Grand Magistrate," Seraphimus spoke, though it was difficult for her voice to be heard above the engraged chatter.  "This Council has entrusted me with the might of Verlaxion to root out evil and restore peace through the divine intellect of the Goddess herself.  That is precisely what I exercised in the northwest prefectures.  I saw evidence of a corrupt organization preying upon the innocent civillians of this kingdom and I took it upon myself to investigate that."  She pointed at Chandler.  "This pony is twisting the truth in order to maintain his power grab, something that has gone on unchecked for months and threatens to usurp the order our Tribes have established by Verlaxion's glory since the days of Unification!"

Hymmnos banged her gavel.  When she had enough of a hush to speak, she said:  "And much authority has been given to you, Commander Seraphimus, especially in pursuit of truth and justice."  She gulped, giving Chandler a forlorn glance.  "However... I fear that the former of those two things is... rather strained in your case."

Seraphimus' beak fell agape.

Hymmnos continued:  "Unless more concrete evidence is presented, I cannot—in good conscience—personally mandate a hearing by the laws of our Goddess.  I am, however, authorized to put it up to a vote..."  Her muzzle hung open for a brief moment.  Her eyes swam around the furious Council, then fell on Seraphimus yet again.  "...in which the magistrates of our kingdom will collectively decide whether or not the citizen you've brought before us should be tried for the crimes you that have alleged while investigating his organization in the field."

Chandler bore a coy grin.

"If it is more evidence you want," Professor Theanim Mane's voice echoed.  "Then you shall have it!"

Chandler's smile vanished instantly.

Raptr gasped, pointing upward.  "Look!"

Seraphimus craned her feathery neck.

The heads of countless delegates turned to see four figures gliding in from the misty cloudbeds above.  Lieutenant Keris carried Theanim Mane while Starstorm cradled a frazzled Magistrate Timplan in her forelimbs.

The two guardians touched down.  Keris released Theanim, then caught glance of Seraphimus.  "...Commander."

Seraphimus swallowed.  With a slight shuffled, she bowed back.  "Lieutenant..."

Hymmnos stood up straight.  "Lieutenant Keris... Professor Mane?!"

Theanim brushed snowflakes off his vest.  "Of the Ninety-Seventh Rohbredden Scientifi—"

"I know who you represent!" Hymmnos barked.  "An explanation, please!  What is the meaning of this?!  The Council is in a very important session right now!"

"Indeed."  Theanim nodded, lifting his goggles and exposing his blue eyes.  "And I trust that you will find this most relevant."  He glanced aside.

Keris stepped forward.  "Grand Magistrate, Sergeant Starstorm and I just now returned from assisting the Professor in an investigation in Sunset Prefecture."

Chandler's eyes twitched.

Hymmnos squinted.  "What kind of an investigation...?"

"Jeryn, the former Southern Hoof of the Syndicate, shared sensitive information with the Professor from his cell in the Frozen Shelves, alleging the date of a chance meeting between criminal terrorists guilty of arson..."  Keris took a deep breath.  "...and members of this very Council."

Gasps and murmurs filled the air.

"The purpose of this meeting—" Keris spoke loudly.  "—was to discuss the reappropriation of funds in order to maintain a secret partnership between an unspoken cabal of magistrates and those guilty of the Central Rohbredden insurgency.  With the assistance of Professor Theanim Mane, Sergeant Starstorm arrived in Sunset Prefecture in time for this alleged date that was supplied to us by Jeryn... and it was there that we successfully bore witness to an exchange between the very Magistrate of Sunset Prefecture and multiple terrorists of ill-intent."  Keris pivoted about.  "We arrested the delegate in question and brought him here to testify of his crimes before the Goddess' Council."

Shivering, Timplan hesitantly tilted his head up.

A deep hush filled the Court.

Hymmnos blinked.  "The Council... r-recognizes Magistrate Timplan of Sunset Prefecture."

"Ahem..."  Starstorm cleared her throat and released the elder stallion before pointing.  "Will the Magistrate please step forward...?"

One nervous hoof at a time, Timplan did as he was told.

Chandler clenched his jaw to keep from shaking.  Bulbs of sweat formed along his forehead.

Theanim Mane trotted around until he stood beside Timplan.  "Dear Magistrate... is there is something you would like to report to the Council?"

"There is, Professor."  Timplan nodded.  He looked at the podium.  "Grand Magistrate... Dear Council..."  He cleared his throat, summoning the strength to speak.  "I have personally and willfully overseen the distribution of several illegal goods to various... interests within the confines of Sunset Prefecture and its neighboring provinces."

"Care to define 'goods' and 'interests,' dear Magistrate?" Theanim said with a frown.

Timplan gulped.  "By 'goods,' I mean money... and raw dredge coal."  He looked up, eyes glossy.  "And by 'interests,' I mean various splinter groups comprised of Mudtop mercenaries and Seven Seas privateers who were smuggled into Central Rohbredden in order to stage guerilla war ambushes on multiple communities within this kingdom."

As the Council grew more and more anxious, Theanim leaned in, staring Timplan in the face.  "And just who was responsible for smuggling these criminals deep into Rohbredden territory in order to commit these crimes?"

Timplan exhaled.  His shivers stopped, and he spoke in a cold tone:  "Brye Chandler of the Shoreline Trade Consortium."

The Council nearly exploded.  Delegates exchanged shocked expressions.  The water chambers rattled as the sea ponies pulsed red and yellow.

Seraphimus blinked.  She turned to look at her Lieutenant.  Keris bore a calm smile in return.

Hymmnos banged her gavel.  This time, the Court paid heed, and they silenced almost immediately.  "Magistrate Timplan, are you aware that—by admitting to your willful connection with these crimes—you are thereby admitting to treason?  A crime that is punishable by death?!"

"I am aware of that, Grand Magistrate."

"And in labeling Brye Chandler of the Shoreline Trade Consortium as a co-conspirator, you are spreading the charge of treason to him."

Timplan took a deep breath.  "You must understand.  At first, I thought it was in the best interest of the Six Tribes to create this alleged strife from within."

Hymmnos growled:  "The Court did not ask for your reasoning..."

"But it needs to be said!" Timplan's voice cracked.  Panting, he looked around at the crowd.  "Where is our solidarity?!  Where is our focus?!  It's been decades since our Goddess has even appeared in any faculty whatsoever!  And what have we got to show for our loyalty to her?!  Bureacratic nonsense?!  Witch hunts after... nebulous Rainbow Rogues?!"  Gulping hard, he turned to point at Chandler.  "It was the dream of that stallion to establish a new unification... by giving us a singular evil that we could combat!  And... and I believed him."  He gulped.  "...until everything collapsed."

Seraphimus slowly stepped towards him.  "What... happened, pray tell, Magistrate?"

Timplan sighed.  "Chandler's ambitions got the best of him."  He looked up at the high seats of the Council.  "He made a deal with the Slaver of Waves!  Monket of Mudtop!  This drew him even deeper into the muck of the Seven Seas!  Until he stained his hooves in the blood of Top Dredger Skagra and other nefarious equines!"

Chandler's sweat reflected Theanim as he approached Timplan again.  "But was this insurgency funded before or after Chandler's involvement with the denizens of the Seven Seas?"

Timplan hung his head.  "Before."  He gulped.  "It was before his involvement with Monket... before the fall of the Syndicate... whom he was also exchanging resources with."

A magistrate gasped from his seat, "Chandler dealt with the Syndicate?!"

"He was partners with Revan and Jeryn?!"

"Yes.  It's true."  Timplan frowned.  "His dredge coal was partially used for crimes of arson within Rust... just as it's been utilized here in Rohbredden."

Another wave of commotion erupted across the Council.

Keris stepped until he was facing Timplan directly again.  "Were you the only Magistrate who assisted Chandler in creating this terrorist cabal?"

Timplan shook his head.  "Five Magistrates—including myself—worked with Chandler, helping him smuggle terrorists and weapons into the central prefectures."

"Magistrate Timplan..."  Theanim leaned forward.  "...can you name these other four individuals?"

"I can."  Timplan nodded.  "And will."  He took deep breaths between each word.  "Magistrate Hoofmore of Bramble Prefecture.  Magistrate Dawnlight of Shoal Prefecture.  Steward Jeslem of Ravine Prefecture..."  His head tilted aside as he gazed into the seats.  "...and Magistrate Vilcheez of Lotus Prefecture."

"Lies!  Lies!"  Vilcheez shot up, trembling.  "It's... it's like Chandler said!  The..."  She pointed a shivering hoof.  "...th-the Talon have been tainted by the blight of the Rainbow Rogue!  Her... her evil has infected them!  Clouded their minds to make them produce these gross generalizations!"

Theanim swiveled to face Hymmnos directly.  "Grand Magistrate, I have operated by the boundaries of the Scientific Order.  In so doing, we have collected several documents and bits of evidence from Timplan's hold in Sunset Prefecture.  They are en route to Frostknife via pegasus and griffon cargo carriers as we speak."

"And Jeryn of the Southern Hoof is fully willing to provide further testimony," Keris added.  "Along with Echo, a former agent of Revan's organization, as well as an insider who spent months in Mudtop."

Starstorm spoke up as well:  "It may also interest the Court to know that Top Dredger Skagra, former leader of Red Barge and Seven Seas crime boss, was caught staging an ambush on Timplan and his servants.  While Skagra himself did not survive the encounter, the Talon was able to capture several of his associates.  The Top Dredger was attempting to slay Timplan in revenge for Chandler's actions, and Skagra's partners in crime are also willing to give testimony."

"This... this isn't..."  Vilcheez's face blanched.  She shivered harder, gazing at Chandler.  "You... y-you promised us!"  She stamped a hoof, her jewelry rattling.  "You promised us that this would be a new beginning!"

Chandler sighed, resting his muzzle in his hoof.

"You promised us that you would steer the Six Tribes into a prosperous future!" Vilcheez's voice cracked.  "One free of the superstitions of the past and... and... damnation!"  She reached into her thick coat.  Schiiiing!  Unsheathing a dagger, she aimed it at her own sobbing neck.

Gasping, other magistrates lunged at the mare, wrestling for control of the weapon and attempting to restrain her.

"My stars!" Theanim winced.

"Stop her!"  Seraphimus hollered.  "We need every existing branch of this conspiracy to remain exposed!"

"Sergeant—!" Keris shouted.

"On it!"  Swooosh!  Starstorm flew into the crowd, grabbing Vilcheez and pressing her hard to the steps.  The mare howled and sobbed as the guardian yanked the dagger from her grasp and hoofcuffed her.

Chandler slowly tilted his head up to gaze at Keris and Seraphimus.  "Do you have any idea what you've done...?"

Neither of the Talon members had the ability to answer him.  By now, the Court had fallen into pure chaos.  Magistrates gnashed their teeth, barking and snarling at each other.

"Our own Magistrates?!  Threatening the Foals of Verlaxion?!"

"If you hadn't put so much faith in the Consortium, this wouldn't have happened!"

"Don't insult me!  You supported their monopoly as much as we did!"

"How could we not?!  Our citizens needed that dredge coal more than the outlier provinces!"

"This!  This is why we should have buffed our security forces along the western shoreline!"

"The Seven Seas are seeping in!  We must do something to stop it!"

"Like what?!  Stage sieges against the Colonialists?!"

"If that is what it takes to contain this corruption!"

"You would actually condone open war?!"

"War is upon us!  How many families and children have died to these terrorists?!"

"Don't you get it?  There are no insurgents!  This was a conspiracy to begin with!"

"That's pretty predictable, coming from a Magistrate who's lived in the Consortium's filthy pocket for years!"

"You share land with the Sunset Prefecture!  How do we know you weren't in on this?!"

"Why the audacity—"

"Do not insult me with your petty—"

"Our Prefecture has been loyal to the Six Tribes for generations—"

"If there should be a war, it's against your selfish money grabbers—"

As the Court grew louder and louder, Theanim winced, twirling nervously around as he gawked at the sea of angry, shouting faces.  Keris and Seraphimus flapped their wings, flying higher and higher as they attempted to silence the rowdy delegates with authoritarian shouts.  Hymmnos' gavel could no longer be heard.  Amidst the chaos and discord, a hyperventilating Chandler spun and actually attempted a futile gallop for the exits—

FLAAAASH!

—and just like that, the entire Council filled with a bright blue light.

Chandler stopped in his tracks, pale and breathless.

Windburst and Raptr looked over, eyes widening.

Starstorm stood with Vilcheez in restraints.  What the Sergeant saw stole her breath away.

A current of cold, vaporous mists rolled down the high steps leading from Verlaxion's throne.  It billowed past the stone faces of the Tribal statues.  Within seconds, solid icicles dripped from the granite edifices of wyverns, griffons, ponies, and sirens.  All the while, a deep bass rumbling issued from the foundation of the Starkiss mountain due north of the Court.

Hymmnos spun around.  She gasped wide.  She dropped her gavel, trembling.  Then, with frantic motions, she gestured at a clerk.  A young pony galloped up, hoofing her an ornamental shawl.  She draped it over her neck, closed her eyes, and began a praying motion with her forelimbs.

Seraphimus saw it.  With a pale expression, she touched down at the base of the steps.  Keris landed beside her.  Side by side, the two members of the Talon stared up at the steep incline.

More and more fog rolled into the court, cold and blistering.  Then—out of the heart of the mist—a pair of slitted blue eyes materialized.  Within seconds, an animated suit of frozen metal emerged, marching down the steps with cold, calculated grace.  Deep within its helmet, an ice-blue gaze pulsated, piercing the vision of all who laid eyes upon the golem's silver visage.  When the entity "breathed," frigid vapors issued from its helm, forming veins of frost all across the walls, steps, and floor.

A tiny sob escaped Seraphimus throat.  She dropped like a rock, containing her deep breaths as she bowed low... lower before the entity.

Blinking, a confused Lieutenant Keris did the same, albeit hesitantly.  He watched with nervous, magenta eyes as the armor approached, finally reaching the stone floor of the Court after an interminable lurch down the steep stone stairway.

The temperature dropped, and Timplan was the first to whimper.

"Oh Goddess..."  The elder stallion fell to his shivering knees.  "...oh blessed Unifier, I am s-so sorry..."  He pressed his forehead to the cold floor.

Starstorm gulped, then fell to her knees.  Across the way, Windstorm dropped to the floor.  Raptr stood, gaping stupidly—until the other Sergeant yanked the rookie down to join him in the humble gesture.

In one surging wave, the entire Council of ponies and griffons bowed.  Within their chambers, the sea ponies curled into fetal positions, drifting silently with their eyes shut in reverence.  Muffled sobs and emotional murmurs lit the air as the formerly rowdy chamber formed a penitent hush beneath the scraping hoofsteps of the entity.

"Blessed Verlaxion..."

"The Goddess... she is amongst us..."

"Oh beloved Queen... forgive us..."

"...we beseech you...," Seraphimus whimpered, armor rattling.  "We beseech you and your everloving kindness..."  She held her breath.

Undaunted, unspeaking, the armor marched forward... and straight past Seraphimus.

The Commander shivered from the sheer proximity of its frozen essence.  As she heard the hoofsteps growing distant, she gasped.  Eyes wide open, she tilted her head up and turned to gape at the anomaly.

Theanim was the only one not bowing at this point.  It was fright—more than anything—that forced him to finally collapse on his flank.  Jaw agape, he stared wordlessly at the animated armor as it crept past Hymmnos' podium.

At last, when it was finally within the dead center of the Court, the messenger stopped completely.  The glow of its eyes traveled down to its breastplate, resonating with ice-blue brilliance.  "My children," a voice rumbled from deep within the entity.  "My beloved... foolish foals..."

The entire Court of magistrates collectively quivered.

Vapors issued from the speaker's helm with every ghostly word:  "I have been gone for many years... but has my love dwindled?  Has my power gone away from the frost chambers... or from the beating heart of this unified land that I have so graciously warmed?"

Seraphimus stared.  Tears trickled from her eyes.

"I am not disappointed... I am merely sad... like a mother who mourns for an infant whom she knows will only come out stillborn."  The golem's metal limbs tightened against the stonework, spreading more frost.  "The tribes fight amongst each other like enemies.  Have I not made you all brothers and sisters in harmony?  Have I not patched the wounds of this land with my labors?"

Choking on sobs, Hymmnos bravely sat up.  She kept her teary eyes shut as she slid her right hoof along the length of her left forelimb and extended both fetlocks towards the source of the voice.  "Oh Beloved Queen... Gracious Mother of Unification... on behalf of your Court, I t-take full responsibility for the dissent that has grown among your foals."  She hiccuped, whimpering.  "Please, punish me as you will, but I ask that you spare the delegates who lay prostrate in sincere humility before you—"

"Your Goddess hardly possesses the strength to punish even if she desired to," the golem spoke.  "This land has been so bereft of faith... so famished for love and respect over the past century that I can scarcely leave my throne in one piece."

Chandler stared, wide-eyed and disbelieving.  He flinched the moment the messenger resumed speaking.

"This weakness... this vulnerability has crippled me.  And it is now that a great evil seeks to strike."

Hymmnos gulped.  "What... wh-what great evil is this, My Goddess?"

Vapors rippled from the silver helm.  "The Rainbow Rogue... she has polluted the hearts and minds of the monks of Wyvern Point.  Together with an alicorn named Mortuana—a demonic aberration who also hails from beyond the Blight—they are both staging an assault on the Starkiss.  They seek to destroy your Goddess with their dark magics.  If they reach me in my current state... they shall do just that, and your beloved Queen... your Mother of Unification will breathe no more."

A dreadful murmur rolled through the crowd of bowing figures.

Theanim blinked.  He glanced across the way at Keris.

The Lieutenant's brow furrowed.  He looked at Seraphimus.

The Commander's eyes were locked on the golem, hard and unwavering.

"If my foals love me... if the remaining Five Tribes are truly honored to serve and protect my legacy... then they will do whatever is in their power to protect their Goddess... by intercepting the Rainbow Rogue and her foul allies... and eradicating her... no matter the cost."

Hymmnos gulped.  Sniffling, she bowed lower, murmuring into the cold vapors:  "Yes... beloved Goddess... your will be done."

For the first time since coming to a stop, the helmet pivoted on its armored neck.  "Brye Chandler..."

The stallion's breath was instantly sucked out.  He sat straight up, pale as a sheet.

The golem stared him down with a vicious blue gaze.  "...you have sown much dissent and chaos in this land... the product of a faithless heart.  This pride... this arrogance has brought much suffering to my foals.  Needless suffering.  Do you repent of your sins... before your very Mother, the Goddess Verlaxion?"

Keris blinked.  He and Theanim turned to look at Chandler.

Chandler panted and panted.  Tears trickled down his muzzle, instantly freezing to translucent eye.  "Mmmmm... y... yes..."  He whimpered, shaking to the core.  "I... grkkkt... I-I am sorry... G-Goddess..."  His pupils shrank in abject terror as he brought both of his forelimbs together.  "I am... s-so sorry... and..."  He sniffled.  "I repent... before you and the c-court... oh Verlaxion... I r-repent of my sins..."

"Very well," the messenger answered swiftly.  "The wealth and power that you have used to spread evil shall now be used for righteousness.  You shall be the spear by which the Rainbow Rogue is impaled.  Can I trust in you to help my foals eliminate the demon that threatens to spread blight across this land?"

"Yes..."  Chandler wept, smiling through his frozen tears.  "Oh yes... d-dear Goddess... mother..."  He whimpered.  "I shall devote every ounce of my being to her demise."

"Let it be known far and wide, to every household and family that shares the warmth that I've bestowed upon this Continent."  The golem reared its legs, billowing vapors across the entire Council.  "The Rainbow Rogue must be stopped at all cost.  The Wyverns have betrayed us, and their Tribe can no longer share my blessings.  Nevertheless, my obedient foals remain as I see before me.  Let this Month of Thawing be a grand celebration of a renewed Unification.  Eleminate the threat... cease your petty disputes... and your Mother's Love shall last forever..."  The golem brought its hooves back down with a thunderclap.  "Your.  Goddess.  Has.  Spoken."

The air shifted as the vapors were suddenly sucked into the suit.  The blue light went out like a torch...

...and the armor fell dead and inert to the Court's floor, littering the stone in pieces.  Within seconds, magistrates clamored to bow along the fringes of the sacred detritus, weeping and sobbing praises to the dwindling spirit from within.

Chandler stood dead-still, panting for breath.  His beady eyes darted across the empty space where the voice of Verlaxion had previously emanated.  All around him, ponies stood up and galloped every which way, rushing home to commune with their friends and loved one, carrying the words spoken to them by a sacred breath.

Hymmnos stood up—wobbling—and recollected her senses.  Wiping her tears away, she spun and spoke briskly to a group of delegates as they attempted to recover from the sudden, inexplicable divination.

Meanwhile, as ponies continued to pray and weep in sullen humility, Keris stood up.  He approached Seraphimus.

"Commander..."  He gulped.  "Commander... I..."  Clearing his throat, the Lieutenant continued in a hushed tone.  "We need to assemble the guardians.  Before... the Court makes any brash decisions, we need to come up with a plan to keep things balanced.  We're still the Right Talon of Verlaxion, and it is imperative that we ascertain what the messenger meant when it addressed Chandler about—"

"My Goddess..."  Seraphimus whimpered.

Keris blinked.  "Commander?"

"She... she didn't even look at m-me..."  Seraphimus clammed her beak shut.

Keris gulped.  He glanced nervously at the hysterical figures around him.  "Ahem... Commander, what do you wish for us to—"

Seraphimus flapped her wings... and limply drifted off.

Keris stretched his good talon out, but she was out of reach.  He stood in place, breathing heavily.

Theanim Mane wandered over, his eyes glued to the weeping magistrates.  "And just like that... their squabbles have ceased..."

Keris nodded, watching the Commander become a distant, morose speck above the bluffs of Frostknife.  "Indeed."

"This... this changes everything."

Silence.

Theanim looked at Keris.  "Lieutenant?"

Keris finally made eye contact with the scientist.

Theanim squinted.  "Isn't it... curiously... devilishly ironic that our very own Goddess—a Queen who has not made herself manifest for decades... suddenly and dramatically decided to make an appearance precisely when we were unraveling a deep-seeded conspiracy in the heart of our kingdom?"

Keris cleared his throat, speaking in a raspy tone:  "Our Unifier... simply wishes to maintain harmony."

"Or perhaps the harmony itself is a farce... much like the unification was from day one?"

Keris blinked.

"You spent weeks hunting Rainbow Dash... a wild goose chase with no hope of progress whatsoever.  And now... just when you... just when we were unearthing a real danger, we've been set on that very same absurd quest yet again."  Theanim raised an eyebrow.  "Tell me... where's the harmony in that?"

Keris clenched his beak.  He stared over the prostrate crowds.  "I'm not seeing it, Professor."  He shook his head.  "If there is harmony... it's not in Rohbredden."
> Ushering In a New Age
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	For the first time in untold years, the chambers of southwest Frostknife were empty of waking citizens, save for a smattering of overseers and one visitor.

That visitor was Seraphimus.  Helmet rattling, she shuffled into the cavernous entrance of the sanctum.  She strolled past potted flowers and stacks of coffin-shaped boats in the front atrium.  Platform after rocky platform, she descended into the depths of the hovel, strolling past chamber after chamber of bodies frozen in suspended animation.  Enchanted blue light reflected icily off her silver plated armor, and her breasplate fogged over from chilly condensation.  The entire time, she kept her eyes facing forward, soft yet focused.

It wasn't long before she came to a stop before a chamber containing two frozen blue bodies.  An adult and a child griffon rested peacefully before her, their limbs crossed and their wings drooped in a tranquil pose.

Seraphimus took a shuddering breath as she pulled her helmet off and rested it beneath her left arm.  Drifting forward, she peeled a gauntlet off her right wrist and raised her talon until her claws gently graced the icy surface of the shards containing her loved ones.  Her headcrest drooped, and her eyes almost instantly moistened.

Cold mists billowed limply between the family members—the living and the half-living.

The Commander blinked.  She inhaled... and the breath that rolled through her was a hot one.  It melted the moment, and she emerged through the dribbling veil with an infernal frown.  Her breaths were seething things, growing more and more intense until—with a demonic snarl—she held her helmet in both claws and reared back.

The cold sheen of the frozen shards reflected the griffon's body pivoting at the last second.  The helmet flew thunderously against the rocky frame of the chamber, just inches away from the fragile ice's surface.  Within seconds, Seraphimus was collapsing to her knees.  She clutched her feathery skull with a pair of claws...

...and screamed.

The howling voice echoed against shard after shard resting on the many platforms looming above and below her.  Hundreds... thousands of silent, frozen faces remained still as their chambers resonated with the anguished noise.

A few stallions in humble robes shuffled to the edges of stone walkways above.  But upon taking one glance at the Commander of the Talon, they hung their heads gravely... and returned to their quiet duties.

Seraphimus was left alone, deflated and numb, sobbing before the emotionless gaze of her frozen family.





Echo couldn't remember the last time he felt so anxious.

Shuddering, the sarosian pressed his muzzle to the bars of the cell, gazing out with slitted eyes as figures shuffled up and down the cold dark stairwell.  Throughout the Frozen Shelves, the distraught echoes of frightened voices lingered, intensifying by the hour.

"Hey... Hey!"  Echo struggled to throw his voice past the sound of howling winds through distant window slits.  "What the Hell's going on in this place?!"  He heard more sobs and winced.  "If this is a prison riot, it's the sissiest one ever."

At last, a guard shuffled by, his head hanging low.

"Hey you!" Echo snapped.  "Did somepony drop an estrogen bomb on the Frosted Shelves or what?"  No response.  He frowned, fangs showing.  "Yo!  I'm talking to you!"

"So sorry..."  The guard whimpered, bumping into a wall or two as he trembled in his armor.  "Oh Goddess... Oh Goddess, please forgive me..."  He sniffled as he followed the stairwell around the darkly-lit corner.  "...I tried so hard... honest, I tried to worship you..."

Echo took a few steps back until he slumped in the middle of his cell.  His fuzzy face scrunched as he murmured, "Just on which side of the bars are the real inmates?"





"Grand Magistrate," a servant knelt in the middle of a spacious wooden office.  "As of the last hour, the full compliment of the Central Messaging Service have been summoned.  Should we wait for a revised statement or—?"

"No... no."  Hymmnos spun from where she stood at the windows to the room, staring out onto the pale stretches of Frostknife looming below.  Throughout the wooden structure, hooves trotted briskly and anxious voices barked at one another as an entire office of government officials operated at a newly-energized pace.  "There simply is no poetic method by which we can convey the seriousness... the sheer divine gravity of what's just transpired."  Hymmnos gulped hard.  "Send out every pegasus west to the shoreline territories.  Send every griffon messenger east to the twilight plains."

"What of the sea ponies?"

"Send them south and abroad," Hymmnos commanded.  "Have them alert our allies in Shoggoth, but that's as far west as they're permitted to go."  She stared firmly at her servants.  "Order every messenger to return to Frostknife as soon as their message deliveries are complete.  I need to have the continent properly informed of the next mandate as soon as this situation develops any further."

"Yes, Grand Magistrate," one servant said.

Another pony looked up.  "And what of the northern reaches?"

Hymmnos blinked.  "Hmmm?"

The other servant gulped.  "What... of the Starkiss?"

The Grand Magistrate's ears drooped.  "That... is no longer my jurisdiction."  She cleared her throat.  "I will inform you as soon as I hear anything."

"Aye, ma'am."

"Now go.  Send the messengers out."

"Will do."

The servants all bowed, turned tail, and marched out of the office.

Lieutenant Keris—in the process of entering—had to press himself sideways to the wall, allowing them room to briskly pass by.  He blinked worriedly at the train of shuffling servants, then proceeded to march into the Grand Magistrate's room.

"Lieutenant Keris," Hymmnos wheezed.  Her eyes blinked, and she gulped.  "I... I'm so very sorry.  I... I-I should have spoken to the Talon earlier—"

"It's quite alright, Grand Magistrate," Keris said, waving a talon.  He took his helmet off and stood across the desk from her.  "You have a great deal on your plate... perhaps now more than ever."

"Where is your Commander?"

"Trust me, I would very much like to know that as well."  Keris cleared his throat.  "Although... I can venture to guess."

Hymmnos nodded, gazing at the tabletop.  "Never the matter."  A hard exhale.  "Can you deliver the Court's orders to her?"

"Absolutely."  Keris bowed.  "What would you have of the Talon, Grand Magistrate?"

"You are to stand by and await further orders from the Council," Hymmnos said.  "Once we are done deliberating with Brye Chandler, then we will summon the Commander and her flock to devise a plan concerning the Rainbow Rogue's prophesied assault on the Starkiss."

Keris blinked hard.  He lifted his head.  "Madame..."

"In the meantime, it would benefit the Court greatly if the Talon lended their talents in maintaining peace and order here in Frostknife," Hymmnos murmured, pacing over until she stood before the gray-lit windows again.  "In case you haven't noticed, it's a veritable asylum out there."

"I've... noticed many things, Grand Magistrate."  Keris cleared his throat.  "But, might I inquire, precisely why are we waiting on deliberations with Brye Chandler?"

Hymmnos spun around.  She blinked.  "You would ask such a thing?"

"Indeed."  Keris solemnly nodded.  "I would."

"Surely you were present at the divine speech of our Goddess."

"Grand Magistrate, with all due respect, I am a long-time veteran and a military strategist," Keris said.  "I am not bereft of intelligence or memory.  I am quite aware of the words spoken by our Queen's messenger."

"It was nevertheless her voice," Keris said.  "The most sacred manifestation of Verlaxion's will that we've experienced in decades."

"Yes, but to ignore the crimes committed by Chandler and... and t-to grant him authority in the latest campaign to defend Starkiss?  Or any part of Rohbredden?!"  Keris gulped hard.  "Undeniably strong evidence was brought to the council on two fronts—Theanim's and the Commander's—proving that Chandler was the instigator of terrorism, insurrection, and murder.  And he wasn't alone—!"

"We are not ignoring his crimes, Lieutenant," Hymmnos said.  "This is a question of forgiveness."

Keris blinked.  "Forgiveness?"

"Aye.  Unto redemption."  Hymmnos nodded.  "As the Goddess wills it.  You yourself admit that you heard and understood her words."

"Yes, but the stallion's proven to be a selfish, powermongering sociopath!  Can we really trust so much power in a soul such as—"

"Are you questioning the divine will of our Queen, Lieutenant?"  Hymmnos glared across the shadows.  "The same divine will that's granted you and your Commander the wisdom and freedom to commit all sorts of violent acts for the sake of protecting the Five Tribes?"

Keris leaned back.  His hawkeyes narrowed.  "No, Hymmnos.  I am merely... concerned for the mental and emotional stability of this Court."  He inhaled.  "Just as I'm concerned by the sudden and blatant use of the term 'Five Tribes.'"

"You heard the messenger."  With a glazed expression, Hymmnos stared out the window again.  "The wyverns have betrayed us."

"Grand Magistrate, just because a few citizens at Wyvern Point have aided the Rainbow Rogue and this supposed 'other' from the West does not mean that every single member of the wyvern tribe should be condemned."

"You forget quite easily, Lieutenant," Hymmnos said.  "At this point, Wyvern Point is the extent of their tribe.  Think about it—their numbers have not appeared before the Council in years.  We've scarcely seen them make an appearance at the Court of Verlaxion—not even to give supplemental prayers for Unification Day."

"Let us also not forget that their species is an asexual one, and their population has dwindled over the last few centuries."  Keris took a deep breath.  "I simply cannot live with the thought of condemning their entire race because of the mistakes of a few.  And just how might we describe those mistakes?  We have so little to go on."

"The messenger gave us Verlaxion's warning," Hymmnos said.  "We have all we need, or else she would have told us more."

"Grand Magistrate—"

"I expected contention from the magistrates of the fringe prefectures," Hymmnos said, frowning.  "Not from you, Lieutenant."

Keris sighed, shaking his feathery head.  "I do not mean to contend with you, Grand Magistrate."  He gulped.  "I am... simply trying to be the voice of reason here.  Verlaxion's appearance—a nebulous presentation at best—has sparked a sudden wave of panic and fear among a populace that was already constrained by distrust and paranoia.  I am... concerned with the direction that this is taking us, especially if the likes of Brye Chandler is being given a spot at the helm."

"And yet, for the first time in my entire career, the heart of Rohbredden is pumping with renewed health and vigor.  Frostknife, a bastion once encumbered by bureaucracy, is now spinning like a well-oiled machine."

"I can see that."

"Good.  Then meditate on it.  Trust in it," Hymmnos said.  "For up until now, this kingdom has relied on complacency."  She sighed, pacing across the office.  "I admire that you are the 'voice of reason' in any and all circumstances, Lieutenant.  But this?  This is different."  Her brow furrowed as she approached him.  "I too have clung to 'reason' in my years as Grand Magistrate.  And why not?  In a secular world determined by blood and business, it's as applicable a philosophy as an executor could ever hope to wield.  But we don't live in such a superficial world, do we?"  She scuffled to a stop before the griffon.  "Some of us held faith in She who looms above us all, watching, judging... protecting.  But most of us have forgotten what it means to truly be humble before such majesty."  She sniffled.  "Including myself.  My whole life, I thought of Verlaxion as an idea... a very noble, divine idea—but still something just as formless and heartless as an ancient proverb... until now."

"Your admiration for the Queen is not under dispute, Hymmnos," Keris said.  "All I ask is that you do not allow a sudden and inexplicable change in philosophical outlook cloud your judgment."

"As I likewise ask that you do not allow doubt to cloud yours."

Keris blinked.

"Return to your armory, Lieutenant," Hymmnos said.  "Get some rest.  Sooner than later, your skills shall be required.  You will answer to the Court and—yes—even to Chandler."

"Even if Chandler requests us to go after the wyverns?"

"Verlaxion has given her blessings to the executive of the Shoreline Trade Consortium," Hymmnos said, nodding.  "You shall obey him just as you would any ruling of the Court."

Keris took a deep, fuming breath.  "And if Chandler should then ask us to attack villages in the central prefectures... as he's already staged cold, heartless raids?"  He leaned back, headcrest raised.  "What then?"

"We shall see," Hymmnos muttered coldly.  "As Verlaxion wills it."

Keris' beak hung open.

"You are dismissed," the Grand Magistrate grunted.  And that was that.





In another part of Frostknife...

Servants, messengers, and guards rushed back and forth, clambering across a stone balcony overlooking the cold, cold waters below.  From a distance, the colored lights of sea ponies could be seen swirling around one another before schooling south to deliver the words of the Council across the seas and shorelines of the continent.

The air was full of nervous chatter.  Beady-eyed ponies and griffons spoke with one another in brisk, hushed tones.  Their limbs shook as they cast forlorn glances at the walls surrounding the Court of Verlaxion at the northernmost point of the bay.  A thin, snowy haze lingered around the spot, and a few ponies had gathered along the fringes of the courtyard, bowing and murmuring prayers to the cold granite surfaces.

It was through this scene that Theanim Mane calmly trotted.  He glanced curiously at the anxious, jittery souls around him.  With calculated grace, he made a bee-line for an opulently dressed figure leaning against a railing at the far end of the balcony.  At one point, a pair of guards marched up and blocked Theanim's pass.

"Erm... I..."  He reached into his saddlebag and produced a certificate.  "I'm with the Scientific Order.  Professor Mane... Theanim Mane..."

The bodyguards eventually relented, and Theanim was allowed to approach Chandler's position.

"You heard me right," Chandler spoke to a unicorn jotting notes down.  "It is my solemn suggestion that the Court of Verlaxion work with the Central Guard to establish a newly-revised conscription service as soon as possible.  With the new threats to this continent, there's no telling how we will be able to defend ourselves without a capable draft."

"Aye, Mr. Chandler," one servant said, nodding as he finished scribbling the words down.  "We will get this to the Grand Magistrate right away."

"Be sure that you do," Chandler said in a grave tone.  "And don't forget to relate my suggestions regarding the Wyvern embassy.  The gates to that facility haven't been open in nearly two decades, and it's in Rohbredden's interest that we all discover exactly what is being hidden inside."

"Right.  We'll get right on that."

"Verlaxion's bl-blessings to you..."  Chandler said with a limp wave, his eyes on the granite floor of the balcony.  "We will need them."

"Indeed," Theanim said, coming within earshot.  "You, most of all."

Chandler looked up, blinking.  "Hmmm?"

"How long will these 'suggestions' of yours remain 'suggestions?'"  Theanim's eyes narrowed.  "And how long until they mutate into kill commands?"

"Professor... Mane, is it?"

"It's a common last name," Theanim said with a nod.  "I assure you my first name is not."

"You're a Professor of the Ninety-Seventh Rohbredden Scientific Order."

"Well, there's one good thing about this," the Professor said.  "It cuts my introductions in half."

"I know that you were instrumental in exposing me at Sunset Prefecture," Chandler said.  "And that you tracked down the Luminards... the monks of the Quade that I had ferried over to Rohbredden."

"The ones who hadn't died in your miserable care, you mean."

Chandler exhaled.  He nodded and said, "I do believe some thanks is in order."

Theanim raised an eyebrow.

"Your revelations only... highlighted the magnitude of my crimes," Chandler murmured.  "One cannot truly humble himself unless his sins are exposed to divine eyes."

"So, that's it, then?"  Theanim scowled.  "You've turned from... from an atheist powermonger to a penitent theologian overnight?"

Chandler's nostrils flared.  "You think I cherish this?  Any of this?!"

Theanim blinked.

With a cold shiver, Chandler turned to gaze at the gray waters of Frostknife far, far below.  "It's taken me a lifetime to get to this place, Professor.  For years, I saw the members of the Court bickering at one another... sending the Talon left and right to do their dirty work, but never actually wanting to get their hooves soiled themselves.  And this led to the powers of central Rohbredden growing weak... watered down... like flavorless broth.  Meanwhile, the vile powers of the Seven Seas grew stronger and stronger.  And the Colonialists?  Their society's so confident and enlightened that it puts ours to shame.  Nopony from our continent was willing to admit this, but me?"

He closed his eyes, lifting his head as a cold mountain breeze wafted down from Verlaxion's throne, kicking at his peppery black mane.

"I thought the problem was Verlaxion.  Rohbreddenites were stalling themselves on behalf of a formless phantom.  And the only way to get rid of a crutch was to remove the need for it.  I... I wanted us to flex our muscles.  So I invented a disease to temper our immune system.  And it came close to working.  It came so close."

"Oh, absolutely," Theanim droned.  "Because that chaos surrounding Magistrates Timplan and Vilcheez was so unifying."

"It would have worked if I was given the chance to bag the Rainbow Rogue!" Chandler suddenly growled, his eyes flaring open with anger.  "If only I could have given the Council something to believe in, they would have unified—"  Just as quickly, his muzzle paled and his ears drooped.  He stared at something a thousand miles away from the two of them.  "...but there is something to believe in, isn't there?  She... she made her presence known."  He gulped.  "And all my life's work... everything I ever struggled for..."  He slowly shook his head.  "...what's it matter in the long run?  She's real, Professor.  She's real and... and she had mercy on m-me..."  His eyes weakly darted towards Theanim's.  "Do... do you have any idea, Professor, what it means to have everything you believe in dashed in a single heartbeat?"

Theanim swallowed a lump down his throat.  "Believe it or not, Mr. Chandler, I do."  He took a few bold steps forward.  "And I can tell you with full assurance that it is no valid impetus for waging a war against your own kind."

"I did not start the war, Professor," Chandler growled.  "Not this one, at least.  And now..."  He shook in his hooves.  "...this is my one chance for a salvation I never thought I needed... nor wanted.  But she's given it to me.  Verlaxion... our... our G-goddess..."  He bit his lips.  "...there's... there's a soul inside me and obeying her is the only thing I can do to save it... to save us."

"Mr. Chandler, it's clear that—with the new position of the Council—we cannot pretend to be enemies anymore."  Theanim squinted.  "But nevertheless, I implore you to act cautiously with the new power that's being granted to you.  Yes, I can see that you're not the same stallion that you were yesterday.  But do not let the shock of this... revelation get to your head.  For better or for worse, you have a brilliant mind.  Stay in control of it.  Balance your intelligence with your emotions, and don't let one half hold authority over the other.  Whatever may be threatening Rohbredden, it's just as glorious and just as holy to honor Verlaxion by being kind to our fellow tribes."

"Thank you, Professor Mane, for your insight.  I can see why the Council trusts in it so."  Chandler swallowed hard.  "But keep in mind that there are only five tribes now.  Verlaxion stated so, and grace is only allowed where grace is due."

Theanim paled upon hearing that.  "What... wh-what do you intend to do?"

"Only time will tell," Chandler said.  "As we speak, a nefarious force marches towards the bastions of Starkiss.  It is a treacherous, inhospitable land.  Nevertheless, the Queen is weak and she must protected at all costs."

"And just what costs are we speaking of?"

"I think we can all agree that—once upon a time—there was a Seventh Tribe.  They rejected Verlaxion's grace.  That's why they are nothing but scum and dust to this day."  Chandler took a deep breath and marched past Theanim.  "I don't intend to be on the side that joins them.  Do you, Professor?"

Theanim grimaced.  He pivoted about, watching as Chandler trotted off to speak to a group of messengers.  Guardians and other officials crowded around the executive, until he became one with the thick lifeblood of Frostknife.





"Grnnngh..."  Rainbow Dash stumbled, falling onto her chest with a splash of snow.

"Rainbow?!"  Twilight spun around.

"Oh no!"  Pinkie flew in close.  "You okay, Dashie?"

"Is it another dizzy spell, darling?" Rarity asked.

"Grffff..."  Rainbow Dash flexed her legs, pushing herself up into a standing position.  "Just... just a small one..."

"Hey Rainbow!"  Bard called from the front of the procession.  "Y'all okay back there?"

"Yeah... totally!"  Rainbow gulped.  "I just tripped!"

Flynn, Logan, and Wildcard gazed all around, blinking at an endlessly stretching plain of flat, white snow.  "On what?!"  Logan barked.

"Uhhhhh..."  Rainbow fidgeted.

Remna's voice droned from the front.  "If the Austraeoh is growing weak, then it is the task of the Herald to cease marching until she is rested."

"No.  No!"  Rainbow stood tall, shaking her head.  Vaporous breaths escaped her snow-flaked muzzle.  "I'm good!  Honest!"

"Trust in the Austraeoh's words, Remna," Mortuana calmly said.  Her figure towered above the rest—thin, gangly, but nevertheless majestic.  "Let her decide when the group must rest."

"Hrmmmfff..."  Was all Remna managed, and she continued taking point, leading the group across the desolate flatness of Frost Plateau.

"Well, it's at least nice to know that she cares," Fluttershy said with a small smile.

"You kidding?"  Pinkie turned to frown at her ghostly friend.  "She's only angry about the journey possibly coming to a halt!"

Fluttershy sighed.  "You're right."  She hung her head.  "She's still a meanie head."

Twilight giggled.  "Always good to know your personal assessment, Fluttershy."

"Uhm... you're welcome?"

"Shall we prroceed, Austrraeoh?" rolled a deep voice from the rear of the group.

Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Sure thing, Kepler!"  She winced slightly as she stumbled forward, her saddlebags jostling around her warm outfit.  "It'll take more than a lame patch of snow to slow me down!"

"Ha hah!  A brrave attitude indeed!  This 'patch of snow' goes on forr hundrreds of miles, rrainbow one!  No trrees... no tundrra... not a single drrop of photosynthetic bacterria that darres to interrrupt the monochrromatic monotony!"

"Well, if that isn't a friggin' bleak picture you're painting there, bud."

"I know!"  Kepler's voice boomed as he drew the tiny wagon along.  "Isn't it absolutely magnificent?!"  He bore a toothy grin.  "Hah!  The absolute best canvas against which to drraw the colorrs of the mine!  Right now, I'm imagining a grrand porrtrrait of all of us standing beforre the lowerr bowerrs of the Midnight Armory!"

"Yeah, in pieces?"  Flynn called back.  "Or are only half of us corpses?"

"Ha ha ha!"  Logan laughed.  "Maybe you're the corpse, scrawnio!  But as for me?  I intend to be posed atop a damned mountain of dead changelings, gripping my axe like a true hero!  Hell... I'll have carved a throne out of Tchern's skull to make the pose extra badass!"

"Alicorn skulls aren't big enough to sit your fat flank in, idiot.  Even mutated ones belonging to metamorphic soul-suckers."  Flynn cleared his throat and cast a feeble glance in Mortuana's direction.  "No offense."

"It is quite fine, Flynn," Mortuana calmly breathed in mid-stride.  "My affinity for Tchern and Chrysalis waned centuries ago.  As a result, I can safely admit that I too find the mental image of her calcified cranium being utilized as a chair to be... affordably amusing."

Wildcard smirked while Bard, Logan, and Flynn chuckled into the cold air.

Twilight and Rarity winced.

Pinkie Pie's eyes darted left and right.  Her muzzle contorted.  "Hah hah... hah?"

FWOOSH!  "Hey!" Ariel grinned, suddenly hovering backwards in Rainbow's face.  "The Mountain Matron made a funny!"

Rainbow gulped.  "That she did."  A slight smile crossed her muzzle.  "I bet it would make Whitemane blush."

"Isn't that enough to smile about?"

"Heheh..."  Rainbow's lips curved slightly.  "Sure, why not."

Ariel cocked her head to the side.  "You're not just in the company of the Herald, Rainbow Dash.  We're your friends.  At least... we'd love to be."

"I don't doubt that."

Ariel squinted.  "'But...'"

Rainbow shuddered, glancing aside.  "You know why."

"Sure I do."  Ariel spun until she hovered effortlessly upside down.  "I also know that you didn't trip on nothing."

"You're watching me that hard, huh?"

"Can't help it."  Ariel winked.  "It's my job."

"Must be like watching grass grow."

"Hehe... cute... brightly colored grass.  You know, your mane's starting to sprout back."

"Pffft.  No it isn't."

"She's right, darling," Rarity said with a smirk.  "It truly is."

"Don't get us wrong," Twilight added.  "It's still very, very short..."

"But I bet the silky quality is right where you left it."  Rarity sighed.  "There's one thing to look forward to in our journey."

"Some color would be very... very nice," Fluttershy said softly, squinting across the white, white wilderness.

Ultimately, Rainbow reached up and dragged a hoof across the back of her head.  She jolted in slight surprise from the texture of tiny, wispy follicles forming a spectral sea across her scalp.  "Whoah... okay, so I stand corrected."  Her eyes fluttered and she teetered to the side just as she said this.

"Whoah!"  Ariel reached in to steady the mare.  "By that you mean 'barely stay upright.'"

"Look..."  Rainbow gulped, brow furrowing.  "I'm fine!  It's... it's just beginning."

"What is?"  Ariel blinked with concern.  "The Spark's drain?"

"Is that what you seven call it?"

"Well... no, not really."  Ariel gulped.  "But if it's true that you haven't made contact with Yaerfaerda since the Quade..."

Rainbow fought a lump in her throat, gazing east at a distant, faint glow.  "It's... it's starting to happen again.  Just like at the Luminards' sanctuary... and at Amulek."

"Oh Rainbow..."  Twilight sniffled.

"Is it bad?"  Ariel spun until she was upright again.  "Do you feel a fainting spell coming on?"

"No.  Not quite.  But... I think I'm starting to get a real sense for it ahead of time."  Rainbow grimaced.  "It freaks me out to think how I'll deal with it on the dark side.  I mean... are there beacons on that side as well?"

"That's a question best posed before Kepler."

"I... uh..."  Rainbow shuddered.  "...I'm not sure I want to."

Ariel stared at Rainbow, then at the rest of the group.  "Tell you what..."  She smiled at the mare again.  "The moment you feel like you're going to 'trip' again, just whistle.  I'll swoop on down to steady you."

"I thought your job was to do recon for Mortuana and the Herald."

"My job is to protect Austraeoh.  Besides..."  Ariel fluffed her mane with a grin.  "I'm fast enough to do both without anyone noticing... or caring.  Don't you agree?"

"You've got spunk, girl," Rainbow smirked.  "Like I once did."

"Like you still do," Ariel said.  "Only, you've got the weight of the universe on your shoulders now.  Doesn't stop you from being awesome anyways."

"Now there's a happy thought."

"I've got lots of them to give."  Ariel winked, then flapped her wings.  "Just whistle.  I'll be your wings.  I promise."  FWOOSH!  And she shot back into the sky with a dark streak.

Rainbow blinked calmly.

"She's very..."  Fluttershy smiled.  "...nice."

"Mmmm..."  Rainbow nodded, her eyes on Yaerfaerda's orange glint.  "...only the best ones are in my travels, I find."

Pinkie's muzzle scrunched.  "The best ones what?"

"Let's... erm... focus on the trek for a bit, okay girls?"

"Sure thing, Rainbow," Twilight said with a nod.

"Rarity, sense anything ahead of us on this plateau?"

"Well, you might scarcely believe this, darling, but..."  Rarity turned with a coy grin, waving tiredly at the ivory horizon.  "...we've got snow."
> Rainbow and the Snow Piercers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash and the Herald trotted east.

The execution of this task did not match its simplicity.  The snow layering the Frost Plateau was just deep enough to make every step an agonizingly laborious thing.  Within a solid hour of trudging through the freezing cold powder, Rainbow's hooves ached intensely.  The pain bit her through the numbness, and her right wing flapped every so often—as if subconsciously trying to lift her petite frame and relieve her from the persistent torture.

The flatness of the landscape was beyond daunting.  The plateau stretched endlessly in every direction.  Rainbow felt as though she learned twenty new variations of the color "white" simply by looking at it.  Rarity couldn't stop wailing in despair from the relentless onslaught of nothingness.

"Be glad I didn't find you before the Grand Choke," Rainbow Dash said.

"Darling, even in its name, that deserves far greater recognition."  The phantom unicorn pouted.  "What I wouldn't give for a single mountain."

Rainbow Dash couldn't argue.  Even though the jagged ridges of Rohbredden had proved nothing but problematic for her before, she'd die just to see a single granite peak or a hint of a hilltop.  Instead, everything was flat, flat, flat.  Mortuana's bandaged horn was literally the highest point for miles—not counting the figures that flew overhead.

Ariel's dark streaking figure was a welcome reprieve from the mediocre infinity.  Even the clear blue sky—normally a welcoming sight—was improved every moment that the winged Heraldite sliced across its azure surfaces.  Every time the mare passed by, she gave Rainbow a friendly wink, as if reminding her of her loyal promise.

Wildcard and Bard also took shifts performing reconnaissance, although they did so with a great deal less pizazz than Ariel.  Nevertheless, Rainbow couldn't help but stare at Wildcard's silent and determined face, or Bard's thoughtful eyes as he scanned the wintery wasteland around them.  Even after so much time... so many miles crossed... the Desperadoes were still determined to assist Rainbow with her endeavors.  It was a humbling, heart-wrenching reality.

Rainbow attempted to distract herself by staring into the snow, or by listening to her ghostly friends' conversations.  Usually, the collective presence of her companions would bring solace to her.  At this point, however, the endlessely bleak canvas of the Frost Plateau had a hypnotic effect.  Rainbow felt as though she was being displaced out of body for a brief moment.  The cold winds blew her back, tossing her ragdoll body past continents, oceans, and machine world entrances.  When she landed, she was in another place... a warmer place, basking in the baked scents of Sugarcube Corner, entranced by the sound of birdsong and old creaking Ponyvillean doorframes, pierced by happy giggles and strong, piercing, green eyes.

And then the orange light would flicker, and she would be yanked back to this moment, this painful lurch through fetlock-numbing snow, this heavy weight hanging from her neck and holding off the shivers, the fangs, the chaos.

And as night drew its purple veil over the landscape, the pulse of Yaerfaerda only grew brighter.  Rainbow's eyes moistened, and it was a blissful thing when she heard Remna shout towards the darkening heavens, announcing the time to make camp and rest for the evening.





"It's a perfectly safe and logical question, Rainbow!" Twilight Sparkle said, her violet eyes dancing in the light of the camp fire.  "Go on!  Ask him!"

"But..."  Rainbow grimaced.  "It's so weird."

Flynn and Logan looked up from where they ate a humble meal from a roasted skillet.  "What's so weird?" Flynn asked.

"Mrmmfff..."  Logan chomped through oats and grits.  "...wanna lay it on us, Awesomestraeoh?"

"Heeeey!"  Ariel perked up.  "I like that one!"

"Heh..."  Logan stifled a belch.  "I knew you would."

"Uhm..."  Rainbow fidgeted atop the dry sleeping mat beside the fire.  Darkness hung around the, save for the faint shimmer of skystone aura due north of the Frost Plateau.  "Hey Kepler?"

The wyvern looked up from three opened scrolls laid out before him.  "Hmmm?"  He lowered his spectacles, blinking.  "The rrainbow one beckons?"

"Well, not me, exactly."  Rainbow rolled her eyes at Twilight's cheesy grin in her peripheral.  "But... uhm... Twilight Sparkle—my eggheaded ghost friend—she wants to know... like... what exactly happened to the female wyverns."

"Pffft."  Logan nearly spat out his meal.  "Seriously?"  Flynn's hoof swatted his skull.  Whap!  "Ow!"  Ariel giggled.

"Ah!"  Kepler folded his scrolls and propped himself upright with a proud smirk.  "A fine question indeed, Austrraeoh, and one that has eluded the knowledge of the otherr Five Trribes for generrations!"

"Heh..."  Bard reclined against Kepler's wagon, lazily strumming his guitar.  "Here we go," He said with a smirk.

"You see, the wyverrn gene pool is a most convoluted thing," Kepler said, his eyes glittering with starlight.  "All things considerred, it's quite the god-given mirracle that my brrotherrs and I have surrvived through the epochs of time!  Now, the key to underrstanding ourr rreprroduction title is ascerrtaining the historrical meaning behind the terrm 'Mountain Matrron.'"

"Wait... you mean..."  Rainbow squinted at a tent erected in the center of the camp.  A bony, winged silhouette stood in royal repose beyond the fabric.  "...you need Mortuana to breed?"

"Of courrse not!  But, beforre she arrrived in Wyverrn point to bless us with herr prresence, the wyverrn monks utilized the grracious, life bearring womb of the one trrue mountain matrron who came beforre herr!"

"Who... wh-who was that?"

"Mmmmmm... a most darrling damsel of many names, and of such rresplendent beauty."  Kepler smiled sweetly into the heavens as his wing-claws tickled the air.  "She was the last surrviving sisterr of a terrrible warr that happened many yearrs ago, long beforre Verrlaxion's so-called 'Unification.'  To prreserrve the wyverrn rrace, she agrreed to meditate upon the capturred soul of a windigo until herr entirre body was frrozen in ice!  Then, thrrough sheerr willpowerr, the orriginal mountain matrron would thaw herrself once everry fifty yearrs!  It was then that—thrrough a carreful selective prrocess on behalf of the wyverrn brrethrren committee—a single lucky male was chosen to spelunk his way into the hearrt of the mountain and perrforrm sacrred copulation with herr.  Then, she would frreeze herrself again forr anotherr fifty yearrs.  Upon thawing, she would give birrth to new wyverrn citizens, and the cycle would rrepeat, therreby prreserrving our noble, ancient rrace."

Twilight Sparkle gawked, her muzzle agape.

Fluttershy and Rarity stared with wide eyes.

"Whoah..."  Rainbow Dash gulped.  "Really?"

"Pffft—Brah hah hah hah hah hah!"  Kepler's booming voice echoed across the Frost Plateau.  The flames of the campfire flickered from his breath.

Twilight blinked in confusion.

Flynn, Logan, and Ariel collectively chuckled while Bard smirked and plinked away at his guitar.

"Heeheeheehee!"  Pinkie Pie hugged herself, teetering backwards and phasing through her anchor with hoofy-kicks.

"Grnnngh..."  Rainbow ultimately face-hoofed.

"I swearr to the gods!"  Kepler smirked, wiping the fog of happy tears from his spectacles.  "It neverr gets old!  Outsiderrs always... always ask 'what happened to the wyverrn females.'  Did they everr stop to think that they werre forreverr hiding behind our jocularr humorr?  Eh?!  Hah hah!"

"Problem is," Flynn muttered, stoking the fire.  "You tell the same joke so many times in a row..."

"Eh..."  Bard shrugged.  "I find myself liking it every time."

"Yeah, but you're a penniless musician," Flynn grunted.  "You're used to repetition."

"Dayum proud of it too."

Ariel giggled again.

"Hmmmm..."  Kepler sat up straight again.  "In all fairrness to you, Austrraeoh, and to yourr charrmingly inquisitive Twilight Sparrkle."  He smiled.  "My brrotherrs and I arre of the asexual varriety.  We always have been and always will be."

"Asexual?  What's that mean, exactly?"  Rainbow shrugged.  "You... hang out with books at a coffee shop and just... sorta stare at the floor whenever anypony enters?"

"Heheh..."  Rarity smirked, pointing.  "Now that is funny."

"Quite simply, with enough maturrity and nourrishment, a wyverrn's body rratherr... spontaneously decides to lay an egg."

"Spontaneously?"

"As decided by naturre, is what I mean to imply."

"Yeesh..."  Rainbow Dash's muzzle scrunched.  "How does that happen?"

"Not without a cerrtain degrree of mild discomforrt," Kepler said with a chuckle.  "I assure you."

"Have... uh... you laid any eggs, pal?"

"Indeed."  Kepler nodded.  "Twenty."

"... ... ...wow."

"Only fourr of them have hatched, mind you.  Such handsome brrotherrs, and highly rrespectful to trradition.  Hah!"  A toothed grin.  "I cerrtainly wouldn't have it any otherr way."

"I... I had no idea, Kepler," Rainbow remarked.  "It must have been terribly hard to leave them behind."

"Hmmm..."  The wyvern stared off across the shadowed plains.  "...it's been a taxing thing indeed to leave all of my brrethrren behind.  But they know the necessity of my cause, just as I rrespect the imporrtance of theirr staying behind.  They shall prrotect the legacy of all ourr brrottherrs, both big and small.  In the end, we arre all tiny specks beforre the gods."  He waved a claw at the sky.  "Like starrs!  Yet no less precious."  He smiled.  "I am morre than happy to make surre that yourr spark shines the brrightest, Austrraeoh, for what a constellation that will leave behind... surrely something forr my brrethrren to smile upon.  Hah hah!  Yes indeed..."

"Dude..."  Logan glared across the campfire.  "...you could have just gone with 'we all spring up from the ground!'"

"Just because it worrked on you doesn't mean it will worrk on the Austrraeoh."

"Hahaha!"  Flynn grinned aside.  "More oats, Big Show?  Or are you too busy chomping on your own hoof?"

"Meh..."  Logan stood up and shuffled off for his tent.  "You guys suck.  I'm hitting the sack early."

"Just be sure to clearly mark in the snow where you decide to make your toilet!" Flynn called after him.

"It's okay!  The smell will warn you!"

"Ugh..."  Ariel dropped her plate and rested her chin on folded forelimbs.  "...and there goes my appetite."

"Save it for breakfast, girl," Flynn said, poking at his own skillet.  "You're going to have to get warmed up for the trip ahead of us tomorrow."

"Mmmmm..."  Ariel rested her blue eyes shut.  "Don't I know it?"

As Rainbow's gaze followed Logan, she caught sight of a violet figure in the distance, pacing just beyond the penumbra of the firelight.

"I swear," Rarity murmured.  "Does that mare ever eat?"

"Who.  Remna?"

"Yes, Remna."  Rarity shuddered.  "The more and more I observe her, it... fills me with this unsettling feeling."

"I'm not part of her fan club either, Rare-Rare," Pinkie Pie said.  "But, you gotta admit."  She bore a nervous smile.  "It feels super safe having her nastiness around and on our side."  Her grin twitched.  "R-right?"

"Depends on just how nasty she gets," Fluttershy remarked, gulping.

"Let's not get too worried," Twilight said.  "The Herald's here.  If anyone can rein Remna in, it's them.  Especially Mortuana."

"But..."  Pinkie's face grew long.  "Morty's dying.  She may not last long enough to... 'rein Remna in.'"

"Even if that's the case," Fluttershy said.  "Wildcard's here."

"Wildcard?" Rarity remarked.

"He's out there now," the pegasus said, nodding into the darkness.  "Circling the camp.  Just beyond the darkness."

"I wonder why Remna's so close and he's so far," Pinkie mused.

"Because Remna is afraid.  Think about it."  Fluttershy blinked at the others.  "Her concern over Austraeoh is... frightening.  She's willing to do anything to protect Rainbow Dash.  We've witnessed that first-hoof."

"Meanwhile, Wildcard is keeping his distance.  Staying cool.  Doing his job."  Twilight nodded.  "That's the same kind of confidence that he's been exercising on Rainbow's behalf ever since the Quade."

"We truly are blessed, if you think about it," Fluttershy said.  "To have so many souls willing to support us when we need it the most."

"In spite of what's happened in the past," Rarity added, gulping.

Rainbow kneaded the sleeping mat beneath her.  "But one pony's blessing is another's curse."

"Huh?"  Rarity looked over.

Rainbow sighed.  "Never mind.  Got a full night of sleep ahead of me."  She rolled over, gazing limply at an orange spot in the far distance.  "And by that, I mean... a full night of bad dreams."

"We'll be right here, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said with a smile.  "We'll stay up all night with you."

"Yeah!  We'll Vanilla-Zone-It in the morning!"  Pinkie winked.  "You can wake up to our happy, sunny faces!"

"Heh..."  Rainbow bore a tired smile.  "...scratch 'Heraldic Seven.'  Make it 'Eleven."

"Heehee!"  Pinkie smirked.  "Don't you mean 'Twelve?'"

Rainbow sighed.  The orange glow pierced past her eyelids.  "Yeah..."





The next day, Rainbow stared down at her hooves as she trudged across the bright, sun-lit expanse of Frost Plateau.  The creaking of Kepler's wagon wheels persistently tickled her ears.  Meanwhile, Bard and Logan carried on a mild argument concerning how to ration their supplies for the rest of the trip to Starkiss.

"I'm rather proud of him," Ariel said, hovering overhead.

"Hmmm... who?"

"Pffft... certainly not Big Show."  Ariel stifled a giggle.  "It's Bard.  He may not be a member of the Herald, but he acts like it.  And no matter how much he might say it's because of Wildcard, I'm sure it's more than that."  She sighed, flapping her wings as she gazed across the snow.  "He cares.  He really, really does."

"You should tell him that in person," Rainbow muttered.  "Pegasi of a feather, y'know?  I bet a humble stallion like that could use some good o'l flattery."

"Heh... that wouldn't really go anywhere."

"Why not?"

"Let's say the Austraeoh isn't the only soul that knows what it means to carry a heavy burden around."  Ariel cleared her throat.  "Besides, he's simply not my type."

Rainbow said nothing.

"You, uh..."  Ariel smiled.  "You didn't wake up screaming this morning."

"The nightmares weren't so bad," Rainbow muttered.  "Besides, I knew I had my gal pals watching over me."

"That's really sweet."  Ariel smiled, then looked over Rainbow's shoulder.  "Really, girls.  That's very sweet of you."

"They're... uh... they're all 'asleep' right now."

"Oh?"  Ariel blinked.  "They've retreated to... what do you call it again?"

"The Vanilla Zone."

"Heeheehee..."

"Hey... laugh all you want."  Rainbow smirked tiredly.  "I didn't make it up."

"Who did?"

"Guh... I kinda forget all of the sudden."  Rainbow gulped.  "Let's just say Pinkie Pie.  She makes the best of them up."

"Could you summon any of them if you needed to?"

"Yeah, but I don't want to at the moment."

"Need some time alone?"

"Nah.  Just want them to have a chance to rest.  You think this whole trip's been hard on me?"  Rainbow winced.  "I mean... well, yeah... it has... but it's been even harder on them.  Suddenly being undead... ghosts of what they once were?  And not being able to do anything about it or affect the world around them?  Yeesh... pretty sucky if you ask me."

"I bet they couldn't have picked a better pony to be attached to," Ariel said.  "A loyalty like yours goes a long way."

"Heh..."  Rainbow rolled her eyes.  "Literally."

"Could... erm..."  Ariel floated low until she touched down and trotted at Rainbow's side.  "Would it be too much if I asked a... slightly personal question?"

"Shoot."

"Well, maybe not so much 'slightly' as 'majorly.'"

"You'd make a lousy gunslinger.  Shoot already."

"Eheh..."  Ariel gulped.  "How... exactly did they... y'know..."  She waved a hoof in mid-trot.  "...pass?"

Rainbow sighed.  "Right in front of me."

Ariel's ears drooped.  "Oh... that's so terrible."

"No, wait..."  Rainbow fidgeted.  "That's a lie.  I mean... a half lie... I-I mean..."  She sighed and glanced at Ariel.  "I saw it in a vision.  It was like I was there... right in front of them."

"Oh?"

"I think it had something to do with the Elements," Rainbow said.  "Even though Discord had gotten his grubby, chaotic paws on them... hid them and corrupted us through them... we were still connected, y'know?  And when Twilight..."  She gritted her teeth for a moment.  "... ... ...when the Elements of Harmony were used against Discord without me... the feedback was so heavy that I was brought out of my own body and shown what happened... almost as if I was seeing through the Element of Loyalty in Spike's grip."  She gulped hard.  "Whatever the case, it was enough to jolt me out of Discord's spell.  I flew straight to Ponyville, put on the pendant... and the rest..."  A sigh.  "...is history."

"Still, that's so... so uncool," Ariel said.  "I... almost wonder if... if—"

"What?"  Rainbow squinted.  "If destiny meant for me to become the Austraeoh?  And that's why the Elements—y'know—blew my friends up?"

"I... can't possibly believe that the Angels meant to cause that much harm just for Urohringr to be reformed in the end," Ariel said.

"Well, why not?  For all of the Herald's history, there's still so much that's unknown.  Like... did the Angels mean for the Sundering to take place, or didn't they?"  Rainbow shrugged.  "Or maybe it doesn't matter who did it in the beginning.  What matters is that somepony somewhere thought it would be a darn good idea to make this piece of the cylinder reboot itself through a living pony."  Rainbow stared firmly ahead.  "It took Commander Hurricane's life away... sacrificed all of her legion.  And still she didn't make it as far as I did."

"Yes, but..."  Ariel cocked her head to the side.  "Didn't you once tell us—or Bard and Wildcard at least—that the descendants of this 'Commander Hurricane' survived?"

"Yeah.  And my friends aren't actually dead," Rainbow said with a nod.  "They're only half dead."  She bore a tired smirk.  "Seems as if though a lot of bad comes with the good and vice versa."

"Like harmony and chaos."

Rainbow blinked.

"That's the nature of Austraeoh," Ariel remarked.  "You are the vessel that holds the Spark... and there's a lot of empty darkness that surrounds that light."  She shrugged.  "I figure... it's just the task of Eljunbyro and Odrsjot to fill in the grooves."  She smiled.  "And don't forget Yaerfaerda."

"Believe me," Rainbow muttered, staring ahead at the orange glow.  After so many hours, it was scarcely a sneeze closer.  "I haven't."

"Well... for what it's worth..."  Ariel flapped her wings, taking off.  "Austraeoh or not... I think you're a pretty sweet pony."  She smiled.  "And someday, when all of this craziness is said and done, you're going to get exactly the kind of rest and comfort you deserve."  Her teeth showed.  "And there'll be no shortage of friends for someone as loyal as you."

"Heh... there you go again."  Rainbow smiled rosily.  "Filling me with happy thoughts."

"Girl."  Ariel winked.  "I'm a friggin' well of 'em."

Before Rainbow could say something—

"Wuh oh..."  Flynn's voice muttered.  He stopped dead in his tracks, squinting at the horizon.  "That's not good."

"What?"  Remna stopped, forcing the entire train of hooves and limbs to halt.  "What's not so good?"

"Stand by."  Flynn held a hoof up to his balding head.  His left eye whirred, the lenses rotating in and around themselves.  "I thought I felt something in the air, but let me confirm..."

"What?!"  Remna rasped, swiveling around with a frown.  "Confirm what?!"

"Patience, Remna," Mortuana calmly chided.  "Let our fellow Heraldite conduct his observation."

"Yeah, hold yer horses," Bard said.

"I think she just did," Logan mused.

Bard frowned.  "Now ain't the time, Big Show."  He glanced at the unicorn.  "Flynn?"

"Yup... there she blows."  Flynn's lenses settled in place.  He pointed with a light brown hoof.  "A blizzard.  Due east and sweeping our way."

From up high, Wildcard gestured with glinting claws.

"Dubya sees it too!" Bard exclaimed.  "He says it's occupyin' the entire dayum horizon!"  He kicked at the snow.  "Shiet!"

"Well... uh... m-maybe we can clear it!"  Ariel suggested.  "If Bard and I take to the skies and cut a path, maybe it'll blow on either side of us!"

"A blizzarrd of that magnitude is no laughing matterr, my frriends!" Kepler hollered from the rear.  The winds were briskly picking up, filling the plateau with whistling howls.  "The sanctuarry has rrecorrded historry of snowstorrms lasting forr weeks along the westerrn slopes of the Starrkiss!  We must find a way to endurre the onslaught, forr therre is no waverring frrom this path!"

"But our tents cannot survive a persistent gale, the likes of which you're describing!" Remna exclaimed.  "Perhaps if we were to dig a burrow into the ground?  A protective trench of some sort?"

"No way in Hell!"  Logan spat.  "We'd freeze our assholes inside out!"

"Either contribute with your brain or I'll be sorely tempted to better utilize your coat," the violet bounty hunter snarled.

"Right back at ya, toots."

"Calm down, everypony," Mortuana's voice coolly pierced the increasing winds.  "I do not believe that our solution lies in making a shelter, but rather executing a spell."

Remna marched firmly towards the alicorn.  "I will not have you consuming that last vial!"  Her brow furrowed.  "You are far too important to this journey, Mortuana.  Please..."  She gulped.  "You must persist a little bit longer."

"Of course.  I know that, my little pony."  Mortuana calmly clasped the dangling necklace in question.  "Be at peace.  I do not speak of my magical capabilties."  She glanced aside.  "Flynn?"

"Already on it, Mountain Matron!"  The unicorn was kneeling, unpacking the bulk of his inventory.  "I've brought an extra stash of Frost Rods just for this kind of situation.  Hey Wildcard!  Come down and lend me a claw, will ya?"

Fwooosh!  The griffon gladly descended, extending both his palms to catch the gray clinders being tossed his way.

"We should just have enough to make a wide circumference!" Flynn exclaimed, setting out across the snow.  "Kepler, bring the wagon in!"

"Verry well, shiny frriend!"

"'Wide circumference?'" Rainbow mouthed.

"He's going to perform a shield spell," Ariel explained from above.  "I saw him do this when we were under attack by cave spiders during a raid in Pine Prefecture.  Saved all our butts."

"Eeyup.  Including mine."  Bard rushed over to Wildcard's side.  "Here, Dubya.  Lemme help."  He assisted the griffon in hammering various frost rods at equadistant spots.

"Rnnnngh!"  Logan used his thick forelimbs to help Flynn.  Soon, the Job Squad had formed a full circle with the enchanted material.  "Why so surprised, Remna?!  Haven't you done this sort of shiet back in your day?"

Remna shuddered slightly as she trotted into the center of the circle along with Mortuana.  "It has... been a while.  Plus, my health hasn't been... altogether courteous to my memory."

"It's quite alright, Remna," Mortuana said.  "Let's all gather in the center now and prepare a shelter for the duration."  The alicorn looked over, beckoning.  "Come, Rainbow Dash."

The mare gulped, galloping over.  "You don't have to tell me twice."

"Almost... got it..."  Flynn and Logan hammered another pole into the ground.  "There!  How're things on your end, Bard?"

"They're all planted!"  Bard and Wildcard rushed into the center.  Despite their best efforts, it was still remarkably clamped inside the spot.  "Let her rip!"

"The blizzard's coming in fast!" Ariel remarked, hovering just above Mortuana and Rainbow.  "Better make it quick, Flynn!"

"Yeesh... no pressure, eh?"  Flynn spread his legs apart, braced himself, and took a meditative breath.  His one natural eye rolled back slightly as his horn pulsated brighter and brighter.

"Goddess..."  Logan blanched.  "...always creeps me out with the wirey bugger does that."

"Shhh!" Ariel insisted.

Not long after, a floating orb of light levitated above Flynn's horn.  By now, the blizzard was obscuring the ground just east of them.  Snow picked up, flurrying their way, growing thicker... colder.  Seconds into the noise and chaos, Flynn exhaled and shot a narrow beam of light at the orb.  The orb split up into multiple bolts of mana-filled lightning that then surged into the surrounding rods.  With a brilliant flash, all of the cylinders burned hot, and a translucent orb of rosy red light formed around the site like a dome.

"Whoah..." Rainbow's muzzle hung open.  "Cool!"

"Heehee..."  Ariel smirked aside.  "I know, right?"

"Very well done, Flynn," Mortuana said.

"Ghhh..."  Flynn teetered, leaning against Logan's side for support.  "Don't th-thank me yet."  Panting, the unicorn weakly glanced up, wiping the sweat from his bald spot.  "It's tough finding good frost rods these days.  Here's hoping it holds out."

Remna clenched her jaw, glaring forlornly at the incoming storm.

Bard gripped his guitar case.

Wildcard silently stared... stared...

At last, the bulk of the snow flurry hit the shield and—

FLAAASH!

The shield fluctuated all over...

...but it didn't break.

The rosy dome maintained itself.  After a minor bit of quivering, it stayed solid, resisting every stab of ice and snow that the blizzard had to throw at it.  As the minutes wore on, the Frost Plateau disappeared around the group, replaced entirely by thick, opaque weather.  With an exception of a noticeable drop in temperature, that one circular site was virtually unfazed by the wintery tempest beyond.

"Hah!"  Kepler grinned wide.  "A fine show of magic indeed!  Well met!"

"Heh..."  Flynn grinned, his body limp as a noodle.  "I knew it would work."

Logan rolled his eyes.  "You're full of shit, y'know that?"  He draped Flynn over his flank and carried him towards the side of the glowing dome.  "Come on, ya lucky sissy.  Let's find you a place to rest..."

"Logan is right," Mortuana said.  "Let us take this opportunity to regain our strength."  She turned towards the bounty hunter to her side.  "Remna?"

Remna flinched, startled.  She looked up.

The alicorn's eyes narrowed.  "This means you too."

Remna sighed.  Nodding, she spoke in a calm breath, "As you wish, Mountain Matron."

"Indeed."  Mortuana stood in place, gazing out into the maddening blizzard.  With meditative grace, she pivoted around, her eyes eventually resting on Rainbow.

Rainbow blinked.

Ariel leaned in.  "If Remna's allowed to rest... then what have you got to be worried about?"

Rainbow glanced listlessly at the surrounding blizzard.  "Who s-said I was worried?"

"I know!"  Kepler's voice reverberated across the claustrophobic, magic shelter.  "Who's forr a song to pass the time?!"

"Darn tootin'!" Bard hollered.

Rainbow rubbed a hoof over her face.  "Then again..."

Ariel giggled and Rainbow smiled.
> A Time And A Place
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Commander?"  Grand Magistrate Hymmnos peered from the far end of her desk.  A night-drenched Frostknife lingered past the windows of her office behind her.  "Did you have something else to add?"

Commander Seraphimus took a shuddering breath.  She lifted her head, staring bleary-eyed at the mare.  "I was... mmm..."  She cleared her throat, swallowing hard.  "...I was only wondering if you would be so kind as to repeat your last statement, Grand Magistrate."

"Hmmm..."  Hymmnos rubbed her numb hooves together.  "And here I thought I was the most exhausted soul in Rohbredden right now."

Seraphimus merely stared at her through thin, charcoal eyes.

At long last, Hymmnos stifled a cough and leaned back in her seat.  "I said, Commander, that the Talon's current task is to stand by in the armory and await further instructions from the Interim Military Cabinet."

Seraphimus' feathery brow furrowed.  "I'm afraid I'm not... familiar with this term."

"That's because it was formulated overnight," Hymmnos said in a dull tone.  Her eyes pierced the shadows.  "Thus, the reason for the word 'interim.'"

"And... ahem..."  Seraphimus folded her forelimbs.  "Precisely what is the function of this Cabinet, Grand Magistrate?"

"Well, chiefly, for the time being, it's to ascertain the nature of that very function.  Needless to say, it's aiming to be a new committee for facilitating the use of military might in properly defending Rohbredden and the Queen's interests at large."

"Who, might I ask, authorized the establishment of this committee?"

"I did, naturally."  Hymmnos leaned her head aside.  "Not on my own, of course.  I had to invoke emergency intercessory legislation, namely Article IV Section B of the Divination Response Bill.  I had the entire Council's assistance with that.  The measure was voted on overnight.  The delegates agreed unanimously to assemble the Interim Military Cabinet.  Heh..."  She brushed her graying bangs back with a slight shudder.  "Funny... just days ago, we could scarcely vote on shoreline taxation bills.  But, all of a sudden, we're working together like trusting siblings."  She gulped.  "It's only fitting, really."

"And just what is the function of this Cabinet?"

"To assess the threat to the Throne of Verlaxion and intervene by any means necessary."  Hymmnos cleared her throat.  "We were... also going to vote on a military draft.  But, considering that we've received an astonishing number of names enlisting over the past two days..."

"How many?"

Hymmnos took a deep breath.  "Over seventeen thousand."

Seraphimus blinked.

"Needless to say, at the massive rate at which Rohbredden citizens are pledging their strength to the Central Guard..."  Hymmnos folded her hooves together.  "...we've decided to put the order of conscription on hold.  This new cabinet already has a strong, capable body of soldiers to work with, and—from the look of things—there are plenty of recruits signing up to protect our sworn Goddess and Divine Unifier."

"It... is a g-good thing."  Seraphimus cleared her throat.  "T-to know that so many foals of Verlaxion are willing to step up for their Queen."

"It would have been an even better thing yesterday," Hymmnos grunted.

"Grand Magistrate?"

Hymmnos sighed, gazing at the desktop between them.  "It... is with very little pride that I admit to my failings, Commander."  She gulped hard.  "If I truly cared for our Goddess, I would have worked to enact something like this sooner.  Alas, I allowed years and years of political red tape bleach my soul into something jaded... lifeless... and dishonorable."  A shudder.  "Now... now it's almost too late to save the one Life-Giver who means anything to any of us."  She bit her bottom lip, trying to contain a sob.  After a long while, she eventually muttered, "I... do not blame you, Commander, for failing to capture the Rainbow Rogue.  If anything... the fault lies upon us—the Council—for being blind and foolhardy in our endeavors.  We've allowed personal squabbles and selfish ambition consume us... to the point that we ultimately preyed upon our own kind.  If nothing else, this... venomous presence from beyond the Blight is the Goddess' way of punishing all of us."

"Verlaxion loves all Tribes," Seraphimus said.  "I don't see why she would punish us."

Hymmnos glared with sudden vitriol.  "Including the wyverns?"

Seraphimus' clenched her beak tight.

"They are the ultimate betrayers here.  By harboring the Rainbow Rogue and her new ally from the west... they have brought a pestilence upon our Queen.  They threaten to doom us all."  Hymmnos sighed.  "Besides, you heard the word of Verlaxion spoken before everypony in the Court.  Her mercy no longer extends to the Sixth Tribe.  Right now, our main concern is finding a way to defend the Starkiss.  I doubt even the inhospitable desolation of that land will hold back a creature as ravenous as the Rogue."

"With all due respect, Grand Magistrate, what we have here is an opportunity to make things right with our Goddess," Seraphimus firmly said.  "Focusing on the rifts between our tribes will only lead to more strife—the likes of which isolated Magistrates Timplan and Vilcheez, leading them to commit heinous acts of terrorism and embezzlement."  She stood up tall.  "Please.  You still have the Talon at your disposal.  For righteousness' sake, allow my wingmates and I to engage the Rogue.  Surely whatever dark magic she's used to taint the Wyvern Tribe can be undone."  Her charcoal hawkeyes narrowed.  "Verlaxion has empowered us with her wisdom and ferocity.  Now is the proper time to utilize our talents."

"And yet..."  Hymmnos leaned back, peering at the griffon.  "...she made no single mention of you when she blessed us the other day with her presence."

Seraphimus blinked.

"Commander, the problems that face this nation can't be solved by any single one force—but instead by many.  Holding back from that truth is one of the mistakes that's cut us the deepest, I do believe."  She stared firmly at the guardian.  "Throughout the years—the decades of silence we've endured in the shadow of Verlaxion's throne—the biggest mistake we've made was refusing to accept change.  We remained stubborn, and that selfish pride made us blind to the true solutions we have to address the issues at hoof.  Well, we've sunk as far as we could possibly go.  We've been so... pathetic and self-consuming that it took a messenger of Verlaxion herself to come and wake us up.  And now that she's done so—and now that she's made her desires clear and evident—it's finally a time for change.  Unless we take her completely at her word, then I fear that we risk backsliding once more into a state of arrogance and misdirection."

"What... kind of change are we talking about?"  Seraphimus shifted where she stood.  "And just where does the Talon stand in regards to it?"

"That's just it, Commander."  Hymmnos spoke gravely:  "Verlaxion made no mention of the Talon."

"She made no mention of legislature either," Seraphimus said, her tone slightly growling.  "And yet you and the Court has taken it upon yourself to enact Article IV."

"True."  Hymmnos nodded.  "Only because that is necessary utilization of resources on behalf of the foals of Verlaxion, attempting to turn her divine command into reality."

"And just what is the Talon?"

Hymmnos opened her muzzle, lingered, then ultimately avoided Seraphimus' gaze as she said:  "A substitute... f-for precisely the kind of holy thing that we all witnessed the other day."

Seraphimus squinted.  "...Grand Magistrate?"

"The Talon has been priceless in defending the Continental Prefectures from wicked incursions.  However—in both purpose as well as in name—the Right Talon of Verlaxion has served as a vital extension of the will and fury of our divine Unifier.  Alas, Commander, the Goddess herself has been made manifest in both will and intent.  Her purpose is clear, thus—there is no nebulous thing for the Right Talon to represent.  The righteous desires of our Queen are more than evident.  The Interim Military Cabinet is the Council's vessel for ensuring her request is followed swiftly and faithfully."

"Then... precisely what is the Talon's purpose at this particular juncture?"

Hymmnos inhaled.  "The Council of Verlaxion has decided to assign you and your wingmates temporarily towards protecting the interests of Frostknife and its respective delegates."

Seraphimus blinked.  Hard.  "Guard duty."

Hymmnos looked at her.  "Call it what you wish.  In this time of great peril, the foals of Verlaxion need protection as well."

"Meanwhile..."  Seraphimus' headcrest rose as she growled, "You're planning to send a fresh batch of inexperienced soldiers into the field to intercept the Rainbow Rogue and some unknown force of wicked intent?"

"Your assessment of the Central Guard is very much appreciated," Hymmnos said.  "However, they're not as 'inexperienced' as you might think.  In addition to that, the Council unanimously agrees that their far superior numbers will be enough to hold the Rainbow Rogue at bay."

"The Council is mistaken."

"Commander—"

Seraphimus' beak snapped.  "On her own, the Rainbow Rogue is a chaotic war machine capable of rampant destruction.  She can and will outsmart her opposition in ways you can't even begin to contemplate."

"We anticipate that," Hymmnos said with a nod.  "For that reason, we're sending an army to stop her.  Nothing less."

"I don't believe it will be enough, Grand Magistrate," Seraphimus said.  "I implore you... rethink this strategy... or at least send myself and my wingmates in so that we may assist your forces from a strategic position and properly defeat these demons of Blight."

"A fine idea indeed, Commander."  Hymmnos cleared her throat.  "Unfortunately, it's not up to me."

"Then just who does have the authority over the Interim Military Cabinet?"

"The newly elected Minister of Defense."

"The Minister of Defense?"  Seraphimus' blinked.  Just like that, her headcrest drooped.  She exhaled in a cold breath.  "Let me guess..."





"Friggin' Hell," Logan grumbled, squatting with his back to the quivering force-field.  He dragged a sharpening stone across the edge of his axe and spoke above the noise of the howling winds all around the camp.  "This damn blizzard sure is lasting a long-ass time."

"Just calm your flanks," Flynn hissed back, tinkering with his steam pack.  "I suspect it only has three hours left to blow.  Four, tops."

"Four hours?!"  Logan sputtered.  "For crying out loud!  By the time we get to Verlaxion's Throne, we're gonna be the Heraldic Popsicle Gang!"

"It'll blow over!  Just be patient!" Flynn exclaimed.

"I am patient," Logan grumbled.  "Or else my name isn't Big Show Serenity Logan."  He smirked.  "Heh."

"Ponies with middle names are lame," Flynn grumbled.

"You're lame."

"No you."

"No you!"

"Nopony cares!" Ariel growled from where she curled up on a sleeping mat.  Kepler's chuckles echoed against the wavering force field as the pegasus continued:  "Seriously!  Just shut up and let the rest of us rest!"

"Yeah..."  Bard nodded, sitting with his back to Wildcard and plucking away at his guitar.  "What she said."

"Hrmmmm..."  Kepler rubbed the furry bridge of his nose while rummaging through a wagon full of alchemic agents.  "Surrely such squabbling is beneath the Herrald!  Might I suggest anotherr rround of musical merrriment?"  He smiled softly in Bard's direction.  "Perrhaps ourr plus one memberr?"

"What about it, Bard?"  Flynn droned.  "Give it your best?"

"Hmmm... lemme see now..."

Bard cleared his throat and strummed his guitar with repetitive notes.

"Oh this dayum snow sucks and I can't sleep
This dayum snow sucks and I can't sleep
This dayum snow sucks and I can't sleep
But least I'm not Remna
Yes, at least I'm not Remnaaaaa"

He strung a final note, slapping his guitar with a devilish smirk.

"How 'bout that?  Hmmm?"

Ariel giggled and Wildcard smirked.

"Deliriously funny," Remna groaned from the far end of the translucent bubble.  "I've a good mind to eviscerate your guts and make a warm sleeping bag out of your skin."

"And I'd pay you to do it if ya could fit yer fat flank inside me, ya hussy!"

Before Remna could retort—

"My little ponies, please," Mortuana blurted from the midst of her deep meditation.  She sat on folded forelimbs, her bandaged horn teetering.  "A modicum of tranquility, if you can muster it."

Remna nodded.  "Yes, Mountain Matron," she murmured.

Bard cleared his throat.  "A thousand pardons, ma'am."

"Forgiven."  Mortuana breathed in and out.  Her ears twitched, and a pair of eyes opened.  The alicorn looked to her side.

Rainbow Dash sat, hunched over and sighing.

Mortuana closed her eyes again.  Clearing her throat, she quietly murmured:  "What ails you, Austraeoh?"

"Hmmm?"  Rainbow gulped.  "Do I look... ail'd?"

"You appear lost in thought.  I take it your fellow companions persist in their slumber."

Rainbow hugged herself.  "Let's face it.  They deserve a break."

"And you?  Does it work both ways?"

Rainbow was silent.

"This is the first time I've sensed you so deeply contemplative, not that I doubt you capable of introspection.  You are—after all—who you are."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow sighed, hanging her head.  "I am me..."

"It must be tough having to meditate without them."

"Sometimes it's tough enough having them around."

Mortuana raised an eyebrow above her closed lids.

"Only...!"  Rainbow jolted, gazing up at the alicorn.  "Uh—only b-because I never wished this crazy adventure on them!  Not one bit!  I'm not ashamed t-to have them by my side!"

"I never said you were, Austraeoh."

Rainbow Dash battled a lump in her throat.  She looked off.  "Still... it kinda sucks having to feel responsible for them all the time."

"Would you have it any other way?"

"Huh?"

"Would you rather be the shadow and one of your marefriends the anchor?"

Rainbow winced.  "Yeah... that would suck even harder."

"How so?"

"Because..."  Rainbow took a deep breath.  "If any pony can carry them to the Midnight Armory and back... it's me."

"I'm glad you have a grasp on your own confidence."

"It's not confidence," Rainbow said.  "It's... just the way things are.  And it's how I'm having to deal with it."  She bit her lip.  "Although... I-I could have dealt with it better."

"I presume you're referring to the debacle at the Quade and Red Barge."  Mortuana adjusted her bony wings.  "It was my understanding that you and your invisible companions worked your way past those hurdles already."

"They did... we did."

"And you yourself, Rainbow Dash?"

The pegasus hung her head.

"You've been struggling with a massive weight for a long time," Mortuana said.  "I can sense it.  My sister's blessing—albeit mostly faded—did much to alleviate the burden.  And yet... it's almost as if it's come back."

"More like it never left," Rainbow grumbled.  "More like it's only gotten heavier."

"And yet—haven't you gotten stronger?"

Rainbow was silent.

"Trust me when I say that we do not choose to protect the Austraeoh lightly, Rainbow Dash," Mortuana said.  "If I did not know that you were the one, I would not be commanding my fellow Heraldites to protect you."

"You shouldn't have to be commanding them at all."

"They obey me whole heartedly—"

"That's not the point.  All of this?  This blizzard?  This snowy mess?  This... whole friggin' nightmare with Rohbredden and the Talon and... and..."  Rainbow Dash winced.  "It... it could have been avoided, Morty."

"You're a resourceful mare, Rainbow Dash.  But no one is perfect.  Not even alicorns.  My decaying physique is more than enough evidence for that—"

"You don't understand!" Rainbow hissed.  She looked around fitfully, as if searching for the colors of her "slumbering" friends.  Once she saw nothing, she whispered aside:  "I could have tried so much harder... made this trip so much... awesomer..."

"And what makes you think I don't understand, Austraeoh?"

Rainbow sucked her breath in.  She looked up at Mortuana with surprise.

Mortuana calmly gazed down at her.

Rainbow shuddered—as if from a sharp stab of pain.  "You... you know—"

"I know that challenges are what keep you going," Mortuana said.  "And yet, ironically enough, once Verlax started challenging you, it threw off your game by thousands of miles.  Despite how it may look on the surface, I'm quite proud of you for finding a new rhythm by which to reassess your journey ahead."

Rainbow Dash panted and panted.  Her voice squeaked, "I-I'm not proud of it, Mortuana."  She sniffed, continuing in a tiny voice:  "Bard... Wildcard... the Herald..."  She gulped, her eyes growing misty.  "My friends... they're all at risk and... and somehow this is the best that I can do?"

"I do believe there's only one question that can asked here," Mortuana remarked, leaning her head down.  "Are you attempting to do what Verlax expects?  Or what you expect from yourself?"

Rainbow bit her lip.  She shut her moist eyes, shuddering.  "... ... ...I've... dr-dreaded these tests of Verlax."  She sniffled.  "Even before I understood the enormity and... demented nature of them all... they freaked me out super hard.  And... and I started wondering if I was actually starting to let her mold me into... into..."  Her teeth gnashed.  "Whatever friggin' monster she expects me to become!"

"As mad as the Divine is, there is a certain degree of truth to her inclinations," Mortuana said.  "A great deal of strength and versatility will be expected of you on the dark side... no doubt extending beyond the limits of conventional moral certainty."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow grumbled, hanging her head.  "...so you've made clear."

"However..."  Mortuana's eyes narrowed on the pegasus.  "...no matter how one interprets Verlax's motivations, it's quite clear that her 'tests' are mercilessly punishing you."  Mortuana slowly shook her head.  "There is no need for you to punish yourself as well, Rainbow Dash."

"Isn't there?"  Rainbow's teary eyes reopened.  "I've made horrible... costly mistakes.  Others have suffered for it... and yet I keep going."

"Well, you must."

"That's no excuse!"  Rainbow growled, frowning.  "To finish my journey, I gotta live, Mortuana!  And that means I gotta live with myself.  And... so many cruddy things have been done by my hooves."  She gulped hard.  "And if Verlax is even remotely correct... then I've gotta do even more cruddy things."

"I doubt the Rainbow Dash of Ponyville, Equestria, will settle for such a simple fate."

"Right... and that's what I felt.  But... after the Quade... I didn't really have many options at my disposal."

"And yet you chose one, regardless?" Mortuana remarked.

Rainbow nodded, wiping her eyes dry.  "I chose the hardest thing I could think of.  And even after my friends came back... I've still been following that road."

"Even if it's harder than the path Verlax desires of you?"

"Yeah, well, it'll still be my path," Rainbow growled.  "I... I needed an edge... a way to confound her.  I'm... I'm still waiting for a time to spring a trap of my own... to play Verlax at her own tricks, I guess.  But until I do... until that moment comes..."  She sighed.  "...it's a waiting game... a waiting game that's putting everything at risk.  If I was smarter, I'd get it over with... but... but..."

"What do you believe you are waiting for, exactly, Rainbow Dash?"

The mare stifled a whimper.  "...to be awesome again."

Mortuana nodded.  "Hmmmm... a noble thing."  After a breath, she leaned down and nuzzled Rainbow's chin until the pegasus looked up.

Rainbow blinked at Mortuana.

The alicorn faced her and said:  "You do not need to wait for something you already possess.  This is not a matter of waiting, Austraeoh, but rediscovery... an epiphany that's been slowly blossoming ever since the Quade."

Rainbow stared at her, shivering slightly.

"I hope I am there to witness you make that rediscovery," Mortuana said.  "For I am certain it will be a metamorphosis unlike any other.  Will it stun the mighty Verlax?"  She flexed and re-coiled her decrepit wings.  "Maybe.  Maybe not.  But I trust it will liberate the confident spirit that resides deep inside of you, a spark that's been waiting to rekindle itself for a long time now.  Even if the Herald fails to escort you to the Midnight Armory—I will be ecstatic, at least—that you have made it to such a position of rebirth.  For I trust that such a renewed flame will be enough to carry you to the ends of the world alone."

"How...?"  Rainbow Dash teetered on the edge of sobbing.  "How c-can you believe in me so much?"

"How can you not?"

Rainbow clenched her jaw tight.

"Have faith, my little pony."  Mortuana caressed her fuzzy chin.  "It's the one true thing Verlax has endeavored to leech from you.  She wishes to turn you into an unfeeling machine."  She shook her head.  "The Herald knows you are much more than this.  To acknowledge both the atrocities and the blessings you've committed is the true, defining mark of the Austraeoh.  My only wish—before your death—is that you strive to acknowledge the latter."

Rainbow sniffled.  She rubbed her cheeks dry and formed a feeble smile.  "You're a lot more like your half-sister than you admit."

"Hmmm... how very interesting."  Mortuana's vial jostled as she stood up on quivering limbs.  "I'll attempt to take that as a compliment."

"Heh..."

Mortuana lifted her head.  "Rise up, Herald.  It is time to move."

Remna glanced over, blinking.  "Mortuana...?"

"What?  Are you surprised?"  Mortuana gazed back calmly.  "The blizzard is clearing."

Just as she said that, the clouds began to dissipate.  The violet forcefield quivered less and less as the Frost Plateau rematerialized in a gray haze around them.

Wildcard readjusted his goggles, his headcrest rising in surprise.

"Huh..."  Flynn's mechanical eye rotated.  "That was quick."

"A fine omen indeed!"  Kepler clapped his tomes shut and packed them back into the wagon.  "Let us be off, frriends!  A mighty strretch of the plateau awaits!  And so does the beacon of Yaerrfaerrda!  Hah!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!"  Ariel said.  FWOOOSH!  She flew out through the force field and glided ahead.  "I'll scout out!"

"Don't fly too far!" Remna growled.  She hung her head with a surly sigh.  "Why do I even bother..."

"Trust me, with her?"  Rainbow Dash smirked, rolling up her belongings.  "Best to just let her have her way.  After you, Mortuana."

"If you insist, Austraeoh."





"Ahem..."  A pegasus in armor trotted up to a series of tents built along the upper bluffs of Frostknife.  Soldiers and recruits marched around the scene, setting up crates full of weapons and supplies as the camp grew by the hour.  "Mr. Chandler, sir."

"Please..."  The stallion waved a hoof from where he sat at a makeshift table, signing document after document.  "Just 'Minister' will do.  For the time being, the less my last name is used... the better, I fear."

The stallion nodded.  "Dear Minister."  He saluted.  "I came to inform you that the West Brigade of the Central Guard has established a strategic location for the training facility."

"Hmmm?  Is it in Green Prefecture?"

"Due north, sir," the soldier said.  "Verdant Prefecture.  Reports state that the tundra there has melted.  The soil is warm enough for the new recruits to gather and exercise without fear of extreme elements."

"When's the soonest that I can inspect the site myself?"

"Just say the word, Minister, and we'll have a chariot ready to take you there by sunrise."

"I trust the generals' choice in the matter."  Chandler took a breath, looking up from his table.  "Nevertheless, have a transport ready by midday tomorrow.  I might make a trip after my visit to the Frozen Shelves."

The guard leaned forward.  "Sir?"

"I... have someone I've been meaning to meet within those holds," Chandler explained.  "Trust me.  It's for the good of the operation."

The guard merely nodded.  "The Council has entrusted you with the authority of Verlaxion, Minister.  I stand by your every decision."

"Good.  I will have you summoned if I need more assistance."  Chandler gathered the documents, shuffled them, and hoofed the papers to the soldier.  "Please.  If you don't mind, have these delivered to the Grand Magistrate's office at once."

"Aye."  The pegasus nodded, taking the documents.  "Will do, Minister."  He spun around—jolting from the sight of a charcoal-eyed stare.

Seraphimus looked at the guard.

The guard gulped, bowed his head... and trotted briskly past her before taking wing.

Seraphimus took a breath, then crossed the cold granite panels until she stood directly in front of Chandler.  "I see you're quick to assume the control that's been granted you."

"Do you believe I would sleep on this, Commander?" Chandler exhaled.  He stood from his table and readjusted his bejeweled robe.  "Both Verlaxion and the Council has charged me with defending Starkiss at all costs.  It would be... veritably traitorous of me to abandon my newly appointed appointed post."

"Yes."  Seraphimus nodded coldly.  "And the Spring Havens forbid that you do anything to betray your own Queen and country."

Chandler glared back at her.  After a tense pause, he huffed:  "Let us put those nasty things behind us, Commander."

"I wish that I could, but I can't," Seraphimus hissed.  She inched forward, her sharp beak pressing its way towards Chandler's blinking expression.  "You're a liar... a murderer... and charlatan.  If it wasn't for Verlaxion's good grace—"

"And y-yet..."  Chandler gulped, fighting the urge to tremble under her glare.  "...our good Goddess has exercised her grace.  And now she is requiring my assistance in the most important crisis this kingdom has ever faced since Unification."

"Listen to yourself."  Seraphimus frowned.  "You call her 'good Goddess' today... when just a few days ago she was nothing but some banal name to you, hypocrite."

"What you call hypocrisy, I call redemption, Commander."  Chandler's eye narrowed.  "Would you want any less for yourself... for your family?"

Seraphimus froze in place.

"I know it... must burn you to witness this, Seraphimus.  However..."  He sighed.  "Verlaxion's will is still her will.  She's relying on me to fend off the forces that you've failed to stop."

"I wasn't the only one who failed," Seraphimus muttered.

"Nevertheless, you were there when her messenger made the proclamation with her Divine voice."  Chandler took a deep breath.  "It's all very... strange to me too, Commander.  Believe me... I wouldn't tell this to just any foal of Verlaxion... but I don't entirely enjoy the new weight that's been placed on my shoulders."

"Then relinquish it," Seraphimus said.  "Give control to this new Interim Military Cabinet back into the hooves of the Court."

"After they've appointed me by the righteousness of our Queen?"  Chandler raised an eyebrow.  "Do you even realize what you're suggesting, Commander?  After all that you've pledged to protect?"

It was Seraphimus' turn to fight trembles.  She stared beyond the stallion.  "...I no longer know what I am protecting."

"Of course you do.  You call me a hypocrite; don't be one yourself.  It doesn't suit you, Commander."

"What are you speaking of?"

"A promise, Commander.  And a very solemn one at that."  Chandler pointed.  "Have faith in me... and when the time comes... and the Rainbow Rogue is defeated... and we once again bask in the glory and vigor of our renewed Goddess..."  He pointed.  "I shall pray to her... I shall speak to her on your behalf... so that she may at last have your family restored to you."

Seraphimus stared and stared.  At last, her brow furrowed angrily.  "I would much rather bow to the Rainbow Rogue herself," she sneered.  "Then entrust the fate of my family to a traitorous serpent such as you."

Chandler took a deep breath.  "A pity."  He wandered back to his table and sat down.  "And to think... I once thought of utilizing your gifts... whatever was conceivably left of them."

"I beg your pardon?"

"It's quite simple, really," Chandler said.  "The Talon's time is over.  If their last few failures in capturing the Rogue wasn't evidence enough, then Verlaxion's utter ambivalence to their measure certainly confirms it."

"Chandler..."  Seraphimus frowned.  "If you think for one second that any flimsy legislature gives you the authority to minimize our role in defending Rohbredden—"

"On the contrary.  I defend you quite staunchly!"  Chandler said.  "When I nearly made the biggest mistake of my career, you came in to hault my endeavors.  That is certainly a sign of competence.  However, it was not enough to convince the Court.  They voted to have you and all of your wingmates decommissioned... with all military resources being dedicated exclusively to the Central Guard."

"That..."  Seraphimus blinked.  "...was not related to me by Grand Magistrate Hymmnos."

"What, did you just speak with her?"  Chandler nodded.  "No doubt she wanted to save faith.  She respects you.  And believe it or not, I respect you too, Commander.  That's why I personally interceded to have the Right Talon preserved."

Seraphimus leaned back with a sullen breath.  "To what end?"

"When the Rainbow Rogue is defeated, I will need the Talon to... rebuild what's been laid to waste by the invaders of the Blight."

"You will need the Talon?"

Chandler nodded.  "My whole life, I sought to reunify the Magistrates and their Prefectures.  I thought I could do this through admittedly underhoofed means.  Alas, it did not come to pass.  Instead, the Goddess herself has appeared before us.  She's given me a brand new opportunity, Commander," Chandler breathed emphatically.  "This is our chance at a new unification!  And when the time comes, I will need the Talon possible to restore the Five Tribes under Verlaxion's banner!"

"Verlaxion's, Chandler?"  Seraphimus fumed.  "Or yours?"

"It's a new age, Seraphimus," Chandler said.  He looked down at his leftover documents and rummaged through them, reviewing.  "Be thankful that I am preparing you a place to roost in it."  He hummed.  "Whether you accept this benevolent gift or not is up to you.  I hope—for Rohbredden's sake—that you make the right decision."  At the end of his breath, he grabbed a stamp and slapped it with finality across another sheet.
> But There's Something About Her
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Hey!  Everypony!"  Ariel shouted from a high altitude.  It was the next day, and the nine ponies continued their steadfast eastward lurch across the Frost Plateau.  "I think I see something!"

"Oh yeah?"  Bard looked up.  "Where?"

"A bit to the north!"  Ariel squinted in mid-hover.  "I... I think it's a summit!"  She glanced down at the rest.  "Could it be the Starkiss?"

Wildcard gestured.

Bard interpreted:  "Look a bit north of that.  Do you see the start of another range?"

"Uhhhhhh..."  Ariel squinted and squinted and—"Yeah!  I see two summits now!"

Wildcard gestured again.

Bard shook his head.  "Dubya says that ain't the Starkiss!"

"But we've been trotting for days," Rainbow said.  "Almost nonstop."

"Indeed!"  Kepler's voice boomed from the rear.  "The Frrost Plateau coverrs a grranderr arrea than you might think!  Therre arre a few noticeable landscapes between wherre we arre and ourr destination!  What ourr fairr featherred frriend sees is the starrt of the Starr Frringes!  It's a meagerr mountain rrange of rrocky hills that slice norrth and south thrrough the otherrwise flat plains!"

"And just what's after that, Mr. Sexy Geography?" Logan droned.

"Why, none otherr than the decrrepit rremains of the Battle of Starr's Shadow!"

"Whoah..."  Ariel gasped.  "We're gonna pass through that?"

"What's... the Battle of Star's Shadow?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"A horrible pre-Rohbredden conflict that transpired due west of Starkiss," Mortuana's voice calmly explained.  All eyes rested on the alicorn as she marched at the front of the procession.  "Just months prior to Unification, four of the six tribes converged upon a single spot.  There, after airing their angry grievances with one another, they proceeded to fight for three days and three nights.  Countless lives were lost, and—due to the severe cold of these altitudes—the corpses of the fallen are hauntingly preserved... even to this day."

"Yeesh."  Rainbow gulped.  "But if that was pre-Unification, then we're talking thousands of years ago!"

Mortuana gravely nodded.  "Before the four armies of pegasi, earth ponies, griffons, and unicorns could perish completely, the Queen Verlaxion made one of her first major appearances... halting the conflict altogether and stabilizing the temperature so that the survivors could trot home and tell their loved ones of the 'Great Unifier.'"  Mortuana's jaw clenched.  "However, the armies would never have converged between the Star Fringe and Starkiss if it wasn't for the fact that all four of them had been separately steered by rampaging windigoes."

"So..."  Rainbow grimaced.  "It was all a set up?  Verlax wanted the four armies to converge."

"Mmmmhmmm..."  Flynn exhaled through a frown.  "And the worst part of it is that she let them hack each other to pieces for three days before she finally intervened.  Just... just try to imagine how many hundreds of thousands of future generations would be alive today if she didn't let their ancestors go to waste."

"A dayum cryin' shame," Bard grumbled.  "That's what that is."

"One must admit," Remna said.  "Her efficiency is remarkable."

Ariel growled down at the bounty hunter.  "Remna..."

Remna calmly stared back.  "I only mean that we must not take her calculated ways lightly.  If the Divine can set a trap for four Tribal Armies, then there's no telling what she could do to nine solitary individuals."

Wildcard signaled in the air.

"Dubya's right," Bard said.  "We ain't an army.  We're just a bunch of tiny targets.  We should be able to use that to our advantage... get lost in the snow and mountains all stealth-like."

"Yes..."  Remna nodded.  "Only, Verlax's eyes are constantly on the Austraeoh.  She's been tracking her long before she even touched down in Colonialist lands."  The bounty hunter looked back with a scowl.  "For all we know, the Divine of Frost could be tracking her—and the rest of us—as we speak."

"If that's the case, then attempting to hide isn't gonna do us any good," Logan said.  "I'd say we just make a run for it."  He slapped two fetlocks together.  "Straight through the Star Fringes, the Tribal Battleground, and into the heart of Starkiss."

"Does that place even have a friggin' front door?" Ariel remarked.

Rainbow glanced back.  "Kepler... what's beyond the remains of the ancient battlefield?"

The wyvern cleared his throat.  "Sloping plains, Rrainbow one.  The plateau descends into a rrocky foundation.  Snow and frrost gives way to slick stone and erroded grranite.  A serries of shallow trrenches ebb and flow like a terrrestrrial labyrrinth, all within the grreat shadow of Starrkiss, a mountain most intimidating—none otherr than the highest strructurre in all of Rrohbrredden."

"And... do these trenches bleed into the heart of the mountain?" Rainbow asked.

"Indeed they do," Mortuana said.  "Leading into a great cavernous expanse that houses the source of Verlax's power."

Ariel gulped.  "You mean windigos."

"Yes."

"How exactly did you find this out?" Rainbow asked.  "Does Kepler have a map of the inside of Starkiss?"

"No.  It is because I've been there before," Mortuana explained.  "I was once an esteemed guest of Verlax's throneroom."  She pointed at the windblown bandages wrapped around her horn.  "It was how she came to bless me with this."

"Oh yeah."  Rainbow gulped, hanging her head.  "Right."

"The path ahead of us is quite clear," Remna grumbled.  "Less talking and more trotting.  Now."  A few seconds later, she flinched, then flashed Mortuana an apologetic look.  "By your grace, Mortuana."

"Do not be ashamed of your passion, Remna," Mortuana said.  "The Austraeoh is quite accustomed to reaching all-important destinations.  Trust in her tenacity... and abide by her pace."

Rainbow bit her lip.  Her left wing ached, and she flexed her right feathers instinctively.

Remna endured a deep sigh.  "As you wish, Mountain Matron."  Gulping, she picked up her trotting speed.  "I shall continue to scout ahead."

"Huh?"  Ariel blinked.  "But I thought that was my job!"

"I shall do it more thoroughly," Remna said, and rushed ahead of the pack.

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmm..."  Ariel's face went red as she folded her forelimbs.  "Any chance she can freeze to death in the middle of an ancient battleground?"

"Calm down, my little pony," Mortuana chided.

"Our boss is right," Logan said with a smirk.  "A frozen death is too sissy for a hardcore headbutter like her."

"Let me guess," Flynn droned.  "You're gonna suggest she tank against a wave of windigoes?"

"Dude!  That's my job!"

"Pffft... good luck with that, fatso."

"For real!  I sit on them and punch their snowy faces in!"

"While you suffer the world's most extreme case of blue balls..."

"Hey!"  Logan smirked.  "My only ticket to immortality is getting the Austraeoh to the Midnight Armory.  Besides, at this point in my life I'm waaaaaaaaaay too dangerous for any gorgeous babe to bother tapping my ass."

"Is that why you were at a bustling brothel when Wildcard found you?  You were enjoying things while they last?"

"Dammit!  It was a convent!"

"Hahahaha..."





"Grnngh!" Raptr stripped his helmet off and threw it against the floor of the armory.  Cl-Clank!  "They're calling us 'Yesterday's Birds' now!"

"Don't mistreat your equipment, Sergeant," Keris droned, staring out the window onto Frostknife.

"Lieutenant, I'm not kidding!"  Raptr's voice cracked as he waved a talon.  "Surely you've heard them!  Everywhere in the streets and balconies of Frostknife, ponies are chatting... gossipping about the end of the Talon!  This... this stupid 'Interim Military Cabinet' is suddenly our replacement or some crud!"

"I don't like it any more than you do, rookie," Windburst groaned, leaning against the wall and fiddling with his crossbow.

"Then why aren't you angry about it?!"

"I am."  Windburst's hawkeyes glared at Raptr.  "I'm just choosing not to make an immature scene about it."  He took a deep breath, polishing his crossbolts.  "Right now, the Council is scared.  I don't blame them.  They have every right to be.  In due time, they will require the assistance of the Talon once more.  Until then..."  He cleared his throat.  "...I think the best thing we can do is allow for this panic and paranoia to wash out."

"I don't think that's going to happen overnight, Sergeant," Starstorm said.  She sat at the long table in the center of the torchlit room.  "The last time the Court created new legislature in regards to the Right Talon, it was over three hundred years ago."  She gulped, looking up at her wingmates.  "We might not see a valid change in our lifetimes."

"And just what are we to do in the meantime, huh?"  Raptr cackled.  "Guard the Frosted Shelves?  Attend charity events?!  Inspect the offices of Frostknife for rat infestations?!"

"Hey... a job with meal benefits."  Windburst slyly smirked.  "Killer."

"This is no laughing matter!" Raptr barked.  "I did not spend four semesters at the academy just so I could become a door usher at the Court of Verlaxion!  I enlisted with the Talon because I wanted to make a difference in this world!  And up until this... this Rainbow Rogue nonsense, I was almost actually doing that!"

"Don't call it 'nonsense,'" Starstorm insisted.  "The Rainbow Rogue is still a threat."

"Why?  Cuz a talking blue suit of ice told us she is?"

"Sergeant..."  Keris groaned.

Raptr pointed.  "With all due respect, Lieutenant, you know the pegasus more than the rest of us!  When the Commander rounded us all up at Red Barge, you had a lot of less-than-negative things to say about her."

"We had a common enemy at the time," Keris muttered.

"And we don't now?!"  Raptr wheezed.  "Admit it!  This whole situation sucks!  Not a single bit of it makes any sense!  If it's Verlaxion's will for all of her foals to take this pegasus out, then why isn't she using us?!  Why are we being shelved?!  Why is... grnnngh... the biggest douchebag who ever douche'd sitting up in the high seat of this bull hockey Military Cabinet, buffering the Central Guard with thousands of untrained idiots by the stroke of his greedy pen?!"

Starstorm looked as though she was going to say something, but she instantly clammed up at the end of Raptr's outburst.  She hung her head, fidgeting in her seat.

Keris was likewise mute.

Ultimately, it was Windburst who spoke:  "We all know what we saw... and heard."  His sigh was a melancholic one, and yet he continued:  "And it is not for us to question the will of Verlaxion."

"So you're saying that the Talon should just... s-sit by and let this kingdom implode over a single mare from the west?"

"She isn't alone," Windburst said.  "She has followers now.  She's... corrupted the Wyverns in some fashion.  We are now down one Tribe, Sergeant."  He slowly shook his head.  "I don't know about you, but I find that very... very frightening."

"Hey, I'm scared too!"  Raptr blinked.  "I've always been scared!  But you guys?  Especially you, Lieutenant?"  He spun to face Keris.  "You taught me to look past my fear.  To be calm and reasonable in the face of adversity.  Commander Seraphimus understands this the best out of all of us!  Hell, she lives it!  She has more at stake than any griffon that I know!  And yet she's clung faithfully to the will of Verlaxion as our Goddess has taught us throughout the centuries.  No soul in this world has been more loyal to Verlaxion than a member of the Right Talon!  And now... all of that... everything we've ever believed in or dedicated our lives to is... being tossed into the muck!  Why?  Because everyone else is scared to death!  But we've stayed true!  Are... are we the only ones who see how crazy this all is?  Am I the only one?!"

"Then what's your proposed explanation, rookie?!"  Windburst spat with a brief wave of anger.  "That what we witnessed at the Council days ago was a ruse?  That the Wise Unifier is trying to deceive all her foals?"

"Hmmmm..."  Keris squinted out the window.  "...wouldn't that be most tragic."

The other griffons glanced at the Lieutenant in abject confusion.

"Lieutenant?"  Starstorm's beak quivered.  "What are you suggesting?"

"What did we find in Sunset Prefecture, Sergeant?" Keris asked without looking.

Starstorm fidgeted in her seat.  "...evidence of a grand conspiracy to undermine the Council."

"And who, above all else, did this evidence chiefly incriminate?"

Starstorm gulped, hanging her head once more.  "Brye Chandler."

"And who has Verlaxion—in her infinite wisdom—decided to grant military authority to?"

Windburst growled.  "It's his chance at redemption.  Verlaxion's messenger made that perfectly clear.  And... and look at what it's done!"  He waved a talon.  "The Council is working together harmoniously!  In ways that they haven't in decades.  I don't know about you, but I thought for a second there that the Tribes might break out into civil war!  But this?  This changes everything!"

"Or... perhaps it makes everything exactly the same as it was before," Keris muttered.

Windburst blinked.  "Lieutenant...?"

Keris exhaled.  "The Tribes nearly went to war because they were blind to what Chandler was doing behind their backs, feeding off their mistrust and anger and frustration.  But now?"  His headcrest ruffled as he frowned.  "He is being lifted up on their shoulders... praised as the key to a new age of strength and glory.  He sits in the central chair of this Military Cabinet and he signs off on new laws that have never even existed before."  He turned to look back at the rest of the flock.  "Is this truly redemption?  Or a brand new blindness?"  He exhaled.  "One that's far more dangerous to the heart of Rohbredden than the Rainbow Rogue could ever hope to be?"

"If... if that happens..."  Raptr gulped.  "We... we can put a stop to him, right?"

"The Council would never allow it—" Windburst began.

"Screw the Council!" Raptr hissed.  "Are we the Right Talon of Verlaxion or aren't we?  If Chandler is truly a threat to the foals of our Goddess, then it is our righteous place to put an end to his rise to power!"

"I... don't even see how that's possible, Sergeant," Starstorm said in a nervous tone.  "The Right Talon of Verlaxion is a small elite squad of paramilitary experts.  We have been and always will be.  And if there grew a need to usurp Chandler..."  She winced.  "...he has the entire Central Guard at his disposal... an already epic army that is gaining tens of thousands of new recruits overnight.  It... would not bode well for us to attempt such a thing at this point."

"Indeed."  Windburst gravely nodded.  "Especially considering the fact that our numbers have dwindled over the years."

"Yes..."  Keris stroked the bottom of his beak in thought.  "...almost as if this was meant to happen."

The others snapped him a worried look.

Keris looked up.  "Once upon the time, the Right Talon of Verlaxion numbered in the thousands.  At our peak, we were a large enough force to fight off any possible invasion that the Colonialists might have attempted.  Years ago, when I first joined, there were a dozen of us.  But now?"  He gravely shook his head.  "There are only five.  It's... almost absurd, when you think about it."

"I never questioned the number," Starstorm said softly.  "I always figured that there were enough of us to get the job done.  And up until the Rainbow Rogue... that was the case."

"Indeed, there was always enough of us to get the job done," Keris said.  "As appointed by the Council."  He shook his head.  "No legislative measure was taken to increase our numbers.  It's a miracle that we even got Sergeant Raptr after the passing of Jordan."

"Do... do you think we were always meant to have such tiny numbers?"  Raptr gulped.  "So that, during a time of massive change like this, we could all be swept under the rug?"

"Only fitting," Starstorm said.  "Seeing as we have the knowledge and experience to actually question the role Chandler's been given."

"This is crazy..."  Windburst grumbled, pacing suddenly.  "What you're suggesting is... is..."  He stomped his paws and swiveled to frown at the group.  "Who on the Council could even have the foresight to orchestrate something like this?  We're talking hundreds... thousands of years of setup!"

"It'd be a very, very easy task," Keris murmured.  "For an immortal."

Windburst blinked.

"Lieutenant..."  Starstorm gently cleared her throat and looked up at the superior officer.  "Permission to speak freely?"

"What have we been doing for the past five minutes, Sergeant?"

She nevertheless shuddered as she spoke:  "I... wasn't privy to every detail of your conversations with Professor Mane.  Nor was it my place to eavesdrop.  Nevertheless... my vigilant ears caught enough spoken words to assume that... your faith in Verlaxion has been marred as of late."

Keris nodded.  "Perhaps."

"... ... ...should we be questioning our faith too?"

Keris stared back at her.  But before he could respond—

There was a loud groan of door hinges, followed by a burst of cold air.  Heavy claw-steps scraped across the floor, approaching the center of the armory.

Raptr gasped.  With a jolt, he rushed forward, scooped his helmet off the ground, and slapped it back on his feathery head.  At the very last second, he stood at attention.

Starstorm stood up and Windburst holstered his crossbow.

Commander Seraphimus entered the room, her charcoal eyes cold and glazed.  She walked in a straight line, skirting past her gawking wingmates.

It was Keris who eventually spoke:  "Commander.  Do you have an update?"

Seraphimus scuffled to a stop, avoiding their gazes.

Keris cleared his throat, shuffling closer.  "You... were in conversation with both Hymmnos and Chandler over the past few days."  He blinked.  "We were... wondering if you might be briefing us on the situation sooner than later."

"... ... ..."  Seraphimus took a deep breath.  "We are to stand down until further instructions are given."

Windburst's headcrest drooped.

"Stand down?!"  Raptr wheezed.

"That is correct, Sergeant."

"But... what does that entail?" Starstorm remarked.  "Do we assist the guard in Frostknife?  Do we inspect the prison...?"

"We are to relinquish our duties until told otherwise," Seraphimus said.  She began walking forward again.  "That is all—"

"But... b-but..."  Raptr stammered.

"Commander..."  Keris marched after her.  He spoke more firmly:  "Seraphimus!"

The Commander shuffled to a stop again, she sighed.  "Lieutenant, if you do not mind, I greatly need rest in order to process my thoughts concerning the matter.  I would suggest that the rest of you take advantage of the same grace."

"I fail to see the grace in what is evidently a pathetic rung beneath full-out decomissioning," Keris said, frowning.  "Did either the Grand Magistrate or... mmm... the Defense Minister state precisely what is being done to combat the Rainbow Rogue and her escort?"

"Yes."  Seraphimus spun around.  Her tired eyes swept across her subordinates.  "While Chandler establishes a base to train the new recruits, he has sent several batallions of the Central Guard to form a defense along the western edges of Starkiss."

"You... you mean the Star Fringes?"  Starstorm grimaced.  "That... that place is utterly inhospitable!"

"Those poor soldiers will freeze to death in days!" Windburst exclaimed.

"Verlaxion has declared a distinct reliance on her foals to protect her during this time of great adversity," Seraphimus said.  "Any and all cost is necessary if it means ensuring our Queen's survival."

"At least talk to Chandler and convince him to send in the Talon!" Windburst said.  "We may be few in numbers, but we're quick... strong... mobile... and—most importantly—we have experience in combating the Rainbow Rogue!"

"Indeed."  Seraphimus nodded.  "As we also have a history of failure in capturing her."

Windburst blinked.

"Our Queen is weak because of us... all of us..."  Seraphimus fumed.  "Our lack of faith in the Great Unifier... the distrust between Prefectures... the allowance of terrorism and embezzlement..."  Her beak muscles hardened.  "The Queen would not have become so vulnerable if her foals had struggled to be more vigilant.  Now... the Blight has collapsed—only to manifest itself into this venomous monster that seeks to fly her way into the heart of the Queen's Throne and murder the only important thing that has ever... ever brought warmth to the continent of Rohbredden."  Seraphimus gulped.  "If it is our Goddess' will to employ the strengths of Brye Chandler... then so be it.  We can only weaken her by proving to be more disobedient."

"Commander..."  Keris took a bold step towards her, frowning.  "He is a liar... a conspirator... and a traitor.  Do you honestly think that our Goddess would willingly employ such a criminal?"

"I do think so... because she has done so."  Seraphimus turned tail and walked off.  "Her will has been made manifest."

"Dammit, Seraphimus!"  Keris snarled, marching after her.  "We're the Right Talon of Verlaxion!  We simply cannot tolerate our kingdom being handed over to the hooves of a monster—"

"Do NOT lecture me on monsters, Lieutenant!" Seraphimus turned, glaring in Keris' face.  "You... who have sided with the Rainbow Rogue—not once, but twice.  You... who have filled my ears neverendingly with unholy sympathy for the one element that threatens to strike death at the unifying heart of the Tribe!  This most recent crisis is as much your fault as it is mine for tolerating it!"

Keris blinked, leaning back with his beak agape.  "I... have only ever... been loyal to you, the Talon, and the foals of Verlaxion, Commander"

"I know."  Seraphimus nodded, her charcoal eyes piercing.  "Which is why I trust in you here and now to follow through with my command... with Verlaxion's command."  She coiled her wings tighter.  "We are to stand down until further instructed.  And that is that."  With a shudder, she marched off into the next chamber.  "Let us hope—in time—that Verlaxion decides to be as merciful and forgiving to us as she has been with the Minister of Defense.  We can humbly expect n-no less..."

And with a cold scrape of claws, she was gone.

The Talon stood in cold silence.

The Sergeants exchanged jittery glances.

"So... wh-what do we d-do?" Raptr stammered.

Keris stared at the hallway after Seraphimus' departure.

Starstorm murmured:  "Lieutenant?"

"Remain vigilant," Keris quietly but firmly said.  "As ever... and always."  He swiveled about, reaching for the table and grabbing his helmet.  "The Court of Verlaxion might have a traitor in its ranks.  But right now—more than ever—I worry the most over Seraphimus' defeat."

His wingmates hung their heads in silence.

"There may still come a time when our intervention is required," Keris said.  "Until then... I intend to increase my knowledge."

"H-how, Lieutenant?"

"By speaking to the right ponies, of course," he said, marching for the armory's front door.  "And the wrong ones, as well.  If you need to find me..."  He exited into a brisk gale of cold, frosty air.  "...search the Frosted Shelves."





"Girls, I am... somewhat alarmed by the landscape surrounding us," Rarity said.  The sun was setting, and a dull brown sheen glinted off the snowy sheets.  Jutting rock peaks emerged through the frosted beds, forming random obstructions on all sides of Rainbow and her Heraldite companions.  "Those stone formations that we see?  They're the only legitimately solid bits of the ground.  Everything else beneath is us..."  The ghostly unicorn shuddered.  "...compact snow and porous ice at best."

"Well, that would make a great deal of sense, Rarity," Twilight said.  "From a combination of high altitude and northern extremes, I suspect this place has been completely frozen for centuries... millennia."  She looked back at Rainbow and the others.  "The ice below us is probably the exact same moisture that froze in place long before there were ever ponies living on this continent."

"Well, I'm glad you find some sort of curious contentment with the notion," Rarity muttered.  "I, for one, am rather alarmed."  She pointed straight down at the ground.  "I wasn't being jocular about the 'porous ice' bit.  Some of the stuff down below is extremely fragile."

"Probably years of weight and displacement has caused the ice to become fractured," Twilight said.  "But it seems stable enough to support our weight."

"For the time being, yes.  But still..."  Rarity sighed.  "How I wish I had been awake for when we traversed this part of the continent.  Perhaps that way I could have gathered a proper measure of what's beneath us."

Pinkie Pie's nose scrunched.  "What did the fuzzy wyvern call this place again?"

"The "Star Fringes,'" Rainbow breathily explained.  In spite of the cold, she sweated profusely, climbing up a ridge of crooked rock as she followed the rest of the Herald up a shallow incline.  "My guess is that this used to be a major mountain range, but then all of the snow and ice piled up on top of it."

"No doubt courtesy of the windigoes," Twilight remarked.

"It really would have helped if I was around to sense the start of this geological formation."  Rarity pouted.  "Rainbow, darling, did you truly have to let us 'sleep' for so long?"

"Come on, Rares," Rainbow murmured, squinting at Bard, Wildcard, and Flynn up ahead.  She followed their path up the deathly hilltop of stone and dust.  "You gals deserved a breather."

"But we're trying to help you!" Rarity exclaimed.  "You can't rely entirely on the Herald, you know!"

"Yeah!"  Pinkie nodded.  "We're your friends!  We've been lending you a hoof long before these cool guys showed up!"

"Be easy on her, girls," Fluttershy said with a soft smile.  "I, for one, enjoyed the extra shut-eye."

"Silly Flutters."  Pinkie stuck her head.  "There's no 'eye-shutting' in the Vanilla Zone!"

"Heehee... you know what I mean."  Fluttershy winked.  "It was really nice of you, Rainbow.  I've never felt so rested!  Don't worry about the coming night.  We're going to look after you very closely for the next forty-eight hours."

Thwump!  Rainbow collapsed head-first in the snow.

"... ... ..."  Fluttershy blinked.  "Uhm..."

"Oh no!"  Twilight gasped, spinning around.  "Rainbow?"

"Uh oh."  Pinkie ducked down low, staring into Rainbow's face.  "Is she doing the dizzy-dizzy again?"

"Guhhhh..."  Rainbow winced, squinting her eyes open to reveal red-and-yellow flickering.

"She is!"  Pinkie squeaked.  "Dizzying the devil up!"

"Oh goodness!" Rarity gasped, spinning to face the crowd.  "Rainbow, make a noise!  Call out!  Anything t-to get Wildcard or Bard here—"

"It's... n-not a big one..."  Rainbow nevertheless shivered, wriggling painfully in the snow.  "Just... wait it out—"

"Nonsense!"  Rarity hollered.  "Help!  Somepony help Rainbow Dash!"

"They c-can't hear you, Rarity," Twilight grunted.

"Still, it's the thought that counts, right?"

From the rear, Kepler halted the wagon.  "Rrainbow one?  Is something the matterr?"

"Mmmmff..."  Rainbow tried waving a hoof, but she could scarcely raise her forelimb.  "It's cool.  I'll... I'll be..."

"It's okay!"  Fwoosh!  Ariel flew down, landing briskly at Rainbow's side.  "I got her!"  She reached in, gently raising the mare one inch at a time.  "It's alright, girl.  Just breath.  Relax your muscles."

"Keep... t-telling you..."  Rainbow wheezed, nevertheless standing in Ariel's grasp.  "It's... going to pass..."  She gulped.  "Not a big deal..."

"Of course it isn't."  Ariel winked.  "You're too awesome to let it bring you down."

"Heh..."  Rainbow managed a smile despite her shivers.  "Got that right."

"Austraeoh?!"  Remna's voice echoed from the front of the group.  Heavy hoofsteps announced her arrival.  She scuffled to a stop, spraying the lower half of the hilltop with icy pebbles.  "Austraeoh!  She's suffering another spell—"

"Indeed," Kepler said from where he stood with his wagon.  "But she appearrs to be rrecoverring alrready.  Hah!  Ourr rrainbow one is most verrsatile, wouldn't you aggrree, Rremna?"

"We shouldn't have let her stay so far back in the group," Remna said with a frown.  "Here, Rainbow.  Rest over my backside.  I'll carry you until we make camp."

"Uh... no..."  Rainbow squinted.  "That ain't happening."

"This is not a request," Remna grumbled, stepping forward.  "Your survival is of the utmost importance—"

"Yo, Remna.  Chill."  Ariel glared, supporting Rainbow's weight.  "I've got this."

"But—"

"Weren't you supposed to be taking point and scouting?"  Ariel smirked.  "After all, you're sooooo much better at it than me."

Remna frowned.  She looked ready to say something—

"The Austraeoh is fine, Remna," Mortuana's voice said from the front.  "Please, return to your position.  Flynn needs your assistance in finding a sturdy camp site."

"Yeah, Remna..."  Rainbow managed, standing evenly as her shivers dwindled.  "Just chill.  It's... it's all cool."

Remna fumed and fumed.

Swooosh!  Wildcard flew down, hovering at her rear.

Remna's violet ears twitched to the sound of his wingflaps.  With a shudder, she surrendered, then turned tail to reach the head of the march.  Wildcard stayed in place for a bit.  He looked Rainbow's way, his goggles reflecting to petite mares standing shoulder-to-shoulder.  Then, with a streak of dark feathers, he was gone.

Kepler shuffled ahead with his wagon.  "Trry not to tarrry for too long, fine madames."  He adjusted his spectacles with a smile.  "A hearrty firre is nothing without yourr marrvelous tales to sharre the warrmth with!  Ha Hah!"

Once the wyvern strolled over the ridge, Rainbow Dash slumped slightly, exhaling as her shivers redoubled.

"See?"  Ariel patted her back, smiling.  "That wasn't so bad.  You've got this."

"Mmrrmfff... barely..."  Rainbow glanced aside.  "Nice backtalking to Remna."  A gulp.  "For a second, I thought she was going to chew your eyeballs out."

"Pffft.  I'm not afraid of that meathead," Ariel said.  "A giant stick up the plot is no substitute for legit courage, and Remna's as stickplotted as it gets."

"Heheh... I like you already."

Ariel nodded.  "Welcome to the club."  She reached in, straightening Rainbow's hood.  Her hoof brushed past the tiny prismatic strands growing across the mare's scalp.  "Hey, you're starting to get a shine again."

"Sure, whatever."  Rainbow teetered slightly.  She gazed at her concerned marefriends.  "You're one to talk.  You've never seen me with a full mane."

"Still..."  Ariel smirked.  "I bet it was pretty spiffy."

"Spiffy?" Rarity stammered, trying to chase off her own jitters.  "More like 'beautiful!'"

"Heehee! Shiny Rainbowwww!" Pinkie cooed.

"I'm okay, girls..." Rainbow said.  She then looked at Ariel.  "Really, I... I'm good to go."

"You sure about that?" Ariel asked.

Rainbow gulped.  "No."

"I could stick around until all of the dizziness goes away."

"Yeah, you could," Rainbow said.  She fidgeted where she stood.  "More than anything, I just... want to get to this camp site and call it a night."

"Is that all you ever want?" Ariel asked, still supporting her weight with a gentle grasp.  "Just to get to your destination?"

Rainbow lifted her head.  Yaerfaerda pulsed closer, orange and steadfast.  "Most of the time..."

"And as for the rest?" Ariel asked.

"It... it doesn't matter," Rainbow muttered.  "Just... I just..."  She clenched her eyes shut.  "...I have to keep going."

A gentle set of feathers brushed her face.

Rainbow's eyes opened.

Ariel gazed at her.  "You... deserve more than that, y'know."

"I'm the Austraeoh."  Rainbow smirked slightly.  "In case you haven't forgotten, Miss Herald."

"Please..."  Ariel chuckled.  "Don't call me that.  And don't sell yourself short.  You were awesome before the whole 'Austraeoh' schtick happen."  She raised an eyebrow.  "Remember?"

"Believe me, I find it hard to forget," Rainbow said.  "Just... it doesn't matter quite so much these days."

"I'm sure it matters to your friends," Ariel said.  She gulped.  "And it matters to me."

Rainbow bit her lip.

Four ghostly mares glanced back and forth, eyes darting.

"Ariel..."  Rainbow sighed.  "I'm s-super glad that you're so nice to me... and..."  Her words came short, as did her breath, for a soft pair of lips brushed against hers.  When Rainbow didn't resist, the kiss grew firmer.  Rainbow's eyes closed, and she quivered at the stroke of dark feathers against her neck.

Ariel kissed her a second time, then a third.  Each gesture was soft, friendly, inviting.  At last, after a fourth kiss, she brushed her nose with Rainbow's, speaking... breathing:  "I can be so much nicer, Rainbow."  A warm smile, accompanied by a soothing voice.  "After all this time, does the Austraeoh deserve any less?"

Rainbow exhaled in a tiny squeak, foalish and yearning.  She merely leaned in, accepting a warm kiss, and another—but no more.  She clenched her mouth shut after that, brushing necks with Ariel, nuzzling the mare back.  After several near-whimpers, she found the strength to speak evenly:  "There's nothing... absolutely n-nothing I want more right now... than to let you b-be 'nicer.'  You're... you're so awesome... s-so amazing... so here."

Rainbow's eyes opened, brimming with tears.  She sniffled.

"But... but you h-have to understand.  I... I can't."  Rainbow fought the urge to weep outright.  "I simply c-can't right now.  No matter how much I want..."  Her teeth showed beneath a grimace.  "There's too much... there's j-just so much and... and..."

Ariel held her close, tenderly.

Rainbow leaned into her, letting loose a sob or two.  The Heraldite weathered the tremors.  When it was over with, she smiled.

"That's alright..."  Ariel patted Rainbow's shoulder.  "I understand—"

"No, you d-don't."  Rainbow gulped.  "And I'm sorry.  Truth is..."  Rainbow leaned back, drying her muzzle.  "There's..."  She glanced north, fighting the horizons behind and before her.  "...there's another pony who... whom my h-heart is..."  Her breath sucked in.

"I see..."  Ariel chuckled quietly.  Her eyes moistened a bit, but she sucked it up with a serene smile.  "...she has to be the luckiest mare on this plane."  A gulp.  "After all, she's won the best."

Rainbow sniffled, nodding.

Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rarity stared, gawking, muzzles agape.

"Well..."  Ariel nuzzled Rainbow one last time, then drew backwards, her feathers gently stroking Rainbow's neck along the way.  "...if ever you should... have a change in heart..."  A coy wink, brave.  "You know where I'll be."

"You... d-deserve something n-nice too, y'know," Rainbow stammered.

"I have something nice."  Ariel stifled a giggle.  "The adventure of a lifetime with the most awesome pony ever."  She motioned forward and flew ahead with a spring in her wingflaps.  "Come on.  A warm fire awaits."

"Yeah... I bet..."  Rainbow bore the first smile in an eternity.  She caught the gaping expressions in her peripheral and instantly sobered up.  After a brief fidget, she marched firmly ahead... and speedily.

Before her marefriends could say anything, they were all dragged forward by their anchorage, enveloped in a lavender net, ferried into a cool, calm sunset.
> Second Death's Always the Harder
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The following day, a dull amber sun sank towards the west edge of Rohbredden.  Mortuana and her fellow Heraldites trotted a winding path along the upper cliff-faces of the Star Fringes.  Scaling boulders and stony ridges, the group gradually made their east towards a low valley filled with snow and tundra.  Even more mountain ranges loomed in the distance, forming a jagged horizon.

As ever, Remna took point, trotting first across the gravel-laden promontories and ledges.  Wildcard and Ariel glided overhead, minding the north and south ends of the trek, respectively.  Bard followed Remna at a distance while Flynn and Logan kept close to Mortuana in the center.  Towards the very rear, Kepler pulled his wagon.  The wyvern quietly hummed to himself—a low breathy tone.  Otherwise, the snowscape was perfectly still, silent, and tranquil.

Rainbow Dash limped forward just ahead of Kepler.  Her hooves were heavy, plodding things as she rounded a curved ledge that led northeast past the edge of a towering summit.  Cold shadows crossed over her.  The mare hung her head, glaring eastward.  There was a glint in her eye—sharp and chiseled—that outshone even the orange shimmer of Yaerfaerda in the distance.  She sighed multiple times, her nostrils flaring... her ears drooped.

Behind her... four mare friends floated icily.  Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy levitated behind Rainbow, their beady eyes plastered to the mare.

The feathers of Rainbow's right wing twitched—as if feeling their solid glares.  Slowing ever so slightly, Rainbow stopped and looked back.

The mares blinked.  They stalled slightly.  Pinkie Pie tried on a cheeky grin—but it didn't seem to fit.

Rainbow's brow furrowed.  After a moment of stagnant silence, she looked ahead and continued a sluggish trot.

The four spectral ponies resumed floating after her.  Their unbroken gazes were locked on Rainbow's figure.

Silence reined, aside from the grinding of Kepler's wheels.  The four spectres didn't let loose a single peep.

The pegasus' ears shifted.  Rainbow took another look behind her.

Again, the mares blinked.  Again, Pinkie almost smiled... but ultimately fidgeted, avoiding Rainbow's gaze.

Rainbow breathed.  She turned forward once more—but ultimately lurched with a heavy sigh.  "Grnnngh.  Okay."  She stopped entirely and grit her teeth.  "Look."  She turned around, facing her friends.  "I like mares.  I've always liked mares.  I prefer curved muzzles over flat noses... small hooves over shorn fetlocks... high pitched voices over surly grunts... pretty plots over—"

"We get it, Rainbow," Twilight said with a bright-eyed nod.

"Y-yeah!"  Pinkie Pie grinned crookedly.  "And it's totally cool, Dashie!"

"Then why are you all staring at me like I've got pony polio?!" the mare growled.

Kepler grinded to a stop with his wagon.  "Is therre a prroblem, Rrainbow one?"

"S'all cool," Rainbow muttered without looking.  "I've got this."

"If the Austrraeoh needs the Herrald to stop momentarrily, then—"

"What the Austraeoh needs right now is for Mortuana and all her cronies to take a friggin' chill pill!" Rainbow growled aside.  "Thanks for your concern, Kepler, buddy."  She stared at him, gulping.  "But... th-this is kind of a private conversation, 'kay?"

"Ah!  I see!"  The wyvern nodded.  "But of courrse!"  Clearing his throat, he pulled himself forward by his wing talons and drew the wagon over the nearest ridge.  "I shall see to it that the company is... mmmm... casually stalled!"

Rainbow Dash stood dead still, staring at the floor.  At last, the wyvern exited earshot, along with his grinding wagon wheels.  Gulping, Rainbow looked up at her friends once again.  "If... if this is going to be problem, then pl-please... let's air it out right now."  She took a long, shuddering breath.  "Cuz we've still got one heck of a road trip ahead of us."

"Rainbow," Twilight insisted, leaning forward.  "It's no problem.  I mean it."

"We're your friends, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said in a soft tone.  "We're perfectly fine with you being who you are."

"Yes!  Absolutely!" Rarity squeaked, nevertheless sweating slightly.  "Being a fillyfooler is nothing to be ashamed of whatsoever!"

Twilight and Fluttershy face-hoofed.

Pinkie swatted her hoof across Rarity's skull.  Whap!

"Gaiie!"  Rarity winced, then stumbled for words.  "Wh-wh-what I mean is... a filly who... chooses to be... uhhh... fr-frisky with other fillies!  Yes!  Mmmhmm!  Perfectly acceptable!"

"There's no choice about it, Rarity," Rainbow Dash droned, glaring.  "For years I tried being attracted to stallions, just because every other girl around me was like that and I thought I could fit in."  She shook her head.  "Couldn't cut it.  'Cuz it's just not me."

Rarity blinked.  "Oh!  Of course, darling!  And I-I'm not challenging that!  Why..."  She fluffed her mane, fidgeting even more.  "...back when I first opened Carousel Boutique, I had many... fabulous stallion acquaintances in... th-the fashion business!  Eheheheheheh..."  She wheezed through her teeth.  "...hehhhh."

"Nnnngh..." Rainbow face-hoofed.

"Uhm..."  Fluttershy shifted from side to side.  "I don't think we're making this very easy for Rainbow Dash."

"Ignore Rare-Rare, Dashie!"  Pinkie Pie said, smiling proudly.  "I—for one—think it's super awesome that my best friend ever likes to huff mare plot like there's no tomorrow—"

It was Rarity's turn to swat Pinkie.  Whap!

"Ouchie!"

"Ahem..."  Rarity cleared her throat and looked at Rainbow with an apologetic expression.  "The crux of the issue, Rainbow, is not so much that you prefer mares... but rather that you took so terribly long to share this with us, darling."

"It's not as strange as you might think," Twilight firmly said.  "After all, the ratio of Equestrian females to males is nearly four to one.  Non-heterosexual relationships are quite common among the national population."  The unicorn bore a lavender smile.  "Not to mention asexual fringe groups and those who prefer to abstain entirely from even the thought of intimate copul—"

"Please, Twilight, dear..."  Rarity rolled her eyes.  "This is a heart-to-heart talk, not a sociological treatise."

Twilight frowned at her.  "Well excuse me, Miss 'I Have a Bunch of Fabulous Stallion Friends in the Fashion Business'!"

"I was simply attempting to provide a reassuring anecdote!"

"By imposing a flagrant stereotype?!" Twilight hissed back.

"Yeah, Rarity!"  Pinkie stuck her tongue out.  "Besides, you coulda just said 'I knew a bunch of femcolts!'"

Twilight Sparkle grimaced.  "Pinkie, that's insulting."

"Heehee!  I just like saying the word, though!"  Pinkie rocked her head from side to side.  "'Femcolt femcolt femcolt'!"

"Shhhhhh!"  Fluttershy insisted.  She patted Twilight's and Pinkie's shoulders, pointing ahead.  "Girls..."

The mares followed her gesture.

Rainbow sighed, her entire body drooped.

"It's... it's really fine, Rainbow," Rarity said.  She gulped, drifting forward.  "Please, you must believe us."

"Mmmmff... oh yeah?"  Rainbow kicked at a few pebbles on the ground.  "Cuz you're taking the news sooooooooo well right now..."

"It's... it's not the nature of the truth, Rainbow," Twilight said.  "Like Rarity said a few moments ago... we're shocked—only because you withheld it from us for so long."

"Probably because I knew you'd get all freaked out like this."

"Rainbow, if we're freaked out, it's not because you like mares."  Twilight hesitated, and her next breath was a shaky one:  "It's... alarming that you don't trust us enough to share stuff like this sooner."

Rainbow looked up, biting her lip.

"You know?"  Twilight blinked, fighting back a gloss to her eyes.  "We're friends... best friends..."  She bore a tender smile.  "The best and most important friends that there have ever been in this world."

"Or in all of Urohringr for that matter," Rarity said with a wave.

"Yeah!"  Pinkie hopped in place.  "Urine ringer!"

"If you can't trust us with everything, then who can you trust?" Twilight asked.  She waved at the mountainous path ahead.  "We're in this together... far deeper than the Herald... deeper than the Job Squad... deeper than Desperadoes!"

"I... I'm sorry..."  Rainbow sniffled, avoiding their gaze once again.  "I made a promise weeks ago that... th-that I would be totally honest about everything.  I mean, after all the crud in Red Barge went down and... and I told you about Shell..."  She gulped, clenching her moist eyes shut.  "Well, I haven't been very honest have I?"

"Rainbow, this is different," Fluttershy said, her calm voice taking center stage in the conversation.  She drifted forward with compassionate eyes.  "This is about you... who you are and what means the most to you and your life.  It's more than a matter of sharing with us all of the complexities of Austraeoh.  You've been on a journey... a very personal and intimate journey your entire life.  And this was long before Discord ever appeared and chaotic events threw your heart and body into turmoil."

Rainbow looked up again, eyes misty.

Fluttershy smiled.  "You are so... so very precious to us.  And that includes everything about you... including the most special parts of what make you you."  She shook her head.  "Do not be ashamed to share them with us."

Rarity interjected.  "Because we are not ashamed to have you as our dear friend."  The unicorn smiled.  "We just wish... we expect you to treat us in like-turn.  Don't be afraid to tell us any and all truths, darling.  We're in this whole thing together."

"Eheheh..."  Rainbow rubbed her eyes dry.  "Even if... the stuff I have to share makes you cringe."

"I'm not cringeing, darling," Rarity said with a sigh.  "Rather... I'm feeling rather foolish in hindsight."  She cleared her throat, blushing slightly.  "All of those times I made you model clothes for me.  Good Goddess... I must have putting you through so much torture."

"Rarity..."  Fluttershy sighed through a weary smile.  "Just because a mare likes other mares doesn't mean she's adverse to wearing pretty dresses."

"She's not off, though," Rainbow said, chuckling slightly.  "Those modeling sessions nearly murdered me."

"Yes, well..."  Rarity fluffed her mane.  "To each their own, right?"

"Heh..."  Rainbow breathed more evenly.  "Right."

"I'm actually quite pleased about this revelation!" Twilight said with a bright grin.  "Ever since I showed up in Ponyville, I've been proud to be surrounded by so many different and unique individuals.  Now I'm learning we were all more unique than I imagined!"

"Pffft!  Oh please, Twi..."  Pinkie waved a hoof.  "You've probably been booksexual all this time."

"Yes, and?"  Twilight tilted her nose up.  "So what if I was?"

Fluttershy giggled.

"Wait."  Pinkie's spectral figure locked in place.  She bore a thousand mile stare.  "My sister Maud once went out with a dude who was super jerkly and we all forced ourselves to get along with him for a few months just because they were both an item."  She blinked.  Hard.  "Dashie?!  Were you and Gilda...?"

"Eugh..."  Rainbow rolled her eyes.  She spun around with a swish of her short-short tail-hairs.  "Don't get me started on that."

"Duaaaaaaaaah!"  Pinkie inhaled deeply.  "You were!"  She bounced-bounced-bounced after Rainbow as the pegasus rejoined the rest of the pilgrimage.  "Wowie zowie!  That makes so much sense, now!"

"Believe me," Rainbow snorted.  "It didn't.  I was super glad that it ended when it did."

"But... like... how did it even work?!  When you kissed, did—like—her beak go inside your mouth or the other way around?"

"Sweet Celestia," Rarity moaned.  "I think I'd rather have Twilight pontificate on Equestrian sociology again..."

"Funny you should say that, Rarity!" Twilight purred, floating after their anchor.  "Why—a few months before we... blew up—I remember reading up on a psychological report written on the topic of homophobic attitudes among citizens of rural Breezie Communes.  And it's a most fascinating subject, especially considering the fact that the Breezies are such a tiny subspecies of equine that their genitalia are almost biologically identical, aside from function, and that meant—"





"—so, in conclusion, if I recall correctly..."  Twilight teetered in place while Rainbow Dash rolled out her sleeping bag for the night.  The Herald's bonfire reflected off her lavender dimples in the center of the chilly camp.  "...Breezies experienced several cultural reforms, and today it is no longer considered taboo for them to use bumblebee fur as an aphrodesiac in polyamorous mating rituals!"

Rarity and Pinkie Pie cuddled with one another, floating and snoring in place.

Fluttershy bit her lip to suppress a tender laugh.

"Wow, Twilight..."  Rainbow stifled a yawn of her own and spread the edges of her sleeping mat out.  "That's... super informative."  She cleared her throat.  "And not entirely eggheadish of you at all to have shared over the past three straight ours."

"Right, well, in conclusion—"

"You already said that, Twilight," Fluttershy murmured.

"No, I mean my conclusion... not the... nyaaaah..."  Twilight paused to yawn squeakily.  "...not the report's."  She swallowed and smiled dazedly.  "It's okay to be into mares, Rainbow... especially considering that other ponies in this world—like Breezies—are pretty darn well into anything."

"I know it's okay to be into mares, ya doofus," Rainbow said with a chuckle.  Sighing, she turned around three times and then collapsed onto the sleeping mat.  "The reason I kept it secret for so long is that... y'know... I didn't want to freak you out."

"Just how..."  Twilight yawned again.  "...would you freak us out?"

"I don't.  I figured..."  Rainbow shrugged.  "...you girls might get nervous because... because..."  She clenched her teeth, sensing a glint of orange light in her peripheral.  "...you might think I'd try mackin' on one of you or something."

"Heehee... silly Rainbow," Twilight said.  "Even if that happened, we'd take it in stride.  You're our friend, after all.  I know that I—personally—would have to come up with a polite way to say 'no' to such advances.  Not that I wouldn't be flattered, of course, but—like Rarity said—to each their own."

"R-right..."

"Did..."  Twilight squinted, teetering some more.  "Did you ever...?"  Fluttering eyes.  "I mean..."  She cleared her throat.  "I could never quite figure out why you kept visiting Golden Oaks.  You couldn't stand books."

"Uhhhhhhh..."  Rainbow fidgeted.

"Hmmmm..."  Fluttershy smiled.  She drifted over and nuzzled Twilight gently.  "Go to sleep, Twilight.  You did a fine lecture.  Now Rainbow needs some shuteye and so do you."

"Oh.  Right.  Definitely."  Twilight nodded.  "Don't wanna parade on her rain... er..."

"Best to... uhm..."  Fluttershy leaned in, pointing at Pinkie and Rarity.  "...take them with you," she whispered.

"Heeeheee... look at them," Twilight said, drifting over and grasping the two snuggled mares.  "They're like the yen and yang of fuzz."

"Whatever that means," Rainbow droned.

"I surprise even myself at times."  Twilight weathered a final yawn, then drifted backwards into lavender obscurity with the other two snoring ghosts in tow.  "Ni Ni!"

"Back at ya, egghead."

With a flash of harmonic light, Rainbow and Fluttershy were alone.

"That was really sweet," Fluttershy cooed.

"Yeah..."  Rainbow nodded, lying her chin down on folded forelimbs.  "Could have gone a lot worse."

"You really worry too much, Rainbow," Fluttershy said with a smile.  "I'm glad that you were able to get that off your chest.  It must have been a terrible thing to keep bottled up inside."

"It's... not a thing I ever thought I'd have to share," Rainbow muttered.  She squinted across the camp site to where Ariel lay, resting.  "Then Flirty McButterFlanks h-had to..."  She gulped, her wings flexing and coiling back up.  "I'm telling you, Fluttershy... another time... another place."

"She's a very nice mare, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy calmly said.  "I think the two of you would be very happy together... I really do."  She smiled.  "Not to mention adorable."

"Hmmmmff..."  Rainbow smiled lethargically.  "Sadly, 'adorable' alone doesn't cut it, Fluttershy."

The ghost shook her head.  "I imagine not."

"I've always wanted more out of a pony.  Always dreamt of... of..."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Well.  Whatever.  For a second there, I was super scared you would all think I was weird or something."

"Why would we ever think that, Rainbow?"

"I dunno.  I've always loved you girls... always enjoyed being so loyal to the bunch of ya.  I... never wanted you to question that."  Rainbow gazed aside.  "Never wanted to get the wires crossed.  But... I guess that doesn't matter now.  Eveyrthing's cool."  She exhaled.  "I'm especially glad you didn't freak out, Fluttershy.  I mean... you... your words mean so much to me.  The way you carried me back in Red Barge?  I... I-I just don't know how I'd continue on if it turned out you were super flabbergasted by the fact that—"

"I already knew, Rainbow Dash."

The mare did a double take.  "You... you did?"

Fluttershy calmly nodded.  "I already knew."

"But... b-but..."

"All those times you defended me from bullies back in Cloudsdale?" Fluttershy softly said.  "The days you—Rainbow Dash, the coolest and fastest flier in our grade—chose to hang out with me... a dainty slowpoke who was so far beneath your talents?"

"Flutters... I... they..."  Rainbow blinked.  "You were such a t-tiny, fragile, dinky thing back then!  If I didn't stick around to protect you, then where would you be today?"

"And did 'protecting me' require you to hang out by my side for hours on end?"  Fluttershy smiled.  "Constantly bragging and showing off.  Hugging me close when other mares walked by."

"I... I hugged you?"

Fluttershy giggled.  "Softest... warmest wing-embrace I ever received.  I never understood it, but I started to look forward to it," she said.  "You made me feel so safe, Rainbow Dash.  I couldn't have gotten along so well without you."

Rainbow blinked.  Slowly, she grimaced.  "Unnghhhhhhhh..."  Her ears drooped as she buried her face in her hooves.  "...I totally did wing-hug you, didn't I?"

"Mmmmhmmmm..."

"Gawwwwwdessssssss..."  Rainbow gnashed her teeth.  "That must have been soooooooo annoying, Fluttershy."

"Rainbow, it was sweet," Fluttershy cooed, drifting forward.  "It was so... so sweet.  And adorable."

"I swear to Celestia, I never thought of doing anything dirty.  Not even once."

"Of course not, Rainbow," Fluttershy said, shaking her head.  "We were foals."

"Yeah, and I was an idiot."

"What for?  For showing another pony that you cared for her?"  Fluttershy winked.  "Especially a pretty, dainty, wilting violet?"

"Okay, look..."  Rainbow stared up, brow furrowed.  "My tastes changed as soon as... as soon as I got them.  Alright?"

"Nevertheless, after we stopped going to school together, and I caught glimpses of you growing up."  Fluttershy smiled.  "All I could think of—beneath all of the bragging and the daredevilish showmareship you displayed day in and day out—was the sweet, protective, raspy-voiced little pegasus who wanted to make sure her dear fillyfriend wasn't bullied everyday.  It was a precious thing, Rainbow.  Your kind of love and loyalty is precious, and you should be proud."

"Yeah, well..."  Rainbow rolled over until she faced the stars above.  She huffed.  "...it didn't exactly steer me in all the right paths, didn't it?"

"True..."  Fluttershy cleared her throat.  "...Gilda was... a bit surprising... at least too me..."

"You want to know the truth?"

"Please."

Rainbow huffed.  "I had more or less dumped her before she even showed up in Ponyville.  At least... in my heart.  I hadn't told her in person, yet.  That party we had in Sugarcube Corner?  Eh... guess it was my way of testing her to see if she was compatible with my new friends or not.  When it turns out she wasn't, I dropped her like a bad habit.  Because you gals meant way more to me at the time, y'know?"

"I figured."  Fluttershy nodded.  "You were starting to change, Rainbow.  It was hard for me not to notice.  In fact, about a year before Discord, I could tell something was different.  You moved into town and stayed there.  You had always been such a flighty, migratory pegasus before."

"Yes, well, hard to be the Element of Loyalty on the go... I mean... heh... before all this mess."

"You didn't change after meeting Twilight, Rainbow," Fluttershy said.  "You changed after meeting Applejack."

Rainbow's limbs locked in place.  Slowly, she tilted her neck back, eyes staring upside down at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy gazed in silence.

With a grunt, Rainbow rolled over.  She sat on folded limbs, quivering.  "You... uhm... you knew?"

"I'm surprised nopony else knew," Fluttershy calmly said.  "The way you teased her... everyday.  The way you competed with her... pulled pranks on her... did everything to snatch her attention away and make her break her serious farmfilly exterior."

"Ugh..."  Rainbow held a hoof over her eyes.  "Ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh."

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow.  "And the Running of the Leaves... that's when I thought you were going to blow a gasket.  I was... rather shocked that the two of you parted ways without you opening up to her..."  A soft breath.  "...and confessing how you felt."

"I... didn't know how I felt, Fluttershy."

Silence.

"Okay... that's a lie."  Rainbow lowered her hoof, gazing off into the cold distance.  "I knew how I felt... but I also knew that there wasn't a snowflake's chance in Tartarus that she..."  She bit her lip, glancing east and instantly regretting it.  "...that Applejack would feel the same way."

"So you kept her at arm's length?" Fluttershy remarked.  "I saw you challenging her every day, Rainbow.  Sometimes the two of you came within a hair's width of punching each other."

"B-because I can't respect a pony unless I can see the best in them, Fluttershy!" Rainbow barked.  She lowered her voice so as not to alarm her travelling companions.  "And I knew that... th-that I could only like what I see... the more I br-brought out the best in Applejack.  And... and..."

"You loved her, didn't you, Rainbow Dash?"

The mare bit her lip.

Fluttershy sniffled.  "That must have been so... so very hard for you... when she died—"

"Flutters, all of you 'dying' was super friggin' hard."

"Rainbow—"

"Don't even pretend, girl—"

"—but to lose a mare you felt so deeply about."  Fluttershy gulped a lump down her throat.  She shook her head.  "You poor... poor thing.  You must have been suffering so terribly inside... all of those days and weeks and months that you flew east."

Rainbow breathed... fumed.  She glared into the night sky.  Her voice cracked, "I wanted to die.  And Princess Luna gave me just that—a suicide mission.  Only, it was painted with the colors of awesomeness.  Midnight Amory?  Pffft.  Whatever.  I had just let everything I'd ever been loyal to croak.  Might as well toss my sorry butt east and see where it landed."

"You must be glad, then," Fluttershy said.  "That we're on our way to free Applejack now."

Rainbow's ears drooped.

Fluttershy noticed it.  She leaned her head to the side with a curious expression.

"Applejack, she..."  Rainbow shuddered.  "Thinking about her was both a sad place and a happy place... even after Discord pooped all over Ponyville and my life."  She clenched her teeth.  "For months... just the thought of her... of her eyes, Fluttershy, would keep me going.  And... and I let that bind me for a long time.  Friends I could have made... marefriends who were totally awesome on their own, I... I forsook them because... in my head... n-nopony could compare.  And... and that was useful for a while—in spurring me on, y'know?  But... but it's different now, Fluttershy." She shook her head.  "Everything is so different.  After Axan creamed me and I came back from the friggin' dead and made friends with Bellesmith and Pilate... well... the game changed.  I had a new lease on life and so I decided to live it and... and I f-found love, Fluttershy.  I found that special place that I was always looking for, and when I found it, I just... couldn't understand for the life of me why I nearly had it before and just... kept tossing it away, as if I didn't deserve it."

"It was Roarke, wasn't it?"

Rainbow gasped.  She looked up with wide eyes.

Fluttershy spoke in a tender voice:  "That name you've... mentioned out loud in your sleep... and when waking."  She leaned forward.  "That was the love you found?  A mare you finally deserved?"

Rainbow gazed back at her, lips quivering.  Her knees went weak, and a tear trickled down her cheek.  "Y-yes," she whimpered foalishly.  "Roarke.  I..."  She grimaced, the tears flowing now.  "I love Roarke."

Fluttershy watched, misty-eyed as her friend collapsed.

Rainbow buried her head in her forelimbs.  She sniffled, hissed, and eventually squeaked forth:  "You... you don't know what it feels like t-to... be constantly on the run.  To have an entire world wanting you d-dead.  And... and then there she is... against all odds.  She's there to hold you... to love on you.  And you know th-that the only reason she's th-there in the f-first place is because you saved her.  You s-saved her life, and n-now she's saving you.  And... I-I've never been one for poetry, Fluttershy, b-but every damn second I sp-spent with Roarke was like a song... grkkt... th-those nights we just... cuddled in the hammock, watching the clouds and mountains roll past us... in the starlight... friggin'... grkkkg... Celestia..."

Fluttershy sniffled.  She floated closer.  "You once thought you were on a suicide mission, Rainbow Dash.  But you found love.  I'm so happy for you—"

"No, d-don't you get it?!"  Rainbow Dash wailed.  It was a struggle to keep her voice low and not alarm Bard, Wildcard, or the Herald.  Nevertheless, she looked up with tear-stained eyes.  "It was a suicide mission, Fluttershy!  I know because I died!  I've died multiple times!  I died when I lost you in Ponyville!  And I died in Val Roa when... when..."  She sobbed.  "...when I gave Roarke up.  When I gave Belle and Pilate and Kera up.  All of them!"  She buried her face again, shivering.  "And I-I feel like a total jerk b-because so much has ch-changed and I have you girls back again... at least m-mostly and it's s-such an awesome thing and I'm glad for it but... but I can't stop thinking about Roarke... about whether she's alive or not... if sh-she's given up on living b-because she can't rightfully expect m-me to live beyond the Grand Choke and... dang it... I-I can't stop, Fluttershy!  I can't go back!  Not to the Jury... not to Ponyville.  All I have is this stupid quest to keep moving f-forward and all it d-does is... is just turn me inside out, y'know?"

"I know, Rainbow Dash."  Fluttershy lifted her hoof, making gentle motions as if to "stroke" the mare's mane.  "I know."

Despite the ghostly gesture, Rainbow calmed slightly.  She sniffled, staring into the fire.

"And I also know that this task couldn't have befallen a worthier pony."  Fluttershy smiled through moist eyes.  A proud smile.  "You're more awesome than the Herald or Austraeoh or even the Elements of Harmony.  You're the sweet, daredevilish mare who saved my life back in Cloudsdale.  If you love a pony hard enough, you can bring them back from the dead.  Me, Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity are proof of that.  And soon, so will Applejack."

"Yes, well..."  Rainbow sniffed, rubbing her cheeks dry.  "...knowing all of that isn't going to magically make Roarke's lonely life b-better now that I'm long gone."

"That's okay," Fluttershy said, her voice calm and peaceful.  "You can tell her yourself."

Rainbow flashed Fluttershy a look.

The ghostly mare smiled.  "Tell her when your journey is complete... and you reunite with her."  She winked.  "Some day... sooner than later..."

Rainbow stared back.  Her muzzle hung open.  "When... I reunite with Roarke..."

Fluttershy smiled, nodding.

Rainbow blinked.  Something came out of her—a burst—like a melted sob transfigured back into a laugh.  More tears streamed, but they were hotter this time.  She looked into the flame.  The orange light was bathing, baptizing.  "I'll... I'll be lucky to even make it past Starkiss, Flutters, ya dinky little feather duster.  You kn-know that."

"All the more to boast to Roarke about," Fluttershy said.  "We can help you with the details... right after you introduce us.  Applejack too."

"Hah!"  Rainbow blurted, causing a few concerned heads to turned.  She instantly smiled, wiping her cheek again as she reclined on the bed.  "Hahahaha... when... when I introduce you..."  She shivered, smiled, and shivered some more.  The mare hugged herself as the giggles rose through her, crisp and cleansing.  "Yeah... sure thing... heeheehee... sure thing, Fluttershy..."

"I, for one..."  Fluttershy squatted beside her with a sly grin.  "...really look forward to this 'catch' that stole my best friend's heart."

"Yeah, well, make sure it's not on an empty stomach."  At her own words, Rainbow rolled her eyes.  She hugged herself tighter, giggling like a foal as she weathered the last of her tears.

Off in the distance, Remna squinted curiously.  She glanced aside.

Wildcard's goggles reflected the violet bounty hunter.  The griffon smirked, finished whittling at a piece of wood, and stuck a fresh new toothpick into his beak before retiring for the night.
> Bat, Bird, and Horse Club
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The air was cold and tense above the platforms of Frostknife.

Citizens trotted back and forth shiftily, staring... and glaring at others as they passed on by.  Twice the normal regiment of guards stood at attention before the buildings, offices, and armories of the Rohbredden capital.

Down in the bay, the waters were mostly empty.  Lesser and leser ships docked at the harbors.  Workers with nothing to do milled about on the wooden boardwalks, murmuring speculative rumors of stagnant trade and market collapse.

A tier or two above, groups of ponies gathered along the frosted balconies in bunches, gossipping about military maneuvers and northern campaigns.  Every now and then, a group of new recruits trotted in single file after their commanding officers.  When this happened, the citizens clammed up, watching the enlisted equines and griffons with anxious eyes.

Above even all of this, members of the Central Guard gathered materials together and hauled them north towards the supply camps established at the head of Frostknife.  Entire sections of the balconies had been roped off to allow space exclusively for the military.

A solitary figure was allowed to traverse this space, regardless.  She was a lone griffon, clad in a humble robe with a dark hood.  With vaporous breaths, Seraphimus shuffled past the busy streams of Rohbreddenites forming the lifeblood of the newly rejuvenated war effort.  She adjusted her cloak and descended a series of winding stairs clinging to the west wall of Frostknife.

Within an hour, she reached the southern banks of the harbor.  After following the colder winds, she stumbled once again upon the mouths to the frozen holds.  She walked deep into the cavern's interior until she was standing in the blue glow of her frozen family.  There, she sat down, took a meditative breath... and lingered...

And the first of many... many hours limped by...





"You weren't kidding, Theams," Echo slurred.  The sarosian hung upside down from a rusted beam situated at the top of his dim, dim cell.  The faintest penumbra of gray-tinted sunlight graced his leafy ears.  His fangs glinted as he said, "I almost wish I could go outside.  With the air that thick with tension, I bet I could open my mouth and suck blood straight out of the wind."

"Please..."  Theanim Mane shuddered, leaning against the outer bars of Echo's cell.  "Spare the grotesque analogies."

Echo's slitted eyes narrowed in the shadows.  "Since when were you so queasy?"

Theanim gulped.  "Since I watched my very own kingdom shrivel up into a mindless husk before my eyes."

"You think it's that bad, huh?"

"Old chap," Theanim muttered.  "This country lingered on the precipice of civil war.  Then—within a single, solitary blink—the pendulum swung, and now we are marching to the commands of a misanthropic powermonger with an inexplicable amount of authority dropped into his hooves!"

"Well, did the Goddess speak or didn't she?"

"It's... it's all about the timing, Echo!" Theanim hissed.  He stood up and paced back and forth before the cell.  "Surely, it's a marvelous thing to be granted audience with the Goddess herself.  But... but to appear when she did... and in the way that she did... and to what end?!"  He scuffled to a stop, frowning.  "Verlaxion's messenger made it clear:  Brye Chandler, a veritable wolf in sheep's clothing, is now granted authority over the entire Central Guard.  Could our Queen really be so blind as to empower an utter sociopath?!"

"Didn't she say it was all about 'redemption' and all that jazz?" Echo lisped.

"I know a thing or two about Verlaxion's mercy," Theanim said.  "Historically speaking, she's always empowered each and every one of us to pursue retrobution on an individualistic level.  But... but to put the entirety of her kingdom at stake just for the sake of morally cleansing a single stallion?"  Theanim frowned.  "And—quite frankly—I do not see how this is going to accomplish anything for the better!  It's obvious to everypony with a brain that Chandler's only going to enjoy a bloated ego from this!  And just what promise is there that the stallion will even relinquish his authority as 'Defense Minister' once this nasty business with Rainbow Dash is finished?!  If it's finished?!"

"You don't suppose the whole frickin' thing is staged, do you?"

Theanim blinked.  "Huh?"

Echo waved an upside down hoof.  "I know the High-and-Mighty Queen likes to make herself manifest through frozen talking soup cans.  Just how hard is that to fake, you think?"

Theanim's ears folded back as he frowned and said, "Chandler is a master of many conniving things, but magic is not his strong suit.  Besides..."  He shuddered, glancing aside.  "The golem came down from the Throne of Verlaxion.  There's simply no way a living thing can trot up those inhospitable steps and survive... much less return."

"Then what hope does Rainbow Dash have in getting there?"

"If that is her intent."

"Isn't it?"

Theanim sighed. He resumed pacing before the bars.  "You remember Rainbow's words as much as I do, I hope."  He gulped.  "She's convinced that Verlaxion... 'Verlax'... is nothing more than a pretender... a creature of draconian falsehood that is just as subservient to the powers of 'harmony' as any other living thing."

"And you think she's right?"  Echo squinted.  "Because—if so—then she must know a way to clear a straight path deep into the heart of Starkiss."

"Yes... and her supposed 'allies' from beyond the Blight must be attempting to assist her."

"Have you brought this to the attention of the Order?"

"Huh?"  Theanim looked through the bars.

Echo cleared his throat.  "You know... the Order... the Ninety-Seventh Order?  I figured all you scientist guildmates ever did was stand around, smelling each other's farts.  But if there was ever a situation where you needed to step up your thinking game... this is the one, don't you think?"

"I've run this situation by the Order more than three times since arriving from Sunset Prefecture."

"Yeah, and?"

Theanim sighed.  "They think that I'm delusional.  They claim that I've been... tainted by the same aura of Blight that's brainwashed the Wyvern Tribe into supporting the 'Rainbow Rogue.'"

Echo blinked.  "These motherbuckers are supposed to be scientists, right?"

"Echo, old chap, it's not that simple!  My fellow scientists have performed the bulk of their research within laboratory environments!  Barely ten percent of them have conducted experiments out in the field—and not many of them can hold a candle to the lengths that I've gone!  Or the places that I've seen!  Or the ponies who... whom I've..."

"None of them have ever talked face-to-face with Rainbow Dash," Echo droned.  "They don't know the world beyond the Blight."  A cold, slitted blink.  "It's like they're living in a bubble, and now that things have burst... they're splattered all over the place.  That's gotta suck super hard for you, buddy."

Theanim sighed, hanging his head.  "...I... I could be pressing the issue more with them, I suppose.  I have photographic evidence of the mechanical material and magical anomalies I've witnessed beneath the bay waters of Nealand.  But..."

"But what?"

Theanim gulped.  "It's been made relatively clear from prior meetings that if I press the issue of defending the 'Rainbow Rogue' anymore, they could strip me of my commission."

"They'd disbar you from the Order?"

"Or something close to that, yes."

"Just for doing your friggin' job?"  Echo snorted.  "What's with all the icicles up everypony's bum as of late?"

"This is an atmosphere the likes of which we haven't experienced in centuries, old chap," Theanim said, his face long and melancholic.  "Every citizen is convinced that Verlaxion is dying... that she is threatened by a monster of foreign origin."

"Don't forget those 'treacherous' wyverns."

"Goddess..."  Theanim cringed.  "...if only you could hear the unsavory things being spoken of the monks at Wyvern Point.  I swear, every time I take so much as a leisurely stroll across the platforms of Frostknife, I hear entirely unheard of levels of vitriolic rhetoric.  It's... shameful, really.. the extent to which paranoia and fear can pollute even the most educated minds."

"Bet it does wonders for Rohbreddenite solidarity," Echo said.  "What ever happened to those shitty-ass Magistrates who were betraying their own citizens?"

Theanim sighed.  "Magistrates Timplan, Vilcheez, and their associates have... quietly and calmly been 'retired.'"

"What?  You mean by a crossbolt to the back of the neck?"

"They've been sequestered to a remote part of the twilight prefectures in the east," Theanim said.  "They won't be granted political power ever again.  However, at the same time, it would appear they've been gifted a far more merciful fate than permanent residence here in the Frosted Shelves."

"Heh... lucky bastards."  Echo yawned, fangs glinting.  "Bet they get all the coral they could huff."

"Echo..." Theanim grumbled.

"Heh.  Just kidding."  A slitted wink.  "They're politicians.  Now that they're no longer in office, their days of huffing coral are far behind them."

"All in all, a great deal of power is being drawn inward," Theanim explained.  "To the Defense Minister."

"Chandler, right?"

"Indeed.  And—apart from summoning an unprecedented number of eager recruits to the Central Guard—he's already sent multiple expeditions north... deep into the Star Fringes."

"You think they'll catch Rainbow Dash in time?"

"Odds are, she can still elude them," Theanim said.  "But... if her party does happen to run into the veterans of the Central Guard..."  He shuddered.  "...I fear that much... much blood will be shed."

"For real?"

"You know as well as I do that Rainbow Dash is an unstoppable force, Old Chap."  Theanim gulped.  "Empowered by magic that you and I can scarcely understand."

"Yeah, but... she's Rainbow Dash... the heroine of Rust and Shoggoth.  You really think she's capable of being the villain that Verlaxion's messenger is painting her to be?"

"She crossed a line in the Quade, didn't she?"

Echo's slitted eyes glanced aside.

"It was the mystery behind her actions that I pursued in the first place, Old Chap," Theanim said.  "And while it helped me unravel the conspiracy behind the Consortium's misdeeds..."  He sighed.  "I... I-I just don't know where her heart lies anymore..."

"It lies in the same place it's always been," said a cool, calm voice.  "Due east."

Theanim turned—only to bump into a silver breastplate.  "Guh!"  He stumbled back, goggles rattling.

Keris blinked at him.  "At ease, Professor," he exhaled, standing next to the bars of Echo's cell.  "Birds of a feather breathe together."

"Sorry, Theams," Echo droned.  "I saw him show up a minute ago.  Figured you caught a glance as well."

"I'm..."  Theanim brushed his bangs back, shivering.  "...n-not quite so accustomed..."  He gulped.  "...to this dismal place..."

"Hmmm... such is the intent," Keris said.

"Lieutenant..."  Theanim stood tall, composing himself.  "I... hope you bring good tidings."

"I wish that I was," Keris said.  "However, with the powers of the Council shifting and our estranged prismatic pegasus still at large, I'm just as anxious as you are."

"Aren't you guys still in charge?" Echo remarked.  "Right Testicle of Verlaxion and all?"

"That's Right Talon," Keris momentarily growled.  His magenta eyes sliced upwards through the bars.  "Echo of the Syndicate, I presume."

"Formerly of the Syndicate," the sarosian said with a wink.

"Mmmm... I see."  Keris nodded.  "Looks like we're both equally ignorant of one another.  My apologies, good sir."  He waved a talon.  "Your work in leading us to Jeryn's testimonial was priceless in exposing Chandler."

"Hey... you're welcome, birdy..."  Echo sighed.  "Although... fat lot of bucking good it did us all in the end, huh?"

"That remains to be seen."  Keris looked at Theanim.  "Jeryn, I trust, is enjoying his end of the bargain?"

"Indeed."  Theanim nodded.  "He's been relocated to a loftier position within the Frosted Shelves.  He's quite content with his isolation there."

"Boyyyyyyyy are the rest of the inmates in here pissed," Echo said with a cold chuckle.  "I know a few bastards by face who were itching to kick the shithead's brains out."  His fuzzy nostrils flared.  "Only a matter of time until word spreads about how I helped the foal-fooler relocate.  Hrmmmfff... guess I never deserved a peaceful death either."

Keris squinted at the upside-down stallion.  "We shall see what we can do about that."

"Heeeeeeey... lucky birdy..."

"Is that what you came here for?" Theanim asked.  "To offer thanks to my companion here?"  He cleared his throat.  "Not that I'm complaining, mind you..."

Keris sighed.  He paced past Theanim, his beak aimed to the cold stone floor.  "I'm at a loss to explain what I'm doing here."  He gulped.  "I'm at a loss to explain anything anymore."

"I understand the sentiment completely," Theanim said.

"I wish that you didn't," Keris groaned.  "Alas, as you have worked your entire life to manifest the truth, I've worked my whole career to ensure the safety of this kingdom."  He frowned.  "Today, we're witnessing both feats crumble before our eyes.  And yet... as much as the Grand Magistrate and the newly-appointed Defense Minister would have us believe it's all the Rainbow Rogue's fault... I just can't see it that way."

"Reality is far too complicated to pin all of the problems facing Rohbredden on our estranged Equestrian accomplice," Theanim said.  "Surely—by now—you agree that there's a great deal of shadiness revolving around the timing of Verlaxion's revelation."

"I agree that there's a great deal concerning Verlaxion that I do not understand."  Keris clenched his beak.  "Beforehand, her will has always been clear cut.  The Court operated by her insight and they gave us instructions and we followed them.  But now...?  The entire system has been completely restructured, and just because of the word given by a single messenger."

"Say..."  Echo flipped off the bar and landed on his nimble hooves.  "Mmmff... if Verlaxion's really, truly been weak all this time, why make her revelation at the last second?"

The stallion and griffon peered through the bars at him.

"I mean... the Great Unifier's got a shitton of foresight and intuition, right?"  Echo shrugged.  "Couldn't she have—y'know—warned us about the 'demon from beyond the Blight' way... waaaaaaaay ahead of time?  But—like—instead she waits until the pimply-ass-last-second... right when Rainbow and her nebulous party of bastards are hammering on her frozen back door."

"And precisely when the discordant attitude of the Prefectures is at its angriest," Theanim added with a nod.  "The irony is not lost to me either, Old Chap."

"Seems to me that she's cherry picking from the negative atmosphere of the Court," Echo said.  "I've seen this sort of crap before.  Boss Revan of Rust would wait until the citizens of Rust were at their most desperate and downtrodden before going out to exploit them.  It worked every time... at least until everypony caught on to how he was—y'know—bombing the shit out of innocent citizens' apartments behind their backs."

Keris grimaced, gazing aside.

Theanim flashed him a glance.  "What is it, Lieutenant?"

Keris shuddered.  "Just... thinking..."

Theanim's eyes narrowed.  "About the things Rainbow Dash said?  To me in the Seven Seas and to you at Red Barge?"

Keris clenched his beak shut.

"At first, I didn't want to believe it any more than you do," Theanim said.  "But her testimony makes a great deal of sense given the context of our current crisis."  He waved a hoof.  "What if this... all of this was a genius orchestration meant to stage a trap for the eastbound pegasus from beyond the Blight?"

"I do not appreciate the implications of such a theory..."

"They were never meant to be enjoyed, Lieutenant," Theanim said.  "The truth is rarely ever quite so... agreeable."  He took a deep breath.  "For what it's worth, I'm not quite so fond of the possibilities either.  To think... that we all live atop a superficial artifice... a thin, organic veil that blinds us to a mechanical monstrosity the likes of which no mortals can comprehend."

"But Verlaxion... or Verlax..."  Echo shrugged from where he stood behind the bars.  "Goddess... Dragon Divine... whatever—now there's a being who's lived long enough and has been empowered mightily enough to perceive such things."  He snorted.  "Doesn't take getting high on coral to imagine the possibilities."

"But... I do not understand..."  Keris looked up at the stallions on either side of the bars.  "Even if such an unthinkable situation was real... what would be the aim of Verlaxion?"

"Yeah, well..."  Echo shrugged.  "Where's the sense in her appointing Chandler McDoucheface as her war horse?"

Keris frowned.

"Lieutenant..."  Theanim sighed, his ears twitching nervously.  "Thousands of years is a long time to live and not go insane."  He gave the griffon a forlorn glance.  "Even if what Rainbow Dash claims is untrue, we have to face the very real possibility that... our Great Unifier may have lost control of her divine wits."

Keris inhaled sharply.  "The very implications of what you're saying is sacreligious... traitorous even."

Theanim nodded.  "I've known that since Nealend.  Unfortunately—as the situation has grown more and more tense—I could not enjoy the leisure of sitting idly by while dark forces tear this kingdom apart."

"Indeed.  And I'm quite glad that you and your midnight companion here brought the information of the Consortium to my attention."  Keris paced some more.  "But, alas, 'sitting ildly by' is the only thing the Talon and I appear to be capable of doing right now."

"You've gotta be shitting me," Echo growled.

"Old Chap..."  Theanim waved a hoof at him, then turned to squint at Keris.  "What's the matter?  Did you not bring these issues up with your Commander?"

"I did, but Seraphimus—she..."  Keris winced.  After a cold shudder, he resumed:  "The Commander is a brave griffon... a strong griffon.  But she is also a very sensitive individual... with much that she's lost..."  He sighed.  "And even more to lose."

"I assume you speak of her family in frozen stasis."

Keris turned to blink at the scientist.  "You know?"

Theanim smiled faintly.  "There are few things I don't."

"I simply cannot put into words just how much the words of Verlaxion mean to her," Keris said emphatically.  "They are her very lifeblood.  When the Council tells her to do something, her entire existence hinges on that task and that task alone."

"What's she expecting?" Echo droned.  "Table scraps?"

Keris glared viciously through the bars.  "She expects the respect and the loving-kindness of our Divine Unifier."  He cooled off with a sigh.  "However, such blessings have been... shallow as of late."  He gulped.  "If not completly formless."

"This latest restructuring of executive power must have been like a dagger to the back," Theanim remarked.  "She has my sympathy."

"Aye, and mine as well," Keris said with a nod.  "Not to mention my everlasting appreciation and respect.  However... she's concluded that—with Chandler being the Defense Minister—it is our place as the Talon to abide by his instructions.  I've met personally with Grand Magistrate Hymmnos, and it would appear that the Court shares this sentiment."

"So, what, then?" Echo remarked.  "The Talon's claws are dulled?"

"For the moment, they are completely trimmed," Keris spat.  "I feel like my wings are clipped the longer that I stay here, numbed by the blistery winds of Frostknife."  He groaned.  "At least in Sunset Prefecture, we had a modicum of agency.  But now?"

"With the Consortium exposed, one can expect the artificial insurgence within the central Prefectures to be halted completely," Theanim said.  "But we've got a new issue to deal with now."

"Chandler," Keris grunted.

Theanim nodded.  "Let's say he's successful in Starkiss.  Let's say he captures the Rainbow Rogue, drags her to Frostknife, has a public lynching—or whatever."  His blue eyes narrowed.  "Do you really... truly believe that his ambition will stop there?"

"Unless Verlaxion manifests herself again before the Council and states otherwise..."  Keris shook his head gravely.  "No.  I suspect that he will do what he can to maintain executive powers."

"And with an army of such magnitude at his disposal, what are the odds he won't stoop to invading the Colonialist islands?" Theanim remarked.  "Throwing everything east of the Blight into war and chaos for the sake of his own brand of 'unification?'"

Keris gulped.  "The thought... has occurred to me... and the other members of the Talon as well."

"What are their opinions on this bullshit?" Echo asked.

"About the same as mine," Keris remarked.  "Not that it matters.  If the Commander has grounded us... then here in Frostknife we will stay."

"Just because your big bitchy boss has her feathery panties in a knot over her popsicle famiily?!"

"Mind your tongue, midnighter," Keris growled.  "If you fear a reprisal for Jeryn's security here in the Shelves, you will not wish to make an enemy of the Talon through such insulting words."

Echo bore a fanged grin.  "I don't think I've ever been so politely threatened."  He winked through the bars at Theanim.  "I like this bird, Theams."

Theanim sighed, facing Keris once again.  "Well, I'm not being allowed many liberties from the Order myself.  In a manner of speaking, I'm 'grounded' too."  He cleared his throat.  "Still... with our combined intellect and resources, surely we can find something we can do here in Frostknife to maintain a certain level-headedness."

"You mean an investigation of some sort?"

"Precisely."  Theanim bore a weak smile.  "We brought Chandler to his knees before.  What's to say that we can't properly prepare the public for when or if he attempts a complete takeover of the system?"

"The trail ended in Sunset Prefecture, Professor," Keris said.  "With all due respect, our quest for truth broke like water against the shoals of Verlaxion's words."  The griffon shook his feathery head.  "I doubt we have much more to go on, unless your friend here has deeper connections within the collapsed strata of the Syndicate to indict Chandler even harder."

"Nope."  Echo shrugged.  "Sorry, Mr. Pelican.  But Jeryn was the last thread, and Revan's gone bonkers... from what I hear."

"Hmmmf..."  Keris gazed into the shadows.  "A pity."

"There's the goofy-ass letter, of course, but... meh..."  Echo stifled a fanged yawn.  "Probably a damned prank."

"Hmm?"  Keris' hawkeyes blinked.  "A letter?"

"Echo received a written missive over a week ago," Theanim explained.  "Shortly before I pursued an interview with Jeryn."

"Would it be too much trouble to see this letter?" Keris asked.  "It seems hardly a coincidence for a lone midnighter to receive something so randomly."

"Hey, knock yourself out."  Echo trotted over to his cot and pulled the envelope out from beneath his pillow.  "Frickin' weirdest thing I've ever laid my hooves on... that I didn't hallucinate, of course.  Heheh..."  He passed the letter through the bars.  "Look all you want.  The damn thing's blank."

"Blank, you say...?"  Keris pulled the sheet out of the envelope and grasped it in his good talon.

"Indeed."  Theanim nodded.  "Aside from a single name listed at the bottom.  Most mysterious."

"... ... ..."  Keris suddenly paled, white-as-a-sheet.  His beak parted open and he slumped back on his feline haunches.

Theanim blinked.  "Lieutenant?"

Keris was dead silent.

"Keris, good sir?"  Theanim cleared his throat.  "Is... is there something amiss?"

"Jordan..."  Keris exhaled, his headcrest drooping.  "By the Goddess... could... could he be...?"

"You..."  Theanim squinted.  "...recognize the name?"

Keris jolted.  With sudden vigor, he held the sheet close to his beak.  He inhaled deeply, squinting as his senses registered the smell.  Once... twice—he touched his tongue to the page and felt the chemicals absorbing into his mouth.

Theanim blinked.

"... ... ...!"  Keris stood up straight.  "I must get to the Armory."

"What's the matter?"

"There is a chemical laboratory located within," Keris said.  "I haven't used it in years, but I will need to do so today."  He shifted slightly, then turned towards the stallion before him.  "Professor, if you would be so kind as to assist me..."

"Uhm... gladly!"  Theanim awkwardly adjusted his goggles over his mane.  "Erm... assist you with what?"

"I cannot explain here," Keris said.  "Not all ears in the Frosted Shelves can be trusted.  Come."  He grasped Theanim by the shoulder and urged the two of them forward, up the nearest stairwell.  "We must make haste."

"Erm... b-by all means!"

Silence.

Echo stood alone behind the bars of his cell.

"... ... ...You're welcome!" he finally hissed, before retiring to his cot with a lonesome sigh.  "Shitlords."
> Brothers of a Feather, Forever
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A persistent blizzard howled, slicing its way west across the sharp cliff-faces of the Star Fringes.

Rainbow Dash and the Herald marched boldly against the blistery winds.  At best, they afforded themselves a slow, sluggish pace.  Wildcard and Remna spotted patches of slightly less turbulent air, and they steered the rest of the travelers through them.  The randomly jutting peaks of the Star Fringes allowed for narrow pockets of somewhat agreeable atmosphere.  The group proceeded eastward in a zig-zagged fashion, no longer satisfied with just waiting for the blizzard to clear.

Rainbow gnashed her teeth.  Every square inch of her body was covered in snowy frost—save for a narrow strip above her nose that the pegasus persistently blocked with a raised forelimb.  All in all, the mare maintained a steady pace—until a particularly violent blast of cold air struck her left side.  "Mgrnnnghh—gaah!"  Rainbow stumbled.

"Rainbow one?!" Kepler's voice pierced the winds from behind.

Remna gasped, spinning around.  Mortuana calmly looked back.

Before Rainbow could completely collapse, a strong forelimb reached over and steadied her.

"S'all good!" Bard shouted against the snow and madness.  "I got 'er!"

"Is she injured in any fashion—?" Remna began.

"Just relax.  She's A-Okay!" Bard retorted.

Remna's nostrils flared.  With glaring emerald eyes, she pivoted and continued her march eastward.

Bard glanced at Mortuana.

The alicorn nodded gently, and continued pressing forward, following Remna and Wildcard.

Rainbow shuddered, regathering her steps.  "Thanks, dude..."

"Don't mention it!" Bard said, giving her a shoulder to lean on.  "You're such a tough little pony, Rainbow.  Easy to forget you've got a dayum injury in yer wing!"

Rainbow said nothing.

"I hate to pull a Remna, but if you'd like me to carry you for a little while—"

"No.  I'm good," Rainbow grunted.  "Besides, I'm going to need exercise for where I'm going."

"Heh... no kiddin'."

"Yeesh..."  Rainbow grimaced as another wave of blizzard flurries struck the group.  "How long do these dang Fringes go on for?"

"I dunno, but I'm mighty thankful for 'em!" Bard shouted to be heard above the constant howling.  "Imagine if this thang hit while we was in the open plains of Frost Plateau?!"  He straightened his hat and shuddered.  "The enchantment in Flynn's rods wouldn't last, y'know what I'm sayin'?"

"Yeah, I get the picture!"

The group marched up a sloped incline.  The tighter they approached the edge of a stone ridge, the lesser the winds pelted them.  That particular peak within the Star Fringes was taking the brunt of the blizzard, allowing for a slight lull in the cold tempest.

"Well ain't this a mighty fine gift?" Bard mused, his voice calmer, lower.

Rainbow sighed.  "You won't hear any complaints from me."

"Won't last forever," Bard remarked.  "Especially if we wanna arrive at the Starkiss in the next few days."

"Right..."

The stallion glanced sideways.  "You feel another dizzy spell comin' on?"

"No, Bard, I can't," Rainbow muttered.  "That always happens at random."  She sighed.  "But one thing's for sure.  They're happening more and more frequently."  Her squinting eyes settled on an orange glow beyond the blizzard's gray flurries.  "The sooner we get to Yaerfaerda, the better."

"And Dubya and the rest of the gang are gonna help ya," Bard said.  "You can count on it!"

"Seems like they're not the only ones I can count on," Rainbow replied.

"Ehhhh..."  Bard waved a forelimb.  "I owe Dubya a whole heapin' lot.  I'm only taggin' along because it means so much to him."

"This is an awful lot of loyalty and commitment for 'tagging along,'" Rainbow muttered.

Bard cleared his throat.  "The way I see it, bein' exposed to the righteous side of the Job Squad n'all..."  A slight shrug.  "It's an awful lot to leave hangin' at this point.  I just... wouldn't feel right with myself if I wandered off on my own path—what, with the entirety of the world hangin' in the balance and all that nonsense."

"Yeah, well..."  Rainbow smirked slightly.  "Every adventuring party needs a bard."

"That joke is bad and you should feel bad."

Rainbow coughed, glancing down at the frosted cliff-faces.  "I know... I know..."

Silence reined as the group trudged along the stone incline.

"Everythang alright between you and yer gal pals?" Bard asked.

Rainbow blinked, glancing up once more.  "Uhm... yeah."  She gulped.  "Why you ask?"

"I heard y'all last night," Bard said.  "Well... some y'all.  Seems like you was gettin' worked up over somethin'."

Rainbow winced.  "Uhm... I-I was that noticeable, huh?"

"Darlin', you was like the center of a tear-jerkin' stageplay."

A dull sigh, and Rainbow's path wavered slightly.  "I... s-sorta guessed that I had kept my voice silent enough."  She gulped.  "Perhaps I was wrong."

"The way I see it, most of the Herald dun have much to say 'cuz they ain't used to you talkin' to spectres in the dark."  Bard's eyes narrowed.  "But Dubya and I?  We was both front row seat to yer ghostly socializin' all across the Seven Seas.  I'd even dare to say that we're mighty used to it."

"Did you bring some popcorn this time?" Rainbow droned.

"Nothin' like that, darlin'," Bard remarked, pressing on ahead.  He brushed past the mountain wall to his left.  "Just a might bit concerned, is all.  If I didn't know better, I'd say the tears that you had the other night were happy tears."

Rainbow exhaled.  "Yeah..."  Her lips curved ever so slightly.  "I guess you could say that."

"Lemme guess," Bard muttered.  "You told 'em all about your fuzzy filly proclivities."

Rainbow blinked.  "How... h-how did you...?"

"Dun forget, I'm a long-time friend to Ariel," Bard said.  "I had her figured for a fan of the fairer sex long before we ever took on the name 'Job Squad.'  I had the notion that she'd be smitten as soon as she saw ya.  Turns out, I wasn't wrong.  Poor girl has got it bad.  Just how many passes has she made on ya, I wonder."

Rainbow sighed.  "Just enough..."

"Must have been hard to hide yer 'little secret,'" Bard said with a slight smirk.  "Though I often wondered why you bothered for so dayum long.  Yer friends strike me as the kind of ponies to accept you the way you are... especially considerin' all the lengths yer goin' through to bring 'em back."

"You gotta remember, Bard," Rainbow said.  "For the longest time, I thought they were dead."  Her teeth chattered.  "And a lot of stuff that once meant so much to me died with them.  I guess... I... I-I just got used to being alone with myself."

"Just 'cuz the whole universe sees it fit to punish ya doesn't mean you gotta add to the whole miserable slew," Bard remarked.  "You might be yer own worst enemy, but—in the end—yer the best friend you can ever rely on.  Remember that."

"Yeah, well, some of us are lucky to have a Wildcard in our lives."

"Hah!"  Bard smirked.  "True that."

Rainbow looked at him with a soft smile.  "I'm... r-really glad that you're talking to me, Bard."

Bard sighed.  "Yeah, well... hard to hate on somethin' that gives you so many more reasons to respect it."

Rainbow blinked.  "I'll... uh... try to take that as a compliment."

"Whatever.  Just relish what you've got now, darlin'."

"And what's that?"

"Freedom.  Ain't no sense in bein' a total stranger with yer friends," Bard said.  "Yer dayum lucky you can share the whole truth with them and keep on tickin'.  Always remember that."

"I'll be sure to," Rainbow said with a nod.  She squinted at the stallion.  "And what about you?"

"Hmmm?"

"Think you will be sharing the whole truth someday?" she asked.  "I mean, we've been through so much together and... and we're bound to go through a whole lot more."  She winced from a random wave of blistery winds.  "When are you going to be more than just 'Bard?'"

Bard merely sighed.

Rainbow continued.  "I know that's not your real name," she said.  "And I know that making music and robbing from bad guys hasn't always been your occupation."

"How do you know I wasn't a regular bad guy myself?" Bard muttered.

"Because beneath all of the mystery and the lazy slurs and the guitar plucking nonsense, you've got a heart of gold," Rainbow said.  She shook her head.  "And I don't think it's something you've stolen, Bard."

"No, I reckon not." Bard exhaled through his nostrils.  "But it's definitely something that I've spoiled."

Rainbow blinked.

"Not all of us deserve freedom, Rainbow," Bard said.  "While the truth frees some of us, it binds others.  All you need to know is all that I need to remember."  He faced the harsh blizzard and trudged on.  "I'm Dubya's Desperado buddy... and I aim to get you to where you need to go."

"Bard..."

"Maybe a time will come when I'll have a reason to tell ya more, but it ain't particularly applicable to this here journey.  So let's keep our eyes on the prize until we kick the door down at Starkiss, ya feel me?"

Rainbow nodded as the group passed the mountain ridge and into another onslaught of cold winds.  "I feel you!"

Her voice scarcely made its way to Bard.  For the next hour, they marched against the flurries, separated and numb.





Keris waved a talon in front of his beak.  "Alright..."  A slight cough as he propped himself up against a wall of the claustrophobic laboratory.  "...to be honest, Professor, I did not expect this to be such an odorous affair."

"Mrmmmfff..."  Theanim Mane grimaced, his goggles fogging up against the fumes rising from the table before him.  "It wouldn't be such trouble if this so-called 'alchemist chamber' was more properly ventilated."

"As I told you before," Keris breathed.  "This place is a weapons armory first and foremost."

"Such was not lost to me," Theanim grumbled.  "I nearly tripped on no less than thirty spears and cutlasses on the way here.  Just what exactly does the Talon hope to achieve with so many blades?"

"Peace, of course," Keris said with a mild smirk.  "Why else would we possess one hundred times more weapons than we can feasibly handle?"

"That mentality has always struck me as... lopsided."

"Be glad it is not your chosen profession."

"Indeed."  Theanim cleared his throat as he poured a vial of solution into a miniature basin of bubbling liquid.  "Alright.  I've added the ingredients you listed.  I've dealt with chemical inks before, Lieutenant.  Quite frankly, I don't see how this is going to make the cryptic message Echo received any more visible."

"That's because you've never dealt with an ink of this nature before, Professor," Keris said.  He reached into his utility belt and pulled out a tiny pouch.  "Alright.  Here."  He handed it to the stallion.  "Gather a teaspoon of the material and sprinkle it over the basin."

"What in Verlaxion's name is this?" Theanim wheezed.

"Essence of windigo blood," Keris explained.  "A specific strain of it: salvaged from fossils encased in ice beneath the Throne of Verlaxion."

"And... its purpose?"

"To reveal the ink, of course," Keris said.  "From the scent and taste of it, I greatly suspect it's written in windigo plasma.  This blood essence should collect within the traces of plasma and allow us to read the enscribed message.  However—to keep it from dissolving—we will need to add one or two more ingredients."

Theanim frowned.  "In all of my many years of being a scientist in the Ninety-Seventh Order, I've never even remotely heard of such a process involving the utilization of windigo plasma."

"That's because you were never meant to," Keris calmly explained.  "It's an internal secret maintained by the Right Talon of Verlaxion throughout the centuries.  You're the first flesh-and-blood pony to learn of this in nearly two millennia."

Theanim sighed, sprinkling the dust into the basin.  "This alarms me, Lieutenant.  I do not take pride in the fact that the Right Talon of Verlaxion has possessed the means to keep sensitive materials secret from the common public."

"It is for the safety of the Foals of Verlaxion."

"A very lazy excuse."

Keris glanced sideways at the stallion.  "And what—pray tell—do you think you and I are pursuing at this very second?"

Theanim bit his lip.

"I'm sacrificing a great deal by pursuing this," Keris said.  "Bringing you here to this armory... utilizing the essence of windigo blood—which is far from unlimited, mind you."  He gazed at the alchemist table.  "Much is at stake here, Professor.  It is my firm belief that the securities of Rohbredden are being compromised by Chandler and the Council.  If we don't act now, then it may be too late to stop this nation along the road to ruin."

"Yes, but by taking this particular route..."  Theanim finished applying the material.  "...you're implying that this 'Jordan' persona was once in league with the Right Talon of Verlaxion.  How is such a thing possible?"

Keris merely took a deep breath and said, "You may wish to take a step back, Professor."

Just as he said this, the basin of chemical fluids began bubbling madly.  Theanim grimaced and backtrotted.  He shielded himself as fumes collected across the ceiling.  Soon, the bubbling stopped, and a series of dark lines materialized across the submerged sheet.

"Here, Professor."  Keris passed him a pair of forceps.

Theanim grasped it.  Reaching into the basin, he extracted the letter, then placed it within another basin—this one empty and fitted with a drain.  He rinsed the sheet over with a vial of water and leaned in.

"Alright... I do believe the message is clear now."  Theanim leaned aside.  "Lieutenant?"

Keris leaned in.  His hawkeyes scanned the words on the page.  Slowly, like melting ice, his beak hung agape.  "By the Spring Havens..."

Theanim gulped.  "Dare I ask?"

Keris shuddered.  "I need to summon the rest of the Talon now..."  He took a deep, fuming breath.  "As in right now."





Creaaaaak!

A thick metal security door swung open.  Clang!  A stallion's bundled figure stood in the doorframe, peering straight into the dim depths of the Frosted Shelves.

At the far end of the prison's maximum security wing, a lone cell lingered.  A pony sat on a cot beyond the bars, hunched over and silent.

Brye Chandler took a deep breath.  Vapors danced in the torchlight, and he spoke to the tall, muscular guards flanking him.  "I wish to speak with the prisoner alone.  Remain here and let nopony enter until I give the signal to be let out."

A stallion nodded.  "Yes, Minister."

"We shall stand watch," a griffon said.

Wrapping the wool and leather tighter around himself, Chandler trotted forward across the cold stone corridor.  The door was shut loudly behind him.  Thud!  As the echoes diminished, all could be heard was his sterile hoof-steps.  Soon, he found a stool and dragged it over so he could sit before the cold iron bars.  With a sigh, he stared into the cell.  The occupant's limp figure lingered just beyond the penumbra of flickering torchlight.

"It's my fault that you are here, Longaze," Chandler spoke.  His ears twitched as he fought the urge to shiver.  "As such, it is my responsibility to release you."

He reached deep into his jackets—at last producing a scroll with the Court's seal.

"This... this right here?  Do you see it?"  Chandler held it up to the quivering torchlight.  "It is an official pardon from Hymmnos, the Grand Magistrate herself.  As the newly appointed Minister of Interim Military Cabinet, I've been able to convince her to free you.  This opportunity did not come very easily, otherwise I would have approached you on the matter days ago."  He gulped.  "I... I-I was able to convince her and the rest of the Court that you did not act under your own volition back in Braum.  I... I told her that you were operating under the devious influence of the Rainbow Rogue and the accursed essence of the Blight."

The mare beyond the bars said nothing.  She continued to sit in silence, hunched over and still.  The stallion could barely make out even a hint of her deadpan features from beyond the shadows.

"It seems like a desperate pull, I know," Chandler muttered.  "But, for all I know, perhaps you were under the influence of something.  That... that mare..."  He grimaced as he spoke.  "That damnable Rainbow vermin."  He gulped.  "Her very presence means the end of all things.  At first, I thought it was just blowing facts out of proportion to claim that.  I only wanted her in the Consortium's custody so I could win the affections of the Court.  Well..."  he took a deep breath, leaning back on his stool.  "I have such affections now, Longaze, and it couldn't have come at a more stressful time.  More pressure has been put on me than I ever expected.  I need to capture that... that creature.  And even with an entire army and nearly twenty thousand new recruits at my disposal, I just... I-I just don't see myself accomplishing the task in time."

Chandler began to shake.  He wrapped the cloak around him tighter as his vaporous breaths coated the metal bars between him and his former secretary.

"The Rainbow Rogue is marching upon the foundations of Starkiss.  I've sent several battallions out to intercept her, but... but she's a crafty bitch—this Rogue.  And I fear she has allies from within—hidden among the ranks of the Scientific Order and the Talon.  Despite all of my current resources, she could easily evade my sentries.  And if she reaches Verlaxion—if she slays the Goddess of Unification... then... then what will Rohbredden do to me?!"  He fought the urge to hyperventilate.  "They'll have my head!  But only after they've had my entrails!  Dammit, Longaze, I need your help!  I need your resourcefulness!"

Silence.

"Will... will you help me?"  Chandler leaned forward once more.  He grasped the bars with two forelimbs.  "You've always been so helpful... so straightforward and calm.  A terrible rift has been placed between us by the Rainbow Rogue, and... and I want to make things right again, Longaze.  Not just for you, but for all of the Foals of Verlaxion.  So please... won't you help me?  Won't you lend a hoof?"

All was still.  The body beyond the bars barely moved.

Chandler blinked.  As the seconds limped by, he gradually bore a scathing frown.









Dear Keris,

I don't know whether to address you as Sergeant or Lieutenant.  At this rate, you'd surely have become a Commander by now.  A fellow guardian with your strength and tenacity deserves no less.  I suspect, if Seraphimus is still alive, you're still supporting her as courageously as ever.  I've always admired that loyalty, even if to a fault.

I can only imagine this letter comes as a mild surprise to you.  Surely—in your heart—you never truly thought me to be dead.  Seraphimus, perhaps, has expected the worse fate possible.  But she was always one to give into despair.  Up until my last mission, that was always my biggest contention with her.  I'm writing this to you because I know that you'll have an openness of both heart and mind, at least when compared to our illustrious zealot of a Commander.

You might think me a traitor for being alive all this time and not returning to Frostknife.  I would not blame you for that.  The fact is—shortly upon my recovery—I discovered a great deal more about this world than the rest of us can comprehend.  No, I have not contracted some horrible dementia.  The last mission we were on battered my body, but not my brain.  As a matter of fact, I've had a long time to dwell upon the circumstances that brought me to this place, as well as the dismal destination this entire continent is headed.  There are forces at play far older than the Court of Verlaxion and the Queen that claims to give it full, righteous authority.

The "Verlaxion" we've all pledged to protect is a great deceiver, a Dragon Divine, a mysterious creature older than most civilizations.  Did she unify the Tribes?  Yes, she did—but I've found pre-historic evidence that proves she herself established the windigo herd, the Blight, and several other pandemic problems that isolated the founders of Rohbredden long before our "Queen" arrived to extend her so-called "hooves" of mercy.  An alicorn from the west—a humble protector of all things Harmonic—rose to oppose her.  Her name is Mortuana, and this graceful being suffered a violent curse at the claws of Verlaxion for her heroic efforts.  Nevertheless, she managed to found a protective Order deep within the northwest mountains of Rohbredden—for the purpose of establishing a group of elite interceptors who would someday possess the power to undo the damage Verlaxion has done—and exposed the Deceiver for all of her lies.

Rainbow Dash—the pegasus that the entire continent has painted as a violent criminal—is the very torch by which the effigy that weighs Rohbredden down can finally be burnt to the ground.  The power within Rainbow Dash is also ancient, older than both Mortuana and Verlaxion, and it is something destined to save this entire world from a dark fate that's been looming for countless eons.

I'm certain all of this sounds terribly demented and outright sacreligious.  Believe me, it was a shock to my already battered system when I discovered the facts hidden beneath the surface of this polluted plane.  And as helpful as Mortuana has been in enlightening me, even she only knows so much.

There is a truth greater than all of us, Keris.  It's bigger than you, bigger than me, bigger than Verlaxion and Mortuana... bigger than Rainbow Dash and the entire world.  However, it's a truth that deserves to be pursued, past Rohbredden and beyond.  If we allow ourselves to remain stagnant or complacent, if we allow the likes of Verlaxion and the Council to run this great nation into the frozen dust, we will all suffer a fate colder than the death blow of a million stampeding windigos.  For that reason, we must rise up against lies that have bound us, breaking the strings of previous loyalties that have anchored us to absurdity.

We must see to it that Rainbow Dash fulfills her journey.  I believe this with my whole heart and mind.  Verlaxion as we know her is lying to us.  If you don't believe me, then look to the events that will undoubtedly be unraveling at the point you receive this letter.  If Mortuana, Rainbow, and the rest of my group manages to approach Starkiss, then undoubtedly the "Great Unifier" will start doing more and more desperate things to maintain solidarity behind her ancient cause, suppressing truth through the use of blind zealotry.

For whatever reason, Verlaxion is willing to sacrifice the whole of Rohbredden in order to make Rainbow's journey all that more difficult—as some sort of demented test that even I have difficulty understanding.  We need an edge to evade her tactics... to surpass her sentries and frozen eyes.

We need you, Keris.  I need you.  I know you've spent a great deal of time with Rainbow Dash back at Red Barge.  If there's still an ounce of wisdom and civility in you, then you know that there's more to Rainbow Dash than simple courage and sincerity.  There is soul destined to make the journey to end all journeys, and if she doesn't make it to her destination, this plane and everything it's attached to will perish... horribly.

I've sacrificed a lot to get to this point.  I know it's asking you a lot to make a similar leap of faith.  But we've both been through too much for me to ever wish harm upon you or the Commander or the rest of the Talon—what ever remains of it to this day.

My humble request comes with an even humbler show of trust:  Look towards the Midfrost Passage between the Tribal Battlefield and the West Gates of Starkiss.  I've already spoken with Mortuana about this letter, and we've both agreed to steer the group through that particular pass.  You and only you possess this knowledge now.  Share it with the Talon if you must—I know that your loyalty would do no less.  But if Verlaxion's as desperate as we expect her to be, I suspect you and the rest of the Talon will have far less influence than previous.  Take this as another sign—a sign that this world is changing, and the Great Deceiver is pulling more and more desperate stunts to keep her lies in check.

Please, Keris.  Meet us at the Midfrost Passage.  If you've met others willing and able to assist Rainbow Dash—which by now I suspect that you will—bring them as well.  The pressure is on, and we will need every possible ally and resource to make it pass the bastions of Starkiss.  Everything that is everything depends on this, and my group—however enlightened—cannot make it on our own.

Brothers of a feather, in blindness or in blight, share the same blood, beyond speech and sight,

-Jordan





Finally, having read the letter, Keris lowered the item in his grasp and stared before those gathered in the Armory.

Starstorm, Windburst, and Raptr gaped at him in utter disbelief.

Theanim shifted where he stood, glancing left and right between the fellow members.

"The good Professor assisted me in dating the letter and the chemicals used in hiding its words," Lieutenant Keris said.  "We suspect that this was written two to three weeks ago."

"Then... then he's been alive all this time?" Starstorm stammered.

"If so, then it was long before Verlaxion's revelation..."  Windburst shuddered.  "Before Chandler became Defense Minister."

"Is it truly miraculous foresight?" Starstorm remarked.  "Or just a coincidence on the part of a crazed mind?"

"He... seems to have most of his faculties together," Keris said.  "That cryptic message at the end?  About 'brothers of a feather?'"

"Yes."  Windburst squinted.  "What was with that?"

Keris exhaled.  "It's a blood pact that Jordan and I made together... exclusively between the two of us fellow guardians."  He glanced at the letter with a melancholic expression.  "We swore to fight by each other's sides until the day we died... or else sacrifice something very close to us."

"Like...?" Windburst blinked.

"I promised my wings," Keris said.  "And Jordan?  He promised his voice."

"I... I'm confused..."  Raptr shifted where he stood.  "Who exactly is 'Jordan?'"

Starstorm and Windburst collectively hung their heads.

"Someone far before your time, rookie," Windburst solemnly said.  "Someone with more talent than the rest of us combined."

"A true claw of the Talon," Keris added with a nod.

"But now..."  Starstorm weathered a heavy breath.  "He's alive."  She grimaced.  "And... and he's been polluted by those creatures of the Blight!"

"Jordan would never be polluted!" Windburst seethed angrily.  "Not by Blighted terrorists!  Not by anything!"

"But you heard those words of his!"  Starstorm pointed at the letter in Keris' grip.  "It's... it's madness!  To say such things of Verlaxion!"

"Our Queen... has been acting pretty strange lately," Raptr murmured.

"Oh please!"  Starstorm frowned.  "So what if she's... she's throwing us out..."  She ran a talon over her headcrest, gazing off with a slight shudder.  "It's... it's just punishment.  That's all."

"Seems like everything is 'punishment' lately," Windburst grumbled.  "Doesn't that strike you as a bit... oh, I dunno... shitty?"

Starstorm merely clenched her beak muscles.

Raptr fidgeted.

Theanim cleared his throat.  "This is... obviously something that strikes very close to home for the lot of you."  He turned to face Keris.  "Lieutenant... I've had the good grace of meeting this 'blood brother' of yours."

Keris nodded gravely.  "He's your 'Wildcard,' isn't he?"

"For the past few years, he's lived the life of a mercenary.  But two things struck me as very curious about him."  Theanim's eyes narrowed.  "In all things, he kept silent.  And yet—despite his relatively simple demeanor—I could tell he possessed a very deep, very introspective wisdom."  He shrugged.  "I do not know of this 'Order' of which he speaks, but it's quite clear to me that he's had plenty of opportunity throughout the years to reassess his priorities.  It's... possible that his mercenary occupation alongside Bard was merely a front for exploring the world around him."

"You mean for catching a sign of the arrival of Rainbow Dash."

Theanim cleared his throat.  "Now I didn't say that."

"And you didn't have to."  Keris folded the letter up.  "It was always Jordan's strong suit to perform advanced reconnaissance.  Whatever he's been looking for these past few years, I do believe he's found it.  And it's in the form of Rainbow Dash."

"And do you believe him, Lieutenant?"  Theanim blinked.  "Do you believe that what he's found possesses substantial importance?"

Keris stood in silence.

At last, it was Starstorm who spoke up.  "He's entrusted this knowledge with the Talon.  Nevertheless, we're bound by our role as guardians to present this to the Council."

"And then what?"  Raptr remarked.  "They'll just forward it to Chandler.  The newly elected Minister will intercept the Rainbow Rogue at the Midfrost Passage.  He'll have her head, and then the Council will worship him as the great vanquisher of the Blight."

"And then what?" Windburst spoke up.  "Chandler will remain on top... and just how long is it until he dominates the entire Continent or the remaining Tribes go to war?"

"Nevertheless..."  Starstorm frowned.  "We have a duty here.  One that we swore our lives to."

"You mean like your fellow Jordan did?"  Theanim remarked.  "That all dissolved until he discovered a greater truth."

"Damn you scientists and your 'greater truths!'" Starstorm snarled.  "We're guardians!  We have principles to defend!"

"Yes.  Principles that mean so much to the Queen that she's trampled them for the sake of replacing the Right Talon with a charlatan and a traitor," Windburst grumbled.

Starstorm blinked at that.  With a sad expression, she hung her head.

"Where's... where's Seraphimus?" Raptr remarked.  "Why isn't she here?"

"Why isn't she anywhere?" Starstorm whimpered.  Windburst rested a gentle talon on her shoulder.

"Lieutenant?"  Theanim trotted over.  "I do believe this falls on you."

Keris looked at the scroll in his grasp.  He closed his eyes, sighed, and finally spoke:  "I'll go talk to her."

"And... and what if she brings the information to the Council?" Raptr remarked.

"She needs to know that Jordan is still alive," Keris said.  "He'd expect me to do no less.  Besides... who knows?"  He shuffled out of the armory on heavy limbs.  "Maybe it's just the spark of hope that the Commander needs..."





"I gave you everything," Chandler slurred, frowing past the bars between him and Longaze.  "All of my money... my resources... even my honor."  He gritted his teeth.  "I gave it to you so that you could take down the Rainbow Rogue and you failed.  I almost lost everything because of your sudden and inane incompetence.  Now, I could go on and on chastising you for such a blunder, but it doesn't make a difference now.  You know why?"

Chandler rested a hoof over his heart.

"Because I've blundered as well.  I got too ambitious, and a bunch of bleeding hearts from the Talon and the Order found me out.  I almost got eviscerated on the spot by Seraphimus herself!  But then—when all was doom and darkness—a shining beacon fell on my figure and illuminated me.  I'm speaking of Verlaxion, Longaze.  The Great Unifier herself appeared before the Council and revealed her Divine Plan and... and..."

Tears lined the edges of the stallion's eyes.

"...she's real, Longaze.  She's real and she's awe-inspiring and she's merciful.  She acknowledged the sins that I had committed in challenging her... in denying her existence.  And yet—with full faith and righteousness—she has forgiven me.  Now, I am the Executive Minister of Defense.  And if I do what I can to stop the Rainbow Rogue, she will absolve me of my wrongdoing.  Don't you see?  She's extended her mercy to me... and now I am extending that same mercy to you!"

He held a hoof out through the bars.

"So please... won't you join me?  Not as I was... but as I now am... an enlightened pony... a righteous pony.  Together, we can salvage ourselves from the muck and steer this great continent to glory!  We eliminate all enemies and ensure a safe future for all of the foals of Verlaxion!  Now is the time and the place, Longaze.  If we can't make this happen, nopony can!  Not the Council!  Not the Talon!  And surely not the Continentalists!  In time, even they will have to pay for their sins, or else accept the grace that Verlaxion is granting.  Now... what do you say to this?"

Silence.

And then...

"... ... ...no."

Chandler's ears drooped.

At last, a head tilted up, facing the cold torchlight.  The shadow of a crooked, fractured horn crossed a pair of cold brown eyes.

"If Verlaxion is real, she's a fool... and a damned stupid one.  And you want to know why?"

Chandler stared, muzzle agape.

Longaze spoke icily:  "Because in putting her trust in you, she's doomed this entire continent to oblivion."  Her eyes narrowed like daggers.  "I put my trust in you once as well.  That trust poisoned me.  I had a taste of your powermongering and your sickening ambition.  In the end, I compromised my wisdom... I compromised my integrity... and I compromised my blood.  Ever since, I've been wasting away in this prison, alone with the shadows of my own mistakes... and now you come to me with the same honey'd words and the same broken promises, trying to offer me a hoof of mercy that doesn't exist?"

The stallion gritted his teeth.  He started to shiver.

"You're a hypocrite," Longaze spat.  "You're a liar.  And you're a coward.  If the Council entrusts Rohbredden with the likes of you, then they're worse off than I could ever imagine."  She leaned forward just enough so that the Minister could see her gnashing teeth.  "And I would rather my soul freeze to death and never find its way to the Spring Havens than make an ass-backwards decision such as rejoining with the likes of a self-absorbed egomaniac like you."

Chandler stumbled to his hooves.  The stool beneath him clattered, shaking the stallion to his core as he backed away from the bars.

"You're a fool, Brye Chandler," Longaze's voice reverberated after him.  "You were born a puppet and you will die a puppet.  I will greet death with a smile on my face, because I will know that long after your bones are ash and dust, the only thing anypony will remember you for is the great ruin you've brought to this once-great kingdom."

By now, Chandler was pounding on the door.  It opened with a groan, and two guardians stumbled through.  "What is it, Minister—?"

He tripped past them, panting and sweating in the cold.  Hissing through his teeth, he gestured at the corridor.  "Close it.  Close it!"

Nervously, the guards did as they were told.  Once it was slammed shut, they gathered around the stallion.

Chandler smoothed his peppery mane back and growled:  "Diminish her food rations.  Limit the sanitation visits."

"But... but Minister—"

"I want that vile wench to rot away in that hellhole!" Chandler snarled.  "With her only companions being the putrid residue that seeps out of her!"  Fuming, he turned tail and marched up the nearest stairwell within the dim hold.  "She got what was coming to her in Braum.  Me?"  He shrugged his cloak.  "I have business to attend to."





Thud!  The door to Grand Magistrate Hymmnos' office flew open.

The mare looked up, along with several other high-ranking members of the Central Guard.

"Minister!"  Hymmnos stood up, blinking worriedly.  "What is it—?"

"My first order!" Chandler grunted, stomping to a stop before the Grand Magistrate's desk.  "Verlaxion's divine will has moved me.  We can no longer tarry."  He waved an angry hoof.  "Send two of our strongest winged battallions northwest!  Sweep the mountains of Wyvern Point.  Find their hidden sanctuary!"  He spat.  "Burn everything that the monsters of the Blight have tainted with their heretical ways!  Arrest any and all supporters of the Rainbow Rogue and her vile regime!"

The generals exchanged glances with Hymmnos.

"And..."  One cleared his throat, looking at Chandler.  "...if they resist?"

Chandler glared at the group.  "Execute them."  He spun around and exited the office in a huff.  "Send their poisoned souls to the muck."
> Time to Sharpen the Talon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Did you hear about the prisoner in upper isolation?"

"Who?  The foal-fooler?"

"No, not the Southern Hoof of the Syndicate.  That sick slimeball will get what's coming to him eventually.  I'm talking about the crazy bitch from Steamfall."

"Oh, Long-whatshername?  I heard the Defense Minister paid her a visit."

Echo's slitted eyes opened.

He dangled upside down from the top of his cell.

His leafy ears pricked to the sound of two chatty guards shuffling down the dim stairwell and past his jail bars.

"She must have pissed off Chandler super hard.  Word is they're reducing her rations super hard."

"That's too bad.  Shoulda listened to what he had to offer.  I heard the Defense Minister's sending two whole batallions up to Wyvern Point."

"Oh yeah?  Are they finally gonna root out those traitorous bastards?"

"They communed with monsters from beyond the Blight.  Now they're gonna pay the price."

"Hey!  If Verlaxion wills it!  Between you and me... I never cared much for those hairy freaks anyway."

"Never showing up to the Council..."

"...not giving a shit for the other Prefectures."

"Figures that they were in league with the Rainbow Rogue."

"I hear there's enough of 'em in those mountain monasteries to fill up a third of the Shelves here."

"Pffft.  Goddess forbid.  Here's hoping Chandler's soldiers do the smart thing and just slit their damned throats."

"Grnnngh... how I wish I was out there instead of here!  I envy the stallions and griffons doing the Queen's good work."

"Yeah.  Heheh... you and me both..."

At last, their voices faded, as did their hoofsteps.

Echo was left along, dangling in silence.

He bit his lip, frowning intensely into the dimness.





Seraphimus squatted in a meditative pose.  Cold vapors rippled past her beak and headcrest.  The griffon kept her eyes closed, breathing in and out as she remained dead still in a penitent pose before the frozen blue shards containing her husband and child.

Every now and the, the down feathers around her face rustled.  Her beak muscles tensed... then relaxed once again.  She exhaled, murmuring whispery prayers into the cold, sterile air.

Nothing was heard above the continuous dull hum of manabanks cycling the frosted energy in and out of the chamber's crystalline conduits.

Eventually, the slick, wet surfaces of the shards reflected another figure marching up to a stop behind Seraphimus.  The Lieutenant took a few seconds to compose himself before clearing his throat.

"Chandler's begun his latest initiative," Keris said.  "A security sweep of Wyvern Point."  His voice took on a sullen tone.  "More like a purge.  He's sent two full winged batallions northwest.  They've been instructed to scour the monasteries inside and out and burn all material deemed 'indicative of the Blight's wicked taint.'"

Seraphimus took a long, contemplative breath.  She spoke without turning her head... or so much as opening her eyes.  "He has been granted authority by Verlaxion herself.  So long as he has the backing of the Council, I do not see why he should hesitate to exercise righteous vengeance on the Wyverns for their heretical misdeeds."

Keris clenched his beak tight.  "Every member of the Wyvern Tribe is to be forcefully located to the Frosted Shelves.  Word is... Chandler has given the soldiers full authority to... to execute any citizens of Wyvern Point who resist the Defense Cabinet's mandate for absolute surrender."

"Indeed."  Seraphimus remained unmoving.  "And if the Wyvern Tribe did not desire to incur the queen's wrath, they would have guarded themselves more properly against outside evils.  They have brought this fate upon themselves."

Keris stifled the urge to growl.  "Commander, with all due respect—"

"Is that what brought you here, Lieutenant?" Seraphimus' voice grew tense.  "Because if it was a matter of respect, I would not be listening to you right now."  Her headcrest tilted back sharply.  "Not in this place."

"We are the Right Talon of Verlaxion," Keris spoke firmly.  "We have sworn our lives to the protection of the Great Unifier's foals.  All of her foals."  He shook his head.  "Can we truly... willfully allow for the wyverns to be... rounded up and treated like livestock?!"

"The Blessing of Unification was forfeited by the Wyverns the very moment they assisted the Rainbow Rogue."

"And what of me, then?"  Keris glared.  "Am I no longer a Foal of Verlaxion for having aided her in Red Barge?"

"The Messenger did not condemn you with the Voice and Will of Verlaxion," Seraphimus calmly replied.  "However, our Queen did admonish the Wyverns for their sins."  A dull exhale.  "Chandler may be extreme in his methods, but he is not without justification."

"And just how extreme will he have to be for the justification to no longer apply?!" Keris growled.

"Do not dramatize, Lieutenant," Seraphimus said.  "It doesn't suit you."  Another calm breath.  "You knew the fate of the Wyverns the very moment you heard the words of Verlaxion's revelation before the Council."

"I know that Verlaxion is a Goddess of mercy," Keris said.  "At least, she's supposed to be!  Her written words... the... th-the scrolls and scriptures and historical archives maintain that she's only ever meant to be a loving, kind mother to all her foals!"

Seraphimus nodded.  "And now—more than ever—she is maintaining the harmony that she has always promised us—"

"Through violence and purging?!"  Keris grimaced.  "Hunting terrorists, insurgents, and rogues is one thing!  The Right Talon has always sought to patch the holes in our fragile kingdom.  But Chandler—he's... he's attempting to lock an entire Tribe in chains!  Those that he feels flippant enough to spare, that is!  Where's the Harmony in that?!"

"Do not forget who are the discordant ones here," Seraphimus droned.  "The Rainbow Rogue... her allies from Beyond the Blight... the wyverns who have given them sanctuary."  She exhaled.  "Rounding them up is simply a larger scale exercise of what the Talon has always done."

Keris frowned.  "Chandler committed arson, aided terrorists, and exploited innocent citizens in Central Rohbredden and abroad."  His magenta hawkeyes narrowed.  "If you're worried about 'discordant ones,' you needn't look much further than him."

Seraphimus beak remained shut.

Keris sighed.  "Are we really... truly going to write off all the evil he's done and continues to be doing just because of what the frozen messenger said when it broadcasted Verlaxion's voice before the Council?"

"This is the way our kingdom has always operated, Lieutenant."

"I know that, but—"

"Just because you were not present for the last time this occurred does not give you the license to dictate the legitimacy of what's recently transpired."

"I know that tradition and fealty tells me that what the Council is doing with the formation of this Defense Ministry is a righteous thing, but—"

"But what, Lieutenant?"

Keris sighed heavily.  He gazed down the chambers and chambers full of frosted blue statis shards.  Bodies hung in suspended animation, locked forever in a Goddess' embrace, some of them forgotten completely.

"You and I have been through a lot, Commander," Keris said.  "We've experienced far more than any other member of the Talon can even hope to comprehend.  Our experience even puts the most stalwart members of the Central Guard to shame."

"Your point...?"

"My point, Commander, is that experience... common sense tells me that there is something horribly amiss here."

"Verlaxion appointed Chandler and Chandler alone," Seraphimus said.  "Our Goddess works in mysterious ways.  Nevertheless, her wisdom has saved us before, and it shall save us again.  Harmony shall be restored unto Rohbredden.  Already, I trust, the Ministry has been working wonders."

"Yes, I see that."

"Then I do not see why you are bothering me—"

"—but it is only a temporary solution!"  Keris grimaced.  "Surely you—in your experience and knowledge—can foresee the problem here!  Removing the wyverns from the equation is like... slicing loose a meaty chunk of Rohbredden's bowels!  Yes, our citizens and soldiers may be strongly unified now, but the repercussions of what's happening today is going to affect Rohbredden for decades... even centuries to come!  What is the worth of a short season of Harmony in exchange for countless ages of chaos?!"

"In eliminating the Rainbow Rogue, we will have proven our loyalty to Verlaxion—"

"Yes, and then what?!"  Keris frowned.  "The Central Guard is doubling overnight.  Tripling!  With all of that might and nowhere to point it, the only way to maintain equilibrium is to attack new and newer targets!  Don't pretend you do not expect Chandler to do just that!  He'll take 'Verlaxion's Wrath' to the Colonialists and beyond!"  Keris blanched.  "Do you honestly think Rohbredden has the resources for such a full-scale invasion of so many countless islands?!  We're talking casualties in the thousands... tens of thousands!"

Seraphimus sighed, her eyelids tensing.  "It is out of our claws..."

"Why?!"  Keris cocked his feathery head to the side.  "Because the Right Talon was never mentioned by Verlaxion's messenger?"

"If the Goddess meant for us to be involved, she would have stated such."

"Commander, this is a matter of omission, not denial," Keris said.  "It's Hymnos, Chandler, and the new Defense Cabinet that's been trying to get rid of us."

"And they have the authority from Verlaxion to do so," Seraphimus said.  "Unless our Unifier is to change her mind... or give us a sign that we are authorized to intervene... then our place is here... in Frostknife."  An exhale.  "As firmly stated."

Silence.

"Well, maybe we've just gotten that sign," Keris said.  He reached beneath his armor and produced a scroll.  "I've gotten my claws on something, Commander.  It's a message—secretly encoded and stealthily delivered—that states that the Rainbow Rogue and her party of accomplices shall be heading through the Midfrost Passage to arrive at Starkiss."

"Is that a fact...?"

"Yes."

"And who exactly gave you this message?"

"... ... ...Jordan did, Seraphimus."

At last, the Commander's charcoal eyes opened.  The blue light surrounding her family stabbed her deeply, and still she gazed straight forward.

Keris stared at her, holding the scroll out.  "He is alive, Seraphimus.  Battered... perhaps a bit frayed around the nerves... but still very much not dead."

"We... watched him get obliterated, Keris," Seraphimus exhaled.  "His... his arm..."

"Griffons have survived worse," the Lieutenant said, gesturing at his cast.  "And magical technology exists that can act as an equalizer.  We both know this."

"And we both know that this is a time of great tension and anxiety," Seraphimus said in a breathy tone.  "This could very easily have been forged."

"Not so."

"How do you know this?"

"Because the message was initially delivered with the words obscured by means only feasible by a soul possessing the Talon's know-how."  Keris took a shuddering breath.  "And Jordan finished the letter with a pledge shared between us and us alone."  He gulped.  "It's him.  My brother-in-arms is alive out there..."

"And he's trailing the Rainbow Rogue?"  Seraphimus squinted at the Lieutenant.  "To what end?"

Keris clenched his beak.

"Lieutenant...?"

"He... has taken on the alias of Wildcard, Commander."

Her charcoal eyes narrowed.  "The accomplice to the Rainbow Rogue in Rust and Shoggoth?"

Keris solemnly nodded.

"... ... ...he... is in league with her?"

"And with Mortuana and the so-called 'forces from beyond the Blight.'"  Keris didn't waste a breath to add:  "Seraphimus, I was likewise shocked to read of all this.  But—whether or not Jordan has been... misguided in his alliegances is not the point.  What matters is that we can now pinpoint the location of the Rainbow Rogue!  He understands what's at stake in Rohbredden now as much as we do!"

"But... to expose the location of the Rainbow Rogue..."  Seraphimus thought aloud, her cold eyes trailing the lengths of the cavernous platform.  "...is that why he's faked his death all these years?  To perform one final act of faith for Verlaxion?"

"I believe it is we whom he expects to exercise faith, Seraphimus," Keris said.  "In regards to Verlaxion, he believes—"  Keris' voice cut off as he stared blankly.

Seraphimus squinted pointedly at him.

Keris swallowed and said, "He very... very ardently believes that the Talon should be involved in this particular juncture.  And, to be honest, with the Wyvern Tribe at risk and the rest of Rohbredden on the brink of untold turmoil, I think we should take him up on his invitation and meet him—and Rainbow Rogue—at the Midfrost Passage."

"To do what, exactly?" Seraphimus remarked.

"To talk.  To communicate.  To be civilized!" Keris' beak clattered.  "For Goddess' sake, Commander, to do anything but bathe this continent in more bloodshed!  Isn't that what the Great Unifier would desire of us?  Harmony?!  Chandler and the Council are chomping at the bit to tear this Continent apart in search for the Rogue.  Alas, here she is!"  He waved the scroll in his grasp, holding it further towards Seraphimus.  "Right where Jordan is pointing us!  It's an opportunity for a harmonic solution to all of this!  A miracle we must not pass up!"

Seraphimus stared at Keris.  She looked at the scroll being offered her.  Cold vapors rippled past her feathers and limbs.

At last, after a cold shudder, the Commander turned to face the blue shards looming in front her.

"Show it to Chandler."

Keris' headcrest drooped.

"If he should have us intervene... then let me know."  Seraphimus closed her eyes once more.  "Until then... it is the Defense Ministry's miracle, not ours."

"Commander..."  Keris gulped.  "Seraphimus, please, we have an opportunity here."

"If you believe in your heart that it is a legitimate opportunity, then you will do the right thing and present it to the righteous authority that Verlaxion has so recently appointed."

"I refuse to give it to Chandler," Keris growled.  "I choose to give it to you."

"And why so?"

"Because..."  Keris marched over and sat in front of Seraphimus, grasping her shoulders.  "You are the Talon!"

Seraphimus forced her eyes open, blinking at Keris' grip of her limbs.

Keris leaned forward.  "You are the extension of Verlaxion's righteousness!  So be righteous!  Be wise!  Can't you see?!  This is our opportunity to intervene on behalf of the kingdom we've always sworn to protect!  We don't have to let it fall into the hooves of a pathetic criminal!  Why—for all that is holy—would Verlaxion desire such a horrid thing to occur?!  You can prevent that!  You can still save Rohbredden and all of the foals of Verlaxion!"

Seraphimus blinked.

"Lead us to the Midfrost Passage!" Keris insisted.  "Reunite with Jordan!  See what he has to convey!  Maybe... just maybe... we all could stand to learn the true reason for why Verlaxion has become weak and vulnerable... or why she always... always refuses to show her true face."

Silence.

Seraphimus raised her claws until they gripped Keris' wrist and cast.  She stared back into the other griffon's eyes.  "You are right about one thing, Lieutenant."

Keris' eyes darted back and forth.

Seraphimus slowly... forcefully removed Keris' grip of her limbs.  "We all could stand to learn something.  And that is humility."

Keris opened his beak.

"Go to Chandler," Seraphimus said.  "He is the one appointed by Verlaxion, not I."  Staring straight ahead, her eyes filled with blue reflection.  "To do otherwise... would defile her righteous plan... would dull the claws of her Talon."  She slowly shook her head, her expression glazed.  "I've failed enough in her eyes.  But no more."  A deep breath.  "I am her humble servant.  Nothing more... nothing less."

Keris slowly backed away from her, beak agape.  He fumbled for words, then ultimately hung his head.

Dead silence.

Cold vapors drifted past them, condensing against the cold stone of the cavern.

"I do wish I was more humble," Keris said in a dull tone.  "Perhaps... I wouldn't have allowed ignorance and complacency to hold so much power in my life.  Otherwise..."  He looked up with a scowling frown.  "...I would have done something to save you from this, Seraphimus."

The Commander sat still, staring into the cold.

"We all swore to protect the foals of Verlaxion."  He pointed at the two bodies before her.  "That does not include them.  They're already blessed.  You should know that.  If you did, then you wouldn't be compromising your integrity right now."

"Go to Chandler, Lieutenant," Seraphimus icily growled, shaking slightly.  "Or else it would be a shame to arrive at his office in pieces."

"That is the answer you're going to give me, Seraphimus?  A threat?"

"I did not hear a question, Keris."

Silence.

"I wonder why I was ever shocked to begin with," Keris said, tucking the scroll away and marching off.  "Jordan didn't die all those years ago.  You did."  And he left her alone with the frost.

Seraphimus waited until the claw-scrapes of his limbs diminished in the distance.  At last, she unleashed her breath in a burst.  Hanging her head, she clenched her eyes to lock the tears in... but ultimately sealed them with a frown that slowly melted into mindless meditation.





Starstorm brushed a claw over her headcrest.  She stared off into the corner of the armory, eyes moist and contemplative.  "Is... is she really that far-gone...?"

"She's abiding by the orders given her," Windburst reasoned out loud.  "The same orders given to all of us."  He sighed, too antsy to bother examining his crossbow any longer, so he tossed the thing limply onto the tabletop before them.  "Dammit... if I had just agreed to follow her south out of Braum... even if it meant ditching Longaze with Sarda and the rest of the snow-huffers..."  He growled.  "Maybe she wouldn't have gone off the deep-end.  I... I just don't know..."

"It's not your fault, Sergeant," Keris muttered, leaning against a slitted window-frame.  The cold of Frostknife wafted through the space, chilling his feathery flesh.  The Lieutenant remained unwavering.  "This is something that's been in the making for a long time."

"You suppose Jordan's... uhm... 'passing' had something to do with it?" Raptr suggested.

"Perhaps.  Perhaps not.  I... don't really know."  Keris' eyes fell to the stone floor.  "If anything, I blame myself.  I thought that I had moved beyond Jordan's departure.  I thought I had gotten stronger."  He slowly shook his head.  "No.  If I was truly courageous, I would have been more than a subordinate officer to the Commander.  I would have been a friend."  He turned about with a sigh.  "Friends help other friends exercise the fine art of letting go.  For years, leading the Talon has been the Commander's responsibility... but I see now that it's also been her crutch."

"That's pathetic," Starstorm grumbled.  "Surely, you don't believe that."

"I only wish I had believed it sooner, Sergeant," Keris remarked.  "Right now, when we matter the most, the Talon has grown weak in more ways than one.  It's almost as if it was all pur—"  He froze in place, blinking at his own words.

The other guardians stared at him.

Keris cleared his throat.  "I... I do not believe that we will be getting the Commander's permission to embark upon the Midfrost Passage."

The Sergeants looked at one another.

"So... uhm..."  Raptr shifted nervously.  "...what do we do?"

Keris closed his eyes, exhaled, and said, "We standby."

"You standby?!" a voice cackled from the far corner.

All four griffons swiveled to look.

Theanim Mane gawked from where he was standing the whole time.  With muzzle agape, he limped towards the group.  "In the spirit of my good friend Echo, I must inquire: are you anointing my forehead with extreme amounts of bovine fecal matter?!"

"Professor, please," Keris droned, waving his good talon.  "I wish I could do something about this, but my talons are tied—"

"To hell with your talons!" Theanim barked.  "What of your hearts!  Your minds?!  Your good wits?!"

"You heard the Lieutenant," Starstorm stammered.  "The Commander will not authorize us to do anything but provide this information to Chandler—"

"Yes, and did the Commander's inexplicable absence stop you and your Lieutenant from assisting me in a bold excursion to Sunset Prefecture?!"  Theanim pointed.  "The end result of which determined beyond the shadow of a doubt that our so-called Defense Minister is a scoundrel and a cheat!"

"Professor—"

Theanim spun towards Keris, teeth showing.  "You yourself openly admitted that your ill-tempered Commander has reduced this entire operation to a crutch.  Tell me, Lieutenant.  Just what else are you willing to regret tomorrow?!"

"What are you even suggesting, Professor?" Windburst blurted.

"What else?!"  Theanim waved a forelimb.  "We go to Midfrost Passage!  We meet with Rainbow Dash!  We ascertain the truth—once and for all!"

"This will end in only one course of action," Keris grumbled.  "If Rainbow Dash has her way, she will take us straight to Verlaxion's Throne to confront the Goddess herself."

"And what of it?!" Theanim boomed.

The griffons all shook, and Keris most of all.

"Professor..."  Keris tried to talk straight.  "I... I cannot pretend to support a campaign that... that could threaten the very livelihood of—"

"Of what?!  An ancient Goddess so aloof, so unfeeling that she would willfully balance the entire hulking weight of this precious continent on such porous, fragile icicles?!"

"Mind your tone—"

Theanim hollered:  "You cannot blaspheme a deity that has no foundation!"  He frowned, fumed.  "I, too, once refused to seek the answers to seemingly preposterous questions!  Had I remained complacent in my blindness, I would never have born witness to the phenomenon under Nealand... or helped expose the evil workings of the Syndicate or the Consortium!  The truth is—Lieutenant—there is a lot... and I do mean a lot of things rotten here in the continent of Rohbredden!  And they do not center exclusively on Chandler—although he is certainly a leprotic component—but instead they all congregrate around the abysmally absurd mystery that is the Great Unifier!  Now Rainbow Dash is on a mission of her own, indeed, but her path—aside from a few unfortunately frantic bumps—is nevertheless a harmonic one, and by surfing the wake that she is making we may finally... finally unearth the questions that this kingdom has been dying to ascertain with such fervor that it has nearly come to the blows of all-out civil war!"

"And what if the Rainbow Rogue serves only to maintain the banal infamy she started in the Quade, Professor?!" Keris hollered back.  "What then?!"

"You don't truly believe that."  Theanim shook his head.  "If you did, you wouldn't have let her travel a single inch of oceanwater without her head.  You were in the right place and the right time to capture the Rainbow Rogue.  Broken talon be damned—you had her, Lieutenant.  So why did you let her go, huh?  Was it pity?  Laziness?  Or—perhaps—something awesome?  Something noble?  Something that your Commanding Officer has long admonished, because in her sorrow and her pessimism she has foolishly confused an openness of mind for weakness?!"

Keris shook.  He avoided the Professor's gaze.

"Look around you, Lieutenant," Theanim said.  "Look directly around you.  Frostknife boils with anger... with bloodthirst.  The Rainbow Rogue is phantom... a word... and it's slowly, painfully becoming an excuse for genocide.  It is wrong, Lieutenant."

"The... Court and the Defense Ministry are empowered—"

"It is wrong."  Theanim took bold steps towards the griffon, staring him down.  "It is wrong."  He looked at him, breathing steadily, calmly.  "And you are a soul who knows wrong from right.  If you weren't... you would never have flown to Red Barge to begin with... and thousands... thousands of families—Lieutenant—would be lost to the muck and filth of monsters.  And what would the High and Mighty Seraphimus have done to preserve such fragile souls beyond this Continent's reach?  And what will she do to save the wyverns or the Colonialists abroad?"

Keris sighed.  He slowly raised his head, staring back with soft magenta eyes.

Theanim gulped.  "This is all wrong, and—once again—you have an opportunity to stop it.  You, Lieutenant."  He pointed.  "Jordan extended this invitation to you... because he knows his sworn 'brother' has the strength and fortitude to make a difference when it is needed.  You did it once for the Seven Seas... now do it for Rohbredden.  Because the day is not going to be saved by Seraphimus... and it sure as blazes won't be saved by Chandler."

Starstorm, Windburst, and Raptr kept their anxious eyes locked on the Lieutenant.

"So... now that you know where the cards are stacked..."  Theanim exhaled.  "...what is your decision, Talon?"

Keris blinked.  He leaned back, staring at Theanim thoughtfully.  Eventually, his gaze fell upon the other guardians.

The air hung tense... silent...





"Okay..."  Rainbow Dash giggled.  "...I must admit."  She smiled down at her hooves as she shuffled up the steep incline of snow and stone.  "The metal plugs did make it slightly tough to cuddle with her."  She giggled again, ears twitching above a rosy smile.  "Especially when she slid into the hammock second.  I'd already be settled in, halfway asleep, and—pow!—it's like a living iceberg just rolled into bed with me."

"My goodness!"  Rarity gasped, fidgeting slightly in mid-hover.  "Just... how many of these... errr... pl-plugs did she possess along the surface of her flesh?"

"Enough..."  Rainbow rolled her eyes.  "Believe me.  Felt like nuzzling up to a roll of aluminum foil.  Celestia on a bike..."

"Rainbowwwww..."  Twilight chided.

"Get over it, egghead."  Rainbow cleared her throat, following the hoofprints left uphill by Mortuana, Flynn, and Logan.  Wildcard, Bard, and Ariel glided overhead, checking the horizons.  "Anyways, we'd often drag an extra blanket into the observation room of the Noble Jury and... sorta wrap it around her."

"No kidding?"  Twilight smirked aside.  "Like a cocoon?"

"Even better!"  Rarity grinned.  "A 'Roarke Burrito!'"

Twilight glared aside at her.

"What?"  Rarity shrugged.  "Was simply attempting to be in the spirit of things."

"Heh... Roarke Burrito..."  Rainbow Dash smirked.  "I kinda like that."

"I'm honestly surprised Pinkie didn't think of it first," Twilight remarked.

"Pinkie?" Rarity looked over her shoulder.

"Hmmmmmm..."  Pinkie glanced north and south, blinking slowly.

"You with us, darling?"  Rarity chuckled.  "I thought it was Fluttershy's nap-time, not yours."

"Yeah.  Yeah."  Pinkie waved a hoof, continuing to glance all around.  "'Roarke Sushi.'  Funny stuff.  Ha ha ha."  She squinted.  "Something's... fuzzy in the air..."

"Wasn't Roarke hot?" Twilight asked.

"Oh jeez..."  Rainbow rolled her eyes again.  "You have nooooo idea."

"Erm... I-I mean with that blanket wrapped up all around her."

"Oh.  Eheh..."

"I mean, it's really sweet of her to not want to chill you to the bone with her... erm... metal parts."  Twilight cleared her throat.  "But I hate to think of her sweating her coat off."

"Nah.  She could manage.  That was the great thing about Roarke.  She was tough.  And yet..."  Rainbow sighed happily, her right wingtips fluttering.  "...so soft on the inside."

"Yes, well, I'll take your word for it," Rarity muttered.  "I still can't get over that tall tale you told of that dreadful 'Searo's Hold' place."  She shivered, but then tapped her chin in a ponderous expression.  "Although... come to think of it... must be delightful having several servile stallions at your beck and call... only a chain-rattle away."

Twilight groaned.  "Rarity..."

Rarity stuck her tongue out.  "Oh lighten up, darling.  It was meant in jest."  She nevertheless fanned herself.  "Mostly... eheh..."

"You know, the blanket thing was Roarke's idea, not mine," Rainbow said.  "She did so many things to try and make me comfortable.  Like... without asking.  It all snowballed, y'know?  Like, I found myself having to tell her to chill... not literally, of course.  But... but she could be such a friggin' softy.  So concerned about offending me n'stuff.  Strange to think that—once upon a time—the only thing we could ever think of doing to one another was violent suplexes."

"Sounds like love at first concussion," Twilight said with a smile.  "Are you certain you only had a crush on her after she tried to crush you?"

"Basically, Twilight, it's friggin' amazing how quickly you could learn to love someone when you're constantly on the run for your life."  Rainbow coughed.  "Or in my case, on the wing."

"Well..."  Twilight curled her ghostly forelimbs and smiled while floating sideways.  "I'm just glad that you found love, Rainbow Dash," she said.  "After everything you've been through..."  A deep sigh.  "After the void we must have left when we... you know."

"Let's not play the blame game," Rainbow muttered, shaking her head.  "Nopony wins it.  Ever."

"Agreed."  Rarity nodded.  "Even Fluttershy would concur—if she wasn't busy dreaming of bunny rabbits or some such right now."

"Seriously... seriously fuzzy," Pinkie Pie muttered, scrunching her muzzle at the sky.

"Is something wrong, Pinkie?" Twilight droned.

"I... I dunno."  Pinkie rubbed her nose and frowned.  "The air feels... itchy."

"Itchy?"

"Yeah!"  Pinkie shivered.  "Almost as if the entire sky's a lint brush that's rubbing my ghost tummy the wrong way."

"As always, Pinkie, your analogies leave me wanting."

"For what?"  Pinkie stuck her tongue out.  "Maverick lint brushes?"

Rarity waved a hoof  "I rest my case."

"So, Rainbow... uhm..."  Twilight glanced at her anchor.  "Is all you and Roarke ever did was cuddle together in a hammock, staring at the stars?"

"Heh!  I make it sound like that, huh?"  Rainbow smirked, trodding up the snowy incline.  "I'll have you know that we spent plenty of hours kicking goblin butt, exploring mountains, and saving civilizations from changeling dooOoooOooOoom.  Ahem... that's extra doomy-doom, for those keeping count."

"Oh Rainbow Dash..."  Rarity giggled.  "I take back any unnecessary reservations I may have woefully telegraphed.  You're positively radiant every moment that you speak of this auspicious mare.  It fills me with such joy..."

"Heehee..."  Twilight smiled cheekily.  "I was just wondering if the two of you... you know..."

"Twilight..."  Rainbow sighed through a smirk.  "Roarke and I were big girls.  And we had a hammock on cold nights.  Of course we... y'know... did more 'panky' than 'hanky.'"  She looked ahead.  "I just didn't want to go into any details because... friggin' why, y'know?"

"That's not what I meant," Twilight said, shaking her head.  "I was curious why neither of you married."

"...?!"  Rainbow spun to blink at Twilight.

Twilight blinked back.  "I mean... did... did you not love this 'Roarke' like no other?"

Rainbow bit her lip.  "I... the Austraeoh had places to go and..."  A heavy gulp.  "The chaos, Twilight.  How... how could I expect for Roarke to... to live with—?"  She nevertheless paled, staring down at the cold snow with trembling limbs.  "...sweet Celestia, why did I never bother to pop the que—"

All of the sudden, Ariel's voice shouted from up high.  "Structures!  I see structures!"

Remna's voice grunted:  "Structures?"

"Yes!  Due east!"  Ariel streaked by in a black blur.  "Filling the flat plain!"

Flynn tilted his muzzle up.  "Precisely how many of them?"

A pause.  Eventually, Ariel blurted:  "I dunno.  Hundred?  Two hundred?"

"'More like a thousand,' Dubya says!" Bard's voice echoed.

Flynn looked back past rainbow.  "Kepler?  What do you think?"

The wyvern already had a map partially unrolled.  "Yes, frriends!  This should rroughly be the spot!"

"The spot?"  Rainbow blinked past her ghostly friends.  "I don't get it.  The spot for what?"

"Both the most badass and saddest sight you'll ever lay eyes on, toots," Logan grunted through a grizzled smirk.  "But I think I will leave the revelation to poetic immortals.  Ahem... Mountain Matron?"

"Behold..."  Mortuana waved a gangly forelimb at the east horizon just as Rainbow rounded a crest.  "...the Frost-Forsaken Tribal Battlefield."

Rainbow Dash and her companions rounded the hill, squinting.  Pinkie and Rarity's muzzles dropped.  Twilight audibly gasped.

"Oh..."  Twilight cupped a pair of fetlocks over her muzzle.  "Oh my gosh..."

Eyes narrow, Rainbow marched ahead.  She trotted past Mortuana, catching up to Flynn, Logan, and Remna.  Before the entire group, stretching north and south across the snow-covered plateau as far as the natural eye could see, was a forest... a forest made of bodies.  But these weren't any normal corpses.  Almost all of them stood upright, frozen in mid-gallop, locked in leg-rearing gestures.

Rainbow spotted ponies—stallions and mares alike.  Unicorns and earth ponies stood at sharp angles, their muzzles hung open in frozen screams.  Occasionally, she spotted pegasus bodies—most of whom were lying on their sides with wings spread wide.

There were griffons and wyverns as well, although in far fewer numbers.  Some of the frozen combatants faced one another.  Others were skewered by swords, axes, and spears.

The majority of the corpses—however—were facing west, as if giving the Herald a ghostly greeting.  Rainbow judged from the angle of their limbs that they were frozen in motion.

"They... they were running from something," Twilight said.  She pointed a lavender hoof.  "Look.  Over half of them are facing the direction we've trotted from."

"Holy moley!"  Pinkie Pie blinked hard.  "What were they running from?"

"Does... d-does it matter?"  Rarity sniffed, hugging herself as she glanced at more and more bodies emerging from the snow.  "What a h-horrid display..."

"Rainbow, look!" Twilight exclaimed hoarsely as she gestured.

Rainbow peeked past the first line of bodies.

The deeper the group traversed into the Tribal Battlefield, the more the stationary bodies were... coated in icicles.  They weren't just any ordinary icicles formed by the lingering passage of time, but rather they all uniformly pointed west.  Thick, translucent shards of white frost protruded from the limbs, craniums, and gaping jaws of the ill-fated deceased.  If Rainbow squinted, she felt as if she was staring straight up at a snow-white ceiling of stalactites pointing straight down at her.

"Watch it," Flynn said in a dull tone.  "They're sharp.  Like steel—I assure you."

As if to test her companion's statement, Ariel swiftly flew down and tapped a hoof against an icicle's points.  She winced with a jolt, instantly regretting the move.  "Goddess damn..."

"H-how long have these poor wretches been here?" Rarity remarked.

Rainbow cleared her throat.  "How... uh..."  Her voice cracked.  "How old are these dudes?"

"Older than old itself," Logan said.

"Ugh..."  Flynn shook his head.  "If you don't have an answer, Big Show, then don't bother."

"Figured I wouldn't let you have all the fun."

Flynn cleared his throat and orated:  "These bodies have been here since the Dawn of Unification."

"You mean Pre-Verlax?" Rainbow asked incredulously.

"That's right."  Flynn nodded, his mechanical eye examining frozen bodies locked in icicled horror as he strolled along.  "The Tribes fought extensively with one another for centuries before the Queen of Frost allegedly came to unite the warring races."

"And... all this time..."  Rainbow pointed aside.  "For thousands and thousands of years, these bodies have been—like—chilling out here?  Not decaying an inch?"

"Precisely."  Flynn said.  "Not much precipitation reaches this part of the plateau.  The cold does all the rest."

"This damned place has been preserved perfectly," Logan grumbled.  "A picture perfect snapshot of a battle fought eons ago."

Bard touched down beside Rainbow Dash.  "So long as 'Verlaxion' has her way, nopony wanders these parts west of Starkiss.  Hell... we may be the first souls to see this in... lifetimes."

Remna's violet brow furrowed.  She studied closely as she passed a catapult, frozen in time with icicle barbs shooting westward.

Wildcard's goggles reflected axes and glaves—half sunken in the compressed snow below.

"But... but..."  Rainbow Dash glanced around.  "...most of these dudes aren't even facing one another."

"Your point?" Logan muttered.

"She's right!" Ariel called from overhead, flying loopty-loops around the battlegrounds.  "Seems like they were all fleeing west."

"Right..."  Bard nodded.  "In the same direction as a great... wintry blast."

"So, what?"  Rainbow blinked.  "A blizzard?"

"This wasn't a blizzard, Rainbow Dash," Twilight murmured.  She gulped.  "I've read the testimonies of Clover the Clever before.  This had to have been done by—"

"It is the work of windigoes," Mortuana firmly spoke.  "But not just any wintry beast."  Her regal eyes narrowed.  "Verlax's herd.  The Divine's very own summoning."

"Verlax did all of this?" Pinkie squeaked, shivering slightly.  "That's... like... Level Fourteen Meanie Head!"

"But... but..."  Rainbow exhaled, passing the corpses of two fallen griffons, twisted in frozen agony.  "...why would she do this?"

"To prove a point, I reckon," Bard said.  "Her foals had to need her somehow."

Remna exhaled fumingly and continued marching ahead of the group.

"You..."  Rainbow Dash grimaced.  "You mean she—"

"Through conspiratorial means, no doubt, she mechanized the Six Tribes to meet at this one location and engage in a bloody battle," Mortuana said.  "And it would have been a decisive one... had she not annihilated all six armies with a wave of windigoes."

"And then, once the infamy of the wintry beasts had spread," Flynn continued, "She made her appearance... promising peace... harmony... unification..."

"And most of all," Ariel muttered, flying with drooping wings.  "Freedom from windigoes... through her protection alone."

"First you kill your 'foals' with their own worst enemy."  Rainbow's nostrils flared.  "Then you step in as their savior."  An iron frown.  "How pathetic."

"And yet her messianic presence is ingrained in the collective consciousness of all Rohbreddenites forever," Mortuana said.  The bandages around her battered horn flapped in a cold breeze.  "The worst tragedy is the kind that gives birth to itself over and over again, each generation."

"Y'know... there's a song written about this, if I do recall," Flynn said, tapping his chin in thought.  "Bard?  Do you know it?"

"Erm..."  Bard fidgeted, trotting past mangled griffon bodies and wagons.  "...reckon I'm a bit rusty in rememberin' the classics at this point—"

"'Thrrough the white wall of death, she came,'" Kepler quoted unmelodically.  "'With the melting firres of grrace in herr mane.'"  The wyvern's voice echoed off the frosted faces of the dead surrounding the Herald as they trotted through the bodies.  "'In everry glance, salvation.  In everry hoofstep, a song.  She descended frrom the starrs so that she may take herr childrren wherre they belong.'"

Twilight gulped hard.  She found part of her body phasing through a dead wyvern's wing, and she flinched.

Rarity's moist eyes reflected figures half-submerged in snow, their limbs reaching outward—only to be pierced by icicles.

"'Saved forreverr by a chilly conflagrration, and made Rrohbrredden by herr loving unification.'"  Kepler took a deep breath, dropping a scroll back into the wagon he was dragging.  "'Prraise the Queen of Frrost, for life is herr gift.'"

"There's that fuzzy feeling again," Pinkie murmured.

"I... I feel it too, darling."  Rarity gulped, lowering her head.  "I believe I'm going to be sick."

"No.  I mean it!"  Pinkie squinted.  "It's like it's getting stronger..."

Rainbow blinked at her friend.  She tilted her gaze upward.

While Ariel kept flying in circles, Wildcard had frozen in mid-air.  The griffon gazed north and south, his goggles glinting.  The Desperado's beak tightened as his claws tickled with the hilt of a nightstick.

"Mmmmmm..."  Rainbow's ears twitched.  "...Bard?"

The stallion beside her glanced over.  "What is it, darlin'?"

Up ahead, Remna shuffled past body after body.  She passed another catapult, and slowed her trot.  A griffon corpse sat hunched over, covered in powdery white snow.  The bounty hunter narrowed her emerald eyes on the figure.

"I... I dunno..."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "This place is super freaky, and the girls are getting antsy."

"Define ansty."

"Well—"

Just as Rainbow was saying this, a swath of lavender light flickered behind her.  Fluttershy emerged, yawning.  The dainty pegasus blinked with heavy eyelids... then suddenly gasped wide.  "Oh!  Oh my goodness!"

"I know, Fluttershy."  Rarity sniffled.  "It's... it's quite awful.  Just don't look—"

"Why aren't we running?!" Fluttershy yelped.

"Huh?" Twilight looked towards her.  "What do you mean?"

"Doesn't anypony know we're surrounded?!" Fluttershy squeaked.

"They're dead, Fluttershy," Twilight said.  "They've been dead for thousands of years.  Don't worry.  They can't hurt us."

Fluttershy panted.  She looked at Twilight with wide eyes.  "I'm not talking about the dead!"  Hyperventilating, she flashed Rainbow a pale look.  "They're all around us!"

"Huh?!"  Rainbow spun about.  "Who's all around us, Fluttershy?"

Curious, Remna turned and looked back at the group.

"...!"  The hunched griffon body beside her jumped up.  "Rrrrrrrgh!"  He swung an axe straight into Remna's body.  THUNK!

"Aaaaugh!" Remna collapsed.

"Whoah!" Flynn hollered.

"Holy shit!"  Schiiing!  Logan pulled out his own axe.  "Where did he come fr—?"  Thwiiiift!  A crossbolt landed in his chest.  "Grkk!" He rolled back, an arrow protruding from his body.

"Big Show!" Ariel shrieked, then gasped as more projectiles flew at her.

A pegasus stood up from the snow, aiming a crossbow.  Four other "corpses" shook off their camouflage, unsheathing blades and weapons.  "Everypony, engage!"

"Engage the enemy!"

"Now!  Now!"

Bodies charged in from all sides of the battlefield, weaving in and out of the frozen corpses.

"Gaaaaaaie!"  Pinkie Pie fell backwards.

"Pinkie!" Twilight yelped.  "What—?"  A shadow crossed over them.  She and Rainbow looked up.

A veritable cloud of arrows descended on the Herald, sharp and glinting.

"My little ponies!" Mortuana shouted, teeth gritting as she spread her bony wings.  "To me—"

It was too late.  The projectiles landed, covering everything from Kepler's wagon to Remna's fallen figure.

All the while, the agents of the Central Guard converged... while dozens upon dozens of armored griffons and pegasi swarmed about in formation... then collectively dove down from a high angle.
> On the Battlefields of Yesteryear
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Thw-thw-thw-thw-thwisssssh!

The cloud of arrows arched, spiraled, and plummeted.  In a black streak, they covered a patch of snow in the center of the frozen battleground.  Th-Th-Th-Th-Thunk!

Members of the Central Guard squinted from afar, holding their breaths in an expert fashion.  Those still charging craned their necks in mid-stride for a better view of their targets.

A frosted fog of vapors lingered over the field.

When at last the snowy mist cleared... a translucent dome of violet magic could be seen fluctuating in the epicenter.  Mortuana and six other figures huddled under the shield—which emanated from the pack that Flynn was holding in two quivering forelimbs.  The unicorn gritted his teeth, sweating as he channeled an emergency charge of mana into a series of densely interlaced crystals.  The stallion shook, strained, and finally collapsed besides his equipment.

Fl-Flassssh!  The dome dissipated swiftly, exposing the seven bodies within.

"H-holy crap," Ariel stammered, hovering low alongside Wildcard.  "Good friggin' timing, Flynn."

"The manabatteries are spent," Mortuana said, her eyes locked on the ponies and griffons rushing in from all sides.  "I do not believe he can erect that shield again."

"They'll be prriming theirr crrossbows once morre!" Kepler cried out.

Cl-Clakka!  Bard extended his bo-staff.  "Then let's not give them a second chance to fire!"

"W-wait a minute!"  Rainbow Dash sputtered, eyes darting at the incoming bodies.  "Let's not get crazy here!  These jerks have us surrounded!"

"Yeah!"  Ariel gritted her teeth, beating her wings as she ascended swiftly.  "Sucks to be them!"

"Herald!" Mortuana shouted, eyes flaring.  "Do not let them get the upper hoof!  Protect the Austraeoh at all costs!"

Wildcard nodded with a frown.  Sch-schiing!  Within a second, he was bursting forward with both nighsticks drawn.  Swoooosh!

"Ya hear that, Dubya-Cee?!"  Bard galloped valiantly into the fray under the shadow of his partner.  "Let's mosey!"

"Go go go!" Ariel hollered, meeting the airborn squadron in a violent blur.

"Oh my goodness!"  Fluttershy's ghostly body shrank until she phased into Rainbow Dash.  "Oh my goodness!"

"I..."  Rarity clamped her hooves over her eyes.  "I can't look!"

"Fluttershy!  Rarity!"  Rainbow panted.  "Eyes front!  We need your senses!"  She spun about.  "Mortuana!  What does everypony think they're doing?!"

"Shhhhhh..."  Mortuana calmly waved a hoof, gazing around them in a circle.  "...what they're best at."

Just as the alicorn said this, Rainbow heard the clashing of metal—followed by the pained shrieks of strangers.  She spun around to look, blinking.

Wildcard was zig-zagging his way between various troops on the ground.  Sparks flew—with Wildcard coming out as the victor.  Ponies and griffons flew from side to side—colliding with the frozen corpses of past victims before sprawling across the snow and groaning with pain and dizziness.

Meanwhile, up above, Ariel flew pretzel ribbon-streaks around the flying members of the Central Guard.  Her expert wings distracted the Rohbreddenites out of formation, and soon the squadron quit their dive altogether in a futile attempt to chase her down.  She spun and spiraled around them, throwing them off course and knocking them out of the air with sheer wing blasts.  She had hardly touched a single body, and yet Rainbow spotted at least half-a-dozen figures already plummeting to the deep snow below.

"Grnngh... Big Show!" Flynn's voice sputtered.

"Rainbow...!"  Twilight exclaimed, pointing.

Rainbow spun to see Flynn—weak and breathless—crawling across the snow to where an obese figure lay limply on his side.

Grimacing, Flynn shook the earth pony's shoulder.  "Dammit... ya friggin' bastard!  Say something!  Belch!  Fart!  Anythi—"  Flynn's mechanical eye bulged as a thick fetlock wrapped around his neck.  "Grkkk?!"

Logan slowly sat up, sneering through clenched teeth.  "Gggget out there and knock some skulls together, ya... snkkkt... slack-jawed fruit m-muffin!  Grgnnngh!"  He clutched the arrow embedded in his chest.

"But... but..."  Flynn wheezed, pointing.  "You've been—"

Snap!  Logan broke the end of the crossbolt off, panting and seething.  "The... v-vest took most of it... n-now stop being a softy and kick flank already!"  Logan shook and heathed.  "Just... need a d-damn breather... that's all... goddess, my nuts are cold..."

Flynn exhaled.  He sniffled, smiling crookedly.  "I swear, the day I ever shed tears over your fat ass—"

"Flynn," Mortuana's voice firmly blurted.  "The north side."

"Yaaaaaaaaaugh!"  A herd of stallions came charging in.

Flynn sucked his breath in.  He hopped up to his feet, spun about in the powdery snow, then heaved his pack up.  "Rrggnnghhh!"  He galloped due north, his horn glowing.  One by one, the crystals inside his pack were encased in glowing blue mana.  They shot out, sailing through the cold air and shattering on telekinetic command.  "You picked a fight with the wrong nerd!"

The shrapnel from his projectiles struck the soldiers before his voice reached them.  Two fell—bleeding—while the rest took cover behind frozen wagons and ancient catapults.  They aimed crossbows around the structures and fired at will.

Flynn held his breath and slid low.  Dodging the blasts, he continued to launch crystals at the group, shattering them and forcing the members of the Central Guard to scatter.

Due east, Bard continued his charge into a line of soldiers.  Wildcard swept in overhead multiple times, knocking random earth ponies and unicorns off their hooves—thinning the battlefield to assist Bard's assault.

"Rnnngh!"  A stallion on the front-line deflected one of Wildcard's many night-stick sweeps.  Through the splashing sparks, he caught sight of Bard and directed the group's charge straight towards him.  "For Verlaxxxionnnnn!"  Crossbolts and telekinetically charged stones flew past his head.

"Httt!"  Using his wings, Bard twirled his staff, deflected the objects—cl-cl-clank!—and slid on his back to dodge several more weapon swings.  By the time his slide ended, he hopped up in the thick of the enemy, then spun around with his staff held at full length.  "Rghhh!"  Th-Th-Thap!  After striking many skulls, he knocked a good half of his opponents to the ground.  "Learn a new tune already!" he growled.  A stealthy soldier rushed up behind him, and Bard calmly jabbed his staff backwards—WHAP!—blindly uppercutting the combatant's chin.

Taking a breath, Bard twirled his staff once more and squared off against the remaining line of soldiers to the east.  Beyond this phalanx, he spotted no less than a dozen members of the Central Guard priming multi-barb crossbows.

"Dubya!" Bard hollered, sweat pouring down his muzzle.  He twirled his staff and deflected the first of many attackers, being forced to backtrot.  "Due east!  Twenty meters!  The archers!"

"...!"  Up above, Wildcard finished kicking another griffon out of the air.  He spiraled about, his goggles reflecting the line of shiny crossbows.  A pegasus pounced on him from behind.  Wildcard sneered through his beak, grabbing the soldier's wing with a metal talon and twisting.

"Aaaaugh!"  The pegasus' weight shifted from the painful tug of his feathered limb.  He dropped, his nerves going numb.

Wildcard rode the soldier's body towards the earth.  He used their combined momentum to accelerate, then kicked off at the last seconds.  Swoooooosh!  The Desperado flew so swiftly over the ground that his wings kicked up snow  in twin trails.  He twisted his body in time to thread through a narrow alley made by frozen corpses.  Along the way, he struck a jagged icicle with a nighstick—THWACK—then grabbed the frozen barb in his flesh talon, holding it like a javelin.  Breathlessly, he flung the improvised weapon at the end of his dive.  Thwiiiiish!

One stallion with a crossbow looked up, gasped, and dove aside.  "Look out—!"

"Huh?!"  Three others looked up, only to have the thrown icicle graze their flanks and chests.  Sliiiiiink!  "Aaaaugh!"  Blood sprayed in the air as the stained icicle embedded into a decrepit wagon behind them.  Thunk!

Swoooosh!  Wildcard sailed past the arches, then landed with his feline feet on the embedded icicle.  The pressure of his body springing off of it shattered the item entirely, spraying a blinding mess of frozen shards all across the crossbow-wielding guards.

"Aaaugh!"

"Grghhh!"

"Goddess!"

Before the soldiers could recover, Wildcard descended from his backflip... and pummeled them one after another, nighsticks blurring.  Wh-Whack!  Clang!  Wham!

Twilight squinted, her violet eyes reflecting Wildcard's movements from afar.  "Well..."  She turned around, panting.  "Seems like the Desperadoes have everything under control."  THWUMP!  A dazed guardstallion landed in the snow just a few inches from Rainbow Dash, making Fluttershy shriek.  "Well... almost..."

"There's st-still so m-many of them!" Fluttershy whimpered.  "And at least a third of them are hurting already!"

"What did they expect?" Rainbow stammered, eyes darting about.  She flexed her right wing as she winced.  "One th-thing's for sure."  She gulped, blinking as Ariel shot overhead once again, knocking several pegasi aside.  "Mortuana's group is good."

"You're certainly showing a great deal of restraint, Rainbow Dash," Rarity sputtered.

"Huh?"

"I th-thought... erm..."  Rarity shivered, glancing every which way as the battle raged on.  "...that this was your element."

"I'm not going to bash heads unless I have to," Rainbow grumbled.

"That's very noble of you, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said—then shook as she heard more shrieks and clashing of metal.  "However..."

"These melon fudges came here expecting the Rainbow Rogue," Rainbow said, growling slightly.  "And... and if I give them the Rainbow Rogue—"

"Down!" Pinkie hollered.  "DOWN!"

"Guhh—" Rainbow yelped into the air.  "Everypony duck!"  She squatted low as several crossbolts flying from the south embedded into the snow all around them.  Th-Th-Th-Thunk!

"... ... ..."  Mortuana took a calm step backwards.  TH-THUNK!  Two arrows landed where her bony fetlocks had been just milliseconds prior.  With a calm breath, she spoke into the heated air.  "Kepler, we have assailants to the south."

"Duly noted, Mountain Matrron!"  Kepler panted through his tusks, all the while picking glass canisters out of his wagon and tossing them towards the rear of the battlefield.  "Although I am currently prreoccupied with a rratherr disgrruntled crrowd of my own, prresently..."

"Charrrrrrrrrrge!"  Ponies in snow-frosted armor came running, galloping straight forward the Heraldite and his wagon.

"Kill the agent of the Blight!"

"Die, you heretical wyvern freak!"

"Alas!  Such passionate insults!"  Kepler calmly threw more glass cannisters.  "Curriosity abounds.  Have my Trribe insulted you in some fashion?"

If the attackers had any desire to reply to Kepler's inquiry, they lacked the opportunity, for the glass bottles exploded among them, filling the air with thick green fumes.

"Kaff!  Grfffkkk!"  They dropped their weapons, turning pale in the muzzle as their eyes teared over.  "Mrmfmff... what... s-sorcery...?!"

"No black magic of the sorrt, my terrribly misguided frriends!"  Kepler's voice chirped as he leaned over his wagon.  "But merrely centurries worrth of trried and tested alchemy!  It will—at worst—leave you with a furriously taxing headache in the morrning.  As a matterr of fact, I suspect each of you will manage enough seconds to explain to me the meaning behind yourr vehemently hateful warr crries."

The foremost guardstallion gagged, teetered... and fell down into an unconscious slump.

"Hmmmff..."  Kepler shrugged.  "I fearr I may have calculated the dosage for wyverrn lungs.  Ah well."  He gripped two more cannisters and pivoted south.  "What is this new wave you speak of, Morrtuana?"  His spectacled eyes twitched, reflecting a line of twenty-plus ponies charging in.  "Oh botherr..."

"Rainbowwwwww..."  Twilight leaned in, grimacing.  "...now may be the time to go rogueeee."

Rainbow gulped.  "Alright... eyes on me, girls!"

"Oh Rainbow..."  Fluttershy sniffled.  "Do you have to?"

"Just lend me your senses and we can do this as cleanly as possible."  Rainbow huffed and puffed, breaking into a full gallop.  "Let's do this!  Elements of Harmony Style!"

"Oki Doki Loki!" Pinkie Pie nodded, puffing up her chest.

Rainbow tilted her head up, hollering.  "You hear that, Morty?!  We're going in!"

Mortuana exhaled.  "As you wish."  She shouted firmly into the air.  "Herald!  The Austraeoh is engaging the enemy!"





Panting and sweating, Bard blocked and parried several guardsponies when he heard Mortuana's voice ringing in the air.

"Draw the fight inward!  We shall not let the Spark falter!"

Bard blinked.  "Rainbow?!  Awwwww dag nabbit!"  He felt a body pouncing on him from behind.  "Augh!  H-hey!  Grnnngh... lay off the guitar!"  THWACK!  He slammed the guard off and spun around to knock him out—when two more pounced on him.  "Ooomf!"

Bard went sprawling across the snow while the soldiers converged.

"Stay down!"

"Surrender in the name of Verlaxion!"

"Grnnngh!"  Bard sputtered, struggling to fight off the weight of the attackers with his bo-staff.  "Dubya... snkkkt... a lil' help here..."

"He's still fighting!"  A soldier grunted aside.

"This is a waste of time."  Schiiing!  A unicorn marched in, aiming a scimitar for Bard's neck.  "Leave the body and move on."

Bard's eyes widened.  Just as his flesh felt the pinch of metal—

WHAM!  A violet body barreled into the group.  The armored soldiers scattered like bowling pins.

Bard gasped, suddenly able to breathe.  He felt a thick fetlock lifting him up to his hooves.  Teetering, he squinted at the mare in front of him.  "... ... ...you?!"

"Rrrgh!"  Remna headbutted a soldier who was getting up and spun to buck a pair of guards so that they smashed through an ancient wagon.  Crasssh!  "I heard Mortuana's shout.  Where's the Austraeoh?"

"How in tarnation are ya still standin'?!"  Bard spat, picking up his bo-staff and leaning on it.  The sounds of battle raged all around them.  "I saw ya take a damned axe to the chest!"

"Yes, well, I got better," Remna grumbled, spinning to sweep another pony's legs out from under him.

"Bullshiet!"  Bard frowned.  "What in the Hell are you made of, lady?!"

"Answer my question."  Remna turned, glaring.  "Where is the Austraeoh presently?"

"Watch yer rear!"  Bard twirled his staff and flew forward.

Remna ducked, allowing Bard to vault over her and smack a griffon in the beak.  Once he landed, he and Remna stood flank to flank, surrounded by a sizable chunk of the remaining forces in the east.

"Fine."  Remna snorted, glaring at the circle of opponents and their glinting weaponry.  "We deal with this for now, and then we rally beside Rainbow Dash."

"I swear..."  Bard exhaled, readying his bo-staff.  "...stiffest dancin' partner I ever did have."

"Less discussion and more concussions."  Remna threw herself prematurely into the group, bucking and kicking.

"Dammit—not so fast—rrrrgh!"  Bard struggled to keep up.  "At least keep in rhythm, ya cold-blooded varmint!"





"Okay, Dashie!"  Pinkie glided over the snow while her anchor galloped south.  "There're two earth ponies with swords coming straight for you.  Behind them are three unicorns acting as support with spikey balls on twirling chain thingies!  Then you've got a full line of ponies with crossbows and a bunch of meanie-looking griffons who I'm pretty sure have stuff that's sharper than butter knives—"

"Pinkie, I can see!  With my eyes, y'know?"  Rainbow panted as she galloped straight for the soldiers.  "Gimme the senses that I don't have!"

"But... but that only happens randomly!" Pinkie's voice cracked.

"Then be random!"

"Shhh!  Rainbow, game face on!" Twilight gulped.  "Here they come—"

"Rainbow Rogue!"  A unicorn stallion hollered, gritting his teeth as he pointed a levitating sword straight at her petite figure.  "You are hereby under arrest by the authority granted me by Brye Chandler, Defense Minister of the Interim Military—"

"No you!"  Rainbow Dash leapt high, bicycle-kicked, and came sailing straight down with a hoof slapping across the broad side of the blade.

WHAM!  The hilt flew up, smacking the unicorn's jaw.  "Ooomf!"  As he stumbled back, the rest of the forces came charging in.

"Raaaaaaaugh!"

"Curious..."  Twilight's muzzle scrunched.  "Did that guardstallion just say that Brye Chandler was—?"

"Not the time for thinking, egghead!" Rainbow grunted.

"Oh gosh!"  Fluttershy squeaked, clenching her eyes shut as the group converged on her anchor.  "You made them soooo mad!"

"Yeah, well, let's make them regret."  Rainbow ducked, juked, and side-stepped several weapon swings.  "Httt!"  She jumped high, swinging a hoof across a griffon's beak.  WHACK!  When she came down, she ducked a spiked club, then dove forward—spearing the stallion to the ground with her weight.  The snow was slippery, causing the two to slide nearly fifteen feet—all the while Rainbow twitched and wriggled to avoid sword-slashes from above.  She came out the end of the slide with an athletic jump, springing forward and landing in the thick of the ponies with crossbows.  She flapped her right wing, knocking two off their hooves so that they dropped their weapons.

"Random!"  Pinkie yelped, her ears flapping.  "Random's happening directly behind you!"

Rainbow's ears heard the notching of crossbolts.  She cartwheeled aside, dodged three sailing projectiles, and landed beside the fallen soldiers.  "Httt!"  Lifting her front hooves, she slammed them back down—impacting the triggers of the crossbows on the ground.  They fired, sending arrows sailing back at the combatants.

Gasping, many of the guards dashed aside.  The rest came charging in, weapons glinting in the cold air.

"That's a lot!" Twilight shrieked.  "That'salot.  That'salot!  That'salot!"

"Guhhhh..."  Rainbow backtracked, her right wing twitching.  "Gosh dang it... when, Mortuana, when—?"

"Rainbow, darling."  Rarity pointed at the long-frozen catapults and vehicles.  "The old weapons of war!  They should give good cover—"

"Right!  Uhhh... j-just what I was thinking!"  Rainbow spun and began sprinting, just as she heard a loud chant from behind.

"Ready... aim... fire!"  Thw-Thw-Thwifffft!

"M-more random!" Pinkie wheezed.  "Dive!  Dive!"

A flock of arrows sliced the air, eating at the space between the soldiers and Rainbow's flank.

"Grnnngh!"  Rainbow dove forward, gliding behind an overturned wagon at the last second.  Th-Th-Thunk!  Several projectiles embedded into the frozen wooden surface behind her.  Panting, Rainbow sprinted through the forest of ice-covered wreckage.  "Just keeps getting snazzier and snazzier..."

"They're on your tail, Rainbow!" Fluttershy exclaimed.  "Don't stop!  Whatever you do, don't stop moving!"





Fw-Fw-Fwooosh!  Ariel twirled, barreling through a squadron of pegasi and griffons.  She kicked one soldier upside the beak, then swiped a spear from another.  "Hnnnttt!"

She twirled in a black blur, tossing the spear down at the winged attackers pursuing her.  It grazed one's shoulder while the others came after her at full speed.

"I... c-can't keep this up for long!"  Ariel panted, eyes darting about as she zig-zagged to avoid even more bodies.  "Mortuana!  Flynn!  Somepony!"  She gulped, spiraling.  "I could use some cover—"

WH-WHUMP!  Two griffons slammed into her from opposite sides.  The members of the Central Guard wrestled with the Heraldite in midair.

"Nnngh... get off... get off!"  Ariel shrieked, punching, bucking, and gnawing at the limbs encircling her.  "Rnnngh!  Augh!"  She yelped as one of the enemy's talons grazed her skin, drawing blood.

"... ... ...!"  From the northeast side of the battlefield, Wildcard's ears picked up her distressed voice.  He finished uppercutting a unicorn and twirled about.  His goggles reflected his traveling companion struggling in mid-air with two other griffons.  Holding his breath, he slapped a glowing Odrsjot band over the ends of his nightsticks, then joined both of them together like a miniature staff.  Cl-Clak!  Next, the Desperado spun twice and flung the weapon diagonally skyward with all his might.

Ariel saw the maneuver, and she held her breath.

"Huh?"  The griffons holding her took notice of the pegasus' suddenly slack muscles.  They looked down—and spotted the prismatic javelin incoming.  Flapping their wings, they moved aside, dodging the conjoined nighsticks easily.  As Wildcard lifted up and flew at them, they sneered, "Stay put, traitor!"  Schiiing!  A dagger kissed Ariel's neck.  "Or we'll send her soul to a swift judgment!"

Wildcard merely snorted.  In mid-ascent, he extended his metal limb.  The grooves between talons glowed with manalight.

"...?"  The guardians heard the chopping of wind.  They looked up and behind them—just in time to see the nighsticks return via magnetic pull.  CLANNNNNG!  One took the full brunt of a Odrsjot band to the skull.  "Ooomf!"

A spectral explosion threw his body off of Ariel.  The pegasus easily overpowered the second, gazed griffon.  "Gnnnngh!"  Ariel threw him over his body and straight into Wildcard.

WHUMP!  Wildcard introduced his knee into the breathless griffon's chest, then let him drop to the floor below.  Thap!  His metal talon gripped the nightsticks as he hovered in front of Ariel, checking on her.

"I'm okay..."  Ariel panted, managing a weak smile.  "Let's clear the skies, eh, buddy?"

Wildcard nodded with a smirk.  He held his right talon out.

Ariel locked limbs with it.  She stretched her right wing out.

Wildcard outstretched his left feathers.  The two twirled-twirled-twirled through the air.  Swoosh-Swoosh-Swoosh-Swoosh!  Together, the two formed a living missile—and proceeded to dive straight into the advancing squadron of guardians.  Wh-Wham!  They knocked several of the adversaries to the ground, completely dissipating the battallion's aerial backup.

Bruised bodies littered the floor all around Flynn.  Panting, the unicorn backed up, telekinetically tossing crystals left and right, covering the northern fields with shrapnel.  Despite his best efforts, the forces kept advancing—with several flanking him to the side.

"I'm having a little tr-trouble here!"  Flynn stammered.  "Now that you guys have the skies clear—"

"Almost!" Ariel's voice hollered from above.  "Protect the Austraeoh!"

"I-I've lost track of Rainbow!  I-I think she's engaged the enemy!"  Flynn looked over his shoulder, horn strobing.  "Mortuana?"  He gasped, his eyes spotting several stallions and griffons rushing the alicorn.  "Mountain Matron!  Look out!"





"Morrtuana!"  Kepler hollered, hoisting more cannisters out of his wagon.  "Harrk!  Frrom the norrth and coming in fast!"

Mortuana took a deep breath, flexing her bony wings.  "Remain calm, Kepler."

"But... b-but..."  Kepler sweated, adjusting his spectacles.  "I-I do not believe I possess enough rremaining gas grrenades to warrd off anotherr wave—"

"Save them for another occasion."  Mortuana inhaled.  "All will be fine."

"What is that creature?!" a guard shouted.

"The rogue's ally!" another chanted.

"The monster from beyond the Blight!"

"Attack her!"

"For Verlaxion!"

They rushed in from all sides.

Mortuana closed her eyes.  She exhaled.

"Rrrrgh!"  A stallion came in, sword swinging.

Mortuana calmly side-stepped.

Another griffon rushed in, thrusting with a club.

Mortuana raised a hoof—then brought it down onto the staff.  She limply flicked a fetlock, uppercutting the griffon.

"Ooomf!"  As he fell back, two more guardians rushed in.

"Yaaaaaaaugh!"

Mortuana inhaled, slowly pivoting in a circle.  Her bony wings stretched out—slapping the attackers in the flank and adding to their momentum.

"Whoah—!"  They yelped, stumbled, and slammed into one another.  "Ugh!"

Mortuana exhaled.  As two more griffons flew towards her with weapons stabbing, she pivoted towards them, stretched her wing-joints forward, and expertly contacted their talons with her wingtips.  She swung her limbs in twirling motions, causing them to veer off-course until their weapons collided.  Cl-Clack!  Before they could react, Mortuana inhaled, ducked her head, and stepped forward—lazily shrugging her wings.

"Aaaaah!"  Both griffons were flung off several feet—where they landed numbly in deep snow.

Kepler blinked.  With a smirk, he desposited his cannisters back into the wagon.

Mortuana exhaled... then slowly reopened her eyes.  She looked at Kepler.  "Eyes on the Austraeoh...?"





"You want the bad news?" Fluttershy murmured.  "Or the worse news?"

"Give it to me straight or bent," Rainbow grunted, running in and around the frozen detritus of an ancient battle.  "Either way, I'll make the best out of it."

"You've been running in circles," Fluttershy wheezed.  "We're surrounded now.  It's seconds until the soldiers fill in the gap and converge on you."

"Okay, where is it less dense with flankholes?" Rainbow stammered.

"Uhmmmmmm..."

"We've trapped ourselves in this mess!" Twilight whimpered.  "Rainbow, we gotta find a way out!"

"More like fight a way out."

"I have an even better idea."  Rarity pointed at the crumpled remains of an overturned wagon.  "See that mess right there, darling?"

Rainbow skidded to a stop in the powedery snow.  "Yeah?  What about it?"

"It's remarkably fragile," Raity said.  "A good, solid buck shall do the trick."

"What kind of trick?" Pinkie remarked.

Rainbow gulped, staring at the wreckage.  "Fluttershy?  How many bad guys on the other side?"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."  Pinkie grinned.  "That kind of trick!"





Soldiers huffed and puffed, threading their way through the wreckage.

"Damn that rogue!"  One hissed to the others.  "Where did the coward run off to?"

"She can't be far off from here," another stallion muttered.  He heard a rustling sound, then pointed at a collapsed wagon.  "Over there!  I'm sure of it!"

"Quick!  Bag the Rogue and bring her back to Frost—"

POWWW!  A mess of frozen splinters sailed straight at the group.

"—knife?"  The stallion's jaw dropped as—WHAM!—he and several of his companions collapsed under a mess of frozen metal and wooden planks.  A few lucky griffons and pegasi jumped up, levitating over the scene.

"Httt!"  Rainbow Dash leapt through the fresh hole she had made.  She saw the shadows of the flying guards, then looked straight up.  "Uhm... hi..."  A nervous smile.  "...Verlaxion's blessings?"

"Bastarrrrd!"  Th-Th-Thwiiish!  The air combatants dove swiftly.

"Incoming!" Rarity chimed, gnashing her teeth.

"I see them!"  Rainbow ducked low and rolled to the side.  "Feel them—!"  One griffon landed on her, his claws grazing her left side.  "Aaaaaugh!"  She punched him in the face and sprang to her hooves—only to be met with a club to the face.  WHAM!  "Ooof!"  She fell back from the attacking pegasus.

"Rrrgh!"  The pegasus swung at her again.

Rainbow spat blood, then raised a hoof to block the hilt of his weapon.  Wham!  She kicked him in the groind, then reverse-somersaulted with another hoof uppercutting him in the chin.

By this time, the rest of the company had galloped around the nearest concentration of frozen rubble.  They surrounded her on both sides.  "Raaaaugh!"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh fuzzies!" Pinkie yelped, fetlocks quivering.

Holding her breath, Rainbow slapped her hoof over the edge of a club, knocking it skyward so she could spin and buck it—propelling the object straight into the left wave of attackers.  She spun to face the right wave, ducking a sword swing and throwing her leg out to trip two stallions.  Two more rushed in, swinging blades.  Rainbow jumped their slashes, kicked off the side of a frozen catapult, then landed on the shoulders of a stallion rushing in from the right wave.  Whump!  She hopped off his body, drop-kicked a griffon, then spun around his body so she could use him as a shield.  Wrangling the scimitar from his talon, she slowly backtrotted down the narrow space between wreckage, deflecting several blows with splashes of sparks.

"Absolutely smashing, darling!" Rarity cheered.

"No time to celebrate!"  Twilight pointed.  "Behind you, Rainbow—"

"Rrrrgh!"  A particularly muscular guard came charging through the fray.

Rainbow answered him by shoving the griffon straight into his chest.  As they collapsed together, she spun—only to receive a savage punch from another stallion.

"Ooomf!"  Rainbow spun in a circle and teetered.

"Look out!" Rarity yelped.

"...!"  Rainbow's eyes widened as her off-balance body plummeted straight for a razor sharp array of icicles jutting out of a wagon.  "Mmmmmm—!"  She flailed her forelimbs, attempting to lean back from the sharp tips looming just a sneeze from her muzzle and eyes.

"Right wing!" Pinkie yelped, eyebrow quivering.  "Right wing!"

Rainbow held her breath and—Fwooosh!—flapped the feathers in question.  Her body spun.  Her vision blurred.  A howling stallion's muzzle loomed into view.

"!!!"  Rainbow hooked her limbs with his.

Not expecting the contact, the stallion gasped as Rainbow's spinning body flung him violently into the blunt sides of the icicles.  SMASSSH!  The air filled with shattering ice.  The remaining soldiers flinched from the explosion of petrified frost.

Holding her breath, Rainbow attempted to make a break for it.

A trio of grave guardians dove through the mess, grabbing Rainbow's rear legs.

"Ooomf!"  Rainbow fell hard to the ground.

"Rainbow!" Rarity shouted.

"Oh no!"  Twilight bit into her hoof, spinning around.  "They're all going to dogpile on her!"

"Get out, Dashie!"  Pinkie hollered.  "Get out!"

"I'm..."  Rainbow grumbled, fighting against more and more limbs clasping her on all sides.  "... tr-trying!"

"It's... it's going to be okay!" Fluttershy wheezed.  "Eyes up!"

"Huh?"  Rainbow looked up.  A black streak pierced the settling snow.

"Grab ahold, Miss Awesome!" Ariel shouted, gliding by.

"Hrnngh!"  Rainbow lunged forward, forelimb outstretched.  Ariel gripped her, pulling mightily.  Rainbow felt herself lifted skyward, and her ears echoed with the blissful sound of soldiers collapsing to a meaty heap beneath her.  A griffon and a pegasus gave chase, but Rainbow easily kicked them back to the ground as Ariel lifted her out of reach.

"Woohoo!"  Pinkie cheered.

"Hah!"  Ariel panted, smiling down at the pony in her grasp.  "Not exactly the most gracious exit, huh?"

"Sister..."  Rainbow replied sweatily.  She smiled into the cold winds.  "...you just earned your wings twice over."

"Heehee..."  Ariel grinned from ear to ear.  "Well if I don't feel special—"  Sliiiink!  An arrow impaled her left rear leg.  "Aaaaaaugh!"

Twilight and Rarity gasped.

Rainbow blinked.  Her eyes fell, catching a line of soldiers below, re-cocking their crossbows.

"She's hurt bad!" Fluttershy winced.  "Her nerves are on fire!"

"Nnnngh... mmmm..."  Ariel clenched her eyes shut, tears streaming.  She struggled to stay upright, her wings flapping unevenly.  "Goddess... damn... that st-stings!"

"It's... it's okay!"  Rainbow gulped.  "You... you can let go!  Find someplace safe to land—"

"I... I'm sorry, Austraeoh..."  Ariel whimpered, dipping in flight, shuddering.  "I... I-I can't... I..."  A final yelp, and her whole body went slack.

"Ariel—!" Rainbow gasped, but it was too late.  The two fell like anvils, sailing towards the snow below.  After an eternity, they finally landed—Thud!—and rolled in separate directions.

"Aaaugh!" Ariel cried out in sharp pain.

"Grnngh..."  Rainbow pushed herself onto her hooves.  Panting, she galloped over to Ariel's side.  A patch of snow was stained red in a circle beneath the pegasus.  "No... no no no..."  She reached into her saddlebag and produced several bandages, fumbling.  "Just... j-just stay still!  Don't move your leg!"

"Grnnngh..."  The rest of Ariel's body curled up as her impaled leg stretched out.  "Mmfff... eheh..."  She coughed, her muzzle caught between a smile and grimace.  "Boy wouldn't Mom be ashamed of that lameness... mmmm... shit!"  She winced.

"Don't friggin' say that, okay?!"  Rainbow tried to patch up the bleeding.  "Fluttershy!  Is... is she going to—?"

"She'll live if we can get her to safety," Fluttershy said, glancing all around.  "But, at this rate—"  Her pupils shrank.  "Oh dear."

"Six o'clock, Dashie!" Pinkie shouted.

Rainbow heard the crunching of snow.  She spun about to see a lone soldier, bruised and bleeding, charging at them with a sword.

"Raaaaaaaaugh!"

Holding her breath, Rainbow leaned back over Ariel's body and raised a hoof to her pendant.  All it took was one rub and—FLAAAAAAAAAAAASH—a ruby beam shot skyward, temporarily blinding the soldier.

"Aaaaugh!"  The stallion squinted his eyes as his body lunged forward, carried by the momentum of his charge.

With a grunt, Rainbow kicked her legs up, throwing the weight of the soldier over her.  The mare's ears twitched to the sound of his sword falling to the side.  More soldiers came charging from the ruins where she had been picked up.  With a deep breath, Rainbow picked up the sword and gripped it in the crook of her hoof.  "Stay put.  G-gonna hold them off."

"Mrmmff..."  Ariel wheezed, nodding as she clutched her leg.  "My hero..."

"Hey!"  Rainbow hollered, eyeing the incoming wave of guardians.  "Ariel's down!"  She shouted a few last words before tossing the hilt into her teeth and bracing herself.  "Mrmmfff... could use a hoof here!"

The first line of soldiers rushed her, swinging their blades.

"Grkkk!"  Rainbow deflected as nimbly as she could manage.  Clank!  Clackkk!






"You h-heard the Austraeoh!" Ariel's voice pierced the air, pained and fragile.  "Rally around the rainbow!  Gnngh... n-no hurry or nothing, g-guys!  She's only surrounded by flankholes in armor!"

Logan panted and panted, his teeth clamping over the hilt of his axe.  In one hoof, he gripped the bolt that was lodged into his flesh.  With the other fetlock, he held the bandaged end of a glowing hot manastone.  His nostrils flared and flared... and then his body went slack as he tilted the burning end of the manastone to his injury.  At the same time he yanked the bolt out, then proceeded to cauterize the wound.

Hsssssssssssssss!  Steam filled the air as his flesh cooked from the scalding contact.

"Mrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmnghhh!"  Logan clenched his eyeslids shut, snorting and hissing through the pain.  At last, once he felt enough pressure had been applied, he tossed the stone aside—instantly melting the snow next to him.  Limbs shuffling, he stood up, reached blindly into a pocket, and produced an Odrsjot band.  Slap!  He placed it over the blade of his weapon, producing a prismatic aura.  "Hrfffff..."  Two bloodshot eyes opened as he grit his teeth... then slumped onto all fours.

Through the fog of war, he spotted Rainbow Dash standing over Ariel's body in the distance.  A wave of soldiers surrounded the two mares, obscuring them from sight... but not for long.

"Hrmmmfff..."  He marched forward, and that marched turn into a trot, and that trot bled into a gallop.  "Gang way!"  He huffed and puffed, stomp-stomp-stomping towards his destination.  "Move!  Move out of the way, ya sniveling sissy pants!  Hellfire on a damn mission here!"

From a distance, Flynn turned, standing side-by-side with Mortuana.  His ears drooped as his mechanical eye rotated.  "Ohhhhhhhh for buck's sake..."





Stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp!

The attackers squaring off with Rainbow Dash froze suddenly, their eyes widening.

Rainbow blinked.  Sweating, she and her ghostly marefriends turned to look over her shoulder.

"Rrrrrrrrgh!"  Logan came hurdling over the snowbank, swinging the axe down at full force.  "RAAAAAAAAUGH!"

The weight of the weapon—combined with the enchantment of the Odrsjot rune—sent a virtual shockwave rippling through the crowd.

SLAMMMMM!

Bodies of both ponies and griffons alike were sent sailing over a dozen feet into the air before crashing unceremoniously to the snowy field below.  Snow and shards of ice sailed southward in a violent, blinding wave.

Once the brief blizzard had settled, there Logan stood, panting and heaving with both forelimbs gripping his axe.

"Huh?!  Huh?!  Is this what you came here for?!  What?!"  Sneering, Logan hoisted his axe again, dragging it through the snow, melting a solid trail with the rippling heat of Odrsjot.  "Clean up on aisle sixty-nine, cuz I see a bunch of pussies showed up to play hardball!"

Fumbling, the soldiers re-formed ranks.  Those in the rear notched their crossbows and fired at will.

"Httt!"  Logan held the staff horizontally in front of him.  Cl-Cl-Clank!  Most of the arrows deflected off his weapon.  Two grazed his body while another whizzed by his ear, almost lopping it off.  In the end, the Heraldite was still standing, albeit bleeding in half-a-dozen places.  "Rrrrgh!  Aaaaaaaaugh!"  He lowered his axe just long enough to beat his still-burning chest with an angry hoof.  Whap!  Whap!  Whap!  "Ooh-ra!  Mother Nature called!  This morning she shat out a bunch of dumbass turds who put on armor and decided to play soldier!"

"What..."  Rainbow wheezed, shaking off powdery snow.  "...is happening?"

"Snkkkt..."  Ariel clutched her bleeding leg, wincing.  "Big Show is happening."

"My turn to sneeze!"  Logan spun a three-sixty and swung his axe down once again.  "Raaaaaaaugh!"  WHUDDDD!

Another avalanche of frost sailed out at the group, this time kicking up the bodies of ancient corpses and weaponry.  The soldiers flailed, their bodies rained on by petrified rubble and limbs.  Armor rattling, a few of them bravely charged on through, rushing at Logan.

"Ohhhhhhhhh pretty pretty puppies!"  Logan swung his axe in wide swaths.  "Rrrrgh!  Haaaugh!"

Wh-Wham!  Clang!  He knocked the attackers back, sending them toppling through the frozen mess.

The southern forces stumbled, being spread too thin already.  With frenzied breaths, they picked each other up and hobbled away.  A high-ranking griffon struggled for half-a-minute to take off, then finally ascended, his talons fumbling to grasp a horn.  When he finally brought it to his beak, he blew a loud note into the air, sounding off the tone for a swift retreat.

Rainbow and her friends watched with a breath of relief as the forces fled further south, joined by their hobbling companions all across the field.

"Rrrr-raaaaaaaaah!"  Logan leaned forward, bellowing victoriously at the flanks of his opponents.  He beat his smoking chest again and propped his heaving figure against his axe hilt.  "Thank you for attending the barbecue!"





High above the battlefield, Wildcard traded blows with a griffon and prepared to clobber the opponent's skull—when the griffon suddenly turned tail and fled off.

"...?"  Wildcard hovered in place, breathing in and out.  He watched as the silver-plated bodies of the Central Guard fled in opposite cardinal directions.

Beak clenching, he relinquished the Odrsjot bands, then detached his nightsticks from one another.





"Hrrrrrnngh!"  Remna headbutted a guard and prepared to pounce at another—

"Hold up!"  Bard stammered, stretching a hoof out as he leaned weakly against his staff.  He adjusted his hat and squinted wearily across the snowy ruins.  "They're... they're turnin' flank..."

"Hmmm?"  Remna—hardly breaking a sweat—watched as soldiers galloped east, several of them fleeing straight past the two.

"Mrmmmff..."  A griffon paused to hoist a battered soldier to his hooves while his companions did the same for others that were grounded.  "Move, brother!  They've sounded the retreat!"

"B-but... the Rainbow R-rogue..." the other guard weakly slurred.

"There will be a reckoning!  Another time!  Their blighted power is too much for us!"  The soldiers hobbled off, fleeing beyond the wreckage of the ancient battlefield.  "We must regroup with the other battallions!  Regroup with the full army!"

"Rrrrgh..."  Remna gnashed her teeth, galloping after them.  "They'll return in full numbers!  Quick!  We must stop them—"

"Let 'em go," Bard muttered.  "They know when they've been licked."

"Unacceptable!" Remna sneered.  "If they return here to attack the Austraeoh with their full army—"

"One way or another, we risk facin' the full army."  Bard gulped, wiping sweat from his brow.  "Now that we know they're stagin' ambushes for us, we gotta find another way into Starkiss.  Perhaps Mortuana or Dubya Cee knows a way."

"What good will that do?"  Remna frowned, glaring east.  "No matter what we do, this damnable nation of zealots will be hunting the Austraeoh down at every turn and—"  A flash of cold blue light reflected off her emerald eyes.  She gasped, her violet ears drooping.  "Oh no..."

"What?"  Bard blinked, craning his neck. "What is it?"

Remna said nothing.  Muzzle agape, she stared towards the dull white horizon.





"Big Show!"  Flynn came galloping over the snowbank, followed gradually by Mortuana and Kepler.  "Dammit!  Do you always have to go full ham?!"

"You're welcome, ya little dipshit," Logan grumbled back.  "Had fun tossing rocks with that little science fair project of yours?"  He suddenly winced, clutching his chest.  "Piss in my eye, that hurts."

"You're lucky your crazy charge broke the camel's back!" Flynn rushed up, panting.  "Had you gone in too deep, they would have clung to you like dung beetles!"

"Look, it worked, didn't it?  Besides..."  Logan pointed down at Ariel.  "I'm not the one who should be counting his lucky stars."

"H-hiya, Flynn..."  Ariel stammered through a pale muzzle.

"...!"  Flynn gasped.  "Oh jeez!  Oh jeez oh jeez, Ariel!"

"I tr-tried stopping the bleeding," Rainbow said, still catching her breath.  "But... but I'm no expert on—"

"Rrelax, Rrainbow one," Kepler said, squatting by the wounded pegasus side.  "The battle ended with perrfect timing."  He adjusted his spectacles, staring at the impaled leg up close.  "Hmmmm... appearrs to be a clean skewerring..."

"You mean..."  Ariel gulped.  "...my dancing career isn't ruined?"

"Ha HAH!"  Kepler bore a stucked grin.  "You have yourr motherr's spirrit, child!"  He reached for his satchel.  "Some assistance, Flynn."

"Absolutely!"  Flynn opened the wyvern's bag and levitated several first aid tools loose.  "You hear that, Ariel?  We're gonna clean you up all nice and good, girl!"

"Don't I f-feel lucky..."

"Flynn, Kepler," Mortuana spoke.  "Stabilize her swiftly.  You all did a marvelous job today, against tremendous odds."

"Yes, well..."  Logan huffed and puffed, peeling the Odrsjot band off his axe.  "A barf bag full of badass will do that."

Swoooosh!  Wildcard flew down until he hovered above the group.  His goggles rattled, reflecting Ariel's bleeding leg.  He gestured worriedly.

"It's okay, Wildcard," Flynn exhaled, trimming off both edges of the arrow until all was left was the narrow shaft on either side of Ariel's leg.  "We've got her.  She's going to be taken care of."

"Yeah, buddy..."  Ariel bore a weak smile.  "You didn't save my tail for nothing earlier—ow ow ow... K-Kepler..."

"My exuberrant apologies, dearr."

Wildcard exhaled.  He pivoted about, gesturing some more.

"Hmmm?  Bard?  Remna?"  Logan blinked.  "I thought you had your sexy eyes on them."

Wildcard clenched his beak.

"They're east of us," Fluttershy said to Rainbow Dash, her breath steadying.  "They're in one piece—the both of them."

Rainbow lifted her head up.  "Fluttershy says they're both okay, Wildcard."  She smiled.  "Nothing to be worried about—"

"Guhhh!"  Twilight suddenly curled into a lavender ball, clutching her hot, glowing horn.

"Twilight!"  Rarity stammered.  "What's... what's wrong, darling?"

"Now now, Twi..."  Pinkie patted the ghostly unicorn's shoulder.  "Now's not the time for migraines.  We're trying to save Ariel's legs here!"

"There's..."  Twilight whimpered, her body rippling up and down in lavender waves.  "...there's something coming..."  She seethed through clenched teeth.  "...something powerful... from the east..."

Rainbow blinked.  "What do you mean?"

"Magic... very powerful magic..."  Twilight calmed down slightly, staring at Rainbow with wide eyes.  "The likes of which I haven't sensed since... since..."

"Since what?"

Twilight gulped.  "Braum."

"What's the matter?"  Logan asked, squint.  "What's going on?"

"Does the Austrraeoh sense something?" Kepler inquired.

All of the sudden, Mortuana's wings drooped.  Her lips pursed as she murmured, "It's her..."  Her jaw muscles tightened.  "...she's here."





Elsewhere...

A plateau of snow rested under an overcast sky.

The Herald... the Central Guard... the ancient battlefield...

All was a distant gray speck in the west.

Silence hung over the frozen plains.

Then... trailing with ethereal blue vapors... a silver limb came to rest against the permafrost with a dull crunch.  Spiderwebbing bands of ice spread from the contact that the sterile hoof made against the pale landscape.

A golem of ancient metal stood in place, its stalwart figure draped in tattered raiments that billowed in an unearthly wind.  An out-of-body breath resonated against the hollow chamber between armored plates.

"Httttttttttttttt..."  Slowly, the helm lifted, a pair of pale blue eyeslits beaming from deep beneath the visor.  "Yes, Austraeoh...at last."  Stormclouds gathered darkly overhead, billowing from the east.  They reflected menacingly off the suit's shiny flank and shoulder plates.  "The circle nears completion..."

The snow and ice fractured all around as the air shook with piercing banshee shrieks.

The golem raised its forelimb... then stretched it forward.

Almost instantly, a horizontal cyclone budded off of the stormclouds, surging due west.  The anomaly spread wider and wider... until an immense array of galloping hooves burst forth from the gray beds above, accompanied by the thrusting, charging heads of ghostly equine shapes—trailing snow and dragging a horrible blizzard in a deathly wake.

With howling shrieks and whinnies, the phantoms spread from horizon to horizon, until the entirety of the Star Fringes were covered in gray death... sweeping towards the battlefield and the hapless mortals stumbling in wait.
> Strength to Pass the Test
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Bard blinked, his eyes reflecting a gray and grayer horizon.  The winds whistled as a deathly wall of snow surged towards him and his companion.

"Uhm... Remna?"  Gulping, the Desperado backtrotted one nervous hoof after another.  "What... what exactly is all this?"

Remna clenched her teeth.  "Verlax's gift."  Nostrils flaring, she narrowed her eyes, glaring into the eastern edge of the battlefield.





Breathless, the remnants of the Central Guard fled eastward.  Just as they were clearing the last of the ancient wreckage, they collectively stumbled to a stop.  With gawing expressions, they beheld the incoming blizzard—thicker than a veritable mountain of frost.

"Goddess..."

"What in Verlaxion's name?"

"I can no longer see Starkiss..."

"What... what is that which bathes the Fringes?"

A griffon captain hovered above the group, staring deeply into the incoming anomaly with scrutinous hawkeyes.

The clouds billowed and rolled.  The air crackled—as if with lightning—and through it came an outburst of high-pitched shrieks and whinnies.  One after another, like starlight, pairs of glowing blue eyes materialized behind the mists.  Hooves kicked loose from the snow flurries, followed by ethereal figures of misty gray blight, writhing and undulating as they "galloped" west above the windblown snowplains.

Rippling white manes accompanied otherworldly torsos.  The translucent bodies pulled themselves forward, front legs thrashing and necks thrusting as they continued their apocalyptic charge.  Within seconds, an entire herd of hellish equines began their descent, covering the tundra in frozen sheets of stone-solid ice.  Crystalline patterns tore its way west, bearing down on the gawking soldiers of Rohbredden.

"Oh Verlaxion..." The ponies whimpered.

"Windigoes!"  The guards began stumbling backwards.  "The banshees of yesterday have returned!"

"Why, Goddess?!  Why?!"

"Move!"  The griffon captain shouted, spinning about-face and motioning with his talon.  "Run!  Flee for your lives—"  Errant ice shards punctured his body.  "Grkkkt!"  His hawkeyes rolled back as his bloody figure froze from the inside out.  He plummeted—and when he struck the ground, the griffon shattered into three dozen crimson pieces.

Panicked shrieks and screams filled the air.

Sputtering for breath, the soldiers turned and galloped the way which they first fled.  Several stumbled, openly sobbing in terror as they struggled to outrun the ancient demons of Rohbredden.

While the panic arose, the eyes of the banshees burned brighter—as if feeding off of the terror and discord of the mortals below.  They dipped and dove several times in their stampede, shrieking randomly as their hooves tore crystalline patches through the stale earth.

Members of the Central Guard wove left and right, desperate to get away.  This task grew even more difficult as they threaded their way once again through the ruins of the ancient battleground.  Horrified soldiers galloped past the wreckage of prehistory, fleeing in the same direction as their frozen ancestors.

It wasn't long before the windigoes caught up.  Their hooves clipped the skulls and flanks of figures fleeing below.  Ponies and griffons lurched in place, their bodies rendered deathly inert while frozen moisture protruded from their limbs, aiming westward in blood-tinged icicles.  Beady eyes locked in horror while coats turned corpse-blue.  Within seconds, the second wave of windigoes swept past, and the sheer force of their wings shattered the freshly frozen bodies to pulpy chunks.





The banshee shrieks filling the air were soon accompanied by mortal howls of terror and pain.  Remna and Bard found themselves overwhelmed by a line of fleeing soldiers before the incoming wave of windigoes.

"Holy Hell in a hoof basket!"  Bard tightened his hat and spun around.  "Move what yer Momma gave ya!"

"Dammit, Verlax..."  Remna sneered.  "What is this accomplishing—?!"

"Ya crazy stupid harpy!"  Bard hollered from several paces westward.  "Move yer tail or you're toast!  Iced toast!"

Clenching her jaw, Remna reluctantly spun about and galloped after him.  They joined the current of frightened guardians attempting to outrun the frozen stampede.  "The Austraeoh," she fumed.  "Must... get h-her... to safety..."





The earth shook beneath Rainbow's hooves.

She grimaced, leaning back as her eyes took in the wave of death surging towards them.

"Awwwwwwwwwwww Luna Poop," the pegasus rasped.

"My stars!"  Rarity stammered.  "What in Celestia's name are those?!"

"They're windigoes," Fluttershy murmured.  "They have to be."  She looked aside.  "Right, Twilight?"

Twilight gulped.  "They match everything in Clover the Clever's writing... only more ferocious than I ever imagined."

"They look like ghost horsies!"  Pinkie said, floating high and squinting hard.  "Any chance we can talk them into stopping their super mega death charge?"

"No, Pinkie," Twilight grunted.  "There isn't."

"Okie dokie lokie!"  Pinkie waved a hoof casually.  "Just wanted to get that out of the way."  She immediately dipped down, screaming upside-down into Rainbow's face.  "RUN LIKE HECK!"

"Grnnngh!"  Rainbow waved a phasing hoof through her marefriend and turned towards the rest of the Herald.  "Can we outrun them?!"

"Fully empowerred windigoes?"  Kepler gravely shook his head.  "Theirr speed is unmatched.  Howeverr, they do congrregate togetherr.  It might be possible to gauge the dirrection of theirr stampede and ascerrtain a way to dodge them—"

"Not on hoof!" Flynn exclaimed.  "Not a chance!  But you, Ariel, Wildcard—"

"Count me out," Ariel said, wincing. She clutched her bleeding leg.  "I can't outrun a pigeon at this rate.  Augh..."

"We gotta get Rainbow out of here!"  Logan's nostrils flared.  "Wildcard!  Kepler!  Grab the Austraeoh and high-tail it out of here!  There may still be a chance to—"

"No.  No!"  Rainbow frowned.  "We gotta get us all out of here!"

"Let's not forget Bard and Remna!" Rarity squeaked, eyeing the incoming wave in horror.

"We've still got two of us missing!" Rainbow said.

Logan's brow furrowed.  "Look, we all came into this gig knowing the risks!  It's the Herald's top friggin' priority to get the Austraeoh to the dark side—"

"Fat load of good that will do if I get there alone!," Rainbow's voice cracked.  "Either we do this as a team or we don't do this at all!"

The group fidgeted nervously.  With each freezing second, the winds grew more and more blistery.  Banshee shrieks rang louder, vibrating up everypony's spine.  Wildcard hovered in place, his goggles rattling as he switched between staring at Rainbow and glancing east towards where he last saw Bard.  The Desperado anxiously wrung his flesh-and-metal talons.

"We are at the Austraeoh's beck and call," Mortuana calmly said.  "If she wills for us to make an escape together, then that is what we will do."

"Escape?!"  Logan cackled, waving his forelimbs.  "Escape to where?!"

Ariel huffed.  "How about up your butt, Big Show?"

"A modicum of civility, please," Kepler insisted.  "Peace of mind makes forr a clearr mind."

"Whatever we decide to do..."  Flynn adjusted his mechanical eye, peering east.  "...we must make a plan quick.  Or else we'll all be snow cones in seconds."





"Aaaaaaaaaugh!"  Ponies and griffons fled for their lives, galloping in and around wreckage.  "Goddess, spare us!"

"Verlaxion, please!"

"Save us!"  A unicorn whimpered in full-gallop.  "Please!  Forgive us!  Forgive your foals—"  He tripped on an ancient weapon, collapsing against a wagon.  "Mrmmff... no!  No—!"  The pale shadow of a windigo wafted over him, freezing his figure in mid scream.  Within seconds—Crkkkkk!  His flesh and muscles shattered.

"Grnnngh!"  Bard winced, galloping through the crimson spray of frost.  "Dammit!"  Huffing, he spread his wings.  "I dun aim to die screamin'!"  Fwoooosh!

Remna fumed and fumed, galloping steadily west.  A shadow crossed over her—this one dark and accompanied with a drawling shout:

"Stay steady!" Bard hollered.

Remna wheezed, glancing over her shoulder.  "What are you doing?!"

"What do ya think?"  Bard gripped her body with his limbs.  Ponies screamed and collapsed in freezing deaths on either side of them while windigoes dove and bellowed from above.  "Savin' yer sorry keister!"

"Bard, stop—!" Remna growled.

"Ya dun have to thank me!"  Bard strained and strained to tug her skyward.  "Even though I know ya won't!"  His teeth clenched as he struggled.  "Grnnnngh!  Goddess-dayum, girl!  What the Hell are ya made of?"

"Don't!  I mean it!"  Remna hollered, trying to shake him off.  "You don't understand!  You can't—"

"You wanna get back to yer apprentice or not?!  Heaven knows I do—" Just as Bard was speaking, a windigo swept closely overhead.  A shriek pierced the battlefield, and a swath of frozen crystals materialized to the Desperado's right, causing an old catapult to explode with frost and shrapnel.  "Aaaaaaugh!" Bard's bellowing voice flew along a spray of cold blood.

"Guhhh!"  Remna tumbled, thrown off by Bard's grip.

The two went tumbling sideways while columns of frozen ice ripped through the plateau all around.  A layer of deathly cold snow blanketed their twitching figures.





"Aaaugh!"  Fluttershy yelped, clutching her skull.

"Flutters!"  Pinkie held the other mare close.

"Mrmmmff..."  Fluttershy looked up, eyes tearing.  "So... s-so many deaths..."  She wept.  "It's horrible... horrible!"

"We're stuck here, aren't we?"  Twilight grimaced.  "Against that many windigoes, there's no feasible way to escape!"

"I know..."  Rarity sniffled.  "...and to make it even worse, we're standing above a hollow pocket of earth!"

Rainbow did a double-take.  "Wait, what?!"

"Is it enough that Rainbow Dash and her friends must freeze to death?!"  Rarity leaned back, draping a hoof over her forehead.  "But their ice-cold corpses must fall hundreds of feet into the belly of the earth as well?!"

"The ground beneath us is hollow?!"  Rainbow exclaimed.

"..."  Rarity blinked, frozen in her damsel-in-distress pose.  "Well, yes.  Albeit... in random places—"

"Are we standing above such a random spot right now?!"

"Almost.  Why, darling—"

Rainbow shouted above the magnifying screams.  "Can you lead us to it?!"

"But why?!"  Rarity grimaced.  "Surely if we all congregate over the thin layer of permafrost, we'll fall through and end up below the ground's surface—"  She lurched in place, her eyes blinking.  "Oh."

Pinkie Pie reached over and moved Twilight's hoof up so that the unicorn was facehoofing.

"Mortuana!"  Rainbow spun about, hollering.  "Rarity's sensed a huge hollow pocket of earth beneath us!"

Mortuana calmly blinked.  "Where at, precisely?"

Rarity pointed northwest.  "That direction!  About thirty paces!"

"Over there!" Rainbow indicated.  "If we could just find a way to punch a hole through it—"

"Boom!" Logan belched.  "Instant windigo bunker!"

"Of courrse!"  Kepler nodded.  "Much of the Star Fringes have hollow limestone deposits!  Ha Hah!"

"Wouldn't... grnngh..."  Ariel winced.  "...they just f-follow us down there?"

"Not if we seal the entrance behind us!" Flynn said.  "It could be our chance!"

"Very well."  Mortuana nodded, gesturing with her narrow wings.  "Herald.  Follow Rainbow Dash!  Wildcard... take a hold of Ariel."

Wildcard nodded.  Thwoooosh!  In a blink, he was at Ariel's side, lifting her.

"Gnnnghhh..."  Ariel winced, but nevertheless clung to the griffon with a weak smile.  "Easy th-there... handsome..."

"Come on!"  Rainbow Dash galloped, pendant rattling.  "Rarity will show me the way!  I promise!"

"But..."  Fluttershy shifted.  "What about Bard?!"

"He and Remna are still out there, Rainbow!" Twilight said.

Panting, Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder.  She glanced at the Herald, then threw a nervous glance east.

The wall of deathly windigoes bore down on them.

The mare gulped.





"Mrmmmf..."

Bard winced.

"Grnnngh..."

Bard stirred.

His ears ached from the persistent howl of Windigoes above, behind, and ahead of him.

With weak eyes, he squinted past the dense winds of the blizzard surrounding him on all sides.  The stallion's teeth chattered.  He spotted bodies and corpses frozen and scattered in all directions—some old and others fresh.

For a moment, he was curious as to why he was conscious enough to witness so many details within the eye of the wintry storm.  Then he felt his body resting against an overturned wagon.  The structure had taken the brunt of the frosted blast, creating a tiny "cone" of undisturbed snow around him.  He gazed at multiple three-foot icicles protruding from the wreck... until his eyes fell on one particular shard that jutting sharply west... and impaling his right forelimb.

"Hooooooo boy..."  Bard gulped.  "...that is gonna suck to high Hell when I can feel it again."  He looked around, panting.  "If I can feel it again..."  He squinted out at the flurrying snowdrifts.  "Remna?!"  A deep breath, and he desperately hollered:  "Remnaaaaaa!"  He winced, panting.  "Hrmmmf... who the Hell am I kiddin'?"  He gulped, clenched his muscles, and attempted to slide free.  "Nnnngh... come on..."  He gave his muscles another jerk, triggering a sharp stab of pain from where he was pinned to the icicle.  "Aaaaaugh!  Buck me.  Not ready for any of that shiet yet... hrnkkk..."

The meager shelter his battered body was afforded grew narrower and narrower as the storm descended from all sides.

"Brbrbrbbrrbbbb..."  Shivering, he fumbled through his bandolier with a free hoof and produced a flask.  He brought the canteen to his muzzle, but nothing happened.  Squinting, he turned the container upside down and watched as a narrow strip of frozen cider plummeted to the snow like a dead weight.  "...now that's just insultin'."

The shrieks echoed.  The snow flurries closed in from every angle.

Bard shuddered.  He tipped the brim of his hat down and sighed.  "I'd go out with a song..."  A gulp.  "...but t'ain't nothin' worth singin' without my backup..."





Wildcard clenched his beak shut.  He held Ariel closely in his grasp, watching from above while Rainbow Dash swept over a flat patch of snow.

Rainbow panted and panted.  Her skull shook from the windigo cries—coupled with the terrorized screams of the Central Guard.  "Rarityyyy?"  She gulped.  "You got a fix, yet?"

"Yes!  Yes!"  Rarity pointed at one particular spot.  "There!  It's the thinnest!"

"Careful, though!"  Pinkie Pie phased up out of the ground, tail twitching.  "It's a real doozie once you punch through!"

"Is that it?!" Flynn asked, crowding behind Rainbow.

"It is!"  Rainbow nodded.  "With just enough pressure, we should be able to make a hole!"

"Then move the buck over!"  Logan brushed Rainbow aside with his axe.  "'Cuz holes are my specialty!"

"Specialty or phelia?" Flynn barked.

"Takes one to know one!"  Logan spat on his hooves, rubbed them together, then hoisted the axe up high with both forelimbs.  "Hnnnnnnnnnnnngh—Raaaaaaaugh!"  He slammed the thing down with all his might.

WHUDDDDD!

Nothing happened.

"It is petrrified perrmafrost, my larrge frriend!" Kepler said.  "It will take a grreat deal morre gusto!"

"I happen to have a diploma in gusto!"  Logan spat again and wielded the axe... again.  "Come onnnnnnn... smash through!

WHUDDDDDDD!

Yet again, the ground refused to budge.

"It... it should be working!" Rarity squeaked.

"He's simply not strong enough!" Twilight said.  "We have to find another way!"

"Big Show, uhm..."  Rainbow fidgeted.  "Maybe we have Flynn use his magic or Kepler his potions—"

"Shut the buck up!"  Logan heaved and panted.  He raised the axe again.  "I've got this—"

A bony fetlock gently rested on his shoulder.

"Step aside, my little pony," Mortuana remarked.

"But..."  Logan panted.  "Mountain Matron—"

"It was not a request."  Mortuana forced him aside.  She stood over the patch of snow, exhaled slowly, and closed her eyes.  Her hooves slid left and right, then met in the center.  She stood in dead silence.

Ariel watched, shivering in Wildcard's grip.

Flynn, Logan, and Kepler were silent.

Rainbow blinked, biting her lip.

"... ... ..."  Mortuana's eyelids tensed.  Suddenly, she reared up.  The bandages around her horn rippled as she let loose a high-pitched wail.  "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Th-Thud!  Her two hooves landed firmly in key spots.

Within a second—Crkkkkkkkk!—a narrow fissure formed across the earth.

"That did it!" Rarity said, grinning.

"Hah!"  Kepler smiled through his tusks.  "Well met, Mountain Matrron!"

"Stand back!" Flynn exclaimed, his horn glowing.  "Keep away from the mouth of the—"

POWWW!  The fissure blasted open, expelling a patch of ancient air.  A stale wind billowed skyward, briefly expelling the snow flurries.  The Herald flinched, waiting for the expulsion to run its course, which took nearly half-a-minute.  Once all was said and done, a narrow strip of open earth loomed before the group.  Flynn was the first to peer down, shining his horn.

"Well?!" Logan asked.

"It's a fifty foot drop!" Flynn exclaimed.  "I can easily float some of us down to safety!  The rest of us can fly!"

"Let's not waist another second!" Rainbow said, pointing up at Wildcard.  "Bright eyes!"

Wildcard nodded, then flew down with Ariel.

"Ah!"  Ariel winced, clinging to the griffon as the two descended.  "It's dark!"

"Hurry, Herald," Mortuana said firmly.  "Verlax's wrath is upon us."

"Huh?"  Logan turned, his eyes reflecting a solid gray wall of blizzard.  "Holy shit nipples!"

"Less poetry and more plunging, fatso!"  Flynn bucked the earth pony in the rear.  "Now jump!"  Whump!

"Gaaaaaaaaaiee!"  Logan plummeted into the cavern, wincing as he was enveloped in a telekinetic field.  "Flankhole!"

"You're... welcome..."  Flynn gnashed his teeth, lowering his companion from above.  "Rainbow?  Now would be a good time for—"

They were overcome by the sound of screams.  By then, the Central Guard had reached them.

"The soldiers," Mortuana said in a dull tone.  She craned her neck north in time to catch a line of griffons and ponies fleeing.  "They do not understand the severity of their peril."

"In trruth, ma'am..."  Kepler adjusted his spectacles as he perched on the side of the hole.  "Did they everr?"

"They are as much victims of this as we are," Mortuana said.

"Yeah...?"  Flynn panted, finished with lowering Logan.  "What can we do about it?"

Rainbow Dash blinked.  Gritting her teeth, she galloped to the north edge of the hole and hollered towards the fleeing soldiers:  "Hey!  Heeeeeey!"

A few glanced over in mid-gallop, eyes wide and full of terror.

"We have a way out!"  Rainbow pointed at the fissure.  "None of us can outrun those windigoes!   Best to hop underground—" 

"You brought this upon us, Rainbow Rogue!" a griffon shouted.

"You've angered Verlaxion!" a unicorn managed.  "Why should we listen to a word you have to—"

"Hey!  Bozos!"  Rainbow frowned.  "You wanna freeze to death?!  That's your choice!  But I'm not the bad guy here!  You don't have to believe me!"  She pointed at the hole once again.  "You just have to take a leap of faith!  It's your last chance!"

"... ... ..."  Over two dozen soldiers stumbled in their tracks.  Breathless, they looked at the west horizon, at the windigoes bearing down on them, then at Rainbow Dash.

At last, with nervous breaths, several Rohbreddenites galloped straight towards the Herald.

"Soldiers!"  A pegasus shouted.  "Maintain your retreat!  Do not give into the lies of the Blight!"

"I have a family to return to!"  A mare shouted, rushing towards the fissure.

"You can retreat wherever you want!" added a stallion, leaping into the hole.  Griffons and pegasi joined in, assisting those who couldn't fly.

"Heads up!" Rainbow shouted into the hollow below.  "We've got some extra company!"

"Kepler, the wagon!" Flynn shouted.

"By all means!"  Kepler pushed the cart over the edge.  As Flynn encased it in telekinesis, the wyvern flew down and guided it.  "Morrtuana?"

"Now is the time."  She spread her wings and stood on the lip of the hole.  "Austraeoh—"

Rainbow shook her head.  "I can't hop down until I at least hear word from Bard and—"

"Mountain Matron!"  A violet figure burst from the flurrying mists.  Remna scuffled to a stop, panting.  "Oh... the Austraeoh!"  She gulped.  "Good.  You have her."

"About damn time you showed up!"  Flynn exclaimed, straining with his horn.  "Brought the whole Windigo stampede with you, huh?"

"Where's Bard?" Rainbow asked.

"We..."  Remna gulped.  "...g-got separated."  He nostrils flared.  "I see you fashioned an escape.  Quickly.  We must get you undergrou—"

Rainbow gripped the bounty hunter by her violet neck.  "Where.  Is.  Bard?"

"Rainbow..."  Fluttershy murmured.

Rainbow looked over.

Fluttershy's ears drooped as she shook her head.  "It's... it's not good..."

"..."  Blinking, Rainbow looked east into the flurrying mess.

Remna took a deep breath.  "There was nothing I could do.  Austraeoh, you're more important than anything."  She cleared her voice and struggled to speak above the howling winds.  "We must get you underground before—"

"Buck that."  Rainbow elbowed past Remna and galloped straight into the blizzard.

Remna gasped, reaching out for her but stumbling.  "Austraeoh!"  She lurched in place, emerald eyes wide and quivering.  "She... she..."  She turned to look over her shoulder.  "What does she think she's doing?!"

"That which only she can do," Mortuana said.

"Mortuana..."  Remna growled.  "We have to stop her."

"No."  Mortuana shook her head.  "We must have faith in her."

Remna fumed... fumed... then tore east with a snarling breath.  "Damn it all..."

"Hey!  Hey!"  Flynn protested, but was too worn-out to intervene.  At last, the unicorn's horn fizzled out and he teetered.  "Unnngh..."

Mortuana calmly caught him.  She draped the Heraldite over his back and glided down into the hole.  "Fear not.  The Austraeoh shall return."  The alicorn breathed evenly.  "This is a test for both her and Remna..."

"I..."  Flynn shuddered, eyeing the blurring walls of the cavern with thin eyes.  "...I don't understand, Mortuana..."

"You will soon," Mortuana said, descending.  "We will all understand soon."





Panting, Rainbow galloped straight into the blinding currents.  Snow collected in thick layers across her muzzle, gear, and limbs.  Nevertheless, she pierced the howling tempest with fearless determination.

"Okay, Dashie!  You see that?!"  Pinkie flew ahead of her, pointing at her twitching tail, ears, muzzle, and mane.  "You see all of that?!  It means everything is happening from everywhere all at once!"  She pulled at her facial muscles.  "Have you gone completely loco in the coco?!"

"This is supremely daunting!" Rarity exclaimed.  "Even for you, darling!"

"I'm not gonna leave Bard out here to die!" Rainbow shouted, inadvertently swallowing clumps of snow.

"I want to rescue him as much as you do, Rainbow!" Twilight exclaimed.  "But what exactly do you think we can do at this point?!"

"I'll give you a hint!"  Rainbow frowned.  "Not think!"

"One of these days, that's going to kill you, Rainbow!" Twilight hollered.

"Cool!  Let's hope they fill my coffin with plenty of cider!"  Rainbow struck a patch of whipping winds and pushed her aching shoulder against it.  "Rnnnngh... Fluttershy?!  Do you have a fix on where he's at?"

"I... I sense him!  But barely!"  Fluttershy pointed southeast.  "There!  In that direction!"

"There's at least three rows of wreckage in the way!"  Rarity exclaimed.

"Cool!"  Rainbow panted.  "I like a challenge—"

"Augh!"  Twilight winced, clutching her strobing horn.

"What's wrong?"  Rarity asked.

"The windigoes..."  Twilight gnashed her teeth, eyes tearing.  "They're all around us!"

"Never mind that!"  Pinkie yelped as her tail twitched insanely.  "Dashie, roll out!"

Rainbow held her breath and instantly somersaulted—

FWOOOOOOSH!  The ghostly limbs of a wintry beast sliced through the earth where she once was.  Razor sharp icicle forms at Rainbow's tail.  Crkkkkk!

"Goodness, me!" Rarity yelped.

"There's more of them!" Twilight hollered.  "From the north and south!"

"Zig zag!" Pinkie hollered, clutching her tail.  "Serpentine it, ya crazy pegasus!"

"Httt!"  Rainbow jumped left, right, and left again.

With hellish screams, the windigoes emerged from the blizzard, sweeping low and slashing hard.  They left swaths of frozen destruction in their wake, slicing the earth and casting spray of powdery snow in every direction.  The wind carried the debris aloft, so that it ripped violently over Rainbow's head.

The mare ducked low, galloping madly in spite of her shivers.  "Rnnngh... Fluttershy—"

"Almost there, Rainbow!" Fluttershy yelped.

"Just keep moving, Rainbow!" Twilight hollered.

"Whatever you do!"  Pinkie panted.  "Don't stop—"

More shrieks.  Specral limbs dragged through the air as the air exploded above Rainbow with wintry thunder.

"Aaaaugh!"  Rainbow lost traction as her body was thrown forward and into the blizzard.





West...

Beneath the plateau's surface...

Wildcard placed Ariel down on the ground.  Behind him, Kepler and Logan illuminated the jagged cavern with their Odrsjot bands.  The rainbow-colored light revealed the panicked muzzles and eyes of several murmuring members of the Central Guard.  Everyone—Rohbreddenite and Heraldite alike—huddled in a tense hush as the wind and blizzard picked up overhead.

Swoooosh!  Mortuana landed with Flynn.  "Keep an eye on the mouth of the cave," the alicorn leader firmly said.

"Where..."  Ariel shivered, gulping.  "Where's Rainbow Dash?"

"She will be joining us shortly," Mortuana said.

"I swore I heard Remna's voice for a second there," Logan breathed.  "What the Hell is going on?"

"She went after Rainbow," Flynn stammered, shivering.

"Huh?"

Flynn gulped and reiterated:  "Rainbow fled east to try and save Bard and Remna went after her."

Logan did a double-take.  "What?!?"

"Against that many windigoes..."  Kepler shook his head.  "...most perilous indeed."

Wildcard grimaced.  Shivering, the Desperado looked up at the hole.  The sky turned from gray to black.  Frowning, he flapped his wings and made to fly up there—

"No, Wildcard."

The griffon froze in place.  He spun until his goggles reflected Mortuana's solemn expression.

"I know you care for Bard, but you must remain here.  Exiting the cave at this point would surely kill you."

Wildcard frowned.

"You've had your moments to be heroic," the alicorn continued.  "Now is not such a moment."

"Mountain Matrron..." Kepler cleared his throat.  "In a minute—at best two—those abominable monsterrs will be on top of us."  He pointed at his cart.  "You must allow me to close the entrrance.  With Flynn's help, I can—"

"Not without Rainbow and Bard!" Ariel wheezed.  "They're still out there with Remna!"

"Yeah, and for how friggin' long?" Logan muttered.

Ariel bit her lip, shivering.

"Verlax thinks she is testing Rainbow Dash," Mortuana said.  She slowly shook her head.  "She is only partially right."

"What... what do we do?" Flynn stammered.

Mortuana closed her eyes and took a meditative breath.  "We wait."

Wildcard shivered in mid-hover.  His beak clattered as he stared forlornly up at the hole.





The last square inch of untouched snow vanished around Bard.

The stallion shivered less and less.  His eyelids lowered as his breath left him in a limp cloud of vapors.

"Mrmmmf... not... any b-better... than I deserve..."  His ears drooped.  A hint of moisture clung to his lashes, then turned to specks of frost as he hung his weary head.  "Amber... Melody..."  A whimper.  "...f-forgive me.  I tried my best—"

"Bard!"

"...!"  The stallion's eyes fluttered open.

The gray world fogged, then unfogged.  A rainbow shape materialized, galloping straight towards him.

"Bard, hold on!"

"Hmmmmf..."  Bard's lips curved slightly.  "Encore."

Swooosh!  Rainbow slid to a stop beside him.  Her eyes instantly bugged at the icicle impaling his forelimb.  "Holy cow!  Dude, your hoof!"

"I know... r-right...?"  Bard winced.  "Knew that one of these days I'd get the point."

"Dang it, Bard!"  Rainbow craned her neck, looking at the blizzard howling past the wreckage.  "Now's not the time!"

"I might... mrmmmf... wanna take up the harmonica for a lil' while..."  He said, squirming where he was pinned down.  "Tell Dubya he can have the guitar."

"I'm not telling Wildcard nothing!" Rainbow said, digging at the ground and scooping the snow out from under Bard so they'd have more room to move him.  "Not until you're there with me to chat face-to-beak!"

"I... g-got a secret to tell ya," Bard said, wheezing.  "Dubya-Cee?  Well... he ain't nearly as chatty as I let on."

"Can you crouch, Bard?"

"Most of the time he's only ever lettin' on about the bounty or whatshiet—"

"Bard, pay attention!  Rarity found a cave where we can hide out the windigo stampede!  The rest are waiting for us there!"  Rainbow frowned.  "Now, can you crouch?  I wanna try and snap off this shard thingy—"

"Not sure if there's a point to it, darlin'," Bard stammered.  "I'm stuck good and proper.  And even if ya got me unpinned, I'd only weigh you down on the way back to wherever—"

"Okay, look, just shut up for a bit, okay?"  Rainbow panted, fumbling around the stallion.  "Rarity?  Are his bones in tact?"

The unicorn phased out of the wagon.  "The shard's pierced flesh and muscle.  His leg should be sturdy enough to be dragged out of here without breaking."

"He's in more pain than he's letting on," Fluttershy said.  "We gotta move him gently."

"I'm not sure we can be 'gentle' about it!" Twilight exclaimed.  "The storm is getting thicker and—"

"Uhhhhhhhhhhh... guys?"  Pinkie gulped, her whole body vibrating like a tuning fork.  "Don't look now, but..."

Shrieks pierced Rainbow's and Bard's ears.

Rainbow looked up, eyes wide.  "From what direction...?"  She hissed aside.  "Twilight?!  What direction?"

Twilight pointed.  "East!  A whole pack of them!"

"They're coming in fast!" Pinkie squeaked.

"What... what is it?" Bard stammered.

Rainbow panted, looking every which way.  "The windigoes..."  She gulped.  "They're... they're bearing down..."

"... ... ..."  Bard glanced aside, then at her.  "Go back to Wildcard."

"Bard..."

"Tell 'em that he's the best mofo I ever done kicked bad guy flank with," Bard grunted.  "And... and th-that he gave me more than a griffon should ever have the right to give."

"I gotta do something—"

"He'll know what I mean."  Bard exhaled.  "He always does."

"Darn it, Bard, I'm not—"  Rainbow froze in place.  Her ruby eyes reflected a disturbance in the stormfront.  Holding her breath, she rushed over and braced herself alongside Bard, wrapping a forelimb tightly around him.

The stallion was gnashing his teeth at this point.  "Hell's bells, Rainbow!  Will ya head back to the others already?!"

"No go, dude."

"Ya got nothin' to prove and I got nothin' to give anymore!  I ain't Herald material!"

"Of course not..."  Rainbow reached into her vest and hoisted her pendant loose.  "...you're made of better stuff."

"Dammit!  I forgive ya!"

"Huh?"  Rainbow glanced aside.

"I said..." Bard spat.  "I done forgive ya for the Quade!  Now git!"

The ruby lightning bolt pulsed with bright light.  Rainbow gasped—for she hadn't yet touched it.  She blinked, glanced at Twilight, then looked back at Bard.  "Forgive me again."

"Huh?"

"I said forgive me harder!"

"What are you—?!"

"Just do it!"

Bard hollered, "I forgive ya for bein' a narrow-minded, dag-blame'd idiot!"

"More!" Rainbow shouted, aiming the pendant up so that its ruby glow met the incoming stormclouds.  "Keep going!"

Bard seethed.  "And I forgive ya for bein' so plum dishonest to me, Dubya, and yer ghost friends that it dayum-near compromised everythang you ever taught me into believin' in!"

Shrieks lit the air.  The snouts of demonic equines billowed through the fog, converging on them.

"Now sing!"  Rainbow hollered into the face of wintry death.  Her pendant glowed hotter and hotter.  "Sing with me!"

"The Hell—?!"

"The fire of friendship lives in our h-hearts—" Rainbow's voice cracked.

FWOOOOOOSH!  The windigoes slammed into the two.

Twilight and the others shrieked.  Rainbow flinched, nuzzling Bard close.

Right at that moment—Flaaaaaaaaaaaaaaash!—a ruby stream of harmonic light issued forth from Rainbow's pendant.

For the first time since stampeding, the Windigoes opened their muzzles in distress.  They thrashed and kicked and pummeled at the two ponies—only to be held back by a translucent wall of ruby luminescence.  The wintry streams of snow ended in a tight circle around the two equines.

Rainbow Dash lifted her head, continuing to sing—albeit awkwardly—through clenched teeth.  "As long as it burns, we cannot drift apart.  Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few..."

Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy stopped flinching.  They gaped at the scene, exchanged shocked glances, then joined Rainbow in the chorus.  Bard also sang along—as well as his panicked lungs could keep up.  The stallion's wide eyes darted about, staring incredulously at the windigoes as they were held at bay.

"Laughter and singing will see us through.  Will see us through.  We are a circle of pony friends."  Rainbow struggled for breath, then held Bard tighter as she spouted:  "A circle of friends we'll be to the very end."

Louder, the windigoes shrieked and screamed.  Despite their monsterous efforts, they could not break through the barrier summoned by Rainbow's pendant.  Gradually, one by one, they backed off and formed a swarming circle around the two, whinnying and howling in frustration.

"They... they're..."  Bard gulped.  "...they're backing off!"  He winced from his injury, then glanced aside at Rainbow.  "What the Hell did we just do?"

Rainbow exhaled with a shudder.  "Something that the 'foals of Verlaxion' never got a chance to do..."  Her eyes darted across the wreckage and corpses of the ancient battlefield.  "A certain Divine saw to that."

"Rainbow..."  Twilight floated closer.  "That... that was amazing!"  She didn't stay cheery for long.  "But I'm afraid the herd of windigoes is just too much.  We're trapped here so long as they're surrounding us."

"Then how will we get back to the others?" Rarity asked.

"We're n-not alone," Fluttershy said.

"Huh?"  Pinkie blinked.  Then her head turned at the sound of galloping hooves.

"There!  There you are!"  Remna came bounding through the storm.  She skidded to a stop before Bard and Rainbow, panting.  "Rainbow Dash!  What's gotten into you?!"

"Jee..."  Bard muttered, eyebrows straight.  "I wonder."

"It's too dangerous out here!  Even for the Austraeoh!"  Remna paled slightly.  "I... I can scarcely believe that you are still alive..."

"Pick a tune, girl!" Rainbow sputtered.  "Either you care or you don't care!"

"Hey... uhm..."  Bard fidgeted.  "Hate to break a wonderfully delicious catfight before it's bloomed, but... err..."  He pointed at his impaled forelimb.

"Remna, you wanna be useful?"  Rainbow shifted about and stood on the other side of Bard.  "Lend me a hoof here!  We gotta get him loose from this stupid ice!"  She struggled on her own.  Frowning, she glared up at the bounty hunter.  "Remna?!  Are you on our side or aren't you?!"

"... ... ..."  Remna stared blankly past Rainbow Dash.  Two tiny slits of blue light reflected off her eyes.

"... ... ...?"  Rainbow blinked.

"Rainb—... ...—ash!"  Twilight's voice phased in and out.

Rainbow turned to look.

Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy vanished, reappeared, flickered, and materialized again.  They all flung nervous looks at their anchor.

"—t's happe—... ...—gain!"  Twilight managed before she and the others disappeared in a flash of lavender.  In their place, a small silver figure could be seen, standing beyond the swirling mists and rampaging windigoes.  The banshee equines swooped skyward, making room for the suit of armor as it took several lurching steps towards Rainbow.  Cold blue shards of ice marked the dead earth upon which its metal hooves tread.

"Sentimentality," an out-of-body voice vibrated through the blizzard.  "It will be the end of you, Austraeoh."

Bard gulped.  "I dun suppose we can sing that away."

"Verlax, call these freaky things off!" Rainbow hollered, frowning.  "You've proven your point!"

"And just what is that point, exactly?"  The slitted blue eyes pierced the fog.  The golem's helm rattled with each pronounced syllable.  "Are you enlightened enough to tell me?"

"You wanted to prove that the Austraeoh's journey was tough!  That's it, right?!"  Rainbow gnashed her teeth.  "Well, it's not like I needed such a lame test to begin with, but I totally get it now!  It's no walk in the park!  There, I've said it!  Now scram!  Get lost!"  She stomped her hooves.  "And let me clear a path to Yaerfaerda already!"

Remna suddenly hollered:  "You are only complicating things!  If you believe in the Austraeoh's purpose, as I do, then allow her the freedom to get to her destination and be done with it!"

"Tell me, Rainbow Dash," the golem spoke, pacing around the eye of the storm.  "How can I believe you've learned anything if all you do is repeat past mistakes?"

"What are you blathering about this time?" Rainbow exclaimed, crouching protectively beside Bard.

The golem pointed a silver hoof at the stallion.  "I mean, of course, your frailty for choosing companions.  It will only end up in your heartache... or their doom."

Rainbow bit her lip.  She and Bard exchanged glances.

"No, Rainbow Dash... the lesson you must learn is an honest one.  Can you live with leaving a foul legacy behind?"  The voice rang, growing deeper, more sinister.  "Or must you constantly try to fill in the void with expendable flesh and blood?"  The silver helm slowly shook.  "I assure you... on the dark side... you will not be making friends to accomplish your goal.  Only enemies."

"You don't know anything," Remna growled into the swirling mists.  "For all of your magical mastery and intuition, you've failed to take proper stock of the Austraeoh's courage and tenacity!"

"Failed in my intuition, have I?"  The Divine's voice took on a melodic tone.  The helm pivoted, its slitted eyes flickering at Remna.  "Tell me, sister, what exactly convinced you to abandon your strength for anonymity?  Sheer might has always been your strong suit...until now..."

Remna froze in place.

"Huh?"  Rainbow blinked.

Bard's brow furrowed.  "'Sister?'"

"Did you seriously think that the broken alicorn's spell would mask you from my sight?"  The golem hissed, gazing upon the violet mare.  "Now, Mortuana's energy has been reduced to a single, fragile vial of petrified blood.  Such selfishness is not foreign to you, sister.  I'm not the one endangering the Austraeoh's journey.  You are.  It's always been you..."

"The Hell is she going on about?" Bard stammered.

By now, Rainbow was gawking at the pony in question.  "Remna...?"

Remna glared.  For a brief second, her emerald eyes flared, intensifying into narrow slits.  "You didn't exactly give me much choice, Verlax..." she spoke in a suddenly booming voice.

"Indeed!" the golem scoffed.  "And Nevlamas!  Did you have any more of a choice when you slew her in cold blood?!"

"She had gone mad," Remna growled.  The snow around her hooves steamed, melting outward from her violet flesh.  "As have you!  I, at least, had come to grips with the Austraeoh's purpose!  I came to you specifically for help in steering her to her destiny!"

"By doing what?!  Watching from afar as she suffered the perils of warring continents and powerhungery metamorphs?!"  The golem shook its head.  "No, Axan.  The beacons needs our help in being kindled.  I have wisely chosen to shape those perils so that they may carry her to her destination.  Without our guidance, she will be snuffed out before she has enough energy to recharge this dying plane."

"All she needed," Remna shouted, "Was protection!"

"A foolish notion conceived by a foolish Monarch who couldn't even keep her hoard intact."  The golem tilted its head up.  "You spent the last few bitter centuries lying on your golden treasures and waiting to die.  And I?  I've been preparing for the Austraeoh for eons.  It's no wonder our beloved Endrax abandoned the light side so long ago.  Harmony has made you soft just as chaos made Nevlamas insane.  Someone must strike a chord for equilibrium, and where you became an afterthought, I... became a goddess."

"It will not work..." Remna stamped her hooves as she fumed.  "Do you hear me, sister?!  You are not in charge of the Austraeoh's destiny!  None of us are but the Austraeoh!"

"And why should I find merit in your declaration?  You are not in charge of anything!  You were a Divine once, Axan, but look at you now!  A pathetic whelp inside the remnants of a deceased pony... sewn together by a pathetic idealist alicorn who's dead on her hooves.  What makes you think she will use that last vial on you?  Perhaps you will be doomed to die in that form, watching—powerless—as the Austraeoh grows far beyond your agency.  And when all is said and done and the Sundering has been reversed, the only time future generations will ever sing your name is when they remember the beastly misanthrope that almost slew the Austraeoh and doomed all of civilization for eternity."

Remna was shaking at this point.  Her eyes flickered again and again and—

"So, yes, 'protect' her all you can, sister."  The messenger's voice rolled in thunderous laughter.  "Only the Austraeoh can afford to make an honest mistake at this point.  But you?  You will only be the dead weight, holding her down—"

"Rrrrrrgh—"  Remna charged forward and leapt at the golem.  "RAAAUGH!"

POWWW!  The armor shattered, releasing cold blue mana into the air.

Rainbow and Bard winced.  In a blink, Rainbow's marefriends rematerialized around her.

"Rainbow!"  Twilight gasped.  She spun around.  "What's happening?  Where... where's the golem—"

"Yeesh..."  Pinkie squinted at the violet mare.  "What's her deal?"

Remna stood over the disenchanted shrapnel, panting.  Spinning around, she galloped back towards the wreckage.  "Come on!"  With a single swipe of her invulnerable hoof, she shattered the icicle completely, freeing Bard from where he slumped.  She threw the groaning stallion over her flank.  "We're going back to Mortuana!"

"B-but..."  Rainbow Dash stammered, glancing at the flattened shreds of armor.  "But—!"

"We move!  Now!"  Remna flung Rainbow a death glare.  "Or I drop him completely!"

Rainbow gulped.  "After y-you..."

Remna charged due west.

Stumbling, Rainbow followed.  With the harmonic shield dissolved, the windigoes broke formation and surged after them, shrieking through the storm and leaving jagged icicles in their wake.





Inside the cavern...

Wildcard paced and paced in the air.  His wingflaps were the only audible thing—save for the howling of wind above the fissure.

Flynn and Kepler looked straight up, nervously clutching a series of chemical cannisters and explosives.

Logan knelt beside Ariel, patching up the mare's leg.

Off in the distance, flanking the huddled survivors of the Central Guard, Mortuana stood in meditative silence.

At last, the alicorn's eyes opened.

"The messenger is vanquished."

The rest of the Herald glanced over.

"Get ready."  Mortuana stood up straight.  "Austraeoh returns."





"Aaaa-aa-aaaugh..."  Bard hissed in pain, flouncing atop Remna's flank.  "...my g-guitar for a sl-sled!"

"Silence!"  Remna sneered, galloping faster and faster.  "No time for anything but moving!"

"They're right behind us, Rainbow!" Twilight yelped.  "But... what's going on?!  How did—"

"Duck!" Pinkie hollered.

"Get down!" Rainbow shouted.  Before she was done exhaling, Windigoes dove at the ponies, blasting the air with deathly frost.

"Whoah dayum!" Bard hollered, nearly slipping off Remna's back.

"We can make it!"  Fluttershy gulped.  "Won't we?"

"The entrance is up ahead!"  Rarity pointed.  "Hurry, Rainbow!"

"Mortuana!" Rainbow shouted into the screeching winds.  "We're here!"

"Hurry, Rainbow!" Ariel's voice called out.  "They gotta shut it!"

"Send Wildcard to fetch Bard—" Rainbow said as windigoes descended on them.

"No time!"  Remna spat, grabbing Bard and swinging.  "Incoming!"

"Oh hell naw—" Bard gasped as he was thrown violently down the hole.  "Dag nabbitttt—!"

"In!"  Remna pointed.  "Now!"

"Remna..."  Rainbow clenched her teeth.  "Axan.  How did in the heck—?"

"Later!"  Whap!  Remna savagely bucked Rainbow, then plunged herself.  "We're through!"

"Now, Flynn!  Kepler!" Mortuana shouted.

"Firre forrth, brrotherr!"  Kepler tossed the explosive cannisters high.

As Remna, Bard, and Rainbow fell—Flynn thrust the grenades upwards.  They struck the mouth of the cave just as the windigoes flew in from all sides.

POWWWWW!

The mouth collapsed.

The members of the Central Guard flinched.

Ariel clung to Logan.

Wildcard caught Bard and Rainbow landed neatly across Mortuana's backside as she looked up.

All she saw was Remna's plunging figured—followed by a column of collapsing snow and rocks...

...and then the cavern was flung into pitch black darkness.
> Hi There, How's the Hoard?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"The windigoes!  They're upon us!"

"Oh Goddess!"

"Verlaxion, save us!"

"Protect your faithful foals, blessed Unifier—"

"Will you damnable pillow-humping snotjobs shut the buck up for one friggin' second?!  Flynn!  Turn on a light, goddess dammit!"

"At ease, Big Show.  I'm recharging mana here."

"I urrge everryone to rremain calm.  We arre safe forr the moment."

"Yes, but safe where?"

"Just hold yer horses and let Flynn do his thang!"

"Alright, everypony.  Eyes open!"

A cold blue light emanated from Flynn's horn.  It charged up a crystalline rod which he held up with glowing telekinesis, casting a shimmering aura across the dim cavernous interior.

The chamber was still settling from the recent explosion.  Rocks, pebbles, and powdery layers of snow came to a rough stop all around the twin groups of survivors.  The Herald and the breathless members of the Central Guard looked straight up to see a relatively dull roof of ice and porous limestone resting overhead.  Loose rocks and boulders dislodged by the explosion had piled up, patching the hole in the terrain's surface, blocking out all light and wind.

A persistent roar of whinnying banshees and stampeding hooves echoed across the roof of the chamber.  The soldiers of the Central Guard shuddered in momentary fright, but gradually calmed when the noise grew more and more distant.

Everypony stopped holding their breaths.  The sounds of panting and sighing filled the chamber, with the likes of Ariel, Bard, Kepler, Flynn, and Logan exchanging relieved glances.

A good two minutes after the crystal had been lit, the air rang with the sound of swords and axes being drawn.

"...!"  Wildcard spun in mid-hover, facing the Central Guard with both nightsticks unsheathed.  Schiiiiing!

Some of the Rohbreddenites flinched while others frowned, pointing angry hooves at the Herald.  "You!  You brought this upon us!"

"You and your insufferable black magic from beyond the Blight!"

"You've polluted this continent and incurred Verlaxion's wrath—!"

"Hey!"  Logan growled, nostrils flaring.  "Dumbasses!  You weren't the only ones in peril up there!"

"Huh?!"

Bard clutched his bleeding hoof, frowning.  "In case you didn't notice... grnnngh... them windigoes were attackin' all of us!"

"Only because we f-failed in defeating the scourge of this land," a griffon stammered, still breathless.  "You've cursed us!  Cursed us all!"

"Don't take it the hard way," Flynn said, levitating the crystal until it shone in their faces.  "You've guys trained for—what—two years of boot camp at Frostknife?  Five tops?"  He blew out the side of his muzzle.  "We've been fighting all of our lives to get this good."

"Yeah."  Ariel nodded from where she leaned against Kepler.  "You all just suck."

An angry shiver rolled through the guardians.

"You are all accomplices to the Rainbow Rogue!" a stallion snarled, dragging a hoof.  "If you aren't stopped, then your very presence spells doom to our Queen and all that she's accomplished for the Tribes!"

"Alas, it is this deceitful 'Queen of Frrost' who has crrafted that verry same doom since the dawn of civilization!" Kepler remarked.  "She carres forr you no morre orr less than the rrest of us!"

A pony spat, "Like we'll ever give heed to the words of a traitorous freak like you, wyvern!"

Kepler adjusted his spectacles.  "Eh?"

"Look, y'all..."  Bard frowned, craning his neck to catch the gaze of the other survivors.  "If we was such horrible bad guys, then why'd we bother to let you come down here with us?"

"We're not the ones who sprung an ambush!" Flynn exclaimed, his light shaking slightly.  "Our qualm is with Verlax.  Not with you guys!"

"If you seek to engage the Queen of Frost in combat, then it is our duty to intervene!" One griffon roared.

Another pony shuffled up, limping in his battered armor.  "They... they do have a point.  They did save us."

Yet another nodded, adding:  "And when the windigoes attacked, they attacked all of us."  She blinked.  "There was no other escape!"

The griffon spun around, beak clattering.  "Don't tell me that you're actually defending these usurpers?!"

"They had every reason to destroy us... twice."  The mare frowned back.  "Once on the battlefield, and just now while escaping the frosted demons."  She sighed.  "We can live to see our loved ones again.  Doesn't that count for something?"

A few other members of the group muttered in mixed agreement.

The outspoken griffon sighed, bowing his head.  He turned to glare at the Herald.  "You have bested us in combat before.  I refuse to sacrifice any of my fellow comrades in attempting to fight you again in tighter quarters."  He gnashed his teeth.  "For that reason and that reason alone will I hold back my wrath."

"Jee, thanks," Logan grumbled.  "Spoken like a true shit-for-brains."

Flynn face-hoofed.  "Goddessdammit, Big Show..."

"Rrrrrngh!"  A mare in armor unsheathed a mace in a show of anger.  Schiiing!  "Buck chivalry!  These are putrid cretins of Blight, and I've pledged my life to ending them before they get to Starkiss!"  She galloped straight across the cavern.  "Raaaaaugh!"

Another soldier reached a hoof out.  "No!  Blast it, wait!"

She hadn't made it ten feet when Wildcard swooped down and clashed with her.  Swoooooooosh!  Clannnnnng!  Sparks splashed as they struggled against one another.

An emaciated pair of hooves slammed into the cavern's floor.  "Everyone cease this second!" Mortuana's voice roared.  The resulting echo sounded like pure thunder, shaking every mortal to their core.

The mare leaned back, panting.

Wildcard hovered at a distance.  Taking a calm breath, he fluttered backwards, making room for Mortuana to approach the Central Guard.  The alicorn stood before the group, taking a long regal breath before speaking.

"My little ponies, you have every reason to be angry," Mortuana said.  "And mournful."  Her eyes narrowed.  "Not only have you found your valiant efforts thoroughly diffused, but you have suffered the loss of multiple comrades.  I am exceedingly sorry for this."  She sighed.  "But remember that my subordinates—although viscious in their defense—spared the lives of all whom they could.  In the meantime, it was the stampede of windigoes that consumed the lives of your noble compatriots.  It was never our wish for this to happen, nor was it our desire to come to blows in the first place."

Several members of the Central Guard hung their heads.  Others avoided Mortuana's gaze with steely anger and conternation.

"Only one creature in the whole of Rohbredden history has ever wielded control over the windigoes, and she has shown her true form to everyone on the battlefield above us—just as she did millennia ago to the unlucky souls frozen in time."  Mortuana's jaw clenched.  "It is the issue of this great deceiver that we hope to rectify through our pilgrimage to Starkiss.  Not only does Rohbredden depend on the reckoning to come, but the whole world at large... and even more beyond that."

"You're a liar and an assassin," a stallion bravely said, sneering up at Mortuana.  "And the defenders of Verlaxion will stop you."

Mortuana slowly nodded.  "That may be so.  Alas, for the moment, we are all stuck in the same predicament... a situation that I highly doubt you have the resources to escape.  However... my Herald does possess the means of venturing forward from this entombment.  If you follow us—peacefully and without conflict—then I promise that all of you will make it home to your families alive.  Venture forth on your own, and you will not be helped... most especially not by your so-called 'Goddess.'"

The members of the Central Guard exhanged nervous glances.  They fidgeted in their armor.

"The choice is up to you," Mortuana said.  "As for me and my group—we cannot tarry for long.  The path lies ever long before us, and time is of the essence... for all of us: Rohbredden and beyond."  That being said, the alicorn calmly turned around, folding her bony wings beside her.  "Flynn.  What is the state of your manabanks?"

Flynn was already fishing through his pack.  "If I conserve one crystal at a time, it should be enough to hold us out for a day.  It'll just be very dim."

"We'll make torches in the meantime to assist in the subterrannean trek."  Mortuana pivoted again.  "Kepler?  What is the status of our injured?"

"Hah!"  The wyvern smiled through his tusks.  "Glorrious news, mountain matrron!  The brrave Barrd and the lovely Arriel have sufferred superrficial wounds at worst!"

"Rnnngh..."  Ariel hissed through her teeth, hunched over and clutching her bandaged limb.  "The jolly wyvern's got a l-loose d-definition of 'superficial.'"

"Eeyup..."  Bard nodded shakily.  "What she said."  Swooooosh!  Wildcard glided down to his side, holding a metal talon on his shoulder.  The stallion looked up, smiling thinly.  "I'm okay, buddy.  For real..."  He weakly hoof-bumped with the griffon.  "I ain't licked yet."

Wildcard smirked slightly, his headcrest drooped.

"Hmmmm..."  Mortuana nodded.  "Is the cart in one piece?"

Kepler nodded.  "That it is, Morrtuana."

"We should place Bard and Ariel there to rest for the next stretch of the journey."

"And just wherre, exactly, will ourr jourrney be taking us in this spelunking mannerr?"

"A fine question indeed."  Mortuana spoke over her shoulder, "Remna, would you be so kind as to scout ahead for us?  In the meantime, Rainbow Dash, we will be relying on the fine senses of your dear companions."

"Uhhhhhhhhhh..."  Logan shuffled up, tugging on the alicorn's dark tail.  "Morty?"  He gestured towards the east end of the cavern.  "Don't look now, but..."

"Hmmm?"  Mortuana turned, blinking.

The passage ahead of them was completely vacant.  Rainbow and Remna were nowhere to be seen.

"Ah..."  Mortuana calmly blinked.  "...I see."





Rainbow huffed and puffed.  Despite the fresh bruises of combat across her limbs, she galloped up and over crags of rock, navigating the winding corridor of rock.  The light from her pendant wobbled, causing crimson shadows to dance all around.

"Rainbow!"  Twilight Sparkle struggled to keep up with her anchor.  She phased in and out of structures, gnashing her teeth.  "Rainbow Dash, slow down!"

"What Twi said!" Pinkie nodded, floundering and bouncing against lavender force fields.  "We all know that caves are your bread and butter, Dashie, but will ya take it easy?"

"You have us all worried, darling!" Rarity exclaimed.  "What's gotten you in such a tizzy?"

"Did... did something happen up there on the surface?" Twilight stammered.  "Something with the frost vessel of Verlax?"

"I gotta find Remna," Rainbow Dash grunted, hopping and leaping across random ledges.  Her pendant illuminated a narrow fissure with granite platforms edging both sides.  "Gotta figure everything out once and for all."

"Figure what out?!"  Rarity squeaked.  "Rainbow, please!  Talk to us!"

"All this time..."  Rainbow gritted her teeth.  "...why'd she have to hide it?!  Why does she always have to hide?!"

Twilight blinked.  "Who?  Remna?"

"Uhm..."  Fluttershy floated alongside Rainbow, pointing straight ahead.  "She's in front of you.  A level up.  Standing on a ledge."

Rainbow tilted her pendant up slightly.

The red light caught a violet figure in mid-stride.  Remna prepared to hop another gap in the rocks.

"Remna!" Rainbow hollered.

"Still... have a long way to go before Starkiss," the "bounty hunter" grumbled.  She hopped across the empty space and landed on a lofty platform.  Her hot breath formed thick vapors in the cold, cavernous air.  "I must perform recon... for you... for the Herald."

"Remna, stop for one friggin' second!"  Rainbow's hooves scuffled against the cold, cold rock.  The hairs on the back of her head stood on end.  "Axan!"

Remna froze in mid-step.  Her ears drooped beneath her fiery dreadlocks.

Rainbow's marefriends blinked.  Twilight and Rarity gawked at one another.

"Uhhhhhh..."  Pinkie squinted.

Remna took a deep breath.  Without looking, she at last spoke.  "My sister is wise to my location.  The Herald's been compromised."  Her voice rumbled deeply, laced with a reptilian hiss:  "This is not what I wanted to happen."

"Then just what did you think you were gonna accomplish?!" Rainbow's voice cracked.  "Huh?!?"

"...go back to Mortuana, Austraeoh," Remna muttered.  "You will be safest in her charge—"

"I don't want to be safe!"  Rainbow Dash stomped her hooves.  "I want the truth!"

"... ... ..."  Remna turned to glare down at her.  Her emerald pupils narrowed to scrutinous eyeslits.  "And what good do you expect from the truth, Rainbow Dash?"

"It doesn't matter," Rainbow grumbled.  "Just talk to me already!"

"Oh, but I think it does."  Remna turned around completely.  She stood in Rainbow's harmonic spotlight, staring down at the petite pegasus from her lofty platform.  "For is that not the crux of your journey as of late?  My sister stated so, thus her diabolical test.  It's evident that she knows far more than you and I combined."  Her nostrils flared with smokey vapors.  "It was truth, after all, that rid me of my hoard and my brood.  I suspect that Verlax has even more to lose in embracing the destiny of Austraeoh, no matter how warped her perception of it may be."

Silence.

Pinkie twitched.  She gestured a "gun" to her forehead.  "Puffffft!"  Her eyes rolled back as she performed a ghostly pratfall.

Rainbow frowned up at the violet mare.  "The whole reason we're in this mess is because Verlax's been manipulating this entire continent against me with her lies."  Her brow furrowed angrily.  "You really wanna learn a lesson from her?  Take a courageous step and open up!  Or does every Divine have to be a stuck-up, pretentious immortal?!"

"Only the resourceful ones."

"Axan..."  Rainbow Dash took a bold step forward while her friends looked on.  "...the last time you and I had anything even remotely resembling a rational conversation, it was in a cave much like this one... with the cards stacked up just like they are right now."  She gulped hard.  "And it ended with you murdering me."

Remna stared at her.

"Do you really wanna repeat history?  Or protect the Austraeoh?"  Rainbow raised an eyebrow.  "Switch gears.  Stop hiding and level with me..."  Her ears folded back as her lips pursed.  "Have you... really been watching after me all this time?"  She gulped.  "Through Ledomare... Alafreo... Val Roa... a-and the Grand Choke?"

Remna stood in silence.  Her braided tail flicked... then fell limp.  At last, she replied in one fuming breath:  "...Yes."

Twilight and Rarity gulped.

Rainbow had to contain her snarls:  "You... were there the whole time..."  Her hooves dragged against rock.  "Watching."

Remna calmly nodded.  "I was."

"You could have intervened."  Rainbow was shaking at this point.  "In Stratopolis... at the Quade..."  Her teeth gnashed together.  "In Lerris!"

"The Austraeoh's path is her own to tread," Remna said firmly.  "Eljunbyro was required to guide the spark to Yaerfaerda and beyond, not the Divines."  Her brow furrowed.  "I only manifested myself when it was absolutely necessary to preserve your life—such as when my sister Nevlamas reared her mad head—"

"Preserve my life?!"  Rainbow Dash howled, "You smashed me to bits then dumped my corpse in Aridstone!"  She panted, heaved.  "Countless ponies died because you kept aloof!  I lost friends because of you, Axan—!"

"Death is inevitable," Remna firmly said.  "Pain... an element of life.  Assuming I was even capable of ferrying you across all these lands..."  She tilted her head aside.  "...would you have found the beacons?  Would you have developed the adequate strength and attunement to foal yesterday?"

Rainbow shook, convulsed, and spun around.  "Rrrrrr-aaaaugh!"  She bucked a series of boulders hard, sending rocks and pebbles crashing into a dark fissure below.

Her friends shivered from where they hovered in ghostly silence.

Remna's body was cast into darkness up above.  A glowing pair of green eyeslits gazed down at the pegasus.  "What angers you more?  That you've suffered so much for Austraeoh's destiny?  Or that even my role has no legitimate bearing in it whatsoever?"

"No."  Rainbow huffed and puffed.  She clenched her jaw, spinning around so that the ruby lightning bolt shone on Remna once again.  "I'm angry because you almost sound like Verlax..."  She clenched her eyes shut.  "...and yet... you almost make sense."

Remna gravely nodded.  "The brazen mare who destroyed my hoard back in Silvadel would not have had the courage... nor the maturity to admit that."

"Then... that's it?"  Rainbow gulped, reopening her eyes thinly.  "You were just... waiting out for a moment like this to happen?"

"No, Austraeoh."  Remna slowly shook her head.  "If I had my way, I wouldn't have crossed paths with you at all."

"What... happened... Axan?"  Rainbow inhaled and exhaled.  "Where's the real Remna?  Did you slaughter her too?"  She leaned her head to the side.  "Is there even a 'real' Remna?"

The violet mare slowly turned, staring into the abyss ahead.  "She's dead.  This thing that you see before you is merely a shell."

Rainbow merely stared, her muzzle agape.

Remna gave a prolonged sigh,  She spoke slowly:  "It's true that I've always followed your journey from a distance.  But when you ventured into the kingdom of the noble elk—I realized that Eljunbyro had grown powerful enough to protect you sufficiently on their own.  Thus, I decided to make the trip across the Grand Choke ahead of time, testing my Divine might against the magical Blight that my conniving sister had erected eons ago.  Once I had thoroughly mapped out the desolate landscape in my mind, I retraced my steps in time to guide you along with my journey.  For a while there, I was afraid... mortified that the spark of Austraeoh would die out before it had a chance to 'foal yesterday.'  To my infinite relief, Yaerfaerda beckoned, and—emaciated or not—you followed thoroughly... loyally...

"And yet I knew that your toughest trial was still ahead.  It had always been a basic assumption on my part that Verlax—in crafting the civilization of Rohbredden—possessed a knowledge of the beacons and their locations.  I knew that for you to have access to them, you would have to cross paths with her.  However, over the ages, Verlax had... grown quite eccentric... at least unpredictably so since our last communion.  There was no way to properly predict just what she would do once the Spark had lit a fiery path across her frozen lands.

"So while you were recovering in Kihutaja, I made for the heart of Rohbredden.  It was a meager task for a Divine such as myself.  I reached the throne of the so-called Verlaxion, appalled by the kingdom of lies she had erected around herself.  As soon as I arrived at her domain, I could sense that something was... amiss.  Verlax's strength was fragmented, a pitiable shade of the sister I once knew.  However, she more than made up for it in spirit and willpower.  An ambition unbecoming an immortal had consumed her heart and mind, and while I never got to meet her in person—accosted instead by those damnable frost vessels at the gates to her throne—I soon discovered that she was possessed by a single, heinous goal: to put the Austraeoh through an unfathomably convoluted gauntlet in some... twisted purpose of training you for the challenges to come.

"I can safely say without hesitation that while I respect the nature of this plane and the lengths to which the machine world must be saved from a slow, chaotic cold death... I have never particularly held the Austraeoh in any amount of high esteem.  That being said, I knew that the path of the Spark is a necessary one, tempored by the factors set into stone by energetic forces older than the Divines themselves.  Thus, when I realized that my sister Verlax was attempting to manipulate that, I had no recourse but to resist her.  This, as you can suspect, did not go well.  While I have—admittedly—spent the last few years in somber isolation, mulling the end of all things in the company of my own brood, Verlax has spent the same period of time tirelessly mechanizing a malevolent ambush—the likes of which even her fellow sisters and alicorns cannot begin to ascertain the details of.

"Needless to say, she countered my efforts on every turn.  Whatever senses she gained from her trip to the dark side, they completely and utterly defeated my attempts to dethrone her.  I grew weak with each day that I combatted her golems and windigoes, until I had no choice but to weigh my options:  either I remain locked in combat, hoping that I could last long enough to allow the Austraeoh a meager chance at finding narrow passage to the edge of the world... or I execute a retreat—the first act of cowardice committed in all my eons of existence—so that I might reassess my current impasse and discover a better way to assist the Spark's journey.

"I sacrificed whatever little pride I had left and made a daring escape from Starkiss.  I knew that I could no longer stay in one place for long.  My conflict with Verlax had alerted her to my presence, and she has magically-controlled agents spread all throughout the continent.  Rohbredden was covered from shore to shore with the eyes and ears of the 'Great Unifier.'  It was only a matter of time before Verlax rediscovered me, tracked my body down and afflicted my weakned flesh with her cold curse.  My first thought, then, was to make contact with Sturke and draw from her benevolent wisdom.  However, to do so at that point was to signal Verlax to my whereabouts, and with the Austraeoh making her way through Rust and Lower Shoggoth, time was of the essence and I could no longer waste any more time.

"It was then that my immortal mind recollected the legacy of the House of Verdestone.  The elder alicorn Onyxxus had foaled a daughter—I recalled—who had once made it her mission to reach out to the mortals of Rohbredden who had been shepherded by the Deceitful Queen in the Far East.  While I could not signal Sturke, I decided to take the risk of combing the landscape for this long-lost 'Mortuana.'  It wasn't long until I found her dwelling in the sanctuary of Wyvern Point.  I entreated her for her assistance.  She complimented me on the courage and humility it took to bridge communication with alicornkind after... mrrrrmmngh... so many millennia of sullen silence.

"To my surprise, I learned that she too had suffered greatly at the hands of my sister.  While Verlax's power had weakened me, it had reduced Mortuana to a veritable corpse.  We had something in common, and she taught me of the Herald and the fearless mortals pledging their lives to assist the Spark in her journey.  While I desired to help, we both agreed that to do would be putting Mortuana and her allies at risk.  Verlax's magical foresight had me tagged.  If I took one step eastward towards Starkiss, she would find me out... and the path of Austraeoh would be revealed.

"So Mortuana made a bold suggestion.  The same curse that rendered her a living corpse had wisened her to the magic Verlax had used to disguise herself before the Rohbreddenite Tribes of old.  It was feasible that the daughter of Onyxxus could mimic that very same spell and transform me into an equine being, so as to evade the senses of my crafty sibling throughout the journey ahead.

"This, of course, meant that I would have to assist the Austraeoh in person, a prospect that I was... not enthusiastic about.  However, Mortuana insisted that I reassess my tactics—for the Spark's sake.  The leader of the Herald is a wise, meditative soul... for an alicorn, and—needless to say—she easily convinced me to follow through with her suggestion."

At last, with a deep breath, Remna turned to gaze on Rainbow Dash once again.

"She performed the spell, using the second to last vial of enchanted blood remaining in her possession, a very noble and honorable sacrifice.  Soon after, I sought you out, and discovered you nearly freezing to death within the heights of Dust Prefecture.  Thankfully, I was able to rescue you in a timely fashion, and  I have endeavored to act as your guardian ever since, in sincere hope that our powers combined—the Herald's, the Austraeoh's, mine and Mortuana's—will be enough to stave off Verlax's influence... so that you may light the beacons at the last two Seeds and proceed to the Midnight Armory on the Dark Side."

"But..."  Rainbow Dash leaned forward, squinting.  "That doesn't explain everything.  Like..."  She gulped.  "How did Remna ever get involved in the whole mess?  Did... did she have to be killed for you to... friggin' dress in her skin?"

"Remna perished over a year ago, my little pony," said Mortuana's voice from behind.

"...!"  Rainbow jumped in place and spun around.  Her eyes reflected the alicorn and her bandaged horn.  "How... how long h-have you been st-standing there?!"

Fluttershy cleared her throat.  "About half a monologue ago."

"Why didn't you say so, darling?" Rarity remarked.

"Did you want to interrupt Axna... I mean Reman... I mean—"

"Shhh!" Pinkie insisted, shoving the other two aside.  "Morty time!"

Mortuana strolled calmly towards Rainbow and the "bounty hunter."  "She was a brave soul.  A protector and a guardian to the end," she said, staring down at the pegasus.  "Abrasive personality or not, I've no doubt that she would have made a loving parent.  She certainly watched over Ariel from afar with great respect over years... and the mare paid the same heed to Wildcard when he arrived—injured—at the foundations of Wyvern Point."

Rainbow gulped.  "She... she passed away from that disease she contracted, didn't she?"

"Indeed."

"And... and you decided to have Axan pose as her when the time came for her to assist the Herald."  Rainbow took a deep breath.  "Seems awfully convenient."

"Believe me.  Convenience has nothing to do with it," Mortuana said.  "In my meditations, I sensed that you had become the Spark not very long ago, Rainbow Dash.  I didn't know Axan's involvement in it, nor did I ascertain the extreme degree to which you had..."  Her eyes darted towards Remna.  "...been mangled."

Remna hung her head.

Mortuana continued, "But the timing of Remna's passing couldn't have been more unfortunate.  Among all the Heraldites, her strength and fortitude stood out.  I knew that it would be a matter of months when I would have to rely on her priceless tenaciousness."

"Something tells me she wasn't going to live long enough to lend a hoof," Rainbow said.  "So... what's the twist?"

"No twist, Rainbow Dash," Mortuana said.  "An act of loyalty, not unlike yours."  She took a deep breath.  "I entreated Remna... asking if I may perform a spell that would preserve her soul essence... until the time that the Austraeoh arrived."

"Oh gosh..."  Twilight Sparkle grimaced.  "That... that sounds very advanced."  She looked at the others.  "Even Starswirl refused to dabble in soul-essence spells."

"You..."  Rainbow squinted.  "...you what?  Kept her soul in a jar or something?"

"Not necessarily," Mortuana said.  "But I did preserve her body and life energy in a neutral state of limbo for several months.  It was my hope to induct a new member of the Herald and imbue them with Remna's essence when the time came.  Alas, as fate would have it, the Divine Axan came to the wyverns' doorstop.  I have personally encountered a Dragon Matriarch possessing the shell of an equine before, and I had just the vessel for Verlax's sister... with a volunteer who was more than willing to undermine the Great Deceiver's conspiracy within Rohbredden, no matter what it took."

"You... you gave Remna's essence to Axan."

"In part," Mortuana replied.  "A sacrifice had to be made by both individuals.  Axan gave up her flesh and Remna gave up her ghost."

Rainbow turned to look at the violet mare.  "Then... are you only half Axan?"

"My body was... displaced," the "bounty hunter" said, clearing her throat.  "Transplaced... suspended in the leylines tied to this corpse."

"Axan..." Mortuana chided.

Remna sighed.  "This vessel."

"Remna's spirit is now freed while her shell is lent to Axan.  It's the noblest act of loyalty yet committed by a member of the Herald," Mortuana said.  "As it stands, the spell is so powerful that it can only be undone with the same amount of magic casted to initiate the facade in the first place."

Rainbow's eyes fell on the dark vial dangling from the alicorn's neck.  "In other words... you've got one last bullet in the chamber."

"And she shall not use it on me!"  Remna growled.  "It will expose me before Verlax."

"No offense..."  Rainbow turned to glare up at her.  "But you're pretty much exposed already, don'tcha think?"

Remna merely fumed.

"Verlax's messenger met us on the battlefield," Mortuana said with a nod.  "That much is true.  But in her state, she naturally opposes her sibling's spells, among many other elements."

"So... that's why she stomped the crap out of that golem," Rainbow remarked.

"Wow... wish we saw that!" Pinkie squeaked.

"I cannot return to the throne beneath Starkiss in my true form," Remna said, gravely shaking her head.  "I will no longer be able to assist you properly.  I will be weaker than a mere mortal, for my sister will know all of my vulnerabilities."

"And in the meantime, you sacrifice flight... dragonflame... the whole nine yards..."  Rainbow gulped hard.  "I'm... beginning to understand the sacrifice being made here."

"Then perhaps you understand—as well—why it was important to keep it a secret," Mortuana said.

Rainbow turned to glare at her.  "But from me?"

Mortuana gazed at her calmly.  "Would you have gladly agreed to the Herald's assistance... if you freely knew that a member of its utmost elite was the very same Divine that maimed you several continents back?"

Rainbow Dash clenched her jaw.  She avoided the alicorn's gaze.  "Would it kill you to put a bit more faith in the 'Spark?'"

"Says the mortal who was screaming at me minutes previously," Remna said.

"Ohhhhhhhh-girl..."  Rainbow waved an angry hoof.  "We are so not done—"  She blinked suddenly.  "...where do you think you're going?"

"As stated earlier," Remna growled, trotting deeper into the cavern.  "I must perform recon.  We have wasted enough time standing here and doing nothing."

"Get back here!  I mean it!"  Rainbow stomped her hooves.  "Don't act so smug!  Don't you realize you're in the absolute best proportions for me to whoop your sorry flank?!"

"I suggest that you let her be, Rainbow Dash," Mortuana said.  "Divines are not without their own emotions, and she has many to deal with at the moment, even though she may not be expressing them."

Rainbow blanched.  "You've gotta be friggin' kidding me!"

"Axan is facing the fact that she will soon have to confront her sister... perhaps to the death."  Mortuana exhaled.  "Keep in mind that she's extinguished the life of one sibling before..."

"And you think that keeping who and what she is a big secret from the rest of the Herald is going to help anything?!"  Rainbow fumed.  "Tell me one thing, Mortuana.  Does Wildcard know?"

"Yes," Mortuana said.

"..."  Rainbow blinked.  "Oh..."  She blinked again.  "Since when?"

"I informed him back at Wyvern Point," Mortuana added.  "Shortly before we set out."

"My goodness..."  Rarity murmured.  "No wonder he looked so terribly angry at his 'mentor' when you observed him."

"All this time, he's kept silent about it," Twilight remarked.  "Well... erm... you kn-know what I mean."

Rainbow Dash sat on her haunches, shivering slightly.  "Forgive me if I'm... not exactly thrilled at this huge flippin' game of secrecy, Morty."

"I cannot blame you, Rainbow Dash," the alicorn said.  "But can even you deny that withholding the truth—no matter how absurd the secret—is the greatest weapon we can afford ourselves in a time of dire need?"

Rainbow Dash blinked.

Twilight glanced at Mortuana, then at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Well said."

Mortuana nodded.  "I would hope so."

"But... but when Axan, Bard and I... uh... ran into Verlax's messenger up above..."  Rainbow fidgeted.  "She... uh... she said that this last leg of my trials is a test of 'honesty'."

"Seems only fitting."  Mortuana trotted closer.  "Considering the Element of the spirit you're freeing from the flame next."

"Yeah, but... there's gotta be more to it than that," Rainbow said.  "I mean, back in the Quade, Verlax was testing me for 'kindness,' and I ended up..."  She sighed, shivering slightly.  "I ended up ruining a bunch of peaceful ponies' lives..."

Mortuana nodded.  "Then we must strive to give you the support that you require, Austraeoh," she said.  "So that you need not make the same mistake you did before."

"I've no doubt that I won't be making mistakes again, Morty," Rainbow said.  She turned to cast Fluttershy and the others a soft smile.  "I've had some support for a while now."  She blinked, glancing worriedly down the corridor.  "But... but you yourself said that dire times call for secret weapons, or some-such, no matter how absurd."

"I was attempting to be figurative."

"Yeah, I get that.  But..."  Rainbow shuddered.  "What if—even with all of your help and friggin' Axan on my side..."  Her jaw muscles clenched.  "...what if Verlax doesn't give me a choice?"

Mortuana took a meditative breath.  "Then the Herald's role will be to... weather the gravity of such a decision."

Rainbow's eyes twitched.

"None of us approve of Verlax, Austraeoh," Mortuana said.  "But despite how much we do our best to resist her, she is very much the heart of Rohbredden.  I've no doubt that she wants you—in the end—to consider a very tentative balance that will require scaling.  When that time comes, it will not be up to me, but rather the wisdom and the courage of the Spark.  It will be your task to reboot this world in the end, after all.  The Herald can only get you to the point of agency."

"Then... one way or another..."  Rainbow shuddered.  "...I'm still in the same position I was in when I first took off from Ponyville."

"Perhaps."  Mortuana's head tilted to the side, bandages dangling.  "Perhaps not.  You have your friends at your side, yes?"

"I... I do..."

"Then progress is being made," Mortuana confirmed.  "The likes of which even Verlax cannot fully understand.  That—more than anything—gives the Spark the edge that she needs."

Rainbow glanced at Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy.  The others smiled back, at least gently.

"I understand that the gravity of recent revelations is weighing heavily upon you."  Mortuana calmly drew Rainbow towards her with a wing.  "But Axan is right.  We cannot stay here much longer."

"What... I mean... where is there to go?"

"Follow me back to the main group," Mortuana said.  "And we shall determine that together."

"And..."  Rainbow gritted her teeth as she trotted back the way she came, escorted by the alicorn.  "...what of the others?  Should... should I tell them about Axan's secret?"

"You are the Austraeoh, Rainbow Dash, and we are the Herald."  Mortuana nodded.  "That decision is completely up to you now."

Rainbow took a deep breath.  "Friggin' good, then."
> Everywhere and Everytime, All Encompassing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Big Show," Flynn grumbled.  His hoofsteps echoed across the cold chamber as he trotted across the cavern.  "Will you get in the cart already?"

"Pffft..."  Logan limped in the opposite direction, leaning on his axe.  "Ariel and Bard are needin' Wyvern's wagon to rest.  Now you wanna throw my fat ass into it?"

"Dude... you took a frickin' arrow to the chest," Flynn growled.

"The vest took most of it," Logan belched.  "Plus, I cauterized the wound and Kepler gave me his fancy Wyvern meds."

"Even still," Flynn sighed.  "That's a lot to bounce back from.  Medicine or no medicine, your body needs rest to go on."

"I ain't got time to rest... or bleed," Logan said, nostrils flaring.  "If this troupe's gonna march anywhere, who's gonna lead the convoy?  You?"

Flynn rolled his one flesh eye.

"Besides."  Logan motioned towards the soldiers gathered at the far end of the cave.  The members of the Central Guard huddled around a campfire, murmuring amongst themselves.  "We're gonna need someone to keep a watchful eye on those bozos."

"We whipped their butts before."

"I whipped their butts before," Logan grumbled.  A beat.  "Well, me and Wildcard."

A metal talon saluted from beside Kepler's wagon.

"Still, they do outnumber us three to one.  I dunno about you, but that's good enough reason to stay alive, awake, and anxious."

"Fine.  But when the time comes that you gotta sleep your sorry head off, lemme know."  Flynn adjusted his pack full of tools and mana crystals.  "We'll switch shifts... like clockwork."

"Yes, mom," Logan grumbled.

Kepler looked up from bandaging Bard's wound.  "Speaking of motherrly monarrchs..."

Wildcard stood tall at attention as Mortuana returned.  She was accompanied by Rainbow Dash.

The mountain matron stood in place.  With a bony wing, she gestured to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow stood before the group.  While all eyes rested on her, the pegasus spoke firmly:  "Remna's gone on ahead to scout out the cave system.  According to Rarity, most of the limestone rock formations ahead of us are pretty hollow.  If we continue moving east through the caves, we should hopefully be able to avoid contact with the windigoes on the surface above.  Remna's doing recon to figure out just what that path is.  We'll begin moving our way east, and then once Remna returns to meet us along the way, we should hopefully have a full course laid out."

"So we can keep on moseyin' along," Bard said from where he slumped in the wagon.  "Only underground... all mole-like."  He winced slightly as he shifted the weight of his bandaged leg.  "Sounds good to me."

"I wouldn't mind resting my wings for a bit," Ariel wheezed.

"Glorrious!  Glorrious!"  Kepler rubbed his clawed hands together.  "So be it!  The jourrney of the Sparrk continues!  Ha hah!"

As the wyvern prepared to hitch the wagon back to himself, the members of the Central Guard stood up, stirring anxiously.

"You... you are leaving?" one stammered.

"Don't be foolish!" exclaimed another.  "We must stay here!  Surely the other battallions stationed north and south across the Star Fringes will be alarmed at our absence and send reinforcements to dig us out!"

"Didn't you hear the mare?"  Logan grumbled.  "So long as those winged snow demons are farting around up above, chilling everything to popsicles, we're better off below ground!"

A griffon hissed, "As if we're going to take advice from the Rainbow Rogue!  We're better off staying right here and waiting for back up!  That goes for you too!"

"We are not waiting here," Rainbow Dash said with a frown.  She took a few bold steps towards the group.  "Look, I know that you guys don't like me.  I know that everything that you believe in tells you that I'm eviler than evil itself or whatcrap.  But your Queen Verlaxion?  She's the one letting loose those windigoes!  She did it way back in the day and she's doing it again.  Doesn't matter if her 'precious foals' are being caught in the crossfire or not.  The fact is... none of us are safe up on the surface right now!  Now, my friends and I can map us a way out of this frozen hole in the ground—and guess what?!  You're all invited!  That's right!  You want a ticket out of this mess?  Then follow us!  We don't have to fight each other any more.  I mean... Luna Poop... we never wanted to butt heads in the first place!"

The members of the Central Guard exchanged quiet, mulling expressions.

A mare in armor cleared her throat and spoke up:  "How do we know that you won't lead us to our doom?  You have us in an awfully compromising position."

"I have nothing to gain from bringing harm to you guys," Rainbow said.  With a sigh, she rolled her eyes and added:  "Okay, yes, I know I've done some cruel things in the past.  While the stories that came out of the Quade have been greatly exagerrated, the truth is that I did totally wreck the Luminards' Reed.  That happened and I regret it.  Really, I do.  I'm on a super important quest with more at stake than even I can explain, but it doesn't excused what I did.  Back in the Quade, I thought I didn't have any other options available to me.  I realize now that I was wrong, but I can't undo my stupid decision any more than I can stop this journey that I'm on.  But instead of spending forever and a day trying to explain it all to you, just know that my companions and I are offering you all an opportunity to make it out of this mess alive.  It's not something that can make up for the mistakes that I've made, but it's still a cool, decent, and awesome thing to do for other ponies.  Especially ponies who didn't deserve to sacrifice their lives needlessly in the first place.  So, what do you say?"

Once more, the soldiers murmured amongst one another.

A pegasus spoke up:  "Do you actually know a way out of here?"

Rainbow opened her muzzle to speak—

"Rest assured, we shall make it to the shadow of Starkiss," Mortuana said.  She took a bold step forward, facing the Rohbreddenites.  "From there, you can easily travel south to Frostknife, if you so desire."

"You... you mean these caves open up somewhere?" a griffon remarked.

"Indeed.  As a matter of fact..."  Mortuana pivoted about, her eyes falling on a Desperado.  "...they lead directly to the lower end of the Midfrost Passage.  Isn't that right, Wildcard?"

Wildcard gazed at Mortuana.

Mortuana peered back, her calm eyes narrowing.

Wildcard exhaled.  At last, he nodded his feathery head.

"So, yes..."  Clearing her throat, Mortuana looked at the soldiers again.  "We have a way out of these caverns."

Silence.

A mare spoke up.  "We shall follow you... for now."  She gulped.  "Anything has to be better than staying here."

A stallion sputtered:  "But the battallions—!"

The mare growled.  "They will presume us all dead and push the ambush parties even further east!  To Starkiss!"  She sighed.  "They'll have no idea that we're still alive..."  Her ears drooped as she gazed solemnly at the Herald.  "...nor who is responsible for saving us... in spite of our attack."

Flynn and Logan exchanged smirking expressions.

"Understand if we keep our distance," a griffon said.  "We don't want the poison of the Blight corrupting our spirits any further..."

"Oh..."  Bard rolled his eyes.  "Heaven forbid!"  He winced and clutched his leg.  "Ow ow ow ow... damnation..."

Wildcard patted his shoulder, then nodded once again at Mortuana.

"Very well."  Mortuana turned and pointed east down the winding corridor.  "Follow my lead."  She trotted briskly, one bony hoof after another.  "So long as flames wait for the Spark, the Herald stops for nothing."





"Holy friggin' cow..."  Ariel gasped, eyes wide.  "So all this time... Remna's..."  She grimaced from where she reclined in Kepler's cart.  "...she's been a dragon?"

"Not just any dragon," Rainbow muttered, trotting alongside the wagon as it rattled up and down craggy stretches of stone.  Flynn's crystals, Rainbow's pendant, and Kepler's torch lit up the frosted walls of the cave around them.  Behind the group—at a distance—a series of unicorn horns lit the Central Guard's wary path.  "Remna's the dragon.  She's Axan."

"One of the Divines?"  Flynn glanced back in mid-trot.  "The Dragon of Flame?"

"Ain't she the one who stomped a mudhole in ya?" Bard remarked.

"She did more than that," Rainbow muttered.  She gazed past her friends as they floated around her, phasing through limestone and stalactites.  "She nearly shattered me into a million bits and pieces.  Halfway through the beat-down, she realized I was the Austraeoh, had a change of heart, and left me at the doorstop to the Ledomaritan Confederacy... where I was eventually patched together."  She blew out the side of her muzzle.  "Thanks to a bunch of chaos magics..."

"What do you mean?" Ariel asked.

"Isn't it obvious?"  Flynn grumbled.  "Those military psychopaths took her pendant off and did experiments on her discordant form."

"Oh jeez..."  Ariel grimaced.  "Rainbow Dash, that... that had to have been truly... truly awful."

Rarity sniffled.  "I concur.  Every time I'm forced to remember that part of your journey..."

"Everypony relax," Rainbow spoke to both the ghost and non-ghostly.  "I'm past all of that now."

"Includin' how Axan went overtime on yer flesh?" Bard remarked.

Rainbow sighed.  "Okay... I'm past most of it."

"Well... shiet..."  Bard gritted his teeth.  He gazed up at the jagged ceiling of the cave as it rolled overhead.  "...no wonder Remna was so worked up about protectin' Rainbow Dash."  He gulped.  "Considerin' it was this 'Axan' character the whole time, she must have been worked up somethin' awful with guilt and responsibility."

"It certainly explains why she was bitchy," Logan said.

Ariel sighed.  "Big Show..."

"I mean bitchier than normal Remna!"  Logan continued.  "That ol' battleaxe was always hardcore!  But at least she used her head!  Ever since Wyvern Point, this... pretender has been taking stupid risks and throwing her head out there for Rainbow!  Remna... the real Remna liked to think things through!"

"So..."  Flynn glanced aside.  "You didn't notice a difference?"

"Pffft!  Did you?!  You're the smarty-pants gizmo-humper of the group here!"

"Hey..."  Flynn shrugged.  "I just figured it was senility mixed with fatigue!  I mean... the real Remna was pretty far gone the last time we saw her!  I figured she had retired and Mortuana was gonna nominate someone else to replace her as a member of the Heraldic Seven!"

"Just..."  Ariel's muzzle scrunched.  "...j-just how long did Mortuana know about this?"

"The whole time, I reckon," Bard said.

Rainbow nodded.  "That's about right."

Bard glanced at the others.  "Why?  Does that not sit right with you folks?"

Logan sighed.  "I mean... guess it makes sense why she kept hush-hush about it, considering Rainbow's history with the dragon bitch."

Rainbow groaned, "Will you stop saying the b-word, please?"

"Well, no offense, but she did nearly grind you into rainbow dust—"

"And she's putting a lot on the line just to make sure I get past Verlax," Rainbow huffed.  "Which is her sister, by the way."

"Oh yeah..."  Flynn nodded, his good eye blinking.  "They're both Divines.  She's essentially assisting the Herald in a coup against her own flesh and blood."

"And this is truly the only way she can get it accomplished?" Bard asked, wincing as the cart hit another bump.  "She had to do it all secret-like?"

"Both Rem—...erm... both Axan and Mortuana have made it clear," Rainbow said.  "Axan went to Verlax.  Verlax got the drop on her—just like she ambushed Mortuana so many ages ago—and now Axan can't venture anywhere in Rohbredden while in her natural form or else risk being caught by Verlax."

"What's it matter now?" Ariel asked.  "Verlax knows that Axan is Remna."

"Perrhaps due to herr prroximity via the frrost vessel," Kepler suddenly spoke up.  He drew the wagon along at a calm pace.  "But at a grreat distance, I highly suspect that Morrtuana's magic is sufficient enough to mask the trransforrmed Divine's prresence.  Quite an ingenious plan, I must say!"  He adjusted his spectacles and marched along.  "It would appearr, howeverr, that ourr hectic encounterr with the guarrd and the windigoes up on the surrface allowed the eyes of Verrlax to become wise to Axan's facade."

"Maybe," Flynn remarked.  His mechanical eye rotated in thought.  "Or maybe not..."

Kepler craned his neck.  "What might you be suspecting, old frriend?"

Flynn glanced back at the distant soldiers.  "We got doubly ambushed just now," he said.  "First by one of several battallions who—it would seem—were spread out across the western fringes of Starkiss.  Just how... and I do mean how were the high ranking strategists of the Central Guard capable of guessing where we would be and when?"

"But then the freaky snow ghosts attacked," Rainbow said.

"Precisely."  Flynn nodded.  "It proves that not only did the head haunchos in Frostknife know of our little journey... but 'Verlaxion' herself was made wise to the Herald as well."  His nostrils flared.  "No, I'm convinced that we had a Frost Vessel hiding out in Wyvern Point the whole time... right under our very noses."

"Buck me," Logan grunted.

"She could know our every move," Ariel murmured, shivering slightly.  "Our plan to enter Starkiss!"

"But... I dun get it..."  Bard squinted into the dim, fluctuating light.  "Ain't Verlax keen on Rainbow finishin' her journey?  What's she got to gain from makin' it so dayum hard for the Austraeoh in the first place?"

"It's a test," Rainbow grumbled.  "It's always a test.  She's trying to narrow my entire journey down so that the gauntlet becomes an unbelievably narrow corridor of trials."

"To what end?" Ariel remarked.

Rainbow looked at Twilight and the others.  "To see how far I'm willing to go to make it to my destination."  She shuddered.  "How many Elements of Harmony I'm willing to compromise for the sake of the big picture."

"We won't let it be that easy for her, Rainbow," Twilight said.

Fluttershy nodded.  "We're with you every step of the way."

"Even Applejack would agree!"  Pinkie smiled.  "We've got your back, Dashie!"

Rainbow sighed.  "I still gotta get AJ first..."  She clenched her teeth.  "...and so long as Verlax has her in her clutches..."

Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie fidgeted nervously.

Rarity cleared her throat and said, "Still, for all of Verlax's efforts, she can't undo the fact that you have so many useful allies in the flesh as well as in spirit!"

Ariel leaned her head over the cart's edge.  "What are your friends saying to you now, Rainbow?"

"Ahem..."  Rainbow looked up.  "Even if Verlax anticipated both Axan and the Herald, she still can't change the fact that I have you guys by my side."  She smiled.  "And Mortuana too."

"As much as I hate to be the bearrerr of pessimistic perrspectives, it is imporrtant to rremind everryone," Kepler spoke, "that to make Axan's trransforrmation possible in the firrst place, the Mountain Matrron had to sacrrifice herr second to last rremaining vial of enchanted blood."

"Yeah."  Logan snorted.  "That sucks."

Flynn glanced back.  "You've been hanging out with Mortuana at the sanctuary the longest, Kepler.  Did you foresee any of this unfolding the way it has?"

"I'm afrraid not, frriend.  But I did know that the wise Morrtuana was utilizing herr magics forr something intensely important."  The wyvern exhaled past his tusks.  "Herr forresight is an amazing thing, unchallenged by even the wisest of my brrotherrs, both past and prresent.  While it is quite easy, dearr companions, to feel angerr and confusion at the unorrthodox rreplacement of ourr fallen comrrade, Rremna, let us rreemmberr that the Mountain Matrron would not rresorrt to such extrreme tactics unless she felt that it was rrequirred in the grrand strruggle against ourr adverrsarries."

"Indeed," Flynn remarked.

"Well said," Ariel said.

"You won't hear me bitc—erm... female dogging," Logan remarked.

Rainbow's ears folded back as she clenched her jaws.

Pinkie glanced aside.  "What's the matter, Dashie?"

"Is... something bothering you, dear?" Rarity asked.

Rainbow remained silent.  Her eyes darted about.

"I... would wager to guess..."  Twilight cleared her throat.  "...that Rainbow's a tiny bit put off by the attitude of the Herald."

"Why?"  Rarity blinked.  "They're our companions, are they not?"

"Rarity..."  Fluttershy calmly spoke as she floated alongside Twilight.  "Their words in defending Mortuana sound a lot like how the soldiers of the Central Guard defend Verlaxion."

"Yeah, but..."  Pinkie blinked.  "...it's not the same!"

"Still, if there's anything Rainbow's learned in her travels," Twilight remarked, "It's not to have blind faith.  Sure, Mortuana is proving herself to be helpful... but she still likes to keep secrets."

"Yeah, but what if they're helpful secrets?" Pinkie said.

"Twilight has a point, darling," Rarity remarked.  "Trust is built on truth."

"Yeah, but what if you're needing to protect your friends?  Or the quest!"  Pinkie's brow furrowed.  "Or... or..."

"If Mortuana's hidden so much as it is, then how are we to know she still isn't hiding things?" Fluttershy said.

"Like what?"  Pinkie blinked.

"Like what Rainbow's going to have to do when she finally reaches Starkiss."

"Pfft!  You're saying that as if Mortuana knows all the stuff Verlax knows!"

"And what if she does?" Twilight said.

Pinkie blinked.

"If there was something that Mortuana knew... that—if Rainbow also knew—it would make the journey even more unsavory..."  Twilight sighed.  "Just... would she really tell that to the Austraeoh?"  Twilight's eyes narrowed.  "After waiting so many eons for the Spark to show up and make her destiny manifest?"

Rainbow sighed.

"You okay, Rainbow?" Ariel asked.

"Yeah... just..."  Rainbow shuddered slightly in mid-trot.  "...a lot to weigh in on."

"I bet..."  Ariel smiled sweetly.  "We've got your back.  I hope you know that."

Rainbow smiled back at her.  "Trust me.  I know."  Her eyes fell on Ariel's rear leg.  "You... gave me a real scare back there."

"Heh... believe me..."  Ariel brushed her bangs back.  A slight rosiness spread through her muzzle.  "I gave m-myself a real scare too.  Not th-that I wanted to..."

"Heh..."  Rainbow nodded.  "Looks like Kepler's done a good job on your leg.  Really glad you're in one piece, girl."

"Heeheehee..."  Ariel giggled, relaxing.  "And... uh... I-I'm glad that you're glad that I'm in one piece... Rainbow..."

"Just kiss already," Logan grumbled.

"Big Show!"  Ariel pouted.  "Flynn, smack him for me."

"I would if he didn't take an arrow in the chest hours ago."

"Pffft... softie..."

Rainbow smiled... then gazed ahead.  Her smirk faded as she stared into the dim stretches of the cavern before the group.

Twilight gazed at her calmly.  "If it's true, Rainbow... if Mortuana's hiding stuff from you—"

"—then she's hiding stuff from the Herald as well," Rainbow murmured so that only her marefriends could hear.  "I mean... why not?  She is the 'Mountain Matron' after all."

"Yes, but a good mother is honest with her children."

"Twilight, how honest do you really... really believe Celestia's been with you all these years?"

Twilight instantly clammed up.

Rainbow's eyes glanced aside.  "If she told you the dangers you had to face to find the Elements, do you really think you would have been in the place to free Luna from Nightmare Moon like you did?"

Twilight hung her head.  She sighed gently.

"Celestia's always trusted you, Twilight," Fluttershy said.  "She would never wish to mislead you."

"No..."  Twilight sniffed.  "But... but she could mislead herself."

Fluttershy bit her lip.

"She... she made a mistake..."  Twilight wiped a tear from her eye, shuddering as she floated along.  "She thought we could wield the Elements of Harmony.  She was only partially right."  Another tear fell as she fought the urge to whimper.  "We trusted her... and yet... sh-she didn't have the foresight to ascertain just what would happen when we faced Discord... and... and..."

"I was mad at her for a long, long time, Twilight," Rainbow quietly said.  "I can't even pretend to understand how you must feel."

Twilight sighed.  "Yeah..."  Pinkie and Fluttershy drifted closer, nuzzling her.

"But she always meant the best for us," Rainbow said.  "As long as it took me to admit my anger at her... it took me even longer to realize that some ponies—including immortals—just can't accomplish everything.  This whole... stinkin' Urohringr business is bigger than us... bigger than the Alicorns... bigger than the Divines."

"But... b-but..."  Twilight looked up, trembling.  "...if you can't perfectly rely on Celestia... then how can we rely on Mortuana?"

"Or the Herald?" Pinkie added in a wavering voice.

"Don't you get it?" Rainbow remarked.  "It's not a matter of power... or else even Axan would have gotten me to the Midnight Armory by now."  She glanced aside.  "We don't need friends because of what they know or what they can do..."

Fluttershy nodded and said, "Friendship is important for the friends."

Rainbow smirked.  "Bingo."

Twilight sighed, ultimately bearing a tiny smile.  "I guess... with how complicated things have gotten... I've forgotten how simple everything can be."

"A mistake I've made more than once," Rainbow said.  "Believe me."

"Still, it begs the question," Rarity remarked.  "In the end, who can we trust the most during this journey?"

Rainbow calmly glanced over her shoulder.

Bard fidgeted with his hat.  After a couple of seconds, he realized the mare was looking at him.  "Hmmm?  Somethin' up, darlin'?"

"You holding up okay, Bard?"

The stallion sighed.  "Just... head full of thoughts, is all."

"Moping over your guitar?"

"Hey!  It ain't smashed!"  He pouted.  "Besides... I can pluck them strings with my wingtips just fine!"  He sighed through his nostrils.  "Nah... I'm just wonderin' how Dubya is holdin' up with all this Remna business'n'all.  We ain't had much time to gab about the whole mess since we got stuck down here."

Rainbow glanced forward, catching the wingflaps of the griffon beyond the penumbra of Kepler's and Flynn's light.  "Mortuana says that she told him back at Wyvern Point," Rainbow said.

"Makes sense to me."

Rainbow looked at Bard again.  "You knew that he knew?"

"No, not exactly.  But I knew somethin' was up.  Dubya was bein' rather quiet."

Rainbow arched an eyebrow.

"I mean for himself," Bard grumbled.  "Figured... once he was within ten feet of his ol' mentor again, he'd be all soft-footed and bedazzled.  But that didn't happen one bit.  In fact... I haven't seen him act this grumpy before.  Made me think that Remna had done somethin' to cross him.  And since I never knew the mare that much... well..."  He tipped his hat back and frowned.  "Reckon I got mighty huffy about it.  Sure didn't help when she started actin' all cold-blooded and impulsive around ya neither, darlin'."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow nodded.  "Well... at least now it's all clear."

"Still... must be a lot for the poor Despy to take in."

"I'm sure he'll be okay."  Rainbow smiled.  "He's got you to lean on."

"Dayum skippy."

Rainbow chuckled.  She cleared her throat and said, "Y'know... even if Axan hadn't come to rescue our hides up there... I still would have dragged you away from all those windigoes."

"I know that, darlin'," Bard sighed.  "I do hope you promise never to make such a silly sacrifice again."

"How's that silly?"  Rainbow squinted.  "You're my friend, Bard.  What was I supposed to do?  Not save you?"

"Ain't nothin' much left that's worth savin'," Bard grumbled.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Yer just gonna have to believe me, I guess."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow.  "I believe that Wildcard would be super miffed if I didn't save you."

"Eugh..."  Bard sighed.  "Push my damn buttons, shall you?"

Rainbow smirked.  "Only because you put them out there for everypony to push.  You're like a trotting accordion, you know that?"

"Heh... now there's a crazy-ass analogy if I ever did hear one."

"Heeheehee..."

Silence.

At last, Logan grumbled, "Maybe you two should be the ones kissing."

"Hah Hah!" Kepler let out a laugh while Ariel giggled.

"Awwwwwww shuddup," Rainbow grunted.





Untold hours later...

The two groups had taken a moment to rest for a breather.  Wildcard and Remna signaled Mortuana just as they came upon a flat plateau situated in the dead center of an enormous cavern.  At Mortuana's command, the Herald sat down and made camp.  Observing from a distance, the three-dozen Rohbreddenites did the same.

All was tense and quiet while Kepler and Flynn prepared a meal for the group.  They managed to spare some rations, leaving them to the western outskirts of the camp that they had made.  It took a full two hours before any member of the Central Guard mustered up the courage—and humility—to trot over and sample some of the Herald's edible offerings.

"Like friggin' squirrels testing the generosity of picniccers," Logan grumbled.

"Goddess dayum, dude," Flynn grumbled.  "You'd think meal-time would be the one occasion you'd shut up."

"Hmmmf..."  Logan smirked, biting into another morsel of bred.  "Mrmmff... you'd think I'd give you the satisfaction?"

"I'd think you'd give the Austraeoh the satisfaction of being positive for once!"

"I wish you'd both give me the satisfaction of shutting the buck up!"  Ariel grumbled, lying curled up on a sleeping mat with her bandaged leg outstretched.  "It's hard enough trying to snooze past the pain without having to hear you morons go at it."

Before Logan or Flynn could retort, Rainbow strolled up on quiet hooves.  "Look, dudes... caves suck.  Nopony knows that more than I do.  How about we all chillax and just enjoy the rest before it's time to hoof it again?"

Silence.

"And that..."  Flynn smiled and handed Rainbow a cup of soup with bread.  "...is why you're the Austraeoh."  He winked his good eye.

Rainbow smiled back.  "I'll pass this on to Wildcard."

Flynn nodded in the direction of Bard's sleeping form.  "I'm sure the other Desperado would appreciate that."

"Totally."  Rainbow did a brief curtsey and trotted off.

"Hmmmmmmm..."  Ariel smiled, allowing her eyes to flutter shut.  "Her voice is so adorable... and soothing..."

"Shnorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"  A wyvern's lungs resonated from where Kepler slept.

Ariel frowned.  "Well, never mind."

"Shit on a sandwich," Logan muttered, glaring at the wagon.  "Even in his sleep, he rolls his damn 'R's'."

Flynn and Ariel laughed.  Soon the group returned to their silent huddles.

Kepler stirred.  He adjusted his spectacles in his sleep and snored away.





Rainbow Dash stumbled east through the rocky confines of the cave.

Wildcard stood, perched on a stalagmite.  He peered west with his goggles reflecting the adjacent camp of Rohbreddenites.  The light of their unicorn horns twinkled at a distance.

"Hey there, bright eyes," Rainbow said.  She held out the soup and bread.  "Flynn bears gifts."

Wildcard pivoted his head—if only to glance at her.  He took her offering in a metal talon, lightly nodding his beak.

"It... uhm... it may be a lousy gift," Rainbow mused.  "But I promise it'll fill you up."

Wildcard nodded again, then sipped and nibbled at the substance.  A minute or two in, he paused to point at Rainbow.

"Nah, I already had something to munch on," Rainbow said.

Wildcard gestured a "pillow" to his cocked head.

Rainbow shook her head with a sigh.  "Couldn't if I tried.  Too much on the mind.  Besides..."  She gulped, trembling.  "...all sleep ever does is fill me with nightmares.  It wouldn't be actual shuteye."

Wildcard's beak clenched tightly.

"But... it's okay."  Rainbow absent-mindedly scratched at the thin layer of prismatic fuzz across her scalp.  "The girls are all Vanilla Zoning away.  So... that's a good thing.  So often I'm... I-I'm sorry that they have no choice but to be yanked along this journey... even if it does mean bringing them all back... one way or another in the end."  She cleared her throat.  "Still, it's nice to know that they can get a little respite one way or another."

Wildcard slowly nodded.

Rainbow's eyes lifted to meet his goggles.  "How... uhm... how are you holding up?"

He looked aside.  An exhale, and he nibbled some more at his food.

Rainbow winced.  She hung her head.  After a while, she finally found the words to say:  "I know it must really... really suck to have somepony you care so much about be... replaced like this... and with a real jerkface to boot."

Wildcard sat still.

"But... but I think it's a good thing, y'know?  I mean... that is to say..."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "For so long... I thought Remna was a Grade-A Moron.  But now that I know the truth... now that I know of the sacrifice that she's made..."  She looked firmly at Wildcard.  "...I can rest easy knowing that Remna was as awesome as awesomeness gets."

Wildcard looked up until his dark lenses reflected Rainbow's smiling face.

"'Cuz she gave us all you... one way or another..."  Rainbow exhaled calmly.  "It was the best gift a mare like me could ever ask for... from the Quade and beyond.  I'm alive now... I'm alive and ticking now thanks to you, Wildcard... and it's all thanks to the awesome job the real Remna did in training you.  And if she's anywhere near a fraction as cool and badass as you are... then she's alright in my book."

The griffon tilted his head aside.

"I mean it.  She did us all right by making you her protege."  Rainbow took a deep breath.  "And I bet Bard doesn't know just... how lucky he is to have a friend as loyal as you."

"... ... ..."  Wildcard slowly smiled beneath his beak.

Rainbow smiled back.  Her voice wavered slightly as she said, "You... uh... you enjoy your meal.  And remember—if Axan gets uppity with ya—just come and tell me.  I've royally owned her before.  You don't believe me?  Just ask her."

And Rainbow turned tail and briskly trotted back to the Herald's camp.





Her smile had faded by the time she reached her sleeping mat.  She stared at the thing just a few paces away from Kepler's wagon... and sighed woefully.

"... ... ...Remna did indeed make a sacrifice," Mortuana's voice said.

"...?"  Rainbow briskly spun.  She spotted the frail shadow of the alicorn before her.

"But I want you to understand something, Austraeoh," the Mountain Matron spoke.  "I would never have purposefully and willingly put Remna through something torturous—in this life or in the life afterwards."

Rainbow squinted.  "Do you listen in on every conversation that I have?"

"Negative," Mortuana remarked, shaking her head.  "But I've been extra-mindful of Wildcard as of late."

"It's good to know you care."

"But of course, child."

Rainbow Dash squirmed.

"Something troubles you, Austraeoh?"

"Like to take a guess?" Rainbow muttered.

Mortuana tilted her head aside.  "You are likely wondering... just how trustworthy I am."

Rainbow sighed.  "Nothing gets past you."

"Except when it does," Mortuana droned.  "Such as our ambush yesterday.  I can understand how your faith in the Herald might be noticeably shifted."

"It doesn't take a wise alicorn to tell me that the Herald can be imperfect," Rainbow muttered.  "I faced a whole ton of misguided idiots west of the Grand Choke who nearly made mince meat out of me and Eljunbyro."  She cleared her throat.  "No offense."

"None taken."

"But Khao changed gears at the last second, and I've benefited from it ever since."  Rainbow raised her eyes to meet Mortuana's.  "At least you have your priorities straight from the beginning.  That counts for something."

"I've endeavored all of my life to assist the Austraeoh in her journey," Mortuana said.  "But, in the end, even my greatest efforts have come down to sheer luck."  She slowly shook her head.  "I had no assurance that you would appear when you did.  For all I knew, I would have perished while waiting.  Then it would have been up to a future Heraldic Seven to assist you in my absence."

"Let's be glad we're facing Verlax together."

"Indeed."

Rainbow fidgeted, gazing down the cavern.  "Mortuana... earlier you said that Remna's 'spirit' had 'been freed' once Axan got ahold of her shell for the transfiguration spell."

"I believe I did convey that, yes."

Rainbow raised her eyes.  "Just what did you mean by that?"

"Her soul had been released by the flesh anchoring it in the mortal realm."

"Released where?"

Mortuana blinked.  "Your kingdom is ruled by none other than Celestia and Luna—second generation alicorns foaled of pure immortal blood.  Surely your culture is properly informed of the nature of all living things?"

"I've... always had some grasp of what the majority of Equestria believes," Rainbow muttered.  She paced about, avoiding her sleeping mat.  "Something to do with 'our spirits leaving our bodies' and 'communing together in the Harmonic Plains.'"

"Was this belief not central to you?"

"I never thought much about death when I was younger," Rainbow muttered.  "Fear only weighed me down.  Then... after my best friends turned to dust..."  She sighed.  "...I guess I was too sad and angry to feel much of anything.  Death is just bad luck in its deepest, blackest form.  And so many cultures believe so many things about it, that I never had the time to pick and choose.  I was too busy trying to live as awesomely as I could with the small time I had left... and the even sm-smaller time I still have left."  She gulped.  A pause, and she glanced up at the alicorn.  "Just what do you believe?  You're the 'alicorn of death' or some such... right?"

"Is that what Whitemane called me?"

"Actually... heh..."  Rainbow smirked bitterly.  "Whitemane never mentioned you.  Not once."

"Somehow, that does not surprise me."  Mortuana trotted a few steps.  "My little pony, what do you know about the Harmonic Plains?"

Rainbow stifled a yawn.  "Celestia and Luna have mentioned it a few times.  It's—like—where the alicorns come from, right?"

"Indeed, we do.  But that is not what defines the Harmonic Plains."

"Then what's so big about it?"

"Namely that there is nothing bigger."

Rainbow blinked.  "...okay."

"Imagine—if you will—that the universe has a limit to it... a limit that is constantly expanding and increasing."

"Do I really have to imagine it?" Rainbow muttered.  "Or are you just telling me how it is?"

Mortuana nodded.  "The universe—for lack of a simpler explanation—is a gigantic sphere.  It is hollow, in that everything that is known to exist dwells within this sphere.  This sphere grows at an exponential rate, never ceasing, always enlarging.  Meanwhile, all stars, galaxies, and celestial bodies are constantly birthed within the volume of this sphere... abiding by chaos, harmony, and the tenuous balance between."

"Kinda heart to tack the word 'plains' onto all of that, Morty."

"The term 'Harmonic Plains' refers to the inner surface of the sphere.  That is the original home to all alicorns.  Countless eons ago, our ancestors herded across such a surface.  These forebears were beings of pure harmony, too powerful and magnificent to be contained in physical frames.  They lived in pure peace and tranquility with one another.  Death, chaos, and the wages of entropy were miniscule concepts at such a time, if not nonexistent.  As the ages dwindled by, and they saw the universe expanding—giving birth to galaxies, nebulae, and whole worlds deep within—they decided to share their bounty of pure harmony with the lives being spawned into existence, even if it meant forsaking the purity of their immortality.  It was this benevolent purpose that saw the first exodus of alicorns into the center of the known universe, exploring, fostering, blessing.  That's how they stumbled upon countless worlds... and it's precisely how my father—and the parents of Celestia and Luna—came upon this piece of Urohringr, ultimately to spread their gifts among the populace... both equine and otherwise."

"Is that why there are less and less of you with each passing age?" Rainbow Dash remarked.  "Because you and every other alicorn who's shown up has been dividing your energies among the mortals  you've discovered?"

"Precisely, my little pony," Mortuana said with a nod.  "Altruism is the one indellible spirit of life.  It has always been our hope that—once mortals have no choice but to dwell on their own—they will discover the means to sustain themselves and spread the same gifts of harmony to the ever-expanding corners of the universe, achieving peace and equilibrium forevermore."

Rainbow exhaled.  "Kinda makes me wonder if that's precisely what the Urohringrs are."

"That has been my assumption as well," Mortuana remarked.  "My one chief regret is that my father Onyxxus did not live long enough to discover the truth about the Urohringrs himself.  He and many other alicorns from his exodus would have wept with joy... knowing that someplace, somewhere, mortals have attained a position of life-renewing enlightenment and peaceful coexistence."

"Wanna bet the ones who built the Urohringrs got to where they were all on account of alicorns?"

"At the risk of sounding egotistical, I would not doubt such," Mortuana said.  "It is very indicative of life to be circular.  Verlax understands this, it would appear, although she doesn't know what to properly do with the knowledge."

"Right."  Rainbow blinked.  "So... like... what's beyond the Harmonic Plains?"

"Hmmm?"

"You said the known universe is an expanding sphere.  What's outside the sphere?"

Mortuana's wings coiled.  "We do not know.  Since the dawn of time, Alicorn writings have ventured to guess and philosophize on what encompasses the sphere.  We have, however, recorded brief glimpses beyond inexplicable fissures that have randomly formed along the surface of the Harmonic Plains."

"Like what kind of fissures?"

"Alas, they've yielded no answers," Mortuana said.  "Nothing but colorless glimpses into an inconceivable absence of data... a black abyss of thought and contemplation."

"Oh yeah?"

"We have a word for them," Mortuana explained.  "'Onyx Eclipses.'  My father was foaled into the purpose of studying them, hence his name.  But after countless epochs of failing to come up with answers, he utilized the energy he had left and ventured into the heart of the universe.  There, he met with my mother, and together they aided the alicorns who brought the Sun and Moon to this plane."

"Sounds pretty epic."

"And it only scratches the surface of the alicorns' historic mission at large."  Mortuana cleared her throat.  "I do apologize, Rainbow Dash.  But somewhere, sometime, there was a purpose as to why I began this expository tirade...?"  She brushed a hoof across the base of her bandaged horn.  "...my mind—as admirable as it may seem to an inquisitive mortal—isn't quite what it used to be."

"I asked you where you believe spirits go.  Like Remna's."

"Ah."  Mortuana nodded.  "To the Harmonic Plains, of course."

"'Of course?'"

Mortuana took a deep breath.  "All alicorns—your beloved Celestia and Luna included—believe that the Harmonic Plains are the source of all harmonic energies.  Thus, all forms of energy—such as the spirits that inhabit physical and organic things—are naturally drawn towards the expanding edges of the universe once their labors are complete."

"By labors, you mean...?"  Rainbow leaned forward.

"Life, my little pony.  Mortal... immortal..."  The alicorn shook her head.  "They all graze from the same valley.  And once they've had their fill, they must return to the source of that which invigorated them to begin with."

"So, when all ponies die..."  Rainbow blinked.  "...you believe that they essentially gravitate towards the surface of the Harmonic Plains once again?"

"Or, perhaps, they journey towards a location outside the universe... and all-encompassing."

Rainbow blinked.  "You don't know?"

"I may be an alicorn of death, Rainbow Dash," Mortuana said.  "But I am still alive yet."

"Right..."

"In meditation, alicorns have sensed a... migration of energy... incalculably polynumerous and grand in scale... all drifting towards the furthest edges of the universe.  This energy is the only thing fast enough to outscale such expansion."  She shook her head again.  "Because no alicorn can physically return to the Harmonic Plains anymore.  But these energies... these spirits can."

"You really believe that this is what happened to Remna?" Rainbow remarked.  She gulped.  "What happened to all of us when we die?"

"With a few exceptions."

"Like what?"

"Well, chiefly your friends," Mortuana said.  "Instead of retreating to a harmonic destination, they are anchored to you, are they not?"

Rainbow blinked.  "Is... is it because of the Element?"

"I dare say it's because of something else," Mortuana remarked.  "Something that exceeds the knowledge of alicornkind."

Rainbow exhaled with a shudder.  "...the Austraeoh."

"Whoever created the Urohringrs not only achieved harmony," Mortuana remarked.  "They mastered it.  I've long been convinced that the machine world that comprises this plane incorporates a wisdom that's far too advanced for even alicorn comprehension."

"So..."  Rainbow blinked.  Hard.  "They... may have found a way to affect the very migration of spirits?"

"Again, it is not something I can prove to you, Rainbow Dash," Mortuana said.  "But I can understand why the Austraeoh would have been engineered... sculpted by the power invested in this piece of Urohringr to keep the souls of her friends anchored... especially if the spirits of the Elements of Harmony freed by the Yaerfaerda beacons are somehow required for the Austraeoh to complete her journey."  Mortuana gulped visibly.  "It may even be related to another... far more startling observation."

"What...?"  Rainbow cocked her head to the side.  "What is it?"

Mortuana turned her head, gazing at the half-sleeping Herald.

"Mortuana..."  Rainbow Dash took a bold step forward.  She spoke in a hushed tone.  "If this is all important to the Austraeoh... then tell the Austraeoh."  Her brow furrowed.  "Level with me."

Mortuana slowly inhaled.  She looked at Rainbow Dash.  "You remember how alicorns—in meditation—can sense the transfer of energies?  Including spirit energies?"

Ranbow could only nod.  Her muzzle hung agape in anticipation.

Mortuana spoke slowly, firmly.  "I have observed something.  At first, I blamed it on the weariness of a dying mind.  It won't be long until I—too—join such energies in spiritual migration.  However..."  Her wings coiled even tighter at her side.  For a brief moment, Rainbow thought she spotted a tremble to her limbs.  "I... have sensed a shift in that pattern, Rainbow Dash," Mortuana said.  "The flow of this plane..."  She swallowed hard, then shook her head.  "It is not normal."

Rainbow's eyes twitched.  "What's so abnormal about it?"

"We have been around much death as of late.  At least... far more deaths than I've had the misfortune of sensing back at Wyvern Point.  Over the last few years, at a growingly exponential rate, I sense as though the spirits of the deceased... have been sinking through the earth..."

"Sinking through the earth?"  Rainbow blinked.  "Where would they be headed exactly?"

"I cannot say..."  Mortuana's muzzle lingered open.  At last, she said, "Until I find out for myself, I believe... I fear that your friends aren't the only spirits being tethered to something."  The alicorn bore a brief frown.  "And not all things in this universe are as noble or benevolent as you."

"But... what, Mortuana?" Rainbow remarked.  A few seconds later, her coat paled.  She leaned back.  "It's something to do with the machine world, isn't it?"

Mortuana shook her head.  "I did not say that."

"You didn't have to."  Rainbow clenched her jaw.  "There's nothing natural about this plane, Morty.  It's... it's a piece of something bigger than mortals and alicorns alike.  Who's to know what the whole kitten kaboodle is really... truly capable of."

"The Austraeoh can find out."

"How?"

"Reach the Midnight Armory," Mortuana said.  "Acquire the Harmonic Prism."

Rainbow sighed, rubbing a hoof over her muzzle.

"Restore harmony... and restore your friends," Mortuana said.  "Perhaps then—with the Sundering undone—you will have achieved the sight that me and all my dying kind have lost."

"I swear to Luna," Rainbow muttered.  "It only keeps on getting bigger and bigger."

"Such is the way of all things, my little pony."

"I... mmmff..."  Rainbow swallowed down the bile rising in her throat.  "Each time I learn something new... even if it's just an inkling of a new revelation... I realize how much I need ponies like the Herald."  Her eyes reopened, misty.  "Ponies like you."

"I cannot follow you every step of the way, Rainbow," Mortuana said.  "I sincerely doubt I will even make it to the edge of this world."

"Can't you, though?"  Rainbow's face was long.  "Couldn't you—I dunno—use that vial of yours to put your spirit into a mortal shell and extend your life or—?"

"I'm afraid it does not work with alicorns as it does with Divines, Rainbow Dash," Mortuana said.  "And even if it did..."  She grasped the vial dangling from her neck.  "...I doubt even this much blood is enchanted enough to accomplish such an improbable task."

"You... you don't deserve to go away so unceremoniously, Mortuana," Rainbow's voice cracked.  "And me?"  She sighed.  "I could use all the help I can get."

"And you have it, Austraeoh," Mortuana said.  "In the Herald... in your friends..."  She nodded down the cavern.  "...in Axan."

"Heh..."  Rainbow rolled her eyes.  "...what does Axan have to assist me with?"

"I will give you a hint, anxious one," Mortuana remarked.  "You won't find out by continuing to talk to me."

Rainbow looked up, blinking.

"There is only one soul that you must talk to to figure out Axan..."

Rainbow clenched her jaw.  "I was afraid you were going to say that."
> In Wait for a Sign
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"The training camps have been fully rationed," said a clerk, standing at the far end of a tent erected within Frostknife.  He levitated a clipboard with his horn and continued speaking:  "According to the latest reports, drills have started morning, noon, and night.  The field officers state that the new recruits should be battle-hardy in approximately two months at the very least."

"Very well," Brye Chandler said with a nod.  He sat at his desk, scribbling his name onto the latest document.  "Send a communication to the Central Guard.  Tell them that I am continuing with the plan to establish new military stations along the western shoreline."  He grabbed another sheet of paper, unrolled it, and signed his name once more.  "Once the Rainbow Rogue has been dealt with, we'll need to establish a military perimeter around Rohbredden."  His brow furrowed.  "No more monsters from beyond the Blight must be allowed to enter our Queen's lands."

"And what of the Colonialist Initiative?" the clerk asked.  "I've had several military aides requesting an update.  What shall I tell them, Defense Minister?"

Chandler took a deep breath.  "Tell them that I must deliberate with the Council before any concrete plans can be made for a campaign in the west."  He clenched his jaw muscles.  "But give them my full assurance that—should the Council agree with my strategies—then we shall need every able-bodied recruit from the current training regiment in order to resupply the western stations."

"Aye, sir."

"We've been complacent for far too long," Chandler said.  "Unless we want a repeat of the Rainbow Rogue, we must endeavor to suppress any and all incursion across the Seven Seas and beyond.  Our Goddess would... expect no... less..."  His worlds trailed off upon hearing the fervent rattling of armor, accompanied by scraping talons.

The tent flap opened, and three soldiers covered in fresh frost marched in, accompanied by Frostknife guards.  A breathless griffon removed his helmet, revealing a ruffled neck of feathers.  He stood before Chandler's desk, staring at the pony with bright, anxious hawkeyes.

"Defense Minister.  I have been sent here from the southernmost battallion stationed within the Star Fringes to deliver some urgent news."

"What is it?"  Brye Chandler stood up straight.  "Is it the Rainbow Rogue?"  His eyes narrowed.  "Has she been caught?"

The griffon grimaced.  "I... wish I could be even remotely as reassuring, sir."

Chandler blinked.  His ears drooped...





Frostknife was abuzz with panic, confusion, and anger.

Ponies and griffons clambered across the platforms and clifffaces.  They surged like a river of stammering souls, flowing north until they flooded the walkways immediately surrounding the Council of Verlaxion.  A thick line of armored guards held the public back, desperate to maintain order.

"What's happening?!"

"The Rainbow Rogue has struck again!  Hasn't she?!"

"What news from the north?!  The foals of Verlaxion have the right to know!"

"Please!  Somepony!  Anypony!  Tell me what's going on!"

"My h-husband was sent north along with his entire unit!  Please... in the name of Verlaxion... tell m-me he still lives!"

"Is our Goddess safe?!"

"Why haven't we h-heard from her again?!"

The guards did their best to hold the raving crowd back.

Meters north and past them, the Court of Verlaxion lingered under a dreadful hush.  Every seat was full of dumb-stricken magistrates, giving ear to the words of the Defense Minister.

"After the twelfth hour of silence had passed, both the Seventh and Ninth Regiments sent a pair of scouts to the last known location of the Eighth Regiment," Brye Chandler said.  He stood beside Grand Magistrate Hymmnos, staring over the podium and at the many delegates with a somber expression.  "They investigated the site where the Eighth Regiment had been assigned to lay in ambush for the Rainbow Rogue.  What they discovered... was an anomalous ridge of freshly formed ice and snow—marring the otherwise flat plateau situated within the heart of the Star Fringes.  Upon closer examination... they found multiple bodies... freshly frozen bodies, several of which indicated bruised limbs and the scars of combat.  The Seventh and Ninth Regiments converged upon the site and performed a more detailed investigation.  After ten hours of excavation... they reached a body count... of no less than fifty members of the Central Guard..."

The Council's delegates murmured in horror.  Gawking magistrates exchanged pale expressions.  Sea ponies flickered multiple colors from within their translucent chambers.

Brye Chandler continued:  "The state... of the corpses discovered match those uncovered from past encounters with Rohbredden's most ancient foe..."  He shuddered, staring ahead as he spoke:  "It is the professional opinion of the military coroners that the Eighth Regiment had been executed by a herd of windigoes..."  The Council exploded in commotion.  Nevertheless, he grimly finished with:  "Meanwhile, the location of the Rainbow Rogue and her nefarious allies remains unknown."

"Windigoes attacked the Eighth Regiment?!" magistrates stammered.

"None of the battallions are equipped to deal with such fiends!"

"Why would Queen Verlaxion allow such a travesty?!"

"Isn't it obvious?!  Our Goddess has grown weak in the wake of our sins and hubris!  The Rainbow Rogue is corralling the monsters of old to lay siege to her throne and all who serve to defend it!"

Hymmnos reached past Chandler, slamming her gavel.  "Order!  We will not make gross generalizations in this Court!"  Her brow furrowed.  "The Defense Minister is not yet done with his report!"  She exhaled more calmly, glancing aside.  "Chandler?"

Chandler gulped, then struggled to keep his voice straight.  "After strategizing with the head officials of the Central Guard... we have mutually agreed that the untimely demise of the entire Eighth Regiment is a sure sign that our line of defense around Starkiss has broken."  Frightful murmurs filled the air as he continued.  "It is safest to assume that the Rainbow Rogue—aided by windigoes or not—has likely advanced upon the Throne of Verlaxion.  To that end, I have sent messengers to our ambush squads situated within the Star Fringes with the express command to fall back.  As we speak, the First through Fifteenth Regiments are relocating themselves east, congregating along the western slopes of Starkiss."

"To what end?!"  A magistrate frowned.  "Nothing in our arsenal has ever... ever been able to counterract the power of windigoes!"

"Without the Queen's blessing, all of our soldiers are doomed!" stammered another.  "Now you expect the remaining batallions of the Central Guard to place themselves directly in the path of the Rainbow Rogue and these ancient abominations?!"

Chandler growled, "Need I remind you that the Goddess' very own safety is at stake?!"  The Court instantly silenced at that.  He frowned and spoke on:  "Neglecting to risk our flesh and blood for her is what got us into this compromising position to begin with!  Now I have been charged by the words of Verlaxion herself to protect our beloved Queen at all costs, and that is precisely what I am prepared to do!  And so is every soldier enlisted in the Central Guard!"  After a calming breath, he leaned back and said, "We have considered every conceivable option, and the only way to protect the Throne of Verlaxion at this point is to concentrate all forces on Starkiss itself!  If the Rainbow Rogue is indeed making her way into the heart of Rohbredden, we shall meet her and stop her.  By the Goddess' grace, Verlaxion shall recognize our faith and humility and aid our soldiers in fending off the abominable windigoes.  History teaches us that it was total commitment that led to Unification in the first place."  He fought a lump in his throat.  "And it is what we must rely on now."

The delegates collectively hung their heads in sullen silence.

"My... our hearts go out to every fallen soldier and their families," Chandler said in a dry voice.  "This is the cost of war.  And—like it or not—we are very... very much at war right now."  His nostrils flared.  "There will be a time for grieving.  As of this moment, our only function is to fight.  You have my full assurance that I am working on contingencies every hour of every day to eliminate the threat of the Rainbow Rogue and all other monsters of the Blight."  A deep inhale.  "That is all."  He stepped away from the podium.

Hushed murmurs filled the Court, allowing for the sounds of clambering citizens to flood in from the rest of Frostknife beyond.  Random magistrates hopped down from their seats, stumbling towards Chandler and asking a flood of questions.

A group of guards gathered tightly around the Defense Minister, holding back the delegates as they escorted the stallion out of the courtyard.  Stumbling along, Chandler closed his eyes and rubbed his aching skull with a shivering hoof.






Later, at night...

Hymmnos raised a glass of wine to her muzzle.  She took a slow, tiny sip, then continued gazing out onto the torch-lit bluffs looming directly outside her office.

"It took another three hours before I was able to dismiss the representatives of the Council," the Grand Magistrate murmured.  "Normally, I would have been... more forceful in ending a session.  However, that's a frailty of the past... one of the many sins that has brought the Blight upon us."  She glanced at her glass, sighing.  "...and has assailed our beloved Unifier."

Chandler stood across from her.  "I've been hard at work ever since I delivered my report, Grand Magistrate," he said.  "Reinforcements are being sent to Starkiss.  I won't rest..."  He shook his head.  "Not for one moment... not until the Rainbow Rogue is stopped—"

"There are those within the Council who feel that the Rainbow Rogue is more than a creature that can be slain or tamed, Defense Minister," Hymmnos remarked.  "Word around Frostknife is that she's a force... a manifestation of the reckoning that is upon us for years and years of neglecting to honor Verlaxion and her faithful labors."

Chandler frowned.  "I don't believe that for a second, Grand Magistrate.  I believe whole-heartedly that this monster can be stopped."

Hymmnos calmly pivoted around until she was facing him.  "But... until a week ago... you didn't believe in much of anything at all, did you, Mr. Chandler?"

The stallion stood stock still.

Hymmnos sighed.  She stared at her glass, drank the rest of its contents, and murmured, "We stand here... and we speak of what's righteous and what's honorable... and in the meantime it's all of our younger brothers and sisters who are dying on the battlefield... suffering the frozen sting of ancient curses that have resurfaced after eons to haunt us."  She swallowed.  "That a jaded Magistrate and a former atheist should be the ones leading this kingdom in a time of belated redemption is a truly bitter case of irony indeed."

"I... admit that I am new to concepts of destiny and atonement, Grand Magistrate," Chandler said.  "But let us not forget that I was the one chosen by the Word of Verlaxion to lead her forces at this time of great peril."

"Please..."  Hymmnos chuckled, hobbling over to her desk and placing her glass down.  "I find it hard to forget, each and every day."

Chandler clenched his teeth.

She leaned against her furniture, sighing.  "... ... ...the wages of our sins shall continue to torment us long after the Rainbow Rogue is dead and buried."  Her brow furrowed.  "You think I don't know what you have planned for the Colonialist territories in the west, Minister?"  She sighed.  "Whatever may happen for the extent of our lifetimes, I doubt that we can claim them as 'victories.'  I only hope... that somewhere amidst the suffering to come... we will at last have made the Goddess' will manifest."

"I... am only doing what I've been tasked with, Grand Magistrate," Chandler said in a dry tone.

"I'm quite aware," Hymmnos remarked.  "And you don't have my envy."

Chandler blinked.

Hymmnos stood up straight, pivoting to face him.  "Defense Minister... you must stop the Rainbow Rogue at all costs.  Whatever tactics you are currently employing, they are obviously not working.  It doesn't take a military strategist to see that.  Even a child can tell how swiftly things are going south."

"I am doing the best that I can with the resources given to me."

"Then—for Verlaxion's sake, as well as your own—you must learn to do better than 'your best.'"  Hymmnos took a fuming breath, trotting past him.  "Take it from somepony who's quite familiar with being helpless.  True humility involves looking past your own limitations for guidance."

Chandler frowned, shaking slightly.

"...you're excused, by the way," the Grand Magistrate said.





On stomping hooves, Chandler marched through the entrance of his tent.

He paced back and forth, fuming.

At last, he leaned against his desk.  His eyes clenched shut.  His teeth gnashed.

"Rrrrmmmm—"

With a furious snarl, he flung his desk across the floor.

"—rrraaaaugh!"  Crash!  As the papers and documents flew, he stood in place, shivering... panting...

Armor rattled as two guards rushed into the canvas office.

"Defense Minister!"

"Mr. Chandler, is everything okay—?!"

"I'm fine!" Chandler barked.  He stood in place, shaking.  "I'm..."  A lingering breath.  "...I'm fine.  At ease, soldiers."

The guards exchanged glances.  Clearing his throat, one bowed and said, "If you should need anything, sir... anything whatsoever—"

"Nopony can give me what I need," Chandler murmured.  He rubbed his brow with a sigh.  "Goddess help me..."

The guards stared in awkward silence.  Bowing out, they prepared to make their exit—

"...wait."

The soldiers scuffled to a stop.

Chandler sighed... then sighed harder.  He opened his dull eyes, staring forward with a dead expression.  His ears drooped as he summoned the courage to say:  "I need an escort..."

"An escort, sir?" asked one guard.

"Where do you wish to go?" asked the other.

Chandler hesitated.  He bit his lip... fighting the urge to say what needed to be said.  It wouldn't be long until he gave in...





Petite blue hooves scuffled over a stretch of cold gray rock.

Rainbow gulped, staring forward at the violet figure marching firmly down the lengths of a winding granite corridor.

"You've put it off for long enough, Rainbow," Twilight Sparkle said.  She floated beside the pegasus, looking at her.  "Before Verlaxion... before the edge of the world... you must confront this obstacle."

"Yeah!  Just talk to her, Dashie!" Pinkie insisted.  "It's just a hop, skip, and a jump!  Er... with your tongue!  Tonge hops and skips!"

"Easy for you to say," Rainbow muttered, glaring as she shuffled along.  "She didn't smash you to a pulp."

"You've talked to her before, darling," Rarity said.  "And, besides, hasn't she sworn to protect you?"

"Yeah... in her own style of 'protection,'" Rainbow grumbled.  "Which I'm still not very cool with."

"One way or another, she respects you, Rainbow," Fluttershy said.  "If that was the case, would you truly have survived all this time?"

"She could at least have shown respect for a lot more ponies," Rainbow said.

"Perhaps."  Twilight nodded.  "But I think we've learned by now that even Divines can't do everything."

"Yeah, except Verlax!" Pinkie said.  A lavender hoof swatted her head.  "Ow!"  She rubbed her scalp, frowning.  "Really?  This early in the morning?"

Twilight sighed and smiled at Rainbow.  "She's taken great risks to be in the position she's in... and all for the sake of escorting the Austraeoh.  Shouldn't that count for something, Rainbow?"

"Mrmmmf..."  Rainbow clenched her jaws.  "Tell that to the ponies she could have saved in Aridstone... and Lerris..."

Remna's voice echoed from up ahead:  "If you're going to despise me, at least do so to my face, Austraeoh."

Rainbow's marefriends winced.

Their anchor frowned.  "Believe it or not, I didn't come all the way up here to hate on you."

"Then what brought you here?"  Remna maintained her brisk pace.  "I'm busy scouting ahead."

"Which is redundant, 'cuz I've got Rarity checking on the landscape twenty-four seven."

"Speaking of which, darling!"  Rarity spoke in a chipper voice.  "We haven't much to go before the cavern opens up to the surface again—"

"That wasn't a request for an update, Rares."

"Oh..."  Rarity upturned her nose and folded her forelimbs.  "Very well, then.  Carry on with your brooding conversation."

"Return to Mortuana's side, Austraeoh," Remna muttered.  "You're safer in the center of the caravan."

Rainbow sighed, galloping until she trotted side by side with Remna.  "You and I both know that Mortuana won't last forever, Axan."

"She still have some energy in her left—"

"We need to own up to the fact that she likely won't make it to the Throne of Verlaxion."  Rainbow frowned.  "You and I need to face reality... and that reality is one in which you and I have to share the full extent of this journey together."

Remna stared ahead, jaw muscles clenched.

"Because that's the nature of the beast, isn't it?"  Rainbow raised an eyebrow.  "If you really... truly want to get me to the Midnight Armory, then that means you're coming along for every step of the way."

"I am not concerned with my steps," Remna murmured.  "Only with the Austraeoh's."

"Unnngh..."  Rainbow rolled her eyes.

"It is your safety that matters above all else."

"Can I ask you something, Axan?"

"You may attempt to."

Rainbow huffed.  "Exactly when did you switch from being a giant pony-tormenting freakazoid and become a selfless guardian of Austraeoh?"

"I fail to see the difference between what I used to be and how I employ my talents now."

Rainbow gnashed her teeth.  "You destroyed an entire kingdom," she growled.  "I watched with my own eyes as you roasted Silvadelians alive and sent your broodlings out to eat them alive!"

Fluttershy whimpered, shivering.  Rarity held her gently, patting her shoulder as she glared at the violet mare.

Remna exhaled.  "I was protecting the sanctity of my nest," she said.  Her eyes turned to green slits and reverted back between breaths.  "My brood depended on me and I depended on my hoard.  If anything challenged that—mortal or otherwise—then I compromised my power as a draconian matriarch."

"And all for what?  To die in angsty seclusion while the world wasted away around you?  Was that really worth sacrificing an entire culture of innocent ponies over?"

"It... was a misguided decision on my part, admittedly."

Rainbow breathed evenly.  "Well, that's nice to hear at least."

"I meant my motives within the knowledge of the world's dying state," Remna said.  "I couldn't have cared less for the feculent mortals who stood in the way of my nest."

Rainbow groaned.

"Alright, perhaps you are right, Rainbow," Rarity muttered.  "This cretin is most detestably hopeless."

"Axan... it's..."  Rainbow tongued the inside of her mouth.  "...nifty that you've turned a new leaf in wanting to protect this piece of Urohringr and all that jazz."

"Duly noted."

"But..."  Rainbow glared at her as they shuffled past a line of stalagmites.  "It takes more than just... heroic actions to be a hero.  You gotta change who you are and what you believe in."

"It is not my desire to be a hero."

"You wanna save the world, don't you?" Rainbow's voice cracked.  "That's pretty heroic, don't you think?"

"Such is your position to fill," Remna droned.  "I am merely an accessory to it."  Her violet nostrils flared.  "It is not a choice that came easily."

"What, did you want the world to die off for the longest time?"

"It's not a matter of the ends, but rather the means."  Remna exhaled hard.  "If I had my choice, then the Austraeoh wouldn't be the means of redeeming this dying realm."

"Just what would you prefer?"

"The Divines were birthed on this plane long before the alicorns arrived.  Seems only fitting that we would be the ones to bring about its salvation."

"Sturke seems like a pretty cool gal," Rainbow said.  "You could work with her, can't you?  Some way or another?"

"I've attempted to.  We've communicated at great lengths from long distance."  Remna sighed.  "Alas... she has grown weak over time."

"So?"  Rainbow shrugged.  "Strength isn't everything.  You've said so yourself."

"What it takes to save this world is a persistent, tenacious spirit," Remna remarked.  "That is long gone from what remains of my siblings and I.  We are all fragmented, dying shells of what we once were.  Even Endrax—for all her might—could not maintain herself on the Light Side.  She vacated to the far end, a bold but foolish maneuver.  Now, I sense, she has suffered for her endeavors.  I am finally starting to understand the fact that the torch has been passed.  The fate of this plane lies in the hooves of mortals... and I couldn't feel even more nauseated."

"Does it really burn you up inside that badly?" Rainbow remarked.  "That the flame of Austraeoh lies in ponydom?"

"It is a bitter pill to swallow, yes," Remna said.  "But much of the pain is behind me.  It only stings when I hear your voice."

"Is that a fact?"

"Lest we forget what you did to my brood."

Rainbow frowned.  "You didn't give me much of a choice."

"A mentality that my demented sister Verlax would have you adopt," Remna muttered.  "Every day, you think about the consequences that your actions have on ponykind... on nations of equines and griffons and elk.  You constantly strive for their sanctity of life and survival.  But do you ever put a thought towards dragonkind?"  Her ears folded back as she grumbled, "Do you ever wonder what became of my broodlings?  Cast asunder and led astray in the defeat of their matriarch?"

Rainbow squinted.  "What do you mean?"

"They have all wandered off, Austraeoh.  Without a hoard, they have no honor.  With no honor, they have no purpose.  They will either be devoured by other dragon clans or hunted to death by the future descendants of the angry mortals of Silvadel.  Even now, so far from my place of nesting, I shudder to think... are even half of them still alive?"

Pinkie winced.  She and Fluttershy exchanged nervous glances.

Rainbow gulped.  "That... that's really really sucky, Axan.  But you can't pin all of that on me," she said firmly.  "Especially when—"

"I was not attempting to garner sympathy," Remna growled.  "Even in this putrid state, that would be below me."  A heated breath, and she marched along.  "Suffice to say, I realize now how wrong I was to have holed myself up into such a position of inaction.  What you did—however careless—was the right kind of push I needed to pursue the salvation of this world... even if it will not have dragons in it."

"Wait... what do you mean?"

"Do you not realize?"  Remna glanced back at her for the first time since Rainbow approached the mare.  "The Divines are all dying off.  Even Sturke—for all of her providence—shall not last forever.  And when we have finally all dwindled away, the life essence flowing through the broods will also fade.  The clans will dissolve, and one by one... every dragon that has ever existed will go extinct without us."

"That's... crazy..."

"It is not our lot in life to pass judgment on our destiny," Remna said.  "We have been afforded many years to live and die.  Only now—upon the cusp of purpose—can we make a difference in this plane.  For all we know, it may be the one true reason why we were hatched here."

"Hatched by who?"

"A question I've never had the wherewithal to formulate."  Remna's nostrils flared.  "Nor does it matter.  A world this complex does not deserve to go fully sterile.  It is the task of Sturke and myself to make sure that some sort of legacy persists... even if it is ponydom's."  She sighed heavily.  "As evidence would have it, this plane belonged to some form of ponydom to begin with.  Perhaps it is only fitting."

"Wow..."  Twilight blinked.  "That must have taken a lot for her to admit."

"She... she may be sincere after all, Rainbow," Fluttershy remarked.

Rainbow took a deep breath.  "That's pretty cool of you to say, Axan," she said.  "But if you truly mean it... then you got to show it."

"I do not believe I understand.  Have I not displayed my loyalty to the Austraeoh's journey?"

"Girl, all you've displayed is a tall bottle of flankhole," Rainbow grumbled.  "And a pretty broken one too."

"Is that a fact...?"

"That shell of Remna's you're inhabiting might be 'invulnerable,' but that doesn't give you license to bumble around like a maniac!"  Rainbow's voice cracked.  "Need I remind you of how you nearly killed us both while mountain climbing?!  Or came close to needlessly slaughtering a manticore just because it growled at me funny?"

"Wisdom is... not my strong suit," Remna grumbled.

"Then forget wisdom and just work on restraint!" Rainbow Dash insisted.  "I know you're a dragon on the inside and crud... but try to stave off the hot-headedness!  Learn to cool it and take things in stride.  Sure, we're bound to butt heads with Verlax and her minions, but that doesn't mean you gotta go ballistic on everything you see!  Especially when you don't see it!"

"I cannot afford to put my guard down or else the Austraeoh's entire journey may be compromised."

"Then lemme make it simple for you, Axan."

"You are welcome to try."

"Axan..."  Rainbow Dash galloped ahead, then stood in front of Axan.  "Look at me."

Remna scuffled to a stop.

"You want to help the Austraeoh and her journey?"  Rainbow fumed.  "Then let the Austraeoh lead the way.  You do what I say... when I say it, understand?"

Remna's eyes narrowed.  "You remember what happened the last time you spoke to me in such a tone—?"

"I remember everything."  Rainbow frowned.  "That's how we learn and grow.  Now say it.  Say that you will follow my commands... the Austraeoh's commnands... or else your 'loyalty' doesn't mean didley squat to me."

Remna leaned back, breathing deeply.

"Don't make Mortuana's sacrifice into nothing," Rainbow said.  "It's clear to me that you respect her.  Try respecting me for a change.  I'm the one headed to the Midnight Armory, after all."

The ghostly mares stared at Rainbow, then at Remna.

At last, the mare spoke, "I shall protect the Austraeoh by any means necessary.  If that means abiding by her authority..."  Her eyes narrowed.  "Then so be it."

"Good."  Rainbow nodded.  "Glad we could come to that agreement."  She waved a hoof.  "Now... you may proceed with the scouting."

"Very well then."  Remna nodded back, then gestured behind Rainbow's shoulder.  "Behold.  Daybreak."

Rainbow blinked.  "Huh...?"

"Rainbow!"  Rarity grinned joyfully.  "Look!"

Rainbow spun around... and found herself having to squint.

The cave opened up to bright daylight.  Beyond the mesmerizing grayness, Rainbow could make out the jagged shapes of the Star Fringes.  Cold air wafted in, coating Rainbow's and Remna's figures with frost.

"Well... that's a start," Rainbow said.

Remna blinked.  Her violet ears folded back.  "There's something amiss..."

"Huh?"

"I think she's right, Dashie," Pinkie said, squinting at the mouth of the cave.  "I... I think I see someponies up ahead!"

"I see them too!" Twilight remarked.  She looked aside.  "Fluttershy?"

"... ... ..."  Fluttershy gasped.  "Ohmygoodness..."

"What?"  Rainbow jolted in place.  The cave echoed with the sounds of hoofsteps as the rest of the Herald and Central Guard caught up from behind.  "Who is it?"

Fluttershy twirled to face Rainbow.  She smiled wide.

"Rainbow Dash!" a voice echoed from the mouth of the cave.

"What in tarnation?!"  Bard could be heard gsaping from Kepler's wagon.  "Who is that?"

"Stand behind me," Remna growled, marching forward on heavy hooves.  "Now!  I'll drive them back—"

"Dang it, Axan!"  Rainbow shuffled around her with a frown.  "What did we just get done talking about?"

"But they could be—"

"Fluttershy's giving me good vibes!  Just hang back and wait for my signal!"  With a huff, Rainbow marched forward.  She squinted at several figures standing against the blinding brightness.  "Hello?  Who's there?"

"So it is you..."  The closest body came to a stop.  Silver armor glinted.  "...I see you're not alone."

"Wait..."  Twilight blinked.  "...I know that voice."

"You should."  Fluttershy nodded.  "But that's not the only one."

"Huh?"

At last, Rainbow trotted to a stop.  The lead figure before her came into focus, squinting into the cave with magenta eyes.  "Keris..."

"Do not be alarmed," the Lieutenant said, flanked by Starstorm, Windburst, and Raptr.  "We have come to do many things indeed... but first and foremost we are here to talk."

Rainbow stared, muzzle agape.  "... ... ...talk..."  She gulped.  "Yeah... sure..."

Swooooosh!  In a murking streak, Wildcard glided in, landing between Rainbow Dash and Keris.  He took on a defensive stance, reaching for his nighsticks.

Keris' eyes darted towards him.  His headcrest drooped beneath his helmet.  "...Jordan."

"... ... ..."  Wildcard stared back, his body motionless.

The Sergeants exchanged nervous glances.

Keris sighed.  "Then... I suppose this was indeed the wise decision..."

Flynn and Logan caught up, squinting curiously.  "Who the Hell is 'Jordan?'"

Wildcard spun about, he gestured swiftly to the Herald.

"What are ya even goin' on about, Dubya?" Bard said, craning his neck from the wagon.

Mortuana shuffled to a stop.  "I trust, Wildcard, that the Midwest Passage is secure?"

Wildcard nodded.

The alicorn nodded back.  "Very well..."

Ariel grimaced.  "I'm confused."

Pinkie rubbed her head.  "She's not the only one..."

"Rainbow Dash," murmured a calm voice.

Twilight and Rarity gasped.

Rainbow pivoted slightly.  Her eyes widened as Theanim Mane and a cloaked Echo shuffled around the Talon and into the shadow of the cave.

"...it is... good to see you again," Theanim spoke in a dry tone.

Rainbow gulped.  "What's up, Doc?"

"Hey yourself," Echo remarked.  His slitted eyes squinted at the petite pegasus' shaved head and battered figure.  "Wow, Rainbow.  You look like shit."





Seraphimus sat, meditative and still.  She calmly breathed in and out, eyes closed to the blue aura wafting off the frozen shards containing her loved ones.

Several feet away, along a platform of the subterrannean chamber, Brye Chandler marched up... accompanied by members of the Central Guard.

The stallion's teeth chattered as he hugged himself beneath his bejeweled cloak.  "Verlaxion's Sleet, it's cold in here..."

"It's necessary, Minister," explained a robed elder who had led the escort to that spot.  "The Goddess' power flows through the heart of Frostknife and manifests itself here to protect the infirmed foals of Verlaxion—"

"Yes yes... I know what this damnable place is for..."  Chandler shuddered.  "I just... never stepped in it before."

"Do... do you need our assistance with—?"

"No."  The Defense Minister gulped.  "Leave me... leave us."

The elder and the members of the Central Guard bowed before quietly shuffling off to a higher platform.

At last, Brye Chandler's eyes fell on Seraphimus.  He clenched his jaw tight, fighting the urge to shiver as he trotted towards the griffon.  Within seconds, he stood behind the Commander.  The stallion fumbled, fidgeted, and at last opened his muzzle to speak—

"I assume this is about the tragedy that befell the Eighth Regiment," Seraphimus droned.

Brye Chandler blinked.  "How... did you know?"

"You have a very peculiar smell about you, Mr. Chandler," the griffon spoke without opening her eyes.

"No... I-I mean how did you hear about the failed ambush and windigo attack?"

"News travels fast in Frostknife," she said.  "And even faster in a place that echoes."  She swallowed.  "Those who come down here to meditate are... quite accustomed to tragedy."

Chandler gulped.  "Then you must know that the Rainbow Rogue has yet to be stopped."

"Indeed.  As I have yet to be surprised."

Chandler shuddered.  Composing himself, the stallion trotted a few brave steps closer, squinting at the icy shards and the avian bodies suspended within.  "Is this your family?"

"Indeed."  Seraphimus nodded blindly.  "Verlaxion's greatest blessing."

"They are... quite beautiful, Commander," Chandler said.  "It's no wonder you care so deeply for them.  A... a treasure like this must be priceless to—"

"I am willing to settle for pedantic pleasantries within the walls of the Court, Mr. Chandler," Seraphimus spoke, her voice taking on an icy, hissing tone.  "But I shall not... and will not humor heartless rhetoric here in this sanctum.  So you may quit while you are ahead... or even have a head."

Chandler winced hard.  At last, he exhaled.  "Very well."  He turned to face her directly.  "I have ordered the remaining Regiments to move east from the Star Fringes and defend the outer walls of Starkiss."

"Yes, and...?"

"It goes without saying that they are no match for a single solitary herd of windigoes—never mind how many more are likely to be unleashed upon the advent of our Goddess' weakening state."  Chandler frowned.  "But you and I both know that the windigoes—albeit a manifestation of Rohbredden's failure—is not the true heart of the problem."

"The Rainbow Rogue is."

"Yes.  And history has proven her to be unbelievably elusive.  The Consortium could not stop her.  The Eighth Regiment was incapable of eliminating her."

Seraphimus nodded.  "As she has likewise proven to be more than a competent foe to the Right Talon of Verlaxion."

"But that's just it.  You and your subordinates were able to track her."  Chandler's brow furrowed.  "Even if she slipped from your claws, you at least managed to stay one step behind her on every turn."  He took a deep breath.  "And right now, more than anything, the remaining battallions need to know of her whereabouts in order to properly stage an ambush."

"I doubt we can do much of anything at the moment," Seraphimus murmured.  "We do not have the blessing of our Goddess."

"But I do."

"Meaning...?"

Chandler bit his tongue, holding it in place.

"Defense Minister... if I may have the honor of calling you that... then you must have the honor of properly using that title."

"I have to stop the Rainbow Rogue, Seraphimus."  Chandler gulped.  "Soldiers are dying and I'm running out of options."

"Running out of options?  Or out of sins?"

"Huh?"

"Humility is not an occupation, Mr. Chandler."  At last, Seraphimus stood up, cracking her stiff joints.  She smoothed her headcrest back and turned towards him, finally opening a pair of narrow hawkeyes.  "You don't earn half as much as you sacrifice.  All your life, you've lived off the backs of ponies you've swindled, cheated, and exploited.  And where has it gotten you?"

Chandler's voice positively squeaked, "I need to know that I-I'm doing right by the Goddess' will..."

"Just as I am waiting for a sign..."  Seraphimus stared the stallion down.  "A sign that our ailing Goddess' wisdom is not misguided... and that the warriors in her employ are willing to make the necessary steps to humble themselves for the sake of defending righteousness."

Chandler blinked.

Seraphimus glared.  "Well, Mr. Chandler?"  A calm, patient breath.  "You've presented yourself in this Sanctum.  What have you to offer before Verlaxion?"

He stared back at her.  The shivers stopped and his ears folded back.





Thud!

The metal door to the Talon's armory slammed shut.

Seraphimus strolled briskly into the heart of her headquarters.

"Claws of the Talon!" her voice boomed.  She stripped herself of her robe and approached a table where her armor resided.  "Gather around!"

She grasped a breastplate and swiftly attached it to her feline torso.

"Our hour of destiny has finally arrived!  The newly appointed Minister of Defense has called upon us to assist the batallions defending Starkiss to the north!  We must strategize a plan to aid the Central Guard in apprehending the Rainbow Rogue before she reaches the Throne of Verlaxion!"

Her authoritarian voice merely echoed off the sterile walls of the torchlit place.

Seraphimus' brow furrowed as she slapped on piece after silver piece of armor.  "Lieutenant!  Sergeants!  Fall in this second!  Verlaxion has given us a sign that she still has need of the Talon!"

More silence.

For the first time since arriving, Seraphimus froze in place.  She raised her head, squinting into the recesses of the place.

"Sergeants?"

She shuffled past the table, then peered down the hall leading towards the bunks.

"Starstorm... Windburst...?"

All was still.

She raised an eyecrest.  A hopeful breath:  "Keris?"

Further silence.

The Commander clenched her beak.  In swift motions, she resumed slapping her armor on.





Minutes later, the Commander landed at the huge iron gates to the Frosted Shelves.

Members of the Central Guard instantly jerked to attention.

"Commander!"

"Commander Seraphimus!"

"At ease..."  Seraphimus marched towards those standing at the door.  "I need to speak with Lieutenant Keris."

The guards blinked in confusion.  "Commander...?"

"Lieutenant Keris."  The Commander stared them down, hawkeyes narrow.  "He is here, yes?"

The guards exchanged glances.

"Up until now, the Court had no tasks for us, so he must be assisting the prison guards along with the Sergeants of the Talon."  Seraphimus inhaled.  "I did not find them in the armory, so I came straight here."

"Uhm..."  One guard cleared his throat.  "The Lieutenant was here, Commander.  But... but that was over two days ago."

Seraphimus stared blankly.  "...two days ago."

"Yes."  A soldier nodded.  "He came to relocate a prisoner."

"Relocate a prisoner?"

"Yes.  The midnighter who testified against the Syndicate in Shoggoth."  The guard blinked.  "The Lieutenant and his wingmates left to escort him with the help of a representative of the Scientific Order."

Seraphimus headcrest angled back sharply.  "Professor Theanim Mane...?"

"Indeed, Commander."  The guard cleared his throat.  "We... assumed that you had authorized the matter..."

Seraphimus glared into the gray bluffs of Frostknife.

"Was... was that not the case?"

"Soldier, do tell me..."  Seraphimus' voice resonated with an icy tone.  "...precisely where was the Lieutenant headed...?"
> Trying to Make Ends Meet
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Enough of this absurd delay!" a pony in battered armor growled.  The member of the Central Guard stood with a few other soldiers just outside the mouth to the Midwest Passage of the Star Fringes.  "We've waited long enough!"  He frowned at the Talon.  "Where is the Lieutenant?"

"The Lieutenant will brief the lot of you when he's prepared.  No sooner," Starstorm firmly replied.  She stood—guarded—alongside Raptr and Windburst, forming a thin yet solid perimeter.  "Right now, he's gathering information from... from f-former Lieutenant Jordan of the Right Talon of Verlaxion."

The guard gnashed his teeth.  "You mean that traitorous vigilante who's consorting with the Blighted freaks?!"  He motioned towards Mortuana and the Herald standing by the edge of the cave.  "He turned his back to Verlaxion!  He's even worse scum than the Rainbow Rogue—!"

Windburst's hawkeyes lit up as he stared the guardian down.  "Lieutenant Jordan sacrificed life and limb to protect the interests of Queen Verlaxion as well as the safety of his fellow wingmates!  A sniveling piss-stained corporal like you has no right insulting such a hero!"

"Sergeant..."  Starstorm gently chided.  She sighed.  "Until Keris gets back and issues his commands, we should maintain neutral and cool-headed in this situation..."

"Pffft!"  The guardian rolled his eyes.  "Neutral my flank!  Your Commander isn't here!  As far as I'm concerned, you're all a bunch of brainwashed turncoats for even humoring this rendezvous!"

WHUD! Starstorm's talon uppercutted the stallion so hard that he flew back five feet and landed on his flank.  She loomed over him, beak clattering:  "Excuse me?!  Excuse me?!  My comrades and I were sacrificing our lives and kicking the asses of terrorists all over Rohbredden while thick-headed lazy recruits like you sat around picking your noses!"

"Sergeant!"  Windburst yanked Starstorm back.  "Get ahold of yourself!  For Goddess' sake!"

"Gnnngh..."  Raptr removed his helmet and rubbed a talon over his beak.  "Why didn't I go to a crochet academy instead...?"

A few of the other guardians lifted up their brethren.  He rubbed the blood off his chin and grimaced at the Talon.  "Have you gone crazy?!  All those days of chasing the Rainbow Rogue's tail must have tainted you with the Blight as well!"

"Oh yeah!"  Starstorm spat.  "That's your excuse for everything!  Can't take a crap without blaming it on the Blight!"

The soldier sneered:  "I'm glad the Defense Minister is doing away with you old fossils of war—!"

"I have news for you, buddy!"  Starstorm growled.  "Chandler's so crooked and dishonest that he's backstabbed pirates!  And this so-called Defense Ministry bullcrap?!  He's just a puppet for a malicious spirit that seeps from the Throne of Verlaxion itself!  But I can't expect a grunt like you to understand that!"

"I understand that the enemies of Verlaxion are encroaching from all sides!"  The guardian hissed.  "Including the Right Talon of Verlaxion!  Tell me... did you get your Commander's permission to come here or are you betraying her too?!"

Upon hearing that, even Raptr and Windburst showed a spark of anger.  However, before the Talon or the Central Guard could converge on one another, a regal set of spindly limbs landed between them.

"Silence."  Mortuana's wings spread, forcing the two groups apart.  "Whether we be foals of Verlaxion or foals of Harmony... it matters not.  We musn't act like children."

"Hrmmmff..."  The punched guard shrugged his shoulders, backtrotting with an angry squint.  "I'm only doing what she says cuz she's so damn spooky."

"Members of the Central Guard," Mortuana spoke calmly, facing the armored equines.  "We appreciate the fact that a spirit of peace and respectability has kept you from attacking us along the subterrannean path to this juncture."  She turned to face the trio of griffons.  "Members of the Right Talon, I understand that it has taken a great deal of faith and sacrifice to risk coming here."  She gestured beyond the nearest ridge of mountains.  "Your Lieutenant is a wise and good-hearted griffon.  Whatever his decision will be, I will pass no judgment upon you for following it."  She looked at the Central Guard yet again.  "And, as stated before, nopony who has crossed paths with us is obligated to stay.  We have emerged from the cave leading to the Midwest Passage.  If you so desire to venture south to the Central Prefectures and Frostknife beyond, the path is now open to you."

"There's no way in Hell we're leaving without hearing what the Lieutenant has to say," grumbled the confrontational soldier.

"So be it," Mortuana said with a nod.

"Uhm..."  A mare and a few other soldiers stepped up from where they stood nervously on the sideline.  "There's more to it than that... Miss..."

"Mortuana."

"Right."  The soldier cleared her throat and continued nervously:  "Those windigoes... if they show up again, we... we have no chance of outrunning them."

Raptr grimaced.  "You were attacked by windigoes?!"

"That is correct."  A griffon of the Guard nodded.  "They came from the east, accompanied by a Frost Vessel."

"They attacked Rohbreddenites and members of the Rainbow Rogue's party alike," added the mare.  "If we hadn't... t-taken refuge with these creatures of the Blight... with these ponies..."

"So many of our brothers and sisters perished," a pegasus said, shuddering.  "It... it was the wrath of Verlaxion."  He gulped.  "Nothing less."

"But..."  Starstorm turned towards Windstorm, beak agape.  "Th-that doesn't make any sense!"

Windburst squinted at the Guard.  "Surely the windigoes acted on their own.  Verlaxion has always struggled to constrain them.  Why would they suddenly be in league with one of the Queen's frozen messengers?"

"Because, Rright Talon..."  Kepler shuffled up, standing at Mortuana's side.  "They werre meant to snuff out all witnesses to the Rrainbow Rrogue's herroic jourrney.  Furrtherrmorre... they werre meant to test the Austrraeoh's rresolve..."

Windburst and Starstorm exchanged glances.

"If... if the windigoes are being sent to attack the Rainbow Rogue and anyone near her..."  Raptr gulped.  "Then what are we doing standing around for?!"  He pivoted to gawk at his partners.  "We have to get everyone out of here!  The Star Fringes is a friggin' death trap—"

"Not... without the Lieutenant's word," Windburst said firmly.

"But... does he even know what we're up against?!" Raptr's voice cracked.

Starstorm took a deep breath.  "Something tells me he's about to."  That said, she turned and gazed worriedly east.





Past a ridge of stony crags, Keris was pacing... pacing... pacing...

Wildcard perched calmly on a stack of boulders.  Despite the Desperado's weight, none of the rocks tumbled or fell under his expertly poised limbs.  With calm nonchalance, he clutched a dagger in his metal talon, whittling away at a narrow block of wood.

Keris' paws formed shallow trails in the ice and gravel.  At last, after a frigid breeze blew through the rocky pass, the Lieutenant sighed, then turned to glare at Wildcard.  He cradled his cast as he spoke:  "I don't even know where to begin with you."

Wildcard tilted his head about.  One lens of his goggles reflected Keris' angry expression while the other lens reflected the knife and wood.

"I thought you were dead.  We thought you were dead!"  Keris exhaled with a shudder.  "Seraphimus and I... we grieved for you, Jordan!"

Wildcard inhaled.  After a space in time, he slowly nodded.

"You know what your supposed passing meant to us...?"  Keris fumed.  "And yet you carried on with the fabrication of your death?  Fully aware of the sorrow it caused your fellow wingmates?"

Flick!  Wildcard sheathed the blade.  He stuck the brand new toothpick into his beak and freed his limbs to gesture a response.

Before he was halfway through the blurring motions, Keris snarled:  "No.  None of this 'Verlaxion-is-evil' rhetoric.  We will get to that eventually.  What I want to know is what was so blasted important about this new life of yours that you had to break your oath!  Your oath to Verlaxion... your oath to the Talon... your oath to us."

Wildcard sighed.  He tilted his head to the side—

Swoooosh!  Keris landed directly in his line of vision.  "You gave up your voice for something.  Just how important was it?"  His feathered brow furrowed.  "More important than blood?"

Wildcard's beak muscles tightened.

Keris gulped.  Eventually, he murmured, "We became sworn brothers, Jordan.  We fought side by side for more years than most friends will even write one another.  You saved my life dozens of times, and I rescued you from just as much peril in turn."

The Desperado stared directly at him.  He raised a sharp eyecrest.

"Alright..."  Keris exhaled, staring aside.  "So... I-I never came close to saving your life nearly as many times as you saved mine... but th-that's not the point!"  Regaining his anger, he glared at the mute griffon yet again.  "Our bond was one made by dedication... loyalty... and blood.  Was none of that enough to bring you back to the Talon?  You've... obviously learned a great many things these past few years.  Was it not worth sharing with your comrades?  With your family?"

With a calm breath, the vigilante twirled and swung his fingers.

"Rnnngh..."  Keris twirled about and paced angrily back and forth.  "Don't give me that nonsensical drivel!  'A fortuitous rebirth...'  As if there is such a thing!"  He spun and pointed a rigid claw at Wildcard.  "We only have one life to live, Jordan!  As members of the Talon, we swore to it!  You think any injury—no matter how despicable—can give us license to change that?!"  He motioned towards his braced limb.  "I had my body scarred... bruised... battered at Red Barge!  But not once did I give up on my calling as a Claw of the Talon!"

Wildcard gave a swift reply, staring pointedly at Keris.

Keris blinked.  His muscles went limp as he fumbled for an answer.  "... ... ...because... because I-I lacked the strength and resources to properly pursue the Rainbow Rogue following the events at Red Barge."

Wildcard smirked.

Keris groaned.  He lowered his head, rubbing his brow with his good claws.  "And because... I saw Rainbow Dash for more than what the rumors and wanted posters had made her out to be."  He gulped.  "She was the true savior of the Seven Seas... not I."  He tilted his chin up.  "I was merely an accessory to something far more complicated and heroic than myself."

The former Talon member swung his flesh-and-metal fingers some more.

"Mrmmmff..."  Keris rolled his magenta eyes.  "Please, Jordan... I've spent the better part of the last two weeks getting an earful from your old companion—Professor Mane.  I've had it up to here with lectures about 'embracing the truth.'  I don't need you lecturing me either, for I know quite a bit about the 'truth.'  I know that there is reason to worry over the state of Verlaxion and Rohbredden.  That's precisely what brought me here... but that's not what this conversation is about.  No, old friend... if I can still call you that."  Keris shuffled closer.  "This conversation is about what it will take to bring me further."

Wildcard blinked.  He flung his fingers in curious zig-zags.

"More than the reason why Verlaxion has decided to toy with her foals, I need to know why you became this shadow of a hero," Keris said firmly.  "I need to know why you couldn't be true to your old self, but instead had to adopt this... 'Desperado' facade.  Why slice your life in two?  Why give up your voice and your loyalties to fly a hidden path?"  Keris blinked.  "Were you... indoctrinated upon recovery?  Was it this Mortuana's doing?  Did this... questionable 'Bard' character and his motley crew of companions charm you somehow?  What?  What made you change?"

The mute griffon's response came faster than Keris expected.

The Lieutenant leaned back.  He exhaled with a slight shudder.  "Funny," he said.  "That's precisely why I stayed with the Talon."

Wildcard slowly nodded.

"Tell me..."  Keris folded his arms.  "...if this... 'Austraeoh' had never shown up... would you still believe you were doing more good for Rohbredden from the outside than from within?

After fidgeting for a few seconds, Wildcard ultimately shrugged.

Keris exhaled.  "I see you can still be honest."  He gulped.  "Tell me, Jordan... did you ever stop to think that you would be doing more harm to the Talon?"

Wildcard tilted his head curiously to the side.

"It's Seraphimus, Jordan," Keris spoke raspily.  He stared at his former comrade with a melancholic gaze.  "You know how distraught she's been ever since her family... was exposed to dredge dust."  He cleared his voice and stepped forward.  "The Commander's a strong griffon... to a fault.  Always hiding.  Always concealing.  Always keeping a rigid posture and a straight beak.  But when you 'died,' Jordan... when you joined the list of casualties too bleak to mention..."  Keris sighed.  "...she went over the brink."

Wildcard gulped.

"She... she went over the brink," Keris murmured again, this time to the cold sterile rocks surrounding them.  He gazed into the jagged skyline of the Star Fringes with a glossy sheen to his eyes.  "...and... and I lost her, Jordan.  It's... it's my fault."  He cleared his throat, trembling slightly.  "You were gone, and I was all Seraphimus had to lean on and... and I let her slip.  I... committed the grave sin of having faith in her... in a made-up strength that was as paper thin as her empathy.  And that is nearly vanished as well."  He slumped back on his haunches, exhaling.  "Now... now we are here on the path towards Rohbredden's destruction and... she is not with us... because she is not anywhere.  And when the line is drawn—and it will be drawn soon—I can no longer say with any sureity just which side she will be on... but I somehow suspect she will choose the side that decays... because it's all that she knows how to do anymore."

Silence.

Wildcard flapped his wings.  Drifting over, he landed at Keris' side.  He rested a metal hand on the Lieutenant's shoulder.

Keris took a deep breath.  He glanced at the prosthetic digits, then up at Wildcard.  "Not all things can be patched up so easily, Jordan.  At least when you lost your voice... it was something you chose to do."

Wildcard nodded.  He gestured something.  A pause... and then he gestured something else—

"I believe you.  I do."  Keris sighed, staring off.  "I... always believe you."

Wildcard stepped into his line of sight.  He spent a prolonged period of time signing a complex series of messages.

Keris "listened," then eventually replied.  "Are you certain Rainbow Dash isn't some blatant substitute?"  He raised an eyecrest.  "Instead of Verlaxion, you now serve another demigod?  One belonging to the lands beyond the Blight?"

Wildcard shook his head, then signaled some more.

"Because it doesn't seem to me as though you're trying to save Verlaxion," Keris said with a frown.  "You and your... 'Herald' companions appear to be on a mission of assassination.  Even a hatchling could see that."

The reply was a curt one.

"No..."  Keris sighed.  "After what I've seen... after what I've learned... I suppose I could no longer accept the way things were either.  Not with how terribly rotten the Queen has allowed things to be... purposefully or not."  He squinted at the Desperado.  "But there has to be some proper solution.  The 'Austraeoh' is meant to stand for harmony, yes?"

Wildcard nodded.

"Then surely Rainbow Dash is seeking a way to make peace with Verlaxion."

With a sigh, Wildcard sliced the air with his claws.

Keris blinked.  "Hmmm..."  He clenched his beak muscles.  "If that's true, it's a miracle anypony has survived this eastward trek from Wyvern Point... much less Rainbow Dash."

Wildcard signed.

"Quite a resourceful band indeed."  With a breathy groan, Keris stood back up, flexing his good muscles.  "But I can think of one even more resourceful."

The Desperado tilted his head to the side.

"Why do you look so surprised?  I'm a reasonable griffon."  Keris smiled ever so slightly.  "Or have you forgotten that too?"

Talons and claws twirled between them.

"That remains to be seen," Keris said.  "First off... I think I must have a discussion with this... 'Mortuana' mentor of yours.  Of course, it would please me to no end if the good Professor could join us.  His input would be priceless."

Wildcard shook his head, then gestured briskly.

"Oh...?"  Keris blinked.  "Where are they?"

Wildcard pointed beyond the nearest ridge.

"Hmmm... I see..."  Keris nodded.  He and Wildcard stepped side by side, heading back towards the clearing of the Midwest Passage.  "Perhaps Verlaxion isn't her greatest challenge yet..."






Fluttershy hovered, looking over her ghostly shoulder.  With a sudden smile, she glanced ahead.  "Good news," she said.  "Keris and Wildcard are heading back to the cave.  I think they ended their conversation peacefully."

"Wow!"  Pinkie Pie blinked.  "Really?  No crazy fight to the death?!"

"Good grief, Pinkie!"  Twilight blanched as she and the others followed Rainbow Dash into a shallow gorge of frosted white stone.  "Why would you even want that?"

"Who wouldn't?!"  Pinkie grinned.  "Two badflank griffons... both best buds to Dashie on different occasions... fighting for her honor!"

"I don't believe it's just a matter of honor, Pinkie," Fluttershy said calmly.  "It's quite obvious by now that Keris and Wildcard knew each other long ago.  They must be going through a lot of conflicting emotions.  I really hope they made up... maybe even hugged a little!"

"Pffft.  Whatever.  I was still pumped for a crazy griffon duel."  Pinkie "swam" in midair.  "Something awesome... like deadly bird clubs at twenty paces... dun dun dun dun dun dun dunnnn dun-dun-dun DUN!" she hummed.

"Pinkie, honestly, darling!"  Rarity hissed.  "Can we minimize the chatter, please?  Rainbow is about to have a heart-to-heart of her own and she could do without the incessant prattling."

"Too late," Rainbow grumbled.

"What was that?" Theanim Mane asked from several paces ahead.

"Ahem..."  Rainbow squinted at him.  "I can't help but notice that you're taking us very... very far from the rest of the gang."

"You've got keen gifts of observation, Miss Dash," Theanim said.  At last, he came to a stop within the shadowed embrace of a narrow chasm.  He pivoted around to face Rainbow, his goggles glinting atop his head like a second pair of eyes.  "You'd make a great scientist if you weren't so fond of explosions."

"I thought those things went hoof in hoof."

"Please..."  Theanim sighed.  "Let us cease with the levity... for just one moment."

"Very well then."  Rainbow glanced at her marefriends, then at the stallion.  "So... uhhhh... you accidentally all of Chandler's conspiracy."  She broke a nervous smile.  "Way to go, Doc."

Theanim sighed, closing his eyes.

"Couldn't have done it better myself!  It's a shame that—y'know—Verlax's messenger had to show up and dump a bag of frozen manure all over it—"

"Rainbow Dash, we've already compared notes," Theanim said.  "Now that we are—at last—within earshot of one another, perhaps it would benefit us to ask more pertinent questions."

"Like... why in the heck did Wildcard send a letter to Keris to bring you here," Rainbow remarked.  "That's taking an awful lot of faith."

"Rainbow..."

"And just why did you and Keris bring Echo along for the ride?"  Rainbow raised an eyebrow.  "I doubt he's going to be of much help inside Starkiss, unless Verlax is afraid of bats."

"Rainbow Dash..."  Theanim marched slowly towards her.  A narrow frown peered out from under the shadows of the ridge above.  "...for once in your life... stop fleeing."

Twilight bit her lip.  She glanced aside.

Rainbow stared at Theanim.  "I'm guessing, then, that you have some questions for me."

"Only one," Theanim murmured, shuffling to a stop.  "Care to be even more perceptive?"

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath.  She lingered... then spoke:  "You want to know why I did what I did in the Quade—"

"You ruthlessly assaulted helpless ponies, Rainbow!" Theanim bellowed.  The narrow confines of the chamber magnified his vitriol a hundredfold.  "You invited yourself into their home and burned their sacred domain to ashes!  There are dozens... hundreds dead now because of you!"

Each word echoed for a painful, reverberating five seconds.  Pinkie and Twilight winced.  Fluttershy teared up, covering her muzzle while Rarity leaned over to console her.  All gazes rested on Theanim while the thunder subsided.

All but Rainbow's.  She closed her eyes, containing her fuming breaths as she muttered in response:  "...you forgot the part where I rubbed my feces all over muzzles and set their bibles on fire—"

"Damn you, Rainbow Dash!" Theanim spat, crossing the distance between them on furious hooves.  "You do not get to joke your way out of this... this... holocaustal treachery!"  Panting, he pointed at himself.  "I've spent the better part of the last month cleaning up after the insufferable crimes you committed in the waters of Luminar!  I've groveled before the Court of Verlaxion!  I've put my name and reputation on the line... trekked thousands of miles through forest and snow... and thrown my mortal body neck-deep into a life-threatening conspiracy all to exonerate your bloody name!"

"I know... I-I know, Theanim..."  Rainbow cleared her throat, opening her eyes thinly at him.  "Doc, I'm sorry—"

"I'm not seeking a blasted apology!"  Theanim huffed and puffed, pacing about.  "You know damn well what I want!"

"You want an explanation—"

"I want the truth!"  Theanim spun to point an angry hoof at her.  "How in all that is holy does a mare who pretends to respect harmony get off threatening the lives of countless monks?!"

Rainbow spoke before the echoes dissipated.  "There was a Yaerfaerda beacon within the central stalk of their Reeds.  Getting to that was supremely important—"

"Important enough to cast reason out the window?!"  Theanim stammered.

"I lost my bearings, Theanim—"

"You were quite balanced back in Rust and Shoggoth!"  Theanim exclaimed.  "The Desperadoes were still by your side!  What... did losing the company of myself and Echo somehow rob you of intellect and common sense?!"

"And even back in Rust and Shoggoth, Verlax was getting to me."  Rainbow shuddered, avoiding the Professor's gaze.  "And when I reached Quade..."  She gulped dryly.  "...I gave into desperation, and Verlax provided me with something that my battered mind and heart thought was a solution.  The... the villain won, Theanim."

"Excuse me...?!"

"I'm sorry..."

Fuming, Theanim marched towards the mare yet again.  "Let me tell you something, Rainbow Dash."  He pointed, his voice breathy and venomous.  "There are no villains in this world.  Life is far too complicated for that."  He shouted:  "There are only foolish ponies who do wrong things, thinking that they are for the right reason!"

Echoes and echoes...

Rainbow stared at the stallion.  She lowered her hood, revealing her threadbare scalp and scarred forehead.  "Look at me, Doc," she murmured, lips chapped and coat bruised in multiple places.  "Do I look like the kind of a pony who enjoys having done the wrong thing?"

Theanim stared at her... glared at her... then finally spun away with a disgruntled breath.  He stood in the shadows, facing the cold canyon walls.

Twilight swallowed a lump down her throat.  Amidst the silence, she gazed at Rainbow.

Rainbow sighed.  She took a few light steps towards Theanim's flank.  "I got my wing shot to Tartarus.  I got beaten to a pulp by a monk gone mad.  You think that my foolish mistakes ended there?"  She cleared her throat.  "I sent Bard and Wildcard away.  The Desperadoes were super pissed... even more than you are—if you can believe that.  My solution was to give them the riot act.  And don't even get me started on the rift that I made between me and my closest friends."  She glanced aside at Twilight and the others.  "At least when they first left me, it was because they were blown to smithereens.  But... to lose their trust... the very thing that legitimizes being loyal?"

Rarity bit her lip.  Pinkie and Fluttershy lingered on the edge of tears.

Rainbow sighed.  She looked towards Theanim again.  "I was literally alone when I set out for the high seas.  I didn't even come close to Rohbredden.  Between wild winds and unpredictable storms, I got lost in the waves and nearly starved to death.  My only salvation was a bunch of pirates who hauled my sun-bloated carcass to Red Barge... where I wasted away like the living corpse that I was.  And on top of all that... I had my pendant taken away... and I wrecked the b-bodies of even more souls who d-didn't deserve it."  She clenched her teeth at the end of that statement.

Theanim hung his head, breathing slowly but solidly.

"I've... done my time for my mistakes, Theanim.  Maybe—to you—it doesn't seem worth it, and I won't even pretend to say that it covers for the lives of the Luminards who are no longer trotting this plane.  But it was enough to knock some sense into me... and to reunite me with my friends."  She shuddered.  "So much pain and stupidity that I could have avoided... if only I was honest with the ones I cared about the most."  She clenched her teeth.  "If only I had shared the truth with them."

Theanim's ears twitched.  Still, he said nothing.

"Who knows."  Rainbow shrugged.  "Maybe I would have done the right thing if I still had you and Echo with me.  But I can't pretend to blame anypony else but myself.  I gave into despair, Doc.  I gave into despair... and I did very unkind things... just as Verlax had expected of me.  And you know what?  Truth alone didn't save me.  After all, I had the truth.  What I lacked... was faith in the chance I had of doing something greater... something heroic despite what truth told me."

"You weren't the only one who had to come to grips with that, Rainbow," Twilight whispered.

Rainbow turned her head slightly towards her.  She gently nodded.  "Yeah... whatever the case... I started to turn into what I feared the most... which is precisely what Verlax expects of me, I think."  She tilted her head up.  "But now... I've got Fluttershy and the rest of the girls helping me out.  Mortuana and the Herald's got my back.  The Desperadoes are here—loyal as always... and now you and Echo are here."

Theanim took a shuddering breath.  "Now I and Echo are here..."

Silence.

"Did..."  Rainbow cocked her head to the side.  "...did you really go to bat for me, Doc?"  She blinked.  "Before the Council and the Talon and everyone?"

"Mmmmm..."  Theanim nodded to the shadows.  "...and before Chandler too."

"I hear that dude got a real buzz out of hunting for me," Rainbow said.  "Spent his entire fortune and sent his psychopathic secretary after me in Braum and everything."

"Yes..."  Theanim sighed.  "And now Verlaxion has given him control over all of Rohbredden.  A real gauntlet by fire... as if you haven't endured that already."

Rainbow gulped.  "Seems like I'm not the only one.  I... know you're mega-super-pissed at me and everything right now, Doc... but the girls and I... we're really... really glad you're in one piece."

"By no mere miracle, I assure you."  Theanim finally pivoted around.  He glanced at her with glossy eyes.  "Do you know how I came to discover Chandler's treachery?"

"You..."  Rainbow blinked.  "... h-had some help from Echo?"

"A good guess.  But the Old Chap only helped me part of the distance towards true discovery."  Theanim trotted slowly towards her.  "As fate would have it, Chandler and his Consortium had ferried a hoof-full of surviving Luminards to Central Rohbredden."

"Oh yeah...?"

"One of them was a peculiarly disgruntled mare... a monk whom you might happen to know..."  Theanim raised an eyebrow.  "...by the anointed name of 'Sonikah.'"

Rarity and Twilight gasped.  They looked at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow's jaw hung agape.  "...Sonikah."

"Mmmmm... indeed..."  Theanim nodded.  "The tragedy at Quade left her as chief elder.  I made a trip personally to the hole-in-the-wall where Chandler had chosen to hide her and her leftover compatriots.  It took much strain and toil, but I was finally able to relocate them to a sanctuary to the southwest."

"What... k-kind of sanctuary?"

"A site for griffon roosting," Theanim said.  "It would appear that the majority of Luminards have been relocated there... where they now live in peace... cooexisting with the griffons and assisting them in hatching and training their young."

"You... you gotta be kidding me..."  Rainbow gulped.  "How did they get there?"

"Under the supervision of a young but emotionally-empowered monk... who goes by the name of Nicro."

Rainbow's ears folded.  "Nicro..."  Her breath came out in thin, panting squeaks.  "Nicro is... is alive...?"

"And very much dwelling in harmony," Theanim said.  "I showed this to Sonikah... and she finally let go of the ascetic shackles that bound her to the misery of the recent past.  She now leads the flock that Nicro brought to Rohbredden... as a new and loyal Kyron to the monks."

"Rainbow..."  Twilight murmured.

Rainbow gulped.  Her knees wobbled, until she fell on her haunches, shivering against the cold stone.  "Nicro... and Sonikah... they're... they're—?"

"It was a long and arduous journey that brought them to that place, Rainbow," Theanim said.  "But a warm and prosperous future awaits them as a reward for their good faith."

"Just... mmm..."  Rainbow held a hoof up before covering her muzzle.  Tears formed along her eyes, and she sniffed more than once.  "...one s-sec, Doc..."  She shuddered, wet trails forming along her muzzle.  "...Luna poop..."

Pinkie and Fluttershy smiled tearfully.

Rainbow wrestled control of her lungs.  She looked up at the stallion.  "How... h-how did they even g-get that far...?"

Theanim took a deep breath.  "It would seem that a certain member of the Right Talon of Verlaxion saw their plight first-hand in the Quade.  He wrote a letter to the Central Guard, sent via pegasus courier, requesting that a ship transport Nicro and her fellow monks to the new sanctuary."

Rainbow whimpered.  Her wet muzzle curved ever so slightly.  "Keris..."

Theanim nodded.  "It was before he encountered you... before your mutual plight in Red Barge."

"He... he t-told me about the Quade... but... but I never th-thought that..."  Rainbow's face contorted as she fought the urge to weep.  She breathed in and out, rubbing her eyes dry once more.  "Keris is a good griffon..."

"That he is."

"A very... good griffon..."

"And an exceptionally courageous soul.  Like one I've known before."  Theanim knelt until he was at eye-level with the emotional pegasus.  "Rainbow Dash, I wasn't there at the Quade.  I can't pretend to understand what made you do what you did.  I'm a scientist and I require proof to ascertain the reason behind things."

"There's..."  Rainbow shook, shuddered.  "...there's not much to g-go on in this tr-trip, Theanim."  She slowly began to calm herself.  "I'm glad that Wildcard sent for you, but—"

"Perhaps this is an opportunity for the proof I need."

Rainbow looked at him, blinking.  "What kind of proof?"

"Proof that you haven't entirely abandoned courage, Rainbow," Theanim said.  "The courage to do more than just pursue harmony... but to manifest it.  Austraeoh or not, that's what makes you exceptional... what makes you awesome."

Rainbow gulped.  "Verlax ain't making it easy for me..."

"Then let us make it hard for her to test you further," Theanim said.  "And then... when we get to her throne... will make her own up to the Truth."

Rainbow breathed... breathed... and formed a crooked smile.  "When we get to her throne..."

"Indeed."  Theanim nodded.

Rainbow exhaled, her grin a fragile, tender thing.  She reached a hoof up.  "Doc, I..."

"We've both done our time in the crucible, Miss Dash."  Theanim strongly pulled her up.  They stood face to face in the shadows.  "Let's not dwell on the ashes any longer.  Unless I stand to be corrected, I do believe there is a beacon that needs reaching."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow tilted her head to the right.  Yaerfaerda burned bright beyond the rocks and ice, closer than ever before.  "...there t-totally is."

And the two trotted back to the main group.





Keris stood face to face with Mortuana, talking intently with one another.

From a distance, the bulk of the Herald couldn't make out their words.

Ariel and Bard reclined in Kepler's wagon while the wyvern stood side by side with Flynn and Logan, peering at the conversation.

Kepler adjusted his spectacles.

Logan squinted, leaning against his axe.

Flynn pretended to polish his remaining manacrystals, all the while his mechanical eye remained locked on the scene.

At last, it was Ariel who spoke.  "Am I the only one freaked out by all this?"  She turned her head to the side, her ocean blue eyes reflecting the silver glint of the Talon's armor.  "The Right Talon of Verlaxion... talking with the Mountain Matron?"

"No forrm of bloody eviscerration has yet occurrred, my dearr," Kepler remarked.

Ariel gulped.  "Well, now that you say that..."

"The Talon knows what they're up against," Flynn said.  "Especially after that Lieutenant guy had a heart-to-heart with Wildcard."

"Can you guys actually friggin' believe that Wildcard was once a member of the mother-buckin' Talon?" Logan grumbled.

"Are you kidding?"  Ariel tossed her mane and glared across the mouth of the cave.  "I'm still trying to get over that."

Remna sensed Ariel's eyes on her.  The violet mare sighed, continuing to squat on a lofty boulder with her forelimbs crossed.

"It certainly begs the question," Flynn remarked.  "I mean... secret societies gonna keep secrets and all... but am I wrong to say that Mortuana is going a bit overboard?"

"All things considerred, the motherr matrron is doing fine by herr timely rrevelations so farr!"

"Well of course you would say that, Kepler," Flynn said.  "You and the boss are like family.  You've both been members of the Herald the longest."

"Ha hah!"  Kepler grinned wide.  "All the morre rreason I have to rrejoice in my undying faith in the alicorrn!  She most definitely leads us, my frriends!  But she does not lead us astrray!"

"Still..."  Ariel sighed.  "...would it kill her to level with us sometime?"

"Actually, it might," Logan grunted.

Ariel rolled her eyes.  "Not what I meant..."

"Eh... give it a rest, y'all," Bard said, stifling a yawn.  He plucked his guitar with nimble feathertips, all the while resting his hoof.  "Mortuana has done right by y'all... and she's done right by me too.  What's to get all up in a tizzy about?"

Ariel squinted.  "You're being awfully calm about this, considering that your fellow Desperado is revealing himself to be a former member of the Talon."

"Yeah... how is that even possible?" Flynn remarked.  "Just... try and imagine the sort of stuff he had to give up for ditching them!"

"Like his voice?" Logan said.

Flynn sighed.  "I was being hypothetical."

"And yet, it explains his rratherr whole-hearrted adoption of wind speech!" Kepler remarked.  "Oh, how I do love a mysterry that pieces itself togetherr!"

"I'd rather be without the mystery altogether," Ariel said.

SWOOOSH!  Wildcard landed, perching on the edge of the wagon.

"Gaaah!"  Ariel flapped her wings on impulse.  Catching her breath, she frowned at the griffon.  "I should have gotten you a damn bell for the Month of Thawing!"

Wildcard shrugged, smiling sheepishly.

"Howdy, Dubya."  Bard held his hoof out.  "Clear out some of them cobwebs from the attic?"

Wildcard fist-bumped him and nodded.

"Well, alright."  Bard resumed strumming.

Flynn did a double-take.  "That's it?!  You're just going to leave it at that?"

Bard shrugged and plucked at the guitar strings.  "Eeyup.  Why not?"

"Level with us, Dwhinny Yoakam," Logan muttered through a smirk.  "Just how much do you already know about Wildcard's past?"

"Not a dayum thang."

"Bullshiet."

"Bullshiet on yer momma."  Bard tilted his hat back and squinted at Logan.  "I dun ask 'bout Dubya's past and he dun ask 'bout mine."  He strummed melodically.  "That's how the Desperadoes roll."

"That's waaaaaaaay too simple to carry on for long," Ariel said with a slight giggle.

"Hmmmmm..."  Bard strummed again, staring into the Star Fringes.  "Dun I know it."

Flynn cleared his throat.  "You know... all of this is nice and all... only it isn't."

"Care to be even more confounding in your douche-talk?" Logan remarked.

"What I mean is... shouldn't we be getting a move on?" Flynn said.  "All this waiting around is stupidly tense... even for us."

"Tell them that," Bard said, gesturing at the Central Guard.

"I... don't think they need to be told," Ariel said.

"Whoop..."  Bard sat up in the wagon, putting his guitar away.  "Dun look now, Job Squad.  But here comes the Rainbow."

Remna looked up.  Her ears perked as she hopped off the boulder.

Meanwhile... over by Mortuana...

"If what you say is true," Keris murmured, pacing.  "Then we can expect even more hardships along the way."  His feathered brow furrowed.  "In the form of stampeding windigoes."

"It would appear to be Verlax's single lasting form of magical manifestation," Mortuana said.  "Even her Frost Vessels—I suspect—have grown weak and feeble with the passage of time."

Keris squinted at the alicorn.  "To what end?"

"I do not know."

Keris glanced at her bony wings, then at her bandaged horn.  "I must admit, madame.  I committed to this rendezvous under many pretenses.  You're not quite as knowledgeable as I was led to believe."

Mortuana calmly tilted her head to the side.  "What did you expect, precisely?"

Keris sighed.  "...something painted with the same ignorant colors as the 'Rainbow Rogue.'"

"I may appear beastly to someone as conservative as you," Mortuana said.  "But rest assured, I want only the safety and the salvation of Rohbredden and all its tribes."

"I'm tempted to believe that," Keris said.  "But what is your desire of Verlax?"

"To cease misleading her foals and release Rainbow of her trials."

"But you make it sound as though our Queen would rather die."

"Indeed."

Silence.

Starstorm, Windburst, and Raptr shuffled nervously in their armor.

"You do realize, as a member of the Talon, my chief task is to combat all enemies of Rohbredden—violently, if need be," Keris said.  He glanced at the survivors of the Central Guard looking on.  "Whether we stand a chance in succeeding against such malevolent forces or not."

"Why do you think you were summoned to this place?"

"To answer the call made by Jordan," Keris calmly replied.  "Bringing Theanim Mane and his assistant so that they may assist in ascertaining the truth behind the corruption of Rohbredden once and for all."

"Then, dear Lieutenant, what is your next recourse?"

Keris stood in silence.

The Talon, the Guard, and the Herald looked on.

It was at this moment that Rainbow Dash trotted up with Theanim Mane in tow.

"Hope we haven't..."  She panted.  "...missed anything..."  She blinked at the tense scene.  "Yeesh, what's going on here, Morty?"

Theanim shuffled up next to Echo.  "What, pray tell, did we miss, Old Chap?"

"Oh... y'know..."  The sarosian shrugged from under his cloak.  "...ponies talking to ponies.  Griffons talking to giant mutant death ponies.  Nobody talking to me."

Theanim nodded, adjusting his goggles above his head.  "About as much as I expected."

"Uh huh."  Echo glanced aside.  "Have fun yelling at Rainbow?"

Theanim jolted.  "How...?"  He grimaced.  "I took Rainbow so far away that you weren't supposed to hear that...!"

Echo lifted his hood just enough to expose a leafy bat ear.

"Rnnnngh..."  Theanim face-hoofed.  "...why couldn't I have become friends with a seapony?"

"Please.  Don't rob me the joy of farting in the tub."

"Shhhhh..."  Theanim pointed.  "I think the Lieutenant's contemplating something."

"Yeah, no shit, chief."

"Keris...?" Rainbow leaned towards the silent face-off.

Keris took a deep breath.  "Sergeants of the Talon..."  He swiveled about-face, staring at his wingmates.  "Prepare a defensive formation."

Rarity and Twilight tensed up, biting their lips.

Keris continued.  "We will be traveling east, close to the ground... escorting these ponies to Starkiss."

A loud murmur rose among the Central Guard.

"Our goal is to make it there swiftly and safely," Keris said.  "But—most importantly—we must see to it that the Rainbow Rogue arrives in one piece."  His magenta eyes narrowed.  "Do you understand the task ahead of you?"

Raptr, Windburst, and Starstorm exchanged glances.  At last, they stood tall, saluting.

"Aye, Lieutenant," Starstorm said.

"We understand," Raptr added.  "Loud and clear."

"Chicken and gravy," Windburst finished.

"Good."  Keris breathed.  "We move on the capricorn's signal."

"Alicorn," Mortuana softly said.

Keris cleared his throat.  "Precisely."

"You..."  A cluster of ponies broke off from the Central Guard, gasping.  "You've got to be joking, Lieutenant!"

"At ease, soldier," Keris tried to contain his snarling tone.

"No!"  A guard stomped his hoof.  "This is treason!  Heresy!  Do you have any idea what you'll be causing the moment you lead these Blighted cretins to the Throne of Verlaxion?!"

"Yes!"  Remna marched up, frowning.  "We'll be putting an end to millennia of lies and dictatorship!"

"Simmer down, crocodile," Rainbow growled.  Rainbow brushed Remna aside, facing the angry members of the guard.  "Look... Mortuana gave you an ultimatum earlier... and a super gracious one."  She pointed south.  "You don't wanna be part of this trek?  That's fine!  Home is that way."

"We will not stand for this!"  Another guard frowned.  "The Defense Minister—"

"Is Chandler here?" Keris asked.

"Huh...?"

"Is Chandler here?"

"No... but neither is Commander Seraphimus."

Keris nodded.  "A keen observation.  So you acknowledge that I—a Lieutenant of the Talon—am the current highest-ranking officer of the Rohbredden military within a hundred miles."

The disgruntled members of the Guard shifted nervously.

"Choose your treason," Keris said.  "I'm choosing the future of our Tribes... and I aim for it to be a healthy one."

"The Council will hear of this," a griffon grumbled.  "All of Frostknife will hear of what you've done today!"

"Then if you must tell them, tell them," Keris remarked, nodding.  "I welcome the future and all it brings.  To do otherwise..."  She looked at Rainbow.  "...would not be courageous."

Rainbow blinked.

Fuming, a group of five guards immediately began marching south, skirting past the Theanim, and Echo.  To the surprise of both the Talon and the Herald, the majority of the Central Guard remained.

"You all know the risk of following my command in this venture," Keris said.

"We do, Lieutenant," a guard said, nodding.  "And..."  She glanced forlornly south, at the scant few marching defiantly towards the horizon.  "...we believe that we will be safer at least under your command."

"I don't know about safe..."  Another guard muttered, his nostrils flaring.  "But I lost a lot of good friends back on that plateau.  I want to know the reason why."

"Can we actually enter Verlaxion's Throne?" a griffon asked, blinking wide.  "We?  Mere mortals?"

Theanim trotted towards the group.  "I suspect that we will be the first in eons to find out."  He turned to smile at Keris.  "And—I trust—the first to live and tell the truth about it."

"All my life, I've endeavored to protect the foals of Verlaxion," Keris said.  He swallowed hard.  "But... alas... all foals someday must grow up and move on."  He sighed.  "...more than anything, I wish the Commander was here to realize this herself."

"There will come a time for personal epiphanies," Remna grumbled.  "Or perhaps never."  She pointed an angry hoof.  "Right now, we must get the Austraeoh to Starkiss."

Rarity face-hoofed.  "Alas... there's a beautiful moment utterly shattered."

"Yeah," Rainbow muttered.  "She'll do that."  She turned to face Keris.  "Lieutenant Tweety?  I'm guessing you know the way?  I... uh... I think my buddies and I could use a hint."

Wildcard gestured from afar.

Keris nodded.  "Jordan's right."  He turned and pointed southeast.  "If we stick to the broader paths, it should take us to Starkiss."  His claw pointed higher.  "There.  Off in the distance."

"Where?"  Rainbow squinted.  "I can't see it through those tall, dark clouds."

"Ahem..."  Rarity floated in.  "Look harder, darling."

"... ... ..."  Rainbow's eyes widened.  "Oh..."  She blinked.  "Yowsers, I've been grounded for way too long."

Occupying a huge chunk of the eastern horizon was a tall mess of dark gray haze.  Rainbow and her friends soon realized that it was a mountain.  Its shadow consumed most of the eroded rock and winding ravines that made up the Star Fringes.

"The entrance will be towards its base," Keris said.  "One of many.  I will attempt to guide us towards the west exit."

"And beyond that?"

"...the Hollow of Starkiss exists only within the knowledge hoofed down to us by the first unified tribes," Keris remarked.  "For ages, we've had every opportunity to enter the sacred sanctum... the old royal chambers that surround the Queen's Throne.  We never ventured on through... not even up the steps beyond the Court of Verlaxion."

"Talk about trust," Rainbow said.

"Hmmm..."  Keris nodded.  "Talk about generations of the dead... funneled to the Spring Havens without a single opportunity to lay eyes on their Goddess."

"Will... we actually be the first to enter that place?" Raptr remarked.

"So long as we work together... as strongly as we ever did."  Keris flapped his wings.  "Take wing, Talon!  Let us form a perimeter.  Windburst, I want you taking point.  We need your eyes."

"Aye, sir."

As both the Herald and the Guard gathered there things, Pinkie Pie hopped in midair.  "Woohoo!  More walking!"

"But Pinkie..."  Rarity rolled her eyes.  "All we've been doing is walking!"

"I know!"  Pinkie grinned.  "But now... we're walking with all the friends!"  A blink.  "Plus Axan.  Squee!"

Fluttershy giggled.

"I, for one..."  Rainbow smirked.  "...am not complaining."

"Me neither."  Twilight shook her head with a smile.  "Let's get moving!"
> Never Allow the Final Death
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash trotted east.  She wasn't alone.

Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle hovered close to their anchor, filling the ghostly air with color and conversation.

The Herald—over seven strong—accompanied the Austraeoh.  Remna took point.  Bard and Ariel recuperated in the back of Wyvern's wagon.  Wildcard flew overhead while Flynn and Logan trotted protectively alongside Mortuana.

Theanim shuffled closely along Echo, giving the sarosian a shoulder to lean on while simultaneously making sure his cloak didn't expose him to too much sunlight.

Then there was the Central Guard—or at least the leftover Rohbreddenites courageous enough to maintain their half of the caravan.  They dutifully took up the rear of the procession, armor rattling nonceasingly.  However, as time lurched by, the distance between them and the Herald grew increasingly smaller.  This came in handy later on, when a persistent blizzard rolled over the waning Star Fringes.  The collective body heat of so many griffons and ponies made the trek all the more bearable, and any previous sense of a schism swiftly dwindled under the pretense of survival and cooperation.

This entire time, the Talon stood guard, diligently escorting the caravan as they traveled east.  Windburst and Starstorm flew at the front, scanning the craggy landscape for signs of life, movement, or trouble.  Keris and Raptr covered the back.  The Lieutenant's eyes rested on both the Herald and the Guard interchangeably, minding the movement of those who pledged devotion to Verlaxion... as well as those who served Mortuana.  He kept his cool, breathing calmly, all the while keeping the southern horizon in his peripheral vision.

Day stretched into night.  For once, nopony admitted to feeling any lingering exhaustion.  The Herald skipped camping, opting instead to continue marching—even under the shroud of darkness.  The Central Guard, eager to return home alive to their families, likewise followed along without an overnight respite.  The Talon—used to long stretches of restless flight—carried on, undaunted.

With starlight came the tell-tale shimmer of a green and red aurora to the north.  Its pastel bands glistened off the snow and frost clinging to the jagged summits of the Star Fringes.  Meanwhile, the group winded north and south, enjoying a break from the blizzard thanks to the jutting rock formations all around them.  They moved east in a serpentine fashion, with the Talon's eyes on the looming shadow of Starkiss and Rainbow's gaze constantly centered on Yaerfaerda.  The marching hooves of so many ponies formed a dull echo against the crooked walls of the ravine all around.





"Wowsers..."  Pinkie Pie grinned, floating upside down as the group navigated a narrow chasm winding eastward.  "It's like our very own hoofball team!"

"I prefer my sports without armor and swords."  Fluttershy gulped.  "Thank you very m-much."

"It's quite alright, darling," Rarity said with a smile.  "It seems more than evident that the Central Guard won't lay a hoof on Rainbow now.  And, besides... we've got the Talon on our side now!"

"I know, right?!"  Pinkie blinked.  "Who'd a thunk it?"

"Lieutenant Keris can be pretty convincing," Rainbow said in a calm tone, walking aside Kepler's wagon.

"He's not the only one who's good at convincing, Rainbow," Rarity said.

"Huh?"  Rainbow glanced over her shoulder.

"Just saying..."  Rarity winked.  "Seems like you've charmed him quite a bit."

"Rarity..."  Rainbow bore a bland smirk.  "He's not my type.  You and the gals... sh-should know that by now."

"Uhm..."  Fluttershy flew into view.  "I think what Rarity is meaning to say is that you've convinced him to do the right thing, Rainbow Dash."

"Or at least Professor Theanim has!"  Pinkie blinked, then flinched from the other mares squinting at her.  "What?  Those handsome goggles of his should be outlawed!"

"Ahem... anyways, it's no small feat to have persuaded Keris like you did.  And it was mostly you,darling," Rarity said, smiling at Rainbow.  "Considering the exceeding virtue of his character, you should be quite proud "

Rainbow sighed, glancing forward with a soft smile.  "It... is pretty cool having him on my side, huh?"

"If you ask me, Rainbow."  Twilight winked.  "I'd say the Lieutenant was on your side since the first time you both talked at Red Barge."

"How would you know?"

Twilight rolled her eyes.

Fluttershy giggled.  "Twilight's right, Rainbow.  I was there."

"Yeah, I know."  Rainbow nodded.

"And now you've got an entire flippin' army on your side!" Pinkie chirped.  "Plus one foul-mouthed batpony.  Win win win!"

"Pinkie..."  Rainbow sighed.  "It's not an army."

"I see a bunch of super l33t d00ds with military-grade swag!"  Pinkie winked aside at Twilight.  "That's twice the threes and zeroes kind of awesome!"

Twilight's lips pursed.  "What... are you even on about?"

"Ohhhhhhhhhh..."  Pinkie waved a hoof, sticking her tongue out.  "Lighten up, ya egg beater!"

"Over half of them are on Verlaxion's side," Rainbow muttered.

"I don't see any of them attacking you, Rainbow," Fluttershy said calmly.

"Pinkie's got a point," Rarity said.  "What is this... forty-five strong?  Sixty?"  She smiled.  "You must admit, it's a big jump from two unwitting Kihutajans in a tiny sailboat!"

"Heehee!"  Twilight nodded.  "Yeah!  Or a blind zebra and a magically-disabled unicorn straight out of Blue Shelf!"

Rainbow Dash shuddered, staring east at the shadow of Starkiss looming against the aurora.  "Friggin' crazy..."  She gulped.  "You know... there are times when I've seen my journey as... like... this one single train built out of craziness and awesome."

"Do tell, Dashie!"  Pinkie smiled.

"Like... it's stupid, I know... but sometimes I feel like I'm the train's conductor.  The engine and the cars have been the same.  And more often than not, the coaches have been empty.  But—every so often—they fill up with all kinds of different ponies."  She smirked.  "And zebras and elk and Xonans and changelings and griffons..."  A dreamy sigh.  "...and bounty hunters."

"You mean like these guys?"  Pinkie gestured at Bard and Wildcard in the distance.

Fluttershy giggled.  "Not those bounty hunters, Pinkie."

"Huh?"

Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Still... I'm starting to understand the Desperadoes."  She took a deep breath.  "And their super freaky loyalty."

"What's not to understand about loyalty in your case, darling?" Rarity asked.

"I dunno..."  Rainbow glanced over her shoulder.  "With each leg of my trip... it keeps showing newer and crazier shades of itself."  She gulped.  "I dunno if the Herald truly... truly know what kind of a mess they're getting themselves into... but I'm thankful that they're tagging along, all the same."

"And the Talon," Fluttershy added.

"And the Professor again!" Twilight said.

"And now the proud and mighty soldiers of the Central Guard!" Pinkie cheered.

"You mean the same cretins whose posteriors the Herald royally thrashed?" Rarity cooed.

"And who have—all their lives—dedicated themselves to a false goddess?" Twilight droned.

"Okay okay okay!"  Pinkie pouted.  "It's still better than nothing, though!  I'm tellin' ya!  A flippin' hoofball team!"

The other mares giggled.

Rainbow ended her chuckle with a sigh.  She stared forward.  "I'm... I'm really lucky..."

Her friends stared at her.

"I'm... so crazy lucky..."  Rainbow swallowed a lump down her throat.  Her pendant rattled, and she reached a hoof up to steady it.  The mare's moist eyes centered upon the bright and brighter glow of Yaerfaerda, looming so close now that she could almost feel its radiating heat.  "And... on top of all that... we're about to free AJ."

The mares exchanged glances.

"Yeah, but..."  Pinkie rubbed her head, blinking cross-eyed.  "What about Verlax—mmmfff!"  A yellow hoof was planted over her muzzle.

Fluttershy turned to smile at Rainbow.  "Applejack will be free sooner than you know it."

"And then we'll all be together!" Rarity reared her ghostly hooves.  "Smashing!"

"Heheh..."  Twilight smiled.  "I do admit... I'm starting to miss her terribly."

"Yes..."  Rarity nodded.  "The darling's hometown simplicity is sorely missed.  Almost feels like the land and sky are empty without her charming voice..."

Rainbow weathered a deep sigh.  "You've no friggin' idea..."





The next morning brought with it a dismal overcast.  If it weren't for Starkiss, the sky would be a uniform soup of sickly gray.  The towering mountain devoured most of the east horizon at this point.  The star fringes dissolved, one hill at a time, until all of the miniature canyons and ravines vanished completely.  All that was left between the caravan and its destination was a solid stretch of snow-covered rock.

Towards the south, Rainbow spotted the summits of several jutting mountain ranges.  Two hours past daybreak, she and her friends stared through a narrow passage formed between two jutting peaks.  All they could see through it was hazy sky and ethereal grayness.  It was then that they realized just how elevated their position was; no piece of Rohbredden was visible at eye level.  Everything beyond the southern ridges dipped lower and lower, until ultimately cascading into Frostknife and the bordering prefectures.

With nothing else to look at, Rainbow's head tilted up to take in the enormity of Starkiss.  It wasn't necessarily the tallest mountain she had ever seen.  It was—however—the most outstanding land formation in her collective memory.  No other mountains stood nearby to mask its enormity.  The structure emerged from the ground in an almost cylindrical fashion.  Its summit formed upwards, coming together like a bullet, with the occasional cliff jutting outward from the curved surfaces, dangling with icicles and age-old landslides, frozen solid in time.

And yet, despite the incredible heights of the towering formation, Yaerfaerda persistently lingered beneath the majority of it.  The mare had to tilt her head down to see the burning orange symbol in all its glory.  This left Rainbow feeling relatively unsettled, and it certainly didn't help that the whole of Starkiss resembled a ginormous block of gray ice scooped up and plopped unceremoniously down on top of the Fifth Seed.





"Yup.  If you ask me..."  Bard flapped his wings, hovering alongside Kepler's wagon.  "It sure as Hell dun look normal."

"I very much doubt it, Mr. Bard!"  Theanim Mane exclaimed from several paces ahead.  "It's not crafted out of any the same limestone or eroded rock that fills up most of the Rohbredden continent!"

"A turd is a turd," Echo muttered.  "No matter how polished."

Theanim sighed.  "Old Chap... must you?"

"Hey... this is like a walk through ultraviolet hell..."  The sarosian grunted, shaking the white snow off his hooves.  "Why couldn't a terrible death goddess build her lair in the tropics?"

"You'd be all the more closer to coral, then, wouldn't you?"

"Mrmmmfff..."

Theanim smirked.  "See?  I can make insufferable jokes too."

Bard shrugged.  "Whatever the case... ain't like no mountain I've ever seen."

"That's precisely what I was going to say!" Rarity exclaimed, gesturing up at the massive structure.  "Its outer surfaces are so terribly smooth and pristine!"  She blinked wide.  "If you ask me, it's... more like a work of art than a natural formation!"

Rainbow nodded.  "Thanks for the observation, Rare-Rare."  She looked back at the wagon.  "What are the odds that you-know-who sculpted the thing?"

"Who?"  Theanim glanced over.  "Verlaxion?"

"No.  Santa Clop."  Rainbow's eyes squinted.  "Who else would I be talking about?"

"It's a verry rreal possibility, Rrainbow one!"  Kepler remarked with a nod.  "Wrritten worrd only speaks of Starrkiss being discoverred shorrtly afterr the Queen of Frrost prresumably gatherred the earrly trribes durring Unification!  If the old sanctuarry rrecorrds arre of any indication, then the drragon Divine quite likely built this as a spectacle to imprress the morrtal masses!"

"If so..."  Rainbow squinted as they marched along.  "Then that presents some big, worrisome questions.  Like... just how hollow is it on the inside?"

"Right!"  Ariel looked over.  "Or, more to the point, what is Verlax keeping in there?"

Bard nodded.  "And who the Hell is 'Santa Clop?'"

"All things that we will surrely discoverr in time!"  Kepler said.  He adjusted his spectacles.  "Well... some answerrs soonerr than otherrs.  Ha Hah!"

"I've got another important question."  Rainbow looked over at Bard.  "You sure you're good enough to fly again?"

"I'd say so."  Bard winked.  "How about you?"

Rainbow bore a bland smirk.  "You know what I mean."

"Nothin' for you to worry about, darlin'," Bard said, flexing his forelimbs.  "Them magic wyvern fixes did the trick!"

"Nothing quite so magical about them, good frriend Barrd!" Kepler chanted.  "Just ancient knowledge, prreserrved wealthily thrrough the ages!"

"Whatever."  Bard shrugged.  "Vittles is vittles.  Anyways, I'm good to keep on a wing.  But... might wanna rest the leg a bit until Dubya needs me for extra special face-smashin'."

"Speak for yourself!"  Fwoosh!  Ariel shot up and hovered above the wagon.  "I'm super good to go!"

Rainbow tilted her head up.  "You sure about that, girl?"

"Totally!  I've been sitting in that stinkin' cart for waaaaaaay too long!  Besides..."  Ariel winked.  "One of us has got to show the Talon who's the real boss around here."

"Now now..."  Bard gestured.  "Dun ya go shakin' no bee hives that ain't got no business bein' disturbed."

"Puh-leeease..."  Ariel rolled her eyes.  "Would I cause that kind of trouble?  Right when the Austraeoh needs me the most—owwww!" She spontaneously winced, rubbing her bandaged leg.  "Erm... uh..."  The mare fought the urge to blush.  "I was j-just... uhm... pr-practicing for the arduous slobberknocker with Verlax up ahead!  Yeah!"

"Suuuuuuure you were..."  Bard waved his hat.  "Get lost, varmint."

"I can get lost... and do recon!"  Fwooooosh!  She shot forward in a gray streak.

"Heh..."  Bard fitted his hat back on.  "Dang harpy thinks she can butter me up by usin' the word 'slobberknocker.'"

"She's no less impressive to me," Rainbow said, watching Ariel fly wide circles around the caravan.

"Well, ain't a big heapin' surprise she wins you over."

Fluttershy giggled.  So did Rainbow.

Remna glanced back from the front of the line, squinted, then resumed her brisk trot.

Bard glanced at her, breathing in and out slowly.  "So many ponies with so many secrets..."  His nostrils flared.  "...good thang I only know the Herald through the Job Squad.  Or else I'd go crazy."

"Mortuana and her allies aren't the only ones holding aces," Rainbow said.

"Darlin', there's only one ace up my sleeve."  Bard pointed at the goggled griffon several wingspans overhead.  "And you done seen him dealt."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow nodded.  She swallowed.  "You... uh... you sure you're cool with all this?"

"All what?"

"The whole Talon revelation."

"Haven't we gone over this?"

"I still don't think you've told me how you truly feel."

"How do ya figure?"

"Uh..."  Rainbow's eyes narrowed.  "Because you're a stallion."

"That's dang sexist."

Rainbow hung her head.  "Sorry."

"I didn't say it was untrue."  Bard lifted his head, smirking at Wildcard.  "Dubya never pretended not to have a whole heap'o'secrets rattlin' around in that sleek black head of his.  And... between you and me..."

"Yeah...?"

"Heh... I'm a tad bit let down that him bein' a former member of the Talon is the big reveal."

"Hey..."  Rainbow shrugged.  "For all we know, maybe he's hiding something else."

"Hmmmm... wouldn't doubt it," Bard said, suppressing a yawn.  "What's the point in throwin' ponies for a loop when you can do it twice?"

"I don't think it's about throwin' just ponies for a loop," Rainbow said.

"Verlax has made it super tough with her dayum eyes everywhere.  That's for sure."  Bard nodded.  "Reckon we gotta use whatever's in our arsenal... honest or dishonest.  That's why I ain't cross over Dubya and the Talon... or Mortuana and the Herald."

"And what of Remna?"

Bard bit his lip.

Twilight and Rarity winced slightly.

"Mrmmmff..."  Bard ultimately tilted his hat back and exhaled:  "It takes what it takes."

Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Uhm... Bard?"  She fiddled with her forelimbs.  "About... about you and—"

"I ain't got nothin' left to offer than what ya see before ya, darlin'," Bard said firmly.  "Certainly no secrets that'll be useful in gettin' yer colorful keister past Verlax."  He looked over, his eyes warm, soft.  "And if nopony else will say it, then lemme be the first:  I'm perfectly fine with yer secrets... or else the shatterin' thereof."

Rainbow gulped.  "You sure about that, Bard?"

"Of course I ain't.  But that's the whole point of a secret, ain't it?"  Bard looked forward with a sigh.  "The thang about truth, Rainbow, is that it hurts.  If the truth coulda hurt you back in the Quade—like it should have—then maybe you and yer friends would be in a better spot."

Rainbow hung her head.

"But t'ain't no matter now.  What's important is that we work on our timin'.  All of us.  And the way I see it...?"  He tilted his head back... back... back... until finally his eyes were reflecting Starkiss in its near-entirety.  "...the last second is exactly when we wanna show what's up our sleeve, or else we can call this whole game Verlax's."

Rainbow gulped.  "I'm not prepared to do that."

"Then the last thang that should be in yer mind..."  Bard winked.  "...is foldin'."

Rainbow looked at him.

He smiled back.  "Never played poker?"

"Never."

"I'd be plum scared to play against you, Rainbow."  Bard chuckled.  "Hell.  I wouldn't even know up from down!"

Rainbow smiled.  "But if you bluff all the time, then you gotta be super sucky... right?"

"It's all about pickin' and choosin', darlin'."

Rainbow sighed out the side of her muzzle.  She gazed at Yaerfaerda again.  "Don't I know it...?"






The day wore on, although very few ponies could tell.  The gray clouds overhead masked the movement of the sun, so that the combined groups charted their path by the gray malaise that bathed the flat, cold plateau.

With the onset of afternoon, the shadows gave way to an ever-permeating haze.  The air cooled dramatically.  It was an unsettling, dry stillness.  Even with the overcast lingering ever ominously overhead, no snow or sleet fell.  The air thickened with the vapors escaping the trekkers' breaths, and the only sound was the shuffling of hooves or the flapping of wings.  Very few talked, and even fewer deviated from the persistent, eastward lurch.

The edge of Starkiss loomed closer and closer, barely an hour's trot away at this point.  The polished white surface of the towering formation reflected the tight group of bodies shuffling towards it.  The immaculate shine grew brighter and brighter with the passing of day, giving it an eerie luminescence...





...and it was all Mortuana could stare at.  Despite the alicorn's cool demeanor, a slight shudder overwhelmed her narrow fetlocks, so that her breaths came out in wavering bands, dissipating beyond the reach of her bony wings.  She swallowed, her ears drooping as her eyes narrowed on the massive mountain stretching above them.

"... ... ...this is far too simple..."

"Mountain Matron," Flynn's voice said.

Mortuana inhaled and exhaled.  Her eyes traveled up the shiny surface of Starkiss... almost to the point of rolling back—

"Mortuana?"  Flynn trotted into open view of the Herald's leader.

The alicorn's hooves scuffled slightly.  This drew the attention of Remna, who glanced worriedly back.

Composing herself, Mortuana cleared her throat and spoke:  "Yes, my little pony?"

"The... uh... the Lieutenant of the Talon would like to speak with you," Flynn said.

Mortuna gazed down at him in mid-trot.  "He and his faithful associates have been guiding us peacefully for one full day and night.  I do not believe such an introduction is necessary at this point."

"Told ya," Logan grunted out the side of his muzzle.

Flynn sighed.  "Anyways, he's got something important to share."

"Very well."  Mortuana tilted her head up to meet Keris' gaze.  "Lieutenant?  What troubles you?"

Keris blinked.  His headcrest rose and dipped, almost as if surprised to have his mind read.  Suppressing a cough, he said, "My Sergeants have noticed... something peculiar at the base of Starkiss."

"Do tell."

"There isn't much of a wind this close to the mountain," Keris said.  "Thus, there hasn't been much to disturb the snow... for at least a week now, we're guessing."

"Oh?"

"We've found several imprints in the snow.  They could very well be several days old."

"What kind of imprints?"

"Keris?"  Rainbow Dash trotted closer, followed by Bard and Kepler.  "What's up?"

"As I was just explaining to... your ally," Keris spoke, "We've discovered evidence of an encampment."

"The Lieutenant's right," Theanim Mane said, adjusting his goggles over his eyes for once.  "Several ponies were here fairly recently.  Tracks in the snow show that there was a large base."

"Huh?"  Rainbow gawked, then glanced east.  "Like... how large?"

"Supremely," Keris explained.  "Evidence that the Central Guard has been here."

"The tracks are in a formation indicative of Rohbredden military placement," Theanim explained.

"Rohbreddenite soldiers?"  Rainbow did a double-take.  "This close to Starkiss?"

"There... are some metal deposits left in the snow, Rainbow," Rarity said.

"And spent manacrystals," Twilight Sparkle added.  "There was a group of ponies here... and they weren't small in number."

"Where in the Hell did they go?" Logan asked.

Keris took a deep breath.  "Not west.  That's for certain."

"Right..."  Flynn nodded.  "We would have run into them by now."

Echo sniffed the air.  "I certainly don't smell no soldier stink... I mean aside from these soldiers' stink."

"Not helping... again... old chap," Theanim muttered.

Echo sighed out the hood of his cloak.  "Remind me why I'm even friggin' here again?"

Bard glanced at Rainbow Dash.  "Maybe... them troops went into Starkiss?"

"Ahead of us?"  Rainbow looked at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy gulped.  "I'm sorry, Rainbow.  But I can't help here."

"You've got no clue?"

Fluttershy sighed.  "All I sense is us.  If there were any members of the Central Guard here, they're long gone."

Rainbow turned to look up at Keris.  "Would a huge chunk of the army actually be camped out here?"

"It doesn't match any of the strategic movements that the Talon knew of before leaving Frostknife," Keris said.

Theanim nodded.  He spoke:  "Prior to setting out to meet you, we were only aware of the line of defense formed halfway across the Star Fringes."

"Hence, the ambush," Logan muttered.  "Terrific.  These motherbuckers must have fallen back to protect their Queen."

Keris' claws clenched.

"Ahem..."  Logan batted his masculine eyelashes.  "No offense."

"Starkiss would make for an idea last bastion of defense," Keris said.  "But why none of the forces are still here... even after camping out for an unknown amount of time is... beyond me."

"Ohhhhh gosh..."  Pinkie glanced at Rainbow, eyes quivering as she shook in place.  "What do?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow.  "Eh?"

"Er... what do we do?" Pinkie clarified, smiling sheepishly.

"I got it the first time, Pinkie," Rainbow droned, looking about.

"Well I didn't," Twilight muttered.

"But you never get it, darling," Rarity sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, well, I understand that we should pay caution!" Twilight turned and said.  "We've walked into countless traps before.  There's no tell—"  She flickered in a lavender gasp, disappeared, and reappeared.  "—strike again."  She blinked, then gazed at Rainbow with wide eyes.

Rainbow's ears drooped as she leaned back.  "Oh no..."

"What?"  Bard asked, concerned.  "What is it?"

Both Wildcard and Remna glanced over upon hearing the tone in Bard's voice.

"Rainbow..."  Twilight squeaked.

"Oh goodness..."  Fluttershy scrunched up, her and her friends' bodies rippling with lavender interference.

"What's happening?" Theanim asked.  "Rainbow... are... are you feeling faint again?"

Rainbow ignored the Professor.  Panting, she turned around.  "Morty—!"

"It's alright, Rainbow," Mortuana said, squinting towards the heavens.  "I feel it too."

"And I hear it," Echo muttered, sticking one leafy ear out from beyond his hood.  "Whatever the hell it is... it ain't good..."

"Hear what?"  Keris asked.  He spun to face Rainbow.  "What exactly is upon us?"

"The Rrainbow one and herr companions can sense the prresence of Verrlaxion's messengerrs," Kepler explained.  The group as a whole lurched to a stop around him, alarmed at the wyvern's words.  "This is what shorrtly prreceded the trragedy that befell yourr Centrral Guarrdian comrrades days ago..."

"Whoah..."  Raptr hovered to a stop overhead.  "What's he saying?"

"Shhh!"  Keris raised his good talon.  "Everyone just calm down!"  He glared at the remnants of the Guard.  "That means you!  Form ranks, soldiers!"

Remna galloped over.  "What's the matter, Austraeoh?  Is it my sister?"

Starstorm glanced over.  "...sister?"

"Some guidance would be paramount, Rainbow," Mortuana firmly breathed.

"Twilight!  Fluttershy!"  Rainbow twirled about.  "Where's it coming from?"

"So... intense..."  Twilight rubbed her horn, concentrating.  After a wincing expression, she pointed her hoof in the direction of the southern mountain range.  "Over there..."

"From the south!" Fluttershy nodded, gasping.  "Definitely the south!"

"Over there!"  Rainbow pointed south.

The Herald and Guard swiveled, facing the distant mountain range separating the plateau from Frostknife.

Logan craned his neck about.  "Where... the Hell...?"  He grumbled over his shoulder.  "Hey gadgetballs...?"

"Sorry..."  Flynn shook his head, focusing in and out with his mechanical eye.  "But I'm not seeing anything."

"I am," Windburst said.

"What?!"  Logan looked up.  "How?!"

"Don't ask," Starstorm droned.  She glanced aside in mid-hover.  "Sergeant?"

"Dots of blue luminescence," Windburst said, glaring calmly south.  "Only one thing in this whole continent glows like that."

Fwoooosh!  Ariel flew in close proximity of the Talon.  "Where?"

"... ... ..."  Slowly, icily, Windburst raised his claw.  "... ... ...there," he breathed.  "Seven o'clock.  Between the two angled ridges, bathed in snow."

Wildcard ascended until he was hovering above the rest.  His beak hung agape as his goggles reflected two... four... eight specks of blue light.

"Holy moley!"  Pinkie squeaked, shrinking into a shivering pink ball.

"Mrmmmmfff..."  Twilight winced as her horn flickered again.  "Oh gosh..."

"How..."  Rainbow breathed.  "...how m-many...?"

Mortuana took a deep breath.  "Enough."





Crunch!  A silver set of hooves scuffled to a stop in the snow of a southern mountain peak.

Followed by two more sets.  Cr-Crunch!

Ten more.  Scrkkkk!

Soon, no less than thirty golems stood in a haunted line, facing north along the jagged rock formation.

They stood tall, their metal joints groaning.  Cold blue vapors billowed out from their joints, forming into one combined cloud that frothed outward from the conjured herd.

"Not much longer, Austraeoh..."

The mists intensified, forming wild tendrils that rolled down the mountainside like gray vines.

"Not... crkkkkktt... much longerrr..."

The voices dwindled, giving way to crackling echoes as the only voices left to give was one deathly exhale of cold fog.





The bulk of the Central Guard trembled as they gazed upon the distant lights.

Whimpering voices broke out among them.

"This it..."

"This is our reckoning..."

"Oh Goddess..."

"Oh Goddess, I-I'm so sorry!"

Panicking, five soldiers leapt out from the group.  Four pegasi and a griffon broke ranks, taking wing as they flew south in a desperate blur.

"No!"  Other members of the Guard shouted.  "Don't!"

"Wait!  Are you crazy?!"

"We are being punished!" one of the pegasi wept, panting as he flew along with the other four.  "We must show our penitence!  Or else we'll all suffer!"

"No!"  Theanim hollered, waving a hoof.  "Don't give in to fear!  Whatever's out there... it will not save you!"

"Soldiers, fall back!" Keris shouted.  Even as his voice echoed, he could only watch as the five guardians flew wildly towards the glowing lights.  "Fly back into formation this instant!  That is an order!"

"Like tossing shit at shit," Echo grunted.

"Lieutenant, what should we do?!"  Starstorm exclaimed.

Keris gulped, shaking his head.  "I-I can't risk the lives of the rest of our group.  I-I don't even know what we're dealing with."

"Well, we gotta do something!" Ariel exclaimed.  Gnashing her teeth, she flapped her wings, soaring south.  Swooosh!  "I'm going after them!"

"Ariel!" Rainbow shouted.

"Dammit!"  Flynn winced, then glanced at Mortuana.  "For buck's sake!  She'll die!"

Mortuana merely nodded and said, "This is nothing less than death."  She glanced at Wildcard.

Wildcard breathed.  He glanced at Bard... then shot southward after Ariel.

"Hey!  Wait up—!"  Rainbow waved a hoof.

Bard grasped her gently from behind.  "Shhhh... dun you worry.  He'll bring her back safe."

Rainbow watched, clenching her teeth.  Her friends hung silent, tense.





Meanwhile, the five panicked members of the Guard flew south.  The griffon and two other pegasi pulled ahead of the rest, hyperventilating in the cold, stagnant air.

"Goddess!"

"Goddess Verlaxion!"

"Please forgive us, oh Queen!"

"She led us astray!  The Rainbow Rogue and her damnable friends!"

"We're sorry!  Please... have mercy on us!"

"Have mercy on our families!"

From behind, Ariel's voice could scarcely scale above their hysterical shouts:  "Don't!  Stop it!  Come back!"  She wheezed and flew as fast as she could.  "Can't you see what's happenin—?"

When the group was just a scream away from the southern mountain ridge, the tendrils of fog snaking down suddenly shot up, piercing the overcast heavens above.

POWWW!

The resulting shockwave threw the Guard off balance.

"Aaaaugh!"  Two stragglers—a mare and a stallion—flew back from the rest, their armor rattling.

"Goddess!  Why?!"

Ariel and Wildcard caught up, grabbing the two from behind.  The guardians struggled, whimpering and gnashing teeth.

Wildcard swiftly overpowered the stallion in his grasp.

"Will you knock it off?!"  Ariel shouted into the ear of the mare she was holding.

"But... but we n-need to show our humility—"  The soldier's breath melted into a gasp.  Her wide eyes reflected bright lights through the overcast clouds.

Wildcard and the stallion in his grasp also watched in silent horror.

The other three soldiers had fallen to the foothills of the mountain range.  They looked up, muzzles and beak agape as the heavens unfurled above them.  The first line of a howling stampede of windigoes descended upon the trio.  A lasting prayer or two lit the air—and then all was shattered screams as the three Rohbreddenites were instantly shredded to icy bits.

The soldiers in the Heraldites' grasp whimpered.  Ariel and Bard spun about-face, dragging the survivors along with them.

"Come on!  Let's move!  Move!"  With blurring wings, they raced back to where the rest of the group lay in wait.

Not far behind...

Fw-Fw-Fw-Fw-Fw-Fwoooosh!  The demonic torsos of raging windigoes surged after them, propelled by icy forelimbs.  The banshee shrieks quadrupled, forming a malevolent thunder that shook the plateau to its very stone foundation.





Even from so far away, the ground shook beneath Rainbow, Bard, and the others.

"Ah jeeeeeeez..."  Logan winced.  "That's a lot of 'em.  Yup.  Who's for a round of frozen piss?"

Echo raised a hoof.  "Put it on my tab."

"Stuff it, fatso!"  Flynn snarled.  "You too, Midnight Express!"  The unicorn twirled east.  He tapped a hoof to his mechanical eye, flashing a red beam of manalight straight at Starkiss.  "Come on... come on..."  He cursed under his breath.  "...it's over half a kilometer to Starkiss!  Even if there was an entrance or a cave in plain sight, maybe the fliers among us could make it.  Maybe."

"The rest of us..."  Theanim gulped.  "...not so fortunate."

"Then that's it?!"  Logan spat.  "We're boned?!"

"Save your crude words!" Remna grunted.  "Perhaps a distraction is in order?"

"Fat load of good that will do!" Bard said, signaling Wildcard and Ariel as they flew closer with the two survivors in tow.  "They're only after Rainbow, ain't they?"

"Maybe..."  Rainbow gulped.  "Maybe if I ran northwest then the rest of you could—"

"That is not happening," Remna growled.  "We're getting you to Starkiss."

"But—"

"Maximum priority!"

Keris took a deep breath.  "Then we shall distract them!"

"What?!"  Rainbow's voice racked.

"How in heaven's name to you intend to do that?!" Theanim cackled.

"We've performed effective misdirection with monstrous beasts before."  The Lieutenant glanced at his wingmates, and they all nodded.  "I don't see why we can't buy both groups some time."

"Listen, buddy..."  Bard waved.  "Y'all dun understand!  These thangs will suck the breath outta ya!"

"Do you have another option?!" Keris exclaimed.

Mortuana blinked.  She sensed a flicker of reflective banshee-light.  She glanced down, cradling her dangling vial with a bony hoof.

"It's impossible to survive such a stampede directly!" Remna hollered as a blistering wind picked up, carrying the howls of the demon horses.  "Why we aren't already galloping east is beyond me!  We must go!"  She tugged at Rainbow's forelimb.  "Come on, Austraeoh!  Now!"

"But... b-but..." Rainbow dragged her hooves.

"No more arguing!"  Remna gnashed her teeth.  Her fiery mane danced in the winds.  "We cannot survive against this onslaught!"

"She's right, Austraeoh..."

Rainbow turned, blinking.

Mortuana took a deep breath.  "You cannot survive against the windigoes..."  She turned to look over.  "...not with me."

Rainbow blinked.  She glanced at Mortuana... then at the vial in her grasp.

Remna's eyes narrowed to burning slits, then melted round once more.  Her muzzle fell agape.  "Mortuana..."

"Herald..."  With a firm breath, Mortuana snapped the necklace loose from her shoulders.  She glared south into the incoming herd.  "...follow through with your sacred order."

"But—!"  Remna grimaced.

"Axan, you have a mighty task ahead of you."  Mortuana's eyes sliced aside.  "Get Rainbow Dash to the Dark Side.  I am trusting in you."

Remna clenched her jaw muscles.

"You have my faith, oh Divine.  Now go."  Mortuana's nostrils flared.  "You are now the lead of the Herald.  Do as Rainbow Dash says, and all will go well."

Bard blinked.  Flynn and Logan exchanged gaping expressions.

Remna fumed... fumed... and spun around with a snarl.  "Rrrrngh!"  She galloped east, the snow melting beneath her hoofsteps.  "Come, Austraeoh!  We must make haste!"

Keris gulped.  "Is... is this the plan?"  He swung a claw, pointing.  "Can she hold them off?"

"You're damn right she can."  Logan took a deep breath, his eyes steady and glossy.  "Mountain Matron."

"Logan..."

"... ... ...it's been an honor."

"Likewise."

Logan spun and galloped after Remna.  Meanwhile, Keris gestured at the Central Guard.

"Everypony!  Follow the violet mare!  We are heading to Starkiss!"  Keris flapped his wings, blurring east.  "No stopping!  Not even to breathe!  Talon—"

"Right!"  Windburst gasped, flying in tight formation alongside Starstorm and Raptr.  "Take wing!"

"Go go go!"

"That's our call, Theams..."  Echo stumbled east, yanking at Theanim's tail.  "...move it or smear it!"

"Guhhh!"  Theanim grimace, fumbling to keep up with the rest of the group.  "For goodness' sake!  She's committing a noble act of heroism here!  Let us not w-waste it!  Rainbow Dash!  That means you!"

Raptr panted and panted.  With a nervous gulp, the rookie took one glance west.

Mortuana marched slowly south, catching the eyes of Ariel.

"We m-managed to save two of those idiots!"  Ariel stammered, hovering beside Wildcard as the two guards flew to join the Talon in their race to Starkiss.  "But Verlax's finest are on our tail!  We haven't got much long before..."  She blinked.  "W-w-wait, what's happening?"

"Ariel.  It was a pleasure knowing you and your mother," Mortuana said.  "She would be proud of you, just as I am."

Ariel blinked.  "Wait... wait..."  She shook in place, trembling.  "No... no no no no no!  Bullshit!   Th-there's gotta be another way!"

"Ariel..."  Flynn cleared his throat, already galloping east.  "...the Job Squad has an oath to fulfill."

"Rainbow!  Please!  Talk her out of it!  Remna!  Hell... where's Remna?!"

Wildcard looked down at Bard.  He gestured with two claws.

Bard nodded.  Swooosh!  He lifted up, grabbing Ariel from behind.  "Skedaddle time, darlin'."

"No!  No!"  Ariel sobbed, struggling to free herself from his grasp.  "You can't just let her do this!  Mortuana!"

"Ain't our choice.  We gotta live."  Bard flapped his wings stronger, joining Flynn and the Talon.  "For Rainbow."

"Rnnnngh... pl-please!  Mortuana!"

"Rainbow..."  Twilight cleared her throat, looking nervously at her anchor as the bellowing shrieks intensified.  "We... we have to go..."

"I... I know... but..."  Rainbow gulped, hobbling towards Mortuana.  "Mortuana.  Please... maybe if you just let me—"

"No, Rainbow," Mortuana said.  "Not this time."

Rainbow blinked.

Mortuana gazed down at her.  "Your moment will come yet."  The tiniest of smiles formed.  "As will many after that.  Take pride in what you are... who you are."  She shook her head.  "Do not give in to guilt."

Rainbow gulped.  "It's not g-guilt," she cried.

"We will meet again," Mortuana said.  Her eyes narrowed.  "We will all meet again."

Fluttershy whimpered.  She and Rarity leaned against one another while Twilight and Pinkie shivered.

"Now go," Mortuana said.  "Be the gift that Whitemane so richly delivered."  She pivoted her head about.  "Wildcard... make sure she gets to Starkiss in one piece."

Wildcard nodded.  He flew down, gently taking Rainbow by the shoulder.

Rainbow shuddered.  She stumbled into his grasp... and then the snow gave out from beneath her hooves as the griffon lifted her up.  Her marefriends watched—teary eyed—as Mortuana became a dark black spot from afar.

"Kepler..."  Mortuana calmly said.  The banshee cries intensified.  "...Kepler?"  She looked to her left.

The wyvern stood limply at her side.  His spectacles had fogged over.  He lifted his face, only to avoid her gaze with a nervous stammer.  "My... exuberrant apologies, mountain matrron.  I had all the time to prreparre... but... but alas..."

"Shhhh..."  She took the time to caress his chin with a gentle hoof.  "Kepler.. ever loyal and wise Kepler.  I have lived thousands of lifetimes.  This last one spent with you I have treasured the most."

He smiled.  His tusks shook.

She leaned down to nuzzle him.  "Go.  Carry your brothers' spirit in the flesh... as I carry them in my heart."

He backed up.  He unhitched himself from the wagon with a shrug of his hairy shoulders.  Then, with a pent-up breath, he kicked off the earth and glided east after Wildcard and Rainbow Dash.

"At last..."  Mortuana pivoted south, glaring into the onslaught of pale equine figures.  "...I have kept death waiting long enough."

And just as the demons converged on her, she closed her eyes... breathing in and out... calmly... meditatively...





Far east, at the head of the group, Remna galloped up a snowy embankment, approaching the pale white wall of Starkiss.  She lingered for a few steps, stumbling in place.  Panting.  She turned and looked west.

Keris and the rest of the Talon streaked by her.  Soon, Theanim, Echo, and the Central Guard galloped past her position as well, their eyes full of desperation and panic.

Remna's slitted eyes locked on a lone figure... the only soul facing the surging wall of windigoes head-on.  The edges of Remna's sockets evaporated with a strange mist.  Snarling, she tore herself from where she was anchored, rushing to join the Talon in reaching the mountain.

"Brrotherrs... fellow ponies... gatherr rround..."





"...the elderrs have made theirr wise decision," the wyvern monk said.  He stood south of the monastery at Wyvern Point, cradling a scroll in his clawed grasp.  His smile beamed in the sunset over northwest Rohbredden.  "We arre now rready to rread the final worrds ourr Mountain Matrron has given us..."

Wyverns—both young and old—glided into place.  The silent ones stood at the rear, craning their necks while feathers dangled from their bat-ears.  Snow-Bloods wandered up from the rustic mountain village, some still balancing farm tools and buckets of water over their haunches.  A hush of silence fell over the mixed crowd as the monk in the center opened the Emeraldinian seal and unveiled its contents.

He read aloud, proudly and with a booming voice in the crisp mountain air:  "'My little ponies... dearr brrotherrs of the Wyverrn Trribe... and memberrs of the Herrald in hearrt and in spirrit... it is no joyful task leaving you...





"For we do not die only once in this life... but many times...





Mortuana placed the black vial onto the snow-covered stone.  She calmly raised a hoof over it... held her breath...

"We die when we leave our families...

...and smashed her fetlock down, shattering the glass entirely.  Crkkk!

"We die when we lose our friends...

The blood splattered outward in every direction... and then the enchanted liquid became animated... rolling and snaking up Mortuana's limbs.  It trickled against gravity, sliding over every bony contour, making its way up Mortuana's body until it formed together like a glowing black breastplate over her chest.

When Mortuana's eyes next opened, they were glowing with magical brilliance.  The air around her crackled with onyx energy, resisting the wind being blown her way by the incoming charge of windigoes.

"And we die when we sacrifice the parts of ourselves that would otherwise weigh us down in a prosperous future... or else we forsake the very livelihood of our families and friends...

Breathing deeply, she summoned the strength to raise a trembling hoof up to her horn.  The limb fumbled for a bit to grasp the dangling end of her bandage.  At last, when she caught the fabric in the crook of her fetlock, she slowwwwwly tugged it loose.  The ribbon slid away, exposing a narrow stalk of bone, porous and see-through with many cracks, fissures, and holes.

"But there is one death that we must allow ourselves never to suffer...

Mortuana clenched her teeth.  Her hooves spread apart, bracing her body like an anvil against the coming storm.  A tiny narrow beam of pale black mana solidified inside the hollow of her horn, growing thicker and wilder... splashing outward in every direction with translucent waves of gray energy.  A high-pitched whine fought against the surmounting cacophony of banshee shrieks.

"And that is the death of hope...





Ariel sobbed.  She fought one last time to wriggle her way free from Bard's grasp, but to no avail.  She buried her head in his shoulder, carried to the edge of Starkiss.

As Bard flew closer, he turned around, scanning the horizon for his comrades.  Once he saw Wildcard, he shouted the griffon's name.

Wildcard saluted back, all the while hauling Rainbow further and further away from the coming tempest.

Kepler swept low, clutching Flynn and giving him a boost.  Flynn, in the meantime, looked over the wyvern's shoulder.  His mechanical eye rotated, and he shouted something with alarm.

Rainbow looked back, her eyes reflecting the rippling white manes of windigoes.  Her marefriends shrieked, phasing in and out of lavender form.

"We may sacrifice our flesh... we may sacrifice our dreams... but hope must not suffer on anypony's behalf.  It is the one thing in this universe not permitted to taste the sting of death...

Wildcard gasped.  He twirled aside, barely dodging the winged sweep of a windigo.

Kepler shouted something.  Another windigo grazed by, and the wyvern's very own breath froze in mid-air, falling in icy sheets behind them.

Flynn bellowed, firing beam after magical beam from his horn in a futile attempt to drive the windigoes off.

"Civilizations come and go.  Entire generations crumble before the wages of time.  But so long as they carry hope forward... so long as they keep passing the torch and lighting it with the ashes of their blinking lives... then they are triumphing for the greater good...

With a crazed shriek, one windigo flung its frozen wings forward, knocking the Heraldites off balance.

Wildcard and Rainbow Dash fell to the ground.  Snow flew as they struggled to get up.  The windigoes circled, their hooves slicing the ground and shredding fresh trenches of frost and icy barbs.

With a grunt, Logan turned about face, galloping back to join the group.  He slid towards Flynn and Kepler's side, swinging his axe.  He barely grazed the windigoes before the sheer cold was too much, and he dropped his weapon with a hiss of pain.

As the demons converged, Rainbow stood up.  She shouted something while pressing a hoof to her pendant, firing beams of harmonic energy into the herd, holding them off by mere inches.

"Because if we allow that light to fade... if we let this world suffer the one, true, final death... then we have failed our purpose in this universe... even if we don't yet know what that purpose is...

The Central Guard reached the west end of Starkiss.  Windburst and Keris searched the outer perimeter while Remna looked on.  Upon hearing Rainbow's shouts—and those of the others—Echo lurched to a stop.  He pressed a hoof to Theanim's shoulder.  The Professor spun around, letting loose an audible gasp.  This was not lost to Remna, who twirled in a blink.  Her eyes list up, and she howled something in horror.  But before she could rush to aid the rest of the Herald, windigoes swooped down, overtaking her and the rest of the group.

Rohbreddenites shrieked, cowering low.

Keris shouted commands, rallying the group closer so that they clung to the wall of Starkiss.  It was around that time that Windburst finally found a stone door, blocked with chunks of solid frozen ice.  He, Starstorm, and Raptr hammered away at the frost, chiseling it apart... one inch at a time.  Theanim leaned in, helping in any way that he could.

All the while, more and more windigoes descended, freezing the breaths right out of soldiers and Talon members alike until they went blue in the face.

Remna struggled to get up.  Her equine body steamed all over as the windigoes breathed upon her and the rest, covering the entire area with deathly blight.  Her slitted eyes centered upon a distant pulse of black energy... billowing like a torch against the gray cyclone.

"But hope exists if for only one reason... that some day... against all odds... someone will ascertain that purpose.  And all of the struggles... and all of the conflicts... and all of the trials that we have endured to support that purpose with the backbones of our legacies will be worth it.





Mortuana's mane danced around her.  She spread her wings, lifting up... hovering from the sheer output of mana from her crackling horn.  Spiderwebbing black veins spread under her skin, crossing her muzzle and between her glowing black eyes.  Her tail disentigrated.  Skin and hair peeled off her flank and legs.

"And when that time comes, all souls... both mortal and immortal alike... will share in the feast of eternity's labors...

The alicorn gnashed her teeth.  The glow of her horn spread down through her skull, manifesting in her mouth.  When she nexted breathed, it was as if the entire continent was opening up.

That very instant, every single windigo jerked in flight.  The entire herd was drawn inward, with Mortuana at the eye of the storm.  She breathed again, and once more they flailed as they were dragged towards her... towards her muzzle... towards her heart.

"I do not go to die in vain... or to cement my life's story in an act of brazen heroism.  I go now to do that which I and the Herald have committed... which is to protect hope in the most definitive form any civilization has ever known... so that we will all have a chance to meet again... beyond the Harmonic Plains... waiting—as all things will—for a Spark beyond the blackness to reunite us... as it is doing now... by harmony's solemn blessing.

Mortuana's wings curled inward.  Her horn cracked in a dozen more places as a vaporous bubble of turbulent magic formed around her.  The windigoes had nowhere to escape now.  They scampered and whinnied and clawed at the air as they were drawn towards the alicorn, melting into a fine ribbon of compacted mist, circling and ribboning into an infinitely small focal point situated in the middle of Mortuana's enchanted forehead.

And then... when all but her neck and throat had withered into a hollow skeleton...

...Mortuana gasped.  A tear blossomed in her eyes.  One final flower.

"Sister..."  She choked.  A millisecond of silence.  "...it's so bright."

THOOOOOOOOOOM!  The atmosphere around her imploded.  Where Mortuana was, there now hovered an intensely dark ball of burning magic.  It absorbed the windigo herd from the inside out, dragging them from all corners of the plateau.

This included the demons pouncing upon Rainbow, and the others.  They gasped, along with Flynn, Kepler, and Logan.

Ariel and Bard looked on—mouths agape—as shrieking phantoms ripped past them, surging backwards towards the alicorn's last known position.

Finally, those assaulting Remna and the Talon were torn to misty shreds.  The Central Guard looked up, shivering in awe as the windigoes formed a weak tendril of frost, drawing westward.  Echo lowered his hood, watching with narrow eyeslits while Theanim stumbled to his side.

At last, every remaining essence of the herd surged into the dark spot.  Once they all vanished deep within the sphere, there was a momentary lapse of noise, then—POWWW!  The air filled with a rush of cold... followed by gently falling snow.

The mortals exhaled... very much alive.

And Mortuana was no more.





"'And on that glorrious day, we shall be one, as it was so in a beginning beforre beginning.  So do not weep, my little ponies,'" the wyvern monk read, his eyes reaching the bottom of the scroll.  "'Prreserrve hope in yourr hearrts... live and die as you would everr wish to be:  happy... wholesome... and harrmonic.  Forr such is the way of all ending, a cirrcle that completes itself, making rrevolutions with everry beautiful life.  So be it.  Mountain Matrron... Prrincess of Emerraldine... Herrald to the last.  Morrtuana.'"

He exhaled with finality, folding the scroll back up.

The other wyverns bowed their heads, murmuring honorable words beneath their breaths.

The Snow Bloods nodded, several of them sniffling emotionally.

The moment of silence was broken... however... by a flock of birds cawing overhead.  Disturbed.

Curious, the wyverns and Snow-Bloods alike pivoted about, facing southeast towards the source of the noise.

They spotted several dark shapes against the mountaintop... growing more and more numerous.  Then—as the numbers quadrupled—the sanctuary inhabitants saw the tell-tale glint of silver armor.





A pegasus soldier glared down at the exposed structures of Wyvern Point.  He exhaled a fuming, vaprous breath... then fitted a sharp helmet over his skull.  He raised a spear high in his hoof.

Schiiiiiiiing!

Hundreds of fellow pegasi and griffons stood at his side, all armed to the teeth with silver armor and weaponry.

"Soldiers of the Central Guard!" the pegasus hollered, then pointed his spear forward.  "Cleanse in the name of our Queen!"

An echoing war cry filled the air as the entire battallion dove down the mountainside.  With merciless precision, they filled every nook and cranny of the sanctuary, slicing and dicing at everything that moved.

"For Verlaxionnnn!" the voices sang.

And as the sun set, and the screams subsided, smoke and ash filled the air, marking the spot where Wyvern Point and all its buildings were burned to bare rock.
> This Holy Place of Sacrifice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Starstorm and Windburst flew into the cavern one last time, escorting frazzled members of the Central Guard who were still struggling to brush the snow and ice off their shivering limbs.

Lieutenant Keris stood up from where he was tending to other soldiers alongside Raptr.  He marched towards the Sergeants.  "Is that everyone?" he asked.

"Yes, Lieutenant," Windburst said with a nod.  "All except the three who perished while charging the windigoes southwest of the entrance."

"Rainbow Dash and the Herald are also accounted for," Starstorm said.  "We're all inside the halls of Starkiss, now."

"Any sign of more windigoes?" Keris asked.

Windburst shook his head.  "Negative.  I spent the last five minutes scanning the western wastes.  Looks like the last of the herd has been utterly eliminated by..."  His words trailed off.  The Sergeant's hawkeyes swept in the direction of the Herald.

Keris took a deep breath.  "Nevertheless, keep watch at the entrance.  Holler at the first sign of anything following us... demon or not."

"Aye, Lieutenant."

"Starstorm.  Scout ahead," Keris commanded.  "I need to know if this passage leads all the way into the heart of Starkiss."

"Yes, sir."  Fwoooosh!  Starstorm blurred deeper into the cold, glossy cavern.

Raptr stood up.  "Lieutenant, I've checked everypony out."

Keris pivoted around.  "And?"

"Everyone's in stable condition."  Raptr gulped.  "If we had stayed out there... exposed to the windigo stampede for just a minute longer... we all could very well have suffered advanced hypothermia."

"Well, praise Verlaxion we didn't."

Raptr grimaced.  "Can we?  Can we really?"

Keris fumbled for words.

In the ensuing silence, they heard the gentle weeping of a few members of the Central Guard.  Raptr knelt down, resting his talon on a mare's quivering shoulder.

"Why is th-this h-happeing?  Why would Verlaxion t-turn her back to us?!  Her foals!"

Keris strolled over.  "Let it out, soldier," he murmured.  "I'll be relying on the strength of you and your comrades soon enough."

"However m-many of us are l-left..."  She sniffled, lifting her teary face to stare at Raptr and Keris.  "I don't understand.  I saw them... the Messengers!"  She hiccuped and sobbed.  "They were helping the windigoes!  Commanding them!  My... m-my friends..."  She covered her face with shaking hooves.  "...th-they only wanted to repent f-for their sins.  Have we fallen that far from Verlaxion's gr-grace?!"

"I... don't know, soldier..."  Keris took a deep breath.  "But I aim to find out.  And I cannot make such a discovery alone.  I need you and your friends to look deep inside and summon the strength to keep moving forward.  No more flocking to Verlaxion.  It's evident that her presence only means certain doom until we can ascertain what's going on."  He leaned forward.  "Can I rely on you?"

The mare shook, shuddered, and eventually nodded her head.  "Aye, sir.  You c-can rely on me."

Another soldier breathed, "Ready and w-willing to serve, Lieutenant."

"We are at your command," firmly added a griffon while his companions nodded.

One soldier sitting at the fringe of the group stammered, "I can't believe this is happening.  Those Frost Vessels... and the windigoes working together?!."  He squinted up at Keris and Raptr.  "How are we even expected to return home?!  How will we ever see our families again?!"

Before Keris could speak—

"The solution is simple."  Theanim Mane shuffled up, shaking powdery snow off his figure.  "We follow Rainbow Dash.  She and her friends have protected you so far, yes?"

The one soldier squinted.  "The Rainbow Rogue..."

"Twice you were nearly killed at the hooves of 'Verlaxion,' and twice you were saved by Rainbow and her companions."  He raised an eyebrow.  "Now do you doubt the noble intentions of this 'Rainbow Rogue' and her crew?"

The soldier blinked.  He lowered his head, gazing off in thought.  The Central Guard and the Talon alike lingered in solemn, silent contemplation.

"Professor..."  Keris grasped Theanim's shoulder and gently led him to the side.  In a quiet voice, he spoke:  "If I was a loyal, unfaltering zealot like Commander Seraphimus, I would state that the reason we were all attacked was because Verlaxion desired to punish us for committing the grave sin of assisting Rainbow Dash."

Theanim squinted.  "And are you a 'loyal, unfaltering zealot' like your Commander, Lieutenant?"

Keris clenched his beak.

Theanim sighed.  "An entire nation of fools will attempt to spin the tragedy here however they see fit.  It is my solemn hope that you and I—and our companions alongside us—will grasp the truth from all this."

Keris exhaled and said, "I must admit, Professor, that I've struggled to make sense out of your insinuations for the longest time.  And even the part of me that fully believed you..."  He grimaced, gazing across the frazzled group of survivors.  "...I never would have thought that things would have gotten..."  He gulped.  "...that the hazards would be this cold and this heartless."

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't similarly shocked myself, Lieutenant," Theanim replied with a nod.  "Believing is one thing.  Witnessing reality... and tasting the frigid consequences thereof..."  He pivoted about, gazing across the cold cavern with a shudder.  "Needless to say, I certainly wish things were different.  But we have to take into deep consideration—now or never—that the royal source of this kingdom and the tribes' unification is not the same goddess... or entity we take her for.  But, rather, someone who has been working extensively to lead this kingdom of mortals astray for one reason or another."

"Isn't that jumping to conclusions, Professor?"

"There are considerably fewer of us who can, thanks to her 'divine' intervention," Theanim grumbled.  "And need I even presume to guess the heinous number of lives she's betrayed in the past?"

Keris sighed fumingly.  He glared towards the entrance of the cave where Windburst lingered.

"Not exactly cheerful to contemplate, is it?" Theanim remarked.

"I was attempting to contemplate something else," Keris replied in a hushed tone.  He aimed his voice away from both the Talon and the Central Guard.  "Namely... how would the foals of Verlaxion... how would all of Rohbredden react to the collapse of..."  He gulped.  "...a false god?"

"They haven't done very well in her 'absence' these past few decades," Theanim replied just as quietly.  "Imagine how magnified the violent distrust between Tribes and Prefectures would be if she was exposed as a dragon Divine."

"Then... it is up to us to make sure that something peaceful comes of this," Keris said.  "So that the unavoidable revelation transpires as gently and harmonically as possible."

"I whole-heartedly agree, Lieutenant," Theanim remarked.  "And while I'm proud of you for thinking ahead, the moment of truth has yet to make itself manifest."

"How do you mean?" Keris asked.

Theanim stared past him.

The Lieutenant turned, following the professor's gaze until his eyes too fell on Rainbow Dash.  "Do you really believe she will do what is right?"

Theanim gulped.  "I wouldn't have traversed all of these cold... cold miles if I didn't."

"But to her, Verlaxion is an obstacle," Keris remarked.  "Rainbow Dash may have an empathetic heart..."

"...and a firm belief in harmony."

"True."  Keris turned to squint at Theanim again.  "But it is her unique brand of it."

"One that has saved us and countless more ponies..."  Theanim sighed out the side of his muzzle.  "Despite a few... melodramatic bumps along the way."

"You're missing the point, Professor," Keris said.  "I admire Rainbow Dash as a pony.  But her destiny lies beyond us... beyond all of Rohbredden."  He clenched his beak.  "What assurance do we have that after all we've been through... and after all we've heard and witnessed... that Rainbow Dash simply does not wish to eliminate Verlaxion because she's in the way?"

"Because Verlaxion has allowed her get this far."

Keris furrowed his feathered brow.

Theanim looked at him directly.  "Our 'beloved goddess' desires the arrival of... this Austraeoh.  There is a purpose to this ultimate meeting... a purpose that has utilized all of us and the whole of Rohbredden like spokes in a giant machine... much like the machines that have loomed in secret beneath all of us since the dawn of time."

"Surely we all mean more than that," Keris said.

"Perhaps to Rainbow Dash, yes.  But in the eyes of Verlaxion..."  Theanim cleared his throat.  "I fear that we are greatly expendable."  He slowly shook his head.  "That is not the spirit that the Austraeoh wishes to carry along, which is what makes her journey all the more difficult.  To get where she needs to go, to bring salvation to so many souls, she has to commit sacrifices.  Verlaxion, I sense, has her own idea as to what those sacrifices are... and she wishes for Rainbow Dash to accept them... as though it will make her journey easier."

"Do you think it will?"

"Perhaps... but at something else's expense."

Keris' headcrest drooped.  "Rohbredden..."

Theanim nodded gravely.  "Whatever happens here in Starkiss, it will be our burden to deal with."  He sighed, staring back at Rainbow and the Herald.  "Alas... thanks to forces that have been at play longer than we can contemplate... I fear that one soul and one soul alone must choose the nature of that burden."

Keris gazed at the frazzled soldiers of the Central Guard.  "Even with all my experience... I do not believe I could handle such a weighty choice."

"Then perhaps now you understand how and why Miss Dash has been able to accumulate so many friends."  Theanim bore the tiniest of smirks.  "And I, for one, consider myself among them."  He trotted off, giving Keris a brief wink along the way.  "I think she would be honored if you did too."

Keris stood alone for a brief moment.  "...the honor is already mine," he spoke to the frozen walls.






Rainbow Dash sat on a ledge of cold, polished rock.  She gazed forward, her ears drooped and her body limp.

Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie hovered quietly... solemnly around her.  Pinkie bit her lip while Rarity hung her head.  Fluttershy wept gently, rubbing her eyes dry with as much grace as she could afford.  Twilight drifted over, rubbing a hoof across the mare's shoulder.  She and Rainbow gazed a few spaces across from them.

Ariel and Flynn huddled close, hugging one another tightly.  Ariel buried her face in Flynn's shoulder while the stallion gazed off, his natural eye misty and contemplative.  Logan sat off to the side, scowling, putting all of his time and attention into angrily sharpening the blade of his axe with a stone.

Bard and Wildcard were considerably less tense.  The Desperadoes sat side by side in a solemn slump.  They watched the rest of the Job Squad in delicate silence, until their eyes drifted over towards a solitary wyvern.

Kepler sat on a cleft of rock overlooking a dark fissure.  He had his spectacles off and his scorpion tail was curled tightly to his hairy back.  A furrowed brow framed two blank eyes that reflected the darkness of the abyss below.

Off in the distance, the echoing scuffles of hooves announced Remna's presence.  The violet mare paced and paced beyond a forest of stalagmites.  No words accompanied her noisy shuffling.

Taking a deep breath, Rainbow Dash stood up.

Twilight gulped.  "Rainbow..."

Rarity gestured.  "Perhaps you should give them some peace—"

"We have to keep moving," Rainbow bluntly said.

Rarity and Pinkie winced.  Fluttershy merely sniffled and watched.

Rainbow Dash approached the group.  "Look," she said.  "What Mortuana did was brave.  It was courageous, it was selfless, and in many ways it was awesome.  But we're not going to put the sacrifice to any good use if we just stick around here."  She waved a hoof.  "We can mourn for her on the go."  Her eyes raised.  "Ariel—"

"I-I'm sorry, Rainbow..."  The pegasus sniffled.  She raised her face from Flynn's shoulder and squinted over at Rainbow Dash.  "Really, I... I'm better than this."  A deep gulp.  "Mortuana trained us.  She trained all of us.  But..."  Her muzzle grimaced.  "...but it's still so h-hard."

"It's not as though we didn't see it coming," Flynn murmured, continuing to hug Ariel.

"I know it sucks," Rainbow said.  "And take it from a mare who's seen a lot of good friends die..."  She slowly shook her head.  "It never stops being hard."

Ariel and Flynn looked up.

"We just... have to keep moving," Rainbow said.

"Rainbow's right," Bard spoke up.  "Yer Mountain Matron didn't train no pushovers.  She wouldn't be sore over y'all havin' to hoof it when you'd rather be doin' a funeral."  His nostrils flared.  "Heaven knows I wouldn't be cross with y'all movin' past me if I died."  He glanced aside.  "Right, Dubya?"

Wildcard stood still.

Bard's brow furrowed.  "Right?!"

Wildcard inhaled... then eventually nodded.  He gestured in the air.

"Bullshit," Logan replied.  "My fat ass 'she was out of all options.'"

"Big Show..."  Flynn sighed.

"There's always another way out!"  The large stallion shook, struggling to keep his sharpening stone even with his blade.  At last, he gave up with a grunt, allowing the heavy metal weapon to fall.  Clank!  "Why didn't she use that vial of magic blood to teleport us all away or turn Remna back into a damned dragon?!"

"A teleportation spell would still have killed her," Flynn said.

"And we'd still have one extra herd of dayum windigoes to contend with," Bard grumbled.

Rainbow added:  "And both Axan and Mortuana have contended that the Divine of Fire wouldn't be able to defeat Verlax or the frost windigoes at her command—"

"Well I don't buy it!"  Logan fumed, snarling.  "Hell, if we were fewer numbers—like we were supposed to be—then we'd be at Verlax's throneroom by now!  Yaerfaerda would be in the Austraeoh's hooves!  Instead... we're having to drag around half of Rohbredden!  I'm telling you, the Talon and the Central Guard are holding us down!"

"They're helping us, Big Show," Ariel said.  "And saving them and all of Rohbredden is part of the deal.  Saving this whole world is what the Herald is all about!"

"The Herald is all about saving Austraeoh!" Logan hissed.  "And don't you forget it!"

"But if you lose Austraeoh..."  Remna marched up, glaring at the group.  "...you lose the chance to save whole world."

Rainbow blinked.

Wildcard nodded.

"Therefore," Remna spoke, "Mortuana stayed true to her cause, even to the bitter end."

"Oh shuddup," Logan grunted.  "Who the Hell cares what you have to say."

"You should."  Remna's green eyes narrowed into reptilian slits.  "And so should the rest of your so-called 'Job Squad.'  Mortuana's put me in charge of the Heraldic Seven, now."

Logan did a double-take.

"Wait a sec..."  Ariel blinked.

Rainbow cleared her throat.  "It's true," she said.  "Mortuana did.  I was there for when it happened."  She looked at the rest.  "Remna's in charge now."

Flynn's muzzle hung agape.

"Oh!  Great!"  Logan shot up to his hooves and began pace.  "That's just friggin' perfect!"  He huffed and puffed.  "The Mountain Matron's dead and now we gotta take orders from a skin-shedding she-bitch!"

Bard sighed.  "Big Show, will ya put a cork in it already?!"

"Easy for you to say!"  Logan spun, pointing an angry hoof.  "You're not even a member of the Herald!"

"I know!"  Bard frowned.  "Which is why I can't help but gawk at your dumbass!  Get it together for Rainbow's sake!"

"You're one to talk!"  Logan folded his forelimbs.  "Mr. Too Bucked Up Over the Past to Ever Commit to Anything!  Maybe it shoulda been you who took the bullet out there so we could get to Verlax's Throne faster!"

Swoooosh!  Wildcard swooped over, staring and glaring in Logan's face.

"What?!"  Logan shrugged.  "You wanna make something of it?"

"Will everypony just please calm down..." Ariel droned.

"Go ahead and beat me to a pulp!"  Logan shoved Wildcard back.  "Tall, dark, and perfect!  What's holding us back?!  Huh?  Mommy's dead!  Paint the playground red!"

"Be silent and listen!" Remna shouted.  Her eyes flickered with a hellish green glow.  The cave erupted in a brief wave of scalding heat, then cooled once again.

Shaken, Logan and Wildcard looked over.

Remna fumed.  "If this is how mortals deal with paltry concepts of death and loss, then I want no part of it!  I have a good mind to banish half of you to the Skystone deposits of the north where you'll make better icicles than heroes..."  She exhaled heavily.  "...but that is not my decision to make."

"Hmmmff..."  Logan glared.  "But I thought Mortuana made you the boss."

"She did."  Remna's nostrils fumed.  "And believe me... I would much rather be back in dragon form than have to bear the insurmountable weight of the Herald.  Strength is my strong suit..."  She shook her head.  "Not strategy or restraint."  She swallowed.  "Yes, Mortuana did place me in charge over the Herald after her passing... but she gave me a stipulation—that I abide by the rules and will of the Austraeoh."

Logan and Wildcard blinked.

"Rainbow Dash..."  Remna side-stepped so that the mare in question took up the center of attention.  "...Mortuana is no more.  The Heraldic Seven is now Six.  We remain—as ever—loyal to you, with our hearts and minds set on guiding you to the Midnight Armory."  Remna glared aside.  "I ask my faithful companions... has this changed in any fashion?"

Ariel shook her head.  "No."

"Not even in the slightest," Flynn breathed.

Wildcard took a deep breath and shook his head.

Logan sighed.  "No..."  He nevertheless squinted at Rainbow.  "Though... the rules have always stated that there must be seven.  So shouldn't the first order of business be finding and christening another poor sap to join our cause?"

Twilight Sparkle looked at her anchor.  "Rainbow?  What do you think?"

Rainbow fidgeted.  She glanced over at the Desperadoes.  She opened her muzzle—

"It is prrobably forr the best that we don't..."

Rainbow and her marefriends looked over.

The Herald watched as Kepler stood up, sighing.  "Morrtuana was many things.  Wise... meditative... nurrturring... loving..."  The wyvern shuffled towards the group.  "But she had herr prriorrities strraight... and the strraightest and most imporrtant task at hoof was getting the Austraeoh to the darrk side and beyond.  If we hesitate in making this happen—even if for a little bit—then herr sacrrifice will be in vain."  He bowed before Rainbow Dash.  "As the Mountain Matrron's faithful serrvant and frr-frriend, Austrraeoh, I would humbly advise you to let us continue forrth with our jourrney... unimpeded."

Remna glanced from Kepler to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow nodded.  "Just what I was thinking."  She looked at the rest of the group.  "I know that you guys have always pledged to me in spirit.  But now that we've experienced a fraction of the cost of this trip... and we've experienced it together... I must ask that you make true to your words.  My friends and I can't do this without you."  She glanced aside.  "Same goes for you, Bard."

He smirked, tipping his hat.  "Darlin'..."

"The same also goes for Professor Mane, Echo, Keris, and the rest of the dudes in our group right now."  She gazed at the Herald.  "Whatever your beef is with them—get over it.  We gotta be better than the crud we're facing if we wanna surpass them.  Mortuana knew this.  Let's not throw her gift into the trash, ya feel me?"

Silence.

"Mrmmmff..."  Logan picked his axe back up.  "Hell... only a sissy lives forever."  He bore a plastic smile in Remna's direction.  "No offense."

Remna snorted and trotted off.  "Whatever."

"I'm in," Logan said.  "So long as the she-dragon is leaning on your shoulder, Rainbow Dash."  He shook his head.  "She has no right leading the Herald after replacing who she replaced."

"Of course she does," Rainbow said bluntly.  "Mortuana hoofed her command, didn't she?"

"But how do you know she's completely reliant?" Ariel asked.  "This is her sister we're about to confront."

"You all have a lot of faith in me," Rainbow Dash said.  "I'm asking you to have faith in Remna too."  She sighed.  "Believe me... it's a struggle for me as well.  But with you guys on my side... it just might make the rest of this hike easier.  Can we ask for any less?"

The Herald exchanged expressions.  Flynn and Ariel smiled.

"No."  Ariel shook her head.  "I guess you can't."

Wildcard gestured.

"He says he reckons you've given these kinds of speeches before," Bard said.

"Those were easier times," Rainbow muttered, turning about.  "I had a hammock to return to."  She squinted at a few bodies shuffling up.

"My Sergeants have accounted for all members of the Central Guard," Keris said.

"There don't appear to be any surviving windigoes from that attacking herd," Theanim Mane added.

"And I just took the biggest dump imaginable," Echo contributed.  "So we may wanna leave this part of the cave PDQ."

Rainbow and the Herald gawked at Echo.

"What?"  Echo raised an eyebrow.  "Of course I'm bullshitting.  I figured you all could use some comedy relief."

"We have Big Show for that," Flynn muttered.

"Go to Hell, Baldy," Logan grunted.

"Ahem..."  Theanim Mane grumbled aside.  "Maybe consider using your ears instead of your muzzle, Old Chap."

"How?  Bulls don't crap out their ears."

"Like I said," Keris's voice grew firmer.  He gazed at Rainbow.  "We are ready to move out.  The question is..."  He raised an eyecrest.  "Where?"

Wildcard cocked his head curiously.

"You're still on board, Keris?" Rainbow asked.

"Your... stately companion just gave her life to save the Talon and our fellow soldiers," Keris said.  "While I may never ascertain her full motives from beyond the Blight, I think we can all agree that one honorable turn deserves another."

"There's no telling if we've seen the last of Verlax's frost vessels or her windigoes," Rainbow said.  She pointed out the mouth of the cave.  "Out there, the skies are clear.  If your soldiers want to go home to their families, they've got an open stretch just waiting for them."

"That's... not entirely guaranteed, Rainbow Dash," Theanim said.

"Besides..."  Keris took a deep breath.  "I think we would all be remiss if we didn't... see this through to the end."  The Lieutenant's eyes met Rainbow Dash's.  "There's so much at stake here... for Rohbredden... for Continentalists and Colonialists alike... for more than you can possibly imagine."

"Oh, I can imagine," Rainbow said.

"She's got you there," Echo remarked.

Keris sighed.  "I suppose you're right."  He smiled ever so slightly.  "Whatever the case, you will need help in reaching the Throneroom of Verlaxion.  And the Talon and I... will need guidance for whatever storm is brewing on the horizon."

"This involves all of the Tribes, Rainbow," Theanim said.  "It involves all of us.  We must come with you."

Rainbow nodded.  "Then consider yourself on board."

Fluttershy squeaked, "A member of the Talon is flying back!"

Sure enough, Starstorm flew in, accompanied by Remna.  "I found a corridor that leads down into the lower reaches of Starkiss!"

"It's a wide passage," Remna said.  "I saw some of it myself.  We should all be able to proceed without much hassle."

"It must lead into the sanctuarries," Kepler said.

"Sanctuaries?"  Bard blinked.

"Old holy grrounds frrom prre-rrecorrded Rrohbrredden historry," Kepler explained.  "Built by the firrst worrshipperrs of Verrlaxion.  If they've trruly been left undisturrbed all these eons, then it should make forr a clearr path to the Queen's thrronerroom."

"Well then..."  Rainbow straightened her pendant and pivoted east.  "What are we waiting for?"





The winding nature of the cavern soon gave way to straight corridors and geometrically rigid pathways.  With each cold granite platform that the group traversed, the hollow of Starkiss started appearing less and less "natural."  The group proceeded with caution, their eyes locked on the reflective surfaces of the cold sterile walls.

A blue-tinged aura lingered around every corner, growing denser and denser with each passing hour.  The deeper the Herald and Talon spelunked, the less they had to rely on unicorn magic, torches, or manacrystals to light their path.

"It's Verlax's magic," Remna attempted to explain at one point.  "She's made a nest here for centuries.  The Divine's energy is potent; I can smell her scent off every icicle."

"There's something in the air, alright," Flynn said.  "My leylines are going crazy.  It feels like some huge, massive spell is just waiting to fall into place."

"Fall where, exactly?"  Echo muttered.  "These walls are dense... not like any cave I've ever been in.  The walls are thin, but they block all sound.  It's throwing my balance off... and that ain't a good thing."

There was no way to explain this, so nopony tried.  They simply moved—pressing forward, going deeper.

Further into the heart of Starkiss, everypony's ears begain twitching.  They felt a tickle, as if invisible gnats were buzzing by their scalps.  After another hour, this sensation bled into a continuous ghostly hush: a staticky noise that echoed with the weight of the world pressing down on them through the heights of the massive mountain.  Corridors opened up with seemingly no ceiling.  Gigantic walls and chasms loomed overhead, reaching beyond sight.  At one point, Wildcard and Ariel tried flying upwards to scale the distance... but they swiftly returned after five full minutes of not finding the summit.

Meanwhile, the platforms and barriers grew all the more pale, intimidating, and immense.  Both the Talon and Herald resembled insects scuttling across the bottom of a deep pale well—with labyrinthine structures forcing them to inexplicable left and right turns.  Remna's and Starstorm's scouting assisted them pressing onward, as did the alluring glow of Yaerfaerda—a bright orange sun to Rainbow's squinting eyes at this point.

Ironically, Rarity wasn't able to provide much assistance.

"I don't know how better to explain it, darling," she said.  "It's... like the walls are made of mirrors and all I sense are inverted mimics of what our naked eyes can see."

"The same goes for the souls around us, I'm afraid."  Fluttershy gulped, trembling more and more with each lingering minute.  "I keep trying to sense beyond the next chamber, but all I feel are the same ponies and griffons in our party... like echoes."

"Then how do we know if Verlax or any of her Frost Vessels are out there, ready to pounce on us?" Rainbow asked.

"We don't."  Twilight looked at her anchor.  "I'm getting the same confusing feedback too, Rainbow."  Her violet eyes narrowed.  "I think it has something to do with the Divine of Frost.  She's been here for so long that... her essence must be seeping into the structure of Starkiss.  She's become one with the foundation of the place."

"Can she really do that?" Rainbow wheezed.

"My tail hasn't stopped twitching since we got here!" Pinkie stammered.  "I dunno if that helps?!"

"Sure it does, Pinkie."  Rainbow looked ahead.  "And yet... it doesn't."  She shuddered.  "Well, at least I can still see Yaerfaerda."

"Surely that counts for something, yes?" Rarity remarked.

Rainbow Dash didn't reply.  She and the Herald marched onwards in relative silence, watching the corners, eyeing the shadows.  With the ghostly Elements of Harmony incapable of sensing what was beyond every turn, they had no choice but to take things slow... overexercising caution—for what it was worth.

Flynn and Ariel looked visibly rattled.  Logan hung his axe over his shoulder at all times.  Wildcard flapped his wings heavily, flying swiftly from one corner of the moving perimeter to the other, paying extra attention to whatever detail he could make out from the uniform grayness of the frozen corridors lingering ahead.

Bard appeared more relaxed.  He trotted alongside Kepler, adjusting his hat as he glanced all about the tall, imposing walls.  The stale stone intestines of Starkiss possessed amazing acoustics—something the cowcolt found out when he began humming about halfway through the journey.  Nopony applauded.

Remna likewise looked calm and composed.  She occupied her usual spot ahead of the group, taking point with draconian resilience.  There was a slower shuffle to her steps, as if the passing of Mortuana had drained something from her—perhaps deflated her strong-headedness.  She kept close to Rainbow Dash at all times, but still managed to give the mare some air to breathe.

Keris kept close to the Talon.  He chose this time not to spread the group out.  This far into unknown territory, he looked after them just as much as he looked after the Guard and Herald.  His magenta eyes scrutinized every corner of the place.  And yet, for hours, there was no change... no blemish... no presence of any sort of chaotic detail.

Until Theanim Mane gasped aloud...





"Oh my stars..."  The Professor leaned into his hooded companion, eyes wide.  "Are you seeing this, Old Chap?"

"I'm hearing it, Theams," Echo muttered back.  "For once, our hoofsteps are bouncing off of something that doesn't feel like smooth porcelain."

"But what?" Raptr asked from ahead.  "I'm seeing nothing but cold white stone."

"Wait for it..." Windburst murmured.

Sure enough, at the far end of a narrow corridor, the path inexplicably opened up into a large, irregularly shaped chamber.  The first thing that stood out was a tall narrow shape leaning thirty-five degrees against a wall flanked with icicles.

"What in the heck is that?" Logan remarked, surprised that his voice suddenly produced a massive echo.

"Is that..."  Ariel squinted.  "...made of wood?"

"Appears to be a door," Keris said.

Rainbow looked aside.  "Rarity?  Can you sense that?"

"Indeed I can, darling."  Rarity nodded.  "But only because we're in such close proximity."

"Oooh!  Pretty!"  Pinkie floated up to the large structure in question.  "Look up close!  It's got a bunch of drawings on it!"

"Etchings," Twilight corrected.

"Whatever."

"Oh wow..."  Fluttershy blinked, her eyes tracing images of griffons, ponies, wyverns, and sirens all bowing before an equine figure at the top of the door.  "This would have taken a long... long time to make."

"And I'm guessing it was made a long... long time ago."  She looked over her shoulder.  "Kepler?"

"A few morre steps, Rrainbow one," Kepler said, pointing ahead.  "And we may know more for sure."

"Eyes up, mortals," Remna said, her booming voice echoing a dozen times from a well of unseen depth.  "We're entering a massive chamber of sorts."

She wasn't wrong.  The Herald, the Talon, and the Guard found themselves entering a gigantic cavern.  The floor and ceiling were too far away for the naked eye to comprehend.  Whatever distance they could see was obstructed by countless bridges, platforms, structures... and buildings erected in the hollow belly of Starkiss.

Indeed, immensely complicated towers, steeples, cathedrals, and sepulchers dotted the criss-crossing platforms that formed the interconnecting web of subterranean architecture.

"Behold..."  Kepler gestured with a claw, his voice increasing and decreasing with each echo.  "...the ancient sanctuarries of the Firrst Unified Trribes..."

Some structures leaned at precarious angles, their foundations crumbling off the edges of icy platforms.  Others clung to vertical walls, defying gravity.  Others were carved into petrified rock.  All the while, every visible structure was dotted with statues, effigies, engravings, and pricelessly immacculate mosaics—all depicting tribes fleeing from windigoes, tribes being rescued by a heavenly equine, and those same mortals worshipping and bowing before the Goddess in question.

"This is absolutely incredible..."  Theanim whimpered, his eyes glistening brilliantly.  The magical blue aura glinted off the goggles resting over his mane as he stared up and down at the endless details.  "Ancient texts speak of these marvelous structures.  But I n-never thought I would get to see them in my own lifetime."  He gulped.  "Dozens if not hundreds of generations toiled ceaselessly... day and night... just to make these in honor of Queen Verlaxion, shortly before retreating to the upper surfaces of Rohbredden.  And here we are... the first mortals in eons to lay eyes upon such wonders!"

"You say that as if it's something worth celebrating," Echo muttered.

Theanim opened his muzzle to retort... but found that he had nothing.  With a blink, he lowered his head and sighed.

Rainbow glanced at him, then at the cathedral walls and prayer towers looming over them.

Bard gaped.  "I... I dun suppose any single song would do any of this stuff justice."  He gulped.  "Or a dirge, for that matter."

Wildcard nodded in silence.

"I... can't believe so many ponies gave their lives," Starstorm murmured in mid-flight.  "...just to build so many things that would be abandoned for so long."

"How else to you exert control?" Ariel remarked.  "Get an entire civilization to build something in your honor... then carry the weight of it with your social subconscious forever."

Starstorm winced.  "Yes, but still... what did Verlaxion ever hoped to gain from all this?"

"Godhood," Logan grunted.  "What else?"

The members of the Central Guard trimbled at the immensity of it all.  Windburst and Raptr hovered to a stop, gazing every which way.

Rainbow and Remna passed through the arch of a cathedral.  As the rest of the group followed them into the slightly crumbled structure, they glanced to their left and right.  Massive, large stained glass windows lingered in eternal silence.  The fractured multi-colored panels reflected Rainbow's face in a spiderwebbing kaleidoscope.  She paused for a moment, staring at red, yellow, green, and blue versions of herself.

"This is all incredible," Twilight said.  "And I wish we could stay longer to study it.  But..."  She looked at her anchor.  "Applejack...?"

"Yaerfaerda is somewhere below us right now," Rainbow said, nodding at her stained glass doppelgangers.  "You could literally toss a stone."

"Then we must be going," Rarity said, squeaking.  "My love of ancient architecture takes a back seat to my longing to be reunited with our sweet, freckled friend!"

"Hmmmm..."  Pinkie Pie squinted at the cold stone floor of the cathedral as her tail vibrated.  "That's funny..."

"What is, Pinkie?" Rainbow murmured.

"Kepler and Theanim said that this place has been undisturbed for ages n'stuff, right?"

"Yeah..."

Pinkie looked up, lips pursed.  "Then what's with all the claw marks?"

"... ... ...?"  Rainbow glanced down.

Remna followed Rainbow's line of sight.  Her eyes widened at the sight of multiple claw-streaks.  "What in blazes...?"

"I see them too," Windburst said.

Keris glanced over.  "See what, Sergeant?"

Windburst took a deep breath.  "The same thing we saw outside of Starkiss."

"Rainbow..." Fluttershy murmured.

Rainbow looked at her.

Fluttershy was grimacing.  Her ears drooped as she nervously nodded.

Rainbow gasped.  She opened her muzzle to shout at the Herald—

SWOOOOSH!  No less than thirty pegasi landed at the rear of the group.

"Holy—!"  Ariel gasped.

"Whoah!"  Schiiiing!  Logan held his axe high.

But before he could make a single move—

THWOOOOOSH!  FWOOOOSH!  Griffons carrying spears and polearms descended through the broken ceiling of the cathedral, flanking the Herald and Talon from the north and south.

Remna and Wildcard flinched.

"No!"  Rainbow shouted, shivering.  "Hold your ground!"

"Stay still!" Keris added, glancing about.  "It's the Central Guard!  Soldiers!"  He appealed to the sudden, armored ambush.  "At ease!  We are on your side!"

"Are you?" hissed a voice from the cold blue distance.  "Are you truly, Lieutenant?"

Keris' pupils shrank.

"Oh no..."  Twilight paled.

"...!"  Rainbow spun around in time to see a silver-blue figure land at the altar of the hollow cathedral, flanked by even more armored Rohbreddenites.

With a deep breath, Seraphimus marched icily towards the gruop.

"Welcome to the Holiest of Holies, Rainbow Rogue," the Commander of the Talon spoke.  "But this time..."  Her charcoal eyes narrowed.  "...the only blood being spilled today is yours."
> You Have to Earn It
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Cold vapors wafted out of Rainbow Dash's muzzle.

"This is it, Morty."  Her ruby pupils hardened, staring dead across the Cathedral.

Shivering, Twilight Sparkle glanced aside.  "What is it, Rainbow?"

Rainbow Dash didn't respond.  She couldn't.

Commander Seraphimus' voice rolled across the frozen chamber, its thunder resonating off the limbs of Herald, Talon, and Central Guard alike.  "Do not move a single muscle," she rumbled.  She and her fellow wingmates surrounded Rainbow's group from three sides.  Every pegasus and griffon had razor sharp spears drawn.  "Any further action, and you forfeit your putrid lives."

Logan sneered under his breath:  "Yeah, like you give a shit, Captain Bitcharoo—"

Flynn muttered out the side of his snout:  "Big Show, if there ever was a time to stuff it..."

"Mrnnnghhh..."  Logan clenched his jaws.  His fetlocks gripped tighter to the hilt of his axe, but he nevertheless remained still.  Ariel and Kepler stood with their limbs locked, nervously eyeing the soldiers surrounding them.  Bard and Wildcard loomed back to back at the rear while Theanim Mane and Echo tensely held their breaths.

Remna was having a great deal more difficulty.  Her green eyeslits flickered and she flexed a muscle to march forward—

But just then, Rainbow glared at her.  The violet bounty hunter instantly froze in place, albeit fuming.

"Captain," Seraphimus spoke without so much as moving her helmeted head.

A high-ranking pegasus lowered his blade and shuffled up to her side.  "Yes, Commander?"

"Send messengers to the north and south," she said.  "Round up the remaining battallions throughout the cavern.  Tell them that we've located the Rainbow Rogue and we need the rest of the army assembled here right away."

"Aye."  The pegasus signaled six griffons and pegasi.

The guardians nodded, relinquished their spears, and flew off in two broad directions.  Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie watched as they then spread out, covering the furthest ends of the unseeable hollow of Starkiss.

"And make haste!" Seraphimus called after them.  "The sooner we throw these criminals in irons, the sooner Verlax's Divine strength will be restored!"

"There are soldiers in the direction that they are going," Fluttershy murmured.  She gulped hard.  "Lots and lots of soldiers."

"No doubt where all of the guards stationed outside of Starkiss went," Rarity added.

"Shhhhh..."  Twilight insisted, squinting at the leader of the Talon ahead.  "Stay alert, girls."

"Alert for what, darling?"  Rarity shivered.  "Don't you see?  We're doomed!  P-positively doomed..."  Fluttershy calmly rested a hoof on Rarity's shoulder.  The unicorn's voice whimpered into unsettling silence.

At this point, Commander Seraphimus was marching slowly forward, her silver armor rattling with each menacing step.  "Such damnable darkness..."  Charcoal eyes sliced the air between them.  Enchanted blue light danced lazily through the cathedral's stained glass windows, giving the griffon's armor a spectral sheen.  "...the Blight has empowered you... but only so far.  I cannot fathom how such accursed strength carried you past the Star Fringes, but this demonic march ends now."

"Commander Seraphimus..."  A random soldier of the Central Guard spoke from behind the Herald.  She fell to her knees, clasping her battle-scarred fetlocks together.  "Please f-forgive us!  The windigoes attacked and... w-we had no other choice but to join—!"

"Silence!"  Seraphimus hollered.  Her eyes narrowed on the remnants of the Guard that had tagged along with Rainbow Dash.  "So long as the source of the Blight still draws breath, we will not give ear to your tainted words."  She inhaled, exhaled.  Cold, cold vapors.  "Of course the windigoes attacked you.  They feed on sin and cowardice... two things that the Great Unifier cleansed from this land through her gifts of grace and harmony."

"You weren't there, Commander."  The voice was calm.  It came from Lieutenant Keris, as smooth and sleek as the claw-steps he boldly took towards the leader of the Talon.  "If you were, you would have seen that the Frost Vessels were in league with the windigoes."

Schiiiiing!  Several spears swung towards the griffon's neck.

"Hold!"  Seraphimus raised her talon.  That and only that kept Keris from being skewered alive.  With a shuddering sigh, she muttered his way:  "I thought I told you not to move a muscle, Lieutenant.  Is there now any command that you won't stoop to disobey?"

Keris' magenta eyes narrowed.  "You wouldn't kill me."

"No."  Seraphimus shook her head.  "By Verlaxion's grace, I am the one who is here instead of Chandler."

"Huh?"  Raptr blinked.

After a deep breath, Seraphimus proclaimed, "The Minister of Defense has authorized me personally to ensure the Rainbow Rogue's seizure in Starkiss.  I, for one, believe that even the demon herself and her unholy army should stand trial before the foals of Verlaxion... in the Queen's very Court."  Her sharp eyes glinted in the stained glass light.  "Even if such a vile congregation does not deserve it, I am the one gracious thing standing between all of you and complete annihilation... such as that which Chandler has issued in Wyvern Point."

Theanim Mane and Echo winced.

Ariel's muzzle dropped.  "Wait..."

"The Blight's corruption spreads and consumes like a wildfire," Seraphimus said.  "But not anymore, if I have anything to do with it."

"Please, honorrable warrriorr..."  Kepler took a bold step forward, only to be held in place by Flynn's magic.  Spectacles rattling, he peered desperately across the room, speaking:  "What trravesty is this that you speak of?"

Seraphimus hissed, "You will be silent unless you are spoken to, traitor."  Her beak clenched.  "You, more than anyone else, cannot afford to test my temper."

"If my brrotherrs arre in dangerr, then I can afforrd to test anything!" Kepler said, his voice taking on an uncharacteristic growl.  His glasses reflected phalanxes of frowning, scowling faces.  The spotted hair on his back stood on end as he pivoted about.  "What has trranspirred at Wyverrn Point!  What is the meaning of all this animosity?!"

"Please," Theanim murmured aside.  "Remain calm..."

"You!"  Kepler glared.  "Self-prroclaimed purrveyorr of trruth!  Tell me!"

Theanim closed his eyes.  After a sighing breath, he spoke:  "As of the moment we left Frostknife, Brye Chandler of the Ministry of Defense had commanded battallions of the Central Guard to seek out the residents of Wyvern Point... and r-remove them from the sanctuary at all costs."

Kepler stammered, "Including the cost of blood?"

Theanim bit his lip.

Panting, Kepler turned to gawk at Keris.  "Is this trrue?!"

Lieutenant Keris slowly, solemnly nodded.

"Do not pretend to possess an ounce of dignity with your knowledge, Professor Mane," Seraphimus said, looking past the wyvern towards the center of the group.  "You foresook all responsibility for the Wyvern Tribe the very moment you joined up with these cretins from the west."

Kepler's limbs grew weak.  Hyperventilating, he slumped down onto his knees, grasping his head.  Ariel leaned over, tearfully, and gently nuzzled him.

"You are a disappointment to me," Seraphimus continued.  "To the Scientific Order... to the whole Court."  Her eyes swung from Theanim to Keris.  "But even worse..."

"Seraphimus..."  Keris breathed deeply.  He frowned.  "Let us go."

"I already did," Seraphimus said.  "And because of that, the guilt is all mine."  She gazed at Windburst, Starstorm, and Raptr in turn.  "In my anguish and self-loathing, I gave all of you up.  But I've come to amend that."  She took a deep breath.  "By Verlaxion's grace, the Right Talon has returned to gather up all her misguided flock."

"We are not misguided," Keris said.  "I gave you an opportunity to see the light... to hold a glimpse at truth."  His voice wavered slightly, "But now I see you are blind as ever."

"That is enough, Lieutenant—"

"A messenger of Verlaxion appoints a master of puppetry and corruption to the highest ranking of the Central Guard!" Keris exclaimed.  "After sowing pain and discord across the heart of Rohbredden, our Queen randomly decides to hand over her entire kingdom to a terrorist... and then proceeds to launch windigoes and frost vessels at her own foals!"  He spat, "Don't you see who's the real source of Blight here?!  It's not Rainbow Dash!  It's our Great Unifier—!"

"I said enough!"  Seraphimus hollered.  Her armor rattled as she fumed.  "Any second, the entire Central Guard will be here!  All I have to do is give the word and you will be annihilated!"

"Don't do this..."  Keris slowly shook his head.  "Don't destroy the Talon in one fell swoop, Seraphimus.  Chandler has dominated everything—and now he has control of you.  Please, open your eyes.  We are all that stands between this kingdom and complete civil war—"

"At one time, you may have afforded the benefit of a doubt, Lieutenant.  But that is long gone now."  Seraphimus slowly shook her head.  "Don't you see how I'm trying to be graceful here?  It is you who are blinded.  And it pains my heart that... it had to... come to... this..."  Her words trailed off as her eyes caught a figure shuffling towards Keris' side.

Wildcard strafed until he was in the center of Seraphimus' vision.  He stood fearless, tall.  His goggles reflected the paling Commander.

Seraphimus' beak hung agape.  "... ... ...Jordan?"

Bard quietly glanced at her, then back at Wildcard.

The feathered Desperado slowly, slowly nodded.

"How..."  Seraphimus exhaled... nearly whimpered.  "You're alive?"

"The message that he sent... the letter that I shared with you is no farce, Seraphimus," Keris said.  "Jordan survived all the hideous forces that this continent had to throw at us... to throw at him.  When he recovered, it was in the gracious hands of the Herald and all others who took refuge at Wyvern Point.  They allowed him to see beyond the veil that Verlaxion had erected all these long years to control us.  That is why he never 'came back' from the dead.  He sacrificed one vow for another, and has been seeking to restore peace across the kingdom ever since."

"A very difficult task at best with every Rohbreddenite essentially programmed to believe that Verlaxion is infallible," Theanim Mane added.  "As I once did."

"I know it sounds awful crazy-like," Bard spoke up.  "Even heretical to y'all guardians."  He gestured towards the opposite walls of the cathedral.  "But all you've ever been protectin' is a lie... and not just any lie, but one that's bein' twisted and polluted to stab y'all in the back!"

Theanim nodded.  "All because the entity in 'Verlaxion's' skin has been mechanizing a gauntlet for the Rainbow Rogue... even before the Tribes ever first went to war with one another.  And now you... and every soldier and guardian here—even us—have become cogs in the gearworks."

"This is not some cursed manifestation of the Blight, Seraphimus," Keris said.  He rested a talon on Wildcard's shoulder.  "This is our edge... our chance to finally throw a wrench in the whole mess and save our kingdom before Verlaxion runs it back into the ground.  Yes, the Rainbow Rogue has committed unfavorable acts... but she's also been restoring harmony across the Seven Seas and beyond.  Even you witnessed it on the path to Kunmane... and in Braum."

"Yer pal 'Jordan' was there in Rust and Shoggoth when she shone like a damn diamond," Bard said.

"And I was there to witness her unravel the secrets of this world in Nealend," Theanim said.  "Just as your Lieutenant witnessed more clues in the Quade."

"We're just scraping the surface of a dark portrait, Seraphimus," Keris said.  "Please... for the sake of everypony you've sworn to protect... you must let us go."

Wildcard took a bold step forward.  With his goggles locked on the Commander, he swiftly signaled and gestured in the air.  This occupied the better part of thirty tense seconds.

When he was finished, Bard bit his lip and looked across the cathedral.  Kepler huddled with Ariel, wiping his eyes dry as he looked up with a gaping expression.  Windburst, Starstorm, and Raptr held their breaths.

Seraphimus hung her head.  She shuddered once... twice...

"I..."  Rarity murmured.  "...I-I think it's starting to sink in!"

"Shhhhh," Fluttershy insisted.

Rarity and Twilight looked at her.

Fluttershy's eyes took on a sad glaze.

"Jordan... after so many long years... you're actually alive..."

Rainbow's marefriends looked up.

Seraphimus continued.  "I wish I could say that I was overjoyed."  She sniffled.  "...but I can see now how deep the curse of the Blight runs."  She lifted her head, charcoal eyes glaring beyond a tearful veil.  "And that joy I once had is shattered once again."  Her beak clattered, "I wish you were really dead, Jordan."

Wildcard gulped.

"Because if you truly were dead..."  Seraphimus slowly shook her head.  "...you would not have to bear witness to what I must now do."  She brought her glare upon Keris once again.  "By the righteous power granted me by Verlaxion and the Ministry of Defense, I must order all of you to surrender your arms or else surrender your lives."  Her delicate voice took on a familiar growl:  "Talon, stand down.  This is your final warning—"

Stifling a sob, Starstorm held a talon out.  "Commander—"

"Do not make me bring you back to Frostknife in pieces!"  Seraphimus' claws scraped the ancient stone beneath her.  "While our Queen's heart still beats, there is a chance we can draw the poison from your hearts... and truly restore the disease that you have unintentionally spread across this continent while under the Rogue's influence."

"She's..."  Twilight Sparkle huffed.  "She's not going to bend.  This will only end badly for—"  The unicorn became aware of a pink blur in her peripheral.  "Pinkie... what is wrong with you?"

"I-I-I don't kn-kn-know!"  Pinkie shook from head to tail and back again.  "But s-s-something is about to b-b-burst!"

Just as she said this, Rainbow Dash marched briskly to the head of the group.  All swords and spears pivoted until they were uniformly aimed at her.

"They didn't come here because I cursed them, Seraphimus," Rainbow boldly spoke.  There was no cracking in her voice—not even a mere hint of a shiver.  "They joined me because I helped them see the truth, and it brought them this far."

Seraphimus sneered.  "You..."

"They're courageous... brave... awesome..."  Rainbow's brow furrowed.  "Awesomer than you."

"You don't get to speak, demon," Seraphimus growled.  "Heed my words—"

"No, you listen."  Rainbow's limbs tightened as her hooves grinded against the stone.  "I'm giving you one last chance to buzz off.  Clear the path to Verlaxion and let us go.  This continent has given me a lot of crap, and I'm done with it.  I'm simply done."  Rainbow shook her head.  "I don't want to hurt anypony... but if you keep doing this stupid stonewall schtick... then you leave me no choice."

"Uhhhhhh..."  Twilight gulped, fidgeting nervously beside her anchor.  "...Rainbowwww?"

Seraphimus almost laughed.  "What are you even made of?"  Her eyes boiled between anger and disbelief.  "Clearly the unrighteous Blight has poisoned your mind as well as your spirit.  You don't get to dictate terms here, Rogue.  The wrath of the whole Rohbreddenite army hangs over your tiny skull and only I hold it in check."

"It doesn't matter."  Rainbow slowly shook her head, eyes plastered on Seraphimus.  "None of it matters.  It never did."  Her ears folded back as she growled, "Whatever self-righteous weight you're holding onto, drop it.  What I have to do is bigger than you.  It's bigger than me.  It's bigger than everyone and everything, and I won't let you ruin it."

"You won't let me?"

Rainbow frowned as she exhaled, "Last warning..."

Seraphimus breathed... fumed.  "How...?  How could a pathetic excuse for a pony like you corrupt Keris... corrupt Jordan?"  Armor rattling, Seraphimus glanced at both the Herald and the Central Guard.  "So many honorable souls... the Talon... the Order... all wasted.  And for what?!"  She marched forward past her line of soldiers, hissing.  "The Blight chooses its avatars carelessly."  She spat.  "Well you won't corrupt me.  Just look at you!  You're nothing!  You're weak.  Emaciated.  A sniveling little foal at best!  You can't even fly—"

FWOOOOOOOOSH!  Rainbow Dash took off.

Whump!  All breath instantly left Seraphimus as Rainbow plowed into her, wings spread.  The two sailed across the cathedral, shattering through an enormous stained glass window on the other side.  CRASSSSSH!

Ariel and Flynn gasped.  Theanim's eyes twitched.  Bard and Wildcard exchanged glances.

Members of the Central Guard spun, staring incredulously at the gaping window frame.

Echo was the first soul to exhale.  "Well then."  With zero hesitation, the sarosian snatched a poleaxe from a dumbfounded guard and launched it like a javelin, knocking five numbed soldiers to the floor in one fell swoop.  "Am I doing it right?"

The stonework danced with glinting blades and armor plates.

"Herrald—"  Kepler's voice rang as he threw a claw forward.

"Raaaaaaugh!"  Logan was already charging into the fray, knocking over several distracted guards with his axe-swings.  "Operation Buck-it-All is a go!"

"Dammit!"  Flynn fired beams of magic just as the soldiers rushed in, retaliating.  Ariel and Wildcard swooped overhead, slamming skulls and helmets while Bard parried with his staff.

Remna glanced left and right as chaos overtook the cathedral.  Slowly, a smirk drew across her violet face, and she charged massively into the phalanx of guards, knocking bodies aside with her impervious limbs.





Outside...

...Seraphimus fell.

Rainbow Dash flew.  Her pendant swung beneath her neck as she sailed into Seraphimus in mid-plummet, punching and pummeling with her forelimbs.  Whack!  Wham!  Smack!

It was after the fourth or fifth impact that Seraphimus finally woke up.  She stretched both talons out, clasping one of Rainbow's fetlocks.  Spitting up blood, the Commander thrusted her beak towards the soft middle of Rainbow's face.

All Rainbow had to do was flap her left wing and—FWOOOOSH!—the two twirled from their combined grip, throwing Seraphimus' aim off.  The Talon's leader's helmet made contact with the outer wall of the cathedral blurring by.  Clank!  "Oooomf!"  Before she could recover, Rainbow had rolled around until they were back to back.  The pegasus shoved her hooves, bouncing off of Seraphimus' flank.

The Commander's body pinballed hard off the icy foundation of the cathedral.  She spun... she toppeled... she flapped her wings and uprighted herself into a hover—but it was too late.

A spectral blur sailed towards the center of her foggy vision.  WHAM!  A blue hoof uppercutted Seraphimus from below.

"Grnnngh!"  Seraphimus spun backwards.  She spread her wings, dragged air, and uprighted herself.  Sweating, panting, she gazed across the hollow of Starkiss.  She saw buildings... ruins... sepulchers... but no pegasus.

"Haaaaugh!"  Rainbow came down from behind with a massive drop-kick.

Whump!  "Aaaugh!"  Snarling, Seraphimus spun, slicing the air with both talons.  She struck nothing but cold vapors.  Wings flapped.  Blue feathers flickered in Seraphimus' peripheral.  Then—WHAM!  Rainbow struck her again, this time kicking her in the back of the neck.  "Ooomf!"  Seraphimus spun.  The floor of the cavern sailed up at her.  She tried to gain some air, but she already saw the reflection of a prismatic streak sailing towards her in the ice below.  "Rrrrgh!"  Twirling around, Seraphimus produced several silver daggers.  Sch-Sch-Schiing!  With angry grunts, she launched the projectiles up at her foe.

Thw-Thw-Thwissssh!  The blades flew upward in a serrated cyclone.

Rainbow held her breath, effortlessly twirling in and around the knives.  Her marefriends twirled and bounced loosely against translucent lavender walls.  They could only watch with dumbfounded silence as Rainbow glided past the final wave of weapons, rolled, and impacted Seraphimus' breastplate with a massive kick. Whump!

Seraphimus took the blow hard.  She flew earthward—WHAM!—ricocheted painfully off the cracking ice... but somehow turned it into a backflip.  She already saw Rainbow Dash diving again as she flew backwards.  Sch-cl-cl-clankkk!  She extended her silver wingplates then folded them over herself like a shield.

Clannnnng!  Rainbow struck the armored limbs with the full weight of her drive.

Seraphimus slid backwards from the impact, her paws rippling through shallow puddles of ice-cold water.  She summoned a growl from the center of her being—one that turned into a howl of righteous fury that echoed throughout the heart of Starkiss.  She sprinted forward, twirling her body and swinging her serrated wingblades at Rainbow with every turn.  Schwiiiish!  Schiiiing!  Sliiiiice!

"Rainbow—!" Rarity squeaked.

Rainbow needed no warning.  She was already trotting in reverse, hovering backwards with strategic wing-flaps.  She dodged each of Seraphimus deadly swings with stupid ease, breathing only when she needed to, exhaling when it was allowable.

Seraphimus kept coming at her, forcing the fight through a forest of old statues and tombstones along the cavern's forsaken belly.  Her wingblades splashed sparks off of granite and shattered icicles.  At last, she overexerted herself, slipping on a rough patch of ice and gliding one meter too far.

Rainbow capitalized by vaulting over Seraphimus' body and giving her feline rear a swift kick.

"Grnnnfff!"  Seraphimus tumbled forward.  Wham!  She impacted a windigo statue, knocking its head off.  Before she could turn around—Rainbow Dash gripped her from behind and slammed her helmeted skull into the stonework again—Clank!—and again—Cl-Clank!—and again—CRACK!  A visible fissure formed across the Commander's silver helm.  Snarling, Seraphimus summoned the strength to wrap her tail around Rainbow's left leg beneath them.  She then lifted, hoping to throw Rainbow's weight off.

The pegasus countered by flapping her wings, lifting the two of them up.  She gripped both sides of Seraphimus' helmet like a giant egg and—WHACK!—headbutted the back of her skull.  Crkkkk!  The helmet shattered completely, exposing the griffon's feathery crown.

Then and only then did Rainbow Dash let go of her with a shove.  Breathless, Seraphimus slumped over a tombstone.  She turned around, teetering dizzily.  WHAM!  A blue hoof flew across her left cheek.  WHAM!  Followed by another hook to her right.  Grimacing, Seraphimus squinted out one eye and swung her left talon.  Swiiish!  Followed by her right ringblade.  Schiiiing!

Rainbow Dash dodged both attacks easily.  She backflipped, flapped her wings, and—Thwoooooosh—the mare flew forward, spearing Seraphimus down the center.  The two flew across the floor of Starkiss in a hard tackle, their bodies shattering through several stone effigies and tombstones along the way.  Sm-Sm-Smassssh!  At the end, they sailed through the decrepit wooden entrance of a sepulcher, littering the cold rock with splinters and icicles.





Back up in the cathedral...

"Shit!"  Flynn spat, backtrotting as he fired manabursts of dense telekinesis at the countless soldiers rushing them.  "Shit shit shit!"  He focused his horn on a pile of stones and flung them into the sides of two charging griffons.  "How are we gonna come out of this in one piece?!"

WHUDDDD!  Bodies went flying as Remna finished another one of her furious gallops.  "The Austraeoh's given us a window!  Just keep hitting them!  Raaaaugh!"  She threw her unbreakable body into yet another phalanx.

"Easy for her to say!"  Ariel hissed as she flew zig-zags overhead, dodging scimitar swings and spear throws.  "Where's Rainbow?!"

"Takin' care of business!"  Bard panted, uppercutting a pegasus with his pole and super-kicking an attacking griffon in the face.  "Rnnngh!  Now let's take care of ours!"  He glanced over his shoulder as two bodies rushed Wildcard from behind.  "Dubya!  Yer six!"

Wham!  Wildcard finished pummeling a soldier in the face.  He took a calm breath and—without looking—calmly threw his nightstick over his shoulder.  Cl-Clannng!  It bounced off both ambushers' helmets before landing in Bard's grip.

Bard instantly spun, tripping a guard with his staff and then slamming his helmet with the nighstick.  "Grnnngh!"  Inhaling, he tossed the nightstick up.  Wildcard flew overhead, grabbed it, and came down in time to parry a wave of attackers.  Bard stood back to back with the other Desperado, exhaling.  "Startin' to get a little tight here!"

"Just the way I love it!" Logan hollered, performing more broad sweeps of his axe.  He knocked several soldiers down while keeping the rest at bay.  "How 'bout it, huh?!  Who wants a skull castration?!  Step right up!"

"Yourr enthusiasm is rratherr prrematurre, brrotherr."

"Huh?!"  Logan looked over to see a solid wall of reinforcements marching in, spears drawn.  "Awwwwwwww poopsmears."

Kepler backed into him, his spectacles reflecting a sea of spears.  "Perrhaps we should considerr a trruce..."

"Rrrrngh!"  Remna threw off more bodies that were pouncing off of her.  "Not while I still draw breath!"

"T'ain't no joke, ya psycho!" Bard spat as he and Wildcard struggled to fend off the enormous cluster of Rohbredden's finest.  "On top of that, any second, the whole dayum army will be here!"

"Where... is... Rainbow?!" Ariel shouted, flying overhead once again.

"I don't know..."  Flynn panted, sweating all over.  His horn steamed as his wide eyes darted all around.  "...but we can't hold up any longer!"

"You won't hold your damn breaths," a frazzled soldier hissed.  Fresh bruises marked his coat as he headed the march, aiming his spear at Flynn's neck.  "The Commander gave you one last chance at mercy.  You broke it."  He reared back... then thrusted the weapon forward—

Whump!  Two members of the Guard who had followed the Herald rammed the officer to the side.

"Augh!"  The pony stumbled, then threw the other Rohbreddenites a death glare.  "What is the meaning of—!"

"You can't slay them!" a stallion stammered, shaking.  "Don't you realize what they know?!  Don't you understand what all of us have seen!"

"We need them!" another pony exclaimed.  "There's a threat to this land, and this isn't solving anything!"

"For the love of Verlaxion!" a griffon spat.  "Don't you want to see your family again?!"

"You would use her name in vain?!"  An opposing soldier pivoted about, aiming his spear.  "You... who sided with these cursed minions of the Blight—"  A rock flew into his head.  Clank!  "Aaaaugh!"

A mare in dented armor pointed her hoof, sneering, "We won't let you bring ruin to Rohbredden!"  Schiiiing!  She unsheathed a sword.  "Soldiers of the Central Guard..."

"...defenders of Frostknife—"

"Protect the Herald—"

"—destroy the ursurpers!"

Within seconds, opposing sides of the Central Guard rushed each other.  Swords sliced and spirits shattered.  The air rang with clattering shields and yelling voices.

Although the charging faction was barely a tenth of the forces Seraphimus had brought, it was still enough to relinquish some of the pressure from the Herald.  Flynn and Logan exchanged breathless glances.

"How about that?" Logan smirked.

"It's still a sucky f-fight!" Flynn wheezed.

"Awwww Hell..."  Bard twirled his staff across his wings and broke into a gallop.  "Good enough for me!  Dubya!"

Clakka-clack!  Wildcard joined both nightsticks into a rigid staff.  He swooped low, joining Bard's charge.

"Ain't no gettin' off this train we're on!"  Bard leapt, flying into the fight with a downswing.  WHACK!  "Woooo!  Desperadoes for life!"

"Job Squad!"  Ariel dove in after the two.  "Fall in!"

"Spirrit of the mountain matrron, prrotect us..."  Kepler ran alongside Flynn and Logan.  At last, Remna joined the charge, growling before throwing her mountainous weight into the thick of battle.

All the while, the Talon stood along the fringes, watching with bright hawkeyes.

"Crud..."  Raptr stirred, his tail swishing in every direction.  "Criminy criminy crud."

"Who do we assist?!" Starstorm exclaimed.

Keris panted.  He glanced at the shattered window frame.  "The Commander...?"

"Nowhere to be seen," Windburst said, talons tickling the frame of his crossbow.  "Believe me.  I looked.  She's all Rainbow's."

"You..."  Raptr gulped.  "You don't think that Rainbow will—"

"Lieutenant?!"  Starstorm stammered, staring at Keris with wide eyes.  "Who do we assist?!"

Keris gulped.  He glanced aside.

Theanim Mane and Echo huddled in the corner of the cathedral, far away from the battle.

"Just one more punch!" Echo insisted.  "That's all I ask!"

"For the last time, no!"  Theanim growled.  "You've done enough, old chap!"

"But—"

"We didn't come here to engage in a war!"

"Oh you gotta be bullshitting me, Theams!"

"I mean it!"  Theanim took a deep breath.  "If Rainbow's to have any headway whatsoever, then we must seek some sort of peaceful solution to this!"

Echo pointed at the ongoing battle.  "You call this shit peaceful—"  Whud!  The broad-side of a spear clocked him over the head.  "Derp?"  Thud!  He fell to the floor, hard.

"Echo!" Theanim gasped.

"Serves him right!"  A visually battered soldier snarled before spitting on Echo's body.  "Makes sense that a midnighter piece of crap would be assisting the Rogue—"

"Rrrrngh!"  Theanim jumped to his hooves, swinging.  "Assist this, you uneducated ruffian!"  WHAMMMM!  He uppercutted the soldier viciously.

"...!"  The soldier's head lifted up... then came tilting back down, sneering past a trickling nosebleed.  He loomed angrily over Theanim.

"Erm... eheheh..."  Theanim trotted backwards, his ears and tail drooping.  "A thousand pardons."  He gulped.  "Got caught up in the moment, as t'were.  Snkkkt!"  He sputtered for breath, his neck being lifted up in the crook of the massive stallion's armored fetlock.

"You'll be stuck up to the wall," the soldier snarled, raising his spear in the other hoof.  "A bloody banner for the rest of the Order to learn from—"

Swooooooosh!  Keris flew in, snatching the spear from the stallion's grip.

"Huh?"  The soldier looked aside, only for a massive swing of the spear to shatter his helmet in two.  WHACK!

Keris wasn't finished.  Using just one hand, he twirled and spun the staff, slamming the broadside of it across the guardian's upper body multiple times.  He finished with a downsweep.  WHUD!

The soldier collapsed, out cold.

Theanim panted, nodding Keris' way.  "Thank you, Lieutenant."

The rest of the Talon rushed over.

"Holy smokes!"  Raptr exhaled.

"Sir...?"  Starstorm gulped.  "Did you just choose for us?"

"I trust that you have eyes and ears, sergeant," Keris muttered while checking on Echo.

"Hrmmmff..."  Windburst exhaled.  "Works for me."  Cht-Chtunk!  With a flick of his wrist, he loaded his crossbow with a spread of ammo.  He then twirled about, squinted, and fired.

Thw-Thw-Thw-Thw-Thwifff!  Five bolts flew across the cathedral, landing meatedly in the legs, ankles, and fetlocks of several soldiers on Seraphimus' side.

As they fell down screaming, Starstorm unsheathed her daggers.  Schiiiing!  "Care to make your command more official, Keris?!"

"Yes."  Keris stood up.  "Neutralize anything that charges you or the Herald."

Raptr winced as he turned around.  "That's... a little vague..."

"Yes, well..." Windburst nodded towards a row of soldiers charging them.  "It's about to become a lot more concrete."

"Talon!"  Keris rushed forward on three limbs.  His magenta eyes flashed as he leapt on the first target.  "Form up!"

"Raaaaaaugh!"  Raptr dove in while Starstorm and her daggers sang alongside him.  The air filled with sparks and battle-hardened screams.





WHAM!  Seraphimus stumbled backwards from yet another heavy punch.  She panted and winced in the middle of the sepulcher, spitting up blood and mucus.  With a gargling snarl, she spun in a circle, swinging her wingblades high and low.  Schwisssh!  Schiiiing!

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, juking and dodging in mid-air.  She took her time, monitored Seraphimus' wild offense, and timed her bucks carefully.  Whack!  Thwack!

Seraphimus teetered down a narrow corridor lined with stone etchings of windigoes and ponies.  In the haze of enchanted blue light, she dove at Rainbow once more.  "Rrrrrngh!"

Rainbow effortlessly ducked the attack, then came up—gripping the dull edge of Seraphimus left-wing.  Holding her breath, she jerked up—and came back down, smashing the metal plates over her knee.  Crkkkk!

"Auuugh!"  Seraphimus yelped in pain.  She slipped from Rainbow's grip, shuddering from a sudden chill.  Her left-wing blades had fallen loose, exposing her natural feathers to the vaporous air.  With an even angrier breath, she spun twice, swinging her right ring blades at different angles.

Rainbow jumped left to dodge one slice, kicked off the wall, and leapt over the other.  She somersaulted in midair, braced her hooves against the stone ceiling, then flapped her wings.  Fwoooosh!  She dove into Seraphimus' body, sweeping her up.  As the two flew down the hall, Rainbow swerved to the left, grinding Seraphimus' right wing against the ancient carvings, desecrating them lengthily.  Sparks flew as the stone wall ate at Seraphimus' remaining wingblade.  Soon, all the plates had popped off.  Seraphimus's battered wings hung limp, exposed.  Rainbow capitalized by kicking the Commander's numb body at the end of her flight.

Seraphimus flew backwards—

Smassssssh!

—shattering through an ice-covered windowframe of the sepulcher.  She rolled and tumbled across the cold floor of Starkiss, her pained grunts devoured by the enormous hollow looming overhead.  She quivered on the ground, struggling to get up.

Th-Thuddd!  Rainbow's hooves landed.  With firm steps, she closed the distance between the two of them.

Once the fight had cooled into a tense lull, Rainbow's marefriends recollected their senses, watching with baited breaths.

"Mrmmmff... grnnngh..."  Seraphimus heaved and shook.  Grasping onto the limbs of ancient statues, she struggled to pull her battered body upright—

WOOOOSH!  Rainbow flapped her left wing forward while in mid-march.

The gust of wind blew Seraphimus back onto the ground.  "Ooomf!"  Nevertheless, Seraphimus quivered, grunted, and pulled herself up again—

"Stand down."  Frowning, Rainbow flapped her right wing.  FWOOSH!

"Auugh!"  Seraphimus found herself propelled against a gravestone.  She rolled across the ground, hissed, then pushed her body back up on aching limbs.

FWOOOOSH!  Rainbow knocked her on her flank with another wingflap.  "This fight is over.  If you ask me... it never friggin' began."  She closed the distance between them, squinting.  "I'm not here to kill you or your kingdom.  This is not about any of that.  So... Stand.  Down.  Now."

"Mrmmfff... never..."  Seraphimus raised up, her back hunched.  She spat blood on the ground before tilting her head up, one eye squinting above a tarnished beak.  "I... am... snrkkkt... the Right Talon of Verlaxion..."

"Yeah.  I get it."  Rainbow's eyes narrowed.  "But you gotta be better than that.  You know how I became the Rogue?  Because for one measely second, I lost sight of what was most important, and it cost me.  Dearly.  I had to rediscover myself.  The only reason you ever came close to capturing me is because I let you."

"Rnnnngh—"  Seraphimus sprinted towards her, talon raise.

Th-Thwap!  Rainbow caught Seraphimus' limb in hers.  "But now...?"  Rainbow sneered.  "I'm better than that."  She slammed her forehead against the griffon's.

"Ooomf!"  Seraphimus fell on her back.

"And I always was!"  Rainbow trotted towards her again, panting.  "I just needed to know that I could earn it."

"Can't... b-be like th-this..."  She clawed and clambered away, pulling herself up weakly by the edifices around them.  "Must... m-must stop... st-stop..."

"You know why I'm unstoppable?!"  Rainbow reached down, grabbing Seraphimus and hoisting her up by her neckfeathers.  "What do you fight for?  An immortal Goddess... an age-old religion... a noble continent... six tribes and a million miles of ocean teaming with ancient culture.  But me?  All I fight for is everything."

"Mrmmmfff..."  Seraphimus sputtered, squinting up at her through one weak eye.  "...you... know... nothing..."

"Perhaps you're right."  Rainbow Dash nodded.  "We'll both have to live to figure it all out.  But for now..."  And she threw her hoof hard into Seraphimus' gut.  WHAM!  "Stay the buck down!"

"Hskkkktt!"  Seraphimus exhaled heavily.  Her one good eye rolled back... and she slumped hard to the icy stone below.  Th-Thud!

Rainbow Dash leaned back, wiping the sweat off her brow.

"Oh goodness..."  Rarity clamped both hooves over her muzzle.  "Oh my goodness!  Rainbow..."  She gulped.  "...did you just—?"

"She's alive, Rarity," Fluttershy said.  "Just out cold."

"Out cold and a half!"  Pinkie glanced at her body and tail—no longer twitching—then at Rainbow.  "Holy moley, Dashie!  Remind me never to steal your cupcakes!"

"She said it herself," Rainbow wheezed, catching her breath.  "She's been made the center of this whole operation, courtesy of Chandler."  Gulping, the mare shook her head.  "The only way to deflate this defensive line is to kick it in the knees.  I couldn't hold back any longer."

"And we'll talk about that later," Twilight said, pointing up at the distant cathedral where the fight began.  "Right now, if you're wanting to make an example—"

"Better get your blue butt back up there!" Pinkie exclaimed.  "Hers too!"

"Way ahead of you..."  Rainbow reached down, scooping Seraphimus' unconscious body in her forelimbs.  "Rnnnngh... dang it, if you're half bird... wouldn't you want to wear light armor?!  Grnnnngh!"

"Is there even anything to return to?!"  Rarity looked at Fluttershy.  "By now, they must surely be—"

"A lot of them are in pain," Fluttershy said.  "But I can't sense any fatalities.  At least not among our friends."  She gulped.  "If we wait here any longer though—"

"Yeah yeah... I hear ya... I hear ya!"  Then, with a massive growl, Rainbow finally lifted herself up.  With flapping wings, she carried Seraphimus back towards the gaping window of the cathedral.





Inside...

"Haaaaaugh!"  Remna rammed head-first into a trio of soldiers.  She spun about, panting—only to have two griffons and three pegasi pounce her from behind, punching and stabbing.  "Aaaaugh!  Damned... m-mortals!"  She snarled, flinging two off of her violet body.

More and more soldiers piled on, pinning Remna's figure to the ground.

"Guys!"  Logan grunted, parrying two swords and smacking a soldier in the face with the hilt of his axe.  "Remna's down!"

"Friggin' really?!"  Flynn launched telekinetic projectiles at the crowd.  "Is that even possible?!"

"If so, we're mega-boned!" Ariel exclaimed, twirling over the battlefield and dodging weapons.

"Eyes forrwarrd, brrotherrs and sisterrs!" Kepler insisted.

Swoooosh!  Raptr flew overhead, tackling a griffon while Ariel rushed in from the other side, bucking and punching the soldier senseless.  The rookie Sergeant shouted over his shoulder, "Half of them are down for the count!  But it's taken everything we've got!"

"Then give more!" Keris hollered, kicking a soldier in the face before standing back to back with Bard.  "Talon!  To me!"

"Uhhh... to me too!" Bard exclaimed, sweating.

Swoooosh!  Wildcard rushed in, followed shortly by Windburst and Starstorm.  The group formed a tight circle—Talon and Desperadoes—all the while fending off a ravenous wave of guards.  Off towards the side, the Herald and their Central Guard loyalists struggled to keep the fight even.  However, with each surmounting second, the relentless numbers of Seraphimus' forces gained the upper hoof.

"A noble attempt!"  Theanim hollered, shouldering Echo's weight as he limped along the outer fringes of the battle.  "But we must retreat!  Please, friends!  Before it is too late—"

"Raaaugh!"  A soldier rushed in, swinging his scimitar.

Theanim tried to dodge, but the sword grazed his shoulder.  Sliiiink!  Blood flew as the Professor yelped.  "Aaaaaugh!"

The soldier made to thrust his sword this time.

Thwap!  Echo's unshorn fetlock gripped the hilt.  The sarosian—suddenly awake—opened his jaw wide and shrieked into the soldier's ear.

"Aaaaaaaugh!"  The soldier howled as his helmet cracked down the center.

"Harrk!"  Kepler's voice barked.  "The prrofessorr!"

"Got it."  Windburst cocked his crossbow and aimed across the battle.  Thwiffft!  A bolt flew, skewering the soldier's leg and pinning him to the shattered windowframe of the cathedral.

Twnnnngh!

Right then, Rainbow Dash hovered outside the circular opening.

Rarity gasped at the impaled soldier.  "Oh my!"

"Professor Theanim!" Twilight's voice cracked.

"He's bleeding badly!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

"He's not the only pony..."  Pinkie pointed into the building, grimacing.

Rainbow panted.  "Time to put an end to all this."  She dumped Seraphimus' body safely onto the stone floor of the cathedral, then glided backwards from the window.  "Bard!  Keris!"

The companions in question looked past the fray.

"Rainbow Dash?!"  Ariel's voice called out.  She was swiftly pounced on from behind.  "Aaaugh!"

"Oh no—!" Fluttershy whimpered.

A ruby light pierced the air.  "Tell everypony on our side to brace themselves!"  And Rainbow soared off in a prismatic streak.

"Easy for h-her to say!" Logan grunted, encumbered by attackers on all sides.

"Where the Hell did she go?!" Flynn sputtered.

Wildcard slammed his nightsticks across a griffon's face, affording himself a brief moment to peer beyond the shattered windowframe.  In the process, he made out a rainbow figure spiraling about... then rushing towards them at monumental speeds.  His headcrest rose.

"Is anybody else hearing a high-pitched whistling sound?!" Raptr sputtered.

"Good Goddess..."  Keris gulped.  He grabbed Starstorm by the shoulder and threw himself to the floor.  "Talon!  Get down!"

"You heard the Lieutenant!"  Windburst yanked the yelping rookie as they too dove low.

Wildcard gestured to his buddy.

"Down!  Down!"  Bard gave a soldier one last punch before throwing himself to the floor.  "Everypony down!"

Wildcard and Kepler ducked low, as did Flynn and Logan—

FWOOOOOOOOOOOSH!  A fuzzy blue missile sailed in through the window, rocketed across the air, then out the entrance of the cathedral on the other side.  The entire flyby transpired within the span of a blink.

Less than a heartbeat later—

POWWWWWWWWWWW!!!  The building rippled with every color of the spectrum.  Statues shattered in an instant.  The rest of the stained glass windows broke, bathing the stonework with blue light that clashed with the rainbow bands.

And every waking soldier—"Ooomf!"  "Aaaugh!"  "Guhhh!"  "Ungh!"—was thrown off their hooves.  Bodies slammed into walls, support beams, and stone floor panels.

Remna soon found herself clear of all the guardians that had previously piled up on her.  She looked up, ears twitching to the sound of collapsing thunder.  Soon, the air was ripe with groans and muffled breaths.

While both sides of the Central Guard struggled to get up, the Herald and the Talon recovered with little difficulty.  They stood from where they had braced themselves, blinking awkwardly into the calamitous scene.

Kepler and Logan fished through the squirming bodies.  They pulled out Ariel—who was likewise breathless.  The pegasus leaned against Kepler's shoulder, bruised and bleeding in multiple places.  She nevertheless stared wide-eyed at the stillness all around.

By the time Keris and his fellow wingmates had recovered their senses, Rainbow Dash hovered back into the building.  With nimble wings, she shadowed the carnage, glaring at those still endeavoring to defend the Queen's legacy.

"Did I get your attention?  Good.  Now listen up."

"What..."  A soldier stripped his helmet off—if only to rub his aching head.  "...in Goddess' name was th-that...?!"

"A sonic rainboom," Rainbow Dash said, much to the gasps of her fellow marefriends.  "Something I can do in my sleep."  Her brow furrowed.  "Imagine what I can do when I'm really ticked off."

"You don't scare us," another soldier snarled.  "You're dead meat, Rainbow Rogue—"

"Shut up!"  Rainbow pointed across the cathedral.  "Can dead meat do that?!"

Several gasps and surprised murmurs filled the room as the group feasted their eyes on Seraphimus' figure.  The bruised, battered Commander stirred on the ground, too weak to get up... much less roll over.

"Oh goddess..."  Starstorm grimaced, holding a claw before her beak.  "Commander—"

"Shhh!"  Keris insisted, though he was marching over to kneel at the griffon's side.

"That's right..."  Rainbow seethed, glaring at the group.  "Your high and mighty Commander is defeated.  I could have killed her.  In fact... dial up the rainboom just a little bit... and I'm pretty sure I could have put all of you out of commission for good.  But I didn't.  'Cuz that's not what I'm all about.  That's not what any of us is all about!"

"Silence!"  A guard shouted.  "You're a liar!  On top of being a demon of the Blight—"

"This demon of the Blight didn't send you on a suicide mission!"  Rainbow swept her hoof through the air.  "Chandler doesn't care what he tosses at Starkiss or any of its windigoes, so long as it accomplishes Verlaxion's so-called will."

By now, Flynn had rushed over to Theanim and Echo.  He knelt by the Professor's side, examining his wound and bandaging it up as quickly as he could.

Rainbow continued.  "And Verlaxion's true purpose doesn't include the future of Rohbredden!  In fact, she's willing to sacrifice it just to get to me!"  Rainbow spat.  "Well, I'm not about to give her the satisfaction!  So I'm giving you all this once chance to buck off!  Now and forever!"

"We would rather die," spat a griffon, re-gripping his sword and shield.  "So long as you live... you're a threat to our Queen!"  Others around him nodded as he yelled:  "You're a threat to all of Rohbredden!"

Rainbow fumed.  She fumbled for more words—

"Forget it, Austraeoh..."  Remna limped towards her, gripping her shoulder.  She stared past a set of disheveled crimson dreadlocks.  "The great grandfathers of these idiots' great grandfathers were brainwashed long before them."  Her violet nostrils flared.  "You're preaching to a sea of would-be corpses."

"I h-hate to echo the mare's sentiment..."  Theanim winced as Flynn patched him up.  He leaned on Echo's weight for support.  "...but I b-believe your only pertinent st-statement was made with your entrance, Rainbow... mrmmfff..."

"Please..."  Rainbow gulped.  "Don't you get it?!  It doesn't have to be like this!"  She looked over the Herald as they gathered by her side, taking their stance collectively at the far end of the cathedral.  "There's truth at the end of this journey!  It lies in wait for me at Verlax's throne!  It lies in wait for all of us!"

Starstorm checked Seraphimus' vital signs.  With a calm breath, she turned and nodded at Keris.  Keris nodded back... then stood up to look Rainbow and the crowd she was addressing.

"Don't you want to be free?!" Rainbow exclaimed.  "Don't you want to have knowledge of what's going on beneath this stinkin' continent?!"  She frowned.  "Or do you wanna remain the 'foals of Verlaxion' for forever?!"

"Wrong choice of words, I'm afraid, Rainbow," Twilight said.

Rainbow glanced aside, sweating.

"You can't force them to give up something that's so ingrained."  She looked up at her hovering anchor, ears drooped.  "Not at this point."

"Are there any right choice of words with these cretins?" Rarity muttered.

"Please..."  Fluttershy gulped.  "We have to try.  Without us, these poor ponies will rip each other to—"

"You've murdered our Commander!" a soldier hollered, marching forward.  "And you expect us to just let you murder our Goddess?!"

Rainbow blanched.  "Seraphimus is not dead!"  She pointed down at the stirring figure.  "You can see for yourself that she's—"

"All I see is the Rainbow Rogue!"  The stallion and several more armored guards increased their pace, racing across the cathedral.  "And as Verlaxion is our witness, we end her charge tonight!"

As the building refilled with screams, Bard and the others braced themselves.  "Bridge is over!  Time for the chorus again!"

"I hear that!"  Logan held his axe high.

But before any of the soldiers could make contact—

"Rrrraugh!"  The other faction of the Central Guard flanked them.  Ponies and griffons plowed into one another, filling the place with chaos yet again.

"Look!"  Twilight pointed.

Rainbow's eyes bounced amongst the crowd—until her gaze came into contact with a few of the soldiers fighting on her side.

"We believe you, Rainbow Rogue!"

"You saved us back in the Star Fringes!"

"Now go!  Save all of us!"

"We'll hold them back!"

"For Rohbredden!"

"They're..."  Ariel panted, wiping the sweat and blood from her brow.  "...they're really throwing themselves in there for us!"

"Then let us throw ourselves as well!"  Logan made to charge—

"No!"  Remna grabbed him by the tail, hauling the heavy stallion back.  "This is our opportunity!  The only one we're going to get!"

"But—"

"The whole army will be here any second now!  We cannot last against that!"  Remna spun about, snarling.  "Herald!  Escort the Austraeoh to the throneroom!  Now!"  She galloped towards the window.  "That's an order!"

"You heard the lady!"  Bard retracted his staff and flapped his wings.  "No time for an encore!  Dubya!"

Wildcard flew over to Flynn's side, gesturing along the way.

"He'll be fine!" Flynn insisted, taping one last bandage over Theanim's side.  "I've stopped the bleeding!  If we're going to make some headway, we'd better do it now!"

"Yeah..."  Echo nodded.  "What baldy said."

Wildcard grasped both Echo and Theanim in his forelimbs... then swiftly dove out the window.

"Arriel..."  Kepler reached out for the mare.

She was flying away.  "I'm good.  I promise."  She grasped Flynn and flew after Wildcard.  "All aboard the Austraeoh express!  Next stop... Yaerfaerda!"

"I can't believe this shit..."  Logan grumbled, sheathing his axe and backing away from the fight.  He glanced up at Rainbow Dash.  "And you, ya holy blue turd... do those wings really work?"

"Guess we're about to find out."  Rainbow lowered, grasping Logan's left side.  "Kepler?"

The wyvern teetered in place.  His eyes performed a thousand mile stare past his spectacles.

Fluttershy sniffled.  "The poor thing..."

Rainbow barked:  "Kepler!"

Kepler shook out of it, grasping Logan's right side.  "Yes, Rrainbow one.  Rready and willing t-to serrve..."  With their combined strength, the two hoisted the portly earth pony through the round window, following the rest of the procession.

Bard grasped Remna's shoulders, pausing to look over his shoulder at the Talon.  "Y'all comin' or what?"

"Just one s-second!" Keris exclaimed, examining the bruises along Seraphimus' forehead.

"Lieutenant..."  Starstorm leaned in.  "We don't have a second."

"Either you came all this way to find somethin' real or ya didn't!"  Bard said, lifting Remna up and gliding out the window.  "Time to mosey!"

"This fight behind us won't last forever!" Raptr said, breathlessly gawking at the clashing soldiers.  "And the army..."

"Lieutenant..."  Windburst cleared his throat.  "The Commander made her point perfectly clear... even if she has no point."

"I know..."  Keris gulped, clutching his eyes shut.  He bowed his head, grasping Seraphimus' claws in his own.  "Go."

Raptr blinked.  "What was that—"

"Go!" Keris hollered.  "Go now!"

Rattled, Starstorm and Raptr nodded at one another.  They took a running start, then glided after Bard and Remna.  Windburst lingered at the doorframe, his expert eyes trained on the Lieutenant.

Keris sniffled.  He leaned his feathery brow to Seraphimus'... whispered a few kind words... then gently laid the Commander's unconscious body down.  Inhaling deeply, he opened his eyes—dry and determined.  He rushed across the cathedral and dove out the window.  Windburst joined immediately.

The two members of the Talon took up the rear of the group.  They escorted them down into the furthest depths of Starkiss... even as the dark shadows of the remaining army's converging halves descended upon the cathedral... completely overwhelming the brave bodies left behind.
> Into the Throneroom of Verlaxion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was a good half-hour of flight before Rainbow's group even considered the idea of touching down.  When they did, it was several corridors deeper into the foundation of Starkiss, separating themselves from the Hollow—and the Rohbreddenite army—by countless ice-cold walls.  The enchanted blue aura of the place still hung mysteriously in the air.  The Herald used this to good measure, examining each other's bruises and wounds with proper care.  This included a thorough re-bandaging of Theanim's wound.

"I know enough first aid to realize that I'm a lucky fool," the Professor stammered.  Nevertheless, he leaned over to allow Kepler to examine his shoulder and spine thoroughly.  "Just a few centimeters to the right, and that meathead would have sliced his way into my spine."

"Not on my watch," Echo grumbled.

"Old chap, you're no soldier."

"Damn straight."  Echo's nostrils flared.  "That means I fight dirty.  You're welcome by the way."

"Heheh..."  Theanim winced from Kepler's ministrations.  "Owowowow... ohhhh what I wouldn't g-give for a decent anesthetic right now..."

"Shoulda taken up coral-huffing."

"Hardy har..."

Echo looked over Theanim's shoulder.  "He's going to remain in one piece, huh?"

"Yes."  Kepler nodded, backtrotting with a sigh.  "Fearr not, nocturrnal one.  Yourr companion will have a lasting scarr, but he will live a full and rrich life."

"Hrmmmf..."  Echo snorted.  "I dunno about the 'rich' part.  Damn bastard can't tell his own piss from gold."

"You have a strange way of being sentimental, Old Chap," Theanim stammered.

"Yeah, whatever."  Echo's fangs showed behind a tight smirk.  "I digged how you let loose on that one guy who clobbered me."

"You..."  Theanim blinked.  "You saw that?"

"No, but I heard it.  Friggin' Theams... trying to professor-uppercut a member of the Central Guard."

"What can I say?"  Theanim shrugged his shoulders, winced, but flexed his limbs some more.  "Mrmmmff... I got righteous indignant."

"You should try it some more.  Your balls could use more hair."

"Eugh... Echo... this is neither the time nor the place."

"Oh please.  We're in the unholiest of unholies.  I mean... that's the whole point of this trip, right?"

"You two continue being so colorrful," Kepler said, turning around and shuffling across the cold corridor.  "Perrhaps it is the best medicine!  Ha HA!"

Ariel limped up to the wyvern.  "Kepler..."

"Ah!  Arriel!  Strrong like yourr motherr!"  Kepler embraced her, squinting through his bifocals at her bruises.  "Let us make surre you arre in one piece as well..."

Ariel gulped.  "But what about you?"

"Bah!  I am fine!  Afterr all, I neverr push that farr into the frray—"

"Kepler..."  Ariel rested a hoof on his hairy shoulder.

Kepler opened his mouth to say something.  His tusks rattled; nothing came out.  Slowly, he bowed his head, taking his bifocals off so he could cover his face.  Soon, his shoulders shook... heaved.

Ariel held him close, stroking his back as she nuzzled the top of his head.

The wyvern's scorpion tail curled up delicately as he surrendered to her embrace.  Flynn and Bard shuffled over, joining the hug as they held him close.

Logan watched from a medium distance.  His nostrils flared angrily as he resumed sharpening his axe blade with a stone.  "I swear... if we make it back from the Midnight Armory... a lot of heads will friggin' roll across the banks of Frostknife."

"We won't be making it anywhere if we stay here," Remna grumbled, marching across the corridor.  "On your hooves, Herald!  We've wasted enough time."

"Oh shove it, ya freak!"  Flynn growled across the chamber as he held Kepler close.  "Give him a breather for crying out loud!"

"Reckon we all could use a breather," Bard muttered.  "Ain't no sense marchin' in on that throne room with half of our wits in tact."

"Unacceptable."  Remna shook her head.  "Mortuana gave me charge over her flock.  Now that the alicorn is dead—"

Swoooosh!  Wildcard touched down in front of her.  The goggled griffon stared coldly into the mare's face.

"... ... ..."  Remna blinked.  At last, the mare's violet ears drooped.  "Very well," she breathed, wrenching her eyes from Wildcard's gaze.  "If you mortals need it so terribly, then I must relent."  She trotted ahead.  "But not for long.  We are at destiny's doorstep."

The air whistled as several wings sliced the ceiling above them.  The Talon entered the corridor, forming a tight perimeter.

"I see you decided to join us," Echo muttered.

"Yeah..."  Raptr wheezed.  He leaned against a cold sheet of ice for support.  "...I'm still trying to get over that myself."  Gulping, he glanced at his wingmates.  "Just how dead are we?"

"Assuming that army follows us in here?" Windburst muttered.  "Deader than the siren air force."  He pivoted about.  "The worse part is... I'm almost out of crossbolts."

"Yeah..."  Ratpr exhaled, adjusting his helmet.  "Bet you're practically heartbroken."

"I can't believe all of those soldiers were willing to fight for us," Starstorm said.  She looked at the others.  "Even against so many insurmountable forces."  She gulped.  "How many of them have given their very lives at this point?"

"Never underestimate the power of true conviction," Keris said, fluttering into the center of the group.  "They saw the worst that Verlaxion could manifest."  He shuddered, staring into the icy blue haze all around.  "They didn't wish it upon Rohbredden or its grandchildren.  They gave their all... now we must give ours."

"You made the right choice, Lieutenant," Theanim said, standing up with a pained grimace.  "I'm... truly sorry that Commander Seraphimus could not catch a glimpse of your sincerity."

"Yes, well..."  Keris nodded.  "...she's built many veils for herself over the years."

Wildcard hovered until he was parallel to Keris.  He gestured swiftly.

Keris looked at him.  "It's not like she gave Rainbow much of a choice.  Though, to be honest... I somewhat selfishly wish that she was a bit easier on the Commander."  Silence.  The Lieutenant's brow furrowed as he turned about.  "Wait... where is Rainbow?"

Bard and Ariel looked up from where they held Kepler.

Remna blinked.  She turned, squinting curiously across the corridor.





In another chamber, three walls away, Rainbow Dash hovered with folded forelimbs.

Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity floated across from her.

Rainbow's wings flapped with silent precision.  The mare took a deep breath, then spoke towards the echoing walls behind her friends:  "So... have any of you guys ever played poker?  Huh?"

The four spectres simply blinked at her.

"No?"  Rainbow arched an eyebrow.  "Sooooooo... uhhhh... how about Magic: the Galloping?"

"Do they hurt, Rainbow?" Fluttershy spoke.

"Huh?"

Fluttershy gulped.  "Even in the least?"

Rainbow took a deep breath.  She then shook her head.

"You're... you're flying with such grace!" Rarity exclaimed.  "Such finesse!  Is all the stiffness actually gone?"

"Yes, Rarity," Rainbow droned.  "It's gone.  All gone."

"Do bears make doo-doo in the woods?!" Pinkie Pie barked.

"Goodness, darling!"  Rarity blanched at Pinkie.

"What?"  Pinkie shrugged.  "I thought this was a random guessing-game!"

"Nothing quite so random about it, Pinkie," Fluttershy said.  She then cleared her throat.  "But... to answer that question... yes..."  A slight blush.  "Yes they do."

"Fluttershy..."  Twilight sighed.

"Even Ursa Majors?"  Rainbow Dash blinked.  "Are there space woods?  Space woods for space turds—"

"Rainbow Dash!"

"Ahem... yes, Twilight?"  Rainbow peered down at her.

Twilight hovered a few meters closer to her anchor.  She squinted.  "...exactly how long ago did your wing mend?"

Rainbow took a deep breath.  "How long ago do you think, egghead?"

Silence.

Twilight folded her forelimbs.  Her muzzle couldn't settle for a scowl or a smirk, so it hung awkwardly in between.

"Don't get me wrong.  Chaos sucks... and I hate turning into that... whatever-it-is with a passion."  Gulping, Rainbow clutched her pendant as she hovered.  "But... it does come with its benefits."  A nervous titter.  "Especially when you're surrounded by ponies who don't know them as well as... ahem... you do..."

More silence.

"So let me get this straight..."  Pinkie Pie waved her forelimbs.  Her ears twitched as she stared weirdly up at Rainbow.  "...all this time you could have been flying around at the speed of sound but you didn't?!"  Her voice took on a squealing octave.  "Even if it meant getting beaten around the countryside... freezing to death on snow-covered mountains... and having a stupid crazy fight scene aboard a runaway train?!"

Rainbow swallowed a lump down her throat.

"... ... ...do Ursa Majors actually make space turds—mmffrmmff!"  Pinkie's eyes crossed as a white hoof clamped daintily over her muzzle.

"Ah-ah-ahem..."  Rarity looked up at their anchor.  "Rainbow, darling... I do not by any means wish to detract from your... exceptional courage and charisma... but it begs the question."  She gulped.  "Why?"  Her eyes blinked rapidly.  "Just... j-just... why?"

"I know... I know..."  Rainbow nodded.  "I bet you're wondering why an awesome pegasus would throw herself needlessly into so many crazy hazards—"

"Must we forget that you're the Austraeoh?!"  Rarity's voice cracked.  "And that so much depends on you?!  We... depend on you!"

Rainbow gulped.  "Ever wondered why an awesome pegasus would forsake all she believes in just to free one of her friends?"  She looked at Fluttershy.  "Taking a big crap on the Element of Kindness, to boot?"

"Oh Rainbow..."  Fluttershy's ears drooped.  "Please don't tell me that—"

"At first... I suppose... it was like punishing myself," Rainbow said.  "I knew that just taking the pendant off for a little bit—even taking a tiny dip into my chaotic side would fix my left wing right up.  But... even after all the crud I did in the Quade, there were some nasty things that even lil' ol' disharmonious me would never ever stoop to.  Pretty soon, however..."  Her gaze fell on Twilight.  "...I found that I didn't have much of a choice."

Twilight took a deep breath.  "Red Barge."

"Suddenly, it was all fixed.  However..."  Rainbow hugged herself, dipping slightly in mid-hover.  "I didn't exactly feel 'fixed.'"  She gulped.  "Even... even after talking so much with Fluttershy... and winning you guys' trust back..."

"Rainbow, you had no reason to doubt yourself," Fluttershy said.  "We had forgiven you, hadn't we?"

"You haven't been on this journey as long as me, Flutters."  Rainbow sighed.  "If you have seen all the things that I've done... heard it... smelled it..."

Her marefriends simply gazed at her.

"I... I-I guess I just got so overwhelmed by all the tests that Verlax has been pushing on me..."  Rainbow sighed.  "...that I decided that... maybe it was time that I tested myself too."

"But... how?"  Pinkie Pie blinked.  "And in what way?"

"Loyalty," Twilight spoke up.  "You wanted to make sure you were loyal to us... to harmony... to the journey."

"I get it that Verlax is trying to 'temper Austraeoh' or whatnot... but let's face it!"  Rainbow frowned.  "She doesn't know me!  Nopony knows me but... me."  She slicked her bangs back.  "I'm awesome.  But Verlax didn't take that away from me!  I took that away from me!  And if I wanted to be awesome again... I had to earn it!"

Rarity began:  "But how was that going to help you in—"

"And... it's nothing Verlax could have possibly guessed," Rainbow continued.  "I mean... this whole last leg of her tests is about honesty, right?  It's not like there are any other viable Elements left to throw my way!  She tested my generosity at Nealend... my seriousness at Shoggoth!  My... k-kindness in Luminar."  She gulped.  "Now, here in Rohbredden, she wants me to crack under pressure again.  What better way to get an edge over her than to throw the wool over the Goddess' eyes?!  I mean... she's everywhere, right?!  Her frost vessels... her windigoes... her puppets in Chandler's company..."  Rainbow shook her head.  "I wasn't about to give them the full picture.  I wasn't about to let her think she knew the real me."

"So... feigning flightlessness... was your edge?"  Fluttershy remarked.

"She must think I'm some harmonious paragon of honesty," Rainbow said with a shrug.  "So... what if I maintained a dishonest thing about myself?"

"Just so you could pull the rug out from under her?" Pinkie asked.

Rainbow nodded.  "Precisely."

"Wow... how stupid!"  Pinkie blinked, then grinned at the others.  "And the ultimate prank!  Heehee!  I love it!"

"I just..."  Rainbow sighed.  "...had to wait for the right time and place to play my hoof."  She gulped.  "And there were times when I thought it had happened... there were so many times.  But... but I kept holding back..."

"Even when it risked your life?!"  Rarity exclaimed.  "Our lives?"

"And yet..."  Fluttershy looked aside.  "...if Rainbow hadn't, would she have met so many nice ponies?  Would she have reunited with the Desperadoes?"

"Yeah!"  Pinkie nodded.  "Or discovered the Herald!"

"Or found out about Axan," Rarity muttered, hanging her head in contemplation.

"I meant what I spoke to Seraphimus earlier," Rainbow said.  "I lost a lot of awesomeness back in the Quade.  Call it what you want:  stupid... a waste of energy... whatever.  If I wanted to be the Austraeoh that you and the Herald believe in, I had to earn it."  She sighed.  "I... need to be the me that Eljunbyro knows... so that I can look them in the face again someday."  She gulped.  "Especially Roarke."

Twilight Sparkle floated closer.  "Mortuana... she knew, didn't she?"

Rainbow winced.

"That's what she meant when she told you that 'this wasn't your moment.'"  Twilight gulped.  "Right before she sacrificed herself."

Rainbow sighed.  "Y-yeah," she said with a shuddering breath.  "She knew.  I'm... pr-pretty sure that Axan knew as well.  Right from the start when she fished me out of that frozen cave."

"If you ask me, Rainbow..."  Fluttershy smiled gently.  "Mortuana believed in you.  She knew that you would come through when it mattered... just like she did for us and the Herald."

"Yeah... but it doesn't stop me from thinking..."  Rainbow fidgeted in midair.  "If I had chosen to fly earlier..."

"She still would have expended herself to save the Herald from certain peril," Rarity said, lifting her head again.  "Rainbow... I may never be able to rationalize quite like you do—"

"Heheh..."  Rainbow rolled her eyes.  "'Rationalize...'"

"—but the fact of the matter is, had you... 'played your hoof,' as t'were... before Mortuana was forced to perform her last act of heroism, then I doubt you would have been able to defeat Seraphimus like you did."

"Stone cold stunning the whole army of Rohbredden in the process!" Pinkie yelped, toppling over in midair.

"Otherwise, Seraphimus might have been prepared for you," Fluttershy said.  "I think that shock alone is what turned the tide in your favor against her."

Pinkie floated back up.  "Or maybe Dashie's just that awesome."

"So... uhm..."  Rainbow fidgeted.  "...you're all not mad at me?"  She chewed on her bottom lip.  "You agree that I did what was best for the journey?"

"Aside the fact that I think your motivations came from a distressing... dark place..."  Twilight Sparkle cleared her throat.  "Yes.  I think you made a very good, strategic move, Rainbow."

"Oh..."  Rainbow slumped in mid-flight, swiping her brow.  "Cool beans..."

"But..."  Twilight narrowed her eyes.  "...all things considered, your secret... your edge got you past Seraphimus... not Verlax."

Rainbow blinked.

Twilight pointed into the nebulous blue haze of the chamber.  "The Divine of Frost is still out there... waiting... holding Applejack at bay."  She gulped.  "And her test isn't over, Rainbow.  What edge do you hope to have over her now?"

Rainbow Dash's jaws clenched.  Beads of sweat formed over her blue forehead—

"She has us," Fluttershy said, gazing at the others.  "And she has herself again.  Isn't that enough?"

"But... if you take that analogy into full consideration, darling..."  Rarity fidgeted.  "...it just means that Rainbow Dash is a clean slate once more.  Where are the edges in that?"

"None.  For that's what Verlax is wanting to draw from her."  Fluttershy craned her head to the side.  "Isn't that the best chance we have at denying her and what she desires out of Rainbow?"

Silence.  The mares glanced at one another.

Fluttershy spoke without looking.  "Don't worry.  It's just the Lieutenant."

FWOOOSH!  Keris flew into the room, shattering the silence.  Rarity let loose a shriek and clung to Pinkie Pie before sighing limply.

"There."  Keris breathed calmly, hovering alongside Rainbow Dash.  "For a second there, you had me worried."

"Oh, I'm not going AWOL," Rainbow said, shaking her head.  "Not while Flynn can still cook up cheddar bay biscuits, at least."

"... ... ..."  Keris stared at her.

"It's a joke, Lieutenant."  Rainbow shrugged.  "Remember?  Jokes?  They exist... sometimes."

"I suppose we'll let history be the judge."  Keris took a deep breath, glancing at the pegasus' left wing.  "So... when exactly were you going to reveal to us that your wing had mended?"

"I don't know."  Rainbow stared pointedly at him.  "When were you and the Professor going to tell the Herald about what Chandler had planned for Wyvern Point?"

Rarity and Pinkie Pie winced.

Keris stared at her.  "Funny... we proclaim to be nobler than all living things... but when it comes to simple revelations, we regress to the basest of cowardly habits."

"Yeah, but my sin was useful."  Rainbow nodded.  "Yours was just sad."

"A reversal of the past, 'Rainbow Rogue?'"

Rainbow shuddered.  "Sure, I-I guess."

Keris sighed.  "It is because of diabolical cretins such as Chandler and all others whom Verlaxion has tolerated that the Professor and I made this journey to meet you and your Herald to begin with.  It was a leap of faith... but so is the hope that we can stop future nightmares such as the attack on Wyvern Point from happening in the future."  He raised an eyecrest.  "I don't suppose you believe me."

Rainbow blinked.  "Of course I do!"

"Then what else needs to be said?"  Keris gulped.  "Except... that I'm sorry."

"Not as sorry as Verlaxion is going to be," Rainbow muttered.  "Glad to still have you on board, Keris... especially after..."  Her words trailed off.

Keris perched on a cold stretch of stone.  "I should thank you."

"For what?"

"For not murdering her."

Rainbow blanched.  "Did you really think I would?"

"The moment I saw you take off, I didn't know what to think anymore."  Keris' headcrest drooped.  "Even the windigoes don't move that fast.  And... that outstanding explosion that you conjured up..."  His beak hung agape as he squinted at her.  "Didn't you ever consider outflying them and all of Verlaxion's other instrumentations before?"

"I'm not here to survive, Keris."

Keris stared at her.

"Rohbredden deserves a future just as much as Austraeoh," she considered.  "If not more so.  Seraphimus deserves to be there.  I just... had to knock some sense into her... or else some senselessness out of her.  I... I-I may have gone a tad bit overboard."  She gulped.  "S-sorry..."

"Would you believe me if I told you that the Commander's endured worse?"

"Uh... no?"

"Good."  Keris shuddered, glancing aside.  "Because I wouldn't believe me either."

Hoofsteps.

The two looked over.

Remna trotted up.  "Hmmm.  Good."  Her violet brow furrowed.  "Can we please head towards the throneroom now?"

"Hmmmm... let me see if I remember this right..."  Keris flapped his wings until he faced her, hovering.  "You're another Dragon Divine... much like Verlax... only stuck in the frame of a deceased bounty hunter."

"That is correct."  Remna squinted.  "What of it?"

Keris exhaled.  "I look forward to a peaceful future devoid of these mind-bending anomalies."  He flew higher in the chamber.  "So, yes, by all means... let us proceed to Verlaxion's throneroom.  I'm ready to embrace the future—no matter it's color."

"Then let's toss you many."  Rainbow gained some air.  "Axan... go round up the kiddies."  She faced Yaerfaerda, squinting into its orange brilliance.  "Bathroom break is over."







Rainbow Dash descended.  The Herald limped alongside her, led by Remna and followed up by the Talon.  Keris and his wingmates studied every nook and cranny of the frozen compartments around them.  They observed that the floor was declining steeper and steeper.  Soon, fissures formed in the ice-cold stone... and those fissures took form, turning into timeless steps that had been carved into foundation ages ago by incomprehensible forces.

The blue haze in the air grew deeper... denser.  Flynn's horn strobed in response.  Every other pony and griffon felt their flesh tingling with each minute of their subterranean trek.  The cold temperature remained the same, even as icicles diminished, giving way to perfectly geometric slices of rock and stone.

The deeper they went, the more they felt overwhelmed by an ever-pervasive hush in the air, as if the bowels of Rohbredden were silent... a quiet tomb built by a frost dragon that surrounded them, receding at every turn or glance.  They could only fathom to guess where they were in relation to Frostknife at this point—if perhaps they were stumbling some untold depths beneath the very crust of the plane.

Rainbow Dash—at least—had a point of reference.  Yaerfaerda lulled her forward, its orange glow taking shape, forming a familiar texture that pulsed with its own ghostly heartbeat.  Rainbow struggled to fly in a straight descent.  Her nostrils tickled, imagining hay... sawdust... apple spices.  A hint of moisture sprang every so often from her eyes, and she rubbed her lids dry consistently.

In her peripheral, she sensed a yellow sheen.  Fluttershy floated close by, humming an old familiar tune beneath her breath.  It calmed Rainbow, as did Fluttershy's warm smile.  The mare sighed, closing her eyes... imagining the sway of a hammock to soothe her nerves.  Rainbow allowed the orange light to wash over her, becoming the backdrop to the thickening silence.  The percussion of her and the Herald's hooves were like white specks... freckles against the horizon surrounding Yaerfaerda.  She felt all the closer to her goal... the only goal that mattered at the moment.

The path was a complete stairwell by now, descending steeper and steeper.  The walls stretched insanely high.  Snow-white bulwarks loomed over the narrowing path... until there was nothing whatsoever.  Out of nowhere, the corridor opened up to a great blue chamber, and the claustrophobic journey was replaced by a wide and ever-mesmerizing gasp.





Logan practically ignored it.  "So... all this time... Rainbow could fly... but chose not to."

"Yep."  Flynn nodded, marching ahead of him.  "That seems to be the gest of it."

"Huh... how completely and utterly stupid."

"Well, it worked, didn't it?"

"Well, yeah... but that sonic rougeboom she did..."

"'Sonic rainboom.'"

"Whatever," Logan belched, dragging his axe.  "Could have come in handy a bunch of times earlier."

"Then she would have blown her cover."

"So what?  I'd have happily blown a lot of other things just to get out of those messes—"

"Everypony, don't move!" Windburst suddenly hissed from above.

Keris look over his shoulder.  "What is it, Sergeant?"

"Eyes up!"

"Hmmm?"  Logan tilted his head up.  He gasped, jumping aside and clutching ahold of Flynn.  "Holy shit!"

"Shhhhhhh!"  Ariel insisted, floating below the Talon as her features paled.  "No sudden noises!"

"No sudden anything!" Flynn hissed.

High above them... clambering all over the ceiling of the tremendous blue chamber... were hundreds upon hundreds of windigoes.  The ghostly horses scuttled across the walls and bowers like ethereal white cockroaches.  The more they moved and stirred—with restless abandon—the more of them there appeared to be... until the Herald and the Talon realized that they were standing in the eerie shadow of an entire herd.

"There's..."  Starstorm gulped.  "...hundreds of them."

"More like thousands," Windburst grumbled.  "Must be every single windigo that even exists."

"If that's so..."  Kepler thought out loud.  "Then it has to be overr fifty times greaterr than any stampede we've faced since setting out from Wyverrn Point."

"Hoooooooo boyo..."  Pinkie Pie whimpered.  "That's a lot of snowconers!"

"Hey... uh..."  Echo raised his hoof.  "The token midnighter has a question.  Why aren't they attacking us yet?"

"Shhhh!"  Theanim Mane hissed.  "Don't give them any bright ideas, old chap!"

"It's a mighty fine question, though," Bard remarked.  Wildcard nodded.

"They... seem to be just chilling," Ariel said.  "Like they don't even see us."

"Why... does that make me even more sc-scared?" Raptr exhaled.

Rainbow and the rest of her marefriends gazed up at the living ceiling of windigoes.  "Twilight..."  She murmured aside.  "Any thoughts?"

Twilight rubbed her forehead.  "They're... just as strong and potentially lethal as any of the other windigoes we've faced, Rainbow."  She gulped.  "However... something's holding them back."

"Something...?"  Rarity looked across the group.  "...or someone?"

"We're not alone here," Fluttershy said.  "It's not the army.  They still haven't caught on to our scent."

"Is it you-know-who?!" Pinkie asked.  Just as she said this, her body flickered in a lavender blink.

"...!"  Rainbow spun about.

Twilight and the others flickered once again.  Twilight looked at Rainbow dead-on.  "Either she's coming close to us... or we're getting close to her."

Rainbow Dash stared down the stairs.  She saw that several other angled platforms were converging on a central dome at the very bottom of the chamber.  There were twelve stairwells total, and they all met a large, round arch that presumably led into the interior of the ice-blue dome.  "I'm willing to settle for a little of Column A and a little of Column B."

"Are we just gonna stand here and let these damned freaks shadow us?" Logan remarked.

"I... don't think they're going to attack," Rainbow said.

"Why not?"

Rainbow pointed at the dome below.  From its very heart, Yaerfaerda beamed.  She could almost touch it.  "Because we're right at the throneroom's door.  I think this is it... an open invitation."

"After all this time?"  Starstorm blinked.  "I don't get it."

"It was never Verlaxion's desire to stop the Austraeoh from reaching her," Theanim said.  She looked across the way.  "Isn't that right, Rainbow?"

Rainbow nodded.  "She only wanted to make the journey tougher.  These windigoes could end me... which precisely why she hasn't sent them stampeding my way."

"Then what, pray tell, is she saving them for?" Keris asked.

"I suspect that we shall discoverr this shorrtly," Kepler said.  He looked at Rainbow.  "Rrainbow one?"

Rainbow gulped.  "We proceed."  She looked over.  "Axan?"

Remna nodded.  "After me."  She turned and resumed marching down the steep, steep steps.  "Stay close, Austraeoh.  Watch over her, Herald."

"Darn tootin'," Bard said, walking up behind Rainbow.

"Talon..."  Keris signaled to his wingmates to descend.  "I think it's better if we make the rest of the journey on foot."

"Won't get any protests from me," Starstorm said, nervously eyeing the ceiling.

"Reckon y'all should follow suit, Dubya," Bard said.

Wildcard relented with a sigh.  He and Ariel touched down, shuffling carefully between the Herald and the Talon.

Rainbow stared ahead.  The distant breaths of the windigoes grew loud and quiet in random waves.  The occasional shriek pierced its way to her heart.  The petite pegasus shuddered.  Clasping her pendant tightly, she proceeded, following Remna's violet figure.  Yaerfaerda shone through her like a burning candle.

As they continued down the steps, they passed by frozen statues of Verlaxion flanking the staircase's stone framework.  The group strolled under the statue of two facing effigies.  Rainbow's marefriends flickered in and out of sight.  At that exact same time, the eyeslits of the two statues glowed a bright, icy blue.  The windigoes shook and shrieked overhead, and a familiar voice echoed out of the statues' separate cores:  "An honest pay for an honest day's work..."

"Whoah dayum!"  Bard spun, extending his metal staff.

Wildcard, Logan, and Keris braced themselves, facing the statues.

Neither of them moved.  Ice melted, revealing rusted metal beneath their frigid exteriors.  "Of course... if you were stale enough to believe in that, you'd never have flown east to begin with, would you?"  And as soon ase these words were uttered, the glow in the statues' helms disappeared.  Simultaneously, both effigies crumbled, their rusted plates peeling off and plummeting into the icy abyss below.

Nerves wracked by the spontaneous display, the Herald and Talon resumed their descent.  Minutes passed.  They passed by another pair of statues, and were only partially surprised to find the helms glowing vaporously as they strolled on.

"You've done many... many unkind things."  Cracks and fissures formed across the statues.  "But bluffing isn't cruel... it's a joke.  Do you intend to laugh your way to the Midnight Armory?"

With loud, metallic clangs, the statues crumbled to pieces.  Windigoes whinnied and hissed high above.  The chamber echoed from the rusted plates coming to a rest far below.

Twilight and the others exchanged nervous glances.  They flickered in and out of lavender waves.  The blue haze of the chamber grew dim and dimmer.  All the while, Rainbow stared straight ahead... eyes on the orange glow that burned bright and brighter.

"The Sundering started all of this.  Tell me, Austraeoh.  What is more dishonest?  Thinking it will all end without another Sundering?"  Sure enough, these statues shattered to pieces as well.  Rainbow suspected the same fate for the last pair of statues lingering at the blue dome's doorfame at the base of the stairs.  "Everything comes full circle.  Bless you, Austraeoh.  You've made it this far... and now you shall be prepared to go beyond."

This time, as the plates fell, Twilight and the rest were finding it difficult to stay in one piece.

"Her power..."  Twilight winced.  "...too much... hard to... in one piece..."

"I know where we are now, Twilight," Rainbow said calmly, although the orange light blinded her.  "So long as the beacon's still burning..."

"We will see you on the other side, darling!" Rarity said.

"Don't be afraid," Fluttershy stammered, fading in and out.

"We..."  Pinkie danced like a matchstick's flame.  "...believe in you..."

"Whatever happens, Rainbow..."  Twilight spaced her words out carefully as she morphed into a lavender blur.  "...we trust... in you... to do the right thing..."

Rainbow gulped.  "Twilight...?"

There was no response.  The lavender haze and the blue haze had become one.  All Rainbow Dash could seen now was orange.  It pulsed with every heartbeat, and Rainbow was at a lost to guess whose it was.

"Girls..."  She gulped.  One last step, and she stumbled forward on a cold, even plane.  "Axan," she whimpered.  "I... I can no longer see.  What's ahead of me?"

"A door, Austraeoh," Axan said.  "A round metal door.  It consumes the entire icy frame."

"By the gods," Kepler's voice echoed in a suddenly small space.  "Somehow... Verrlax built herr thrrone out of an entrrance to the machine worrld..."

"Wouldn't be the first time she done that," Bard drawled.  "Remember back in Lower Shoggoth, Dubya?  That chamber full of frost vessels?  That was metal too!"

"Is something on the d-door?" Rainbow asked.

"There is," spoke Theanim Mane.  Windigoes howled in the distance.  "The same symbol that was in Nealend.  Six circles inside a larger circle, all joined by a curved line."

Rainbow Dash gulped.  "Ynanhluutr..."

"I've seen it myself," Keris said.  "On the tower that stood in the Quade."

"Five of them are lit."  Ariel.  "Blue... lavender... white... pink... and yellow.  There's one that isn't lit, though."

"Applejack," Rainbow said.

"Huh?"

"Axan..."  Rainbow stretched her hoof out.  "Could... could you guide me to the unlit circle?"

"That I shall."  Rainbow felt a strong, muscular hoof taking hers.  The mare was led forward... until her fetlock made cold contact.

"It's lighting up!" Flynn's voice said, followed by the tingling sound of a glowing horn.  "I... I think it's opening!"

"The Austrraeoh's touch is worrking..."

"Stand back, y'all!  I've been inside one of them thangs once.  It ain't fun."

"No, Mr. Bard."  Theanim.  "I do not believe that this is going to be very fun."

"This is it, right?"  Echo.  "Boss time?  No turning back?"

"Everyone behind me," Remna spoke.  "That includes you, Austraeoh."  Her voice drifted ahead, as did her hoofsteps.  Rainbow heard an eerie hiss while her body felt a cascade of cold vapors all around them.  She felt as though she was strolling right into an ice box illuminated by a heatless orange flame.  "I suspect we're in for a fight.... the full extent of my sister's fury..."

"Talon, stay close to Rainbow Dash," Keris said.  "We're going in.  Jordan?"

Rainbow couldn't sense Wildcard's response.  She couldn't sense anything... do anything but move forward.  She panted, numb from the absence of her closest friends.  Their voices echoed in her mind... along with a fifth's.  She concentrated on it... on the pretty green eyes it belonged to.  It was almost enough to soothe her nerves... and stifle the urge to whimper as she pressed forward blindly into the cold.
> The Final Trial of Verlax
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Cold.

Silence.

And then...

"Magic... the absence of which gives you clarity.  Generosity... and yet avarice wins you more pieces of the hidden flame.  Laughter... all given up for an extension of life..."

Rainbow Dash's ruby eyes darted left and right.

All she could see was pulsating orange light, emanating from the heart of darkness.

The voice coughed, wheezed, and resumed:  "Kindness... f-forsaken in an act of necessary cruelty.  Mrmmmmff... honesty... thrown to the fire for the sake of an edge... an edge that, for some foolish reason, you've yet to fully comprehend..."

Slowly, the orange light shrank.

The peripheral of Rainbow's vision blurred into focus, outlining metal cogwheels and golden pendulums frozen in sheets of ice.

"I wonder..."  More coughing.  "H-how will you choose to suffer the sting of loyalty's deconstruction?  The time is coming, Rainbow.  Sooner than you know..."

The orange glow dwindled, shrinking into the center of the machine room.

At last, Rainbow Dash saw a bed of ice—rising up out of the metal floor like an altar.

Yaerfaerda shimmered in the center.  Squinting, Rainbow could see that a tiny decrepit shell housed the glowing rune... a shell that was stirring, breathing, living—but barely.

An emaciated thing with gangly hooves and a fractured horn tilted its head up.  Cheekbones hung dark and bruised in the cold pale light from the looming frost.  A pair of stone blue eyeslits peered.  Not long after, the thing smiled.  The strength and enchantment was immediately drained from its throat, and nevertheless it spoke... whimpered with Verlax's feeble voice:

"Soon, loyalty will f-force an even stronger decision than you will make today," the equine stammered.  "What will you be willing to sacrifice then?"  The creature gulped.  Thin gray follicles of hair draped limply off her head and tail.  "The destination?  Or the journey?"

A hushed breath filled the air.

Rainbow shivered where she stood between Remna, Bard, and Wildcard.  Keris, the Talon, and the Herald took up the rear.  Theanim and Echo stared in mute shock.

Rainbow's brow furrowed.  "... ... ...Verlax?"

"Welcome... Austraeoh..."  The mare on the ice sheet whispered.  She shook, shuddered, but lacked the strength to move even the slightest inch.  "...you have made it... p-past innumerable obstacles, and now you are ready."  She smiled, a very sickly thing.  "I am so... so very pr-proud of you—"  She had to stop talking in order to cough again, spitting up frozen saliva and mucus.

Bard and Wildcard grimaced.

Remna stared, her face still and deadpan.

"What... the hay is this?"  Ariel gasped from behind.

"Where... where is Verlaxion?" Starstorm murmured, shivering.  "Where is our Queen?"

"There's supposed to be a ferocious dragon here," Logan exhaled, staring left and right as he clutched his axe.  "The Divine of Frost."

"You... are looking at h-her..."  The mare gulped, her limbs quivering.  She squirmed atop the bed of ice—like a cadaver on a gurney.  "...or... mrmmmfff... what is left of her."  She wheezed, shook, and murmured some more:  "After hundreds and hundreds of years spent spreading my essence over the beautiful Prefectures of this land..."  She coughed, found her breath, and exhaled:  "I have reduced m-myself to little more than the sheer ambition that sent me in search of Endrax's wisdom to b-begin with."  Her sickly nostrils flared, coated in frigid condensation.  Her coat hung in a leprotic patchwork of azure fuzz under cold blue light.  "And n-now... that same ambition has dr-drawn you to me.  As m-much as I wished to perish in my tr-true regal form... it m-matters little.  You see..."  She tilted her head to face Remna—a very tiring gesture.  "...we all m-must make sacrifices for the Austraeoh..."

Remna's green eyeslits narrowed.

"Verlaxion..."  Raptr stepped forward.  Keris and Windburst had to rest their claws on his shoulders to keep the rookie from advancing beyond Rainbow Dash.  Nevertheless, the sergeant fell to one knee.  "Is... is it truly you... our Queen?"

Theanim Mane and Echo stared, slack-jawed.

The mare on the sheet of ice spent the better part of ten seconds turning her head to gaze at the griffon.  When at last she had the rookie in her sights, she spoke with a touch of delirium in her voice:  "Oh... my sweet... sweet little foals..."  A cold, vaporous sigh.  "...how sorry... how horribly... terribly sorry I am that you would be the ones to live in this dark, deathly age..."

Raptr paled.  He drew back—trembling—besides Starstorm and the others.

"I..."  Theanim gazed aside at Echo, his lip trembling.  "I don't understand..."

"How sorry I am for... s-so many things..."  The mare shuddered, her sickly gaze reeling until it fell on Rainbow Dash again.  For a brief moment, her jaws clenched.  "All but one."  Her ears had been reduced to leafy, see-through threads.  They afforded the energy to twitch as she spoke in a firmer tone:  "The stars have surely aligned for this moment, Austraeoh... that you would be the torch bearer in this final hour of preparation..."

"Verlax..."  Rainbow's lips pursed.  She gazed at the emptiness in the "throneroom."  Her eyes reflected dangling icicles and lifeless machinery.  "What... what is this?"

"The Fifth Seed," Verlax rasped.  "And the only place I've known for ages."  She coughed, then exhaled.  "Ever since I made it my home... Rohbredden's holiest of holies..."

"No, I get that, but..."  Rainbow blanched, twirling about as she took in the sickly details of the metallic hovel.  "...all this time..."  She gulped.  "All this time I felt as though I was running from you..."  She turned about, her incredulous eyes falling on the Divine once again.  "...and you've been like this?"

"I've been... waiting, Rainbow Dash..."  Verlax stammered.  "Like an undying wind... you are swift and faithful... and you do not disappoint."  She suddenly clenched her eyes shut.  Her body shook, quivered, and undulated as if inducing labor.  At the end of her gyrations, her horn pulsed with cold blue light.  A tiny beam emanated, striking the icy walls of the room around her.

Flynn, Ariel, and Logan flinched—as did members of the Talon.  Soon, however, they found that there was no need for alarm.  Verlax's weak magic merely enchanted the sheets of ice surrounding Rainbow and her group.  One metallic panel at a time, the room's interior displayed multiple moving images, ranging from the shelves of Frostknife to the rice fields of Seed Prefecture, the rail yards of Steamfall, the waters of Nealend, and the harbors of Kihutaja.

"My power..."  The mare on the ice bed spoke.  "...I've divided it amongst my many eyes and ears throughout this continent... and the seas beyond.  They spotted you right where I sensed you would arrive, Austraeoh.  They listened to your tales of adventure... they saw your tears of anguish... and they counted the steps that you took to challenge me... to challenge yourself."  A cough, a sputter—and the mare managed another sickly smile.  The panels around her dimmed back to icy deadness as she gazed upon Rainbow once again.  "Or did you really... truly think that you would elude me through your own self-imposed trial?"

Rainbow pivoted about, gawking at Verlax.  "You forced me to do things I never wanted to do."  Rainbow sneered, her teeth grinding.  "You made me believe that I had no choice in the grand scheme of things..."  She dragged a hoof across the icy floor beneath her.  "I did what I did to prove to myself that I'm the one in control!  I never needed you to test me, Verlax.  Sure, what I did may have been crazy... nuts even.  But sometimes you gotta go nuts to shake loose the real whackjobs!"

"I assure you, Rainbow Dash..."  Verlax slowly shook her head.  "There was no shaking loose my eyes and ears."  She inhaled and exhaled, shuddering.  "I was planted deeper than you could ever possibly imagine.  My magic... my spells have had roots sinking deep in the hearts, flesh, and minds of your greatest allies and enemies."  She gulped.  "Mortuana."  Her eyes darted aside.  "My sister..."

Remna fumed, struggling to contain her angry breaths.

"The old wise mare in Kunmane," Verlax murmured.  "The deified tortoise beyond the Grand Choke."  She glanced at Rainbow again.  "Whatever Mortuana heard and saw... I heard and saw."

"Dearr gods..."  Kepler exhaled, spectacles rattling.

"She did not know it at the time..."  Verlax's eyes flickered past the wyvern.  "But her precious Herald... her ever-loyal monks at Wyvern Point..."  A sickly smile.  "They were all part of the same sacrifice... the same river of purpose that ferried you to me."

Kepler hung his head while Ariel leaned towards him.

Verlax spoke:  "I felt her death.  It was strong... courageous... albeit unnecessary."  The Divine slowly shook her head.  "If only she had worked with me willingly..."

"You..."  Flynn huffed and puffed.  He galloped forward.  "You damned dragon witch—!"

Logan and Wildcard held him in place.  "Whoah, there, buddy," Logan muttered.  He glared up at the creature on the bed.  "Something tells me this isn't over yet."

"No... it is not..."  Verlax slowly shook her head.  "...not until the Austraeoh decides to carry forward."

Rainbow shook with anger... and something else.  "What... do you mean...?"

"You are a tentative balance, Rainbow Dash... as the Austraeoh sh-should be."  She lifted her head up to gaze at the mare.  Thin eyes peered above a murmuring pair of corpse-pale lips.  "You are both wise and foolish."  She coughed.  "Wise enough to overcome every trial that I have placed in your path."  A shudder.  "And foolish to think that the Spark could have a choice in undoing the Sundering."

"Rainbow Dash has made it this far solely because of the choices she's made," Theanim Mane said.  Glaring, he took a bold step towards the ice platform, but no further.  "The friends and allies she has by her side are a testament to that—"

"It is not a testament so much as an offering."  Verlax's blue eyeslits flickered.  "Mortuana was my eyes and ears for dozens of your lifetime, little pony."  She gazed at the Herald.  "I only allowed the Austraeoh to have companions... so that she could more intimately appreciate the sacrifice that needs being made."

Kepler, Flynn, and the others simply gaped in the Divine's direction.

Keris nervously glanced between the different groups.  "What... kind of sacrifice do you speak of, Queen Verlaxion?"

"Hmmmrffff..."  Verlax coughed... sputtered... then faced Rainbow again.  "One that the Austraeoh already suspects..."  Her weak ears drooped.  "One... that she has been dreading... and y-yet anticipating for a long... long time..."

"Forget it, sister," Remna growled.  "I will not give you the satisfaction of making the Autraeoh commit it."  She boldly stepped towards the ice bed—

"No... no!"  Rainbow Dash stepped in between the two.  Panting, she turned to look at Verlax.  "There'll be none of that..."

"Austraeoh," Verlax wheezed.

"There will be no slaying!"  Rainbow hissed at Verlax.  "What I came to do... I've come to do harmoniously."  Her nostrils flared.  "I will not give in to your stupid trials anymore, Verlax."

"My little pony," Verlax spoke.  "Where do you think I put the Fifth Seed's precious flame years ago when I still had the strength to make a throneroom here?"

"I know..."  Rainbow Dash gulped.  Her eyes rested on Verlax's decrepit flesh.  The orange glow of Yaerfaerda bled through her chest and shoulders like a bright candle beneath a blue paper lantern.  "I know where you've stowed the flame away.  You think that makes you clever?"

"There is... only one way..."  Verlax whispered.  "...only one w-way to claim this piece of the Spark."

"Well think again, ya stinkin' dragon!"  Rainbow Dash spat.  "I'm not going to give you the satisfaction!  We're going to do this the harmonious way... whether you like it or not!"

"Don't pretend to be so foolish," Verlax rasped.  "Your trial of kindness was back in the Quade, Austraeoh."

Rainbow blinked.  "H-huh?"

Verlax simply smiled.  "I've... w-waited here... suspended by one tiny thread of feeble strength."  She gulped.  "A thread maintained by the meticulous fusion of chaos energies and my Divine power..."

Rainbow squinted at her, ears folded back in confusion.

"...the very same thread..."  Verlax coughed, then stared past Rainbow Dash.  "...that you severed the moment that you opened the door to this chamber..."

Rainbow squeaked.  "No..."

"...mrmmmff..."  Verlax shook.  "...and released me from life's faltering grip—"

"No no no no no!"  Rainbow Dash galloped back through the group.  She gasped as she saw ethereal blue light draining from the frosted metal panels, starting from the open door and receding throughout the circular interior.  "NO!"  She slammed her limbs against the dwindling energy.  Grunting, she aimed her pendant and fired ruby beams at the pendulums and icicles.  There was no effect.  Nothing could stop the rampant discoloration.  Soon, the entire throneroom hung in a monochromatic shadow as Rainbow Dash continued to sweat and panic.

Theanim and the Talon watched in numb horror.  Keris slowly sighed, hanging his head in a melancholic slump.

"Stop this!  Pl-please!"  Panting, Rainbow Dash slid over to Verlax's altar.  She knelt at her side, quivering all over.  Hyperventilating.  "You must stop this!  Dang it!"  She reached in, grasping Verlax's emaciated face.  "Why are you doing this?!"  She seethed.  "Why waste your life and the lives of an entire continent of innocent souls?!"

Verlax peered back sickly.  "Because you... are the only one... who can save us... Austraeoh..."

Rainbow gaped at her.

"You became stronger... more versatile... through cruelty," Verlax said.  "And that has prepared you for the depths you m-must go when you reach the Dark Side."  Her pale blue eyes narrowed.  "But your legacy must surpass the consequences of your actions, both harmonic and chaotic."

Rainbow Dash blinked.

"If the Spark has any hope of undoing the Sundering... of bringing things full circle..."  Verlax wheezed.  "Then sh-she must not break that circle... or else the true unification... the Unification of Urohringrs... will be for nothing."

"Don't..."  Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth.  She shook her head.  "Don't do it... don't say it..."

"The Tribes of this kingdom were saved by a lie... and through a lie... you must preserve them..."

"Verlax..."  Rainbow closed her eyes, seething... shaking.

"If they find out who I really am... if they find out the truth..."  Verlax spoke in a firm tone.  "They will crumble under their own fears, distrust, and paranoia.  They will destroy each other... fighting and squabbling to the bitter end.  You know this."

Rainbow Dash shook... heaved.

"The 'companions' you have made know this."  Verlax's eyeslits burned a bright blue.  "And you will find on the Dark Side—as I once did—entire empires of chaos for whom honesty will bear no redeeming light."  She took a deep breath, her horn shimmering with brief purpose.  "Better that you suffer the sting of sacrifice now... and learn to forsake that which you pretend to hold dear... or you will never finish your journey alive."  She slowly shook her head.  "And that is not something that the future of all living things can afford to endure."

Theanim Mane had paled from head to tail.  He fell to his flank, staring numbly across the cold depths of the throne room.

Echo said nothing—as did Keris and the rest of the Talon.  The bulk of the group stared ahead in dull silence.

Rainbow's shivering hooves finally let go of Verlax's head.  She rocked back and forth, her breath thin and weak.  She hugged herself, teeth grinding—nearly bursting out of her tightening jaw.

"Loyal... courageous Austraeoh..."  Verlax smiled, her strength fading again as the light dimmed in her eyes.  "There is no choice or destiny in the circle."  She gulped.  "There is only the circle, and it revolves around you."

Rainbow shook harder and harder.  She gripped her head, upon the brink of bursting.

Verlax's lips hung open.  "You may scream now."

Rainbow Dash did just that.  Tilting her head to the ceiling, she bellowed long and hard.  Her anguished voice echoed off the icy walls and frozen instruments down in the bowels of the cold, dying world.

Ariel flinched, staring towards the floor as her eyes teared up.

Flynn and Logan fidgeted where they stood—their ears ringing from Rainbow's howl.

Bard sighed, tilting the brim of his hat forward as he stood in solemn silence.

At long last, Rainbow Dash collapsed at Verlax's bedside.  She lost all strength in that prolonged outburst, so that she could no longer sob—just shake and writhe on the cold metal floor as her limbs curled up beneath her.  It took her the better part of a minute to find a voice, and all it could sputter was:  "I hate you..."  She gnashed her teeth, squinting up at Verlax with teary, burning eyes.  "I hate you so much."

"At long last..."  Verlax bore a sickly smile.  "I have a friend."

Rainbow covered her face, shivering.

"Mrmmfff..."  Verlax coughed and whimpered.  "My st-strength... is leaving..."  A deep, cold breath.  "Soon, I will perish... and all my lingering enchantments will fade with me."

Starstorm gasped.  She and Windburst took a glance at the open door through which they came.

"Yes..."  Verlax nodded.  "...all of my powers... the invisible dam that holds the frozen bloodstream of this continent back..."  She coughed.  "That h-holds them back..."  She shut her eyes, weathering the first of many painful convulsions.  "...it will vanish."  A gulp.  "And the ancient wraiths that infest this land will run rampant over the mountainsides..."

"Therre arre morre windigoes out therre than we can count!" Kepler stammered.  "A stampede of that prroporrtion..."

"...they'll cover all of Rohbredden in frost," Keris murmured.  He gazed beyond the Talon.  "Cities... townships... entire agricultural Prefectures—"

"My foals... are weak..."  Verlax coughed.  "But together... they can be strong.  They are strong.  So long as they remain as one... if they unite under the banner of my d-death..."  Her weak eyes fell on Rainbow Dash.  "...in opposition to the greatest threat that has ever blighted the land... strong enough to kill an immortal Queen such as their beloved 'Verlaxion'... well... they just might summon the strength to combat the demons of their despair."  She gulped.  "But if they allow truth to divide them... to diffuse the potency of their faith in the frail pursuit of a virtue that they cannot fully comprehend... then they will surely die."

"How would you know...?"  Trembling, Theanim looked up.  With teary eyes, he snarled:  "You've blinded us for years, Verlaxion!  How would you know?!"  He shook, hyperventilated.  "Truth frees!  Truth liberates!"

"Then be free as corpses, if you desire," Verlax said.  "But I would not wish that for you, my child."  She glanced aside.  "I doubt the Austraeoh will either."

Rainbow shook.

Theanim opened his muzzle to say something else.  He felt Echo's hoof on his shoulder, and he lost the breath to speak.  Instead, he hung his weary face in his hooves.

"This world that you aim to save," Verlax spoke to the mare.  "This piece of Urohringr..."  She coughed and rasped, "You m-must be prepared to save both the g-good and the bad."  Another cough.  "And saving it... d-depends on how you leave the m-most of it behind..."  She exhaled.  "I have given you an opportunity to leave Rohbredden in one p-piece instead of s-several."  Verlax shook.  "It... w-will not be as easy a ch-choice on the side that consumed Endrax... mrrrmmff... b-but now... hmmff... I-I trust that you sh-shall be better pr-prepared, Austraeoh..."

"It's only like this because you made it this way," Rainbow growled.  She looked up, frowning past her tears.  "I did not do any of this."

"And yet... there will be bigger monsters than you or I," Verlax said.  "Our st-strength... is in ch-choosing to be those beasts anyways."  She sputtered, her frail body spasming.  "Grnnnfff... it... was n-never said that the Spark didn't burn... or that the Austraeoh would b-be benevolent... hrkk... grfff..."  Verlax broke into a series of heavy coughs and hacking fits.

The Herald watched in tense silence from afar.  Wildcard's cold dark lenses reflected a pathetic blue waif.

Remna stepped closer.  Without saying a word, her violet hoof reached down and steadied Verlax's shaking frame.

For a brief moment, Verlax breathed steadily.  She looked up, staring past Remna with a weak smile.  "Ahhh... Axan..."  A gulp.  "Tell me, sister.  When you were forced to end Nevlamas' life... was she happy?"

"Your eyes are everywhere," Remna muttered.  "Do you not know?"

"Indeed..."  Verlax nodded weakly.  "My eyes see everything.  But my h-heart... snrkkk..."  She quivered, her neck muscles stretching.  "... fr-froze ages ago..."

Remna exhaled.  "She was at peace, Verlax," she said.  Her emerald eyeslits hardened.  "Though she did not deserve it any more than you."

"Hrmmmff..."  Verlax shook, nodded.  "An honest answer."  She coughed.  "I suppose... it's only f-fitting... mmrmmff... that I-I die with a modicum of irony."  She inhaled and exhaled with tiny gunshot bursts at this point.  The blueness drained from her hooves as dark grayness rolled up her fetlocks, spreading across her invalidic body.  "Axan... t-tell me..."  She hyperventilated.  "Do you... ever w-wonder... what h-happened to the Matriarch who h-hatched us...?"

"No, Verlax."  Remna slowly shook her head.  "I do not."

"I envy y-you... and I envy h-her..."  Verlax choked, struggling to speak.  "A truly w-wise cr-creature... does things out of n-necessity... and not f-for love..."  Her eyes rolled back as her horn dulled to a dark gray.  "...I h-have... loved too m-much... these pr-precious souls... this thawing k-kingdom... grkkk... tr-tried to be everywhere at once... t-to bask in th-them... mmrmmff... a circle... not..."  She looked Rainbow's way.  "...a st-straight line... snkkkt... complete it, Austraeoh."  She closed her eyes, her trembles fading.  "The Sixth Seed.  The sn-snow melts with my p-passing..."

"Verlax..."  Rainbow stood up.

"...go there... go beyond..."  Verlax's lips pursed as a single, vaporous breath left.  "Complete Endrax... complete the circle..."  Glinting teeth.  A smile, perhaps—but swiftly fading.  "Urohringr... unify... unite..."

"Verlax, don't—!"  Rainbow reached forward, diving.  "Dang it!  Stay with us—!"

In place of the Divine, there was an ocean of orange light.  An explosion.





FLASH!



"Verlax!" Rainbow hollered, but there was no echo.  The universe was too large, too vast and empty to afford a sound.  She hovered among the stars, breathless, drifting.

Above and around her, nebulae bent to the sway of gravity.  Purple and gold constellations wrapped around the mare, filling the gaps between infinity—ever expanding.

The mare breathed... breathed.  She looked around, spinning.  The stars streaked, then became solid again.  She drifted backwards, watching helplessly as the continents and oceans receded beneath her.

"Is that it...?"

She hugged herself.

Tears sprang from her eyes.

"Is that all there ever is?"

Rainbow Dash wept.  She drifted chaotically in the darkness... a single speck of warmth and sound.

"A line in a circle..."  She gritted her teeth.  "All I've ever been... all I've ever wanted to be is awesome..."  She sobbed.  "I thought I had it all figured out.  I thought... I thought I was—"

"Austraeoh."

Rainbow gasped.  Her teary eyes flung open as she spun around, facing east.

The precipice loomed, drenched in tears of a different sort—falling, rushing, dissipating into darkness.  The sun broke over the final horizon.  A voice from beyond boomed with thunder older than time itself.

"The Spark is complete?"

Rainbow stared.  Her shivers stopped, and she spoke with sudden resolve.

"I am."  Her jaw clenched.  "I've foaled yesterday."  Another breath.  "And Verlax... she is gone."

The voice had a reply.  "Utaan."

Rainbow's eyes twitched.  "What?"

"Utaan."  The sun brightened.  For a brief moment, Rainbow saw—or thought she saw—limbs extending from the the luminescent infinitude.  Pointed ends, fluttering—like feathers.  "Seek out Utaan..."

"Wait..."

"And bring Yaerfaerda to Urohringr."

"Wait!"  Rainbow stretched towards the edge.  "Please!  You have to help!  It's Verlax!  She used your flame against this world!  She's cursed it!  Please, you must—"

FLASH!





"—help!"  Rainbow Dash lurched forward, panting.

The corpse of a limp unicorn lay on a melting sheet of ice beneath her.

Rainbow Dash grimaced.  A trickle of cold water pooled around her hooves, spreading swiftly across the metallic floor of the room.  All around her, the ancient ice groaned, crackled, and shattered to bits.  One by one, the pendulums and gears of the subterranean machine came to life, filling the chamber with the hum of otherworldly noise.

The enchanted blue light had completely faded away.  In its place, five spots of bright color hovered equadistant from one another.  Pinkie Pie gasped, eyes blinking wide at the lengths of the throne room.  Fluttershy and Rarity drifted close, clinging to one another as they watched the ice melting in sheets around them.  Twilight Sparkle hung in a dead stupor, ears folded back.

"Rainbow...?"  She murmured, turning about in search of her anchor.  "Rainbow Dash...?"

The sound of tender, gentle weeping.

"...?"  Twilight Sparkle turned around.  She saw Rainbow Dash collapsed beside an emaciated unicorn.  "Rainbow!  What..."  She winced.  "What h-happened?"

"Dashie?"  Pinkie craned her neck.

"Oh no..."  Rarity squeaked, holding a pair of hooves over her muzzle.  "She... she d-didn't..."

Fluttershy slowly shook her head.  "No."  She spoke solemnly.  "She did not."

Rainbow sniffled.  She looked up at her friends, her eyes brimming with tears.  Before she could find the words to speak—

—the hollow of Starkiss groaned around them.  Within seconds, loud banshee shrieks lit up the cavernous world outside, growing with intensity.

"What...?!"  Raptr spun, shivering.  "What was that?!"

"What do you think?" Echo groaned.

"Everypony..."  Windburst suddenly hovered at the open door.  He nodded outside with his feathery head.  "Look."

Members of both the Herald and Talon rushed over.

"The blue light..."  Ariel winced.  "It's faded!"

"It's darker than night out there!" Bard added.

"That isn't the half of it."  Flynn peered out into the abyss.  He rotated his mechanical eye, shivering at each ghostly shriek that wafted in through the doorway.  "The windigoes... they've broken formation."

"Broken formation?!" Starstorm exclaimed.

"They're fanning out," Flynn continued.  "I'm spotting several flying west... others heading north and south."  He cleared his throat.  "A bunch of them are... uh... t-taking the same corridors that brought us here."

"Gods prrotect us..." Kepler murmured.  "They have been unleashed."

"What in the Hell?!"  Logan marched up, gazing out into the dimming interior of the mountain.  "Where do they think they're going?"

"Where aren't they going?" Keris calmly, coldly said.

The rest looked at him.

Keris faced the group.  "Queen Verlaxion was the only thing keeping those windigoes in check.  Now that she's gone..."  He turned to gaze down at the corpse in front of Rainbow.  "...there's nothing to hold them back."

"And she knew it all along."  Bard tilted his hat back up so that he could squint at the group.  "Wanna bet yer life on it?"  He swung a hoof in the air.  "This was her plan the entire dayum time.  Rainbow shows up... opens this here door.  Yank!  There goes her life support.  The poor filly ain't even got a choice."

"What do you mean she doesn't have a choice?!" Ariel exclaimed.

"The beacon of Yaerrfaerrda simply could not be avoided," Kepler said.  "The Austrraeoh needs all pieces of the flame to empowerr the Sparrk—"

"We should have paid closer attention!"  Ariel grumbled.  "We—the Herald—we trained our whole lives for this moment!  We should have had the foresight to avoid this!"  She panted.  "Mortuana—"

"—fell into the same friggin' trap," Logan grunted.  "Verlax said it herself.  In her curse, she made it so that she could see through the Mountain Matron's eyes."  His nostrils flared.  "If even an alicorn like Morty couldn't foresee this—"

"Well maybe she did," Echo spoke.  "And she didn't see any other way through this."

Ariel frowned.  "Are you actually implying that the leader of the Herald was in on Verlax's plan?!"

"Seems like everyone's Queen Frost Bitch was plotting this out far longer than your celestial foalsitter, soooooooooo..."  Echo shrugged.  "...shits and giggles?"

With a fuming breath, Ariel pointed.  "I refuse to believe for one second that there was absolutely no way to avoid—"

"It doesn't matter," Remna murmured.

"Pffft..."  Bard rolled his eyes.  "Well of course you would say that."

"It needs being said."  Remna looked up, hard green eyes glaring.  "Simply so that this incessant talking can cease.  Now is the time for action."  She pointed out the door opposite of where they entered, marked by the Ynanhluutr symbol.  "We came here with Austraeoh.  She got what she needed.  Now is the time to proceed to the Sixth Seed."

"Are you off yer dragon rocker?!"  Bard marched towards the mare.  "Your immortal sister just kicked the bucket right here in front of you and all you can think of is gettin' the Hell out of dodge?"

"She's right," Keris said.

Bard did a double-take at the Lieutenant.  "Say again?"

"The Austraeoh's purpose lies beyond this time and place," Keris calmly spoke.  "It always has.  Thus, it would be foolish to hold her back."  The griffon swallowed hard.  "As for the rest of us... we have the challenge of a lifetime ahead... multiple lifetimes, for that matter."

"Lieutenant..."  Logan trotted towards the griffon.  "I know that the Herald and the Talon barely know each other... but you strike me as pretty cool cat-bird."  His eyes narrowed.  "You can't possibly expect yourself to shoulder the weight of what's happened here."

"Can't we?"  Keris looked up.  "We knew the risks... or at least we half-expected them."  He took a deep breath.  "We led the 'Rainbow Rogue' here, fully knowing that it could mean the downfall of Verlaxion... including all that her powers hold at bay."  He glanced at his wingmates.  "I can't imagine I'm the only soul whose had this kind of foresight."

Starstorm and Raptr hung their heads.  Windburst nodded.  "We knew that something was going to go down.  Hard."

"But you heard her speak just now!" Ariel exclaimed.  "You know that she orchestrated all of this!  That Queen was always a dragon matriarch in disguise and now—"

"She was born in our hearts as Queen Verlaxion," Keris said.  "And now she will have died in our hearts as Queen Verlaxion."  His headcrest drooped back as he added in a melancholic tone:  "Or at least... the hearts outside of Starkiss can afford to believe that."

For the first time since Verlax's last words, Theanim lifted his gaze.  "Lieutenant...?"

Keris looked over.  "Professor..."  He sighed.  "...how can we even pretend to explain what truly happened here—"

"By telling everypony what truly happened here!"  Theanim Mane stood up, shaking with anger.  "I did not come all the way to this throneroom just to be encumbered by putrid lies!"  He waved a hoof.  "None of us did!"

"Theams," Echo muttered.  "Before you make a scene—"

"And don't you even start!"  Theanim snarled.  Windigoes shrieked in the distance, but he fought for the courage to shout against them:  "Naturally you would give into despair and pessimism!  But the foals of Verlaxion?!  They're stronger than that!"

"Dammit, Theanim, there is no Verlaxion!"  Echo pointed at the corpse.  "Don't you see that?!  Guess what!  The idiots outside this place won't!"

"The Tribes are strong in heart and in character!"  Theanim shook, shivered.  "If you just... appeal to their sensibilities!  If we could just try to show them the light so that they could ascertain the truth—"

"Are we talking about the same ponies who took advantage of Verlaxion's silence to conspire against one another?" Starstorm muttered.  "You and I saw the filthiest sins of this continent in person, Professor.  The Lieutenant as well."

Windburst muttered, "Seems like the ponies of Frostknife are only strong when they're afraid."  He frowned.  "And when they're scared... the citizens they represent have something to die for... instead of pointing talons at each other."

"What... I..."  Theanim Mane grimaced.  "Do you even hear yourselves?!  I mean... what are you even saying?!"

"Ain't no huge stretch of the imagination, Professor," Bard spoke.  He glanced over.  "I've wandered across these prefectures half my life."  He snorted.  "I ain't ever seen the tribes gettin' all chummy as they have these past few weeks... obsessin' all angry-like over us and the Rainbow Rogue."  He looked at the others standing across the chamber.  "And if what ol' Verlax said about the windigoes is true—and from what Flynn and the Sergeants are sayin', it sure seems to be—then Rohbredden has a mighty fine reason for stayin' united under one banner."

"And just what kind of a banner are we talking about?!"  Theanim fumed.  "A banner of... of ignorance and paranoia?!"

"It seems to be working so far," Starstorm said.

Theanim pointed an angry hoof.  "No.  I will not accept that!  You are a sworn protector of Rohbredden!"

"You're right, professor."  Keris gulped.  "We are."  He glanced at his sergeants—but they only hung their heads.  "But what kind of protectors would we be if we let this kingdom fall to pieces?"

"I thought we had an understanding, Lieutenant," Theanim grumbled.  "You and I—I thought we were being shown the light!  I thought we were making a discovery for ourselves and all our great grandfoals to come!"

"I thought I understood things too, Professor.  But n-now..."  Keris' voice wavered.  A mistiness overcame his hawkeyes as he took a long, sad look at the melting room.  Windigoes shrieked—growing more and more distant in the darkness outside.  He sighed.  "...now... after all of this..."

"Face it," Remna grunted.  "My sister had done her damage eons ago.  We were too late and too foolish to stop her.  Myself included.  However, it's not too late to escort the Austraeoh to the next beacon and beyond."  She exhaled a hot breath.  "If not for what Verlax has sacrificed—then for what the Herald and their fellow mortals have... we must press forward."

"Alas..."  Kepler shuddered.  "It would appearr as though the innocent souls of Rrohbrredden arre about to pay the ultimate sacrrifice."  He adjusted his spectacles, peering out into the dimmed hollow of Starkiss once again.  "Therre is nothing in ourr arrsenal that can fend off that many windigoes."

"But we have strong defenses," Keris boldly said.  "We have an entire civilization of fortified architecture."  His eyes glinted with determination.  "So long as we remain united, we just may be able to outlast any type of stampede!"

"Yeah, but for how long?!"  Flynn exclaimed.  "Mortuana sacrificed herself to eliminate just a fraction of those suckers!"

"Again, so long as we work together—" Keris began.

"I know where this is going."  Theanim grunted.  "And I would rather die in the sanctity of knowing the truth than to allow everyone around me to linger on perpetual darkness!"

"Oh shut your science hole, Theams!"  Echo barked.  "You of all ponies can't pretend to be that selfish."  His slitted eyes glinted.  "Or are you as bad as Verlax that you think you can speak for everyone?"

Theanim opened his muzzle to retort, but he could only tremble.  Eventually, it was a squeaking voice that came out of him.  "It's... it's so unfair, Echo.  All that we've done... all that Rainbow has done..."  He clenched his teeth.  "Everypony has the right to know what's happened here... how... how this civilization has been manipulated and used for millennia!"

"And if we allow everypony to see a glimpse of Verlaxion's treachery," Starstorm said.  "If we even entertain the possibility of letting them know how pointless our entire creed's been for countless generations... then how will we have the strength to carry on?"

"Don't give in to despair!  Please!  All of you!"  Theanim stared at the group, nearly hyperventilating.  "We... we can't be that irrational!  If we must unify against a common enemy... then let it be against Verlaxion!  Even if it's just the ghost of her.  Please... I've seen so much truth and... and it needs to be shared... this all needs..."  He gulped, his voice encumbered by a growing lump in his throat.

Wildcard sighed.  He eventually gestured.

Bard translated:  "'This land's rationality ain't strong enough to remove the shadow that Verlax has left.'"  Clearing his throat, Bard turned to gaze at the rest.  "And—personally speakin'—I wish it weren't so.  But thousands of soldiers of the Central Guard are waitin' out there, itchin' to scalp us and prove otherwise.  If the windigoes dun freeze us to death, we'll be lucky if we get out of this continent in one piece."

"Verrlax is dead," Kepler said.  "But the Rrainbow Rrogue?"

"Her legacy... endures..."  Theanim held a hoof over his muzzle.  More tears sprang from his eyes.  Echo leaned over, engulfing him in a side hug as his close friend trembled.

Keris took his gaze off the stallion, glancing towards where the pegasus in question was still collapsed.  "Rainbow?"  He took a step towards her.  "Rainbow Dash...?"

Rainbow had collapsed on her side at this point, curled up into a pathetic blue ball.  She covered her eyes, fighting the tears.

"Rainbow... please..."  Keris gulped.  He jolted from the sound of distant windigoes—but continued to speak.  "Speak to us.  Tell us what you're thinking."

"Austraeoh..."  Remna gently pushed Rainbow.

Rainbow didn't respond.  She didn't even move.  At least... not until—

"Sugarcube...?"

Rainbow's teary eyes flashed open.  Ruby pupils reflected a faint orange figure.

Wordless, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy stepped aside.

"What's goin' on here, Rainbow?"

She trotted down the center, gazing left and right.  A gold warmth spread through the machinery—as if issuing outward from her ghostly hooves.  Her stride was strong—jostled only once when she happened to graze a remnant of the melting ice bed... her leg phasing through.

"Where are we?  Who are all these here strangers?"  Hard green eyes.  Peering.  Polished.  "And why... are ya lyin' all sad-like on the floor?"  The ghostly mare grimaced, raising a hoof at the sight of Rainbow's tears.  "Good golly, Rainbow... did somethin' happen to ya?"

Rainbow Dash stared at her.  Tears trickled down her muzzle.  In a foalish voice, she whimpered:  "What sh-should I do, Applejack?"

The spectre merely blinked.

Rainbow sniffled, no longer able to contain the sobs.  "I want to help these p-ponies.  I really do... b-but so much is laid in stone, and I... I-I..."  She cried, her eyes falling from their freckled target.  "Do... d-do I tell them the tr-truth... so that they can grow beyond themselves... or d-do I tell a lie... just to preserve all their lives in ignorance?"  She clutched her eyes shut.  "I j-just can't choose... I can't..."  A trilling sound, then a heavy sob.  "I never wanted this... not for you... not for m-me... not for anypony..."

The Herald watched in silence.

Keris' beak hung open as if to say something.  Patience perservered, and he stood dead-still besides Echo and Theanim Mane.

Rainbow continued sobbing.  Through the corner of her eyes, she sensed a warm presence, refracted through a crystalline layer of tears.

"Rainbow Dash," Applejack spoke warmly, despite a tremor or two.  "I haven't the faintest idea what's goin' on here."  She sat close, legs curling beneath her as she leaned in towards Rainbow's curled figure.  " I dunno these ponies and I sure as heck dunno how we got here."  She gulped.  "All I know... all I see is one of my bestest friends sufferin' somethin' awful and I can't imagine what for."  She took a steely breath.  "From the sound of it... you've got one heck of a decision to make between tellin' the truth and tellin' a lie..."

Rainbow looked up, trembling.

"All my life... through thick and thin... I've always... always relied on the truth."  Applejack breathed firmly.  "Tellin' the truth... sharin' the truth... dependin' on the truth.  And—for the most part—it always done worked."  Her next exhale was a shuddering one.  "And... now that I look back at it..."  Her freckles vanished behind a brief grimace.  "...it was 'cuz I could always afford to."

Rainbow stared at her.

"Rainbow, I—"  Applejack reached forward... but her hoof phased through Rainbow's figure.  She gasped... but soon calmed, her green eyes focused on her own fetlock.  "...reckon we ain't in the same place to afford thangs like we normally do."  A focused breath, and her eyes raised to meet Rainbow's again.  "Honesty ain't only about how you live... but also what you leave behind.  If all truth will ever do is hurt everypony in your wake... then is it really such a virtue anymore?"

Rainbow Dash's shivers subsided.  The tears on her face slowly dried.

Applejack leaned in.  "That bein' said..."  Her voice shook slightly.  "I would give anythang... anythang in the whole wide world right now... just to see you smile again..."  She smiled delicately.  "The Rainbow Dash I know deserves no less."

Fluttershy sniffled.  Rarity bit her lip, turning her head to gaze tearfully at Pinkie and Twilight.

With a determined breath, Rainbow Dash finally stood up.

The others in the room saw this.  Wildcard and Bard rushed to her side.

Rainbow merely held a hoof up.  As the Desperadoes drew back, she turned around... trotted past Remna... trotted past Theanim and Echo... and approached the Talon.

Keris waited, his feathery head craned.

"Lieutenant Keris..."  Rainbow gulped, then recollected her words.  "It's been an honor."

Keris slowly nodded.  "Likewise, Rainbow Dash."

"But... I think..."  Rainbow flexed her wings as she gazed out the open door to the chamber.  "...there is time for one more act of honor."  Her hard eyes met his.  "But it won't be committed by me."

Keris gazed back at the Talon.  The Sergeants calmly nodded.  Soon, the Lieutenant looked at Rainbow once again.  "What is it that you have in mind, Rainbow?"
> For Those Who Deserve Harmony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Order!"  Grand Magistrate Hymnos shouted.  She banged her gavel while glaring out at the loud, bustling Court.  "We will have Order!  At once!"

Magistrates from all prefectures could not contain their consternation.  The air of Frostknife was filled with angry, confused shouts.  Ponies spat and hollered.  Griffons' feathers rustled while seaponies flickered intensely from within their chambers.

Brye Chandler stood beside Hymnos' podium.  He sighed, rubbing his aching head as the bickering and barking continued.  Meanwhile, above them... above all of them... several layers of thickening stormclouds issued outward from the body of Starkiss in every cardinal direction.

"For Verlaxion's sake!"  Hymnos exclaimed.  "Are we not the esteemed senate of this glorious land?!"  She banged the gavel with finality.  "Calm yourselves at once!  We are here to discuss the fate of our Queen—"

One magistrate stood up, growling:  "What we're here for is to discuss the horrific anomaly consuming our Queen's throne!"  She pointed up past the statues... beyond the steps leading into the heart of the mountain—where the fog thickened most densely.  "Don't pretend that you don't see it!"

An angry griffon in aristocratic robes growled, "Something is happening to the Great Unifier!  You were supposed to send our strongest, bravest troops in to protect her!"

"What is the point in building an army if they can't stop the Rainbow Rogue?!"

"The Rainbow Rogue will be stopped!" Hymnos insisted.  "Verlaxion's messenger warned us to be faithful... to unify under the defense of our Queen!  That is exactly what the Defense Ministry has accomplished—"

"I don't see any accomplishment!"  A stallion barked, pointing skyward.  "All I see is ominous stormclouds and spreading Blight!"

"What is the Defense Ministry not telling us?!"

"How far has the Rainbow Rogue and her demonic allies encroached upon the holy chambers of Verlaxion?!"

Hymnos sighed, hanging her head in frustration.

Chandler took a deep breath, then stepped forward to appeal to those seated above and around him.  "Everypony... fellow brothers and sisters of Rohbredden.  Please!  Have faith!"  He gestured.  "I've not only sent the strongest batallions of the Central Guard into the heart of Starkiss to form an impenetrable defense, but they are being led by the head wing of the Talon—Commander Seraphimus herself!"

"Seraphimus?!"  One mare scoffed.  "She couldn't even bring in the Rainbow Rogue when she was miles away from the holiest of holies!"

"Where's the rest of the Talon?!  Huh?!  Or have they fallen prey to the Rainbow Rogue's influence just like the wyverns?!"

"How do we know you haven't succumbed to the demons from the west?"!

"Of all the..."  Chandler snarled.  "You have no idea... no idea what I've overcome to get to this position!"  He pointed at himself, fuming.  "The Word of Verlaxion appointed me to defend her faithful foals.  Me!  And I swear on my soul... on the very currents that carry us all to the Spring Havens... that I shall honor her trust and defend her sanctity at all costs!  After all, why would this not be the case if it wasn't the will of our Queen?"  He appealed to every magistrate with a bright, gaping expression.  "We sank so low because I allowed avarice and discord to consume my heart!  But she has given me a second chance!  She has given us all a second chance!  Shouldn't we work together harmoniously?!  Like our great ancestors did?!"

"You speak of faith... you speak of harmony..."  A pony snarled from the center of the seats.  "But what fruits have your labors produced?!"  He glanced aside.  "If you ask me, we should all withdraw to our native Prefectures!"

"Yeah!"

"Yes!  Fortify our homes!"

"Protect our loved ones!"

"For if the wrath of Verlaxion should break—"

"No!"  Chandler grimaced.  "No!  Don't you understand?!  Drawing apart is what brought this Rogue from the Blight to begin with!  We were being punished for our distrust and hatred—but we can still undo that!  I can still undo that!"  He snarled.  "Verlaxion has given us a chance at redemption!  A final unification that will... solidify... our..."  His words trailed off, for he was taken back by the expressions of the ponies before him.

Everyone was staring up... up.  Their jaws dropped and their ears drooped back.  The griffons shrank in their seats, beaks rattling.  The seaponies drifted limply within their chambers—all colors dimmed.

Chandler spun around.  He and Hymnos looked skyward, and what they saw stole the breath right out from their lungs.

A cold wall of fog wafted down the tall steep steps leading from the heart of Starkiss.  An equine shape accompanied the descending mists.  Hovering towards the Court—towards Frostknife—was a lone blue figure.  A golden pendant with a ruby lighting bolt hung off her neck.  What's more, she had a limp corpse draped over her forelimbs.  A tattered mane and four bony legs dangled in the frigid air.  The dead unicorn's muzzle hung agape... and her muzzle and horn matched countless ancient edifices carved into the holy walls of the age-old place.

"Oh..."  Hymnos lost all feeling in her legs.  She collapsed beside her podium, eyes instantly brimming with tears.  "...my g-goddess..."

Chandler stared in abject terror.  "The... Rainbow Rogue...?"

Guards inside the Council Chamber rattled in place, eyes wide.  Every magistrate froze dead-still.  The frosty air hung in stale silence.

At last, Rainbow hovered to a stop.  She lingered beneath the massive statues of six ancient tribes.  The gray light of the dying day caught her figure, highlighting feathery short threads of prismatic mane hair, peppered with flakes of snow.  A scar blemished her forehead as she gazed out at the crowd, cold and deadpan.

The heart of Rohbredden gawked at her.  A minute limped by, during which the dense space between the foals of Verlaxion and their dreaded nemesis thawed into a sickly soup.

Rainbow took a deep breath.  The forelimbs cradling Verlax's dead shell tensed up.

"What is it that you have in mind, Rainbow?"





Less than an hour ago, Lieutenant Keris stood calmly inside Verlaxion's throneroom, waiting for an answer.

Rainbow stood before him.  She sensed Applejack's warm presence in the corner of her vision—until the gold light expanding across the machine world consumed the gaps in between her thoughts and her breaths.

"I am needed far beyond this place," she spoke.  "I've always been."  She looked up, staring at Keris directly.  "Verlax was right to focus on the big picture.  She just chose the wrong way of fixing an antidote for all the things that are dying."  A gulp.  "But that doesn't matter.  I have to keep going.  Regardless of what Verlax has sacrificed, finishing my journey is what I owe this world... and what I can do to save it.  However, I-I can't give Rohbredden what I owe it.  No matter how much I want to... but you can."

Keris craned his neck, listening intently.

"You and your Talon," Rainbow continued.  "You thought you were protecting the righteous will of Verlaxion... and perhaps... in a way... you still are."  She gazed aside.  "Just as Professor Mane will continue to serve the Order in maintaining peace."

Theanim gazed back at her, still shivering.

"The Talon and the Order will need each other.  Most importantly... the foals of Verlaxion... the entirety of Rohbredden will need the both of you."  She turned to face Keris again.  She shook her head.  "But they will not need me."

"Then... what will you do?" Keris asked.

"What else?"  Rainbow glared.  Her eyes had a cold glint to them as she spoke, "I came from the Blight... and the Blight is what I shall deliver..."





Rainbow closed her eyes.

The Council of Verlaxion stared at her.

Finally—after an interminable silence—the first of many... many banshee shrieks lit the air.  The screams of windigoes shook through the entire audience, rattling their souls to the core.

This was the moment.  Fuming, Rainbow reopened her eyes.  A flicker of red-on-yellow.  Gnashing her teeth, she tossed Verlax's limp corpse from her grip.  "Rnnngh!"

The ragged unicorn fell, impacted wetly against gray stone, and tumbled to a grisly stop before the shocked faces of Rohbredden's breathless leaders.

Rainbow hovered above the cold meat, forming a dark shadow.  "I am the Rainbow Rogue!" she boomed.  A twitch—a chuckle, perhaps—and she bore a devilish smirk.  "And I have slain your Goddess Verlaxion!"

Gasps, sobs, and whimpers broke through the crowd.  Ponies flung themselves from their seats, lying prostrate before the dead body, weeping prayers into the stonework.  Chandler, Hymnos, and the rest of the Council merely gaped in a wordless stupor.

"She was pathetic!," Rainbow spoke... hissed like a serpent.  "Sickly... rotten... starved... a bag of petrified bones at best!  Grfff... her foals' lack of faith had weakened her!"  She folded her forelimbs, tilting her eyes so that they glinted above her smiling muzzle.  "I suppose I should be thanking you.  Each and every one of you have made my quest so... so easy."  She snorted.  "I swear... the only creatures who put up a challenge were the Talon... and in the end they too fell victim to the Blight's influence... as did the wyverns and their idiot guests at the Sanctuary."

"Blessed Goddess..."  Hymnos choked, hugging herself as she rocked back and forth.  "Oh Verlaxion... wh-what have we done...?"

"Her power—however strained—is mine now.  With a flick of the hoof, I could level this pathetic Court—and all of Frostknife, for that matter—to the SEA!"  That said, she flapped her wings with emphasis, lifting up as her pendant glowed.

Everypony shrieked at once.  A cold wind breezed through their manes and robes.

"But..."  Rainbow Dash descended gracefully instead.  Her smug grin could cut diamonds.  "That would be a waste of my time.  I've got places to be... further landscapes to spread the Blight.  And... quite frankly... none of you are worth it."

"Damn you..."  Chandler hyperventilated.  Standing up, he snarled... dragging his hooves.  "Damn you!"  He pointed at the guards.

Snapping to it, a dozen armored soldiers unsheathed their polearms and dove at the pegasus.

"Hah!"  Rainbow Dash flapped her wings only once.  "As if—!"  SHOOOOOOOM!  She soared upwards in a bright blue streak.

Ponies gasped.  The soldiers—astonished at her speed—simply stared up at the dense overcast.  Chandler stood in place, shading his eyes and squinting.

Soon... a gigantic patch blew open in the gray mists wafting out of Starkiss.  The very same blue blur came thundering back down.  Within a blink, Rainbow Dash reentered the domain of Frostknife... and an apocalyptic burst of spectral energy exploded behind her.

KaPOWWWWWWW!

Ponies shrieked—but they could not hear themselves from the sheer immensity of the Sonic Rainboom.  Fractures formed in the stonework.  Snow cracked, shattered.  Last of all—

SMASSSSH!  The ancient statues of the six founding Tribes shattered to a million pieces.  A wave of gravel splashed across the floundering bodies of the Council.  Cold gray powder coated every magistrate and soldier in attendance.

Hymnos coughed and wheezed.

Chandler rolled over, panting for breath as he found himself collapsed in a sea of granite shards and pebbles.  Gradually, he and everypony looked up.

Rainbow Dash hovered ominously above.  Her petite limbs and flapping wings formed shadowy bands in the graylight.  A pair of ruby eyes matched her glowing pendant as she sneered:  "You are all weak... foolish... pathetic foals.  Feeding on you wouldn't strengthen the Blight.  Ages from now, once I've bathed this world in darkness... then... will I make my return.  Maybe you will actually be fair game centuries from now."  She laughed—cold and heartless.  "I release the Talon and Central Guard from my influence.  I release the wyverns, if there's any of them left that you haven't deliciously murdered.  And... at last..."

She held her hooves up to the sky.  Just then, dozens... hundreds of ghostly shadows streaked out from the summit of Starkiss, gliding towards all ends of the continent... accompanied by a chorus of banshee shrieks.

The ponies squirmed, gasping.

"Oh no..."

"The windigoes..."

"They h-have returned!"

"The Rogue has brought the wraiths down upon us!"

"Verlaxion's spirit, protect your foals..."

"She can't protect you now."  Rainbow sneered, her eyes lighting up, red-on-yellow.  "Nopony... can protect you now."  Her wings flapped, forming a thunderous percussion to the banshee song.  "Best of luck, pathetic foals.  I return one day to feast... and I expect my prey to be warm."

Chandler hung his head, lips quivering.

A panicked commotion filled the air, reaching a fever pitch.

"Hah!"  Rainbow Dash flew skyward, banking east.  Soon, she was out of earshot of the Court.  As she emerged from the shadow of Starkiss, she clenched her chattering teeth shut.  Her muzzle grimaced... and tears formed along the edges of her eyes.  Sucking in her breath, she flapped her wings harder... and burned a spectral path east.

"This will have to be timed perrfectly, Rrainbow Dash..."






Kepler and Flynn stood at an open door to the throneroom, gazing out into the Hollow of Starkiss, filled with shrieks and streaking ethereal figures.

"If yourr message deliverred unto the Rrohbrreddenites is to hold any potency, then you will have to give it rright when the windigoes make theirr exit frrom Starrkiss!"

"And just when will that be?" Rainbow asked, touching the Ynanhluutr symbol and opening a door on the opposite side of the machine chamber.  "Roughly speaking?"

Flynn cleared his throat.  "At the rate at which these damned things move, I suspect it will be within the hour."

Wildcard gestured.

"Dubya's got a point!" Bard exclaimed.  "Not all of them will head south within view of Frostknife."

"What about the soldiers in the subterrannean sanctuaries?" Starstorm remarked.  "They're in the worst place right about now!"

"We can warn them," Windburst said.  "Tell them to flee west... exit Starkiss... and regroup at Frostknife."

"Meanwhile, we can get dozens of able-bodied pegasi and griffons to warn the outlying Prefectures!" Raptr added.  "With enough of a head-start, they just might be able to get most of Rohbredden to take shelter!"

"That won't be enough," Remna said.  "You've seen how many windigoes there are."

"Then let's give them a chance to make it out!" Ariel exclaimed.  "I'm thinking a distraction!  Wildcard!  Kepler!  You game?"

Wildcard nodded.

"I... fearr that it will not be enough to sparre the Centrral Guarrd, though," Kepler said.  "I mean... will they even trrust the Rright Talon of Verrlaxion afterr—?"

"They will in the end, if nothing else," Rainbow said in a cold tone.  She turned to glance at Twilight, Applejack, and the others.  "I'll convince them that the Rainbow Rogue and the powers of the Blight persuaded Keris and his wingmates to join me... along with the soldiers who helped us and Professor Mane."

"Rainbow..."  Twilight bit her lip.  "Are you sure that this is what you want to do?"

Rainbow shook her head.  "Of course not."  She clenched her jaw muscles.  "Which is why I have to do it."

"Dashie..."  Pinkie gulped.  "What if they take you down?  There are a lot of angry ponies out there and you're about to make them a whole lot angrier."

"They won't catch up to me," Rainbow muttered.  "Nothing can catch up to me now."  She turned to look at Logan, Flynn, and the rest of the Herald.  "Distract the windigoes the best that you can... but I must enter Frostknife alone."

"But darlin'—" Bard began.

"When the day is done, Rohbredden will have only one enemy to dread!"  Rainbow fumed.  "And if they must hate me for all time, then so be it.  This is the one edge that they will have... a gift—however horrible—that will give them strength."

"But how will they maintain it, darling?" Rarity asked.

Rainbow turned to face the Talon.  Her eyes met with Keris.  "They will depend on the same souls they always have... in every time of crisis."

Keris took a deep breath... and slowly nodded.








"Grand Magistrate!"  A voice shrieked from the gray skies over Frostknife.  "Defense Minister!"

There was a brief break in the sobs and wails of the Senate.  Hymnos and Chandler looked up, trembling.

Lieutenant Keris and Sergeant Starstorm touched down in the center of the Council chamber.  The highest ranking griffon carried Professor Mane in his grip.  Setting the stallion down, he jumped over chunks of statue and helped Chandler to his hooves.

"Windigoes, Minister!" Keris exclaimed.  "More than I can count!  They're descending from Starkiss as we speak—"

"Verlaxion..."  Chandler shuddered, pointing at the blue corpse.  "Our Goddess... she... that monster killed her—"

"I know..."  Keris gulped.  "My wingmates and I... we awoke from a deep haze to see the throneroom stained in holy blood..."

Chandler blanched.  "The Blight..."

"But we have our senses back now!" Starstorm exclaimed, desperate to speak above the rising tumult.  "And we must get everypony to safety!"

"What is 'safe' any longer?" Hymnos moaned.  Banshee shriekes rose in volume as ghostly horses dove lower and lower, streaking over the heads of panicking Rohbreddenites.  "We've failed the Great Unifier... do we even deserve to live?"

"Do not say that!"  Keris frowned.  "Verlaxion's spirit endures so long as her foals live on!  Our failure does not outweigh our humility... or penitence!"  He turned to shout over the Grand Magistrate's shoulders.  "Sentries of Rohbredden!"

By now, the guards had stumbled to their hooves.  They all swiveled to face the Lieutenant.

"Gather the magistrates!  We head south!  Through Frostknife!"

"To where, Lieutenant?"  Chandler shuddered.  "With those windigoes on our tail... there's no place that's safe."

"I beg to differ," Keris spoke firmly.  "The Frosted Shelves!"

"The prison?" Hymnos stammered.

Keris nodded.  "Its walls are thick.  The granite will hold!"  He craned his feathery neck, shouting into the frosted air.  "Everypony!  Into the Frosted Shelves!  We shall take refuge there until the windigoes have had their fill!"

Hymnos gaped.  She turned to look at Theanim.  "Professor Mane?"

The Professor stood in a melancholic slump, his head hanging.

"Professor Mane... do you think this will actually work?"

Starstorm clenched her beak muscles nervously.

Keris turned, glaring.  "Professor..."

Theanim lifted his head.  He cleared his throat.  "Trust in the good Lieutenant, Grand Magistrate," he said.  "The windigoes are many... but Frostknife's foundation was carved by Verlaxion's might itself.  It... will sustain us."

"Everypony!" Keris hollered once more.  "To the Frosted Shelves!  Hurry!"

Starstorm added:  "The windigoes will be upon us any moment!"

"You heard the Talon!" several guards shouted, swiftly rounding up the magistrates as they all surged south, retreating into the southern cliffs of Frostknife.  "We must move!"

"Round up all citizens!"

"Spread the word!  We flock to the Shelves!"

"Hurry!"

"Move!  Move!"

"Lieutenant..."  Chandler murmured, looking back.

Hymnos choked on a sob.  "Our Queen..."

Keris was already kneeling at the unicorn's limp side.  Wincing, he shattered the cast with a razor-sharp claw, freeing his injured talon.  He bravely reached both arms in, scooping Verlax's body up in his grip.  With a cold shudder, he took up the rear, flapping his wings and taking off before the windigoes could get any closer.

"I have her," he said, carrying the frail weight.  "Now... let us proceed."

"Oh Goddess!" a random magistrate shrieked as the crowd galloped southward.  "The sky!"

"The clouds!  So many of them!"

"I feel the temperature is dropping!" Hymnos stammered.  "What is happening?"

"It's the power of Verlaxion," Theanim managed to say.  He glared ahead as he sped alongside the group.  "It is waning..."

Chandler, Hymnos, and the rest of the citizens of Frostknife grimaced.

"Oh... heaven help us..."

"...the heart of Rohbredden crumbles..."





Commander Seraphimus awoke with a gasp.  She lay in the back of a rattling wagon, surrounded by battered prisoners with their hooves and fetlocks bound in irons.

"What... where...?"

She stirred, struggling to stand up.  Her body screamed in a dozen bruised places.  Her eyes rolled back, spotting stalactites and melting icicles gliding past her, peeking in and out of a haunting new darkness.

"Starkiss..."  The griffon sputtered.  "...the light... h-has faded..."  Her head reeled.  "...why?"

The defeated soldiers who had assisted the Herald merely hung their heads.  Injured members on both sides merely groaned.  The survivors' bodies rocked from where they huddled in the carts that were carrying them.

Seraphimus blinked.  Wincing, she sat up to peer beyond the bodies of the injured and imprisoned.  Spotting several torches and glowing horns, she realized that she was seated in the very rear of a long... long military procession marching out of the mountain's hollow.

"Will... somepony pl-please answer me," she hissed, clutching her aching skull.  "Mrmmmfff... what is this?  A retreat?"  She tilted her avian head about, squinting, sensing.  "... ... ...we are headed west, aren't we?"  Her beak clenched.  "What for?"

Swoooosh!  A familiar figure glided into view.  "That's it!  We're almost to the exit!" Windburst shouted.  In the distance, haunting shrieks echoed, growing closer.  "Once we're in the open, make for Frostknife!  Move as fast as you can!"

Raptr flew up.  "Sergeant!  I just finished dispatching the last of the messengers!"  He gulped.  "They've got a head-start... they should be able to warn the outlying Prefectures before the windigoes reach any township—"

"Windigoes?!"  Seraphimus sputtered.

Raptr and Windburst glanced down.

"Oh... Commander..."

Seraphimus snarled.  "Traitors... do you r-realize what you've done?!"

Raptr and Windburst exchanged glances.

"As soon as we awoke from the Rogue's spell... we d-did," Windburst muttered.

"You... you were r-right, Commander."  Raptr's voice cracked.  He gulped hard.  "Her curse... the tainted Blight corrupted us."

"But it's not too late to save the citizens of Frostknife and beyond!" Windburst exclaimed.  "Right now, the army's returning to reinforce the harbor and—"

"What's this I hear about windigoes?!" Seraphimus inquired.  More shrieks lit the air.  The next time Seraphimus exhaled, she was alarmed by how many vapors issued from her beak, filling the dimness around her.  The griffon's charcoal eyes narrowed.  "Sergeants... what has happened to Verlaxion...?"

The two wingmates were silent.

"If there is any honor... any honor whatsoever left inside your maligned shells..."  Seraphimus growled.  "You will tell me the state of our Queen!"

Windburst hung his head.  "I'm so sorry, Commander.  We were too late to stop her."

"We were s-so foolish," whimpered a prisoner beside her.

"We believed in h-her..."  Another griffon wept.  "Or we thought we d-did..."

"... ... ..."  Seraphimus shook.  "The Rogue..."

"She consumed us..." Windburst said.  "And she did not stop spreading the Blight... until she reached the throneroom."

Seraphimus stared.  Suddenly, her hawkeyes shrank as her headcrest dipped back.  Within seconds, her wings spread.

With a gasp, Raptr reached forward—as did Windburst.  "Commander—!"

"Rrrrrghhh!"  Seraphimus blew past them, abandoning the cart altogether.  The sheer force of her wings was enough to knock both sergeants aside—so that they collided with the walls of the corridor.  Soldiers of the Central Guard gasped in surprise, but none of them could even catch up to the leader of the Talon—much less keep their weary eyes focused on the griffon's anxious flight.

Windburst and Raptr recovered, hovering side by side in midair.  Wincing, they exchanged sullen expressions.

"You do realize... that this will jeopardize the remainder of your flight through the Twilight Lands and beyond..."






Rainbow Dash nodded.  "I know."

Keris continued:  "Assuming the windigoes and their ensuing stampede doesn't last for months... then you will be hunted."  He gulped.  "Chandler... Hymnos... the whole Council of Verlaxion and what's left of Frostknife will send forces after you... to kill you for what you have supposedly 'done' here in Starkiss."

Rainbow nodded yet again.  "I know."  She turned to look calmly at Keris.  "But... so long as you remain here... then it means I have a friend on the inside who... hopefully... can keep all of that anger and fury in check."

Keris inhaled.  "I... cannot promise that my influence will help spare you."

"No."  Rainbow shook her head.  "Nor should you."  She pivoted to face him straight-on.  "You have a task ahead of you right now... and that is to protect the foals of Verlaxion."

Keris nodded.  "And you have a task ahead of you right now."  He winced slightly.  "I only hope that you can make it, Rainbow Dash."

"The Herald's long prepared for our flight into the east," Flynn stated.  "Be it stealthy or speedy."

"Well... now it looks like it has to be both," Logan said.  "We can make it pretty far into the Twilight Lands before the Central Guard catches up... but we're going to need an extra-special place to lay low."

"I can help with that, I reckon," Bard said.

Wildcard flashed the other Desperado a surprised look.

"You sure, Bard?" Ariel asked.  "You've tagged along because you're a member of the Job Squad.  You shouldn't have to bear such a burden—"

"No, I tagged along because—like Dubya—I secretly wanted to help out Rainbow."  Bard blew out the side of his muzzle.  "Still do... but t'ain't a secret no more."  He breathed deeply.  "It's okay.  I have a place where we can hide."  He turned, staring down Wildcard.  "I mean it.  We're goin' there."

Wildcard shuddered.  Eventually, the goggled griffon silently nodded.

"Frrom therre, we move on to the coast and acquirre brrotherr Flynn's trransporrtation," Kepler said.

"Right."  Flynn nodded.  "Then it's onwards to the Sixth Seed... and Bleak's Plummet."

"Which is where you'll need me, I'm guessing," Echo droned.

Rainbow blinked.

Theanim gave Echo a double-take.  "You what?"

"Don't play dumb, Theams," Echo said.  "I'm certainly not."  He gazed dully at the Herald.  "There's a reason why the crooner's mute butt-buddy wanted me to tag along in his letter."  His dark nostrils flared.  "There's a final trial between here and the edge of the world... and it wasn't built by Verlax—I can tell you that."

"But Echo..."

"Some undead alicorn may have trained these morons to be super-smart... but nopony here can speak to midnighters."  He clenched his jaw.  "Nopony but me."

Wildcard gave a silent nod.

"Echo, no!"  Theanim grasped his friend's shoulders.  "Blast it!  You know what they did to you way back when!  They'll tear you to shreds the moment you show up again!"

Echo spoke: "Then I guess I'll have to get a few words in for Rainbow and the Herald before they finish me off."

"Are you insane?!"  Theanim stammered, shaking.  "I will not let you play the hero this time!  Your... your life is too valuable!  Don't you get it?!"

"Shhhhhh..."  Echo drew Theanim in, grasping his face with two fetlocks.  "No last second bed-shitting, Theams.  Every life is valuable... even mine.  Who'd a thunk it, huh?  That's why I gotta do this.  It just... makes a whole lot of damned sense, don't you think?"

Theanim hung his head.  He fought the urge to weep.  "Now... of all times... you d-don't deserve to cast yourself before the tempests..."

"There is no end to the casting, Theams," Echo said.  "You know this as well as I do.  You taught it to me.  It's the same spirit that got you to smack some sense into this stupid kingdom to begin with.  And it's the same thing..."  He cleared his throat, his fangs showing.  "...that turned my pathetic life into something awesome."  He forced Theanim to look at him... blue eyes to slitted pupils.  "You saved me, Theanim.  You... saved me."  He shook his own head.  "I can't afford to be selfish anymore."

Theanim stared back, a difficult feat with so many tears.

"Now suck it up..."  Echo stepped back.  "...I want things to be less sappy when we meet again after all this."

Theanim gulped.  "When... when we m-meet again..."

"Yeah..."  Echo sighed.  "Why the shit not?"  She turned towards Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow nodded.  She waited until Theanim looked at her.

Theanim clenched his jaw.  He stared at her with a chiseled expression.  "You look after him, you hear?"  He shuddered.  "Not too much sunlight... the poor ignoramus suffers so..."

Rainbow's eyes narrowed.  "You bucking bet your life..."





Theanim Mane struggled to see straight, all the while being bumped and jostled by the panicked crowd of Frostknife around him.

The entire time, Starstorm, Keris, and a threadbare company of guards fought to shepherd the masses safely past the giant doors looming before the Frosted Shelves.  Despite the natural chaos of the endeavor, hundreds if not thousands of ponies safely made their way into the granite hold.

"That's right!" Keris shouted, hovering with Verlax's body in his grasp.  "Just keep moving!  You're making good time!"

Just then, loud shrieks filled the air.

Gasping, ponies looked up to see the first wave of windigoes descending.

"Oh Goddess..."

"Here they come!"

"We can't outrun them!"

"We're dead!  We're dead for sure!"

Starstorm grimaced.  "Lieutenant!"  The Sergeant panted.  "I... I'm losing the crowd!"

"Everypony!"  Keris struggled to shout above the crowd.  "Just proceed as orderly as possible!  I promise you!  The prison walls will protect us all!"  He gestured with his beak.  "Starstorm!  Professor!  You must urge them along!  All of Frostknife depends on us closing those doors before the dreaded herd gets here!"

"You heard the griffon!"  Starstorm resorted to shoving several bodies.  "Move!  Move!"

Grinding his teeth, Chandler stepped up on a stack of crates, motioning emphatically with his forelimbs.	"Listen to me, oh foals of Verlaxion!  We have not lost faith in our Goddess!  That courage alone is what shall preserve us!"  He frowned heavily, dragging a hoof across the wooden platform.  "Mark my words... as soon as there is a break in the storm... I shall hunt down the Rogue and make her pay for this treachery!"

He gestured boldly, his eyes contacting with Chandler and Hymnos.  "Let us not give the Blight and all of its demonic agents the satisfaction of defeat!  Onward!"  He motioned towards the Frosted Shelves.  "Into the bowels of Frostknife!  Follow the Talon's instructions!  They shall protect us... as is their charge!"

Starstorm winced.  She looked nervously at Keris.

Keris held tighter to Verlax's corpse.  "Trust... in the Minister of Defense, everypony!  Verlaxion has given him charge!  He... will n-not lead us astray!"

"Now move!"  Chandler pointed as the crowd rushed into the Hold with renewed energy.  "Go!  Go!  Take shelter!  Make haste!"





Loud iron bars creaked.

Longaze looked up.  At the far, far end of the corridor leading up to her cell, a door had opened.  She watched in mute surprise as dozens upon dozens of ponies, griffons, foals, and hatchlings were led into the torchlit corridor.  Everypony was packed in—flank to flank—until the compartment was entirely filled.





"What is the meaning of this?!"  Jeryn protested as the cells beside his were flung open.  "I thought I was in solitary!  I was promised—"

"Silence, you piece of filth!"  A guard hollered.  He frowned, all the while gently helping senior citizens and frazzled elders into the compartments next to the former Syndicate leader.  "The Rainbow Rogue has struck!  Windigoes are upon us!"

"What?!"  Jeryn did a double-take.  "Windigoes?!"

"Goddess Verlaxion..."  An old mare wept, burying her face in her hooves.  "Goddess Verlaxion is dead..."

Jeryn paled immediately.  "Dead?"  Trembling, he fell back onto his cot.  The dazed stallion stared blankly forward... even as the chambers around him filled with weeping, anxious voices.





All throughout the prison, the hallways and chambers and corridors were filled to the brim with the population of Frostknife and its outlying townships.  Ponies arrived—witless and trembling—without any time to carry their possessions.

Foals clung to their families.  Lovers nuzzled one another tearfully.  Mothers and fathers held their children close.  Innocent traders and farmers sat just inches from confused prisoners—with mere bars of steel separating them.  Everyone shared the same nervous breath, regardless of class, wealth, or standing.

An eerie cacophony of shrill shrieks built up from a distance, growing more and more intense, resonating down each winding corridor and cold stone stairwell where ponies huddled, wept, and waited.





"We're almost through!"  Keris shouted, hovering at the open doors to the Frosted Shelves.  "We're almost through!"

"Lieutenant!" Theanim shouted, pointing up at the heavens as countless thrashing figures swooped down.  "They're upon us!"

"I've got the last of them!" Starstorm exclaimed.  "The last members of our group!"

"Good.  Get them as far from the entrance as possible—"

"Look!" shouted a guard.

Those at the entrance spun about, eyes wide.

With ghostly howls, the windigoes descended upon Frostknife.  Everything they grazed turned to white frost, blanketed all over in murderously solid ice.  Their forelegs thrashed, freezing buildings while the second and third waves smashed the shops, apartments, offices, and warehouses to splintery bits.  Gigantic structures—some as many as three or four stories in height—fell off the cliffsides, plunging loudly into the bay waters below.

The windigoes' were far from finished.  Wreaking havoc, they banked around, heading southwest... and screaming in the prison's direction.

"Now is the time, Keris..."  Theanim murmured.

Keris nodded, shakily.  "Shut it..."  He hollered over his shoulder.  "Shut the entrance!"

Starstorm signaled the guards.  Every pony and griffon worked as one, pushing the gigantic doors.  They pivoted at an icy pace, groaning on their massive hinges.

"Seal it tight from the inside!  Every lock and bolt and beam!"  Keris exclaimed, taking up the very rear with Verlax in his arms.  "It'll take an army to open it once we've—"

Suddenly, Starstorm gasped, her eyes locked on a streaking figure.  "Oh my Goddess..."

Theanim grimaced.  "Lieutenant..."

"...?"  Keris spun around.  He wished that he hadn't.

Flying in from the north—streaking like a silver comet—was Seraphimus.  With raspy breaths, the battered Commander flapped her wings against the rising tumult of the windigoes.  She threaded her way through blistery blasts of frost, making a desperate bee-line for the southern tip of Frostknife beyond sight.

"Commander..."  Keris rasped.  He hollered—at full volume this time:  "Seraphimus!"

"Where does she think she's going?!"  Starstorm exclaimed.

Theanim gazed out the remaining space in the doors.  "Where else...?"  He turned to face Keris.  "Lieutenant..."

"Seraphimus!"  Keris shouted again.  "Fall back!  This is the only shelter!"  His paws scuffled against the stone beneath him—slipping on the fresh sheets of ice forming from the windigoes' charge.  "Seraphimus!"

"Lieutenant!" Starstorm hollered.  There was barely a meter of space left in the shutting doors.  "Please!  Fall in!"

"But... Seraphimus..."  Keris hyperventilated.  "She needs me—"

"Keris!" Theanim boldly roared.  "Rohbredden needs you!"

Keris panted... panted... and finally wrenched his eyes from Seraphimus' fleeing figure.  With a burst of wingpower, he carried himself—and Verlax—through the last remaining space... threading his way through the narrow gap just as—

THUDDDDD!

—the doors to the Frosted Shelves closed completely.  The noise was intense... loud enough to pierce the whinnying windigoes.

Seraphimus heard it.  She grimaced slightly, her tears flying in opposite directions as she flew against the rising blizzard.  With a sneering breath, she forced herself forward, flying the lengths of Frostknife.  In the meantime, the windigoes descended... freezing the bay waters and shattering every fragile structure in their wake.





With trembling talons, Keris laid Verlax's body to rest in the center of a grand atrium.

Ponies, griffons... citizens and magistrates... prisoners and guards alike all peered down in solemn reflection from a multitude of platforms and stairwells.

Keris leaned back in the torchlight, catching his breath.  He and Starstorm stood a respectable distance from the Queen's frail body.

"We've..."  Keris fought a lump in his feathery throat.  His voice was a feeble squeak against the rising bedlam outside.  "We've alerted the Central Guard.  I've commanded the rest of the Talon to send messengers out to every Prefecture in Rohbredden.  We shall withstand the storm... and afterwards... we will rejoin with the army to rebuild what we've lost."

"And what if the storm lasts a lifetime?" a random pony asked.

Keris looked up with a firm expression.  "Then we shall withstand it all the same."

Ponies lingered in silence, save for a few weeping souls.

Hymnos sat in a slump, disheveled... a little grayer than before.

Chandler paced and paced off in the corner.  He was the only creature not standing still.

Howling shrieks picked up beyond the protective walls of the prison.  Ponies and griffons gathered around, gazing sadly at Verlax's figure.

"Why is..."  A mare whimpered.  "Why is she so sickly?"

"Did the Rainbow Rogue do this?" a griffon asked.  "Did she drain her of her last ounce of strength?"

"This didn't happen in one moment," Chandler said.  All eyes fell on him as he continued to pace, snarling:  "I brought this upon us... we all brought this upon ourselves!"  He shook, stammered.  "We lost faith... and now the Great Unifier is gone!  Because of us!"  His booming voice echoed against the cold walls.

Silence...

And then...

"We have... made mistakes, yes..."

Everypony turned to look towards the opposite side of the chamber.

Theanim Mane stood still, his head hanging lengthily in the torchlight.  "...but our Queen was always... always a loving Goddess.  She knew that—deep down—we had faith in her... faith that could move mountains."  He slowly shook his head.  "No... it wasn't a lack of faith that did this."

Ponies and griffons stared in dumb silence.

Starstorm and Keris exchanged quiet glances.

"It... it was the Rogue..."  Chandler gulped.  "She said so herself..."

"You're a representative of the Order, Professor Mane," uttered a guard.  "And yet... did the Blight not blind you as well?"

Theanim took a deep breath.  "Almost," he said.  "But I saw enough... witnessed enough."

"Then you know what happened inside Verlaxion's throneroom?"

"Yes..."  Theanim nodded solemnly, staring at the dead body in the center of them all.  "I saw everything."

"Please..."  A mare held her foals close, sniffling.  "Tell us, Professor... what really happened?"

"Was this really the work of the Rainbow Rogue?"

Theanim bit his lip.  After a cold breath, he spoke:  "As a scientist of the Order... I am bound to tell the truth... to seek it out and profess it from every corner of the Queen's blessed landscape.  Even in the darkest hour, it is what frees us... what liberates us from the shackles of fear and complacency."  He gulped.  "And I must... whole-heartedly... and affirmatively state... that... th-that..."  His lips trembled.  His eyes darted up, staring past Keris and Starstorm.

"You bet your bucking life..."







Rainbow Dash stared firmly across the throneroom.

"I will protect Echo with my life," she said.  "There will be a peaceful end to this.  Someway... somehow..."  She gazed at the Herald and the Talon.  "Maybe after I've returned with the Harmonic Prism... maybe after the Sundering's been undone.  But someday... all of this will be fixed."  She shuddered in place.  "This land will know peace..."  She gulped.  "...and it will be delivered from Verlax's curse... just as I will fight to deliver all of this plane from Urohringr's."

"How... how can you s-say that?!"  Theanim exclaimed.  He hung his head, shuddering.  "You cannot have peace without truth."

Rainbow trotted towards him.  "Professor..."

"It's wrong, Rainbow!"  Theanim gnashed his teeth.  "I'm sorry... but it's wrong!  So many ponies... living in the dark... and for what?!"

Rainbow placed a hoof on his shoulder.  "So they can live."  She tilted his chin back up.  "And you're the kind of pony that can help them do just that."

"I... I d-don't think I c-can..."  Theanim wept, staring weakly at her.  "Not with what I know... n-not with the accursed burden that you are unjustly forced to bear!"

"I'm not too hot with the burden you and Keris are carrying either," Rainbow said.  "But we all know what will happen if the rug is pulled out from beneath these ponies.  They've been waiting for decades for an excuse to eat each other alive.  Well... I'm not about to give them one.  Are you?"

Theanim shook... shuddered... but he had no more words to say.

Rainbow leaned in, nuzzling him close.  "You're an okay pony, doc.  An awesome pony.  And awesome ponies like us... awesome souls like you and me and Keris... we have what it takes to make a difference where the rest of the world is too weak or too scared or too feeble."  She caressed his chin.  "You may be lying by word of muzzle... but be honest through example.  Teach these foals of Verlaxion harmony.  Teach them how to achieve 'unification' through joy, peace, and togetherness.  It might take a lifetime... it might take several... but no windigoes can stand up against that."

Theanim stared back, calming slightly.

"Remember what you told me, Doc?"  Rainbow arched an eyebrow.  "That there are no villains in this world?  Well, you're right.  Life's waaaaay too complicated for that."  She gazed at the Herald, the Talon, then back at him.  "But this life can still afford heroes... even if some of them can't show their faces."  She took a deep breath.  "Villains may not purely exist in reality, but they can still exist in ponies' minds.  Today, you and I must create a villain... and that very monster is me."

Theanim slowly shook his head.  "You do not deserve it."

"Story of my life," Rainbow said.  "Now... be the beacon of harmony that this kingdom needs.  Live, Doc... and help others live with you.  And someday... however near or far... we'll meet again..."  Her eyes glistened above a tender smile.  "...and we can exchange those stories together."







"I'm pretty sure that they'll be awesome...

Theanim Mane trembled before the crowd holed up in the Frosted Shelves.

"And I must... whole-heartedly... and affirmatively state... that... th-that..."  He stared past Starstorm and Keris.  He closed his eyes.  Then—after a seething breath—he reopened them, tears flowing.  "...the Rainbow Rogue is a monster!"

The crowd murmured.  Chandler and Hymnos listened intently.

"She slew our Goddess!  Queen Verlaxion!"  Theanim hissed, "And we must not rest until every shred of the Blight has been vanquished from our lands!"

Every pony and griffon nodded in agreement.  A tempered warmth rose through the crowd, in stark contrast to the hideous blizzard rampaging outside.

"And I do not simply speak of the wounds that the Rainbow Rogue has nefariously dealt to our beloved Unifier!"  Theanim breathed, heaved, and shouted:  "But I speak of the festering disease that has welcomed such a malicious entity into the heart of our very kingdom to begin with!"





Seraphimus could scarcely breathe.

She hurled herself over and under snow flurries, dodging the gray streaks of windigoes and their thrashing limbs.

With a determined twirl, the Commander threw herself upright, continuing her epic glide towards the southern shores of Frostknife... all the while outracing a solidifying valley of ice forming beneath her in the blighted waters.

"For too long, we have allowed pain... anger... and ignorance to wreak havoc in our souls...





West of Starkiss...

Desperately outflying the rampaging snowstorms and the windigoes therein...

Armored messengers of the Central Guard flew as fast as their wings could carry them.

Griffons and pegasi squinted against the biting winds.  At the sound of ghostly shrieks, they glanced behind themselves.  Then—signaling to one another—they spread apart... flocking towards separate Prefectures in a desperate attempt to warn those living in the mountains, valleys, and farmsteads below.

"We were not unified because of our resilience or the thickness of our skin, but because of our humility and our willingness to work with one another...





Ponies in Consortium uniforms hollered, gesturing across the snow-speckled railyards of Steamfall.

One by one, they escorted the villagers of Braum safely into steel-reinforced warehouses and bunkers.

Locomotives and other large machines were abandoned as workers and natives joined as one, taking shelter inside the massive buildings.

"Verlaxion recognized in each of us an affinity towards harmony... the desire for peace... and the willingness to work with one another despite our tribal differences...

The last to enter a series of warehouses was Sarda and his closest companions.  Several shadows streaked over the industrial earth.  Sarda paused, tilting his stubbled chin towards the skies.  He and his companions gasped as a herd of equine torsos descended upon the Prefecture.





The windigoes clipped rooftops, shattering debris across the streets and alleyways of Kunmane.

Every road and courtyard was abandoned.  Ponies took shelter, huddled deep inside the largest and wealthiest of households as the windigoes began wreaking havoc.

From a slitted window, Sweet and Reeds peered out.  The siblings trembled, then crept deeper into shelter, huddling alongside Nana Pearl and the rest of their clan.

"Because if there's anything that has ever unified us, it is the overwhelming sense of family...





"We all belong to one another... we are all foaled to help one another...

Limestone roosts toppeled like dominoes.  Wooden structures turned to ice, then shattered into hundreds of pieces from the merest windigo touch.  Driftwood locked into place, frozen in fresh rivers while the shadows of windigoes streaked overhead.

Inside a deep cave, dozens of griffon families huddled with their hatchlings.  They weren't alone; messengers from the Central Guard formed a shield wall around them... as well as the Luminards in their midst.

Nicro, Sonikah, and several more pious ponies gazed out at the rampaging blizzard with meditative breaths.

"It was this warmth within our hearts that Verlaxion recognized...





"And when she approached us... it was not as a Queen or a Goddess... but as a matronly soul, gathering us up like her own foals...

Windigoes swept over the ashen ruins of Wyvern Point, laying to waste the last remaining foundation of the once-glorious sanctuary.

A batallion of the Central Guard had retreated to a narrow niche between rising mountain peaks.  There, they hid alongside a smattering of prison carts filled to the brim with shackled wyverns and Snow-Blood ponies.  The prisoners gazed at the sky, watching in muddled silence as the heavens rained a tempest of snow down over their former habitat.

"And like children, Verlaxion recognized that we were capable of mistakes... grave mistakes.  Mistakes that would make us into creatures as detestable... if not more so than the Rainbow Rogue herself....





"But in even the filthiest of hovels, our true nature shines through.  We desire peace and harmony above all else.  It will triumph against all adversities... including those that rise from within.

Swelling waves crashed against the edges of White Barge.

The sky had turned dark—black like a bruise.  Lightning broiled in the distance.  Meanwhile, a flock of pale phantoms streaked west over the choppy seas.

Elsaack galloped from platform to platform, shouting commands to the Bargers above and below deck.

"Yes... through our sins, we may have forged a doorway through which the Rainbow Rogue entered.  But we possess far more strength than the Rogue can ever imagine...

Meanwhile, families and foals had flocked to the levels below.  Among them, Swab and Croche peered out through foggy portholes.  They watched with timid expressions—holding each other close as the windigoes came within view.  Before their eyes, lines of jagged ice formed in an eerie trail behind each shrieking spectre, until the oceans were divided up into unearthly glaciers.

"She was foolish to spare us... to think that it would somehow make us more ripe for consumption in some dark, nebulous future...





"The wounds she's inflicted will only help us heal all the stronger.  The gifts she has robbed us of will only be replaced by greater virtues.

Down in Shoggoth...

Down inn the glittery sea at the bottom of the ocean...

Thousands upon thousands of brightly strobing figures swam in panicked schools towards the largest of the underwater structures.  As the seaponies flocked in from Rohbredden, the local guards assisted them, eyeing the depths above as they escorted as many bodies as they could into the subterranean sepulchers.

Like jutting roots, branches of ice rivered downward, spreading towards the helpless city below.  The ever-echoing sounds of shrieks rippled through the waters.

"At last... the Goddess she slew—however tragic—was merely a manifestation of Verlaxion's plan.  For now, after so many years, she has raised us... trained us to be free... to stand up on our own...

Princess Camellia swam in place, treading water alongside her wide-eyed chambermaids and bodyguards.  The siren's bright green eyes narrowed, and her fins rippled with luminescent poise, reflecting the incoming wave of frost.





"We must no longer allow distrust and hatred to run rampant amongst us," Theanim Mane continued to speak to the crowd.  He paced around Verlax's decrepit body.  "Cast off the fears of yesterday.  Dissolve your grudges and your feuds and your malice."  He clasped two hooves together.  "Let us commune in harmony... favoring friendship and peace and laughter above all else."  He swallowed, then swung a hoof.  "No more butchering of the wyverns!  It was never their fault to begin with.  No more bullying the Colonialists!  If we're to survive... we must combine forces with them... for we are all foals of Verlaxion!"

Gradually, those in attendance nodded.  The windigoes stormed outside, but their shrill cries no longer shook anypony's spines.  All eyes were on the representative of the Scientific Order.

"And if we stay true to the faith that our Goddess had in us... if we continue to pursue harmony as our good hearts and generous spirits would desire..."  Theanim took a shuddering breath.  "Then these creatures... these horrible demons that our Great Unifier held back for so long... will cease to be a threat to us."  He gulped.  "And that is a fact.  An honest-to-goddess fact."  He spun about, gazing firmly at everyone around him.  "And it all starts here... in this prison... where we must all agree to cast off the hatred and paranoia of the past."

Murmurs echoed against the torchlit walls.

Hymnos stood up, leaning on Theanim for support.  "I, for one, agree with the Professor.  He is wise... as always..."

Chandler folded his forelimbs, mulling.

Hymnos continued.  "And when the day that the Rainbow Rogue does return..."  She looked aside at Theanim.

Theanim nodded.  "We shall be ready to vanquish her and her evil for good."  He cast a soft gaze in Keris' direction.  "All of us."

Shouts of approval filled the chamber.

Keris stared back... but gradually hung his head.  Starstorm rested a talon on his shoulder.

Grand Magistrate Hymnos brushed her graying bangs back.  A shudder ran through her... one that turned into a song... an age-old carol from Months of Thawing gone by.  It was a slow ballad, a melancholic one.  Slowly—voice by voice—others joined into the harmony.  They formed a mournful circle around Verlax's body.  The condensation across her patchwork flesh reflected bowed heads and penitent shoulders.

The windigoes outside didn't lessen any... but their shrieks dwindled in volume, until the tempest formed a continuous... tense roar.





The thunder followed Seraphimus.

Her tail thrashed as she twisted about, shot west, and followed the coastline towards the mouth of the cave.

At last, the entrance appeared before her... along with the waves of ice water pouring out of its mouth.

Seraphimus' beak hung open.  She didn't dare make a sound.  Outflying the screams of the wintry ghosts, she shot her body into the cave like a bullet.

Immediately, she found reasons to hyperventilate.  Every platform was flooded... overflowing with clear blue water.  One by one, the platforms upon which stasis chambers had previously rested dimmed... losing their divine enchantment.  There were loose bodies sloshing through the currents... forming a train of corpses that flowed in the opposite direction to Seraphimus' flight.

The Commander wept.  She squeaked one word—over and over again—in rapid succession.  At last, after several zig-zagging motions, she zeroed in on her destination.  The griffon descended...

...and...

Her beak fell agape.  Numb claws landed in a shallow puddle of frigid water.

Trembling, Seraphimus fell to her knees.  She reached out.  She cradled a tiny, feathery body... followed by a much larger one.  She shook them both, but neither moved.  She called out... but there was no response.

The melted deluge rose higher and higher.  Seraphimus nested herself on an ivory island of shivers, clutching both bodies to her chest... shaking... heaving...

...until at last she flung her beak towards the ceiling and the sky beyond.

Screaming...

A scream that no windigo could outmatch...





Rainbow Dash's ears rang.

With a brief shudder, she looked behind her in mid-flight.

Frostknife was a hazy speck in the mountainous distance.  In its place, Rainbow saw Applejack hovering in a straight line... joined by Fluttershy and Rarity, who held the nervous, confused mare close.  Twilight and Pinkie glided alongside, sharing Rainbow's worried look.

Rainbow bit her lip.  With a cold jolt, she forced herself to look away from the heart of Rohbredden.  She spotted Wildcard and Bard—flying ahead of her with Flynn and Echo in their grasp.  The rest of the Herald flew ahead, carrying Logan and Remna as they glided downhill towards the Twilight Lands.  And east of all that—twinkling in the distance—Yaerfaerda cycled through a multitude of nameless colors.  Never ceasing.  Never resting.

It was the only thing Rainbow was used to.

She pursued it at full speed.  She did bother looking behind her again.
> Between Old and New Rainbows
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Wet feathers—mostly mottled—had been smoothed back along his crown.  His eyes remained closed above a sharp beak: a stately—if not pale—expression.  A pair of folded forearms held a four-year-old hatchling to his chest.  The little griffon's feline tail curled between him and his father, almost playfully.

The two lay in silence across the meager length of a wooden raft.  Wilted flowers and snowflakes filled the gaps between flesh and oak.  With a gentle push, the canoe drifted south, where it was carried westward by a swift current.

It only went so far... until fresh chunks of ice interrupted its passage, forcing the raft to grind and rattle across numerous obstructions before finally picking up speed once again.

She stayed the entire time, gazing, praying, waiting... even as frozen phantoms circled higher and higher above.





The next morning saw Frostknife covered in snow and debris.  Every cliffside and platform had been obscured by countless layers of frozen precipitation and splintery bits of once-noble structures.  Below, the waters of the bay had been reduced to a sheet of jagged ice, with fallen buildings, stone statues, and demolished ships sticking out at random angles—locked in perpetual limbo.

And the sky...

The sky was clear.

This was how the armies of Rohbredden discovered their once-glorious capital.  Battalions of griffons and pegasi marched in from the northwest, gazing with open beaks and gaping muzzles.  Windburst and Raptr flew alongside the caravan carrying carts full of injured and imprisoned soldiers.  At first, nopony had anything to say—not even a courageous command to shatter the horrific silence of the moment.

Soon, however, they wouldn't need to.  With loud, echoing groans—the doors to the Frosted Shelves opened.  The front line of soldiers rushed towards the prison entrance.  There, they reunited with the guardians, senators, and citizens of the city—the majority of whom had been miraculously preserved despite the windigoes' initial stampede.

The air filled with emotional gasps and bittersweet weeping.  All the while, ponies and griffons limped out to gaze in shock at the frozen remnants of Rohbredden's once-glorious citadel.  Families clung to one another, murmuring fervent prayers.  Soldiers and officers stared with an off-color glaze to their eyes.  Brye Chandler shook with tremorous emotion, meanwhile Grand Magistrate Hymnos had to lean against the massive doorframe of the prison just to stay upright.

Soon, Keris, Starstorm, and Theanim Mane emerged from the improvised shelter.  The Lieutenant took a shuddering breath upon seeing the devastation.  Pivoting about, he spotted Windburst and Raptr.  Signaling Starstorm, the griffon glided across the gap between the Frostknife citizenry and the Central Guard.  The Talon swiftly reunited in the center.

"Good work, sergeants," Keris spoke swiftly.  "Looks like most of the army returned in one piece."

"Lieutenant."  Windburst cleared his throat.  "The Commander.  She—"  He grimaced.  "I mean... I-I wasn't able to—"

"I know, Sergeant."  Keris nodded with a sigh.  "And it's not your fault."  He gazed around at the crumbled foundations covered in ice and snow.  "None of this..."  His words trailed off.

"Did... did she get away?" Raptr whispered, leaning forward in rattling armor.  "Did... did Rainbow Dash—"

"Shhhhh..."  Keris took a deep breath.  "We do not speak of that here."  He turned to look over his shoulder.

Across the sea of meandering bodies, Theanim Mane stood with his head hung low.

Keris' beak clenched.  He flexed his wings to glide towards the professor—

"Lieutenant Keris," spoke the deep voice of a military officer.

"Sir."  Keris turned to face him.  "It is with deep regret that I must confess to... b-being compromised by the influence of the Rainbow Rogue.  Back in the sepulchers, I was—"

"Now's not the time, Lieutenant," the officer grunted, adjusting the weight of his armor.  "Your sergeants filled me in.  At first, I was somewhat dubious, but now I can truly see the full extent of that monster's power."  He shuddered.  "It's a wonder we didn't all murder each other while cursed by the Blight."

Keris glanced aside at Starstorm, then back at the officer.  "Indeed, sir."

"From the sight of so many survivors, I can tell that you and the Talon have performed a miracle here.  Please... a briefing would be most appreciated."

"Very well."  Keris gestured towards the Frozen Shelves.  "We managed to usher most of the city's populace into the Frozen Shelves and seal the entrance right as the windigo stampede occurred.  Their assault lasted halfway through the night.  About six hours ago, they relented.  The skies have been clear ever since."

Starstorm nodded.  "We emerged from the shelter about twenty minutes ago.  That's when we saw your arrival."

"Any idea where those beastly creatures went to?" asked another soldier.

"Negative."  Starstorm shook her head.  "But judging from the fresh ice formations, we're guessing in a westerly direction."

"The icicles appear to form away from fresh windigo flight paths," Keris said.  "It's something that... we managed to observe after a grim encounter that took place most recently."

"Then it was a good thing we sent the messengers out west when we did," Windburst said.  "Hopefully, citizens in other Prefectures will have heard the warnings in enough time to take shelter."

"Take shelter where?" a soldier stammered.  "No town or village has the same resources as Frostknife!"

"How can one take shelter from windigoes in a mere barn or inn?!" another exclaimed.  "Verlaxion is dead!  Our Goddess... she's dead!"  He gulped.  Others around him grew anxious.  "All the windigoes need to do is rush in once more and we are done for!"

"Get ahold of yourself, soldier," Brye Chandler said, suddenly marching into view.  "Now is not the time to panic."

"You're one to talk!"  A mare frowned.  "Up until just recently, you wanted to undo all of the glorious accomplishments the Six Tribes had made under Verlaxion's blessings—!"

"And she gave me a second chance to redeem myself," Chandler retorted with a firm glare.  "As she will give us a second chance... so long as we don't abandon faith and courage."

Before anyone else could respond, Theanim stepped in, clearing his throat.  "The Defense Minister... is r-right."  He straightened his jaw.  "Now is not the time for squabbling amongst ourselves.  These windigoes have proven to be as unpredictable as they are destructive.  If despair is all we can think about, then despair is all we will get."  He glanced aside at Keris.  "The Talon have gone above and beyond to make sure that countless ponies endure against all odds.  I suggest we all put our fear and anger aside and follow their example."

Keris and Theanim shared a quiet nod.

"Right."  Chandler looked at the top officers of the arriving battalions.  "We need to have a talk.  Quickly... while there is still time to strategize."

Windburst's eyes narrowed.  "Strategize what?"

"Leave that to the Ministry of Defense," Chandler said, trotting off with the generals and commanders.  "Just as we will leave the recuperation efforts to the Talon.  They do—after all—appear to be far more suited for it."  He glanced aside.  "Grand Magistrate?  It would behoove you to be a part of this."

"Mrmmm... yes..."  Hymnos brushed her disheveled bangs back.  "Yes, of c-course..."  She limply followed Chandler and the rest.

"Hey..."  Starstorm's voice rose in pitch.  She marched after Chandler and Hymnos.  "Now wait just a minute—!"

"Sergeant—" Keris chided.

"The next course of action should be to find a way to protect our citizens here in Frostknife and in the other provinces vulnerable to the windigoes!" Starstorm exclaimed, shaking.  "Nothing else!  So if you have a discussion to make, it can be made here!  Within earshot of everyone!"

Multiple citizens nodded, murmuring in muddled agreement.

With a sigh, Chandler spun around.  "Dear Sergeant... as exemplary as the Talon's service has been over the past twenty-four hours, I'm afraid I must still call to question the ease with which the Rainbow Rogue manipulated—"  His words froze in his muzzle as his eyes reflected a silver shape to the south.  "...Commander?"

"...!"  Keris spun around—as did Windburst, Keris, and Starstorm.

Theanim slowly pivoted about.  His lips pursed in mixed shock and concern.

Shuffling... limping... Commander Seraphimus approached the crowd outside the gates to the prison.  Her armor had been completely removed.  The griffon's charcoal hawkeyes were bloodshot... glazed... and dry.

Keris was the only one to approach her, and it was with tiny, pensive steps at best.  His claws scraped to a stop against the icy stone as he stood in wait.  "Commander..."  He gulped.  "Seraphimus.  Did you just...?"  He winced.  "The... the preservation chambers... are they—?"

"Lieutenant Keris of the Right Talon of Verlaxion," Seraphimus spoke firmly.  The tip of her beak glinted sharply in the morning light.

Keris blinked.  He stood tall at attention, his heart beating.

And that's when Seraphimus' fell to her knees.  Her next breath was a shuddering thing.  "I... mmm... am no longer f-fit to command..."

Raptr and Windburst exchanged glances.

Starstorm gaped.

Shivering, Seraphimus bowed her head.  "I hereby hang my shield... and submit myself to the wisdom of the Court of... of Verlaxion."  That last name was raspily given.  "By your honor, Lieutenant... sir."

Keris grimaced.  "Commander, this is not the time for—"

"Keris..."  Seraphimus' eyes quivered painfully.  A final tear bled from the edges.  "Please..."

Keris stared at her.  At long last, he took a somber breath.  The crowd murmured quietly as he held his once-injured limb out.  He struggled to keep his words firm:  "I am the Right Talon of Verlaxion."

Seraphimus leaned in.  Without hesitation, she kissed his talon, then rested her feathery crest against his wrist.  "And I am your cl-claw."

It was done.

With scuffling paws, Seraphimus stood up, turned around, and briskly walked away... disappearing amidst the crowds and wreckage.

Theanim looked on in contemplative silence.

Keris glanced at the claws of his talon.  He flexed the sharp digits, sighed, and turned to take in the fresh desolation overtaking the heart of Rohbredden.





Somewhere...

Far to the east...

The Herald had gathered to rest on the rocky cliffs of a tall mountain.  A series of sharp granite ridges loomed to the west.  East—and down the sloping terraces—the landscape turned a purplish-green.  A fertile valley full of lakes and rivers extended into misty haze.  So far, the visible landscape was safe... untouched by blight or windigo stampedes.

Echo sat on a jutting promontory, staring out into the foggy horizon with slitted eyes.  He fidgeted with the hood of his cloak, all the while exhaling slowly into the cold, crisp air.

It wasn't long before a lithe figure touched down next to him, dropping a bag full of fresh berries.

"Here," Ariel said.  "Flynn and I spent the entire morning picking these from the mountain bushes.  According to Kepler, they're not poisonous... and are actually pretty filling."

"Hmmmm..."  Echo nodded gratefully, dragging the tiny satchel towards him.  "Well, that's an improvement."

Ariel blinked.  "Huh?"

"Usually ponies just toss raw meat my way," the sarosian said.  "'You're—like—totally a vampire bat, right?  Here!  Have something bloody that we carved out of a cow's butt cavity!'"  He exhaled.  "Then all Theams shared with me was oats.  Poor bastard was probably afraid of making an accidental 'fruit bat' joke, so he overcompensated."

"I'm... sorry?"  Ariel blinked.

"Nah... s'all good."  Echo fidgeted with his hood once more.  He reached into the bag and sampled a few fruity morsels.  "Mmmmmm... mmmhmmmm..."

Ariel raised an eyebrow.  "Good?"

"No.  Quite bitter, really.  But... who's complaining, y'know?"  He adjusted his hood yet again.  "All shit considered."

"Are you getting too much sun?" Ariel asked.  She pointed across the makeshift camp.  "Wait right here.  I'll go see if Kepler or Big Show have a leftover blanket with them—"

"Nah, I'm okay."

"But—"

"I'm fine.  Seriously!"  Echo rolled his slitted eyes.  "What is this, the Eastfart Hotel?"  He smirked lethargically at her.  "We're heading towards the edge of the world, sweet-cheeks.  If you must know, I'm starting to feel more relaxed without the hood."

"Oh."  Ariel fidgeted.  "Sorry.  I didn't know."

"And stop apologizing," Echo groaned.  "Yeesh.  Like the broken record of humility, I swear..."

"Force of habit."  Ariel shrugged.  "I'm used to being on the side of the good guys."

"You still are, y'know."

Ariel bit her lip at that.  Clearing her throat, she said, "I think it's... very brave of you to give up so much to... to assist us in approaching midnighter territory.  I could tell that you and the Professor were very close friends."

"Yeah, well, your mute birdpussy friend roped me into it."

Ariel blinked.  "Erm..."

"And, for all we know, this could very well end with me at the end of a rope," Echo muttered.  "Granted, that's being very generous.  After all, the shitheads at Bleak's Plummet threatened to do worse to me.  In a way, they kinda already did, considering how they went to town on my wing'n'shit so many years back."  He turned to look at her again, munching on some berries.  "Mrmmfff... but if things really do go south... you can just—y'know—turn your pretty head or whatever.  No telling how juicy it'll end up being."  He squinted.  "How old are you, again?"

"Uhhh—"

"Chick like you could have been a model.  Maybe something even fuzzier."  He gulped.  "Hey, if it pays, it pays, right?  But... nope... you gave it all up for sword-clashing and headbutting.  Which is sexy too, I guess, but it's still something you've sacrificed, which I guess we both can relate to... even if a rainbow-streaking pegasus and a badass griffon did me in.  But you?  Looks like they drafted you from the Booty Farm.  Top crops, too.  Granted... that's just me thinking aloud.  I did come straight from prison, after all.  Lemme tell you... it can get super lonely and cold in there.  But I'm a pretty funny guy once you get to know me.  Out of curiosity—what's your astrological sign?"

"I like mares," Ariel said, frowning.

"H-hey!  What a coincidence!"  Echo smiled, fangs showing.  "I like mares too!  Who doesn't like mares!  Everypony likes mares!  Especially... ponies who've been in prison... who aren't mares... and just abandoned their best friend for a suicidal trip to the edge of the world with the full knowledge that an entire civilization is supermerrygoroundpissed at him and the entire motley crew of assholes in his fugitive party all on account of a super sketchy but kinda sorta important lie they told to ensure the spread of extra harmonious disharmony across the continent and wow holy shit when should I have stopped talking?"

"About two minutes ago," Ariel grunted.

"Right."  Echo cleared his throat and shoved his muzzle into the bag of fruit.  "Mrmmmff... thanks for the berries."

"Uh huh."  Ariel turned tail and flapped her wings.  "I'm gonna go feed Rainbow now."

"Yeah, I bet you are."

Meanwhile...

...across the cliffside.

"Alright... alright, y'all..."  Applejack adjusted her hat before waving her ghostly forelimbs.  "Lemme see if I've caught up any."  She peered at the other mares with thin green eyes.  "Verlax was a pony... who was a dragon... and her sister Axan who is a pony... who also was a dragon... killed off Nevlamas who was a dragon... but was previously a pony?"

"No no no no no no..."  Pinkie shook her head.  "Nevlamas was never a pony!  But she did totally gobble up a whole buncha ponies to become as horrible as she was!"

"Which was a dragon."

"A chaotic two-mouthed super insane magic dragon!"  Pinkie grinned.  "Who ate ponies!"

"Which ones didn't eat ponies?"

"Verlax."

"Wait... so Axan ate ponies?"

"No, that was Nevlamas most definitely!" Pinkie said.  "But Axan may have eaten ponies too!  She was a super mean meanie-head for a while."

"She did burn ponies," Twilight Sparkle said, fidgeting.  "Crucified them to wooden effigies and set them ablaze via her brood."

"Yeah!"  Pinkie nodded.  "So maybe she had a barbecue every once and a while!"

"Land's sakes!"  Applejack grimaced.  She glanced nervously across the cliffs again.  "So... which one of them ponies is Axan?"

"Over there!"  Pinkie pointed.  "The violet one!  Remna!  But she's totally a good guy now!  Well... half-good guy, I suppose, which is better than not-good."

"Remna?"

"That's right!"

"I thought she was Axan!"

"She is!"

Applejack squinted.  "So how come y'all are callin' her 'Remna?'"

"Because she is Remna!"  Pinkie said.  "And Axan!"

"But... erm... wait..."  Applejack lifted her hat to rub her aching head.  "...wasn't there a 'Verlaxion' as well?"

"No no no no... Verlaxion and Verlax are both the same... well.. they were both the same... but then they both died... in that she died... in that it was just one dragon—er... pony... pony dragon... a pony who was a dragon but who also was a pony!"

"Granted, she chose to be, it would seem," Twilight said.

"Chose to be what?" Applejack asked.

"A pony," Twilight said.

"Verlaxion?"

"Verlax."

"Yeah."  Pinkie nodded.  "Unlike Axan who didn't choose to be Remna... but is now Remna forevermore, due to Mortuana's spell."

"And which dragon was Mortuana again—?"

"No no no no no no, AJ, Mortuana was an alicorn."  Pinkie smirked.  "Just like Whitemane and Luna and Celestia and Cadance back west!"

"Cadance...?"  Applejack exhaled, cross-eyed.

"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!"  Twilight Sparkle smiled wide.  "My former babysitter, and now my sister-in-law after having married Shining Armor!"

"Shining... Armor?"

"Yes!  My brother!"

"You have a brother?"

"Yup!"

Silence.

"Ernnnghhhh..."  Applejack rubbed both sides of her head.  "Okay... can we—maybe—go back just a little bit further?"

"Awwwwwwwwww..."  Pinkie pouted.  "You mean you seriously can't keep up, AJ?  It's so simple!"

"To y'all, maybe.  But... let's try this again."  Applejack waved a hoof.  "Let's go back to that 'Leathermare Confederates' stuff.  That actually sounded mighty interesting."

"Unnnngh..."  Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes.  "Really, AJ?  The Ledomaritans?"

"Ledomare takes forever," Twilight moaned.

"Yeah!  But I wanna know more about this 'Pilate' feller!  It just blows my mind that there are zebras out there who don't rhyme all the time and—"  At long last, Applejack sighed, then glanced down at the two ponies draped against her.  "Rarity... Fluttershy... do ya mind?!  I'm tryin' my darnedest to get edumacated here!"

"Mmmmmmmm..."  Rarity resumed nuzzling Applejack's orange fur.  She and Fluttershy had been hugging the ghostly farm mare that entire time.  "We can't help it, darlinnnnng..."

"It's so... so wonderful having you back, Applejack."  Fluttershy sniffled.  Smiling, she closed her teary eyes and nuzzled Applejack's side.  "Oh goodness, we've missed you so... sooooo much."

"Guhhh!"  Applejack shivered.  "Jumpin' jackrabbits!  That gh-ghost tickles!"

"Heeheehee!"

Rarity stuck her tongue out.  "Get used to it."

"Seriously... can we just... ungh..."  Applejack rolled her eyes and eventually swept the two closer into opposite side hugs.  "C'mere, y'all."  Twilight and Pinkie giggled while the other three embraced each other.

Rainbow Dash heard this from afar.  She wasn't looking at them.  She sat on an outcropping of rock, staring east.  Her muzzle was straight... her eyes dull—reflecting a flicker of color that only she could see.

After the end of many, many sighs, Rainbow flinched at the sound of hooves scuffling directly behind her.

"Uhm... I... uh..."  Ariel dropped a satchel down.  "The berries we picked earlier."  She gulped.  "I haven't seen you eat since we flew out from Starkiss.  Maybe you could... y'know... get some food in your belly?"

"I'll eat when I need to," Rainbow grumbled.

Ariel stared at her.  "Is... is that going to be soon?"

Rainbow sighed.  There was no other response.

Ariel looked around.  Her eyes swept past the ghostly mares and the Herald and the rockfaces behind them.

"Where..."  Ariel's muzzle fumbled for words.  "Your friends.  Are they—?"

"They're about twenty feet behind us," Rainbow said.

"Really?"  Ariel blinked.  "That far away?"

"Yeah.  Seems like with each beacon I've reached since the Grand Choke, their 'leash' gets longr and longer."  Rainbow exhaled.  "Now that I've got Applejack, I bet they could fly the five hundred meter dash."

"You've been silent during most of the flight here," Ariel said.  "Don't you want to... y'know...?"

"Hmmm?"

Ariel shrugged.  "Catch up with them?"

"They're doing a fine job filling Applejack in on everything on their own," Rainbow muttered.  "Wouldn't be right to screw any of that up."

"What's to screw up?"  Ariel remarked.  "They're your friends."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow said nothing.  She continued to sit there, staring east.

Ariel bit her lip.  "The berries are fresh... but they've just been picked.  If... if they sit for too long—"

"Pass them by Bard," Rainbow said.  "He seems like he could use a pick-me-up."

"I already did."

"Well, cool... I guess."

Ariel sighed.  She squatted down behind Rainbow Dash.  "I... I know it's not any of my business, but... did you... like... have a grudge against Applejack or something?"

For the first time since Ariel stopped by, Rainbow turned to make eye-contact with her.  "No," she said breathily.  "Far friggin' from it."

Ariel gulped.  "You've been dealing with... so much crap for so long... especially from Verlax and... well..."  She shrugged.  "I guess I sorta hoped—selfishly, even—that getting your final friend back would actually bring you happiness."

Rainbow blinked.  She glanced at her friends in the distance.  "Yeah... well..."  She looked east again.  "I'm... still not too cool with what it's taken to get them back."  She cleared her throat.  "Whatever.  I still got important stuff to do.  The girls can get Applejack up to snuff."

Ariel peered at her.  "Do you even remember what it was like to be happy?"

Rainbow flashed her a look.  After a few seconds, her brow furrowed.  "Pass the berries around again.  Maybe Kepler or Flynn could do with something to munch on.  Best they do before Big Show gets to 'em."

Ariel quietly nodded.  She scooped up the satchel, then turned to fly away.  She paused, however, then muttered aside:  "I was mad at my mother for a long... long time."

"Yeah."  Rainbow's nostrils flared.  "You told me."

"It's not enough to tell tales," Ariel said.  "Truth or lies... nopony can ever feel anything unless they've lived it... or lived without it."  She turned to look at Rainbow, her eyes glossy.  "When I finally understood the Herald... and the things that my mother had committed most of her life to—including the memories that could have been ours—I realized how hard it must have been for her.  She loved me... and it was because of that love that she chose to dedicate the bulk of her existence to preserving this world... because I was in it."

Rainbow said nothing.

Ariel turned, squinting at her.  "What you chose to do, Rainbow... you chose to do for your family... and they are your family... even if you're too hung up on the dismal nature of recent events to embrace that fact."  She gulped.  "A continent full of idiots just doesn't compare.  It shouldn't."

"They're not all idiots, Ariel," Rainbow muttered.  "And it wasn't even a choice, when you think about it."  Rainbow sighed, her ears drooping.  "Even so, I could have... done more to protect Robhredden's sanity."

"At what cost?" Ariel remarked.  "If you tried reasoning with them—even truthfully—they would have killed you where you stood.  They would have killed us all.  And what of your friends then, Rainbow?  And the whole world that they belong to?"

"Doesn't mean I shouldn't have tried," Rainbow hissed.  "Doesn't mean that they wouldn't have... h-have..."  She clenched her eyes shut.  Rainbow exhaled slowly, then muttered, "Forget it.  Verlax set everything in stone from day one... literally."  She gulped.  "Her choice or my choice, it's been made... and here we are and here we need to keep going."

Ariel was shivering slightly at this point.  When she next spoke, it was in a wavering voice:  "Rainbow Dash... if you need anypony... anypony whatsoever just..."  A whimper.  "Just to hug you—"

"I'm good, thanks," Rainbow said.  A few heartbeats later, and she flinched slightly.  She turned to look at Ariel with a sympathetic expression.  "But... like... if you need somepony to hold—"

"No."  Ariel sniffled, wiping her cheeks dry.  "No... I think... we b-both know what that would mean for me."  She tried to smile, but it came out crooked.  "I'll see if Flynn and Kepler are still hungry.  You're... you're s-so thoughtful, R-Rainbow."  And she flew off in a gray streak.

Rainbow bit her lip, looking on.

Not long after, from behind:

"From what I've learned about mortals," Remna spoke.  "The two of you could copulate and still remain relatively platonic."

"Snkkkt!"  Rainbow spun about, snarling at her.  "Really?!  Friggin' really?!"

Remna stared back with dull green eyes.  "I was simply attempting to make a suggestion that might alleviate your stress—"

"Save it for the end of the world!" Rainbow grumbled, sitting back down and folding her forelimbs in a huff.  "You'll get better response by peeing into the abyss!"

Remna inhaled.  "Very well."  She paced about the cliffside.  "As we venture deeper into the Twilight Lands, we will need our swiftest fliers to scout the north and south horizons.  There's no telling when a stray pack of windigoes might cross our path and—"

"And she just switches gears like a Celestia-forsaken ten speed!" Rainbow rambled, waving a hoof.  "I mean..."  She flashed Remna an angry glare.  "How do you friggin' do it, Axan?!"

Remna simply stared.

Rainbow fumed:  "We just took the blame for the cataclysmic death of a goddess!  You just watched your immortal sister die, for crying out loud!  So how do you do it?!"  She shook.  "How do you remain so cold and unfeeling and steely all the frickin' time?!"

After a few seconds, Remna calmly spoke:  "The Austraeoh is still alive.  All is not lost—"

"Is that it?!"  Rainbow Dash stood up, pacing angrily across the mountainside.  "Is that all you friggin' care about?!  'Oh!  Wow!  An entire civilization is now being ripped to shreds by thousands upon thousands of windigoes!  All because Verlax wanted to stick it to Austraeoh!  The Austraeoh is sooooo cool!  The Austraeoh is sooooo important!  The Austraeoh is the Keaneigh Reeves of Uro-whatever!  Thank the stars SHE is still alive and kicking to carry the huge friggin' weight of friggin' everything!'"  She spun about—hooves scuffling—to glare at the violet mare.  "Well, what if it's all bunk, huh?!  What if Whitemane, Mortuana, the Herald, Verlax, and every other dwarf around the campfire is all mistaken about me!  What will we have sacrificed then?!"

Remna glared.  "Do you truly, honestly believe that?"

Rainbow blinked at her.  "Guhhh!"  She tossed her hooves and plopped back on her haunches, gnashing her teeth.  After a few seconds of angrily rocking back and forth, she grumbled:  "I truly... honestly believe that this universe hates me."

"Funny."

"'Funny?'"  Rainbow squinted at Remna.  "What could you possibly find 'funny?'"

"In acquiring the flame from the Fifth Seed, you liberated the last spirit of your friends, did you not?" Remna remarked.

"Heh..."  Rainbow rolled her eyes.  "Is this a sincere attempt at rationalizing my heroism, or are you just mincing Ariel's fuzzy words after eavesdropping?"

"I had many a conversation with Mortuana shortly after she imbued me with this equine disguise," Remna said.

"Yeah..."  Rainbow muttered.  "And a fat lot of good that did us against Verlax."  She rubbed a hoof over her short, feathery mane hairs.  "Not to mention my 'lame wing' schtick."

"When the time has come for a change of subject, I will inform you," Remna growled, eyeslits flickering.  A few tense seconds later, she continued more calmly:  "Foolish or not, my decision to take on Remna's form was something Mortuana admired.  She then proceeded to inform me that the ancient texts of the Herald speak of how the flames of Eljunbyro are meant to complete the Austraeoh.  I came to take the meaning behind such prophecy both literally and figuratively."  She gestured with a violet hoof.  "Reuniting with the Elements of Harmony—with your friends—does not simply signify progress along your journey.  But—rather—they confirm that you are transforming into the being that you were meant to be."

"What in the buck is that supposed to mean?" Rainbow grumbled.

"Essentially that—the further the Spark becomes empowered by the flame—the more she and her spirit becomes acquainted with the necessary stakes required to complete the Austraeoh's journey."  Remna exhaled.  "I had hoped—ever since encountering the Ynanhluutr symbols—that you would have grown fully aware of your true purpose."

"Heh... in other words..."  Rainbow squinted up at Remna.  "The further I go in this journey... and the crazier and more disharmonious crud I do... then all the better?"

"Something along that lines, yes," Remna said with a nod.

"Heheheh..."  Rainbow shook her head.  "I think you're misunderstanding Mortuana's translations."  Rainbow glared at her again.  "Because you make it sound like I'm supposed to become more like you."

Remna breathed calmly.  "You are a mortal attempting to accomplish things with immortal repercussions."

"And just like that... you start to sound like Verlax."  Rainbow folded her forelimbs, frowning.  "That's what this whole cruddy situation all amounted to, y'know.  Verlax wanted to make me think, act, and quack like a dragon Divine."  Her teeth showed as she sneered:  "Well if getting to the Midnight Armory means that I gotta give up every awesome thing that I once believed in, then we can friggin' stop right here!"

Remna cocked her head to the side.  "I am afraid that you've lost me, Austraeoh."

"For so long, I hid the truth from Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity!"  Rainbow panted.  "I lied  about the horrible things I had done!  How far I had distanced myself from the Rainbow Dash that they knew!  And because I let the absence of truth cripple me for so long, I ended up breaking loose at the last second!  And that's when crud went down in the Quade!  In ways that it never should have!"  She took a deep, shuddering breath.  "And after I won back their trust, I tried... I-I tried so very hard to be this 'new me'... unabashedly... unashamedly... with my best friends fully watching and supporting me.  And guess what!  In the end, despite being brave and daring—even to the point of stupidity—I still find myself encumbered in a bigass lie!"  She gritted her teeth.  "Well, buck it.  Being fake and being a try-hard have both gotten me nowhere!  From now on—mark my words—I'm going to do things the old Rainbow Dash way!"  She smirked, as if in full affirmation of the voice-cracking outburst.

With a calm breath, Remna inquired:  "And just what—precisely—would the 'old Rainbow Dash' do to get to the Midnight Armory now?"

"I dunno... just... not p-put so much thought into it!"  Rainbow growled, standing up again—if only to pace back and forth.  "Because that's my problem right there!  I think too much!  That's how I've let jerks like Shell and Nightshade and Verlax get to me!  Well... no more thinking!  I'll just headbutt my way to the dark side and back again!  Yeah!  Ask questions later!  Save the day Ponyville style!"

"Like you did with me?"

Rainbow spun around.  "Huh?"

Remna's violet brow furrowed.  "I believe I've met this... 'old Rainbow Dash' before."  She clenched her jaw.  "She flew full-speed into my lair... alone... and destroyed my horde."

Rainbow blinked.  "Well, it worked, didn't it?!"

"And after you were pummeled to a bloody mess... was it that same spunk and determination that brought you back to life?"

Rainbow Dash opened her muzzle... but could only bite down on her lip.

"I think we both know what happened that day in Silvadel, Austraeoh," Remna said.  Her eyeslits flared.  "I murdered that 'old Rainbow Dash.'  And the devices that were used to bring her back..."  She slowly shook her head.  "They were far from harmonious.  And though it may have been a lingering shred of Equestrian magic that kept your spirit intact... I don't believe you need me to tell you that the mare who emerged from the ashes in Ledomare was irrecoverably changed."

Rainbow Dash shivered slightly.  Nevertheless, she said, "I... don't remember what it's like to be fearless anymore, Axan."  She gulped.  "Belle... Pilate... Kera... the whole Noble Jury."  She winced.  "They were my friends, and yet... I wonder... if they were also excuses..."  Her ears drooped.  "...so that I wouldn't have to put myself into such a crazy spot again... like I did in Silvadel..."

"I believe you're confusing your moral standards of courage and comraderie, Austraeoh."

"And who's to judge?"  Rainbow arched an eyebrow.  "You?"

"I am not without an inkling of emotion, if that's what you wish to know," Remna said.  "Do you think I hatched my brood simply because I had a hoard to guard?"

Rainbow blinked.  "Didn't you?"

"Hrmmm..."  Remna exhaled.  "It was a Divine that hatched the five of us before the dawn on this plane.  All of my existence, I've struggled to ascertain the same spirit that leads one to create, immortal or otherwise."  She trotted forward.  "You seem to enjoy implying that Verlax and I are similar.  There is some truth to that... albeit a somber truth.  Verlax discovered something unique... something special.  It was something that Sturke mastered long ago... but has been lost to the rest of us.  But as soon as Verlax embarked upon the dark side to seek out Endrax, she was on the road to discovering it.  And—I fear—she embraced it too late... as evidenced by the mad ramblings of her last breath."

"What?"  Rainbow blinked.  "Embraced what?"

"Empathy, of course," Remna said.  "And love... to some extent.  Verlax—for all of her traitorous acts—truly believed that she 'loved' her 'foals.'  If she was still alive, she would probably confess that the lengths that she went to destroy Rohbredden were motivated by her adoration for the very same civilization... and all of its inhabitants.  By extension, her obsession with 'completing the circle' has been based solely on her desire to preserve all living things... especially those with the noble intelligence to craft the pieces of Urohringr."  A breathy sigh.  "Alas, if she had taken the time to understand the emotions blooming within her—rather than surrender to the epiphanies she discovered amidst chaos—then perhaps she would have found a way to assist the Austraeoh without a needless sacrifice."

Rainbow gazed thoughtfully into the mountains.  "And... and... uh..."  She looked at Remna again.  "What about you, Axan?"

"Long ago, I chose a brooding life of isolation—also at the behest of an entire civilization.  In many ways, I'm just as detestable as Verlax.  Entire generations of mortal Silvadelians were never foaled—all because of how and where I chose to nest.  This would still remain the case to day, even to the point of the extinction of all surviving ponies in the ruins of that thrice-charred kingdom, had it not been for a single solitary spark that turned me."

Rainbow Dash blinked.

"The 'old you' was brazen enough... daring enough to change my stance on the death of all things, Austraeoh."  Remna's brow furrowed.  "But not in your act of courage... but in the repercussions that followed.  In the midst of obliterating you, I realized that you were the Austraeoh of old... the very real Spark spoken of by mortals and immortals since the beginning of light in this realm... and I was just seconds from extinguishing you... the last hope for Urohringr."  She took a deep breath.  "I felt something in that moment... a feeling that I had never experienced before."  She gulped.  "It was enough to give up my own life... and the lives of all the broodlings that I thought I might one day learn to love... for I realized there was something bigger than myself and my sisters... and I was only going to be the ruin of the world if I allowed that Spark to fizzle into nothingness."

Rainbow fidgeted.  "I... never put much thought into what convinced you to spare my life."

"No.  I suppose not.  You didn't put much thought into anything."  Remna breathed.  "Which is why I realized that I had to take it upon myself and observe you from afar... so that your courageous zeal would not be the end of you... and of something of greater importance than either of us can define."  Her emerald eyes darted aside.  "Time went on.  You gathered companions.  I never truly understood the poignance of such comraderie, but I soon learned it was better to not question it.  Your friendship... your natural inclination to defend and protect all living things around you is your greatest strength.  So long as you have something to be loyal to, you can surpass any obstacle that you face."

"Yeah, but after what Verlax did—"

"Surpassing obstacles does not imply perfection," Remna firmly said.  "Nor invulnerability.  When one is loyal to everyone, then one will inevitably have to betray more than a few choice affirmations within that covenant."  Remna waved a hoof.  "Verlax believed this about you more than anyone.  It was her ultimate hope to hammer the reality of it into your mortal mind.  Whether or not it was insane of her does not matter. She had more time and resources at her disposal than any other soul in known comprehension."

Rainbow shuddered.  "And what do you believe?"

"I believe that you will inevitably have to break more than a few of your own moral standards by the time you've surpassed the challenges of the dark side," Remna said.  She then shook her head.  "But I do not believe it was necessary for Verlax to have sacrificed so many in the excuse of some sort of cosmic 'preparation.'  That is why I confronted her... and ultimately chose this form alongside Mortuana to aid the Herald.  I had hopes that I could have assisted you in bypassing my sister's trials.  Alas... she was stronger and more perceptive than any of us could have guessed.  All things considered... I have failed."

Rainbow swallowed hard.  "You tried your best.  You sacrificed so much, Axan—"

"And just like you in Silvadel, it amounted to only so much," Remna said.  "While it wasn't enough to save Verlax, perhaps it will be enough to save her so-called 'foals.'"

Rainbow sighed.  "They'll be plagued by friggin' windigoes for lifetimes.  Even if every single pony, griffon, tribe, Continentalist and Colonialist learns to get along, I don't think the friendship will be strong enough to ward off that many banshees..."

"Perhaps not overnight.  But with time, Austraeoh... beyond the veil of mere mortal perception..."  Remna slowly nodded.  "...I trust that Rohbredden will learn to thrive again.  And not solely through Verlax's mechanizations, but because of the Spark that you've introduced through the likes of the Order and the Talon... the ones who remain to guide these foals into a new age, foggy as it may be."  Her emerald eyes narrowed.  "You may think you've sown only destruction and chaos here... but you've made friendships here too.  That—more than anything—will be an aid to these mortals."  She swallowed.  "I've observed enough to know it will be the case."

Rainbow blinked.

"As for what lies beyond..."  Remna waved a hoof at the hazy horizon to the east.  "Verlax has evidently taught you lessons... just not the ones she thinks.  She isn't the one who empowers you, after all.  Your friends... the Herald... your hometown and your memories.  These are the things that you are loyal to.  Of all the Elements you have 'sacrificed,' I seriously doubt you are capable of extinguishing that.  And I suspect you are experienced and tempered enough to restore order to this plane, dark side or light, so that what's happened here in Rohbredden will seem like a mere dint in the overall luster of the future you will bring about... and even that will likely smoothe in time.  Silvadel is a free kingdom today, after all.  What more will your loyalty to the whole of Urohringr accomplish?"

Silence.

"Heh... wow... okay," Rainbow Dash muttered, brushing a hoof over her short-short mane.  "I... uh... I guess I was wrong, Axan."  She gulped.  "You're a bit more feelsy than I take you for."

"Does that mean you feel better about what transpired back in Frostknife?"

"Friggin' no."  Rainbow frowned.  "What, are you crazy?"  A heavy sigh, and she gazed east.  "Still... it doesn't hurt to hear those words."

"Hmmm... very well..."  Remna nodded.  "I still think you and the fast flier should copulate."

"Euughhhh..."  Rainbow face-hoofed.  Nevertheless, a chuckle or two escaped the edge of her muzzle.  "Morty gave you a dead body, alright.  That's for sure."

"Would you care to explain that?"

Before Rainbow could respond, she heard a growling voice from the side.  She and Remna looked over.

Bard was brushing off Wildcard.  Frowning, the stallion barked a few gruff words, then marched off to linger by himself.  Wildcard fidgeted in place... ultimately giving up and turning away from his Desperado friend.

Rainbow Dash grimaced.  "Trouble on board the train?"

"Those two... have been especially distracted since we left Verlax's throneroom."

"Well, who can blame 'em?"  Rainbow shrugged.  "Wildcard reunited with his 'sworn brother' Keris... and then had to give him and Seraphimus the cold shoulder."

"I speak of the one who attempts to sing," Remna muttered.  "Bard has been especially moody.  Even by dragon standards."

Rainbow bit his lip.  "Something's up..."

"They've been dying to speak with you."

Rainbow looked over.  "Huh?"

"The Herald... about what you experienced back at the Fifth Seed."  Remna's gaze narrowed.  "We've... all been desirous of having a deep conversation... and not just about emotions or remorse."

"Yeah..."

"After all, Mortuana has put me in charge of this team, and we're currently a pony short," Remna said.  "It would be most advantageous if I knew where to escort them."  She glanced east.  "Do you see Yaerfaerda, still?"

"Uhhhhh..."

"Does it lead to the Sixth Seed?"

"It's... complicated, actually," Rainbow said, wincing.

Remna stared at her.  "I'm listening..."

Rainbow took a deep breath.  "You're not the only one who deserves to be."  She motioned with her hoof.  "Gather the others.  Time for a much-needed powow."





"'Utaan?'"

"Yes,"  Rainbow Dash nodded, turning to face the huddled group.  "Utaan."

The Herald and Rainbow's ghostly friends lingered in a semi-circle as the pegasus paced amongst them.

"Whatever it is, I was told to seek it out," Rainbow Dash said.  "I'm guessing it's what I'll find at the Sixth Seed."

"How... precisely..."  Flynn squinted.  "...did you perceive this word?"

"It was spoken to me," Rainbow said.

"The Hell?"  Logan made a face.  "Spoken?"

Rainbow's hooves scuffled to a stop as he turned to face him.  "When I make contact with the flames of the beacon, I... I almost always have a vision."

"A vision?"  Ariel blinked.

"It's like I'm whisked away to some crazy spot in the cosmos... floating above the world... or some recreation of it."  Rainbow gulped.  "And... like... this voice speaks to me.  Usually, it doesn't make any sense.  At other times..."  Rainbow's eyes narrowed on a fixed point in the distance.

Twilight and Applejack curiously craned their necks.

Rainbow gulped.  "I think they sensed Verlax for a while there."

"Who did?" Flynn asked.

"Whoever's been speaking to the spirit of Austraeoh... whoever's been speaking to me."  Rainbow turned to look at the group again.  "But now that Verlax is no longer holding any piece of the flame hostage, it's like I'm starting to get an uninterrupted message."

Wildcard nodded.  He gestured to Flynn.

"Alright, then," Flynn said, turning to face Rainbow Dash again.  "But—uninterrupted or not—it doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

"Believe me," Rainbow Dash muttered.  "They rarely do."

"'Beyond,'" Kepler said.

Everyone turned to face him.

"What was that?" Logan remarked.

"'Utaan,'" Kepler clarified.  "It means 'beyond.'"  He glanced at the rest of the group through his spectacles.  "I may not know the significance of this trranslation, but it matches the ancient rrunes hoofed down by the ancient pegasi... the angels."

"Then I bet even the Xonans would understand it," Twilight Sparkle remarked.

"Hold up..."  Applejack raised a hoof.  "Remind me.  Who are these friends of Rainbow's again?  The Noble Jury?"

"No, Applejack, darling," Rarity corrected.  "The Herald."

"Oh... and which one is Khao?"

"No, they... mmmfff..."  Rarity face-hoofed.

"You remember all of the ancient runes?" Ariel asked Kepler.

Kepler smiled through his tusks.  "I have rread those ancient texts in Wyverrn point backwarrds and forrwarrds.  It was how I meditated forr yearrs, afterr all.  Ha Hah!"

"And you don't remember anything that could signify what 'Utaan' means?" Rainbow asked.

Kepler gravely shook his head.  "I am most sorrry, Rrainbow one. But the meaning eludes me.  The rrune has many potential uses—both literral and figurrative—depending on what otherr rrunes it is matched with."

"What about 'Urohringr?'" Twilight asked.  "Could it have something to do with that?"

Rainbow turned towards Kepler.  "'Utaan Urohringr?'" she suggested.

"Mmmmmm..."  Kepler stroked his hairy chin.  "A possibility.  Howeverr... you arre about to venturre to the Sixth Seed... and beyond that... the darrk side of the plane.  If therre is anything that you arre destined to surrpass, it is the limitations of the light side."

"Unless..."  Ariel blinked contemplatively.  "...the angels are sending Rainbow a message to suggest there's something more?"

"Like what?" Logan asked.

"I dunno."  Ariel shrugged.  "She's been lighting up all the beacons of Yaerfaerda, right?  Maybe she's... undergoing some sort of transformation?"

Rainbow rubbed her forehead, sighing.  "Sure doesn't feel like it..."

Remna squinted.  "What is the current state of Yaerfaerda, Austraeoh?"

Rainbow tilted her weary head up.

The symbol flickered in the distance, cycling through random colors.

"It's... difficult to say," Rainbow muttered.  "And difficult to look at."

Bard glanced over from where he stood with his forelimbs folded.

"Does... does it hurt you to observe?" Flynn asked.

"No.  Not really.  It just..."  Rainbow gulped.  "...never stays solid."

"Solid?"  Echo blinked.

"It keeps flashing... and each time with a different color," Rainbow said.  "To tell the truth, it's kinda dim."

Wildcard gestured.

Flynn translated:  "'That means it's far away, right?'"

"No.  Applejack's and Fluttershy's beacons were waaaaaaaay brighter."  Rainbow bit her lip, rubbing her head.  "I'm sorry, guys.  I just... can't describe it very well.  It's there... and I can see it... and I can take us to it.  But..."  She gulped.  "...I have no idea why it's flickering the way it is.  Perhaps this 'Utaan' nonsense is connected somehow?"

Remna glanced at Rainbow, then at the Herald.  "Perhaps some rest is in order."

Rainbow shuddered.  "We've waited long enough," she grumbled.  "We won't get anywhere by lazing around even more.  Plus, with windigoes about and the whole of Frostknife likely wanting to scalp me—"

"We won't have a point in getting anywhere if you are dead on your wings," Remna said firmly.  "I have yet to see you get any sleep... or relaxation of any kind.  If the Herald is to properly escort the Austraeoh to 'Utaan' or whatever may be her purpose, then she must preserve herself."

Ariel smirked bitterly.  "For once... I agree with the she-dragon."

"Darn tootin'!"  Applejack nodded.  "Yer lookin' mighty frazzled, Rainbow.  Reckon some shuteye would do ya some good."

Rainbow Dash bit her lip, gazing east.

Applejack raised an eyebrow.  "Rainbow?"  She cocked her head to the side.  "Are ya even listenin' to—"

"Fine," Rainbow spoke in the direction of the Herald.  "Some sleep it is."  She paced across the rocky plateau.  "But we can't be blind to the skies.  If the windigoes come, we need to take shifts guarding."

"A fine idea," Bard finally said.  "I'll take the first shift."

Wildcard glanced at him.

"You need some shuteye too," Bard grunted.  "Heaven knows there ain't no rest where we're goin' next."

"Bard..."  Ariel looked over.  "Perhaps it won't have to come to—"

"Y'all wanna come up with a better idea?!"  Bard frowned.

Ariel winced.  She exchanged mute glances with Flynn and Logan.

"Alrighty then.  It's settled."  Bard took a deep breath and marched—fuming—towards the edge of the cliffs.  "I'll holler if I see a single windigo.  Now y'all go kerplunk already."

Fluttershy gulped.  She pivoted about.  "Rainbow Dash—"

"He's right."  Rainbow was already curling up across a stretch of blankets.  "Lights out."

Fluttershy fidgeted.  She looked over at Applejack, then back at Rainbow Dash.

"Perhaps we should get some rest too, girls," Twilight said, patting Rarity's and Pinkie's shoulders.  Stifling a yawn, she murmured:  "It's been a while since we visited the Vanilla Zone."

"What's this..."  Applejack squinted.  "...'Vanilla Whatsit?'"

"Oh, you'll love it!"  Pinkie grinned.  "It's bright, silent, and the closest thing you'll ever experience to death!"

"Say what now?!"  Applejack grimaced.

"Ahem..."  Rarity gently took Applejack by the hoof.  "Perhaps if we showed it to you... more gracefully, dear."

"Well, alright..."  Applejack gulped.  "This better be worth it, now.  I ain't in no mood for spooks."

"Just trust us, Applejack," Twilight said, fading into a lavender mist along with the rest of the mares.  "Eventually—I promise—it will all make more sense."

"I believe ya."  Applejack turned about, her freckles flickering as she too faded into lavender.  "I just wish I knew what was eatin' Rainbow Dash so..."  And she was gone.

Rainbow's ears drooped.  She clenched her eyes shut... shivering as she fought the tears.  Eventually, despite her struggles, sleep found her.





Lieutenant Keris shuffled briskly into the depths of the Frosted Shelves.  The torchlit chambers were considerably less crowded now, affording the griffon plenty of room to navigate his way even deeper.  At last, he stumbled upon a gigantic mess hall that had been temporarily transformed into the new meeting area for the Court of Verlaxion.  Only a third of the delegates were present, but it was obvious from the presence of Hymnos and Chandler that it was sufficient enough to function... at least by their standards.

Professor Theanim Mane stood at the entrance to the chamber.  Upon hearing the clawscrapes of Keris' arrival, he turned to face the griffon.

"I am most sorry," Keris exhaled, coming to a stop before the stallion.  "For the past five hours, the Talon has been rounding up survivors from the outlying townships."  He gulped.  "Miraculously, the windigoes haven't entirely slaughtered the population of Frost Prefecture."

"Windigoes are chaotic, if nothing else," Theanim said with a nod.  "If there's anything to be grateful for in Verlaxion's release—it's that they no longer have a single mind to control them."

"In due time, they'll undoubtedly learn to herd by their own inclinations."  Keris sighed.  "I endeavor to have everyone in Rohbredden prepared with proper shelter by then."

"That will be a great deal easier in this Prefecture than in the ones to the east and west," Theanim said.  "Don't apologize for being preoccupied, Lieutenant.  You're looking out for your fellow Rohbreddenites.  We will all be leaning on you and the Talon during this dark time."

"Yes, well... if I had my way, I'd be in two places at once," Keris muttered.  "Out there, saving citizens... and in here, guarding the Court."  He narrowed his hawkeyes, gazing upon Chandler's and Hymnos' meeting.  "This doesn't look like an exclusive meeting to the Ministry."

"That's because it isn't," Theanim said, shaking his head.  "Chandler and Hymnos have spent the past hour reviewing news from the returning messengers."

"Oh?"

"There's been much damage caused to the Shoreline," Theanim explained.  "It seems as though the windigoes have been mostly drawn to water, at least for the time being.  Although the agricultural prefectures have suffered the touch of the windigoes, they were mostly spared as a whole.  Hymnos is mandating an emergency harvest of over half the surviving crops so that we may prepare for the next few months of shelter."

"Any word from the Colonialists?"

"I'm afraid not," Theanim said, shaking his head.  "But from the last observed movements of most westward windigoes, it would be a safe bet that they've reached Rust by now."  He shuddered.  "A pair of messengers returned from the seven seas, claiming to have spoken with ship captains who observed hundreds of windigoes flocking back east."

"So we know for a fact that several are returning to the mainland," Keris remarked.

"Yes.  But we don't know where they will make landfall.  Even still, many of the shoreline prefectures are being forcibly evacuated to the east."

"Where they'll assist with the emergency harvest?"

"Mmmm... yes and now," Theanim explained.  "While the Court is open to volunteers, the bulk of the workers will consist of the former occupants of the Frosted Shelves."

Keris squinted.  "You mean the prisoners are being released to do manual labor?"

"Under very... very close surveillance," Theanim said.  "Remember all of the new recruits that enlisted with the Ministry of Defense?"

"How could I not?"

"Well, they'll be guarding and assisting the prisoners."  Theanim Mane gazed back at the meeting.  "With the active members of the Central Guard overseeing them."

"That... sounds desperate at best," Keris remarked.

"You might find it hard to believe, but many ponies among both the prisoners and the recruits have expressed full willingness to comply," Theanim said.  "It would appear as though an epic spirit of togetherness has overcome the general populace... if only to combat the windigoes."

Keris exhaled slowly.  "Then, perhaps, what Rainbow has hoped for is actually transpiring."

Theanim looked at him.

Keris clarified:  "Prisoners and military recruits working side by side?  It's certainly far from all-out civil war."

Theanim sighed.  "I wouldn't be too quick to declare success, Lieutenant."

Keris raised an eyecrest.  "Trouble with the Order?"

"Oh no.  The Order is thoroughly by my side.  Some of them even see fit to promote me to head of the science division."

"Somehow... you don't sound quite so proud."

"Hrmmmff..."  Theanim's nostrils flared.  "It's not my chief concern."  He pointed at the meeting.  "Chandler is..."

Keris' feathery brow furrowed.  "What has he done?"

"Shhh..."  Theanim gestured.  "I think you're about to find out..."

At that precise moment, Grand Magistrate Hymnos banged her gavel.  "Then by unanimous vote, it is settled!" she proclaimed.  "Project Vanquish is a go.  On behalf of the Court, I extend my appreciation to the Defense Ministry for assisting us in this time of great need.  May Verlaxion's spirit strengthen us all."

Almost immediately, everypony stood up and wandered away from their seats, pausing only to murmur with one another.  Brye Chandler and several officers of the Central Guard trotted straight for the exit.

Keris' beak hung agape.  He glanced aside at Theanim.  "Project... Vanquish...?"

Theanim winced.  "It's just what it sounds like."

Keris blinked.  His hawkeyes twitched, and he rushed forward to meet Chandler on the way out.  "Defense Minister... surely you do not plan to... to go after the Rogue?"

Chandler calmly blinked at him.  "Of course not, Lieutenant."  He pointed.  "Two Battallions consisting of the Central Guard's finest soldiers will be chasing that monster down."  His eyes glared.  "I will simply be accompanying them."

"Defense Minister..."  Keris gulped, standing in close so he could whisper.  "Chandler... do not do this.  Do not throw more souls into the fire."

"That fire has been allowed to burn for far too long, Keris," Chandler muttered back.  "The Rainbow Rogue has slain our very Goddess.  You were there."  He tilted his chin up.  "Blighted or not, you saw it yourself.  Would you actually ask that we simply let the beast go?"

"The damage has been done," Keris said firmly.  "The Central Guard is needed here.  In Rohbredden!"  He slowly shook his head.  "If we divide our strength to chase after an unstoppable foe—"

"As I said, Lieutenant... it is only two battalions," Chandler said.  "The Court and the Ministry have agreed to leave the protection of Rohbredden in the capable hooves of the majority of the Central Guard..."  His brow furrowed.  "...as well as in the wise claws of the Talon.  Or—perhaps—that sincere faith is unfounded?"

Keris frowned.  "This is a mistake.  You know it."

"I'm done making mistakes," Chandler grunted.  "For so long, I lacked the faith... and the courage to defend our Queen's honor.  And look where it has brought us.  Deceived... davastated... desolate."  His eyes glinted as his muzzle grew long.  "Verlaxion's mercy has changed me... but not swiftly enough.  Her blood is on my hooves as much as it is on your claws.  Don't we owe it to our grandfoals and our grandfoals' grandfoals to at least say that we did everything that we could do to avenge our fallen Goddess?"

Keris merely gaped at him.

"I've already sent hundreds of pegasi and griffons into the east prefectures to perform reconnaissance," Chandler said.  "As soon as any of them finds a single trace of the Rainbow Rogue and her allies, they will report back to us... and we shall set out to slaughter her in the name of Verlaxion."  With a deep breath, Chandler brushed past Keris—making for the far end of the Frosted Shelves.  "In the meantime, Project Vanquish is in full effect.  I shall disembark with the soldiers in thirty-six hours."

Keris and Theanim looked on as Chandler and his subordinates made their exit.

"If they catch up to the Herald," Theanim spoke, "They will do whatever is in their power to eliminate Rainbow Dash and her companions."

"I know."  Keris nodded.  "No doubt Rainbow's prepared for this.  While I can expect the mare to try to find a peaceful solution—"

"Chandler will stop at nothing until she's dead," Theanim finished.  "I don't see a conceivable way the Herald can fend them off without inflicting lethal force."

"Granted, it's precisely what the foals of Verlaxion expect of her," Keris said.

"Perhaps so, Lieutenant."  Theanim looked aside.  "But it's not what Rainbow would desire... or any of us for that matter."

Keris clenched his beak tighter.

"...am I correct?"

"I have to intervene somehow," Keris said.  "If any further suffering is to be avoided... if Rainbow is to make it safely to the other side..."  His hawkeyes narrowed.  "...I must be a part of this Project Vanquish."

Theanim blinked.  "You mean... you desire to have the Talon join Chandler's expedition?"

Keris exhaled.  "It's the only conceivable way I can think of being in a strategic position to prevent another holocaust."

"But... do you think just the four of you is enough to have any influence?"

"I do not know, Professor?"

"... ... ...what of the Commander?"

Keris turned to face Theanim.

"I'm sorry..."  Theanim gulped.  "Former Commander."  He raised an eyebrow.  "If she were to speak on the Talon's behalf..."

"You were there to see her give up her commission, Theanim," Keris said.  "I haven't seen her since."

"Still... if she was to come around..."  Theanim looked at Hymnos and the other delegates.  "I highly suspect somepony would listen."

Keris gazed ahead.  At last, after a fuming breath, he muttered:  "I have to tell her."

Theanim did a double-take.  "I beg your pardon?"

"I must tell Seraphimus the truth," Keris said.  "About Verlaxion... about the windigoes... about Rainbow Dash."

"Lieutenant, that's..."  Theanim winced.  "Keris, that is a very... very dangerous idea."

"I know..."

"Assuming she even had the faculty to believe you, it could jeopardize everything that we and Rainbow Dash have sacrificed here."  Theanim stammered, "Just her knowledge alone could cause a structural collapse within the surviving Prefectures!"

"I do not believe that Seraphimus is capable of doing that," Keris insisted.  "Either way... we need her... and it is a matter of honor."  He gulped.  "I must tell her.  It is my burden to bear."

Theanim Mane sighed.  He hung his head and eventually spoke:  "I have not enjoyed this grand farce one bit... but even I understand the value of remaining steadfast in proclaiming it."  He gulped.  "I may not agree with your decision, Lieutenant, but I respect it.  If you so desire to alert your former Commander, then you have my support... whole heartedly."

Keris nodded before shuffling off.  "Once Seraphimus knows, it will be her support that we will depend on..."






"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"It's loose!"

"By the Spark, it's coming!"

"Let us out!"

"Please!  Somepony let us out!"

Ponies, rams, and gazelle clambered across rusty metal darkness.  They banged their hooves desperately on the doors, screaming in terror.

Then...

Hissing.

Snarling.

Drooling.

It surged towards them, sinking talons and teeth into soft flesh.

One by one, the victims gargled their own juices, spasming in pain as their entrails coated the floor.

"Blessed Spark!  Save us!"

"Please!  I don't want to die!"

"Rnnngh—Aaaaaugh!"

"B-Baxter!"

"Kenna!  Kenna, run away!  It's—"

With a demonic roar, it pounced, severing two horns before ripping a shrieking face down the center.

"Kenna!  No!"

"Oh please... oh blessed Spark, pl-please—"

Sobs.

Whimpering voices, growing fewer and fewer.

Then...

"HRESSSSHA!"  With a flash of red, it leapt again, sinking its fangs deep in a gazelle's throat while ripping a shrieking stallion in two—

FLASSSH!








Rainbow Dash woke up screaming.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaugh!"  She clutched her skull, quivering on the cliff's edge.  "Aaaaaa-haaaaaaaaaugh!"

Ariel, Flynn, and Logan awoke with a start.

Kepler and Echo shot up, glancing over with squinting expressions.

"My worrd..."

"What the shit?"

"Rainbow Dash!" Ariel yelped, flapping her wings.  "What's the matter—"

"Rrrrrrrrgh!"  Rainbow practically crawled at her own face with her hooves.  She rolled over, bashing her forehead repeatedly against pure stone.

"Whoah there!"  Bard slid in, grabbing the pegasus from behind.  "Enough of that, ya hear—"  He was rewarded with a wing-slap to the face.  "Grkkk!  Dubya!" he wheezed.  "'Lil help?!"

Swoooosh!  Wildcard glided in, his goggles rattling with concern.  He reached out, struggling to hold Rainbow's thrashing hooves still.

"The Hell has gotten into her?" Echo stammered.  "Is she allergic to berries or—?"

"Austraeoh!"  Remna rushed over, fuming.  She frowned at Bard.  "What did you do?"

"Nothin'!"  Bard sputtered, wrestling with the shrieking pegasus.  "She just woke up like this!"

"Rainbow!" Ariel cried.  "Rainbow, you must calm down!"

"Rnnngh!"  Rainbow hyperventilated, her eyes flickering red-on-yellow.  A cold sweat drenched her muzzle.  "Mrmmmff... no... n-no...!"

"Can somepony please tell us what's going on?!" Logan exclaimed.

Not long later, a quintet of ghostly mares materialized around Rainbow.

"Yeesh..."  Pinkie rubbed her tired eyes.  "...who set the alarm clock on 'earthquake?'"  She looked over, gasping at Rainbow's raving state.  "Holey moley!"

"Rainbow Dash!"  Twilight glided in.  "What's the matter?"

"What in the hay is goin' on here?"  Applejack exclaimed, eyes wide.  "What's goin' on with Rainbow?"

"Rainbow... talk to me!" Twilight hovered right in front of the mare.  "What's happening to you?"

"Rrrrmmffnngh..."  Rainbow panted, shook.  "I... I see... I-I see them..."  Rainbow Dash hyperventilated, ears twitching as she struggled in Bard's and Wildcard's grip.  "I see all of them, Twilight!"

"Who, Rainbow?" Twilight asked.  "Who do you see?"

"Mrrrrnnghh... Blue Shelf... everyone th-that I murdered...!"

Applejack grimaced.  "'Murdered'...?"

"And Monket's slaves... and Keris at Red Barge..."  Rainbow clenched her flickering eyes shut.  "Rrrnnngh... I see it all, Twilight!  The blood... the screaming faces... the broken bones..."  She sobbed, howled.  "Mrmmmmmmmmrnnngh... I can see it!  Ohhhhh Celestiaaaaaaaa, why can I suddenly seeeee itttttttttt..."

"Just calm down, darlin'!"  Bard exclaimed, yanking Rainbow's wings back.  "Yer here with the Herald!  With friends!  You ain't nowhere but—"  He gasped as Rainbow suddenly lurched in his grip.

Rainbow gagged, vomiting onto the rocky surface beneath them.  She started convulsing then, her eyes rolling back with further flashes of yellow and red.

"The shiverrs..." Kepler remarked.  "They consume the Austrraeoh..."

"Already?!"  Remna scowled.  "But she just touched Yaerfaerda less than two day ago!"

"What does that mean?!?"  Applejack gnashed her teeth.  "Will somepony please tell me what's goin' on with our Rainbow?!"

"Oh no..."  Fluttershy whimpered.  "She's fainting!"

"Stay with us, Dashie!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"It'll be alright, darling!"  Rarity turned to Twilight.  "Right?"

Twilight bit her lip.

"Twilight...?"

Rainbow felt several limbs holding her... and then she felt nothing.  The dizziness took her spiraling into an ever-impermeable dark where—much to her dismay—even more visions of blood lay in wait.
> The Fire In Your Eyes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Claws.

Serrated and slicing.

The metal surfaces of the room turned red.

She lashed out at the full length of a steel leash.

Corpses lay in piles around her.

Shrieking, she ripped and tore at the dead flesh until all the blood was drained.





Snowclouds.

Starlight.

Fluttershy's and Rarity's gasping faces.

"Twilight!" Rarity.  "She's waking up again!"

"Something's wrong..."  Fluttershy.

"Guys!" Ariel.  Limbs rippled in Rainbow's peripheral vision.  "She's waking up!  At least... I think she's—"

"Good gods!" Kepler leaned in, brushing his claws across Rainbow's forehead.  "She still shiverrs!  And that feverr..."

"They sound so worried," Pinkie Pie.

"Dang it, is Rainbow back or isn't she?!"  Applejack.

Remna's voice growled from an unseen location.  "Has the Austrraeoh's spell ended?"

"I can't say forr surre," Kepler.

"Well find out for sure!" Remna.

"Give him a break!" Flynn.  "It's confounding me as well!"

Ariel grimaced.  "Why is she still suffering?"  She looked worriedly at the others.  "Has a spell ever lasted this long before?"

"We must keep movin'."  Bard.  "Hurry.  Dubya's spotted windigoes to the north!"

"Stay off the road!" Logan.  "Those frozen wraiths aren't the only things we're trying to avoid!"

"Bard..."  Echo.  "Are you sure this place we're heading to is safe?"

"I swear on my life.  Now let's move.  Move!"

"Just hold on, Dashie!"  Pinkie.  "You hear that?  Bard and the Herald are going to get you safe."

"Everything's going to be alright."  Twilight.  Trembling.  "Please.  You must remain calm..."

Darkness.






A slave shrieked as his front left leg was savagely torn off.

Lightning flashed over rolling ocean waves.

"Holy shit!" another sailor shouted as the claws next sank into his chest.  "Aaaaugh!"

"What is this thing?!"

"She's turning!  Turning into a monster—!"

"The pendant!"  Monket shouted.  The Slaver of Waves pointed across the water-soaked deck.  "Put it back on the Rogue!"

"Aaaaaugh!  Goddess!  I'm dying—!"

"Do it!  Sompeony!  Or we're all dead—"

"HRESSHAAA!"

Blood stained the mast as the ship tossed.





Rainbow Dash sputtered.

She sat up, convulsing.

Starlight hung above windblown trees.

The mare's bloodshot eyes rolled back as she shook... quivered.

"It's Rainbow!" Ariel.  Hoofsteps.  Bodies.  "She's coming to!"

"Is she still afflicted?"  Flynn.

"Aye!"  Kepler's tusks.  "Still consumed by herr spell."

Remna:  "Is this normal?!  Is this something the angels' ancient texts prophesied?!"

"I cannot say.  She has fully perrforrmed Yaerrfaerrda, or so we have thought!"

Flynn.  "What about the Sixth Seed?"

"I've no clue what could possibly be therre, my frriend!"

"Omigosh!  Omigosh!"  Twilight materialized from a lavender void.  "Rainbow!  You're back!  Pinkie!  Go wake the others!"

"Mrmmmfff..."  Rainbow whimpered, her eyes flickering red-on-yellow.  "So much blood..."

"What on earth is she rambling about?!" Ariel.

"Is there anything you can give her to sedate her?"  Echo.

"Is that safe, ya reckon?"  Bard.

"Just do it."  Remna.  "Then we'll search for the Sixth Seed."

"Only the Austraeoh can find the way to it."  Flynn.

"Then... then just..."  Remna fumbled for words.

"Rainbow!"  Fluttershy.  Applejack's and Rarity's gasping voices accompanied her.  "Rainbow, stay still!"

"Just relax until the spell has finally passed, darling!"  Rarity.

"Please... n-no..."  Rainbow Dash cried.  "Keep me here."  Her eyes teared.  "I don't want to dream again."

"You'll be..."  Twilight stammered, trying not to tear up.  "You'll be okay!  I-I'm sure of it—"

"It's going to t-take me back..."  Rainbow Dash wheezed, her eyelids fluttering shut.  "Sharper."  Heavy.  "Bloodier."  Sinking.  "Twisting.  Turning."

Black.






Keris heaved.

Gargling his own blood, he crawled up the steps.

She stalked him, climbing the walls and ceiling of Red Barge's prison.

The Lieutenant's claws slipped on rusted surfaces as he struggled to get away.

Hissing like a cat, she finally pounced him... dragging him back into the chamber strewn over with the rubble from their fight.

"Mrmmmffnghh..."  The griffon struggled, attempting to fight back.  "Grnnngh!"

She repaid him by shattering his arm.  Crack!

"Aaaaaaaaaaaugh!"  Keris threw his feathery head back, shrieking.





Rainbow heaved and heaved.

It was a full minute before she realized that she was awake.

The mare lay on her back.  The sound of wooden wagon wheels rattled on either side of her.

The tops of trees and wooden poles drifted before a canvas of nebulous starlight.

"Mrmmmfff... help..."  Rainbow whimpered in a cold sweat.  "H-help me..."

"Shhhhhhhh..."  A wet cloth dabbed her forehead.  "We're getting you somewhere safe, Rainbow."  It was Ariel's voice.  "Bard says we're almost there."

"Mrmmmfff..."  Rainbow sniffled.  "Apple... Applejack..."

"You need to rest, okay?" Ariel insisted.

"Applejack!" Rainbow cried harder.

An orange face phased through Ariel's forelimb.  "I'm right here, sugarcube."  Freckles matched the starlight.  "Yer gonna be just fine."  She smiled warmly.  "That's the honest truth."

"Mrmmmfnngh... going to..."  Rainbow wheezed.  "Gonna die..."

"That's not true," Ariel said, dabbing Rainbow's forehead again.  "Kepler says your health is fine.  It's just that there's some sort of flux between your body's leylines and the pendant you're wearing."  She gulped, but managed a thin smile.  "We're all certain it'll pass in time."

"See?"  Applejack raised an eyebrow, smirking.  "The purdy lady says you'll be fine.  You trust these Herald ponies, don'tcha?  T'ain't nothin' to be 'fraid of."

"Not... gnnngh... afraid..."  Rainbow stammered, ears twitching.  "Don't... don't want to g-go, Applejack..."  She gulped.  "Without... without telling you..."

"Tellin' me what, darlin'?"

Rainbow clenched her teeth.  More shivers overtook her.

"Everything will be fine, Rainbow," Fluttershy's voice came out of nowhere, gentle but firm.  "You and Applejack will have time to talk.  Right now... rest."

"So... so dark..."  Rainbow laid back, squinting up at the starlight.  "...don't... understand..."

"Shhhhhh..."  Ariel leaned in, giving Rainbow a friendly nuzzle.  "That's it.  Yes.  Just relax."

"How... long h-have I been... like this...?"  Rainbow gulped.  "...feels like f-forever... but it's still nighttime..."

"... ... ...it's three o'clock in the afternoon, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow blinked, her fever briefly overwrought by confusion.

Ariel's hoof gently patted her shoulder.  "Welcome to the Twilight Lands."

Rainbow's eyelids grew heavy... heavier.

"See?  T'ain't so bad."  Applejack leaned in, tilting her head back.  "It's like the heavens themselves decided to go dim just to lull you to sleep.  Not a bad idea, if you ask me."  She closed her eyes, humming a countrified lullaby.

Rainbow listened.

Rainbow drifted.

Rainbow...






Cosmos.

Nebulous bands.

Twists.

Turns.

Through the emptiness, a curved shape drifted.

Full of life.

Full of death.

It floated forever on its own...

...until streams of harmony galloped towards it.

And when they convened, a light was born...

...and so too was a shadow.





Rainbow's eyes fluttered open to more starlight.

Her head was sore.

Her body—numb.

And yet... the shivers were gone.

"Mrmmmff... Applejack...?"

"Shhhh..."  Twilight's voice.  "Just a moment, Rainbow Dash."

"Mrmmmfff..."  Rainbow stirred.  "It... it was a lot more peaceful that time."  She gulped.  "Twi... I-I think I'm getting better—"

"Shhhh!"  Twilight insisted, glaring past the wagon where Rainbow lay.  "That's very, very good, Rainbow.  But hush just for one second."  The unicorn gulped.  "Something's happening."

"Hmmmm?"  Rainbow's ears pricked towards the sound of an ensuing argument.

Two stallions were shouting at one another.  One belonged to Bard.  The other—much older... raspier... angrier:  "Dammit, Johnny!  I ain't got time for this nonsense!  Yer brothers and sisters have enough on their hooves between the livestock and the fungae!  Now, from what the messengers be shoutin', we've also got ancient windigoes to deal with!  So you and yer dag-blame'd freeloadin' bum friends can go findin' shelter elsewhere!"

"For the last time, Blue, step aside!"  Bard growled.  It was the most discordant noise Rainbow had ever heard from the musician.  If she wasn't shivering a few seconds ago, she certainly was now.  "T'ain't no request!  We're stayin' here for a spell and that's final!  Now I know for a fact that you ain't got nothin' in the east barn save for all the junk you never use!"

"I've been renovatin' the east barn into a temporary silo for the harvest!"

"Bullshiet!  Yer just sayin' that to get me to turn around, Blue."

"How would you know?!  You done tore off when we needed you most!  Now, after all these years, you come limpin' back like we owes you a single dayum thang—"

"How many times could I have gone to the Azure Prefectures and reported yer ass?"  Bard growled.

"Reported my ass?!  Pffft!  What for, Johnny?!  You've lost all yer marbles or somethin'?!"

"For murder and infanticide!  That's what for!"

The older stallion was silent.

"But I didn't," Bard continued.  "And that's the only reason this farm of yers is still standin'.  And believe you me... I didn't do it for you.  You ain't worth shiet.  My brothers and sisters, on the other hoof—"

"It was you, Johnny," the stallion growled.  "It was all you and you know it."  A huff.  "Why else did ya run away like a dayum coward?"

Voices muttered nervously.  Rainbow saw Twilight and Pinkie's ghostly figures stirring.  For a second, she thought she heard the metallic rattle of Logan and Wildcard unsheathing their weapons.

Bard brought the moment back to calm silence as he firmly spoke:  "I left because I was the better stallion, and I wasn't gonna let this farmstead sink all because I wanted more than anythang to see ya end up six feet under."

"And now you've come back to change thangs.  Haven't ya?"

"Yer right about somethin', alright.  Leavin' ya alive was a mistake.  But, just like old times, I've got bigger responsibilities to carry.  And you just ain't worth it."  Heavy hoofsteps.  "Now step aside.  I'd threaten to beat ya to a pulp... but I've done it before and I sure hate to repeat such a lame chorus."

"You... yer not welcome at this ranch!  Do ya hear me?!"  Blue rasped.  As the wagon rolled by, Rainbow caught sight of an elder stallion with a hunched frame and bony limbs.  "Turn back around this moment!  Or I swear—I'll sick Tim on you and he'll rip the whole lotta ya to pie—"

"Tim ain't gonna do nothing no-how!"  Bard grumbled.  "Least of all to me.  Now, we're takin' shelter in the east barn.  If you wanna stop us, Blue, then I'm certain Dubya here can teach ya a thang or two about how brittle yer bones have gotten."

The old stallion opened his muzzle to say something, but a death glare from a passing griffon's goggles froze him in place.  He stood still, shaking in anger, until the wooden archway of a gate blocked his figure from Rainbow's vision.

Rainbow tilted her head back.  Her nostrils tickled with the smell of mushrooms, livestock, and fertilizer.  She saw silos, a windmill, rooftops...

Then she saw nothing... for she had passed out again.






Green hills.

Brown dirt.

Gold-thatched rooftops.

Ponyville.

A cool breeze settled over the quiet village.

And... in the center...

A concrete sarcophagus stood.

It sealed away a fluctuating rift.

And in it... darkness...

And in the darkness...





Warm, gentle humming.

Rainbow's eyes fluttered open.  She lay back on a soft bed of hay.

Sharp farm instruments dangled from a high crossbeam.  Pale spiderwebs draped across an arched ceiling.  Old window panes—glossed over with time and translucent dust—glowed with cold blue twilight.  The empty lengths of a barn hung over Rainbow, kissed by silver shadows.

The humming continued, lulling Rainbow to the surface of wakefulness.  At some point, the voice shifted, the singing reaching a tone of finality.

Rainbow's lips moved with the melody:  "A cutie mark won't change you.  No matter what you get."

Applejack sat up, adjusting her hat from where she "perched" on a lofty window pane.  "So you was listenin' the whole time!"

Rainbow's muzzle scrunched.  "Do you only know one lullaby?"

"Heh... singin' was never really my strong suit."  Applejack smirked as she stared out the window.  "Big Macintosh, on the other hoof—"

"Grnnngh..."  Rainbow Dash winced, flexing stiff muscles as she sat up.  "Mrmmmfff... ouch..."

"Whoah, now!"  Applejack "kicked" off the window, drifting down until she was at Rainbow's level.  "No sudden movements.  After all... you was out of it for a week."

"Guh!"  Rainbow's eyes bulged.  "A week?"

"Err..."  Applejack winced, blushing slightly.  "Or maybe just a few days.  It's pretty hard to tell in this here part of the world: 'the Twilight Lands' or some such."  She squinted up at the silver-blue rays of light wafting dimly through the dusty windows.  "All I gather from the Heraldfolk is whatever we gals happen to hear.  They dun talk to us too much.  Reckon it's 'cuz they don't see or hear us.  Heh... Still... ya think they'd figure we was all hangin' around you, whether you was awake or not."

Rainbow gulped.  "They mean well.  The Herald, that is."  She winced as she stretched her neck muscles.  "Mrmmmff... they're probably super distracted because I've scared them out of their wits with this fainting crap.  Plus, they've been through a lot.  Mortuana was their mental and emotional center... and now she's gone..."

"Yeah.  Twilight's told me all about her."  Applejack turned to look at her anchor.  "You feelin' better, sugarcube?"

"I am, actually."  Rainbow exhaled.  "Also... the visions are less... erm..."  She gulped.  "The nightmares are gone.  That's what matters the most."

Applejack nodded.  "Well, good thang, that."  On a dime, her face muscles shifted into a beaming smile.  "Say!  Look at what I can do!"  She did a backflip—a backflip that turned into a spiraling corkscrew leap that took her phasing through several farm instruments and hay bails.  "Wooooo-oooo-ooo!  Spooky, ain't it?"

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but smile.  "It sure is nifty."

"Heh heh heh!"  Applejack guffawed, phasing through wooden support beams.  "Golly... if I could move like this back home, I'd get the chores done in a quarter of the time!"  She winked down at Rainbow during her latest flyby.  "Bet I could even give you a run for the money during the Iron Pony Competition."

"Yeah, well..."  Rainbow rolled her eyes.  "No flying, remember?"

"No."  Applejack stuck her nose up as she landed before Rainbow.  "I said 'no wings'"

Rainbow Dash giggled in a high-pitched breath.  "Yeah!  You did!  You totally did!"

Applejack lifted her hoof.

Rainbow Dash hoof-bumped her... only to remember she couldn't.  Her blood went cold as she saw her hoof phasing through Applejack's, and she was dragged bitterly to the silver-blue moment at hand.

Applejack cleared her throat, saving the day with a warm breath:  "Of c-course, Pinkie Pie taught me how to move around in this... er... spook form.  None of the other gals could be bothered with coachin'.  Guess they're a bit too wraped up in all this... 'Ostrich Row' business."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow shuddered.  "I think Pinkie Pie is the only pony for whom being a ghost never gets old."

"Reckon so."

"Uh huh."

Silence.

Rainbow avoided Applejack's gaze.  "So... uh... where are the girls?"  She cleared her throat.  "Or the Herald, for that matter?"

"Well, you were out of it for a long time... even after we showed up here," Applejack said.  "The Herald are outside... gabbin' about one thang or another.  The girls?  Seems as though they've got an awful lot of room to fly around now that I've been... erm... 'awoken' from the 'Vanilla Zone' thingy."

"Right..."

"Reckon they're out explorin'... listenin' in on the Herald and such."  Applejack breathed.  "Shucks... I can't imagine havin' even less space to stretch our ghostly legs!  Like... poor Twilight!  Must have been like Tartarus bein' stuck in a room with you."

Rainbow winced.  "Yeah..."

"Er... eheheh... I ain't meanin' nothin' bad by it, sugarcube!"  Applejack waved.  "Just that it sounds—"

"Imprisoning.  Right.  Got it."  Rainbow bore a gentle smile.  "It was super awkward at first.  Thankfully, Twilight's had more room with each friend we've freed.  And Rarity?  She gets her much-needed snuggles out of Fluttershy.  Pinkie Pie too."

"And you... heheh... a free spirit like yerself must feel like yer bein' weighed down at times."

"Believe me, AJ," Rainbow Dash spoke.  "After such a long time without you gals?"  A deep breath.  "Let's just say I'm not anywhere close to complaining."

"Heh... well said."

"And this place..."  Rainbow stood up on wobbly legs, gazing about the barn.  "We're at a farm?"

"Eeyup!"  Applejack nodded.  "A full-blown twilight ranch!  It's a mighty breath of fresh air, if ya ask me!"  She floated up next to a window.  "Though... they sure are growin' some mighty strange crops over yonder."  She rolled her green eyes.  "And dun you get me started on the livestock."

"Oh?"

"Mutant space cows from the look of thangs."  Applejack chuckled.  "With glowy horns and nonsense!  I dunno whether to milk 'em or spear 'em!"

"Heheheh..."

"Heheh... yeah... it's..."  Applejack gulped, shivering slightly.  "It's somethin' else, alright."

Rainbow breathed calmly.  "It's okay to be freaked out, AJ."  She brushed a hoof over her head.  She winced slightly; her mane hair felt longer... almost feathery.  "The rest of the girls sure as heck were."

"I'm sure.  'Cept maybe for Pinkie Pie."  Applejack nodded.  "Still, I can't afford to be scared none."

"Honestly, Applejack—"

"Honestly, Rainbow Dash."  Applejack drifted back down, landing gracefully.  "I can see that a whole lot of crazy shenanigans have taken the edge off our best friends.  Twilight, especially.  The poor filly can't handle thangs she can't understand.  That was the case back in Equestria with hydras poppin' randomly out of muddy bogs.  But now... with all of these windigoes and... Robo Reddenauts..."

"Rohbreddenites," Rainbow corrected.  "It's a huge world, AJ.  Bigger than all of Twilight's books.  But she's managed to cope a lot more strongly than she might make it look.  Believe me."

"Oh, I do."  Applejack turned to face Rainbow.  "No kiddin'.  I believe you whole-heartedly.  The girls too.  I..."  She suddenly stopped in mid-sentence.

Rainbow blinked at her.

Applejack cleared her throat.  "You... uh... you was callin' my name somethin' fierce for most of time you was sufferin' the spell, sugarcube."

Rainbow gulped.  "Yeah..."  She hung her head.

"N-nothin' to be ashamed of!"  Applejack said.  "I mean... eheh... I'm a mite bit flattered."  She cleared her throat.  "I always aimed to be the kind of mare that the rest of y'all could lean on.  And..."  Her teeth showed.  "It just kills me to be the last one pulled out of them underground machine doohickeys.  I mean—not to knock y'alls strength and fortitude—but oh how I wish I coulda been there to be a helpin' hoof when thangs got nasty!"

"Nothing you could have done, Applejack," Rainbow Dash said.  She immediately winced at saying that.  "I-I-I mean... erm... because you and the girls don't have your bodies and—"

"No, I get it, darlin'."  Applejack nodded.  "In fact... a whole lotta thangs are startin' to come together."

Rainbow Dash said nothing.

With a calm, serious breath, Applejack trotted towards her anchor.  "Rainbow Dash... about..."  She fidgeted.  "...about the thang you asked me... when you first brought me back and that 'Verlax' lady was lyin' dead on the floor—"

"It was never your decision, Applejack," Rainbow Dash grunted.  "So quit while you're ahead."

Applejack placed a hoof over her chest.  "I never said it w—"

"I made the choice to lie.  Nopony else!"  Rainbow Dash fumed.  "Whether or not Verlax painted all the arrows of time to point me in that direction, it doesn't matter.  The ball was in my court.  I made a play."  Her nostrils flared as she stared off across the barn.  "A lot of ponies are going to suffer for it... but a whole lot less than those who would die if I simply chose to drop that ball."  Her eyes clenched shut.  "At least... that's what I'm having to tell myself."

"Just calm yer withers, Rainbow!" Applejack exclaimed.  "I know that you did what ya felt was best!  It's just that... a lot of time has crawled on by since what happened in this here kingdom's capital and—"

"—and you've had the opportunity to think it over and realize how much of a moronic dumbbutt I am."  Rainbow huffed, folding her forelimbs and glaring off.  "Yeah.  I get it."

"No... no!  Heavens to Betsy!"  Applejack tried stomping her hoof—only for it to phase through the floor.  "Will ya just let me talk?!"

Rainbow Dash sat, huddled and shaking.

Applejack exhaled calmly.  "I have had time to think.  But also time to listen... to look... and to observe.  And... sure... maybe I had more than a few misgivings about what went down in that 'Frostknife' place..."

Rainbow facehoofed with a sigh.

Applejack trotted around.  "...but that dun matter to me anymore.  In fact, it never did!  Truth be told, I kept worryin' and frettin' over somethin' else."  She gulped.  "Rainbow... will you look at me?"

Rainbow didn't move.

"Lift yer eyes, sugarcube.  Please?  I'm askin' ya nicely."

A sigh.  At long last, Rainbow raised her gaze.  A pair of glossy eyes stared back at Applejack.  Dull rubies.

Applejack's ears drooped.  She maintained her composure, although her voice didn't:  "I've been wonderin'... where exactly my best friend went..."

Rainbow's ears twitched.  She struggled to keep from shaking.

"These eyes..."  Applejack shook her head.  "They ain't yers.  And yet... the rest of you is here.  It's almost as if..."  She exhaled with a shudder.  "...somethin' was stolen from ya.  Time and time again."

Rainbow said nothing.

"There was always such... fire in them peepers," Applejack said, her voice lifting in warmth.  "Such dang determination.  Almost too much.  There was times back in Ponyville when I'd roll my eyes at how often you'd go in over yer head... chasin' monsters or kickin' dragons or whatnot.  But... those incidents only ever annoyed me.  At yer best—as well as at yer worst—you were only ever a nuisance, Rainbow.  You and yer hijinks pestered me somethin' awful."  She gulped.  "I never thought I'd ever have to actually be worried about ya..."  Her jaw muscles tightened.  "...until now."

With a grimace, Rainbow looked aside—

"Please dun look away, sugarcube.  Not yet."

Sniffling, Rainbow stared back.  She was shivering now.

"What burns me the most..."  Applejack stepped closer.  "...is learnin' that all of this didn't happen overnight.  How long ago did ya leave Ponyville?  A year?  Two years?  I was gone for so long, Rainbow.  We... yer friends were gone for so long... when you needed us.  It's... a cryin' shame that loyalty should go alone without others bein' loyal to her."  Applejack swallowed a lump down her throat.  "If we could have found some way to wriggle out of the darkness sooner, then maybe we would have saved that fire in yer eyes before it disappeared... the only fire that matters."

Rainbow trembled.  In a foalish voice, she said:  "It's not your fault I can't... look you straight in the eyes, Applejack."

Applejack merely blinked.  She stood in place, listening.

Rainbow exhaled:  "You may not have been with me all those months of flying... of fleeing the crud that went down in Ponyville."  She sniffed.  "But your strength was, Applejack.  For... f-for so long... adventure after adventure... challenge after challenge... I kept asking myself—sometimes in secret—I'd say: 'What would AJ do?'  And though a lot of the stuff that I did was crazy... and other stuff impulsive.  I... I only ever wanted to be..."  She sucked in her breath.  "...the kind of p-pony that you could r-respect."  She pressed her lips tightly together.  The first of many tears trickled down.  "Mmmm... the kind of pony I'd see in a reflection and think: 'this is the best of the best'.  Because that s-sure as heck wasn't me..."  She shuddered.  "Face it, AJ.  I let you gals die b-back in Ponyville.  I was too brick-headed and weak and Discord took advantage of that.  You all kicked the bucket b-because of me—"

"Oh sugarcube—"  Applejack took a step forward.

Rainbow stumbled back, flinching.  Panting.  "And... and time blew by.  Those adventures turned to perils... those challenges into nightmares.  And the only way I could get any stronger... to keep myself and the legacy of you girls alive was to do more and more things that a pony like you wouldn't and... and..."  She seethed through her teeth, glaring past her tears.  "Did Twilight and the others tell you?  Huh?!"  She gulped.  "Did they tell you the sort of crazy, selfish, chaotic things I did to survive?"

Applejack stared at her.  She eventually nodded.  "They told me some... yes."  She cleared her throat.  "But... I dun rightly think any of them know... like truly know what you went through.  Nopony but you, that is..."

Rainbow whimpered.  Her chin shook as she said, "I miss that fire too, Applejack.  I miss the fearlessness... the courage... the awesomeness..."  She cried.  "More than anything, I wanted for it to be there when I met you... so I could stare you in the face and know... as you would know... that you were looking at a good pony.  A pony whom you could be proud of... but freakjobs like Verlax... and Shell... and Chrysalis... they took... th-they t-took..."  She sank to the floor, sobbing.  "I g-gave it up, Applejack.  I dropped the ball too early..."

"Rainbow..."

"Mmmmm..."  Rainbow Dash curled up in the hay, covering her muzzle with shivering forelimbs.  "Some loyal pony I am.  Can't even k-keep myself together."  She sniffled.  "I wish I could say I was sorry... but sometimes I wonder if I even feel that anymore."

"Now none of that, y'hear?"  Applejack squatted beside her, limbs phasing through the stalks of hay.  "Shhhhh... dun be so down on yerself."

"Why n-not?"  Rainbow Dash hiccuped on a sob.  "I'm not the same me that you knew.  You said it yerself—"

"And you think I'm any less proud of ya?"  Applejack raised an eyebrow.  "Trials like these?  They change ponies for sure.  We can both admit that—"

"Should have... tr-tried harder... committed—"

"We can both admit that."  Applejack frowned.  "Now stop yer fussin'!  Ya hear me?  Quit it!"

With a jerk, Rainbow Dash looked up, teary-eyed.

"You've flown a long, straight path," Applejack said.  "Any other pony in yer position would just crack under the pressure.  But you?"  She shook her head.  "You've pushed yerself to the limit.  Beyond it even."

Rainbow Dash whimpered:  "I'm not sure I like what I-I've found on the other side."

"You mean the company of friends?"  Applejack smirked.  "Both old and new?"

Rainbow blinked.

"You've brought us back from the dead, Rainbow," Applejack said.  "Who else in this world can say the same?"

With a shudder, Rainbow murmured:  "It's only b-because of the Austraeoh."

"No, it's because yer awesome," Applejack retorted.  "And... y'know... maybe the only thang you've lost is the ability to remember that."  A warm breath.  "Well... you ain't quite so alone no more.  So how 'bout lettin' yer friends help ya kindle the flame some?"

Rainbow exhaled.  She wiped her cheeks dry, murmuring:  "I... don't know if that's even possible..."

Applejack only smiled.  "And who said you couldn't look at me and be honest?"

Rainbow blinked.

Applejack stepped back.  "Let's go for a trot.  Get you some fresh air.  Take thangs one step at a time, ya feel me?"  She winked.  "Loyalty wasn't built in a day."

Rainbow snorted.  "...that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard you say."

"Heh... we can work on that too."  Applejack stifled a chuckle.  "Come on.  I've been dyin' to show you Johnny's farm."

Rainbow Dash stood on wobbly legs.  "Who... mmmm... who's Johnny?"

"Ya know... the feller with the guitar," Applejack said.

Rainbow blinked.  "...Bard?"

"Everyone around here calls him 'Johnny' for some reason."

"Huh..."  Rainbow stared into the silver shadows.  "...guess there's no end to the secrets."

"Yeah, well, he's got an honest heart.  At least, I think so."  Applejack shrugged.  "Dun ask me why.  Still..."  Applejack rubbed her head under her hat, gazing off.  "He dun seem awfully happy about bein' back here.  Same can be said of that cross 'Blue' feller."

"Blue?"

"Yeah.  I think he runs the place."

"... ... ..."  Rainbow Dash stretched her wings, trotting towards the barn door.  "You know what?  Maybe it is high time for a walk..."
> Was It Worth the Wait?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash stepped outside the barn, and immediately she felt as though fireworks were going off.  She flinched—only to remember that fireworks weren't dead silent... nor creepily frozen in cold blue motion.  She tilted her head up; her eyes instantly filled with stars.  Not just a gentle smattering of constellations, but an entire tempest of cosmic swirls and galactic nebulae glimmered above her.  Her mind instantly went to the visions she experienced when touching the machine world's beacons and their flames.  However, this felt a great deal more mind-numbing, perhaps due to the fact that she was presently standing on dry earth.  The surreality of the moment was compounded by sheer reality, and it sent her head reeling... even though she was standing perfectly still.

"Sure is purdy, huh?" Applejack remarked with a proud waggle of her eyes.  She floated through the front of the barn and levitated beside Rainbow.  "I must have spent hours just gawkin' at them."  She whistled.  "I'm tellin' ya... I've seen all sorts of magic: alicorn, chaotic, harmonic... but this sure takes the cake.  And it's all natural!  The ponies who live here see this every day and night—'cuz it's all the same to them!  Like... it must be all they know!  Heh... can you even imagine that, Rainbow?"

Rainbow blinked.  She had to turn around three times before she finally found the flickering image of Yaerfaerda.  It loomed off in the distance—how far, Rainbow couldn't even pretend guess, but she took note of an unmistakably black layer of emptiness looming just above the visible horizon.

With a deep breath, Rainbow turned until her back was to Yaerfaerda.  Now that she knew where west was, she attempted surveying its horizon.  However, several tall mountain ranges loomed, descending from the central heart of the Rohbredden continent.  The sharp ridges—combined with thick forests—doubled the shadows of the fertile valley.  Nevertheless—if Rainbow squinted very hard—she could detect an umistakable line of glowing gray light hugging the very peaks and plateaus.  She had to tilt the center of her vision slightly away from the summits in order to detect the aura, and even then it was a faint twinkle at best.

"Not... quite the reaction I was expectin'," Applejack said after several seconds of dull silence.  She tilted her hat back with a smirk.  "I've been gone for far too dang long.  Reckon t'ain't much that surprises you no more, Rainbow."

"Do you... uhhhh..."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Hah!"  Applejack chuckled.  "If that hasn't been the question of the hour since we landed here?"

Rainbow pivoted towards her.  "Well, do ya?"

"Ahem..."  Applejack pivoted and pointed to the center of the farm.  "Take a gander."

Rainbow Dash's eyes traveled up a tall metal pole.  At its lofty top, five crystals were erected at a forty-five degree angle, descending from the western horizon.  The secondmost crystal to the west was glowing.  The other four were dim.

"... ... ...what in the hay am I even staring at?" Rainbow's voice cracked.

"It's supposed to be some sort of fancy ancient method for tellin' the time of day," Applejack explained.  "Darned if I have any idea how the thang works," she said with a shrug.  "But a while ago, Twilight visited me in the barn, and she said that the Herald said that it was 'eight in the morning.'  Since then, the glowing crystal switched from the first to the second one."  Applejack coughed.  "Reckon that was a few hours ago."

"Huh..."  Rainbow Dash turned around, gazing at numerous wooden structures.  It was a remarkably dense farm, with multiple barns, silos, and woodsheds.  "This place kinda makes Sweet Apple Acres look like a hoofball field."

"Ain't a one family farm, I dun think," Applejack said.  "Or else, it's gotta be one mighty huge family."  She gazed around along with Rainbow Dash.  "Takin' into consideration all the equipment they've got—and places for storin' 'em—I'd venture to guess that no less than thirty ponies work these fields."

"Fields?"  Rainbow Dash blinked hard.  "What fields?"

"Well... t'ain't orchards either..."  Applejack shrugged.  "See for yerself."  She pointed due north.

Rainbow pivoted around.  North of the field where they stood, she spotted a tightly fenced-in area filled with wooden poles and staves.  Smaller wooden slats pressed against the bases of the structures, giving them extra support.  In the meantime, long stringy vines dangled between the poles, and thick shoots spiraled their way down the lengths—just stopping at the ground.  Every so often, bulbous growths hung off the shoots, and Rainbow could have sworn she detected a faint luminescent glow to each of the objects.

"Is... is it a fruit?" Rainbow exhaled.  "Almost looks like a vineyard."

"Those ain't grapes, I tell you what," Applejack said, shaking her head.  "They look like potatoes and they smell like... well... fertilizer."

"Huh?"  Rainbow sniffed the air... then sniffed again.  "But I don't smell anything rank—"

"Wait for it..."

Rainbow's brow furrowed in confusion.  Then—as soon as her lungs exhaled after the last sniff—she felt her senses shuddering from the inside out, as if a ball of garlic and onion had exploded in the center of her skull.  "Aaagh!"

"Heheheh..."  Applejack guffawed.  "Sorry, sugarcube!  Shoulda warned you sooner..."

"Geeeeeughhhh..."  Rainbow clamped two hooves over her nose.  "Luna on a bike!  What are they growing here?  Goblin poop?"

"Errrrr... what's a goblin?"

Rainbow ignored that.  "Seriously.  If this is what Johnn—er... Bard grew up around, then no wonder he could trot the platforms of Rust without batting an eye!"

"Twilight says the smell is caused by some sort of free-floating spores.  Enchanted spores, to be precise."  Applejack gulped.  "That would make sense, wouldn't it?  For them to be farmin' some super special fungus out here?  I mean, the sun doesn't exactly rise or fall."

"Yeah... what's up with that?"  Rainbow's eyes crossed.  "Or down with that."

"It spooked me somethin' awful when I first saw it happen.  When we was all rollin' east right after that Frostknife business, it felt as though the days were gettin' dimmer and dimmer.  I assumed at first that it was some sort of miserable overcast—like the skies here are normally cloudy or some-such.  But then... after the first night followin' yer fitful spell... no mornin' sun rose.  We had no idea what was goin' on until we overhead a conversation between the Herald.  Whatshisname... the unicorn feller with the bald spot—"

"Flynn."

"Right!  He says we had just passed through the 'solar penumbra' and that from here on out—in these here Twilight Lands—the earth dun get direct sunlight.  It's always dark like this in just a sliver of the prefectures.  The surroundin' seas too."

"Wild."  Rainbow Dash blinked.  "I always sorta knew it was like this so far from Equestria, but I never thought it'd look the way it does."  She tilted her head up.  "I mean... have you seen so many stars?"

"It feels like more than usual, right?"

"Stole the words right out from my muzzle."

Applejack nodded.  "Supposedly it's because there ain't no magic—harmonic or chaotic—to obscure the sky no more."

Rainbow blinked.  "Huh?"

"I know, right?  Twilight was tryin' to explain it to us all," Applejack said.  "Accordin' to her, the alicorn magic behind Celestia's solar spell is more like a bedsheet that sorta... spreads over this plain and projects the sun across its center fabric in a sweepin' motion.  Meanin'... the sun and the daylight are both one in the same, ya hear?  But Celestia could only spread that bedsheet so far, and when you trot outside it, then you see a night's sky with almost no harmonic energy whatsoever, cuz it ain't over yer head no more."

"So... there's... uhhhh..."  Rainbow blinked.  "No more 'bedsheet.'  So... like... nothing left to absorb the natural starlight beyond?"

"Eeyup!"  Applejack nodded, staring at the sky again.  "We're lookin' at the heavens as they've always truly been... even before ponies and alicorns walked this earth."  She sighed, smiling slightly.  "I'd be lyin' if I said it wasn't bedazzlin'."

"Almost too bedazzling," Rainbow Dash said.  "I almost wish I didn't wake up to it."

"Gave ya quite the start, didn't it?"

"You could say that again."  Rainbow gulped, turning to face a bright pale orb above.  "At least we still have Luna's moon—"  The mare froze in place, eyes wide.  "...!"  She grasped her pendant in both hooves.

"Whoah!"  Applejack jumped at the sudden, jerking movement.  "What's the matter?"

"Please... oh please oh please..."  Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth, aiming her pendant straight at the lunar body in the sky.

Applejack blinked.  "Tryin' to contact the Princess?"

"Guh!"  Rainbow Dash slumped on her haunches, frowning.  "Dang it!  I can never tell when it's fully... full or not!"

"Heheh..."  Applejack instinctively tried patting Rainbow's shoulder, only for her hoof to phase through.  "Dun sweat it, darlin'.  I had a conversation with Twilight about it earlier.  She guesses that it's another day and a half before the moon can catch the enchantment in yer Element."

"Yeah... and... like..."  Rainbow pouted.  "When are we gonna tell that it's been thirty-six hours?  I'd hate to miss Luna for the last opportunity I have before crossing over."

"Oh, I dun think you'll have much of a problem with that."

Rainbow squinted at Applejack.  "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well... accordin' to the Herald... the moon is always out in this part of the world."

"Huh?"

"No kiddin'!"  Applejack exclaimed.  "So long as it ain't a full moon, you can feel moonlight from anywhere in the Twilight Lands."  She smirked.  "We're past the edge of the 'bedsheet,' remember?"

"Yeah.  So?"

"Just think about it..."

So Rainbow Dash did.  And when the realization hit, she gasped.  "I... I-I can talk to Princess Luna nonstop for three whole days!"

"Cuz there ain't no days, sugarcube!"  Applejack chuckled.  "How's that for good news for once?"

Rainbow bore a stupid smile.  Before she could produce an even stupider giggle—

—she heard a pair of familiar voices wafting over from the north edge of the farm.

"Are you sure about this, darling?" Rarity's voice accompanied the starlight.  "I'm certain it was just our imagination."

"It has to be Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy exclaimed, a rising burst of excitement in her voice.  "I felt our anchorage shifting!"

"Fluttershy doesn't know how right she is!"  Pinkie stuck her tongue out.  "My bladder vibrated.  That means Dashie's finally woken up!"

"Wait..."  Twilight squinted.  "Your bladder—?"  The unicorn's eyes widened upon seeing a familiar blue shape.  "Rainbow Dash!"

"Oh Rainbow!"  Fluttershy squee'd.  "You're up!"

"Smashing, darling!"

"Heeheeeeeee!"  Pinkie Pie smiled with her eyes happily shut.  "Told yaaaaaaa!"

Several pastel colored spectres converged in the center of the ranch.

"This is so great!"

"Look at her!  All the shivers are gone!"

"How ya feeling, Dashie?"

"Was... was it the nightmares?  They seemed to have been getting worse and worse."

"You had us so worried."

"The Herald's taking it pretty well.  They're off lending a hoof to the locals."

"You should go see them, Rainbow.  They'll be mighty happy to know yer in one piece."

"Or just go and take a look around!  This farm is absolutely fascinating!"

"Twilight's right!  They have cattle here... with glowing horns!"

"Personally, I'm not a fan of the smell, but this place does have a modicum of rustic charm."

"And the grass here is blue!  Literally blue!"

"It's not blue, Pinkie Pie.  If anything, that's the dew reflecting starlight—"

"Uh.  How can you have dew without mornings, Twilight?  Duhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Oh gosh... did Applejack show you, Rainbow Dash?!  The skies here are absolutely incredible!  The constellations are like nothing I've ever seen!  Just... just a day spent here alone is enough to completely rewrite what we know about observational astronomy!"

"Twilight, we're a stone's throw from the end of the world and all ya can think of is more books!"

"Can you blame me?!  After all the horrible things we've witnessed, would it kill a good student to dream?"

"I'm more curious about they're farmin' this weird fungal stuff.  It is a fungus, ain't it?"

"Certainly smells like the fungus that used to grow outside my cottage."

"Perhaps Echo would know.  Didn't he go off with whastherface—Bard's sister to go harvest the stuff?"

"I don't reckon that's really Bard's sister."

"Don't be silly!  Everyone here is Bard's brother or sister!"

"Which is precisely why I dun buy that they're all actually his brothers and sisters!  I just think they all work on the farm for farmin's sake... which is fine in my book."

"But just what are they harvesting, then?"

"Whatever it is, I don't think it's edible."

"I would certainly hope not!  If I smelled this from the party tables at a social gathering, I would positively puke!"

"Yer gettin' a nose-full of it right here and now, Rare-Rare, and we don't see ya pukin'."

"It was a hyperbole, darling.  I know you've been in a ghostly coma for over a year, but please..."

"I know a thing or two about pukin'!"

"That isn't the crux of the argument—guh—I swear, you're worse than Pinkie Pie."

"Hey!  What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it, Pinkie.  We're all friends here."

"Yeah... this is like a big, never-ending sleepover!  Only with lots of windigoes and suffering ponies!"

"Pinkie, must you...?"

"Hah!  Come to thank of it, Rarity never did enjoy havin' a sleepover with me around!  Hah!"

"That is most untrue!  I came around in the end, did I not?"

"Hey!  Remember the time I jumped on the bed and you went flyin' across Twilight's bedroom!"

"Heeheeheehee!"

"Hard for me to regret..."

"Wow, Applejack.  You actually did that to Rarity?"

"Heh... yeahhhhh... we've come a long way, haven't we?  Still, feels almost like yesterday."

"That's because it was yesterday, darling.  It was only a few months before Discord arrived.  Granted, it wasn't Rainbow's yesterday."

"Let's all focus, girls."

"Focus on what, Twi?"

"Shhhh.  We've enjoyed our break, Pinkie.  Now it's time to reconnect with Rainbow and the Herald."  Twilight Sparkle turned to face Rainbow Dash.  "Rainbow?  Just how are you feeling?  Please, tell us everything."

Rainbow Dash was busy staring at the girls... staring as they talked... staring as they laughed... staring as they argued.  A fragile smile hung off her muzzle, and her eyes grew increasingly misty.

Twilight blinked.  "Rainbow?"

"Mmmm... yeah... the Herald..."  Rainbow Dash sniffled.  She rubbed her eyes dry.  "Sorry.  Just... once upon a time, you were all dead... y'know?  And now..."  She choked on her breath as she strengthened her grin.  "You're not dead.  Well... you know what I mean.  You're all here."  A shudder.  "Guess I'm... still trying to get over the fact that I was without you guys for s-so long..."  Her voice squeaked on the edge of a sob.

Rarity and Fluttershy were already crying a little.  The group drifted closer, surrounding Rainbow with eyes and color.

"Fret no more, my dear," Rarity said breathily.  "We're never leaving your side again."

"You've done so much for us, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said.  "We promise to help you with the rest of your journey."

"Believe me."  Applejack smirked.  "Nopony deserves a hug any more than you."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow nodded.  She exhaled heavily.  "Guess that's the next thing we gotta work on, huh?"

"Let's meet up with Bard and the rest of your friends," Fluttershy said.  "They've been waiting for you to get better.  I think that would be the right thing to do next."

"Yeah."  Rainbow nodded.  "I think you're right."

Silence.

Pinkie Pie looked all around, growing more and more antsy.  "I can't take it anymore!!!"  She spun and pounced on Twilight.

"Aaack!"  Twilight flailed in her embrace.  "Pinkie—?!"

"I had to hug someponyyyyyyyyyyyy!"  Pinkie moaned into Twilight's mane.  "Be my little Dashie for a while!"

"Guh... but I'm not—ugh!"  Twilight rolled her eyes.  "Applejack, do something!"

"I've got my hat, darlin'."  Applejack winked.  "But not my lasso.  Sorry, but yer all Pinkie's."

Fluttershy giggled.

"Ugh... fine."  Twilight sighed as Pinkie dangled from her neck and shoulders.  "Rainbow...?"

"Right..."  Rainbow suppressed a chuckle, flying north over the shiny fields.  "Herald, ahoy."





"So they've gotten better?" Rarity asked, hovering alongside Rainbow.  "The dreams, I mean...?"

"I... think so," Rainbow managed to say.  She focused on a bustle of activity a few dozen meters ahead.  "I mean... I was always in and out during that last... uh... episode I had."  She cleared her throat.  Her pendant glistened with starlight.  "But I was having visions... lots of visions.  And... uh... the last few times they were... pretty peaceful.  And looking back?  It... like... feels as though they were growing less and less nightmarish."

"Like you were getting used to them?" Twilight asked.  "Or just that they were going away?"

"I'm not sure..."

"Do you remember any specific details?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well, I remember that last vision," Rainbow said.  "I was at Ponyville.  At the sarcophagus."

Applejack's eyes squinted.  "Sarcophagus?"

"Errr..."

Twilight interjected:  "Princess Celestia had a massive arcane shield erected around the center of Ponyville.  At the location of Discord's death, a terrible chaos rift appeared."

"Oh yeah.  I remember y'all tellin' me about that.  But..."  Applejack's brow furrowed.  "They built a big ol' box around it?"

"More or less.  From the outside, it looks like a tall building... or obelisk.  Inside, there is an interior large enough to house the rift.  Ever since the chaos energy erupted, Princess Celestia has chosen to station herself there."  Twilight shuddered slightly.  "She's... been using all her harmony magic to contain the rift.  It requires deep focus and concentration.  She can talk to other ponies, give orders and the like... but she can't leave that very spot."

"Ohhhhhhh... so that's why Princess Luna is workin' both the sun and moon."

"Right."  Twilight nodded.  "And Celestia will have to dedicate herself to containing the rift for years... lifetimes."  She looked at their anchor.  "Unless Rainbow is able to return with the Harmonic Prism."

"That's one of the major reasons why we're trying to get to the Midnight Armory on the dreadful dark side," Rarity said with a shudder.  "That's where the ancient alicorns left the Prism.  In theory, it should be enough to eliminate the rift."

"As well as restore balance to Urohringr," Fluttershy added.  "At least, that's according to the Austraeoh lore we've discovered."

"Funny..."  Pinkie Pie made a face.  "When you think about it, the chaos rift in the center of Ponyville is the last place any of us would describe as 'peaceful.'  I mean... considering that it's super nasty and we all croaked there and stuff."

"What are you attempting to get at, darling?" Rarity asked.

"Just that Dashie says she had a 'peaceful vision' of that place!"  Pinkie Pie blinked.  "Isn't that a little eggs and moronic?"

"That's oxymoronic," Twilight corrected.

"Never needed the stuff!"  Pinkie grinned.  "I've been pimple-free for years!"

"No, Pinkie, that's... ugh..."

"Believe me, girls," Rainbow murmured.  "I don't get it either.  But I'm telling you—I felt really at peace in the last few visions... even though they included the rift."

"Most curious.  I wonder if the Herald will have any ideas as to what's happening to you."

"Are any of them telepathic, egghead?"

"You know what I mean, Rainbow."  Twilight smirked.  "Perhaps Kepler will remember something from his reading back at the sanctuary."

"Which one is Kepler again?"  Applejack asked.

"The horrid-looking bat lion," Rarity said.  "With bifocals and exquisite manners."

"Come to think of it, with features that specific, I wonder why I even asked to begin with..."

"Hey!"  Pinkie pointed at the group ahead.  "There they are!"

"What are they doing?" Fluttershy asked, craning their neck.

"Raisin' a barn!"  Applejack beamed, tilting her head back.  "Yeeee-ha!  Now this is more my speed!"

Rainbow Dash slowed her glide into a gentle hover.  She flapped her wings, staring down at her friends.  Logan, Ariel, Flynn, Wildcard, Kepler—even Remna were all helping Bard and a bunch of unfamiliar ponies in lifting the southern face of a partially-constructed building frame.

"Y'all almost got it!"  Bard grunted, gripping a rope in his fetlocks.  Several other stallions and mares grouped up behind him, yanking the rope back.  The Desperado flapped his wings, pulling harder.  "One more heave!  Three... two... one... Heave!"

With mutual grunts, the group effortlessly lifted the side into place.

"And there!"  Bard motioned to the side.  "Fliers!  Take wing and set it in place!"

"You heard the musician!"  Ariel and Wildcard took off, joining other griffons and pegasi as brought shared hammers and nails, fastening the building face, plank by plank.

Meanwhile, those on the ground lifted long slender beams, setting them against the face at right angles to steady it while those in the air fastened the vertical boards.

Before long, the framework was complete, and Bard waved his hat with a pronounced cheer.  "Boo-ya!  That's how you get it done!"  Wildcard flew up to his side, and the two shared a hoof-bump.  "See?  This is what happens when morons and double-morons get together."

The air filled with chuckles.

Applejack smirked aside at Rainbow Dash.  "I gotsta say... I'm really likin' this Bard feller."

"You would," Rainbow murmured, lips curved.

"Whew-wee, Johnny!"  A griffon said, hovering at his side.  "Nopony can manage a good barn-raising quite like you.  We've missed having you around the ranch, bro."

"Ehhhh..."  Bard placed his hat back on.  "Thanks, Ray.  But... as much as I'd like to believe that..."

The griffon waved a claw.  "Give Blue some slack, Johnny.  He's only cantankerous because he's old."

Bard exhaled through a frown.  "That was his excuse ten years ago, Ray.  Let's not mince words.  He's not changed and he ain't ever gonna..."

"You've only been back for a fivelight," Ray said.  "Give him a chance to show you what he's capable of."

"I've seen it.  Believe me."  Bard gulped.  "But it dun matter.  I ain't meanin' to stay long."
n
"Awwwwwww..."  A dark-coated unicorn pouted from where she stood below.  "But you just got here, Johnny."

"Reckon so, Kelly," Bard replied.  "But I've got places to be."

"Like where?"  Another pony—a pegasus—asked.  "It's dangerous out on the road.  Haven't ya heard what's gone down in Frostknife?"

"There are windigoes everywhere!" Kelly exclaimed.  Her horn glowed with timid fright.  "You're safe here on the ranch!  You always were!"

"Yeah, bro," Ray said with a beaked grin.  "We've got plenty of barns for shelter."  He winked a hawkeye.  "Even more, at this rate, thanks to you."

More chuckles.

"Let's... not get into it," Bard said with a sigh.  "As soon as Rainbow's up, I gotta discuss with Dubya and my other friends here about takin' off."

"Nicole's gonna hate you, ya know that," said the nearby pegasus.  He smirked.  "You and her haven't chatted much since you got here."

"I know, James."  Bard nodded.  "But she's the sentimental type, which is why I ain't aimin' to put her hopes up."

"Just who is this Rainbow Dash you're in such a tizzy about, anyways?"

"Ask her yourself," Remna grunted, eyes to the sky.  "The Austraeoh wakes."

"Huh?"

"Rainbow Dash!"  Ariel gasped.  Swoooooosh!  She crossed the distance in a gray blink, hugging Rainbow tight.  "You're up!  Oh, I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Heheheh..."  Rainbow Dash patted Ariel's shoulder.  "Easy, girl.  Don't squeeze the awesomeness out of me."

"Yeesh..."  Applejack raised an eyebrow.  "Friendly, much?"

Fluttershy laughed nervously.

"Mmmmfff..."  Rainbow slipped out of Ariel's grasp.  "You have no idea."

"Huh?"  Ariel blinked.

"Errr... h-hey, Herald!"  Rainbow Dash touched down beside the barn.  "How's it hoofin'?"

"Damn!"  Logan kicked a clump of soil, frowning.  "I could have sworn she'd be out of it even longer!"

Flynn grinned.  "Pay up, Big Show.  You owe me twenty bits at least."

"Mrmmfffnngh..."  Logan grumbled.  "My pockets are empty.  I'll pay you once we're done saving the world."

"Really?"  Rainbow's eyes were dull-edged.  "That's all I get?"

"Well, I hugged you, didn't I?" Ariel pouted.

"It is a wonderrful blessing to see you up and about, Rrainbow one," spoke the wyvern in the crowd.  He smiled through his tusks and adjusted his glasses.  "In a countrry with no sun, you and you alone brring forrth the dawn."

"Thanks as always, Kepler."

Wildcard landed at Rainbow's side.  With a smirk, he offered his metal fist.

Rainbow bumped it while turning to look at the group as a whole.  "Spell's over... at least I think so.  I... uh... I-I'm sorry to have given you such a fright."  She cleared her throat.  "Whatever took control of me, it's done doing its worst."

"You're certain about that?"  Remna asked, trotting closer.  "In all the time that I've observed you, I never saw you suffer that much."

"Not even in the Xonans' Sacred Hold?" Rainbow asked.  "Or before I cleared the chaos monsters from Amulek?"

"No."  Remna shook her head.  "But of course, I was never quite this close then."

"Yeesh..."  Applejack rubbed her head.  "All these names.  It's so dang hard to catch up."

Twilight patted her shoulder.  "You'll get used to it.  I promise."

"If y'all say so..."

Remna spoke to Rainbow Dash:  "This recent episode had you consumed for days."  Her violet brow furrowed.  "For a moment there, I was worried for the fate of Urohringr."

"Jee, thanks."  Rainbow Dash took a breath.  "Whatever the case, I should be thanking you, Axan."

Remna arched an eyebrow.  "What for?"

"Well, we're still here, aren't we?"

Remna merely stared.

Rainbow leaned in, smirking as she whispered:  "You didn't go all flankhole and force the Herald to the dark side while I was under."  She patted Remna's side.  "So... congrats on letting Bard and the Herald do what they knew was best for me and the group."

Remna cleared her throat.  "Dwelling on the wise words of Mortuana, I figured she would have done the same."

"Or maybe you just had hope."

"Huh?"

"That I would come out of it because I'm the Austraeoh and stuff.  That's having faith.  Just the right amount of it... not the crazy kind."

Remna exhaled through her nostrils.  "I feel as though you have only woken up to cause me more confusion."

"It's alright, girl," Rainbow said, trotting around.  "It'll come to you eventually."

"Just as all the secrets of Urohringr have come to you?"

"Hey.  I'm awesome.  Let me work on it."

Flynn shuffled up.  "You're really doing better, then?"

Rainbow blinked.  "What?  You won your bet, didn't you?"

Flynn smiled, shaking his head.  "I'm just making sure you're okay.  It's strange... you think?  That you would suffer such a horrible attack right after making contact with Yaerfaerda?"

"Perhaps."  Rainbow shrugged.  "Perhaps not.  There's only so much I know and so much I don't know."

"Perrhaps Utaan is dirrectly rrelated..."

Rainbow turned to face Kepler.  "Huh?"

The wyvern gestured.  "Well, it was spoken in yourr penultimate vision, was it not?"  He blinked behind his spectacles.  "Maybe the spirrits of Urrohrringrr who have visited you afterr each beacon is attempting to prrophesy a trransforrmation?"

"Ugh... I hope not," Rainbow said, shuddering.  "I've done enough of that as of late."

"I kinda wanna see this transformation!" Applejack said.

"Trust me," Twilight spoke, shaking her head.  "You don't."

Applejack blinked.  "Well, alright then."

Wildcard hand-signaled.

Ariel interpreted:  "'Perhaps we can talk about this all later.'"

"I agree."  Rainbow nodded.  "It's too easy to be distracted in the middle of a smelly fungus farm."  She smiled, turning to face Bard.  "So... who the heck and where the heck?"

"Heh... sure thang."  Bard touched down, tipping his hat.  "Lemme introduce ya, Rainbow."  He placed a hoof on a griffon's shoulder.  "This here is my brother Ray."

"Hello... Rainbow."  The griffon in question tilted his head aside.  He smirked.  "I can see where you got your name."

"Er... yeah..."  Rainbow's eyes bounced between Bard and Ray.  "I'm trying to figure out where you got your... beak."

Bard merely chuckled and trotted over towards a unicorn and pegasus.  "This lil' darlin' is my sister Kelly."

"Hello."  The unicorn curtsied.

"And this here is James."

The pegasus bowed.  "Secondlight's blessing."

Bard pointed at the multiple ponies and griffons surrounding them.  "Those are my brothers Michael and Steven.  Those over yonder are Tamara and Rachel.  That's Matthew.  Emily.  Nicole's off doin' farmwork on the other side of the ranch.  And..."  He looked all around.  "I'm sure Marie's around here somewhere..."

"Mighty-interestin' names," Applejack said.

"Yeahhhh..."  Pinkie squinted.  "They're not very... ... ...horsie."

"Eheh..."  Bard tipped his hat back, feeling Rainbow's eyes plastered on him.  "We ain't all related by blood, of course."

"Ah..."  Rainbow nodded.  "I was starting to wonder."

"Everypony who lives on Blue's half of the fields is adopted," James explained, coiling his wings at his side.  "That's... the easiest way of explaining it."

"Back when Blue's wife was still alive, the farmhouse served as a kind of foster home."  Kelly cleared her throat.  "Guess we... all decided this family was way better than anything else that the rest of Rohbredden could offer."

"Dang straight!"  Ray nodded with a grin.

"And who would want to live anywhere else anyways?!"  James gestured at the sky.  "We've got the kind of sky the rest of the Seven Seas could only envy!"

"All the hours in the day for work or play!" Ray added.

"Heehee... yeah..."  Kelly grinned.  "And the family keeps growing bigger and bigger too.  Take Mike, for example!"  She turned to smile at another griffon across the way.  "He and Delilah from the Smith farm to the north are going to inherit this barn."

"Heh... yeah..."  Mike chuckled from afar.  "And you and Roger from the Hampton fields are going to inherit the mountains."

James chuckled.  "You both certainly shout enough to reach the peaks."

The rest chuckled while Kelly blushed, kicking at the dirt.

"Knock it off," she muttered, ears red.

"As we see it, the whole constellations are ours," Ray said.  He brought a talon around Bard, side-hugging him.  "And having Johnny back makes things extra-perfect."

"Shucks... enough of that, now," Bard said with a sigh, though he smiled.  "I've got important business to attend to, remember?  This is only a temporary visit."

"Awwwwwwww..."  Kelly moaned.  "But Johnnyyyyyyy..."

"Dun you use that tone with me, lil' missy.  It's pullin' on the heartstrings enough just hearin' ya after all these years!"

"Then maybe it'll work!  Please say you'll stay with us this time!  Pleeeeeeeease."

As the "siblings" went on, Rainbow glanced aside at her marefriends.  She caught Applejack squinting, her freckles hidden beneath tightening face muscles.

Twilight also noticed it.  "What's the matter?" she asked.

"Mmmmmmm..."  Applejack inhaled.  "I dunno yet."

"Huh?"

Applejack scratched her chin.  "Just... somethin' off about these folks... about this whole place."

"But it's a ranch, AJ!"  Pinkie Pie exclaimed.  "Y'know... a farm?!  'Moo' goes the cow and all that stuff!"

"Still... I ain't quite so sure about any of this..."

Before Rainbow could say anything—

"Y'all are really quick to welcome ol' Johnny back in open hooves," muttered a deep voice from beyond the nearby fenceline.  Heavy hoofsteps announced the presence of a tall, muscular shape.  "Considerin' that he was just as quick to ditch us when we needed him most."

"Whoah!"  Pinkie Pie exclaimed.  "Did somepony order an elephant?"

Bard sighed.  Rolling his eyes, he turned about in a slump.  "Howdy, Tim."

"Howdy yerself, Johnny."  Facing the newly raised barn was a large stallion with a tattered blonde mane and matching tail.  Unshorn fetlocks supported thick legs and an even thicker neck.  The horse's coat was probably once a spectacle of gold silk, but had since been marred by years and years of rough farmwork, labor, and no small amount of scuffles.  "Or did you even bother to keep that after skippin' town?"

"Tim... can we not?"  Kelly moaned, waving a hoof.  "It's an amazing thing just having him back.  Look at all the stuff we got done?"

"Yeah, and without you to boot," Ray added.

"And already he's shiftin' the wind in this family," Tim grumbled.  He twisted his mouth muscles, and Rainbow spotted a stalk of hay sticking out from between two massive molars.  "Well, t'ain't no surprise to me.  He already came thunderin' on our doorstep with a heapin' army of noponies."  He gestured at the Herald.  "Was it enough that he bullied an old stallion like Blue that he's gotta push my brothers and sisters around as well?"

"He didn't push us into doing anything, Tim!" James exclaimed.  "He and his buddies here offered to help.  If you ask me, that's no 'army.'  That's just decent folk."

"And Nicole saw what went down the other day at the west entrance," Kelly said.  "She says that Blue attempted giving Johnny the third degree.  Now what kind of a welcome is that?"

"The only one that varmint deserves," Tim said, staring daggers at Bard.  "In fact, it's a mite bit too soft a reception.  A shame I wasn't there to do what Blue should have."

Bard rolled his eyes and smirked venomously.  "It's nice seein' you too, Tim.  How's the outhouse cockroach of the week?  Or are ya still a bachelor?"

"Mrmmfff..."  Tim spat his haystalk out, then cracked his neck muscles.  "You wanna have a go?  I'll whoop ya from here to kingdom come usin' just my rear left leg."

"Quite an upgrade from scratchin' yer balls," Bard grunted.

"More like the other way 'round, if ya ask me."

"Stop it!"  Kelly stood between them, holding her hooves out.  "For Goddess' sake!  You're both brothers!"

"He ain't no brother of mine," Tim hissed, glaring.  "And y'all are shamin' this ground by lettin' him share our fivelights."  His eyes narrowed.  "None of ya saw what he did before gallopin' off.  Not like I did.  He's a coward... and all the fools who hang out with him are cowards.  Why else would he even be back here in the first place?  Y'all heard the couriers.  The Queen's dead and windigoes are everywhere.  Johnny's only makin' a stop here 'cuz he's fleein' for his life."  He spat on the ground just a few inches before Tim's hooves.  "How's that for outhouse cockroaches, ya shitheap."

Bard sighed.  "Learn a new tune already, Tim."

"Yer one to speak.  Nothin' but a big steamin' pile of untalented manure, just like his grandpappy.  Ol' Blue only adopted him out of pity for what happened to his folks.  You ask me—they probably died as soon as they heard him sing.  Is that what you do out beyond the Twilight Lands, Johnny?  Ya sing ponies to death and call it 'bounty huntin'?"

Swoooosh!  Wildcard flew to a grinding stop in front of Tim, angrily staring the stallion down.

Tim leaned back, but the frown remained on his face.  He looked past Wildcard's headcrest.  "Is yer homin' pigeon tryin' to intimidate me, Johnny?  If so, you'd better tell him to ditch the goofy fart-goggles."

"Give it a rest, Dubya," Bard exhaled, waving a hoof.  "There's tons of mold all across this here farm that's worth more bits than he'll ever be."

"Goddess.  Even yer insults suck ass."  Tim snorted, turning tail.  "Blue may not be able to whoop you like he used to, but so long as I'm here, you can bet this ain't no home for you.  Dun matter what the rest of the family thinks.  You gave up this place a long... long time ago."  He trotted off.  "The barn's yers, but only for another fivelight.  If yer not gone by first crystal... there's gonna be some hurtin'."

"Dun worry..."  Bard's nostrils flared as the large pony trotted off.  "We ain't aimin' to stay long."

Silence.

Logan smirked aside at the others.  "I kinda like him."

"Eugh..."  Ariel tossed her mane and frowned at him.  "Really?"

"Well, aside from insulting Bard, calling us all cowards, and threatening to commit fratricide..."  Logan shrugged.  "The guy's got balls."

"Yeah."  Flynn coughed.  "If he was standing an inch taller, we all could probably see 'em."

Bard, meanwhile, stood with his head hung.  Wildcard walked over to his side and placed an anxious talon on his shoulder.

"I'm fine, Dubya..."  Bard rubbed the back of his head.  "All thangs considered... it's goin' better than I expected."

"Do we even want to know what you expected?" Ariel exclaimed.

"I'm sorry about Tim, Johnny," Kelly said.  "He's usually very nice.  Erm... at least to us."  She smiled nervously.  "He helps with our chores.  He's the single hardest worker on the farm."

"He looks after Blue," James muttered.  "A lot."

"Yeah... he always did favor ol' Blue," Bard said, nodding.  "Then again... Blue always seemed to favor him."

"What... do you think makes him so ticked off at you, Johnny?" Ray asked.

"Yeah... what could he have 'seen' that we didn't on the day you first left?" James trotted up.  "I mean... it isn't beyond Tim to confuse things."

"Yeah."  Another pony chuckled.  "His muscle is where his brain is."

The air filled with chuckles.

"Still... there had to have been something."  James cleared his throat.  "Won't you ever tell us?  We... might not get a second chance."

Bard took a deep breath.  "Y'all know enough."

"Please, Johnny," Kelly insisted.  "You're our brother."

"The first one adopted, no less," Ray added.

Bard glanced at the siblings.  "Y'all happy here?"

They exchanged glances, then nodded at him.

Bard took a deep breath.  "What happened between Blue and me is our business, nopony else's.  I thought I carried a major heap of that business with me when I flew into the daylight.  But—as I can see—most of that was left here... dumped off like garbage."  He sighed.  "I'm mighty sorry for it... and even sorrier that I can't fix it.  But if y'all aren't even remotely as cross over it as myself or even Tim... then... well... maybe it's best that it stay that way."

The farmers fumbled for words, but nopony produced anything to argue with the stallion.

"Now, we done set the framework for this here barn," Bard said, gesturing at the structure beside him.  "I ain't fixin' to get anything wrecked.  So... pardon me while I discuss a few thangs with my friends here.  I promise to have a few good words with each and every one of y'all before we leave... but we must be skedaddlin' soon."

"Awwwwwwww..."

"We understand, Johnny."

"Whatever happens... it's been so... so good seeing you again."

"Would you consider having dinner with us at the culmination of fivelights?"  Ray asked, smiling.  "With the family?  Like old times?"

"I promise that I'll think about it."

"Heh... and I promise that that's good enough.  Either way, we'll have extra food prepared for you, Rainbow, and your friends."

"Much obliged."  Bard tipped his chat, trotting over towards Remna.  "Shall we dance?"

"Personally, I'd much rather wait and see you and your larger relative perform mortal combat," the mare said.

"I'll take that as a 'maybe.'"  Bard whistled past Remna.  "Alright, y'all.  Time for some real work!  Puttin' our heads together and plannin' our trip to the edge!"

"I do believe that some of us arre missing," Kepler remarked.

"Yeah..."  Ariel placed her hooves on her hips.  "Just where is leaf-ears?"

"Hey Echo!" Logan shouted.

"That's not going to work," Flynn muttered.

"Yeah..."  Logan smiled.  "But the midnighter's name is—"

"Yes, I got the joke!" Flynn growled.

"Dubya..."  Bard gestured.  "Go see if you can fetch the fanged varmint, will ya?  It's time we had a Job Squad meeting."

But before Wildcard could fly to action—

"What say..."  Rainbow Dash spread her wings.  "I go and fetch the sarosian?"

Bard looked up, blinking.  "But... ain'tcha tired from... bein' tired?"

"I want to get a proper idea of my surroundings," Rainbow said.  "I've got a lot to catch up on.  Not to mention—"  She flapped her wings harder.  "—I've gotta get these babies some exercise."

Bard blinked.  He eventually nodded.  "Well, alrighty."  He pointed.  "But Dubya's goin' with you.  It's mighty dark in these lands.  I'd hate for ya to fly straight into a tree or a windmill."

"Thanks, Dad."

"Ugh... seriously.  Don't start with that shiet."

"Heheh..."  Rainbow took off.  Wildcard flew alongside her.  As the two began gliding in a circular formation—searching the grounds below for Echo—Rainbow noticed Applejack's slack figure as she floated after her anchor.  "Okay... what's biting at you?  For realsies."

Applejack sighed.  "I... I can't quite put my hoof on it."

"Put your hoof on what?" Twilight asked.

"Just be natural about it, AJ," Pinkie Pie said.  "Let it flow through you."  She stuck her tongue out.  "It's what I do!"

"Can somepony please explain to me what we're even talking about?" Rarity remarked.

"I'm just as confused as Rarity for once," Twilight said.

Rarity blinked.  "'For once?'"

"Just be straight with us, Applejack," Fluttershy said.  "You always are."

"Well... alright... but it's gonna sound mighty strange."  Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash.  "They're lyin'."

"Lying?"

"Eeyup."

"Uhm... who's lying?"

"All of 'em," Applejack explained.  "Kelly.  James.  The griffon.  Even Bard!"

"Bard?"  Fluttershy squeaked.

"About what, pray tell?" Rarity asked.

"I... can't rightly say," Applejack remarked.  "But the last few times they've opened their mouths... they haven't been honest.  Not to each other..."  She swallowed.  "...and not to themselves."

"Why would Bard—the Desperado who's saved Rainbow's life multiple times alongside Wildcard, the Job Squad, and the Herald—be lying to us?" Twilight exclaimed.

"I can't explain it... not the 'why' nor the 'how.'  All I know is... he ain't bein' honest," Applejack said.

"You... sense this?" Rarity remarked.

Applejack nodded.  "Granted, I've always had a knack for readin' ponies."

"You and I were wrong about Zecora!" Pinkie said.

Applejack rolled her eyes.  "With a few exceptions, yes.  But this?  This is different."  Applejack gulped.  "It's like somethin' in my spirit is a-buzzin' whenever somepony is bein' untruthful-like."

"See!"  Pinkie grinned.  "I told you to let it flow through you!"

"Could that be Applejack's gift?"  Rarity remarked, staring at Twilight as they glided in circles.  "To ascertain when another pony is lying or not?"

"I... suppose it's possible," Twilight remarked.  "You and I and Fluttershy have had inexplicably strange senses since we came back.  And Pinkie's are the strangest of all."

Pinkie Pie giggled triumphantly.

"But this..."  Twilight swallowed.  "This brings things to a whole 'nother level."

Rainbow Dash glanced aside at Wildcard.  He then leaned in to whisper at Applejack.  "You sure about what you're feeling?"

"Definitely."  Applejack nodded.  "Especially since... y'know... it's changed."

"What's changed?"

"Take Bard.  He was tellin' the truth before we got here.  Suddenly... he's all reserved, and everythang he's sayin' is... tryin' to cover somethin' up."

"So... perhaps..."  Fluttershy fidgeted.  "...there's more to what's happened between him and this 'Blue' character than he's telling his brothers and sisters?"  She bit her lip.  "Than he's telling us."

"I'm afraid so."  Applejack nodded.  "In fact... if you ask me... the only pony back there who was tellin' the truth was this rude 'Tim' feller."

Twilight and Rarity exchanged glances.

Rainbow sighed.  "Let's just find Echo and figure out what we're doing next with the Herald."  She gulped.  "While it's been a blessing... the less time we spend here, the better."  She shook her head.  "And it's not the smell."

Wildcard glanced at her curiously, but said nothing.

They continued their casual search in a tense new silence.
> To End the Great Ender
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Now that I think about it, there's something very strange about Johnny's—... erm... Bard's home," Rarity remarked.

"Oh?"  Pinkie blinked at her.

Rarity and the others followed Rainbow Dash as she flew circles over the ranch with Rainbow Dash.  "Now, there's nothing wrong with adopted siblings," the ghostly fashionista said.  "But... didn't some of Bard's acquaintances call this place a 'foster home?'"

"That—or it once was," Twilight Sparkle said with a nod.

"Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a foster home supposed to be a temporary arrangement?"  She looked at the other spectral mares.  "I always thought that, normally, foals are ushered in and out of such a residence, but it's only a brief measure until they're situated with permanent families.  But everyone here has grown up and is still living at this ranch."

"Ohhhhhhhhh."  Pinkie nodded.  "... ... ...I don't get it."

"Doesn't seem too strange to me, Rarity," Fluttershy said.  "They were raised in an accomodating family, and it looks as though they've enjoyed the experience enough to stick around and support their relations."

"Only, they ain't," Applejack grumbled.

Rainbow asked, "You mean to suggest that they're miserable?"

Wildcard glanced curiously aside at her, his goggles glinting in the endless starlight.

"Well, no."  Applejack folded her forelimbs in mid flight.  "Reckon I dunno what they're feelin'.  But they ain't exactly happy.  That's all I can tell."

"I think we've yet to properly test this supposed 'sense' of yours," Twilight Sparkle remarked.

"I couldn't begin to tell you how," Applejack said.

"Oooh!  I know!"  Pinkie Pie grinned in Applejack's face.  "I love to eat green beans and brussel sprouts all day!"

"... ... ..."  Applejack glared at Pinkie Pie with folded ears.  "...yer lyin'."

"Duaaaaaaaaaah!"  Pinkie Pie gasped wide.  "It works!  Applejack's a truth wizard!"

"Eugh..."  Twilight Sparkle face-hoofed.  "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I almost wish we had more earth before the edge of the world..."

"Let's not dwell on that," Rainbow said.  She frowned as she squinted at the crops and farmland below.  "Where in the fuzz is Echo, already?"

"Down there, beside the fungal orchards," Fluttershy said, pointing southwest as they passed another grove.  "You and Wildcard passed him five times already."

Rainbow's eyes bulged.  "Flutters?!  Why didn't you say anything, girl?!"

"Uhm..."  Fluttershy curled up.  "...you didn't ask."

Twilight face-hoofed again.

"Let's just get this over with already."  Rainbow signaled Wildcard and the two descended sharply.  Hooves and claws raked the soft earth as they landed, approaching a series of wooden crates where a familiar figure sat, his cloak's hood down.  "Heyo, Echo.  Relaxation time is over.  Let's group up and chat with Bard, Remna, and the others about our next course of action."

Echo continued speaking, seemingly ignoring Rainbow's presence:  "Ha ha ha!  I know!  And what kills me is that while everypony is sooooooooo superior to us, they still flinch at the sight of our fangs!"  The sarosian's teeth in question flickered in the starlight.  He sat on the edge of the crate, his lower legs dangling playfully.  "Like... they want to grind us in the dirt, but they're all super stupidly terrified that we'll suck the blood out of their necks!"

"Hahahaha!"  A feminine voice chortled from a series of wooden lattices dangling with fungal growths.  "I don't even like meat!  Why would I want to suck blood?"

"Lemme guess."  Echo smirked.  "Fruit?  Mushrooms?  Fruity mushrooms?"

More giggles.  "I'm big on buttered cinammon biscuits, actually."

"You can't seriously eat that all the time..."

"Well, no... but it's the only meal I ever bother remembering."

"I can't remember the last time I had anything with sugar in it," Echo muttered.

"Well, you have been in prison."

"Right.  All I got in there was salt.  Hah!"

"Heeheehee..."

Rainbow and Wildcard exchanged glances.  "Uhhhhh..."  Rainbow trotted towards the crates.  "Echo?"

"Heheheh..."  The leafy-eared stallion chuckled.  "This one time, I made a guard shit himself 'cuz I told him that smelling our farts would cause him to mutate into a bat upon hearing cricket song."

"You're joking!"

"You think the ponies of the Seven Seas are superstitious?  The only ponies who work inside the Frosted Shelves are ignorant bastards compensating for their insecurities."

"Wow... you must have seen sooooooo much of the real world out there.  I'm kinda jealous."

"Yeah, well, don't be."  Echo rubbed the back of his head, blushing slightly.  "I was... uh... kinda sorta high most of the time."

Rainbow Dash whistled shrilly.

Echo's head turned.  His slitted eyes reflected Rainbow and Wildcard for the first time.  "Oh.  Right.  The plot.  Hello, plot."

"Uhhhhhhh..."  Rainbow squinted.  "...who are you and what have you done to Echo?"

"I beg your pussy?"

"There he is!"  Pinkie grinned.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow.  "Why are you so... happy all of the sudden?"

Wildcard gestured.

Rainbow glanced at the griffon, then at Echo.  "I dunno what he said, but I'm guessing it's something akin to 'Are you hitting the coral again?'"

"Pffft.  I wish," Echo grunted, still smirking.  "I might not smell the incredible assetry of this dump's atmosphere."

"Oh come on..."  The female voice drew closer, along with a shuffling mare's figure.  She brushed her hooves off and tossed a charcoal black mane.  "It doesn't smell that bad."

"Not until you get used to it, I bet," Echo said.  "Like a dung beetle accidentally climbing into an elephant's butthole and just... learning to settle."

"Heeheehee... okay..."  The mare laughed again, and Rainbow spotted a flash of fangs.  "So maybe it does reek on occasion."

"'Reek?'"  Echo barked.  "Girl, this place smells like vomit had sex with a paper mill and shat out a decaying octopus!"

"Y-yeah!"  The laughed again, slapping her knee as leathery wings stretched and unstretched.  "All covered in night bison spit!  Heehee!"

"Hahahaha!"  Echo nearly doubled over.  "I haven't a clue what a night bison is, but that's still funny!"

"Whoah..."  Twilight Sparkle was the first to point and comment.  "Rainbow, she's... she's..."

"You're sarosian?"  Rainbow Dash remarked.

The mare blinked at her, slitted eyes bright and green.  "Whoah.  That's a new one."  She glanced at Echo.  "What's a 'saros?'  Some sort of Seven Seas term for bat excrement?"

"Huh?  No!"  Rainbow Dash frowned.  "It's what you're called!  Er... ehhh..."  She fidgeted.  "At least... where I come from, it's the... proper term for Echo's race."

"Uhhhhhhhh... yeahhhhhhh..."  The mare side-stepped towards Echo, giving Rainbow the stinkeye.  "Is this the 'Rainbow Dash' you were telling me about, Echo?  She's a few spores short of a shroom."

"Give her some slack," Echo said with a wave.  "Believe it or not, she's being sincere as all Hell."

"Really, I am!"  Rainbow nodded ardently, then glanced the mare's way.  "Why would you think I'd call you something nasty?  I don't even know you.  Either way, that wouldn't be very cool, now would it?"

"Wow.  That's a change."  The mare blushed slightly.  "My bad.  You see... almost all strangers who see me have something really nasty to say... that is until Tim shows up and kicks their flank.  Heheheh... yeahhhhh..."  She brushed her bangs back, leafy ears twitching.  "Just comes with the territory of being a midnighter."  She winked at Echo.  "Isn't that right?"

"Right as a ninety degree angle, babe."  Echo smirked.  "Which is where I'll be in a few minutes if you keep giggling like that."

Sure enough, she chortled, then rolled her slitted eyes.  "I dunno what part of the world Johnny scooped you out of, but you're a real hoot."  She smirked at Rainbow again.  "See?  I made a nocturnal pun!  How's that for your bits' worth?"

"Sounds like she's used to being ridiculed for what she is," Fluttershy remarked.  "That's most unfortunate."

"I wonder if she's always like this," Rarity said.  "Or if—perhaps—Echo here has brought a ray of sunshine to her."  A dainty smirk.  "Or perhaps a beam of moonlight, as t'were."

"Whatever the case, she's the most real pony soul here," Applejack said with a smile.

"Ahem."  Clearing her throat, Rainbow Dash stepped past Wildcard and approached the mare with a hoof extended.  "You must be Nicole.  Bard... er... Johnny and the rest of his siblings mentioned you."

"Pleased to meet you, Rainbow Dash."  Nicole shook hooves with the pegasus.  She produced another fanged smile.  "Is he really going by 'Bard?'"

Wildcard nodded.

Nicole glanced at him.  "And you must be 'Wildcard,' the other 'Desperado' that Echo mentioned."

Wildcard raised an eyecrest above his goggles.  He glanced aside at Echo.

Turning pale, Echo nervously raised a pair of forelimbs.  "All g-good things!  I promise, bird buddy, eagle pal!"

After an exasperated sigh, Wildcard nodded with a faint smile.

"From the sound of things, my big brother's been through a lot," Nicole said.  "Which, considering the stuff he's left behind, is a crying shame.  Still... heh... sounds like he had a fine, feathered friend to keep him safe... not to mention company.  Johnny always did like hanging out with Ray the most.  I suppose you were just the shoulder for him to lean on."  She trotted forward slightly.  "I think you deserve this."

Wildcard's headcrest raised in curiosity... until he found himself at the receiving end of a soft, velvety hug.  Glancing at Rainbow Dash, the griffon then patted the sarosian awkwardly on the shoulder.

"Hmmmm... you're a friend of Bard's, alright."  Nicole leaned back with a tender smile.  "You didn't flinch.  I guess midnighters aren't the worst things you've faced out there in the Seven Seas."

Wildcard shook his head, then gestured a pair of dragon wings.

"Huh?"

Rainbow Dash coughed.  "We've all seen our fair share of... craziness."  She looked directly at Nicole.  "But nopony should ever have to fear others simply for what they're born as."

"A noble thing to say," Nicole remarked, trotting back to the lattices and vines.  "But even harder to commit."

"I understand.  Believe me," Rainbow said.

"I believe that you believe me," Nicole replied, climbing a miniature ladder beside a wooden slat.  "Echo's told me about how you come from a far-away land that runs on magic and harmony and sunshine."

"Er... yeah..."  Rainbow squinted at Echo.  "Has Echo here told you everything about me?"

Echo saluted.  "Only the sexy bits."

"He says that you're a super awesome hero," Nicole said, examining one fungal growth after another.  "And that you've got a lot of crazy, tragic stuff dumped on you."  Her hooves squeezed their luminescent surfaces as she chose which ones to pluck free and toss into a wooden bucket below.  "And yet, you keep on fighting the good fight... because you care too much to stop."

"Heh... guess he's right."  Rainbow Dash smiled.  "He's kept things sexy."

"Bet it doesn't feel that way."

"Huh?"

"Just that it sounds like you're going through an awful lot of crazy stress."  Nicole glanced over her velvety shoulder.  Leather wings stretched for balance.  "I'm super glad that Johnny's with you.  The best support you can ever get comes from a big brother."

"He's certainly been... big in my life."  Rainbow gulped.  "I wouldn't be around if it weren't for him and Wildcard here."

"Then that makes me happy," Nicole said.

"In what way?"

"Johnny's done a lot of good since he left the farm.  I always hoped he'd be safe... and that he'd be happy."  She smiled.  "I'm starting to like this Desperado named 'Bard' more and more.  He even got Echo here to kick a nasty vice."

"Well... that was mostly ol' Theams' doing, but..."  Echo sighed, staring at the ground.  "Yeah.  Good shit."

"So... uh..."  Rainbow trotted up to the ladder Nicole was on.  "I've been dying to ask.  Just what are you guys growing on this farm?"

"Twilight Grease."

Silence.

"Okaaaay..."  Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.  "Is that supposed to be important or something?"

Nicole glanced down, wiping some sweat from her brow.  "You seriously haven't heard of Twilight Grease?"

"Sounds like the stuff that comes out of Twily's armpits when she's reading a super good book!" Pinkie said.

Twilight nodded.  "Yeah!  It's just like—hey!"

"Heehee!"

"Remember, Nicky, she's not from around here."  Echo smirked at the mare.  "I can call you 'Nicky,' can I?"

"Heehee... it's certainly better than other things that I've been called!"

"My favorite thing anyone's ever shouted at me is 'Moth Gimp.'"

"Guh!"  Nicole gasped.  "I was called that once too!  I laughed for a fivelight!"

"But really... what is Twilight Grease?" Rainbow asked.

Nicole pointed.  "See this stuff right here?"

"You mean the big clumps of glowing mushroom potatoes?"

Nicole explained:  "Well, they're not mushrooms and they're not potatoes.  But it is a fungus.  In the wild, they never grow this densely.  But, after years and years of Twilight Land farmers working on a special way of... uhhh... dangling them... we learned to get them to collect in thick bunches.  Like these.  And when that happens, they sorta... burst on the inside out and produce this really viscous fluid that happens to act as a spectacular lubricant when mixed with water."

"It's how Rohbredden gets all of its steam machines to operate in such a squeaky clean way," Echo said.  "That locomotive steam engine that Remna and the Herald say you totally wasted?  That was—like—three farms' worth of harvests all down the drain."  He shrugged.  "Y'know... for a completely r-random example."

"Wow..."  Twilight Sparkle smiled.  "How fascinating!"

Rainbow glanced at the vines and lattices.  "So... you mean that Blue's Farm here is all about supplying the Rohbredden industrial machine?"

Nicole, in the meantime, had her jaw dropped.  "Did you actually crash an entire locomotive?"

"Uhhhh... kinda..."  Rainbow gulped.  "Along with several tons of explosive dredge coal."

"Wow!  Echo wasn't lying!"  Nicole beamed.  "You are awesome!"

Wildcard nodded.  Rainbow gave him a glance, and the griffon smiled nervously.

"Just... y'know..."  Nicole cleared her throat.  "...don't try pulling any of that sort of stuff here.  Blue wouldn't take kindly to it."

"Nor would I take kindly to ya talkin' to complete strangers," rasped a breathy voice from uphill.

"Guh!"  Rarity shivered all over.  "I didn't know skeletons were capable of speaking."

"Rare-Rare isn't kidding!"  Pinkie pointed, wincing.  "Look at 'em!"

Rainbow Dash was already turning around.  She saw a decrepit specimen of a stallion—wrinkled and hunched over—trotting... more like hobbling towards that particular patch of orchards.  True to his name, he had a coat of faded blue coat hairs.  His mane was bleached white with age, and he had no small amount of nosehairs glinting in the cosmic sheen.

"Nicole!"  Blue spat, his ears constantly in a state of angry drooping.  "I didn't raise you to be no hussy!  Now come inside!  That's enough work for ya today!"

"Oh, come on, Blue!"  Nicole waved aside at the other three.  "We were just having an innocent conversation!  Besides... it's not like they're strangers!  These are Johnny's friends!"

"If they's Johnny's friends, then they's worse than strangers!"  Blue frowned at Rainbow in particular.  "Just look at 'em!  Paradin' around with goggles and glitz hangin' off their throats!  You dun find that kind of senselessness anywhere in the Queen's lands!  Now... come with me!  Chattin' time is over!"

"Aren't you being a tad bit unreasonable?"  Nicole hopped off the ladder and shuffled towards the old stallion.  "There's so much that we don't know about the Seven Seas and beyond, Blue!  Besides..."  She glanced around, slitted eyes darting.  "...from what I hear, the Queen is dead."

"All the more reason for us to be on the guard!"  Blue's hairy nostrils flared.  "If windigoes get the drop on us, I wanna die with loved ones!  Not with these freeloadin' hoboes!  Now come along!"  He grabbed her forelimb.

"Ow!  Yeesh... take it easy, Blue..."  Nicole easily batted his fetlock away and reluctantly trotted with him.  "I'm going!  I'm going already..."

"Well go faster!"  Blue grunted, making a living shield between her and the others.  "I may not be yer brother Tim, but I'll rip and tear these mongrels if I have to!"

"Whoah... ease up on the bayonets, old timer," Echo said.

"Yeah!"  Rainbow nodded alongside Wildcard.  "Nicole's telling the truth!  We were just talking—"

"No ya weren't!"  Blue glared, pointing an accusatory hoof.  "You was just pollutin'!  Nicole dun need yer kind gettin' her all confused and backwards, especially after all I dun to nurse her back to even wing-flappin'!"  He hissed in Echo's direction.  "And if you so much as look at her again, I have a good mind to replace yer fangs with firecrackers!"

"Oh.  Brilliant."  Echo bore a bitter smirk.  "You and whose asshole?"

"Echo, please."  Nicole sighed, then turned towards Blue.  "He's harmless, Blue.  Honest!"

"No he ain't!  None of his kind are!"

Nicole frowned, fangs showing.  "He's my kind, Blue.  In case you've already gone blind."

"Ain't the eyes that I'm thinkin' with, girl," Blue said.  "A midnighter like him could only stay alive past the Twilight Lands by bein' a criminal or a drug peddler.  Ain't nothin' that you should be messin' with, or else the world will be stompin' you to mud and callin' you worse thangs."

"But—"

"You just dun know 'cuz you ain't been out there... flounderin' like the rest of them!  Now I built this farm to keep ya and yer siblings safe.  So would it kill ya to show an ounce of respect?"

Nicole sighed, although her voice had the tell-tale hint of a growl.  She hung her head and droned, "No, Blue..."

"Now go inside!  Git!  No more chattin' or fluffin' about until Johnny and his floozie friends are all dead or gone!  Whichever comes first, by Verlaxion!"

In a lethargic slump, Nicole flapped her leathery wings and glided uphill, disappearing amidst the velvety blackness beyond starlight.

"And you!"  Blue hung out just long enough to point an angry hoof at Wildcard.  "I already had a gab with Tim!  If I catch word of ya glarin' all intimidating-like at any of my children again, you'll be roasted duck come first crystal!  Hrmmph!"  And he marched off in a huff.  "Dayum punks..."

Wildcard clenched his beak while his metal claws closed into a fist.

"Soooooooo..."  Echo slicked his mane back.  "Maybe it isn't the crops that smells like shit in this place."

"Sorry to cut things so terribly short, Echo," Rainbow Dash said.  "But we do need to have a talk with the rest of the Herald."

"Why are you apologizing?"  Echo shrugged.  "You're not the one who shredded cow dung over a cheese grater and spread it over this scene."

"Still, no matter how we shake it, it's rather obvious that there are ponies on this farm that don't want us here.  And I think we've had enough drama without shaking another hornets' nest."  She looked over at her companions.  "What do you think, girls?"

"What else is there to think?"  Rarity grimaced.  "Blue and that 'Timothy' fellow are positively dreadful!"

"But... the rest of the ponies here are so very kind and pleasant," Fluttershy added.  "That should mean something, shouldn't it?"

"I know y'all don't wanna hear me say this, but whatever Blue and Tim's reason for hatin' Bard, they're bein' mighty sincere about it," Applejack said.

"Yes, Applejack."  Twilight Sparkle nodded.  "But you can't mean to imply that they're right for thinking that way about him!"

"It's a complicated world that we live in, Twilight," Applejack said.  "I can't pretend to say what yer Bard friend has or hasn't 'done,' but there's some very real... honest-to-badness hate in this here farm."  She shuddered.  "And it's not just affecting the patriarchs of this land.  Nosiree."

Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Then the less time we spend here, the better."  She turned to face Wildcard and Echo.  "Let's split."

"Pssssst..."  Pinkie Pie leaned in with a wink.  "You should have said 'mosey.'"

"Oh hush."

"Heehee..."





Inside the Frosted Shelves of Central Rohbredden, ponies and griffons from all walks of life huddled once again for shelter.  Outside, the bluffs of Frostknife whistled and howled.  A terrible blizzard raged, its echoing noise accompanied by the occasional shriek of wayward windigoes.

It was another stampede of the unearthly equines, and their ghostly snow trails once again made the outside ravine of the kingdom's capital completely inhospitable.

While the severity of this stampede was considerably less intense than the initial herd that rolled out of the heart of Starkiss upon the death of Verlax, it had been lasting an awfully long time.  Nevertheless, the denizens of Frostknife were considerably more prepared this time.  Several shelters had been prepared—one for each family.  While cramped, there was a certain degree of comfort afforded... thanks to the torches lit and the food supplies distributed evenly among the huddled populace.

The thick, heavy doors of the former prison's entrance had been heavily reinforced with steel beams and iron rivets.  Every window and grate of the facility had been covered in thick metal plates.

While the improvements didn't keep all of the cold out, it assured the structural integrity of the domain.  As the hours wore on, ponies maintained a healthy degree of sanity, even to the point of affording somewhat civil conversations between families, friends and trade representatives while they mutually continued to wait out the metaphysically-imposed blizzard.

All in all, the citizens of Frostknife found survival both feasible as well as relatively comfortable.  And while there was no guarantee of the frozen stampede outside finishing anytime soon, the Rohbreddenites discovered many affirming things to do with their time.  Including—above all things:

"Aaaaand... there," Lieutenant Keris exhaled with finality.  Cl-Clank!  A final pare of unlocked manacles fell to the stone floor, rattling to a stop.  The griffon handed the keys to a soldier of the Central Guard and faced the group ahead of him.  "By official decree of the Council of Verlaxion, you and all of your Tribe are free to roam about the sanctum of the Frosted Shelves.  Once the windigoes have ceased their latest assault, Frostknife and the whole of Rohbredden are also yours to access freely."  He attempted to smile beneath his beak.  "Grand Magistrate Hymnos has even authorized the Council to assign protective lands for you and your brothers to settle.  If you wish, the Talon can assist you in finding such a location, assuming the windigoes cease their stampedes soon enough to afford a settlement."

One of many wyverns rubbed his clawed wrists.  He shuddered, shaking off days' worth of shackling and imprisonment.  His soft eyes lifted to meet Keris'.

"A thousand grratitudes, Lieutentant," the wyvern said.  He glanced over his shoulder, catching the eyes of other hairy compatriots, including a smattering of Snow-Bloods.  "Alas... we only have one home... and it no longerr stands on a single plank of foundation."  He turned towards Keris and his fellow soldiers once more.  "Wherre is therre forr ourr trribe to live?  The Matrron of the Mountain imparrted us many gifts—both of the heartt and the flesh—and half of those have been torrched to ashes by yourr verry own Council... which now desirres to be so belatedly grracious."

The soldiers exchanged glances.

Keris took a deep, melancholic breath.  "There is no apology I can make... no poetic pleasantry that I could possibly put to words that can undo the terrible injustice that has been committed against you and your kind.  The Council of Verlaxion..."  He grimaced.  "We were all terribly misled by forces greater than us."

"The Rrainbow Rrogue," another wyvern said.

Keris looked at him.  "Huh?"

"You mean to place the blame of yourr actions on the Rrainbow Rrogue," the monk clarified.  "That she possessed an aurra of black magic—empowerred by the Blight—that corrrupted you and the Council and forrced you to do things uncharracterristic of sanity and goodness."

Another wyvern spoke:  "You arre mistaken.  Everrypony is mistaken."  He slowly shook his head.  "The Rrainbow Rrogue is without fault.  We know this... and we will carry it to ourr grraves."

A pegasus soldier grumbled, "They're still tainted with the demon's curse."  Shaking his head, he carried a bag full of shackles and marched off, shaking his head.  "A damned shame..."

Keris heard him and other members of the Guard trotting off, but he didn't move his head.  Staring at the survivors of Wyvern Point, he took a deep breath and spoke:  "Whatever the truth may be... the fault is with us... and with me."  He gulped.  "We have many trials and tribulations ahead, but we shall not overcome them by placing blame on anypony... including ourselves.  From now on, we must work together... all as brothers.  I can't expect you to commit to this without more than a tiny amount of regret... even spite.  But I do expect you to hear my words and believe me with the same sincerity as I am conveying them to you."  His hawkeyes hardened as he stared them in the face.  "I promise that the Talon—under my leadership and beyond—shall protect the livelihood of the wyverns at all costs... even that of our lives.  You shall not perish from this earth, frozen or not... blighted or not.  Everypony deserves to survive... and—furthermore—everypony deserves to enjoy the full richness of life.  This is the same for you and your brothers, if not more so.  And to this, I pledge... willfully and faithfully."

The wyverns exchanged glances.  Eventually, one stepped out and spoke to Keris.

"You knew the Rrainbow One?"

Keris blinked.

The wyvern repeated:  "You knew herr perrsonally?"

At last, Keris nodded.  "That I did."

"We have sensed it," the Wyvern said, nodding back.  "She does not grrant a blight... but a blessing... and all whose paths she crrosses—even forrcefully—are betterr for it... whetherr they know it or not."

Keris swallowed.  "I believe that too."

"Trruly?"  One wyvern asked.  "Orr simply because you have to?"

Keris' headcrest drooped.  "Some... of the bravest journeys still must be taken... one wing-flap at a time."

The wyvern nodded.  "Then we shall supporrt you in such a flight, Lieutenant."  A bow.  "That shall be ourr solid prromise to you."





Keris' feathery head echoed with the words of the wyverns, even as he shuffled listlessly down the crowded, torch-lit halls of the Frosted Shelves.

On either side of him, families huddled in tiny tents and shelters, all lined up against the tall granite walls of the former-prison.  Cells had been converted into lavatories.  Mess halls were transformed into hospitals.  Foals giggled and chased each other across balconies and platforms while mothers and fathers chatted the time away.

Outside, the windigoes howled and shrieked... growing slowly faint as the hours limped by.

As Keris passed through the heart of the massive shelter, families noticed him.  One by one, groups of Rohbredden citizens stood up—only to bow and perform holy gestures, giving Verlaxion's blessings.

Keris looked at them.  He nodded, but found very little strength to offer a grateful smile.  At one point, the Lieutenant was caught off guard when a mare trotted out from her shelter with a filly balanced on her flank.  The tiny foal offered him tiny collection of wildflowers that had miraculously survived the latest windigo stampedes.

Hesitantly, Keris took the buds.  He stared at the bright yellow petals.  Thus, he was a bit too distracted to register the lips of the filly as she gave the griffon the tiniest of pecks against the nape of his feathered neck.  Keris watched as the mother gave him a tearful smile, then hobbled back to be with her family.

Thunder rolled—or else the closest thing to it.  The foundation of the Frosted Shelves rumbled, but maintained itself against the tempestous onslaught outside.

Keris stood in a daze, absorbing it all.  Thus—he was nearly startled by a familiar voice.

"Lieutenant?"  Professor Theanim Mane leaned in from the side.  "Did you hear me?"

Keris cleared his throat, lowering the flowers from his gaze.  "A thousand pardons, Professor.  Would you mind repeating yourself?"

"I said that the representatives of the Order have fully situated themselves in the upper hold," Theanim said.  "It's a wonderful blessing that you were able to convince the Council to afford us those particular chambers of the prison."  He adjusted the goggles over his mane.  "We shall proceed with our alchemic experiments in thermal energy distribution immediately.  Being positioned above the rest of the chambers shall make it so that we won't flood the residential areas with unnecessary soot and fumes."

Keris simply nodded.  "Very well, Professor..."

"However, we've had some complaints from the medical technicians located in the lateral chambers across the hall," Theanim continued.  "They're claiming to hear a persistent metal clanging sound."

"Indeed."  Keris stared at the multitudes of ponies.

"We're not experimenting in any sort of metalwork.  Besides... all of the smithing for the Central Guard and its subsequent recruits won't resume until thirty-six hours from now.  So it must be something else."  He blinked, raising an eyebrow.  "Lieutenant?"

Keris was silent.

"Keris..."  Theanim cleared his throat.  "At the risk of being forward, might I ask if you've heard anything I've just said?"

Keris took a deep breath.  "Can we live with ourselves if the truth dies with us, Theanim?"

The professor shifted where he stood.  "I'd... much rather see it as ensuring that our great-great-grandfoals live with the truth, Lieutenant."  His eyes narrowed.  "And every generation following."

Keris inhaled.  "I freed the last of the wyverns and Snow-Bloods that were brought here."

"A very noble thing."

"It'd be nobler if I'd done so without waiting for the legislative go-ahead," Keris said.  "The pupils of Mortuana deserved better."

"Yes, well..."  Theanim glanced off at the huddled masses within the hold.  "We can only afford to do so much without risking the integrity of what's left of Rohbredden."

"Do you believe in that, Professor?"

"No."  Theanim frowned.  "But it's not about what I believe, is it?"

Keris glanced at the flowers again.  "Are we so powerless... that we can't move the foals of Verlaxion in the same way the Queen did... but for the better?"

"Verlaxion's... Verlax's greatest resource was time, Lieutenant," Theanim said.  "We have the same tool at our disposal.  Just because it's difficult for mortals like us to wield it does not mean that we should cave in and attempt something more desperate... or self-defeating."

"No."  Keris shook his head with a sigh.  "I suppose not."  He looked at the Professor again.  "Strange that Rainbow Dash would accomplish so much by doing everything impulsively and wildly."

"She's Rainbow Dash, Keris," Theanim said.  "A soul that is as dynamic as she is brave... and vital to the shifting mechanics of this largely misunderstood world.  She can't afford to play it safe anymore than you and I can afford to be bold."  He gulped.  "And yet... do either of us really... truly think that she can accomplish what she sets out to do... and live?"

Keris stared at him.

Theanim stared back.

At last, Keris opened his beak... but only to say something entirely different:  "What in blazes is that rhythmic metallic noise?"

"You hear it too?"

"I'm certain all our ancestors can hear it from the Spring Havens."

"It's been loud and persistent like this for the past three hours," Theanim said, grumbling.  "Members of the Order believe it's a loose set of pipes along the upper chambers.  A few superstitious guards insist that it's the windigoes trying to collectively bore their way into the facility.  I've attempted to convince them that the horses of frost are destructive—yes—but hardly that intelligent... much less cooperative."

"Professor, have you ever heard a set of armor being forged?" Keris asked.

Theanim blinked.  "Is that truly what it is?"

"It couldn't possibly be anything else," Keris said, craning his feathery head in the direction of the sound.  "From the sound of it... a heavy breastplate, befitting a knight."

"But... I thought all of the smithing was being put off while the Central Guard works on sheltering the citizenry," Theanim remarked.  "Who could possibly be making armor at this time?"

Keris took a fuming breath.  "Who indeed..."





Keris shuffled up a set of stairs.  At last, he stepped into a room filled with hot red firelight and thick steam.  Off in the corner of a room, a pony was hammering metal plates together.  Squinting, he stared past a group of soldiers and smiths gathered around a forge.

At the far end of the chamber, Brye Chandler stood gallantly atop a rusted platform flanked with tool benches and weapon racks.  Soot-stained workers huddled around him, fitting him with the foundation of a freshly-forged suit of armor.

"Take your time, friends," Chandler spoke in an authoritative voice.  "I know I haven't exactly a gallant frame... but it must fit perfectly."

"And it will, sir," a worker said, fastening a breastplate to the stallion, one leather strap at a time.  "However, I can't exactly promise that the comfort of the suit will be—"

"Never mind comfort," Chandler grunted.  "I'm going to be accompanying our soldiers into twilight.  More than anything, I must survive so that I may lead."

"Aye, sir.  But still, if you feel that the armor is too restricting, inform us and we shall modify it to allow you the most mobility possible."

"There's a good pony."  Chandler tilted his head up as the breastplate was fully fastened.  He kept his limbs straight and his chin raised.  "You're doing the Goddess' work."

"Chandler..."  Keris stepped straight forward, frowning.  "What in heavens' name do you think you're doing?"

"That's Minister Chandler, Lieutenant," Chandler grumbled.  He continued looking past the griffon.  "And what does it look like?"

Keris looked at the armor, at the ponies suiting the former Consortium executive up, then back at Chandler.  "Last time I recalled, coffins are supposed be slender and made of wood."

"I would say that your humor is ill-placed... assuming such a pathetic barb counted as such."

"Defense Minister, in all seriousness..."  Keris slowly shook his head.  "You cannot expect this to possibly be a good idea."

"Why not?"  Chandler snorted.  "I've been entrusted with the well-being of Rohbredden."

"All the more reason for you to remain here," Keris said.  "Chasing the Rainbow Rogue is a foolish, dangerous endeavor from the start."  He fumed.  "Isn't it enough that you're sending countless members of the Central Guard after her?  Now you have to risk yourself as well?"

"I would not have our soldiers do anything that I myself would not," Chandler said.  "It's only noble to join them in the search so as to ensure a proper capture of the Rainbow Rogue.  After all, the capture and subsequent execution of the Goddess-slayer is the absolute way to ensure that justice is served."

"No, Minister," Keris spat.  "Making sure the foals of Verlaxion survive to enjoy a peaceful future free of windigoes is how we can ensure justice.  What you're proposing is a waste of resources—all for a wild goose chase!"

"It's not quite as wild as you think, Lieutenant."

"We don't even know where the Rainbow Rogue is!"

"Do we not?"  Chandler took a deep breath.  "I've received official word that a group of nine persons—all of mixed, predominantly equine races—were spotted descending from the eastern mountains and into the Twilight Farmlands.  That gives us a narrow window, at least."

Keris squinted.  "You're joking..."

"Not even in the least."  Chandler coughed, wincing from the weight of the armor being fitted around him.  "Just prior to the latest windigoe stampede—mrmmff—I've sent messengers out, ordering that the searching batallions converge on the central Twilight Lands.  As soon as the tempest breaks, I'll be escorting a final company of soldiers to rendezvous with them.  Once we catch sight of the Rainbow Rogue, we'll chase her down... no matter how long it takes."  His nostrils flared.  "We'll lynch the mare and hang her from the very edge of the world, if we have to."

"And what of the forces that remain behind, then?"  Keris folded his talons with a frown.  "While you're off on this... paper chase... how will the Defense Minister defend the vulnerable citizens of Rohbredden while the windigoes scour the landscape?"

"Well, I suspect that will be left in your capable hands."  Chandler's glaring eyes met Keris'.  "I... can trust you... can I, Lieutenant?"

Keris merely blinked.  "... ... ...why are you really doing this?"

"For the same reason that I've not fought the Council in accepting you and the rest of the Talon as the same force of righteousness that you so evidently compromised while affected by the Blight."  Chandler took a breath.  "I have faith that something about this... all of this... is pre-ordained."

"By Verlaxion?"

"It's not enough that her foals thrive, Lieutenant.  We must grow... we must learn to exercise strength... courage... and authority."  Chandler swallowed.  "I intend to do all of that out in the field.  If Verlaxion wills it, then I'll be the one to strangle the Rainbow Rogue myself.  I was given this position for a reason.  All of this... every single bit of it has happened according to her will... in some fashion or another."  He gulped.  "It has to be true..."

Keris opened his beak to say:  "Not everything is given a purpose, Chandler.  Oftentimes the truly courageous thing is to discover it for ourselves.  I promise you... if you seek it out there in the Twilight Lands—by hunting the Rainbow Rogue—it won't be the sort of purpose you are hoping for."

"If this is your means of expressing concern for the well-being of myself and our fellow soldiers, then I am pleased to hear it," Chandler said.  "Despite the haphazard delivery."  He stared forward, his eyes reflecting the blazing redness of the forge.  "I thought I was the most exceptional businesspony Rohbredden had ever seen.  In truth... I was nothing.  Before she gave her dying breath, the Goddess I never believed in showed that she believed in me.  And I'll be damned if I waste that before finding out what such a purpose is."  He bit his lip.  "We've lost too much on account of our cowardice and infighting before.  Right now... our true foe is still within our grasp.  She must suffer for the chaos she's wrought."

Keris sighed, bowing his head as he rubbed the bridge of his beak.  "Chandler... despite our differences... and our history... I beg you to reconsider before—"

The sound of scraping claws filled the gaps between metal clanking.  A set of silver wings brushed past Keris.

"Defense Minister," spoke a cold, calm voice.  "I have the latest report taken from the Central Guard.  Your company of soldiers is prepared to take wing the very moment the windigo stampede subsides."  The figure stood tall, saluting.  "I've already requisitioned two supply wagons... and a chariot that will be capable of carrying you into the pursuit."

"Very good, Seraphimus," Chandler said.  "Your assistance is priceless as always."

Keris gasped.  He looked up, hawkeyes twitching.

Seraphimus bowed slightly.  "Simply doing my duty, Defense Minister."

"Go see the Grand Magistrate.  Inform her of the progress made.  Our destination is the Twilight Lands."

"As you wish."  Mechanically, Seraphimus pivoted around.  Her eyes grazed past Keris.  "Lieutenant."  She saluted subordinately, then shuffled past him.

Beak agape, Keris watched after her.  "Seraphimus?  What on earth—?"

"She answers to me at the moment, Lieutenant," Chandler said as the ponies fitted bracers to his fetlocks.  "You would do well to respect that."

Keris gawked at the stallion.  "What do you mean she 'answers to you?!'"

"She did give up her commission as Commander of the Talon, did she not?"

Keris blinked.  "Well, yes, but—"

"If I recall, the lowest ranking member of the Talon is bound by the rules and etiquette of any other soldier of the Central Guard," Chandler remarked.  "Do correct me if I'm wrong, but I doubt that I am.  I'm the Defense Minister of Frostknife.  I'm required to know these things."

Keris glanced at the doorway just as Seraphimus left.  "But... she's..."  He looked at Chandler again.  "I gave her no such command to assist the pursuit of the Rainbow Rogue."

"And you did not need to."  Chandler looked at Keris.  "She offered her services to me, and as Defense Minister... I agreed to take her on as my personal body guard in the upcoming expedition.  The same would happen with any other low-ranking soldier able and willing to aid the defense of Rohbredden."

Keris stood in dead silence, his face blank.

"I made my decision the moment I recognized that she had a very legitimate reason for bringing justice to the Rainbow Rogue.  As a result, she's promised to protect Rohbredden's Commander in Chief.  In return, I'm promising her righteous retribution."  He shrugged his limbs as he was fitted with another piece of armor.  "It's a true shame, Lieutenant, that you could not provide her with the same."






"Then your nightmares have ceased?" Remna asked.

Rainbow Dash turned around from where she paced across a musky barn bathed in starlight.  "Yes.  I mean... I dunno..."  She winced.  "I guess?"

Both Rarity and Twilight face-hoofed.

"Not exactly a good way to sell it, Dashie," Pinkie Pie said.

Rainbow frowned, ignoring them.  "Look, I know it was really sucky putting you all through such a big scare.  But—for what it's worth—the visions I had grew... less and less freaky."  She gulped.  "I mean... I haven't gone to sleep since... but I'm willing to bet that if I do, then it won't be quite so horribad an experience for me... y'know?"

"What changed, exactly?" Ariel asked.

Rainbow shrugged.  "I don't know.  But... the visions... and the shivers started the first time I slept after touching the last Yaerfaerda."  She looked at Kepler from afar.  "I don't suppose it's... Verlax's doing?"

"Like a final 'buck you, thanks for playing my game?'" Echo suggested.

"Hrrrrm..."  Kepler adjusted his spectacles while thinking aloud:  "I still theorrize that it is a forrm of trransforrmation that ourr dearr Rrainbow is experriencing.  To what end, I cannot postulate, but therre arre key differrences in herr being as well as herr perrception everr since crrossing the Fifth Seed."

Remna looked at Rainbow Dash.  "The next Yaerfaerda... you can still see it?"

Rainbow squinted at the distant beacon past the east wall of the barn.  "Yup."

"And... it is still erratic in its color distribution?"

Rainbow took a long, deep breath.  "Eeyup..."

Remna sighed, her violet ears tightening back against her dreadlocks.  "...I don't suppose it is a viable option to avoid it."

"I would not suggest it," Kepler said.  "Seeking out the beacons has been a prriceless aid to the Austrraeoh thrroughout the entirre durration of herr jourrney, and it would not benefit herr in any conceivable way to brreak that patterrn now."

"Yeah."  Flynn nodded.  "Besides, Mortuana was all for her doing the whole Yaerfaerda thing."

"No sense in knockin' something that's only helped her in the past," Logan said with a shrug.  "Hell... doesn't she need those beacons to live?"

"I have," Rainbow said with a nod.  She glanced at Twilight.  "And... y'know... I've never thought of it until now, but..."

Twilight blinked.  "But what?"

Rainbow gulped.  "Are there even Yaerfaerdas on the dark side?"  She turned to look at the Herald.  "If not... then how in the heck am I gonna keep myself from going full chaotic and... y'know... dying."

Twilight hung her head in grim thought.

The members of the Herald exchanged glances.

Eventually, Wildcard gestured.

Flynn "read" him, then turned to nod at the others.  "Wildcard's right.  If Austraeoh and Eljunbyro and Odrsjot have all come into fruition so far..."  His mechanical eye pivoted.  "...then what purpose would it serve for the Austraeoh to reach the dark side only to be starved of life-sustaining harmony?"

"This, of course, is assuming that all that aligns with Urohringr is a perfectly-executed thing," Logan grumbled.

"We've pledged our lives to it, haven't we?" Flynn remarked.  "And as far as Mortuana was concerned, it was pretty damn perfect."

"Hearr hearr!" Kepler nodded, waving a claw.

Remna rubbed her chin in thought.

"Soooooo... what, then?"  Ariel blinked at the others.  "We'll find more Yaerfaerda beacons on the dark side?"

"Perhaps," Flynn said.  He rubbed his bald spot with an anxious hoof.  "Maybe they'll even lead us to the Midnight Armory."

"I doubt it will be hard to find the Midnight Armory," Remna rasped.

"What makes you say that?" Ariel asked.

Remna simply looked at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow cleared her throat.  "It'll be where all of the battles are."

"Battles?" Flynn remarked.

"The Trinary War," Rainbow explained.  "Queen Chrysalis told me all about it."  She glanced collectively at the other ponies.  "The Lunar Sarosians... the Night Shard... and the Changeling Brood of Tchern have been warring over the location of the Harmonic Prism for eons.  A thousand years at least."

"A thousand year war?!"  Echo exclaimed.

"Hot damn..."  Logan smirked.  "Something badass to see before I die."

"Big Show..."  Flynn sighed.

"What?  Second Best thing to a thousand year orgy, if you ask me!"

"Ugh..."

"Axan, how much do you know about the Trinary War?"  Rainbow Dash asked.

"Enough to know that it's likely the very reason Endrax disappeared," Remna replied.

"Or... became the 'pieces' of what she once was?"

Remna slowly, gravely nodded.

"I think you know more about the Trinary War than the Herald, Rainbow Dash," Twilight Sparkle said.  "Even if Axan was following you closely, she still wasn't in the room with you when you had that long conversation with Chrysalis."

"Well, I'm glad somepony knows," Applejack muttered.  "'Cuz I'm confused as all get-out."

"Same here."  Pinkie nodded.

"Uhm..."  Echo shifted where he stood.  "One of those names sounds... curious."

"Huh?"  Rainbow looked at the sarosian.

"The 'Lunar Empire Sarosians.'  One of the three groups of bastards fighting for your Harmonic Pisstaker or whatever."

"Yeah, uhm..."  Rainbow brushed her bangs back.  "I'm pretty sure that they're the... surviving remnant of the army Lunar Civil War."

"Still clueless over here," Echo said, waving.

"In my homeland of Equestria... over a thousand years ago..."  Rainbow explained:  "Princess Luna turned into Nightmare Moon and rebelled against her older sister, Princess Celestia, for control of the heavens.  It was a long and drawn-out war, with a lot of nasty deaths on both sides.  It all ended when Princess Celestia reluctantly chose to use the Elements of Harmony and banish Luna—or what was left of her—to the moon."  She brandished her pendant, smirking.  "This baby and five others just like it—though not nearly as awesome—are the very same Elements from a thousand years ago.  Just a few years ago at this point, Luna came back, but the Elements of Harmony were used this time to cleanse the spirit of Nightmare Moon from her.  She's been ruling as the Sister of the Moon in Equestria ever since."

"And... following Discord..."  Ariel began.

Rainbow Dash nodded.  "She's been in control of both the Sun and Moon.  But don't worry... she's totally good'n'stuff now.  I certainly trust her with my life.  It's... thanks to her that I was given a good boost at the beginning of my journey.  Heh."

"She's the same alicorrn who has enchanted yourr pendant so that you might speak with herr, yes?" Kepler remarked.

"Oh.  Totally."

Wildcard gestured.

"'How long until you can speak with her again?'" Flynn interpreted.

"Oh!  Like... pretty dang soon, actually."  Rainbow squinted up at the dimly lit windows of the barn.  "Just waiting on the moon to reach a full glow.  And after that..."  She grinned at Twilight and the others.  "...I hear there's a super awesome chance I can chat with Luna for three days straight!"

"Such would be prriceless," Kepler remarked, sharing glances with Flynn.  "But only time will tell."

"In the meantime, we should prepare for the very real possibility that Rainbow's discussions with Luna will be just as short as always," Remna said, pacing forward.  "And we must use that time wisely to coordinate a plan."

"A plan?"  Rainbow looked up.  "Like what kind of plan?"

Remna looked in Echo's direction.  "Former drug addict.  Your attention, please."

"The Mother... of Nightmares..."  Echo murmured to himself.

"Sarosian!" Remna hissed.

Echo jumped, his leafy ears drooping as he looked up.  "Whoozabuckit?"

"Whether you know it or not, you are the crux of this conversation," Remna said in a growling tone.  "What Rainbow Dash was meaning to educate us—I'm certain—is that the sarosians on the dark side, embroiled in the Trinary War, are the very same ponies who fought for Princess Luna during the Lunar Civil War of Equestria, ages ago."

"Yeah, and that's that gotta do with yours sexily, Miss Tall, Red, and Bitchy?"

"Chiefly that the same can be said of the midnighters who dwell within Bleak's Plummet," Remna said.  "And the same can be said of you."

Echo's eyeslits narrowed.  "You mean to suggest that I'm descended from these Equestrian moon-humpers?"

"Surrely you can perrceive of a deeply-seeded connection, my velvet-coated frriend," Kepler said.  "This 'Motherr of Nightmarres'—for whom you possess such great respect and revenance—could very well be the same Princess Luna of olden times."

"Ever since I was a tiny little bat-butt, I've... heard tales of the moon goddess... but... uhm..."  Echo cleared his throat.  "I haven't... uh... exactly lived a very pious life."

"Yeah."  Logan snorted.  "No friggin' kidding."

"Besides... I don't know if you've all noticed but... uh... the midnighters of Bleak's Plummet?"  Echo gravely shook his head.  "Their idea of 'piety' is just a few rungs short of outright scalping."

"They're seriously that nasty out here?" Ariel remarked.

"Why do you think Rohbreddenites hate the 'Seventh Tribe' so damned much?"  Echo huffed.  He waved his limp, useless wings.  "Ever wonder why I can't fly with these stupid things?"

"Err..."

"We midnighters are seriously hardcore motherbuckers.  And for whatever reason—regardless of who started what—we've been chased off of the mainland."  Echo sighed.  "The rocks and shoals at the end of the world are all my kind have left.  It's... pretty miserable, and you only get ahead by being friggin' crazy... or lucky.  Me?  I was neither.  And the moment I spoke out, I got clipped for it.  I'd like to say I learned a lesson or two... but it all got lost in coral."  A half-hearted shrug.  "That was about all I expected out of life... until a lame scientist and a certain east horse farted my way."

Remna wasted no time in sympathizing.  "These 'midnighters' of Bleak's Plummet.  Do they still worship the Mother of Nightmares?"

"Pffft.  Totally.  They'd get their knees bruised for her if she had a... well... y'know."

Remna looked at Rainbow Dash.  "Then we might have our edge."

Rainbow blinked.  "You want me to try and get Princess Luna to speak to these guys?"

"I think it's safe to say that we will encounter these creatures over the high seas between the Twilight Lands and the edge."  Remna inhaled.  "From what I've heard, such an encounter would not bode well for us."

"You could say that again!"  Logan smirked.  "Those leafy-eared bastards like to plunder and rape everything they get their filthy fetlocks on!"  He cleared his throat, nodding in Echo's direction.  "No offense."

"None taken... shit-for-tits," Echo muttered back.

Wildcard gestured.

Ariel nodded.  "He's right."  He glanced at the others.  "Midnighters are known for covering the waters all across known latitudes.  Either by wing or... whatever mysterious naval capabilities they have."

"That will be most interresting to discoverr in perrson!" Kepler said.

"This is no fact-finding tour!" Remna growled, then turned about.  "Our mission is to ferry Rainbow Dash successfully to the dark side.  This cannot be accomplished so long as the midnighters remain a threat."

"Can Luna really talk some sense into them?" Flynn asked.  "Through the pendant and some such?"

"She'd certainly be willing to.  I know that for a fact," Rainbow said.  "But... like... she's not the only potential edge we have."

Twilight Sparkle's ears twitched curiously.  "What do you mean, Rainbow?"

Rainbow smirked and pointed at Echo.  "We have ourselves a messenger!"

"Huh?"  Echo looked up.  He winced.  "Ohhhhhh ho no."

"Ohhhhhh ho yes!"  Rainbow grinned.  "What better a way to connect your cousins with the Mother of Nightmares than to have a living, breathing ambassador?"

"Those guys will want to murder me as soon as they see me return!"

"Why didn't you say so from the beginning?" Ariel asked.

"I did say so from the beginning!" Echo growled.  "But you Heraldic douchebags were too busy melancholoically circle-jerking over the death of a Goddess to bother giving it a second thought!"  He sighed heavily.  "I'm telling you... they're all meat-headed.  It won't work."

"I beg to differ," Remna said.  She looked at Rainbow.  "Sarosians are magically sensitive, yes?"

"Uhhhhhhh..."  Rainbow Dash glanced at Twilight.

Twilight nodded.  "Yes, Rainbow.  Sarosians—as a species—came into being under Princess Luna's watch.  The lore is a bit muddled, but their very existence is owed to a magical preservation spell performed by Luna herself."

"So... much like how the alicorns helped manifest all pony races from the original pegasi from Urohringr!"  Rarity exclaimed.

"Precisely."

"Smashing!"  Rarity grinned at the others.  "I just love it when I begin to understand things!"

"If Luna is capable of enchanting your pendant through moonlight, then it's safe to say that the sarosians as a whole will be able to sense it," Twilight added.

"Rainbow?"  Ariel craned her neck.  "Bit for your thoughts?"

Rainbow looked at Echo.  "Echo, buddy... when you're around me... or around my pendant... do you feel something?"

"How many times do I have to remind you chicks that I've been in prison for a long time..."

"Be serious for once, you dummy!" Ariel barked.

Echo sighed, squinting at Rainbow's Element from afar.  "I must admit that... it makes my skin crawl just a little."

"Every time you're near it?"

Echo gulped.  "Every time I look at it."  He fidgeted where he stood.  "At first... I thought it was just me going through coral-huffing withdrawals but... I-I've been clean for a while now and... I still sense it."

"Is that enough to go on?"  Flynn asked.

"If it works for the Austraeoh," Logan said.  "Works for me."

"As if things could be that simple."

"You'd rather wait here and smell each other's farts?"

Flynn clamped his jaw shut.

Wildcard paced and paced.  At last, the griffon paused and gestured at the others.

"Flynn's boat should be where he last left it," Ariel replied.  "But, if worse comes to worst, I suppose we could appropriate another vessel."

"One as large as mine?"  Flynn huffed.  "I friggin' doubt it."

Wildcard gestured again.

"Right."  Ariel nodded, then turned towards the others.  "In any case, we only have about four days tops to reach midnighter waters."

"Why's that?" Logan asked.

Rainbow Dash stood up straight.  "Because that's the window of time that we have before Luna's enchantment ends... whether or not I get to talk to her completely for all seventy-two hours after the full moon starts."

"So we can't stay here any longer?" Logan remarked.

"Most certainly not."  Remna shook her head.  "We should get whatever food and supplies that we can and make for the eastern shore."

"What about the windigoes and Central Guard patrols?"

"Time is our greatest adversary now," Remna said.

"And... will the ponies here at Blue's ranch be willing to give us anything?"

"If not, then we shall have to take what we can regardless."

"Whoah whoah whoah there, Axan."  Rainbow waved her forelimbs.  "Hold your scales.  I know we're in a hurry to get to the next Yaerfaerda and beyond, but let's not add real robbery onto our track history of fake murder."

Remna sighed.  "Fine.  Then devise a way to get what we need and be quick about it."

"That's not exactly in my court, now is it?"  Rainbow turned to face the far end of the barn.  "Bard... ol' buddy... I know this may be super friggin' awkward... but is there any way you can convince anyone in your 'family' here to lend us the stuff we need to make for the final leg of our journey?"

Silence.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow.  "Bard?"

The stallion in question stood against the wall, staring out a window.  His ears drooped under his hat as he sighed... limbs slumped.

Wildcard's goggles rattled.  He shuffled over and poked Bard in the side with his claw.

"Hrmm?"  Bard looked over, blinking.  "Huh?  Midnighters?  Supplies?"

"Have you even been paying attention?" Remna grumbled.

"Rainbow Dash wants to know if you can get some supplies out of Blue," Ariel droned.

"Oh... uhm... right."  Bard sighed.  "Not an easy thang."

Wildcard gestured.

"No.  I can't make it easier!"  Bard suddenly snapped, forcing the griffon to lean back.  "Look, I got us the shelter, didn't I?!  Want me to bleed water from a stone?"

"Bard... take it easy..."  Rainbow Dash grimaced.  "If it's not possible, just tell us."

Bard took a long breath.  He shut his eyes, then muttered:  "I can make it work..."

"Are you sure of th—?"

"I said I can make it work, didn't I?!  So lemme work on it!"  Bard stomped out of the barn.  "Just... gotta butter up his wrinkly hide... s-somehow..."  With a cold shudder, he left the building.

The Herald exchanged glances.

Rainbow looked over at Applejack.

Applejack slowly shook her head.

Rainbow sighed.

"Uhm..."  Fluttershy squirmed.  "...are we really going to put this all in Bard's hooves?"

"He's the only pony who knows these mushroom farmers," Pinkie Pie said.  "Who else is gonna get us stuff to survive the trip?"

"Whoever does what, we have very little time to make it happen!" Rarity exclaimed.  "I don't know about you, but I'm positively dreading these 'edge-of-the-world sarosians.'"

"Somehow... I don't think they're the greatest threat we're dealing with right now," Rainbow muttered.  "If Bard can't get through to his 'family...'"

"Believe me, Rainbow," Applejack remarked.  "He wants to.  He wants to mighty bad."

"I hate to sound cold and unfeeling..."  Twilight winced.  "...but is this really worth such time and effort right now?"

"Maybe not for us..."  Applejack looked at the others.  "But for yer Bard friend?"

The other ghostly mares were silent.

Rainbow sighed, brushing a hoof over her short-short hairs.  "I'd be lying if I said the Desperdo didn't deserve the benefit of a doubt."

"Yes," Applejack said.  "You would be."





Huffing...

Puffing...

Keris hurried through the granite hallways of the Frosted Shelves.  He flapped his wings, not wanting to be slowed by sheer leg-power.

"Seraphimus...?"

He rounded one corner after another, breezing past confused guards and worried citizens.

At last, at the end of a long empty corridor, he found a hint of silver-blue feathers.

"Seraphimus!"

"Do excuse me," the female griffon said, marching down the hallway at a firm pace.  "I must deliver the Defense Minister's message to Grand Magistrate Hymnos."

"Seraphimus, I must speak with you."

"The windigoes could let up at any moment," Seraphimus droned.  "I cannot tarry—"

"Soldier!"  Keris shouted, frowning.  "Halt this instance!  That is an order!"

With dull scrapes, Seraphimus came to a dull stop.

"About face!"

With a cold exhale, Seraphimus turned around.  She gazed unemotionally at her former subordinate.

Catching his breath, Keris walked a few more paces before shuffling to a stop.  The two stood apart at a distance.  Cold lanternlight flickered across the empty space between them.

"You do not need to do this," Keris said.  He gulped.  "You do not need to be Chandler's bodyguard... rushing blindly into a fruitless hunt."

"He is our superior, Lieutenant.  Both yours and mine," Seraphimus calmly replied.  "And it is not blind—nor fruitless."

"Seraphimus..."

"Chandler's best recon has already found hints of the Rogue's whereabouts.  If we make haste, we will catch her and bring justice to Verlaxion's honor—"

"I am sorry... so very sorry for what happened to your family," Keris said.  His beak tightened.  "But killing the Rainbow Rogue will not bring them back.  Killing yourself... will not make them alive again."

Seraphimus' eyes narrowed.  "Lieutenant, I am quite aware that my family is dead."

Keris gaped.

"Our Goddess is dead.  Our future is dead.  And I...?"  Her headcrest drooped.  "...I have been dead for a very... very long time."

The Lieutenant grimaced.

"I finally have the courage to admit that," she said.  "But I'll be damned... damned to an afterlife lost forever from the Spring Havens... if I was to let the Rainbow Rogue reach her destination without dying as well."  She inhaled deeply, her expression as cold and steely as her plumage.  "All that's left of me is a purpose... a razor-edged sword... and I shall make sure that the Defense Minister slices it across the Blighted pegasus' neck for all that she has robbed from the righteous... from the living..."

"Seraphimus, you're better than this," Keris muttered.  "Do not let yourself become nothing but a heartless vendetta—"

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant."  Seraphimus turned tail and walked towards the dim edge of the hallway.  "But my task simply falls outside of your jurisdiction—"

Keris took a bold step forward.  "The Rainbow Rogue did not murder Verlaxion!"

Seraphimus stopped dead in her tracks.

Keris shuddered.  He spat:  "The whole thing is a lie... conjured up by Rainbow Dash, Professor Theanim Mane, and myself... to preserve the fragile integrity of this nation and its disagreeable Tribes."  He took a deep breath.  "You see, Seraphimus, the truth is that the Queen's death was never in the Rainbow Rogue's power.  The entity that we know as Verlaxion was dying long before any of us was born.  Rainbow Dash's arrival simply triggered her last breath... which she anticipated, fully knowing the damage it would do to us... our kingdom... through the windigoes."

Slowly, Seraphimus turned around, her charcoal eyes peering.

Keris nodded.  "I lied.  I lied to everyone.  I did it to protect countless ponies.  But it doesn't change the fact... that I've betrayed you... my closest friend and strongest confidant... especially when you needed someone you could trust in.  And... I'm sorry, Seraphimus.  I'm sorry that it had to come to this... but there simply was nothing we could do... nothing we can do... except live... live and protect the ones who are still left alive..."

Cold, dead silence.

At last, Seraphimus marched forward, crossing the distance between them on cold claws.

Keris stood in place.  As Seraphimus approached, his talons tightened against the granite floor.

At last, Seraphimus came to a stop.  She reached a hand up... and caressed Keris' beak.

"I lied when I said that I was dead," Seraphimus said.  "There's still part of me that aches... aches for you... and all that the Rogue's Blight has done..."

Keris' breath shook.  A hint of moisture crossed his eyes.  "Seraphimus..."

"He took Jordan from us... and now you..."  Seraphimus sighed.  "Well... when the Rainbow Rogue is dead... I trust that you will find clarity.  Even if it takes a lifetime."  She backed up, shaking her head.  "That is something I will never enjoy."

"Don't... please..." Keris squeaked.

"I go now to the edge of the world to end the great ender..."  Seraphimus marched off into darkness.  "I will not return."  A cold hint of silver plumage, then nothing.  "That is my one and last promise to you."

Keris stood alone in the torchlight.  Breathless.
> Guess Who's Easting to Dinner?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"She's become a mercenary?!" Raptr's voice cracked.

Starstorm frowned from across a small torch-lit chamber within the Frosted Shelves.  "Haven't you heard a single word that the Lieutenant's been telling us?"

"Seraphimus has self-demoted herself to a common soldier of the Central Guard," Windburst droned.  "And Brye Chandler is capitalizing on this by appointing her as his personal body guard."

"But... but she's a member of the Talon!" Raptr exclaimed, beak rattling.  "One of us!"

"Correction."  Keris leaned against a wall of granite, staring down the long narrow corridor leading into the heart of the prison.  "She was one of us.  But after the death of her family, she threw away her commission."  He exhaled, his headcrest drooping.  "I should have refused her... fought her."

"To what end?" Starstorm asked.  "If somehow we had convinced her to maintain her position of Commander, then we'd all be heading towards the edge of the world to combat Rainbow Dash."

"Just what does she hope to accomplish, anyways?" Raptr remarked.  "I mean... I feel bad for our Comm—... former Commander."  He gulped.  "Really, I do.  But even if Rainbow Dash was responsible for all the bad that befell her, then how will killing the pegasus bring her contentment?  Her family will still be dead."

"How many comrades have you lost in battle, rookie?" Windburst remarked.  He glared across the dim room.  "There's no telling how far a warrior is willing to go to restore the honored of those who have fallen.  Especially if it was an unjust death."

Keris sighed.  "Goddess knows—before I found out what truly happened to Jordan, I had... felt quite passionate about avenging his death from time to time."

"Yeah, but you're cool-headed, Lieutenant!" Raptr exclaimed.  "But Seraphimus..."  He winced.  "She's really... really gone off the deep end."

Keris clenched his beak muscles.  "I only wish that I had found a way to reach out to her before she sold herself out to Chandler."

"You've been balancing countless things, Lieutenant," Starstorm said.  "You and Professor Mane both."

"It can't be easy to look out after the Rohbreddenites, the wyverns, and the Talon..." Windburst added.  "Especially if our former leader is so intent on a mindless hunt into the dark."

"What if..."  Raptr paced, his talons clawing the ground.  "...there might be some sort of statute within the Talon rule book that can... y'know..."  He swiveled about, glancing with bright hawkweyes.  "...relieve a soldier due to psychological reasons?"

"And if Seraphimus was still a full-fledged member of the Talon, that might be possible," Windburst grumbled.

Keris nodded weakly.  "So long as she's working for Chandler, he won't let her go... no matter how we might excuse her psychological condition."

"Then... there's nothing we can do?!"  Raptr gestured wildly.  "We're just going to sit here and watch Seraphimus fly off into oblivion?"

"I can't fathom a solution," Keris spoke, his tone briefly raspy.  "Not so long as Brye Chandler wields control over Seraphimus and the Central Guard."

"Then it sounds like the real problem here is Chandler," Windburst said coldly.  "Before and after the 'death' of Verlax, he's always been the one and only problem."

Keris squinted his way.  "Where do you presume to be going with this statement, Sergeant?"

"Simply that the death of a Defense Minister seems like small potatoes after the 'murder' of a Goddess."

"Sergeant..."

Windburst pulled an invisible trigger in the air.  "Just one crossbolt, and all our troubles are over—"

Keris marched towards him, growling:  "Only to open up an entire reservoir of chaos and collapse!"  He stared Windburst down.  "We are here to preserve the peace!"

"But—"

"We both know that Chandler is a fool and a charlatan, but unlike with Verlaxion we do not have the luxury of his preordained death!"  Keris fumed.  "If we eliminate him, not only will we be sacrificing our own morals, but we will be shattering the tenuous faith that the citizens of Rohbredden have in the remnants of this beleaguered kingdom!"  He gestured towards the walls, still rumbling with the stampede of windigoes outside.  "With our present issues at hand, can we really... truly afford a structural implosion from within?!"

Windburst shook in anger.  "We are the Talon, Lieutenant.  It is our job to protect the kingdom—"

"And that is precisely what I aim to do!" Keris exclaimed.  "But this will not be accomplished by murdering our own kind!  Especially souls that have been entrusted by the power of the Court!"  He exhaled, relieving some of the tension in his voice.  "If we wish to protect the foals of Verlaxion from the likes of Chandler, than we must strive to be better than him.  Conspiring to assassinate from within doesn't sound like something the Talon would do, does it?"

"No."  Windburst gulped, his headcrest drooping.  "It... sounds precisely like something Chandler would do."  He hung his head with a sigh.  "I... I'm sorry, Lieutenant.  I care for Seraphimus just like you.  It's just... so frustrating..."

"I know, Sergeant."  Keris rested a hand on the other griffon's shoulder.  "Believe me.  Theanim and I have felt this same frustration every day since the windigoes sprang upon us."  He turned about, facing the others.  "We have the righteous burden of truth to carry in this time of crisis.  I doubt it will get any easier than it feels today."  He slowly shook his head.  "All our lives will we have to deal with this."

Starstorm brushed a claw over her headfeathers.  "Did... you ever g-get to tell Seraphimus the truth?"

Keris stood in silence.

"Did you tell her about Verlax?"  Starstorm reiterated.  "Like you wanted to?"

At last, Keris nodded.  "Yes."  He gulped.  "It was a belated revelation, but I told her."  A shuddering breath.  "It should have been sooner, but..."  His eyes fell to the floor.

"Uhhhh..."  Raptr grimaced.  "Why aren't we all hanging by nooses by now?"

Windburst looked over.  "I beg your pardon?"

"I mean..."  Raptr gestured.  "Seraphimus would have told Chandler and Hymnos and the rest by now, r-right?!"  His hawkeyes twitched.  "After the Lieutenant dropped that bomb, shouldn't we have all been outed?!  And the whole story bursting into flames?!"

"Seraphimus... was convinced that my mind had been polluted by the Rainbow Rogue and her blight," Keris said.

Starstorm sighed, hanging her head.

"She has lost all sense of reasoning," Keris continued.  "All she possesses is anger... sorrow... and an unquenchable thirst for revenge."

"And now Chandler's harnessing all of that as his ultimate weapon," Windburst droned.  "Just when do they intend to head on out?"

Keris stared at the walls as the vibrations beyond the Frosted Shelves lingered.  "The latest stampede has been subsiding over the past three hours."  He gestured.  "Within a day—I suspect—the windigoes will move on.  That will give Chandler and his entourage of soldiers the window they need to take off and fly east."

"Do they even know where they'll be going?" Raptr asked.

"Word from reconnaissance is that a group resembling Rainbow Dash and the Herald have been spotted within the central agricultural prefectures of the Twilight Lands," Keris said.  "Assuming Rainbow hasn't flown directly to the Sixth Seed and beyond, there is still a slight chance that Chandler and Seraphimus... could... catch up with her.  They have the best-trained fliers in all of Rohbredden on her side, after all."

"Do you really think they could bring down the Rainbow Rogue?"  Starstorm asked.

Keris' feathery brow furrowed.  "History suggests that they can't.  Still, with the combined might of Chandler and Seraphimus..."  He looked up with a pale expression.  "There simply is no way to tell.  I don't think I'm the only one here who believes that Rainbow Dash could do with as few interruptions as possible on her way to the Dark Side."

"So, in other words, not only is Rainbow Dash being threatened here," Windburst grumbled.  "But the whole future of this plane... assuming there's even a down feather's chance of the Central Guard stopping her."

"Not exactly an ideal situation," Starstorm muttered.  "I'm certain Rainbow and the Herald expected more from us since leaving Starkiss."

"What they expect of us is to maintain order here in Rohbredden," Keris remarked.  "And that is precisely what we've been attempting to do.  Otherwise... the sacrifice of truth will be for nothing, and our society will collapse in the Rainbow Rogue's wake."

"Yeah, but... can we really just let Seraphimus fly off to confront Rainbow Dash?" Raptr asked.  "If either of them die in battle... then what will be left of our honor?"

"Believe me, Sergeant," Keris murmured.  "It vexes me too."  He folded his forelimbs and sighed.  "But so long as our presence is required here, I don't see how we can go anywhere and still maintain the structural integrity of Rohbredden."

Raptr leaned against a wall with a drooping expression.  "Almost... makes you wish that the Court could send us to the Twilight Lands in Seraphimus' place."

Silence.

Keris blinked.  With a sudden burst of energy, he stood up straight.  "What did you just say?"

Raptr glanced up.  "Uhhh..."  He shifted.  "Just that—if the Court commanded us to go where Chandler and Seraphimus are going—"

"Sergeant..."  Keris slowly, gradually smiled.  It was a bright thing, like a sunrise.  "I think you just might be promoted for this."

"Huh?"  Raptr grimaced.  "What for?"

"Quick, Talon!"  Keris rushed out of the corridor, wings spread.  "We must make haste!  Before the windigoes depart Frostknife!"

Starstorm flew after him while Raptr floundered about.

"I don't get it!"  Raptr's voice cracked.  "What did I say?"

"Come on, rookie..."  Windburst smirked as she flew after the other two.  "I'll explain to your green butt along the way."

"Grrrrrnngh..."  Frowning, Raptr took up the rear.  "I am not green."  A sigh.  "Just stupid..."

"That too."





"I dunno about you, but..."  Ariel leaned with her back against a barn wall.  "...couldn't we make the rest of this trip without a bunch of new supplies?"

"A most perrilous suggestion, young one!" Kepler remarked.  He perched atop a well in the center of the starlit farm.  The rest of the Herald—sans Bard—lingered around the spot.  "Therre is much land and sea to trraverrse yet!  If therre is even a smidgeon of a possibility of gaining morre food and supplies, then we must capitalize on it!"

"Yeah, but..."  Ariel fidgeted.  "I really don't like the sort of pressure we're putting on Bard to make it happen.  I mean—I can't be the only one who senses just how uncomfortable he is in this place."

"I know, right?"  Logan belched.  "Beats the Hell outta me, too.  I mean... these ponies and griffons seem pleasant enough."

"Seems like he only takes issue with a few of them," Flynn said.  "Or—to be more precise—a few of them take issue with him."

"What could he have done, though?"  Ariel blinked at the others.  "I mean... Bard doesn't seem like the double-crossing kind of guy!"

"He's a Desperado," Logan grunted.  "What hasn't he done?"

Ariel pouted.  "What the Hell is that even supposed to mean?"

"Namely that Bard and Wildcard have been stupidly cryptic mysteries ever since they ditched the rest of the us Job Squadders and went off to freelance on their own."  Logan glanced across the clearing.  "How about it, Wildcard?  Any deep, dark secret about 'Johnny' that you're not telling us?"

Wildcard paused in whittling a new toothpick from a block of wood.  Sighing, the griffon gestured with his metal and flesh talons.

The rest "read" him.  At last, it was Flynn who responded:  "And you just... let him keep those secrets?  Without question?"

Wildcard merely stared back.

Flynn blinked at his own reflections in the goggles.  Eventually, he sighed.  "Right.  Forgot who I was talking to."

"Wildcard..."  Ariel cleared her throat, smiling.  "Jordan... we know who you are now.  And we're fine with it!"

"The Talon are a bunch of pussies," Logan grunted.

Ariel rolled her eyes.  "Most of us are fine with it."  She slapped Logan's scalp with her tail ("Yeowch!").  "And we're still the Herald!  Ticking and clicking like a fine oiled machine!"  She shrugged.  "What's the harm in... y'know... Bard revealing all of the background behind 'Johnny?'"

Wildcard swiftly replied with precise claw-swipes.

Flynn groaned.  "I dunno about you, but I'm kinda sorta wanting to hop off that dayum train already."

The griffon merely shrugged and returned to his whittling.

"Neverr underrestimate the valiance of a frriend's confidence," Kepler remarked with a tusked smile.  "And let us not lose faith.  Surrely if therre was a darrk secrret to Barrd's past, he would have found it in his powerr to sharre such alrready."

"I fail to see how any of this matters," Remna grumbled, suddenly present.  She marched across the scene with heavy hoofsteps.  "Bard has proven himself valuable, but he is still not a member of the Herald."

"Oh, come off it, dragon," Ariel spat.  "Mortuana sacrificed herself for him as much as the rest of us."

"Perhaps."  Remna's violet nostrils flared.  "But she also desired us to make a swift trek to the Sixth Seed.  And right now—because of Johnny's 'baggage'—that has not happened."

"But—"

"I respect the solidarity of the Herald as a whole.  Your respect for Bard is—by extension—my respect.  However..."  Her brow furrowed.  "If we do not make progress soon, then I will be forced to urge us onward with our journey.  If supplies are so damnably important, then we shall procure them on our own between here and our destination.  By force, if necessary."

"You know that's not the Herald's way," Flynn said.

"Look around you," Remna said.  "You may notice that the Sacred Seven are now Six."  Remna snorted.  "There are many things that haven't been 'the Herald's way' since my sister's death.  All that matters is getting the Austraeoh to her destination.  I shall not suffer any more delay, and I would hope the Mountain Matron's foals would not either."  And she trotted off with cold finality.

Logan rubbed the scruff of his chins.  He glanced anxiously at the others.

Kepler sighed.  "I would be lying if I said that I was not trroubled by our stationarry position herre in the Twilight Lands."  The wyvern gulped.  "It is only a matterr of time beforre the forrces of Rrohbrredden discoverr us.  Orr—even worrse—the windigoes."

"Yeah, but if Bard can get us some supplies, that'll make the voyage over sea less stressful," Ariel said.  "When or if we run into the sarosians, we'll want to be on our A-game.  Don't you think?"

"Do you even think that's a possibility?" Flynn asked.

"What?  The sarosians are spread all across the edge of the world.  We're absolutely bound to run into them—"

"No, I mean do you think it's possible that Bard can get a conversation out of these ponies, much less some free supplies?" Flynn remarked, grimacing.  "That Tim dude was grumpy as Hell.  And I'm not sure this 'Blue' patriarch is any better."

"If therre is a rremote chance, then it would behoove us to trrust in Barrd forr an opporrtunity, would it not?" Kepler said.

"Seems like a slim chance to me," Logan grumbled.  "I want stuff to munch on like nopony's business before we butt heads with midnighters, but is it even worth the time?"

Tense silence hung over the crowd.

"I... don't know what to think anymore," Ariel said with a sigh.  "I wish Mortuana was here."  She gazed sadly across the starlit fields.  "Ol' Morty was good at keeping us calm and centered."

"You forrget that we still have a leaderr," Kepler remarked, smiling.  "I don't speak—of courrse—of the drragon in pony's clothing."

The group gazed collectively at the petite pegasus standing off to the side.

"What do you think, Rainbow?" Flynn asked.  "You've been awfully quiet lately."

Rainbow Dash leaned against the barn, rubbing her chin in thought.  Her pendant reflected moonlight—but not enough to glow with Luna's enchantment.

Ariel cleared her throat.  "Rainbow?"

"...?"  Rainbow looked up with a jolt.

"What are you thinking right now?" Ariel asked.

"... ... ..."  Rainbow's ears twitched.  At last, she spoke:  "I think... I have to go make water."  She stood up straight, wings flexing.  "Anypony seen an outhouse around here?"

The Herald glanced at one another.

"Uhhh..."  Logan pointed due north.  "Over that way.  Past the fungal vineyard... thingies."

"Thanks."  Rainbow waved, then flew off.  "I won't be long."

"Just... uh... hold your breath!"  Logan smirked.  "I know where it is 'cuz I made two trips in the last twelve hours!"  Silence.  He glanced at the other members of the Job Squad.  "What?  You have your own way of losing weight!"

"Grnnfgh..."  Flynn face-hoofed.  "Shoulda left you at Wyvern Point, I swear."

"Love you too, sweetheart."





Rainbow Dash glided slowly over the farmhouses and sheds of Blue's ranch.

"Rainbow, darlin'...?"  Applejack hovered evenly with her.  The ghostly mare's eyes were thin.  "Is there a reason why you just lied to them?"

Rainbow sighed.

"Wait!"  Pinkie gasped, clutching at her facial muscles.  "You mean Dashie doesn't have to make water?!  My whole world is turned upside down!"

"Knock it off," Rainbow grumbled.  She glanced aside at Applejack.  "If you must know, I wanna go check on Bard."

"Don't ya trust him enough to let him do this on his own?" Applejack asked.

"It's not about trust, AJ," Rainbow said.  She fidgeted in mid-glide.  "The Desperados and the Herald have been there by my side through thick and thin.  Even when..."  She shuddered.  "...even when I did everything I could to shove 'em off."

"I'm pretty sure that Bard has forgiven you time and time again, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said gently.

"It's not about forgiveness either."  Rainbow's face tensed.  "It's about returning the favor to a friend."

"If Johnny-boy was in over his head, wouldn't Wildcard be helping him?" Pinkie said.

"I'm not Wildcard," Rainbow grumbled.  "I've been taught the value of friendship and loyalty differently."  She glanced aside at Twilight Sparkle.  "And I just can't leave Bard alone on this."

"That's a noble thought, Rainbow," Twilight said.  "But—realistically speaking—you might make things worse if you stick your nose into his business with Blue."

"If Bard's yer friend, ain't it enough to just trust him to pull through for you and the Herald?"  Applejack asked.

"Normally, yes.  But now?"  Rainbow shook her head.  "There's too much at stake.  Remna might be the Queen of Female Dogs, but she's right about more than a few things.  Time is of the essence."  She glanced up at the waxing moon.  "And we gotta get our tails in gear."

"What's your plan, exactly?" Twilight Sparkle asked.  "You... want to eavesdrop on Bard and Blue?"

"I don't think I could do that without getting spotted," Rainbow said.  "But..."  She glanced aside at her friends.  "I know a few awesome ponies who can."

Fluttershy gulped.  "I'm not sure I like where this is going."

"I do!"  Pinkie Pie chirped.  "Woohoo!  One Mare Sneaking Mission!  Well... Five Mare Sneaking Mission!"  Her eyes crossed.  "Erm... Five and a Half?"

"I dunno..."  Applejack fidgeted slightly.  "Seems awfully..."  She fumbled for words, then eventually blurted:  "...unfair."

"Look, we're going nowhere by remaining in the dark," Rainbow said.  "If neither Desperado is willing to play ball, then—I'm sorry—but I gotta take control of the situation."  A deep breath.  "Bard isn't the only one whom the Herald's depending on, after all."

"What do you have in mind?" Fluttershy asked.

"I park my butt somewhere and let the rest of you glide in close and listen in," Rainbow said.  "Then you can tell me what's up and we'll work from there."

Rarity nodded.  "Seems like a doable plan."  She looked at the others.  "I don't see why any of us should feel so hesitant.  After all we've been through, I think it would be refreshing to pursue the truth for once."

Applejack sighed.  "Just not a fan of how we're fetchin' that truth."

"You said it yourself, AJ," Rainbow Dash remarked.  "Bard's been lying ever since we got here.  The same with his so-called brothers and sisters."  Her blue frow furrowed.  "If anything's going to work smoothely at this farm, then something's gotta give."

"A curious statement," Rarity remarked.  "Given the passion of our dishonest actions in Starkiss."

Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth.

"Right."  Rarity sweated, smiling crookedly at the others.  "Can somepony else speak for me from now on?"

"Ahem..."  Fluttershy pointed.  "Bard is a bit to the northwest, Rainbow."  She gulped.  "He's with Blue and Tim at the moment."

"Hooo boyo!"  Pinkie shivered.  "This should be nifty."

"Twilight... you're the best judge on everypony's anchorage."  Rainbow looked aside.  "How close do you think I can get and still give you guys freedom to observe the conversation?"

"Uhhhhh..."  Twilight glanced at where Fluttershy had pointed.  Doing math in her ghostly head, she eventually pointed at a woodshed situated to the west.  "There.  That'll give us enough space.  Plus, you should have plenty of cover.  Nopony will see you."

"Cool."  Rainbow Dash touched down.  "Fluttershy, as soon as you sense a pony coming close to me, fly back and give me a warning so I can fly off unseen."

"Uhm... sure thing, Rainbow."

"You girls ready?"

"Ready as we'll ever be," Applejack muttered.

"Now now, raise your spirits, Applejack," Rarity said with a smile.  She and the others glided north towards where Bard was.  "Just how dreadfully dramatic could this possibly be?"





"Ya damned selfish flankhole!" Blue spat, his hunched figure shaking from head to tail.  "I shoulda done left ya to drown in a well when you was a colt!"

Rarity and Applejack winced heavily.

"Oh... dear..."  Rarity gulped.  "I've heard of family squabbles, but this is more akin to a bloody melee."

"You said it, Rares," Applejack slurred.

"Shhhhh!"  Twilight insisted.  "Listen!"

Bard rubbed his head, sighing.  "Look, ol' timer... will you cut with the dramatics already?  You know as well as I do that I dun need much to get by.  But this ain't about me."  He stared up, eyes glaring from beneath the rim of his hat.  "This is about my friends.  You see, they've got a long voyage ahead of 'em and they need—"

"They need to soak their big fat heads, is what!" Blue hissed.  "And so should you, ya damned varmint!  You hook yerself up to a bunch of self-righteous bums and you expect me to think that you ain't got more in common than the cowardly hoofprints ya leave behind?!"

"For all that is holy..."  Bard frowned.  "Will you stop callin' me a 'coward?!'"

"As soon as ya stop bein' one," grumbled a far deeper voice.  Tim shuffled out of the barn beside them, hauling two bales of hay across his muscular backside.  "But t'ain't in yer nature, Johnny.  Reckon nothin's changed since ya done ditched the family years ago."

"I didn't ditch no one."  Scowling, Bard pointed at Blue.  "He knows dayum well why I skedaddled from this here hellhole."  A sigh.  "Figures he would have told you ages ago... though by his own twisted logic..."

"And there ya go again," Tim huffed, tossing the hay bale onto the ground besides an identical pile.  "Always puttin' the blame on ol' Blue.  Do you have any idea how much he's given up for the likes of you?  For Ray and James?  Marie and lil' Nicole?"

"Yes... yes... yes..."  Bard rolled his eyes.  "I've heard this speech before.  I was raised with it.  And for the longest time, I even believed it."  His nostrils flared.  "But then he had to go and ruin everythang that ever meant a damn to me."

"Hmmm..."  Applejack rubbed her chin.

Twilight looked aside.  "What is it?"

"Funny..."  Applejack squinted.  "Bard came awfully close that time."

"He came close to what?"

"The truth," Applejack muttered.

Before Twilight could comment—

"You was the one who ruined everythang, Johnny," Tim snarled.  "What you did?"  He spat on the ground.  "It was turnin' yer back on this here family.  If ya ask me, you got what was comin' to ya."

"Is that what Blue has told you all these years?!"  Bard shook, struggling to contain his anger.  "That I somehow betrayed the farm?!"

"The moment you disobeyed Blue—after all he has done for us, after all that he continues to do for us—"

"You only believe that 'cuz for years you've been plowin' the soil to the beat of his drawlin' voice!"  Bard turned to frown at the old stallion.  "Ya dun know him like I do, Tim.  You dun know how insecure and defensive he is... and how he can wreck an entire life over stupid... petty thangs..."

"You'd better watch yerself, boy," Blue rasped, doing his best to out-glare his foster child.  "If I was really... truly 'petty,' then you wouldn't be here right now... standin'... breathin'..."

"After all Blue did to clean up after yer messin' around," Tim scoffed.  "You should be thankin' the stars above us that he kept you in one piece the way he did."

"Well, I ain't much a fan of what he took away to keep me here!" Bard's voice was shouting at this point.  He didn't wrench his eyes off the elder.  "Or did he tell you about that, Tim?  Huh?  Did he tell you how he decided to punish me in some... pathetic attempt to keep me stupid and loyal?"

Blue glared back, refusing to flinch.

"Mrmmmf!"  Tim dropped another bale of hay, sweating.  "He told me enough.  And I still think yer overreactin'.  You always were, Johnny.  It's in yer blood... the blood of a yellow-livered artist.  And when it got too tough to face yer own loyalties—instead of stickin' around long enough to face the truth—you skipped town and decided to live yer own sorry-ass life elsewhere."

"Tim, I know you."  Bard finally turned to gaze at the larger stallion.  "You taught me all about loyalty, and for that I'm mighty thankful."  His nostrils flared.  "But I've since learned that it's possible to be loyal to a fault.  If there's anythang I'm truly cowardly for, it's that I decided to leave this ranch as it was instead of tellin' everypony the truth!"  He pointed at Blue.  "The truth about him and how he's twisted everythang to make him look like some dog-gone saint!"

Blue sighed, rolling his eyes and glancing off.

"Johnny..."  Tim's tone was actually calm—almost sympathetic for a change.  "If this whole 'tough guy' business is about Melody, we've been over that.  It was a damned accident—"

Bard stomped across the clearing until he was growling in Tim's face.  "You will not mention her name ever again!"  His teeth showed.  "Not after what Blue's done!  Not after all he has already taken from me!"  He bent his fetlocks so he was as close to Tim's height as possible.  "If ya dun change the subject this instant, I swear to Goddess, I will spread yer teeth like seed across the farm.  I dun care how badly you might tear my muscles apart for doin' it.  Do.  Not.  Go.  There."

Cold silence.

Fluttershy trembled.  "C-can we spy on another conversation, pl-please?"

Rarity gently patted the mare's shoulder, her eyes plastered to the scene.

Tim frowned in Bard's face.  "And you say yer not a coward," was all he had to murmur.

Bard glared and glared... then eventually sighed.  He stepped back, rubbing his brow in exasperation.

It was Tim's turn to exhale.  "Johnny... what happened to you?"  He waved a thick fetlock.  "You used to have a spine.  You used to face yer problems head-on... like a stallion.  Then, out of nowhere, you just... gave up on bein' strong.  After all this time, yer back again... and still you won't own up to it?"

"If that's all you gotta say on the subject, then yer blinder than I thought, Tim," Bard grumbled.  He straightened his hat and stared dully across the starlit fields.  "I can't expect ya to know..."

"Know what?"

"That life ain't so simple when yer problems ain't yer problems."  He clenched his jaw muscles.  "The only reason you've had an easy life here on this ranch is because Blue wants you to think it's easy... that t'ain't nothin' else in this world but fungus and family."

"Well, since neither are any of yer concern, I dun see why yer still lingerin' around," Blue muttered.  "Why not take off for the end of the world already?"

"Because I can't," Bard grumbled, swiveling about.  "I've got friends... and my friends got needs."

"Dun see why we gotta sacrifice for 'em," Tim muttered.

"I'm not askin' for no sacrifice!" Bard exclaimed.  "Just some vittles and supplies for our journey ahead.  I know y'all got a buncha stuff holed up in the bunker to the south!"  Bard gestured.  "And dun tell me there ain't!  I helped build that bunker!"

"You did not—" Tim began.

"I did too!"  Bard frowned.  "Back when I was the older one, Tim, and I coulda lifted you on my shoulders.  I dug the first half of the ditch on my lonesome!  That bunker is practically mine!"

The ghostly mares exchanged confused glances.

"'When I was the... older one?'" Twilight Sparkle remarked.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rarity exhaled.

"That even confuses me!" Pinkie stammered.

Blue spoke:  "Johny, that shelter is for emergency reasons only!  You know that!"  He frowned.  "What if midnighters attacked us and ripped the farms to shreds?  What would we have to subsist on?"

"Blue, dun be silly.  There hasn't been a midnighter attack in decades—"

"Still, it could happen!"  Blue drooled, pointing with a bony hoof.  "Or-Or-Or windigoes!  I hear they're all flyin' about like in ancient times!  What if they soared in out of nowhere?!"

"Now yer just makin' excuses," Bard grumbled.  "Why not just come out with it and say that you dun wanna give me and my Herald friends anythang!"

"How 'bout tellin' us just where yer friends are comin' from and where they're goin'?" Tim snorted.  "And then maybe we'd have somethin' to lean on?"  He squinted at his foster sibling.  "A lot of dark shiet has been goin' down this past week... ever since somethin' befell the Queen in central Rohbredden.  Already there's rumor of farmlands bein' turned to ice and squadrons of the Central Guard flyin' all over the Twilight Lands.  I dun suppose this has anythang to do with you and yer buddies havin' to high-tail it outta here all speedy-like...?"

Silence.

The mares' eyes fell on Bard.

Bard took a deep breath.  "I... can't rightly do that."

"Hmmff..."  Tim smirked bitterly.  "Cowardly as always."

"Oh, will you learn a new tune already!"

"Same could be said for you, 'Bard.'"

"Y'know what?  How 'bout a new angle!"  Bard frowned, folding his forelimbs.  "The sooner y'all give us a share of what's stored down in the bunker, the sooner we all can be out of yer manes!"

Blue and Tim exchanged dull glances.

"Face it..."  Bard grunted.  "I can't be the only one who hates this whole reunion to high Hell."  His ears drooped.  "Never mind Ray, Kelly, James and the others.  The three of us?  We ain't gonna forgive each other.  So let's just call it quits, huh?  You do me this one favor, and I'll never show up on this here farm again."  He gulped.  "Ever."

Fluttershy bit her lip.  She looked worriedly at the other mares.

Applejack merely stared in contemplative silence.

"We'll..."  Blue turned to look at Bard.  "We'll think about it."

"That's it?"  Bard's muzzle dropped.  "That's all I'm gonna get?"

"Dun pretend yer in any place to ask for more, boy," Blue coldly droned.  "Just sit tight.  Reckon I got some thinkin' to do... just as much as you do."

Bard blinked.  With a groan, he rolled his eyes and trotted off.  "I swear... if this is just yer attempt to make me feel like I owe you more..."

"Yer standin' on my farmland, ain't ya?"  Blue shouted after him.  "If ya weren't so desperate, you shoulda left hours ago!"

"Jury's still out on that, old stallion!"

"Hrmmfff... I bet it is..."  Blue and Tim parted ways, returning to far ends of the ranch.

Twilight looked at Applejack.  After a shared nod, they and the rest of the mares flew off in ghostly streaks, returning to Rainbow Dash.





"For a moment there, it almost felt as though we was goin' to learn the truth about what went down between Bard and his family," Applejack said.

Rainbow blinked.  "The truth?"

Applejack sighed.  She adjusted her hat as she said:  "For a moment, Bard stopped lyin'."

"Yeah!"  Pinkie Pie nodded.  "And he almost got through to Blue and Tim!"

"He did?" Fluttershy remarked.

Pinkie looked aside.  "Well, yeah!  You heard their voices!  For a brief moment, they stopped being all grrrrrrrrrrrs and raaaaaaaaughs!"

"What... changed?"  Rainbow asked, ears twitching.  "I mean... how did Bard get through to them?"

"I'm not sure," Twilight said.  "But once a certain named was dropped, the whole tone of the conversation shifted."

"What name?"

Twilight gulped.  "'Melody.'"

Silence.

"Applejack?"  Rainbow looked aside.  "Is this... 'Melody' somepony important?"

"Ohhhhhhhhh yeah."  Applejack nodded.  "Important enough to set Bard on edge.  For a second there, he sounded ready to tear Tim apart for even mentionin' the name.  And I whole-heartedly believed it, too."

"I'd pay to see that!" Pinkie said.  Upon receiving a glare from Rarity, she smirked.  "Whaaaat?  I totally would!"

Rarity sighed, then turned towards Rainbow Dash.  "Whatever the case, Bard eventually made his request for supplies.  It's now in Blue's court."

"Blue's and Tim's," Twilight corrected.

"Whatever."  Rarity shrugged.  "They made it sound as though they would think about giving us a sample of what they have stowed away in their... erm... storm shelter."

"Storm shelter?" Rainbow asked.

"Seems as though they have a large underground chamber for... uhm... storing food, supplies, and the like," Fluttershy said.

"It's true," Rarity said with a nod.  "I've been sensing a large open space in the center of the ranch.  Up until now, I assumed it was a large well or reservoir of water.  But now that I know it's a shelter, I can... sense a passageway leading diagonally into it."

"Should we bring it up to the rest of the Herald?" Twilight asked.  "I'm sure they would like to know about it."

"No," Rainbow said, shaking her head.  "Let's not talk about this yet."

"Why not?" Pinkie asked.

"Because I don't want Bard knowing that I had you gals eavesdrop on him," Rainbow said.  "Not yet."  She felt Applejack's eyes burning into the back of her neck. Sighing, she turned towards the mare.  "If the truth is going to come out, I want it on Bard's time, not ours.  Spilling the beans any earlier might throw the Herald's journey into jeopardy."

"Ya sure about that, sugarcube?" Applejack muttered.

Rainbow gulped.  "Just think of what Axan will do if she knows where some easy-to-grab supplies are?  As soon as she finds out, she might do something stupid and ruin whatever chance Bard has of making friends with his former foster family."

"That... seems like a weak argument, darlin'," Applejack said.  "Just sayin'."

"I'm with Rainbow Dash, though," Twilight Sparkle said.  "It helps that we know a little bit about what's going on with Bard... but I don't think anypony can benefit from sharing any of it.  Not until Bard is ready to talk about it, at least."

"Yer mighty fast to take the side of fibbin'," Applejack said.  "And—I know it's not my place to judge'n'all.  I've only joined ya at the latter end of this whole... eastward gallopin' business."  A sigh.  "But... it just dun seem right dancin' in the dark like we're aimin' to.  After all... you gals heard the argument between Bard and Blue and Tim."  She looked at the others.  "Seems like there's a big ol' mishandlin' of truth between the whole lot of 'em.  I'd venture to say it's the source of all their problems."

"Yes."  Fluttershy nodded.  "That... and whoever this 'Melody' is."

"You've seen the ponies on this farm," Rarity remarked.  "Aside from Tim... erm... and this 'Blue' fellow, I suppose..."  She cleared her throat.  "The majority of them appear to be happy.  Quite content, actually."

"You mean like the foals of Verlaxion are 'content?" Pinkie remarked.  "Now that their Queenie is deader than a doornail?"

Rarity bit her lip.

At last, Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.  "So... Blue and Tim are mulling over the supplies?"

"It would seem that way," Twilight said.

"Then I guess it's out of our hooves for the moment," Rainbow said.

"You say that as though we have all the time in the world!" Pinkie remarked.

Rarity glanced up at the moon.  "Just how much time until we can speak with Luna?"

Rainbow glanced at her pendant.  The ruby lightning bolt was still dull.  "Hours, I'm guessing."

"We can't wait for forever," Fluttershy said.  "I'm not one for impatience, but..."

"We get it darlin'."  Applejack nodded.  "About time we start moseyin' along."

"Still..."  Rarity cleared her throat.  "Without those supplies, this journey will be a great deal more daunting.  We have a lot of water to cover, do we not?"

"And a bunch of sarosians to worry about," Rainbow grumbled.  She looked up.  "Speaking of which, where's Echo?"

Fluttershy pointed east.  "Out by the cattle fields."

"With Nicole?"

"Uh huh."

"Thinking about giving a pep talk, Rainbow?" Twilight remarked.

"Thinking about giving something," Rainbow muttered.  "Better than just standing around, gathering dust."  She spread her wings and flew off.  "Bard will look after Bard.  That's the way it's evidently been for years, and that's how it's gonna go down here.  Right now, I gotta make sure that the rest of the party is smoothed out."

"If you ask me..."  Fluttershy smiled slightly.  "...Echo is getting smoothed out enough as it is."

"Fluttershy!"  Rarity gasped.  "No reason to be uncouth!"

Pinkie gigglesnorted.  "Well, she's right, isn't she?"

Rainbow sighed, smiling slightly.  "Well... there's one good thing, at least."





Glowing horns flickered across a herd of cattle.  Night bison roamed loosely within their pen, munching on blue-tinted grass as their luminescent skulls lit up the sleepy twilight.

Strolling alongside the fence, two sarosians lingered in casual conversation.

"Even when I was starting to become a coral-huffing bum, he stuck by my side.  Theams bailed me out of various nautical prisons, using his own well-earned bits."  Echo sighed, brushing his midnight mane back as he gazed at the grazing livestock.  "In fact, it wasn't until I started... uhm... making deals with the soulless assholes of Mudtop that he finally... left me."

Nicole nodded.  "It was the straw that broke the camel's back, huh?"

"It wasn't so much as breaking as... pulling lint from one's armpit."  Echo kicked loosely at the dirt beneath them.  "My guess is that Theams had hope in me all these years... hope that I would change.  Become a better pony.  Maybe even a damned scientist.  Heh."  His leafy ears drooped.  "We drifted apart.  Simple as that, really.  But when we reunited—thanks to Rainbow Dash—he was still mad as hell over what I had done with my life.  I'm certain that—had I not limped off to Mudtop—he'd still have stayed by my side."

"You don't blame him, then?"

"How could I?"  Echo shrugged.  "He gave his all.  Any other self-respecting pony would have ditched my ass years ago."

"From the sound of things, you had ponies treating you like less-than-filth from all sides," Nicole said.  "It's a miracle a midnighter like you lasted so long before... uhm... doing 'corrupt' stuff."

"That's still no friggin' excuse," Echo muttered.  "All that time, I had Theanim's faith in me.  He treated me like an actual living, equine being... and not just some bat-like freak from a Goddess forsaken sea."  His velvety nostrils flared.  "Even the gangs back at Bleak's Plummet thought I was a shitty waste of life... and yet Theanim always... always believed in me.  You think that would have been enough for me to glean from... but..."  He exhaled.  "Guess I was just blind.  Blind and selfish."

"But you came together in the end, didn't you?"  Nicole smiled, fangs showing.  "His faith won out in the end.  And thanks to this Rainbow Dash pony—"

"I still didn't come around," Echo said.  "In the end, I had to go cold turkey in a prison cell to get anywhere."

Nicole giggled.  "You don't give yourself enough credit.  If you really... truly wanted to spite your friends, you would have have dragged your hooves.  But I think part of you finally wanted retribution."

"Well, when one gets sober enough, you realize how shitty the scent of life can be," Echo said.  "And... how nice it can smell when you work hard to clean it all up."  He coughed.  "Just like those around you have worked tirelessly for years... only you've been too stupid to lend them a hoof... even knowing it can only help the two of you all in the end.  Guess I was just... lucky.  Everything came together just right."

"The way I see it, you did what you always wanted to do," Nicole said.  "You broke free.  And you had just the right friend waiting for you in the end."

"Yeah.  I guess so," Echo said in a contemplative breath.

Nicole smiled sweetly.  "You must love Theams very much."

Echo opened his muzzle, but no words came out.  He blinked into the starlight.  His ears folded back as he finally murmured:  "Yeah, well, I left him back in Frostknife.  I'm always... always leaving the best parts of my life behind."

Nicole shook her head.  "I can't imagine you would have done it at this point unless it was for a very special reason."

"Uh huh..."  Echo's nostrils flared.  "Not my reason."

"Think you'll ever see him again?"

"Heh..."  Echo's slitted eyes scanned the eastern horizon.  "I'll be a lucky little shit if I can see tomorrow in one piece."

"Because you're heading out?"  Nicole blinked.  "You and your friends?  You're headed towards the end of the world?"

"One way or another, I just know I'll be crossing paths with the jerkoffs of Bleak's Plummet."

"I think that's very brave of you."

Echo snorted.  "You don't even know why I'm doing it.  How can it be brave?"

"Returning home after so long... after so many mistakes?"  Nicole shrugged.  "Seems super brave to me."

Echo raised an eyebrow.  "Like 'Johnny?'"

Nicole was silent.

Echo cleared his throat.  "Sorry.  Bad move on my part.  Heh."

"No.  It's fine."  Nicole leaned against the pen, staring at the cattle and their glowing horns.  "It's just that... I don't really believe that Johnny has been living a life of mistakes since he left the family."

"He's friggin' named 'Bard' now."

"Heehee... okay..."  Nicole rolled her slitted eyes.  "So he's made one mistake."

"But still..."  Echo leaned against the fence beside her.  "Sounds like there are ponies here who think he's the scum of the earth.  Like Blue... and Mr. Steroids-On-Ballsacks."

"I've never... understood Tim's anger over our older brother," Nicole said, kneading the edge of the fence with soft fetlocks.  "Then again, he's never been one to talk about it."

Echo blinked.  "'Older brother?'"

"Yeah... it's complicated..."

"'Cuz Tim sure as hell seems older to me.  And bigger..."  Echo smirked.  "In more ways than one."

"Okay, first off... ew."

Echo chuckled.

"Second..."  Nicole turned around, tossing her mane as she leaned back against the fence.  "...he really is younger than Johnny."

"Huh..."  Echo shook his head.  "I never would have guessed."

"Johnny's the oldest of all of us," Nicole said.  "He was the first foal that Blue adopted.  Back when..."  She gulped.  "Back when his wife was alive."

Echo cocked his head to the side.  "You never knew your foster mother?"

"No.  Not really.  She died long before I showed up here at the ranch.  Perished from pneumonia, or so I'm told.  She was a very old mare.  Very frail... feeble.  But very sweet, though.  At least that's what Marie and Tim tell me."

"How, may I ask, did you get adopted?"

Nicole fidgeted slightly.

"I can't help but be curious.  I mean..."  Echo shrugged.  "I'm Seventh Tribe material.  Heh... if some Rohbreddenite found me alone and abandoned along the side of the road... I figure I'd become manticore food in a blink."

"Yes, well..."  Nicole gulped.  "The reality isn't all that different."

"Ah shit."  Echo winced.  "My bad."

"No, it's okay!"  Nicole smiled.  "I'm not sore over it or anything!"

"You sure?"  Echo raised an eyebrow.  "I mean... a bat-chick like you being this far from Bleak's Plummet seems... like a recipe for tragedy."

"I'm sure it was... or at least it almost was," Nicole said.  "Official word is that I was found washed up along the midnight shores."

"You mean the east coast?"

Nicole nodded.  "An expedition of cattle ranchers found me.  One of them happened to be a friend of Blue's... loosely related to one of the families who sharecrops on this land.  That and that alone is the reason why I'm alive today.  I was rescued from the muck as an infant and brought back to this farm... where Blue instantly had compassion on me and raised me... alongside Ray and James and Mike and the rest."

"Huh..."  Echo cleared his throat.  "Forgive me if this sounds unsympathetic, but... it almost sounds like you've memorized that entire life story."

"Yes, well..."  Nicole stared off with a bittersweet smile.  "Blue has told and retold the tale enough for me to know it by heart."  She gulped.  "And when senility began taking its course, Tim took up the mantle.  He's the real backbone of this whole family.  He reminds us of our place.  It's really... responsible of him."

"'Responsible?'"  Echo blinked.  "Sounds a bit like brainwashing to me."

"Only a pony from outside the ranch would say that."

"Yeah, and?"

Silence.

Nicole fiddled with her fetlocks.  "I know what you're going to say."  She sighed.  "'You're all too close-knit.  You smile and laugh like everything's okay with the world.  And it's very... very strange that the only ponies who are angry or grumpy are the ones who are in charge of the family.'"

Echo slowly shook his head.  "I... wasn't going to say that, actually.  But now that you have, I gotta admit... you tell it way better than I could ever pretend to."

Nicole bit her bottom lip.

Echo stretched his wings, leaning casually against the fence post.  "Is life on the ranch not all that it's cracked up to be, Nicole?"

"We... are happy here.  And... uhm... though Blue and Tim might be temperamental... I kinda understand it.  I mean... they have a lot of pressure on their hooves... and it's getting tougher and tougher to sell our harvest to Central Rohbredden bidders."  She winced.  "And that's without having to panic over the sudden onset of windigoes and Goddess-knows-what now..."

Echo squinted.  "'However...'"

Nicole sighed.  She brushed her silken bangs back and murmured:  "I... kinda envy you."

"Me?"  Echo smirked, fangs glinting in the light from the cattle.  "Didn't I just finish telling you how shitty my life has been?"

"Heheh... well..."

"All the horrible stuff that a midnighter like me has had to do to get by in this cold, uncaring world?"  Echo shrugged.  "All the nasty supervillains I had to make friends with?"

"Well, sure, a lot of it was bad.  But you found goodness in the end, didn't you?"

"Or goodness found me, yeah, sure."  Echo nodded.  "But it was still a bunch of bullshit."

"Still..."  Nicole looked tenderly at him.  "It was your bullshit."

Echo blinked.

Nicole continued, softly:  "No matter how much I try to think about it, I just... can't hate Johnny.  I refuse to believe that he left us because he was some sort of coward or because he hated Blue and Tim and the rest of the family."

"Do you wanna be free?" Echo asked.  "Like him?"

"It's... not freedom, exactly," Nicole said.  "It's just that... well... I've lived here all of my life."  She cleared her throat.  "Literally."

"Uh huh..."

"And though Blue is always telling me how horrible the world is... and you're kinda proving it to me..."  Nicole frowned briefly.  "...I feel like I can't believe any of it until I see it for myself.  Like... I can't imagine that other midnighters are so bad that they would have left me willingly.  I mean... you're pretty cool and all!"  She giggled.  "And you're just as much a 'batpony' as me."

"I'm also the only other midnighter you've ever met," Echo said, arching an eyebrow.  "Aren't I?"

"Yeah.  But you're nothing like what Blue's described."

"What... exactly has Blue described?"

"'Midnighters are a buncha foal-murderin' freaks and thugs, the whole lotta 'em.'"

"Yeesh."  Echo frowned.  "What a tool."

"He's just concerned for me, that's all!"

"Sure, he's fed and sheltered you, but a douche is still a douche in my book."  Echo squinted.  "Maybe Bard left 'cuz he was tired of bumping elbows with a bastard.  Heh..."  A bitter smirk.  "Talk about irony."

"Whatever the case, all I ever know about the world is what I hear... and most of it very passionately negative," Nicole said.  "Would it really kill me to... go out and see it for once?  So I can know for myself?"

Echo stared blankly.  "... ... ...you want the truth."

"Yeah..."  Nicole shook slightly, straightening her stubborn bangs.  "I guess I do."

Echo sighed.  "Nicole... I hate to break it to ya..."  He swung a hoof west.  "But if you go out into the world... I promise you... truth is the last thing you're gonna find.  At least nowadays..."

Nicole's muzzle scrunched.  "What do you mean by that?"

Echo instantly clammed up.

Miraculously—at that very moment—a streak of colors landed beside the other two ponies.  "Whoah!"  Rainbow stumbled, balancing herself in a wobbly manner.  "Darn twilight.  The ground's a lot cl-closer than I thought."

"Hello, Rainbow!"  Nicole spoke pleasantly.  "Come to look at our cattle?"

Rainbow blinked.  She turned and glanced at the livestock with flickering horns.  "Hey.  Glowy cows."  Another blink.  "Neat."  Silence.  "Ahem..."  She turned to face Echo.  "It's a few hours before I can speak with Luna again.  I was wondering if we could go over a few things."

"What's there to go over?"  Echo shrugged.  "The Mother of Nightmares speaks from the heavens.  I piss all over myself.  Then rinse and repeat."

Nicole giggled.

Rainbow Dash glanced at the mare.  "You really think this joker's funny?"

"No..."  Nicole caught her breaths in time to smile.  "As a matter of fact, I think he's the second-most-amazing pony to have strolled through this farm."

"Heeeeey..."  Echo smirked.  "Now there's the niftiest compliment I never thought I'd die hearing."

"Uhhhh..."  Rainbow stared stupidly.  "Who's the first-most-amazing?"

"I'll give you a hint.'  Nicole winked.  "I'd kill to have a mane as colorful as yours."

"Err... what mane?"  Rainbow brushed a hoof over her fuzzy skull.  "It's not even grown out."

"Still, I bet when it is, it's absolutely brilliant," Nicole said.  "We... uh... don't get much color out here."

"So what?"  Echo shrugged.  "You're pretty dang shiny, girl."

"Really?"

"It's like your mane was made to catch the starlight like a goddamn mirror."

"Awwww... that's so sweet and vulgar all at once!"

"Heheh... when it suits, dive into the shit!"

"Heehee!  Better plug your nose for the plunge!"

"I'm an expert, girl.  You don't even know—"

"Anyway!"  Rainbow Dash hovered between the two.  "I... uh... got some important business to discuss with my little punk here, so... as much as I hate to cut a conversation short... I was wondering if—"

Swooosh!  Bard landed.  "Howdy, Nicole."

"—a Desperado might make a spontaneous entrance," Rainbow wheezed.  "'Kay, then..."

"Johnny!"  Nicole pounced him.

"Whoahhhhh there, missy!"  Bard stumbled a bit, then caught the sarosianette in a nuzzling hug.  "Heheh... yeesh, yer just as small as ever."  He raised an eyebrow.  "Is somethin' the matter?"

"Yeah, something's the matter!"  She pouted, her starry eyes reflecting his.  "We haven't had a chance to hang out!"  She leaned in, nuzzling him softly.  "I might not get a chance to share a hug with my big brother ever again."

"And just what makes you say that, darlin'?"

"Oh Johnny..."  Nicole sighed through a tired smile.  "You and I both know how Blue and Tim feel.  If they had their way, you'd be out of here by the next Fivelight."

"Yes, well... I'm workin' on that.  So dun you worry."  Bard set her down and patted her head.  "Just... gotta smoothe some wrinkles out."

"Heh... more like some damned mountains."

"Horses for courses, sis."  Bard looked at Rainbow Dash.  He blinked.  "Somethin' the matter?"

"Huh?  Oh!  Uh... no!  Nothing's the matter!" Rainbow smiled awkwardly.

Bard's eyes narrowed.

Rainbow gulped.  "Just... uhm... wondering... uhhh—"

"The supplies?"

"Err... yyyyyeah..."

Bard sighed.  "Reckon I gotta hear back from Blue when he's ready for me to hear anythang."

"Huh?"  Nicole blinked.  "What's this about?  Supplies?"

Echo droned:  "Rainbow and the rest of us have a long journey ahead of us."

"You mean to Bleak's Plummet?"

"Right."  Echo nodded.  "As you can imagine... that's not an easy trip to make without some food to eat and a bucket or two to shit it all into."

"Flynn's got a boat hidden someplace for us," Bard said.  "But he done moored it so long ago that any food he would have stored away would surely have rotted by now."

"So... what are you waiting for?" Nicole remarked.  "Let's get you some stuff for the trip!"

"Wait..."  Rainbow gaped at her.  "You can get us what we need?"

"Yeah!  Why not!"  Nicole shrugged.  "I know where they're keeping it."

"The shelter," Bard remarked.

"Right.  It belongs to the family.  And you're one of us, Johnny.  You always have been."

"Reckon t'ain't what Blue and Tim want," Bard said.

"So?  It's what you and your friends need, right, Johnny?"

"Yeah, Johnny," Echo grumbled.  "What's the big deal?"

Rainbow's eyes calmly danced from Echo to Bard.

The Desperado fumbled for words.  At last—in a dry tone—he spoke:  "Nicole... as much as I would appreciate it... I dun wanna cause a bigger rift than there already is."

"What are you talking about?"  Nicole shrugged.  "Blue and Tim will get over with."

"Nicole... you..."  Bard gulped.  "You just have no idea... what horrible thangs ol' Blue can do when he has a grudge."  He scowled.  "He will destroy you from the inside out and then pin it all on you from now 'til kingdom come."

Nicole blinked.

"You believe him, don't you?" Echo remarked—making Nicole flinch.  "Just what kind of crud has this Blue guy done?"  He turned to Bard.  "Come on.  Spill it."

"Just..."  Bard waved a hoof.  "Just let it be, Echo—"

"Bard, you of all ponies should be the first one telling us what went down here."  Echo gestured.  "Life isn't exactly all hunky-dory in this mushroom hole.  Nicole knows it."

"Well, I-I..." Nicole stammered.

"And I know it."  Echo pointed at Rainbow.  "I'm sure Rainbow and her ghost-lesbians can sense it.  So why hold it in?  Our supplies are on the line and we got places to be.  So why fritter and waste the time anymore?"

"Look, I know y'all are tryin' to help... but..."  Bard clenched his teeth, then finally blurted:  "I figured that... after Starkiss... y'all would know how... h-how important it is to just let thangs be."

Echo merely blinked in confusion.

"Bard..."  Rainbow trotted forward, calmly murmuring.  "Just what are you trying to protect?"

Bard was staring at Nicole.  The mare's head was hanging.

Rainbow leaned her head aside.  "Bard...?"

"Sometimes the best way to protect ponies is to not even try," Bard muttered.  "Especially when... you've already lost so many of 'em..."

Rainbow's lips pursed.  Just as she was about to say something—

Fwooosh!  Ray and James landed, carrying baskets full of fungal growth across their flanks.  "Oh!  Hey, Johnny!"

"Hiya, Rainbow!  Nicole!"  James briefly squinted.  "...midnighter."

"Hiya, handsomes!"  Echo waved, smiling.  "How are your mushroom tips?"

"Echo..."  Rainbow face-hoofed.  "...for the love of Celestia—"

"We haven't seen you for the past hour, Johnny!"  Ray said, smiling through is beak.  "For a second there, we thought you skipped town with the rest of your friends!"

"Yeah, well, I'm sure Tim would be mighty pleased."

"Oh please, Johnny."  James waved a hoof.  "Just 'cuz he's sore over a few random spats in the past—"

"It goes deeper than that, Jimmy," Bard grumbled.  "Best that we don't get into it."

"Yes.  Right.  Of course.  Still, though..."  James brightened.  "It's culmination of fivelights!"

"Oh.  Right."  Bard squinted towards a series of flickering crystals erected high along the west end of the ranch.  "Reckon it is."

"Heheheh..."  Ray chuckled.  "You've been stuck in the daylight too long.  Your body's all out of whack."

"Reckon I can't help it.  So... uh..."  Johnny tilted his hat back.  "Y'all headed in for supper?"

"You bet!  We're famished!"  James said.  "Granted... we'd be even more famished if you and your friends hadn't helped us with the barn raising."

"Yeah.  That was a real life-saver... not to mention a back-saver," Ray remarked.  Suddenly, the griffon gasped.  "Oh wow!  I just had the best friggin' idea!"

Bard gulped.  "Uh oh."

"You and Rainbow and your..."  Ray glanced at Echo.  "...other friends should totally join us for dinner!"

Rainbow winced.

"Uhhhhh..."  Nicole glanced at Bard.

"Errrrr..."  Bard glanced back.  "I... uh..."  He gulped and smiled nervously at his foster brothers.  "I'm not entirely sure that's a good idea."

"Why not?!  It'd be like old times again!"  Ray beamed.  "Besides, it's the least you deserve!  Healthy vittles for everypony!"

"Yeah, Johnny!"  James nodded.  "Twilight hospitality!"

"I'm mighty thankful for the gesture.  Just... I dun think this is a good time for it."

"Good time for it?!  Johnny, you and your friends are heading out soon!  There may not be another 'time' for it!"

"Yeah, well... I-I really dun think Blue would approve.  And Tim—"

"Tim can go sit on a weathervane and rotate!" Ray spat.  "We're family!  And you deserve a proper meal!  Come on!"  He motioned.  "Mike and Marie are already cookin' up some grub as we speak!  In the old house!"

"Our table's still big enough for all of us!  And more!" James added.

"I think Bard's right," Rainbow Dash interjected.  "It's probably for the best that we decline."

"Jee, I dunno," Echo spoke with a smirk.  "Dinner with a show, for free?"

"Echo, would you like to choke on the Element of Loyalty?" Rainbow spat.

James stared curiously at the group.  "I... I don't get it.  Is there a problem?"

"Just a nice family dinner!  One for the road!" Ray insisted.  "That's all I ask!"

"Ray... listen to me and listen hard," Bard said, staring the griffon down.  "There ain't no way on earth or in the Spring Havens that yer gonna get me to sit down and eat vittles at the same table as ol' Blue... ever."





Thirty minutes later, Bard sat across the table from Blue, his limbs locked in place and his muzzle frozen in a frown.

Blue frowned back, his body hunched over—even as he sat in a rickety old chair.

A few spaces down from Blue, Tim sat, his forelimbs folded.  Ray and James sat on either side of him, smiling... squirming... passing the soundless moments with awkward breaths.

Marie, a pegasus with a brown coat, hovered clockwise around the table, spooning forth a casserole onto each plate from an enormous pot.  Kelly, Mike, Nicole and a few other members of the extended family sat, picking nervously at their food as the silence lingered on.

With a deep sigh, Marie glared at the guests, proceeding towards the next few seats and plates.  The Herald sat in a tense line on both sides of Bard.  Wildcard was silent as a statue.  Ariel and Flynn exchanged nervous glances.  Kepler folded his claws meditatively while Remna fumed from where she sat on a stool that was three times too small for her violet frame.

Rainbow Dash and her ghostly friends glanced nervously around the candle-lit wooden hall.  She eyed the furthest corners of the table, blinking at every face—both grave and yearning.  She looked to her left where Echo sat.  Echo shrugged, mouthing something.  Soon, both ponies were looking to the right.

"Mrmmmff... hrmmfff..."  Logan eagerly spooned several scoops of casserole deep into his muzzle, scarfing away with great noise and slurp noises.  "Hrmmmff... gwddssshhh... hmmmff..."

Marie fluttered by him, huffing.  She produced the first words of the last five minutes:  "Want thirds, Mister... Big Show?"

"Mrmmff... yes."  Logan belched, holding an empty plate out in two hooves.  "Please and thank you, babe."

"Guhhh..."  Marie held the pot out at limb's length as she piled more onto his platter.

"Huaaaaaaah... now this is what I'm talking about!"  And Logan continued to gorge himself.

Flynn sighed, nearly collapsing in his chair.  Ariel smiled it off, taking a dainty sip of from a wooden cup of water.  Wildcard and Remna barely touched their food.

Kepler nibbled on a humble spoonfull of casserole.  "Mmmmm..."  He licked his lips between tusks, then smiled.  "A humble yet exquisite delicacy!  I am rratherr fond of the seasoning that you have applied to the noodles.  It cerrtainly isn't native to the Twilight Lands, as farr as I know.  Perrchance you might have acquirred it thrrough a chance run-in with a trravelling merrchant?  I happen to know that many grriffon chefs fly the main thorroughfarres of this agrriculturral nightscape.  In fact, accorrding to the season peddlerrs of Opal Prrefecturre—"  He froze in mid-speech.

Several ponies and griffons stared at him blankly.

"Errm..."  Kepler's scorpion tail curled up.  "...much humble thanks forr the... vittles.  Ha-Hah!"  He swiftly quieted, taking a meager bite as his ears twitched.

More silence.

Logan scarfed and scarfed away.

Clearing her throat, Kelly leaned forward, smiling.  "So... uhm... I heard that your group goes by the name 'Herald.'"

"What?"  Remna's brow furrowed as she sat up halfway.  "How?!  Who told you?!"

Kelly leaned back, instantly grimacing.

"Axan..."  Rainbow hissed out the side of her muzzle.

Remna grumbled, ears folding.  "We have... been called many things."  Her violet features tightened.  "None of which are of any consequence."

"Oh."  Kelly blinked.  "I just... uh... thought that it was a very nifty name, is all."

Remna's eyes narrowed like daggers.  "It signifies the righteous purpose with which the ancient organization of seven individuals were charged—"

Bard coughed.

"...again... nothing of consequence," Remna droned.

"I... see..."  Kelly nodded limply.

More silence.

"Is... uh..."  Ray pointed at Wildcard's plate.  "...is everything okay with your food?"

Wildcard merely stared.

"Dun mind Dubya," Bard said.  "He dun eat much."

"Oh..."  Ray nevertheless smiled.  "Something to drink, then?  We've got mead."

"Actually... he dun talk much, either."

"Like, not at all," Ariel said.

"Darlin'..."  Bard grumbled aside.

"I was only trying to help!" Ariel squeaked, glancing at Rainbow.

Rainbow could only smile nervously.

"I'd call these ponies party poopers," Pinkie murmured.  "But I don't think there's a deep enough latrine in all the world!"

"Uhm... which ponies, precisely?" Rarity asked.  "Them or us?"

"Both!"  Pinkie said, grimacing.

"Would it be statin' the cotton-pickin' obvious in sayin' that nopony actually wants to be here?" Applejack remarked.

Rainbow Dash sighed.  "Sounds like a family to me."

Marie looked over from where she was placing the pot down.  "What was that?"

"Uhm..."  Rainbow Dash leaned forward, grinning plastically.  "What a handsome family you have here!"

Twilight face-hoofed.

Marie sighed.  "Please.  Do dig in."  She slumped in her chair, trying not to frown.  "I made plenty for everypony.  And I do mean plenty."

As Rainbow picked away at her platter, Rarity leaned in towards the ghostly group:  "Just what crawled into her bonnet and laid moth eggs?"

"She... doesn't seem to appreciate us that much," Fluttershy said, gulping.  "Not like Bard's other 'siblings.'"

"You can say that again," Applejack remarked.  "Reckon I sense two schools in this here family."

"Like classrooms?" Pinkie Pie blinked.

"I think she means to make a fish analogy, Pinkie," Twilight said.

"Right."  Applejack nodded.  "And that 'Marie' lady is swimmin' the same currents as Tim and Blue."

"Oh, how wonderful," Rarity droned.

"So..."  Marie cleared her throat, folding her hooves from where she sat.  "...I hear you're needing some supplies for your trip."

Ariel nearly dropped her fork.

Echo leaned towards Rainbow Dash.  "Seems like Tim and Blue weren't too quiet about their discussion."

Rainobw nearly nodded.  After a bite or two, she faced across the table and spoke up:  "I guess you could say that we're on a... special ambassadorial mission to Bleak's Plummet."

"Right..."  Marie nodded back, eyes narrow.  "What else could I say about your trip?"

Rainbow blinked.

"Guess that explains the midnighter," Mike said, pointing at Echo.  "Makes sense that you'd want to bring a batpony along if you wanted to talk with the others."

"Yeah, well, you know us!"  Echo threw on a thin grin.  "Guano tossing at twenty paces!"

"Echo..."  Bard growled.

"Oh... don't be so hard on 'em, Johnny."  Tim munched on a loaf of bread.  "Ain't no other way of dealin' with them Seventh Tribers.  Nothin' but thieves and scoundrels, the lot of 'em."

Nicole frowned as she stabbed into another mess of casserole and shoved it into her muzzle.

Flynn glanced at her, then at the rest of the family.  "Regardless, it's a very important mission.  And... we would greatly appreciate anything you might be willing to generously give us."

"Yeah..."  Ariel nodded.  "We'll help around the farm any way we can."

"She's right, y'know," James said, smiling aside at Blue and the others.  "Why... the Herald helped out in barn raising earlier!  At around Second Light!"

"Hrmmf..."  Blue finished drinking from a cup and snorted.  "Any dumbass can raise a barn.  A bunch of dumbasses dun deserve to be rewarded for it."

"Yeah..."  James fidgeted.  "But—"

"I said what I said, didn't I?" Blue snarled.

Tim glared at James.

James bit his lip as his ears folded.

"Well... uh..."  Flynn cleared his throat.  "If there's something else that can be done to make things easier around here—"

"Life here on the farm is easy enough as it is," Blue said.  "Unless you think it shouldn't be."

"What?  I... I didn't mean to imply that... erm..."  Flynn silenced himself with a few spoonfuls of casserole.

"Rainbow...!"  Twilight hissed aside.  "Everypony at the table knows that you're the reason Bard and his 'friends' are here."

"Yes, darling," Rarity whispered, as if it was necessary.  "Perhaps you should take the stand.  Say something to center the conversation."

"We're having a conversation?" Pinkie glanced at Fluttershy.  Fluttershy shrugged.

"I... uhm..."  Rainbow Dash picked randomly at her food.  "...I'm pretty impressed by this farm."

"You?"  Tim sniffed.  "Impressed?  How come?"

"Just... so many diverse ponies and griffons living under one roof... as one community."  Rainbow smiled.  "It reminds me of home."

Blue squinted.  "And just where does a fuzzheaded pegasus like you hail from, exactly?"

"Careful, Rainbow," Twilight said.

Applejack's muzzle scrunched.  "Why should she be?"

Rainbow stared calmly across the table.  She smiled.  "Ponyville."

Bard looked aside.

"It's a little farm town in the center of a kingdom called Equestria."

"'Equestria'... huh?"  Marie raised an eyebrow.  "That's a fancy name."

"Heh... I figured it was kinda lame and commonplace, actually," Rainbow said.

"She means it sounds fake," Tim remarked.

Rainbow stared squarely at him.  "Well, that's rather unfortunate, Timothy."

"It's just 'Tim,'" the stallion said.  "Plain and simple."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow calmly took a bite.  "Mrmmff... so I gathered."

Tim's muzzle dropped.

Pinkie snorted, stifling a giggle.  Rarity and Twilight nervously glanced at one another.

"And... in this land of Equestria..."  Blue folded his wrinkly fetlocks together, looking at her.  "You've got griffons and ponies livin' together in harmony?"

"Oh... you betcha!  Saro—er... midnighters too."  Rainbow swallowed her last few bites and nodded.  "We've got things so orderly that we even shape the seasons and wrap up the weather together."

"Wow..."  Kelly blinked.  "That must take a lot of pegasi!"

"And magic!" Mike added.

"Or bullcrap," Tim said.

Ray glanced aside.  "Tim..."

"Yeah, what?  Somepony's gotta say it!"  Tim frowned.  "This group is totally full of it and that one—"  He pointed at Rainbow.  "—most of all!"

"Rainbow's my friend and she's tellin' the truth," Bard muttered.  "You wanna exercise some Twilight hospitality, then how 'bout takin' her word a mite bit more politely, brother?"

Tim fumed.

"Hmmm... the truth, eh?"  Blue took on a wrinkly smirk, leaning forward.  "Well then, Miss Rainbow Dash... these Equestria ponies that live so harmoniously..."

"Yes, Mr. Blue?"  Rainbow blinked.  "What about them?"

Blue smiled.  "Were they always so peace-lovin'?"

Silence.  Rainbow's friends looked at her.

She kept her eyes locked on Blue.  "Well, if you must know, no... not always."

"I knew it!"  Blue slapped the table-top, leaning back.  "I bet they was warrin' with each other somethin' awful!  Just like the Six Ancient tribes!"

"Long, long ago... yes.  But like you said... it's Ancient history, Mr. Blue—"

"Still, it's in yer blood."

"By that argument, it's in your blood too."

"But we've shaken off the blood.  Dun ya see?"  Blue waggled a hoof in the direction of his foster children.  "All of my sons and daughters... they come from different households... all that saw fit to abandon them."

Nicole sighed, gazing past her half-eaten plate.

"Tossed them out!" Blue grunted.  "Like garbage!"  He pointed at Bard.  "Him too!  And I brought them in under my wing—all fatherly-like.  Gave 'em a place to live... not in the name of flesh... but in the spirit of bein' better than the rest of the world!  You see... our union is our home.  Always have been."

"Where... exactly are you going with this?" Rainbow asked.

Echo grumbled:  "You would friggin' ask that?"

"Let her ask!" Blue snorted, then frowned at Rainbow again.  "The point I'm tryin' to make is that there's a mighty fine reason to question the motivations of a pony who's so far from home... tryin' her damnedest to be somewhere else."

"What if I told you it was a mission of utmost importance?" Rainbow remarked.  "With the fate of this whole world in the balance?"

"Rainbow, could you have put it a better way?" Twilight squeaked.

"Twilight, she was saying exactly what you would have said, darling," Rarity said.

"I know!" Twilight barked.  "Which is why it was a bad idea!"

In the meantime, Tim had responded:  "I see no important mission befittin' a bunch of thugs and murderers."

"Thugs?" Ariel spat.

"Murderers?"  Flynn gasped.

"Hrmmmf..."  Remna glanced aside.  "...well."

"Mr. Blue... Tim..."  Rainbow bore a serious expression.  "I assure you... my friends and I are nothing more than friendly, peace-loving adventurers.  There's absolutely nothing to be afraid of."  With a sigh, she glanced at her bent utensil, then looked aside.  "Wildcard... would you mind passing me another fork?"

The goggled griffon nodded, then stretched out his metal hand.  Schiiiiiiiing!  He magnetically flung a sharp instrument across the table and into Rainbow's hoof.

"Gaaah!"  Kelly flinched so hard she nearly fell out of her seat.  Mike had to steady her.

Rainbow sighed long and hard.  "...thanks."

Marie folded her forelimbs and spoke:  "If you're a bunch of peaceful ponies on an ambassadorial mission... then why—precisely—are you headed into midnighter territory?"

Bard paused in sipping from a cup of water to glance across the table at her.

Marie raised an eyebrow.  "As anypony in the Twilight Lands can tell you, those who deal with the Seventh Tribe are asking for trouble."

"Yeah..."  Tim scoffed, smirking.  "Or bringin' it."

"Has it everr occurrred to you..."  Kepler calmly remarked, adjusting his spectacles.  "That the only rreason that the shadowy equine rrace has everr built up a notorriety in the firrst place was due to a serries of unforrtunate misunderrstandings hailing back frrom a time that none of us have the faculty to rremember?"

"Them's some fancy speech," Blue said.  "Comin' from a wild savage, far from home."

Echo winced.

Kepler blinked.  "I beg yourr parrdon...?"

"Uhhhm..."  Bard raised a hoof.  "Let's gab about somethin' else, ya reckon—?"

"Dun think that we're a bunch of illiterate yokels just 'cuz we live so far from Frostknife!"  Blue snarled.  "We heard all about y'all's Queen-murderin' conspiracy!  Just what else were ya cookin' up in those hallowed sanctuaries up in Wyvern Point?!"

"Ohhhhhh here we go..." Rarity sank through the floor.

"And now y'all are bringin' a traitor to the edge of the world... through my very own home just to deal with more scoundrels!" Blue said.

"You... don't underrstand."  Kepler fumbled for words, glancing aside at Rainbow and Bard.  "It... it isn't at all like you think."

"Oh, sure... everythang's a big heapin' load of misunderstandings wherever you happen to tread!" Tim grunted.  "Ever thought that you was goin' about thangs all subjective-like?"

"Duck and cover!" Echo wheezed.  "They're trying to get philosophical—"

"We ain't the ones twistin' anythang here, ya varmint!" Blue pointed at the sarosian.  "Yer just waitin' to get back with yer own kin!  Mixin' it up like the real villains!"

"I wouldn't talk about inbreeding if I were you," Echo droned.

"What was that?!"  Blue sat up.

"Okay... uhm..."  Rainbow Dash waved a hoof.  "Let's get back to the casserole, please—"

"I worked my whole life to keep this here farm clean from the mess that everypony else has made of the world!"  Blue spat.  "I won't have you bringin' it down by gettin' us tangled up with them good-for-nothin' fanged shitmongerers!"

"Grnngh!"  Nicole slapped her fork down and scooted loudly out of her chair.  "That's enough!"  She stormed off, sniffling through a frown.  "Do I have to hear this every Fivelight?!"

"And where do ya think yer headed off to?!"  Blue scowled at her.

"Do you have any idea how much Blue has protected us from the rest of your kind?!" Marie added.

"Marie, please," Ray insisted.

"Nicole..."  Mike reached for the sarosian as she passed by.

"Just... b-buzz off!"  Nicole huffed, tearing up.  "I need... t-to breathe.  Just... stay away."

"Whoah..."  Echo stood up, wincing. "Babe, wait—"

"'Babe?!'"  Tim stood as well, pointing.  "Now see here, ya blood sucking shitheap."

"Oh, go choke on a fat one, you overblown mountain of ass!" Echo spat, slapping the table with an angry hoof.  "You shovel nothing but bullshit into a poor mare's ear all her life and what do you expect?  Love?  Pffft... yeah right.  I've been to prison and still I haven't heard of worst forms of sodomy!"

"That's it!"  Tim frowned.  "You get out of my father's house and you stay out—"

"He's right, Tim," Bard said.

"And you!"  Tim frowned.  "If you don't make like a bear's behind and split—"  CLAKKA!  Tim leaned back, his crossed-eyes staring at the end of a metal bo-staff aimed squarely between his nose.

Bard snarled from his end of the weapon.  "For once in yer damned meaty life, sit down and listen like a good colt."  He turned his steely frowned until it fell on Blue.  "You call yerself a lovin' father... a fosterin' example of all that's good and wants to be good in Rohbreddenite harmony..."  He blew out the side of his muzzle.  "And yet you insult yer very own daughter?  You treat her like trash and you make her feel sorry for even tryin' to stand up for herself?"

"You ain't been here, 'Bard'," Blue grumbled.  "So dun pretend like you can talk about family."

"I've been gone for ages... which is precisely why I can."  He stared broadly at Tim, Blue, and Marie.  "Have y'all gotten so negative... so venomous and untrustin' of all thangs that walk and fly this earth... that ya gotta turn this household into a prison?"

"It's not like that, Johnny," Marie said.

"Seems an awful lot like it to me," Bard growled.

"She's... sh-she's right, Johnny."  Ray gulped, but nevertheless smiled.  "We... we get along fine on the farm!"

"Only because you have no dayum choice in the matter."

"We've... had no reason to choose otherwise," Mike said.

"See?!  That's the problem!"  Bard swung the staff until it was pointing at Blue.  "He's never let you have a choice!  He just clouds yer heads with scary, paranoid thoughts and pretends to call it 'love' and 'respect.'"  Bard leaned back with a sigh.  "Well, the moment that bubble breaks, t'ain't no sense in tryin' to hole yerself inside it once more."

"That's why you left, then, isn't it?" Marie said.  "You suddenly 'saw the light' that nopony else here saw... and suddenly you were right about everythang and the rest of us wrong?!"  She frowned.  "Dun you realize how selfish that sounds?"

Bard hung his head.  "Now Marie, I never done made any demands from the rest of the family—"

"But you are now," Tim grumbled.  "That's what it all comes down to.  Havin' yer way... even at the expense of the farm!"

"Tim—"

"At the cost of all that Blue has built!  For us!"  Tim pointed.  "Haven't you learned yer lesson from Amber?"

Applejack winced.

Rainbow glanced curiously at her in confusion.  Then she looked at Bard.

The life had utterly left the Desperado's eyes.  Even Wildcard could see it.  The griffon shifted uneasily in his seat.

"That's right," Tim continued, nodding with a brooding expression.  "You had yer chance at another kind of life.  It was a foolish choice... but you made it.  And look where it got you!"

Bard closed his eyes.  After a deep breath, he muttered:  "Tim... yer trottin' on wet soil..."

"Dun think that you can threaten me.  I know the truth."

"No..."  Bard still had his eyes shut.  "...you only know the truth as Blue wants you to."

"What?"  Kelly glanced about curiously.  "What's he going on about?"

"Never y'all mind," Blue grumbled, eyeing Bard.  "Yer older brother ran into trouble... trouble that he would never have ran into if he didn't insist on disobeyin' his elder."

"Is..."  Ray cleared his throat.  "Is she the one, Johnny?"  He looked across the table.  "The one that Tim is always talking about...?"

"I told you not to mind—!" Blue insisted.

"And why shouldn't they anymore?!"  Bard finally opened his eyes—and they were flaring.  His grip of the bo-staff tightened until his fetlock whitened.  "I thought it would do them good to live on like it was nopony's problem but my own.  But reckon I was wrong about that! "

"Johnny—"

"You just couldn't stop layin' it on thick, could ya, old stallion?!"  Bard spat.  "Y'know... for a second there, I thought we almost had something in common so many years ago.  I thought we reached a position where we might have respected each other!  But then Melody shoulda taught me different!  Or at least, it should have!"  He hollered:  "All you wanna do is make the whole world miserable!"

"That's enough—"

"I could move on, but you couldn't!" Bard shouted.  "Why do ya have to make the whole world feel the pain of yer dead wife!"

"Johnny!" James exclaimed.

"Rrrrrgh!"  Blue sat up, shaking all over.  "That's it!  You are out of here!  All of y'all!"

"Mister Blue, please—" Rainbow started.

"I mean it!  If y'all aren't out of here by First Light, then I'm tellin' the local Guard!  And I can bet every last ounce of blood in my body that the criminal likes of ya won't wanna be caught by them!"

Bard shook... huffed... and finally stormed out on heavy hooves.

Wincing, Wildcard immediately flew after him.

Blue was still shaking as he spat:  "And y'all can forget about yer damned supplies!  Ain't no way in hell we're helpin' ya get nowhere!  Even if it ends at the end of a midnighter noose!"  He grunted.  "Y'all can go throw yerselves off the edge of the world and drown on yer own!"

Silence.

Rainbow and her friends watched as the rest of Bard's "siblings" sat in silence, hanging their heads.

One by one, the members of the Herald quietly... awkwardly abandoned their meals and trotted out of the room.

Remna stood up with a surly breath.  "It was generous of you to share the meal.  I wish I could say that I enjoyed it, but..."  Her violet ears flicked.  "...your company was very miserable... even by draconian standards."  She turned tail and left.

Rainbow shared a pained glance with Twilight as she left.

Logan was the last one lingering at the table.  "So... uh..."  He blinked, rubbing his stained muzzle.  "...guess this means that a fifth helping is out of the question, huh?"  He burped, then put on a nervous smile.
> The Meeting of the Herds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Most of the windigoes have flown off, Defense Minister," Seraphimus said in mid-stride.  She, Brye Chandler, and half-a-dozen armed soldiers of the Central Guard marched briskly down a narrow stone corridor deep within the heart of the Frosted Shelves.  "Scouts along the upper lookouts report that only eight to ten of them remain—circling in the air.  However, they appear to be flocking towards the southwest.  If they follow prevailing patterns, then the skies above Frostknife should be clear within four hours."

"Good.  Then this is our window to depart," Chandler said, glaring straight forward in the torchlight.  He took a deep breath.  "Is my field armor ready?"

Seraphimus nodded.  "The blacksmith put on the finishing touches this morning.  It's been altered based on your most recent specifications.  You can expect a perfect fit."

"That is most wonderful," Chandler remarked.  He and his entourage made a bee-line for a large set of doors flanked by guards.  "All we need now is the signal from Hymnos, and then we can begin this most valiant operation."

Seraphimus inhaled sharply.  Her claws scuffled against the stone floor.

Chandler glanced aside.  "Something on your mind, soldier?"

"I am with you to serve, not speak," Seraphimus droned.

"Nonsense," Chandler remarked.  "We're one leap away from engaging the Rainbow Rogue in righteous vengeance.  Let us enjoy an opportunity to commune like colleagues.  Hmmm?"

Seraphimus sighed.  "I am... pleased to have this opportunity," she muttered.

"Just not pleased about who's giving it to you?"

The former Talon Commander was silent.

Chandler nodded.  "I can't say I'm too fond of how destiny has arranged our partnership either... but I think we can both agree on the mutual goal."

"I do not expect redemption when the Rainbow Rogue is slaughtered, Defense Minister."  She glanced aside at him.  "Do we really have the same goal?"

Chandler bit his lip.

Seraphimus' charcoal eyes returned to reflecting cold torchlight.

Chandler exhaled:  "Let us just get word in to the Grand Magistrate.  Then we shall... put everything else behind us."

"So long as the Rainbow Rogue's death is ahead of us."

"Agreed."  And that was all that was said.

The entourage reached their destination.  The doors opened... and Hymnos greeted them with a bright grin.

"Defense Minister!  What great timing!"

"Grand Magistrate Hymnos."  Chandler came to a stop and briefly bowed.  "We just spoke with the scouts of the upper lookouts and—"

"I have great news to share with you!" Hymnos exclaimed.

"Hmmm?"  Chandler looked up—and froze in place.

Keris stood along with Windburst, Starstorm, and Raptr.  The new Commander of the Talon smiled.  "I trust that it is nearly time for us to set out?" Keris remarked.

"What?"  Brye Chandler blinked.  "Us?  But... I don't understand—"

"The Right Talon of Verlaxion shall be leading the charge into the Twilight Lands," Hymnos exclaimed.  "With superior experience and valor on their side, they will be priceless in helping you hunt down the Rainbow Rogue."

Seraphimus blinked.

Chandler's gaze danced between Keris and Hymnos.  "Only..."  He stood up straight, his eyes thin.  "...the Talon has utterly failed to capture the Rogue before—"

"A consequence of the Goddess Murderer's Blight confounding us," Keris swiftly remarked.  "I assure you..."  He shook his feathered head.  "...that will not happen a second time.  Especially with your valiant legions of the Central Guard there to help us overwhelm our prey."

"The Commander has made a very convincing argument, Defense Minister," Hymnos said, pacing across her temporary office.  "Nopony knows the Rainbow Rogue and her tactics quite like the Talon.  Well... with both the new and former Commanders of the elite squad on your side, then you'll have the absolute best advantage for tracking down Rohbredden's number one target."

"With all due respect, Grand Magistrate..."  Chandler tried not to hiss—he failed.  "The Right Talon of Verlaxion is needed here... in Frostknife."

"I respect your concern for the capital's well-being, Defense Minister," Hymnos said with a nod.  "It is the chief responsibility of the Right Talon to serve and protect the Foals of Verlaxion."

"And as I was just finishing telling the Grand Magistrate," Keris said, "What better a way to protect the interests of Rohbredden than to make sure that justice for our beloved Queen is properly enacted?"  He gestured at his fellow sergeants.  "We have been clean of the Rainbow Rogue's curse for days now.  I assure you... we now possess the strength and capacity to track Rohbredden's prey with full clarity."

"Our Commander is right, Defense Minister," Starstorm spoke up.  "Besides, the Rohbreddenites here in Frostknife have proven more than capable of preserving themselves with the resources available in the Frosted Shelves."

"In the meantime," Windburst added, "Professor Theanim Mane is lending his assistance in the recovery process.  Having the Talon stationed here is simply a redundancy at this point."

"Yeah!"  Raptr gulped, smiling anxiously.  "Especially when there's a rainbow butt out there left to kick!"

Windburst cleared his throat.

Raptr squeaked:  "But d-don't take my word for it!"

Hymnos chuckled slightly.  She turned to smile at Chandler.  "The sergeants speak truth.  Professor Theanim Mane has proven immeasurably useful in rallying the public.  We've already endured two stampedes thanks to his sage advice.  At this rate, our beloved Professor and his wise Order will surely be implementing a system by which this generation and those of our grandfoals' can ward off the windigoes."

"Isn't that rather... naive?" Chandler remarked.

Keris' eyes briefly stabbed him.  "I think the more appropriate word here is 'optimistic,' Defense Minister."  His gaze sliced across Seraphimus.  "Can we afford to be anything less in this time of crisis?"

Seraphimus hung her head, avoiding Keris' hawkeyes.

"Grand Magistrate..."  Chandler's nostrils flared as his leg muscles tightened.  "When I was appointed this position... I was explicitly told that I would be personally leading the military operation in eliminating the Rainbow Rogue."

"And you shall, Minister," Hymnos said, her tone momentarily laced with ice.  "Only now you will have the Right Talon working alongside you.  Their legacy will undoubtedly serve as positive morale for the troops under your command."

"We will lend our best strategies when and where they are required," Keris said.  "We both desire justice for our Queen."

"A lot of weight rests on your shoulders, Defense Minister," Hymnos added.  "It would be foolish to carry it all on your lonesome through the Twilight Lands."

"Better to divide the hunting force into separate divisions so that my sergeants and I can properly maintain a thorough chain of command," Keris said.  He glanced in Seraphimus' direction.  "Is this not the wisest course of action?"

Chandler shook.  He looked to his side.

Seraphimus exhaled, tilting her beak up and nodding.  "It is... most certainly a solid tactic."  She looked at Chandler.  "In the event that our forces are split apart, we will need trusted officials to maintain the Central Guard's orders."

"But... that..."  Chandler huffed... then frowned at the Grand Magistrate.  "This is all so last-second!  Incorporating the Talon into my... into our army will involve a vote within the Court of Verlaxion!  And our window to launch the attack eastward starts in less than four hours—"

"With the new defense initiative, chief command has been afforded to the Central Guard, Defense Minister.  You're quite aware of this."  Hymnos paced closer.  "If you must know, Keris and I have run this by a few other members of the Court—and every pony and griffon who has heard word of this merger have already agreed whole-heartedly."  She came to a stop, raising an eyebrow.  "It is my sincere hope that—as Defense Minister—you will do the right thing and choose that which is wisest in the name of Rohbredden security."

Chandler blinked, his muzzle agape.  He looked at Keris.

Keris looked back, smiling calmly.

Chandler sighed.  He spoke through a tight muzzle:  "As Defense Minister... I am bound by my dedication towards protecting the Foals of Verlaxion.  And I... c-cannot fathom a reason not to incorporate the Right Talon of Verlaxion into my military pursuit of the Rainbow Rogue."

"Splendid!"  Hymnos beamed.  She reached out, slapping a hoof behind Chandler's and Keris' shoulders, respectively.  "After all, why should you?"  She trotted back to her desk.  "I shall deliver a message to the whole of Rohbredden, announcing the joint venture.  I presume that—with the diminishing herd of windigoes outside—you will be setting out to pursue the Rogue soon?"

"Yes, Defense Minister," Chandler murmured, avoiding Keris' gaze.  "We shall."

"Then that should give you plenty of time to compare notes with the Talon and come up with a valid strategy for investigating the Twilight Lands with their accompaniment."  Hymnos breathed calmly as she sat down and put quill to paper.  "I must admit.  Before now... I was a tad bit... concerned over the nature of this operation.  But now that we have both of our most dependable forces combined... I almost have a sliver of hope that our beloved Queen will be avenged."

"Thank you, Grand Magistrate," Chandler droned, his teeth grinding.  "It is... good to know that your faith in us is ever-stalwart."

"Let us not let her down, then," Keris remarked, pacing across the room.  "Or the rest of Rohbredden, for that matter.  This will require the whole of us to work together within our proper ranks."  He paused before Seraphimus.  "Which means that the Chain of Command must be followed thoroughly and without question."  His magenta eyes glinted.  "Is that understood?"

The three Sergeants stared in silence.

Seraphimus unemotionally saluted.  "Understood."

Keris squinted.

Seraphimus cleared her throat and stood even straighter.  "Understood, sir."

Keris nodded.  "I expect you to be more prompt than that in the future, soldier."  He turned to look at Chandler.  "But you need not stress, Defense Minister.  It will be our task to keep the members of your Central Guard in line."  He brushed past Seraphimus.  "All of them."

The former Commander closed her eyes... even as the Sergeants followed Keris in their soft, swift exit from the office.

Chandler stood in place, shaking slightly.  "Seraphimus," he murmured out the side of his muzzle.  "Would you check on the status of the chariot that shall carry me into the Twilight Lands?"

"Yes, Defense Minister," Seraphimus said.  "Do you also wish for me to inform the troops of—?"

"Just go!" Chandler barked.

Seraphimus did not flinch.  Silently, she pivoted about and exited the office.

Chandler sighed, rubbing his forehead.  After a spell of silence, he glanced at the central desk.

Hymnos was staring at him.  "...is there a problem, Defense Minister?"

Chandler hesitated... eventually blurting:  "No problem, Grand Magistrate."

"Good.  Then I think you have some preparations to do."  She returned to her letter.

In a huff, Chandler spun and stormed off.





Keris and his Sergeants were perched on an upper balcony overlooking the corridor.  Collectively they watched as Chandler and his entourage marched furiously in one direction and Seraphimus down another.

"Okay..."  Windburst smoothed back his headcrest.  "...on a scale of one to ten, how pissed off do you think that fat cat is?"

"Can we include decimal points?" Starstorm remarked.

"Why the Hell not?"

Starstorm smiled.  "I'd venture to guess infinity point three repeating."

"Heh... I rather like that," Windburst said with a smirk.

"And... uhm..."  Raptr gulped, his eyes following Seraphimus' silver figure until it disappeared beyond a distant corner.  "...the former Commander?"

"Our goal is not to anger her," Keris said.  "Nor to confound her."

"Then fill us in, Keris," Windburst said, turning to look at the lead Talon member.  "Just what are we going to accomplish with this?"

"Yeah..."  Raptr winced.  "We sacrificed everything to let Rainbow Dash get away.  Now we're going to hunt her again?"

"Or not," Starstorm said.  "What better hunters could Rainbow and the Herald desire than those who won't draw blood when they meet?"

"Easier said than done," Windburst droned.

"True."  Starstorm nodded.  "But we're going to be the one buffer between Chandler's wrath and Rainbow Dash.  That's gotta count for something when it gets down to the wire!"

"The reality is that Rainbow Dash knew it would come to this," Keris said.  "And—between you and me—I don't think she'll be too surprised if she sees us coming after her."

"Is... she counting on us giving her some slack?" Raptr asked.  "Protecting her from the Central Guard at the last second?"

"I think it's the other way around, Sergeant," Keris said.

"Huh?"

Keris sighed, gazing at the last spot Seraphimus was.  "Rainbow is shouldering the fate of the entire plane on her shoulders.  She may have had the fortune of being merciful to members of the Central Guard before, but when cornered against the Edge of the World... I suspect that she will have to sacrifice such restraint.  More than anything... we're doing this so we can protect the soldiers from her... and most especially Seraphimus from herself."

"It really is the only way, isn't it?" Starstorm muttered in a sullen tone.

"But will it be enough?" Windburst remarked.  "Can we keep an eye on Seraphimus the entire time?"

Silence.

"You three just concern yourselves with keeping the Central Guard from slaughtering themselves uselessly for Chandler and his maniacal crusade."  Keris stood up straight on their perch.  "As for Seraphimus?  Leave her to me..."





Way off to the east...

...in a part of the world where the sun literally didn't shine...

...the Herald gathered their belongings within the hollow of an open barn.  Kepler and Ariel loaded a six-wheeled wagon full of their meager possessions while Logan took the opportunity to sharpen his axe.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to put this place way... way behind us," Logan grunted.

"Easy for you to say," Flynn grunted.  "You filled yourself up with a week's worth of farm food."

"Yeah."  Logan smirked wryly as he gave his axe blade three more lasting scrapes.  "Isn't it a beautiful thing?"

Flynn sighed.  His ears drooped on either side of his balding crown as he tossed his half-empty bag of supplies into the cart.  "A shame that I didn't get to study their fivelight crystals up close.  I'm out of mana batteries, and it would have been nice to get some extra ammo for the trip."

"If you ask me?" Ariel flapped her wings, gazing into the wagon before her.  "I'd say we ditch the cart."

"Trruly?" Kepler remarked.

"I mean... I know we yanked it from the side of the road a few days ago.  But look at it!"  Ariel pointed.  "It's huger than huge!  And..."  A dull groan.  "It's not like we're making any use of its storage space.  Especially after that delightful 'dinner.'"

"Things really went south, didn't they?" Flynn remarked.

"It's still no rreason to get rrid of such a useful vehicle!" Kepler said.

Ariel smirked.  "You just need something to fill your insatiable 'wagon-niche.'"

"Nothing of the sorrt!" Kepler protested.  "Besides, therre is no telling whetherr orr not we shall find anotherr sourrce of supplies along the way!"

"Oh yeah?" Logan muttered.  "The only way we can get some shit at this point is if we robbed some poor ponies for it."

"You said it, Big Show," Flynn added with a nod.

"Perrish the thought!"  Kepler remarked.  "Let us not trransforrm the angst of this farrm into unnecessarrry despairr!  We may yet have a use forr this carrt that is completely benevolent!  Besides... if the Rrainbow one werre to faint again, this will be the best way to trransporrt her!"

Remna walked into the barn.  "The Austraeoh's fainting spells have ceased—at least for the time being.  I say that we ditch the cart."

"Thank you!" Ariel exclaimed.  Suddenly, she blinked.  "...did... I just agree with the dragon lady?"

"This farm has done a bigger number on us than I thought," Flynn groaned.

"In all seriousness," Remna continued, "We've wasted enough time here as it is.  I understand Rainbow Dash's commitment to her... Desperado compatriots... but this journey has always been hers.  Not Bard's."

Ariel sighed.  "The least you can do is give the Job Squad the benefit of a doubt."

"What do you think I have been doing?"  Remna stared at her.  "If it was up to me, we would never have settled at this location to begin with.  There is far too much at risk, and I fear that we've compromised our position by bumping elbows with such inhospitable creatures."  A pause.  She exhaled and said, "But this was important to Bard... and thus it was important to the Austraeoh.  So... I relented."

"Wow..."  Ariel blinked.  "Either you've grown soft or you actually do care for Rainbow Dash and the friends she makes."

Remna's jaw muscles clenched.  "Call it what you want.  But our self-indulgent respite is officially over."  She glanced across the Bard.  "Where is the one called Echo?"

"I think he's outside," Flynn said.  "Speaking with the one called Nicole."

"Hmmmm..."  Remna breathed past that thought.  "And the Austraeoh?"

The Job Squad collectively glanced around.

Remna's eyes narrowed.  "Is it my imagination... or are you collectively awful at this?"

"Things were a lot easier when her damned wings didn't 'work,'" Logan said.

"Perrhaps you should inquirre of the most vigilant of the grroup," Kepler said, motioning towards the barn doors.

Right at that moment, Wildcard landed.  He adjusted his goggles while slowly approaching the group.

"Hey!  Wildcard!"  Ariel hovered a few feet higher.  "Have you seen Rainbow?  Or Bard?"

Wildcard gazed emotionlessly towards her.  He sliced the air with his flesh and metal talons.

Remna blinked.  "What is he saying?"

Ariel gulped.  She glanced at Remna.  "I know you want us to get a move on and stuff... but... I-I think we should give Bard and Rainbow just a few more minutes."

Remna sighed.  "Mortals..."  She marched off with an angry breath.  "So little time on this earth... and all they want to do is waste it."





Rainbow Dash trotted to a limp stop at the top of a hill.  Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, and the rest of her friends floated alongside her.

Down below—along the edge of a fertile valley—Bard squatted before a series of stones.  Their gloss granite faces glinted in the perpetual starlight.

"Are those... graves?" Twilight Sparkle remarked.

"Looks like a miniature cemetery," Fluttershy added.

"There are hollow spaces within the earth," Rarity explained.  "Each situated about six feet below the grassy surface."  She turned and nodded at the rest.  "Although I can't sense what's inside the spaces, I think it's rather obvious..."

"Maybe, uhhhh..."  Pinkie Pie fidgeted.  "...we should just leave El Bardo be?"

"We haven't much time left," Twilight Sparkle said.  "The moon will be full soon, and it's just a matter of minutes before Blue and the rest of his family kicks us all out.  I don't think Bard can afford any more minutes on his lonesome."

"Still..."  Rainbow Dash gulped.  "Seems like a pretty sucky time to drop in on him."

"Wildcard flew past us just a few seconds ago," Fluttershy said.  "If he truly felt a need to stop us from interrupting Bard, he didn't bother to try."

"The mare has a point, sugarcube," Applejack said.  "Besides..."  She looked straight at Rainbow Dash.  "If there was ever a time that ya wanted the truth from 'Johnny,' now is it."

Rainbow turned her head to look at Applejack.

Applejack merely nodded.

With a breath, Rainbow Dash glanced back downhill.  Flapping her wings, the mare glided towards where the Desperado was seated.

Bard sat on his lonesome.  He was facing an empty plot of land just to the side of the old, old stones.  He was halfway through his umpteenth sigh of the day when he heard the soft hooves of a petite pegasus landing behind him.

"I promise that I'll be gettin' a move on," Bard muttered without so much as turning his head.  "Just... reckon I might get some lastin' peace here... while I can."

"Is..."  Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck.  "...is it working?"

Bard exhaled, shaking his head.  "No."

Silence.

Rainbow Dash stepped forward until she stood by the stallion's side.  "You... uh... got friends and family buried here?"

"Ol' Blue does," Bard explained.  "And if he caught so much of a whiff that I was here... he'd grab the nearest scythe and lop my head off in a blink."

Fluttershy and Rarity grimaced.

Rainbow Dash breathed.  "You're... that unwelcome, huh?"

"Ain't nopony's fault but my own," Bard muttered.

"Pffft..."  Rainbow smirked bitterly.  "Who has you believing that?  Don't tell me this 'Blue' jerk has a grip on you still."

"Nah, it's the truth.  I'm not supposed to be here."

"Why's that?"

Bard's nostrils flared.  "'Cuz the last time I was at this here spot..."  He pointed at a faded stone to the right.  "...I desecrated Blue's wife's gravestone."

Pinkie and Twilight flinched.

Rainbow's lips pursed.  Before she could say something, she looked aside.

Applejack somberly nodded, her face deadpan.

Rainbow blinked.  She turned to face Bard again.  "So... uh... just what exactly brings you here?"

"Mmmm..."  Bard stroked his bearded chin.  "Figured I might... find a grave that wasn't here the last time I showed up.  Maybe two..."

"Who... who is he looking for?" Fluttershy whispered.

"Rainbow, darling..."

Rainbow turned to look at Rarity.

With a sad expression, Rarity pointed towards a patch of grass on the left.  "There's an unmarked grave just five feet to the left."  Her pale ears folded back.  "It's... dreadfully small."

Bard noticed how distracted Rainbow looked.  "Somethin' the matter?"

Rainbow gulped.  "Rarity... uh... senses that there's a super tiny grave just a bit to the left."  Rainbow pointed.  "Right there.  It's... just about foal-sized."

Bard blinked.  He swiveled to face the spot that Rainbow had indicated.  Removing his hat, Bard shuffled on over.  At last, he fell on his knees.  The next breath that came out of him was a mix between a whimper and a snarl.

"Damn him... damnable bastard..."  A sniffle, and Bard's fetlocks shook.  "Didn't even have the decency to give her a stone or nothin'."

Rainbow softly trotted over until she sat at his side.

Bard clenched his eyes shut.  With a calming breath, he held a hoof over and rested it against the unshorn grass above the plot.  He hummed a harmonious little tune beneath his breath.  Gradually, his ears folded back, and he raspily said:  "Reckon there's one promise I've always kept."  He smirked bitterly.  "In a place like this, she can rest forever."

Rainbow stared at him.  "...Bard... who were Melody and Amber?"

Bard remained still.

Rainbow's marefriends hovered in tense silence.

"I'm not forcing you to tell me, of course," Rainbow murmured.  "But... as a friend... I think you deserve to share the truth with someone..."

Bard sighed.  "Dunno what difference it'll make at this point."

"You can live with yourself," Rainbow said.  "It took me a long... long time to get to that point, personally.  And when I did... it was like the skies opened up."

"Those skies weren't very kind to you, now, were they?"

"And most ponies are kinder?"

Silence.

Bard sighed.  "They were my family."  Another breath.  "My... real family."

Rainbow listened.

"I was Blue's first ever foster foal," Bard said.  "His... 'grand experiment,' so to speak.  That was back when his wife was still alive... and when they was both happy."

Rainbow shrugged.  "From the look of things, it had to have been a lifetime ago."

"Almost was," Bard muttered.  "Shoulda been longer."

Rainbow's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Anyways... Blue's always been... rather particular about how the family did thangs.  Like... he invented a tradition before there was ever a tradition.  I figured he had plans for all of us from the get-go.  Who we spoke to... who we made friends with..."  His jaw tightened.  "...who we married."

"Lemme guess," Rainbow muttered.  "You disagreed with him."

"Oh, my mind was on his side for a good long time," Bard said.  "But my heart?"  A brief chuckle, and he glanced aside at Rainbow Dash.  "The heart of a stallion ain't so easily corralled... among other thangs, of course."

"Uh huh..."

"And... I met this lovely lil' darlin'..."  Bard's eyes were absorbed into sunlight.  "...a sweet angel from the west.  The sunrise I always heard of but... never saw until she stood there... smilin' all pretty before me."  He gulped.  "She held her ground like a fortress... wasn't afraid to talk sense into ya or the trash outta ya.  Always... had a stern, rigid voice about her... but damned if it didn't make my insides chime like a chorus of bells."

Rainbow nodded.  "Amber."

"Can ya imagine that?" Bard remarked.  "Most perfect name, too.  A color that never happens around this part of the world.  So bright... brilliant.  Like gold."  He glanced aside with a smile.  "She came from Frostknife, y'know.  Had the whiff of nobility about her—not that it mattered to me.  The mare had a heart for the land, and she was a fast learner.  I taught her many thangs about workin' the earth.  And she?  She gave me the world.  Such a poet.  She felt the skies with each breath and reflected the stars in each tear."

"Seems like her poetry rubbed off on you."

"Oh, I gobbled it up.  Everythang about her.  You see... some ponies are born just... dyin' to be creative.  Amber?  Nah... my Amber had all the prettiest of thangs locked up in her spirit.  She just... never cared to put it all to meter.  That became my job, and it was a dayum good show.  She was my audience, after all.  And each fivelight was an encore to the joy of the previous day."

Rainbow exhaled.  "Sounds like you gave her purpose, Bard."

Bard nodded.  "Turns out she came to the Twilight Lands 'cuz she was sorely disappointed with the state of thangs in Frostknife.  I tried askin' her for specifics.  All she gave me was feelings... which—for a practical mare like her—felt like a sign of real change.  She once told me that she was 'sick and tired of seein' the sunsets' in Frostknife... 'cuz it only meant another day of some terrible cycle startin' anew.  Reckon that's why she came to the Twilight Lands.  Time could just... slow down forever for her here."

"And then she found you."

Bard smiled gently.  "I told her that 'there'd be no more sunsets for us.'  And within a year... we were married.  And for the next year... I kept to that promise.  I built us a cabin... was nearly halfway through raisin' a barn when..."  His smile trailed off.

Rainbow stared in silence.

Bard cleared his throat, fiddling with the grass beneath him.  "'Ol Blue didn't approve.  Of course he didn't.  I shoulda seen it comin' from miles away.  Hell... I probably did see it, but I didn't care.  If I was smart, I woulda moved us to another spot within the Twilight Lands.  But I was lazy... and foolish.  Too lazy to seek out our own plot of land... and too foolish to think that Blue might actually tolerate what we was becomin'..."

"What was Blue's problem with Amber?"

"What wasn't his problem with Amber?"  Bard's nostrils flared.  "She was from Frostknife.  That in and of itself was enough to set thangs on fire.  Dun matter that she saw the same ugliness in the world that he did... only—Amber was sane enough to seek change... instead of holin' herself up in some miserable dark pocket of the world and seekin' to ostracize anythang and everythang."

"You never once thought of leaving the farm?"

"I had... far more elementary concepts of family and devotion back then, Rainbow.  Besides... once Melody came into the world..."  Bard gazed melancholically at the earth.  "...movin' was the last thang on our mind."

Rainbow gazed at the grass, then back at Bard.  "Amber... foaled...?"

"Mmmmm..."  Bard breathed into the starlight.  "Neither of us thought that Amber was the kind to produce music... but then Melody happened.  And... and it lit up her whole life.  She... just didn't seem to be afraid of nothin' no more.  I..."  He brushed his bangs back and glanced aside at Rainbow.  "I-I know I have a penchant for bein' sentimental, but I ain't mixin' words, Rainbow.  Every mare's got a right to feel however they wanna feel after havin' a child... but Amber?  It's like she finally found the truth she was seekin' after leavin' Frostknife so many months before.  She adored Melody like there was no tomorrow.  And here in these Twilight Lands... there never was a tomorrow.  Our family was somethin' alive and rich in the moment, and suddenly all of Blue's scowls and all of the bad news from beyond the Seven Seas just didn't hold its venom no more.  We was happy... as happy as happy could be.  And... and the thang about happiness that it's taken me years as a Desperado to learn... is that it can blind ya... it can blind ya somethin' fierce and the only one you'll ever h-have to bl-blame is..."  Bard slurred.  "...is yerself..."

Fluttershy held a hoof over her muzzle.  Rarity and Pinkie Pie looked on in dreadful silence.

Rainbow gulped.  "What happened to them?"

"Mrmmfff..."  Bard's face took on a frown.  "They died..."  He stood up on angry hooves.  "...what else do ya think happened?"

"But... Bard..."  Rainbow held a hoof out.  "Johnny... how did—?"

"I made a mistake," Bard grunted.  "And for it... Amber paid with her life.  If I had a lick of sense, I'd be just as mad at myself as Blue and Tim are.  But... cowards are as cowards do."

Rainbow blinked.  She looked at Applejack.  When the ghostly farm mare said nothing, Rainbow glanced nervously back at Bard.  "And... and Melody?"

Bard grinded his teeth.  "That one is on Blue."

"Did... did he murder her?"

"Yes..."  Bard winced.  "No," he admitted raspily.  Then, a defeated sigh.  "Dammit..."  He sighed, staring lonesomely at the unmarked grave.  "She was only four at the time.  Blue thought he might get her to learn a few things about mindin' the farm.  Didn't matter that she was too young for any of that shiet.  But... he had her outside... pickin' weeds along the fence or... somethin'.  To tell the truth, I never quite found out the actual chores he had her doin'.  Cuz it doesn't matter.  She shouldn't have been doin' them.  And..."  Bard gulped.  "...a rainstorm hit.  Blue must not have noticed 'cuz... well... he's Blue.  Damned stallion is older than sin.  And before anypony in the family knew it... poor Melody had collapsed in the field."  He fumed.  "Died of pnuemonia within a few hours."

Rarity squeaked, immediately tearing up.  "Dear Celestia..."

"That's... that's horrible!" Fluttershy cried.

"Bard..."  Rainbow stood up, leaning towards him.  "From the sound of things, it was all Blue's fault for—"

"Don't ya get it?!"  Bard suddenly snapped, swiveling to hiss at the mare.  "I was her father!  I shoulda been there to stop it!  If I was... then Blue wouldn't have taken the opportunity to steal the last good thang to come out of my family!"

Rainbow leaned back, blinking.  "...then where were you, Bard?"

Silence.

Applejack glanced at Rainbow, then back at Bard.

Bard panted... panted... then stepped back with a sigh.  He hung his head.  "It dun matter..."

"Bard—"

"I only stopped here because I thought it might help you and the Herald."  The stallion picked up his hat and started trotting off.  "Turns out I was wrong about that too.  I'm wrong about a lot of thangs.  If I had a lick of sense... I'd just clam up like Dubya and call it a life."

"Well, don't, Bard!" Rainbow called after him, frowning.  "We've been through so much together, and we've come so far.  If you really want to help me, then let me in on your life like I've let you!  Tell me the truth!"

"You mean like how you told the truth in Frostknife?" Bard droned.

Pinkie winced.

With a frown, Rainbow said, "This isn't the same thing."

"Ain't it, though?"  Bard paused, glancing back over his shoulder.  "Years ago... I made a decision much like you did.  I chose to let those who knew the truth bear it... so that those who did not wouldn't have everythang collapse underneath them.  For years, I suffered doubts... not knowin' whether or not what I did was either cowardly or noble.  But then... I witnessed what happened in Starkiss."  He placed his hat on, tilting the brow forward.  "Reckon I should be thankin' ya, Rainbow.  If it works for Rohbredden... then it sure as Hell works for my family."

"But... it's..."  Rainbow gulped.  "It's different, Bard..."  Rainbow winced as she said, "In my situation... I've got Keris and Theanim holding down the fort.  They'll make sure that future generations of Verlaxion's most devoted get to live full, healthy lives.  But you?  Who here knows the truth and will strive for what's good and right in this crooked family?"

"It's only crooked from the outside, Rainbow," Bard said.  "You may not sense it... but Blue's family is truly happy.  Only pony knockin' it off kilter is me... and it's high time I leave."  He trotted off.  "I've done it before, and I'll do it again.  It's... it's all for the best."

Rainbow reached a hoof out towards him, but he was too far gone.  "Rnnngh... dang it.  Friggin' musicians."  With a sigh, she turned to look at her friends.  "We almost got somewhere with—"  She froze in mid-sentence.

Applejack looked distracted.

"What?"  Rainbow Dash blinked.  "Was he lying at all during that last bit?"

"Somepony was lyin' alright," Applejack muttered worriedly.  "But it wasn't Bard."

Rainbow Dash bit her lip.

"Maybe..."  Pinkie cleared her throat.  "...maybe we should round up the Herald and take this 'party' elsewhere..."

Rarity was gently hugging a trembling Fluttershy as she nodded.  "I'm not a fan of what Bard has chosen to do... but Pinkie is right.  Is there really anything more we can do for the poor stallion here?"

Rainbow sighed.  "I just... can't shake the feeling that we came to this place for a reason."  She gulped.  "And it's fallen short of something awesome."

"If Bard does not wish to sort things out, then who are we to force him?" Rarity said.

Rainbow sighed.  "Right.  Sure.  Whatever."  She turned about in a circle.  "Where's Echo?  He was the only one not in the barn earlier."

"He's..."  Fluttershy sniffled, pointing southeast.  "...he's with Nicole again.  In that direction."

"Right.  Let's get this over with.  I dunno about you gals, but I think mushrooms will be growing in my skull if I stay on this cruddy farm another second."  She flapped her wings and glided southeast.  "Twilight?  Any words on what we just heard?"

Silence.

Rainbow looked past her flank.  "Twili—?"  Her eyes twitched.

Twilight Sparkle was wincing.  She rubbed her aching horn... which was glowing with a persistent lavender pulse.

"Whoah!"  Pinkie remarked.  "Somepony tripped off the Twilight alarm!"

"Twilight?"  Rarity stammered.  "What's going on, darling?"

"Mrmmmff... something... something's coming..." Twilight winced.

"What?"  Applejack floated closer, wrapping a foreleg around the unicorn.  "Tell us, sugarcube."

"From the north... gliding in f-fast..."  Twilight shuddered, glancing at Rainbow.  "I... I don't think we have much time..."





"Listen, we all heard it!" Echo exclaimed, pacing along the fence line.  "Everyone at that friggin' table heard it!  Blue treats you like shit!  Tim isn't any better either!"

Nicole sighed, brushing her bangs back as she gazed out at the horn-glowing livestock.  "All he did was disparage midnighters..."

"Disparage midnighters my velvety asscheeks!"  Echo frowned.  "He grossly and negligently insulted you!  Just... h-how can ponies treat their own family like that?  Is nothing sacred?"  A beat, and he rolled his slitted eyes.  "Okay... spunk alive... sure.  Nothing's sacred.  But... but with all the pretense that Blue rolls on and on about—"

"He's old as sin, Echo," Nicole muttered.  "He's bound to have a few eccentricities here and there."

"No... he is sin, Nicole."  Echo's fangs showed.  "For crying out loud!  How long have you had to deal with that?"

Nicole shrugged.  "I can manage."

"Didn't sound like you could 'manage' earlier when you left the dinner table... bawling your eyes out!"

"Look... we do well together."  Nicole hissed, "We're fine.  We're family.  That's something that you're not.  So I don't see how you could possibly understand!"

Echo gaped at her.  "... ... ...then how come I feel like I'm the only pony who actually gives a shit about you?"

Nicole closed her eyes.

"Is this 'family' all it's wrapped up to be?"

Nicole gulped.  Her next breath was a wavering one:  "Echo... you've lived your life on the run... an exile from everyone and everything."  She sniffled.  "It's okay to be used to the feeling of being hated.  But it doesn't have to be the same with every midnighter you meet."

"And is it okay to feel like an outcast in your own home?"  Echo leaned in.  "I've lived in a prison before, Nicole.  This... cesspool you call a family?  It's no different.  Believe me."

She bit her lip.  Her eyes opened, brimming with tears.  "Most of them... are s-so nice..."  She shuddered, her leafy ears drooping.  "Ray... Kelly... James..."  A gulp.  "They love me.  They really do."

"And do they lift a hoof to defend you when Blue, Tim, or Marie call you garbage?"

Nicole winced, gazing aside and shivering.

Echo leaned back, folding his forelimbs.  "And what about Bard?"

"He... he always stood up for me," Nicole murmured.  "But... th-then... he  left..."

"Maybe because he had to stand up for himself too."

Nicole's eyes darted towards Echo.  She stared at him in silence.  "I... I just don't know what to do."

"Yeah you do," Echo said, nodding.  "And I think you've known for a long while now."

She gulped.  Rubbing her cheeks dry, she sported a brief frown.  "It's a nice thought.  But... let's face it.  You just want an excuse to get me to tag along with you..."

"To be honest?"  Echo smiled awkwardly.  "I'm kinda hoping you wouldn't."

She blinked in surprise at that.  "Huh?"

"The safest place to be right now?"  Echo pointed west.  "It's in Frostknife."

"Where... you were imprisoned?"

"That's right."

"But... if that's the case... then why aren't you headed back there now?"

Echo sighed.  "Because I've got important things to take care of at the moment."

Her brow furrowed.  "Rainbow Dash..."

"She needs all the help she can get.  And so do you."  Echo gestured.  "Which is why I suggest you high-tail it out of this place and head for Frostknife.  There's shelter at the capital that will protect you from the windigoes."

"And... what of the ponies there?"  Nicole slowly shook her head.  "I seriously doubt they'll give a midnighter a warm welcome."

"Hell... who knows?"  He shrugged with a smirk.  "After the speech that they were given, I'm pretty dayum sure they'll have forgiven wyverns.  My gut tells me that they'll give the Seventh Tribe a clean bill of health too.  They kinda sorta have to.  There's no more 'Frost Bitch' to lean on."

Nicole giggled slightly.  After a sniffling breath, she pursed her lips.  "And what about you?"

"Eh..."  Echo brushed his mane back.  "I've had my fill of Frostknife.  If Theams and I meet again, it'll be in a much warmer place... I hope."

"No, I mean..."  Nicole fidgeted.  "The midnight tribes never subscribed to Verlaxion.  What makes you think that they'll be so accepting of you once you've returned to Bleak's Plummet?"

"I'll deal with that on my own time."

Nicole glanced at his flightless wings, then at his face.  "Or... maybe if you had another midnighter to lean on."  She arched an eyebrow.  "As backup?"

He blinked at her.

"Do you think they'd be more keen to listen to your words then—?"

Before Echo could reply—

FWOOOOOSH!

—Rainbow Dash landed from a swift glide.

"Gaah!"  Nicole jumped, forcing some of the nearby oxen to herd off with a start.  "Egads!  She's almost quieter than Johnny's griffon buddy—"

"Echo!  We have to go!"  Rainbow hissed.  "Now!"

"Why?"  Echo stood up straight.  "What's the problem?"

Panting, Rainbow looked over her shoulder.  "Twilight?"

Twilight leaned against Applejack for support.  Her eyes sickly peered out from beneath a pulsating horn.  "Uhm..."  She gulped.  "They're headed straight this way.  Flying low."  She gulped.  "I'm counting over two dozen."

"Uhm... hello?"  Echo waved in Rainbow's face.  "While we're still young and sexy here..."

Rainbow spun towards him.  "Windigoes!  Coming in fast!"

"What?!"  Nicole gasped, jittery.  "Here?!"

"Yes."  Rainbow nodded.  "A whole butt-ton of them."

"A butt-ton?!"  Echo winced.  "That's only one tier below an ass-ton!  What the Hell are we gonna do?"

"First thing's first, we gotta meet up with the Herald!"  Rainbow flashed Nicole a look.  "Can you fly?"

"What?!"  Nicole blanched.  "Of course I can fly!  Why wouldn't I be able to—?"

"Good!  Then follow me!"  Rainbow yanked Echo off his hooves and flew southwest.  "Don't worry!  I've got your coltfriend!"

"Gaaah!" Echo flailed.

Nicole glided after them.  "He's not my coltfriend—!"

"Move now, deny later!" Rainbow hollered.  "Now fly!"

As the three collectively soared southwest, a foggy overcast thickened over the northern sky.  The nearby livestock groaned and fumbled about with sudden anxiety.





Bard trudged his way limply across the farm.  His head was bowed... his eyes tracing the fertile grass below.

At last, he reached the barn where the Herald were staying.  A silent griffon stood at the entrance like a sentry... blocking Bard's way.

"... ... ...?"  Bard looked up.  "What's gotten yer beak in such a twist?"

Wildcard merely gazed at him, chewing on a toothpick.

"Hrmmff..."  Bard snorted.  "Dun give me that look.  You knew enough about me."  He made to trot around Wildcard.

The griffon held a talon out.  Stealing Bard's attention, he proceeded to hand-sign in the air.

Bard blinked.  "Really?"  A breathy groan.  "I just got done tellin' Rainbow the same thang."  He frowned.  "It's totally different.  It always was."

Wildcard merely raised an eyecrest.

"Look... I never needed you to ascertain the truth," he said.  "I just needed you to be... y'know... the chattier Desperado."  He shrugged and tried to trot past Wildcard's other side.

But the griffon blocked him again.  He gestured in the air.

"What?  No!"  Bard huffed.  "Of course I ain't cross with you bein' a former Talon badflank'n'all!"

Wildcard folded his forelimbs and cocked his head to the side.

Bard blinked.  With a sigh, he rubbed his head underneath his hat.  "She ain't a Desperado, Dubya.  And besides... she understands a thang or two about the relativity of truth.  So why should it be any different for me?"

The griffon's talons sliced the air.

"You should know better than anyone," Bard grumbled.  "I only got one family now.  And it sure as Hell ain't—"  His words came to a stop as soon as he heard several heavy wingflaps in the air.  With a vexxed expression, he twirled around.  "What in tarnation...?"

The Desperadoes watched as Rainbow Dash flew in with Echo and Nicole in tow.

"Dudes!" Rainbow wheezed.  "Bad news!  Super friggin' smelly potty bad news!"

"The hell's gotten into you?" Bard wheezed.

Remna marched out, followed by other members of the Herald.  "Austraeoh.  Is something the matter?"

"You can say that again," Rainbow said, pointing over Twilight's ghostly figure.  "We've got windigoes."

"Windigoes?!" Ariel exclaimed.

"Uhhhhhh..."  Logan grimaced.  "As in... windigo windigoes, right?"

"I mean the unsexiest of windigoes imaginable!  Real ones!" Rainbow grunted.  "Twilight's sensing the same thing she did at Starkiss!  There's a whole herd of them up north!  At first, they were stampeding in a random zig-zagging pattern, but now they're headed this way!"

"Rrainbow one..."  Kepler nervously adjusted his spectacles.  "Arre you surre of this?"

"Uhhhhh..."  Rainbow turned to see Twilight reeling in Applejack's grasp.  "Yeah.  Pretty friggin' certain."

"If that's true, then we're in for a bad time," Flynn said.  He looked at the others.  "There's no way to outfly them!"

"Perhaps a distraction is in order," Remna remarked.  "Wildcard, Bard and Ariel can lead them off to the west while the rest of us make a gallop for the eastern shore—"

"No!"  Rainbow Dash pointed with a frown.  "Either the entire Herald is following me to Bleak's Plummet or you're not tagging along at all!"

Remna frowned.  "I fail to see what other options there are."

"We... we could hide from them until they pass us over!" Nicole exclaimed.

"Babe, you don't get it," Echo stammered.  "These ghostly frost farts will turn a farmhouse to splinters—"

"No, you don't get it!  We've got shelter here at the farm!"  Nicole turned breathlessly towards Bard.  "Johnny!  The cellars!"

Blinking, Bard faced her and grasped the sarosian's shoulders.  "The supply shelters!  Are they still where Tim and I dug them?!"

"You b-bet!"  Nicole nodded with a gulp.  "There should be more than enough room for the entire Herald... and then some."

"Do any of the others on the farm know about this?" Ariel asked.

Bard glanced around, chewing on his lip.

"No," Rainbow said.  "But they will soon."  She took wing.  "Ariel!  Wildcard!  Bard!  Let's rally together all the ponies we can!"

"Right!"  Ariel lifted off.

Wildcard nodded and briskly took wing.

"What about the rest of us?!" Logan exclaimed.

"Head towards the shelter!" Rainbow shouted.

Logan squinted. "Which is..."

"Uhm... d'uhm..."  Rainbow fidgeted in midair.

"Thirty meters due south," Rarity said.  "There's a wooden shed that forms an entrance, right next to a forty-foot tall windmill."

"Head straight south!" Rainbow exclaimed.  "Look for a tall windmill!  Next to it is a wooden shed!  The entrance is inside!"

"Look underneath the third granite stone by the door!" Nicole exclaimed, also taking wing.  "The key to the doorlock is hidden beneath it!"

"Got it!"  Flynn shouted, gesturing the others along.  "Let's go, Job Squad!"

"Grreat bumbling boulderrs..."  Kepler winced as he scrambled alongside Flynn, Echo and Logan.  "...will today everr stop to give birrth to tomorrrow?"

"Less poetry and more panic, wyvern," Remna said.  She turned to look at Rainbow Dash.  "You will get to the shelter on time, yes?"

"Don't freak your scales back on.  I'll be there," Rainbow said, flying after Ariel and Wildcard.  "Eyes to the sky, girls!"

"Easier... s-said than done..." Twilight wheezed.

"Dun worry, darlin'," Applejack patted Twilight's shoulder in mid-glide.  "We've got it covered.  Right, Fluttershy?"

"Oh my goodness... oh my goodness!"  Fluttershy squeaked.  "Uhm... there's a bunch of farmers to the west!  Let's go warn them!"

"On it!"  Rainbow glided west.

"And make it fast!" Pinkie chirped, her limbs vibrating as a cold, cold wind picked up.  "Things are about to get super chilly!"

Meanwhile, Bard and Nicole flew in the opposite direction.

"So... uhm... who are we warning first?" Nicole asked.

"Who the Hell else?" Bard mumbled.

"Ah jeez..."  Nicole winced hard.  "This ought to be a riot..."





Dozens of meters away, Tim and Blue stood side by side, sweating over a half-finished plot of plowed land.  Their eyes remained glued to the increasingly cloudy northern horizon.

"I... I dunno, Blue..."  Tim gulped.  "Dun seem like yer average stormfront to me."  His nostrils flared.  "Ain't a single drop of moisture in the air.  Besides... don't most cloudfronts move northeast around these parts?"

"Could be a cyclone," Blue said.

"Blue, there hasn't been a cyclone in over three decades..."

"Yeah, so?  Them thangs roll in from the east whenever they feel like it!"  Blue shrugged, raking the soft earth once again with a hoe.  "For all we know, them dirty midnighters are the ones conjurin' them."

Fw-Fwoosh!  Nicole landed with a groan.  "Really?!  Even now?!"

"Now now... dun get yer ponytail in a tizzy," Blue grumbled.  "We weren't talkin' about you—"

"Look, just forget it," Nicole grunted.  "Blue.  Tim.  We have to get into the shelter."

"Huh?"  Blue blinked.  "What for?"

Fwooosh!  Bard landed.  "No arguin', old stallion.  We better get and we better get now!"

"Hold on a sec..."  Tim frowned.  "Nicole?  What's the big idea?  Didn't we say that he ain't gettin' no supplies?"

"I thought I done told ya to pick up yer miserable friends and skedaddle, boy—!" Blue began.

"For once in yer stubborn life will you please just kindly shove it?!" Bard snarled.

Blue lurched back as if struck with a bullet.

"Johnny..."  Tim abandoned the plow and stomped towards Bard.  "...I've had about all I can take of you disrespectin' our—"

"Believe me.  If I had no respect, I'd leave ya both here to turn into assholesicles."  Bard groaned.  "But, against my better judgment, here I am actin' like a carin' son and brother."

"What are ya gettin' at...?" Blue asked.  Just then, he shivered—for the temperature of the air dropped savagely.  "What the dickens...?"

"It's the windigoes, Blue!" Nicole exclaimed.  "A whole herd of them are sweeping over the Twilight Lands!  Now they're headed straight for us!"

"Windigoes?!"  Tim gasped, gazing north at the thickening clouds.  "How... h-how do you know this?"

"Rainbow Dash sensed them," Bard said.

"Oh, did she?!"  Blue huffed.  "So we're all just... gonna take stock in her witchcraft now?"

"Look, bottom line is that they're comin' for us and we gotta take shelter!"  Bard pointed at the horizon.  "T'ain't no sense in outrunnin' them!  And if we're above ground, we're good as dead!"

"But the supply shelters!" Nicole panted.  "They... they could just be enough to shield us from their stampede!"

"And what's to become of our farm if they do fly on over?" Tim exclaimed.

"A lot worse will happen to us if we dun move our flanks!"  Bard motioned as he galloped southwest.  "Come on!  We barely have enough time as it is!"

"Tim... if you care about this family... I mean if you truly do..."  Nicole backtrotted, gradually joining Bard's charge.  "Then you will do what Johnny says and follow us underground!"

Tim squinted.

"Pfft!  Whole buncha paranoid dumbasses," Blue grunted.  He returned to his hoe.  "I swear... if I go downstairs tomorrow and even a single bag of flour is gone—"

"Time to move, old stallion," Tim muttered.

"Huh?"  Blue flailed, suddenly finding himself thrown over Tim's muscular backside.  "Ooomf!  Hey!  Boy!  What do ya think yer—"

"Shhh!  Put a sock in it!"  Tim galloped south.  "Johnny may be a varmint through and through, but he ain't fibbin' about this!"

"Guhhhh!"  Blue winced, his bony figure rattling as he was carried across the farm.  "Go gently at it... will ya?!  Land's sakes!"

His protests were drowned out by an increasingly howling wind.  The clouds above grew thicker and thicker.  Almost magically... thick icicles formed along the fences and farm equipment, pointing south and away from the advancing stormfront.





White frost formed along the windows and weathervanes of random farmhouses as the Herald reached the wooden shed next to the windmill.

"This is it!"  Logan stumbled to a stop, panting for breath.  "Isn't this it?"  He held a hoof over his chest.  "Goddess have mercy, the casserole's biting back now..."

"Don't worry!" Flynn exclaimed, turning a large stone over.  "I found the key Nicole mentioned!"

"I trrust that it fits the lock," Kepler remarked, looking nervously at the stars being blotted out by cloud cover.

"Only one way to find out."  Remna took the key from Flynn and fitted it into place along the shed's door.  With an audible blick, the entrance to an earthen stairwell opened.

"Hah-hah!"  Kepler smiled through his tusks.  "Neverr a doubt in my mind!"

"Hrmmm..."  Remna squinted at the entrance.  "It only has one door."

"I doubt they built this with windigoes in mind," Logan shouted beneath the swirling winds.  "You think it will hold?"

"It's a Hell of a lot safer than staying up here!"  Flynn descended.  "Here!  I'll light it up!"  His horn glowed as promised.  "Looks like lots of space down below!"

"Glorrious!" Kepler exclaimed.

"Just wait one moment."  Remna spun around.  "Where is the Austraeoh—?"

"She's coming!" Ariel shouted, flying in with several galloping ponies behind her.  "Pleeeeeease tell me that the cellar isn't spontaneously full of honey badgers or something."

"What...?"  Logan's muzzle scrunched.  "Honey badgers?!  Girl, where do you get these—"

"Windigoes make me nervous, okay?!?" Ariel shrieked.  She spun and motioned at the ponies following her.  "Right this way!  It's open now!"

"Is it true?"  Kelly stammered, followed swiftly by James and two other farmers.  "Are the windigoes attacking?"

"Let us not give them a reason to stay around and feed," Remna said, pointing down into the stairwell.  "Now... before they're upon us—"

"But... b-but what will happen to our farm?" James sputtered.  "Our livestock?!"

"You mortals cherish your tiny lives, yes?  Now descend," Remna snarled.  "I will not ask a second time."

"What...?"  Kelly blinked.  "...is she going on about—"

Fwooosh!  Rainbow flew in with Wildcard, followed by Ray and Mike and Marie.  "Just get your fungal butts down there already!  Windigoes are serious business!  Like... on a scale of one to ten, they're sitting right atop gazillion."

"R-right!"  Ray stumbled down along with Mike.  "You won't get any argument from me!"

"Wait a minute..."  Marie lingered at the top step, squinting.  "This whole thing is a ploy, isn't it?  Just so your precious Herald can get at our rations and—"

"Oh, sweet Celestia on a bike..."  Rainbow spun around and—WHAM!—bucked Marie's flank with both hooves.

"Gaaaah!"  Marie flew down, caught in the awkward forelimbs of Logan.

"And stay safe!" Rainbow spat.  She turned about, gazing into the cold winds.  "Friggin' melon fudge..."

Remna nodded.  "I approve.  A welcome change."

"Don't friggin' rub it in."  Rainbow's teeth chattered as she and Wildcard scanned the rural horizon.  "Now where the hay is Bard already...?"

"Nicole!"  Echo stuck his head out of the stairwell, panting.  "Has anypony seen Nicole?"

Wildcard wordlessly shoved Echo's head back down.  His beak clattered as he pointed towards the northeast.

"Here they come, Rainbow!" Fluttershy exclaimed.  "Looks like Bard and Nicole convinced Blue and Tim to join us!"

"Yes... but is that everypony?" Rainbow had to shout to be heard above the winds.

Fluttershy bit her lip.

Rainbow blinked at her.  "Fluttershy...?"

"They're... th-they're too far away, I fear..." Fluttershy murmured.

"Who is, darling?" Rarity asked.

Before the conversation could continue, Bard and Nicole arrived, panting for breaths.  Tim wasn't that far behind with Blue.

"Somethang ain't right..."  Tim shook all over.  "It's like the dayum sky is fallin' and all it's been holdin' back all these years is a whole shitton of ice!"

"What do ya think I was tryin' to tell ya?" Bard sputtered.

"Either we move or we don't, boy!" Blue swatted Tim as the two lingered at the entrance to the cellar.  "Where's the family?"

"We gathered them all up!" Rainbow exclaimed.  "At least..."  She squinted at the horizon.  "I... I-I think—"

Shrieks lit the air.

Pinkie Pie paled.  "Not good."

"Where's that coming from?" Bard asked.

Nicole's eyes twitched.  Her ears drooped.  "Oh no..."

"What?"  Bard followed her gaze until he saw two bodies in the far distance, scrambling towards their location.  "Who...?"

"Todd and Marlene," Nicole said.  "Sharecroppers from a northern settlement."

"Hey!"  Tim shouted.  "Over here!"

"They can't hear ya, Tim," Bard exclaimed.  "Not in all that—"  His words trailed off.

The clouds overhead bubbled... then burst.  A pale throng of equine shapes dove low, sweeping the land with a layer of deathly frost.  Beneath them, a herd of cattle ran in opposite directions.  As soon as the windigoes swept over, they fell to the ground—their horns turning dim before being covered in thick layers of ice.

The air filled with banshee shrieks.  It masked the panicked howls of the two farmers.  At the last second, they clung to each other.  In the next blink, their frozen remains scattered across the farmland like seedlings.  Through it all, the windigoes charged, their wings ripping rooftops and silos off of their foundations.

"Down... down!" Bard shouted, shoving Nicole and Rainbow along.  Wildcard and Tim followed up the rear, carrying Blue.  At last, Wildcard and Bard flung the doors to the shed shut and leapt down the stairwell—

FWOOOOOSH!

Frost pierced the wooden surfaces of the shed from the outside in.  Snow bled through the grooves in the door, slithering its way down the stairwell.  It stopped just a few inches of the cellar floor.  Though the temperature of the room dropped rapidly, the frost stopped spreading.

Several dozen ponies and griffons huddled underground, suffocated by the echoes of their own panicked breaths.  Flynn, Kelly, and a few other unicorns illuminated the interior to the best of their ability.  Kepler and Logan lit torches, casting light across the pale, frightened faces of the locals.

Every set of eyes was glued to the door.  Ponies leaned against earthen walls and metal shelves lined to the brim with canned goods and bags of feed.

Bard and Wildcard stood closest to the door, watching in tense silence as the framework of the shed above rattled in cadence with each banshee shriek outside.

Nicole was a mess of trembles.  She reached blindly aside for someone... anyone.  Echo trotted over, giving her a warm shoulder to lean on.

Twilight calmed slightly, her horn taking on a steady glow instead of a painful pulse.  "Mrmmff... they..." She gulped, her breath dry.  "They're circling above us now..."

"And they're staying low, too," Pinkie Pie murmured, her tail undulating in eerie motions.  "I bet they know we're here!"

"If that's the case... then they could scoop us out at any m-moment," Fluttershy trembled.

"Let's not all panic, y'all," Applejack said.  "Rainbow here needs to be strong for her friends... as well as Bard's family."  She looked aside.  "So we need to be strong for her."

"You say that with such confidence, darling," Rarity murmured.  "But there honestly isn't much separating this cellar from what's going on outside."  She winced suddenly.  "Oh goodness..."

"What?" Fluttershy looked at her.

"The... the farm house that we dined in last night?"  She fanned herself, trembling.  "It's already shattered in pieces."

Twilight gulped.

With deep breaths, Rainbow looked at the rest of the Herald.

Remna glanced over.

Before either of them could say anything, Kelly's nervous voice lit the air:  "How... how long are they going to stay out there?"

"From the sound of it..."  Ray trembled.  "...they're here to stay."

"No... not to stay..."  Kepler shook his head.  "But they will definitely rremain forr a while until they've had theirr fill..."

"Fill?"  James glanced over.  "Fill of what?"

"Chaos... carrnage... discorrd..."  Kepler shrugged.  "All of the things that they mindlessly feed off of."

"How..."  Marie squinted.  "...how do you know all this?"

Tim and Blue looked over from where the two rested, trying to recollect their breaths.

"Erm... ahem..."  Kepler adjusted his spectacles.  "We arre surrvivorrs of a lucky sorrt..."  He glanced at the rest of the Herald.  "Let us simply be glad that we made it herre in time."

"We... uh... we should be fine if we just stay put and keep our cool," Rainbow said.  Twilight hissed at her, and she winced.  "I-I mean... eheh... poor choice of words... phweee..."

"Even I couldn't pull a me as hard as you pulled a me, Dashie," Pinkie said.

"Oh hush."  Rainbow looked at Flynn.  "How are we on light?"

"Well... so long as my horn is attached to my head," Flynn droned, shrugging.

"They've got enough here to keep torches lit for a while," Logan said.  "Almost too much."  He frowned into the corner of the cellar where a great deal of fertilizer resided.  "With the way shiet here is set up, I'm surprised this place hasn't blown up on its own already."

"Yeah, well, Blue was never much for thinking the finer thangs through," Bard muttered.

"Alright... the less we talk about flammable stuff, the better," Rainbow insisted.  "In my experience, it's hard enough to get by without inviting explosions."  She looked at Flynn again.  "Is there anything... y'know... magical we can do to help this situation any?"

"I... I-I'm afraid I left my supplies back in the barn," Flynn said sheepishly.

"Ugh..."  Logan nearly dropped his torch in face-hoofing.  "Seriously, shit mop?"

"It's not like I had anything left of importance in my pack anyways!" Flynn hissed, his horn flickering.  "The flight out of Frostknife robbed me of my remaining ingredients!"

"So... no chance of... like... building a forcefield or something?" Rainbow said.

"I'm afraid not," Flynn said, shaking his head.  "Again... I wish I had gotten a closer look at the crystals these ponies use to mark the fivelights."

"Fivelights?" Nicole remarked.

"Yeah.  Those shards that you stick atop those erect poles?" Flynn remarked.  "I bet they would have served as great leyline distributors."  He sighed.  "But... they're outside.  With the windigoes."

"Uhm..."  Nicole fidgeted in place.  "Actually..."

Echo glanced at her.  "What?"

"Let's deal with a more pressing concern," Remna droned.  Her eyes narrowed.  "With all of those wraiths circling above us... can we really expect them to let off?"

"We're hidden, Axan," Rainbow said.  "So long as they can't see us, we should be fine—"

"But surely they can sense us," Remna remarked.  "Isn't that enough to keep them affixed to this position?"

Blue craned his wrinkly neck, eyebrows arched curiously.

"Even if that's the case, Rainbow's got a quick fix, doesn't she?"  Ariel glanced across the cellar.  "Just like she did west of Starkiss!"

"Yes!  When she saved my sorry-ass!" Bard remarked.  "Remna's too!"

Rainbow sighed.  "You mean that song trick that worked for only a minute or two?"

"Still, it's gotta count for somethin'—"

"It wasn't enough to hold back a tiny herd of these freakazoids, Bard," Rainbow insisted.  "Not permanently, at least."

"Well, it worked for yer ancestors, didn't it—?"

"Don't you get it by now?!" Rainbow barked.  "That was a different situation with different windigoes!  Way the heck less of them, in fact!"

"Yes..."  Twilight Sparkle rubbed her head.  "Written records from Clover the Clever only document the presence of three windigoes and—"

"Not now, egghead," Rainbow muttered, then turned to face Bard again.  "These monsters are Verlax's windigoes... always have been."  She gulped.  "They don't work the same.  And even if they did—"

"But... now that she's dead..."  Ariel fidgeted.  "...maybe they'll function a bit more like your ancient windigoes?"

"They do seem a bit more brainless now," Logan remarked.

"If there was a difference, I think we'd know by now," Rainbow said.  "Besides... Verlax's last words didn't mention a single thing about a way to beat them."

Applejack leaned in, whispering.  "Uhm... sugarcube?  You might not want to—"

Rainbow continued:  "That's why I made the friggin' decision that I did!  There's no fighting these freaks... there's only waiting them out... which is precisely what Theanim, Keris, and the rest of Rohbredden are having to do back in Frostknife—"

Scowling, Blue stumbled towards the group, pointing a bony hoof.  "Ah-HAH!  I knew it!"

The Herald turned towards him, blinking.

"I knew it all along!"  Blue snarled.  His eyes darted towards the huddled farmers.  "Didn't I say it from the start?!  Up to no-good!  The whole lotta them!"

Nicole blinked.

Applejack face-hoofed with a sigh.

"Uhhhhhh..."  Rainbow's eyes remained frozen on the old stallion.  "Bard?" she murmured aside.  "What is your not-dad not-talking about?"

"Blue, the buck is yer deal?" Bard remarked.  Wildcard nodded.

"I heard it!  Y'all heard it!  These so called 'Herald folk' were there when Verlax sputtered her last words!"

"Yeah, so?"  Logan belched.  "Sorry to disappoint you, old timer, but she doesn't remember the honeymoon."  Flynn swatted him.  "Ow!"

"Sass me all you want, murderers."  Blue spat, staring daggers at Bard.  "You killed her!  Didn't you?  You killed the Queen... and now you done brought yer filthy criminal hides to my land... not to mention the whole wrath of the ancient windigoes upon us!"

Rainbow looked at him with her mouth agape.

The foster siblings gazed at one another in shock.

"That tears it..."  Blue shook, his teeth grinding together.  "I want y'all out of here!"  He pointed at the frost-covered shed above the stairwell.  "March on out and face what ya brought to destroy us or I'll have Tim here toss y'all out in pieces!"

Fuming, Tim marched angrily towards the group.

Rainbow clenched her jaw shut.

Pinkie's body deflated like a ghostly balloon.  "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww shoot."
> Turning It Up A Notch
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Now Tim... just simmer down," Bard started—

"Shut yer beard-hole!" Tim snorted, marching towards the group as the windigoes thundered and howled outside.  "Or I swear I'll rip yer bucking heart out!"

"He's... uh..."  Applejack gulped.  "Telling the truth."

"Yeah, I gathered that!" Rainbow Dash snarled aside before approaching the muscular stallion.  "Look.  Chillax.  This is all a big misunderstanding.  Verlax's death isn't what caused those windigoes—Ulp!"  Her eyes bulged.

Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy gasped.  "Rainbow Dash!"

Whump!  Rainbow felt herself being lifted up and slammed against a metal shelf by a single meaty fetlock.  "Okay... grkkk..."  She wheezed.  "...you're a strong one... holy frig..."

"So you admit it?!"  Tim snarled into her face.  "You done killed our Queen?!  I should pluck every feather off you and shove 'em in your eyeballs, ya good-for-nothing murderer!"

"Not t-true..."  Rainbow Dash sputtered, quivering.  "I'm pr-pretty good for cuddles..."

"Hey!"  Ariel flew up.  "Let her go!"

"And you!"  Tim glared aside without flinching.  "Shut up!  You and the rest of y'all Herald bums are goin' outside!  Dun care for nothin' if y'all freeze to death!  It's your bed!  Best you slept in it—"

"Do as she says, Tim..."  Bard marched up, frowning.  "Let Rainbow go."

"Or what?!"  Tim spat.  He took a brief opportunity to smirk.  "This ain't yer home no more, Johnny.  So you ain't got a say in—"  CLANGGG!  A metal bo-staff suddenly flew across his face.  He stumbled back, dropping Rainbow in a blink.

Several foster siblings gasped.

"Timothy!" Blue shouted in horror.

"Grfff... hckkk..."  Rainbow shuddered on the cellar's floor, surrounded by her ghostly friends.  She looked up, eyes thin.  "Holy smokes..."

Bard stood before Tim, his metal staff extended.  "Well..."  He took a bow.  "That ain't my muzzle neither... but t'ain't stoppin' me from takin' away a good share of teeth."

Tim rubbed his bleeding mouth, then turned to sneer at the smaller stallion.  "Friggin' coward... after all these years, you finally have the balls to take me on... and you can't even settle for yer own hooves."

"Oh, I dun need my weapons to take you to the woodshed."  Bard twirled the staff and tossed it behind him.  "That was just to get yer attention."

Clap!  Wildcard caught the metal pole in his metal talon and stood patiently at a distance.

"Wasn't smart, boy..."  Tim paced across from Bard.  "You done made me mad."

"What can I say?"  Bard bowed once more.  "I lurve a challenge."

"Rrrrrrghhh..."  Tim galloped towards him at full speed.  Stomp!-Stomp!-Stomp!  "RAAAAAAAUGH!"

Bard held his hooves straight and tensed his muscles—

Wham!  Tim slammed into him at full speed.  A few ponies' ears popped from the sheer concussion of the contact.  The two went sliding together across the cellar.  Flynn and Kepler had to hop out of the way at the last second as—Claaaaang!  Tim ended with shoving Bard into a series of open barrels loaded with metal equipment.  The musician fell amidst a pile of rusted debris, causing smoke to ripple across the already sparse manalight from the unicorns in hiding.

"Ooooooh..."  Pinkie Pie winced.  "That had to hurt."

"Is..."  Fluttershy whimpered.  "...is he alright?"

"Shhhh!" Rainbow insisted.

"Hrmmmf..."  Tim brushed dirt from his fetlocks and spat bloodily onto the pile of metal clutter.  "Dayum fool."  He turned to glare at the Herald once more.  "Now.  Like I said—"  A bucket flew across his skull.  Clank!  "OW!"

"Grffff..."  Bard stood up, bruised and hatless... but smirking.  "That one was for free."  He rubbed blood off his gruffy chin.  "Now it's my turn."  FWOOOSH!  With one flap of his wings, he was sailing straight towards his brother with a massive elbow.  "Haaaaaa!"

Whud!  The two collided, sliding the opposite direction from which they came.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me—" Flynn dove again, tripping into Kepler.

The manalight bent and shook as the two stallions fought, wrestled, and threw themselves against a wall.  Tim got the upper hoof—but not for long.  Bard savagely uppercutted him, then barreled into the larger pony head-first, throwing the fight against the opposite end of the cellar.  Soon, all was sweat and grunts and wince-inducing thuds in the claustrophobic darkness.

"Get 'em, Tim!"  Blue hollered, standing beside Marie and pumping his bony forelimb.  "Teach 'em some manners!"

"Buck that!"  Logan spat, grinning from ear to ear as he kicked at the dirt below.  "Kick his ass, Bard!  Job Squad represent!  Hah!  Cleanup on aisle jerkoff!"

"Johnny!  Tim!"  Nicole stomped her hoof as her foster siblings were too stunned to produce words.  "Stop it!  What are you, children?!"

"Rnnngh!"  Bard shoved Tim off him and took a moment to catch his breath.  "Sorry, darlin'..."  He dragged a hoof across the ground, glaring at his opponent.  "But I've put this off for far too dayum long."

"You mean you bein' skinned like a cat?!"  Tim raved, charging again.  "Have it yer way!"

"Nnnngh!"  Bard could only wince as the hulking mountain of muscle descended upon him.

Whammmm!  The two's charge sent them reeling into the first of many racks.  One by one, the shelves tipped into one another with thunderous clatter, sending bags and containers of supplies spilling all over the cellar.  As the debris rolled in every direction, the two brothers slipped and fell—taking their wrestling to the floor.  The punches and kicks and headbutts dwindled into an awkward, breathless, sweaty melee.

Meanwhile, Ariel helped Rainbow Dash up to her hooves, all the while stammering:  "This... this is madness..."  She grimaced as windigo shrieks intensified up above.  "We're all going to die at this rate."

"Yeah, I know."  Rainbow Dash nodded, gulping.  Her eyes remained locked on the fight.  "I wonder if they store popcorn down here."  Ariel gawked at her.

"Rrrrrgh!"  Rolling on top of Bard, Tim punched the Desperado several times.  Wham!  Smack!  Thud!  "Aaaaugh!"  He lifted Bard like a dead weight and flung him across the cellar.

Crasssh!  Bard landed meatedly in a collapsing series of wooden crates, spilling loose flour all around.  "Gaaugh!"  He shook all over, writhed, and slumped back.  "Mrffnngh... goddess... why did nature even give us tailbones...?"

THAP!  Tim kicked the stallion in the chest... then held him up by his neck.

"...!"  Rainbow Dash ran forward.  "He's getting his butt kicked—"

A metal talon stopped her in her tracks.

Gasping, Rainbow looked aside.

Wildcard calmly stared at the fight, anchoring Rainbow in place.

"But... b-but..."  Rainbow grimaced.

"Shhhhh..."  Hissed a deep voice.  It was Remna.  The violet mare stood with her forelimbs folded.  "If nothing else... he needs to prove the validity of our delay here."

For once, Wildcard nodded to the words of his "mentor."

Blinking, Rainbow and her friends watched the fight.

"Hrmmmmff..."  Tim snorted in Bard's bloodied face.  "...I knew it.  Always did.  Yer nothin' against me in a one-on-one fight."  His eyes narrowed.  "I shoulda kicked yer skull in back when I first learned what ya did to Momma's grave."

"Snkktk... shh... shhh..." Bard sputtered.

"What?!"  Tim's eyes flared—wide and bloodthirsty—as he stared the Desperado down.  "Got somethin' to say!"

Bard managed a crooked grin.  "Shoulda... kept yer eyes shut..."  And he hoisted the hoof-full of spilled flour and flung it into Tim's face.  Fwoof!

"Aaaaaaugh!" Tim howled, dropping Bard so he could grasp his face.

Bard stumbled to his hooves, catching a second breath.

"Rrrrrgnnh... ghhh..."  Tim tossed his mane, clawing at his eyes.  "D... dirty...!"

"Yeah..."  Bard panted.  "I fight dirty..."  He snarled.  "And you live dirty!  Always have!"  He charged forward.  "We're a perfect fit!"  WHAM!  His punch sent Tim reeling—and he didn't let up.  "Aaaaaugh!"  Whack!  Wham!  Thwack!  Pow!  Left hook after right hook after left hook—and Bard pummeled Tim violently towards the far end of the cellar.

The foster siblings winced, clinging to one another as the cellar thundered from two sources—both inside and out.  The temperature dropped outside while the heated fight burned hotter and sweatier.

"Whoah..."  Nicole stammered, eyes twitching.  Her head pivoted to follow the fight.  "...Johnny..."

"Babe..."  Echo leaned in, fangs glinting in the manalight.  "...your brother's totally getting wrecked."

She nodded, droning.  "Damn right, he is..."

"No... no...!"  Blue's jaw fell progressively to the floor.  "Tim... ya varmint!"

"Sorry!"  Bard panted and wheezed between each punch.  "Yer precious Tim ain't home right now!"  Whack!  "But I'd be happy to... rrrggh..."  Whap!  "...leave a message!"  WHAM!

At last, Tim stumbled against the base of the earthen stairwell leading down from the blighted farmland above.  Flecks of snow and sleet filtered through the narrow gaps in the rattling doorframe.  Bracing himself against a wooden support beam, he raised a hoof and sputtered:  "Okay... t-time out..."

"Time out?!  Time out?!"  Bard stood before him, shaking and heaving.  Both stallions were bruised and bloodied all over.  "What do you think this is?!  Recess?!"  He spat aside and pointed.  "I ain't 'bout to let you cast my friends out!"

"You coulda just let it all alone," Tim wheezed.  "For Nicole's sake—if nopony else—I'd have spared ya, boy..."

"You think after takin' Blue's side all these years I would even entertain the crazy-ass thought of trustin' you?!" Bard barked.

The air whistled with high-pitched howls.

"What..."  Rarity flinched, gazing around.  "...what is that?"

"What do you think?"  Twilight clenched her jaw.  "They're getting closer."

"Oh my goodness..."  Fluttershy trembled.  "Rainbow!  You've gotta stop the fight!"

"Bard!"  Rainbow hollered, craning her neck.  "You've proven your point!  The stupid stallion's beat!  Now let's calm down before—"

"I ain't b-beat..."  Tim nevertheless shuddered, his angry eyes glued to Bard.  "So long as there's blood in these here veins, I'll be teachin' this varmint a thing or two—"

Bard huffed:  "That's some damn stupid talk comin' from a pony whose ass I just stomped a mudhole in and walked dry!"  He shook.  "You wanna get buried?!  Be my guest!  I'll even do the honors!"  A sigh.  "It's the least that can be said for what y'all did for Amber..."

Tim frowned.  "Whores dun get gravestones."

Bard's eyes widened.

Even Remna blinked at that.  "Uh oh."

Applejack flashed Rainbow a frightened look.

Rainbow gasped.  "Bard, don't—"

"Raaaaaaugh!"  Bard charged into Tim.

Tim took the impact and—

WHAM!

—both stallions smashed through the doors to the cellar.  POW!  The underground chamber instantly flooded with gray light, grayer snow...

...and the ominous shadows of frozen hooves thrashing through a turbulent sky overhead.

SWOOOOOOSH!
> Everything Is Coming (Down) Explodey
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Oki doki loki!"  Pinkie Pie spun about with a twitchy smile.  "It was nice knowing you, girls!  Here's hoping our loose spirits find a wicked cool pirate ship to haunt for eternity!"

"Pinkie, hush!"  Twilight Sparkle shouted above the deaffening roar of the invasive gale.  Flurries of snow and ice flew through her ghostly form.  "Rainbow Dash, you've got to get the ponies to the furthest end of the shelter!"

"Everypony!"  Rainbow hollered as Nicole, Echo, and several members of Bard's family galloped past her.  "Get to the back!  Lay low!"

"That won't be of any use and you know it," Remna droned.

"Shut up and put your invulnerable body to good use!" Rainbow retorted.

Remna's violet nostrils flared.  "I can't sit on everypony."

"There's hardly any room to hide!" Rarity exclaimed, trembling all over.  "Those heartless wraiths could fill this whole niche within a single frozen blink!"

"Well we gotta do somethin'!"  Applejack hollered.  "I'm fixin' to get Rainbow 'round the world so I can fetch me a new body again!  I sure as heck ain't plannin' on spendin' the rest of my ghostly days here, anchored to a popsicle!"

"The windigoes..."  Twilight shivered.  "They're getting closer!"

"Can we re-seal the cellar entrance?!" Fluttershy squeaked.

"The doors are completely smashed, darling!"

"There's gotta be something magical that can help us out!"  Rainbow stammered, squinting into the blistery cold sheets of snow.  "Wildcard!  Ariel!  Look for something!"

The griffon and the pegasus fumbled around through the wrecked supplies.

"What in the hay are ya makin' them search for?!" Applejack cackled.

"Something!  Anything!"  Rainbow exclaimed.  "I know that we don't have Mortuana's spells at our disposal!  But if we can seal ourselves off in here like we did before west of Starkiss—"

"Rainbow Dash!"  Twilight exclaimed.

Rainbow looked in her direction.

The ghostly unicorn pointed at a stack of wooden crates.

"There!"  Rainbow aimed her hoof in the same direction.

Ariel and Wildcard gawked at her.  "What?!"  Ariel asked.

"Magical conduits," Twilight exclaimed.  "Not... n-not sure what exactly—"

"In those crates!"  Rainbow pointed once more at the boxes.  She flung a nervous look at the farmers huddled against the furthest wall.  "Does anypony know what's in them?!"

"Lumiscent crystals!" Nicole exclaimed.  "For measuring fivelights!"

"Wait!"  Flynn rushed over, breathless.  He gnashed his teeth against the sharply dropping temperature.  "Are the crystals purified?"

"No!"  Kelly spoke up from the corner.  "It's all raw mineral extract!  They haven't even been enchanted yet!"

"Perrfect!"  Kepler's spectacles shimmered in the gray light as he looked across the chamber.  "Flynn, arre you thinking what I am thinking?!"

"We'll only have one shot at this!"  Flynn's horn glowed brighter as he gestured at Logan.  "Big Show!  You know what to do!"

"Gang way!"  The fat stallion charged the crates, throwing his massive shoulder into the wooden boxes.  SMASSSH!  They fell apart in a sea of splinters.  Dull black shards spilled out—which Kepler and Flynn instantly picked up.

"Wildcard!  Ariel!  Help me!" Flynn exclaimed, levitating as many dagger-shaped rocks as he could.  "We gotta place them around the entrance!"

"Around the entrance?!"  Echo exclaimed from where he stood beside Nicole.  "Those blizzard bastards are ripping the farm to icicles and you wanna light their way towards us?!"

"It's not about enchanting the crystals to glow," Nicole exclaimed, understanding the situation.  "Without being purified, the shards will overload with just the right dosage of magic..."

"Ah jeez..."  Echo grimaced.  "Always explosions."

"Hurry!" Flynn exclaimed, joined by Wildcard, Kepler, and Ariel as he started placing crystals at the bottom of the stairwell.  "Make a solid perimeter!"

"Surrround the entrrance!"  Kepler said.  "If they arre not close enough, it may not worrk—"

"Wait!"  Fluttershy stammered.  She pointed a spectral hoof at the very top of the entrance.  "Bard and his brother!"

Rainbow looked up.

"Johnny!" Nicole called from a distance.

Perhaps the howling winds blocked out Nicole's voice... or perhaps the Desperado didn't care.  In any case, he didn't flinch.  The stallion stood at the mouth of the stairwell—high above—with Tim in his grasp.

"Rnnnngh!"  Wham!  He punched Tim again.  Whud!  And again.  "Grrrr!"  Whud!

Tim shook and bled in the stallion's grip.  The tips of his ears froze over as the windigoes' hooves streaked lower and lower... closer and closer to the ground.

"Tell me, brother..."  Bard snarled.  "Once yer buried... who's gonna be left to give a shit."  He gnashed his teeth.  "Much less flowers?!"

"Quit it, boy!"  Blue hollered from below.  "Yer killin' him!"

"You can't murder that which ain't ever lived!" Bard shouted from above.

"Rainbow..."  Applejack murmured.

"Right.  This should have stopped centuries ago."  Rainbow Dash galloped further.  "Okay, Bard!  Out of the murder pool!  Your time's up—!"  A violet hoof stopped her.  Shaking, Rainbow snarled aside:  "Axan!  For Celestia's sake—!"

"Shhhh..."  Remna held the mare at bay.  "It must be his decision."

"Huh?!"  Rainbow Dash frowned.  "What do you mean?!"

"You had your chance back at Frostknife," the mare said calmly.  Her eyes turned to green slits once again.  "This is now your friend's."

"Rainbow, forget her, darling!" Rarity exclaimed.  "This dragon in pony's clothing knows nothing!  Now go and drag Bard down here before we lose his body and his conscience!"

But Rainbow didn't move.  Nervously, she looked at Wildcard.

The griffon placed down the last of the crystalline shards in his grasp.  He glanced back at Rainbow Dash.  The lenses of his goggles reflected a pegasus' nervous grimace.  Nevertheless, he made no move to stop the other Desperado.

Biting her lip, Rainbow remained in place.

"Okay!"  Ariel exclaimed as she and Kepler desposited the last of the crystals around the base of the cellar.  "That's the last of them!

"All yourrs, brrotherr!" Kepler gestured at Flynn.

"Bard!"  Flynn stepped back, aiming a glowing horn at the array of crystals.  "We're only gonna have one shot at this!  Are you in or out?!"

Up above, Tim dizzily sputtered as he dangled in Bard's grip.  "You... h-heard 'em... ya damned flankhole..."  He spat blood and squinted.  "You had the balls to go this far.  Grkkk... better make yer stinkin' b-bed..."

Bard stared at him, panting.  The breaths between them turned to frost in mid-air.  His heart pulsed—sending shockwaves up and down his numb system.  The shrieks of the windigoes intensified, and he closed his eyes to the bleeding stallion in his grasp.  After a momentary shudder, he grumbled:  "A cryin' shame that even dyin' wouldn't learn ya nothin'."

"Hrmmm... hckkkk..."  Tim gargled on his own fluids, struggling to laugh.  "Always... always a stinkin' coward..."

"One final warning, Bard!"  Flynn shouted at the top of his lungs as the blizzard's winds reached hurricane force, flooding the cellar with gray snow and noise.  "They're on top of us!  Gotta fire it up!"  His horn pulsed brightly, illuminating the sweat across his bald spot.  "Now or never!"

"Maybe yer right about me, Tim," Bard slurred.  "But you can learn a thang or two from bein' a coward."  He hoisted the mountainous pony up as best as he could.  "Join me, shall you?!"  The two of them awkwardly plunged back down into the cellar together.

"The windigoes!" Twilight shrieked, her lavender horn bursting with light.  "They're here!"

"Look!" Pinkie pointed.

"Bard and Tim!"  Fluttershy shouted.  "They're coming down!"

Rainbow caught the barest hint of two masculine shadows tumbling down the stairwell.  "Now, Flynn!" she yelled.  "Do it now!"

"Firing—!"  Flynn flung his skull forward.  Zaaaaaap!  A stream of mana poured into the first of many crystals.  Like explosive dominoes, they all burst into flames, one after another.  Milliseconds later, a quivering beam of electricity roped through the entire perimeter.  The resulting overload popped the eardrums of everypony in attendance.

POWWWW!

The last Rainbow saw of Bard and Tim, they were two carbon black silhouettes against a sea-blue eruption of unbridled mana.  Burning plasma flooded the chamber, rippling inward like a blanket of flame.

"Get down!" Kepler shouted, propelling himself.

Ariel shrieked as Wildcard grabbed her and flung them both behind a stack of crates.

Flynn and Logan ducked.  Nicole and Echo hugged each other while family members cowered.

Within the next breath, the combined explosions of the fivelight shards caused an enormous earthen chunk of ceiling to collapse directly before the mouth of the stairwell.  The glowing eyes of diving windigoes disappeared behind an imploding wall of soil and rocks.  Hot pebbles flew like shrapnel—sailing straight for Rainbow's face.

Remna pounced over the pegasus at the last second, shielding her with her equine body as—

THUDDD!

—half of the cellar collapsed entirely, burying the survivors in dust...

...and darkness.
> Adagio for the Setting Sun
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	All Rainbow could sense was the dull, muffled roar of the windigoes stampeding somewhere... high above.  She shifted... squirmed... moved.  Yaerfaerda streaked in the far distance: the only sign that she was actually moving.  After several interminable seconds, Rainbow became aware of multiple voices—coughing, sputtering, wheezing voices.

Rainbow opened her muzzle to speak.  Her mouth immediately filled with dust and flakes of soil.  She coughed, collapsing on her chest.  After a few moments, she felt a strong tug to her side.  The unmistakable hoof of Remna lifted Rainbow on all fours, and that was how she knew that there was still enough room in the cellar to stand.

As the tense moment wore on, specks of light materialized.  First, Rainbow spotted Flynn's glowing horn... then Kelly's.  Soon, Kepler and Ariel were lighting flares.  Four glinting slivers reflected the sudden illumination; Rainbow Dash recognized them as Echo's and Nicole's eyes.  As Rainbow's eyes adjusted, she recognized the huddled shapes of the Herald... along with Bard's family.

Five colorful shapes hovered at Rainbow's side.  Rainbow flung her close friends a look.  After searching every spectre's face, her eyes rested nervously on Fluttershy.

Fluttershy stared back.  She bore a weak albeit reassuring smile.

Rainbow exhaled sharply.  She turned around completely, searching for the once-entrance to the cellar.

At last, she spotted a collapsed mound of tightly compact rocks and soil.  What's more, there were two figures residing next to it.  One limp and wheezing.  The other one standing up... breathing calmly...

"It's my fault," a deep voice drawled.  "My own dayum fault that it ever came to this."

Blue gasped and galloped forward.  However, it wasn't to Bard's side that the elder rushed.  Blue knelt next to Tim's haggard figure.  Marie soon joined the two, inspecting Tim's fresh wounds.  Tim merely grunted and waved the two off.

Meanwhile...

"Somepony like me... a stallion who's been travellin' around for so long should know a lick of sense.  Tim and Blue?  They dun rightly know how to live outside their own flankholes.  Doesn't surprise me none that they're the same idiots they've always been.  But me?  I should have realized how impossible it would have been to conduct any sort of civilized, sensible business with the likes of them."

Wildcard finally crossed the distance of the half-collapsed cellar.  He rested a metal talon on his partner's shoulder.  Bard waved him off, then proceeded to limp forward, pacing across the claustrophobic interior while windigoes shrieked outside.

"Things would have been different... everythang would have been a whole heck of a lot different if y'all had known the truth from day one.  Instead, I swallowed the truth up... just like I swallowed up my own pain.  I felt that my troubles were my troubles... my own burden to bear.  No sense in lettin' the entire family deal with it, right?  Well..."  Bard exhaled hard, nostrils flaring.  "All I ever did was just abandon thangs to fester.  I left the worst ponies imaginable in charge... and it's poisoned this entire farm with ignorance.  It's only a matter of time before somethin' terrible happens to somepony else I love.  Hell, for all I know, it probably already has.  So... I know it's a long time comin'... but here y'all have it.  The honest-to-Goddess truth."

All eyes were on Bard as he pivoted about in the dim light, speaking in an earnest, gruff voice.

"Years ago—longer than any y'all can rightly remember..."  His gaze swept over his foster siblings in particular.  "...I fell in lurve with a mare who came here, hailin' from Frostknife.  Her name was Amber.  She was an angel... my angel.  I made her laugh and forget her regrets.  She made my heart sing... and I tried my damnedest to put it to guitar.  I always failed, of course, but she didn't paid no mind.  She was in lurve with the musician in our heart.  Together, our breaths made sweet symphonies in a land with no sunsets.

"This love of ours was beautiful.  Sublime.  Innocent.  But Blue didn't care for it one bit.  Amber was an outsider to the farm.  As far as the old stallion was concerned, she was worse than filth: a 'corrupt piece of society' or some hogwash.  I told him of several dark places where he could stick his prejudices.  Naturally, this made him mighty cross... but he kept that anger bottled up until he was ready to use it like a weapon.

"One summer, Amber became pregnant.  While Blue surely pulled his remainin' hair out over this, for Amber and me it was somethin' to rejoice over.  I had always been wantin' to start a family, and Amber was all for it.  We set out to build a homestead just west of this here ranch.  There was plenty of fertile land for raisin' livestock.  Nothin' in this world was gonna stop us.  Nothin' but Blue, that is.

"The old fool badgered and hounded us at every turn.  Kept makin' up stories about how we was bringin' ruin to the farm... experimentin' with new-fangled fungal-growin' methods that would ruin the agricultural around here.  It was all nonsense, of course.  At first, most ponies on these lands saw right through him.  But the 'family' was still small then, and he didn't have many young'n's that he could brainwash.  Tim got adopted around that time, but he was too young to channel Blue's anger.  That would change somethin' awful in the years to come.  But back then?  Amber and I were able to get away with our dream.  Or... at least... we started it.

"Melody, my adorable little daughter, was born.  She was the tender song of our lives.  We cherished her... and wanted the best for her.  That's why when Amber insisted that we innoculate her by takin' her for a visit to the doctors offices in Frostknife, I didn't argue one bit.  I knew that medical resources were heaps better inland.  So I loaded up a wagon... Amber bundled up lil' Melody... and away we went.

"We made it about thirty miles west when the unthinkable happened.  While campin' in the uphill regions of the neighborin' prefecture, we got exposed to the Dusk Virus.  Even to this day, I ain't entirely sure how we contracted the dayum strain.  Coulda been a swarm of mosquitoes... or it could have been a bacteria that got into our canteen.  Whatever the case, Amber and I started showin' symptoms.  I knew even from the years of bein' a little colt that Dusk Virus is mighty deadly, and exposure to sunlight only makes the body deteriorate faster.  So—seein' as we had barely made it one fifth of the way to Frostknife anyhow—I made us go back home to check in with the local physician.  It would be the first of many mistakes that still haunt me to this day.

"It took nearly a week for our doctor to arrive on the farm.  All the time, Amber and I suffered coughin' fits—nearly suffocatin'.  I would have been fine enough on my own, but seein' Amber suffer was torture.  Thankfully, Melody wasn't showin' any signs of the virus... which only confused me instead of bringin' me any solace.  At last, the doctor showed up and we asked him a million questions.  He had good and bad news for us.  The good news was that infants at Melody's age weren't susceptible to Dusk Virus, so our little song was gonna come out alright.  The bad news was that for adults who contract Dusk Virus... a violent and deterioratin' death is absolutely certain... unless a highly expensive and hard-to-concoct cure is provided.

"The reality before us wasn't a pretty one.  Yes, Amber and I could get cured.  But seein' as Dusk Virus was somethin' that only plagued a statistically small group of unlucky souls in the Twilight Lands, it'd be several months to several years before either of us could receive the medicine we needed... which were months and years that we couldn't afford to live.  There was only one way to last long enough to receive the cure... and that was to suspend ourselves in one of those mystical Frosted Chambers that the servants of Verlaxion watched over.

"There so happened to be such a chamber in the Twilight Lands—the only of its kind for hundreds of miles.  It was small... easily dwarfed by the Chambers in Frostknife.  But they had room for us.  All we needed was the right amount of bits.  I paid our way in by sellin' our homestead and everythang we owned.  I figured the past wasn't necessary so long as it meant Amber and I could live to look after our young'n.

"But sometimes the miracle yer given ain't as miraculous as you want it to be.  My bits weren't worth a whole heck of a lot in the long run—it could only afford us tandem Chambers that ran off the same power supply.  This meant that when the time came for us to be cured, we had to wait until we both could be cleansed of the virus.  In other words, we'd both be waiting in there for a long time... even longer than it took to cure a single one of us.

"Normally, this wouldn't be a problem... except for one thang.  Melody wasn't diseased.  While we were bein' suspended in wait for a cure... a cure that could take years to be delivered... our little darlin' song would remain outside... growin' up... livin' life... without us.

"This tore me up mighty fierce.  If it weren't for the torture the virus was doin' to my lungs, I swear I'd have been sobbin' up a storm every day.  Amber—Goddess love her—reassured me with her faith and her smile.  'We'll be with our Little Melody in the future,' she said.  'In the end, there wont' be any sunsets for us.'  I know she was sufferin' just as badly inside—both in body and in spirit—but at least she had the strength to lift me up.  And I realized that she was right.  We both had to be strong... strong enough so we could make it through the process and come back to be the parents our little girl needed before it was too late.

"So, I had faith.  Maybe a mite bit too much faith.  After all, I was leavin' Melody in the capable hooves of Blue and the family he was fosterin'.  I had thought—foolishly—that all of the nasty thangs we had been through would have been enough to change his heart.  But I was wrong... and I lost everythang because of it.

"As soon as Amber and I were put into stasis, we was both out of the picture—as far as Blue was concerned.  Suddenly Melody, the song of our lives, was just a little experiment for Blue to shape and mold as he saw fit.  While he was in charge of her, the stallion put the poor little darlin' to work... far earlier than she ever should have.  The ol' bastard worked her to death.  Literally.  Melody was workin' the fields one night when she got pneumonia and died.  Poor lil' thang wasn't even five... and Amber and I hadn't seen her live and laugh and sing past the age of ten months.

"Apparently there was still a sliver of self-consciousness in Blue's shell of a body, for he regretted what happened to Melody somethin' awful.  Too bad he was still an idiotic piece of shit.  I'm sure—in his head—he reasons what he did as tryin' to preserve somethin' about my family.  But what he chose to do was nothin' short of selfishness and gross negligence.  To this day, I ain't sure how he pulled it off.  Maybe he knew someone special in the upper echelons of Verlaxion's monks... or perhaps he persuaded the Prefecture's Magistrate to pull some strings.  But... the moment a cure for Dusk Virus became available on the market... a single cure... he bought it right off... and he used it on me.

"He used it on me... and only me.  To that end, he revived both me and Amber... 'cuz we couldn't be revived from that chamber separately.  Didn't matter much to Blue.  He saved his first adopted son.  And Amber?  My angel from the west?  The last light of beauty from the settin' Sun...?"

Bard's words cut off.

Rainbow watched in somber silence.  Rarity and Fluttershy covered their muzzles while Applejack, Pinkie, and Twilight hung their heads.

Bard had his eyes closed.  He took a deep breath.  "He murdered her," the Desperado grunted.  "Plain and simple.  In savin' me... he spelled her death out in granite.  Ain't no way he didn't know this would happen.  Ain't enough that he worked Melody to death... but he had to drive the stake through my heart by takin' my Amber as well."  Sniffling, he continued.  "I was cured, yes... but only to live a fresh new Hell of Blue's makin'.  And yet..."  He raised his head, glaring daggers across the earthen room as he spat:  "The ol' bastard still defended himself!  Tryin' to twist his actions into somethin' pathetically 'heroic.'  As if somehow all of the loss was okay... just because his 'beloved son' could still draw breath."  He clenched his teeth.  "Ain't it a big flippin' surprise that I went mad and desecrated the grave of the one mare Blue ever truly loved?"

Blue squinted across the dim interior.  Marie bit her lip while Tim wheezed and panted... his bloody brow furrowed.  Up above, the shrieks of the windigoes grew more and more distant.

"Am I proud for what I did?  No.  It was ugly... petty... and downright senseless.  What's more, Blue's used it for years and years on end to paint me as the villain here.  And that sort of a thang has had its effects on Tim... Marie... and the rest of y'all.  I'm mighty sorry for that... but not half as sorry as I am for not takin' the whole lot of y'all away from this farm when I had the chance."  Hooves scuffling, Bard turned around to gaze at the other foster siblings.  "Nicole... Ray... Mike... James... Kelly..."  He gulped.  "I can't rightly imagine how y'all thought of me after all these years.  But if I had only told you the truth when I was too angry to do anythang else but run off like a true Desperado... then maybe y'all wouldn't be livin' under such a dark cloud.  Years and years... and all he's done is spread his filthy prejudice and lies... makin' you love him unquestionably... all the while hatin' on the rest of the world in spite of its beauty.  And for what?"

Swiveling about, Blue pointed an angry hoof at the old stallion.

"There stands the very model of bitterness... with ignorance as its foundation and pain as its support.  Ain't nothin' but filth stored inside.  And the thicker you build the walls, the more the mess just sits and rots... until there ain't nothin' left for livin'... just fearin' and regrettin'."  Bard took a deep breath.  "Blue, I'm mighty sorry that yer wife died the way she did... but it dun make anythang that you did any less shitty.  You can raise all the adopted children you want and pretend to be makin' a difference in this world, but so long as they're livin' in yer paranoid little bubble, then you're just as shameless as the wretched old fart who took my family away."

"I never meant for any of it to happen, boy," Blue wheezed, his eyes glossy.  "It was all a mistake."

"There are only two mistakes in this room," Bard grumbled.  "But at least I've got truth to give.  You?  What is there left for you to do but die?"

Blue clenched his teeth hard.

The hushed stampede grew less and less loud.  Twilight Sparkle had her gaze trained on the ceiling.

Rainbow glanced aside.

"They're passing..."  Twilight turned towards Rainbow with a hopeful smile.  "I... I think they're actually passing over!"

Rainbow exhaled.  She looked back at Bard.

"I didn't come here to drag these old ghosts of the past out of hidin'," Bard said.  "But, nevertheless, I'm here... and ghosts never really die.  Especially the ones that you lurve more than... l-life itself."  The stallion briefly choked up.  "I left this farm.  It was only a matter of time.  If y'all value life in any capacity whatsoever, you'll leave too.  Maybe... maybe by finally hearin' the truth, you'll know t'ain't no time like the present.  This place is cancer... and it'll eat away at you way harder than it ever has at Blue.  That... is a dayum guarantee..."  At the end of his last exhalation, he leaned against a crumbled wall of soil... as if having run a marathon.

Within the next minute, a lone figure crossed the length of the room.  Nicole trotted up to her older brother.  She rested a hoof on Bard's shoulder.. then hugged him softly with both her forelimbs and wings.  Bard wrapped a strong limb around her, burying his face in her shoulder.

"Mmmmmm..."  Fluttershy squeaked.  She rubbed her cheeks dry and smiled.  "It was rough getting here... but it's really sweet, don't you think?"

Rainbow Dash, in the meantime, was staring at Bard's other foster siblings.  The ponies and griffons stood in place, their heads hung and their eyes glued to the floor of the cellar.  "Maybe," the pegasus murmured.  "Maybe not..."
> The Family That Decays Together...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Hours later...

A sunken patch of earth shifted... then shifted some more.  Rocks and pebbles rolled from side to side.  At last, bursts of manalight seeped outward from underneath... followed by a warm patch of air.

Thwooosh!

A hole collapsed, opening wide.  Flynn was the first to step out, followed by Kelly.  The two unicorns stood at the exit, slowly waving their horns left and right, illuminating the nearby farmland.  While Kelly grimaced, Flynn whistled down the hole.

Kepler and Ariel emerged, both holding flares.  As soon as they got a look at the land, their muzzles dropped in shock.  The group remained frozen in place as Bard, Nicole, Echo, and Marie trotted out.  Soon the rest of the Herald emerged, along with Rainbow Dash and her ghostly friends.

"Oh..."  Twilight Sparkle's ears drooped.  "...wow."

"Holy moley!" Pinkie Pie squeaked.

"Goodness..."  Rarity clasped her hooves together.  "...it is just as I feared."

Rainbow's eyes squinted.  Her ruby pupils reflected a wintry wasteland of collapsed barns, frozen windmills, and snow-blasted silos.  Every standing structure was bathed in white frost with dagger-like icicles stretching in the direction that the windigoes had stampeded overhead.  Local lakes and ponds had frozen over—their ice reflecting the cosmic starlight with an eerie sheen.

Ponies whimpered, their eyes tearing up.  Farmers hugged one another as they gaped at the destruction.

Tim limped out with Blue's meager support.  Marie let out an audible sob as the two stallions looked on in shock.

Snow fell in drifting currents, christening the desolation.

"The supply sheds look absolutely wrecked," Applejack muttered.  "See how the grass is frozen stiff?  Can't imagine what carnage this cold has wrought on the dang irrigation system they've got here."

"I'm not even sure their mushroomy crops could survive!" Pinkie squeaked.

"Oh gosh..."  Fluttershy whimpered.

"What is it?" Twilight asked.

Fluttershy hung her head.  "The livestock.  All of those cattle with the beautiful, glowing horns."

Twilight gulped. "Dead?"

Fluttershy somberly nodded.

"What..."  Rarity glanced aside.  "What about the ponies on the nearby farms?  The sharecroppers?"

"I... sense a few life signs to the north and east," Fluttershy said.  "Huddled together about half-a-mile in either direction.  I'm... not sure if they account for even a fraction of the ponies who once lived here."

Rainbow Dash looked aside.  She spotted Bard standing next to Nicole and Wildcard.  With a lump in her throat, Rainbow trotted over to the hatted Desperado and summoned a shuddering breath.

"Bard... I..."  She sighed.  "I'm so... so sorry.  This... it just sucks so hard..."

Bard stared across the frozen farmland.  His eyes spotted a lone gravestone in the distance.  He opened his muzzle as if to say something—

"Hey!" Ariel suddenly called out from above.  "Some buildings made it!"  She pointed northwest from where she hovered up high.  "I see two barns... and most of a farmhouse!"

"That's gotta be Mike's ranch!" Ray exclaimed, flapping his wings so that he hovered alongside her.  "A standing structure is a place to start... That means we still have something to cling to!"

"We can rebuild..."  Kelly gulped, then glanced aside at the others.  "Can't we?"

Most of the other ponies simply stood in place, numb.

"Of course we can," Blue muttered.  He pivoted about, trying to spot a part of the farm that wasn't frozen solid—but failing.  "Our hard work has gotten us this far, hasn't it?"

"I would not be too fearrless, my frriend," Kepler spoke up.  "This that you see beforre you is the worrk of only a tiny herrd of windigoes.  Theirr trrue, unbrridled wrrath can scrrape civilization off Frrostknife's verry foundations.  Rrohbrredden's capital may surrvive because of all theirr underrgrround facilities... but I doubt this farrm will endurre anotherr stampede like the last one..."

"We're all still standing, aren't we?" Blue rasped.

"Yeah, only because Rainbow Dash and her friends were able to warn us in time!" Ariel exclaimed.  "And just how are you going to grow back enough of that fungal lubricant to warrant staying here another fivelight—"

"Ariel, darlin'," Bard quietly chided.

Ariel looked like she was going to protest, but one solid look from Wildcard silenced her.  She hung her head with a sigh.

Bard turned to face his extended family.  In a grave voice, he spoke:  "Ain't no future for this place.  All thangs considered... there was never much of a past.  All you've ever been usin' as fertilizer here was lies... his lies.  Now, I've given you the truth."  He gestured.  "Y'all could make like good farmers and search for some better soil... or you could keep tryin' to make water bleed from a stone.  But trust me... even if you make that kind of a miracle work... the water will only poison ya."  Bard took a deep breath.  "Now, y'all are my brothers and sisters and I lurve ya... but I can't stay here anymore than I could decades ago.  From the look of things, neither can any of you.  So... I'm askin' ya... are y'all ready to do the right thing and move on?  Or will this place someday earn unmarked graves for the whole lotta ya as well?"

Silence.

Bard's brow furrowed.  "...Well?"

James, Mike, and Kelly avoided his gaze.  Nevertheless, they squirmed and fidgeted where they stood.

Bard turned and looked up.  "Ray?"

The griffon winced.  "Johnny, it's..."  He sighed.  "...this place is our home.  We've spent all our lives trying to make this into something to be proud of.  And if we just turn our back on what's left of it now...?"

"We'll dig a deeper cellar," Marie said.  "We survived one stampede.  What makes us think we can survive another?"

"There... is... nothing... here," Bard said.  "The only thang you'll be raisin' here is filth!  And you trust him or Tim to somehow make it all work?!"

"Old Blue has... made mistakes," Kelly muttered, still avoiding Bard's gaze.  "We all have.  But... let's face it."  She glanced at Mike, James, and the others.  "...how much better will we do without each other?"

"I'm not sayin' y'all should go it alone!" Bard exclaimed.  "Just not do it here!  Dammit!  Why won't you open yer eyes?"

"Our eyes are open, Bard," James said.  "And all I see is a home... needing to be rebuilt."  He looked sadly at the Desperado.  "Home is everything.  I... wish you understood that."

Bard's muzzle hung open incredulously.  With a frustrated breath, he folded his forelimbs and looked away.

Nicole glanced between the Desperado and her other siblings.  Finally—with a fanged frown—she slapped Echo on the shoulder.  "Come on, Echo.  Follow me."  She stomped angrily back down into the hole.

"Uhhhh... okay."  Echo gulped, fumbling after her.  "Whatever you say, Babe."

Tim, Blue, and Marie watched in curious silence.

Over the next few minutes, Marie and Echo reemerged, carrying thick crates full of supplies.

Blue gently helped Tim down into a sitting position.  Hobbling, the old stallion stumbled over to the pair of sarosians.  "What in the Hell do ya think yer doin', girl?"

"What does it look like?"  Nicole huffed, slapping more crates on top of one another.  "I'm giving the Herald their supplies."

"You're what?"

"Don't worry," Nicole muttered, making a second trip and coming back.  "I'll leave more than enough for the rest of the family.  If you all are smart, you'll take what you need and head west—out of the Twilight Lands—and into a place that has better shelter against the stampedes."

"You c-can't do this, girl!"  Blue spat, shaking from bony head to bony tail.  "We need all of those to rebuild!"

"You can't rebuild something that never stood in the first place," Nicole grumbled.

"They're a lyin' bunch of murderers!" Blue sneered.  "They'll just take them supplies and waste 'em in a night!"

"No they won't.  Besides, I'll make sure they put the stuff to good use."  She turned to glare at Blue.  "Because I'm going with them."

Bard blinked.

Applejack and Twilight glanced at one another.

"Hmmm..."  Remna folded her forelimbs, watching from a distance.

"You're... you're... what?" Blue exhaled.

"Johnny's done all he can for this family.  He deserves a lot more for opening my eyes," Nicole said.  "Helping him and his friends on this journey is the least I can do."

"But... but..." At last, Blue clenched his teeth and grabbed Nicole by the shoulder.  "You can't do this!  I forbid it!"

"Grnnngh!"  Nicole shook and yelped, "Let me go!"

"After all I did to save ya from the sins of yer own filthy kind!" Blue hollered.  "This is how you repay me?!  Yer alive and in one piece thanks to me!"  A velvety hoof tapped him on his shoulder.  The elder turned around.

"Hey there."  Echo smiled, eyelashes batting.  "I never did thank you for the supper you gave us the other day."  WHAM!  And he punched Blue straight in his wrinkly face.

"Ooomf!"  Blue fell hard.

"Blue!" Marie shouted, rushing over.

Echo brushed his hooves off.  "And, between you and me, it tasted like shit."  His slitted eyes narrowed as he helped Nicole away.  "So... sorry if that was overly generous of me just now..."

Marie panted, examining Blue's bloody chin.  She gawked at Tim.  "Tim!  What are ya sittin' around for?!  Do somethin'!"

Tim did nothing.  He sat, frowning... staring off into space.

Nicole stacked up one more crate and looked at Logan and Flynn.  "I... I hope this will be enough."

The stallions exchanged glances... then nodded at the sarosian with a smirk.

"It's more than enough," Flynn exclaimed.

"Screw the supplies, girl," Logan belched.  "Can you be our new Ariel?"

"Hey!" pouted a voice from up above.

"Hah HAH!" Kepler laughed.

Rainbow Dash sensed something strange in her perspective.  She looked aside at Remna.  "...?"

Remna cleared her throat and looked at the mare.  "Yes, Austraeoh?"

"Axan... I felt a seismic disturbance in the visual spectrum..."  Rainbow's eyes narrowed.  "Is it just my imagination... but were you smiling?"

"You must still be suffering the effects of your chaotic half," the violet mare droned.  She marched off to search the wintry wasteland for the remnants of the Herald's wagon.  "Your hallucinations are returning."

"Hallucinations and dizzy spells are two different things!"  Rainbow Dash frowned after her.  "... ... ...friggin' snapdragon!"

"Wait, are we actually leaving?" Twilight Sparkle remarked.

"With these ponies having to deal with..."  Fluttershy reluctantly gestured at the destruction.  "... all of this?"

Rainbow sighed.  "I don't think that's up to me, girls."  She looked in Bard's direction.

Wildcard must have been thinking the same thing.  He stepped up to the other Desperado, gesturing.

"Yeah... yeah, you friggin' chatterbox, I'm sure of it," Bard muttered.  Tipping his hat towards the frozen mess, he turned around... facing east.  "Now let's get the Hell out of here."

Wildcard nodded... faithfully joining his side.

As the Desperadoes marched off, Remna whistled loudly and spoke from a distance:  "Let's move out, Herald!  The moment we have a wagon, let's load it up with the supplies and venture forth to find Flynn's vessel!"

"Rright away, drragon one!"

"Gawd..."  Logan muttered.  "...I hope he doesn't keep calling her that."

"Hush up, fatty," Flynn said, levitating the first of many crates.  "The less chatter now, the better."

"Mmmmhmmm."

Rainbow watched as Echo and Nicole helped the two Heraldites with the materials.  Across the way, Blue stood up, leaning painfully against a icicle-covered fencepost.

"Thieves... th-thieves...!"  He gulped.  "They can't get away with this too!  Tim... be useful, will ya?  Make them stop!"

Tim continued staring off in fuming silence.

Blue looked over.  "Are you deaf, boy?!  I said I need yer help!"

At last—after a grumbling sigh—Tim looked up to glare at Blue.  "You shoulda told me, ya old fart..."

"Huh?  Told you what?!"

"You always made it sound like Johnny's wife had no hope," Tim grumbled.  "That she brought all them bad thangs upon herself."

"Well, of c-course she did!"  Blue spat.  "She was as filthy as all the other cheaters and whores who come from the sunlit mountains!  If you ask me, it was fate that diseased her!  But Johnny?"  Blue shook his head.  "He didn't deserve to go crooked.  I only wanted to bring him back.  I'm awful sorry for what happened to his young'n, but if he had never strayed away from the farm to begin with—"

Tim stood up.  With a pained groan, he began trotting away.

Blue squinted.  "Where in the Hell do ya thank yer goin'?"

"To do some thinkin'..."  Tim shuffled, hobbled.  "...'bout time I did some of that around here.  Never thought I had to before... but... startin' to think I need to now..."

"Will ya stop mullin' over nothin' and help me out here?!"  Blue frowned.  "Just because yer older brother whallops ya, ya think he's right about the damned world?!"  The old stallion shook in place.  "Rnnnngh... fine!  I see yer just as diseased as the rest of 'em!  Have it yer way!  But I'm gonna save this here farm, ya hear me?!"  He fell down on his knees and started scraping and scratching at the snow, clawing his way to the dead grass and frozen soil underneath.  "Rnnngh... somepony's gotta do it!  This here's my land!  Ain't no windigoes or murderers gonna take it from me!"

Marie sat on the sidelines, bowing her head as she quietly sobbed.

Meanwhile, Blue kept tearing and clawing away, panting through aged lungs.  "Buried... buried enough d-damned souls in th-this here earth... I'm n-not gonna leave it for nothin'!  Nothin' in this whole stinkin'... rotten world... do ya hear me?!"  He stammered and hyperventilated.  "Well?!  Do ya?!"

As the minutes wore on into hours—cold and numb under the starlight—Blue found less and less ponies around him to provide an answer.
> Things Sent to the Void
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It took the combined work of several Job Squadders, but they were eventually able to reassemble a battered wagon from its disparate pieces.  The barn that had sheltered their transportation had only half collapsed, allowing them to extract the materials they needed with only residual difficulty.

As time wore on, the cold snow and ice blanketing the fertile valley began melting.  This oversaturated the earth, reducing the farmland soil into a shallow lake of consistent puddles and muddy embankments.  Wildcard, Bard, Rainbow Dash, and Ariel had to use their combined strength to lift the wagon at multiple spots while Logan ad Remna pulled from the front.  It took much struggle, but the group eventually cleared the deepest ruts, exiting the east end of the ranch and taking a descending path down a sloped valley of rocky soil.

Kepler, Flynn, Echo, and Nicole sat in the wagon.  Kepler and Flynn performed a thorough check of the supplies that the group had freshly acquired for the trip.  Nicole—in the meantime—kept her slitted eyes forlornly cast on the farmland growing more distant and distant behind them.

As they exited, the foster children of Blue—along with neighboring sharecroppers—had gathered in the center of the farmsteads.  Together, the locals heaped wreckage into a central mountain of debris.  A few dozen meters to the west, fresh graves were being dug for those who had recently perished during the windigo stampede.  Nopony spoke, and there were few breaths taken that weren't shuddering.

Even as the Herald passed—along with their wagon—nopony dared to look up at them.  As Nicole observed from the vehicle, she saw many familiar faces—all too sorrowful and melancholic to summon even a smidgeon of anger.  Ray and James busied themselves with their work.  Mike hugged his significant other while Kelly and Marie quietly sobbed along the sidelines.

No one bothered to leave.

Nicole sniffled.  She gazed towards the front of the procession.

Bard marched firmly, his eyes on the east horizon.  Wildcard and Rainbow Dash trotted alongside him.

Concerned, Echo reached over and placed a hoof on Nicole's shoulder.

Nicole patted his fetlock reassuring.  Then—spreading her wings—the female sarosian took off from the wagon and drifted forward.  She touched down next to Bard, struggling to march in pace with him.

Bard slowed his steps—which affected the entire procession.  But not a single member of the Herald protested... especially when Bard reached a wing out and drew his adopted sister closer.  Held tenderly in his embrace, Nicole closed her eyes and quietly wept.

Wildcard said nothing.  He remained close by.  Rainbow Dash exchanged a few quiet glances with Applejack and Twilight Sparkle—but even her ghostly companions were silent.

Step by step, the group descended into the rocky valley... and marched deeper into Twilight.





In another part of Rohbredden...

Deep within the Frosted Shelves...

...a stallion sat... slumped... hunched over in bulky, haphazardly-crafted armor.  A large stone chamber stretched around him, lit ceremoniously by candles.  A tomb rested before the stallion.  It was more akin to a sarcophagus fashioned by concrete slabs layered on top of one another.  Flowers, prayer beads, and delicately sealed scrolls lay all over the shrine.  Through the respectful detritus of Frostknife's mournful populace, the barest hint of engravings could be seen—depicting an equine monarch with a loving face and warm forelimbs outstretched.

Brye Chandler lifted his melancholic face up.  Trembling hooves nervously turned and turned a newly-crafted helmet in his grasp.  Swallowing a lump down his throat, the Defense Minister of Rohbredden gazed into the candlelight.  The image of Verlaxion's tomb faded into an amber fog before his eyes, but it didn't stop him from murmuring:

"I need you..."

His voice was barely a whisper.  It shook and wavered, like a sad colt's.

"I need your guidance."  His ears drooped as he sat in place, turning and turning the helmet around.  His eyes searched... searched... and found nothing but more empty, pleading words.  "I need your blessed spirit to tell me that I'm doing the right thing..."  He clenched his teeth.  "For once in my life... beyond all of the money... beyond all the muck and filth and dying imbeciles of this world... I need to know that I am right."

Candlelights flickered.  Flower petals shook, danced in the breath of his voice, then were still.  There was no reply.  There was never a reply.

"Why did you choose me?"  For a brief moment—like lightning—Chandler's face registered anger.  "Why did you choose me?"

More silence.

"I don't understand faith," he said.  "I only understand power."  He gulped.  "I thought I had the power once to save your children... to save all of us.  But it wasn't enough.  And yet still... you chose me."  He slowly shook his head.  "When I hadn't even thought of choosing you.  When I didn't even believe in you."  He shuddered.  "But your dead now.  And your power... your power..."  His eyes clenched shut.  "...can I even compare?"

The helmet fell from his hooves.  The echo it produced was like a gunshot in the chamber.  Chandler didn't bother picking it back up.

"If... if it is what you wish of me... I will stop the Rainbow Rogue," Chandler murmured.  "I don't know how killing her will restore your power.  But I promise that I will restore your honor."  At last, he tilted his head up... and it was with an iron frown.  "As you have gone so far to restore mine."

The metallic joints of his armor creaked as he stood up.  He was just picking up his helmet when he heard claw-scrapes from the back of the room.

Without looking, Chandler exhaled.  "We are clear to leave?"

"Yes, Defense Minister," Seraphimus said.  She wore a full set of Central Guard armor—with golds and amber plates replacing the usual silver of Talon design.  A sharp-pointed helmet clung to her face and beak while charcoal eyes peered out through the visor.  "Your batallions await your command."

"Then let us go."  Chandler raised the helmet to his head—but paused.  "But first..."

Seraphimus lingered, gazing at the Defense Minister.

"...do you wish to pay your respects?" Chandler said, pointing to the grave.  "They will likely have relocated her to the Mausoleum at Starkiss by the time we return."

Seraphimus took a deep breath.  She did not even look at the grave.  "I will pay my respects... the moment that I've torn the heart out of the monster that tossed her into the void."

Chandler bit his lip.

Seraphimus bowed, turned tail, and made to leave.

"Seraphimus..."  Chandler fitted his helmet on.  "We may not have much opportunity to speak during our hunt.  I would have you know that despite the events that brought us together—divine or otherwise—you have my everlasting respect, and I... I believe that you will bring great honor to the legacy of Verlaxion."

Seraphimus spoke without looking back:  "I would not hold much weight in it."

Chandler raised an eyebrow beneath his helmet.  "Honor?"

"Belief."

"Belief in what?"

"Anything."  And Seraphimus was gone.

Chandler stood alone, bogged down in his clunky armor.  The Defense Minister gazed at the grave one last time.  With a cold shudder, he hobbled forward, and made his noisy exit.
> The Talon and the Order
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Professor Theanim Mane squinted at the pale lengths of Frostknife.  The latest windigo stampede had demolished several buildings that survived the first wave, but already the able-bodied workers of Rohbredden were lining up in droves, working collectively to salvage whatever useful resources they could from the wreckage.  The bluffs of the bay were crawling with ponies and griffons alike.  Meanwhile, equines rolled up with wagons and received the materials for transporting deep into the Frosted Shelves.

"The current plan is to put all that we can into storage without delay," Theanim said, shivering slightly in the still-nippy air.  Flakes of snow drifted gradually in the direction which the windigoes had last vanished, but otherwise it was a mostly clear, sunny day.  "This includes that which we find from the wreckage, as well as anything else that we can salvage."  He took a deep breath.  "Then... once the next stampede blows through—and there will be more stampedes—we'll use those moments of forced sequestering to take a detailed stock of our materials that we've gathered.  From there, we'll proceed to redistribute supplies to the various recovery groups of workers and volunteers so that everypony is probably clothed, nourished, and bedded."  He turned to point at the massive gates to the former prison.  "In the meantime, there's a dedicated team of workers who are literally carving out new chambers within the hold as we speak.  With the very real possibility of more Rohbreddenites migrating into Frostknife from the outlying prefectures, we have to make as much room as possible.  I've worked with the seismologists and geologists of the Scientific Order to assure that the new enclosures we make won't cause any structural damage to the overall interior."

Commander Keris fitted on his helmet and nodded.  "You're doing a fine job, Professor.  Opening the chambers up to as many citizens as possible is paramount to our survival."

"Hmmmmm..."  Theanim nodded wearily.  "It works for the present."  He turned to gaze at the griffon leader.  "It's the future that troubles me."

"As it should."  Keris remarked.  "As it should trouble all of us—not so that we might despair, but that we might become properly prepared for the trials to come."

"Yes.  But our trials are still our trials."  Theanim's eyes narrowed.  "It could very well temper us into mindful, strong individuals.  But what of this generation's children?  And their children's children?"

"They will be strong, professor," Keris said.  "Don't worry."

"I'm not worried about their strength, professor," Theanim said.  "I'm concerned with their conviction."  He sighed in the cold air.  "What day will finally be the day when our great grandfoals can finally ascertain the truth of what's transpired here in Frostknife?"

"When Rohbredden's anger and resolve has given way to practicality," Keris said.  "That will take a very long time."

"Lifetimes, you mean," Theanim said.

Keris slowly nodded.  "I'm glad that you and I are on the same page, Professor."

Theanim bit his lip.  He turned to gaze at the droves of ponies working together along the steep edges of the granite bay.  "You know... just today... I had a dozen wyverns volunteer to assist in the salvaging process."

"Yes..."  Keris cocked his helmeted head to the side.  "And did anypony dispute this?"

"Some, but only a few," Theanim remarked.  "If you look carefully, you can see them working hoof-and-claw with their fellow foals of Verlaxion."  A breath.  "And to think that just days ago they were being treated as traitorous scum."

"A miracle indeed."

"Call it what you wish, Commander," Theanim muttered.  "But it makes me wonder."  His brow furrowed.  "They are so close... so damnably close to living in absolute harmony with one another.  And it's not just the case here... but throughout Rohbredden proper."  He gulped, then turned to look at the Talon leader.  "Just how much would it hurt them all to know—here and now—what actually happened?"

"With as close as we came upon the brink of civil war, do you really believe that this so-called 'harmony' is something we can afford to gamble, Professor?"

In answer to that, Theanim merely shook his head.  "Perhaps it's childish of me to be so impatient."

"Every pony has the right to know the truth," Keris said.  "But, for now and for the future, I'm a great deal more concerned with their right to live..."  He gulped.  "And to live safely... without chaos."  He shuffled over and rested a gauntlet on Theanim's shoulder.  "You and I are nothing less than champions of patience.  We will have many to teach these ponies... and the generations that come after them."

"Aye... and in the meantime..."  Theanim smiled tiredly.  "It will be my burden to preserve the truth for when the time comes for a proper revelation."

"That burden is mine as well," Theanim said.  "And the Talon's."  He stepped back with a firm breath.  "We are sworn to protect Verlaxion's foals.  Like children, they'll need time to grow.  And when the time comes... our descendants will ensure the protection of their integrity."

"And what then, Commander?"

Keris leaned back.  He smiled under his beak as he said:  "Verlaxion's foals will finally leave the nest.  It's only been thouands of years in the making."

Theanim nodded.  "Do you suppose she planned for that?"

"Do you suppose I care?"

That—if nothing else—made Theanim chuckle.  At the sound of wind-slicing wings, he and Keris pivoted about.

Three members of the Talon glided in.  They touched down with a rattle of their armor.

"Sir..."  Starstorm exhaled.  She and Windburst and Raptr bore thicker armor than usual—complete with extra weapons and supply pouches garbed for the arduous journey ahead.  "Sergeants Starstorm, Windburst, and Raptr reporting in."

Keris saluted.  "At ease."  He gazed past the group, eyeing several members of the Central Guard who were lined up just outside the entrance to the Frosted Shelves.  "What's the news on the expedition?"

"They're all prepared to take wing," Starstorm said.

"Just waiting on some dead weight to show up," Windburst grumbled.

"Sergeant..."  Keris chided.

Windburst sighed.  He adjusted the weight of his crossbow and ammo as he hung his head.  "I'm sorry, Commander.  But we all know we can't trust him."

"He is still Rohbredden's Defense Minister," Keris said.  "And while we perform our duty before his troops, we must treat him with respect."  His hawkeyes narrowed.  "There's a lot more that depends on our integrity than just mere pride."

"Yes.  And I understand that.  It's just..."  Windburst fidgeted.  "...it's getting harder and harder to tell who's side we're on anymore."

"Harmony's," Raptr said.

Everyone looked at him.

Raptr blinked.  "I mean... right?"  He glanced back at the others.  "If shouldering a buffoon like Chandler is what will keep Rohbredden afloat, then who are we to complain about it?  We know we're better than him."  He adjusted his helmet.  "And we all know who Rohbredden really owes everything to in the end."

Starstorm nodded with a contemplative blink.

"Heh..."  Windburst chuckled.  "Look who's making sense."

"Yeah... heheh..."  Raptr nudged him.  "Guess that makes you the rookie now."

"Shuddup, scrub."

"Okay."  Raptr stood alone.

Theanim looked at Keris.  "I don't envy the challenge ahead of you."

"How so?"

Theanim blinked.  "How exactly do you plan to show allegiance to Chandler and keep his troops from murdering Rainbow Dash before she gets to the dark side?"

"If fate is on our side, she will be long gone by the time we can even remotely reach her."

"You plan to delay the expedition?"

"If we have to," Keris said.  "With much subtlety, of course."

"And if you fail?"

Raptr grimaced.

Keris exhaled, "Then, yes, Professor... you have many a reason not to envy me right now."

"Well, in any case, I wish you luck, Commander."  Theanim extended a hoof.  "Whatever may come of this, I hope you, Seraphimus, and the Talon come out unscathed."

"I will promise the Talon and Seraphimus primarily," Keris said, shaking his fetlock.  "I will work on myself when I get to him..."

Theanim smirked.  "I would expect no less of you."  His ears folded back.  "And Keris?"

"Yes, Theanim?"

The Professor swallowed and said, "If you do see Rainbow Dash... and you can somehow... possibly convey any message whatsoever..."  He blinked.  "Make sure she knows how proud I am for crossing paths with her."

Keris nodded.  "Will do," he said.  "To the best of my ability."

"Don't look now," Starstorm remarked.

The group heard the clattering of hooves.  Off in the distance, Brye Chandler emerged from the Frosted Shelves... accompanied by a grim-beaked griffon in amber armor.

"Egads..."  Raptr grimaced.  "...what in the Hell did they put her in?"

"Central Guard armor," Windburst grunted.  "They're dressing her up as Chandler's highest-paid monkey."

"She's still our former Commander underneath," Keris said, marching towards the scene as he spread his wings.  "And we will do well to remember that... for her sake as well as ours."  He lifted.  "Take wing!"
> A Toast to Our Professor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The Talon circled and circled overhead.

Down below—the cliffsides of Frostknife were filled with ponies, soldiers, citizens, magistrates, and Rohbreddenites from all trots of life.  They stood in thick clusters, facing a temporary stage that had been set up right outside the gates to the Frosted Shelves.

There, Chandler stood... clad in his bulky armor.  He gestured towards the gathered crowd, speaking bombastically so that his voice echoed across the upper heights of Frostknife.

"...and while our beloved Queen's body wastes away in our hold, her legacy shall never deteriorate!  We can preserve her through our love and our devotion—every single day—rebuilding Rohbredden from the ashes of the wraiths that the Monster from the West so maliciously freed.  So long as Verlaxion's foals are coexisting with one another... trusting and relying on one another... we shall make it through these undesirable tribulations!  The Tribes of this land shall endure!  And we will build a better nation for our children to thrive in—a land that will one day be free of the Blight that has recently consumed us through fear, distrust, and greed!"

Professor Mane shuffled through the crowd.  After giving the Defense Minister an exasperated look, he nevertheless whipped out his camera and started taking photographs.

Seraphimus stood tall and silent beside Chandler's stage.  As the executive stallion spoke and pontificated, she stared off into frigid space, deadpan.

"But we also owe it to our Great Unifier to eliminate the one remaining threat that's responsible for the most unforgiveable crime of this age!"  Chandler frowned as we spoke.  "I set out now to hunt the Rainbow Rogue.  Wherever she may be hiding... and whatever company she may be poisoning with her wretched Blight—it will matter little in the long run.  Her strength is a feeble one when compared to the everlasting love and honor of the foals of Verlaxion!  Today—and from henceforth—your finest soldiers and I shall prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that we have something great to believe in!  The divinity of our fallen monarch shall reign supreme, and I will use the faith Verlaxion's shown in me—and in all of us—to eliminate the Monster once and for all.  And it is my promise to each and every one of you... that I shall not return to Frostknife unless I do so while carrying the Rainbow Rogue's head on a pike!"

Those in attendance clapped and stomped their hooves against the stone surfaces of the platform.  In mid-flight, Keris and the other members of the Talon exchanged tense glances.

Seraphimus took a deep breath.  Her armored knuckles tightened.

"So... for now, I wish you peace and serenity," Brye Chandler said.  "The wrath of Rohbredden leaves Frostknife with me... and it is a vengeful spirit that even the Rainbow Rogue hasn't a chance to survive."  He bowed low.  "Verlaxion's blessings."

The crowd echoed the sentiment back.  Hundreds if not thousands of sets of hooves and talons performed an identical gesture while a cold silence hung over their somber expressions.

At last—with Seraphimus' help—Chandler stepped down by the stage.  "Thank you, soldier," he said to the griffon.  Awkwardly—in his rattling armor—he brushed by Hymnos.  "Grand Magistrate.  Is there anything that you require of me before I take my leave?"

"Professor Mane and his Order have us situated in the recovery front, Defense Minister," Hymnos said with a gentle smile.  "You have the Talon assisting you, along with the finest soldiers of the Central Guard.  I would wish you Verlaxion's blessings... but it would appear that you have the full extent of it."  A slight bow.  "As do we."

"Then it is settled."  Chandler stood tall, then saluted her.  "I... would like to thank you and the Council for this opportunity."

"The one whom you need to be thanking," Hymnos gravely said, "Is exactly whom you seek to avenge."  Her eyes narrowed.  "Now go and do so.  For all of her children."

"Your chariot is this way, Defense Minister," Seraphimus said.

"Thank you, dear."  And Chandler marched off towards the pegasus-drawn vehicle in question.

Just as Seraphimus started to follow him—

"Seraphimus."

The former commander looked aside.

Hymnos stared directly at her.  "I just... want you to know that..."  She gulped.  "...if the Council had willed it... it would be you seated in that chariot right now."

Seraphimus barely blinked.  "We've all had our chances, Grand Magistrate."  A bow... and she was gone.

Hymnos watched quietly.

Chandler mounted the chariot.  Seraphimus hovered beside him, raised her talon... then pointed sharply east.

Two soldiers blew trumpets, sounding forth a loud signal in the air.  The air rumbled with artificial thunder as every winged soldier in armor flapped their wings at once.  Then—with glinting grace—the batallions of the Central Guard dove off the platform and streaked their way east over the neighboring cliffs.  Led by Seraphimus and escorted by the Talon, the army churned the cloudy skies, forming a grand charge.

Gradually, the gathered crowd split up... returning to their recovery duties.

Professor Theanim Mane shuffled up until he stood next to Grand Magistrate Hymnos.  He adjusted the lens of his camera... and took two shots of the advancing army.

"Look at them," Hymnos remarked.  "Positively majestic, aren't they, Professor?"

Theanim sighed, lowering his commander.  "There is plenty of majesty to be had, Grand Magistrate.  Not all of it is in bloodshed."

Hymnos turned to look at him.  "You do not believe that extinguishing the life of she who murdered our Queen will bring forth glory?"

Theanim bit his lip.

"... ... ...Professor?"

"I... am a firm believer that the only thing we must find glory in... is the extension of life."  He gulped.  "Now more than ever."

"Hmmm... curious."  Hymnos managed a smile.  "A stallion of science such as yourself never struck me as much of a believer."

Theanim opened his muzzle to respond.  Suddenly—a flash of color entered his vision.  He looked aside, blinking.

Before him, a yellow butterfly flitted about in the air.  The inexplicable insectoid survivor eventually perched on a chunk of stone.  It spread its amber wings... contrasting the gray malaise and devastation that the windigoes had left so prominently in the background.

Theanim Mane couldn't help it.  He smiled.  "Finding beauty in a world of so many mistakes... just might make a believer out of anypony," he said.  In the next breath, the Professor hunched over, aiming the camera at the creature.  "Mmmmm... that's it."  His teeth showed.  "I could just kiss you."

Click.

> Ballads In the Back Seat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	He plucked at the guitar strings with effortless skill, utilizing a random assortment of fetlocks and wingtips.  Bard cradled the instrument in his limbs as he lay back—lazily reclined in the back of the wagon that Logan was dragging downhill across the rocky eastward slopes of the Twilight Lands.

The Desperado hummed and hummed, ultimately opening his stubbled muzzle to produce:


And never say never to a broken home
Your heart is whole in love alone
Don't need no ceiling nor walls of stone
Just a name in a sigh to call your own

Rainbow Dash sat across from him, perched beside a sleeping Ariel.  Her ears twitched to the sound of the breathy lyrics.  "Snazzy," she muttered.  "An old tune of yours?"

Bard inhaled... exhaled.  "Just thought it up, actually," he muttered, still strumming at the strings.

Rainbow smiled at him.  "You're lying."

"Says who?" Bard snorted.  "Applejack?"

"Doesn't take a mind-reader," Rainbow muttered.  Ariel—in her sleep—leaned against her, and the mare gently shrugged her aside.  "Just how long have you kept... y'know...?"

"Hmmm?"

Rainbow gulped.  "All that tragic stuff with Amber... and Melody."  Her brow furrowed.  "It must have weighed on you super hard."

"You should know a thang or two about carryin' the weight of the dead."

"At least mine are still living," Rainbow said.  Ariel leaned on her, and she shrugged the sleeping pegasus yet again.  "Well... kinda sorta."

"Hmmmm..."  Bard strummed and plinked at the strings.  "Reckon I should whip up a chorus 'bout that too."

"Musicians always come second, Bard," Rainbow Dash said.  "First place belongs to heroes."

"Hmmm..."  Bard smirked.  "Don't I know it."

"Don't you?"  Rainbow cocked her head to the side.  "At the first fivelight we arrived on Blue's Ranch you could have just told everypony everything then and maybe... just maybe... all of that craziness wouldn't have unraveled the way it did."

"Dun be ridiculous," Bard huffed, hitting one or two notes off-key.  "Blue would have just been as flankholish and stubborn as ever.  Plus... had we have gotten thangs over with sooner and left early, then my foster family would likely have been caught by the windigoes with their britches down."  His ears drooped slightly.  "For all I know... they're still dead popsicles come next stampede."

"I think now—more than ever—they're more than prepared to do the smart thing and move on."

"Ohhhhhh darlin'..."  Bard looked up, his eyes dull and hopeless.  "Yer givin' them all too much credit."  He slowly shook his head.  "Dun you get it?  They was doomed from the start.  That whole family..."  His nostrils flared.  "No sense in hopin' for the impossible."

"Come on, Bard.  Don't discredit yourself either," Rainbow muttered.  A slumbering Ariel slumped against her again.  Rainbow finally sighed and just allowed room for the dozing Heraldite to get comfortable.  "I watched their faces as you gave that crazy-ass speech in the bottom of the cellar.  I'm pretty sure that you got through to a lot of them.  Even if Blue won't come around, I'm sure the others will.  Maybe even Tim and Marie."

"I appreciate the notion, Rainbow.  But this whole event just proves how right you was."

Rainbow gulped.  "How right I was about what?" she asked, as if it was a legitimate question.

"About Frostknife, what else?"  Bard huffed.  "About 'murderin' Verlax' and remainin' the 'monstrous Rainbow Rogue' and all that bullshiet."  He sighed, finally releasing his grip of his guitar.  "Most of the time... the truth dun matter to nopony."  He gulped.  "Nopony but yerself."

Rainbow Dash stared at him.

Eventually, Bard resumed as the wagon rocked them and Ariel.  "For so long... I was the only one who knew the truth about Amber and Melody.  Well..."  He smirked slightly.  "Besides Dubya, of course.  Reckon I risked an awful lot sharin' the knowledge with a dayum chatterbox like that mofo..."

Rainbow smiled gently.  "I think he kept it pretty decently to himself."

"Yup.  Good friend is good."  Bard tilted his hat back, staring off into the endlessly gleaming horizon.  "And for a long-ass time... the truth sustained us.  Me bein' a widower... he bein' a former Talon flank-kicker.  The secrets legitimized us... both the pride and the pain of it all.  It laid the tracks out for a rip-roarin' train that had no gumption for stoppin'... not for nothin' in this whole dayum world."  Bard bit his lip.  "Meetin' you and learnin' all 'bout this Austraeoh nonsense?  I must admit... a huge part of me hoped that other ponies in this world besides the Herald could open their eyes and make a difference for themselves.  But t'ain't the way things work, isn't it?  No... truth?  Truth is only a foundation for those who first find it.  Take Verlax, for an example.  She found it... made it... and everythang else couldn't even pretend to catch up."

"We caught up," Rainbow Dash said.  "Doesn't that count for something?"

"Maybe for just us, Rainbow," Bard said.  "But now... I think I've got it all figured out.  Heroes or bards... the song is in how you choose to sing it.  I fear that no matter what I might come up with, the music will never be as good as any of us ever meant it to be."  He looked at the mare.  "We can only hope that the ones we leave behind make a decent enough harmony."

"You make it sound so bleak."

"Ain't it, though?"  Bard sighed.  "We can't expect more to come out of Frostknife than what we put in.  There'll always be idiot composers like Verlax and Blue... just messin' with the medleys."  He gulped, gazing off.  "That's why I've always found it easy bein' a Desperado.  You'll find nothin' but deaf morons at the station.  Best that the train just keep on movin' on..."

Rainbow Dash took a shuddering breath.  "I'm sorry, Bard," she said.  "I'm sorry for what happened to your home... and to your family."

"Hmmmm... I'm only sorry that I left them when I did," Bard muttered.  "Instead of stickin' out for them when it truly mattered.  I just... let the pain of my loss fester inside me.  Ain't nothin' heroic about that."  He shook his head, then slowly tilted his gaze up.  "But you?  Reckon you, Dubya, and the rest of the gang gave me a second chance."

"At what?  Being a hero?"

"I suppose.  That and... havin' somepony to share the truth with."  Bard smiled slightly.  "A regular dang chorus... at long last."

Rainbow looked over Ariel's shoulder.  In the distance—between Remna and Logan—Echo and Nicole trotted side by side.  "Seems like you're not the only pony to get a second chance," Rainbow said.

Bard sighed.  "I can't help but fear that she's only gotten herself in hotter water."

"Even hotter than staying at Blue's ranch?"

"Heh... well put..."  Bard folded his forelimbs.  "Still... not sure what I'm gonna do with her.  This ain't exactly the nurturin' environment for two siblings to get reacquainted with one another."

"Does it matter?"

Bard huffed.  "No, I suppose not.  Reckon it's... mighty lovely havin' somepony as sweet as lil' Nicole stickin' around... believing in me..."

"Sharing the truth, you mean?"  Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.  "Part of the chorus?"

Bard said nothing.

"Bard, maybe... you're wondering why I didn't urge Remna and the rest of us forward when we were stuck at Blue's ranch for so long."

"Hrmmmff..."  Bard snorted.  "The thought did occur to me."

"Well, let's just say I was looking for a hopeful sign as well."  Rainbow sighed.  "I wanted to know if there was a way to avoid the sort of decision I made back at Frostknife."  Her ears drooped as she went on.  "Instead, all I got was further confirmation that... truth only goes so far."

"Uh huh..."

"And yet... something came out of it.  It might not seem like much now, but Nicole's gotten a new lease on life.  Tomorrow—sometime in the distant future, perhaps—that tiny sliver of clarity is going to work a crapton of wonders compared to the liberal buckets of ignorance being dished out by the likes of Blue, Tim, and Marie."

Bard's gaze met her.

Rainbow stared back.  "In a big world full of big circumstances... it's the little things that'll snowball into awesomeness in the end.  That's why you gotta keep carrying the truth on your shoulders."  Her eyes narrowed.  "That's why you can't hop off the straight train you're on..."

Bard blinked.  "After all this time... have we both finally gotten on the same page?"

"Maybe... maybe not," Rainbow said.  She readjusted Ariel's weight so that the sleeping pony was more comfortable.  "But perhaps... I'm finally starting to get how and why you've forgiven me for the Quade."

Bard looked at her.  "How could I not forgive you?"  He smiled.  "You... Dubya... the Job Squad and the Herald?  Y'all are family... my real family."

Rainbow gulped.  "I think Amber would be proud of you for finding one."

"Mmmmm... reckon so..."  Bard tilted the brim of his hat forward, covering his eyes.  "So long as Melody ain't jealous none..."

Thwoooosh!  A wyvern touched down beside them.

"A most fabulous sentiment, frriends," Kepler said, adjusting his spectacles.  "And it brrings up something that I have been contemplating quite deeply as of late."

"Look out, Bard," Rainbow droned.  "It's raining winged walruses."

Bard squinted at the monk.  "Just what do you have cookin' up in that noggin' of yers, Kepler?"

"Namely one thing, goodly Barrd!"  Kepler winked.  "If you have indeed found a family, then perrhaps therre is a way we can help you stay trrue to such a poetic affirrmation..."

"Mrrmfff... guh..."  Ariel waked up, yawning and rubbing her eyes.  "Hmmm?  What?  Something about... walruses...?"
> Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The caravan had completely stopped.

In the center of an arid valley—bathed in stones and starlight—a ring of manatorches had been lit.

Bard sat in the middle of the flickering light.  He was not alone.

Ariel, Logan, Flynn, and Wildcard stood evenly around him.  They each wore a prismatic band around their forelimb.  Logan and Flynn carried serious, deadpan expressions.  Ariel shook with scarcely-contained enthusiasm.  And Wildcard...

The feathery Desperado bore an endless smirk beneath his beak.  He saluted Bard, then glanced aside as a certain wyvern stepped up, holding an ancient tome in two claws.

Kepler stood on a pronounced boulder in the center of the valley.  "Ah-ah-ahem..."  Adjusting his spectacles, he flipped a page in the book and spoke boldly:  "...we have all assembled herre to usherr in a prrotectorr... a seventh soverreign to complete the sacrred cirrcle established forr the sake of prreserrving the Austrraeoh, and maintaining harrmony now and forreverrmorre."  The wyvern glanced up, his lenses reflecting Bard's grizzled face.  "The Herrald of Angels calls to the most selfless of herroes... since beforre rrecorrded time... as the beacons beckon and the horrizon deliverrs..."

Nicole and Echo watched from a distance.  Nicole bit her lip, her eyes locked on her brother.  Echo rested a hoof on her shoulder, and she relaxed... bearing a proud smile.

Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity hovered above the scene, watching with wide eyes and curious grins.

"...gone arre the trrifle concerrns of this morrtal rrealm, and the prrotectorr is rready to embrrace the call of the cosmos beyond... in honorr of the angels fallen... and in spite of the demons brrooding."  Kepler flipped a page and kept orating.  "Forr the glorry of all forrms of life on Urrohrringrr and beyond, this fearrless crreaturre pledges blood, spirrit, and faith."  Kepler lowered his glasses and looked up.  "Barrd... Johnny, Desperrado of the Twilight Lands... do you commit yourrself to completing the Soverreign Seven... so that the Rrainbow one may fulfill herr jourrney... the chiefest and most imporrtant jourrney that has everr been underrtaken?"

Bard took a deep breath.  "Uhhhh..."  He glanced at Wildcard, and then the rest.  "Would an 'aww hell yeah' be out of form?"

"Better than Big Show's," Flynn grumbled.

"Hey!"  Logan frowned.  "I was poetic!"

"You were drunk."

"Hrmmmff..."  Logan brushed his bangs back.  "If you're gonna embrace a new calling, might as well do so passionately."

Ariel giggled.

Wildcard rolled his goggled eyes and signaled Kepler.

"Hah Hah!"  Kepler nodded.  "Verry well.  Let cerremony be cerremony.  This desperrado brrotherr of ourrs has morre than earrned his wings."  He held a prismatic band out to the griffon.  "Brrave Wildcarrd, perrhaps you can do the honorr by passing our symbol along."

Wildcard bowed, took the band, and walked over to Bard with it.

Bard took it from him, glancing up.

Wildcard gestured a phrase or two with his metal-and-flesh talons.

"Heh..."  Bard took his hat off.  "Dun make this weird, mofo."

"Ahem!"  Kepler flipped another page.  "We herreby induct you into Odrrsjot... ourr frrantic companionship.  May you balance peace and chaos so that the jourrney rreaches completion, and the worrld enjoys becoming whole once again, in a futurre designed by the angels and magnified by all life."

"Hey..."  Bard casually slapped the band around his forelimb.  "If this means I get to kick more keister in the name of good guys... than show me where I can sign in blood."

"Heh... no need forr that, brrotherr..."  Kepler slapped the book shut and smiled through his tusks.  "You arre now a memberr of the Seven."  The wyvern took a shuddering breath.  "I've no doubt that the Mountain Matrron would b-be prroud..."

Bard looked at Wildcard.  "Is now a good time to whoop?"

Wildcard gave a thumb's up.

"Yeeeeeeeeee-hah!"  Bard tossed his hat.

Logan, Flynn, and Ariel cheered.  They and Wildcard converged on Bard, patting him on the back and shaking his hoof.

Pinkie Pie and Rarity smiled at Applejack.  Applejack rolled her eyes and chuckled while Twilight and Fluttershy applauded.

A bit further away from the scene...

Rainbow Dash sat beside the wagon along with Remna.  Both equines sat in the shadow of stars, apart from the group, like the veterans of the eastward journey that they were.

"It's... not as much ceremony as I thought," Rainbow Dash muttered.  "That's kinda cool, actually."

"Hrmmmff..."  Remna's violet nostrils flared.  "What precisely did you expect?"

"I dunno.  Something creepy and... cultish?"  Rainbow scratched her chin above the pendant.  "I mean, let's face it... Khao always did kinda sorta leave me with a foul taste in my muzzle."

"Her zeal was undoubtedly strong."  Remna nodded.  "Alas, she did not possess a proper way of filtering such dedicated passion."

"She didn't have a Mortuana, you mean."

"Take from that whatever you desire."

"Shouldn't you... y'know...?"  Rainbow Dash shrugged in the direction of the gathering.  "Be joining them?"

"Hrmmmff..."  Remna folded her forelimbs.  "I do not see why I should."

Rainbow Dash glanced up at her.  "You're a member of the 'Sovereign Seven' and all that jazz, aren't you?"

"I am wearing the shell of a pony who deserves that title," Remna huffed.  "Nothing more."

Rainbow smirked.

Remna's green eyes darted towards her.  Upon noticing the expression, they briefly morphed to draconian slits.  "What?"

"Do I detect a whiff of regret?"

"Hrmmff... I have performed my role for the Austraeoh," Remna said.  "And—in all honesty—I could have performed it better."

"What do you mean by that?"

"None of my efforts have been exemplary in protecting you from Verlax's influence."

"Yeah, but... like..."  Rainbow Dash shrugged.  "...you've still kept me alive.  Especially when I didn't ask for it."

"I did what I had to do."

"And Mortuana trusted you."  Rainbow Dash winked.  "That should count for something, shouldn't it?"

Remna sighed.  "I fail to see why you of all ponies would be trying so hard to commend me."  Her violet ears twitched.  "Lest we forget how our paths first converged."

"No, I don't forget."  Rainbow Dash's brow furrowed.  "It's a little bit hard to lose track of the whole 'dying-and-coming-back-to-life-after-being-a-murderous-chaos-beast' thing."

Remna exhaled.  "Indeed."

"... ... ...however..."  Rainbow Dash pivoted where she sat to face Remna directly.  "I also couldn't help but notice that you—Axan, a female doggish dragon made into female doggish flesh—suddenly and inexplicably dropped all of her grumpiness when we landed at Blue's ranch."

Remna blinked.

"It's true.  Don't pretend that it isn't."  Rainbow cocked her head to the side.  "Weeks ago, you would have murdered to get my fuzzy blue butt moving east.  But suddenly—here we are on the edge of the world—and you just let me give Bard the time he needs to get all of his crap squared away."  She smirked.  "I mean—I'm not complaining... but what the heck is up with that?"

"There is nothing 'up with that,'" Remna muttered.  "The Austraeoh desired that we conduct business at that farm, so I chose to be patient with it."

"Horse hockey," Rainbow grunted.  "Your grumpiness has never tolerated my wayward desires before.  So what changed?"  She gulped.  "Was it my dizzy spell?"

"Must you be so inquisitive?"

"Call it a force of habit from being reunited with a ghostly egghead."  Rainbow Dash took a deep breath.  "Was... was it the death of Verlax?"

Remna gazed aside at that, her glossy eyes filled with stars.

Rainbow bit her lip.  "You know... you may have done some awful... awful things in your time, Axan, but nopony—or no dragon, for that matter—deserves to watch their closest flesh and blood die... twice."

"Your sympathy is noble," Remna droned.  "If not more than a little bit misguided."

Rainbow cutely propped her chin on her hooves.  "Care to re-guide me?"

Remna sighed.  Eventually she muttered:  "If there has been a change, it is chiefly this:  I recognize now that mortal beings are bound to complicate their lives with the needless weight of emotional baggage."  She glanced towards the group as Echo and Nicole trotted in.  Bard met Nicole in a dear hug, and the two siblings clung to one another in the twilight.  "However... seeing that your life spans are so finite... so delicate... I suppose such 'needless weight' must necessarily carry with it a supreme importance... perhaps enough to sacrifice oneself for."  She gazed aside at Rainbow.  "It almost makes me wish that I had chosen more strategic words to share with my sisters."

Rainbow fidgeted slightly.  "You... uh... you gave your sisters more than peace of mind, Axan," she said.  "You gave them peace."  She gulped.  "I wish I had half as much guts as you did."

"You have the tenacity to be something more than sheer strength," Axan said.  "I am the Divine of Flame... the living epitome of Power and Might."  Slowly, she shook her head.  "And yet... the salvation of Urohringr does not lie in my paws.  It is in the hooves of mortals that all of destiny hinges.  I've come to understand that.  And perhaps..."  A sigh.  "...the time has come for me to respect that."

Rainbow Dash blinked.

"There may or may not come a time to regret the passing of my sisters.  In truth, our demise is inevitable.  I seriously doubt that we will last long enough to see the reunion of the Urohringrs—should such a fortutious event actually take place.  Nevertheless... their legacies live on in my actions... so long as I do all that is within my power to assure a healthy future for all living things."

Rainbow swallowed.  "Well..."  She smiled hopefully.  "...when you and I reach the Dark Side... and we find Endrax together?"  A wink.  "You can have a chance to share such feelings with a sisterly Divine then.  Huh?"

Remna stared at Rainbow... then past her.  "I should be so fortunate to be in her good graces..."

Rainbow opened her muzzle to say something—but just then the air tingled with silver luminescence.  The pegasus flinched.

Several steps away, the Herald noticed it.  Echo was the first to gasp, his slitted eyes suddenly lighting up in a bizarre fashion.  He spun about, fangs glinting.  Bard and Nicole stopped hugging to look over in the same direction.

Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy looked around in confusion.  Pinkie was twitching in a dozen random places, and Twilight—

The ghostly unicorn gasped, her horn glowing bright.  She looked in Rainbow's direction, grinning brilliantly.

But before Rainbow could respond—

"Hello?"  The heavens rang with a regal voice.  Rainbow Dash's pendant shimmered with silver brilliance.  "Rainbow Dash?  Please, speak.  Are you there?"

Rainbow Dash looked straight up.  A tear or two squeezed out of her ruby eyes, reflecting the full moon above.  Sniffling, the mare held a hoof to her pendant, smiling ecstatically.  "Hello, Princess Luna..."  A hiccup, and she smiled even harder.  "Girl... am I here and a half!"
> A Light Beyond the Boundaries
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, and Applejack all floated in a circle—scarcely containing their bursting grins as they listened in on the conversation that Rainbow Dash was having.

"—and then after I shook off the Talon for the last time in the canyon with the train, I made my way into Wyvern Point where—you will never guess—I ran into the Eastern Branch of the Herald!"

"The Herald?"  Princess Luna's voice reverberated in the enchanted air.

Wildcard and Bard exchanged glances.  The rest of the slack-jawed adventurers sat around the campfire, their beady eyes aimed starward as the alicorn's voice continued.

"I can only hope you were better prepared to face them this time, Rainbow Dash."

"Oh!  That's just the thing.  They're... uh... the 'good Herald.'"

"I was not even aware there was a 'bad' Herald—simply a singular group of misguided mortals who incorrectly interpreted Urohringr lore as an excuse for militantly hijacking your flight eastward."

"Yeah.  And I understand why you would think that way."  Rainbow Dash shook her head as her glowing pendant rattled.  "But these ponies aren't like that.  For one, they haven't had Khao leading them and poisoning their heads.  Maybe at one time they were—as you say—'misguided.'  But they've cleaned their act over the past few centuries, even going so far as to limit their group to an easily controllable seven defenders of Austraeoh.  So... like... they're less cult and more kick-flankery."  Rainbow Dash stifled a giggle.  "It's totally cool!  You remember Wildcard and Bard?  They were totally members of the Herald all along!  Well... Wildcard was.  Bard is now, but... eh... that's a long story."

"Your 'Desperado' friends are in league with these ponies?"

"That's right, Your Highness."

The silver glow carried with it a thoughtful breath.  "That is indeed most reassuring."

"Heh... how 'bout that, Dubya?"  Bard murmured aside to his griffon friend.  "We done impressed a moon chick."

"Correction!"  Pinkie Pie huffed.  "The moon chick!"

"Shhhh!"  Rarity hissed.  "Pinkie, let us listen!"

"And get this, Your Highness..."  Rainbow Dash leaned forward, her muzzle straightening into a serious expression.  "...for the longest time, this Herald's been led by none other than Mortuana."

The mortals in attendance held their breaths.

Eventually, Princess Luna replied:  "The first-born of King Onyxxus and Queen Mesmer."

Kepler blinked at that while Ariel's lips pursed.

"You remember them?" Rainbow Dash remarked.

"Dear child," Princess Luna spoke.  "The alicorns who settled upon this plane were few, and the descendants they left behind even fewer.  It has been many... many millennia since I last crossed paths with Mesmer, Onyxxus, and their family.  But the memory of my own harmonic blood remains as ever bright as when it was first kindled inide me."

"Then you must know that Mortuana and Whitemane are sisters."

"This has also not been lost to me, and I find it more than fortuitous that you would have stumbled upon the presence of an Emeraldinian alicorn so wisely gifted with the knowledge of—"  Just then, Luna's voice cut off.  The enchanted silver light flickered... almost as if shifting.

Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged worried expressions.

"Luna?"  Rainbow gulped dryly, tilting her head up even further.  "Princess?  Is everything cool?"

Silence... and then—

"... ... ...there are two of my children among you."

As if on cue, Echo and Nicole winced.  Their slitted eyes glimmered with a new brilliance, as if reacting directly to the silver glow.

"You have found sarosians in your journey," Luna stated.

"Well... y-yeah, Your Highness."  Rainbow slicked back her short-short bangs.  "One of them is Echo.  I... uh... I told you about him before."

"The one instrumental in dismantling the criminal organization within the underwater city of Shoggoth," Luna remarked.  "A victim of misfortunate circumstances, if I do recall..."

"To say the bucking least," Echo droned.

"Shhhhh!"  Nicole elbowed him hard—then froze solid (and wide-eyed) as Luna spoke again.

"Dear child.  I had feared the worst for you, following the climax of your confrontation with such nefarious allies of the past.  Please, do tell me.  Are you doing safely at my royal subject's side?"

"Uh... yeah.  Hi there, Mother of Nightmares."  Echo gulped.  Hard.  "I'm kinda shitting myself right now."

Twilight Sparkle face-hoofed.

"That is... a rather poetic assertion," Luna's voice murmured.  "And who is that beside you?"

"Uhm... I... I'm..."  Nicole could only squeak.

"My lil' baby sis, Yer Majesty... er... Ma'am..."  Bard tipped his hat to midair.  "And, to be perfectly honest, I never done seen her this timid."

"I assure you, there is nothing to be afraid of.  I am just as mesmerized by your presence as you are evidently shocked at mine," Luna said.

"Are... you r-really her?" Nicole murmured, shivering.  "Are you really the Mother of Nightmares?"

A slight pause.  Then:

"I apologize, for I am not familiar with that monicker, nor is it something that I feel that I should be taking pride in.  My true name is Princess Luna, and I am the alicorn of the moon—for it is my righteous harmonic charge to oversee the safe passage of night for all my royal subjects in Equestria as well as all equines abroad.  Sadly, several centuries ago, I fell victim to a malevolent spirit that twisted my ambition into something discordant and disharmonious.  This gave birth to the brief but treacherous reign of Nightmare Moon, which ended with my millennium-long imprisonment... as well as a terrible rift driven between myself and my sister—the wise Princess Celestia.  But do not dread.  The heroic actions of Rainbow Dash—the Austraeoh—and the rest of the Elements of Harmony restored me to my true form, and Nightmare Moon is no longer."

"Glorrious..."  Kepler smiled through his tusks at the other Heraldites.  "Absolutely glorrious..."

"Uhm... Princess Luna...?" Nicole murmured.

"Yes, child.  Fear not.  Speak what is on your mind."

Nicole sniffled.  "I... I-I'm feeling something right now... deep inside."  She swallowed a lump down her throat.  "It's like my heart is on fire... and my eyes are burning.  It should be painful, and yet... I can't remember another moment in my life when I felt more whole.  Could... could it be that—?"

Spontaneously, Luna's voice rang:  "Whynn'mm lynnwlyn nrymm'lynn hymm'nmmm lyn w'numm'ymmm..."

Both Echo and Nicole gasped at once.

Wildcard's headcrest raised curiously.

"What..."  Rainbow Dash glanced at her ghostly friends, then back at the scene.  "What just happened?"

"Did you understand that, my children?" Luna remarked.

"Y-yes..."  Nicole murmured, a tear running down her muzzle.

"Holy Hell, what a buzz..."  Echo's leafy ears twitched.  He gulped hard and murmured:  "What did you just drill into your brains?"

"No 'drilling' whatsoever.  That, my children, is Moonwhinny... the heartfelt tongue of all sarosians... born out of a singular dream—as was your flesh and blood.  My spirit exists in all of Saros.  It has since the foundation of your precious race."  Her voice took on a grave tone.  "Alas, it is my deepest regret that the evil legacy of Nightmare Moon forever tore you apart.  From the valleys of Equestria to the deepest holds of Ponymonium, the dreamblood of Saros has been tainted by a spirit of malevolence.  It has been reflected in malice and distrust by the rest of harmonic civilization ever since, and even today I am at a loss to seek out all of the disparate branches of my herd... scattered to the edges of the plain and into the Dark Side beyond.  It pains me to this very day, and I can only apologize sincerely for the anguish that I have caused you."

"Hey..."  Echo smiled crookedly, his eyes still glowing.  "Who's anguished?  I'm... k-kinda sorta on t-top of the world right now..."  He chuckled breathily.  "Who needs coral, am I right?"

"After all th-this time..."  Nicole whimpered.  "Blue told me that my kind were nothing but evil thugs and murderers to the core..."  She slowly shook her head.  "But how c-could something that feels this beautiful be so bad?"

"All things are beautiful, my child," Princess Luna said.  "I trust that now, more than ever, you are in the right company of friends to truly appreciate that."

Nicole broke down.  Tears streamed down her smiling muzzle.  Swiftly, Bard trotted over and scooped her into a hug.  She buried her face into his shoulder, sobbing happily.

"I... I-I gotta be honest, your Royal Ladyship..."  Echo gulped.  "I... I'm not really s-sure I count on this 'beautiful' scale..."

"I sense in your heart a soul much like my own, needing so desperately to prove itself worthy of trust and righteousness.  If nothing else, consider me a companion in like-minded trials.  Through Rainbow Dash, we have a bond, and we seek to make this plane a better place.  Would you deny this?"

"No..."  Echo slowly shook his head with a calm smile.  "I sure as Hell wouldn't."

"Then may our righteous fury dwarf the flames of Tartarus in its combined zeal.  Put the shame of the past behind us and focus on the horizon ahead.  Rainbow Dash has operated by no less of a commitment."  The silver light shifted.  "My child, if you have encountered more than one Sarosian in your travels, then I trust you are approaching the edge of this plane?"

"That I am, Your Highness," Rainbow said with a salute.  "They call this part of Rohbredden the 'Twilight Lands.'  It won't be long now."

"I see."  A breath.  "Then—I trust—you have gone so far as to encounter Verlax herself?  Perhaps even freed Applejack?"

Remna glanced over at Rainbow.

Rainbow bit her lip.  She looked at Applejack, then Twilight.

"... ... ...or is this not the case?"

Rainbow took a shuddering breath.  "How far are you from Princess Celestia at the moment?"

"Ponyville is just a short flight away, Rainbow Dash.  You know this."

"Better go and sit next to her, then," Rainbow Dash murmured.  Her wings coiled tightly by her side.  "I think she needs to here this."

"Hear what, child?"

"The truth."  Rainbow's nostrils flared.  "The whole... stinkin'... ugly truth..."
> Once More, From the Top
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"...and while they're recovering in the capable hooves of Professor Theanim Mane and Lieutenant Keris," Rainbow Dash spoke from the back of the Herald's wagon as it rolled east past random boulders and sporadic hillsides.  "...it still doesn't change the fact that I willingly and knowingly deceived an entire civilization into believing that Verlax was still their goddess."  She gulped, then gazed down at her fidgeting hooves.  "Verlax—in her last breaths—convinced me that the tribes of Rohbredden would fall into chaos and civil war... fighting each other and wreaking havoc... if they discovered the truth."

Rarity and Pinkie Pie slumped back to back, stonefaced.  Fluttershy and Twilight sighed.  Applejack looked on silence.

"Maybe it's true.  Maybe it's not."  Rainbow Dash shrugged.  "Between my journey and the chaos gnawing away at me, I haven't had the luxury of spending the time to find out otherwise.  Besides..."  She frowned, jaws clenched.  "Verlax's litter of pet windigoes has been unleashed... and they're spreading blizzardy crap all across the continent as we speak.  Heck... for all I know, some of them might be herding across the Grand Choke by now.  I wouldn't want to be in Val Roa if that's the case."

It was Celestia's voice that spoke:  "I highly doubt it.  From what I remember, Rainbow Dash, windigoes prefer to feed off the emotion and livelihoods of mortal equines.  If the Grand Choke is still just as grand and desolate as you left it, I do not expect any of the frozen herd to stampede even a quarter of a distance to your former allies."

"So, that's it, then?"  Rainbow Dash tilted her sad eyes to the stars.  "You and Luna think I did what was most safe?"

Silence.

Then:

"In truth, Rainbow Dash, I do not see what else could have been done," Princess Celestia said.  "Even before you crossed paths with Verlax, it was evident to you, myself, and my sister that the Mad Divine had anticipated your arrival for centuries.  She had plenty of time to prepare for the inevitable... while the rest of us were busy with our necessary affairs in Equestria."

"But even if it's the only thing I could have done..."  Rainbow's brow furrowed.  "...does that make it the one thing I should have done?"

Twilight and Rarity looked up, blinking.

Celestia's voice exhaled.  "You want to know if I... a harmonic alicorn ruler... approve of an entire civilization being bathed in flagrant deception?"  A pause.  "No.  Of course I do not."

Rainbow's eyes closed tight.

"However, the nature of your journey is more than a mere excursion into foreign lands.  Have you played the part of generals and ambassadors before?  Yes.  Yes you have—but only when you could afford to make a difference, and there is no telling that you haven't done the right thing for Rohbredden in the long run.  Not yet, at least.  But—as you stated—yours isn't the luxury to wait and see, nor would it be ours.  We have duties to attend to, and your duty happens to be all-encompassing."

"The windigoes you speak of—if I may add..."  Luna's voice interjected.  "...utterly dwarf the herds that your Equestrian ancestors dealt with.  Undoubtedly Verlax knew of this, and bred them so accordingly.  I cannot fathom that any of our previous measures in dealing with them would have a noticeable effect on the monstrosities that currently plague that continent."

"Maybe... maybe not..."  Rainbow gritted her teeth.  "But... but if I could somehow show the Rohbreddenites the truth... that these monsters aren't completely invincible?  That they're mere lackeys of Verlax that can be warded off through enough harmony and companionship—"

Pinkie Pie interrupted:  "Isn't that what the Rohbreddeners are doing now?"  She blinked.  "Getting along?"

"Yeah..."  Rainbow frowned aside.  "But at what cost, Pinkie?!"  She gazed skyward.  "Your Highnesses... the only reason the Tribes are putting their differences aside is because they believe that the windigoes are a punishment for their past sins."  Her brow furrowed.  "And that I am the manifestation of evil from beyond the Grand Choke!  Do you know what this means?  I only made 'Verlaxion's' superstition friggin' stronger!  Goddess forbid you should ever send an expedition east to the Seven Seas like you sent Cadance and Shining Armor to Ward!  The Rohbreddenites will murder any outsiders on sight!  So will the Kihutajans someday... at this rate."

"Perhaps, it would seem," said Luna.  "That isolation will be their strongest asset for the age to come."

Rainbow Dash hung her head.  "...that can't really be our one solution here."

"Rainbow Dash," Celestia spoke.  "Do not take our words as siding with Verlax.  We will never... ever condone the meaningless sacrifice that the Divine has made of an entire culture.  However, we care for these ponies and griffons just as much as you do.  Considering the circumstances that has established their civilization, it will simply be deleterious to dissolve whatever fragile stability they currently afford, especially with windigoes assaulting them from all angles."

"Given enough time, our civilizations can venture to make contact with them," Princess Luna said.  "And presuming that their tenacity will someday grow to circumvent their emotional and intellectual frailities, then—and only then—can we hope to bridge communication... and spread the warmth of harmony."

"Yeah, well..."  Rainbow grumbled.  "That's not gonna even remotely happen in my lifetime, is it?"

"We're sorry, my child," Princess Luna remarked.  "But it would be foolish to expect anything otherwise."

"I was afraid of that," Rainbow exhaled.

"You must learn not to blame yourself for the mechanizations that Verlax had orchestrated eons before your very foaling, child," Luna said.

"Yes, well... I should at the very least have tried doing something," Rainbow muttered.  "Am I the Austraeoh or aren't I?"

"And that is still a matter that we are struggling to fully ascertain with all of our alicorn wisdom and resources put together," Luna said.  "From what I can tell, it is still a cryptic issue for even your Herald friends to comprehend."

Flynn and Logan glanced up from where they trotted along the wagon.  Ariel sighed, gliding alongside Wildcard and Kepler above.

"If there is anything you must truly learn from this matter, Rainbow Dash," Luna spoke.  "It is to ascertain precisely what it is that Verlax thought she was preparing you for... and how you might be able to confront it with all of your gifts combined, much less just the Austraeoh's."

"That's just it, Your Highness," Rainbow muttered.  "It only gets bigger and bigger... ballooning, y'know?"

"I fear that I... do not understand..."

"Me neither!"  Pinkie blinked.  "And I'm all about balloons!"

"She's referring to the Quade, Pinkie," Twilight said.

"She is?"

Rainbow nodded, then faced the sky again.  "In the Quade, Your Highness, I did super cruddy things to free Fluttershy.  And despite all that I learned from that... I had to do even worse stuff on a larger scale to free Applejack."  Her ears folded.  "What if Verlax's trials didn't die with her, huh?  What if something or someone—Endrax or Tchern or whatnot—is just waiting for me to do something even more horrible on the Dark Side?"  She grimaced.  "And if that's the case... what could possibly be worse than what I've done to Rohbredden?"

Silence.

"I cannot fathom, Rainbow Dash," Luna said.  "But I also happen to know that—despite your most loathed 'transgressions,' you are still doing what you can to ensure the overall safety of everypony around you—and the totality of this plane's mortal population, by proxy of fulfilling the journey of the Austraeoh."

"Mrmmmff..."  Rainbow Dash rubbed her muzzle with a shaky hoof.  "Hearing you say that doesn't exactly make it any easier..."

"Nor did I suspect that it would, child..."

Fluttershy raised her head, muzzle scrunched.  "Is it just me?  Or has Princess Celestia been silent for a while?"

"Reckon it's a lot for a pony to take in," Applejack muttered.  "Alicorn or not."

Rainbow Dash lowered her hoof.  After a tense breath, she exclaimed:  "Princess Celestia?  What's on your mind?"  She gulped.  "You have something to say about all of this?  We're all ears... ghostly and not-so."

After a calm breath, Celestia's voice twinkled through the enchanted air above the wagon:  "Do forgive me, Rainbow Dash.  I was simply... intrigued by something I had sensed."

"Huh?"  Rainbow blinked.  "Don't tell me.  You've also got little sun-children of your own?"  She smiled bitterly across the Twilight environment.  "Maybe some dolphin-nosed 'solarians?'"

"I only wish that were so."  Celestia's voice took on a hard-edge.  "Axan.  Speak up."

Fluttershy and Rarity winced.

Remna merely glanced heavenward.

"I know that you are there, Divine of Flame," Celestia spoke authoritatively.  "Your ill-fated sister went to great lengths to hold Rainbow's flight for ransom.  I will not let you do the same thing."

"Don't worry, Your Majesty," Rainbow said.  "I know that Axan is here."

"You do...?"

"Yeah.  She's Remna."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "She's been in pony form all this time."

"Not through personal choice, I assure you, Sun Horse," Remna grumbled.

"Do forgive me.  Meditating on the chaos rift and... digesting this information is greatly taxing me," Celestia stammered uncharacteristically.  "How might such a thing be possible?"

"Alicorn magic!"  Rainbow Dash smiled crookedly.  "Mortuana did the honor of transforming Axan before her death—"

"Mortuana perished?!"  Princess Luna could be heard gasping.

Rainbow blinked.

Rarity face-hoofed.

"Think you might have missed a few key parts, sugarcube," Applejack said.

"Hrmmmmff..."  Remna kept on trotting beside the wagon.

"I... fear that my sister and I are experiencing a sudden onset of confusion, Rainbow Dash," Luna said.

"Alright... alright..."  Rainbow laid back in the wagon, burying her muzzle in both hooves.  "Mrmmmmmff... once more from the top..."
> The Twilight Dialogues, Part One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	For the extent of the Herald's journey eastward, the landscape was gradually sloping down towards sea level at a persistent fifteen to twenty degrees.  It made travel quite easy—especially for Logan, who was the pony that spent the majority of the time hitched to the wagon.  Ariel and Wildcard flew high above, performing reconnaissance—not that they needed to.  The flatness of the Twilight Lands left very little that was unobservable for miles in every direction.  The land was too rocky and the soil too thin for many roots to sink in, so the vegetation consisted mostly of sparse thickets of tall waving grass that peeked out behind every other boulder or stone outcropping.

Everypony's eyes had long adjusted to the constant cosmic array above, so that the perpetual night almost felt like a comfortable afternoon glow.  The naked constellations shone in purple and indigo glory, contrasting sharply to the necrotic grays and blues that made up the nearly desolate geography below.  Occasionally, there'd be wide stretches of glossy marble—polished smooth through untold eons of precipitous weathering—that would reflect the cosmos above with remarkable color... almost like sheets of glass peering out through sporadic carpets of vegetation.

Without room for crops to grow, there was seldom a need for farmsteads.  Nevertheless—when glancing north and south—the Heraldites could spot the occasional smattering of buildings or random trading post.  Fluttershy detected humble populations of ponies in the distance, but they were sparse at best.  All in all, the Twilight Plains made for a strange, subdued appendix to an otherwise lively and bustling continent.  The group nevertheless made sure to keep their distance from wandering travelers, and Twilight Sparkle kept her horn trained to the sky for wayward windigoes...

...when she wasn't carefully listening to the Regal Sisters' voices, that is.





"Onyxxus' name lives on in our hearts as a legendary and selfless contributor to harmony," Princess Celestia said.  "It is sad to hear of Mortuana's passing, but we're likewise blessed to honor her legacy... and our pride in her final act of sacrifice is that of immeasurable humility."

"Egads, Your Highness."  Rainbow Dash flew alongside the wagon with a smile.  "With a muzzle like that, I sometimes wonder why you'd ever hire ponies to write speeches for you."

"Rainbowww..."  Twilight groaned.

"What?"  Rainbow shrugged.  "She's still a politician!  Politician have written speeches!"

"I have... not enjoyed that luxury for quite some time, Rainbow Dash," Celestia's voice calmly said.  "Being stationed here at the sarcophagus, and limiting the spread of the chaos rift, has forced me to place all political and social burdens on my younger sister."

Twilight glared at Rainbow with a bitter smirk.

Rainbow gulped.  "Yeah... that kinda sorta makes sense... eheheh... d-doesn't it?"

"Needless to say..."  Luna interjected.  "...we are pleased that you have provided us with this development, Rainbow Dash.  While it is... most unfortunate to learn that Mortuana has sacrificed her immortality, it will no doubt bring closure to many of our eastern neighbors who—for generations—have pondered the fate of their once beloved monarch."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow Dash shuddered breathily.  "It would... uh..."  She brushed a hoof over her short-short bangs.  "...it would be really... really snazzy if you could spread word to Whitemane."  She gulped.  "I mean... unless they've already got some magical Sister-Sister connection or—"

"It is not our place to assume," Luna said.  "I will be pleased to personally inform Whitemane of Mortuana's fate.  If nothing else, the ponies of Emeraldine will greatly appreciate the gesture."

"Agreed, sister," Celestia said.  "In this time of great tribulation—where the future fate of the entire plane rests in the balance—it would benefit us immeasurably to spread harmony as far as we can... and make allies with all like-minded equines.  If nothing else, Rainbow Dash has made such a gesture feasible through her heroic influence in the nations that she has passed through on her way to the Dark Side."

"Yeah, Dashie!"  Pinkie Pie grinned.  "How about that?!"

"Yeah, well..."  Rainbow snorted.  Her eyes traced past Applejack.  "Not all nations have benefited by me east-farting through them."

"As we have discussed before," Luna said, "We will surely reach out to Rohbredden in time."

"Yeah.  Got it.  But let's keep things real for the time being, okay?"  Rainbow tilted her gaze skyward.  Her ruby eyes reflected silver brilliance.  "The biggest friend Equestria could possibly make at this moment is with the King and Queen of Val Roa.  In fact..."  Her brow furrowed.  "You want my advice?  Skip Luxmare and Xona altogether and just launch your harmony doves at Alafreo.  Then—together—Equestria and Val Roa can both... I dunno... 'geo-hug' Pilate's and Belle's hometown from both sides."

"Hmmmm..."  Fluttershy hugged herself in mid-hover.  "I rather like that idea."

"Don't forget Silvadel," Rarity remarked.  "Now there's a kingdom that—from the sound of it—could use a healthy dose of Equestrian harmony."

"I agree."  Twilight Sparkle nodded.  "And if Equestria makes friends with Emeraldine, then they can both work with the Darkstinians to restore Silvadel!"  She beamed at the others.  "Wouldn't that be absolutely amazing?  I mean... just imagine the libraries you could fill with friendship lessons from that alone!"

All the while, Rainbow Dash was peering down at the Herald.  Her eyes fell on a violet figure.

Sensing the Austraeoh's gaze, Remna lifted her head and squinted back at her.

Rainbow's jaws clenched.  She glanced heavenward again.  "Princess Luna?  Maybe... perhaps... you could get word to the ruler of Ward while you're at it?"

"You mean the Divine Sturke?"

"That's right," Rainbow Dash said.  "Just as Emeraldine would be honored to learn about Mortuana... I really really think that Sturke deserves to know about what happened to Verlax."  She gulped.  "And—what's more—what Axan has given up to help me."

Remna merely blinked.

"... ... ...that... can certainly be arranged, Rainbow Dash," Princess Luna eventually replied after an awkward pause.

"What's wrong?"  Rainbow's fuzzy ears twitched.  "You don't sound so hot about that decision... Your Majesty."

"Do forgive us, Rainbow Dash," Luna said.  "While my dear sister and I may be immortals with a wealth of knowledge and experience... some facts take us longer to digest than others."

"Like the fact that I'm shuffling along with a menacing flame matriarch stuck in the body of a bounty hunter?"

"Axan," Celestia spoke in a bold tone.  "The very last time either of us conversed, you had chosen to take a moment of neutral arbitration and use it as an opportunity to violently ambush the denizens of Sivadel."

"Indeed I did," Remna said with a cold nod.  "And for good reasons too."

Rainbow and Twilight winced.

"The equine mortals who clung to that land were a thorn in the side of my hatchlings, and your royal subject's presence allowed me the first window I had in ages for an offensive purge," Remna calmly continued.  "But—as soon as I witnessed the Austraeoh, the epiphany led to a necessary change in my aspirations.  Now, I pledge everything to assist her in her journey.  My life—immortal or not—is forfeit."

"So, it is that simple, then?"  Celestia's voice sharply broke the heavens.  "Just like that—you have reoriented your violent proclivities in whole-heartedly assisting Rainbow Dash when you once violently mauled her with no regard for her well-being?"

"Indeed."

A princessy sigh rippled through the starlight.  "Do forgive me, Divine of Flame, if my respect is not so easily won as Rainbow's."

"I suppose it would not be," Remna droned.  "Perhaps—instead—if I was your sister, you would be more forgiving?  I do, of course, speak of the grand monarch who betrayed you and every living soul in your beloved horse country, becoming such a dire threat that it necessitated her lunar banishment for a thousand years.  Tell me, Celestia, when the stars aided in her escape, did you or did you not choose to live and forgive her... 'just like that?'"

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at that.

Echo and Nicole listened intently from the wagon.

At last, it was Luna who spoke:  "Before our dialogue gets too passionate, allow me to state that the factors involved in Nightmare Moon's possession and subsequent exorcising are far too different from the infamy of the Divine of Flame to ever realistically compare.  Although I cannot speak for my sister, nevertheless, if Rainbow Dash trusts in Axan—or this shell that is called 'Remna'—then I hold good faith in the dragon's humble benevolence.  The Austraeoh's triumph over multiple adversities has destroyed any doubt that I could ever have held in her judgment, and I gladly embrace her allies."

"Well said, Princess of the Moon."  Remna bowed in mid-trot.  "Something we can both agree on.  Our faith in the Austraeoh."

"Then, perhaps, it should be enough."

Pinkie squinted at that... until she realized that Luna wasn't speaking directly to Rainbow or the Herald.

"... ... ...indeed," was Celestia's reluctant response.  "And—if it would please the party accompanying Rainbow Dash—we shall pass word along to Sturke, somber or otherwise."

"Thanks, Your Highness," Rainbow said with a nod.  "That would be really cool."

"Although, I am surprised, Axan," Celestia remarked.  "Are you no longer capable of sending word to Sturke yourself?"

"No, Celestia."  Remna shook her head.  "When Mortuana gave me this shell, she absorbed all of my draconian essence into the frame.  That also includes the Dragon Stone."

"Huh?"  Rainbow Dash blinked.  "Dragon... Stone...?"

"A gift... and a tool..."  Remna explained, looking over at Rainbow Dash.  "Something that was in our possession upon hatching.  Each of the Five Divines possessed an enchanted spheroid that we could use to communicate with one another.  It was what I used to communicate with Sturke throughout the entire time I guarded your eastward journey from afar."

"Uhhhhhhhh... okay..."  Rainbow Dash blinked.  "And what about Verlax?  Did she have a Dragon Stone?"

"But of course," Remna remarked, blinking.  "It was one of the many reasons that I had to sacrifice my draconian essence in order to assist you, Mortuana, and the Herald.  Even if I somehow abandoned my Dragon Stone altogether... Verlax's stone could still have located me."

"Instead, she used her frost golems."

"Unfortunately, yes."  Remna sighed.  "Also unfortunate is the fact that I had to cut off all communication with Sturke.  Her assistance—even abstractly—would have been priceless during these last few months."

"So... like... where's your Dragon Stone now?" Rainbow asked.

"The same place my body went," Remna calmly explained.  "Into the nebulous leylines of Mortuana's alicorn spell."  A fuming sigh.  "A spell that cannot be undone... now that she has perished along with all her harmonic essence."

"It would seem that Mortuana isn't the only one who's made a sacrifice on Rainbow's behalf," Celestia said.

"Very well said, Sun Horse," Remna's voice took on a gravelly tone.  "It is nice to know—after all these eons—that your insipid tendency to state the obvious has not dwindled in the least."

"Uhhhhhh..."  Rainbow Dash waved her hooves.  "How about we... uhm... change the subject to what's ahead of us and the Herald, huh?"

"Very well, child," Luna's voice rang.  "In the meantime, we shall make a note to update Sturke."

Rarity fanned herself.  "Egads... immortals are just as sassy as the rest of us, once you get used to them.  Hmmm?"

"I..."  Twilight Sparkle winced.  "...I've never ever heard Princess Celestia sound... angry before."

"Really, now?"  Applejack tilted her ghostly hat back.  "I rather like it."

"Truly?" Fluttershy remarked.

"Mmmmm..."  Applejack folded her forelimbs.  "Dun know about y'all... but just hearin' the Princesses voices puts me at ease.  Dun matter if they're happy or sassy."

"What about 'turned on?'" Pinkie Pie said, grinning.

Her friends were dead silent.

"'Alright, Pinkie.'"  The mare in questioned droned, floating backwards.  "'Get in the back of the wagon, Pinkie.'"
> The Twilight Dialogues, Part Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The wind in the air picked up.

It happened quite suddenly, almost as if the Herald had passed some invisible demarcation of meteorological significance.  Consistent gusts measuring upwards of thirty-miles-per-hour persisted in pelting the group's wagon as well as those on board.  For the first time since leaving Blue's Ranch, Logan had to struggle with pulling the cart evenly forward.  Flynn and Bard trotted alongside the wagon—using their combined strength to help balance the vehicle.  Remna—in the meantime—supported it from the rear.

Wildcard and Ariel could no longer perform air reconnaissance with much ease.  For a while, they instead chose to scale the atmosphere in alternating shifts.  When even this proved next to impossible because of the wind gusts, Rainbow requested that they remained grounded.  The group relied on Fluttershy's and Twilight's senses for the remainder of the trip.

The winds came mostly from the east, pressing against the Herald—practically resisting them.  Kepler explained that this was due to the proximity to the eastern ocean... which was—by extension—connected to the edge of the world.  The wyvern insisted that the winds would be more manageable once they scaled the waters.  The surf—however—would be another matter entirely.  Seeing as they were going to rely on Flynn's vessel, they had mana-powered resources to look forward to in stabilizing the ship.  Rainbow didn't quite understand how such a thing would be possible, but she didn't bother asking.  As she listened to Princess Luna, she kept her eyes locked on Yaerfaerda—which drew ever closer despite its erratic fluctuations.





Even then, the colors danced and wavered, never settling for any single hue for more than a half-second.

"And Verlax never gave any sort of indication as to what you would find at this 'Sixth Seed?'" Luna's voice asked.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.  She tilted her head, leaning an ear to the sky so she could make out Luna's voice amdist the whistling winds.  "She was vague, as always!" Rainbow lifted her voice so Luna could hear her as well.  "She insisted that it was... some sort of 'final trial.'  But how it could possibly be any crazier than all the crud she's put me through is waaaaaaay beyond me."

"Oh dear..."  Rarity gulped.  "I shudder to think!"

"Call it positive thinking," Rainbow exclaimed, "But I like to think that Verlax's influence stopped at Frostknife!  She was always anticipating Austraeoh to come from the west!  If she actually did anything to mess with Utaan like she did with the rest of the entrances to the machine world, then I'll friggin' eat this pendant!"

"Utaan?" Luna questioned.

"I believe she's out of the loop, Rainbow," Twilight Sparkle said.

"Yeah!"  Pinkie Pie nodded.  "Tell her she can join the club!  The loopty-loop club!"

"Errrr..."  Rainbow Dash fidgeted.  "'Utaan' is the name of the Sixth Seed."

"How do you know this, Rainbow Dash?"

"The vision I had at the Fifth Seed confirmed it," Rainbow said.  "I'm... not sure what it means, but it's what's waiting for me at the next machine world entrance.  That much I do know."

"In the old angelic tongue, it trranslates to 'beyond!'" Kepler exclaimed.  He clung to the wagon's side, holding his spectacles in place as the wind pelted him.  "I do apologize forr interrrupting, but I felt that such needed to be rreinforrced!"

"Yeah!  What he said!"  Rainbow shouted against the winds.  "Kepler and Mortuana kept a bunch of books at Wyvern Point that detailed some of the meaning behind old pegasus stuff!  Consider it the closest thing we have to a Urohringr Lexicon!"

"... ... ...was that a wyvern speaking, just now?" Luna inquired.

Rainbow blinked.

"Why, yes!  Quite so, Yourr Most Esteemed Majesty of the Moon!"  Kepler saluted the air with a tusked smile.  "And I am most blessed to serrve yourr loyal and trrusted trravelerr frrom afarr!  Ha Hah!"

"How very fascinating.  It has been a long, long time since I've heard the bombastic voice of a wyvern.  I had feared the entirety of their fragile race extinct from this plane."

"They almost werrrrre," Pinkie hummed out the side of her muzzle.

"I assurre you, yourr highness, we are most definitely still alive!" Kepler said.  "And as joyful as everr to explorre the intellectual lengths of this marrvelous univerrse of ourrs!"

"Indeed.  Your kind of enthusiasm has been sorely missed, Sir Kepler."

Rainbow squinted at the cosmos.  "Did wyverns once live in Equestria?"

"Yes, child.  And seaponies and sarosians a'plenty.  Our kingdom was once a great deal more diverse than it is today."

"Huh..."  Rainbow blinked.  "I guess so many folks got separated when Verlax forged the Grand Choke.  She had to get her Tribes from someplace."

"Which is precisely why it burdens my heart that they've been so terribly misled," Luna said.  "But we must deal with the issue at hoof.  The Sixth Seed—any way of knowing if it is situated over land or water?"

"Uhhhhhh..."  Rainbow stared off at the dark horizon.  "I'm pretty sure it's not on land, Your Highness."

"This, I can confirrm!"  Kepler said.  "Mortuana stated that an anomalous prresence of harrmonic enerrgy existed off the east coast!  She expected it to take on a new state of animation with the arrrival of the Austrraeoh!"

"So... like..."  Rainbow glanced aside.  "...could it have been underwater before I showed up to make contact with the other Seeds?"

"A verry rreal possibility, Rrainbow one."

"Great..."  Rainbow sighed.  "...another stupid tower."

Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled.

"No doubt Verlax anticipated this," Luna said.

"Oh.  For sure."  Rainbow nodded.  "She anticipated dang-near everything.  However... she's not my biggest concern for when we breach the coastline."

"My lost foals..."

Rainbow looked at Echo.  "I've heard nothing but cruddy stuff about Bleak's Plummet.  Supposedly the seas east of the Rohbredden coastline are just buzzing with sarosians."

Echo weathered a sigh.  "Pirates, robbers, and assholes—the whole bunch of them."

Nicole winced.  "Now you're starting to sound like Blue."

"Sorry Babe.  You can't have prejudice without an ounce of truth."  Echo looked at Rainbow.  "Not all midnighters are jerkaholics, of course... but the ones that matter on this side of the world will friggin' skin you alive."  He gulped.  "There are tons and tons of seafaring gangs who pride themselves on attacking ships, stealing cargo, and making life all-around Hell for those who brave these waters."

"How do Rohbreddenites cruise the waves?" Rainbow asked.  Her brow furrowed.  "Do they even cruise the waves?"

"In numbers, sure.  And the big... big flagships are waaaaaaaay too much for the midnighter punks to bother taking on."  Echo cleared his throat, glancing aside.  "However... a tiny, singular skiff in the middle of the ocean...?"

Flynn looked up from where he trotted alongside the wagon.  His one good eye narrowed.  "What are you implying?"

"We should have brought a battleship, that's what."

"I can't be that bad," Nicole murmured.

"No.  It's worse... at least for me."  Echo sighed.  "There are tons of midnighters out there who want me dead.  And although running into the same motherbuckers is slim-to-none... the fact that my wings are clipped is a sure sign that I was banished from Bleak's Plummet for a reason."

"Meaning...?"

"They'll kill me dead on sight, that's what," Echo muttered, causing Nicole to wince.  "Assuming they don't torture me first."

"That will not happen.  I assure you," Luna's voice said.

"Your Majesty," Echo began.  "With all due respect... these aren't your same fuzzy-eared protectors of Horseland that we're talking about—"

"Nopony is more acquainted with the ravenous heart of a sarosian than I.  You were born from nightmares to become something more... something wholesome.  But unchecked emotions of the night—much like Nightmare Moon's—can still be changed with enough harmony and focus."

"I hate to remind ya, Princess... but... uh..."  Rainbow gestured at her ghostly companions.  "The Elements of Harmony are more watered-down than soup at the moment."

"Beg yer pardon?" Applejack blurted.

"It's okay."  Fluttershy smiled crookedly.  "I like soup."

"How exactly are we going to calm the hearts of multiple, leather-winged savage beasts?" Rainbow asked.

"It is not so much about calming as it is about redirecting," Luna said.  "Leave it in my capable hooves, Rainbow Dash.  I shall be the voice of command and authority in this scenario.  Your friends—Echo and Nicole—shall be the avatars.  Together—with my magic as the vessel—we shall convince my lost foals to channel their passions elsewhere.  If these 'midnighters' seek to be warriors, then we shall give them something to war over.  It has been a very... very long time, but I do believe destiny is at hoof to realign these forsaken tribes into pursuing something righteous."

"Do you... uh... care to be more specific... Your Highness?"

"It will come down to a matter of opportunity.  But, indeed, we must prepare.  We will begin by channeling my energy in a concentrated fashion into your pendant, Rainbow Dash."

"Erm... h-how are we going to do that?"

"With much patience.  If what you say about the Twilight Lands and their cosmic heavens is correct... than this is exactly the window we need to give you an edge... on the edge... if you understand my impulsive turn of phrase."

"Hey-heyyyyyyyy!"  Pinkie smiled aside.  "Princess Luna made a pun!  I'm super proud of her!"

"Now you're proud?!" Twilight cackled.
> The Twilight Dialogues, Part Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	At last, the flatness of the Twilight Plains was broken—although not in the way that Rainbow Dash and her close friends had anticipated.

The arid state of the land gave way to an abundance of moisture.  Sudden tributaries broke through the polished rock, winding eastward in serpentine fashion—almost as if springs of liquid erupted from the geography itself, giving birth to dozens of spontaneous rivers that rippled their way towards the cosmic horizon.

These tributaries were incredibly, insanely shallow.  One's hooves could easily wade through the three-inch rippling puddles, and such was what the Herald had to do as they accompanied the wagon along its bumpy past.  The high winds didn't upset the "rivers," much—mostly because of the shape of the polished rock that surrounded the rippling capillaries of water.  The stone dipped in curved troughs to accomodate the tiny streams.  Gradually, as the brooks grew more and more abundant, they formed entire fields of inch-thick moisture.  Eventually, the group found themselves wading across shallow lake-beds lined with gravel and pebbles.

The gentle bodies of liquid reflected the starlight above—disturbed only by the movement of the Herald.  The air dropped noticeably in temperature.  That—combined with the gusts of wind—made for a very chilling trek.





This affected Rainbow Dash the most—seeing as she was trying very, very hard to remain perfectly still.

"Is... is it working, Your Highness?" she struggled to say.

A pulse of bright silver light emanated from a fixed point in the air just a few inches from her ruby lightning bolt pendant.

"Indeed.  It appears to be, child," was Luna's response.  "If what you say is true about the absence of a day cycle to interrupt our magical connection, then I should just be able to make this work."

"Make what work?"

"Shhhhh... forgive me, Rainbow Dash," Luna said.  "But this is going to take a great deal of concentration on my behalf.  I suggest that you speak with my sister for an extended period of time.  She will have to answer your questions for the present."

Flynn whistled from where he trotted through the shallow waters beside the wagon.  "That's some impressive magic.  It's hard to believe that it's coming from a spell being executed halfway across the plane!"

"It's Alicorn hocus pocus," Logan muttered.  "Are you really that surprised?"

"Mortuana was good at enchanting her own blood," Flynn said.  "But actual gems?"

"Rrememberr, brrotherr," Kepler spoke.  "That is no merre stone—but a surrviving piece of the Elements of Harrmony!  It is a trried and trrue batterry of alicorrn magics!  Almost like a smallerr verrsion of the Harrmonic Prrism!"

"Well, sure is prettiful and glowy!"  Bard mused.  "Ain't it a sight to behold, sis?"  He looked aside.  The Desperado blinked.

Nicole and Echo gazed straight at the silver glow, their slitted eyes wide.  Echo's muzzle hung open... almost drooling.

Wildcard stepped close to Bard.  He hand-signed.

Bard nodded.  "Dayum straight..."  His eyes narrowed.  "...like moths to a flame."

Wildcard hand-signed again.

"Hell no!"  Bard frowned.  "I'm not gonna poke my own sister!"  He kicked at Wildcard's feline flank.  "Get lost, ya mangy buzzard!"

In the meantime, hovering around Rainbow...

"Ooooh!"  Pinkie Pie cooed.  "Shinyyyyy!"

"It most definitely is radiant," Rarity hummed.  "What do you suppose that Princess Luna is doing?"

"Something to help Rainbow Dash, right?"  Fluttershy remarked.  "For when she meets the sarosians?"

"Twilight?" Applejack called across the ghostly group.  "Yer the smart one of the bunch.  Care to elaborate?"

"I'm Celestia's apprentice.  Not Luna's," Twilight said.  Nevertheless, she gazed at the glow while tapping her phantom chin.  "Still... if I could venture to guess..."

"Please do," Applejack said with a smirk.

"...I'd say that Princess Luna is imbuing the Element of Loyalty with her spirit.  Creating a magical link between her and Rainbow Dash."

"Uhm..."  Fluttershy squinted.  "Correct me if I'm wrong... but didn't Princess Luna already do that?"

"Right!"  Rarity nodded.  "At the start of Rainbow's eastward journey, if I recall the tale."

"Well, yes.  But she's using the connection already established between them to intensify the spell," Twilight said.  "If she's had an opportunity to do such a thing before, I suspect that the inevitability of a day cycle prevented her."

"What's it gonna do, huh?"  Pinkie Pie asked, tilting her head aside.  "Is it all about spooking the bat ponies we run into?"

"That's a crude way of putting it.  But... in a way... I think Luna might be able to announce herself to the sarosians on this side of the plane better by intensifying her magical connection with Rainbow's pendant."

"What about the other side of the plane?" Rarity asked.

"Huh?"

"Oh... erm..." Rarity fluffed her mane, gazing aside with a nervous shudder.  "Simply a random thought.  I mean... if the connection over the next seventy-two hours is made strong enough... one wonders if maybe Rainbow will still be able to communicate with the Princesses while on the Dark Side of the plane..."

"I... don't think so, Rarity."

"But could it be possible?"

Rainbow glanced at her friends.  Resisting the urge to tremble in the cold wind, she tilted her gaze skyward while the glow persisted.  "Princess Celestia?  Are you there, Your Highness?"

After a slight delay:  "Indeed I am, Rainbow Dash.  Forgive me for taking a while to answer.  The magical leylines surrounding Ponyville are... quite erratic at the moment, to say the least."

"I-I didn't mean to mess up your concentration."

"It's quite alright.  Please... I want us to take full advantage of this moment of conversation.  I fear that we won't have many more opportunities in the months to come."

Rainbow Dash gulped.  "Yeah.  About that.  What Princess Luna is doing here..."  Her brow furrowed.  "...my pendant is basically being super-charged with her alicorn magic, right?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes.  I believe her goal is to assist you in communicating with the sarosians.  I, for one, think this is a very smart move."

"Yeah.  Well... with the pendant being chock full of so much magic..."  Rainbow's eyes narrowed.  "...what are the chances I'll be able to talk with Luna on the Dark Side of the plane?"

Princess Celestia's answer was swift:  "There are absolutely no chances, Rainbow Dash.  I am sorry, but with the absence of a moon—"

"Yeah..."  Rainbow sighed as her friends hung their heads.  "I sorta... figured that."

"Our alicorn magic would be quite powerful indeed on the Dark Side.  However, our spells... simply cannot reach such a landscape.  It is a realm bathed in chaos and darkness.  The only piece of alicorn magic that persists on the Dark Side is the Harmonic Prism, and that has been locked away deep in the Midnight Armory for eons."

"So... in other words..."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "...and I know I've sorta anticipated this for quite a while now, but..."  She glanced skyward again.  "...I'm gonna be on my own for the entire flight along the Dark Side."

"If by that you mean that you will be completely devoid of any ability to communicate with my sister and I, then the answer is most unfortunately 'yes,'" Celestia said.  "Which is all the reason for us to rejoice in the allies you've made with Mortuana's Herald... not to mention Axan and your friends."

"Heh... yeah..."  Rainbow smiled tiredly.  "I guess I'm a lucky east horse."

"The time we have to communicate with each other is quite precious," Celestia said.  "We do not look forward to the interminable period of silence any more than you do.  To that extent... I have already instructed Spike to summon your closest loved ones.  While Luna spends the present time further enchanting Rainbow's Element, I suspect that now would be as good a time as ever to facilitate communication between your friends and their families."

Rarity squealed, her eyes instantly tearing.

"Oh wow!"  Twilight exhaled breathily.  "I-I was afraid for a second there that we wouldn't h-have time!"

"Isn't that sweet?" Fluttershy said, smiling.

"Well, alright!"  Applejack tilted her hat back with a smile.  "I sure as heck wouldn't mind givin' it a gab with the apple folk!"

"Wooohooo!  Yeah!"  Pinkie Pie pumped a hoof in the air.  "Bring onnnnnnnnnnnn Maud!"

Rainbow Dash smirked into the air.  "Sounds like everypony's on board with that idea, Your Highness."  She shivered slightly—only to have Ariel touch down and drape a cloak over her petite frame.  "Whew... thanks, girl."

"Anytime," Ariel said.  She blinked curiously.  "Good news from the Princess?"

"Only the best," Rainbow said, warming up beneath the blanket as the glow persisted.  "All things considered... things are looking up."
> The Twilight Dialogues, Part Four
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	They heard it as they crossed an interconnecting web of strings: the very first roll of thunder.  There were very few land structures to echo the rumbling noise.  The waters below rippled, calmed, and that was it.

And from then on—with agonizing persistence—the eastward sky shook and broiled.  It was made all the more haunting by a distinct lack of lightning.  When Rainbow Dash asked about it, Kepler explained that all the thunder hailed from "beyond the edge."  Rainbow and her friends took some time to contemplate this, until Twilight prompted Rainbow to ask Kepler precisely how far away the edge was from the shore.  When Kepler explained less than two hundred miles, even Rainbow Dash was alarmed.

"That's not natural lightning and thunder," Twilight said, stating the obvious.  Rainbow and her friends tried to imagine what precisely would be causing such loud noises to ripple westward for literal hundreds of miles.  Eventually, it occurred to them that they had never been near the edge of the world before, and what frightened them now was simply a preview to an epicness hitherto unfathomed.

To say the least, it gave the ghostly mares abundant jitters.  Rainbow Dash—on the other hand—felt a tinge of excitement that she hadn't experienced since landing on the western shores of Rohbredden.  Nevertheless, she kept her cool, and helped her friends focus on a far more pertinent conversation at hoof.





"And this year, I've found you a really good gift for Pie Sisters Surprise Swap Day," the monotone voice in the air droned.  "I can't give it to you in person.  So I'm storing it away for when you return.  So far, we are at two Pie Sisters Surprise Swap Day gifts."

"Awwwwwwwwww!"  Pinkie Pie squee'd.  "You are the bestest bestie older-middle-sistie ever!"  She hugged her phantom self as she floated through the air.  "I'm gonna have to do lotttttttttsssss of shopping at the rock stores when I get back!  By then—who knows!"  She smiled wildly.  "It might be ten P.S.S.S.D. Gifts!"

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat and spoke to the air.  "Your sister Pinkie's really thankful, Maud.  What's more, she promises to get you a bunch of Swap Day gifts once she returns to Equestria."

Pinkie gasped.  "Although, by that time, it's gonna be more like a buncha P.S.A.B.R.S.S.D. Gifts!"

"Uhhhhhh..."  Rainbow glanced aside.  "Huh?"

"Becaussssssse I'll have my body back, right?!"

"Well..."

"And that makes it an even bigger celebration!  Because I can hug my sister Maud again!  Which means I'll have to get her twice as many P.S.A.B.R.S.S.D. Gifts and confetti and—DUAAAAAAAH!"  Pinkie suddenly gasped.  "Omigosh!  Omigosh!  I've missed two Pie Sister Surprise Swap Days in a row!  That means I gotta do the dance and the song!"

"I'm sure Maud will understand, Pinkie—"

"Quick!  Rainbow!"  Pinkie made to grip her shoulders but only phased through.  "Do the Pie Sisters' Surprise Swap Day Song!"

"What?!"  Rainbow blanched from the back of the wagon.

"Sashay to the side while singing!  Quickly!"  Pinkie hyperventilated.  "The legitimacy of my Pie Sisterhood depends on it!"

"Pinkie, I-I don't even know the first thing about that!  I don't even know the lyrics!"

"She's asking you to do the Pie Sisters Surprise Swap Day Song, isn't she?" Maud's voice droned.

"Uhhhhhhhhh..."  Rainbow Dash fidgeted.  "...maybe?"

Twilight and Rarity giggled.

"Pleeeeeeeeeease, Dashie!"  Pinkie floated on her knees, eyes sparkling.  "Be a buddy!  Be a pal!"

"Pinkie Pie..."

"Maybe I can make it easier for you, Rainbow," Maud murmured.  "I'll do the lead."

Pinkie squeaked inward, her ears drooping.  "Maud... is g-going to lead?"

"Wait..."  Rainbow squinted into the cosmos.  "So you're going to dance and everything?"

Maud's reply was simply:  "Ready?"

Rainbow blinked.  "...as I'll ever be."

What pierced the heavens next was like a manabattery producing dull static in the shape of words.  "It's the Pie Sisters' Swap Day Sonnnnnnnnnng..."

Even Bard and Wildcard glanced skyward from where they trotted through the shallow waters.

In the uncomfortable silence, Rainbow fidgeted, then eventually blurted:  "Hey."

"EeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEeeeeeeee-heee-heeeee!"  Pinkie Pie squealed, eyes tearing.  She flung her limbs aside and hugged the closest thing she could—a supremely wide-eyed Fluttershy.  "Ohhhhhhh that makes me so happyyyyyyy!"

"Guh... mrmmfff..."  Fluttershy squinted through one eye as she was surrounded in pink fuzz.  "I'm... h-happy for you too, Pinkie."

"Ahem."  Rainbow smirked into the glowing air.  "Pinkie's tickled pink, Maud.  Well, pinker."

"That is good to know, Rainobw Dash," droned the voice in response.  "Now I must go."

"Awwwwwwwwww..."  Pinkie dropped Fluttershy and pouted into the constellatory sky.  "But we just started talkinnnng!  You got somewhere to be?  Is it the rock school?"

"I think Pinkie wishes you could talk more, Maud," Rainbow simply said.

"I'm not leaving.  It's just that they have very little time to speak with Pinkie and I think they deserve to have the leylines now."

"Huh?"  Rainbow blinked.

"Oooh!"  Pinkie "hopped" in midair.  "Who?  Who?  Mr. and Mrs. Cake?"

The silver light fluctuated.  Just then, two voices crackled into existence, both slightly raspy.

"Pinkamena Diane Pie... are you there?"

"Hello, Pinkamena.  It is... most agreeable to hear your voice once again."

"Maud Stone Pie has been steadfast as granite in insisting we have a word or two with you once again."

Pinkie Pie's smile slowly faded.  As her ears drooped, a breathy voice tapered out of her:  "Mommy?  Daddy?"

Fluttershy looked up with a silent gasp.  Rarity and Twilight exchanged glances.

"Pinkamena?  Are you there?" spoke a female voice.

The male voice interjected:  "She cannot answer us directly, beloved.  Rainbow Dash must speak for her in her current incorporeal state."

"I swear.  I will never understand these unicorn curses."

"It's not a matter of unicorn spells, dear.  Spike the Dragon explained such to us."

"Way to go Spike," Applejack murmured.  She tilted her hat back with a smirk and glanced aside.

"Well, Pinkie?"  Twilight smiled.  "Go on!"

"Say something, darling!"  Rarity insisted.

Pinkie Pie sniffled.  Her mane hung noticeably heavier across her shoulders.  Nevertheless, she bore a tearful smile as she lifted her head and spoke:  "Hi, Mommy.  Hi, Daddy.  I miss you..."

"Mr. and Mrs. Pie?"  Rainbow gazed at the stars.  "Pinkie Pie says 'hi' and that she misses you—"

"And-and-and I-I'm doing my best to keep everypony here plus Rainbow Dash super happy and super energized!"

"And she's doing her best to cheer us on..."

"And I miss raking the pebbles on the lawn and the rock soup and Holder's Boulder and making stone ponies for Hearth's Warming..."

"And... she misses a lot of things.  Like doing lawnwork, rock soup, Hearth's Warming, something about... a Holder's Boulder..."

"And... and..."  Pinkie's voice grew soft.  Her muzzle quivered, and she eventually murmured:  "I'm... I'm sorry, Mommy and Daddy..."

Rainbow flashed her a look.

Pinkie rubbed her cheeks dry, shuddering.  "I'm sorry if... if the parties were too much.  Y'know... mmmm... when I was little and I got my cutie mark and all.  You all liked your peace and quiet and... I-I just couldn't let you have it."  Another sniffle.  "Before we go to the super-gloomy dark side, I just want you to know that... in case you never get another chance to know... th-that I'm sorry."  She gulped hard.  "I've h-had a lot of time to shuffle stuff around in my fuzzy, pink head and... I think I get why you sent me to Ponyville in the first place."

Rarity and Flutterhy had their lips pursed.

Twilight blinked hard.

Applejack glanced at Rainbow Dash.  She very firmly nodded.

Rainbow cleared the lump out of her throat and gazed towards the stars again.  "Uhm... Mr. and Mrs. Pie?  Pinkie wants you all to know that..."  A deep breath.  "That she's sorry if her partying got way out of hoof.. after she got her cutie mark and such.  She knows that the two of you like peace and quiet, and she's sorry she didn't let you.  If... uhm... if that's the reason why she was sent to Ponyville in the first place or not... Pinkie just wants you all to know that she's sorry."  She bit her lip.

The reply was far swifter than anypony had anticipated:  "What malevolent deception is this?  We never would have sent Pinkamena away!"

"Indeed so.  The parties were somewhat taxing, verily, but if I recall Pinkamena left because Ponyville was the only town within a boulder's throw that had a bakery!  One that our cousins ran!"

Almost instantly, Pinkie's mane fluffed back out with a distinct balloon noise.  "Oh!"  She grinned, happy as a hummingbird.  "Well then, when I get back, I'm gonna bake you the most delicioussssss glacier cake with gallons of muzzle-lickin'-good icing!  Heeeheeheee!  You're gonna lovvve it!"

Rarity's eyebrows twitched.  Fluttershy rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Rainbow Dash?  Is Pinkamena alright?"

Rainbow sighed, then smirked into the sky once again.  "Better set up some appointments with the dentists, Mr and Mrs. Pie, because you're in for a whole bunch of cavities once I bring Pinkie and the gang back to Ponyville..."
> The Twilight Dialogues, Part Five
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	There was a town to the north.

The ground was too rough, uneven, and broken up by watery tributaries to ever possibly serve as a firm foundation.  Rainbow soon found out how the Rohbreddenites adapted.

The entire structure was built on stilts.  It stood like a massive boardwalk—with huge elevated planks of wood serving as a base for rickety houses and lightly-armored bulwarks.

The village looked very fragile—even non-mana-powered artillery could easily render the entire thing to splinters.  But—as far as Rainbow Dash could tell—the town was far too remote for anypony to bother taking, pirates or otherwise.  There was also the fact that it was situated along the western tip of a deep estuary—the deepest body of water that Rainbow had seen since the arid landscape gave way to watery capillaries.  As the Herald passed south, she could spot the eastern edge of the platform.  Several ramps sloped down—attached by ropes and a pulley system, so that they could be drawn.  The ramps connected with a dock where—even then—no less than four shipping boats were harbored.

Flynn and Kepler explained that there was a series of deep rivers running east and west along the northeasternmost part of the Twilight Lands.  There, several vessels traveled their way inland, carrying countless materials throughout the eastern quarter of the continent.  According to Kepler, the rivers ran as far west as to taste a sliver of sunlight before dissolving into the bodies of multiple mineral springs.  When asked about the strategic importance of a stilted community, Kepler answered that much fishing was done in a bay that had been pocketed into the northeast edge of the continent.  Still, for all intents and purposes, that town was as far east as the Rohbreddenites dared to settle.  To go any further would only mean baiting the midnighters of Bleak's Plummet.

Rainbow and the Herald had crossed the final line of Rohbredden civilization.  They kept their distance, laid low, and proceeded east across the many rivers.






"So there's this mare in Manehattan," Sweetie Belle's voice said.  "A seamstress by the name of Coco Pommel."

"Uh huh..."  Rarity leaned forward, ears twitching above a bright smile.

"'Uh huh,'" Rainbow translated, also listening.

"Oh.  My.  Goddess.  Rarity, I wish you could just see this pony.  Everything about her—from the way she talks, her speech, the way she does her mane.  She's got... how-do-you-call-it... a real 'foalita' vibe in both fashion and presentation.  It's super, super adorable.  You would love her.  Reminds me of how you enjoyed having Fluttershy model for you all the time."

Rainbow glanced aside.  "The buck does any of this mean, anyway—?"

"Shhhh!" Rarity hissed, waving a hoof.  "Go on.  Go on!"

"Ahem..."  Rainbow glanced skyward.  "Carry on, Sweetie Belle!"

"Anywho, we crossed paths in Trottingham the other day..."

"Oh my goodness!"  Rarity covered her pale muzzle.  "Trottingham!"

"My agent's landed me a deal with Royal Records.  I've already made two studio recordings... singing a cover to one of Countess Coloratura's ballads."

Twilight's brow furrowed.  "Who?" She looked at Applejack.

Applejack shrugged.

Sweetie Belle continued:  "The song hasn't been distributed yet.  This is more of a test to see if Royal Records can sell my voice to a listening audience.  Mom and Dad are super excited, as you can imagine.  Oh!  I'm sorry!  I was going somewhere with this!  Ahem... so anyways... while hanging out at this crowded cafe in Trottingham, Mom, Dad, and I sat at a table with Coco Pommel.  She was visiting abroad after parting ways with her former partner in Manehattan... somepony named 'Siri Polonius' or something.  Anyways, we got into a long, deep conversation.  Coco mentioned how she was a fashionista.  We told her how my sister is a supremely gifted fashionista.  When she asked what your name was, I just... flat-out told her that you're stuck on a voyage to the Dark Side of the World and back along with Rainbow Dash.  Well, Coco was instantly floored.  'She's one of the Elements of Harmony?!' she gasped.  There was no way we could change the subject then."

"Wait..."  Rainbow squinted into the air.  "Are we—like—famous in Equestria or something?"

"Are you kidding?!"  Sweetie Belle's voice cracked across the heavens.  "Everypony in every household in Equestria knows about the Elements and their 'voyage around the world!'  It's been the talk of the town in every town for nearly two years now!"

"Erm..."  Rainbow Dash squinted.  "...just how much does everypony know?"

"... ... ...how much should everypony know?" Sweetie remarked curiously.  "I mean... you're going on a trip to bring back Rarity and the rest of the girls, restore the Elements, and save us all from... like... super freaky bad chaos stuff, right?"

Princess Celestia's voice interjected:  "The... finer details of your adventures in Ledomare, Val Roa, and Rohbredden are kept safely in the company of Spike, my sister, and myself, Rainbow Dash."  A pause.  "And Princess Cadance's expedition, of course.  They're regularly informed of your journey—as they should be."

"Ah... okay..."  Rainbow Dash breathed easier.  "That's cool, I guess."

"Well, shucks, Rainbow."  Applejack hovered close by.  "I figured you'd be mighty pleased to hear of yer awesome adventures bein' shared among the ponyfolk back home!"

"Yeah, well..."  Rainbow gulped.  "Two years is plenty of time for awesomeness to perform a bunch of backflips."

"Hey!  That reminds me!  The Equestrian Sentinel has a weekly column detailing the westward adventures of Princess Cadance and Captain Shining Armor!  All of Equestria is totally enthralled with their voyage.  Probably because we hear about it on a more regular basis than we do about Rainbow.  There's even these toys and dolls of the Prince and Princess... and this song that everypony's singing everyday.  I was thinking of doing a cover for it if Mom and Dad would—"

"Get back to Ms. Pommel already!" Rarity snarled.

"Hey... uh... Sweetie Belle?"  Rainbow interrupted.  "Your sister's doing that thing with her voice... y'know... that super breathy, nasally angry thing that only she can do?"

"Oh!  My bad!  Right!  The cafe conversation!  Ahem... so Coco Pommel asked if Rarity had a Boutique.  I told her that—yes, she did—but... y'know... back when we all thought Rarity was dead, we sold the Boutique and all of its contents.  But we did keep all of Rarity's design sheets.  Coco asked if she could have a look at them.  And... uh... I-I know I probably should have asked for your permission first, sis.  But... I showed them to her.  And... and if you must know, Coco was absolutely flabbergasted!  She thought that those designs were some of the best things she had ever seen!  And... uhhh... well..."

"Yes?"  Rarity leaned forward in spectral space.  "Yes?  Yes?  Spit it out!"

"...she offered to make a whole line of dresses based on some of the designs.  Mom, Dad, and I agreed—but only if she gave the full rights to Rarity.  Turns out we didn't even have to ask.  Coco Pommel was already planning on using the proceeds of sales and design shows to help boost the Westward Expedition of Cadance and Shining Armor.  I wish you could see her at work, Rarity.  She's sacrificed so much... barely gets any profit out of it.  But Coco says it's 'all worth it,' and that she's 'more satisfied in designing than she has been in years.'  Right now, as we speak, there's an entire line of dresses being displayed in Upper Canterlot under the name of 'Rarity's Journey of Generosity,' featuring some of the most beautiful things designed in Ponyville.  I'm talking about the stuff that was used to wow Hoity Toity in preparation for the Grand Galloping Gala!  And then some!"

"Mmmmmm...!"  Rarity stifled a squeak, covering her tearful muzzle.

"The dress line is already listed in Fashion Plate's Top Ten Fashion Sensations in this year's Annual Cosmare magazine!  How about that, Rarity?!" Sweetie Belle chirped.  "You've become a household name in Canterlot for stuff you made years ago!  Out of your own Goddess-given talent!"

"Oh my... oh my goodness..."  Rarity teetered and wobbled.  "I... I think I'm going to faint—!"  But just as she held a forelimb over her brow, she squinted aside.  "Do ghosts faint?"

Twilight smiled.  "Knock yourself out."

"Eeeeuuuuuhh..."  Rarity fell aside.

Fluttershy caught the unicorn so that she lay draped in her forelimbs.  "Way to go, Rarity."  She leaned in to nuzzle her.  "We're so happy for you."

"Rainbow Dash?  What's Rarity saying?"

"Uhhhhhh..."  Rainbow cleared her throat with a smirk.  "We'll get back to you once she's done ghost-fainting."

"Do ghosts faint?"

"Your sister does."

"Hrmmmm..."  Applejack folded her forelimbs, glancing at Fluttershy.  "Y'know, once upon a time, that dang mare would always faint into my arms."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow.  "Jealous, much?"

"Nah..."  Applejack yawned.  "...just makin' an observation."

"If ghosts can faint... then they can fall into trees."

"... ... ...the heck are ya on about?"

"Don't mind me.  Just enjoying the lunacy of the moment."  She gazed up into the moonlight.  "You feel me, Sweetie?"

"Mwap."
> The Twilight Dialogues, Part Six
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	At last, the rock gave way completely.  The floor turned to pebbles and then into gravel until the earth was reduced to drifting islands of inert gray sand.  The tributaries in between thickened, growing deeper and wetter.  Shallow streams gave way to rippling pools of bitter cold seawater, collecting between the sporadic sand dunes of a dying continent.

It took greater and greater feats of combined effort to force the wagon past each liquid divide.  Flynn explained that—for the last few miles—the Herald would have to ditch the cart completely, share the load between them, and traverse the last remaining pools of liquid by hoof.  At the same time, the stallion insisted that it wouldn't be long until they stumbled upon his moored vessel.  Rainbow Dash pondered over how the stallion would remember where he had left it, seeing as the monochromatic array of saturated dunes before them looked the same from every conceivable angle—but she had too much faith in the Heraldite to voice any concern out loud.

Besides, she still had a lengthy, in-depth conversation to fascilitate... not to mention an enchantment from Luna to continuously receive.  As the wagon rolled for the last few lengths of relatively "dry" landscape afforded it, Rainbow Dash stared east, her eyes absorbing the gray malaise of dull sand and duller water reflecting a thunderous, starry sky.





"Oh, believe you me, there's been no end of excitement over here!" Mrs. Sparkle exclaimed.  "We're constantly having our ears filled with one thing after another to be proud of!"

"You're right, honey."  Mr. Sparkle's voice changed in pitch; Rainbow and her friends could almost envision the old stallion pivoting about to speak "in the direction of" Luna's enchantment.  "Between you, Shining Armor's experiences along the West Edge of the world, your sister-in-law's tales of Ward, and Spike's adventures in mastering magic—it's almost like we're living four lives at once!"

"In addition to our own, of course."

"Heh... but of course.  Granted... our careers in Canterlot aren't nearly as exciting in comparison... eheheh..."

"Just... hold on a second," Twilight Sparkle stammered, squinting at the glowing sky above the wagon.  "I'm still reeling from what they said about Spike.  Did... did he actually turn into a dog?!"

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.  "Uhm... Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle?  Twilight's still kinda... freaked out about the whole dog-dragon thingy."  The pegasus' brow furrowed.  "Care to run that by her one more time?"

"Hah!"  Mr. Sparkle's voice chuckled.  "I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's true!"

"He chased that evil unicorn through the portal and became a dog in a magical land!"

"A really tiny lap dog.  Almost like a poodle, if I recall."

"Hah hah!  So adorable!"

A deep, draconian voice protested:  "It was not a poodle!"  There was a fuming sound as Spike cleared his throat.  "But... erm... it wasn't exactly a labrador either.  Go figure.  Yet another cosmic joke of the universe."

"But... this portal you went through..."  Twilight Sparkle rubbed her aching head.  "...there were no ponies in there?"

"Hey Spike, how come there were no ponies beyond this portal?" Rainbow asked.  "Twilight's totally jaw-dropping over here."

"Well, that's beyond me.  Princess Celestia says that the portal and others like it are as old as they are mysterious.  They've existed deep in the bowels of Canterlot Mountain for as long as Equestrian Civilization can recall.  They were... probably used as gates to a trans-dimensional prison crafted by Starswirl the Bearded.  Like... try to imagine miniature pockets of a bottle-universe, constantly shrinking and dissolving over time due to accelerated entropy.  It's the perfect place to banish monsters, if you think about it."

"Uh huh..."  Twilight blinked.

"Uh huh."  Rainbow blinked harder.

"Yes, well," Mr. Sparkle said, "What matters is that a diabolical unicorn stole a very dangerous artifact and attempted to escape through the portal.  And—lo and behold—your brave apprentice ran in there and stopped her!"

"Who, again?" Rainbow asked?

"Sunset Shimmer," Princess Celestia suddenly spoke in a sad, melancholic voice.  "A former protege of mine... whose soul—sadly—has been twisted by an insatiable lust for power.  She fled through one of the portal years ago, taking refuge in this sub-dimension.  Then—several weeks ago—she returned through the gateway and procured the long lost Alicorn Amulet from the shadowy confines of Canterlot.  With a such powerful relic, she no doubt sought to control all of the denizens of her sub-dimensional refuge.  Spike gave chase, and—through much heroism and bravery—was ultimately able to defeat Sunset Shimmer and return the Alicorn Amulet to safekeeping."

Rainbow bore a crooked smile.  "And he did all of this as a dog?"

"Hey!  I can hear you snickering, Rainbow Dash!" the deep voice protested as Pinkie and Rarity giggled.  "Believe you me—it wasn't easy!  Still, it could have been worse.  You should have seen the... freaky creature that Sunset turned into.  Brrrrbrrrrr... nothing should ever be that hairless.  Well... besides a dragon, of course..."

"But... if Spike turned into a dog..."  Twilight's jaw hung agape.  "...how could he have gotten the amulet back?  Without the ability to utilize his green flame, he'd have no magical strengths whatsoever!"

"Hey Spike.  Twilight wants to know how you saved the day with no magic."

"Not very easily.  I assure you.  From the very first moment I landed in that crazy world, I was struggling to even walk straight.  Plus... it didn't help that a random police officer caught me and threw me into the local pound.  I was stuck behind bars for hours!"

"Oh no!"  Fluttershy grimaced.  "A brutal animal kennel in a strange, alternate world?  That sounds horrible..."

"How'd Spikey-Wikey get out?!" Rarity squeaked.

"How'd you manage, Spike?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh!  Heh... this is where it gets good!  I had lots of help from the other dogs in the kennel.  What were their names again... Lucky?  Cookie?  Niblet?  Anyways, it was as though they could tell I wasn't a normal dog and they helped me stage an escape!  Once free, I ran across town and snuck up on this local high school where Sunset Shimmer was using the amulet to... uhm... turn into this... crazy she-demon thingy.  Well, I pounced like the ferocious dog-dragon I was and wrenched the amulet from her grip!  The teenager never even saw me coming!"

Rainbow squinted.  "Teenager?"

"Eheh... long story.  Anyways, I took control of the amulet, and for a brief moment I was this... pretty wicked sweet looking canine dragon thingy.  I overpowered Sunset and dragged her back to Equestria where she awaits a trial for crimes against a magically inferior culture.  Heh... pretty sweet, huh?"

"Spike employed every lesson in patience and tenacity that you taught him, Twilight," Mrs. Sparkle jubilantly said.  "He acted in the name of Equestrian harmony—just like you and your good friend Rainbow Dash!"

"That's so... so amazing, Mom... Dad..."  Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath.  She smiled, misty-eyed.  "I can't even begin to say just how proud I am of Spike right now."

"She finds that totally amazing, Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle," Rainbow Dash said.  "And she's super friggin' proud of Spike.  Like... she's getting teary-eyed over here, the nerd."

"Pfffft!"  Twilight sniffled, rubbing her rosy cheeks with a smile of protest.  "I am n-not!"

"I, for one, am glad for Spike's indomitable spirit," Princess Celestia said.  "What he's done is the best for the kingdom as a whole.  Although I am not proud of Sunset Shimmer for her villainous actions, it is... a very good thing to have her back in Canterlot, albeit under lock and key.  Now—more than ever—I believe there may be a chance to appeal to her better senses.  The road to rehabilitation will be a long one, but—as her mentor—I will do my best to make sure she sees the light of harmony once again."

"I wish there was more time to talk about this, Your Majesty," Twilight said.  "I wouldn't mind getting to know more about this Sunset Shimmer."

"Your Highness?  Twilight Sparkle says that she wishes she could learn more about Sunset Shimmer.  But... y'know... I doubt we have the time for that."

"Indeed," Mrs. Sparkle interjected.  "I-I almost fear that we've spent too much time rambling about Spike, Shining, and Cadance.  It's probably for the best that we save the good-byes for later, along with the rest of the families, and allow Fluttershy her time to converse."

"Huh?"  Pinkie Pie blinked aside.  "Fluttershy?"

"Did I hear that right, Mrs. Sparkle?" Rainbow Dash craned her neck as the wagon jostled along.  "Somepony's come to speak with Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy sighed. "Of course not."  She smiled delicately.  "Mrs. Sparkle didn't know.  It's okay.  Twilight's parents can take all the time that they—"

"Well, uhm..."  Spike spoke up.  "As a matter of fact, we... do have somepony to speak with Fluttershy.  Well... some ponies, to be exact."

Fluttershy merely blinked.

"I stumbled upon them quite incidentally the last time I passed through Cloudsdale.  They heard all about Rainbow Dash and her friends and... they really, really wanted to have a chance to speak with Fluttershy."

Applejack hovered closer to Rainbow.  "Well... shucks!  Let's hear it!  Reel 'em in, Spike!"

"But..."  Fluttershy turned to look at Rarity.  "...who?"

"Ahem..."  Rainbow saluted the air.  "What are you waiting for, Spike?  The floor's open."

There was a brief lapse in dialogue.  Then three masculine voices hesitantly sounded off across the silver heavens:

"Uhhhh... Rainbow?"

"Rainbow C—er... Dash?  Are you really there?"

"Wow... this stone building sure is glowy..."

Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie merely flung Fluttershy a confused look upon hearing the voices.

Fluttershy's jaw had dropped.  Her ears folded back.

"Hello?  Is the spell working?  I... I'm afraid to ask Princess Luna.  She looks like she's in a deep trance, and Princess Celestia's trying to contain this dark flickering evil portal thingy..."

"Dumb-Bell?!"  Rainbow's voice cracked.  "Hoops?  Score?!"

"Holy cow, she remembers us!"

"Whoah... heh... guess that makes things easier."

"Confusion levels..."  Pinkie teetered.  "...r-rising!"

"Wait a gul-durn minute..."  Applejack floated up higher.  "Ain't those the thick-headed varmints who used to pick on poor lil' Fluttershy when she was at flight camp?"

"Oh dearie me..."  Rarity grimaced.  "Is it possible to hang up a lunar spell?"

"No-no!"  Fluttershy waved a hoof.  "It's... it's okay!  Uhm..."  Gulping, she floated closer to Rainbow Dash.  "Uhm... hello, old... old friends."  A nervous smile.  "How... uh... may I... help you?"

Rainbow exhaled, resisting the urge to frown.  "Fluttershy wants to know how she can help you dudes."

"Yowsers... ain't she a ghost or something?  How can she help anypo—Ooomf!"

The alpha male of the group cleared his throat, his voice rising the loudest.  "Hey... uh... Fluttershy!  So, like... all of Cloudsdale is abuzz with what Rainbow Dash is doing right now.  Heh... it's pretty killer sweet knowing that a pegasus from our cloud is single-hoofedly saving the world... and a former classmate to boot!"

"Heheh!  Yeah!  Hey!  Ask her how many awesome sonic rainbooms she's done beyond the borders of Equestria—"

"Shhhh!  Dude!  Shut up!"  Another throat clearing.  "We just want you to know that... like... lots of us are super proud of what you girls are doing.  I can't imagine it's very easy."

"No."  Rainbow muttered.  "It isn't."

"And... like... erm... we j-just wanted to tell you how... how sorry we were for poking fun of you so much when we were younger."

"It was totally lame of us."

"Yeah.  Real uncool."

"We thought we were big shots and the only way to stay awesome was to shove it in other ponies' faces.  But it was wrong and we're sorry."

Fluttershy bore a sweet smile.  "Apology accepted, boys," she said.  "I know that can't be very easy to say."  Her eyes darted over to meet Rainbow's.

Rainbow sighed and said, "Fluttershy accepts your apology."  She gulped.  "But... seriously... you came all the way just to say that?"

"Well... yes.  But... there's more."  Dumb-Bell's voice shuddered slightly.  "Like I said—Cloudsdale is all abuzz with what two of our finest pegasi are doing to save the world.  And... like... I dunno how we found out exactly.  I think it was something the purple dragon said on one of his visits.  But—like—we heard that none of Fluttershy's family members have shown up to wish her good luck or... or even say anything?  Tch... that's total lame-sauce, dude.  We figured that we'd... like... show up and bridge that gap, y'know?  Like... if you're cool with it, Fluttershy, you can tell us how you're feeling... and even any messages you might wanna give to your family.  I promise you, we'll spread it around so that all of Cloudsdale knows."

"Yeah!  Heh... we'll even nail it to the cloudstone doorframe of the House of Flutter if we have to!"

"Cuz what you're doing is truly awesome and we think Equestria deserves to know all about it... especially before you get to the Dank Side."

"Uhm... bro?  I think Princess Celestia called it the 'Dark Side.'"

"Shhhh!  I'm the one talking to Fluttershy here!"

"Well, technically you're talking to Rainbow Dash through Princess Luna—"

"Shuddup!  Same difference!"

Rainbow heard a squeaking sound.  She turned her head from the silver-laden argument.

Fluttershy smiled tenderly.  A tear or two trickled down her muzzle as she said, "Tell them... I'm game to talk about whatever."  A sniffle.  "And I think it's very... very sweet that they would want to do this."

Rarity and Pinkie Pie smiled.

Rainbow took a breath, then faced the illuminated sky with a smirk.  "Alright, dudes.  The floor's yours.  What would Cloudsdale like to know first from Fluttershy?"

"Whoah, seriously?!  We're not being told to scram?!"

"Woohoo!  Alright!"

"Yo!  Shut it!  Get a paper and pencil out, idiots!"

"Ahem..."  Spike's voice rose.  Rainbow could hear his smirk in his breath.  "I've got it covered.  Fire away."

"Oh!  Uh... sure thing!  Thanks, Purple Dragon Dude."  Dumb-Bell's voice rose again.  "So... uh... what's it like being... a ghost pony?"

"Very scary," Fluttershy said.  "But... all things considered..."  A tender smile.  "...I'm suddenly feeling less invisible than I used to be."
> The Twilight Dialogues, Part Seven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	After countless hours of riding comfortably by wagon, the Herald reached a spot that was completely unnavigable by cart.  The "land" had turned into a patchwork collection of mostly sunken sand dunes.  The moist ground beneath the puddles of seawater only threatened to sink the wheels of the vehicle, and the only way to properly proceed from there would be by hoof.

Flynn informed them that there was still a mile or two left to trek before they reached the spot where he had hidden his vessel.  So, working together, the Desperadoes and Job Squadders collectively unloaded the wagon of all their supplies.  They shared the burden of carrying the materials, with Remna, Bard, and Logan shouldering the most.  Even Echo and Nicole—virtually inexperienced in heavy lifting—offered their humble assistance in carrying a satchel or two of necessities.

The only pony not carrying anything was Ariel.  She played her part by flying ahead of the group, braving the winds and performing reconnaisance.  She flew back every now and then with a brief description of the topography ahead.  Right before the final shoreline—and the tempestuous waters beyond—there apparently was an uneven line of jagged limestone structures.  Even from a long distance, Rainbow Dash could squint and spot a hint of these knifing formations.  Kepler explained that Flynn had to moor his vessel along the east end of these rocks, for attempting to navigate the shallow channels west of them would have proven hazardous.  What's more, they provided safe shelter that obscured the location of the Herald's boat.

Rainbow Dash certainly wasn't about to complain.  She carried a relatively light load of provisions—if only so she could continue channeling energy from Princess Luna's long-distance enchantment.  The mare floated eastward, hovering just above Wildcard and Bard, her mind and senses engrossed in the conversation still being engaged.





"Mrmmmm..."  Applejack paced and paced in the air.  Her spectral orange figure phased through Rainbow Dash multiple times.  Green eyes stared hard through the sand and water beneath the trekking group.  "Where are they... where in tarnation are they...?"

"Be patient, darling."  Rarity smiled nervously.  "Spike said that they'll be here anytime soon!"

"Ain't like Apple Bloom to be late to somethin' so important."  Applejack froze in midair, blinking.  "Is it?"  She grimaced.  "Jumpin' jackrabbits... how much as my lil' sis changed over the past two years?!"

"Now calm down, Applejack..."  Twilight reached over.

Applejack hyperventilated slightly.  "What... what if... in h-her sorrow or my disappearance... she t-turned her back on the farm?!"  She gulped.  "What if my death drove her to live with the Oranges in the big city?!"  Her teeth chattered.  "Mrmmmm... that lil' hayseed always had such a fire 'bout her!  Reckon not even Big Mac could h-hold her back!"  She covered her freckled face.  "What... what if she's goin' to school to become a lawyer?!"

Pinkie Pie giggle-snorted.  "Oh come on, AJ."  She winked.  "I've never seen you act so... so..."

"Frazzled?" Rarity droned.

"Mmmm... I think 'motherly' is the term Pinkie is searching for," Fluttershy said with a smile.  She floated over and nuzzled Applejack gently.  "Just relax, Applejack.  You and the rest of the Apples are made out of stern stuff.  You should give Apple Bloom more credit."

"But h-how come they ain't th-there with Celestia and Luna yet?!"  Applejack gulped a lump down her throat.  "Maybe... maybe they're mad at me!"

"Now why would they be mad at you, Applejack?" Rarity chided.  "I don't think I've ever seen the Apple Family members bicker.  Not once!"

"Then ya dun know Apples."  Applejack pouted, forelimbs folded.  "We've got plenty of sour worms in us."

"Please, Applejack.  Be calm," Twilight said.  "Spike said they'd be coming and he's not one to lie."  She looked at their anchor.  "Right, Rainbow?"

"Yeah... heheh... sure..."  Rainbow spun to glare at the sky.  "Spiiiiiiike?" she growled raspily.  "Wherrrrre is Applejack's familyyyyyyy?"

The silver glow in the air distorted, capturing the curious attention of the Heraldites.  At last, Princess Celestia's voice rang through:  "Spike is currently... detained, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow's eyes flickered like ruby flame.  "With what, your Highness?"

Pinkie and Fluttershy winced at the tone in Rainbow's voice.

Celestia calmly replied:  "Worry not, my little pony.  Behold... here he comes now."

The leylines carried the sounds of a panting breath—followed by Spike's trembling voice.  "Sorry!  S-sorry!  So sorry, Rainbow Dash!"  The dragon's deep voice resembled its whelpish beginnings.  After a few deep breaths, Spike recovered in time to speak evenly:  "Just... uhm... a slight, last s-second delay.  Uhm... nothing to be worried about..."

Twilight squinted curiously, her ears twitching to the wavering tone in Spike's voice.  Rainbow noticed her friend's perplexion, and she almost said something—

"Get on with it already!"  Applejack floated up high.  "Is my family there or not?!"

"We're... uh..."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "...we're waiting on you, Spike."

He didn't reply.

Instead...

"Uhm... howdy...?" a mare's voice drolled.  It was remarkably deeper than anypony expected.  "Sis?  Sis, are you th-there?"

Applejack's emerald eyes shrunk to pinpricks and her ears folded back.

Fluttershy held a hoof over her muzzle.

"Oh my..."  Rarity breathed, her eyes instantly turning glossy.

"It's... uh... it's me, AJ.  It's Apple Bloom..."

Applejack's lips trembled.

Twilight smiled.

Pinkie Pie leaned in with a grin.  "Psssst!  Go on, silly filly!  Say something!"

"Uhm... erm... r-right..."  Applejack sniffled, then put on a brave smile.  "Howdy, Apple Bloom.  Land's sakes... you... s-sound as though you've grown bigger papa's plow..."

Rainbow Dash breathed easier.  She smirked into the silver air.  "Applejack says 'howdy' back, Apple Bloom.  She says it sounds like you've grown a whole heck of a lot."

"Uhhhh... yeah.  S-sure..."  Apple Bloom's voice cleared.  "Rainbow Dash?  Why ain't Applejack talkin' to me?"

Spike's voice interjected:  "Applejack and the others can't project their voices over Princess Luna's enchantment.  Only Rainbow Dash can see, hear, or talk to them."

"Oh... oh r-right.  I guess you d-did tell us that, huh?"

"It's... it's really m-me, Apple Bloom!" Applejack blurted.  "Remember... uh..."  She glanced anxiously at Rainbow Dash.  "...remember when at age four when I bought you that plastic sheet for yer bedspread?"

"Ah jeez..."  Rainbow winced.

"What is it, Rainbow Dash?  Is AJ okay?"

"She... uh... she's mentioning something about you at age four and needing a plastic sheet for your bed—"

"Oh for cryin' out loud!"  Apple Bloom's voice cracked, reaching a familiar, foalish high note.  "Applejack, ya ain't gotta prove nothin'!  I know it's you on the other side!  Land's sakes!"

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy giggled.

Applejack gulped, smiling nervously.  "S-sorry... the first thang I c-could think of."

"Goodness..." Rarity remarked, smiling.

"Applejack says she's sorry, Apple Bloom," Rainbow Dash droned.

"Heh... it's A-okay, Rainbow.  Just... shucks... she's really back, isn't she?"  Apple Bloom's voice shuddered.  "It's been outright torture waitin' all this long for her to come back.  How come she had to be the last spirit that got freed?"

"I... I don't write the rules, Apple Bloom," Rainbow Dash said.  "But—believe you me—we're all glad she's back too."

"What... what's it even like bein' a ghost?  Do you not have to go to the bathroom or—?"

"Oh for cryin' out loud!"  Applejack cackled.  "Forget me!"  She smiled, sniffling.  "Let's hear about you!  Let's hear about the farm!  Please... sugarcube... t-tell me everythang!"

"Apple Bloom?"  Rainbow craned her neck.  "Applejack's dying to hear about you and the farm.  Er... eheh... you know what I mean."

"Oh!  Silly me!  Of course!  Reckon it's mighty borin' bein' an invisible pony attached to Rainbow Dash.  Uhhh... no offense..."

"Heh.  None taken, girl."

"Ahem.  The farm's doin' great, AJ!"  Apple Bloom said.  "We made a record harvest last season!  In another year, we'll have enough money to buy the supplies for raisin' a new barn.  It should come in super-handy for all the okra we've grown."

"Okra?"  Applejack raised an eyebrow.  "What in the hay...?"

"Apple Bloom?  Applejack's tripping on that 'okra' part," Rainbow Dash said.

"Oh.  Oh right.  Erm... about ten months ago, we started plantin'' okra, turnips, and radishes.  But dun worry none!  We've got the land for it.  Ever since we've merged with the Harvest family, feels like we've got soil comin' out our ears."

"Merge?"  Applejack blinked.  "Are y'all sharecroppin' with the neighbors?"

"Applejack mentions something about... sharecropping?"

"You got that right, AJ!  Remember how you was always fixin' to work hoof-and-hoof with Golden Harvest and her folks?  Well, Big Macintosh decided that it was for the best that we share the crops and the profits of our two farms.  Apples are still our number one produce, of course, but we're also expandin' somethin' mighty fierce.  In about a month, we're gonna have our own store built right next to Barnyard Bargains that'll be dedicated to sellin' our stock.  Filthy Rich is movin' on to sellin' some newfangled mana-powered appliances, so he's agreed to let us to rake in full profit from next year's cider season.  You know what that means, right?"

Applejack sported a big, dumb grin.  "The Apple Family is startin' an enterprise..."

"Anyways, right now we're fixin' on callin' the store 'Apple Harvest Country Goods.'  The name is Big Mac's idea.  But y'know how he's always crammin' words into thangs.  I'm already talkin' to Golden Harvest about shortenin' it to somethin' like 'Golden Apple.'  Sounds catchy, ya think?"

In the meantime, a few steps ahead, Bard flashed a smile at Nicole.  "Reckon I like this lil' darlin's style."

Nicole giggled while Wildcard smirked.

"Them's some good... good news, Apple Bloom," Applejack said through a shuddering smile.

"AJ's totally on board with it, Apple Bloom!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.  "Way to go, girl!"

"But enough about business," Applejack said.  "What about you?  How are you doin', sugarcube?"

"But now she wants to know how you're doing, AB."

"Oh... uh... I'm fine."  The voice on the other end paused to swallow.  "Ever since work picked up at the farm, it's been... hard to focus on anythang else.  So Cheerilee's worked out a lesson plan with Big Mac."

"Lesson... plan...?"  Applejack blinked.

"Care to clarify that last bit, AB?" Rainbow asked.

"Nothin' to be worried about!  I'm just bein' homeschooled is all."

"Oh wow..." Twilight breathed.

Applejack bit her lip.  "Homeschooled...?"

"I still get to see Scoots and Twist and all the other gals every week!  So it ain't so bad.  Plus—when the lessons get super tough—Cheerilee shows up at the ranch to help tutor me.  I've been gettin' all A's and B's the last two semesters too!  And the best part is, I get to keep an eye on the farm and make sure everythang's in order.  Everypony's been so... so super helpful ever since Rainbow Dash left.  It's so amazin', Applejack.  You'd be super proud of everyone..."

"Reckon I already am..."  Applejack sighed through a smile.  "And Big Mac?  How's he doin'?"

"'How's Big Macintosh doing?' Applejack asks."

"Heh... why dun you ask him yerself, Rainbo—er... Applejack!"

"Oh wow!"  Pinkie Pie remarked.

Fluttershy floated closer.

Rainbow squinted.  "Uhhh... Big Mac?  Are you there?"

Applejack hovered in place, muzzle agape and breathless.

At last...

"Eeeeeyup."

Rarity and Twilight instantly giggled.  Pinkie Pie playfully punched Applejack's shoulder.

"Oh my..."  Applejack shivered slightly.  "...he sounds like he h-hasn't aged a day!"  After a slight jolt, she fiddled her fetlocks and leaned in.  "Quick!  Quick!  Ask him..."  The farm mare leaned in and whispered in Rainbow Dash's ear.

Rainbow nodded... nodded... then faced the sky.  "Big Mac?  AJ asks if Golden Harvest and her family are pitching in to help the two farms."

"Eeeyup."

Applejack whispered again.

"And... uh... now she's asking if Filthy Rich is still offering free plow maintenance."

"Eeeyup."

Whispers.

"Erm... the... the buck?—Something about vampire fruit bats?  Have any bats been causing... trouble?"

"Heheh... Eeenope..."

"Yeeehaaaaa!"  Applejack tossed her ghostly hat, only for it to fall back on her head.  She grinned a crescent moon.  "Sounds like everythang's fine and dandy!"

"You're making Applejack a super happy apple pony, Big Mac."

The voice on the other end chuckled.

"Oh!  Oh!"  Applejack smirked wryly.  "Ask him if he's met himself a mild-mannered country mare to take to the dance."

"Applejack!"  Rarity rolled her eyes with a smile.  "Honestly!"

"Oh come now, Rarity."  Twilight giggled.  "Sisters will be sisters."

"Do it!"  Applejack urged Rainbow Dash, stifling a chortle.  "Ask him!"

"Big Mac, are you smooching anyone?"

"Snrkkk!"  Applejack frowned.  "Not like that, ya varmint!"

"Heheheh..."

"Eeeenope," Big Mac said.

"Awwwwwwww..."  Fluttershy giggled.

"Oooh!  Winona!  How's the little pup doin'?"

"AJ wants to know if Winona's doing fine."

"Eeeyup!"

"And Granny!"  Applejack smiled.  "How's she's holdin' up during all this nonsense?"

"How's Granny Smith doing, Big Mac?"

Silence.

Applejack blinked... then blinked again.  As the seconds wore on, her smile dwindled into a confused deadpan.

Rainbow's brow furrowed.  "Big Mac?"  Her ears twitched, listening for a reply that wouldn't come.  "Is... is Granny Smith there?  Could we talk to her?"

More silence.

Twilight and Rarity exchanged curious expressions.

At last...

"No, Applejack..."  It was Apple Bloom, and her voice was breathy.  "She ain't here."

Bard and Wildcard glanced up towards the sky.

Nicole bit her lip.

"Then..."  Applejack swallowed dryly.  "Where... where is she...?"

"Where is Granny Smith, Apple Bloom?" Rainbow Dash reluctantly asked.

"She's buried with Ma and Pa, Applejack," Apple Bloom murmured.  "Just... just three weeks ago.  She passed... peacefully.  Said she wasn't in pain at all.  I... I really wanna believe that.  But... but you know Granny."

Rarity had a hoof held over her muzzle.  Fluttershy and Pinkie hovered limply alongside one another.

"Rainbow Dash, the Princesses and I thought of telling you," Spike's voice gravely said.  "But... well... we figured it wouldn't exactly be our place..."

Applejack's ears drooped.  "What..."  A shuddering breath.  "...what was...?"

"Does anypony know why?"  Rainbow Dash asked, growling slightly.  "Like... the friggin' cause?"

"Pneumonia," Apple Bloom answered.  "At least... that's what Nurse Redheart said.  Dun be mad at her, AJ.  She and the rest of the Ponyville doctors did everythang they could.  Even Zecora.  You should have seen the zebra.  She cooked up so many dang recipes to try and nurse Granny back to health.  But... truth is... she just... just..."

"She gave up," Applejack murmured breathily.  The mare hug her ghostly self.  "I vanished... I died and Granny just gave up.  It's all my fault..."

Rainbow sighed. "AJ..."

"She was happy, Applejack... positively overjoyed when Spike told her that you was gonna be rescued next.  I wish you could have seen her face.  It nearly brought the color back to her coat.  She..."  Apple Bloom's voice lingered, squeaked, then resumed tearfully:  "She passed with a smile on her muzzle, Applejack.  She said 'Everythang's alright so long as there's still an apple seed growin',' and she meant it, Applejack.  She meant it with her heart and her soul and... and n-now..."  Shuddering.  A sob.  "Now she's g-gone.  I really wish she would have held out longer so she could t-talk with you again.  But there was nothin' I could do.  I was by her side the whole t-time.  I... I should have been better encouragement or somethin'.  I don't know.  I-I just... don't know..."

The silver air carried on the mare's quiet sobs.

Kepler and Flynn trotted with their heads hung.

Logan cleared his throat.  Remna stared forward in her march, unfazed.

By then, Rarity and Fluttershy were in tears.  Twilight flung Rainbow Dash a helpless look.

But before the anchor could say anything—

"Ahem..."  Applejack floated forward, staring skyward with a determined expression.  "You best be translatin' this, ya hear?"

"Uh..."  Rainbow Dash coughed.  "Yes, Applejack.  Sure thing—"

"Now you listen here, Apple Bloom!"  Applejack said loudly.

"Applejack tells you to listen closely!" Rainbow exclaimed, eyes locked on the mare.

Apple Bloom's voice caught its breath, silencing the air a bit.

Applejack's eyes narrowed, chasing the moisture away.  "You dun more than yer fair share for the family.  Yer strong and yer an Apple and ain't nothin' gonna change that.  Dun be blamin' yerself for nature bein' nature.  Just continue bein' strong and bein' yerself and you'll do this family no wrong, ya hear?"  She sniffled, but kept talking straight.  "I'm proud of you.  Mighty proud.  Same with Big Mac.  Granny died lovin' the dickens out of you and ain't a day goes by that I dun adore y'all the same.  I believe in the both of you more than words can say, and when all of this is over I'll come back and we'll hold hooves like we ain't ever been split apart to begin with.  I know it's hard... it's hard for all of us.  But dun forget that smile on Granny's face.  She was smilin' because she knew in her heart of hearts that we was destined to be with one another again.  Apples to the core.  And that's what Rainbow and the rest of us aim to make happen.  So no more fussin' with the past, ya hear?  A shiny golden future awaits this here family, and dun you doubt it!"

After she was done, Applejack took a long breath.  Her green eyes darted over towards Rainbow Dash, tearing... pleading.

Rainbow nodded back.  Swallowing hard, she faced the heavens... and did her best.
> Ruby Star Shines the Brightest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Several minutes later, the march of the Herald had slowed slightly.  All eyes rested on Rainbow Dash as the mare drifted off slightly to the north, hovering above a smattering of sand bars flanking a crystal clear bay of salt water.  Ariel, Kepler, and Flynn fidgeted nervously.  The Desperadoes looked on in solemn silence.

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, drifting to a stop.  Her sad eyes were locked on an orange spectre a few feet in front of her.

Applejack paced about in midair, hugging her forelimbs together.  Her green eyes searched the saturated sand below in endless circles.

The rest of Rainbow's friends drifted towards her, their faces bathed in compassion.

"Applejack..."  Fluttershy sniffled.  She rested a hoof on the farm mare's shoulder.  "Applejack, we're... we're so so very sorry..."

"I'm fine..."

"Applejack..."  Rarity slowly shook her head.  "Be honest with us.  We're your friends, darling—"

"And do ya forget who yer speakin' to?!"  Applejack spun, frowning.  "I said 'I'm fine' and I meant it!"  Her nostrils flared.  "Y'all heard Apple Bloom.  She and Big Mac are handlin' themselves.  In fact... the farm's doin' loads better than it's ever prospered before!"

"How can they be prospering?"  Fluttershy said.  "They don't have you."

"Well they will someday!"  Applejack grumbled, pacing again in ghostly circles.  "Someday... I'll be right there by their side again!  Like I'm supposed to be!  That's what all this is about, right?  Gettin' us back to Ponyville?  Restorin' harmony?  So long as we're on the track towards that..."  She nodded shakily.  "Then it's all fine and dandy.  Enough said."

"No, Applejack, it's not enough."  Twilight floated towards her.  "All of our friends and families are in one piece.  But then for you to lose Granny?  It's... it's not fair.  You have every right to be upset—"

"If I'm upset I'll tell you, alright?!"  Applejack seethed and seethed.  "Just... wh-why'd he have to go and pick Ponyville, anyways?"

"Who?" Rarity asked.

"Discord, who else?!"  Applejack's nostrils flared.  "He had all the darn cities and maretropolis in the whole of Equestria to pick on, and yet he decided to sink his stinkin' teeth into a tiny lil' town that ain't done no harm to nopony!"  She waved a hoof at the stars.  "This whole dang world's got entire nations warrin' with one other and worshippin' false goddesses and murderin' innocent souls and Discord's gotta turn Ponyville upside down!"

"Nopony could have predicted where a chaos lord like that decided to strike, Applejack," Twilight said.  "And nopony was able to stop him—at least not at first.  Not even Princess Celestia or... or..."  The mare grimaced.  Her ears drooped back, and she squeaked forth:  "It's... it's all my fault..."

Rarity and Fluttershy looked over.

"It's... it's easy... so convenient to forget."  Twilight gulped.  "All of this."  Her moist eyes traced the stars.  "This whole journey.  This whole... terrible mess that we got Rainbow in... that I got all of us in..."  She sniffled, then cried, "It's my fault, Applejack.  It's my fault for making us use the Elements of Harmony when Rainbow Dash wasn't there to complete it.  And because of that... we died... and this whole nightmare began."  She hiccuped on a sob, covering her muzzle.  "I did it.  I murdered Granny Smith.  I m-murdered us all..."

"Oh darling..."  Rarity grimaced.

"Awwww, now now, sugarcube..."  Applejack sighed, crossing the distance between them.  "Ain't no way you can blame yerself."  She grasped Twilight's shoulders.  "You ain't the... the cogwheel in this whole... dag-nab'd magical nonsense machine that done hijacked Rainbow and the rest of us.  And you can't be goin' on carryin' the weight of this mess on yer shoulders..."

"And wh-who is...?"  Twilight sniffled, burying her face in Applejack's shoulder.  "Rainbow?  She never asked for this.  You never asked for this.  But me?  I made it happen..."

"Now stop that!  Ya hear!"  Applejack frowned.  "Fussin' over the matter ain't gonna make it any better!  We need to be strong for Rainbow Dash!  For our families back at home!  For—"

Applejack stopped in mid-breath, for she was receiving a very soft hug from a teary-eyed Pinkie Pie.  The mare hugged her from behind, nuzzling her shoulder tenderly.  Applejack gazed dead forward, blinking, even as Rarity and Fluttershy drifted in to join the collective embrace.  Gradually, her freckles disappeared behind a fresh river of tears.  The strong mare's muzzle scrunched, and she seethed and sobbed at the same time:

"Why'd he h-have to take Granny away from me?  She's one of the str-strongest mares th-that I know..."  Applejack whimpered, sobbed.  "If... if she c-couldn't last this long... then... then what h-hope do I even have...?"  She hung her face, wheezing.  "Oh Goddess... Goddess alive... I've abandoned them... Big Mac... lil' Apple Bloom... I-I pr-promised I would look after them always and it's b-been broken...!"

"No it hasn't, Applejack," Rarity murmured.  She kissed Applejack's ear then nuzzled her tight.  "You'll be with them again someday.  We'll all be with our families again someday..."

"Shining..."  Twilight cried.  "...Mom... Dad... will they ever forgive me?"

"Of course they will," Fluttershy squeezed Twilight while she leaned in to nuzzle Applejack.  "This is not our fault.  None of this is our fault."

"We're gonna make it, guys..."  Pinkie Pie sniffled, wrapping her forelimbs around the rest.  "...Pinkie Pie promise."

All the while, Rainbow hovered in place, her ruby eyes locked on Applejack's sobbing face.  When she could finally take no more, she wrenched her gaze away, spinning around completely.  With deep, fuming breaths, the mare touched down and trotted off, wading through the shallow seawater.

The Herald watched from afar.

When Ariel saw Rainbow trotting away, she bit her lip.  Sniffling, the mare flapped her wings to go and comfort her—

"Hold on there, darlin'..."  Bard raised a hoof, urging Ariel to stay.  A soft sigh, and the stallion said, "Best let her be."

"But..."  Ariel swallowed a lump down her throat.  "Can't you see that she's—?"

Bard shook his head.  "Trust a wanderin' soul."  His brow furrowed under his hat.  "Sometimes you just gotta let it all crumble."

Wildcard said nothing.

Nicole leaned into Bard, and the Desperado wrapped a gentle hoof around his younger sister.  As the siblings shuffled off along with Echo, Remna stood on the edge of a sandbar, her gaze locked on Rainbow from afar.





Rainbow Dash took small, tiny steps.

She barely disturbed the pocket of ocean water beneath her.  The liquid surface rippled, then settled, reflecting the cosmos above.  Rainbow came to a stop and—between the stars and their brilliant reflection—she resembled a blue body floating aloft in the chaos of space.  If anypony from a hundred miles in any direction gazed her way, the only sign of life would be the flicker of her pendant.

For a brief moment, she grasped it—the Element of Loyalty.  With one simple flick of the fetlock, everything would end and begin at once.

But Rainbow had learned enough about circles.

In a cold shudder, she fell to her knees.  Starlight rippled and settled, and she hovered among the constellations again.  Her ears still echoed with the sound of Applejack's sobs.  She drowned it out with deeper and deeper breaths... until her lungs could contain the pressure no longer.

Clenching her eyes shut, Rainbow Dash threw her head towards one half of the heavens and screamed for all she was worth.

It mattered very little, and she knew it.

After several seconds of the hellish exclamation, she grasped her skull and bowed low, soaking in the stars that had long consumed her.

> The More That Things Change...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Remna, the Desperadoes, and the Herald lingered atop a particularly lengthy sandbar—not really going anywhere or attempting to.  They stood close to one another with their supplies and packs, murmuring continuously in the starlight.  A tense hush hovered over the scene, and stillness consumed the watery patches stretching beyond that immediate location.

At some point, a yellow spectre phased through the collective group.  Fluttershy drifted slowly over the reflective waters and sand dunes.  At last, she approached her anchor—who was staring off at the distant limestone formations, silent and sullen.

"Uhm... Rainbow Dash?"

There was no response from where the mare sat.  Her shoulders didn't even shrug.

Clearing her throat, Fluttershy meekly went on:  "We... uhm... we've had a long talk with Applejack.  She appears to have calmed down quite a bit.  She is a strong mare, after all."  Fluttershy gulped.  "Even still, uhm... Twilight and the other girls took her... y'know... to rest... which is why they're not around at the moment... uhm... in case you're wondering why you haven't seen them over the last few minutes... or so..."

Rainbow remained quiet.  Her head nodded slightly, but that was it.

Silence.

"Rainbow... erm..."  Fluttershy fidgeted in mid-air.  She glanced over her shoulder at the assembled group in the distance.  "...are... are we going to set hoof east again anytime soon?"  She brushed her bangs aside.  "I mean... your friends are patient—of course—but... but who's to know if we're being followed?  By the Rohbreddenites, I mean?  Also there's the threat of windigoes and pirates and—"

"What's the use...?"  Rainbow finally muttered.

Fluttershy squinted curiously.  "Rainbow... don't you want to get to the Dark Sid—?"

"It took me nearly two years to get to this point," her anchor said.  "Who knows how friggin' long it'll take me to scale the whole plane and back.  Another two years?  Four?  Six?"  Her ears twitched, fuzzy and red.  "Assuming I even make it back at all?!"  Her partially grown tail flicked angrily.  "And just how many friends and family are going to die in the time it does take to get back?!  What will I have left to even promise you girls?!?"

Fluttershy gulped.  "Rainbow, Apple Smith was getting on in years.  We all know that.  There's nothing you could have done to—"

"You're right!  There's nothing I could have done!  There's never anything I can do!"  She spun around at last, frowning in the direction of Fluttershy—or, more appropriately—in the direction of Yaerfaerda.  "Oh, I can save the world, alright!  Or at least that's what Verlax believes... or Remna... or Mortuana or Whitemane or fart-all decides to talk to me at the next Seed!  But what's the point if everyone I've ever been loyal to ends up biting it?!"

"Rainbow Dash..."  Fluttershy flew closer, her eyes hardening into a strong gaze.  "You once thought that we were dead, but now we're not."

"Hrmmmff..."  Rainbow blew out the side of her muzzle.  "If you call this living."  She pointed at her.

"I thought that nopony was around back at home that cared about me," Fluttershy firmly said.  "But the words of Dumb-Bell and his friends proved otherwise.  I know that the trials you've been through have been stressful, but there is something worth striving for—"

"Yeah yeah, you know a lot."  Rainbow Dash stood up, nostrils flaring.  "But you have you felt it, Fluttershy?!  Huh?  Have you stained your hooves with the blood of all the ponies that needed to die so that this journey could keep going?!  Have you murdered or deceived all the souls that I have just to legitimize all this Austraeoh crud?!"

Fluttershy gazed calmly at the mare.  "Every time a living soul dies around us, Rainbow Dash, I feel it in my very core."

Rainbow winced.  She transformed it into a sneering frown, pacing off across the wet puddles between sandbars.

Fluttershy kept speaking.  "It's like my soul is being ripped apart every time.  For every Central Guard soldier... for every innocent Rohreddenite civilian."  Fluttershy took a deep breath.  "No, I wasn't there for all of the Ledomaritans and Xonans and citizens of Lerris, Rainbow Dash.  But you don't need me to tell you that if we argued for all of the lives that have been subjected to the tragedies of this cold-hearted world, we would get absolutely nowhere.  And what is your mission if not to bring a lively flame back to this dead, forsaken shell that lurks beneath the hooves of all of us?"

"I don't see it, Fluttershy..."  Rainbow grumbled, heaved.  "I don't feel it.  It's all too big..."  Her legs shook beneath her.  "It's all so friggin' big..."

"It's not stopped you before.  That's what makes you so awesome, Rainbow Dash.  Your loyalty is the best.  You are the best... and you are better than this very moment... no matter how much it's tearing you apart." Fluttershy said.  She then gulped, her eyes watering.  "I'm... I'm sad for Applejack.  I really am.  But even so... I-I can't imagine I could ever feel as sad for her as you feel... as you have felt..."

"Would you like to?"

Fluttershy blinked at that.

"You know what friggin' kills me?"  Rainbow turned until Fluttershy caught her angry, fuming profile.  "For so many months... for so many miserable months I obsessed over her... a mare that I never had the friggin' guts to share my feelings with.  She died, Fluttershy.  And for as long as I could remember... I defined myself—my every action and my every choice—by what she would do and how she would think of me for doing it."  She gulped.  "I crossed miles and miles... and I accomplished so much... and I finally... finally got over her.  And how does this stinkin' world reward me?  Reward her?"

Fluttershy gulped.  "We believe in you, Rainbow Dash.  I know that you'll get us through all of this—"

"But I still won't bring Applejack her grandmother back!"  Rainbow Dash spun.  "Rrrrrrrrrrgh!"  And she kicked the ground as hard as she could.

Salt water splashed sky high, then sprinkled the sandbars surrounding her.  A few members of the Herald squirmed in the distance as the group went dead silent.  Remna stared from a distance, unflinching.

Rainbow fell on her knees, soaking in the rippling waters.  As she caught her panting breaths, the reflected starlight once again settled around her.

Fluttershy finished weathering a deep breath.  "Doing nothing will bring nopony back," Fluttershy said.  "And you're not a mare to do nothing—"

"I know."  Rainbow shuddered.  "I know.  Believe me, Fluttershy..."  She sniffled.  "I know.  It's just... it's just s-so heavy..."  He fought a lump in her throat, eyes watering.  "I... I wish I could go turn back time... b-become the old daredevilish mare wh-who loved adventure and wasn't afraid of anything.  But... but I-I can't, Fluttershy.  There's so many horrible and beautiful things now.  It's all b-become so heavy... it's become so heavy and sometimes I-I don't even know what keeps me going..."

"You're growing," Fluttershy said.  "We all are.  But most importantly... we're together."  She bore a tender smile.  "Shake your angry hoof at the 'destiny' of Austraeoh all you want, but do you really honestly think you'd be managing yourself so well if Applejack, Twilight, and the rest of us weren't by your side at this point?"

Rainbow Dash flashed her a look.  She panted... sniffling.  A heavy gulp, and she murmured:  "It'd be a lot... awesomer if I c-could just hug you guys..."

Fluttershy drifted down until she was hovering directly in front of the mare.  "That time will come, Rainbow.  But only if you make the next step."

Rainbow clenched her eyes tightly shut.  Tears brimmed along the edges.  "Can't... mrmmmfff... friggin' believe I never ever..."  She clenched her teeth.  "Back in Ponyville... when we were together... really together..."

"Shhhh..."  Fluttershy leaned in and spoke past Rainbow's ear.  "We are together.  And there's nothing to fret, Rainbow Dash."  She smiled delicately.  "Your love is the strongest thing I've ever known.  There's nothing you have to prove.  Not anymore."

Rainbow sucked her breath in.  She opened her eyes, staring tearfully across the starry horizons.

Fluttershy tilted her head to the side.  "And as for Applejack... it's never too late to tell her—"

"It doesn't matter anymore."

Fluttersy raised an eyebrow.

"I... I was over her long ago," Rainbow muttered.  "Roarke..."  A shudder.  "It's taken a lot of thought.  But... well... you know..."

Fluttershy nodded.  "And yet, could you even blame yourself for old feelings resurfacing?"

Rainbow sighed, gazing down at the waters beneath them.  "I'm scared of that."

"What for?"

Rainbow didn't answer.

"Well..."  Fluttershy lifted up slightly.  "If you ever doubt yourself, I happen to know of a very... very reliable lie detector whom you can speak to."

Rainbow looked up.

Fluttershy winked.  "Now, who's a brave pony?"

Rainbow cleared her throat.  Flapping her wings, she finally lifted herself up out of the muck.  "I think... I'll pursue Yaerfaerda for a while."

Fluttershy giggled.  "Oh Rainbow Dash.  You change... and yet you never do."

"Hmmmmm..."  Rainbow barely nodded.  The hint of a devilish smirk flickered across her tired features.  More like a shadow.
> What's In a Name, Honestly?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow and the Herald trotted east... more like trudged.

Although ditching the wagon was a necessary practicality, it meant that the group had to labor all the more with the weight of the items that they were carrying eastward.  This was made all the more taxing by the multiple pockets of water they had to wade through—some of which lapped up to their necks.

Remna, naturally, was unaffected.  As the trek wore on, she found herself involuntarily bearing more and more of the collective weight of the provisions.  It almost became a game—with the Herald stacking more and more items atop her violet flank to see if she'd topple over.  She never did.  Flynn and Logan had a good snicker, much to the "bounty hunter's" mute chagrin.

The winds died down—mostly because they were being blockaded by the limestone formations above.  From where Rainbow Dash hovered, she could spot bigger and bigger bodies of water opening up to a grand, undulating ocean.  The thunder in the starry heavens grew louder and louder, even though Rainbow still couldn't spot a single flicker of lightning as the source.

This—apparently—was a good enough excuse for Ariel and Wildcard to take wing.  The two performed some risky reconnaissance.  Eventually, they flew back, reporting that they had caught sight of a remarkably tall chunk of limestone that was forked at its peak.  At first, Rainbow didn't understand the significance of this, but it nevertheless brought a loud cheer of joy from Flynn.  Pretty soon, the balding unicorn was galloping ahead of the group, splashing salt-water puddles in every direction as he approached the peculiar formation off in the distance.





"I give up," Echo droned, trotting alongside Nicole and Bard.  "Is there a special 'End of the World' sale on pocket protectors?"

"Hey!  Nerd turd!"  Logan hollered.  The stallion carried half as much weight as Remna, requiring him to avoid the deepest of puddles.  "Where you running off to?!"

"What do you think?!"  Flynn jubilantly proclaimed, scampering towards the limestone formation and a noticeably deep estuary residing next to it.

Fwooosh!  Ariel flew down next to Rainbow Dash.  "This can't be it, can it?"  Rainbow merely shrugged.

"We cerrtainly have jourrneyed farr enough," Kepler said.  "This is the spot on the map as well!"

Wildcard hand-signed.

"Uhhhhh..."  Bard cleared his throat and translated.  "Dubya's reminding us that it has been an awful long set of years since you left the dayum dinghy here, Flynn!"  The cowcolt tilted his hat back, revealing a nervous squint.  "Ya reckon moisture and weatherin' haven't led us to the wrong rock?"

"No!  This is it, alright!  I'm sensing the leylines of the old crystalline marker I left here!"  Flynn paused only once to glare back at the group.  "And it's not a dinghy!"

"Is it even anything?!"  Ariel shrugged, gesturing at the narrow strip of barren rock stretched out between them and the bodies of water.  "I don't see any boat!"

"Because you're not supposed to!"  Flynn hollered back.  "Behold!"  Licking his lips, the one-eyed stallion aimed his horn at the rock.  Not long after, a beam of mana flickered between his cranium and the limestone.  Within seconds...

Fwooooomp!  A length of burlap camouflage magically deflated.  In the next breath, Flynn telekinetically tugged the material away—tossing it aside like a waiter might yank a stretch of brown table-cloth.  Doing so revealed the slate-gray metal hull of a modest vessel moored in the shadow of the limestone structure.  The boat stretched no less than forty feet from bow to stern, and already Rainbow Dash could spot a two-deck cabin situated at the vessel's rear.  Dull crystalline pylons loomed along the stern—which Rainbow could only guess was some means of mana-driven propulsion.

Grinning wide, Flynn spun to face the Desperados and Job Squadders in turn.  "Ta-daaaaa!"

"Wow..."  Remna droned.

Logan flashed her a look.  "You're actually impressed?"

"No."

"Hmmmff..."  Logan.  "Dammit.  Don't make yourself likeable."

"This is it?" Ariel's voice cracked.  "Can it even fit all of us?"

"Uh... it'll be a bit tight, but you b-bet!"  Flynn cleared his throat, glancing at Echo and Nicole.  "I wasn't... exactly expecting extra company, but we'll do!"

"Hrmmmf... that's right."  Nicole blew some bangs out from before her fanged muzzle.  "Blame the bat ponies."

Echo winked at her.  "Now you're learning."

Wildcard gestured with a smirk.

"Dubya's got a point."  Bard shuffled up through the shallow waters flanking the dunes.  "We can't just call it 'the boat.'  It's mite bit unlucky to go off cruisin' without namin' the thang."

"Ha!"  Flynn pointed with a bright grin.  "Way ahead of you!"  He summoned a light spell through his horn and pointed at a stretch of words along the ship's hull.  "Check it!"

Ariel flew up close, squinting.  "... ... ...'Stardust?'"

"Whoops!  Uhm..."  Flynn reached out and brushed off some dark smudges towards the left.  "There we go!"

"'Princess Stardust?'" Logan droned, eyebrow raised.

"Well... y-yeah!"  Flynn fidgeted in the waters.  "I... uh... I was a lot younger at the time.  Eheh."

"You were high is what you mean," Echo said.  Logan reached out to fist-bump the sarosian.

"Hey!"  Flynn folded his forelimbs, his mechanical eye re-focusing above a pout.  "It's my ship!  I get to name it!"

"Don't worry, dude."  Rainbow smirked.  "If there's anything I learned from my travels, it's the ponies that you put inside a ship that make it awesome."  She turned towards Remna.  "Alright.  Let's go."

Remna nodded.  "You heard the Austraeoh!" she shouted in a loud, draconian voice, matching the thunder.  "Load it up!  Shove it off!"
> Well At Least It Floats
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The deck of the Princess Stardust was much wider than Rainbow Dash had anticipated.  She touched down in the very center, gazing at the slate gray metal planks covering the surface of the vessel.  Many of the rivets had long rusted, and the second story cabin that stuck out of the stern was roughly hewn together out of raw, industrial metals.  The vessel didn't even have a coat of paint, and judging from the dense materials making up the bulk of the ship, Rainbow pondered how the thing could still remain afloat.

"It's not exactly... uhm..."  Rainbow tongued the inside of her muzzle.  "...inspiring, is it?"

"Mrmmmff!"  Flynn touched down on the deck, dropping his saddlebags.  He flashed her a sweaty glance, brow raised over his natural eye.  "Since when was the Austraeoh a big critic on seafaring?"

"More like 'skyfaring,'" Rainbow Dash droned, ruby eyes traveling across the lengths of the simple watercraft.  "Forgive me, buddy.  I guess it's just that... after spending months on the most badflank skystone manaship known to ponydom... nothing can ever compete."

"Heh... yeah..."  Swooosh!  Ariel landed, laying a few satchels beside the gray cabin doors at the rear.  "I bet anything with a hull must have felt lame to you ever since."

"Mmmmmmm... no..."  Rainbow's ears twitched as she gazed towards the star-lit waters.  "Nick's trimaran, the Swan Song, was pretty dang smexxy, if I do say so myself."

"Mrmmmff... grnnngh..."  Logan hissed and sputtered, eventually pulling his obese self up onto the main deck.  "Yeah, well, I guess that makes Flynn's dinghy a regular chastity device."

"Look."  Flynn frowned.  "It's practical.  Alright?!  Besides..."  He tossed what was left of his mane.  "Do you really wanna be sailing on a shiny, sparkly cruise ship at this point?  We sure as Hell can't afford to attract any Rohbreddenite attention."

Bard landed with Echo in his grasp..  "He's got a point, y'all.  Besides..."  He smirked.  "Any boat in a storm, right?"

"I believe the terminology is 'port,' Johnny," Nicole said, hovering above.  "...or is it pontoon?"

"Mrmmff..."  Flynn rolled his good eye and proceeded to unlock the doors to the cabin.  "Land lubbers."

"Well!"  Kepler landed with his belongings.  "We most cerrtainly have a storrm ahead!  An endless storrm!"  He smiled through his tusks.  "And, quite frrankly, dearr frriends, I cannot fathom a betterr vessel to trraverrse such uncerrtain waterrs than ourr verry own brrotherr Flynn's!"

"Yeesh..."  Logan rolled his eyes with a smirk.  "You'd think with  such pointy tusks, he'd know better than to attempt sucking up."  He turned and hollered over the port side.  "Lob 'em up, ya fuzzy lizard!"

Three heavy satchels flew up and into Logan's strong grasp.  "Do not assume that you can afford such an attitude in all situations, mortal," Remna's voice echoed from below.

"You can kill me when I'm dead," Logan said.  Wildcard flew up and assisted him in shuffling and reorganizing the supplies on deck.

"Well..."  Nicole gulped, then smiled.  "At least it has a pretty name."

"Won't get any complaints out of me," Rainbow Dash murmured.  "Princesses are good for luck."

"Among other things," Ariel said.

"Hold it in, girl."  Rainbow turned to face Flynn.  "I gotta ask, though..."  Her brow furrowed.  "This ship seems super heavy.  How exactly does it... y'know... go?"

Cl-Clank!  "Hah!"  With a victorious grin, Flynn unlocked the cabin and slid the noisy metal doors open.  "Come right inside and I'll show you!"  He motioned for the mare.

Rainbow Dash followed Flynn as the two shuffled into the dark hold of the cabin.





The interior was just as sparse and simple on the inside as it was on the outside.  Rainbow could now see why the Herald was so desperate for supplies.  The vessel's hold was barren—which was likely a good thing.  Rainbow still couldn't make out just how long the craft had been moored in hiding.  Anything that would have been stored away would very likely have spoiled years ago.

Despite its long abandonment, the utter bleakness of the waterscape outsided afforded little to no infestation.  Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief to not encounter a single cobweb.  Flynn's horn  illuminated the geometric interiors and crossbeams of the cabin's upper floor.  They passed through what appeared to be a bulkhead that had been blowtorched open, exposing a spacious chamber that normally—Rainbow assumed—would not have been accessible in the original factory model of the craft.

"It really looks like this thing came off an assembly line," Rainbow remarked.

"You would be right," Flynn said, his breath still tingling with a pinch of pride.  "This was originally a dredge coal mining ship, used for hauling raw ore all across the western and southern prefectures."

"Uhhhhhhhh..."  Rainbow Dash suddenly winced, gazing nervously at all of the dark recesses of the cabin.  "Should... sh-should we really be talking and breathing down here, then?!"

"Pffft.  Relax."  Flynn waved a hoof.  "I've put this baby through several manasweeps since then.  It's cleaner than a honeymoon bidet."

"Cute."  Rainbow squinted at a series of dull crystals lined up—three in total—and embedded into the rearmost wall of the top cabin chamber.  "Is... is that the propulsion?"

"It wasn't originally," Flynn said.  "This whole compartment we're standing in used to be the housing chamber for a huge steam engine.  I... uh... modified it.  Sliced a bunch of metal barricades.  Ripped some of the guts out.  And... eureka!"  He pointed at the crystals.  "I replaced all of the unnecessary oily gizmos with squeaky clean manabatteries!"

"And that's gonna push us through Bleak's Plummet and beyond?"

"I promise you—it's got enough juice in it."  Flynn winked his good eye.  "We're not talking about a full trip around the Rohbredden continent.  And besides..."  He cleared his throat.  "It's not like we can ride the Stardust to the Dark Side."

"Isn't it... like... all water, though?"

"Not... exactly..."  Flynn cleared his throat.  "The waters of the ocean that reach the Dark Side are jettisoned outward into the ether by chaotic forces, then returned to precipitate over much of this part of the plane."

"Yeesh.  Trippy."

"Wait until you actually see it," Flynn said.  "Nah... the only way to reach the Dark Side is through alicorn means."

"You mean the devices Mortuana spoke of?"

Flynn nodded.

"Heh... cool."  Rainbow pivoted about.  "There's something to look forward to, at least."

"Wanna see the rest of the cabin?  Below deck?"

"... ... ...is there anything worth seeing down there?"

"Nope!"  Flynn grinned, but motioned nevertheless.  "Come look!"





Scrkkkkkkkk!

With much struggle, Flynn eventually slid a stubborn metal door open.  Tiny portholes allowed narrow beams of gray starlight to stream across the curved hollow belly of the metal vessel.

"Pretty roomy on the inside, huh?"  Flynn smiled.  "And while it might look and sound like a big metal can sliced in half—I promise you—the thickness of the hull will muffle the thunder outside just enough for you to get some much-needed shuteye between here and the Sixth Seed."  He coughed.  "Should you feel the need to lazy your prismatic head down... of course."

Rainbow Dash stared, unblinking.

"So what do you think, Rainbow, huh?"

Rainbow blinked.  She looked to the left.  All of the metal rafters were barren.  She looked to the right.  The hull's support beams on that side of the cabin were likewise devoid of anything hanging from them.

"... ... ...Rainbow?"

"Uh huh."  Rainbow turned right around.  "I think I'll sleep on the top deck.  With the thunder."

"H-huh?"  Flynn blinked awkwardly.  "But... but the empty oil drums!  You see them, right?  You can cook a hefty omelette in them!  Hey!  Rainbow, hold up!"  He scampered after her.

In the meantime, a pink spectre emerged from a column of ruby light.

"Duaaaaaaaah..."  Pinkie Pie yawned.  She blinked—bleary-eyed—at the rusted walls.  On a dime, the mare smiled with spastic enthusiasm.  "Oh hey!  Princess Stardust!  Coolio!"
> Could Have Gone With "Shortdust"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Wildcard marched up out of the cabin, dusting off his flesh-and-metal talons.  The griffon came to a stop, his goggles reflecting several equine faces.  At last, he gave a thumb's up.

"That should do it!"  Ariel exclaimed, turning to face the rest of the Herald.  "All of the supplies are loaded!"

"Well..."  Nicole took a deep breath.  "...there goes my contribution."

Echo leaned in.  "We could toss you overboard," he murmured.  "But that'd boil the ocean to a mist."

Nicole sighed.  "Has anypony ever mentioned that your pick-up lines suck?"

"I have," Ariel muttered, trotting past them.

"Hey, what can I say?"  Echo shrugged.  "Several weeks in—"

"Stop using the damned 'prison' excuse!"  Ariel scuffled to a stop, frowning at the others.  "Can we please cast off?"

"Yes.  We shall."  Remna turned to face Kepler and Logan.  "Might I kindly ask what is taking so long?"

"Yeesh..."  Logan muttered, fiddling with a rudder wheel positioned directly above the rearmost cabin compartment.  "...she's like a talking enema every time she tries to be polite..."

"A thousand parrdons, drraconian one," Kepler remarked, reaching in to assist Logan with fixing the steering mechanism.  "Simply attempting to rremedy some gearrs that had grrown stiff with time and neglect."

Remna raised an eyebrow.  "I thought Flynn was supposed to be piloting this vessel."

"I'd love t-to!" a voice sputtered from below deck.  Flynn stuck his sweaty head out as steam and manavapors rose from the depths of the metal vessel.  "But I'm the only unicorn in the group!  I'll be needed below deck, enchanting the manacrystal engines!"

Bard tilted his hat back.  "Then who steers?"

"Ah!"  Kepler raised a claw.  "I do believe that humble task shall fall upon me, good desperrado frriend!"  He adjusted his spectacles with a tusked smirk.  "Do not let my many yearrs of a monk's lifestyle in the mountains fool you!  I've had my fairr sharre of time at the mast!"

"Oh yeah?"  Bard squinted.  "When?"

"Why... fourr decades ago in the waterrs norrth of Rrust!"  Kepler's mouth hung open... but then the wyvern squinted into the twilight horizon.  "...orr... perrhaps... was it thrree decades ago below the Bay of Frrostknife?"

"I think we have a winner here," Nicole said, stifling a giggle.

Echo blinked.  "I just can't get over how old the guy is.  Quick!  Someone cut off one of his tusks!  Count the rings!"

Remna cleared her growling throat.  "Can we please get on with it?  We should be casting off by now."

"Got it!" Logan wheezed, giving the wheel a good spin as he sat up.  "All yours, K-pal."

"Ha-Hah!"  Kepler grasped the rungs of the device with his wing-claws.  "Glorrious!  Glorrious!  Shall we drraw anchorr?"

"Are you kidding?" Ariel droned.  "This whole dang ship's an anchor!"

"Are you saying that my Stardust is heavy?" Flynn's voice hollered from down below.

"No!  But you're going to be light-headed in a minute if you don't get this thing operating!" Ariel's voice cracked.  "I mean it!  Remna looks ready to rip somepony's head off!"

"I'm just cl-clearing the leylines!"  Flynn's voice reverberated.  "Should be ready any m-minute now!  Mrmmmff... h-has anypony seen Rainbow Dash?"

Wildcard turned about.  He hand-signed and gestured towards the sky.

"Hrmmmfff... well..."  Bard took a breath.  "The moonlight's gonna follow us good'n'proper to the Sixth Seed.  Somepony go and tell her that we're ready to mosey on over the waves."

"I'lldoit!" Ariel chirped and—Fwoooosh!—she was airborne.

Bard rolled his eyes.  "Do we have a volunteer?"

"Uhm... is it just me...?"  Nicole turned about, blinking her slitted eyes.  "...or does that mare really... really enjoy having an excuse to talk with Rainbow Dash?"

"Eh..."  Echo waved a hoof.  "She's just catching up on her interior decorating."

"... ... ...huh?"  Nicole blinked.

Echo smirked.  "She wants some carpet to match Rainbow's drapes."

"... ... ... ... ... ...huh?"

"Wow..."  Echo squinted at her in the twilight.  "...you're awesome and all, but really?  You still haven't caught on?"

"Ahem..."  Bard trotted up... and stood directly between Echo and Nicole.  "Imagine that.  Almost like she lived on a farm all her life."

"Er... y-yeah..."  Echo cleared his throat, nervously shuffling away from Bard.  "Just imagine."

Nicole sighed.  "Your friends are weird."

"Reckon so."  Bard nodded.  "Just... dun be so quick to get all their weird on you."

"No promises."
> The Sun's Got Our Backs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"I'm afraid my sister Luna cannot speak to you at the moment, Rainbow Dash," Princess Celestia's voice echoed in the starry heavens.  "I appreciate your desire to communicate, but you really must be continuing eastward with your friends."

"But what's got her so conked out, Your Highness?"  Rainbow Dash asked with a nervous shiver.  She wrung her fetlocks together from where she hovered high above the Princess Stardust.  "She was fine just... a day ago?"  Her muzzle scrunched.  "How much time has passed?"

"I'm guessing twenty-four hours," Twilight droned.

Fluttershy looked at her.  "How can you tell?"  She pointed a ghostly hoof skyward.  "There isn't a sun to rise or set in this part of the world."

Twilight replied with a deadpan gaze.  "I watch the length at which Rainbow's mane is growing."

Fluttershy's eyes widened.  "Wow... really?"

"No."  Twilight's muzzle scrunched.  "Who do you think I am?  Pinkie Pie?"

Before Fluttershy could respond—

"It's been eightteen hours!" Pinkie Pie chimed.

Princess Celestia's voice echoed:  "It's just been shy of a single day, Rainbow Dash."

"Woohoo!"  Pinkie pumped a hoof.  "Nailed it!"

"It would appear as though Princess Luna exhausted herself with the spell that she was channeling into your Element via her moonbeams," Celestia explained.  "It taxed her a great deal more than she expected.  She had to stop and rest in order to properly raise the sun for the coming morning."

"I see..."  Rainbow Dash gulped.  "And... like... I totally understand that n'stuff... but do you have any idea when she'll be up and at 'em?"

"No, Rainbow Dash.  I do not."

"But... like..."  Rainbow chewed on her bottom lip.  "She's gotta come back around eventually!"  She gestured at the distant flicker of Yaerfaerda.  "After all, this is bat country!"

All of Rainbow's friends looked pointedly at Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie blinked back.  "What?"  She shrugged.  "I've got nothing!"

Rainbow continued:  "I need her to... y'know... do her special cosmic whinny stuff so that Echo and Nicole can talk some sense into the sarosians!"  She gulped.  "I wanna take off as much as the Herald right now, but if Luna's magic-snoozing away, then where does that leave us?  We've only got two days left of the moon juice, after all!"

"Shhhhh... please, Rainbow Dash.  You must relax."

"Yeah, Rainbow Dash."  Twilight nodded.  "Don't be so nervous."

"My my..."  Rarity fanned herself with a smirk.  "When Twilight is telling Rainbow Dash to relax, then things must be dire!"

"Luna's not about to abandon us in our time of need," Twilight said with a smile.  "And neither is Celestia."

"You've got friends from all sides, Rainbow."  Fluttershy bore a warm smile.  "It's going to be okay."

Rainbow glanced at them, then looked back at the heavens.  "I've just... w-worked so hard... and flown so hard to get to this spot, y'know."  A shuddering sign.  "I really don't wanna blow it."

"Nopony is more aware of this more than my sister and I, Rainbow Dash.  Fear not.  Luna will be present and cognizant for your inevitable encounter with the sarosians.  I will make sure of it."  The shimmering light shifted.  "Remember that much of this rests upon the magical connection that Luna spent the past several hours harnessing between herself and your pendant.  Without such a buffered enchantment, it would be next to impossible for the Princess of the Night to wield the influence that is most sorely needed at this juncture."

"But... but..."

"Just relax, darlin'," Applejack said, snapping Rainbow out of it.  She gazed at their anchor with a calm smile.  "Everypony in Equestria has got yer back.  So no more fussin'."

Rainbow Dash sighed.  "Just... I-I guess I'm a little bit nervous about casting off into the great unknown like this again."

"I'm sure the members of the Herald have more than enough resources."  Rarity nevertheless cleared her throat.  "As terribly drab as they may be..."

"It's not that."  Rainbow's ears drooped.  "Just... the last time I had a vessel of my own..."  She bit her lip.  "...it wasn't always smooth sailing."

Her friends glanced at one another.

"You've triumphed over many an adversity before, Rainbow Dash," Twilight Sparkle said.  "All in no small part because of the friends who traveled with you on such a ship... and who believed in you."  She winked.  "Who says that all of history's repetition has to be entirely dismal?"

"Verlax does!" Pinkie Pie said.  A lavender hoof swatted her upside the head.  She blinked.  "Never mind!"

"Rnnngh..."  Rainbow face-hoofed.  "...Goddess help me if I even make it to the Sixth Seed..."

Before any of her friends could reply—

"Uhm... Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow turned around.

Ariel hovered demurely.  "We're... uh... ready to go if you are."

Rainbow squinted.  "How long have you been fluttering there?"

"About a minute and a half," Fluttershy said.

Rainbow rolled her eyes, then smiled tiredly.  "If the Herald's ready, then I'm ready."

"But are you, though?"  Ariel cocked her head to the side.  "Are you really?"

Rainbow blinked at that.

"I mean... it's just that..."  Ariel glanced at the empty pockets of air around Rainbow Dash.  "I don't know if... if your friends needed more time to cope.  Especially Applejack."  Ariel fought a lump in her throat.  "Poor mare sounds like she's been through a lot.  If... if she needs more time to compose herself before the big push east, then I'm sure I could go back down and stall time for you."

Rainbow Dash turned to look at Applejack.

The mare tilted her hat back and exhaled.  "She's a mighty nice gal-pal you've got there, Rainbow Dash."  Her freckles made room for a soft smile.  "But tell her she ain't got nothin' to fret over.  I'm ready as ever to skedaddle."

"Are... you sure about that, AJ?" Rainbow asked.

"Eeyup.  Believe me..."  The lines in Applejack's muzzle hardened noticeably.  "Ain't nopony in this world that wants to get real and buck apple again more than this filly."

Rarity gulped.  "Please believe her, Rainbow, darling.  I shudder to think that the heavens could afford her glare any longer otherwise..."

Rainbow nodded.  "Well, okay then."  She lifted her voice.  "Your Highness?  We're heading out!"

"Very well then," Celestia said.  "I shall keep a close ear to the proceedings."

"Uhm... Miss Princess?"  Ariel waved a hoof towards the heavens.  "Your Highness of Equestria?"

Rainbow blinked at her.  "Ariel, what are you—"

"How may I help you, child?" Celestia's voice asked.

"Uhm... so sorry to bug you..."  Ariel's cheeks reddened as she smiled nervously.  "But... if it's not too much trouble to ask?  There's something you could do for us—the Herald, I mean."  She gulped hard.  "Something that Mortuana—the Madame Matron—was planning to do if she got this far..."

"Very well then," Celestia said.  "Name it."
> Luck Be a Stardust Tonight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Ariel floated off to the side, smiling pleasantly.

The members of the Herald stood in line, heads tilted upwards.

Rainbow hovered in center view with her pendant aimed towards the stars.  As the enchanted light emanating from her Element flickered, Princess Celestia's voice resonated with full clarity:

"It is with a heavy heart that I mourn the loss of our beloved sister, Mortuana, an alicorn protector of great honor, integrity, and respect for all living things.  To preserve harmony, she sacrificed her own peace of mind, acting as a self-appointed steward for the living and the dead.  Even though she never expected to make it as far as her fellow companions in the righteously reborn Herald, I've been informed that it was her full intent to extend her harmonic blessings to the ship that is about to cast off, carrying the hope and promises for a future of prosperity and restoration—not just for this plane but for all of the worlds lost to us, waiting to be reunited."

As Celestia kept speaking, Rainbow's ghostly friends huddled tightly together.  Twilight Sparkle clasped her front hooves together, listening intently with proud tears.

"As the Elder Ruler of Equestria, Loyal Sentry of the Sun and a stalwart alicorn Vanquisher of Chaos, I give my harmonic blessing to the Princess Stardust.  May this ship meet smooth waters, make more friends in its wake than enemies, and accomplish great things for both the living and the missing.  May those on board achieve their heroic aspirations with as few casualties as possible.  I bless this vessel, and—most of all—I bless this mission.  May it continue to serve as a beacon for harmony, in everything that it and its crew accomplishes, much like Rainbow Dash has served in the totality of her eastward journey of hope and inspiration."

Rainbow Dash sucked her breath in.  She fought to contain the lump in her throat.

"Mortuana may have left us and this plane, but her spirit endures.  So long as there are ponies who maintain the equilibrium of harmony, there is hope—not just for alicorns—but for all living things.  To sustain and support each other is the essence of existence, in this world and the ones beyond.  So be it."

Once her words had culminated, the Herald murmured and applauded lightly.

Ariel sighed, wiping her eyes dry with a smile.  "Th-thank you, Your Highness."

Pinkie Pie whistled shrilly, causing Fluttershy and Rarity to wince.  "Wooohooo!"  She pumped a hoof in the air.  "You go, Princess!  Yeah!"

Bard finally placed his hat back on.  "Reckon that'll give us some fuel for the leagues ahead."

Nicole leaned over, smiling.  "Stole the words right out from my mouth."

"Ehhhhh..."  Bard waved a hoof.  "I ain't got the fangs for it."

"Heehee."

"I do hope that is more than sufficient," Princess Celestia's voice spoke just loud enough for Rainbow Dash to hear.  "I fear that I am a poor substitute for these ponies' 'Mountain Matron.'"

"Never sell yourself short, Your Majesty," Rainbow Dash murmured back, winking into the enchanted light.  "If I did—I'd never have made it past Windthrow."

"Hmmm... perhaps."

Wildcard stepped forward and hand-signed.

"Yes."  Remna nodded.  "We should be going now."

Ariel blinked at the violet mare.  "Since when could you read his talon-signs?"

"I can't," Remna growled.  "We're simply on the same page.  We have been for hours."  She turned to glare at Flynn.  "Let us carry on."

Flynn looked at Kepler, then shrugged.  "Waiting on word for the one and true captain."

Fwooosh!  Rainbow Dash touched down, took a breath, and nodded.  "Kepler?  Flynn?"  Her ruby eyes narrowed.  "... ... ...make it awesome."

"Hell yeah!" Logan blurted.

"Alright!"  Flynn galloped down into the cabin.  "Priming the manacrystals!  Kepler?  Got the wheel?"

"Affirrmative, my bald brrotherr!"  Kepler grasped the wheel.  "Big Show.  Carre to employ yourr imprressive lungs in facilitating communication between the helm and engineerring?"

Logan leaned against the open, yawning doorframe at the stern.  "I'm not just standing here to look sexy, Tuskawilla!"

"How... uh..."  Nicole fidgeted slightly.  "How do we know where we're going?"

"Hmmm?"  Bard looked over.

"I mean... we're trying to find a place called the 'Sixth Seed,'" the sarosian continued.  "Is that on a map somewhere?  Don't we need a navigator?"

Echo pointed at Rainbow Dash.  "Look no further.  She's the one with magical fart senses.  Between her and her friends, we'll find the next point, I'm guessing."

"Austraeoh?"  Remna looked over.  "Are you up for the task?"

"Totally," Rainbow said with a nod.  She trotted across the deck.  "Kepler, I'll tell you where to steer us.  Logan?  When I give the word, have Flynn juice us up so we can accelerate towards our destination."

"Aye, Rrainbow one!"

Rainbow looked at the others.  "Jury?  The rest of you keep an eye out for—"  Rainbow scuffled to a stop, grimacing.

Twilight glanced at Rainbow Dash.  The rest of her friends fidgeted slightly.

Ariel lowered to the deck, glancing at Rainbow.  "Is... is everything okay?"

Rainbow gave a shuddering sigh.  "Sorry..."  She gazed down at the deckplates.  "Just... this kind of a setting... well..."  She gulped.  "Guess I got my wires crossed."

Wildcard walked across the deck.  He tilted Rainbow's gaze up with a metal talon.

Rainbow looked at him, eyes moist.

He smiled under his beak.  Goggles rattling, the griffon hand-signed.

"Ahem..."  Bard smirked, interpreting:  "'We'll just take it as a compliment.'"

Rainbow sniffled.  She swallowed and said, "Thanks... y'know..."  She gazed at the group, including Remna.  "For... for just being here.  I really don't know where I... where my friends and I would be if it weren't for you guys.  And..."  She winced slightly.  "I... I-I feel as though I haven't been fair, y'know... to you?  To all of you for all you're sacrificing—"

"Dearrest Austrraeoh," Kepler spoke, his face straight.  "This is ourr lives... much as yourr jourrney is yourr life.  We do this with prride.  And do underrstand that we take no offense at any distance you might requirre.  A herro who has underrgone so many trrials deserrves no less."

Rainbow sighed.  "But distance is the problem."  Her brow furrowed.  "The gaps between us... between ponies... between planes..."

"Then allow us to fix it.  Together."  Remna stared firmly at the mare.  "At this point, after all that we've overcome, is it so strange to go beyond?"

Bard and Wildcard smirked.

Rainbow's friends exchanged glances.

Rainbow nodded firmly.  Before she could formulate a response—

—the entire ship shifted as the manabatteries deep in the bowels of the Stardust erupted with unbridled power.

A voice could be heard shouting from below.

"He's done it!" Logan bellowed.  "We're good to go!"

"Kepler... you heard him."  Rainbow Dash trotted to the edge of the ship's deck.  "Take us out."

"Hold onto something, dearr frriends!"  Kepler spun the wheel, twirling the rudder.

Water bubbled from the hot mana output.  The liquid soon turned to steam as the ship coasted northward and out of the sandy estuary where it had been moored for nearly a decade.  The black metal vessel knifed a path across the calm waters.  Soon, it cleared the line of limestone formations... and made a rippling charge for the eastern horizon.
> Those Sequestered and Those Adjourned
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Hrrrrrrrrrmmmm..."  Kepler's hairy nostrils flared.  Smiling, the wyvern scanned the horizon with his spectacled eyes while he gripped the rudder wheel.  "So this crreaturre was rrenderred blind by an airrship crrash, and yet—with the aid of a magical device that connected with his brrain—he was capable of rreading wrritten materrial?  Ha-Hah!"  He chortled past his tusks.  "Oh, how I would have loved to witness such ingenuity at worrk!"

"Kepler..."  Ariel chided from where she sat on the deck plates.  "Didn't you hear Rainbow Dash?  This Pilate wasn't a 'creature.'  Just... a striped horse called a... called a..."  She winced despite herself.  "...a zeppelin?"

"No, Pilate was a zebra," Rainbow Dash said.  "A zeppelin is what he crashed in."  She leaned back, lying lazily on her back and gazing at the stars drifting high above the Stardust.  "But... heh... I totally wouldn't mind you and him meeting each other, Kepler."

"Oh?"

"'Cuz... like... you're cut from the same cloth."

"Hah!  But perhaps not the same ink?"  Kepler winked.

Pinkie Pie giggled.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.  "What I mean is—you're both very scholarly and you appreciate history."

"I would imagine so!"  Kepler nodded, keeping the ship straight as the waters grew more and more choppy.  "Judging from his seemingly vorracious hungerr forr books!  Enough to rread them beyond his limited sight!"

"It boggles my mind," Logan said from where he stood by the cabin's open doors.  "How in the Hell can a zoidberg—"

"Zebra."

"Whatever.  How can anypony stick a bit metal ball to your brain and ask it to read stuff for you?"

"To be honest, I never really... understood the way O.A.S.I.S worked," Rainbow Dash said.  She glanced over at where Twilight and her friends hovered.  "Nor did I fully figure out the inner workings of Bellesmith's 'sequencing.'"  Clearing her throat, she looked at the Heraldites seated next to her in the middle of the deck.  "But... where Rohbredden advanced through steam and dredge coal?  Ledomare, Darkstine, and Val Roa excelled in industrialized magic.  That's how they got ships to fly in the air or guns to shoot death beams and... uhm... pocketable stones to 'talk.'"

"Most... most fascinating..." Kepler murmured.

"Heck..."  Rainbow Dash smirked.  "Some kingdoms industrialized both ways... with steam and magic!  I once visited a place called 'Gray Smoke' which was basically this huge flippin' city of metal floating in the sky."

"No shit."  Logan blinked.  "Sounds like Rust—but in the clouds."

Rainbow winced.  "That's... a little too darn fitting a description..."

"Sounds positively mesmerizing," Rarity cooed.  "I would have loved to have seen this city!"

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.  "No, Rarity."  She looked aside.  "You wouldn't have."

"Yeesh..."  Logan rubbed his fat chins.  "Flynn would be spanking himself to all this technobabble talk."

Flynn trotted onto the top deck, sweating and soot-stained.  "Spanking what now?"

"You missed it," Ariel droned, smirking slightly.  "Rainbow Dash just spilled the beans on all of the technological secrets of the worlds beyond the Blight."

"Awwwwwwww..."  Flynn's ears drooped as he pouted.  "And here I had come to tell you guys that I had just stabilized the manaflow."  He looked in Kepler's direction.  "We should be good to cruise for another six hours."

"Splendid, oh hairrless one!"

"Ugh..."  Flynn winced.  "Could you not...?"

"Actually..."  Rainbow Dash smiled from where she reclined.  "Flynn would have gotten along with Booster Spice."

"Booster who?" Echo asked, squatting next to Bard and Nicole.

"Another dude with goggles who joined the Jury back in Val Roa," Rainbow Dash explained.  "I'm pretty sure he's Flynn's long lost earth pony brother."  She smirked.  "Because I couldn't understand a word he said anymore than I can understand Flynn's."

Bard chuckled while Wildcard smirked.

"Hmmmmm..." Flynn squatted down next to the group.  "Good to know that you were in good brains as well as hooves."  He sighed, staring at Rainbow Dash.  "So this Jury... they followed you through all your travels?"

"Most of them," Ariel answered.  She pointed at the mare next to her.  "Rainbow was telling us about how she picked up all her friends gradually... one by one... ever since..."  She turned to squint at the pegasus in question.  "...Blue Shift?"

"Blue Shelf."

"My bad."  Ariel smiled toothily.  "I'm getting the names of Ledomare mixed up."

"That's okay," Rainbow droned.  "I did too."

"I'm guessing you hard to part ways with them?" Flynn said.

Rainbow nodded.  "Unfortunately, yeah."

"It was at the Grand Choke," Remna murmured from the distance.  She stood closer to Kepler, staring off the Stardust's port side.  "They parted ways, and then the Austraeoh proceeded on her lonesome towards the east edge of the Blight."  Her green eyeslits narrowed.  "It nearly cost the mare her life."

Rainbow rolled her eyes.

Echo leaned forward.  "How come Miss Iron Panties knows so much?"

"She kinda sorta stalked me," Rainbow Dash muttered.  "From the grave."

"Ooooookay then."  Echo leaned back.

"Wow..."  Nicole brushed her bangs back.  "I knew you had traveled from a long distance, but... I-I didn't realize just how far."  She gulped.  "How come you never talked about Ledomare or Val Roa or these 'Noble Jury' friends of yours back at the Ranch?"

Bard spoke aside:  "Do ya honestly thank that either Blue or Marie would have let her get a word in edge-wise?"

Nicole sighed.  "You've got a good point..."

"Things were tense enough back at Bard's—er... yours and Johnny's place."  Rainbow gulped.  "Besides... I don't like to brag."

"Except when you do," Applejack said, causing the others to chortle.

Rainbow groaned.

"What?" Nicole asked.

"Just the girls ribbing me," Rainbow said.  "So... maybe I do like to brag.  Just a little."  She gulped.  "But... it h-hasn't been very appropriate lately.  At least... not since the Quade."

"Well..."  Ariel scooted about, her fuzzy ears twitching in tune with her smile.  "...maybe now's your chance."

"Huh?"

"We've still got some smooth waters between here and... wherever," Ariel said with a wave of the hoof.  "Why not... y'know... indulge in the moment?"

"Indulge us, she means," Flynn said.

Kepler chuckled while Wildcard nodded.

"Hmmmf..."  Bard folded his forelimbs with a smirk.  "Tell her about how you, me, and Dubya yanked the carpet out from underneath the Syndicate.  Twice!"

"Or how about all that stuff you did with those two Colonialist weirdos back in Nealend," Echo said.  "Theams was rambling about you taking down a leviathan or something..."

"Oh!"  Twilight Sparkle leaned in.  "Maybe you can tell them about your victory in Val Roa!"

"Yeah!"  Pinkie Pie grinned.  "Or that time when you drank magical alicorn cider and went into a subconscious dimension—!"  Her eyes crossed.  "Wait..."

"I-I can't imagine we have that much time between here and the Sixth Seed—"  Rainbow began.

Remna droned:  "Tell the story about how you conspired to destroy a dragon monarch's hoard, thereby exiling her broodlings."

"Axan..."  Rainbow growled.

"Hooo boy..."  Nicole winced.  "...seems like you've had your fair share of hairy situations."

"Yeah."  Rainbow nodded.  "I have."  She gulped.  "But... Celestia wasn't kidding."  Her ruby eyes darted up.  "...I did a lot of good as well."  She looked over at Fluttershy and the others.  "It's important to remember that.  Always."

Her friends smiled at her.

"Well..."  Echo smirked.  "I'm all ears.  Leafy, even!"

Nicole sighed.  "Do you always have to remind them?"

"Are you complaining?"

"Well, no.  But that's besides the point."

Wildcard gestured.

"Hmmmm..."  Bard smiled, whipping out his guitar.  "The stage is yers, darlin'."  He strummed a few notes lazily.  "I'll even provide background music."

"Heh..."  Rainbow Dash stood up before the group with a devilish smirk.  "Very well."  Clearing her throat, she gestured with both hooves.  "So... like... it all began this one day that I flew past two giant mountains..."
> A Lasting Gift From Verlax
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Rainbow, darling, I think you should go above deck," Rarity said.

"Mrmmmff... what's the m-matter, Rarity?" Rainbow wheezed, stringing together three empty potato sacks that were taken from Blue's ranch.  She then proceeded to loop them over opposite support beams situated in the bottom deck of the Princess Stardust's cabin.  "In some... basic... c-cavemare way, I'm actually trying to liven up the pl-place!"  She paused to catch her breath.  "Isn't that kinda thing your bag?"

"I can already tell that those drab satchels are hardly strong enough to support even your meager weight."  Rarity shuddered.  "Also... the longer that we spend down here in this rusted womb, the more likely I am to expel my stomch fluids..."

"Rarity, you've been a veritable spirit for nearly two years," Twilight Sparkle droned.  "How could you possibly vomit?"

"Have you seen the the atrocious conditions of this ship?!"  Rarity's voice squeaked.  "How can I not?!"

"Hehe!  She's got a point, Twi!"  Pinkie Pie winked.  "Roll enough times in your grave and you're bound to upchuck eventually!"

"I think it's nice down here," Fluttershy said with a smile.  "It's all so very... simple."  A gulp.  "And quiet."

Thunder echoed across the bulkheads.

Fluttershy trembled.  "Okay... mostly quiet."

"Hey!  See?"  Rainbow Dash fumbled and fiddled with the potato sacks, tying their ends neatly so that they raised a good few feet above the cabin floor.  "Fluttershy's got the right idea!  I mean... think about it!  I've been on the run for friggin' months.  Between the Talon and the Consortium and the Central Guard chasing me, I haven't had any real good opportunity for some shuteye!"

"You don't need no shuteye, Rainbow Dash," Applejack said.  "Quit foolin' yerself."

"Mrmmmfff..."  Rainbow yanked one edge of the makeshift hammock tight.  "What makes you think I'm lying, Applejack?"

"Because you just did."  The mare's brow furrowed.  "Just now."

"Look... I was comfortable back on board the Noble Jury."  Rainbow wiped the sweat from her brow and shrugged.  "So sue me if I wanna get comfortable once again."

"But this isn't the Noble Jury," Twilight Sparkle said.  "We're with the Herald... and we're just now sailing into the final waters of the final ocean on the final edge of the eastern world."  She smiled gently.  "You don't have to pretend to be calm, Rainbow Dash.  When the time comes that you really wanna fall asleep, we'll watch over you."

"Yeah!"  Pinkie nodded.  "Pinkie promise!"

"Rrrrrnnngh..."  Rainbow frowned, flapping her wings.  "Stop trying to mother me, guys!"  She lifted off the metal floor and hovered directly above the dangling sacks.  "I said I'm sleepy and I meant it!  If Luna can catch some Z's, then so can I!  I'm not stressed!  I'm not freaked out or anything!  I just want to sleep!"

That said, she coiled her wings to her side and dropped like a blue anvil.

Riiiiiiiip!  The potato sacks shredded under her weight and Rainbow plunged to the metal floor.  Clanggggg!

Fluttershy winced.

"... ... ..."  Rainbow lay stiffly on her back, blinking.  "...I think I should go above deck."





Kepler gripped the rudder wheel in strong claws as the Stardust rocked and swayed in the rolling waters.  Every minute or so, Flynn's ship would hit a thickly-crested wave, and a spray of salt water would baptize the top deck.  The wyvern chuckled against the elements, guiding the vessel ever eastward.

In the meantime, the members of the Herald minded their stations.  Those who had no tasks to do sat in the center of the open deck, sharing a huddled conversation.

"...but he's made a pact with Rainbow and the Herald!" Bard exclaimed.  "There's no way in Hell that he'd do anythang to harm the expedition!"

Wildcard stubbornly shook his head.  He sliced the air with flesh and metal talons.

"Hrmmmmfff..."  Bard folded his forelimbs.  "'Rohbredden Pride.'  Pfffft... like that's gotten anypony anywhere lately... especially with the lousy Council.  You ask me, yer ol' buddy will wipe his lion feathers with that notion and just stay back in Frostknife."

"I wouldn't treat Wildcard's opinion so frivolously, Bard," Ariel said, shaking her head.  "After all, he knows him far more than the rest of us."

Rainbow Dash stumbled onto the scene at precisely this moment.  "Who are you guys talking about?"

Ariel looked up.  "Our mutual friend.  Lieutenant Keris."

Bard growled, "Dubya here thinks that his ol' slicey-dicey friend in the Talon will go after yer neck."

"You mean he thinks Keris will track me down?" Rainbow remarked.  She looked back at Twilight and the others.  "Well... that would make sense, wouldn't it?"

"Huh?" Bard blinked.

Rainbow sat down next to them—steadying herself as the ship rocked slightly.  "Hrmmmff... well... think about it!"  She blinked at the others.  "Keris is responsible not just for the Talon—but for all of Rohbredden.  Sure, he and Theanim Mane are tasked with restoring peace in Frostknife... but if it's the will of the Six Tribes to chase me down..."  Rainbow shrugged.  "...then it'd be the smart thing for him to play along."

"Smart thing?!"  Rarity exclaimed, causing Rainbow to look her way.  "You almost make it sound like you want to go to blows with the Talon once more!"

Ariel squinted at Rainbow.  "Something your friends want to add to the conversation?"

Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Rarity thinks I'm hoping for a fight."

Rarity folded her forelimbs.  "Hmmmf!"  She frowned.  "That's not what I said at all!"

Rainbow stuck her tongue out.  "Deal with it."  Clearing her throat, she turned to look at the not-so-ghostly Heraldites.  "Before we parted ways in Frostknife, I had a pretty deep conversation with both Theanim and Keris.  I put an awful lot of weight on their shoulders."  She shrugged.  "It wouldn't surprise me if Theanim's spread a bunch of lies about my evilness and Keris has committed to gutting me alive."  A sigh.  "I know I haven't made things easy for them."

Fluttershy gulped.  "Nor is it all that easy for us... either..."

"So... uhhhh..."  Ariel fidgeted.  "...what's the plan then?"

"Plan for what?"  Rainbow blinked at her.  "For if Keris runs into us again?"  She shrugged.  "Staying alive, of course."

Ariel sighed.  "You and your one track mind."

"It's gotten me this far east, hasn't it?"  Rainbow briefly smirked.  "Besides... I think we have a lot more to worry about... what with the sarosians of Bleak's Plummet and all."

"But yer Moon Princess has got a fix for that, right?" Bard remarked.

"Yeah."  Rainbow nodded as thunder rolled overhead.  "I'm hoping.  After all, the royal sisters have never let me down."

Pinkie glanced aside.  "What about that one time Celestia talked some sense into Axan and the dragon momma ended up killing half of Silvadel and crushing you to a pulp anyways?"

Rainbow gritted her teeth.  "They've never tried to let me down... let's just roll with that, mmmkay?"

"So... lemme guess..."  Bard gestured.  "Our best hope at the moment is to... outrun any of the mofos that Rohbredden might be sending after us?"

"Seems like a good enough plan to me," Rainbow said with a nod.  "And—besides—it's not like they're gonna want to chase us beyond the edge of the world."  She bore a nervous smirk.  "So we have that going for us."

Wildcard gestured something.

Ariel nervously translated:  "'Chandler might.'"

Rainbow's ears drooped.  Nevertheless, she muttered:  "Well... let's just hope the melon fudge trips on his own ego before he makes it far... alright?"

Bard sighed.  "Guess I didn't help none by makin' us wait so long at the ranch..."

"Hey... we got a bunch of supplies out of it," Rainbow said.  "And you got to reunite with your baby sis."  She shrugged.  "If you ask me, that's worth it times ten."

"Still... it ain't helpin' nopony if Rohbredden's goons catch up to us in the end."

"That's assuming they're actually chasing after us," Ariel said.  "I'd much rather freak out over windigoes and midnighters."

Echo spontaneously trotted into the conversation.  "We shouldn't be shitting ourselves over windigoes, midnighters, or the Talon."

Wildcard and Bard looked up.

"Why not?" Ariel asked.

"Because I know the real reason why we should be speeding our asses to the edge of the world as fast as our farts can take us," the sarosian said.  Echo sat down between Rainbow Dash and Bard.  His slitted eyes reflected glossy constellations.  "It ain't about Chandler and it ain't about any of the crazy ice horses that Verlax released."

"Care to drop the suspense and just tell us already?" Ariel droned.

Echo cocked his head to the side.  "Before meeting your delightful 'Herald' posse up in Starkiss, I had a whole lot of time to bond with Keris, Theams, and the Talon.  I may not have had much nifty stuff to share, but I did do a whole lot of listening."

"Yeah?"  Rainbow squinted.  "And?"

"Theanim mentioned something that... stuck out to me," Echo muttered.  "The stiff stallion kept trying to explain the Talon and their motivations as best as his convoluted tongue could manage.  And he happened to state that the leader of the strike force... Commander Serendipity or something—"

"Seraphimus," Rainbow corrected.  Wildcard nodded.

"Yeah.  Whatever."  Echo cleared his throat.  "On top of being a real cold, calculating bulldozer with ovaries... the griffon officer had a lot of shit to be angry about."  He waved a hoof.  "Something about her family being locked away in ice somewhere."

Wildcard suddenly gestured with great intensity.

Ariel blinked.  "She... had a husband and child in Frozen Stasis," the mare remarked.  "For... years apparently."

"Hmmmff..."  Bard tilted his hat back and sighed into the deck plating.  "Just like my Amber.  Small flippin' world..."

"Not small enough, apparently," Echo said.  "Theanim talked about how Sera-whoever would constantly visit the Stasis chambers in the caves to the south of Frostknife.  Like... she'd show up there constantly... dressed incognito so she could pay respects to her frozen family n'stuff.  Seems like the Commander of the Talon was super religious and pious and shit."

"Where are you going with this, Echo?" Ariel asked.

Echo gulped, then looked directly at Wildcard.  "I've been thinking... with Verlax croaked and gone..."  His slitted eyes narrowed.  "...just what do you think has happened to all of those frozen stasis chambers?"

Wildcard sat dead still.

Thunder rolled.

"Shit alive..."  Bard took his hat off and fanned himself.  "I... I never stopped to think about it.  But..."  His eyes lifted up.  "So many of them stasis chambers depended on Verlax's frosted magic.  Even the one that Amber and I stayed in couldn't maintain itself without constant visits of the Frosted Vessels every other season or so."  He gulped.  "They'd carry the Queen's essence into the Twilight Lands and re-enchant the outlying chambers."

"Just... h-how many ponies are we talking about?" Ariel murmured.  "How many are dead and gone now that they don't have Verlax's dragon essence to depend on?"

Wildcard somberly signaled a guestimated number.  Nopony had the courage to translate it out loud.

"So... like..."  Echo's leafy ears twitched.  "This Commander Seraphimus was pretty hardcore already, at least according to Theams and the rest of the Talon.  But... with her family reduced to inert popsicle sticks—just how ticked off do you think she is now?"

All this time, Rainbow Dash stared over the turbulent seas with her muzzle agape.  At last, she blurted breathily:  "Gosh dang it, Verlax... you've done it again..."

Everyone looked at her.  Even Kepler was distracted from his steering of the vessel.

"Rainbow?"  Twilight cocked her head.  "What are you thinking?"

Rainbow inhaled deeply.  "Just think about it, Twilight."  She squirmed in place.  "Verlax did so... so many things to make sure that I was simultaneously tested and accelerated in my journey."  She waved a hoof.  "She threw challenges at me at every turn.  She conspired to combine the Consortium and the Central Guard to hunt me down.  She threatened the ones I cared about and made me as hated as I was in Ledomare... if not more so."  A shuddering breath.  "But now?  Even beyond death, she's hammered the nail into the coffin."

"Care to be more specific, darling?" Rarity asked.

"Uhm..."  Fluttershy shivered.  "...do we really want to hear the specifics?"

Rainbow gazed at her friends.  "In all of my travels... in all of the many miles I've flown... one thing... one pony made me fly harder and faster than anything else.  He made me chase the horizon to protect Urohringr... to protect my friends."  She gulped.  "If Verlax's vision has stretched as far as she's made it seem... then she knows all about this.  She's known about it for a long time... and she's done her best to recreate it.  To make sure I 'complete the circle' out of fear and desperation."

Twilight grimaced.  "Rainbow, I-I think you're looking too deeply into this—"

"Am I?"  Rainbow frowned.  "It's all coming together.  Commander Seraphimus... her pledge... her family..."  Rainbow slowly shook her head.  "Everything's shattered for her... all because Verlax is dead—a thing that I ultimately had no choice in, but is still pinned on me all the same."

"Sugarcube...?"  Applejack blinked.  "What are you gettin' at?"

"Isn't it obvious?"  Rainbow exhaled.  "Verlax has built a new Shell."  She gazed off into the distance.  "I promise you... Seraphimus will come for me now.  Maybe we'll run into Keris and Chandler.  Maybe we won't.  Echo is right:  that's not what we should be concerned with at the moment.  Somewhere... out there... an angry, tragic soul seeks my head... and I can bet you every bit in the whole dang world that she'll stop at nothing to make sure it's removed from my body."  She gulped.  "And she'll tear through every friend and ally to get to that goal... I don't think even the edge of the world can stop her."

Twilight and Rarity bit their lips.

Ariel leaned forward.  "Who... who is Shell?"

"The worst of the worst," Rainbow muttered.  "And a dark chapter from my past that I have no interest in repeating.  But now... thanks to Verlax..."  She shook.  "...I've got just the accursed fuel I need to continue with the Divine's twisted vision of Austraeoh's journey as quickly as I can."  She shook her head.  "We can't afford any more stops... any more distractions... not so long as such a deathly element exists out there."

Wildcard hung his feathery head in a solemn breath.

Ariel shuddered nervously.  "If... if this 'Shell' was so awful... so murderous..."  She raised an eyebrow.  "...then how did you survive him?"

"I barely did," Rainbow replied.  "In the end, the only way to defeat him was to do something that I had refused and resisted for so long... and at great, unnecessary cost.  But now... I know better... and Verlax is counting on that."

"What do you mean, Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked.

"Rainbow..."  Twilight started—

"You know it too, Twilight," Rainbow said, looking emotionlessly at her.  "There's far too much at stake for me to deny it."  Her gaze settled on the growing flicker of Yaerfaerda above the rolling waves.  "When I run into Seraphimus again... there's only one way to deal with the Commander... the same way I had to deal with Shell in order to move on."  She gulped, frowning.  "I'm going to have to kill her."
> Trouble in the Home Land
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Cold charcoal eyes reflected mud and melted ice.

Quietly, Seraphimus shuffled across a line of dead equine and griffon bodies lying in a ditch.  The corpses were freshly covered in faded gray tarps.  She came to a shuffling stop beside three lifeless lumps—belonging to two adult farmers and a foal.  A tuft of soft pink tail-hairs poked out from beneath the makeshift grave.  With silent reverance, Seraphimus reached an armored talon out and tucked the limb delicately beneath its covering.

"Seraphimus!" a member of the Central Guard shouted in the starry air.

"...?"  Seraphimus turned around.

A pegasus soldier panted, descending from the heavens.  "It's the Defense Minister!"  He pointed west across the ruined farmsteads.  "He says the Talon's found a group of locals who claim to have seen a strange party passing through here!"  He gulped.  "Chandler wants you to come and listen in right away!"

Seraphimus silently nodded.  She took wing, following the pegasus in a low glide.  Together, they skirted the tops of collapsed silos and shattered barns.  Snow blanketed the earth in every direction.  Chunks of ice pierced houses and storage sheds.  The frozen substance gradually melted, flooding and oversaturating the star-lit farmlands.

At last, Seraphimus and the messenger converged on a spot where several members of the military expedition had touched down.  Armored protectors of Rohbredden marched to and fro, rummaging through debris and setting up a temporary relief camp.  In the center of the snow-blasted clearing, a crooked pole stretched towards the sky, its five crystal lights flickering with sporadic vigor.

Keris and his subordinates were already standing alongside Chandler.  The Defense Minister had removed his helmet and was kneeling before a pair of ponies.

"Did they threaten you in any way?" Chandler asked.

"Threaten us?"  Marie frowned up at him.  She sat with Blue, cradling the elder in her comforting forelimbs.  The hunch-backed stallion continued to whimper fitfully in the midst of a near-catatonic state.  "Just by being here, they were a damned threat!"  Marie's teeth showed as she growled.  "My long lost loser of a brother—Johnny—had latched on to the whole mangy bunch!"  She huffed.  "Seems fitting.  He turned into a twisted emotional freak years ago.  Seems like he found the right kind of company."

Keris and Starstorm exchanged glances.

"So then..."  Chandler's green eyes narrowed.  "They attacked you?"

"Heh... they poisoned my family's heads, is what they did!"  Marie snorted.  "Or at least, they tried to.  Selfish bastards wanted to rob us of our food and supplies.  They may have gotten to Tim and Nicole... but they didn't get to me."

"Tim..."  Blue whimpered, quivering once more.  Tears streamed down his wrinkled face.

"Ahem..."  Keris leaned forward.  "...who's Tim?"

"Who cares," Marie muttered.  Her ears nevertheless drooped as she murmured into the melting landscape.  "Just another useless, polluted stallion."  She sniffed.  "Trotted off to Goddess-knows-where after the last Fivelights... rambling on and on about 'having a lot of thinking' to do.  As always... this ungrateful, dying family is lying draped in my hooves.  And with the windigoes out and about... I'm not sure I've got the strength to keep carrying on.  It's already sapped the life out of Blue."  She stroked the elder's wispy mane.  "Poor stallion's been through enough as it is.  He lost his wife... he lost Johnny... now Tim?"

"Madame," Chandler spoke.  "About the windigoes."  He cocked his head to the side.  "Did these visitors summon them?"

"Heh... that would sure as Hell explain things, wouldn't it?"  Marie produced a bitter smile.  "They confessed to having murdered the Queen, after all!  Makes sense that they'd have those damned demons on their side!"  She frowned towards the eastern horizon.  "The windigoes stampeded right when Johnny was kicking the ever-loving snot out of Tim, too.  They must be in league with one another."  She growled.  "And that midnighter who was with them... they had plans all along.  No wonder they took Nicole."

"Who's Nicole?" Chandler tried to ask.

Suddenly, Seraphimus marched up.  "My little pony," she spoke in a firm, cold voice.  "Can you tell us where these Goddess-murderers went?"

Keris flashed Seraphimus a look.

Marie looked up.  She blinked.  "I... I overheard something..."  Her brow furrowed.  "Something about a boat... a 'Sixth Seed'..."  She gulped.  "...and Bleak's Plummet."

Seraphimus took a deep breath.  "Thank you, madame.  You've been most helpful."  She swiveled to face Chandler.  "They have Professor Mane's midnighter companion in their possession.  If they're headed to Bleak's Plummet, then no doubt they wish to enlist the help of the pirates east of the coast of Rohbredden."

"They're... going to bewitch the Seventh Tribe..."  Chandler stood up with a frown.  "That settles it.  We're taking off.  Those fiends must be intercepted now at all costs."

"I couldn't agree more, Minister."  Seraphimus marched off.  "I'll round up the troops."

Keris spoke loudly:  "Defense Minister!  I must insist!"  He gestured at the ruined farmlands around him.  "This ranch and several more like it in this Prefecture are still covered in ice!  The citizens here need our help if they're ever to recover.  What's more, there could be untold families still stuck and freezing to death in their homes—"

"Commander, if we don't avenge the Queen's death, the legacy of all ponies—dead or alive—will mean nothing."

"Chandler, if you just—"

"Enough!"  Chandler snapped at him, frowning.  "You heard your former superior.  We have an idea now where the Rainbow Rogue is headed.  If the midnighters beyond the coastline assist her, then she might become impossible to track."  Chandler plopped his bulky helmet back on.  "Hymnos sanctioned your presence with this expedition to help us... so help us."  Growling, he turned and marched off.  "Central Guard!  We take wing!  Head towards Bleak's Plummet!"

Several voices shouted affirmatively.  The cold air billowed with an unnatural wind as dozens of armored figures lifted towards the sky.  Keris and his fellow wingmates watched as Chandler mounted his chariot.  Seraphimus stood beside him, and the two shared a few cold words.  Within seconds, they had taken off... soaring for the east horizon.

Keris sighed.  He exchanged nervous glances with Raptr, Starstorm, and Windburst.  Motioning, he took to the sky, flying east in close formation with the rest of the Talon.

Marie sat alone with Blue.  She and the rest of the remaining farmers lingered in silence—tiny dots of faded lights across a blighted ranch.
> Once and Always the Claw
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Who do you think she was referring to?" Raptr asked.

Keris drifted closer to his wingmates in order to hear them above the whipping winds.  His magenta hawkeyes remained locked on Chandler, his chariot, and the thick formation of Central Guardians ahead.

"Who, exactly, Sargeant?" the Commander inquired.

Raptr looked aside in mid-flight.  "That farmer.  The distraught mare who was cradling the elder."  His eyes narrowed beneath his wind-pelted helmet.  "She mentioned a 'Johnny.'"  The rookie shook his head.  "I don't remember any 'Johnny' being in Rainbow Dash's group."

"Perhaps it was a given name," Keris said.  "Something that only the locals would call him."  He took a breath.  "I suspect Bard."

Starstorm glanced aside.  "Jordan's travelling companion?  Why him?"

"'Bard' never struck me as a real name," Keris remarked.  "And I was keeping my eye on him while we were with Rainbow Dash in Starkiss."

"I thought you kept your eye one everyone, Lieu—er... Commander," Raptr said.

Keris simply continued:  "The pegasus seemed... detached.  Both in spirit and in motive.  I don't think he was following Rainbow Dash around for the same reason that most of the individuals from Wyvern Point were."

"He must have gone rogue, then," Starstorm said.

"How so, Sergeant?" Windburst asked aside.

"You heard the mare!" Starstorm exclaimed.  "He apparently went ballistic on his own flesh and blood!"

"They weren't flesh and blood," Keris calmly remarked.  "I managed to corner a few of the locals while Chandler's group was rummaging through the debris.  I spoke to a 'Kelly'... and a 'Ray'—a unicorn and a griffon respectfully.  Turns out the old stallion named 'Blue' is a foster parent, and he's adopted citizens from all Tribes across the Twilight Lands."

"You're thinking this 'Johnny' was one such foster child?" Starstorm asked.

Keris nodded into the wind.  "According to 'Ray,' Johnny and his companions stopped by the ranch and asked for supplies.  The mare we listened to—Marie—insists that the items in question were stolen."  He shook his head.  "I don't believe she's being accurate."

"Why's that?"  Windburst cocked his head to the side.   "Because Rainbow Dash wouldn't stand for that kind of a crime?"

Keris took a breath.  "Actually, I was going to invoke Jordan's moral standards."  He glanced back at his subordinates.  "This 'Wildcard' may be different from the brother-in-arms that I know and love... but there's still an integral character about him.  I witnessed it in Starkiss, and I can't imagine it would have faltered at all since what transpired in Frostknife.  If Jordan chose to make such a faithful companion out of 'Johnny,' then I suspect it's for a legitimately good reason.  The kind of pony who would rob his own kin would be abhorrent to the Jordan I know."  Keris gulped.  "No... No, I believe that the mare we listened to was exagerrating.  Besides... the farmers I spoke with had nothing but good things to say of Johnny... if not somewhat melancholic."

"Then why would the mare who spoke to Chandler and Seraphimus make such exagerrated remarks?" Raptr asked.

Windburst glanced over his armored shoulder.  "The last time you and your fellow nestlings had a family reunion... was every griffon honest with one another?  Truthfully?"

Raptr grimaced.

"Goddess..."  Starstorm rolled her helmeted eyes.  "Families just kill me sometimes."

"Mmmm... no doubt there was a very ugly scene back at that ranch," Keris remarked.  "I can only wonder what convinced Rainbow Dash to tarry there for so long."  He blinked.  "Surely she knows that Rohbredden sent a hunting pack for her."

"I've got an even better question," Windburst said.

"By all means, Sergeant."

"What caused the windigoes to attack that ranch?"

Starstorm looked at him.  "Since we flew out of Frostknife, we've caught word of no less than ten windigo stampedes across the Twilight Lands.  They all seem pretty random to me."

"Yes... but Rainbow Dash just happened to be there at the ranch when they attacked?" Windburst remarked.

Starstorm's beak rattled.  "You don't mean to suggest that Rainbow Dash was somehow the cause of that attack?"

"Do I?"  Windburst's eyes hardened.  "We still don't fully understand just what control Verlaxion had over those monsters."  He gazed straight ahead.  "Or what control she still might have.  For all we know... she's empowering them from beyond the grave."

"How?!"  Ratpr remarked.  "Are those things equipped with mental Rainbow-seekers?!"

"With Verlaxion, anything is possible," Keris said with a shudder.  "And I... do not mean that in the same triumphant way that I once so gleefully believed."

The rest were silent.  The starry heavens around then broiled with thunder as they pressed on towards the dim east horizon.

"If the windigoes are honing in on Rainbow Dash," Starstorm remarked, "Then we're going to be facing a bigger threat at Bleak's Plummet than just the Seventh Tribe.  Whether Rainbow means it or not, we could be flying into a huge trap."

"Yes..."  Keris droned.  "We could..."

Starstorm looked curiously at their leader.  "Commander?"

Keris was staring at Chandler and Seraphimus.

"Something... you want to share with us, Keris?" Windburst remarked.

Keris sighed.  "I've been thinking."  He gulped.  "If any of these Central Guards perish under our watch... it's a tragedy.  But..."

Silence.

Raptor muttered:  "If... Chandler perished...?"  He let the thought linger as fragmented as it began.

Starstorm shuddered heavily.  "Can we please not entertain such thoughts?  We've broken enough ethics as is."

"At ease, Sergeant," Keris said.  "I wasn't even remotely tempting that idea.  And besides..."  He took a somber breath.  "I've come to realize that it wouldn't matter."

"How so?"

"You saw how quickly we were forced to abandon those poor farmers back there.  What was the precise reason for our taking off in such a hasty fashion?"

"Chandler told us to take wing, didn't he?"  Starstorm remarked.

Keris simply glanced back at her.

Starstorm's feathers paled beneath her helmet.  "...Seraphimus took control."  She gulped.  "She forced the information to come out of the mare's mouth."

"It goes far deeper than that, I fear," Keris said.  "I've worked with the former Commander for a long time.  I know quite well when the atmosphere of the moment is being conducted by her and her alone."  He gazed in the direction that they were flying yet again.  "Nopony here in the Central Guard actually believes in the Defense Minister.  He's a jester in a comically large suit of hastily-forged armor.  He knows nothing of a proper hunt.  But Seraphimus?"  Keris slowly, icily nodded.  "Everypony believes in Seraphimus.  She is both the will and the anger that is empowering this pursuit.  Even if Chandler was to drop dead of a heart attack, these soldiers will follow Seraphimus anywhere... even into the jaws of death."

The other members of the Talon exchanged nervous expressions.

"So... so what do we do?" Raptr stammered.  "How do we take control of the situation?"

Keris exhaled heavily.  "I'm not sure we even can at this point..."
> The Matter of Our Discussion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"You are so certain of this, Rainbow Dash?" Princess Celestia's voice rang.

"Grfff..."  Rainbow gnashed her teeth.  The constant rocking of the Stardust threw her off-balance, and she had to cling to the edge of the port-side railing in order to keep from rolling across the deck.  "Just... looking at the p-pattern of things, Your Highness!"  She tilted her pendant towards the stars while gazing across the choppy waters.  "All of the things that have led me to and beyond Starkiss have also led my biggest adversary in Rohbredden to certain despair."

"What makes you so certain that this... 'Commander Seraphimus' would still be in pursuit of you?"

"Why wouldn't she be?!" Rainbow blurted.  She then rolled her eyes at herself and muttered:  "Since I first set-hoof on dry land, she's been strategically, emotionally, and spiritually driven to capture me.  The only thing she ever cared about was the lives of her husband and kid.  Now they're both dead—and the only pony that the entirety of Rohbredden has to blame is me.  How could she possibly know the truth behind Verlax?!  I'm convinced, Your Highness, that she won't stop at anything until she makes me suffer for what's happened to her family."

"That seems highly illogical," Princess Celestia remarked.  "After all... a military veteran of her standing would strike me as well-accustomed to loss.  Even if she falsely accused you for the deaths of her loved ones, how could she be expected to gain anything from ending your life now that the damage is done?"

Water splashed violently against the ship's hull.  Thunder rolled, and Rainbow Dash spoke towards the silvery sky.  "With all due respect, Princess... not all the ponies in this world see things as sensibly and harmoniously as you and I did back home."  She gulped.  "This crazy, bent world is chock-full of idiots, and even an awesometastical trip to the Midnight Armory isn't a straight-forward guarantee to fix all the stupid."

There was a slight delay in Celestia's response.  "I believe you, Rainbow Dash,"she said.  "You would think I would learn from that attempt I made to reason with Axan so many months ago."  The enchanted air shuddered beneat the thunder.  "I've been so fixated on maintaining the chaos here in Ponyville that I find myself having to be constantly reminded that discord and malice is widespread beyond the influence of my sister and I."

"Hey... you've had your job and you've stuck to it," Rainbow Dash said.  She took a shuddering breath.  "And I've got a job to do as well, Your Highness."  She gulped.  "And... and if Seraphimus gets in the way by threatening that—"

"I see the nature of your dilemma," Princess Celestia said.  "And, quite frankly, I can understand the reasoning behind your most recent contemplation."

All of a sudden, Twilight Sparkle burst through Rainbow Dash's chest and shouted ghostily:  "But Princess Celestia!  You can't possibly excuse actual murder!"

Rainbow groaned.  "The Princess can't hear you, Twilight..."

"My good and faithful student?" Celestia's voice rang.  "What troubles you?"

"I think she's about to give one of her usual moralistic speeches on the depravity of murder—"

"Rainbow Dash!"  Twilight frowned.  "Don't downplay the severity of this matter!"  She gazed skyward with quivering eyes.  "I know that Rainbow Dash has had to do several questionable things to get where she is now!  And... and..."  She took a deep breath.  "I've forgiven her for the Quade.  After all, I think she's suffered enough for it.  But the line has gotta be drawn somewhere!"  She spun to face Rainbow.  "Just because Verlax has arranged so many things up to squeak like a well-oiled machine doesn't mean it's necessarily perfect!  In the end, your decisions are still yours, Rainbow!  And just who says that Seraphimus can't find a better, more prosperous life for herself—free of anger and vengeance—now that her Queen and Family are gone?!  If Seraphimus tracks us down, she's in your hooves!  Not Verlaxion!  I refuse... utterly refuse to believe that every single blasted thing that we do from here to the Midnight Armory will have somehow been pre-determined by that accursed Divine of Frost!"

Silence.  The ocean crashed and the thunder roared.

"I trust that it was a good speech," Princess Celestia's voice said with no small amount of amusement.

"Eh..."  Rainbow waved a hoof.  "The usual stuffy, eggheaded affair."

"Rainbowwwww!" Twilight pouted.

"Twilight, will you just chillax?" Rainbow droned.  "Okay, so maybe I was just... speaking in the moment.  Y'know?"  She gulped.  "The stuff that Echo had to say... it really hit me in the gut.  Soooooooo... maybe I got a bit passionate."

"Rainbow, darling..."  Rarity phased through a metal bulkhead, staring evenly with her.  "I get passionate from time to time, but when the moment hits me—I come up with a dress pattern."  Her eyes hardened. "Not a recipe for murder."

"Ohhhhhh... come off it!"  Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.  "We're not talking about stabbing a defenseless puppy in its sleep!"

"Don't make light of it, Rainbow!"  Rarity's eyes narrowed.  "We are not out here to play 'goddess.'  I don't care how many roguish lives you've torn through before."

"Now Rarity, that was uncalled for."  Fluttershy floated in with a frown.  "Has Rainbow done unthinkable things?  Yes—that cannot be denied.  But as much as I deplore something as cruel and unkind as killing, it's obviously not something that Rainbow delights in doing.  She's been led to distressing positions with no alternative."

"Yeah!"  Pinkie Pie floated in, hovering just alongside Fluttershy.  "And think of her friends!  Where would most of them be if Dashie hadn't carried the burden?"  She pointed at herself.  "Where would we be if she hadn't gone against the rough?!"

"I don't believe that Rarity is trying to paint Rainbow Dash as cold or heartless," Twilight said.

"Of course n-not!"  Rarity stammered.  "I just believe that Twilight is right to say that we mustn't accept a no-win situation!  Rainbow, after all, isn't the kind of pony who likes to lose!"

"Yeah?"  Pinkie raised an eyebrow.  "And what's she to do when she has to lose to move on?"

"What are you even talking about?!"  Rarity sputtered.  "Now's not the time to be nonsensical!"

"Now with the 'nonsense card?!'" Pinkie barked.

"Ah-ah-ahem..."

Rainbow and her spectral companions spun towards the bow of the ship.

Kepler smiled down at them.  "Arre you sufferring a moment of philosophical conundrrums, my frriend?"

"Uhhhhhhhhh..."  Rainbow fidgeted on the lower deck.  "...maybe?"

Kepler shook the water droplets off his glasses.  "Because you've been standing idle forr the past minute, starring into the abyss.  I also fearr you've left yourr beloved monarrch frrom home rreeling.  Ha-Hah!"

Rainbow winced.  "Uhhhhh..."  She glanced into the thunderous sky.  "Your Highness?  Would you... uh... would you mind if the girls and I had a little chat below deck where it's quieter?"

"I perfectly understand, Rainbow Dash," Celestia said.  "Please.  Deliberate among yourselves as you see fit.  But—whatever you all may or may not agree on—do know that you've more than won my trust and confidence after all these months."

Rainbow Dash smiled as she trotted through the open door and into the cabin.  "That's a good start for once..."
> Bring Apples to Debate Class
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"She's not just some brutish soldier who's bent on ruining Rainbow Dash's day," Rarity said.  "Seraphimus is crafty, intelligent, and—most of all—she has something that she believes in!"

"Correction."  Pinkie waved a hoof.  "She had something to believe in!  Maybe if Keris' bird-buddy had a chance of reuniting with her family after all this kerfluffle, then she'd have something to hold onto!  But nuuuuuuuu!  Verlax went and took a dump in that tuba!  Now Commander Seraphimus has become Commander McJerkFace by a Factor of Eleven!"

"Which is all the more reason why Rainbow should give her a second chance," Twilight Sparkle said, hovering in the glowing manalight of Flynn's engine.  "Seraphimus is as much a tragic victim of Verlaxion's deception as all the Rohbreddenites dying from stampeding windigoes!"  She turned to look across the way.  "Fluttershy, you know what it means to sympathize with others.  With everything considered, shouldn't Seraphimus be given a second chance?"

"Of course, Twilight."  Fluttershy nodded.  "But I'm not certain that she's willing to give Rainbow or her friends a second chance."

"So, that's it, then?"  Rarity frowned.  "Because this poor wretch has grown soooo morbid and sooooo pitiful... we must erase all hope for her future by extinguishing her life should she happen to get in our way?"

"I'm certain that if Rainbow Dash could find a way around ending her life or the lives of other Rohbreddenites, she would."  Fluttershy cast Rainbow a look.  "But sometimes the choice is not so easy... or she may not even have a choice at all."

"And just what's so special about this 'Seraphimus' turkey anyways?!" Pinkie Pie cackled.  "All she's done since Dashie has stumbled into this party is try and ruin her day!  And the day for everypony!  I mean... helllloooo!  All-important-Austraeoh-destinyyyy, ya fuzzheads!"

"Pinkie, don't trivialize," Rarity snapped.  "When the cracks began showing in Brye Chandler's foolhardy conspiracy, who broke her pursuit of Rainbow altogether to instead attempt to bring the cretin to justice?!"  She waved a hoof.  "Seraphimus!  That's who!  And that puts her in the same sympathetic category as Lieutenant Keris in my book.  Only... she suffered far worse consequences than Keris ever did."

"Yes..."  Fluttershy nodded.  "Only after she proved herself to be stubborn-minded in Starkiss."  She gulped.  "You heard how she stonewalled Lieutenant Keris' peaceful attempts to illuminate her and the rest of the troops.  There's something indomitably stubborn about that griffon.  What happened to her family was terrible, but I do believe she was long pre-disposed against opening her mind long before Verlax stuck the knife in."

"But... for us to just decide that she's expendable... for us to auction her life away for a supposedly righteous cause..."  Twilight Sparkle grimaced.  "How could we rule out any chance of redemption for her?  How can we rule out any redemption for anypony?"

"How can we find the flippin' time?!" Pinkie Pie pulled at her ghost-hair.  "Oh my fuzzy goof-cakes, you guyz!"  She half-squeaked-half-snarled.  "We're not about to write a dissertation on poni poni poni ethics!  Dashie has gotta make it to the Sixth Seed and beyond or else we're all dead!"

"Pinkie—" Rarity reached out.

"All of us!  Deader than cold pizza!"

Rarity frowned.  "But where does the forward-thinking excuses end?  At what point will it become... inconvenient to kill for convenience?"

"I think Rainbow's done more than enough to avoid this kind of a scenario," Fluttershy said.  She sighed.  "But... even if what we've assumed from Echo's revelation is wrong... there will still come a time—sooner than we would like—where Rainbow Dash simply will have no other choice.  It will be the enemy... or her quest."  She gulped.  "I don't like it any more than you do, and it's more than obvious by now that Verlax had long planned to prepare Rainbow Dash for this kind of a scenario... in her own twisted way."

"Right..."  Twilight nodded.  "...and it's up to us to be there for Rainbow Dash so she can make the right decision... her decision... and not Verlax's."

"But if it still ends up being the same decision..."  Pinkie Pie shrugged.  "...so what?!  If Dashie and the rest of the world gets to sing campfire songs another day... th-that's a good thing... r-right?"

At last, the mares had run out of things to say.  They stared at the interior deck of the Stardust between them.

Rainbow Dash finally stopped pacing.  She looked at Twilight and Rarity to her right... then at Fluttershy and Pinkie to her left.  After a few blinks, she gazed down the center.  "You've been quiet all this time, AJ?"  She winced—but nevertheless asked, "What do you think?"

Applejack "leaned" against the wall, her hat tilted forward.  Upon hearing the question, she sighed into the tilted brim of her hat.  "Is killin' wrong?"  A gulp.  "Yes.  It sure as hay is."

Rainbow bit her lip.

"However... is lettin' Rainbow's ponies die for the sake of an idea also wrong?"  She tilted her hat up, exposing thin green eyes.  "Heck... I'm not so sure no more... but it certainly feels bad."

The others watched as she drifted through the group.

"I know I'm still catchin' up to this crazy eastward shindig and all..."  Applejack squinted aside as she passed Rainbow Dash.  "So... correct me if I'm wrong here... but didn't a bunch of innocent villagers die because this 'Shell' fella had survived as long as he did?"

Fluttershy bit her lip.

Rainbow clenched her jaws tight, glaring aside.  The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

Applejack saw it.  "Hmmm... well then..."  She turned to look at the rest of the girls.  "I think y'all are puttin' things too simple-like.  It's not just the killin' that has bit poor ol' Rainbow in the keister.  But it's all the not-killin' as well."

Rarity and Twilight looked to the floor.

Applejack floated back the way she came.  "Ain't nothin' smart nor ethical 'bout thinkin' in the moment.  Not all of us have been there.  I like to think that I have—but that ain't no truth.  If it was... I'd be in far worse sorts than I am now... heh... if you can believe that."

"But... killing someone like Seraphimus... isn't like putting down a member of your livestock, AJ."  Twilight Sparkle sadly shook her head.  "All things considered, it was never Rainbow Dash's place to even be out here... to have crossed paths with the Lead Claw of the Talon in the first place."

Applejack bore a bitter smirk.  "While I appreciate ya tryin' to put it into farmin' terms for me to understand, Twilight... yer overcomplicatin' things again."  She gazed at Rainbow Dash.  "What did Shell have in common with Seraphimus, really?"

"He... uh..."  Rainbow gulped.  "He was a military dude... pressured by his government to take on some crazy, foreign menace... just like Seraphimus."

"Is that all, sugarcube?"

Rainbow stared at her.  Her ears gradually drooped.  "He had no family..."  She shuddered.  "Imre... killed herself in front of him... and... and th-that was it."  She gulped.  "He had nothing left."

"He had nothin' left..."  Applejack slowly nodded.  She gazed down at her fidgeting hooves.  "Girls... I know that I've never really... r-really gone all that much about how my folks passed away..."

All of the mares looked up, blinking.

"...and... ahem..."  Applejack's voice wavered.  "...there's a reason for that.  I... get mighty weak in the knees whenever I so much as think about Ma... about Pa... about the very few... very warm... very tender memories we all shared when we was whole.  And... and sometimes I'd think that life was just some... cruel and heartless joke... to take my very own folks from me..."  She sighed heavily.  "...just like it's gone and taken Granny..."

Rainbow winced.

"And yet..."  Applejack looked up, her eyes wet... but firm.  "Apple Bloom's still there.  Big Mac is still there.  The farm... the apples... the ranch... all of Ponyville is waitin' on me to return."  She took a deep breath.  "As far as I'm concerned, I've got something to go back home to.  All of us... we all got somethin' to return to."

Silence.

"A life without any of that... a life without warmth... without meanin'?"  Applejack slowly shook her head.  "I can't even imagine that.  I don't want to imagine that.  And—quite frankly—I wouldn't wish it on any hollow thing that crawls upon this earth... claws or hooves or no-matter."  She turned to gaze at Rainbow Dash.  "If you ask me... if another 'Shell' comes barreling at you... with the only flickerin' thing in that monster's mind bein' death... then I'd think it'd be a mighty cruel thing not to give it to her..."
> Let Us Ask the Dragon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	On fumbling hooves, Rainbow Dash marched slowly out of Flynn's engine room and towards the bottom deck of the Princess Stardust's spacious metal cabin.  She stared down at the rusted hull plating, sighing to herself.

All of a sudden, she came upon a thick set of violet hooves.

"... ... ...?"  She tilted her head up.

Remna stared calmly at her.  "That was an awful lot of chatter back there."

Rainbow blinked.  She turned and looked back at the engine compartment from which she came.

"Care to share with the rest of us what's putting you through so much turmoil?" Remna droned.

Rainbow exhaled heatedly.  "It's not turmoil."  She turned to face the draconian bounty hunter once again.  "Well... at least no more than usual."

"This has something to do with the conversation you were having with the sarosian earlier..."  Remna tilted her heavy head to the side.  "About the griffon Commander pursuing her?"

"Assuming she's even pursuing me at all," Rainbow muttered.

"She's been politically and religiously charged with capturing you more than once," Remna said.  "And you are inadvertently responsible for the death of her family."  Her slitted eyes narrowed.  "It would be foolish to assume she's not pursuing her."

"Dang it... I didn't hold her family ransom!" Rainbow's voice cracked.  "Verlax did!"

"Does it make any difference as far as Seraphimus is concerned?" Remna remarked.  "For the sake of yourself—and the Herald—it would be best to assume responsibility and act accordingly."  She shook her head.  "Verlax is no longer around to take the blame.  You're the Austraeoh.  Expect the worst."

"Jee..."  Rainbow muttered.  "You're a real coach."

"Friends will coddle you to put you at ease," Remna said.  "But we both know the Austraeoh cannot afford ease."

"Don't I know it..."  Rainbow Dash paced across the metal chamber.  "...but—for your information—my friends don't coddle."  Her brow furrowed.  "Half of them are friggin' shaming for even contemplating that I should put Seraphimus' lights out permanently."

"And the other half?"

"They're... trying to defend me, I guess," Rainbow muttered, fidgeting in place.  "And that's awesome and all... but I think they're forgetting that it's not just Seraphimus that I may end up having to deal with."  She rubbed a hoof over her short-short bangs.  "Who knows how many ponies are going to butt heads with me between here and there... the final 'there.'"  She looked up with a dull expression.  "Verlax thought that I have to go about this all cold-hearted... but everything about where I'm from and who I am tells me that I gotta look for any and all harmonic options."

"Which is to be understood," Remna said with a nod.

Rainbow glanced at her.  She squinted.  "What do you think I should do?"

"Murder Seraphimus on sight," Remna said.  "As well as any misguided creatures hell-bent on opposing you."

"Heh..."  Rainbow rolled her eyes with a bitter smirk.  "Why did I even bother to ask?"

"It is not your place to gratuitously slay entire populations," Remna said.  "Nevertheless, the road to redemption is necessarily painted in blood.  If it turns out to be all your blood, then it will be a very short road indeed."

"I used to think so self-centeredly," Rainbow said with a nod.  She gulped a bitter lump down her throat.  "I'm not keen on using that sort of tunnel vision ever again."

"Then how do you expect to get anywhere?"

"Axan... look..."  Rainbow waved a hoof.  "Maybe you got along just fine with being a cold, cruel, soul-less Matriarch for countless centuries."  She raised an eyebrow.  "But what has that ever accomplished except to maintain the status quo of this crazy world dying slowly... eon by eon?"

"A point well-made."

"Heh... I'm glad you can see that."

"I can now."  Remna took a sullen breath.  "And for what it's worth, Austraeoh, I have endeavored in every feasible way to think outside the metaphysical restraints that my foolish siblings have manifested—Verlax most especially."

"And Nevlamas?"

"You cannot fix crazy."

"No."  Rainbow chuckled.  "I suppose not."  She gulped.  "But... like... think about yourself, Axan."

Remna stared.

"You've done things by a black-and-white rulebook before," the mare said.  "All the stuff you did in Silvadel... the stuff you did to me in Silvadel..."

"Have we not discussed this already at length?"

"J-just hear me out."  Rainbow gestured.  "You once killed me out of pure impulse—even though it seemed like the most necessary thing to do at the time."  She raised an eyebrow.  "And just how hard have you come to regret such a disharmonious action?  Especially since you found out I was the Austraeoh?"

Remna was silent.

"Heh... you're right."  Rainbow smirked slightly.  "We have discussed this at great length."

"You are not wrong," Remna said.  "I once extinguished your life with the same resolute determination that I currently believe you must employ in encountering the likes of Seraphimus and her underlings."

"Uh huh..."  Rainbow nodded.  "And me?"  She pointed at herself.  "I believe in putting my life on the line for the sake of harmony.  Or... at least... I once did."  She gulped.  "That pegasus who faced you back in Silvadel... she knew what awesome lengths it took to do something very good.  And... like... look at me now!"  Rainbow shrugged with a smirk.  "Austraeoh prevails and all that snazzy fluff!"

"Hrmmmm..."  Remna leaned back.  "Your sense of self-sacrifice is arguably noble.  And yet... it has depended so much on good fortune."

Rainbow blinked.

"As much as you should be asking yourself how far you will be willing to shed blood for the sake of your journey... I do believe you should also be asking yourself: just how many honorable deaths can you miraculously come back from?"  Remna took a fuming breath.  "I fear that one alternative is a great deal riskier than the other... especially considering the good graces you've enjoyed thus far."

Rainbow bit her lip.

Silence...

...and then Rainbow heard sharp, muffled voices from the far end of the cabin.  She craned her neck to look past Remna's form.

"What... what's going on in there?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"The sarosian we picked up... known as 'Nicole' to her older sibling," Remna muttered.  "...who is currently 'chewing Bard out,' as you mortals would say."

"Chewing him out?"  Rainbow blanched.  "What for?"

"Have you forgotten where we are heading?"

"The Sixth Seed?  Bleak's Plummet?"  Rainbow cocked her head aside.  "Nicole's here to help Echo out with the Seventh Tribe."

"But where are we headed beyond...?"

Rainbow blinked.  Her ears folded as she winced.  "Oh... oh jeez..."
> Beware of Angry Little Sisters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"I can't believe you're being such a thick-headed moron about this, Johnny!  I'm not a little filly any more!"

"Ain't my head that's the thick thang here, darlin'.  Yer precious to me... to Ray and Kelly and James and the rest.  I can't be havin' ya followin' me to the Dark Side."

"Oh—and where would I be better off, huh?  You think there's an ember's chance in the Spring Havens of me going back to Blue's Ranch and living a normal life?!"

"Hell no!  You can... uhhh... go and sit all safe and proper deep inside Frostknife!  We'll send a message to Professor Mane!  Ain't that right, Echo?  Theanim will take care of ya there!"

Echo's voice stammered:  "Uhm... I-I really don't want to be brought into this—"

"Oh hush!" Nicole pouted.  "You're already taking Johnny's side!  I can tell!"

Rainbow Dash slowly wandered into the cabin.  She passed Wildcard, Logan, and Ariel who were all leaning against the entrance to the spacious metal chamber.  Bard and Nicole faced each other in the center of the room while Echo lingered off to the side.

"What's going on?" Rainbow muttered.

"The inevitable," Logan huffed.  "I bet Flynn ten bits she'd blow up before we even made it to Bleak's Plummet."  He stifled a yawn.  "Looks like I'm gettin' rich soon... not that it matters at all at this point."

"What's Nicole getting all angry about?" Rainbow asked.

"What do you think?"  Ariel glanced aside.  "It's not like we're taking her to the Dark Side with us."

"We're not?" Rainbow asked.

Ariel bit her lip.

Wildcard hand-signed.

"The pelican's right," Logan remarked.  "Even if she was capable of kicking butt beyond the normal constraints of a simple farm filly, ain't no way in Hell that Bard's going to allow it."

"I... guess I never put too much thought into it," Rainbow muttered.

"None of us did," Ariel said, gesturing at the ensuing argument.  "But you can get your pretty feathers we're going to be thinking about it now."

Rainbow craned her head towards the heated conversation, ears twitching.

"Johnny, I've lived in the Twilight lands all my life," Nicole said, stomping her hooves.  "I'm naturally nocturnal!  Unlike Echo here, I can actually fly.  So—lets' face it!  I'm more than prepared for the Dark Side!"

"No you are not!"  Bard huffed, frowning.  "There're way darker evils lurkin' about on the opposite side of this here plane than you can ever possibly imagine!"

"Yeah?  So?!"

"There's a whole flippin' Trinary War between mindless changelings... sarosians more bloodthirtsy than the likes of Bleak's Plummet... and a whole mysterious cabal of baddies called the Night Shard!  Ain't tellin' how long ponies have been slayin' each other over there in the dark!  It's a dang livin' cemetery of murder and ugliness!"

Nicole's slitted eyes narrowed.  "Sounds to me like you and your friends are the ones who are clueless about what's waiting for us over there."

Bard blinked.  He adjusted his hat, fidgeting.  "Uhhhhhh..."

"Come on, Johnny..."  Nicole took a brave step forward.  "Whatever's lurking on the Dark Side, let us find out together!  Face it!  You need me!  You could use all the help you can get!"

"Ain't nothin' over there that needs you meddlin' with to understand!"

"Oh—but it's just fine and dandy to use me for getting past the Seventh Tribe!" Nicole scoffed.  "Is that it?!"

"Hell naw!"  Bard frowned, gesturing wildly.  "You've blessed us enough with the supplies, ya crazy varmint!  As for Bleak's Plummet, Princess Luna's spell on Rainbow's necklace has got it covered—"

"If you believed that for one second, then why did you even bring Echo along?!"

Echo smiled.  "What say we agree to disagree—"

"Shut the buck up!" Nicole barked.

"Okay."  Echo shrank into the corner.

"Nicole..."  Bard sighed, reaching a hoof out to caress her shoulder.  "I did not cross the entire ocean, beat the ever-livin' tar outta Tim, and free you from Blue's iron hoof just so you could leap into the jaws of death—"

"Grrrrr!"  Nicole batted his hoof away.  "And I did not reunite with my favorite brother just so I could watch him fly off on a suicide mission!"  Her leafy ears folded.  "I know that you're on a very important quest... but aren't you and I important to?"

"Darn tootin'."  Bard nodded.  "Which is why I want you stayin' here... on the light side."  He gulped.  "Where it's safe."

"You mean with the windigoes and the sarosian pirates and an entire continent full of victimized xenophobes?"

"Uhhhhhhhhhh..."  Bard sweated, gulped, and braved a smile.  "...yeah?"

Wildcard facepalmed.

Nicole huffed.  "You can't just sweep me under the rug, Johnny.  You're better than this.  Herald or not... you're my brother..."  She gulped.  "And I'd rather run the darkest gauntlet in the cosmos than just... wait here to die without you."

"Now dun put it like that, darlin'."  Bard smiled nervously.  "All we gotta do is get Rainbow to the Midnight Armory—and then we'd all be headed back.  You and I will be with each other again!  And we can live in a happier... warmer... restored world!  Now wouldn't that be snazzy?"

Nicole was deadpan as she said:  "You must really think me stupid if you expect me to believe that you... that any of you have a realistic chance of coming back from all of this."

The cabin hung in silence.  Thunder and crashing waves echoed beyond the hull.  Logan, Ariel, and Wildcard hung their heads.

"She's right," Echo muttered.  "You're all idiots."

"Grrrr..."  Bard spun to snarl at him.  "Why not go make yerself useful and shove yer head into a toilet?"

"I bet it'd stink less than this conversation—"

"Okay guys..."  Rainbow stepped boldly into the center of the cabin, spreading her wings out at full length.  "Let's settle down, okay?"

"And you!"  Nicole turned to face her, frowning.  "If you really cared about this situation at all, you'd do something about it!"

"Like what?"  Rainbow shrugged.  "I can fly over purple mountains.  I'm not so good at moving them."

"Considering the passion that these ponies believe in you, I sometimes wonder."  Nicole stared Rainbow down.  "You've got the Mother of Nightmares on our side!  Have her speak to the sarosians!"  Her fangs showed.  "Let's bring the Seventh Tribe to the Dark Side with us!  The Trinary War has its armies, right?  So let's bring ours!  Stronger in numbers, right?"

Echo glanced between Nicole and Rainbow.

"I... uh..."  Rainbow gulped.  "It's... complicated.  I'm not even sure how we're going to get ten of us over to the Dark Side... much less a whole frickin' culture of misplaced sarosians."

Nicole leaned back.  She sighed, folding her forelimbs.  "You're not very certain of anything, it seems.  Still... that doesn't stop you from risking your life and the life of my brother for this journey of yours."

"No."  Rainbow slowly shook her head.  "It doesn't."

Silence.

"Mrmfff... whatever..."  Nicole spun about.  "Heroes are stupid... stupid-heads.  Just like Johnny's 'Desperadoes' crud."  She stormed off for the far end of the cabin.  "No wonder you're all called the 'Job Squad.'"

"Uhhhh..."  Echo smiled nervously.  "I'll go... uhm... talk to her."

"Really?"  Rainbow squinted at her.  "You'll talk to her."

"Well... I'll sit quietly and stare at her, at least."  Echo flinched from Bard—but the Desperado was too distracted to bother threatening him.  With a shrug, Echo shuffled off to join Nicole in the corner.

The rest of the group trotted off in separate directions, save for Wildcard who approached Bard and gestured something.

"Oh hush!"  Bard snapped.  "How 'bout you have a baby sister and you see how easy it is!"  He tossed his hat and marched off in a huff.  "Hrmmmff... blabber-beak."

Wildcard sighed.

Rainbow glanced around at the empty shadows of the room.  "Well..."  Her voice cracked.  "This is going nicely."

> Big Bard Best Friend Forever
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Bard sat in a rusted corner of the rusted ship and rested his back against a rusted hull.  Sighing, he cradled the guitar in his legs and wingtips and started slowly plucking away.

It wasn't long until Rainbow Dash shuffled over to stand before him.  She gulped and managed a feeble:  "Hey."

"Howdy," Bard droned without looking up.  "You should try to get some sleep."

Rainbow shrugged.  "Not sure I could if I tried."

"Ya say that now," Bard muttered, strumming more gentle notes.  "But when the exhaustion really hits ya... you just might not be in the position to handle it then... or at least not half as much as ya can now."

"Right now..."  Rainbow Dash slumped down and sat against the hull of the cabin beside him.  "I want to make sure that all of my buddies are doing okay."

"Mrmmmfff..."  He breathed out the side of his stubbled muzzle.  "Then ya best be checkin' on my lil' sis. She's the one blowin' a gasket."

"I don't know her as well as you do."

"Ya sure about that?"

Silence.

Rainbow squinted at him.  "You need to shave."

"Yeah... well..."  He arched an eyebrow in her direction.  "You need to grow."

Rainbow Dash giggled.

Bard smirked.

More silence.

"... ... ...I know that you really care for Nicole," Rainbow said.  "But... she's a grown mare."  She looked calmly at him.  "And the fact of the matter is... she chose to join us on this trip."

"She didn't choose to go to the edge of the world," Bard grumbled.  "She don't even know a third of what we're gettin' into.  Don't none of us know what we're gettin' into!"

"Well, true."  Rainbow nodded.  "But you can't just dismiss her entirely.  She loves you dearly, Bard, and it... can't be easy just letting you go now that you've both newly reunited."

"The fact that I got her out of that whole stinkin' mess with Blue is the biggest reason why I want her stayin' on the light side where it's safe."

"Where it's safer," Rainbow insisted.  "She was right with what she said earlier.  Between the likes of Chandler and the stampeding windigoes, she's stuck between a rock and a hard place if she stays here."

Bard squinted.  "Are ya sayin' that we should be lettin' my little sister brave hell and high water on the way to the Midnight Armory?"

"No..."  Rainbow shook her head.  "And if I had my way, I'd not bring any of you guys over to the dark side.  But... let's face it... most of the Herald have already made their choice."

"Damn straight."

"But... not all of them have family," Rainbow said.  She looked steadily at the stallion.  "In fact... none of them did... until just yesterday."

Bard stopped strumming.  He looked directly at the mare.  "What are ya sayin', Rainbow?"

"I'm saying..."  Rainbow took a deep breath.  "That a long time ago... you told somepony very special to you that 'there'd be no more sunsets' for you."  She gulped.  "...that can be true here as much as on the Dark Side."

Bard's brow furrowed.  "You kickin' me out, Rainbow?"

"Bard—"

"I'm more than a member of the Herald, y'know!"  He frowned.  "I'm a Desperado to the core!  And ain't gettin' off this train we're on!"  He pointed across the cabin.  "I owe Dubya more than words or song can say!  You think I'm gonna be abandonin' him anytime soon or—"

"Look at me."

Bard blinked.  Sighing, he folded his forelimbs and glared at Rainbow.

Rainbow spoke firmly:  "You haven't abandoned anyone.  In fact... more than anyone I've known since crossing the Grand Choke... you've shown so much faith in me..."  She winced, her ears drooping.  "...way more faith than I deserve."

"Aw shucks..."

"Even after I sent you away..."

"Rainbow... now dun get all sappy—"

"...with no connections to Mortuana's hero club—save just Wildcard—you agreed to come back and save my fuzzy blue butt."  Rainbow gulped.  "The Herald got more than their fair share of awesomeness from the likes of you long before you even became an official member!"

"Even if I did skedaddle..."  Bard cocked his head to the side.  "Who would be the Seventh?"

Rainbow blew out the side of her muzzle.  "I dunno.  Echo?"

"HAH!"  Bard grinned wickedly.  "Fat lotta good that would do for the future of Austraeoh!"  He cackled.  "Hell, if that's yer only alternative, then I might as well lasso you tight and carry you over to the Midnight Armory on my lonesome!"

"Bard..."

"Assumin' Dubya dun skin me clean for it first!"

"Dang it..."  Rainbow buried her face in her hooves.  "Grrrrrrrr..."  She looked up with a frown—or at least her best attempt at one.  "I didn't ever want to steal your life from you!  Okay?!"

Bard blinked at her, lips pursed.

"Desperado or not... bounty hunter or not... the fact is..."  She gulped.  "...family is super important for you.  And with the likes of Nicole... you've got family.  And... and I don't want you losing all of that... all on account of me."  She hugged herself, staring across the cabin.  "Even the Noble Jury... after all that they gave up for me..."  She squeaked.  "I st-still let them go... to live healthy, normal lives."  She sniffled.  "It... it just doesn't seem right to ask the impossible of so many ponies.  And I can't illustrate what the rest of the Herald are losing.  But you?"

"Rainbow... darlin'..."  Bard wrapped a hoof around her gently from the side.  "I told ya that the Herald is my family and I meant it.  Ain't no changin' that."  He smiled warmly.  "Now Nicole's family too... but her place ain't on the move like me... it ain't about danger and death-defyin' nonsense.  She's just got her heart mixed up with her head.  That's all good and fine... and I dun blame her.  But... I'll be damned if I let my lil' sister die... all because I'm needin' to head on out and protect my other lil' sister."

Rainbow Dash blinked at that.  She looked up at him.

Bard winked.

Rainbow sniffed.  She rolled her eyes—if only in a loose attempt to dry them.  "And you call me sappy," she muttered.

He chuckled.  "Well, you are, aren't ya?"

Rainbow merely groaned in protest.  Nevertheless, with a tiny shudder, she gave in... leaning her head against his strong shoulder.  She stared across the dimly-lit cabin with tired eyes.  "I never thought I'd dig the idea."

"What?  Of being sappy?"

"No, you dense melon fudge.  Of having an older brother."

"Ohhhhh... well... so far, Nicole wants to kill me... so I guess I'm one for two."

"She doesn't want to kill you," Rainbow muttered.  "She just cares for you a lot."

"And how about you, Lil' Missy?"

Rainbow sighed.  "... ... ...if I could get over being annoyed by you, then Nicole sure can."

Bard nodded with a smile.  "That's a good start, I reckon."

Silence.

"If you're like an older brother..."  Rainbow muttered.  "...then what does that make Wildcard?"

Bard shrugged.  "A pet?"

Rainbow snorted, doubling over.

Bard's teeth showed beneath his grin.  "The varmint sure does squawk enough to want crackers!"

"Unnnnnnngh... you're an idiot."

"Nah... I'm yer idiot."

"Hmmmm..."  Rainbow contemplated that.  She leaned calmly against his shoulder... and calmly closed her eyes.
> Ain't No Rest for Zealotry
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Eat healthy, soldiers!" Commander Keris shouted, trotting across the valley of gravel and sand.  Hundreds of members of the Central Guard sat on the dunes, biting into their rations and sipping from their canteens.  "But be quick about it!  And sparing!"

His magenta eyes hardened as he threw his voice across the saturated landscape.  Pockets of salt water rippled with starlight in between the clustered group of armored veterans.

"There are yet many miles between us and our destination!  We need to survive the trip back as much as the initial journey to the world's edge!  Do not forget about our families at home!  We owe it to them to return as much as we owe it to Rohbredden to find the Rainbow Rogue!"

The soldiers continued eating, separated into a dozen murmuring, mulling groups.

As Keris caught his breath, Sergeant Raptr flew over to join him.

"Well said, Commander," the rookie remarked quietly.  "I think it's a super smart idea to put into these ponies' heads that we're coming back from this nonsense."

"It's more than an idea, sergeant," Keris muttered.  "It's a healthy goal to aim for.  However..."  His eyes sliced the distance between where he paced and a certain chariot parked in the sand.  "...I'm not certain the Defense Minister shares my optimism."

"Well... uh..."  Raptr gulped, smiling hopefully under his beak.  "He hasn't lifted a hoof to stop your speeches yet."

"True.  Although..."  Keris sighed.  "Perhaps he knows that my words are falling on deaf ears."

Raptr blinked.

Keris turned to gaze tiredly at him.  "Chandler has picked this particular elite group of guardians for a reason.  Each and every one of them is passionately bent on ripping Rainbow Dash's heart straight out of her chest."  He inhaled and exhaled exasperatingly.  "I might be able to calm their nerves now... but when we approach Bleak's Plummet...?"

"Yes, well..."  Raptr cleared his throat.  "What if it's a ruse, Keris?"

"Sergeant...?"

"I mean... what if she's not at Bleak's Plummet?  What if the ponies back at the blighted farms were wrong?"  The rookie blinked.  "I mean... realistically speaking... what are the odds that we're actually going to run into her after she had such a head start?"

Th-Thwooosh!  Starstorm and Windburst touched down simultaneously.

"Commander..."  Starstorm wheezed, then pointed northeast.  "Don't look now... but guess-who is returning."

Keris pivoted about.  He and the other members of the Talon watched as Seraphimus and four other guardians glided in from a distant speck of cluttered structures on stilts to the far north.

"Defense Minister," Seraphimus firmly spoke before she even landed.  She took off her helmet and bowed before Chandler.  "We just returned from the trading depot.  The dwelling has a population of approximately fifty-five ponies.  Most of them fishers and merchants."

"Yeah yeah..."  Chandler impatiently nodded, frowning.  "And?"

Seraphimus took a deep breath.  "And they do not recall having seen anypony matching the features of the Rainbow Rogue."  The group around her groaned in frustration.  Nevertheless, the griffon maintained her steely resolve.  "However..."  She gestured as she spoke.  "Their well-paid sentries—who are adept at spotting midnighter pirates at a distance of three miles—testified to having seen a small group of equine figures passing by the settlement to the south."  She pointed.  "About a mile further from where we are located.  This group was supposedly heading east."

Murmurs erupted across the camp.

Chandler glanced about, blinking hard.  "If that's true... then how come our scouts didn't spot any hoof prints?"

"The surface of the coastline is mostly gravel and sand," Seraphimus spoke above a roll of thunder.  "The wind here could easily have masked their path since they first passed by.  Besides..."  She gestured at the abundance of watery pockets and estuaries.  "...the group likely trotted through the shallows, further hiding their prints."

Chandler huffed.  "So... let me get this straight... all we know is that the group might have been spotted passing south of us on an eastward course?"  He fidgeted in his bulky armor.  "I fear we'll need more than that to go by."

"You might be pleased, then, to see this."  Seraphimus snapped her claws at one of her wingmates.  The pegasus produced a scroll from beneath his armor and hoofed it to her.  "This, Defense Minister..."  She held the parchment out ot him.  "...was given to us by the settlement's elder."

Chandler's green eyes narrowed.  "Did you have to barter with them?"

"She agreed to my terms," Seraphimus said firmly.  "I assure you that there would have been no other outcome."  She pointed at the sheet as Chandler unrolled it in his grasp.  "It's a map that the township has held onto for ages, drafted from several collective generations' worth of knowledge."

"I see..."  Chandler muttered.  "...and how is this of use to our cause, precisely?"

"Because it takes several hundred years' of observation into account," Seraphimus said.  She pointed at a gray patch of color along the right edge of the parchment.  "And approximates the most likely location of the midnighter pirates and their base of operations."

"In other words..."  Chandler's muzzle hung agape.  "...the location of Bleak's Plummet."

"Precisely."

The soldiers sat up straight, their ears perking.

Chandler exhaled heavily.  "Well, what are we waiting for?!"  He scrolled the map up tightly and grinned devilishly.  "Everypony!  Rest time is over!  Take wing!"  He stood up, fumbled, and waddled into his chariot.  "We make way to Bleak's Plummet!  On my mark!"

The starry air filled with shouts and murmurs as the soldiers recollected their belongings and re-suited up.

Seraphimus calmly trotted through the group... icily passing by Keris without making eye contact.

Keris sighed, his headcrest drooping.

Raptr cleared his throat and smiled awkwardly.  "Maybe... uh... a dozen more speeches?"
> Running Out of Five Words
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Rainbow?"

Silence.

"Rainbow!"

More silence.

"For Starswirl's sake, Rainbow!  Will you wake up already?!"

"It's no use, Twilight."

"What do you mean, 'it's no use,' Pinkie?!  She has to wake up!"

"I'm not saying she shouldn't!  I'm just saying that you shouting into her fuzzy ears isn't gonna make Dashie get up any faster!"

"Grrrrr!  I don't get it!  She's so perky and spry when she's awake!  But as soon as her brain hits the snooze button—she's deader than petrified oak!"

"Heeheehee!  Well, you know what they say!  The awesomer they are, the harder they fall!"

"... ... ...Pinkie, who in Equestria's name ever says that?"

"Oh... y'know... books... and the writers of books."

"Guh... this is hopeless.  Rainbowwww!  Rainbow you have to wake up this instant!"

"Psssst... step aside, Twilight."

"Pinkie, what are you doing—?"

"Ah-ah-ahem... Step One in Waking Your Dashie:  you gotta know the right words to shout!"  A deep... deeeeeep breath.  Then:  "RAINBOW DASH!  SCOOTALOO'S STUCK IN THE WELL!"

"Mrmmfff..."  With a fuzzy trilling noise, the blue pegasus stirred.  She rubbed her sleepy nose with curled forelimbs, then squinted into the foggy amber light of the Stardust's cabin.  "Gnnngh... nyup..."  She smiled dizily, murmuring.  Six words:  "What what what what what what?"

A pink and a lavender figure came into focus, eyes wide.

"Seeeeeee?"  Pinkie Pie proudly grinned.  "Works like a charm!"  She squinted her eyes and swung one fetlock around.  "I like to call it chickenception."

"Oh hush."  Twilight turned to glare at Rainbow.  "Rainbow... get up!  Hurry!  It's super important!"

"Mrmmmf... huh... what is...?"  Rainbow sat up—only to realize that she was lying under two layers of blankets.  She blinked curiously.  "How did I...?"  She looked to her left to see a cowboy hat.  A stupid smile hung off her tired face.  "Heh... melon fudge..."

"Rainbowwwww..."  Twilight hissed.

"Yeeeeesh... egghead..."  Rainbow rubbed her ears, wincing.  "Ease up on the permanently resting butt falsetto..."  Stifling a yawn, she stood up, stretched... and stretched again.  "Now... slowly and articulately... what seems to be the pony pony pony problem..."

"There's something approaching us," Twilight said.  "Something approaching the Stardust."

"Mrmmfff...?"  Rainbow blinked, squinting.  "Since when?"

"Since half-an-hour ago!" Twilight exclaimed.  "I'm... detecting some mana sources.  They're..."  She grimaced.  "...not like anything I've ever felt before."

"H-how do you mean?"

"I mean they're not sources of unicorn magic or chaotic or any of Verlaxion's stuff—"

"Wait wait wait..."  Rainbow shook a hoof.  "...you're sure you're not getting confused with Flynn's manafart mumbo jumbo?"  She pointed across the foggy cabin.  "'Cuz his engine's been pumping quite madly ever since we shoved off."

"No, Rainbow.  It's not the ship's engines!"  Twilight protested.  "There's something approaching us.  And—unless the Stardust has spun around a few times in mid-course—I think it's actually... actually circled us."

"Circled us?"  Rainbow blinked.  "What are we talking about?  A leviathan?"  She grimaced.  "Cuz you once sensed Ultimo, remember—?"

"No, these are way smaller."

"Wait... there's more than one of them?!"

"Yes!  For Celestia's sake, Rainbow!"  Twilight clenched her teeth.  "Don't you see what I'm trying to tell you?!  Something's out there!"

"She's right, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said, floating up.  "And they're not alone."

"Huh?"

Fluttershy gulped.  "I'm sensing souls... lots of them... crowded together."

Rainbow blinked.  "... ... ...flocks?"  She glanced around.  "Flying flocks?"

Twilight and Fluttershy glanced at one another.  They merely shrugged.

Rainbow exhaled.  She slapped her face a few times, then frowned.  "I'm going above deck."





Sccrkkkkkkkkkkk!

Grunting, Rainbow Dash forced the metal door to the cabin open.  She winced at a wave of hard droplets pelting her.  The surf was tempestuous at this point, and the sharp bow of the Stardust shredded its way through wave after wave of windblown water.  Thunder rolled heavily above, and bands of clouds rippled across the starry night sky.  The ocean—despite its undulating face—had an eerie purple sheen to it.

"Cheese and crackers..."  Rainbow cursed, hobbling out onto the open deck.  "...it's like Stratopolis all over again up here..."

"Rrainbow frriend!"

"...?"  Rainbow spun to face the rear deck.

Kepler stood above her, his claws gripping the rudder wheel.  He hollered above the thunder:  "Did you get some good rrest?!"

"Yeah.  Sure.  Yo, Kepler!"  Rainbow shaded her brow from errant sprays of water as the ship tossed and turned.  "You've been up all night!"

"That is a difficult question to measurre!  Hah-HAH!"

Rainbow huffed.  "You know what I mean."

"Indeed!  I have been constantly vigilant!"  Kepler's nostrils flared.  "It is—after all—verry difficult to fall asleep admist so much oceanic bedlam!"

"Yeah.  Uh huh.  Great.  Have you seen anything weird circling us?!"

"Why... whateverr would you mean?!"

"Are we being followed by anypony?!"  Rainbow pointed.  "Maybe by air?!"

"Hmmmm..."  Kepler squinted through his bifocals.  "I have seen nothing but waves and clouds, Rrainbow one!  Perrhaps you should thrrow that question at Wildcarrd or Big Show!  They've switched shifts, keeping eyes to the sky!"

"Hey there, shortstack," Logan spontaneously rumbled, standing on deck behind Rainbow.  "What's up?"

"Gah!"  Rainbow jumped in place.  "Yeesh... the thunder must be really loud for you to sneak up on me."

"Jee.  Thanks."  Logan's brow furrowed.  "Now what's this about us being circled?"

"My gal pals could swear that... something or someone has been circling us for the past half-hour."  Rainbow squinted.  "Have you seen anything in the air?"

"Uhhhh..."  Logan rubbed his fat chins.  "Can't say that I have."  He glanced up at Kepler, then back at Rainbow.  "Wildcard didn't mention anything either.  Sky's nothing but pea soup madness."

"Then... what in the hay...?" Rainbow wheezed.

"Oh gosh..."  Twilight grimaced.  "Oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh..."

"...?"  Rainbow turned to face her.  "What is it, Twilight?"

"That's not good..."  Twilight gulped.  "That's not good at all."  She turned to face Rarity.  "Rarity?  Do you sense it too?"

"Sense what?" Applejack stammered.  "What's goin' on, y'all?"

"Why... yes..."  Rarity fidgeted in place.  "I do feel it, Twilight."  Her ghostly limbs trembled.  "Several objects... perfectly round in shape..."  She squinted in deep thought.  "Made out of... very rigid materials... all neatly entertwined..."

"Look, just spit it out already!" Rainbow's voice cracked.  "Are we being circled or what?!  If so... why can't we see them?"

"Because, Rainbow," Fluttershy spoke, ears drooped.  "They're not flying in the air.  They're beneath us."

"... ... ..."  Rainbow turned to look at the tossing waves.  She swallowed a heavy lump down her throat and spoke to Logan behind her shoulder.  "Big Show... call the rest of the gang... get their flanks up here at once."

> From a Nautical Mile Away
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Logan galloped back onto the top deck, followed closely by Ariel, Wildcard, and Bard.

"What in tarnation is goin' on?!" Bard asked, slapping his hat back onto his head.

"That is prrecisely what we arre attempting to find out, goodly Barrd!" Kepler remarked, struggling to keep the Stardust steady.

"Do the girls sense something?" Ariel asked, hovering above the deck.  Wide-eyed.  "Is it the the midnighters?"

"It's something, alright," Rainbow Dash said, pacing from port to starboard, her ruby eyes plastered to the tossing waves.  "Twilight and Rarity sense round structures underwater."

"Round structures?"

"There are ponies as well," Rainbow said.  "Maybe piloting them."

"Round submersibles?!"  Flynn stuck his head out of the cabin, muzzle agape.  "Where?!  This I have got to see—!"

A violet hoof shoved him back as Remna emerged from below.  "You stay inside.  Don't make me ask twice."

"But, this could be the opportunity of a lifeti—"

"You are the only mortal soul on board this ship who's properly equipped to handle that engine!" Remna growled.  "Stay inside or else I'll nail you to the bulkheads!"  She huffed as she came to a stop in the middle of the deck.  "Austraeoh... you should go back down below."

"Like Tartarus, I am!" Rainbow frowned.  "I've got the all-important channel, remember!"

"Speaking of which, Dashieeeeeeee..."  Pinkie Pie gestured to the anchor's neck, wincing.

"Ahem."  With her eyes on the tossing waves, Rainbow slapped a hoof to her pendant and sputtered:  "Princess Celestia?  Are you there?"

Thunder rolled.  Through the tumult, a flicker of silver light kissed the wet sea air.  "Yes, my child?"

"Better wake Luna.  Quick."  Gulping, Rainbow turned about, eyeing the waves.  "I think we're about to have company."

"Dubya?!"  Bard shaded his brow as he squinted skyward.  "Ya see anythang?"

Wildcard hovered a bit higher than Ariel.  The griffon turned around, goggles rattling.  Eventually he shrugged and gestured rapidly.

"Well, if he can't see anything..."  Logan began.

"The waves arre farr too turrbulent forr even the most trrained eye to pierrce, my frriends!" Kepler hollered, struggling with the rudder wheel.  "And they arre getting even wilderr!"

"What's causing that, you think?" Applejack stammered.

"It's more than just the ocean or the weather," Twilight said, breath tense.  "Something's stirring up the liquid from below."

"Oh goodness...!"  Fluttershy squeaked.

"Flynn!"  Rainbow hollered into the cabin door.  "Twilight says that there's a bunch of magic beneath us!  Do you sense it as well?"

"Uh... h-hard to tell while trying to manage the crystalline batteries, Rainbow!" the stallion sputtered.  "One thing's for sure—the leylines are reacting to something!"

"Well, cut the engines, then!" Rainbow commanded.

"What?!"

"You heard the Austraeoh!" Remna barked.  "This is of dire importance!"  As Flynn obeyed, the air—and the ship—grew a little bit calmer.  Thunder boomed to fill the emptiness left behind the dwindling hum of manabatteries.  "Rainbow Dash..."  Remna placed a hoof on the petite pegasus' shoulder.  "I still think that—"

"Well stop thinking," Rainbow said with a frown.  "You suck at it."  She hollered skyward.  "Wildcard!  Ariel!  Anything yet?!"

"Nothing, Rainbow!"  Ariel called back down as she and the griffon flew alternating circles above the craft.  "But Kepler's right!  If there was a coral reef directly beneath us, we couldn't even see through all the choppiness!"

Wildcard gestured.

"Dubya's right!" Bard wheezed.  "It's a total crapshoot!"

"Dammit to Hell..."  Logan gritted his teeth as he galloped back into the cabin.  "Better fetch my axe."  The obese stallion passed by two jittery looking sarosians.

"So... uh..."  Echo blinked.  "Is this the party or what?"

"Trying to figure that out, dude," Rainbow sputtered.

"Johnny?"  Nicole's leafy ears drooped.  "Is everything okay?"

"Just... just stay inside, darlin'," Bard insisted, waving a hoof.  "We gots a lil' mystery to deal with."

"Mystery?!"  Ariel cackled, waving her forelimbs.  "Who do you think is down there?!  The bride of Verlaxion?!  I'm telling you... this is it!"

With a deep breath, Nicole galloped out and clung to Bard's side.  "Alright... let's do this."

"Let's do what?!"  Bard pushed her gently back.  "We ain't even sure what's goin' on!  Go back inside where it's safe—"

"Dang it, Johnny!"  Nicole frowned.  "If these are really the midnighters, then we need Echo and me on the front line!"

The sarosian at the cabin entrance winced.  "We do?!" Echo's voice cracked.

"What we need is the Mother of Nightmares."  Rainbow tapped her pendant again.  "Celestia!  Where's Luna?" she growled.  "Wakey wakey eggs and bakey..."

"Standby," Celestia calmly said.

"Standby?!  Standby for what?!" Rainbow wheezed.  "With all due respect, Your Highness, this is no time for a tea ceremony—!"

"Bodies!" Fluttershy squeaked.  "Bodies, stirring!"

"They're surfacing!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed.

"...!"  Rainbow spun.  "Where at?"

"Starboard side!"  Rarity pointed.  "Three structures!"

"Whoahhhhh boy..."  Applejack hugged her hat to her ghostly chest.

"Everypony!"  Rainbow pointed to the right side of the ship.  "Starboard!  Eyes alive—"

Just as she said this, three gnarled shapes appeared through the ocean's surface.  SP-SP-SPLOOOSH!  Sea water sprayed sky high, then settled in a fine mist.  As the moisture faded, the Herald found themselves gawking at three enormous spheres—like buoys—floating listlessly in the water.

"Rrrrgh!"  Logan re-emerged from the cabin, nearly knocking Echo over.  Schiiiiing!  He brandished his axe, holding it high.  "Where are those pirate bastards?!  Let me at 'em—"  He froze in place, blinking at the dull, bobbing spheres.  "...what in the Hell?"

"They... uh..."  Bard scratched his head.  "They appear to be floatin'."

"Yes..."  Ariel nodded, blinking rapidly.  "We can see that."

Wildcard's goggles reflected the trio of spheres.  He nevertheless unsheathed a pair of nightsticks and held them at ready.

Remna squinted—her equine face frozen in confusion.  When Rainbow Dash trotted towards the starboard edge to get a closer look, the bounty hunter was too entranced to stop her.

"What..."  Rainbow's lips slurred.  "...in the buck...?"

"They look like giant seedlings," Applejack remarked, her eyes tracing the gnarled, veined surfaces of the spheres.  "What are them twisty thingies?  Vines?"

"Rarity...?" Rainbow breathed.

"Uhm..."  The unicorn nervously fluffed her spectral mane.  "I'm getting the same sensation from the structures as I am from plants and trees."

"Then..."  Twilight Sparkle blinked.  "They're biological material?"

"At least constructed from such," Rarity said.  "I... I can't tell if any of it is alive."

"It is and yet it isn't," Fluttershy murmured.  "Beyond that..."

"Any ponies?" Rainbow asked.  Silence.  "Fluttershy?"

"I... I can't get a fix," Fluttershy whimpered.  "It's like the entire ocean around us is alive."

"Whelp..."  Pinkie's features sagged.  "That's not good."

"Look..."  Applejack pointed at the floating spheres.  "You see those?"

"See what?" Rainbow murmured.

"Look like sea serpent testicles," Logan droned.

"Shhhhhh!" Rainbow hissed.  "I'm talking to the girls!"  She looked aside.  "What are you pointing at, AJ?"

"Them spots..."  The farm mare's green eyes narrowed.  "Them white glowy spots."

"What white glowy—?"  Rainbow froze in place.  "Holy cow.  I see them now."  Her brow furrowed.  "What are those?"

Each floating structure was peppered with tiny pale rocks that appeared to shimmer with magical luminescence.

"Most fascinating..."  Kepler gaped, adjusting his spectacles from the rearmost deck.  "Most fascinating indeed..."

"Twilight?" Rainbow asked.

"It's... it's the source of all the magic that I was sensing," Twilight remarked.  "I'm not sure if it's what's holding all of the vines and biomatter together... but I think it's what caused the initial propulsion that brought these things here."

"Yes... but about these thingies..."  Pinkie Pie gulped.  "Why are they just... floating there?  Doing nothing?"

"Probably wondering why we've been doin' the same," Applejack remarked.

Rainbow blinked... then blinked again.  Suddenly, with a knowing gasp, she spun to face Echo.  "Psssst!  Echo!"  She motioned at the stallion.

Nervously, the sarosian eventually complied... scurrying over to join her at the starboard.

"You're the former pirate here."  Rainbow pointed at the objects.  "Care to explain just what the heck these things are?"

"Hmmm?"  Echo took one look over the Stardust's side... and he instantly blanched.  "Good Goddess..."  He whimpered, immediately backtrotting.  "We... uh... we gotta get out of here."

Ariel did a double-take.  "Huh?!"

"Why?!"  Nicole asked.  "Echo!  What's wrong?!"

"These are just a distraction!" Echo sputtered, shaking from head to toe.  "Shit!  We're all whale chum!  Flynn!  Walrus Face!  Get us out of here!"

"Now wait just a gul-durn minute—" Bard began.

"Guhhhhhhh!"  Pinkie's nose began wriggling uncontrollably.  "Uh ohhhhhhh!"

"What?!"  Rainbow asked.  "What is it?"

"Hit the deckkkkk!"  Pinkie toppled over in a ghostly splash.

Before Rainbow could comment—

Wildcard could be heard loudly banging his nighsticks together.  He pointed dramatically south.

"Port side!" Ariel hollered.  "Something else is surfacing—"

"Everryone!"  Kepler flailed in his attempt to spin the rudder wheel.  "Brrace yourrselves—"

Just as he said this—

SPLASSSSSSSH!  An enormous gray mass of tangled vines, stone, and driftwood exploded through the ocean's surface on the other side of the Stardust.  The object—whatever it was—dwarfed the Herald's vessel by a factor of five to one.

"Rainbow!" Twilight's voice cracked.  "There are others—"

Rainbow sensed fountains of water in her peripheral vision.  Three more objects just as big as the last one surfaced in the distance.  One of them had a bright white shard in the center that cast a luminescent beacon on the Stardust—like a spotlight.

"Unngh!"  Nicole clung to Bard as the entire ship reeled.  While every other pony squinted from the intense light, her slitted eyes stared into it unfettered.  "Moonlight..."  She murmured.

"Celestia—!" Rainbow hollered once again.

"Rainbow!" Fluttershy yelped, pointing starboard.  "They're emerging—!"

Just as she said this.  P-P-POW!  The spheres' tops exploded, exposing round-hatched doors.  Bursts of steam billowed... and soon gray bodies came soaring out of the enchanted submersibles, streaking in violent arcs towards the Stardust's top deck.  There was the shadow of leather wings—followed by flashes of pale white fangs—and then the sea was awash with sonic shrieks.
> All Down to the Whinny
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Herald!"  Remna shouted, stomping forward on heavy hooves.  "Brace yours—"  CRACK!  Two separate wooden spears shattered across her skull.  The draconian bounty hunter barely had a moment to shake off the splinters when three leather bodies tackled her, shoving the equine to the metal deckplates.  Cl-Clank!

Rainbow gasped.  "Axan!  Hold up!"  She scampered over.  "I'm com—"

"Dashie!" Pinkie's voice echoed.  Rainbow sensed the mare's scalp frizzing in the corner of her vision.  "Duck!"

"...!!!"  Rainbow Dash pressed her belly to the ground.  Sw-Swissssh!  Two bladed javelins sailed a hair's breadth over her ears.  She looked left, eyes twitching.

Thwoooooooosh—Chtungg!  The spears embedded on either side of Bard—with one of them pinning his tail-hairs to the deckplate.  "Whoah dayum!"  He hollered.  Wildcard rushed to his side in a blur, grabbing at the spear.  A loud shriek echoed overhead .  Bard looked up to see Ariel fighting off four leathery bodies against the starlight.  "Not me!" Bard growled, slapping Wildcard across the headcrest and pointing.  "Her!"

Wildcard held his breath and—SWOOOOSH!—shot straight up in a gray blur.  Schiiiiiing  Nighsticks brandished, he spiraled into the midair melee, knocking the attackers away in every direction.

This gave Ariel the moment she needed to catch her breath and flap her wings freely.  Spinning around, her blue eyes reflected a gaping set of fangs.  "Hrnnngh!"  She backflipped in time to uppercut the incoming attacker.  As the figure reeled with the wild flapping of leather wings, she twirled about and flew in orbit around Wildcard, knocking his opponents off-balance with well-timed dips and dives.

Rainbow Dash watched worriedly.  Sploooosh!  Cold water showered her from a liquid explosion behind.  She turned and gazed off the port side to see yet another ship of gnarled, twisted vines rising from the depths.  Specks of silvery metal glowed through the rippling waves.

"Holy—"  Rainbow couldn't even finish.  She felt two bodies pouncing on her from behind.  The pointed ends of spears scraped into her shoulders—

"Rrrrrrrrrngh!"  Logan rushed in, axe swinging.

Wh-Wham!  The two figures flew off Rainbow Dash, rolling painfully across the deck.

Logan spat, standing over Rainbow Dash like a protective pit bull.  "Who here wants to drop anchor first, shitbuckets?!"

"Logan!"  Rainbow wheezed, flailing to get back up.  "Go help Remna—"

"Grrrngh!"  With a grunt, Remna flexed her invulnerable muscles.  The air rang with discordant shrieks as the bodies that tackled her flew off in random directions.  She stood up, frowning into the fight.

"Oh.  Never mind."  Rainbow spun about.  "Guys, we gotta—!"

"Frrom starrboarrd!"  Kepler hollered from above.  He pointed through the starry mist.  "Coming fast!"

"Ten of them!" Fluttershy yelped.  "A full phalanx—"

Sp-Sp-Sploosh!  Nearly a dozen athletic bodies rocketed out of the tempestuous surf like living torpedoes.  With ridiculously perfect coordination, they landed on the Stardust's starboard deck, dripping and forming a solid line.  Each equine was garbed from head to tail in segmented plates carved from pale whalebone, and they brandished what looked like narrow wooden tubes lined with glowing gray stones.

"More intruders!" Rainbow shouted.

Remna snarled, marching towards the line.  "More meat."  Logan joined her—

"No!"  Twilight Sparkle suddenly yelped.  "Rainbow!  Tell them to stop—!"

Just then, each sarosian held their tubes out and breathed into their glowing fuses.  "H'rhnum!"

"H'rhnum!"

"H'rhnum!"

P-P-POW!  Chunks of gray shrapnel flew out of the tubes and sailed across the deck.

Logan gasped.  Yanking Rainbow towards him in a blink, he held his axe up and shielded them both at the last second.  Cl-Cl-Clank!  Errant shards knicked and sliced at the stallion's body, making him bleed in several places.

Bard yanked his tail free of the spear in time to roll away from the weapon discharge.  "Whoah—!"

Th-Th-Thunk!  Remna simply took the brunt of the shrapnel. She blinked, hissed, and galloped straight forward.  "Raaaaaaaaugh!"

Unflinching, the sarosians drew back, twirled their staves until the other ends faced her, and all shouted as one:  M'wynhrm!"

Each tube burst in a silver light and expelled a frothing wave of flame.

PHWOOOOOMB!

"Gnnnnnghhh!"  Remna threw her shoulder into the billowing fire.  Slowly, she marched her way towards the group.

"What in the hay are those varmints throwin' at us?!" Applejack shouted.

"Runes!" Twilight shouted.

"R-runes?!"  Rainbow wheezed, clinging to Logan.

"Yes!  Pieces of moonrock!  Enchanted by lunar magic!"  Twilight gulped.  "The same weapons used during the War of the Regal Sisters—"

"Axan's almost reached them!" Rarity shouted, pointing.

"You think... you know... fire?!"  Remna hollered, coming within a hoof's kick of the phalanx.

But they were ready for their opponent.  Just as she reached their line, they pivoted into a semi-circle, snapped their tubes in half, and aimed the exposed ends at the fuming equine.  "Y'mnym!"

Bzzzzzzt!  A brief web of electrical discharge connected with the bounty hunter.  Shocked, Remna stumbled in place.

Two of the attackers who had boarded the Stardust a minute ago rose up, galloped across the deck, and threw their weight into her.  Whump!

Flailing, Remna was shoved overboard with a resounding splash!

"Marre overrboard!" Kepler hollered, struggling to steer the boat out of the trap that the other vessels had made.  "I can't get us out of this pocket, frriends!"

"All well and fine..."  Logan spat blood and broke into a charge.  "Got them right where I want 'em!  Yaaaaaaugh!"  He charged the sarosians and engaged them before they could shout out another spell.  The attackers used the remainders of their staves to parry and deflect the Job Squadder's violent offense.  Within seconds, Logan found himself reeling in the center of a well-coordinated squad of pirates.

"Big Show?!"  Flynn's voice echoed from below deck.  He scampered up to the entrance, eyes wide.  "Holy shit!"

"I know!"  Echo nodded.  "It's all sunshine and rainbows, isn't it!"

"Johnny!"  Nicole grimaced, clinging to the entrance's frame as her slitted eyes reflected the battle across the deck and above.  "They're everywhere!"

"Then we gotta be everywhere all over them!"  Bard picked his staff up, gestured to Flynn, and went charging into the fray.  "Don't let them fangs scare ya!  Anything that's gotta a skull can crack!"

"Hold on, Big Show!"  Flynn gnashed his teeth, using his telekinesis to lift loose stone shards and fling them back at the group.  "We've got your back!"

"Rrnnnngh!"  Logan took swing after swing at the nimble figures surrounding him.  "Don't... ruing... this for m-me!  Raaaaugh!"

"Celestia!"  Rainbow Dash hollered, rubbing her pendant in desperation as the chaos swirled and swirled.  "Princess Celestia!  We need Luna on the double!"

"Why isn't she answering?!" Rarity exclaimed.

"Could them magic thingamabobbers be messin' with the communication?" Applejack exclaimed.

"I don't know!"  Twilight trembled all over, eyes darting about.  "I-I don't think so!  Lunar magic isn't stronger than harmonic magic!"

"Then what do we d-do?!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

Rainbow cracked the joints in her neck.  "What else?"  She stretched her wings and—FWOOOSH—propelled herself forward in a blur.

WH-WHAM!  She plowed two bodies aside, then went fetlock-to-fetlock with a third sarosian, wrestling for dominance of a wooden spear.  Beneath the attacker's whalebone mask, she saw a snarling muzzle—cold gray hair soaked in seawater.  Thinking fast, Rainbow tilted her neck up—shining the ruby pendant square into the assailant's slitted eyes.  The pirate instantly collapsed, covering his skull with a high-pitched shriek.

Grabbing the invader's staff, Rainbow spun about and swung it in a full arc.  "Rnnngh!"  She tripped two thugs, giving Flynn room to gallop over them—knocking the air out of their lungs.  She twirled to her other side and raised her staff to block the swing of another thug.  The two wrestled for a bit—until Bard's metal staff made contact with his skull.  The sarosian collapsed, and before Rainbow could thank the Desperado—

"Aaugh!"  A voice yelped from above.  "Dammit!"

"...!"  Rainbow looked up.

"Rrrngh!"  Ariel shook and struggled, grasped by two bat ponies from behind.  A third rushed towards her, spear-first.  Wildcard was too far away and too encumbered to intervene.

"Is it just me?"  Pinkie blinked.  "Or does that mare need saving a lot?"

Rainbow exhaled.  "Works just fine in my book."  She then exhaled, rushed forward, and flung the staff in her grasp like a javelin.  "Mrggh!"

Swoooooosh—CLANK!  The end of the weapon ricocheted off a sarosian's skull.  He released his grip of Ariel, freeing one of the mare's wings.

"Httt!"  Ariel flapped the limb, sending her body in a spiral.  She ended up tossing the other midnighter straight into the pirate sailing towards her.  Both fell into the drink while Ariel rushed in to assist Wildcard.  "Thanks a bunch, sexy!" she exclaimed.

Rainbow managed a sweaty salute.  "Don't mention—"  A muscular sarosian pounced and shoved her to the deck.  "—ittttttttttt!"  She stared up into the attacker's gaping fangs.

"Rainbow!"  Echo's voice hollered over the bedlam.  "Plug your ears!"

"Do as he says!" Applejack exclaimed.

Rainbow's feathertips were already rushing to her cranium.  She managed to plant her wings as firmly as she could over her folded ears as—

"Shreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"  The sarosian on top of her emitted wave after sonic wave into her skull.

Rainbow winced.  Hard.  Despite the last-second save, she could already feel her vision fading from the sheer torture bubbling in her head.

Then—just as she swore she was about to go deaf—"Have at youuu!"  A winged figure of a different kind glided down from the top deck.

Whump!  Kepler knocked the attacker off of Rainbow.  As Rainbow's senses gradually returned, she scooted across the battle-scarred deckplates and watched in shock.

"Grrrraugh!  Rrapscallion!"  Kepler locked claws with the pirate's fetlocks, shoving him against the side of the deck.  "I know forr a fact, waywarrd brrotherr, that you arre farr noblerr than this!  But you will have to convince my tusks!"  And with one simple chomp, he bit into the bat-pony's shoulder.

The creature shrieked, reached to a whale-bone bandolier, then grabbed a round pale object.  "W'lynmh!" the pirate yelped, and the object began to glow.

"It's a grenade!" Twilight shouted.

Ariel already saw it.  "Kepler!"  She uppercutted two attackers, folded her wings, and dove like a bullet.  Breathless, she snatched Kepler off of the pirate and away from an exploding pocket of hot gas.

Powwww!

Rainbow winced.  She struggled to stand up, supporting herself against the starboard edge of the deck.  Somehow—as the ship stopped rocking from the last explosion and as the fight continued on beside her—she heard peculiar splashing sounds just below.  She glanced over the deck to see a violet figure flailing in the choppy surf.  "Remna?!"

"Austraeoh..."  Remna bobbed in and out of the waters, wheezing.  "I... s-seem to have reached an impasse..."

"Just climb on board!" Rainbow sputtered.  "We need you—"

"I... d-don't think I can!"

Rainbow ducked a loose staff flying over her head.  "Why not?!"

"I... do not possess the ability to swim..."

Pinkie Pie grabbed at her ghostly mane.  "She can't swim?!"

"Accursed..."  Remna bobbed.  "Pony..."  She bobbed again.  "Body...!"

"Just hold on!"  Rainbow Dash reached over and grasped her fetlock.  "Rnnngh... okay!  Now... j-just try to climb up my body and—"

"Aaaah!"  A voice shrieked from behind.

Fluttershy blanched.  "Nicole!"

Holding onto Remna, Rainbow looked over her shoulder.

Four pirates had converged on the deck entrance.  They yanked Nicole away while Echo attempted to stop them.  Enraged, the outcast leapt onto one of the pirate's backsides and sank his fangs into his neck.  This only enraged the attacker, and he let go of Nicole and punched Echo savagely in the face.  Echo fell to the deck floor, yelping in pain as a dogpile of sarosians began beating him senseless.

"No!  Echo!"  Nicole hollered.  "Johnny!"

"Nicole!"  Bard gnashed his teeth, tangling with too many pirates than he could count.  As the seconds burned by, more and more sea-soaked figures jumped off the surrounding vessels and overwhelmed the Stardust.  "Rnnngh—Dubya!  For all that's holy!"

Wildcard heard his partner from below.  Frowning, the griffon shoved off his airborne assailants with a burst of strength.  In the millisecond of freedom that he afforded himself, he attached both ends of his nightsticks together—cl-clakka—and spun the improvised staff around in a full circle.  Wh-Wh-Whap!  He impacted the skulls of three sarosians—then used one of their bodies as a springboard as he dove down towards the deck.  Swoooosh!  The Desperado flew towards the stern in a serrated streak.

"Here!"  Bard held his breath and tossed up his staff.  "All you, mofo!"  Snarling, he resorted to fighting off his enemy bare-hoofed.

Wildcard stretched a metal hoof out.  Vrommmm!  Bard's staff flew into his grip.  Thkkk!  A heartbeat later, he made contact with the deck's floor, sliding violently through the group that was accosting Nicole and Echo.  He tripped no less than four bodies, and as soon as he came to a stop, he spun violent cyclones—swinging the combined nightsticks in one talon and the cowboy's staff in the other.  Thw-Thw-Thw-Thwissh!  Skulls rattled and legs buckled.  Half of the sarosians entangled with Bard, Flynn, and Logan rushed in with their staves drawn.

Wildcard spun to face them, deflecting the attacks from all angles.  A few well-timed thrusts from the pirates struck his agile body, but the pain only accelerated him.  Hissing through his beak, he twirled and spiraled even faster, shattering several staves and knocking the leathery bodies back.  Soon, he was completely surrounded.  With a graceful flick of his claws, he detached the nightsticks again and tossed them high in the air.

As they flew up, Wildcard gripped Bard's staff in two talons and smacked a sarosian so hard that his whalebone helmet shattered.  As the nightsticks fell down, Wildcard stretched out his metal talon and flicked the wrist.  Thw-Thwissh!  The weapons were magnetically propelled in opposite directions, pinballing off multiple batpony bodies.  Wildcard spent the next two and a half-breaths twirling the staff over his neck and wings and then bringing it down with painful finality over many an exposed hoof and fetlock.

Heaving, he pinned one sarosian to the hull with the staff while reaching his metal claw skyward again.  Vrommmmm!  The nightsticks flew back, clipping more limbs and leafy ears.  Three sarosians charged Wildcard from behind.  With a mute grunt, he ducked low, threw their combined weight over his feline shoulders, and shoved them straight into the cabin behind Nicole and Echo just as the nightsticks returned.  Wildcard allowed the metal weapons to fly over his head, following the sarosians into the cabin.  Sweating, he jerked into place, aiming his curved metal claws straight towards the claustrophobic interior.  Cl-Cl-Cl-Cl-Clankkkk!  Sparks flew from Wildcard's metal joints as he pinballed the nightsticks across every conceivable surface, rendering the sarosians inside to tenderized meat.  As he heard their collective groans, he jerked his red-hot prosthetic back, catching the blood-stained nightsticks in steaming knuckles.

Splooosh!  Yet another vessel surfaced—this one bumping deliberately into the Stardust.

Wildcard and every other combatant on board was thrown off balance.

"Guh!"  Rainbow winced, nearly losing her grip of Remna.  Her ears drooped as she heard wooden hatches hissing open and more wet bodies leaping into the starscape.

"H'rhnum!"

"H'rhnum!"

"H'rhnum!"

The latest wave of attackers bore double-barreled tubes—and these fired fibrous cables lined with lunar pebbles.  Rainbow looked over her shoulder as they looped around Wildcard, reining the griffon in place before he could stand up.

"Y'mnym!" the attackers collectively shouted.  Within a blink, electrical energy rippled up the cords and into Wildcard's exposed body.  The Desperado thrashed and twisted in pain... ultimately falling in a slump as several feathers fell loose—burning and sparking at their ends.

"Dubya?!"  Bard wheezed, being wrestled to the ground.  "Dubya!"

"It's no use, frriends!"  Kepler shouted as he stood back to back with Ariel.  "We arre outnumberred—"  Cords flew in and wrapped around the two of them, discharging more electricity.  Both fell in meaty slumps amidst a column of steam.

"Rainbow!"  Rarity whimpered.  "We've lost, darling!"

Rainbow winced as her eyes reflected the full force of the sarosians descending on Logan, Flynn, and Bard.

"Austraeoh!"  Remna wheezed, dipping in the water.  "Release me!"

"Axan—"

"I alone cannot take you to the Midnight Armory!"  Remna sputtered as her chin bobbed among the waves.  "The Herald!  You might still be able to save them—"

"Rrrrgh..."  Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth.  "Luna!  Where... are... you—?!"

No less than half-a-dozen sea-soaked fetlocks grabbed Rainbow from behind and hoisted her away.

"Guh!"  Rainbow's eyes twitched as she was pulled backwards.  "Axan—!"

All she saw was a pair of slitted eyes... flashing... and then a cold splash of sea water.

"Rnnngh... dang it!"  Rainbow fought and wrestled with the countless limbs shoving her to the deck.  "You jerks!  You don't know what you're doing!  Princess Luna sent us!"  She winced as pirates stood on her—meanwhile others tied her hooves painfully behind her back with seaweed.  "The Mother of Nightmares!  The Mother of Nightmares sent—"  She was silenced with a violent kick to the teeth.  "Grkkk!"

"Rainbow!" Fluttershy yelped, looking around as the rest of the Herald were likewise being strung up, one by one.

"Aaaaugh!"  Logan spat and snarled and bit at the bodies around him—all in vain.  "You guano-huffing bastards!"

"Please, Big Show..."  Flynn whimpered, being shoved to the ground as a pale cap of lunar rock was slapped over his horn.  "Prettier last words—"  Just then, a pirate reached down and yanked the lens off his mechanical eye.  Plkkk!  "Ow!"

"Mrmmmff... Johnny..."  Nicole hyperventilated.  "Echo... he's bleeding bad..."  She grimaced.  "None of these creeps are even listening to me..."

"It's alright, darlin'—"

"Johnny..."  Nicole panted and panted, eyes streaming with tears.  "I'm scared."

"Shhh... just close yer eyes, sis.  It'll be alright..."

Th-Thappp!  A firm set of hooves landed in the middle of the deck.

The sarosians parted ways—but not without shoving the hapless members of the Herald together like a meat pile in the center of the deck.  The pirates formed a line for the latest midnighter to land.

A mare with a snow-white coat and pronounced ears stood near the bow.  Her skin was wrinkled and gnarled with age, and several slender whalebone shafts were grafted into her flesh—collecting near the shoulders and front fetlocks.  When she looked up, she breathed in and out of a scarred nose that had been modified to have one flaring nostril.  A necklace of wingbones and unicorn horns dangled beneath her chin.  She opened her muzzle wide, exhaling heated vapors past fangs fitted with metal ringlets.

"M'shrynmh w'ynlppa yln H'Luuuuuuun," she gurgled.

Schiiiiing!  One sarosian hoofed the warrior a large jagged hook fashioned out of coral and moonstone.

The sarosians slammed their staves and weapons into the deckplate in a rhythmic fashion, chanting repeatedly with each thrust:  "W'ynlppa!  W'ynlppa!  W'ynlppa!  W'ynlppa!"

The mare licked the rings dangling from her fangs.  Smiling, she slowly marched forward down the lines of chanting pirates.  She dragged the hook over the rusted metal with bloodthirsty menace.

Rainbow, her friends, and the Herald watched hopelessly as the warrior crossed the deathly distance between them.

"W'ynlppa!  W'ynlppa!  W'ynlppa!  W'ynlppa!"

Nicole grimaced.  She hid her face in Bard's shoulder.

Kepler calmly closed his eyes.

"Rrrrrr—"  The pale warrior raised the hook high.  "Skreeeeeeeeeee—!"

And that was precisely when Rainbow Dash's pendant flickered with piercing white light.

"OH FOOLISH WAYWARD FOALS!"

Every sarosian instantly froze in place.  Jaws dropped.  Those still minding the vessels popped their heads out of the hatches and gaped from a distance.

The warrior blinked, her slitted eyes squinting in shock.

Rainbow looked at them, then at her pendant.  She immediately wished that she hadn't, for the ruby lightning bolt exploded in a beam of pale luminescence.  The air rang with pure harmonic energy as the light shot straight up into the sky, piercing the heavens.  Within seconds, the pulsating light resonated with a bombastic voice that drowned out the thunder and surf around them.

"BE STILLLLLLL!"

FLASSSSSSSH!

A veritable spotlight shone around that pocket of the ocean—almost to the point of blinding even the Herald.

The warrior's legs buckled.  Cl-Clank!  The hook fell to the deck.  Soon, she was hobbling backwards, plopping onto her scarred flank.  "Hmmm... H... H'Luun...?!"

Once more, the glowing sky rippled:  "N'WYNLMMUU Y'LNHMEM H'JYMWYN NYL H'LUUN!"

The warrior whimpered like a foal.  She fell over, planting her bowing forehead to the deckplates as her elongated ears drooped on either side of her skull.

Instantly, the rest of the sarosians followed suit, bowing low.  Most of them hyperventilated.  Some were even sobbing.

"H'WYSSM."  Princess Luna's voice boomed, slightly softer now—if that was even possible.  "SLY'WYNNHM H'LUUN H'JYNMYMUU WYNSHM!"

One by one, the members of the Herald began breathing in relief.  Wincing, Wildcard, Ariel, and Kepler came to... glancing around in utter confusion.

Rainbow blinked.  Squinting in the enchanted light, she exchanged glances with her friends.

"Huh..."  Pinkie Pie smiled crookedly.  "Y'know... now that I think about it... that was worth the wait!"
> Mother of Nightmares and Entrances
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"H'jymmsslym yln wlysshm h'shym h'mynnym!" Princess Luna's voice continued to boom.

The Herald sat in shuddering silence, their aching heads craned to the starlight.  The sarosians remained dead-still and dormant around them.  Armored bodies bowed across the deck of the Stardust and the vessels beyond.  The glowing spotlight from the heavens intensified—along with the ardent words echoing from the pendant's enchantment.

"W'hym yln w'lysshmlm h'jym y'nlyssyhym!  H'rymlymsym yln w'yslyhym w'ynhymmr!"

Rainbow and her friends watched as countless sets of slitted eyes pulsed beneath their whalebone helmets, responding to each tonal shift in Princess Luna's voice.

Nicole clung to Bard, her lips pursed.  The farm mare's eyes shimmered just as magically.  Swallowing a lump down her throat, she looked across the way to where Echo's battered body lay, surrounded by deeply bowing pirates.

"W'rynym!" the regal voice in the air growled.  Rainbow squinted from a brightening silver aura between her pendant and the sky.  "M'lyssym yln y'lssymhym H'Luun!  Wys yln h'ryhmssym l'wynsym 'Rainbow Dash', h'jynmwym!"

"Uhhhhh..."  Pinkie Pie turned around.  "I think that last thing she said translates to 'Rainbow Dash.'"

"Shhhh!"  Twilight floated before Rainbow.  "Rainbow, quick!  Ask Luna if she can talk the pirates into releasing your friends!"

Rainbow squinted at her.  "What?  You mean you don't understand what she's saying, egghead?"

Twilight pouted, pointing at her lavender crown.  "Do I look like I've got adorable, leafy ears?"

"Twilight, dear..."  Rarity gulped, eyeing the body modifications and piercings of the sea-hardened warriors around them.  "Exactly what about this is 'adorable?'"

"Shhhh!"  Applejack floated upwards.  "I think Luna's getting to the good part!"

"What?"  Rainbow blinked at her.  "You can read past the bat-tongue?"

"Does it matter!  Just hush!"

Rainbow and her friends clammed up as Luna finished another string of words:  "H'lynna wynl l'wynssyl yln H'Luun w'mymlym Rainbow Dash w'lynsym yln 'Austraeoh.'  Yln Austraeoh h'jymwym wynl w'yssym yln H'Luun y'mssym lysl m'wynhrm.  H'jymym!  Yln Austraeoh l'syymym wynl h'jymmsys H'Luun l'synnylm lysl yln m'whynny."  A breath, and then:  "So commandeth the Maiden of the Moon, oh wayward foals of lost tides.  Obey us... and we shalt restore thy flesh with the everlasting night spirit... which is now one with the day.  Harmonic, pure, peaceful."

Rainbow Dash heard a strange whimpering sound.  She looked around, realizing that several of the sarosians were sobbing.  Many pirates had stripped of their masks and armor, if only to grasp their muzzles in open, unabashed weeping.  A pronounced, ear-splitting wail of agony and ecstasy rolled through the deck, fighting back against the thunder of the heavens.  The pale leader of the group murmured indecipherable words, bowing her head as her pronounced ears drooped to the rusted deck.

Nicole sniffed, overcome by something she couldn't pronounce.  As the tears flowed from her eyes, Bard eached over and hugged her tight.

Wildcard looked up, straightening his goggles with a trembling talon.  His metal limb lay limp—still smoking from his aggressive fight earlier.

Ariel, Flynn, Kepler, and Logan sat with their flanks facing.  With each second that dripped by, they gradually relaxed, breathing more evenly as the pacified pirates around them continued to lie prostrate before the glowing spotlight.

The silver light in question flickered, dimming slightly.  Nevertheless, Princess Luna's voice was as strong and fervent as always when she spoke next:  "Rainbow Dash, my child, are you alright?"

Rainbow didn't realize her breath was short until she found herself gasping in reply.  "Y-yes, Your Majesty!"  She gulped, shivering slightly.  "They... they've stopped attacking us."

"As they should."  The pendant pulsed with a shuddering breath.  "A thousand pardons, Rainbow Dash.  I did not... properly anticipate the degree to which I needed to meditate before making this enchantment feasible.  The distance between us is quite extreme.  If I had truly known the time it would have taken—"

"Look.  Just chill and save the apologies for later, Your Majesty," Rainbow said, standing up.  "What matters right now is that we've got your badflank voice doing badflank stuff at the precise badflank time."

"Rainbow..."  Fluttershy grimaced.  "Remna is still sinking beneath us..."

Rainbow was already taking the breath to speak:  "Right now, Axan needs help the most."

Luna replied, sensing the concern in Rainbow's voice.  "What has transpired?"

"She was tossed overboard, and she can't swim!" Rainbow's voice cracked.  "Right now, she's dropping like a stone!  Drowning!"

The silver light pulsed instantly:  "W'sylymm!  H'jymml yln w'synym wyn s'ylppa!  H'jymma!"

The pale warrior stood up straight, nodding.  "Ywm, H'Luun!"  With a breathy voice, the sarosian spun and gestured towards a handful of other pirates.  "W'synym wyn yln s'ylppa wyssl h'symnl!  H'jymma!"

In a blink, four athletic sarosians dropped their weapons, turned tail, and dove into the choppy waters.  Sp-Sp-Sp-Sploosh!

"Oh goodness..."  Rarity fanned herself.  "I'm not the biggest fan of the dragon who murdered you, Rainbow Dash, but I do hope that they find the misguided Matriarch in—"

Sploooooosh!  The sarosians emerged, dragging a waterlogged violet figure onto the Stardust's deck.

"—due time."  Rarity blinked.  "My oh my..."
> The Bearer of Luna's Blood
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Flutters!"  Pinkie looked aside.  "Has she... y'know... dragon-croaked?"

"It's hard to tell!" Fluttershy squeaked.  "She's not the same as other living equines, you know."

"Kepler!"  Rainbow motioned the wyvern over as she scampered to Remna's side.  The sarosians who fished her out backed off as the two examined the muscular mare's body.  "Can you get a read on her?"

"Well, Rrainbow one..."  Kepler slipped his spectacles back on and grasped one of Remna's fetlocks in two claws.  "In my most esteemed opinion, it would appear that our draconian friend—"

"Hrkkkkkkt!"  Remna's body suddenly convulsed.  Curling up, she opened her violet maw wide and vomited a copious amount of seawater out onto the rusted bulkheads.

"...has surrvived."  Kepler smiled through his tusks.  "Ha-Hah!  Motherr Matrron, yourr exceptional spells still do not disappoint!  Even long afterr yourr passing!"

Rainbow rolled her eyes and draped against the hull with a sigh.  "I know I shouldn't complain and all... but I'm getting really super tired of things switching from 'absolute suck' to 'absolute sick' on a dime."

"Grkkk..."  Remna wheezed, her eyes clenched shut as she winced and writhed.  "...is there ever a lifetime in wh-which you cease your relentless ch-chatter, Austraeoh...?"

"Oh go buck yourself with a chainsaw," Rainbow growled.  "You almost pulled a Nevlamas just now."

"No need... grkkk... to insult me..."  Remna forced her thin eyes open, crusty from seawater.  The green slits reflected a bright, silver glow.  "Hrmmm... the moon alicorn's enchantment... so it has worked..."

"These dudes aren't trying to kill us anymore," Rainbow said.  "At least, I don't think—"

"Echo!" Nicole's voice exclaimed.

Rainbow turned to see the farm mare in question scampering across the deck full of pirates.

"Now... grnngh..."  Bard struggled up to his hooves, wincing.  He hobbled after her.  "Not so fast, Nicole!  Give him space!  The poor varmint may be hurt bad—"

"Echo!"  Nicole knelt close beside him, shaking his shoulder.  "Speak to me!  Can... can you feel your limbs?"

"Nnnngh..."  The velvety body beneath her stirred, cracking stiff joints and wincing.  "Mrmmfff... four out of five of them... shit nuggets."

Nicole sighed, fangs showing.  "Why d-didn't you say something earlier?  I thought you were dead!"

"Still wish that I was, actually."  Echo sat up, squinting through one eye.  The left side of his face was badly bruised, and he spat blood from his muzzle.  "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh it's great to be back home."

Bard called out over his shoulder, "Are we all still in one piece?"

"Nothing's broken over here," Ariel sputtered.

"I'm still fat and pissed off," Logan growled.

"Rrrrgh!"  Flynn was standing up and limping towards the cabin.  "Forget about me!  What about my Princess!"  He grimaced as he gazed into the engine room.  "Ughhhh—Wildcard!  This place is a mess now!  Couldn't you have taken your crazy-ass fight elsewhere?"

"Oh hush, needlehead!"  Bard picked up Flynn's loose eye-lens from the cabin, dried it against his fetlock, and tossed it to the unicorn.  "He's the only reason we lasted 'til Luna gave her big speech!"  He walked over and held his hoof out to the griffon in question.  "You still kickin', Dubya?"

The griffon sighed, nodding.  He grasped the other Desperado's hoof with his flesh talon, then stood up.  Teetering slightly, he gave Bard back his metal staff.

Bard took it, exhaled, then smirked.  "Always gotta show me up, huh?"

Wildcard shrugged.

Bard rested a hoof on his feline shoulder.  "Ain't no gettin' off this train we're on."  He looked down at his partner's limp prosthetic.  "Blew a fuse, huh?"

Wildcard merely clenched his beak tighter.

"Yeah, well, we'll have Flynn look at it."

"There're dints all over my manacrystals!"

"I said he'll fix it!" Bard snarled.  "Goddess dayum... I swear, if my guitar has a single string broken..."

"Priorities, ponies," Ariel said, floating across the deck.  She stared wearily at each of the sarosians standing dead-still.  "Uhm... sooooo..."  She looked at Rainbow.  "Are they... y'know... not-bad-guys now?"

"Princess Luna?" Rainbow tilted her head to the heavens.  "Axan and the rest of the Herald appear to be okay.  Echo—our sarosian friend—is a bit banged up... but none of the pirates are attacking us anymore.  Uhm... what exactly did you tell them?  Just so we can be on the same page'n'stuff..."

Silence.

Twilight and Rarity exchanged worried looks.

"Your Highness?" Rainbow asked.

"Rainbow Dash, this is Celestia," the voice said as the light flickered.  "Luna is here, and she is doing well.  However... she needs a few minutes to recover from channeling that much energy.  I do hope you can understand."

"Yeesh..."  Rainbow Dash gulped.  "I... I-I guess I had no idea it took that much out of her."

"Neither did I.  She may have spoken at great lengths to you all these months, but my beloved sister is... not nearly as gifted in the art of communication as you and me."

"Uhhhhhh... no offense, Princess."  Rainbow smirked as she looked at the humbled bodies around her.  "But she seems gifted enough to me."

"Rainbow..."  Fluttershy squeaked, pointing past her.  "Look."

Rainbow spun around to see that the pale warrior with the pronounced ears and scarred nostrils was trotting directly towards her.

"Moment of truuuuuuuuuth," Pinkie sing-songed.

Echo and Nicole watched worriedly as the intimidating pirate crossed the distance.

Logan, Bard, and Ariel gathered protectively around Rainbow Dash.  The four remained still as the warrior approached.

When she arrived—she immediately knelt down, bowing low.  At long last she looked back up, and her slitted eyes narrowed.  Her voice was a breathy thing, and the ringlets dangling from her fangs added a ringing percussion to her dark tone.  "You are the one that the Mother of Nightmare calls Rainbow Dash?"  The long ears twitched.  "The... 'Austraeoh?'"

"Heh..."  Applejack smirked aside.  "She got her phonetics down good and proper."

"Sarosians are great vocalists," Twilight added, murmuring.  "They can master almost any language."

"They just like to whinny in their own when murdering ponies," Pinkie droned.

"Girls.  Please."  Fluttershy looked at Rainbow.  "Now's a good time to announce yourself, Rainbow."

Rainbow nodded.  "Yes."  She took a bold step towards the kneeling warrior.  "I am Rainbow Dash... a royal subject to Princess Luna, your... uh... Maiden of the Moon."

The sarosians all murmured in one hushed voice.

The warrior cocked her head to the side, her necklace of bones rattling.  "The Mother of Nightmare's voice burns in our eyes and our heart.  Truly, she has sent you.  W'ynlppa yln H'luun."

Rainbow squinted.  "Uhhhhhh... what does that last part mean?"

The warrior's one nostril flared.  "Blood of Luna.  Her chosen vessel.  Much like the Maria Matriarchs."  Her fangs glinted in the starlight.  "As it is written in the Book of Saros:  'The Mother's blessing is our blessing.'  Forgive us—foolish and wayward foals—for assaulting you, the avatar of moons."

"That depends..."  Rainbow Dash took a deep breath.  "Are you on my side from now on or what?"

The warrior's jaws clenched.  She stood up on all fours and unsheathed a whalebone dagger.  Schiiiing!

Bard and Logan flinched.

The warrior raised the dagger.

"Rainbow—!"  Ariel squeaked, muscles coiling.

"It's alright," Applejack said with a calm smile.  "She ain't gonna harm any of us."

"Then what is she doing—?"  Rainbow stopped in mid-sentence.

The pale warrior drew the dagger across her own chest, adding to the multitudinous scars etched in her coat.  She collected the flowing blood in her fetlock and held it up—glistening—to the moonlight.  "I am Enix.  W'ynlppa yln N'ymym.  Nightblood warrior... and protector of the Maria Matriarch."  He eyeslits narrowed.  "The Mother of Nightmares has spoken.  She has sent her avatar, Rainbow Dash, the 'Austraeoh.'  I give my blood for the Blood of Luna.  As do we all—the foals of Saros."

Rainbow looked at Enix, then at her outstretched hoof dripping with blood.  Pensively, she reached a hoof out.  Rarity stifled the urge to vomit as Rainbow hooked her fetlock's in Enix's.  The blood dribbled down both their outstretched hooves.

"Thank you, Enix," Rainbow Dash firmly said.  "Now... if you don't mind... could you make my ship a teensy bit last crowded?"

Without wrenching her eyes from Rainbow Dash, Enix shrieked out the side of her muzzle:  "Skriiiiiiiiii!"

FWOOOOOSH!  Every single sarosian lifted off the Stardust in a single, combined wingflap.

Ariel blinked.

"Well..."  Rainbow Dash slowly exhaled.  "That's a start."

> From One Avatar to Another
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Rainbow, darling?"  Rarity grimaced at the pale figure hovering in front of them.  "I know you're negotiating and all, but..."  She swallowed some ghost bile down her ghost throat.  "...must you stand so close to this particular... creature?"

"Shhh!"  Twilight Sparkle insisted.  "Let Rainbow hear what this sarosian has to say!"

"But she's so... so..."  Rarity shivered.  "Pierced."

Applejack rolled her eyes and continued to listen in as their anchor approached the mare hovering off the edge of the Stardust.

"I must speak with the rest of my brothers and sisters in the waters," Enix said, her eyes pulsating with the lunar enchantment emanating from Rainbow's pendant.  "Some in the depths are likely confused, and they must be properly instructed regarding the mighty words of our Mother of Nightmares made manifest."

"Uh... sure thing..."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "You need some bicycles and neckties to do that, or...?"

The pale warrior tilted her scarred aside.  "Huh?"

Applejack swatted a ghostly hat through Rainbow's skull.  Rainbow blurted:  "Yes!  Of course!  Filling in the rest of your fleet would be... uhm... awesome!  Yeah..."

"A thousand pardons for our transgressions, Blood of Luna," Enix said.  "If you so desire, I shall bring you the bodies of those responsible for the initial strike.  You may be allowed to draw blood first—"

"Look... uh..."  Rainbow waved a hoof.  "I think we've driven blood enough for an afternoon.  You just... go get situated and I'll... get situated too, alright?"

"Very well."  Enix drifted backwards, flanked by other warriors.  "Curious.  For the avatar of the Mother of Nightmares, you are... uniquely petite."

Rainbow clenched her eyes shut, took a deep breath, and spoke:  "Princess Luna works in mysterious ways."

"Indeed she does.  Skreeeeeeee!"  She took off in a gray blur—accompanied by other sarosians.  The group flew from submersible to submersible in the choppy waters.

"Well..."  Ariel touched down, still shaking off the shivers of the recent battle.  "For a horribly vicious warrior marked by the scars of countless victims..."  She looked over at Rainbow.  "...she can be remarkably articulate."

"Indeed."  Kepler stood up, adjusting his spectacles.  "It would appearr as though the worrds of yourr Prrincess Luna made quite an impact on their nocturrnal earrs!"

"Or they're just a bunch of stupid idiots who'll listen to a talking nightlight," Echo muttered, spitting blood.

"Echo..."  Rainbow Dash rushed over and sat beside where Echo and Nicole were squatting.  She rested a hoof on the wounded sarosian's shoulder.  "This... Enix character... she says she's a 'Nightblood' pony.  What's up with that?"

"She's the sword of the Maria Matriarch," Echo grunted, rubbing his sore cheek.  With a shuddering sigh, he leaned back into Nicole's supporting limbs.  "The Nightblood's job is to protect the night tribes while migrating.  As you can guess... these bastards have been 'migrating' for a long time.  Thousands of years, according to your world's lore."

"Really?"

"Well, that's the shitty textbook version."  Echo's eyeslits narrowed.  "Truth be told, ol' Enix is good for one thing—and that's slaughtering hapless sailors and tradeponies in the eastern waters surrounding Rohbredden."

"Good Goddess," Logan grunted, frowning at the vessels surrounding them.  "And just how long have they been at this?"

"Longer than any of us or our nameable grandparents have been alive," Echo muttered.  "Every sarosian who's foaled is taught from pre-flight age that the other Six Tribes are selfish, xenophobic bastards and that they get what's coming to them."  He spat some more blood and sighed.  "It's like a whole friggin' bandit empire built on angst."

"So that's where you got yer smoothe charm," Bard said.

"Now you're catching on," Echo said.

"Uhm..."  Rainbow grimaced at Echo's battered limbs.  "How are you... uh... holding up with the whole 'beaten to a pulp' business?"

"My body's covered with sores and bruises.  Want to lick one of them?"

"Maybe in another life."  Rainbow's eyes met his.  "This Enix... have you met her before?"

"Unfortunately."  Echo's fangs showed beneath a frown.  "Can't say I've ever seen her act this polite."

"Well... has any midnighter heard the directly spoken words of the Mother of Nightmares?" Ariel asked.

"Nope."  Echo's eyes flickered from the proximity of Rainbow's pendant, and he calmed slightly.  "And... yeah... sure... it rocks me to the core as well... but this?"  He sighed, gazing off towards the vine-strewn vessels bobbing in the waters.  "I've never seen the likes of this before."

"What?  These ships—?"

"No.  I've done cartwheels in those stupid floating balls before.  What I'm talking about is... is this!"  Echo waved dramatically towards the calm, starry sky.  As thunder rolled, he muttered:  "I've never... never seen my kind just... pull their punches like this before."

"That's a good thing, though, right?"  Nicole looked up at Bard and the others.  "They were about to slaughter us all just minutes ago... and they stopped."  She smiled hopefully.  "Maybe the same spirit of peace that Luna absorbs me and Echo with is... appealing to their midnighter sensibilities!"

"Or they're just being hypnotized," Logan muttered.  "And boy would it suck when that spell runs out."

"I assure you, my little ponies," a regal voice echoed from Rainbow's pendant.  From a distance, leafy-eared ponies instantly glanced in the direction of the Stardust—eyeslits flickering.  "There is no hypnosis involved."

Logan shivered.

"Heehee..."  Pinkie Pie smiled.  "I love it when she does that."

"Nevertheless, I knew that my voice—so magically channeled—would appeal to their sarosian sensibilities," Luna continued.  "Again... my chief excuse for putting so much time and energy into preparing such a speech."

"Your Highness!" Rainbow exclaimed into the air as more thunder rolled.  "Glad to hear your voice.  Are you no longer down for the count?"

"I assure you that I am currently in possession of my full faculties, Rainbow Dash," Princess Luna said.  "Please forgive me for such a sporadic presence until now."

"Dun you worry, yer Highness," Bard spoke.  "It's come in at quite a pinch—just when we needed it."

Wildcard nervously nodded.

"Rainbow Dash," Luna spoke.  "Among the pack that assaulted you... there is an elder.  A warrior elite.  I sense the authority in her spirit."

"Yeah... uh..."  Rainbow glanced at Echo, then back up at the silvery glow in the air.  "Her name's 'Enix.'  She calls herself a... Nightblood warrior?"

"That would be most accurate.  She is in charge of her military attachment."

"Well... erm... they're more like a bunch of amphibious pirates."

"All the same—she is the closest thing you have to an ambassador—at least until you make contact with the Maria Matriarchs of the tribe."

"Is... that something I wanna do?"  Rainbow Dash blinked.  "Meet up with a Matriarch?"

"Ugh..."  Echo rolled his eyes.

Rainbow glanced at him.  "I think... somepony might protest that idea."

"Nah... it's cool," Echo muttered.  "Cool for you, at least."

"What do you mean?"

Echo stood up—wincing.  "Just that..."  With Nicole's help, he stood evenly with Rainbow Dash, teetering slightly.  "...the last time I was in the presence of the Maria Matriarch..."  He pointed at his limp wings.  "I had this done to me."

Ariel glanced at where Enix spoke with her fellow pirates in the distance.  "Was Miss Beauty Pageant responsible for doing it?"

"No.  She just had one of her lackeys do it."

"So you've met this Enix lady before," Bard asked.

"Yeah... and I fully expected her to kill me on the spot," Echo said.  "All things considered... she still might."

Nicole grimaced.

"I wouldn't put it past these bastards to stab us in the back," Logan grumbled.

"You have my full assurance," Princess Luna spoke, "They shall not harm a single hair on your head."

Rainbow fidgeted.  "Yeah, but Your Highness—"

"I have informed them collectively that you are the Avatar of the Mother of Nightmares," Luna said.  "You are blessed with my blood.  All things considered, this is an absolute truth in and of itself, and my children are charged with following my word to the bitter end."

"They've been separated from you and the rest of Equestria for a very long time, Princess," Rainbow said.  She gulped.  "How can we be sure that they'll play along?"

"Rainbow Dash..." Nicole said.

Rainbow looked at her.

The farm mare's eyeslits flickered from the proximity of the enchanted pendant.  "I... feel Luna in every heartbeat.  It... it's something that I feel has always been a part of me... even on cold, lonesome nights spent in Blue's farm."  She smiled tearfully, sniffing slightly.  "I can't explain it... but it's there... deep inside me... almost as if it's always been hiding... just waiting to be opened."  She took a shuddering breath.  "If these pirate creeps feel even a smidgen of the same thing... then I'm pretty certain they're gonna trot in line from now on."

"Or at least as long as Princess Luna keeps speaking," Ariel said.

"It goes far deeper than that, my child," Luna's voice said.  "Sarosians originate—in essence—from the very first dream ever crafted... which was a metaphysical event that I was present for.  I fostered the spirit that brought them into the waking world.  Figuratively speaking, we are cut from the same cloth... and are attuned to the same wavelengths."

Rainbow Dash looked over.  "Echo?"

Echo brushed a hoof over his disheveled mane.  "Yeah..."  His eyes flickered as he calmed slightly.  "What she said."

Remna shuffled into the thick of the group.  "If the Moon Princess' words are indeed so terribly impactful..."  She gazed off the ship's bow.  "...then—perhaps—she can order this legion of nocturnal thugs to escort us to the Sixth Seed."

Rainbow stared across the waters.  Her eyes twitched at the bright pale flicker of Yaerfaerda, multi-colored and unpredictable... and close.

"Rainbow?" Twilight leaned in.  "What are you thinking?"

Rainbow's nostrils flared.  "That I can almost smell it."  She turned to look towards Echo.  "You think that this 'Enix' character could escort us?"

"That... won't be up to her."

Rainbow exhaled.  "The Maria Matriarchs."

Echo nodded.  "What's left of them."  He cleared his throat.  "We'd... better get their blessing if we wanna get any help from these sea-bats at all."

"And where could we find such leaders?"

"Down in Bleak's Plummet."

"Down?"

Echo took a breath.  "It can't be far from here.  If we... stop by there first... then the trip to your underground fart chamber should be a real cinch."

"Oh dear..."  Rarity bit her lip.  "More sight-seeing?"

"I am sensing a strange warmth just east of us," Fluttershy said.  "At first, I thought it was a school of fish... but if it's actually Bleak's Plummet—"

"You mean these guys are living underwater?!"  Pinkie cackled.  "A little late for a pool party, don't you think?!"

Rainbow spoke above the celestial thunder:  "One step at a time."  She called into the cabin.  "Flynn!"  Her voice echoed off the rusted walls of the engine room.  "How's it looking?"

"This... is going to take a while to repair, Rainbow," Flynn grumbled.  "I hate to be the bearer of bitchy news... but we aren't moving anywhere until I can get at least two of these mana-batteries re-enchanted."

Wildcard gestured briskly with one talon.

"Mmmmm..."  Bard scratched his head, then turned to face the others.  "'Reckon we should ask for a tow?'"

"Whatever we do, we must be quick about it," Remna said.  "While we're in the good favor of these miscreants."

"So then..."  Rainbow looked at Echo.  "How are these guys' tugboating stats?"
> Eee Eee Eee Eee Eee!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Rest assured, Blood of Luna," Enix spoke, gliding off the port side of the Stardust.  The metal vessel made a wild wake as it coasted eastward, towed by two massive vessels covered in lunar runes and twisting vines.  "You are in the presence of the strongest and most formidable fleet in all the dark waters.  We will furiously strip apart any and all vessels that attempt to intercept you."

"Hmmmm..."  Rainbow Dash hovered in a slow spiral, glancing at the various vessels—both slender and spheroid—that were accompanying the Stardust in its brisk watery lurch.  "I dunno."  A coy smirk.  "I've seen some of Rohbredden's finest.  They've got ships that could boil the ocean with their ordinance.  And then you've got the pirates from Mudtop—"

A high-pitched chirp escaped Enix's fanged lips.  Her scarred nostril flared.  "Moths before the flame.  We could skim into the sunlit waters and obliterate the Six Tribes and their feculent bastard children in a blink."

"If your navy's so dang powerful," Raibnow asked, squinting at her.  "Then why haven't you after all this time?"

"Hrmmmfff..."  Enix folded her scarred forelimbs.  "Because of the Lunar Vigilance."

"The what?" Rainbow asked under the rumbling thunder.

"A bum excuse for a bum lifestyle," Echo droned from where he sat on the deck.

Enix sneered at him.  "I should chop your wings off for such insolence—"

"You already did," Echo hissed back.  "Or at least—you half-assed it.  Like everything since the great migration began."

Enix let loose a high-pitched shriek.

Echo returned with an even higher-pitched one.

"Yo... dudes..."  Rainbow winced, rubbing her ears as she hovered directly between them.  "Give it a rest.  And ease up on the... squeaks.  Friggin' A..."

Nicole trotted up out of the cabin, blinked, turned around, and trotted back down.

Enix and Echo calmed slightly.

"Okay... first thing's first..."  Rainbow looked at Echo.  "What's Lunar Vigilance?  I mean for real?"

Echo opened his fanged mouth—

"It is the stalwart commitment that we've made," Enix said.  "Centuries ago, our ancient Maria Matriarchs agreed to station ourselves upon the edge of the world so that we may await a sign of the Mother of Nightmare's return.  Due to the constant twilight, we've since lost track of the passage of heavenly bodies.  Nevertheless, in our darkest of hearts, we all felt that the Thousandth Year Moon was close to transpiring."

"Right."  Rainbow nodded.  "And... ths 'great migration?'"

Enix opened her muzzle—

"It's referring to the big exodus our ancestors made," Echo droned.  "Out of Equestria—apparently—all the way to Bleak's Plummet."  He waved a fetlock in the air.  "The most hardass warriors dove over the edge and proceeded to the Dark Side—where they planned to establish a 'New Ponymonium' that could service the Mother of Nightmares upon her return."

"And fight for her in the glorious conquest of the Solar Deceiver!" Enix said boldly, fangs glinting.  She beat her chest and hissed with bloodlust.  "To win her the throne and ensure Eternal Night!"

"Which... she totally doesn't want anymore," Rainbow droned.  "Just like I've been trying to tell you... Nightmare Moon has been vanquished.  Princess Luna wants to make peace with her sister Celestia—like she's always desired for eons and eons."

"Rainbow Dash is correct," Princess Luna's voice spoke.  "The reign of Nightmare Moon was a mistake... one that I continue to regret to this very day.  We were never meant to dominate the sun-loving ponies... but to live with them peacefully, as was purposed by the original alicorns who brought peace and harmony to this plane."

"Yeah, well..."  Echo grumbled.  "You might be able to convince the midnighters of the Lunar Vigilance about that... but what about the punks who went to the Dark Side?"

"In truth, I fear for their misguided sensibilities," Princess Luna said.  "Drenched in so much chaos for centuries—they will likely possess an unpredictable nature."

"Yeesh..."  Rainbow ran a hoof through her short-short bangs.  "I haven't even thought about that."  She looked over.  "Enix?  What do you and your brothers and sisters know about the sarosians who flew over to the Dark Side—"  She froze in place, blinking.

Enix was once again lying prostrate on the floor.  She murmured sacred chants and unsheathed a dagger, aiming for her scarred fetlock—

"Oh for crying out loud..."  Rainbow rolled her eyes and—Fwooosh!—zipped down to the mare, grasping her forelimbs.  "Will you quit it?!"

"But..."  Enix's pronounced ears drooped.  "The Mother of Nightmare exposes us for our foolish sins.  I must express my penitence—"

"What you must do is help me get to Bleak's Plummet so I can talk to the Maria Matriarchs!" Rainbow's voice echoed.  "And that won't be easy if the leader of the pack is light-headed from blood-loss."

"I do not understand."  Enix's slitted eyes blinked.  "You do not wish for me to honor our Goddess?"

"She doesn't want you reducing yourself to shredded wheat!" Echo growled, eyes rolling.  "Goddess... this is why I left in such a damn hurry.  Bunch of emo freaktards."

Enix frowned at him.  "You should have left earlier!"  She growled.  "Before you robbed the Maria Matriarchs of forty pounds of moonsilver!"

"Like they were doing anything better with it than making orphans on the high seas!"

Enix let loose a high-pitched shriek.

Echo let loose an even higher-pitched shriek.

"Rnnnngh!"  Rainbow Dash clutched her skull.  "For Pete's sake—!"

Nicole stomped out of the cabin this time, opening her jaws wide.  "Skriii-iii-iii!"

This time, both Enix and Echo winced.

Nicole huffed, frowning.  "Now quit it!  Honestly!"  She tilted her chin up.  "Feels like we're taking on water downstairs every dang time!"

Bard rushed up from below deck, concerned.  He watched as Nicole stomped back downstairs in a huff.  He blinked at her, glanced at Rainbow, smirked, then shrugged.  With quiet steps, he descended after his sister.

Silence.

"I can tell that the tension is high," Luna's voice said.  "I only have myself to blame."

Rainbow blinked.  "Your Highness?"

"Blessed Mother of Nightmares."  Enix bowed low again, eyeslits flickering.  "You are most righteous and wise.  I entreat you not to give in to needless despair on behalf of your dream children—"

"No.  It is my fault.  I dabbled in dark energies, and it gave birth to the persona that would eventually embrace Nightmare Moon.  Because of that, not only did Equestria suffer, but it forever cursed my children of the night to an eternity of exile and persecution.  And now—as we speak—my most forsaken flock of all are lost on the Dark Side of the plane, embroiled in an endless war that consumes all life."

Enix stood up with a deep breath.  "I assure you, Oh Mother, that our brothers and sisters in shadow are as vigilant and trustful as we have been."

"Yeah..."  Echo muttered.  "Because the Seventh Tribe here have been soooooo wonderful and trusting."  His fangs showed.  "A real paragon of harmony."

Enix snarled.  "Will it kill you, lazy pariah, to treat our Mother with respect?"

"We shall deal with respect when Rainbow Dash meets the Matriarchs," Princess Luna said.  "I trust, Nightblooded child, that they await for her in Bleak's Plummet?"

Enix bowed gently.  "Most assuredly, Mother.  I shall see to it that she reaches the vinewooded depths without mishap."

Rainbow glanced over.  "Vinewooded depths?"

"Yup."  Echo nodded.  "The reason why the other Six Tribes can never find us is that we're never meant to be found."

"What's that mean?"

"Just that..."  He pointed at the choppy waters.  "...it's not nearly as rough several meters below the surface."

Rainbow Dash blinked.  She glanced up above the horizon—at the flicker of Yaerfaerda—then back down at the rolling waves.  "Your Highness?"

"Yes, child?"

"What if I lose the direct line to you real soon?"

"I estimate that we still have twenty-four hours of communication left."

"I'm not talking about time, Princess Luna."

"Hmmmm... one way or another, my children will be made to see the light."

"I humbly concur," Enix said with a nod.

"But in the meantime, Rainbow Dash, my essence shall be carried—at least in part—in the pendant."

"How so?"

"Trust me.  Every sarosian you meet shall have no doubt whom you are there to represent."

"In other words..."  Echo smirked slightly.  "...you'd better prepare your away mission."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow Dash took a deep breath.  "I was afraid of that."
> Those Ships In the Corner
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash found herself experiencing a new kind of anxiety.

Between the violent wake that the ships made in the choppy surf and the lumiscent glow of their lunar enchantments, she just knew that any searching equine from miles out in any direction would have no trouble whatsoever in locating the Princess Stardust and the inexplicable fleet that was now guiding it eastward.  She even took to the air a few times to confirm her nervous suspicions.  From above, the Stardust and its sarosian entourage resembled a pack of gnarled whales rippling their way in a jagged "V" formation.  The vessels sliced across a quivering pool of star-lit waters, and she worried over the possibility that they might be giving away their location.

Enix did her best to dissuade her fears—at least as well as a bloodstained warrior with a thick sarosian accent could manage.  The entire time, none of the other sarosians spoke to Rainbow or her fellow Heraldites.  Every bat pony that she stole a glance at was either bowing in her direction or—even more troubling—stealing angry glares at the likes of Echo.  The friend to Theanim Mane nearly shrugged it off, meanwhile Nicole stood close to Bard throughout the extent of the journey in order to stave off her frazzled nerves.

Remna—on the contrary—was the very epitome of "cool."  She stood ever-vigilant, hooves planted as close as they could be to the Stardust's bow.  No minute wore off when she wasn't training her slitted green eyes on the vessels surrounding them.

After a while, Rainbow felt compelled to mimic the observational methods of her draconian companion.  She watched the large, slender vessels covered with twisting reeds, seaweed, and glowing pale stones.  Her ruby eyes matched the graceful, circular movements of the spheroid submersibles as they seemed to spin laps around the Stardust in mid-transit.  While Rainbow was on watch, Twilight Sparkle and Rarity speculated as to what may have been powering the vessels from the inside out.

Eventually—if only to shut them up—Rainbow posed the question to Echo.  The stallion explained that the ships were constructed out of Bleakweed, a generic term for underwater vegetation that grew along the last continental shelf before the frothing, watery edge of the plane.  After centuries of floating listlessly across the choppy waters around Bleak's Plummet, the midnighter residents sought solutions from the depths.  It was then that they discovered entire forests of kelp with rigid vines and even tighter roots.  Once enough samples were taken, the descendants of Nightmare Moon's army found a way to grow and weave the material into any shape they liked.  Utilizing lunar runes, they could then pilot these naturally-constructed vessels and power their propulsion in any direction using key spells—all controlled by word of muzzle.  It was a nautical art that had been mastered after years and years of experimentation.  Now—in the modern era—midnighter pilots could glide and surface through the waves with a swiftness almost equal to how they once mastered the night's sky.

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were dying to know how the sarosians stumbled upon so many samples of lunar rock.  Rainbow brought the question to Echo—but it was Princess Luna herself who answered.  Ages ago—even before the rise of Nightmare Moon—Princess Luna endeavored to create a safe haven for all sarosian kind.  Her solution was to create a portal that would allow Equestrian subjects to instantaneously materialize on the moon.  Over the course of several millennia—Luna explained—she and her royal subjects worked on excavating a grand city from the heart of the moon: called Ponymonium.  The materials extracted from such an excavation found a home in Equestria, and it was from them that the countless samples of enchanted rock were preserved for runecrafting.  After the Civil War, the sarosians who performed their mass exodus carried with them several tons of the priceless rock, and they had been tapping into the lunar supply for weapons and enchantment ever since.

In a burst of curiosity, Rainbow Dash asked Princess Luna if there were any sarosians left living in Ponymonium following her banishment one thousand years ago.  The conversation then grew quiet, and Rainbow's ghostly companions shifted about nervously.  When Luna only had a taciturn, melancholic response, Twilight quietly explained to Rainbow Dash that the magic that allowed the passage to Ponymonium had faded away several hundred years ago—a consequence of the harmonic energies that Nightmare Moon had sapped from Luna's spirit.

Hours wore on.  The ships continued to guide the Stardust eastward—northeastward, actually.  Rainbow found herself gazing off the starboard bow, watching as the flicker of Yaerfaerda grew closer and closer.  She felt her heart beating with every random pulse, and the light was getting so bright that it was getting difficult to stare at anything else without squinting.

Nevertheless, her attention—and that of the rest of the Herald—was stolen the moment she heard a shrill cry from one of the flanking vessels.  She looked north in time to see what looked to be a thick maelstrom of swirling water... rumbling like a tempest beneath the thunder-split heavens.
> "It Is Only a Model"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Uhm..."  Ariel hovered low over the bow of the Stardust.  "Can I be the first to say it?"

"Knock yourself out, girl," Rainbow murmured.

Ariel gulped.  "Whoah," she cooed.

Flynn had to reverse the mana-engines of the Stardust, and the Bleakweed escort ships had long detached their tug cables.  The precise reason for this swirled off the bow at about three hundred feet.  An immense whirlpool was circling around and round in the Twilight waters.  The churning surf reflected the silver bodies of sarosians flying in dense counter-clockwise formation overhead.  While the Herald's vessel kept a safe distance, the submersibles that had accompanied them in the northeast glide unabashedly dipped into the foaming waters ahead.  Rainbow was amazed that the ships didn't collide with one another as soon as they crested the dip in the ocean.

"Okay okay..."  Logan paced along the edge of the Stardust's bow, joining Rainbow's side.  He leaned against his axe—which the stallion refused to put away since encountering the pirates.  "It's pretty impressive and all... but the longer we wait here, the more danger we put ourselves in."

"Why would ourr midnighterr frriends lead us to a purre maelstrrom in the firrst place?" Kepler asked, tensely gripping the wheel.

"Beats the heck out of me."  Ariel then frowned over her shoulder.  "And stop calling them 'friends!'  We barely know these fanged freaks!"  She winced, then smiled nervously over at Echo and Nicole.  "No offense."

"Uh huh. Whatever."  Nicole brushed her bangs back as she stood next to Bard.  "Maybe... uhm... it's some sort of chaotic magical event?  This is the edge of the world, after all."

"Princess Luna?"  Rainbow Dash spoke while resting a hoof on her pendant.  "Any idea why Nightmare Moon's great-great-grandfoals would lead us to a big hole in the ocean?"

"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash," Luna's voice spoke.  "But the actions of my flock over the past thousand years have been mostly a mystery to me.  I am blessed to have you as a means to reconnect with them... but I cannot begin to presume what their purpose in that part of the ocean may be."

"They've led us home," Echo said bluntly.

Rainbow and her ghostly friends looked at him.

"'Home?'" Rainbow sputtered.

Echo nodded.  "That's right."  He pointed into the epicenter of the swirling waters.  "Down there is the next pony you'll want to talk to."

"Pffft..."  Rarity tossed her mane.  "He can't possibly be serious."

"He is," Applejack said.

Rarity blinked at her.  "Ehh?"

She looked back.  "He's tellin' the truth.  There's somethin' down there."

"But... how?"  Fluttershy blinked.  "Unless... they're all living in the bellies of whales?"

"OooOOooh!"  Pinkie Pie bounced in place, phasing through the rusted deckplates.  "That'll be cool!  Please!  I wanna see an Ultimo 2.0!"

"I don't," Rainbow grunted.  She looked at Echo.  "How do the midnighters live down there?"

"Very very moistily."

"Echo..."  Rainbow sighed.

"Eyes front," Remna suddenly said.  "The squadrons are shifting."

Rainbow craned her neck, squinting.

Sure enough, the sarosians were gaining altitude.  A silver streak—Enix's unmistakable figure—flew figure-eights around them, shrieking various commands.  The waters grew more turbulent and the submersibles disappeared entirely beneath a wave of rising bubbles.  Slowly, a new thunder rose from the depths, dwarfing the rumbling noise in the sky.

"Oh jeez..."  Twilight Sparkle rubbed her suddenly-glowing horn.  "Oh wow..."

"Twi, knock it off..."  Rainbow shifted in place.  "I know you're a ghost, but you're a ghost in public—"

"No, it's not that!  I'm sensing a strong surge in magic!"  Twilight glanced at the others.  "It's like the lunar rune charges—but on a grand scale!  From deep below!"

"Where?"

"Everywhere!"

"She's right!"  Rarity blinked, grimacing.  "I'm sensing something now!  It's rising up!"

"I toldja," Applejack said, folding her forelimbs with a smug smirk.

The Stardust rocked as the waves before the point-of-no-return rose in intensity.

"Brace yourselves, everypony!" Logan called out.

"Just relax, y'all," Bard said, gripping the edge of the deck.  "We obviously won their trust.  Wouldn't make a lick of sense if they led us all the way here just to drown."

"What is happening, Rainbow Dash?"  Princess Luna asked.

"Uhhhhhhh..."  Rainbow gulped, stretching her wings to balance herself.  "I'll call you back, Your Highness..."

Just as she finished those words, an immense splash of water fountained upwards—followed by several identical, smaller bursts of moisture.  A twisted black spire emerged from the water—rising gradually upwards with the grace of a melting iceberg in reverse.  This intertwined mess of dense vines and gnarled vegetation was accompanied by more and more spires.  Soon, a veritable briar patch of epic proportions surfaced in the middle of the ocean—with each "thorn" the size of a house and bespeckled with glowing moonstones.  Flopping fish rolled over the exposed onyx surfaces before plummeting back into the bubbling waters below.  Exposed barnacles clung to various wooden struts, and if Rainbow squinted she could spot what appeared to be curved translucent sheets: naturally grown portholes through which she could spot equine shadows trotting to and fro within the hollow spindles of the elaborately twisted structure.  At last, an enormous flat structure emerged from the waves—stretching outward towards the Stardust like a balcony... or a dock.  Only once this last noticeably-level part of the Bleakweed building had emerged did the entire momentum of the rising mess cease.  This produced several waves in the ocean that rippled outward in every direction.  Three blinks later—the multiple vessels that had submerged earlier resurfaced with brilliant splashes, and they were accompanied by even more ships, forming an elaborate armada of naturally-grown ships that glistened in the starlight.

The Herald struggled for balance as the Stardust bobbed in the waves produced by the massive surfacing.

Wildcard whistled, impressed.

"My starrs and garrterrs," Kepler murmured.

"Yeah... sure..."  Echo yawned.  "It's all mesmerizing now.  But then there's the shrieking..."  He gulped.  "...and the blood-sucking."

"Do we... I-I mean..." Nicole gulped.  "Do the midnighters actually live in that thing?"

"Oh, you're just seeing the tip of it."  Echo blinked, then chuckled at his own words.  "Eheh."  Clearing his throat, he gestured down at the rippling waters.  "Most of the building's down below us.  It's... like... physically impossible to surface the entire dayum thing."

"He's right," Rarity said with a nod.  "Now that a good chunk of it has risen, I can sense even more of it stretching down... down..."  She fidgeted.  "To be perfectly honest, I don't quite now how deep it goes."

Rainbow peered straight down.  As the waters gradually settled, she saw—or thought she saw—spiraling black formations of twinkling moonlight.

"Rainbow Dash...?" Luna's voice entreated.

"Just a second, Your Majesty," Rainbow muttered.  "Working reallllllly hard to contain my bladder right about now."

"I sense an alarming amount of feedback in my enchantment," Luna said.  "As if you're surrounded by thousands upon thousands of my own children."

"That's... pretty much the case, yeah."

"Rainbow," Fluttershy remarked, pointing skyward.

Rainbow looked up in time to see a silver shape gliding towards them.  Enix glided smoothely to the Stardust and perched on the bow with a rattle of her bone necklace.  "We have arrived at Bleak's Plummet, Blood of Luna."  She held a hoof out.  "Please.  Grab my hoof, and I shall take you to see the Eldest of the Maria Matriachs."

Before Rainbow could respond, Ariel flew in between them with a frown.

"Whoah there!"  Ariel's eyes narrowed.  "Watch who you're reaching for there, sister—!"

"Ariel..."  Rainbow sighed.

"The infatuated idiot is right."  Remna trotted forward.  "The Austraeoh shall not go anywhere alone."  She shook her head.  "Not without a proper escort."

"Darn tootin'," Bard said with a nod.  "Just hours ago, y'all were a sneeze away from loppin' our heads off."  He folded his forelimbs.  "How can we know yer bein' square with us now?"

Wildcard cocked his head aside, gazing scrutinously.

Enix saw it.  She looked at Rainbow Dash.  "You have many ponies sworn to protect you... a true testament to the honorable nature of your quest."  She waved a scarred fetlock.  "You have my promise as a warrior and a leader... we shall not threaten your livelihood in anyway.  You bring with you truth and enlightenment from the Maiden of the Moon herself.  It is imperative for the good of all our kind that I bring you to the Maria Matriarch right away."

Rainbow looked aside.

Applejack looked back.  She gave a firm nod.

"I believe you," Rainbow said, lifting her gaze again.  "But... I owe my friends the benefit of a doubt.  I'm bringing some of them along."

"Woohoo!"  Pinkie cheered.  "Away team!"

"Very well," Enix replied with a nod.  "But choose sparingly.  The shaft only has room for so many equines."

"Shaft?" Logan dripped.

"Don't put your hopes up," Echo muttered.  "It's not that impressive."

"I'm going with you," Remna said, trotting close to Rainbow.

"Yeah..."  Rainbow groaned.  "I figured."

"Ain't goin' nowhere without the Desperadoes," Bard said.  Wildcard nodded.

"Count me in!" Nicole said.

Bard sighed.  "Nickki..."

"I'm serious!"  Nicole frowned.  "Why did you bring me along if not to help touch base with these ponies at their... b-base?"

Before Bard could protest—

"She could be useful, Bard," Rainbow said.  "We can't be crowding the trip down, and we need to keep the Stardust well-guarded."  She looked at the griffon.  "Wildcard?  Mind sitting this one out?"

Wildcard's feathers rose on end.

"It's okay, Dubya," Bard said with a dismissive wave.  "I'll keep an eye on her.  You make sure Flynn doesn't blow up the ship."

Wildcard sighed and folded his arms.  Nevertheless, he eventually nodded.

"So then..."  Rainbow turned to Enix.  "I'm bringing four friends with me."

"Wait..."  Ariel blinked, then counted between them.  "Remna... Bard... Nicole..."

"...and Echo of course," Rainbow said.

"Pffffft!"  Echo spat up his own saliva.  "Aw Hell no!"  His fangs flashed, and he frowned.  "I didn't put an entire damn ocean between myself and this place just to be brought back for a castration!"

"They're not going to lay a hoof on your pretty little butthead, butthead," Rainbow grunted.  "Not so long as you're sticking close to me.  Got it?"

"No.  I don't got it!"  Echo pouted, forelimbs folded.  "There's no way in the Seven Seas that you're getting me to ride down that shaft!"
> Austraeohnesia:  The Rainbow Dark Descent
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"I friggin' hate you," Echo groaned, squatting in a huff on the edge of the Bleakweed balcony beside Rainbow Dash.

"Oh hush."  Rainbow turned aside.  "Bard.  If he tries to dive into the water, kick him in the bat-balls."

"Got it.  And a pleasure."  Bard tipped his hat, then smirked at Nicole.  "Ain'tcha glad that yer coltfriend's so brave?"

"Maybe this was a bad idea," Nicole muttered, watching as the sarosians gathered around the edge of the deck.

"Curious..."  Remna's slitted green eyes narrowed, following the movement of the bat ponies.  Before Rainbow's little group, the pirates were uncoiling an elaborate mesh made of interwebbing vines.  Pale moonstones formed at every joining knot and intersection.  "...what precisely are they doing?  Catching fish for sustenance?"

"Sarosians are nimble divers, Axan," Princess Luna's voice said.  "And they can hold their breaths for long periods of time.  I doubt they need many tools for doing what you propose."

"Hrmmfff..."  Remna's nostrils exhaled.  "And that's what I get for pretending to be interested in mortal ways."

"Say, uh... Princess Luna?"  Rainbow tilted her head towards the skies.  "It looks like we're all about to take a huge dive... erm... s-somehow."

"Duly noted, child."

"Point is... uhm... I-I'm pretty sure we will be out of range of direct moonlight once we've started our descent."  Rainbow fidgeted from side to side.  "Unless the sarosians here have some snazzy way of channeling moonlight down through the body of Bleak's Plummet or whatnot."

"Possible... but wise to expect a signal break."

"So... like... what am I gonna do now?"  Rainbow gulped.  "I'm supposed to open communication with the leaders of your lost flock.  But... if they can't hear you talking to me down there... then how am I gonna convince them we're on the same side?"

"My voice cannot follow you down there, Rainbow Dash, but I have succinctly enchanted your pendant to represent me nevertheless."

"Huh?"

Princess Celestia's voice interjected:  "It's one of the many reasons why my sister took such an extraordinary period of time in channeling energy into the Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash.  It's more than a matter of communication."

"My sister is right.  My essence flows through the connection that has been established.  Any sarosian in your presence will know whom you represent—for their souls shall resonate with the spell that you are bringing to their doorstep."

"Uhm..."  Nicole smiled cutely, glancing Rainbow's way.  She pointed at her flickering eyeslits.  "I think she's talking about this thing."  Her ears twitched as her body shivered.  "Whew... still tingles."

Rainbow took a deep breath.  "Well, I sure hope you're right, Your Highness."  A gulp.  "Or else, you might not be hearing back from me for a while... and by that I mean forever."

Fluttershy whimpered slightly.

"Have some faith in my children, Rainbow Dash," Luna said.  "Just as they evidently have faith in me."

Remna muttered aside:  "That is the alicorn's subtle way of telling you to pull the stick out."

Rainbow glared at her.  "You've been listening to Echo too much."

"The sniveling male is poetic when it matters."

"Meh," Echo muttered.

"Shhh!"  Twilight pointed.  "They're doing something with the net."

"Yes..."  Rarity nodded.  "They appear to be lowering it into the water."

"More than that," Twilight said.  "Watch closely."

Rainbow observed as the sarosians on the Bleakweed balcony lowered the interwebbing fabric knot by knot.  Enix directed them the entire time, pointing and exhaling shrill commands in Moonwhinny.  When the entire structure was only a few meters submerged, a quartet of sarosians trotted up to the balcony's edge, cradling necklaces made of glowing runes.

"Y'mnym!" they shouted in unison.

Silver light pulsed from below the waves.  Rainbow and her friends watched as the runes situated at the knots lit-up one after another.  The waters rippled... then expelled upwards in a smooth, rippling fountain.  Slowly, the ropes expanded as mana-barriers formed between the joints, solidifying with translucent energy.  Soon, the ropes expanded, forming a geodesic sphere of taut vines and see-through force fields.  The combined illumination of the multiple runes revealed a dry-as-sand interior of the sphere, with a copious amount of breathable air.

"Oh wow..."  Twilight sported a big dumb lavender grin.  "That is absolute incredible!"  She gawked at the other ghost-mares.  "Rarity... have you ever seen anything so... ingenious?"

"Yes, darling."  Rarity winked with a coy grin.  "Deep in Shoggoth."

"Oh yeah."  Twilight blinked.  "Right."  She blinked again.  "Yes, well... this is... uhm... bat-ponier."

Pinkie Pie giggled.

Rainbow rolled her eyes, then looked at Enix.  "That's our way down the shaft?"

Enix was already nodding.  "The enchantment will contain itself just long enough for a one-way journey, and it will require preparation and recharging for the journey back up."  She pointed at the top of the sphere—the only hole that hadn't formed a shield yet.  "Just long enough for us to see the Maria Matriach.  I suggest you and your friends enter at once."

"Righto."  Rainbow hoisted a gasping Echo in her forelimbs and flew towards the sphere.  "Nopony fart, now.  Echo, that means you."

"No pr-promises," the sarosian sputtered.

"Uhm..."  Nicole nervously flew while Bard hoisted Remna.  "How... uh... s-safe is this thing?"

"It is perfectly stable," Enix said, hovering above the floating sphere.  "However... you would do well to keep your hooves situated on the vines only."

Rainbow heard this just as she was settling on the "floor" of the sphere's interior.  She carefully stretched her hooves out so that she stood perfectly on the ropes between the quivering force fields.  "Yeah... that's not daunting or anything."

"Just relax," Echo droned.  "The worst that could happen is you might break a shield and cause a chain reaction that will flood the entire chamber with highly-pressurized seawater."

"Ungh..."  Nicole settled beside Bard and Remna with a shiver.  "Exactly what did they kick you out of Bleak's Plummet for?  I mean specifically?"  She frowned.  "Did they just reach randomly into a hat full of reasons?"

"He insulted his bloodline and robbed his brothers and sisters of prescious enchantments," Enix said, flying into the sphere and tossing a frown Echo's way.  "The only reason he hasn't been eviscerated where he stands is due to his blessed association with Luna's avatar."

"Well... uhm..."  Rainbow smiled awkwardly.  "Score one for the Nu Moon Crew!"  She winked at Echo.  "You like that?  The 'Nu Moon Crew?'"

"Please don't say that ever again," Echo muttered.

"Yeah, sugarcube," Applejack droned.  "What he said."

"Alrighty then... uh..."  Bard looked at Enix.  "Shaftin' time?"

"W'nyhhm!" Enix grunted.  Flaaash!  The last few pockets solidified with energy fields above them.  The sphere was perfectly sealed now.  "We are ready to descend."  She nodded to two sarosians who had entered the structure with them.

The bat ponies concentrated, grasped their runic necklaces, and murmured rhythmic chants into the air.

The upper knots glowed brighter than the rest.  With a magical jolt, the sphere descended—dropping rapidly.





Splooosh!

Those on board the Stardust watched intently as the sphere disappeared beneath the waves.

"Absolutely amazing," Flynn murmured, jaw agape.  "I wonder... could they employ that sort of technology in an elemental vacuum?"

"What arre you prroposing, frriend?" Kepler asked.  "The means of navigating chaotic space?"

"He's proposing nerd shit," Logan grunted.  "Don't encourage him."

"Just think about it!"  Flynn looked at the others.  "If we could borrow some of those runes—we'd reach the Sixth Seed and the edge of the world in a heartbeat!  We could even evade the detection of windigoes along the way!"

"I... don't think these moon-humpers wanna part with their glittery glamour rocks," Logan said.

Wildcard nodded, his goggles reflecting the bubbly water where the sphere descended with Bard and Rainbow Dash.

"Well... I'd better get finished on tweaking the engines," Flynn moaned, trotting lethargically back towards the ship's cabin.  "Though—at this point—it feels a lot like banging rocks together.  Meh... why does adventuring gotta expose me to... so much stuff?!"

Ariel hovered at the ship's side, wringing her fetlocks together.  She bit her lip as her ears drooped.

"Hey... relax, girl..."  Logan gave her a meaty pat on the shoulder.  "She's got Bard and the dragon-bitch with her.  She'll be fine."

"Not... really worried about her, per se..."  Ariel gulped.  "Just... if these midnighters pull some funny business..."  She winced.  "...we might wanna put some distance between ourselves and this floating turd... cuz that thing is gonna sink from her awesomeness."

"Hmmmff..."  Logan sniffed.  "You might wanna share that one with her when she gets back."  He trotted off, dragging his axe.  "Sure as Hell a better pick-up line than anything you've tried thus far."

Ariel glanced at him, then rolled her eyes.  "Buck me... we need a bigger boat, I swear..."
> No Goddesses, Kings, Only Dash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Nicole gasped, clinging to Bard as her slitted eyes reflected the mesmerizing sight of rising bubbles, rippling water, and countless fish.  "Holy cow..."

"Purdy excitin', huh?"  Bard smiled, squeezing her shoulder.  "Imagine this from the perspective of bein' swallowed by a big hulkin' fish."

"I think I'll just stick with the giant porous moon basket, th-thanks."  Nicole trembled, gazing aside at Rainbow and Echo.  "How do you... like... deal with all this perilous, crazy 'adventure' stuff?"

"Eh..."  Rainbow shrugged, stretching her limbs out to stand on the rocking, glowing vines.  "After your first painful, bloody death, you sorta just roll with it."

"Huh?!"

"Ask Remna."

"Miss Remna, what does she—?"

"Do not ask me," the violet mare glared.

"Pffft... fine, then."  Nicole leaned against Bard once again.  "Get your own moonbasket."

"Mrmmff..."  Remna watched with draconian disinterest as the twisting lengths of the structure were joined by more and more glittery spires—all joining together to form a massive hub of interconnecting brambles.

Rainbow's ghostly friends cooed in awe.  Below them—rising into view beyond the interwebbing vines—was a gigantic gnarled "gnot," dense enough to be called a proper underwater structure.  The hub was easily eight stories in height, and at least five dozen meters in circumference.  At random intervals, the Bleakweed surfaces were broken up by translucent windows revealing living sarosian residents wandering about deep inside.

A trickle of bubbles rose past the sphere, and Rarity and Pinkie Pie gasped to see sarosian divers swimming from branch to branch.  The ponies were equipped with breathing apparatuses, glowing with lunar enchantment.  A "school" of swimming equines were busily working on a branch of gnarled vines—connecting them between two lateral struts.  The divers paused, squinting through their glowing goggles at the sphere being piloted by Enix and her felow companions.

The Nightblood Warrior gazed back, then turned to whisper to the two enchanters.

The enchanters nodded in response.  Concentrating on their rune necklaces, they murmured new words in Moonwhinny.

Bard wobbled slightly in surprise as the sphere shifted direction.  It now began angling itself towards the heart of Bleak's Plummet, approaching a round black shape carved in the structure's surface.  Fish scurried out of the way as the sphere entered the structure.  Narrow walls were illuminated by the shield runes—then the corridor expanded to reveal a half-flooded chamber.

Enix whistled, and the enchanters murmured yet another word.

The sphere rose, approaching a rippling surface illuminated from above.

Sp-Sploosh!

Rainbow and her friends found themselves staring at a large round room fitted with spools of coiled vines and diving equipment.  Wet-hoofed sarosians wandered from dock to dock, hauling thorned cages full of desperately flopping fish.  Upon seeing the sphere surface, many of the workers froze in place, squeaking to one another and staring with intense slitted eyes.

With a grunt, Enix leapt directly up.  She sank her fangs deep into a spool of rope, canceling out the topmost force field.  Damp air rushed into the sphere, filling the vessel with the foul smell of dead fish.  Nicole and Bard grimaced, but both kep their cool.  Echo didn't even flinch.

"Look..."  Fluttershy whispered, gesturing at the workers atop the neatly-arranged docks.  Flickering manatorches illuminated their leafy ears up above.  "They're all staring at us."

"Yes..."  Rarity squirmed nervously.  "I wonder if any of them know why we're here."

"Enix would have sent messengers ahead of us, I imagine," Twilight Sparkle thought aloud.

"I know I'm a mite bit new at this n'all, but..."  Applejack glanced at Rainbow.  "I ain't sensin' no ill-intent.  At least... no more than usual from these batfolk."

Rainbow gulped.  "Say... uh... Enix—"

"Fear not, Blood of Luna," the warrior said while gesturing to the many-many workers.  Sarosians glided over, crowding the nearest dock.  "All has been arranged."

"Oh yeah?" Rainbow remarked.

Enix did not respond.  Instead, she joined over two dozen sarosians in manually yanking the sphere up by its rope.  As the structure rose through the water, the enchanters standing inside with Rainbow's group murmured the word "Y'hnyrr" at even intervals.  One by one, the shields extinguished themselves—with expert timing so as not to flood the structure.  By the time the last force fields were canceled out, the workers above had hoisted the entirety of the rope out of the water.  Rainbow, Bard, and the rest found themselves trotting casually onto dry floor.

The sarosians—with minor reluctance—lent helping hooves to everypony... except when it came to Echo.  As soon as the stallion appeared, they took one look at him—at his clipped leather wings—then stepped back with subdued hissing sounds.

Echo blinked.  The hair on his back rose savagely as he hissed back.

Frowning, the workers nevertheless drew away.

Rainbow glanced curiously at Echo—but the stallion merely shrugged.

"Hresssssssssh—"  Nicole audibly pronounced.  Her eyes widened, and she slapped a hoof over her fanged muzzle.  A few blinks later, and she murmured aside to Bard.  "I... I-I don't know what's coming over me..."

"Right..."  Bard gulped dryly.  "Just... stick close to me, darlin'... and try not to get too comfortable... I guess."

"Yeah, Johnny... I-I'll try..."

The workers didn't leave entirely.  They stood along the outer circumference of the gnarled hangar, gazing cautiously at the strange ponies accompanying Enix.

"Hmmmm..."  Remna exhaled.  "Your companions do not seem too pleased to see us."

"That will change shortly," Enix said, trotting forward.  "I assure you."

"Can you be so certain?"  Remna arched an eyebrow, shuffling after her.  "If the collective host of your fellow pirates aren't comfortable with our presence, then how do you know we will make a positive impression on your matriarch?"

"We have only one true Matriarch," Enix muttered, marching firmly forward.  "I have sensed her voice... and it vouches for your Austraeoh.  It was that way in the beginning... and it will be that way in the end."

"I know a thing or two about answering for a loyal nest," Remna said.  "The Alicorn of the Moon may feel responsible for these lost mortals... but she hasn't been the one personally protecting them all this time, has she?"

Enix glanced back at Rainbow Dash.  "Who is this curious disgruntled creature with the otherworldly eyes?"  The warrior's eyes narrowed.  "She obviously values your safety, but her faith seems faltering."

"Trust me.  She knows the price for screwing me over," Rainbow Dash said.  "And if any of your 'brothers and sisters' here in Bleak's Plummet are afraid of me—they shouldn't be.  They should be scared of her."

"Hmmm... a challenge..."  Enix chanted towards a wall of runes.  "H'jem!"  Several vines coiled back, dripping with seawater.  They exposed a gradually rising corridor, smelling of damp wood and incense.  "I can guarantee you that we will encounter many warriors after my own scars who will delight in such a physical presence."

"Uh huh..."  Rainbow squinted ahead.  "...and what if I refuse any confrontation?"

"You will be seen as a weak coward deserving to be eaten alive."  Enix motioned the group along as she trotted up the corridor.  "Let us hope we meet up with the Maria Matriarch before then."

"Yeah."  Rainbow gulped, leading the pack behind her.  "Good idea."

> A Home for Dreams, Underwater
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	If Rainbow Dash hadn't gotten a good survey of the structure of Bleak's Plummet from the outside, she would very easily have gotten lost within the winding corridors of the place.  The interior was nothing more than a labyrinthine collection of unpredictable cylindrical passages—some of them dropping off into vertical shafts.  The chambers echoed with surreal reverberations—like an endless conkle shell going off in every direction, filled with distant shrieks and the flapping of tens of hundreds of leather wings.

And the passages were dark.  Insanely dark.  The presence of manatorches and luminescent moon rocks was scarce at best.  More than a few times, Rainbow Dash nearly bumped her nose against pure Bleakweed, and the complexity of the intestinal corridors constantly threw Rarity for a loop—making it nearly impossible to guide her anchor.

"Watch your head," Echo occasionally muttered, saving Rainbow from an embarrassing collision.

"Enix is ten spaces ahead," Nicole said from the rear of the group as they ascended.  "Towards the upper left."

"Shucks..."  Bard exhaled out the side of his muzzle as he stumbled along, squatting occasionally to avoid the low ceiling.  "I dunno how ya do it.  I can't even see my own hoof in front of my face in this consarn underwater treehouse."

"I... can't really explain it," Nicole murmured.  "I can see just fine.  That's all."  Her slitted eyes blinked and her leafy ears twitched.  "It's like walking into a barn without a candle back home."

"Yeah, but this is a long throw from where the cattle graze."

"It's usually darker than this," Echo said.

"Oh?" Rainbow Dash exhaled.

"Yeah.  More than the usual torches have been lit along the path to the Matriarch's chamber."

"Well, that's a good sign, right?"  Pinkie Pie remarked.  "It means they've prepared for guests!  Like good hosts!"

"Or this is simply how they prepare for an execution," Rarity muttered.

"Can't we be a little less pessimistic?" Twilight Sparkle droned.  "Let's give Princess Luna's influence the benefit of a doubt.  After all, if a fierce warrior like Enix here could be pacified—"

"She... uhm..."  Fluttershy bit her lip.  "She could be playing face just to lure us into a trap, don't you think?"

"Nope."  Applejack shook her head.  "She ain't lyin'.  This mare may not be pleasant to look at, but she's sincere about negotiatin'."

"And... uh..."  Rainbow Dash glanced left and right, spotting leathery movement in the distant shadows of Bleak's Plummet.  "What about the rest of the bat horses in this place?"

"That... remains to be s-seen, sugarcube," Applejack muttered.

Remna leaned in towards Rainbow Dash in mid-step.  "Do your friends think we're trotting into a trap?"

"Eh... jury's still out on that," Rainbow muttered.  "What do you think?"

"Even if I hadn't been manipulated by my late sister, I would have argued that everything stands to be a trap," Remna muttered.  The violet mare took a deep breath.  "Do not be scared, Austraeoh.  I shall put a quick end to anything that might attempt to claim your life."

"I'm not scared."  Rainbow blinked, then glanced back at her.  "Are you scared, Axan?"

"You cannot intimidate fear incarnate," she grumbled in a draconian voice.

Rainbow's brow furrowed.  "You didn't answer my question—"

"Shhhh!"  Bard hissed, squinting ahead.  "Ya hear that?"

"Hear what?" Rainbow asked.

Nicole gulped.  "Midnighters... lots and lots of them."

Rainbow turned to look at Fluttershy.  Fluttershy nodded back.

"It's the habitat center," Echo said.  "The walls will be spreading apart soon."

"Keep following," Enix said, her pace not slowing.  "We're nearly there."

Just as Rainbow heard that, she looked up to see that—indeed—the corridors were opening up to form a fairly massive chamber.  The Bleakweed walls showed signs of countless ages of carving, chiseling, and axework.  She guessed that—ages ago—this was once a tumorous nub of converging brambles, but had since been hollowed out over the course of multiple generations.  Since then, complex wooden platforms had been built and braced against the curved walls of the place.  Tiny structures stood on these balconies, lined with dim manatorches of an electric blue tint.  Strings of moon rock—pebbles, really—lined the balcony edges and glowed with persistent silver enchantment.  The same luminescence subtly lined the various contours of the dome-like interior.  Standing at the bottom of the cavern had the same feeling as standing in an open field beneath a full moon.

Here, the echoes were considerably more voluminous, and—glancing about—Rainbow Dash discovered why.  Countless leather bodies huddled on the platforms, peering down from their perches.  Dozens—if not hundreds of slitted eyes peered out from the penumbra of the ever-pervasive glow.  Rainbow could only really detect the subtle glint of their pupils in her peripheral; she had to look off at an angle to take a proper count of the huddled masses observing the strangers' ascent through Bleak's Plummet.  The air above and around them filled with tiny, melodic squeaks—both breathy and inquisitive.  If it wasn't for the fact that she and her friends were deep beneath the dark waves in a habitat maintained by bloodthirsty pirates, then she might almost have considered the whole spectacle borderline adorable.

"Watch where you step," Echo muttered.

Upon hearing that, Rainbow Dash's nostrils quivered.  For the first time since entering the chamber, she became aware of a relatively offensive smell lingering in the air.

"Ah jeez..."  Nicole whimpered from behind.

"Whoah nelly!" Bard breathily added.

"What's their problem?" Rarity asked.

"Uhm..."  Fluttershy cleared her throat.  "...don't look up."

"Hmmm?"  Rarity did so anyways.  She leapt in place and clung to Pinkie's ghostly body.  "Waa-haa-haa-haa!" she shrieked.

"...?"  Rainbow stared up—only to see that the entire ceiling was quivering with leather wings and leafy ears.  Over a hundred pairs of slitted eyes blinked down at her from where the mass populace of Bleak's Plummet hung upside down from lofty vines, branches, and wooden protrusions.  Lovers and mates clung close, cheeks nuzzling together as they blinked as one.  A few suspicious souls hissed from afar, their fangs glinting in the enchanted lunar light.  Tiny foals hung, curled like velvety fuzzballs in the hammock-like embrace of their mothers' wings.  Older siblings swung from their lower hooves, craning their necks around to get a better survey of the strangers trotting upright through the habitat center.

"It's like a ceiling slumber party!" Pinkie remarked, holding Rarity.

"Could they be slightly less creepy about it?!" Rarity stammered.

"Rarity, relax," Twilight murmured.  "If these many sarosians took objection to us, they would have pounced on us moments ago."

"You're n-not helping!"

"Crazy stuff," Rainbow muttered in Echo's direction.  She blinked up at the massive congregation.  "Is this... what Ponymonium was like?  Only on a small scale?"

"That's what our forbearers always taught us," Echo droned.  "But seriously.  I wouldn't look straight up if I were you."

"He ain't kiddin', darlin'," Applejack said.

Rainbow grimaced.  "You can't possibly mean what I think you mean."

"Wish I was," Echo grunted.  "It takes... erm... a few years for youngsters to get properly 'ceiling-trained.'"

"Yeah."  Nicole gulped.  "Let's get moving already."

"How much further, warrior?" Remna asked in an impatient tone.

Enix didn't reply.  Instead, she was busy approaching a group of fierce, angry-looking sarosians standing before a solid wall of dense vines bespeckled with moonrocks.  She squeaked several breathy words in moonwhinny, gesturing at Rainbow Dash.

The other warriors craned their necks, looking unimpressed.  After a noticeable delay, Enix growled, her back hair bristling as she glared the sarosians down—one by one.

With drooping ears, the doorkeepers backtrotted, exhaling in one accord.  They parted ways, allowing Enix to approach the wall of vines.  With a deep breath, she exhaled:  "H'jem!"

The wall unfurled, exposing a wide corridor that ascended even deeper into the heart of Bleak's Plummet.  Here, the torchlight flickered with a crimson tint.

"Well, that's not ominous whatsoever," Rarity grunted.

Enix gestured at the group.

Feeling countless eyes trained on her, Rainbow Dash proceeded forward, followed closely by Remna and then the rest.  They traversed a series of gradually rising steps, leading towards a blue-tinted room at the furthest end, rippling with reflective waterlights.

Echo leaned in, murmuring:  "This is the Hall of Blood.  Only the most courageous warriors of the Midnight Exodus are allowed in here... usually..."

Rainbow Dash looked left and right.  She saw dark chambers full of shifting shadows.  With coordinated shrieks, able-bodied sarosians sparred with one another, wrestling and butting heads with a flash of fangs.  Spears and clubs bearing lunar runes clashed with a shower of sparks.  A few sweaty combatants stopped to glance at Rainbow and her group as they passed by.

"Have.. uh... have you ever been here before?" Rainbow asked.

Echo hesitated... then eventually murmured:  "Yes.  But... I wasn't here for long."

Rainbow's brow furrowed.  "You were a warrior?"

"A failure," Echo muttered.  "A lot is... expected of young midnighters in Bleak's Plummet.  Making it to age thirty is a reward for brutal tenacity... and not accomplished easily."

Rainbow glanced at Enix's scarred body ahead of them.  "Yeah.  I can tell."

"Staying alive is one thing."  Echo gulped.  "I was... not very fond of all the corpses I'd inevitably have to climb to get there."

"You didn't want to kill?" Nicole murmured.  "Was that it?"

"Sure.  Let's just roll with that," Echo muttered.

"I..."  Rainbow grimaced, glancing into the nearby chambers as more and more slitted eyes peered out.  "I had no idea, Echo."

"You were never meant to."  Echo shuddered, ears drooping as he looked ahead at the blue-tinted room.  "All things considered... I was never meant to return here."

"Well, let's not waste a good opportunity when we've got one," Bard said.  "Reckon?"

"Shhhh..."  Remna exhaled.  "There's an aura about this place."

"Oh?" Rainbow blinked at her.

Remna's violet brow furrowed.  "I know a lair when I see one."

"M'rymym yln N'ymym!" Enix hollered, followed by several shrill shrieks.

"Look!" Fluttershy exclaimed hoarsely.

Rainbow and her friends watched as several shadows darted overhead.  They entered a chamber lined with translucent panels that looked out onto dark twilight waters overhead.  The floor gave way to an inexplicable pool of glowing water, shaped like a silver-blue crescent.  A wooden stage loomed over the rippling liquid, lined with several calcified structures:  enormous skulls of hunted creatures.  Rainbow saw shark jaws, whale vertebrae, orca skulls, and serrated teeth so large that they surely had to come from sea serpents.  All of these fossilized trophies were arranged in a symmetrical fashion, leading towards a thick veil of gossamer silk lined with moondust at the end of the chamber.

Enix settled down in the middle of the stage, bowing low.  "L'symlym wynyl m'rhymym s'ymmlym W'ynlppa yln H'Luun!  H'jaamym 'Austraeoh,' hymym Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow and the rest of her friends came to a stop.  They glanced left and right, silent and curious.

One by one, gray faces emerged from the shadowed corners of the place.  Wrinkled muzzles peered out of dark velvet robes lined with faintly glowing runes.  The slitted eyes of elder mares peered emotionlessly down at the gathered guests.

Rainbow's ears twitched to the sound of muffled squeaks behind her.  She and Remna looked over their flanks to see that all of the warriors in the sparring chambers had formed a solid line at the group's rear.  However—despite the sarosians' menacing presence—they refused to pass an invisible line of demarcation.  Their slitted eyes remained locked on the stage above them.

The blue tint of the room washed over with silver.

Rainbow looked front and center.

The moondusted veil glowed down the center.  Like a stage curtain, it lifted slowly... revealing a huddled group of elder ponies.  Old mares shuffled out, runic robes dragging across the wooden platform.  Among them, a few young souls hovered, acting as protectors and guiding the elders with gentle hoof-holds.  Their coats were of the same silver sheen as Enix, and their ears just as pronounced.

Rainbow squinted, cocking her head to the side.

At last, the elders formed a line down the center.  Four nightblooded sarosians took their sweet time assisting a single, hunched-over figure.  She trotted with the assistance of a rickety Bleakweed crane lined with lunar shards.  The edges of her robe glimmered with the same silver as the veil.

Rainbow noticed a movement in her peripheral.  She briefly glanced over to see that Echo was bowing low—mimicking Enix.  She opened her muzzle as if to say something... but decided to remain silent.  Looking up, she watched as the elder was led to the center of the platform.

At last, the Maria Matriach came to a limp stop.  A transparent blue shard hung from a necklace around her neck.  Slowly—with the grace of a tortoise—she tilted her wrinkly head up, peering out from beneath her hood.  One eye was clouded with gray cataracts.  A single slitted pupil swept left... swept right... then settled on Rainbow Dash.  She took several seconds to inhale... then breathily produced:  "W'ynlppa yln H'Luun?"

Enix nodded, head bowed penitently.  "Ywm,  M'rymym yln N'ymym.  H'Luun y'lynwyn wylynym y'hnyrr h'lym yln n'ymym."  Her fangs showed.  "H'jylym sylppa yln H'cylsialym w'rhynnym..."

"Ywm..."  The elder slowly nodded.  It took her a quarter of a minute to tilt her head in Rainbow Dash's direction.  Her voice wheezed with a thick, whinnying accent:  "I am Xarchellus... the eldest surviving Maria Matriarch.  My strongest Nightblooded child says that you are the chosen Avatar of the Mother of Nightmares."  Her fangs showed beneath her wrinkly muzzle.  "The Blood of Luna."

Rainbow Dash nodded.  "Yes, ma'am.  I've been sent by Princess Luna."

A heated breath.  Xarchellus' good eye narrowed with an icy glint.  "Prove it."

Bard and Nicole blinked.

"Whelp..."  Pinkie Pie gulped.  "I was afraid she'd say that."
> Preach It Loud, Rainbow Dash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Uhhhhhhhhh..."  Rainbow Dash shifted in place, ears twitching.  "Well... erm... I mean... eheh..."  She waved a hoof.  "Didn't... like... Squenix here explain the whole thing?"

"Psssst!"  Twilight hissed aside.  "It's Enix."

Before Rainbow could reply—

"I trust my Nightblooded child," Xarchellus's hoarse voice flooded the chamber.  The blue shard hanging from her neck twinkled in the enchanted light.  "What she has witnessed is unprecedented.  However... she is young.  Her power is in her muscle... not in her mind.  I... on the other hoof..."  She reached a hoof up, cradling the fragile necklace.  "...I have spent nearly nine decades bearing the weight and wisdom of the Moonglass... just like all fifteen generations of Maria Matriarchs before me."

Rainbow and her friends listened in tense silence.  Remna and Bard watched with squinting eyes, cautious of the thick line of warriors gathered behind them.

Xarchellus continued:  "In the beginning of our Exodus... this treasure was given us by the Mother of Nightmares herself... as a sign of trust—when the Solar Betrayer consumed the hearts and minds of those deceived by the blinding light."  Her fangs glinted.  "Several wayward waifs have drifted our way... carried by cold currents to the edge of the world—and the crest of our turbulent vigil."  She wheezed, shuddering a bit with brief coughs and spasms.  The Nightbloods at her side leaned in to support her shifting weight.  Eventually, she carried on:  "Many have claimed to bear divine intuition gifted by the Mother of Nightmares herself... and all have been proven false.  Strong, courageous Enix was not alive for the last time a cretinous individual came to Bleak's Plummet, claiming to have heard silent deliberations from the spirit of our Mother.  Ponies have tried to convince us... to convince me that the Mother had returned... that it was time for a new phase in the Solar War."

Slowly, gravely, the Maria Matriarch shook her head.

"All were false prophets... products of a paranoid continent that had polluted their minds with Seven Seas of poison and bitterness.  When we executed these malevolent messengers—it was an act of mercy.  And we children of the Mother of Nightmares do not grant mercy flippantly."  Her one good eye glinted.  "You... my little pony... are the first non-sarosian to come to this hollowed chamber and make such a claim.  So... tell me... why should I believe your heretical claims?"

Twilight gave Rainbow Dash a cautious look.

Rainbow took a breath and leaned forward.  "Miss... uh... Xarchellus... ma'am..."  She gulped.  "You're obviously super old and super wise.  And that's an awesome thing.  But... even still... a thousand years is a long friggin' time... for any of us to contemplate."

Xarchellus leaned back, listening with a thoughtful—albeit dubious—expression across her wrinkled face.

"There's... uh... some old words of prophecy," Rainbow Dash stated.  "Maybe it's in your Book of Saros... or maybe it's not.  But anyways... it says that 'on the longest night of the thousandth year moon, the stirrups will aid in her escape—'"

"The stars," Twilight hissed.

Rainbow winced.  "Stars, I mean.  Not stirrups.  Whatever.  Basically..."  She waved a hoof.  "After a thousand years of being nothing more than the Mare in the Moon, Nightmare Moon would be released.  Well... that happened, ma'am.  Nightmare Moon was freed from the moon.  She then tried to finish what she started so very long ago.  She attempted to manifest nighttime eternal."  Rainbow Dash gulped.  "But... uhhh... she was stopped.  Six ponies—myself included—confronted her with the Elements of Harmony.  Y'know... the same Elements of Harmony that were used to banish her in the Moon in the first place.  Only... like... this time the evil possession of Nightmare Moon was cleansed from the alicorn's body... and she once again became Princess Luna... Celestia's loyal and trusted sister.  She's been on good terms with her older sister ever since."

The underwater chamber filled with tense murmurs.

Nicole glanced around, biting her lip.

Xarchellus' wrinkled muzzle moved:  "You mean to suggest that you were instrumental in defeating our Mother of Nightmares?  The reason for our existence?  The being whom we've all pledged our lives in this Bleak Vigil?"

"She wasn't d-defeated!" Rainbow's voice cracked.   "She was saved.  You see... uhm..."  She winced as she said, "The whole 'Nightmare Moon' thing was a terrible accident that... never should have happened."  More murmurs filled the room as she continued:  "Princess Luna's reformed now... and she's extending her hoof of... uhm... peace and love and stuff to you guys."

Rarity face-hoofed.

"You defeated Nightmare Moon," Xarchellus repeated.  "And yet... somehow... you are now here... on the far side of the world... countless miles from the Palace of the Solar Betrayer?"  Her good eye darted towards Enix.  "Nightblooded One... were you told this?"

Enix gulped.  "She... made no mention of these details," the scarred warrior said.  "But—I swear on my charge—I heard the words of the Mother of Nightmares myself.  I felt her presence in my blood.  This day-lit mare who stands before us is truly the avatar of our Maiden of the Moon."

"I trust your sincerity, Enix," Xarchellus said.  "But not your perception."  She stifled a cough and exhaled, "This is clearly the work of solar deception.  All it takes is a simple spell, and the wicked sister could convince you of anything.  Perhaps—in the absence of your elders—it was easy to fall prey to such an elaborate ruse.  But I assure you—as bearer of the Moonglass—that the Mother of Nightmares would not reach out to us unless it was a call for vengeance.  But this mare... this 'Austraeoh' Rainbow Dash speaks of a pathetic, submissive end to the Lunar Legacy.  It is beyond insulting."

Shrieks and squeaks filled the air behind them.

Bard fidgeted.  "Uhmmm... they're gettin' a mite bit rowdy..."

"Think fast, Dashie!"  Pinkie Pie stammered.  "You're losing them!"

"She ain't wrong," Applejack said, gulping.  "This here old coot dun believe a single word comin' from yer muzzle."

"Miss Maria Matriarch lady!" Rainbow called out, frowning.  "This is not a ruse!  I know it's hard to believe, but I really did come all the way out here with Princess Luna's blessing!  And your 'Maiden of the Moon' is no less cool for having peacefully ended the war with her sister!  In fact, she's done more awesome things in the past year than you can possibly imagine—!"

"Listen to her, Xarchellus," Remna suddenly spoke in an authoritarian tone.  "I happen to personally remember the first nightblooded mortals foaled from a dream."  Her draconian eyes narrowed.  "They were the pride and joy of the Alicorn of the Moon... known for their great wisdom and tenacity.  This thickheaded, dogmatic blindness does not suit your kind and you know it."

"Remna..."  Rainbow growled aside.

"You come to my hollowed chamber—daylit flesh incarnate—and expect me to believe your words like any other nightblooded soul?"  Xarchellus fumed.  "The truth will show its colors in the blood we've spilled from your putrid shells."  She gestured a hoof in the direction of the warriors.

The air filled with shrieks.

"Awwww Hell..."  Bard reached for his staff while Remna flinched.  "...I know a slobberknocker when I smell one—"

Just then, Echo's voice rose in pitch, growling:  "Alright, you pisstained wrinkly douchetards..."  He stood up, shrugging off all pretense with an iron frown.  "You don't believe?  Tough shit.  Watch and take notes."  And he spun towards Rainbow, swinging a violent hoof.

"Dude!  What are you—"  Rainbow jolted.

Too late.  Echo's fetlock sailed straight towards her pendant.  But milliseconds before it could make contact—

FLASSSSH!  An enchanted burst of lunar light exploded between Rainbow and Echo.  The stallion flew back.

"Eeeek!" Nicole yelped, flailing against Bard.

The lunar light splashed and rippled outward in every direction.  As soon as the glowing aura made contact with a sarosian body, the bat pony in question was propelled back a few feet.  The entire pack of warriors collapsed.  Elders and Nightbloods reeled atop the stage.  Even Enix took a tumble, gasping raspily.

"...!!!"  Xarchellus fell into the embrace of her servants.  Her one good eye widened, strobing in time with the pulsating aura from Rainbow's pendant.

At last, the silver light dimmed.  The only bodies unaffected were Rainbow, Remna, and Bard.  Twilight and the rest of Rainbow's friends gaped in wonder.

"Uhhhh..."  Rainbow blinked, bringing a hoof to her glowing pendant.  "What just happened?"

"Princess Luna's enchantment," Twilight Sparkle murmured.  "She wasn't kidding!"  The unicorn spectre bore a lavender grin.  "Even out of line of sight with the moon, it's carried her essence down here to Bleak's Plummet!"

"And it repels sarosian contact?" Fluttershy stammered.

"Apparently!  Or... at least when uninvited!"

"Smashing...!"  Rarity grinned stupidly.

"Grnnngh..."  Echo, in the meantime, stood up... brushed himself off... and snarled towards the stage:  "You feel that coursing through your veings?!"  His slitted eyes pulsed as he said this.  "That's the breath of the real Mother of Nightmares, you salty spongejobs!  Yes, she sent Rainbow Dash.  Yes, she's changed from her evil, warring ways.  And yes, you're all a bunch of dumbasses!  So how about wisening the buck up and giving Rainbow here a friggin' chance?!"

Nicole panted, leaning against her older brother with pulsating eyes.

One by one, the sarosians regained their hoofing, exchanging surprised expressions.

Xarchellus clammed up, timid and speechless.

"Uhhhh..."  Rainbow Dash leaned aside, eyes locked on the matriarch.  "...AJ?"

Applejack smiled.  "I reckon you've got a convert now, Rainbow."

Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Amen."
> In the End, All Stardust
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Just stay still, dammit," Flynn grunted, leaning in with the burning manacrystal.  "My money's on there still being plenty of flank to kick between here and the Midnight Armory.  So lemme get this talon patched up."

Wildcard nevertheless stirred where he sat, perched on the Stardust's bow.  He stretched his metal arm out so that the balding unicorn could tinker with the enchanted tools at his disposal.  The griffon's goggled eyes reflected the thorny spires of Bleak's Plummet emerging from the choppy waters ahead of them.

"Fascinating," Kepler remarked.  The wyvern stood beside the rudder wheel, following the motions of the submersibles around the vessel with his spectacled eyes.  "These devices arre highly mobile.  And yet... I cannot deterrmine what they use as defensive weapons."

"Yeah...?"  Logan sat in place, sharpening his axe with a stone.  "Maybe they just build up speed and ram their targets super hard."

"Don't be ridiculous," Flynn droned.  He levitated a pair of needles and reached deep into a side-panel of Wildcard's prosthetic.  "We all witnessed how the pirates got the drop on us.  They surface, pop their hatches, and swarm their victims en masse."

"Nah... can't be that simple," Logan huffed.  "You're telling me these bastards take on all of their targets hoof-to-hoof?"

"It would seem indicative of theirr fearrless warrriorr naturre!" Kepler exclaimed.  "You saw the scarrs on theirr leaderr's chest!"

"What about all the lunar spit-runes or whatcrap?" Logan exclaimed.  He gave his axe's blade a few more swipes of the stone.  "I wonder how big of a splash you could make if you armed torpedoes with that shit."

"Doubtful."  Flynn snapped Wildcard's panel shut and gestured to his arm.  "We're talking moon rocks.  They can't possibly have too many of them to spare."

Wildcard exhaled, flexing his metal arm.  He clenched and unclenched the claws, testing their dexterity.  At last, he turned to hand-signal at the others.

"Well, sure."  Logan nodded.  "I guess it does depend on who they're picking a fight with.  But I'm telling you—in a one-on-one grudge match against the whole Rohbreddenite navy, these guys would be toast!"

"Look!"  Ariel's voice cracked from overhead.  "What friggin' difference does it make?!"  She paced in fluttering circles, her forelimbs crossed as she frowned.  "Why are we standing here making small talk about these goons' military prowess?"

"Because..."  Logan glared up at her.  "These 'goons' might be all that stand between us and the royally-pissed-off supergoons of the Central Guard!"

"Do you think the midnighterrs would be willing to assist us in establishing an oceanic defense?" Kepler remarked.

"Look..."  Ariel huffed.  "We'll be frickin' lucky if Rainbow and her crew resurface from whatever stupid convention is going on down below!  So can we just talk about something else?  Please?"

Wildcard flapped his wings.  Calmly, he hovered up at her side and rested a talon on her shoulder.

Ariel sighed.  She rubbed her forehead and muttered, "I'm sorry, everypony."  Thunder rolled over the distant waves beyond the spires of Bleak's Plummet.  "It's just that... as soon as I think the stakes couldn't get any higher... this whole friggin' crusade throws me for a loop."

"Ha-ha!"  Kepler grinned through his tusks.  "It most cerrtainly wouldn't be an escorrt mission with the Rrainbow one if it didn't get morre and morre hyperrbolic with each turrn!"  He winked.  "Even if the Mountain Matrron hadn't prreviously warrned us, would you conclude otherrwise at this point?"

"And we know for a fact that you've been observing Rainbow Dash quite closely," Logan muttered.

Wildcard smirked.

Ariel gulped.  "Am I... uh... really that see-through?"

"I've got an even better question," Logan remarked, shouldering his axe with a breath.  "Do you actually think we buckin' care?"

"I want to make sure that the Austraeoh gets to the Midnight Armory, just like the rest of you," Ariel said.  "I guess... erm... I-I worry about her a bit more than everypony else."  She sighed, gazing off.  "Not that it matters.  So much of that... that 'worry' only works one way.  So... whatever..."

Wildcard gently stole her attention, hand-signing.

Ariel blinked.  "Yeah.  Trust me."  She bit her lip.  "She knows."

"Not like it's a damned secret," Logan said.

"Shhhh... stuff it, Big Show."  Flynn then turned to smile up at Ariel.  "Rainbow's been through worse than any of us have faced."

"Ew.  Now there's a freaky thought."

"But it's true.  Just ask her next time."  Flynn smirked.  "And there will be a next time."

Ariel exhaled.  "Yeah..."  She brushed her raven black hair aside and smiled nervously into the tumultous waters.  "...there will be a next time."

"Now that's the spirrit!" Kepler said.

Silence.

Ariel suddenly grimaced.  "You... don't suppose she'll come back smellin' of dead fish and bat poop?"

Wildcard facepalmed hard, causing a panel of his metal talon to pop loose.

"Goddess damn it, Ariel," Flynn groaned.
> Back to Regularly Scheduled Batponies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Xarchellus waved a wrinkly hoof, beckoning Enix over.  As the Nightblood warrior joined her side, the Maria Matriarch spoke in hushed whispers.  All the while, her good eye was trained on Rainbow, Echo, and the rest.

Nicole and Bard glanced about nervously.

"It would appear..."  Remna thought out loud.  "...that we have caught their attention."

"And how."  Rainbow nodded.  She leaned aside to her ghostly companions.  "Twilight... uhhhh... care to explain what just happened?"

"Well, Rainbow, the way I see it..."  Twilight Sparkle gestured.  "Sarosians are quite literally the foals of Princess Luna."

"For real?  I thought that was just a turn of phrase."

"No, there's a great deal of legitimate truth to it."  Twilight gulped.  "You see—as the legend goes—Princess Luna was the first equine being on this plane to experience dreaming, and she made it her gift to all mortalkind in addition to the moon.  Something in the essence of dreams was discovered.  A consciousness... perhaps belonging to the lost spirits of mortals who couldn't make it to the Harmonic Plains."

"Oh jeez.  Not that again."

"Shhhh!"  Twilight insisted.  "This is serious, Rainbow!  Basically... Luna communicated with these spirits and found a common kinship.  They helped her sculpt the first dreams that were shared with mortal kind.  However, these spirits were lacking in harmonic balance or a moral center, and Luna figured that if they were left in their nebulous state then they would become living nightmares—the likes of which the frail mortal minds of early Equestria couldn't handle.  So—to help everypony in existence—Princess Luna conjured a physical vessel for these spirits, and that produced the first generation of sarosians."

"And they've been dedicated to Princess Luna ever since."

"Exactly."

Rainbow nodded.  "That's pretty badflank."

"What's pretty badflank?" Echo droned aside.  "Me?  You're welcome very much."

Rainbow gestured aside.  "Twilight was just telling me how you and every other sarosian originated from one of Princess Luna's primordial dreams."

"Oh really?" Echo's fangs flashed.  "Was it a wet one?  Cuz it might explain why we're all so dead sexy."

"... ... ..."  Rainbow stared.  "Is there even a stallion beneath all that fur?  Or is it all slime?"

"Anyways, Rainbow," Twilight interrupted, "Each and every sarosian to this day shares a common bond with Princess Luna.  They're of the same essence."

"Since she used her magic to conjure them into the physical realm..."

"Exactly!  So... then..."  Twilight pointed excitedly at Rainbow's pendant.  "If the Element of Loyalty is super-charged with Princess Luna's harmonic energies in order to facilitate her communication..."

"Then it must have a resounding impact on any sarosian who comes into contact with it!" Rarity added.  "Why, that's proper brilliant, don't you think?!"

"Yes!"  Twilight grinned wide.  "Any sarosian not harmonically attuned to the enchantment would be naturally repelled!  So when Echo violently struck the pendant, it created feedback that—no doubt—every sarosian here in Bleak's Plummet felt within the core of their being!"

"Including the Maria Matriarch," Fluttershy said.

"Uh huh!"

"Wow, Twilight..."  Rainbow Dash smiled.  "That's pretty snazzy."

Twilight folded her forelimbs with a proud smile.  "Just stating what I've objectively observed!"

"No, I mean the fact that you just used the term 'super-charged.'"  Rainbow giggled raspily.  "I'm proud, Twi."

Twilight sighed.  "Yes, well..."

"Seems like I'm rubbing off on you quite a bit."

"Uhm..."  Bard leaned in.  "As much as I hate to interrupt what must be a rollickin' good conversation... but we're still tarheel deep in underwater batland here..."

"Does anypony hear what they're talking about?" Remna asked, eyes locked on Enix and Xarchellus.

"I bet AJ does!" Pinkie Pie said, pointing.

Rainbow squinted.

A familiar orange figure hovered at the end of her anchorage.  After listening in on the two, Applejack floated back towards Rainbow.  "Seems like you've got them mighty convinced, Sugarcube," the ghostly farm mare said.  "That old pony—the Matriarch—she done seen the light, if ya catch my drift."

"Uhhhhh..."  Rainbow murmured aside.  "Applejack's telling me that we've made an impact on the sarosian leader here."

"You mean I blew their minds just now," Echo murmured.

"Shhhh!"  Rainbow glanced aside.  "AJ?"

"One thang's for sure," Applejack remarked.  "Their wrinkly leader ain't fixin' to have us skinned alive no more.  She may not yet be quite as on board as that 'Enix' lady, but somethin' tells me that that's about to change."

"I think we may have just won Xarchellus' trust," Rainbow whispered aside.  "Or at least we're about to."

"So, in other words, I was right," Echo grunted.  "I blew their minds."

"Echo..."  Rainbow sighed.

"Shhh!"  Nicole squeaked, pointing.  "They're about to say something, guys!"

Enix drifted aside.  Hobbling with the cane, Xarchellus approached the edge of the stage.  She gazed down at Rainbow Dash, her one good eye narrowing.  "If you are indeed the Blood of Luna... then why have you abandoned her?"

Rainbow's brow furrowed.  "Abandoned her?"

"What brings you so far from the throne of the Mother of Nightmares?"

"Okay... let's make one thing clear..."  Rainbow gestured with her feathertips.  "She's not the 'Mother of Nightmares' anymore.  Yes, Nightmare Moon was freed from her lunar imprisonment... but then Princess Luna was freed from the Nightmare as well."  She squirmed, glanced aside at Twilight, then back at the elder.  "Just like the first sarosians were so many eons ago."

A breathy murmur rolled through the leafy-eared crowd.

Xarchellus took a deep breath.  "And the Solar Betrayal."

"Who... Princess Celestia?"  Rainbow Dash's jaw tightened.  "Y'know, she never liked what she had to do to keep Equestria safe from Nightmare Moon.  I bet it's hard to believe any of this—especially since you and all of your ancestors have known nothing but protecting the interests of the Lunar Army.  But... you've gotta believe me.  The Regal Sisters have made up."  Rainbow slowly shook her head.  "Luna and Celestia have no more gripes with one another.  The war... your war ended years ago."  She gulped.  "The Vigil is over."

More murmurs—some of them angry.

Nicole winced, staying closed to Bard.

Remna watched with steely eyes.

"If the Vigil is no longer required..."  Xarchellus leaned on her cane.  "...then who controls the heavens?"

"Get this."  Rainbow smirked.  "Because of a bunch of crazy circumstances, Princess Celestia had to give up her control of the Sun in order to contain a chaotic rift in the heart of Equestria.  And guess who was hoofed the task of looking over both the night and the day?  Your very own Matriarch—Princess Luna!  She's in control of both the sun and moon... and she's taken on that task with great humility and strength and wisdom and—"

"You mean to say that the Mother of Nightmares finally has control of the sun?"  Xarchellus' muzzle hung open.  "And she has chosen not to create eternal night?"

"Well... yeah..."  Rainbow blinked.  "That's just it.  Luna desires peace.  And to maintain peace, you gotta maintain equilibrium."  She swallowed.  "She's the steward of her sister's throne—nothing more.  And when the time comes that Celestia can take control of the sun again, Luna will happily give it back to her.  They are the regal sisters of Equestria, after all."

"She speaks the truth, Maria Matriarch," Enix spoke up.  "I, myself, have spoken with the Maiden of the Moon.  I have felt her voice resonating through me—just as you felt her presence a few moments ago."  She waved a scarred hoof.  "All of the righteous hatred is gone... instead replaced by a noble strength.  It... resembles the Matriarch written of in the Book of Saros.  I... I cannot remember a time in my life when I was more certain of something."

"Hmmmm..."  Xarchellus nodded, nevertheless sighing.  "I am nevertheless burdened by my task as Matriarch.  I cannot afford certainty."  Her good eye rested on Rainbow again.  "I still do not feel as though my question has been answered.  Why would the Blood of Luna be so far removed from the source of her blessing?"

Rainbow stood up straight.  "Because I'm on a journey, ma'am."

"A journey?"

"A mission... and one that's far more important than even the ancient wars between the Solar and Lunar forces."  Her eyes darted up.  Through the ceiling, she spotted the flicker of Yaerfaerda somewhere far above the waves.  "One that involves the fate of this whole world... and perhaps even other worlds just like it.  Princess Luna is—and has been—my guide in all of this.  Because of her blessing—and this pendant—I am still alive to perform this journey... although barely."  Her ears drooped slightly.  "I am here solely because I need your guys' help in getting to the edge of the world.  From then on, my friends and I are on our own.  But to get there, I need the blessing of not just Luna—but of the humble creatures she foaled into being."

Xarchellus glanced at Enix, then back at Rainbow.  "And just how would we go about assisting you on this... 'journey?'"

"I'd be more than happy to talk your ear off about it.  Or..."  Rainbow smirked.  "...you can take a brave leap yourself—you and your cane—and come with me to the surface... into the moonlight..."  Her eyes narrowed.  "And you can ask the Matriarch herself."

Enix looked pointedly at Xarchellus.

Every fanged pony, warrior, and servant in the room stood—holding their breaths.

Pinkie Pie glanced back and forth.  She gritted her teeth.  "Mrmmmmmfff... for Pete's sake... I can just hear all of the ellipses bouncing off the walls of this place!"

> The Night Won't Last Forever
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Inexplicably, the bubbling of the seawater increased tenfold.

"Harrk!" Kepler called out, pointing a claw at the currents flowing around Bleak's Plummet.

Ariel spun around.  She and Wildcard peered from where they hovered above the Stardust.  Logan and Flynn stood at the starboard edge.

The waters grew more and more turbulent until—at last—the oceans burst with multiple fountains.  No less than twenty spheres emerged, their lunar forcefields quivering with energy.

One by one, the topmost shields dissipated as sarosians hopped out.  The spheres were coiled, netted, and dragged onto the Bleakweed deck adjacent to the Stardust.  Eventually, a small army of bat ponies hovered above the waters, and they all collected around the last floating sphere.  At least a dozen sarosians reached in... collectively helping a very old, very feeble matriarch in exiting her vehicle.

The members of the Herald watched in tense silence.

As Xarchellus was helped onto the deck, Rainbow Dash, Bard and Nicole flew out of the sphere behind them.  With Enix's assistance, Remna and Echo also exited the enchanted container.  Soon, the entire group stood around Xarchellus on the platform.  The air was abuzz with flapping leather wings and pent-up squeaks.

Ariel blinked curiously.

From afar, Rainbow gestured gently with a smile.  She then turned towards Xarchellus.

The elder squinted at her with one good eye.  She leaned patiently against her cane with the slightest chill.

Holding her breath, Rainbow gave her pendant a good rub and tilted it towards the nebulous heavens.  The silver light above them intensified, shining against every glossy Bleakweed surface of the structure that the ponies stood upon.

Almost immediately, the slitted eyes of the surfacing sarosians flickered in response.  Multiple squeaky gasps emanated from their fanged muzzles.

"Rainbow Dash," Princess Luna's voice rang forth.  "You have returned..."

"Indeed I have, Your Highness," Rainbow Dash said firmly.  "And, what's more, I'm not alone."  She glanced aside at Xarchellus.

Xarchellus' wrinkled muzzle clenched tight.  After a shudder, she exhaled:  "Mother of Nightmares...?"

A slight pause.

Then, Luna's regal voice echoed:  "Maria Matriarch."  A breath.  "What is your name?"

The elder stood tall as the warriors around her silenced themselves.  "Xarchellus," she said.  "Overseer of the Vigil."

"Xarchellus," Luna's voice rang.  "Dearest child..."  And she proceeded to roll forth with the most complicated monologue of Moonwhinny Rainbow Dash had heard yet.  There was almost no telling when the syllables ended and when the next words began, and yet their was a poetic nuance to it all.

Rainbow blinked.  She exchanged looks with Twilight Sparkle, and Rainbow's ghostly companion appeared likewise as incapable of singling out bits from the rich syntax.

All the while, the sarosians' eyes glinted with a faint glow.  Enix and her fellow warriors were awestruck.  Echo managed capably while Nicole leaned against Bard, waiting for the conversation to culminate with a tense breath.

At last, following much rhythmic pronunciations, Luna's voice slowed slightly, growing more firm and emphatic:  "Y'hnyrr wymym h'jynmym yln n'ymym, Xarchellus.  H'Luun wymym H'cylsialym m'rhymyrr w'lynsyl l'jynnym yln H'rmynym."

Xarchellus drew a shuddering breath.  "L'jynnym yln H'rmynym, H'Luun?"

"Ywm, Xarchellus."  The heavens twinkled with silver.  "The Vigil is over, my little pony."

A tear trickled down Xarchellus' wrinkled cheek.  "So be it..."  With a shaking hoof, she reached up her neck and withdrew the Moonglass necklace.  "...with the end of the war comes the end of the waiting.  Our home lies elsewhere... and with it—our destiny!"  With a raspy grunt, she tossed the Moonglass to the deck's surface and slammed her left hoof over it.  Crackkk!

Rainbow winced.  Remna watched in silence.

Blood trickled from Xarchellus' fetlock as she raised it to the starry heavens.  With a victorious snarl, she hollered against the thunder and moisture:  "The Vigil is over!  Glory be to Princess Luna, for the Nightmare has ended!"

Enix was the first to drop.  Every other sarosian followed suit.  Within seconds, the entire platform was awash with bowing, murmuring, chanting equines.  Despite their collectively somber gesture, the excitement in the sea air was undeniable.

Flynn and Logan looked at one another, smiling stupidly.

Bard whistled, then tilted his hat back.  "Reckon that hit the sweet spot."

"Uh huh..."  Nicole nodded, sniffling.

Bard looked at her.  "You okay, darlin'?"

"Yes... it's j-just..."  Nicole smiled sweetly, her eyes glossing over.  "I can't explain it.  But I feel the joy so palpably... it's like somepony's poured rapture in the air..."

Rainbow looked aside at Echo.  "How are you holding up?"

The stallion swallowed a lump down his throat.  "Mmmmm..."

"What was that?" Rainbow asked, smirking.

A tiny squeak came from Echo's throat.  His eyes turned moist, but he swiftly blinked them dry.  "Ask me later.  I mean it.  I will k-kill you."

"Awwwwwwwwww..."  Pinkie grinned.  "He's so adorable when he's homicidal!"

"Reckon you should give him some space, Rainbow," Applejack said.

"Yes."  Fluttershy nodded.  "Give them all time to adjust."  She smiled warmly.  "This is a very important moment for them."

"But exactly how much time can we afford?" Rarity asked.

"You ask me," Rainbow muttered, gazing east.  "This isn't a good time to skip any important steps."

Yaerfaerda flickered thoughtlessly in response.
> A Bat Pony Pow Wow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Xarchellus squatted on the balcony of Bleak's Plummet, gripping her cane.

She wasn't alone.

Over the past hour, dozens more spheres rose from the depths of the gnarled structure, carrying the excited and curious residents of the pirate habitat.  Hundreds upon hundreds of sarosians soon perched on the large brambles and looming spires.  Several had to cling upside down to the glistening thorns just to make room.  Every slitted eye and leafy ear was trained on a single glowing point:  Rainbow Dash's pendant.  The mesmerized crowd—numbering over a thousand—listened intently as Princess Luna's voice rippled over the thunder and crashing of waves.

"H'cylsialym y'lynwyn h'lyn h'jymsyln H'Luun lyn'ym yln w'lywymym l'synym m'rhylym H'qyslycym m'lynym l'syll H'dscym.  Rainbow Dash, W'ynlppa yln H'luun, l'synylym l'syll H'qyslycym y'wynsym yln w'sppyl H'rmymnm lsy H'dscym.  H'yml y'wynymym y'hnyrr yln h'lyppal lsy Urohringr, wy'nym y'myslym yln Austraeoh..."

The silver glow in the air intensified.  Rainbow Dash had to sit still the entire time, projecting the energy from her Element skyward.  The volume of Luna's voice was almost deafening, but she braved it—allowing the long-distance monarch to educate her forsaken flock with what Rainbow could only guess was an enormously loaded monologue of relevant information.

"Whew... can't be easy for her," Logan said, watching from the deck of the Stardust.

"Yeah..."  Flynn nodded.  "The moon princess is almost as chatty as Wildcard."  He smirked and called towards the balcony.  "Ain't that right, Bard?!"

There was no response.

"Bard?!"  Flynn remarked.

"Shhhh!"  Kepler insisted, hobbling over from the stern.  "Keep it down, frriend."  He pointed at the mass crowd of midnighters.  "Can you not see that they arre currrently being brriefed on the enorrmity of the last ten centurries?!"

"Yeah, well, they'd better get briefed faster," Ariel muttered, hovering in place.  "We've got places to be."

"It's not that simple, my dearr," Kepler said.

"I know..."  Ariel sighed.  "It's just we've all come a long way... only to sit down for a bat pony pow wow."  She blinked.  "Say... where is Bard, anyways?"

"Over there," Flynn droned pointing to the far end of the balcony.  "Ignoring me."

"I'll go see how he's doing."  Swoooooosh!  Ariel crossed the distance in a blink to do just that.  Passing over several leafy-eared heads, she hovered at the cowcolt's side.  "Yo!  Bard!"  Ariel leaned in with a smile.  "So, what was it like down below?"  She winked.  "Was the guano buoyant?"

Bard said nothing.  He stared off towards the furthest end of the balcony from Rainbow Dash.

"Bard?"  Ariel cocked her head aside.  "Is everything okay?"

At last, the Desperado snapped out of it.  "Oh... uh... yeah!  Sure thang..."  He cleared his throat, continuing to stare.  "Everythang's all hunkey dorey..."

"Hmmm?"  Ariel craned her neck.  "What are you looking at...?"

It was then that she saw.  Echo and Nicole were gathered along the edge of the balcony.  Because so many adult sarosians were focused on Princess Luna's voice, several dozen fillies and colts overflowed outward from the rest of the crowd.  Distracted, the youngsters huddled closer and closer around Nicole and Echo until the two ponies were awash in a sea of bright eyeslits and tiny fangs.

"You mean you've never sucked anypony's blood?" one colt remarked, leather wings flexing.  "Ever?"

"Well... no!"  Nicole raised an eyebrow.  "Why, have you?"

"Well... no.  But my big brother has!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!"  The colt hopped in place.  "He's a strong, menacing pirate!  He's sucked the blood of thousands of ponies at sea!"  His tiny fangs flashed as he spread his limbs menacingly.  "Hressssssssh!"

"Thousands... huh?"  Nicole smirked.

"Has he brought you a single drop of blood from these kills?" Echo droned.

The colt blinked at him.  "Uhm... well..."

"Lemme guess..."  The stallion smirked.  "He only tells you about all of these feats by word of muzzle."

"Hey!  My brother's a big, brave warrior!"

"And it takes a lot of courage to shovel that much bullshit," Echo said.

Nicole cleared her throat.

"Errr... doo doo," Echo corrected himself.  "Look, kid.  All of those 'big' and 'strong warrior' siblings of yours?  Training under Enix and company?"  He yawned.  "They don't kill half as many ponies as they claim to.  After all, if we bathed the oceans that red, then there'd be nopony left to rob."  He winked.  "It's way more profitable to hiss in sailors' faces and give them something to be scared of... just like your siblings give you something to be proud of."

"Then what's the thrill in hunting above surface?" a filly squeakily asked.

"There's enough excitement in going places.  But spilling blood?"  Echo sighed.  "It's not as snazzy as it sounds."  He gulped.  "Trust me."

"But... uhhhh..."  Nicole brightened with a forced smile.  "Princess Luna's reunited with all of you, now!  That means you won't have to live the life of blood-sucking pirates!  Isn't that wonderful?"

"Yeah, I guess."  A colt yawned.  "So are you two married or something?"

Nicole blanched.  She and Echo looked at one another.  "Uhhhhhh..."

Another squeaking sound.  Nicole gasped as she felt a filly crawling over her shoulder and digging her face into the mare's mane.  After a pronounced sniff, the filly chimed:  "Your mane smells funny."

"It's called hay."  Nicole winked.  "I've been around it all my life."

"Is hay anything at all like fish?"

"It's tastier.  I promise you that."

"Is that what you came out here for?"  The filly dropped down—only to dangle upside down from Nicole's outstretched hoof.  "To find more hay?"

Nicole giggled.  "Actually, we came here to help a friend get to the Dark Side of the world!"

"You mean where the Dark Vigil is?"

"I... guess so..."

A colt's fangs flashed as she chirped:  "I heard Mommy and Daddy saying that Princess Luna doesn't want us to keep on doing the Vigil."

"Yeah."  Echo nodded.  "That seems to be the case, bud."

"Sooooooo... why would you be going to the Dark Side?"  The colt's slitted eyes blinked.  "If the Vigil's over, there's no need to hide among the stars."

Nicole blinked.  She and Echo exchanged glances.

"Erm..."  Nicole cleared her throat.  "That's a very good question, young sir.  One that... I-I suspect we'll all find the answer to soon enough."  Her eyes darted across the way.

At first, Ariel thought Nicole was looking at her.  She glanced aside... and it was only then that she realized that Bard was gone.  Curiously, she glanced across the balcony.  Among the crowd, she saw a cowcot halt disappearing, then lingering on the far end.  She chewed her bottom lip in thought while Luna's voice continued to echo and boom.
> A Case of Two Vigils
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"I... I think she's finished," Fluttershy remarked.

Rainbow's eyes fluttered open.  She jolted in place—as if waking.  Her vision focused, noticing how the silver glow in the air above Bleak's Plummet had dimmed.

"She just stopped talking," Rarity added, hovering before Rainbow Dash.  "In that... exotic Moonwhinny, I mean."

"We've been here for nearly two hours, Rainbow," Twilight Sparkle said.  "I think we'd better make our next move."

Rainbow Dash took a breath and opened her muzzle:  "Princess Luna—"

"I have ceased with my deliberations, child," the monarch's voice resonated.  "At least for the time being."

Rainbow blinked.  "Oh."  She blinked again.  "Cool."

"There is only so much that I can convey in such a short span of time," Luna continued.  "However, with my beloved sister's assistance, I do believe I have made the message concise enough."

"Did you... uhm..."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Tell them everything?"

"Define 'everything."

"Y'know... about the Elements of Harmony... Discord... the chaos rift... Austraeoh... Urohringr... Verlax and the flank-hurt Rohbreddenites—?"

"The message was... necessarily abridged.  But fear not.  They know of the dire importance of your mission... as well as the state of my lunar rule here in modern Equestria."

"Okay..."  Rainbow took a deep breath.  Her vision swept aside, and only then did she notice that several hundred of the sarosians had drawn away.  The crowd circled Xarchellus as the Maria Matriarch spoke intimately with her multiple Nightblood subordinates.  "They... keep talking about a 'Vigil.'  What is that exactly—?"

"When the ancestors to these sarosians wandered to the Twilight Waters, they believed whole-heartedly in the totalitarian vision of Nightmare Moon.  To that end, they had endeavored to watch over the Dark Side of the plane in anticipation of their Empress' return."

"Did you say the 'Dark Side?'"

"That is correct, Rainbow Dash.  At least half of the sarosian exodus stayed on this plane.  The rest—someway, somehow—ventured over into the Dark Side.  There—assuming they survived—they were charged with conducting the 'Dark Vigil.'  Their task would be to cultivate a strong, warrior nation, growing their numbers so that—once the stars aligned—they would aid Nightmare Moon with the desired conquest of Equestria and beyond.  Xarchellus and the rest of the flock dwelling under the charge of the Maria Matriarch are the remnants of the group that stayed on the light side."

Rainbow nodded.  "Right... and we know for a fact that they did survive."  She gulped.  "Because Chrysalis remembers sarosians making up one third of the Trinary War."

"Indeed.  After so many eons—unchecked by a strong and capable Rohbreddenite military—there is no telling just how large the Dark Vigil has become in number."

"Right..."  Rainbow winced.  "And after so many ages of butting heads over the Midnight Armory... there's no telling just how strong and pissed off they've come."

"A formidable concept indeed."

"What about these guys?"  Rainbow pointed in Xarchellus' direction.  "After the long pep-talk you gave them, they certainly seem to be all-a-squeaky-chatter."

"They are undergoing intense deliberations."

"Intense deliberations?" Rainbow asked.  "Over what?"

"Where to take their civilization, of course," Princess Luna.  "I've given them several proposals out of the love and wisdom of my heart.  However, while I may still be responsible for my flock, time and distance cannot afford to accomplish anything now except democratically."

"Don't sell yourself short, Your Highness," Rainbow Dash said.  "I'm pretty sure we all agree that you know what's best for these sarosians.  So if you just give them a command, then I bet they'll—"

"Rainbow, stop right there," Twilight Sparkle said.  "Didn't we just get done recovering from the consequences of an entire nation operating under the dogmatic rule of a false goddess?"

Rainbow rolled her eyes, sighing.  "Must you, egghead?"

"Yes!"  Twilight stomped her hoof.  "I must!  If we try and get Princess Luna to take control of her deified position, then we'd no better than Verlax!"

"If you ask me, thangs are pretty simple here," Applejack said.  "These folks have been doin' dirty stuff for far too long.  I'd say we go on and let Luna steer these ponies in a better direction.  It's a case of Momma knows best, really."

"I can't believe you of all ponies would be comfortable with that!" Twilight said.

"Now hold yer horses!"  Applejack frowned.  "I didn't say a single thang about Princess Luna fibbin'!"  She gestured towards the thundering sky.  "Of course she should be honest with them!  Lay it all out!  Confess to bein' nothin' more than a highly gifted alicorn!"

"Luna's not pretending to be anything she's not, darling," Rarity said, smiling at Twilight.  "But—be that as it may—she does wield true, authoritarian influence over these ponies.  I'm certain that she wouldn't put them in a compromising situation—especially if it could assist Rainbow Dash."

"Yeah!"  Pinkie Pie nodded.  "Let's give some extra oomph to her oomph-wings!"

Twilight sighed, rubbing her forehead.  "It's just... we've raised the stakes so high as of late."  She gulped.  "I'm... not sure I can handle another civilization's destiny being juggled so hastily."

"I'm not very c-comfortable with it either, Twilight," Fluttershy said.  "But this is Princess Luna we're talking about."  She smiled gently.  "She cares for her 'flock.'  Just like me with my animals back home in Ponyville."  She shook her head.  "I'm certain she won't do anything that will hurt them in the long run."

"Still... I do echo Twilight's concern," Rarity said, looking at Rainbow.  "Whatever happens now calls for a supremely delicate touch."

"All the reason why Luna's put it in their hooves," Rainbow said.  "I don't see why we're even having this conversation."

"Rainbow Dash...?" Luna's voice rang.

"Ahem..."  Rainbow Dash glanced at the sky.  "Don't mind us, Rainbow.  Just some super heavy girltalk."

"If you seek the sarosians' assistance at your current juncture, I have no doubt that they will be more than willing to lend a hoof, child."

"Right.  And that's the freaky part."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "But... y'know what?  Let's say we start small."

"How small?"

"Well..."  Rainbow turned, squinting east at the flicker of Yaerfaerda.  "...that's a matter of definition."

> The Waters of Forever Sinking
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Waves crashed, spraying mist high in the thunderous air.

Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth as she tightly gripped the hull of the Stardust near the bow.  Before her, the eastern horizon bobbed up and down—and the ever-nearing flicker of Yaerfaerda danced along with it.

Kepler held his claws to the rudder wheel.  Squinting beyond the peripheral of his glasses, the wyvern spotted the escort of six midnighter craft cruising alongside the Herald on both the port and starboard sides.  The Bleakweed vessels rippled just beneath the surface with a luminescent silver glow, slicing through the wake left by the Stardust's engines.

Together, the seven ships pierced the choppy waves, leaving Bleak's Plummet far behind until it was a distant haze in the west.  Leathery bodies glided overhead; Nightblood warriors covered the skies, forming flitting silhouettes against the starlight and sporadic flashes of lightning.  Enix flew at the head of the group, shrieking commands to the various squads in Moonwhinny as they scanned the horizon.

"It's... grnnngh..."  Pinkie shook all over, phasing through the bobbing hull of the Stardust.  "It's g-getting cr-crazier!"

"I think this is what we can expect the closer we get to the very edge!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed.  "If it's this bad so close to the Seed—only Celestia knows how rough the final horizon is!"

Rainbow was too busy staring into the skies—at the bubbling black clouds that rippled westward, drew up into gigantic porous anvils, and collapsed once again before settling in necrotic sheets.  "First thing's first," she muttered—nearly slipping as the Stardust shook again.  She was sprayed with seawater—but simply shook the moisture out of her short mane.  "Flynn!"  She called out over her shoulder.  "How's she holding up?!"

"Brotherr!"  Kepler echoed Rainbow's voice.  He leaned forward, shouting down towards the lower deck from where he was perched.  "The Austrraeoh beckons!"

A nasty roll of thunder deafened the scene.  At last, the unicorn in question poked his head out—squinting his natural eye into the mist.  "The engines are purring like a kitten!  But I don't know for how long!"  He pointed into the cabin.  "If we keep going at this speed, we're likely to burn out!  I dunno about you, but I want to make it to the Sixth Seed in one piece!"

"Time's not really on our side anymore!" Rainbow exclaimed.  "I only have about twenty hours tops before I lose communication with Princess Luna!  I wanna find out what's at the last flame before we split ways!"

"Well, okay then!"  Flynn exhaled with a huff.  "And if the manacrystals implode, you want Wildcard and Bard to go out and push?!"

"If it comes to that," Rainbow said, facing east again.  "Or else I'll hitch a ride on one of the midnighter ships."

Swoooosh!  Enix touched down beside the mare.  "That may not be possible, Blood of Luna."

Rainbow glanced at her.  "Wow, you've got good hearing."

"Could she care to elaborate?" Rarity remarked.

Rainbow cleared her throat, facing Enix directly.  "What's the problem?"

"My brothers and sisters have learned a very long time ago to avoid the maelstrom that circles the S'yllpa yln H'symmlym."

"The Slippy and what—now?"

Enix took a deep breath, timing her explanation between rumbles of thunder.  "The closest translation is 'Waters of Forever Sinking.'"  Enix turned to face east.  "The pull of the maelstrom is dangerous beyond compare.  Even in our expertly crafted submersibles, we've fallen pray to the currents.  I've... had to mourn many a noble warrior who've been lost forever to the depths due to having cruised too close to the golden structure."

Twilight and Rarity blinked.

"So there is a piece of the Machine World there!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"It is indeed some metal construct," Enix said.  "We always assumed the ponies of the frost queen built it ages ago—perhaps as a magical means of wreaking control over the edgewaters."

"And since then..."  Rainbow cocked her head aside, struggling to stay upright amidst the rocking.  "You've never bothered to get close?  Or even investigate it?"

"No living thing that ever crosses the S'yllpa yln H'symmlym comes back alive," Enix said.  "At least not by water."  She gestured towards the thundering heavens.  "When our ancient siblings of the Dark Vigil crossed over, they knew ahead of time that it would be a singular, fateful journey."

"And... your fellow bros and sisters won't go near it?"

"I'm afraid not, Blood of Luna."

"But..."  Rainbow gestured at the Bleakweed vessels cruising alongside them.  "You've agreed to escort us to the Sixth Seed."

"There will come a point of no return," Enix declared.  "For your fellow pilgrims' sake, I suggest you lay anchor the very moment our ships cease their eastward motion.  By then, you will easily make eye contact with the construct."  She took a breath as thunder rolled.  "I am entrusted by Xarchellus to assist the Blood of Luna in her current endeavors, even as the Maria Matriarch mulls the wisdom given us by Princess Luna."  She held a hoof over her scarred chest.  "I will personally commandeer a winged envoy to follow you to the threshhold of your 'Sixth Seed.'  While I will not needlessly risk the lives of all my siblings, my fellow Nightblood warriors and I are not afraid of the destination ahead."

"Thanks... that's really swell of you."  Rainbow gulped.  "But I'm sure my friends will be able to help me all the same once we get there."

"Are you certain of that?"

"Huh?"

Enix's slitted eyes narrowed.  "You have evidently traveled many miles and crossed countless continents.  But this... this juncture ahead of you..."  She gestured towards the increasingly choppy waves.  "Are you confident that even all of that experience will prepare you for the next step that needs being taken?"

"That's the thing about doing this whole awesome schtick, gal," Rainbow said.  The boat rocked once again, and she clung to the bow as she and Enix were sprayed with seawater.  "It's all about going beyond."
> Thar Blows a Gold Tower
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"There it is!"  Pinkie Pie gasped, pointing off the bow.  "The maelstrom—!  No, wait... it's just bubbles."  She frowned, her ghostly head pivoting, searching—then gasping.  "There it is!  The maelstrom!  I see it—no... my bad.  Just more bubbles."

"Pinkie Pie, honestly!"  Rarity protested.  "Just relax!  When we get closer, I will surely be able to sense it beneath the waves!"  She sighed, gazing east into the choppy waters.  She fidgeted a bit.  "At least... I hope I can."

Rainbow Dash sighed.  After a prolonged period of standing tensely at the bow of the Stardust, clinging to the hull, she sat in a slump—barely jostling with each shake and tremor caused by the waves.

"Somehow, the tension's a bit deflated when all we have is water and more water," Logan muttered.  He stood beside Rainbow, leaning against his axe to keep upright.  "Almost makes you wish you were asleep for the journey, am I right?"

Rainbow muttered beneath the roll of thunder.  "I couldn't fall asleep now if I tried."  Her ruby eyes remained glued on the flicker of Yaerfaerda before them.  "Any moment now..."

"Can't you... like..."  Logan shrugged.  "I dunno... tell that we're getting closer?"

"Imagine you were staring at the Sun as it drew closer to the world," Rainbow muttered.  She glanced aside at Logan.  "How can you tell the difference with something so blindingly bright."

"And all this time, you can see the beacon's location lit up?  Even with your eyes closed?"

Rainbow nodded.

A hard wave struck the ship's bow, spraying Logan with salt water as he pivoted for balance.  "Criminy... so—like—why don't you, Wildcard, Bard, and Ariel take wing?"  He pointed nebulously east.  "Seems like all this ocean is just slowing you down!"

"Not a good idea," Rainbow said.

"Says who?"

"Enix," Rainbow muttered.  She glanced at Twilight and Applejack who nodded as she spoke, "She said that the winds here are super strong.  Even a pony as awesome as me could wear out and plummet like a dead weight into the drink before reaching the 'Waters of Forever Sinking.'"

"Hah!"  Logan smirked, scratching his chin.  "And you believe that shit?"

"Their chief 'Nightblood Warrior' may have a questionable background," Remna said, trotting up from behind.  "But all loyalties aside, I know true wisdom when I hear it."  She looked at Logan.  "We are here—blessed by Mortuana—to be Rainbow Dash's protection and support."

Thunder rolled.  Logan gave Remna a funny look.  "It's just taking forever to get to the stupid beacon.  I figured that you—of all dragon ponies—would want us to get there faster."

"Indeed."  Remna's green eyes darted briefly towards Rainbow.  "...however... what matters the most if that we get Rainbow there.  And in one piece."

"Assumin' of course..."  It was Bard's voice.  "...that she comes out of it in one piece all the same."

Rainbow turned around.

The Desperado stood next to Bard, gazing lethargically at the waters splashing against the hulls of the Bleakweed vessels.

Rainbow swallowed and then said:  "Wanna tell us what's on your mind, buddy?"

Wildcard looked at Rainbow, then at Bard.  He shrugged.

"...Bard?"

"Mrmfff..."  The stallion's nostrils flared.  "Sure, Mortuana and Kepler have learned loads of stuff... but it dun mean much when it comes down to the final moment."

Rainbow squinted.  "Meaning..."

"Whenever you stepped in those crazy-ass rooms before, it was always you standin' hoof-and-hoof with Verlax."  The Desperado snorted against the sea air and thunder.  "Even when Dubya and I done joined you down in Shoggoth, it always came down to you bein' alone with somethin' big and scary and out-of-this-world."

Rainbow bore a tired smirk.  "Love you too, Bard."

"I ain't jokin'!"  Bard glared at her.  "We've all pledged to protect ya!  Even I signed my dumb-ass up with this Herald nonsense, but what does it matter?!  Even to the gates of the Midnight Armory on the Dark Side, it'll just be you buttin' yer head against the universe!  What good can we do in the face of all that?"

The members of the Herald squirmed in awkward silence.  Even Remna.

Clearing her throat, Rainbow Dash stood up and trotted across the swaying deck of the Stardust.  She gently motioned Wildcard aside and sat down next to Bard.  "You... uh... you wanna tell me what's really bothering you?"

"Nothin'," Bard grunted.  "I'm just fine and dandy."

Rainbow looked to her right.

Applejack smirked, tilting her hat back.  "If he was wearin' britches, they'd be smokin' right now."

Rainbow turned to Bard yet again.  "Applejack says—"

"I dun care what Applejack says!"  Bard growled.  "Cute lil' mares have no business worryin' about cosmic events and the fate of the world and all that nonsense!"

"Heh... whoah, dude..."  Rainbow smirked.  "If you've always felt that way, then why didn't you stuff me in a dress and toss me into a kitchen back in Rust?"

"Grffff..."  Bard rubbed his forehead, sighing.  "Guess I'm just a big ol' idiot."

Silence—aside from thunder and waves.

Rainbow leaned in closer.  "This... uh... this is about Nicole, isn't it?"

Bard exhaled past his fetlock, remaining slumped over.

Rainbow smiled sweetly.  "She's an adult mare, Bard.  Besides—in terms of safety—you did the right thing in letting her stay back in Bleak's Plummet.  Who knows what's going to happen in these waters the moment I come out of the Sixth Seed?!"  She waved a hoof.  "Besides, back there she's got Echo looking after her... well... in a good way, I mean.  She's... uh... she's going to give her the support she needs as she chats it out with the sarosians."

"Reckon so..."

"And it's n-not like we're abandoning her or anything!  We've made it perfectly clear to Xarchellus and company that we're coming right back to learn what she and the rest of her Nightblood council have decided regarding Luna's—"

"Look, I know... I know!"  Bard stood up, frowning.  He spun around and paced along the port side of the Stardust.  "I'm not deaf!  I do listen to things and retain information, y'know!"

Rainbow stood up, squinting at him.  "Then what's getting your guitar in such a twist?"  Silence.  She blinked.  "You're having second thoughts, aren't you?"

At that, Bard spun around entirely.  "Huh?"

"About following me over the edge," Rainbow said.  "The whole 'signing your dumb-butt up with the Herald' nonsense."

"Rainbow..."

"Dude... chillax..."  She smiled warmly.  "You and Wildcard have done so friggin' much to save my skin that it's positively criminal.  You've more than earned your awesomeness in my mental books."  She waved a hoof.  "Nopony's gonna rightly blame you if you wanna... y'know... hop off this train we're on—"

"None of that, now!  I ain't no coward!"  Bard spat.  "I just... h-haven't been much of a brother either..."  He grimaced with a noticeable shudder.  "...until now."

Rainbow blinked.  "Huh?"

"It's Nicole, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy murmured.  She floated closer.  "Recently, they've been arguing about her staying on the light side, remember?"

Applejack nodded.  "He meant it for her safety.  Reckon... things are catchin' up to him now... and he dun take kindly to havin' to leave his only respectable kin behind."  The mare shuddered.  "Celestia knows I wouldn't."

Rainbow glanced at her friends, then at Bard.  She stepped slowly towards him.  "Bard... in all seriousness... I mean it.  If... if you'd much rather stick around on the light side and care for Nicole—"

"Ain't gonna happen," Bard muttered, although the anger had been drained from his voice.  "I'm committed.  If ya dun believe me, you can ask Dubya."

"I'm not talking to Wildcard.  I'm talking to you."  Rainbow's eyes narrowed.  "What do you want?"

"I want for Nicole to live in a prosperous, healthy world... all harmonic-like.  And the way that I see it... ain't no way we can make that sort of a future happen..."  Bard glanced melancholically at Rainbow Dash.  "...unless we make sure you get to where you need to go."

Rainbow clenched her jaw shut.

"I have to leave her," Bard muttered.  "I know I have to leave her.  It's just... I-I suppose I've been foolish enough to... to let the joy of being reunited with her wash over the cold reality of lettin' her go.  And... given the circumstances..."  Bard sighed.  "...I really wish it was in better hooves."

Rainbow swallowed a lump down her throat.  "I'm sorry, Bard..."  She looked up with feeble eyes.  "...that I couldn't leave this part of the world in a happier state than when I found it."

"Ain't yer fault," Bard muttered.  "We done been over this."

"I wish you could have seen me back in Val Roa," Rainbow said.  "Or in Luxmare."  She smiled briefly.  "Things just... turned so rosy... even if only in the end."  Her smile faded.  "But this far into the stars... I'm not sure anything can afford to be rosy anymore.  That's where it takes the strength of character in Nicole's heart.  You'll... just need to trust in her to have that kind of moral fortitude.  And from what I've witnessed... heh... she's totally got it, dude.  Don't sweat it... at least not until we're on the dark side."

Bard looked up at her.  "You really think Nicole can make it in Rohbredden after all that's happened?"

Rainbow opened her muzzle... but lingered.  She glanced aside at Twilight, then back at Bard.  "Who said anything about Rohbredden?"

Bard merely blinked at that.

Thunder.  Waves.

"Wait a minute," Logan suddenly blurted out.  "Where's Ariel?"

"Unnnnnngh..."  A dark shape crawled out of the cabin, dragging on her belly.  With a noticeable green tint to her muzzle, the sickly pegasus looked up.  "Are we—urp—there yet!"

Wildcard whistled.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Logan winced.  "You're the fastest, most acrobatic flier I've ever seen... and you get seasick?"

"This is no—urp—normal p-pond... ya fatso," Ariel whimpered.

"Go back down below, mortal," Remna emotionlessly droned.  "The deck is slippery enough."

"Ughhh..." Ariel crawled back into the cabin.  "Don't remind m-me of what's tossing and t-turning beneath me..."  Her voice sputtered, then distorted into a disgusting wretching sound.

"Hey!" Flynn's voice echoed from within.  "Watch the manacrystals!"

Pinkie Pie burst out laughing.

Wildcard and Bard exchanged glances.  Both smirked while the latter chuckled.

Soon Logan and Rainbow Dash were busting a gut.  The laughter rivaled the thunder until—

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight hissed.  "Rainbow Dash!" she insisted yet again, flickering like a lavender flame in front of the mare.  Her horn strobed as she pointed east.  "Look!"

"Behold!"  Kepler's voice rang from where he gripped the rudder-wheel above.  "A golden sight beforre us!"

Everypony spun to face the bow.

Rainbow Dash leaned on the very tips of her hooves.  Her ghostly friends hovered high, watching with wide eyes.

A sparkly gold tower emerged from the waters.  In fact, it was actually a bit below sea-level, but the churning maelstrom around it dragged the ocean waves down, forming a veritable sunken bowl of swirling liquid that reflected the silver lightning high above.  The acoustics were unnatural, and every roll of thunder was like a bass chorus of hellish shrieks against the constant roar of cascading moisture.

"My goodness..."  Rarity fanned herself.  "So that's what it looks like..."

"It's so... shiny..."  Fluttershy cooed.  "...no wonder the sarosians are so afraid of it."  Gulping, she looked Rainbow's way—along with the rest of her friends.

Rainbow took a deep breath.  "Well..."  Her eyes flickered with the glow of Yaerfaerda as she gestured.  "Thar she blows."
> Choose an Away Team, Damn!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Yes, we hear you, child," Princess Luna's voice rang against the tumultous thunder.  "Loud and clear."

"There's no interference whatsoever?!"  Rainbow Dash had to shout as she floated a few feet above where the Stardust and midnighter vessels had come to a full stop.  Several meters east of them, the crest of the maelstrom dipped the waves down, cascading into where the golden tower emerged from the epicenter.  "It's really glowy and thundery and freaky out here!"

Princess Celestia's voice joined in:  "My sister's enchantment is holding stronger than ever.  Whatever you may be experiencing over there, Rainbow Dash, we can still make out your words with no mishap."

"Well... stay tuned!"  Rainbow Dash grimaced from where she floated.  "Things might change as I get a bit closer!"

"What are you expecting, exactly, darling?" Rarity asked.

"Yeah!"  Pinkie nodded.  "Princess and Princess Deux both agree that you're communicating fine!"

"True... but..."  Rainbow gulped, eyes locked on Yaerfaerda.  The beacon pulsed across the conical walls of the whirlpool like an immense torch.  "...I've been not so lucky before."

"But things are different now, Rainbow," Fluttershy said.  "Verlax is gone.  She can't be clouding your harmonic energies anymore."

"Or can she," Twilight Sparkle thought out loud.

"Pardon?"  Applejack looked over.  "I thought we were tryin' not to creep Rainbow out here."

"And I don't want to anymore than you do.  Believe me."  Twilight looked at the others.  "But think back.  Verlax—in her final breath—implied that the Sixth Seed provided Rainbow Dash with a final trial."

"She did?"  Pinkie asked.  A white hoof slapped over her head.  "Ow!"  She rubbed her head, frowning at Rarity.  "Okay—now I just know you're doing it to relieve stress!"

"Twilight, darling..."  Rarity floated closer to the other ghostly unicorn.  "Isn't it rather late to be acting so paranoid?"

"I'm just saying that it could very well be possible that Verlax booby-trapped this part of the Machine World like she did all the others," Twilight said.  "Even for the express purpose of ensnaring Rainbow Dash beyond her death."  She glanced at her anchor.  "The Divine has shown more-than-remarkable foresight before."

Rainbow Dash sighed long and hard.  "...boy how I miss cookie crumb villains like Zaap Nator..."

"Rainbow Dash?" Luna's voice echoed.

Bard cleared his throat.  "Whatever you and yer marefriends are deliberatin' on, might be helpful if you voiced it with us and yer Princesses."

"Right... m-my bad..."  Rainbow Dash turned to face the Herald and a squadron of hovering sarosians—including Enix.  "So... uhm... ever since I flew past the Grand Ch—er... I mean past the Blight, every entrance to the machine world that I've encountered has been fraught with some creepy chaotic stuff that made life a living heck for me and anypony else following me."

"Uhm... Rainbow?"  Twilight waved her hoof.  "Technically the first one where you woke me didn't have the same sort of nefarious trap as all the oth—"

"Shhhhhh!"  Pinkie Pie insisted.  "They got the message!  Rainbow time!"

Rainbow continued.  "If the same pattern continues, then who knows what we're gonna be in for."  She gulped.  "And seeing as the waters around the base of the golden tower are super freakin' dangerous, I think we should be extra-extra cautious."

Enix nodded.  "It would be folly to try and draw the vessels any further."  She looked at the Herald.  "To proceed for just a few more meters would mean a watery grave."

"So..."  Ariel leaned against Logan, rubbing her muzzle as she sobered up.  "We take wing!"

"Even that is dangerous," Enix said, pointing.  "More than a minute spent airborne will surely wear a normal flier out."

"Well, Rainbow and I are no normal fliers," Ariel said.

"Do not joke."  Enix's slitted eyes narrowed.  "I have lost countless souls to these waters.  It's risking enough just bringing you adventurers out here."  She waved at the Stardust below her.  "I suggest you choose only your most elite companions... but make the numbers small.  You will need to rely on each other to stay upright in the flight ahead, and too many wingmates will only complicate things."

"Right!"  Ariel darted up, hovering beside Rainbow.  "Count me in!"

"Dude..."  Rainbow glanced aside.  "Minutes ago, you were barfing up your biscuits."

"Yeah!  And I'm done!"  Ariel winked.  "Believe me.  I am waaaaaay in my element in any wind."

"Heh..."  Flynn shrugged.  "Wish I could say the same, but even a rocketpack won't do anything in this nonsense."  He sighed.  "I want to help you, Rainbow, but the Stardust is good and gone without me."

"Nothing to be ashamed of, Flynn," Rainbow said.  "You stick around here."  She looked at Logan.  "You too, Big Show.  Flynn's going to need some help on board if we need to make an emergency getaway or something."

"Hell..."  Logan shrugged.  "...if all else fails, he can use my ass as an anchor!"

Ariel snorted.

"Well..."  Bard and Wildcard flew up to Rainbow.  "You know that you've got us on yer side.  Desperadoes for life!"  He winked aside.  "Ain't that right, Dubya?"

Wildcard nodded and gave a metal thumb's up.  He glanced at Kepler and hand-signed.

Kepler sighed.  "It pains me to admit that I am farr morre useful down herre with Flynn and Logan."  He smiled, gesturing at his leathery wings.  "In a straightforrwarrd wind, I am as speedy as they come!  But this cyclone would be the utterr death of me."  He adjusted his spectacles.  "I hope you do not take it as a sign of cowarrdice that I would much rratherr live long enough to assist you with my knowledge on the Darrk Side, Rrainbow one."

"Good call, Kepler," Rainbow said, pointing.  "You stick around."

"Now then..."  Remna trotted up to the ship's edge.  "Which of you get to carry me?"

Ariel, Bard, and Wildcard all did double-takes.

"Say what?!"  Ariel sputtered.

Remna's brow furrowed.  "Do not confuse my statement with spontaneous jocularity.  I am going with the Austraeoh to the Sixth Seed, and that is final."

"Aw Hell no!"  Bard frowned.  "You remember what happened to you back west, lizard lady?  One slip into the drink and ya dropped like a Goddess-dang anvil!"

Wildcard produced a sound reminiscent to a slide whistle as he gestured a depth charge falling with both talons.

"Perhaps I haven't made myself clear," Remna snarled, starting to grind her hooves.

Enix glanced at Rainbow Dash incredulously.  "And you've traveled with this oaf for how long?"

Wincing, Rainbow zoomed down to the Stardust.  "Axan... listen..."  Fwoosh!  She landed at the violet mare's side, resting a wing over her bulky shoulder.  "Remember how we once talked about your temper and balancing it with—y'know—common friggin' sense?"

Remna merely glared at her.  "You are picking a most improper time to lecture me on past lectures."


"Fine!  Then will you just stuff it?!"  Rainbow frowned, hovering with forelimbs folded.  "Fact is—I need you, okay?"

Remna's eyes narrowed.

"Yes.  You heard me!  I admit it.  I need you.  We're dealing with super old stuff that even the Princesses barely understand.  And there will come many times when I'll have to depend on your old, grumpy, and totally-not-senile recollection of what makes this piece of Urohringr tick!  But we're not going to get to that moment of usefulness if you force yourself into performing a stupid stunt all in the name of 'protecting Austraeoh.'  You feel me?"

Remna grumbled, "You are heading into an unknown place with unknown peril.  It would not be right of me to let you venture in without being accompanied by a force capable of combatting whatever devices my crafty sister could very well have constructed in there."

Rainbow cocked her head aside.  "And since when have you been able to get an edge on Verlax before?"

Remna's eyes narrowed.

Rainbow sighed, waving her hooves apologetically.  "Okay... okay... low blow."  She gulped.  "My bad.  But—face it—getting you up in that super turbulent air ain't happening.  And rather than risk losing you over a stupid gamble, I'm going to have you stay here so you can help me out in the future."

"Need we forget that I was entrusted by Mortuana with—?"

Rainbow leaned into the mare's face, snarling:  "And if you friggin' respect the Mountain Matron so dang much, you'll shut up and do whatever the Austraeoh bucking tells you!"

Remna glared up at Rainbow.

Rainbow glared down at Remna.

The Herald and Nightblood sarosians remained silent.

At last, Luna's voice magically bled forth:  "Do not be a draconian buttocks, Axan.  Do verily as Rainbow Dash wisely advises."

Remna's nostrils flared.  "Very well."  She stepped back and joined Flynn beside the cabin entrance.  "But only because it makes an ounce of sense in the long run."

"Indubitably."

Rainbow lifted up with a breath.  "Thanks, Princess."

"Do not mention it."

"Be extra cautious, Austraeoh."  Remna stared up at her from below.  "If indeed my late sister did spring a trap for you, then—at this current juncture—she would undoubtedly laced it with a venom of grim finality."

"My goodness..."  Fluttershy trembled, looking aside at Rainbow.  "Does she ever have a sense of humor beneath all that scaley veneer?"

"Oh, you bet..."  Rainbow sighed, hovering back up to Enix's level.  "...and it totally killed me."

> Birds of a Feather, Flail...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Y'mnym lys s'hryssym w'lynwyn yln s'ylppa!" Enix hollered above the thunder.  She pivoted from facing her hovering companions and nodded in the direction of the Stardust.  "We are ready, Blood of Luna."

"That's yer cue, darlin'," Bard said, perched on the edge of Flynn's ship along with Wildcard and Ariel.  "It's now or never."

"Right."  Rainbow took a deep breath.  Her ruby eyes locked on the golden tower as lightning flashed in the background.  "Girls?"

"Yes, Rainbow?" Twilight spoke.

"You are my first and foremost wingponies," their anchor said.  "Keep your eyes peeled."

"For wh-what?" Fluttershy stammered.

"Anything.  This is always the hairy part."  Rainbow spread her wings wide.  "Here goes nothing."  She took off.  "Zoop—"

Immediately, her petite body was pelted by a merciless gust of cyclonic wind.

"!!!"  Rainbow Dash flailed, toppling skyward in multiple mid-air somersaults.  "Luna Poop!" her voice cracked.

"Rainbow Dash, what is wrong?!"  A regal voice spun silvery loops around her.  "And what—pray tell—does it have to do with my excrement—?!"

"Just wait a second!"  Rainbow gnashed her teeth, twirling.  "Your Majesty!"  She flung a look to her right as the horizon did flips.  "Bard—"

"We're right b-behind ya, Rainbow!"  Rainbow heard the stallion's voice sputter.  She sensed a trio of floundering figures in the wind.  "B-barely!"

"Just keep your wings outstretched!" Ariel shouted melodically.  "You'll even out!  Trust me—"

"Hresssssh!"  Enix's voice hissed from somewhere.  "You are nearing the water—!"

"Pull up, darling!" Rarity insisted.

"Grnnngh... t-too much wind!"  Rainbow snarled, flapping desperately.  "Worse... th-than Stratopolis!  Where—"

"Guhhhh!"  Pinkie Pie's ears flopped while her tail swished in circles.  Rainbow watched as her blue eyes streaked by amidst the tempest.  "Sw-swing to the left, Dashie!  There's an incoming p-pocket of air!"

"You've gotta be kidding—"

"Do what she says, Rainbow!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed.  "Trust Pinkie sense!"

"Grnnngh!"  Rainbow Dash barrel-rolled to the left.  Miraculously, she ended up gliding upright, sailing counter-clockwise about ten frothing feet above the churning ocean's surface.  "Whew... must be a wind current or something..."

"Uhhhh... yeah!"  Pinkie Pie wheezed, twirling around a few times.  "My ears and tail are flopping less!  Just stay in this area—"

"The others!" Fluttershy yelped.

Rainbow threw a look over her shoulder.  She saw Bard and Wildcard struggling to fly straight.  The Heraldites atop the Stardust watched in horror as the Desperadoes plunged.  "Guys!" Rainbow shouted.  "To me!"

"They will not last long in that descent—"  Enix said, her voice echoing from somewhere above.

"Bard—!"

"I hear ya, Rainbow!"  Bard sputtered, flapping his wings harder and harder.  "But... grnnngh... these winds are taken my feathers to the woodshed—"

"Brrrrrrr!"  Pinkie's eyes crossed as her hairs stood on end.  "Tell h-him to b-backflip!"

"Bard!" Rainbow hollered.  "Do a backflip!"

"What in the hay—?!"

"Do it!" Rainbow snarled.

"Httt!"  Bard threw his weight backwards.  He nearly skimmed the turbulent waters below when—

Sw-Swissssh!  His feathers caught a gust of air, lifting him up until he was level with Rainbow.  Soon both pegasi were circling counter-clockwise, closing in gradually on the golden summit of the machine world's tower.  Enix and her squadron glided in, joining the pair with expert precision.

"Well, I'll be," Bard wheezed and calmed down with a sweaty smile.  "Which of yer colorful ghost girl friends do I gotta thank for that one?"

"Pinkie Pie," Rainbow blurted.  "But let's not talk about that now.  Where's...?"  Just then, her ruby eyes shrank.

"Huh?"  Bard followed the path of her gaze.  He paled.  "Aw Hell..."

Wildcard was a quivering mess of panicked feathers.  The otherwise nimble Desperado plummeted faster and faster, twirling towards the bubbling waters below.

"He ain't havin' a good time!" Applejack stammered, wincing.  "Nothin' but panic and puke!"

"Dubya!"  Bard shouted.  "Do a backfli—"

"No!" Rainbow hollered.  "Just because it worked for you doesn't mean it'll work for him!"  She turned her head as she twirled around, shouting through the hurricane winds.  "Wildcard!  Try to head back to the Stardust!"

"That's rright, featherred frriend!" Kepler's voice rolled through the thunder.  "Follow my voice!"

"Calm yer friggin' breaths and glide right, mofo!"  Bard winced.  He glanced aside at Rainbow.  "He ain't gonna m-make it at this rate."

"Enix..." Rainbow gulped.  "If he hits the water—"

"Then he is finished," the Nightblooded sarosian said.

"Wildcard!"  Rainbow grimaced.  She glanced nervously at Twilight and the others, then threw a nervous look seaward once again.  "Dude, if you don't catch some air right now—"

"Don't worry," Fluttershy said calmly.

"Huh?"  Rainbow blinked.

And in that blink, a dark streak zoomed towards Wildcard—ramming into him.  Whap!  Using her momentum, Ariel knocked both herself and the griffon upwards by a dozen meters.  Using her forelimbs, Ariel steadied the Desperado and hovered in place—however precariously.

Enix, Rainbow, and Bard performed one full circle, coming back around over the two.

Th-Thwikkk!  Bard extended his bo-staff and held it straight down.  "I'm gonna need some extra oomph for this one!"

Rainbow and two of Enix's wingmates reached in, grabbing Bard and adding their wingpower to his.

"Up high!" Bard grunted, stretching the pole towards the two figures below.  "This is yer chance!"

With Ariel steadying him, Wildcard calmed his breath and stretched a metal talon upward.  The air vibrated with magnetic energy and—

Clutch!  Wildcard grabbed the end of the staff.  Bard yanked hard, lifting both Ariel and the griffon to their level.

The crews of the Stardust and the Bleakweed vessels cheered at a distance.  All of the fliers were together, sharing the same pocket of cyclonic air.

"Hmmmm..."  Fluttershy smiled.  "See?  What did I tell you?"

"Whew..."  Bard collapsed his staff, flying steadily as he glanced aside at his breathless partner.  "Almost lost ya there, mofo."

Wildcard shuddered.  He steadied his goggles with a nervous smirk, then hand-signed in Ariel's direction.

"Don't..."  Ariel wheezed, waving a hoof as she flapped her wings briskly.  "Don't m-mention it... phweeeeeee..."

"Not bad, girl."  Rainbow smirked at her.  "That was awfully risky of you."

"Yeah, well..."  Ariel cleared her throat.  "Figured it was high time I did my part."

"We're closing in," Enix said, pointing forward.  The golden tower loomed closer and closer, drenched with moisture and glistening from the lightning above.  "We haven't much time left.  If we pass by it—"

"Got the picture."  Rainbow looked aside.  "Pinkie?  Think you can give us a window?"

"Wait for it..."  Pinkie bit her lip, squinting at the tower's surface gliding past them.  "Wait for itttttttt..."  Winds whipped.  Moisture splashed.  Thunder.  "Now!  Go go go go go—"

"This is it!"  Rainbow jerked to the left, flinging herself straight into the glow of Yaerfaerda.

Her wingmates followed suit, wings slicing the tempestuous winds.

Th-Th-Thwisssh!

"Grnnngh..."  Rainbow grimaced.  "So bright—"

"Brace yourself, darling!"  Rarity shouted.

"!!!"  Rainbow stretched all four limbs straight in front of her.

Cl-Clankkk!  She made contact with immaculately polished metal.  The tell-tale thumps of her companions rattled beside her.  She looked to her left to see Ariel and Bard gripping the side.  She looked to her right to see Wildcard, Enix, and the sarosians perching as well.  One midnighter slipped with a gasp—Thap!—but Wildcard caught him with a metal talon.  Enix reached in and steadied the pony, and soon everyone was successfully situated against the exterior of the tower.

"Smashing!" Rarity pumped a white hoof while Applejack and Pinkie Pie cheered.

"Sh-shit...!"  Ariel stammered.  "Let's n-not make a passtime out of this, 'kay?"

Rainbow had to close her eyes from the sheer glow of Yaerfaerda.  "Agreed."

"Rainbow Dash," Princess Luna's voice murmured.

Princess Celestia joined in.  "Are you okay?"

"Did you make it?" Spike's voice broke.

"Gosh..."  Twilight's ears drooped.  "I absolutely hate it when he sounds worried."

"We made it just fine, yer Highnesses!" Bard exclaimed.  "Erm..."  He blushed slightly, tipping his hat in the cold moisture.  "If ya dun mind me answerin' for ya, darlin'."  He winced, nearly slipping from the tower's surface.  "Whoah dayum!"

"Gotta... f-find the entrance to this thing, Luna!" Rainbow sputtered, squirming against the gold surface.  "So just give us a sec..."

"To your left, Blood of Luna," Enix said.  "Past your pegasus companions."

"You hear that, Bard?" Rainbow remarked.

"Loud and clear."  Bard nudged Ariel.  "Let's mosey—dosey-do like."

"Uh huh..."  Ariel shuffled to the left, shimmying along the circumference of the tower.  Bard followed, then Rainbow and Wildcard and the sarosians.

"Can you even see past Yaerfaerda, Rainbow?" Spike's voice asked.

"Nice dragon intuition, dude," Rainbow groaned, eyes squinted.  Hard.  "It's like I'm staring into a friggin' furnace."

"We're just looking for a door, r-right?" Ariel asked.

"More than that," Rainbow wheezed.  "Look for a squiggly line threaded through a bunch of etched circles."

"You mean like beneath Starkiss?"

"Exactly."

"You sensing anything, Twilight?" Rarity asked.

"Huh?"

"I mean..."  The ghostly fashionista squirmed in mid-air.  "...in the manner of magic, draconian traps?"

"I sense a lot of magic, but..."  Twilight Sparkle exhaled.  "...curious."

"What's curious, sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

Twilight gulped.  "It's hard to say.  This part of the machine world feels different from all the others."

Rainbow's jaws clenched in mid-shimmy.  "Gonna have to be a bit more specific than that, egghead."

"I wish I could be, Rainbow!  But—remember—I've only been fully conscious for four of the entrances you've encountered."

"And all of them had been affected by Verlax... r-right?" Fluttershy remarked.

"Right."  Twilight nodded, flinching as thunder boomed above them.  "But this?  This isn't the same as the others... somehow..."

"Well, that's a warm, fuzzy thing... r-right?" Pinkie Pie remarked.

"Look," Rainbow sighed, still wincing from the proximity of the burning flame.  "Let's just face things as we get to them—"

"Found it!" Ariel's voice chirped.

Rainbow smiled blindly.  "You go, girl!  How's it look?"

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

"... ... ...?"  Rainbow crawled towards a gaping open frame set within the outer surface of the tower.  She sensed the bodies of Ariel and Bard perched beside her.  "What's the matter?"

"This... doesn't look right."

Rainbow's brow furrowed.  "How do you mean?"  Bravely, she opened one eye after the other.  Despite the agonizing sensation—but she was able to make out etched shapes in the golden surface.  Her ears drooped slowly.

"Rainbow Dash?" Spike's voice inquired.

Silence.

"Dear child," Princess Luna could be heard murmuring.  "What is it that you see?"

"Uhmmmm..."  Rainbow gulped as her ghostly friend looked on.  "...this isn't Ynanhluutr..."
> Picture's Worth a Thousand Chapters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Rainbow Dash, her friends, Bard, Ariel, Wildcard, Enix, and the sarosian troupe stared and stared and stared at the lines and shapes etched into the doorframe in front of them.  The narrow niche they were perched in resonated with thunder and the roar of water.  Moisture continually baptized them as they attempted to make sense of the random patterns.

"You... uh..."  Bard scratched at his scruffy chin.  "...you seein' this, Rainbow?"

"Yeah..."  Rainbow nodded, squinting hard.  "Barely."  She gulped, leaning aside.  "Twi?  Help us out here..."

"I... I'm not sure if I can."  Twilight fidgeted.  "It's... uh... well, it's got six circles.  That's rather interesting..."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow chewed on her bottom lip.

"Looks like a bunch of apples underneath a spread of blankets!" Applejack said.  The others stared at her, and she shrugged.  "Well... so much for my two cents."

"Considering where we're at," Fluttershy spoke, "It almost looks like water cascading off the edge of the world."

"I'm with Fluttershy on that one," Twilight said.

"You certain?"  Rarity squinted, thinking aloud:  "To me it resembles the cross-section of a mechanical conveyor belt."

Pinkie Pie wheezed:  "Looks to me like one thousand hours spent in Maresoft Paint!"

Rainbow growled.  "Not.  Helping."

"Maybe it's an extension of Ynanhluutr?"  Ariel brushed her bangs back and shrugged.  "Like... all of Austraeoh's eggs are now in one basket?"

"That is a rather oddly shaped basket," Enix droned.

Wildcard gestured something.

Bard sighed, then slapped him upside the feathery head.  "Ain't three-dimensional enough to resemble a bunch of balls, blatherbeak!"

Wildcard merely shrugged.

"At the risk of sounding impatient, Rainbow Dash..." Luna's voice began.

Rainbow took a deep breath.  "There's a new symbol in front of us.  I... c-can barely see it.  So... uhm..."  She sighed.  "Bard, would you mind?"

"My pleasure, darlin'."  Bard tilted his muzzle towards the air.  "Yer Highness, what we see before us is six small circles nestled inside a line that rolls in from the left all horizontal-like.  The line wraps around the circles before droppin' down and curving back to the left.  And... uhm... there are three more lines—all thinner than the first—stretchin' right and wrappin' around the curve... only to fall straight down."

Wildcard nodded.

"Sorry if that's a mite bit elementary a description," Bard said.

"It is quite alright, Sir Bard," Princess Luna spoke.  "We have a clear picture painted in our minds, thanks to you."

He tipped his hat.  "Much oblidged."

"There are only six circles?" Celestia asked.

"Righto..."  Rainbow nodded.  "The big circle that surrounded Ynanhluutr is gone.  It's just the six tiny ones that Bard described."

"Is that an important detail?" Ariel asked.

Spike's voice spoke:  "Perhaps it means that... some sort of mold has been broken?"

"How do you mean, Spike?" Celestia asked.

"Well... Rainbow Dash was 'within purpose' to resurrect the Elements of Harmony before making her way to the Midnight Armory beyond the Edge.  All of the Five Seeds she's been to so far have been accomplishing this.  So... maybe—uhh—the large circle that encased the other six in Ynanhluuter has been... sh-shattered... somehow?"

Applejack smiled at Twilight.  "Good to know yer apprentice has gotten so well-spoken after all these years of study, huh?"

"Mrmmmm..."  Twilight folded her forelimbs, mulling.

"Let us not forget, Spike," Celestia spoke.  "Rainbow Dash learned of the existence of 'Six Seeds.'  She's only been to five of them so far.  This tower is now her sixth."

Luna joined in:  "If she's yet to touch six flames, then what would have 'shattered' the seventh circle?"

"Uhhhhhhhhhm..."  Spike was at a loss for words.

Enix cleared her throat.  "I may not fully understand the nature of the Austraeoh's journey, but perhaps it would be better to discover than speculate," the Nightblooded warrior said.

"Rainbow Dash," Luna spoke.  "Are you losing touch with your friends?  Do you sense the presence of chaos metals or enchanted frost nearby?"

"No, Luna."  Rainbow shook her head.  "So far, we're cool.  There's no sign of Verlax's interference anywhere."  She pointed straight forward.  "Unless, of course, there's something nasty on the other side of the door that—"

VROMMMMMM!  The entire door shook.

Rainbow's friends gasped collectively.

One by one, the circles lit up from left to right.  Violet to White to Pink to Yellow to Orange.  Ding!—Ding!—Ding!—Ding!—Ding!  And finally... the sixth one lit up blue.  Diiing!

"... ... ..."  Rainbow Dash blinked, hoof outstretched.  "... ... ...fudge."

FLAASSSH!  The door flung open, exposing Rainbow to the naked flame of Yaerfaerda.  Golden bolts flickered in the air, and—to Rainbow's surprise—she found herself being yanked straight forward with ten times the force of gravity.

"Rainbow—!"  Ariel hollered.  She and Enix reached forward—

—but it was too late.  The doors slammed shut behind Rainbow.

THUDDD!

And all was dark.
> We Meet at Last, Austraeoh
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Stars.

Galaxies.

Cosmic bands, swirling over, under... fading into the nebulous violet distance.

Rainbow Dash "stood" on a patch of blackness within an infinite field of identical blackness.

She blinked.  She raised a hoof up to her pendant.  It pulsed at the touch, illuminating an enormous plane below her.  A bleak horizon came to a jagged stop at the threshhold of undulating starlight, then dimmed—along with her Element of Loyalty.

"Uhhhh..."

Rainbow's voice echoed amidst the heavens.  She looked left, spotting celestial spirals and shooting stars.

"Applejack?  Twilight?  Rarity?"

Silence.

She looked right, spotting planets and moons and ringed spheres looming in dust and shadow.

"Ariel?  Luna?  Bard?"

More silence.

Rainbow Dash sighed.  Hard.

"Okay... okay..."

She leaned left and right.  Her petite weight caused the blackness beneath her to ripple, causing continental shelves and ocean waves to fluctuate against the plane's edge far below.

"...getting really sick and tired of this trippy planetarium nonsense."  She turned around, huffing.  "Where the heck is that stupid door—?"

The dark silhouette of an equine faced her.

"Gaaah!"  Rainbow Dash hopped back, teetering.  She found herself standing precariously on the edge of the plane.

The shape in front of her craned its angular neck.  A pair of wings stretched out, its narrow feathers blotting out threads of starlight.

Rainbow Dash calmed... calmed... and stood evenly.  She squinted, her lips pursed as she examined each feather and strand of the dark shape standing in front of her.  "... ... ..."  Gulping, she leaned forward.  "Uhm... h-hello...?"

"Is it Utaan?"

Rainbow's blood froze cold.

The voice was feminine.

But much more than that...

...she had heard it before.

She was certain of it.

Rainbow's muzzle hung open.  "... ... ...yeah???"

The figure's wings coiled slightly.  The head tilted until it stared evenly at the mare.  "She."  The voice echoed everywhere, bouncing off every star, constellation, and comet.  "She is gone.  We do not feel the blemish anymore."

Rainbow glanced down at the single continent looming in the darkness beneath them.  She glanced at the edge of the plane, then tilted her gaze back up.

"That's... uh... that's right..."  Rainbow took a shuddering breath.  "Verlax.  She... she is gone."  Her jaw muscles clenched.  "She polluted the gateways to the machine world.  But I..."  A breath.  "She's no longer a threat."

Silence.

The figure peered at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash peered back.

More silence.

The universe glittered... stretched... expanded.

Rainbow Dash fidgeted.  "So—"

"Many flames have been lit."  The voice blurted from the shape.  "But it is still too dim.  We cannot see.  Can only hear.  Smell."  The flick of a tail—long, narrow, and flared at the end.  "A familiar smoke.  But from what fire?"

Rainbow Dash's muzzle hung agape.  At last, she said, "I am the Austraeoh."

The figure's wingtips stretched again.  The head tilted to the side, and Rainbow judged it was longer, narrower than most ponies she'd seen.

"And... uhm..."  Rainbow pointed behind her.  "I'm just at the edge of the world with—"

"Is it Utaan?"

Silence.

Rainbow clenched her teet.  "No."  A deep breath.  "At least... not yet.  But..."  She slowly nodded.  "It's about to be... yeah..."

"It is working then."  The figure breathed—a very trembling thing.  "Eljunbyro brought it to Yaerfaerda.  Now it must be Utaan to surpass Ofolrodi."

"Whoah..."  Rainbow Dash waved a hoof.  "Slow down just a sec—"

"The flame dims.  It must find the brightest beacon to restore Urohringr—"

"Just... j-just hold on!"  Rainbow Dash shouted.  She gulped.  "We've never had a chance to chat like this before—"

"There is little time.  The skies darken—"

"Look... chillax!"  Rainbow took a bold step forward.  "I... I haven't a clue what's going on.  Not really, okay!  But... but I-I get the feeling that... that we're on the same side, so..."  She cleared her throat.  "Let's just take it slowly from the top... okay?"

The figure stared at her.  Its angular head tilted to the side.  "We do not understand it."

"Yeah, I get that, and... mrmmmff..."  Rainbow Dash rubbed her forehead.  She swallowed and said, "Let's start with something easy.  Uhhhh..."  A pause.  "...who are you, exactly?"

"Ilrifa."

Rainbow's head jerked back.  She blinked.

The shape stared back.  Quiet.  Emotionless.

Rainbow's lips parted.  "You don't say," her voice cracked.
> A Garden Lost in Shadow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash paced across the stars while the dark shape stood calmly in place, peering at her.

"Care to repeat that?" Rainbow muttered, pendant rattling.

Pointed ears flicked against the cosmos.  "'Ilrifa'," it said.

"Okay..."  Rainbow Dash exhaled.  "...so you're not just a random brain fart after all."

"We have had the name burned into our mind for as long as we can remember," the shape said.

"Yeah?"  Rainbow raised an eyebrow.  "And just how long has that been?"

"We do not know."

Rainbow's nostrils flared as she came to a shuffling stop.  "... ... ...after two years of east-flapping, I finally make contact with the spirit of the flame and it's a Celestia-dang moron."

"The roots run deep," the voice muttered.  "The machine.  It is a garden.  A child.  'Ilrifa' was planted.  Long ago.  Deep in the fertile darkness."

"Yeah?  By who?"

The narrow head shook.  "We do not know.  It must acquire the biggest flame of all."

"What's that?  The Harmonic Prism?  At the Midnight Armory?"

"Swiftly!"  A nimble tail flicked.  "While it still draws breath!"

"Just... just calm down..."  Rainbow waved a hoof.  She gulped.  "I've got you here now, don't I?  If you can slow yourself long enough to chat, then maybe you can explain—"

"Accomplish Ofolrodi.  Restore Urohringr."

"Yeah-yeah... I get that.  And I'm totally gonna do that!  Just... please."  Rainbow held a hoof forward.  "...I have to know who you are... what you are."  Her ears folded back as her voice squeaked, "Who spun all of this into motion and why?"

The shadow's head glanced at Rainbow's hoof, then back at her face.  "It accomplishes nothing in one place.  Yaerfaerda's made manifest.  The flame beckons.  Austraeoh—"

"Rainbow Dash."

Silence.

Stars swirled and galaxies drifted.

Rainbow smiled.  "Rainbow... Dash..."  She held her hoof out further.  "It's a lost more awesome than 'Austraeoh.'  Now who are you... really?"  A sympathetic breath.  "I'm sure it's a lot snazzier than 'Ilrifa.'"

The figure stared at her.  There was a tremor.  Something glinted in the darkness, trickling down the figure's face.

"We are alone."

Rainbow Dash blinked.

"We do not understand.  It stands still.  It asks.  But... no answers.  Only flames."  A shuddering breath.  "It must keep moving.  Keep burning.  In the darkness and the flicker between."

"Were you... once one of them?" Rainbow asked.  She gulped and continued:  "Were you one of the pegasi?  The original pegasi?"

The figure was silent.

"Ilrifa... do you remember anything?"

Another tremble.  "Guilt."  Pointed ears folded.  "G-guilt..."  Wings coiled tightly at its side.  "Something is broken.  A flame grows in the garden.  It must spread.  It must heal and restore.  Austraeoh..."

The being's voice trailed off.  For a brief second, Rainbow thought she envisoned two haunting specks—like narrow eyes at the bottom of the blackest well.  A panicked glance was thrown over her shoulder.

"What...?" Rainbow Dash murmured.

"Ofolrodi," the equine figure squeaked.  "Their field of foaling.  Time narrows.  Their darkness shall spread and consume the garden.  It is all our fault."

Shadows shifted through the starlight, forcing the figure to vanish.

"Wait!  Ilrifa!"  Rainbow suffered a cold chill.  Reluctantly, she turned and looked behind her.

All of the heavens were gone—or at least that's what Rainbow thought at first.  In truth, something was blocking out the starlight—obscuring the harmonic gold from distant, unseen plains.  One by one, antlers formed from dark onyx lines.  As soon as they took shape, they descended on her, plummeting from twelve separate directions, dragging the screams of countless civilizations as something stronger than gravity sent them plunging towards Rainbow's figure.

"Luna Poop!" Rainbow yelped.  She looked every which way for an escape.  In the surmounding darkness, only one opportunity glinted at her.  Water cascaded over the edge of the plane, dissolving into mist and chaos.

Without a second thought, Rainbow Dash threw her body east.  As the shadows fell—and thunderously so—she flew past the horizon and into the nebulous darkscape beyond.  Behind her, the cosmos exploded, showering the skies around her with silver stone fragments.  She heard a pegasus' lonely sobs, and then all she felt was guilt... guilt as she built up momentum and approached a lonesome torch in the middle of an ink black plain.  Seething, she dove into the flames, reveling in the righteous baptism.  Just as all the pain and regret melted away, she sensed five sets of hooves reaching for her.

But before she could surrender to their embrace, a single talon grabbed her wings from behind, yanking her—cold and shivering—back into the darkness.

She never made it that far.  Eternity dwindled, and Rainbow felt herself levitating numbly in the penumbra, even as the circles floated back together and produced a somber melody against the heavely acoustics.
> When the Last Beacon Sinks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Whoah, dayum!"

"Quick!  Before the air sucks us up!"

"H'lynna wyln'ym w'jynna!  H'lemmna!"

"Jeez!  Look at it go!"

"No time to sight-see!  Careful with her wings—"

"Relax, Ariel.  We got her.  Dubya?"

"... ... ..."

"Incoming!"

"Whoah!  What the Hell did y'all do?!"

"Haven't the faintest clue!  One second, Rainbow here was sucked into that gul'durn thang.  The next thing we knew, she was bein' spat out like a sunflower seed!  Good thang Dubya swooped down and caught her in the nick of time!"

"How come he wasn't sucked away by the wind this time?"

"Guess it died down!  On account of... well, I-I mean just look at it!"

"Incredible..."

"What about Rainbow Dash?!"

"The Blood of Luna.  She lives?"

"Everryone!  Move yourrselves aside!  Allow me a closerr look!"

"Move your flanks!  Let the wyvern have a look-see!"

"The Austraeoh... what did you mortals do?!"

"Didn't you hear me, Remna?  I done toldja that the golden tower sucked her inside and—"

"Shhhh!  Silence, brrotherrs and sisterrs!  She brreathes!"

"Mmmmm... R-Rainbow Dash?"

"It's okay, Ariel.  Look.  See?  Her eyes are opening!  She's okay!"

"Oh, thank Goddess..."

"Rrainbow one?  Can you see me?  Arre you consciously awarre of what's going on?"

Rainbow's lips parted.  Her eyelashes fluttered... then fluttered some more.

The clouds above parted slowly.  Starlight peeked down at her.  A golden light... streaming...

"Rainbow Dash?  Child, are you there?"

"Stay tuned, Yer Majesty.  We... uh... we're tryin' to figure out what's goin' on ourselves."

"Is she in one piece?"

"Hard to say.  Enix?  Could ya tell yer midnighter friends to give us some space?"

"I do not understand.  How did she make the tower sink?"

Rainbow Dash blinked.  She became aware of a torrent of water rushing just out of view.

"Mmmmrmfff..."  With a tiny trilling sound, Rainbow Dash sat up.

"Now now..."  A wyvern's claw pressed her gently back down to the Stardust's deck.  "Rrest easy, my frriend.  At least until we've made a prroperr assessment—"

Gnashing her teeth, Rainbow strongly resisted Kepler's gesture.  She sat up, blinking off the port side of the vessel.

There was something missing from the ocean.

Rainbow blinked.  With a single flap of her wings, she planted herself up on her hooves—forcing Kepler, Flynn, and Logan to jump back with a gasp.  Ariel, Remna, and Bard watched worriedly as she trotted up to the deck's edge.  The sound of rushing water grew louder and louder.  At last, Enix and her trusty wingmates shuffled aside—revealing a bubbling sea-within-a-sea beyond the hull of the Stardust.

The ghostly figures of Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy flew in closer.  "Rainbow?"  Twilight gulped.  "Rainbow, can you hear us?"

Rainbow ignored them, staring out into the tempestuous waters.

It was just in time to spot the shiny summit of the golden tower sinking beneath the waves.  Frothing waters boiled in a wavering circle around the scene.  Within seconds, the entire structure had sank completely.  The Stardust and Bleakweed vessels kept a safe distance.

"Austraeoh...?"  Remna asked, craning her neck.

"You entered the tower," Enix murmured, her scarred jaw hanging agape.  "And now... it vanishes... as if on command."  She and her fellow batponies let loose feeble squeaks, eyeslits blinking.  "Just what are you, Rainbow Dash?"

Remna stepped closer.  "What happened in there?"

Rainbow Dash didn't answer.  She found herself staring past her friends... past the sinking gold light of the tower.

There was a separate gold light.  It hung over the waters like a curtain... draping eastward, curving southward, rolling towards the edge of the world.

Rainbow's lips pursed.  The Element of Loyalty glinted as it hung from her neck.

The gold light lingered—far softer than Yaerfaerda—but ever present... ever lulling.

"Rainbow Dash...?" Luna's voice echoed with undeniable concern.

Remna glanced at the mare, then at the seas where she was gazing.  "... ... ...what is it that you see, Austraeoh?"

Rainbow's ghostly friends exchanged confused glances.

The Herald leaned in from a distance, breathless.

Rainbow exhaled.  Hypnotically, she bore a devilish smirk.  "Of course..."

Wings spread.

Wildcard whistled shrilly.

Logan raised a hoof.  "Wait a tick—"

FWOOOSH!  Rainbow ascended in a prismatic blur, sailing off the Stardust's port side.

Remna blinked.

Ariel and Flynn gasped.

"Hmmm..."  Enix glanced at the other ponies.  "...does she normally do this?"

"Herald—!"  Bard shouted.

"On it!" Ariel shouted.  Swooooooosh!  She shot up like a comet, followed shortly by Wildcard.

Gnashing his teeth, Bard galloped and joined the others.  Enix let loose a few articulate shrieks and lifted off, accompanied by two wingmates.

"Okay..."  Flynn paced and paced, pulling at what was left of his mane.  "Will somepony please tell me what the Hell is going on here?!"

"It's finally happened," Logan droned.  "She's flipped her lid."

"Why now of all times?!"  Flynn gaped at Kepler.  "Smarty McWyvern!  You've got any clues?!"

Kepler shrugged.  "I cannot fathom."  He smiled through his tusks.  "Most glorrious..."

"Rrrrgh... seriously?!  That's your description of everything!"

While the rest of the Herald bickered in the background, Remna remained situated patiently in place.  She watched the prismatic figure along the horizon with scrutinous eyes, her violet eyes twitching to the last bubbles erupting off the ship's hull.
> Things More Priceless Than Gold
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Rainbow Dash!"  Rarity squeaked, flailing through the air as Rainbow sped southeastward over rippling waves.  "What's gotten into you, darling!"

"Wowie-zowie!"  Pinkie Pie sputtered as thunder rolled overhead.  "I've never seen her move so fast!"

"Rainbow Dash, please!"  Fluttershy insisted, struggling to float in front of the mare.  "Stop for a second and speak to us!  We're... we're worried!"

"She's right, Rainbow!"  Twilight hovered alongside the mare.  "Just what happened to you inside the Tower?!"  Her violet eyes narrowed.  "You were positively yanked inside by some unseen force!  And then—within a blink—you were thrown outside and the structure sank!"

"Rainbow Dash?!"

"Dashie?!"

"I don't understand!"  Rarity whimpered.  "Why is she ignoring us?"

"It's not that simple!" Applejack grunted.

"What do you m—?"

"Look at her eyes!"  The farm mare pointed.  "She sees somethin'!  Her mind's set on a destination somethin' awful!"

"Yeah, b-but what?!"

Rainbow Dash panted and panted, flapping her wings as hard as she could.  Her ruby eyes twinkled—flickering red-on-yellow.  "So... so clear..."  She hissed beneath her teeth, smiling stupidly.  "...why did I ever st-stop...?"

"Rainbow Dash," Princess Luna's voice spoke.

"It's there... always b-been there..."

"Rainbow Dash!" Luna's voice positively growled.

"Rainbow, for harmony's sake!"  Twilight frowned.  "Answer our moon princess—"

"I'm sorry, Your Highness!"  Rainbow hyperventilated.  "I can't stop!"  She huffed and huffed.  "I can't ever stop!"

"Something has possessed you.  I can sense it."

"Not a possession..."  Rainbow gulped, grinning wider.  "...perspective.  I can see, Luna!  I can see it!"

Princess Celestia's voice interjected:  "You can see what, Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow sweated hard, her eyes darting left and right.

A golden stream pierced the landscape, threading its way east.  It was a veritable golden shawl draped over the plane, spilling off the edge of the world.  It twinkled like sunlight through a soft morning window.

"The journey.  Austraeoh.  We are... I am..."  Rainbow gulped.  "...both one and the same!  I... I can see it, Luna."  She panted as her eyes finally locked on Twilight, Applejack, and the others.  "Twi.  AJ.  Flutters.  It's... it's right before me... it's been right before me this whole t-time..."  She squeaked and whimpered.  "It's just taken Utaan... it's taken Utaan to clear the last layer.  Now I must go beyond... it's what Verlax always thought, but never grasped.  And now Ilrifa—she wants to help me too!"

Rarity's muzzle scrunched.  "'Ilrifa?'"

"Oh gosh..."  Pinkie grimaced.  "She's lost it!  The big It!"

"Shhhhhh..."  Applejack shook her head.  "Not necessarily."

Rarity gawked at her.  "You've got to be kidding us—"

"I just mean—whatever she's rambling about—she believes it whole heartedly," Applejack said.  "Heart, mind, and soul."

"Even still... I don't like what this 'revelation' is doing to her!" Twilight insisted.  "You hear that, Rainbow?!  You're worrying us!  Now slow down, turn back, and reunite with the others—"

"I can't!"  Rainbow grimaced.  "I shouldn't!"  She hyperventilated some more.  "You five died in Ponyville.  Shell caught up with Belle and Pilate and Kera.  Verlax conspired and took everything!"  She gulped, her eyes nevertheless bedazzled.  "Why haven't I always been moving?  Why aren't we all just... moving?"  Panting breaths.  "Urohringr.  The rings.  The stars.  All of it!"

"Rainbow, my child," Luna spoke calmly, firmly.  "You have evidently witnessed something spectacular, and that cannot be denied."  A deep breath.  "But you are accomplishing nothing with blind, forward momentum.  Your experiences—if nothing else—should prove this."

"Y-yeah, Rainbow!" Spike's voice sputtered.  "What about your friends?"  A gulping sound.  "You need them to get to the Dark Side, don't you?"

"Dark Side..."  Rainbow sputtered, shaking her head as she watched the gold, the glimmer, the shimmer.  "It's so bright.  So clear.  It's like... like... the Southern Birds."  She glanced aside, grinning like an idiot.  "You remember them, Fluttershy?  They always knew where to go!  We... we were only fooling ourselves when we thought we were helping them during Winter Wrap-Up!"  She giggled—a little too long and joyfully for her friends' comfort.

Fluttershy slowly nodded.  "I remember, Rainbow Dash."  She gulped.  "I also remember helping them with egg-laying and gathering food."

Rainbow sweated, shuddering slightly.

"Now promise me something."  Fluttershy leaned forward.  "Don't fight her."

Rainbow blinked at last.  "Fight who?"  Swooooosh!  A set of hooves wrapped around Rainbow from behind.  "Guhhh!"  She struggled and squirmed.

Ariel held on tight, anchoring the two in mid-air with nimble wings.  "Rainbow... grnnngh... Dash!"  She panted and panted, fighting the expert flier's strong feathers.  "Stay... still..."

"Ariel!  Grnngh... let me go!"  Rainbow wheezed, reaching fruitlessly for the east horizon, eyes frenzied.  "Don't... wanna hurt y-you!"

"What's gotten into you?!"  Ariel gnashed her teeth, looking over her shoulder.  She breathed easier as she saw Wildcard, Bard, and Enix catching up.  "What did you witness inside that thing?"

"You... mrmmfff... wouldn't understand...!"

"And why not?!  We're the Herald!"  Ariel held on tighter, absorbing Rainbow's jostling movements.  "Rainbow... talk to us!"

"Whew!"  Bard rushed in, along with Wildcard.  "You caught her..."

Wildcard's goggles rattled as he levitated in place, reflecting Rainbow's pale muzzle.

"Have... have to get to the end..."  Rainbow panted.  "Can't... can't explain it..."  Her nostrils flared.  "The gold... is burning inside me... tethering me..."

"Tetherin' you to what?"

"The... the h-horizon..."  Rainbow Dash wheezed.

"Rainbow, that horizon's gotta end at one point or another!" Bard said.

Rainbow blinked hard, panting for breath.  Her sweat was a cold drench now.

"Listen to him, Rainbow Dash," Luna spoke.  "You've grown to be more than a mere tool of Urohringr."

"That's right, Rainbow," Twilight spoke, nodding.  "The reason you got this far—and ponies like Commander Hurricane didn't—is because you learned to temper zeal with companionship."  Her lavender brow furrowed.  "You're Loyalty... the last Element of Harmony.  That's precisely what Urohringr needs... and it's what we all need just the same."

"This is not like you," Luna said.  "Perhaps—before Axan—it once was, but that has changed.  You have changed.  And you must remember that... and hold true to it if you wish to truly save this plane."

Rainbow Dash's eyes remained locked on the golden stream.  "But... But I see it so clearly n-now..."  She gulped.  "I don't know why... but it's there.  The torches are lit and... and..."

"Then take the time to bask in the light," Luna said.  "And do so in the company of those whom you can trust, so they can help you ascertain the truth."

Rainbow shuddered in Ariel's grip.

Enix flew up along with her wingmates.  The nightblooded sarosian calmly surveyed the situation, then faced Rainbow Dash directly.  "A true Avatar of the Moon Maiden would do that which our Matriarch commands."  She raised an eyebrow.  "Or were we wrong to assume that her divine wisdom carried the Austraeoh this far?"

Wildcard looked at Enix, then at Rainbow Dash.

Bard reached a hoof out, resting it on Rainbow's shoulder.  "How 'bout it, darlin'?  You gonna slow down and take a breather with us or what?"

"We care for you, Rainbow Dash," Ariel said, giving her a slight squeak.  The grip had turned into a soft hug by now, and even Rainbow realized she was no longer struggling.  "Let us help you figure it out together."

Rainbow's ears folded.  For the first time since waking, the gold streams faded—but only because a fresh curtain of tears had rippled between them.  "I'm just... j-just so t-tired..."

"Shhhhh..."  Ariel nuzzled Rainbow from behind.  "I know you are..."

"It's... it's so much, Ariel..."  Rainbow wept, burying her head in something—only to discover it was Ariel's chest.  The pegasus held her dearly in mid-air while the others hovered nearby.  "It's always... one th-thing or another.  I try to be strong... but the b-best I can ever be is a crazed idiot..."

"Shhhh... no you're not..."  Ariel nuzzled her, stroking her mane and shoulders.  "You're better than that.  Mortuana knew that—and so do we."

"I'm so sorry..."  Sniffling, Rainbow looked past Ariel.  "Twilight... Fluttershy... girls, I'm s-so sorry..."

"It's okay, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said with a tearful smile.

"Yes, darling..."  Rarity sniffled, leaning in to Fluttershy and Twilight.  "We're here for you.  Don't ever doubt that for one second."

"We've got yer back, sugarcube."

"Every wing-flap of the way!" Pinkie chirped.

Rainbow's muzzle scrunched.  As more tears welled up in her eyes, she curled up in Ariel's grasp, blinding herself to the elements.  Ariel held her tenderly, giving the others a tender look.

Wildcard slicked his headcrest back while exhaling a breath of relief.

"Well then..."  Bard took his hat off, fanned himself, and plopped it back on.  "Why dun we... uh... go back to Bleak's Plummet and try to sort this all out, huh?"

"Rainbow?"  Ariel gave Rainbow's figure a slight shake.  "Is that okay with you?"

Rainbow produced a muffled whimper before nodding her head against Ariel's shoulder.

Ariel glanced at the Desperadoes.

Bard and Wildcard nodded back.  The griffon took the lead, gliding west.  Bard lent Ariel a hoof in guiding Rainbow back the way they came.

As the sarosians joined them, Enix hung at the back.  She stared east for a few blank seconds of abject curiosity... then followed the others in their westward lurch.
> Just a Routine Stop, Right?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Pegasi, griffons, and unicorns stood anxiously on the decks of three steam ships anchored side by side in choppy waters.  The sailors lined up along the starboard sides, squirming in the shadows of dozens of armored guardians.

Chandler squatted in his chariot, overlooking the three vessels down below.  No less than six pegasi were employed in holding his vehicle aloft in mid-air with able-bodied hooves.  Starlight glinted off his bulky armor plates as the Defense Minister continued staring at the trading ships down below.  In the meantime, squadrons of the Central Guard flew in broad circles around the scene, carefully observing both the east and west horizons of the twilight seas.

Commander Keris hovered alongside the center-most vessel alongside Windburst.  After a shuddering breath, he glanced at the ship's bow.

Seraphimus perched, patiently and calmly observing the scene.  At one point, her headcrest pulled back with interest.

Keris followed the path of her vision just in time to catch Sergeants Raptr and Starstorm emerging from the central vessel's lower deck, accompanied by several marching members of the Central Guard.

"See?!" a grizzled unicorn in a captain's hat exclaimed, waving his forelimbs with a smug grin.  "What did I tell you?!  Waste of everypony's good time—"

"Silence!" Seraphimus hissed, causing the ship's Captain and his subordinates to flinch.

Keris cleared his throat.  Floating over, he approached Starstorm and Raptr.  "Report."

"We checked everywhere, sir," Starstorm said.  "It's the same as in the other two vessels."  She glanced at the captain of the trading vessel.  "Not a single soul's hidden down there.  They were telling the truth when they said that all crew members were accounted for above deck."

Chandler's voice cried over the rumbling thunder:  "What about any hidden panels?!  Loose hull plating?"

"Pffft!  What do you take me for, eh?!"  The ship's captain shrugged again.  "We're just performing a normal run-of-the-mill delivery to the northeast outposts!  We've got nothing to hide, soldiers!"

Keris tried to hide his exasperation.  He gazed patiently at his Sergeants.

Raptr swallowed and said, "We examined all of the metal panels we saw.  Not a single one of them is hollow."

"He's right."  Starstorm nodded.  "And even if any of those panels could afford hidden spaces, none of them are large enough to hold a full-sized equine or griffon."

"Commander?" Chandler's voice echoed.

Keris took a breath and turned to face the Defense Minister above them.  "The Rainbow Rogue's posse aren't to be found here, sir.  These sailors are clean."

"I really don't think it'd be like the Rainbow Rogue to hide away on a trade ship anyways," Windburst said.

"Yeah!  Exactly!"  The captain nodded up at the Talon member and turned to face Chandler high above.  "Look, Mr. Soldier-Dude—"

"Defense Minister Brye Chandler..."  The stallion's brow furrowed.  "You've not heard of our current expedition?"

"Uhhhh... I know that the Queen's dead and we've got frost-shitting Wendigoes flying all over the place—"

"Verlaxion's demise is a tragedy of the highest calibre," Seraphimus said in a cold tone.  Her charcoal eyes glinted.  "We will not have you speak of it so flippantly."

"Right.  Whatever."  The captain waved a hoof.  "Look.  The price for thermal sea bass is the highest it's ever been—what with the continentals freezing their flanks off and whatnot."  He smirked.  "Right now, you're interrupting a once-in-a-lifetime chance to capitalize on that.  Just two more deliveries and all of my crew get to return home to their family for years off of the fortune to be had!  Now... y'all are Rohbredden defenders and jazz... so why are you up in my grill making life hard?  Huh?"  His grizzled jaw clenched.  "I've no clue who this Rainbow Rogue is.  An Enemy of the State?  Pfffft... not worth my time.  And neither is this.  So can we cut the pretense and let us go already?"

"Awfully quick to be rid of us, buddy," Windburst said.

"Yo..."  The captain gestured.  "It's the end of the world.  Wouldn't you wanna get shit done too?"

Chandler sighed, rubbing his muzzle.

"Defense Minister..."  Keris flew up to him.  "The Rainbow Rogue isn't the type of character to get innocent ponies like this tangled up in her business.  I firmly believe there's nothing of importance for us here.  If we want to catch up with our target, we should move up."

"Funny..."  Chandler muttered.  He raised his hoof just long enough to glare at the Talon leader.  "As of late, you've seen awfully keen to delay us enough as it is."

Starstorm and Raptr fidgeted.

Keris stared at him blankly.  "Sir...?"

Chandler took a breath.  "Something's funny here.  Three trade ships?  Cruising so close together in these twilight waters?"

"You haven't had much rest, sir," Keris said.  "Perhaps you're imagining scenarios where there aren't any."

"That'll be up to me to decide."  Chandler stood up and looked over the edge of his chariot.  "My dear captain..."  He spoke boldly.  "...you have a remarkably large convoy here."

"Yeah?  What about it?"

Chandler squinted.  "Isn't that rather dangerous in midnighter territory?"

"Hah!"  The captain smirked.  "Funny you should say that!"  He exchanged nods with his fellow crew members.  "Sometime in the last twelve hours, they up and vanished!"

"Huh?"  Raptr blinked.

Seraphimus cocked her head to the side.  "What do you mean... 'vanished?'"

"We send seadogs out in steam skiffs to test the waters every fivelight, y'know?  They drag long cables and see if anything snags.  If so—then that means those bat bastards are tailing us underwater.  They got a shitton of submersibles, y'know.  They think they're invisible, but they're wrong."

"How curious..."  Chandler blinked.  "But... lately you've 'snagged' nothing?"

"Damn skippy!  Over the past twelve hours, the midnighters seemed to have... sunk completely!"

"You mean... they've left this region completely?" Starstorm asked.

"Pfft!  Don't be stupid!"  The captain waved a hoof.  "Something's got them super spooked, most likely.  I mean... for a bunch of bloodthirsty pirates, they can be superstitious as Hell.  Doesn't matter to me—so long as they're good and distracted."  He smiled, ugly teeth glinting in the starlight.  "Hell... some of my helmsmen saw their moonlights rippling through the currents... headed east."

"East?" Chandler blinked.

"Yeah!  All of them!  Super fast!  Probably headed to their home... uhm... Bleak's Plummet, as the leafy-eared freaks call it.  Proud little bastards.  Do a good job of hiding their shitty underwater habitat too.  If you ask me, they must be having some sort of crazy batpony convention.  All the good for us, y'know?"  The captain pointed at the other two ships.  "So, we're taking advantage of the safe waters while we can!  Heh... we don't want to be around when those bloodthirsty shitheads return with a vengeance... y'know?"

"Something... spooked them...?" Raptr remarked.

"Or..."  Chandler tapped his chin in thought.  "...they're amassing together for a reason."  His eyes widened slowly.  "...or for a rogue."

Seraphimus flashed Chandler a look.  "You suggest that the Rainbow Rogue has enlisted the help of the vile Seventh Tribe?"

"Honestly... could we expect her not to?"  Chandler looked at Keris.  "Commander... you've witnessed her tactics before.  Would she be capable of charming them?"

Keris stared back.  He fumbled for words—

"The Lieutenant... the Commander has succumbed to the Blight before," Seraphimus said without looking at him.  "If a loyal member of the Talon can be mind-controlled by our Goddess-killer, then truly evil deviants such as the midnighter pirates would be fair game."

"Then it's worse than I feared," Chandler muttered.  "The Rainbow Rogue's posse has turned into an army."

"If... if that's so, Defense Minister," Keris calmly spoke, floating closer.  "Then I fear that we are too few in number to tackle what may be at her disposal."

"It's not a question of numbers, Commander," Chandler said, gazing at the thunderous horizon.  "We are equipped with the best of the best... Rohbredden's top elite."  He took a breath.  "However... we distinctly lack a safe platform to execute our offensive."

"Well, true."  Windburst nodded.  "This was only ever meant to be a quick mobile strike.  But now..."

"Do..."  Starstorm blinked.  "...do we go back and assemble a fleet from Frostknife?"

"I doubt the windigoes have left a clear, unfrozen path from the harbor to these seas.  Besides..."  Chandler fumed.  "It's out of the question.  We're behind enough as it is."

"Look... whatever you decide, could you deliberate elsewhere?" the captain sputtered impatiently.  "You've held my crew up for over an hour now.  We've got deliveries to make, and with the windigoes out—we're not aiming to stick in one place for long!"  He frowned.  "We're lucky enough that the midnighters have screwed off to Goddess-knows-where!"

All the while, Seraphimus listened carefully.  She glanced at the deck of the steam-ship... at the multiple crates covered in thick gray tarp.  Taking a deep breath, she hopped down from her perch and marched icily across the deck.  "Captain... your anxiousness intrigues me.  Thermal sea bass—you said you were delivering?"

"That's right."

Seraphimus' charcoal eyes narrowed.  "If I recall, the heat of the organs of slaughtered thermal sea bass increase exponentially over time.  Like fine wine... the fish need to age before their intestines can be utilized as a heat source for nothern outposts."

"Right.  Normally, I'd take that into account.  But shit has hit the fan, hasn't it?  On a continental level too."  The captain faced Chandler.  "Look, dude.  Can you calm your parrot here?  We really gotta draw anchor—"

"And... if I recall... sea bass—thermal or not—have a very distinct rotting smell."  Seraphimus glanced up at Keris.  "Isn't that right, Commander?"

Keris swallowed.  "As a matter of fact, it is—"

"Look, lady..."  The captain frowned.  "What are you trying to get at?"

"Maybe you're not transporting dead fish at all," Seraphimus said.  Schiiing!  She bore her claws.  "In fact... maybe you're lying through your teeth!"  That said, she spun and slammed her tallon through a stack of crates.

Smassssh!  Scraps of tarp and chunks of wood went flying.  Sailors and guards flinched... then watched as several chunks of faintly-glowing rock formations glowed in the starlight.

"By the Blight..."  Chandler exhaled.

"Hmmm... thermal sea bass, captain?"  Seraphimus picked up a brittle sample of porous, glowing rock.  "Looks an awful lot like hallucinogenic sea coral to me."  Her glaring eyes pivoted until they reflected the captain's visibly shaking figure.  "Not only would you lie straight to the muzzle of the Defense Minister... disrespectfully so... but you would harbor highly illegal contraband?  Just how many pounds—or I daresay—tons of this material do you have stowed away in these containers?"

"Uhhhhh..."  The captain's teeth chattered.  "Uhmmmm..."

"Run out of excuses?"  Seraphimus tossed the material away, shattering it to flakey bits.  "How fascinating.  For I've run out of patience."  She marched towards him, claws dragging—scraping.

"Okay... okay!"  The captain backed away from her, bumping into a smokestack.  "Look!  Even if windigoes weren't ravaging the continent, the collapse of the Syndicate changed the game up!  And... well... think about it!"  He gulped.  "Now—more than ever—there are ponies out there willing to pay top bits just to escape the current situation, y'know?"

"Our Goddess is dead.  Evil is at large."  Seraphimus stared him down.  "And you would resort to the exploitation of our besieged citizens?!  Do you know the punishment for distributing hallucinogenic coral in the eyes the Council of Verlaxion?"

"Uhm... I... er..."

"Up to a lifetime of imprisonment in the Frosted Shelves," Keris murmured.  "But—"

"But the Frosted Shelves are currently being used to defend the innocent populace of Frostknife!" Seraphimus exclaimed.  "And—for the interim—the Council of Verlaxion has declared martial law, with supreme authority granted to that stallion up there!  Defense Minister Brye Chandler!"  She spun to face the pony in his chariot.  "Dear Minister—can we afford to take these drug-peddlers back to Central Rohbredden?"

"As a matter of fact..."  Chandler took a deep breath.  "...we cannot."  He raised an eyebrow.  "We can, however, dispense with a swift and merciful execution."

The sailors gasped and wheezed.

"Now w-wait a s-second—!"  The Captain rushed forward.  Schiiiing!  A serrated talon held him up to the smokestack's foundation.  He froze in place, trembling in Seraphimus' grasp.

"Defense Minister!"  Keris sputtered.  He gazed firmly at the stallion.  "Is now really the time to be causing unnecessary bloodshed?"

"Commander, these criminals are the ones who caused trouble the very moment they saw it fit to take advantage of our Goddess' most unfortunate passing."  Chandler then took a breath, folding his forelimbs.  "However... it would be a most heinous waste of time and resources."  He glanced down.  "Seraphimus... you're experienced with working in the field.  Might I ask for your advice in this matter?"

The Captain nervously looked at Seraphimus.

Seraphimus calmly blinked.  "Well, the contraband will have to be destroyed... and the tools of these criminals would necessarily be reappropriated by the government of Rohbredden.  And seeing as we're the acting arm of the law out in these waters..."

"You've... g-got to be kidding..."  The Captain wheezed.  "You expect us to g-give up our ships?!"

"You, of course, will be given the means to make your way to dry land," Seraphimus said.  "I do believe you have enough life rafts on board these vessels to accomplish such a task."

"Oh, lick my ass!"  The Captain snarled.  "If you expect us to just hoof these ships over and row our way dozens of miles to shore, you've got another thing coming!"

"Mmmm... a point well made."  Seraphimus looked up at the chariot.  "Defense Minister?"

"Right."  The stallion gestured.  "Step back, Seraphimus."  He shouted to the soldiers.  "Central Guard!  Execute these criminals!"

Schiiiiiiiing!  Multiple pegasi and griffons brandished their swords.

"Wait!  Wait!"  The Captain flailed his forelimbs as his crew members ducked.  "Take... t-take them!  Please!  Just... j-just spare our lives!"

"Ah... very well."  Chandler nodded.  "Consider this an act of mercy, my good stallion.  Make your way to shore and start a new life.  Goddess knows we could use all the help we can get on the mainland.  That includes sober souls."  He turned towards Seraphimus.  "You may proceed with the extraction."

"I... do not possess the authority, sir," Seraphimus droned.

"Quite true."  Chandler looked at Keris.  "Commander?  If you would kindly give the command."

"... ... ..."  Keris looked back at Chandler.  He glanced at the shivering crew members.  At last, after a deep breath, he grumbled:  "Central Guard.  Dump the contraband into the sea... and escort these sailors into the life rafts.  If any of them resist you... then toss them overboard.  That is an order."
> Know the One True Threat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Nearly two dozen tiny lifeboats congregated together.  Water splashed as the cold, frightened passengers struggled to row their miniature rafts westward—towards a hazy gray line along the horizon.

In the meantime, Chandler's expedition had divided itself into three groups—each congregating on a different steamship.  Pegasi and griffons marched across the now-empty decks, minding each station and prepping the vessels for a swift, churning cruise east.

"All stations clear, sir!"

"The other vessels comply!"

"Ready to go on the Minister's signal!"

Keris stood at the stern of the centermost vessel.  He took a deep breath, staring out at the distant rafts to the west.

"They... uh..."  Starstorm wandered up.  "They're going to have to row against a strong current, aren't they?"

"Only the strongest," Windburst murmured.  "Tossing them overboard would have just gotten it over with faster."

"They... th-they need an escort!" Raptr exclaimed.  He looked at Keris.  "Commander, surely two of us can hang back and help them get to dry land!  We've got experience!  We can help them find a westward stream!"

Keris stood in silence.

"Commander...?"

"Our place is with this expedition," Keris muttered.  "And in being there for when the inevitable confrontation happens with Rainbow Dash."

Raptr blinked.  He eventually hung his head.

"Well, no doubt Chandler got what he wanted out of this," Starstorm muttered.  "The way he must see it—we're ready for battle."

"Are we?"  Windburst glanced aside, adjusting the weight of his crossbow.  "There's no telling just how many midnighters are out there.  If they've truly taken Rainbow Dash's side—"

"Then she'll be the one in charge of them!" Starstorm exclaimed.  "She... she would teach them some restraint, don't you think?"

"Sergeant..."  Keris sighed, finally turning around to face the bow.  "Even we can't afford to be that naive.  Even if Rainbow Dash did find a way to pacify the midnighters—for she is gifted—they've been bloodthirsty pirates all of their lives.  I doubt they know how to function in a way that isn't outright hostile."

"Rainbow Dash has done the impossible before," Starstorm said.

"We should nevertheless expect the worst," Keris said.  "Just like she would.  At this point—I'd say a confrontation is inevitable.  Now—more than ever—I'd expect no less."

"The... the odds just keep increasing," Raptr muttered.  "How can we prevent a bloodbath at this point?

"Maybe it's time to reassess our priorities," Keris said.

Windburst raised an eyecrest.  "How so?"

"Chandler wants a fight.  Rainbow Dash wants to escape to the Dark Side."  Keris glanced at the rest of the Talon.  "I don't see why we can't let both happen... in the best interests of Rohbredden."

The Sergeants glanced at one another.

Eventually, Windburst spoke, "Well, either way, I expect a major migraine.  One thing's for certain."  He gulped.  "I don't envy the position that Seraphimus has put you in, Commander."

Keris nodded.  "And let's just keep it that way, hmmm?"  He signaled the others as he marched off.  "Mind the stations.  Make sure none of the soldiers hurt themselves with the steam equipment.  Their expertise is fighting—not navigation."

"We'll see what you can do."

"What about you, Commander?"

"What else?"  Keris made for the bow.  "I have to play face."

The leader of the Talon brushed past busy pegasi and griffons.  At last, he reached the spot where Chandler's chariot had been parked.  The Defense Minister sat on a wooden crate, leaning against the vehicle as he scribbled words onto a piece of parchment.

"We're... uhm..."  Keris cleared his throat, standing at attention.  "Ready to cast off, sir."

"Do we have plenty of fuel in the hold?"

"Between all three ships?  Most definitely, sir."  Keris said.  "Although, I do suggest you let me send a few squadrons ahead of us to watch the waves and skies for signs of the enemy."

"Make sure you put extra coverage on the waters," Chandler said.  "If the midnighters are indeed in possession of submersible craft, I want to know right away."

"I'll have our unicorns posted to detect any errant leylines."

"Well-thought, Commander."

Keris squinted at the letter Chandler was writing.  "Arranging a message, sir?"

"Indeed."  Chandler nodded, scribbling.  "With the most recent developments, I believe it is paramount to inform Frostknife of the involvement of the Seventh Tribe."

"Assuming Rainbow Dash is in league with them."

"I presume it's quite obvious at this point, Commander."

"How... do you intend to send the message out?"

"I'll be asking for winged volunteers within the hour," Chandler said.  "Just one brave soul should be able to make the delivery."  His eyes darted up briefly.  Sharply.  "Do you want it to be you, Commander?"

Keris' feathered brow furrowed.  "My post is here with the expedition, sir."

"Is it?"  Chandler raised an eyebrow as he paused in writing.  "Because I couldn't help but notice that it took the former Commander of the Talon to make that observation about the coral contraband."

"I'm afraid I don't follow."

"Please, Commander.  You're smarter than that.  So don't insult my intelligence."  Chandler leaned back.  "You've never been a firm believer in my authority.  And—to be honest—there are times when I wonder just how difficult it was for the Rainbow Rogue to 'pollute your feeble mind' with the dark powers of the Blight."

"An interesting idea," Keris said.  "Albeit needlessly paranoid."

"In my position—and with what's at stake—I cannot afford to be otherwise."

"If that's the case, then why didn't you try harder to dispute the Talon's inclusion into this expedition?" Keris calmly said.  "Even as we set out from Frostknife, did you hold such distrust?"

"Why else do you think I brought the ever-loyal Seraphimus along?"

Keris was silent.

Chandler took a calm breath and finished his letter.  "The Queen will be avenged, Commander.  Mark my words.  Any force—no matter how esteemed—that tries to interfere with this mission of vengeance will be eliminated.  You are being watched closely."

"Is that supposed to be a threat?"

"No."  Chandler sealed the letter.  "It's Seraphimus who is watching you and your sergeants closely."  He pointed.  "That's the threat."  He held the letter out.  "Now... care to make a delivery for me?"  He stared at the leader of the Talon.

Keris stared back.  His beak opened slowly.  "No, sir."

Silence.

Chandler's nostrils flared.  "Hmmmff... I've no clue what you're truly planning, Commander.  A pity I just can't have the Talon thrown overboard like the drug runners."

"I believe that should be the least of your concerns right now," Keris said.

"Indeed."  Chandler stood up and brushed past the griffon.  "Funny.  I could have told you the same."  He approached the crew assigned to the central vessel, whistling.  "Soldiers!  Gather around!  I am in need of a brave messenger to deliver a letter to Frostknife!  Fear not... your honor shall not be slighted in the least for performing this noble task!  You have my solemn word as Defense Minister of this most righteous venture!"

Sighing, Keris turned about.  In so doing—he caught a cold glint in the distance.  He stared across the choppy waters to the ship off of port.

Seraphimus perched on the starboard side of the nearest vessel.  She had been staring fixedly at Keris the entire time, and she wasn't smiling.

"... ... ..."  Keris exhaled.  Breaking sight with the former Commander, he shuffled off... pacing thoughtfully along the deck of the ship.
> Upside Down and Inside Out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Soooooooooo..."  A tiny filly's fangs flashed in the lunar runelight of the Bleak's Plummet interior.  "...are you getting dizzy?"

A colt blinked.  "Feeling sick at all?"

"Uhhhhhhhhhh..."  Nicole hung from a suspended bleakweed root structure dangling from a grand ceiling.  Several other families dangled around her in the habitat section of the underwater dwelling.  The mare's eyes blinked as her ears twitched.  "...actually... believe it or not..."  Her tail flicked.  "No!  Not even in the least!"

"Hmmmmmm..."  A mother smiled from two roots away, cradling her young in her folded leathery wings.  "It is natural.  They can take the night out of you, but not the blood."

"They... didn't take anything away from me, really," Nicole said, glancing at the other interested sarosians gazing her way.  "You're talking about the Rohbreddenites who adopted me, right?"

"They didn't mistreat you at all?" a filly asked.

"Beat you up?"  A colt dangled a few inches away.  "Clip your wings?  Shave your mane?"

"I..."  Nicole squirmed slightly.  "Okay... so maybe there was some name-calling and insulting..."

Shrieks and chirps.

"Hah!"

"I knew it!"

"Now hold up..."  Nicole held a hoof upside down.  "I was still fed.  Loved.  Hugged."  She stifled a giggle.  "Nuzzled."  She sighed warmly.  "I had several adopted siblings who cared very deeply for me.  It's just that... the one in charge of it all?"  She gulped.  "He turned out to be not so swell."

"Bet you hate all Rohbreddenites 'cuz of him."

"Mmmm..."  Nicole stared up (or down) into the depths of Bleak's Plummet.  "No.  Not really."

A stallion cocked his velvety head aside.  "Why not?"

"Because... I can understand why he felt the way he did... and he said the things that he did.  There's... a lot of sorrow in Blue... er... my caretaker."  Nicole gulped hard.  "Just like... y'know... there's a lot of anger in those who've been performing the Vigil."

"We're not angry!"  A young colt's fangs flashed.  "We're proud!  We're strong!  Someday... I'm going to give my life for the Maiden of the Moon!  Just like my older brother and sister!"

Nicole threw him a shocked look.  "Did you really lose your siblings?"

The colt shook slightly, but bravely blurted, "They died pillaging a juggernaut in the northern reaches!  We were able to eat for five whole seasons thanks to them!  The local patrol avoided our waters for eight seasons too!"

Nicole glanced at the others hanging alongside her.  "How many ponies here have also lost loved ones to piracy?"

Somber silence filled the air.  The adults clammed up.  With stifled whimpers, young foals hid their faces into their parents' chests.

Nicole let loose a melancholic sigh.  "Well, don't you think it's high time that changed?  I mean..."  She bore a hopeful smile, fangs showing.  "With the arrival of Rainbow Dash, she's proven that Nightmare Moon is a thing of the past.  Your Matriarch, Princess Luna, is alive and well in Equestria!  Isn't that fantastic!  Isn't that... enough to give up the whole pirate bloodshed thing for?"

"I... cannot pretend to know," a stallion said.

Nicole looked at him.

His slitted eyes glimmered in the runelight.  "We have known nothing but fear and pillaging.  Such is the sacrifice of the Vigil."  He gulped.  "I do not think we know how to change."

"Hmmm..."  Nicole smiled.  "You know, there was a time when I thought I wasn't cut out for adventuring beyond the fenceline of my farm."  She winked.  "But if I didn't... then I'd never have met you fine ponies and learned what it was like to properly sleep from the ceiling."  She giggled inwardly.

"You think... we're fine ponies?" a mare remarked.

"Why... s-sure!"  Nicole nodded.  "And with the help of Luna, you can only be finer!"  She glanced at the others.  "I mean... wouldn't Xarchellus agree?"

"I don't know..."  One sarosian remarked.  She squirmed in place.  "Mmmmm..."

Nicole looked at her curiously.

"That is..."  The sarosian looked up, eyes moist.  "...I really hope she does."

Nicole slowly nodded.  "Change is frightening... but for the best."

"You sure of that?"

"Not... always..."  Nicole smirked.  "Perhaps what we both need is some help finding our way."

"Would... you help us?"

Nicole opened her muzzle.  A sigh, and she folded her leathery wings about herself.  After several dull seconds, she murmured warmly:  "I would so very much like to..."

"I think we would like you to... too..."

"Yeah," a foal gasped.  "You're really interesting."

"And pretty!"

Nicole giggled—only to let loose a sharp shriek. She covered her muzzle, wide-eyes.

The adults around her laughed.

"Just let it out, land-dweller," a mother chuckled.  "It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"No... I-I guess not..."  Nicole nevertheless cleared her throat.  "Nor should you feel awkward about... wanting to have peace."

The sarosians merely glanced at one another.

At some point, a nervous shudder ran through Nicole's body.  "I... uhm..."  She unlocked her legs and flipped down off the root.  Flapping her wings, she hovered close to the ceiling.  "I gotta go find my friend."

"Who?"

"Echo.  Y'know..."  Nicole gestured.  "The flightless wisecracker with a heart of fool's gold.  Knowing his reputation, it's probably a bad thing to have left him alone for so long—"

"Down in the dining hall," one sarosian said, pointing a hairy fetlock.  "That is where you will fine Ryckmun."

"Uhhhh..."  Nicole did a double-take.  "Excuse me—what?"

"Ryckmun," the sarosian repeated.  "The true name of your friend before he was banished."

"Yeah."  A nearby colt giggled.  "Only the lamest sarosian would name himself 'Echo'! Heeheehee-ee-ee-ee-ee!"

"Ryckmun has done many terrible things," a mare said.  "But he also comes bearing the blessings of the Mother of Nightmares."  She took a deep breath.  "If it weren't for him, we'd have no idea the Vigil had ended."

A nearby stallion nodded.  "It is nothing less than a sign of true honor.  Something to be respected."

"Yeah... no kidding..."  Nicole glanced down at the distant floor of the chamber, then back up at the dangling batponies.  "Would you... care to tell me more about 'Ryckmun'?"
> Nicole and Echo's "Fool Us!"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"But I thought that all land dwellers were taught from foaling to hunt down and murder sarosians."

"No, ya friggin' idiot," Echo grumbled.  "You see... that's what they want you to think."

"Who's 'they?'"

"Take your pick," Echo said with a shrug.  "Those who want you to fight to the death?  Those who want to protect you?  Those who want to get rid of you?"  He slicked his mane back and leaned casually against a knot of bleakweed.  "Certainly not those who want you to know the truth.  Truth's powerful, you see, and it compromises a buncha shit.  Not everypony wants everypony to grasp it."

Nicole wandered into a large chamber where a huge crowd of adult sarosians had gathered.  The velvety sea of bodies faced Echo in the center, lingering under cold runic manalight.

"So... what you're telling us is that not everypony wants to kill off the 'Seventh Tribe?'"

"Eh..."  Echo shrugged.  "If push came to shove, and all the 'Tribes' were on fire, then—sure—the Seventh would be the last group that most Rohbreddenites would piss on."  Echo cleared his throat.  "But ponies to the west of us are... like... too busy in-fighting and toying with politics and waxing religious poetic to ever bother dealing with you guys straight-on."

"Really?"

"Hate is a fickle thing, you see," Echo droned.  "True animosity is only useful in a pinch.  Like... just days ago, everyone in Rohbredden wanted to murder the wyverns—like... all of them... down to the last goofy tusk."

"So they turn against their own kind."  One sarosian blinked his slitted eyes.  "How barbaric."

"I know, right?  But..."  Echo gestured.  "...usually, ponies just... don't care."  He shrugged again.  "Say what you want about hate, but nothing matches the divine power of apathy."

"I see..."

"Shit heaps like Rust and Mudtop only existed because they could.  But when those criminal empires crumbled, only a few psychopaths actually wanted to go through the effort of rebuilding them... and they found themselves with very little support.  It all leads to collapse, really."

"But the Blood of Luna," one sarosian murmured, her ears folding back.  "She held the heart of Rohbredden in the crook of her fetlocks.  How come she didn't assume control?"

"If she tried, it would have backfired.  Horribly."  Echo shook his head.  "The cards were stacked against her.  Still are."

"But she murdered the frost Queen, didn't she?"

"No, she took credit for it."

"Did that not make her a prime target in the eyes of Rohbredden?"

"You bet your velvety plot."

"But... why put herself in such jeopardy?  I do not understand."

"Because she's a pony who gives a shit."

The sarosians merely glanced at one another.

"Look..."  Echo leaned forward, gesturing.  "Rainbow Dash doesn't enjoy having a bunch of enemies at her back.  But... she enjoys ponies tearing themselves to shreds even less."  His eyebrows rose.  "She's not a Rohbreddenite, after all.  She's Equestrian—born and raised—and those sappy folk are super big on peace and harmony and all that stuff."

"She... sacrificed her own security so that the Tribes would not collapse..."

"Precisely."  Echo nodded.  "It wasn't much of a choice, in her case, I suppose.  But she rolled with it anyway.  Because she knew that far less ponies would suffer and die in the here and now."  He took a breath.  "That very same spirit brought her here... at the doorsteps of Bleak's Plummet.  She knew she was putting herself at risk—as well as her friends—but she made the trip anyways... because her mission means bringing harmony to more ponies... to more souls than we could ever hope to friggin' count."

"And her trip to the land of the Dark Vigil," a sarosian remarked.  "It's another risk for the same thing?"

"Right.  So... you see..."  Echo leaned back, sighing.  "Luna chose her avatar for a good damn reason.  The Austraeoh's out to save the world.  That includes you guys.  And... uh... it includes me as well."  He nodded gently.  "Believe me.  She's saved my sorry ass more than once.  Especially when I didn't deserve it."

The batponies murmured and squeaked amongst one another.

"It is... starting to become clear now," an elder said.  "I can understand why Xarchellus is taking so long to contemplate it."

"I know, right?"

"It... must not have been easy for you to come here either," another sarosian said.  Her eyes narrowed.  "I used to hear stories told about you... about what you took from us..."

Echo gulped.  "Uh huh..."

The mare cocked her head aside.  "... ... ...I do not see that same coward standing in front of us now."

Echo blinked.

"I see a stallion who has experienced many things... perhaps more than the rest of us."  Her fangs showed.  "Usually, only warriors can boast of such things."

Nicole smirked at a distance.  "Some are just damned lucky to be alive."

Several heads turned, murmuring.

Echo nodded, pointing across the way.  "Yeah.  What she said."

"I... uh..."  Nicole strolled forward a bit.  "I was wondering if I could have a few words with my friend here.."

More murmurs.

"Yeah, sounds good to me."  Echo trotted across the chamber, leaving the crowd behind.  "I think it's high time that the convention wrapped up anyways.  You've been a nice audience," he said, waving.  "I'll try to perform more magic tricks next time."

A few chuckles lit the air.  Gradually, the crowd began to disperse, lingering in conversational pockets.

"I... uh..."  Nicole fidgeted slightly.  "I hope I didn't interrupt something special."

"Nah..."  Echo waved a hoof.  "We were just kicking the ol' moonrock around.  Catching up.  Nothing too snazzy."

Nicole looked squarely at him.  "It's more than luck that brought you here, Echo."

"Yeah.  A goofy-ass hunk of rust powered by a bald dork did most of the gruntwork as of late."

Nicole's brow furrowed.

"What?  Wanna fight me, girl?"

"No."  She motioned with her head and trotted out of the chamber.  "Follow me."

"What for?"

"I want to show you something..."
> You're Allowed to be Happy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Two solitary figures trotted into a narrow chamber with a tall, tall ceiling.  The moon runes here were sparse, casting the narrow niche in darkness.

"Do you know what this place is?" Nicole asked, peering up at the distant ceiling.

"Uhhhhhh..."  Echo's voice echoed against the bleakweed walls.  "This is a cursed room: a detention hall for naughty, heretical youths who are doomed to being fed to the sharks for their naysayings."

"Wow... really?" Nicole squeaked.

"Meh..."  Echo shrugged.

"Echo..."

"Beats me, Nicole.  Why else would it be so abandoned?"

"You mean you seriously don't know?"

"What does it matter?"

"Don't worry."  Nicole pointed straight up.  "See those roots dangling way up high?  Along the ceiling?"

"Yeah.  Their roosts.  What about them?"

She looked at him with a soft smile.  "When was the last time you... y'know... hung upside down?  Like a real midnighter?"

"I think somepony's getting addicted to this place."

"Echo..."

"Stop saying my name like that.  It's becoming a naughty habit.  Not that I mind..."

"When was the last time you relaxed upside down?"

"In prison."

"I mean truly relaxed."

Echo shook his head.  "I fail to see what you're trying to accomplish."

"Just humor me," Nicole said in a warm tone, patting his shoulder.  "I don't think you'll regret it."

"As much as I'd love to tickle your funny bone, well..."  He flopped around his useless leather wings.  "As you can see... I'm not re-living any Bleak's Plummet memories anytime soon."

"That's okay."  Nicole trotted behind him.  "Just leave it to me."

"Leave what to you?"

She cleared her throat and gripped his shoulders from behind.  "Now stay still..."

"Pffft... you've gotta be frickin' kidding me..."

"Hey... I'm a farm girl..."  She winked at him.  "Which means I'm stronger than you're willing to admit."  That said, she flapped her wings and—FWOOOOOOOOSH!—lifted them both up.

"Whoah whoah whoah!"  Echo winced as the dim ceiling rushed into proximity.  "Gnnngh... a slightly less subtle warning next time?"

"Shhhh!"  Nicole grunted, fanged teeth gritting.  "Think... you c-can grip onto a root... just like old t-times...?"

"Guess I have no choice, do I?"  With a quick breath, Echo nimbly swung himself around in Nicole's grasp.  Thw-Thwap!  His lower fetlocks effortlessly slipped into the crook of the root, and soon he was dangling with ease.  "Ahhhhhhhh there we go... just like riding a unicycle."  He then gazed "up" (or down) at the distant, distant floor.  "Ahhhhhhh'kay... that'll clean out the urethra.  That's for sure."

"Whew!"  Nicole hovered beside him.  "What did they feed you in prison?  Iron pellets?"

"Nah, you got it the other way around.  They fed me cruddy frozen oatmeal and then I made the iron pellets."  His nostrils flared as he gazed at the bleakweed ceiling around them.  "Nicole, what did you bring us up here for?"

"Shhhhhh..."  Nicole hovered, hovered, then flipped herself upside down in a blink.  She dangled from the roots directly behind him, resting her limbs.  "Just relax.  Pretend it's... y'know... the old days.  And you're just turning in for a long sleep."

"Things were different then," Echo said, trembling slightly.  He once again threw the distant floor a forlorn glance.  "I didn't have to worry about turning into velvet paste."

"Just chill—"

"I'm telling you, Nicole, I can't," he muttered.  "One slip, and I'm done for."

"It's okay..."  With a soft breath, she reached in from behind, wrapping her leather wings around his timid frame.  "I'll catch you, Ryckmun."

His breath was immediately sucked in.  Slitted eyes twitched as he dangled from the roots, cocooned in her grasp.  He swallowed a lump down his throat and murmured in a dry voice:  "Who... who h-have you been t-talking to...?"

"She used to hold you just like this, didn't she?" Nicole whispered.  "Your mother?"  She caressed his mane, speaking in a calm, warm tone.  "Until you were able to fly... she kept you safe.  Your siblings too.  They looked after you."

He gulped hard.  "My mother's dead," he grunted.  "My brothers and sisters... all drowned."  Fangs glinted.  "These shit-munchers will waste your family in a blink.  And for what?"  His nostrils flared.  "All this 'piracy garbage' is only good for bathing the ocean red.  They're damned lucky that Rainbow and Luna are giving them a clean break."

"Yes, they are lucky," Nicole said.  "And so are you."

"Still won't un-murder my family."

"No.  No it won't."  Nicole squeezed him in the comforting embrace of her wings.  "And yet... you're here again, Ryckmun..."

"Nicole..."

"You're here again... and it's okay," she murmured.  "It's okay to be at peace... to be still..."

Echo grimaced.  His breaths came in faster and faster squeaks.  His slitted eyes darted all about as he searched, sought, panicked.  "I've... b-been... mmmm... so friggin' angry for so friggin' long..."

Nicole merely nodded, stroking his neck and shoulders.

He shuddered.  "So... so damn angry... I've..."  His lips trembled.  "...I've screwed so many ponies over... ruined so many lives..."  Tears welled up in his eyes.  "Slaves... Families... children... Theams.  I've... I've hurt him so much... I..."  He winced as a pained squeak escaped his muzzle.  "...I'm such a lousy piece of shit, Nicole.  The absolute slimiest... and what good h-has it done for the world?"

"You look at the faces of these ponies here, Ryckmun... and you tell me."  Nicole caressed his face.  "They no longer see a traitor."

"They..."

"They've forgiven you, Ryckmun.  There's no coward anymore.  No sleezeball.  The stallion who helped Rainbow Dash get here is a new pony.  And it's okay to accept that..."

Echo's muzzle was awash in tears at this point.  "I... I-I don't even remember wh-what it's like to not be running anymore... to n-not be scared for my rotten-ass hide..."  His dangling body rocked as he hid his face in his hooves.  "I... I-I don't think I can live like this.  Without the anger... I'm nothing..."

"No, you're everything..."  She nuzzled him closely, drowning out his sobs.  "Shhhhh..."  She held him tighter.  "...welcome home, Ryckmun."

"I... I c-can't..."  Echo wept, muffled.  "I j-just can't..."

"Yes you can.  We can."  She smiled tearfully.  "I will help you.  Do you hear me?  I'm here for you..."

Echo had nothing left to protest with.  He simply dangled there in her grasp as the two rocked gently in each other's embrace, weathering the last waves of sorrow to fountain from his lungs.  And once the last bastions had crumbled, he drifted into silent serenity, like a trusting little colt in steadfast wings.
> All That Glimmers Is Gold
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Rainbow Dash?" Princess Luna's voice calmly entreated.

Rainbow stood at the bow of the Stardust.  Muzzle agape, she slowly peered around and around.  The bodies of her friends glowed faintly with fuzzy gold auras.  Behind them—to the east—the same light rippled through the waters, bright and intense.  Rainbow calmly weathered the turbulence of the waves while her ghostly friends looked on in concern.  Even they had a faint glow to them, and the gold trailed after their spectral figures as they floated around their anchor.

"Rainbow Dash," Princess Luna repeated.  "Perhaps now you might be able to explain to us precisely what it is that you are experiencing?"

"Yeah, Rainbow," Ariel said, nodding from where she hovered above Logan, Wildcard, and Bard.  "What's going on in that head of yours?"

"I... I'm not sure..."  She gulped, looking at Twilight, Applejack, and the rest of her friends.  "Everypony's... leaving a faint gold trail..."

"Gold?" Bard remarked.

Rainbow nodded.  "You.  My friends.  Even the sarosians."  She glanced west at where Enix and the others led the procession by air.  "I... I think I even sense the fish in the sea."  She turned to face Remna.  Her eyes relaxed... and soon she realized how dim the air around the violet mare was.  "You... on the other hoof... have almost no aura about you."

Remna merely nodded.  "Perhaps I should take that as a compliment."

"Did anything in your most recent vision explain what this extra-sensory-perception might mean?"

Rainbow clenched her jaw.  "I'm afraid not, Your Highness.  Only..."  She gazed east.  "I can see the path to the edge."

"The edge crosses a lot of distance, Rainbow Dash," Princess Celestia's voice said.

"Yeah, but, I see the path that I'm supposed to take."

"How do you mean?"

"I..."  Rainbow grimaced, gazing east at the particular narrow beam.  "I'm not sure... but I just know that it's the past we should be following."

"Perrhaps it is a surrrogate forr Yaerrfaerrda," Kepler said from behind.

Rainbow glanced up at the wyvern at the rudder wheel.  "Huh?"

"Forr the past few Seeds, Yaerrfaerrda has dirrected you to the entrrance to the machine worrld, yes?"  Kepler adjusted his glasses.  "Maybe this is the next phase forr the Austrraeoh.  Much like yourr invisible companions arre capable of sensing things, you have now been exposed to yourr sensorry perrception..."

"Oh my..."  Fluttershy looked at Rainbow.  "Wouldn't that be amazing?"

"Yes, but you guys' senses are obvious," Rainbow said.  "Well... except for maybe Pinkie's."

"Yaaaay!  I'm unique!"

"Perhaps... what you're witnessing is harmonic sensitivity," Twilight Sparkle said.

"I beg yer pardon?" Applejack remarked.

"Think about it."  Twilight gestured.  "She says she's been seeing a faint 'aura' about us and her companions.  We are all vessels of harmony, in a way... so long as we're living things."

"And the path to the edge of the world?" Rarity remarked.

"It could be energy within Urohringr reaching out to Austraeoh," Twilight said.  "Whatever happened inside the Sixth Seed, I think it's opened up a channel of communication between Rainbow Dash and the machine world itself."

"So... the world is talking to Dashie?" Pinkie Pie remarked.

"That sounds..."  Fluttershy gulped.  "...unnecessarily creepy."

"I wonder what's up with Remna, then," Applejack said.

Rainbow Dash glanced at the draconian mare.  "She ain't exactly a normal pony."

"Yes, but didn't she get that way 'cuz of alicorn powers?" Applejack said.  "And that's harmonic, ain't it?"

"Maybe the essence of Axan... cancels it out somehow?" Twilight Sparkle remarked.

"Grnnngh..."  Rainbow Dash rubbed her head.  "This is nuts."

"Mmmm..."  Remna trotted closer.  "I've got an idea."

"Should I be scared?"

"You sense where the gold aura is the strongest?" Remna asked.

"Uhhhh... yeah?  Due east of us."

"Trace an opposite path," Remna suggested.  "Starting from the edge towards the west."

"But... like... what's the point of—?"

"Humor me, Austraeoh."

Rainbow Dash sighed.  She squinted at the bright gold light to the east.  Then, with trailing eyes, she stared down at the waves, through the hull of the Stardust, past the hooves of many of her friends, then past the bow and into the waters where they last left Bleak's Plummet.

"See anything of note?" Remna asked.

"Okays..."  Pinkie Pie made a face.  "Even she is being too random for my taste.  Can someone yank the dragon malarkey alarm?"

"Pinkie, just relax," Fluttershy insisted, then floated close to their anchor.  "Rainbow?  Do you sense anything?"

"I... uh..."  Rainbow Dash was frozen in place, squinting.  "It's h-hard to say..."

"What?"  Twilight blinked.  "What is it?"

Rainbow's lips pursed.  She was staring through the deck of the Stardust, towards the stern.  Somewhere... far beyond the boat... far beyond the surf and the depths of the ocean beneath...

...she saw a faint, concentrated hub of gold light.

"Rainbow Dash?" Princess Luna's voice echoed.  "I sense that something has captured your attention."

Rainbow nodded.  "And how."  She pointed a petite forelimb forward.  "I... see something... something golden..."  She gulped.  "It's hard to explain."

"Maybe..."  Ariel fidgeted in mid-hover.  "Maybe it is Bleak's Plummet?"

"No way..."  Rainbow Dash shook her head.  "If I was sensing the bodies of the ponies in that place—knowing how many that are there—I'd be seeing a whole lot of gold.  But this?"  She gulped.  "This is far... far away..."

"Like how far?"  Bard blinked.  "Like... are we talkin' the bottom of the ocean?"

"I... it... m-maybe...?"  Rainbow stammered.  "Or... perhaps it's something inside the machine world itself."

Remna droned:  "How about on the other side of the plane?"

Rainbow threw Remna a glance.

Remna calmy stared back.

Silence.

Rainbow's ears folded.

"No way..."  She glanced back at the waves, wincing.  "I... I'm seeing the Midnight Armory?"

"Considering the size and curvature of this plane..."  Remna calmly gestured at the choppy waters.  "...it would not be too wild a possibility."

"How remarrkable," Kepler hummed.

"Yeah..."  Logan grunted.  "I call bullshit."

"I do believe Axan may be onto something," Princess Celestia's voice said.  "If whatever force that empowers Urohringr is requiring the Harmonic Prism to restore energy and purpose to this piece of the ring, then it would stand to reason that the beacons that are granting the Austraeoh these visions would then direct her towards the Midnight Armory—where the Prism is located."

Wildcard whistled.

"Whoah dayum," Bard remarked.

"If that's true..."  Fluttershy blinked at Rainbow.  "...it could be very useful on the Dark Side."

"It's not like you would have Yaerfaerda to guide you there, darling," Rarity said.  "But if you had a 'beam' pointing you to the Midnight Armory..."

"Fluttershy and Rarity are right," Twilight said.  "On the Dark Side of the Plain, there is no conventional 'east' or 'west'... at least not like we know it here."

"Ugh..."  Rainbow Dash rubbed her head, grimacing.  "We haven't even gone over the edge.  I'm n-not sure my skull is ready for all this brain drilling..."

Enix let loose several shrieks.  The Bleakweed vessels escorting the Stardust slowed to a stop.

Wildcard gestured to the others.

"Dun look now," Bard remarked.  "But I think we've just arrived back at the Plummet."

Sure enough, the waters due west of the Stardust began bubbling as the massive structure resurfaced.

"Perhaps it is for the best," Luna's voice said.  "There isn't much time left in our communication.  Let us see if Xarchellus has deliberated with her council."

"Yeah..."  Rainbow nodded with a gulp.  "No better way to ease the stress of an apocalyptic voyage than by dealing with the entire fate of yet another civilization..."
> A Midnight Conversation, Part One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Xarchellus leaned her feeble weight against Enix and another nightblooded warrior.  Catching her breath, the elder looked up from the center of the massive water-stained platform along the exposed bowers of Bleak's Plummet.  Hundreds of other sarosians gathered around the matriarch as she spoke to the silver-colored night.

"For nearly a thousand years... we have maintained a faithful station here... protecting the edge of the world from outside incursion."  She swallowed and continued.  "Our Vigil was a holy one—sanctioned by the Mother of Nightmares herself... or so we believed."  Her wrinkled nostrils flared.  "There was a great war between the Royal Sisters, and we chose to support the side of Endless Night... for we believed it was our duty."

Rainbow Dash and the Herald stood across from her, listening in silence.  The Element of Loyalty shimmered with enchanted magic as the alicorns paid heed to Xarchellus' words across the great lengths of the plane.  Standing off to the side, Echo and Nicole listened intently.  Bard stood by his little sister's side while Ariel and Wildcard hovered overhead.

Xarchellus spoke on:  "Now we know that the Mother of Nightmares is a mere shadow of the past... a shadow that has melted under persistent light.  But instead of mourning defeat... we have every reason to rejoice... for the great Maiden of the Moon has returned in full glory... wielding power of both the Sun and the Moon... and having struck a pact of peace and harmony with her older sibling..."

Twilight Sparkle and the rest of Rainbow's marefriends gazed at Xarchellus, listening with baited spectral breaths.

"With the disappearance of Nightmare Moon, our vicious resolve has also vanished," Xarchellus said, "For we are no longer at war with anypony.  Our Vigil now is the same as it was in the days of olde.  We are to combat chaos in all of its nefarious forms, and to continue with our ways of piracy would necessitate combating ourselves—for we have become the very agents of chaos that we committed so long ago to eliminating."

The sarosians collectively hung their heads in somber recognition.

"As it so stands..."  Xarchellus took a firm breath, gazing at the enchanted air above Rainbow Dash.  Thunder rolled in the distance as she said, "We see ourselves belonging nowhere on this plane... nowhere, save for the righteous presence of the Maiden of the Moon herself.  It is my decision as the current living Matriarch—in full support of the highest ranking warriors—that we make every attempt to reunite with the Goddess of Dreams—the same life-giver from which we all hail."

Twilight and Applejack exchanged glances.

Remna took a thoughtful breath, leaning against the edge of the bleakweed balcony.

Xarchellus gestured with a shaking hoof.  "Of course... we would only commit to such a thing... by the grace of the Maiden of the Moon... and her regal superior."  Silence, and then the Matriarch bowed her head.  "Such is the decision of this loyal remnant of Saros."

Rainbow Dash gulped, then tilted her head towards the cloudy heavens.  "Your Majesty...?"

Princess Luna took a few moments before responding:  "I am honored by your pledge, as well as your commitment to Harmony.  It fills my heart with immense joy to know that such a tenacious flock would wish to gather once again under my protective wings, in full rejection of the tools and trades of violence that brought them to such a remote niche to begin with."

"We have been misguided for so very long, Moon Maiden," Xarchellus said.  "But as you have so humbly rejected Nightmare Moon, so must we follow your righteous charge and attempt—with full mind, body, and spirit—to bring things back to the way they once were.  And the only way to do that would be to return home: a necessary exodus to salvage what is left of our culture."

"And I welcome such an honorable decision," Princess Luna said.

Princess Celestia's voice joined in:  "And the Princess of the Sun likewise expresses joy and pride in the choice made by the esteemed Matriarch and her council."

"My older sister speaks the truth.  We are both gladdened by this turn of events, and we encourage it."

"Indeed."

A pause, and then Luna spoke in a soft—albeit grave tone:  "There is a concern that we do have, however..."

Xarchellus raised a wrinkly eyebrow.

Enix cleared her throat.  "The elder is listening, Your Majesty."

"For several generations, you have lived exclusively among the tempestuous waves of that twilight waterscape," Luna said.  "And regardless of the motivations—noble or otherwise—that have kept you situated in such a single, specific niche, it cannot change the fact that a great deal of things have changed since the initial plight that led you to the edge of the world."

Princess Celestia spoke:  "Even if you possessed accurate maps of the realms your forebearers had traversed, a great deal has changed over the past millennium—geographically, politically, magically..."

"The continents residing between your location and Equestria are no longer the same.  And even if you had a proper assessment of the dangers and threats you'd be facing, it stands to reason that the sheer distance is far greater than mere recollection can prepare you for."

"The journey has proven incredibly taxing for just a single pony to make.  My younger sister's avatar—Rainbow Dash—can attest to this."

When Rainbow felt multiple slitted eyes blinking at her, she cleared her voice and said, "Celestia and Luna are right.  I... uh... found no shortage of nasty-nasties wanting to eat, bury, or hang me alive."  She glanced at Remna.  "Some more successful than others."

The violet mare rolled her green eyes.

"You nevertheless prevailed," Enix said.

"Oh!  Totally!  But... like... I-I had help," Rainbow said, gesturing.  "I've had the sweet luxury of speaking with Princess Luna every full moon.  Not to mention the Noble Jury... Eljunbyro... Whitemane and Mortuana... heh... these dudes..."  She gestured at the Herald.  "And... uhm... I'm kinda sorta the Austraeoh."  She gulped.  "As awesome as I am—there's no way I can't chalk up a whole heck of a lot of it to the burning tug of Urohringr... or whatever it is that powers up this plane."

"We... do not understand..."  Xarchellus blinked up at the heavens.  "Surely, we have proven ourselves fierce, resilient, and more than capable of facing any adversity.  Perhaps... it is your divine wish that we not return to the fertile land that lies in the shadow of the moon?"

Fluttershy and Twilight winced.

"Perish the thought!" Luna's voice boomed.  "I would love nothing more than to be reunited with the blessed dream foals of Saros.  I simply wish for you and your fellow kind to understand... to truly understand the challenges that lie ahead of you."

"My sister and I have discussed this situation at great length over the past twelve hours, matriarch," Princess Celestia's voice rang.  "We anticipated the fact that you would wish to return to Equestria.  In fact, we welcome the idea with happy hearts, and we've already begun drafting a plan for how we might most agreeably incorporate your population into the ranks of this glorious nation.  I do believe that you will find the residents of Ponyville to be the most welcoming citizens in the entirety of this forsaken plane.  However—it stands to reason that the distances you will need to cross between there and here are far... far less harmonious."

"Your concern for us is most respectable, Your Majesty," Enix said, nodding.  "And we would be lying if we said that we expected a tranquil expedition to our place of origination."

Xarchellus spoke:  "All of our ancestors have only known disgust and hatred at the hooves of our fellow neighbors.  We expect no mercy from other civilizations on this plane."  Her muzzle tightened.  "With that in mind, we shall endeavor to avoid most kingdoms between here and the Moon Maiden's gracious throne."

"The capabilities of Bleak's Plummet shall assist mightily in this measure," Enix explained.  "The entire submersible structure is capable of long-range mobility.  So long as we stick to the oceans and keep to ourselves, we should be able to avoid detection from those who would pose a threat.  The rest of our vessels shall provide defense as a last resort."

Before either Luna or Celestia could reply, Rainbow Dash rasped:  "Don't you get it?!  This is where you guys are already tripping over yourselves!"  She trotted forward, waving a hoof.  "I hate to break it to ya, but the ocean stops dead at the Grand Choke!"

"The... Grand... Choke...?"  Xarchellus' wrinkled eyes blinked.
> A Midnight Conversation, Part Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"You heard me."  Rainbow nodded.  "It's a suuuuuuuuper huuuuuuge desert located beyond the Blight!  I'm talking about hundreds if not thousands of miles of barren rock, arid mountains, and steep canyons as far as the mind's eye can imagine!  I bet your ancestors don't even remember it because the dang thing killed most of them off!  Heck, I'd write that out of history as well rather then have my descendants go through the same thing!"

Xarchellus, Enix, and several others exchanged curious glances.

"Aaaaand..."  Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.  "...beyond that, you've got... let's see... blood-thirsty goblins, shifty naga, a frozen ocean, tattooed warriors, a warmongering bureacracy, cyborg death chicks, friggin' foxes and diamond dogs and minotaurs... and don't get me started on all the countless number of deep caves filled with Goddess-knows-what that wanna eat ponies whole."  She shuddered slightly.

A nervous murmur rolled through the midnight crowd.

"The picture you paint of this world... is most exceedingly perilous," Xarchellus muttered.

"A challenge that my brothers and sisters of nightblood are more than capable of meeting!" Enix said in a bold tone.  "Is that correct, Matriarch?"

Rainbow Dash interrupted:  "Don't you get it?  Sure, the bulk of you might make it—assuming you don't step on any angry ponies' fetlocks.  But... there's simply no way to avoid the cold hard truth."  Rainbow gulped.  "A lot of you guys simply won't make it back to Equestria... and I'm too scared to guess how many..."

"As powerful as my sister and I are," Luna spoke, "There is only so much that we can do.  I'm afraid that the chaos rift here in Equestria is far too unstable and dangerous for us to abandon.  After all, if we had wished to intervene on the Austraeoh's half, we would have done so months ago, and we would gladly do so for you, my lost flock.  However... we have a duty to the tens of thousands of ponies living here in Equestria—the location of our throne—and we shan't forsake them... as they are one of the last bastions of unfettered harmony on this plane."

"So... y'know... if you wanna make the same journey that I did—only in reverse?"  Rainbow Dash shrugged as she faced the leaders of Bleak's Plummet.  "Be my guest.  But don't expect it to be easy.  And one of the first things you're gonna have to do is ditch your super-awesome submersibles once you reach the dead, dry shores of the Grand Choke.  From then on..."  She gulped.  "...you've got only the first of several long slogs."

The sarosians stared off in silence.

Just then, there was a whistling sound.

Several heads turned.

Rainbow Dash found herself staring at Wildcard.  The Desperado was busily hand-signing something.

"Uhhhh..."  Rainbow looked at Bard.  "What's he saying, buddy?"

Bard spoke:  "'Didn't the Blight fall apart and shit?'"

Rainbow blinked.

Wildcard continued gesturing.

Bard cleared his throat.  "And... uhhhh... 'Didn't you leave most of those super dangerous places in a way better shape than they were in when you first approached them?'"

"Uhhhhh..."  Rainbow rubbed the back of her fuzzy head.  "Uhmmm..."

"Yeah, Dashie!"  Pinkie Pie turned towards Rainbow.  "Birdo and Bardo have a point!"

"You did do quite a lot of good in those troubled locations," Rarity said.  "Stopping civil wars... restoring cities to their original glory... averting coups..."

"You ended the war between Ledomare and Xona," Twilight Sparkle said.  "Or—at least—you brought about peace.  Remember?  Seclorum and Crimson filled you in about it."

"And that Alafreo Continent just sounds... so nice," Fluttershy hummed, smiling.  "Especially after what you and your Noble Jury friends did for the sweet elk of Val Roa."

"Yeah, sugarcube."  Applejack nodded.  "If ya ask me, you done took the brunt of thangs and softened the world up for the likes of Xarchellus and company!"

"But..."  Rainbow Dash gestured dramatically.  "It's not the same!  I'm just one mare!  They're a bunch of scary bat ponies—"  She winced, glancing at Echo and Nicole.  "No offense."

"None taken."

"Shit off the back."

Rainbow turned to her ghostly companions again, "It's not like they can enjoy an easy ride just by taking the same path I did—only in reverse!"

"Sure they can, Dashie!  Don't you get it?"  Pinkie Pie grinned wide.  "Maybe this was the whole reason that the 'Austraeoh' schtick drew you in the direction you did!  So you could paint a super awesome road of flowers and sunshine for everypony else!"

"You should be proud of yourself!" Twilight smiled.

"It... it can't be that simple," Rainbow Dash wheezed.  She brushed her bangs back, shuddering.  "... ... ...can it?"

The sarosians looked on, supremely curious.

"Uhm..."  Ariel floated closer.  "...care to fill us in on your epiphany, girl?"

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhh..."  Rainbow lingered.

Remna grunted, "The path should be considerably less trepidatious so long as you follow the Austraeoh's path as closely as possible."

Rainbow flashed her a look.

Remna glanced back at her, all the while speaking to the sarosians.  "For she has left peace and prosperity in her wake.  It would be best to pursue this as a gateway... and make your swift flight home."

The entire crowd murmured.

"Is..."  Xarchellus looked at Rainbow Dash.  "...is this true?"

"Uhhhhh..."  Rainbow gulped, then glanced skyward.  "What do you think, Your Highness?"

Luna replied swiftly:  "It is certainly the wisest thing we recall hearing from Axan's mouth."

Remna folded her forelimbs.

"Well then..."  Rainbow Dash plopped back on her haunches.  "...it's a start at least."

> A Midnight Conversation, Part Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Okay... okay... uhm..."

Rainbow Dash paced back and forth across the balcony.  Thunder rolled as the tempestuous waters lapped around the exposed surfaces of Bleak's Plummet around the Herald and gathered sarosians.

"Let's see... let's see let's see let's see..."  Rainbow sweated as she stressed over the details.

"Psssst!"  Twilight Sparkle leaned in.  "The Sword of Solstice—"

"Princess Celestia!" Rainbow Dash blurted, swiveling to face the twilight heavens.

"Present, Rainbow Dash."

"Are you... like... still in communication with the Durandanans?"

"You mean through the Sword of Solstice?"

"Righto."

"Affirmative.  They contact me approximately once a week.  I speak with both the elders and the First-Bornds quite regularly."

"Do you contact them or...?"

"They must initiate conversation—and only in the daytime  Such is the nature of the Sword of Solstice."

"I see..."

"Usually Spike and my sister have to help facilitate communication, considering the sarcophagus that I am always situated in.  But—I assure you—I have formed quite a healthy rapport with the descendants of Commander Hurricane's expedition."

"And... uhhhhh... h-have they made contact with any of their neighbors?"

"You mean beyond the constraints of the crater that houses their civilization?"

"Right."

"Several of the First-Borns have elected to venture beyond their prior confines—as you had nobly educated them—and have thus engaged in multiple acts of ambassadorial relations.  All fortuitous and peaceful, I assure you."

"Sweet..."

"However, I only ever find out about this second-hoof, seeing as the Sword of Solstice is housed consistently within the Central Tower of their dwelling.  And—judging by the slow pace at which they perform their exploratory endeavors—I doubt that they will venture far enough eastward to encounter Val Roa within the year."

Rainbow Dash winced.  "Oh..."

"Such was the aim of your inquiry, yes?" Celestia's voice implored.  "If you feel that there is a divine purpose behind their making contact, I could certainly pass the message along to them.  The elders still hold much persuasive influence over the First-Borns.  Surely they can be convinced to embark upon such an eastward expedition—especially with the foreknowledge of the peaceful state that you had left the Val Roa countryside in."

"Awesome sauce..."  Rainbow Dash hovered in place, gesturing.  "Because... like... here's my idea."  She smirked at the Herald and sarosians alike.  "There are these two snazzy groups of pon—er... harmony-folk living in the first continent beyond the Grand Choke.  Dealing with the huge desert is something you're gonna have to figure out on your own.  I dunno what you plan to do; I'd say stock up on a crapton of fish and mangoes.  Whatever bat ponies love to chew on while on the move.  Anyways... the first place in the Alafreo continent beyond the Grand Choke is this super nifty kingdom called Val Roa.  It's run by a bunch of super magical elk, deer, antelope—basically a bunch of royal dudes and dudettes with magic glowy antlers."  Rainbow gulped.  "The last thing I did before making my way east through the Blight was... like... save their entire friggin' kingdom from a nightmarish changeling coup.  To put it lightly, they super-respect me and owe me big time.  Heh."

Enix glanced at Xarchelus, then at Rainbow Dash.  "You would advise us to make contact with these... deer?"

"J-just so they can lend you a hoof!" Rainbow Dash said.  "No offense, but—uhhh—I'm pretty sure they haven't got any room in their kingdom to house the likes of you guys permanently.  But if you can prove that the whole lot of you are friends with me—Rainbow Dash—then I can totally see them giving you food, shelter, and enough resources to recover and prepare for the next leg of the journey.  Also, I've got some old friends from the Noble Jury hanging around that side of the world who would totally help you out in a pinch too.  Believe me.  Plus..."  Rainbow Dash smirked, winking up at the silver-tinted air.  "There's a place just west of Val Roa populated by a bunch of pegasi who call themselves the Durandanans.  These guys and gals happen to be descendants of Equestria too, and they possess the Sword of Solstice—which, believe it or not—keeps them in constant vocal contact with Princess Celestia."

Enix said, "Much like you are in contact with the Maiden of the Moon."

"Right!  Only—like—they get to talk to Celestia more often.  And this means... like... in the time it takes for you and the rest of Bleak's Plummet to reach Val Roa, Celestia and maybe-hopefully convince the Durandanans to open communication with Val Roa..."

"That way their kingdom will be properly prepared for our arrival from the desert," Xarchellus wheezed.

"Exactomundo!"

"And... you are certain they will welcome us in open arms?"

"Like I said... half of them owe me," Rainbow Dash said, gesturing.  "And the other half respect me... or—at least—they respect Princess Celestia.  Heh."

"It's a most plausible plan," Princess Celestia said.  "Otherwise, you might see yourself having to cross the lengths of Alafreo on your lonesome.  And after enduring the trials of the Grand Choke, I seriously doubt that you would desire that."

"And..."  Enix blinked at Rainbow.  "...what of the landscapes beyond?"

"Okay, look..."  Rainbow Dash held her forelimbs up.  "I exagerrated a bit when I rambled earlier."

"In what way?"

"Yes, I encountered a bunch of cruddy meanie-heads... especially in Ledomare."  Rainbow Dash took a deep breath.  "However... that nation's called 'Luxmare' now.  Wanna know why?"

"Why?" Xarchellus inquired.

"Because I really... really cleaned-up shop the last time I was there!" Rainbow's voice cracked.  "Not only did I expose an entire nation to the ugliness of their Queen's Council, but I brought an entire war to a stand-still... mostly by slaying a giant freakish chaos—"  Her words trailed off, and she looked guiltily in Remna's direction.  "—creature."

"Hmmmmff..."  Remna exhaled.

"Long and short of it..."  Rainbow turned to face the sarosians again.  "Luxmare and Xona were in a state of peace the last time I left it.  And I'm willing to bet it's still that way."  She smirked devilishly.  "You can say the same of Silvadel, Darkstine, Windthrow—heck—most of the kingdoms west of them."

"All on account of your influence?" Enix remarked.  Her leafy ears twitched.  "You are a far more tenacious warrior then you give yourself credit, Austraeoh."

Rainbow bit her lip.

"Oh please, Dashie."  Pinkie rolled her eyes.  "Of all the times to be stupidly humble."

Rarity and Fluttershy giggled.

"It is the truth, my foals," Princess Luna's voice answered for Rainbow Dash.  Her voice boomed unabashedly.  "If you stick to the route that Rainbow Dash took to get to where you are now, then surely you will find a path of least resistance."

"Uhhh... except for Rohbredden."  Rainbow Dash winced.  "I-I'm afraid I had to break my winning streak at some point or another."

"Indeed."  Enix nodded.  "Hence, the fall of the Queen of Frost."

"Right.  It sucks fetlocks.  Still..."  Rainbow Dash gestured.  "There's an awful lot of ocean to the south of Rohbredden."  She glanced aside at Kepler and Flynn.  "Isn't that right?"

The Heraldites nodded.

"Right..."  Rainbow smirked.  "So getting to the Grand Choke should be the easy-peasy part.  Then—once you've crossed the desert—reunite with my buddies at Val Roa."  She waved a hoof.  "Ask for Pilate.  He should definitely be able to draw you a path west through Ledomare."

"The best path to be taken?" Xarchellus inquired.

"Totally.  And west of Aridstone... er..."  Rainbow gulped.  "Beyond Ledomare?  It should be an easy glide... especially in Emeraldine."  She smirked.  "And... shucks... you're just about at the doorstep to Equestria."

The sarosians glanced at one another.

Bard whistled, tilting his hat back with a smirk.  "Sounds like you did all the gruntwork for these nocturnal yokels, Missy."

"Yeah..."  Ariel stuck her tongue out while winking.  "Wasn't that swell of her?"

"Maiden of the Moon..."  Xarchellus bowed low before facing the enchanted air.  "...do you give this plan your blessing?"

Luna answered swiftly:  "If the Austraeoh suggests it, then I already do—no question."

"Awwwwwwwww..."  Twilight and Fluttershy cooed.

Rainbow Dash hugged herself, smiling toastily.

"This... this is wonderful!" Nicole exclaimed as the rest of the sarosians murmured in agreement.  "At first, I had my doubts... but now I'm convinced that Rainbow Dash has made the whole trip super easy for us!"

Bard threw her a double-take.  "What do you mean 'for us?'"

Nicole's ears instantly drooped.  She bit her bottom lip with her fangs.

Echo cleared his throat.  "Uhm... so... we've been talking—"

But before the stallion could finish...

A loud rush of water could be heard from the west.

Startled, Rainbow and her ghostly companions spun to look.

Splooosh!  A bleakweed submersible surfaced rapidly, splashing salt water high into the air.  Nightblooded warriors hovered overhead, their guarded bodies tensing.

Within seconds, however, they relaxed—for the top hatch rolled open to reveal sarosian sailors.  Two rushed out, approaching Xarchellus breathlessly.

"Matriarch!"  The two bowed low.  "Bless the Mother of Nightmares we found you!"

"What is the meaning of this?" Xarchellus hissed.  "We are in conversation with the Maiden of the Moon presently—"

"A thousand pardons, Matriarch."  One of the two messengers sputtered, "We could not wait to convey this most alarming message."  Bright, slitted eyes reflected the silver enchantment.  "Our underwater scouts have just detected two ships coming this way.  They appear to be on an intercept course."

"Two ships?" Enix inquired.  "Who's on board?"

"Land dwellers," one messenger rasped, fangs showing.  "Rohbreddenites.  Armored and drawn for battle.  They easily number in over a hundred."

Gasps and high-pitched bat-shrieks emanated from the crowd.

"They will be here in less than two cycles!" one messenger exclaimed.  "They arrive even as we speak!"

Flynn and Logan exchanged glances.  Wildcard tensed up, his metal knuckles clenching.

Rainbow's friends looked worriedly at their anchor.

"Well then..."  Rainbow inhaled.  "...sounds to me like the fan-blades aren't brown enough yet."
> A Midnight Conversation, Part Four
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Anything, Fluttershy?"  Rainbow Dash asked.

Her ghostly pegasus friend hovered in a tight yellow ball, clutching her skull tightly.  Her facial features were strained to the breaking point.

Rainbow gulped.  "Anything at all?"

"Mrmfffff... guh!"  At last, Fluttershy exhaled, hovering limply above the bleakweed platform.  "Nothing..."  She sighed.  "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, but whoever those sarosian scouts found—I'm not sensing a single soul to the west of us."

"Well, that's a good thing, r-right?" Rarity remarked, tapping Fluttershy's shoulder.  She turned to look at Rainbow Dash.  "It means that they're quite a distance away."

"Right..."  Rainbow nodded.  "Could be days before they even get here."

"Yeah?"  Logan's nostrils flared.  "So what?!  There's only a hundred or so of those creeps!"  Sarosians muttered en masse as he pounded his chest and grumbled, "Let's just knock 'em out and let them sink to the bottom of the ocean!"

"Big Show..."  Rainbow snarled.

"What are we waiting for—?!"

Rainbow protested:  "This is not about—"

"The land dweller speaks truth!"  Enix frowned, hovering above the velvety crowd.  "If these cretins seek to harm the Blood of Luna, then let us bring our wrath upon them in turn—!"

"My little ponies!" Princess Luna's voice thundered, instantly silencing the group situated on the platform.  In a calmer tone, she spoke:  "Please let my avatar speak."

Enix shuddered.  She exchanged glances with Xarchellus and eventually bowed.  "But of course, Maiden of the Moon..."

Rainbow Dash hovered within view of everypony, frowning.  "I did not come all this way just to paint the ocean red."  Her teeth showed.  "Especially after we friggin' set you batty dudes straight from the whole 'murderous pirate crap' thing!"

"Rainbow Dash," Ariel spoke calmly.  "Nopony's expecting you to go back on your peacekeeping."

"Your mortal admirer is right, Austraeoh," Remna said.

Ariel rolled her eyes.  "Stop calling me her mortal adm—"

Remna continued, firmly:  "It is a conceivably noble thing that you have done here: reuniting these wayward souls with their matriarch familiar.  I would wish no less for my own brood someday."  The mare's green eyes narrowed.  "But it would undermine all that you have accomplished to throw it all to the fire for the sake of some thinly-defined principle."

"Besides!"  Logan gestured.  "We're only talking about a few death squads here!"

"Don't play it off so flippantly, Big Show," Flynn grumbled.

Logan glared aside.  "Just who's side are you on?"

Flynn's nostrils flared.  "If Rohbreddenites have made it this far east in tracking the 'Rainbow Rogue,' they can only be set on one thing: absolute friggin' bloody murder.  You think a bunch of midnighter pirates are going to stop them from carving a crimson path to the edge of the world?  No matter how big their number?"

"But any way you look at it, it's a losing battle!" Logan exclaimed.

"I would beg to differr," Kepler remarked.

"Oh!  Tch!"  Logan rolled his eyes.  "You would."

"Allow me to speak, brrotherr."  Kepler adjusted his spectacles and glanced at the sarosians at large.  "You have grreat strrength, dearr childrren of Luna—both in numberrs and in courrage.  Howeverr, none of this will matterr to the self-prroclaimed avengerrs of Verrlax.  Therre is a grreat void in theirr hearrts, and one might even arrgue that the void has always been therre, fosterred thrrough pain and ignorrance by a false goddess.  When they arrrive—and when they discoverr you prrotecting the Rrainbow one—they will stop at nothing to make surre that all of you sufferr.  They will rrip and tearr and murrderr with no second thoughts."

"And don't think they're chumps either," Flynn added, gazing at the crowd.  "Your messengers said that they were heavily armored.  No doubt that this is the best of the best that Rohbredden's military has to offer."

"So what?!"  Logan shrugged.  "We owned a whole bunch of them back in the frozen battlefields!"

"We had Mortuana on our side," Flynn argued.  "And a stampede of windigoes wasted the enemy forces before they could regroup and form a counterattack."  He pointed.  "And we wouldn't have gotten anywhere in Starkiss hadn't several dozen of the Central Guard turned on the rest and bought us time to get to the Throne of Verlaxion!"

"We could have gone the distance with them!"  Logan's nostrils flared.  "I'm sure of it!"

"That is not the issue herre, frriend," Kepler said.  "Can the midnighterrs defeat these two ships of zealous warrriors?  Absolutely.  Without a doubt.  Howeverr... the loss of life will be catastrrophic."  The wyvern turned to gaze at the sarosians again.  "Ask yourrselves if that would trruly be a victorry."

Rainbow Dash added breathily, "Or a 'victory' worth taking home to Equestria."

Xarchellus leaned back, rubbing her chin in thought.

"Okay... l-look..."  Echo paced forward, gesturing with a hoof.  "Maybe it doesn't have to involve a battle.  Maybe... y'know..."  He blinked.  "...we can just scare the ever-loving shit out of them."

"Scare them?" Nicole squeaked.

"Yeesh, Echo..."  Ariel huffed.  "Have you been sniffing the guano?"

"Can it, toots.  I'm serious."  Echo frowned.  "Ponies back in Rohbredden are scared to death of the 'Seventh Tribe.'  Maybe... we don't even have to face these assholes one-on-one.  Maybe all we gotta do is shoot a bunch of burning moonrocks at them.  Show off all of these snazzy submersibles.  Y'know... shock and awe!  Wave our bleakweed dicks around and call it a night!"

Flynn squinted his one good eye.  "Do you really think that's going to scare off a bunch of soldiers dead-set on slitting the throat of the mare who murdered their Queen?"

"It's better than going balls-out pugilistic!"  Echo cackled.  "Look—I'm with Rainbow!  I'm sick and tired of doing things the nasty and violent way!  If there's a plausible solution for avoiding that, don't you think we should snort that shit?"

"I ain't sure there is a way to avoid bloodshed here," Bard said.

Nicole looked at her older brother.  "You mean you think we should attack those ships?"

Bard shrugged, exchanging glances with Wildcard.  "I'm just sayin' that... with the importance of Rainbow gettin' to the Dark Side, we're gonna be buttin' heads one way or another.  Seems rather foolish to assume that shiet's unavoidable."

Wildcard nodded.

"Okay..."  Logan rubbed his forehead.  "...then I'd say we bring it back to my first suggestion."  He looked up.  "We knock out these bastards in one fell swoop."

"Big Show..."  Rainbow began.

"And it doesn't have to cost the lives of these precious bat ponies!  I mean... shit alive..."  He gestured at the massive platform beneath the assembled sarosians.  "Couldn't you just... bring this whole dayum structure beneath the two ships and... SPLOOSH!  Breach the surface super quick and reduce their vessels to dust?"

"Yeah!"  Ariel grinned wide.  "Like one massive torpedo!"

Bard whistled.  "Now there's somethin'."

"This torpedo you're talking about would sink in a million pieces," Echo droned.

Wildcard and Bard gave him a double-take.

"Huh?" Ariel blinked.

Echo sighed.  "We're standing atop an underwater mountain here, geniuses.  This place is a lot more fragile than it looks."  He pointed at the reflective spots of shining silver light beneath the choppy waves.  "The spells put in place to keep out the water are super intricate.  If even one of the lunar runes is damaged, it could cause a super shitty chain reaction that would damage an entire branch of Bleak's Plummet."

"You can't be serious," Ariel stammered.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure he is," Flynn said, focusing on the underwater lights with his mechanical eye.  "I've been staring at those runes ever since we first arrived here.  I'm amazed the whole habitat holds together the way it does.  For a while, I've been hypothesizing that some interior runic enchantment is responsible for reinforcing the structural integrity."  He glanced up at the crowd.  "But I'm guessing the truth is... far less flattering."

Xarchellus nodded gravely.  "We live in a blessedly strong structure... but it is old... and we are swiftly running out of moon rocks necessary for maintaining the enchantment."

"The matriarch speaks true," Enix said.  "Bleak's Plummet has suffered no less than three damaging catastrophes in my lifetime alone."  Her slitted eyes narrowed.  "Once was when a group of privateers stumbled upon us while we were surfaced and staged an attack."

"We lost an entire branch to the depths," Xarchellus said.  "Twenty brave souls perished instantly.  Although we swiftly fought off the attackers, the damage had been done."  She gravely shook her head.  "We simply cannot attempt a maneuver the likes of which the Austraeoh's companions are suggesting."

"In fact, it has been our aim to strike passing ships far away from our habitat," Enix said.  "Over the past two decades, that has been my charge, and I have succeeded so far in keeping the exact location of our fragile home a secret."  The Nightblood warrior nevertheless shuddered.  "However... even that task has been growing difficult as of late."

"Allow us to guess," Kepler remarked.  "You arre swiftly rrunning out of the moon rrunes necessarry for staging an offense."

Several sarosian warriors hung their heads.

"As it stands, we have just enough enchantment to relocate Bleak's Plummet for the westward exodus that the Matriarch has agreed to," Enix declared.  "We would—of course—hope to have enough runes leftover to sustain us for the march across the so-called 'Grand Choke.'  And yet..."  Fidgeting, the warrior glanced at Rainbow Dash.  "We would be remiss in not assisting the Austraeoh in her ever-important journey to the Midnight Armory."

"We desire with all of our combined hearts to be reunited with the Maiden of the Moon," Xarchellus declared.  "But we also understand that there is far more at risk here than our own particular need—something that we have ruthlessly soured with the years and years of unnecessary bloodletting that the Vigil has forced us to commit."  She took a deep breath, gazing at her subordinates.  "If need be, we shall forfeit our exodus for the sole sake of assisting the Austraeoh in a last ditch defense against these nefarious forces."

"Whoah whoah whoah—hold the sound stone."  Rainbow Dash waved her forelimbs while gazing skyward.  "Luna, don't let them back out of this whole reunion thing."

"Agreed.  Dearest Xarchellus—let us not be too hasty in our decision-making."

Xarchellus bowed low.  "With all due respect, oh Maiden, but I fear we haven't the time to commit to otherwise.  Our blessed communication with you is nearly ended, and we have murderous land-dwellers arriving at the branches of Bleak's Plummet."

"I share much of Rainbow Dash's concern.  While I will be the first to admit that—historically speaking—violent combat is a necessary albeit unfortunate means to an end, one must always search for a harmonic solution."

"Except when there is a complete lack of one," Remna said, forcing several Heraldites to wince.  "As my sister has made abundantly clear."

Rainbow inhaled sharply.  "Has she?"  She spun around to frown at the mare.  "I already screwed over one civilization to get the job done.  Why do I have to screw over another?  Especially after I just showed them another way to live their awesome, precious lives?"

"I don't see you possessing any other option here, Austraeoh," Remna said.

"Then let's make one!  Heck, more than one!"

"H-how, exactly?" Ariel exclaimed.

"Two thangs are for sure," Bard remarked.  "We gotta get you over to the Dark Side... and them bastards from Rohbredden won't stop at nothin' to see that yer dead."

"Okay then, listen..."  Rainbow Dash paced about in mid-air while her ghostly companions looked on with interest.  "...we've got two major problems.  But we also have two awesome outcomes:  we get me over the edge of the world, and we get these leafy-eared dudes and dudettes home."  She shrugged with a stupid grin.  "So why not do both?"

Flynn and Logan scratched their heads.

Enix and Xarchellus blinked blankly.

"You... have already confused us, Blood of Luna," Enix muttered.  "However... it would please us to no end if you continued."

Several other ponies squeaked in affirmation.
> A Midnight Conversation, Part Five
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Real quick."  Rainbow Dash pivoted in mid-air to face the sarosian scouts.  "You say these Rohbredden warriors are on boats?"

"That is correct, Blood of Luna," a Nightblood warrior said, nodding.  "They're heading this way most swift—"

"Yeah yeah, I get it.  Tell me."  Rainbow's eyes narrowed.  "Were any of them true land-dwellers?"

"I... do not understand..."

"Were any of them earth ponies?  Or unicorns?"

"No."  Another scout interjected, shaking her head.  "They were pegasi and griffons.  All of them."

"So they could all fly?"

"Yes," one scout said.  A blink, and then she blurted, "As a matter of fact... we detected one flying westward shortly after the soldiers acquired their vessels."

Applejack craned her ghostly neck.  "What are you gettin' at, sugarcube?"

"They all have wings," Twilight Sparkle spoke out loud.

"So?" Pinkie Pie shrugged.

"So..."  Twilight glanced at the others.  "...they can spread information around."

"Here's what I can't stop thinking about," Rainbow Dash said, hovering higher so that both the Herald and the sarosians could see her.  "They must have figured out that—not only am I out here—but that you guys are out here as well.  I mean the midnighters."  She gestured.  "And... from the look of things... they might have already sent word home to Frostknife about the fact."

"What you mean to suggest is..."  Enix leaned forward.  "...they've ascertained the location of Bleak's Plummet?"

"Seems totally like it," Rainbow Dash said.  "Especially if they're now headed directly this way."  She turned to look at the scouts.

The scouts gravely nodded.

"Then Bleak's Plummet is done for," Nicole said, gulping.  "If the rest of Rohbredden finds out..."

"...then this could just be a preview of things to come," Rainbow Dash muttered.  "Assuming there's a break in the wendigo attacks, then who's to say what the head haunchos at Frostknife will be sending tomorrow.  Four ships?  Eight?  The entire friggin' armada?!"  Rainbow Dash shuddered.  "Say what you want about owning these armored floozies headed our way—but I know for a fact that all of your Nightblooded badflanks combined wouldn't be able to make a dint in the armor of all that Rohbredden has equipped to sail the Seven Seas."  She frowned.  "Trust me.  I've seen a bunch of this crud up close."

"Let's say for a second we do take these two ships of warriors on," Flynn said.  "Like—we go with Big Show's suggestion and just absolutely wreck them."  He grimaced.  "Who's to say that one or two winged soldiers won't break loose and fly back home to warn the others of the midnighter forces out here?"

"Yeah?"  Logan snorted.  "So what of it?"

"I left Rohbredden in a heightened state of paranoid xenophobia," Rainbow Dash said.  She exhaled sharply.  "You think that's the kind of crowd to just let the ponies of Bleak's Plummet be?"

Flynn shook his head.  "They'd come back full force and they'd purge the Seven Seas of every last drop of sarosian blood until the 'Seventh Tribe' is fully, genocidally eradicated."

"Ewwww-poop-oh..."  Pinkie Pie winced.

"Precisely my fear," Rainbow Dash said.  "And if they already have an inkling as to where Bleak's Plummet is located, then that puts these guys in a super vulnerable position."  She glanced at all the others.  "Don't you get it?  It doesn't matter how well this upcoming slobberknocker goes!  What's at stake here is the aftermath to follow... which is something you guys will be having to deal with while I'm on the Dark Side!"

The sarosians murmured and squeaked in apprehension.

"I do not fear a fierce death in the face of an overwhelming opposition," Enix grumbled.  Nevertheless, her leafy ears drooped.  "And yet... I am bound to protect Xarchellus and the rest of the Matriarch's subjects.  Their safety is not something I can afford to compromise."

"Right."  Rainbow Dash nodded.  "So... the way I figure it... we gotta find a way to elude Rohbredden's forces.  What better way to do that than to take advantage of what bat ponies are most awesome at!"

"And what's that, Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow grinned like an idiot.  "Slipping away in the night, of course!"

Silence.

Even Wildcard fumbled for words.

"Your faith in my foals is most admirable, Rainbow Dash," Princess Luna's voice said.  "But even I would desire some clarification of that last statement."

"Indeed," Celestia's voice humbly joined in.  "What my sister said."

"Shhhh... j-just listen..."  Rainbow Dash gestured delicately with her forelimbs.  "What's immediately at stake here is getting me over to the Dark Side.  I mean... if we do it in a way so that the Rohbreddenites can't follow, then... well... hunt's over!  Am I right?  I mean... those jokers will have no choice but to head back to Frostknife super defeated!  Or else they'll go nuts banging their heads against the ether!"

Remna spoke, "But we do not even know how we shall travail upon transporting you to—"

"Shhhh!"  Rainbow waved her hooves dramatically.  "That's besides the point!  We'll figure it out!  But... in the meantime..."  She turned to smile at Xarchellus and her colleagues.  "...while the warriors are focused on us, that will be the time that Bleak's Plummet will make its move."

Xarchellus narrowed her good eye.  "Do tell..."

Rainbow said, "The Herald and I will get the Rohbreddenites' attention.  Meanwhile, Bleak's Plummet will make an initial dive.  The Herald draws the enemy ships over to the Edge of the World—passing above Bleak's Plummet and all of its inhabitants.  Then—once the coast is clear—you guys begin your exodus."  She gestured westward.  "You cruise as quickly as your bleakweed-sealed-butts can carry you.  You make it to the Grand Choke, ditch the branches and brambles behind, then continue the trek onwards to Val Roa."

"Hrrrrmmm..."  Kepler rubbed his hairy chin, smiling.  "Sounds both darring and simple."

"I shall aggree with you on the 'daring' part," Ariel said.  She turned towards Enix.  "Is it even possible for Bleak's Plummet to move that swiftly?"

"Not... entirely..."  Enix said.  "...however..."  She looked at Rainbow.  "It is tactically feasible for the enemy forces to be made to move that swiftly—if not moreso—past us."

"Totally!"  Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"I beg to differ, Blood of Luna," Xarchellus said.  "Only a fool would think it possible to bait over a hundred warriors with the feeble numbers that you and your 'Herald' possess..."  Her wrinkled brow furrowed.  "...and still survive."

"She's got a point there, Rainbow," Bard said.  "The Job Squad ain't nothin' to laugh at... but what you need here is a small army."

"But I thought the point here was to avoid as much bloodshed as possible," Flynn remarked.

"In a perfect world, maybe," Logan grunted.  "Let's face it.  We're gonna need all we can get if we're gonna waste these motherbuckers."

"We don't have to waste them!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.  "Don't you get it?  I'm not saying that violence is completely unavoidable.  But in this plan... we only need to fight them off just long enough for two things to happen."  She held up one hoof.  "For me—and the Herald—to get to the other side."  Then she held up the other hoof.  "And for Bleak's Plummet to make a clean exit."

Ariel blinked.  "Well, I don't see that happening without some super intense help from Xarchellus' finest here."

"Indeed."  Enix punched her fetlocks together, frowning.  "And we would gladly give our lives to ensure the safety of both the Austraeoh and our home."  Several other sarosians nodded in agreement.

Rainbow gulped.  "Right.  And I respect that.  But..."

"That brings us back to one of Rainbow Dash's major concerns," Flynn said.  "Assuming this plan goes through as well as she would hope, then a lot of these Rohbredden attackers will likely survive.  In which case, they'll know that the 'Seventh Tribe' was involved and that much-dreaded witch hunt for the midnighters will still happen."

Wildcard swiftly gestured with both his flesh and metal talons.

Enix blinked.  "What does the griffon say?"

"Ahem..."  Bard interpreted, "Dubya makes a fine point.  'If we time it just right, they won't know that Bleak's Plummet is on the move.  Any forces they send out to these here waters will find nothin'."

"Prrecisely!"  Kepler grinned.  "Save forr the ghosts of bat ponies!  Ha-Hah!"

Logan sighed.  "Seems like we're bending backwards an awful lot for a fleeting hope."

"And yet..."  Remna gazed up at Logan.  "...was that not Mortuana's entire motivation for leading the Herald?"

Logan clenched his jaw shut.

Rainbow Dash took a breath.  "Look... if it means my leaving the Light Side of the plane with as few casualties as possible, then I'm all for it," she said.  She looked at the sarosians.  "Lend us all the help you want.  But once my friends and I have crossed over—the rest of you had better book it.  Head west under the cover of night.  Reunite with Bleak's Plummet and continue the journey to the Grand Choke before the forces of Rohbredden can find out where you've gone off to.  I know it sounds crazy complicated... maybe even a bit stupid... but stupid things are worth a shot.  That's... something that I've let slip for a while now."  She gulped, fidgeting slightly.  "Much to my regret."

Twilight smiled gently at her.

"Blood of Luna," Enix spoke.  "Your plan is a convoluted one... and yet quite noble.  Just weeks ago... I would not have possessed the heart and soul to recognize such respectable quality."  She breathed deeply.  "But all is different now.  The blessed light of the Maiden of the Moon has re-enlightened us all.  We were all foaled from a harmonic spirit.  For generations, lost to hatred and distrust, we allowed the Vigil to corrupt us until it nearly destroyed our family structure from the inside out."  Her slitted eyes narrowed.  "To pursue life for life's sake is a most risky path indeed, and it is one that we had not thought to treasure for a long time... until now."  She looked in Xarchellus' direction.

The Matriarch nodded, then gazed heavenward.  "Oh Maiden of the Moon... we seek your wisdom in this matter.  What words do you have to impart in regards to such a measure?"

Rainbow Dash and her friends listened in tense silence.

At last, Luna spoke:  "I, of course, applaud any attempt on Rainbow Dash's part to come up with a peaceful solution.  To be perfectly realistic, one cannot expect this plan to be undertaken with absolutely zero consequences.  That being said, I'm quite certain Rainbow Dash is already fully aware of this."

Rainbow Dash took a shuddering breath.  "I just don't want a bloodbath, Your Highness.  Not if I can avoid it."

"And I believe that you can avoid it, Rainbow Dash," Luna said.

"So do I," Princess Celestia added.  "However, I am compelled to address some glaring holes in your strategy... the most notable being the means by which you plan to cross over to the Dark Side in the first place."

Rainbow Dash gulped hard.  "R-right..."

"Time is of the essence, and if you cannot discover how to make this possible, then you will sadly have to throw out your plans altogether and focus on an entirely different course of action... perhaps one that is far more dire than what you've just recently dreamed up."

"Then that means one thing, Rainbow Dash," Twilight Sparkle said.

"Right."  Rainbow nodded.  "We gotta get our butts to the edge of the world and sniff out a solution."

"And fast!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.  "My ghosty-body is already buzzing all over with spring-loaded senses!"

"Austraeoh..."  Remna trotted closer.  "...do you even know where to start looking?"

"Oh, believe me, Axan."  Rainbow pivoted east, squinting at a golden haze of ethereal light.  "I think I've got that covered..."
> Parting Words of a Princess
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The heart of the Princess Stardust roared with a deep bass hum.

"Got it!"  Flynn shouted, poking his bald head out of the cabin doors.  "We're good to go, Rainbow Dash!"

"All aboarrd, brrotherrs and sisterrs!" Kepler hollered, gripping the rudder wheels.  "We must be swift if we arre to surrvey the edge and rreturrn!"

"Rainbow?"  Bard stood at the edge of the bleakweed balcony, his wings spread.  He looked up at the mare.  "You heard the wyvern.  Time to get hoppin'."

"Yeah.  Uhm... just one second, Bard."  Rainbow Dash hovered above the sarosian crowd.  "Gotta take care of something first."

Wildcard gestured something to Bard.

Bard blinked.  "Ohhhhhhhh... right right right..."

"Ahem..."  Rainbow Dash looked down at Xarchellus.  "By the time we return, the lunar window will likely be closed."

Xarchellus nodded sagely.  "We understand."

Rainbow gulped.  "Your Highness?!" she spoke loudly to the air.  "Sorry to put you on the spot and stuff... but if you've any final words to say to your... uh... to your flock, then now may be the time."

"Very well, Rainbow Dash," Princess Luna's voice boomed.  "My little ponies, it fills my spirit with great joy to be reunited with you and your families.  For a thousand years, I have suffered much guilt and regret over the actions I've committed as Nightmare Moon.  And while I feel remorse for so many things, I have not and shall never be ashamed of the dreamly ponies that I helped bring into this realm.  You are all so very priceless and special, and the fact that you have decided to abandon your nefarious 'vigil' is a blessing to everyone around you, but most of all a blessing to me.  For the first time in as long as I can remember, I feel a spirit of retribution blooming in the shadow of my past mistakes.  I have fretted and worried over the well-being of my forsaken followers for countless generations, and now I sense a sliver of hope.  With you returning home, it can only mean a victory for life, harmony, and the union of all hoofed kind.  It pains me that I cannot join you in this epic journey that you are now planning.  However, I hope to be present with you in spirit—so long as you stay committed to peace, prosperity, and the ultimate serenity of all living things.  You are all guardians of the night—down to the core.  Believe in yourselves.  Be proud of yourselves.  For you have conquered more adversities than most civilizations could ever hope to face, and your arrival in Equestria will serve as the ultimate testament—not only of your redemption—but of mine in turn.  And I long for the moonlit moment when we can all collectively share in the heart-welling ambrosia of salvation together."

The sarosians murmured in moonwhinny, bowing low with respect.

Logan whistled, then leaned in towards Ariel.  "She really knows how to put it on thick in a pinch, doesn't she?"

"Alicorns will do that," Remna muttered, forcing the two ponies to blink at her.

"Thank you, Maiden of the Moon," Xarchellus replied, gazing up into the silver-tinted air.  "Thank you for steering us in the right direction.  We will respect all living things and honor the night with your blessings for as far as we tread."  She swallowed.  "My only regret is that—in my age and my feebleness—I will not be able to greet you face to face, dearest Matriarch."

"Do not dismay, Xarchellus," Luna's voice spoke.  "Our spirits have communed, and it makes my heart sing.  In dreamwalking, I'll look forward to trotting side by side with your spirit as you make your voyage to the Harmonic Plains."

Tears welled up in Xarchellus' eyes, among others.  She took a shuddering breath.  "Y'hnyrr yln l'mywynym, H'Luun."

"Y'hnyrr yln l'mywynym, Xarchellus," Luna's voice said.  "Nightblooded warriors.  You are no longer attackers... but protectors.  Those entrusted in defending the population of Bleak's Plummet in their voyage, you have my blessing.  Those pledging to protect the Austraeoh, you have my pardon.  Your tenacity and courage is respectable, but be sure to value life above all else—for it is what you are ultimately fighting for."

Enix bowed low.  "We shall obey your words of wisdom to the bitter end and beyond, blessed Matriarch."

"Follow Rainbow Dash's words of wisdom.  Avoid the scrutiny of Rohbredden.  Prepare cautiously for the trials of the Grand Choke.  Head for Val Roa.  There—by the wills of good fortune—you shall open communication with my sister, Princess Celestia.  Then—I promise—we shall speak again.  Be strong and have faith.  In the end, we shall all be rewarded with each other's company."

Several sarosians murmured in acknowledgment.  Tearful exclamations of praise and admiration filled the air.

Rarity and Fluttershy sniffled, slightly overwhelmed by the emotional exchange.

"Until we meet once more, children of the night.  Princess Luna's voice paused for a solemn breath.  "Make for the edge of the world, Rainbow Dash.  Swiftly.  There is very little time left, and yet we have a great deal many things to talk about."

"Heard ya loud and clear, Your Highness," Rainbow Dash said, hopping onto the Stardust.   "Okay, Herald!  Let's go!"  She craned her neck and shouted in Xarchellus' direction.  "We'll be back soon!  I promise!  Then we'll plan this all out, okay?!"

"Night's blessings, Austraeoh," Xarchellus said as she and her fellow advisors waved.  "We await your discovery with great vigor."  She glanced aside at Enix.

Enix nodded back.  "Yes, Matriarch.  I shall accompany her."  She shrieked to her side, and three warriors followed her as she hovered above the Stardust.

Wildcard whistled and joined the sarosians in midair.

"I'll join ya in a sec, Dubya!" Bard exclaimed, hopping onto the Stardust.  "Figured I'd check up on Flynn's engine work first—"

Nicole glided down onto the Stardust beside the Desperado.  "How about I join you below deck?"

"Huh?"  Bard glanced over his shoulder.  "Nicole, the Edge could be very hairy.  We'll be back in a blink.  Just hold tight, okay—?"

"Johnny..."  Nicole's eyes narrowed on her older sibling.  "You heard Princess Luna just now?"

"Yeah, she gave a grand ol' speech.  What about it?"

"She's got 'very little time and yet a great deal many things to talk about.'"  Nicole gulped.  "Well, the same is true for us as well."

Bard's lips hung open.  He blinked, then glanced past Nicole.

Echo hopped down awkwardly onto the Stardust's deck.  He gave the Desperado a distant look... then headed towards the far end of the boat, carrying a deadpan expression.

Bard took a deep breath, ultimately shuddering.  "Hoboy..."
> Seven Years Before the Dash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The lightning in the sky was growing more and more visible as the Stardust cruised briskly eastward.  Tapering stormclouds broiled overhead, interrupting the otherwise immaculate starshine.  Each roll of thunder shook the hull to its very deckplates, and a distant, persistent roaring sound rose in intensity.

"It won't be very long now," Enix spoke loudly as she and her fellow warriors flew along the port side of the Stardust.  "Look for a fine mist—like a cloud at sea level!"

Rainbow Dash glanced over at her.  "Will that be the edge?"

"Negative..."  Enix slowly shook her head.  "...but rather, the first of many things beyond it."

"Is it just me...?"  Rainbow Dash pointed at the rippling waves.  "Or are the waters far less choppy for some reason?"

"We are not passing by the Waters of Forever Sinking," Enix explained.  "Even so—those tempestuous waves no longer exist anymore, thanks to you."

Rainbow gulped.  "So... in other words... this will be a smooth trip."

"So long as we don't venture too far beyond the wrecks."

"The wrecks?"

"You'll see," Enix said.  "There is a point of no return for sea vessels.  My warriors and I will indicate when and where your colleagues should anchor the ship."

"Or else...?"

"...you'll plummet over the falls... and all physical matter will be propelled outward into the chaotic storm clouds that form a barrier between us and the ether."

Rainbow Dash gulped, staring straight east past the bow.  "Snazzy."

"The Edge of the World..."  Twilight Sparkle hovered sideways, gazing towards the bleak horizon with a gaping expression.  "Never in my whole life did I think I would see it with my own eyes..."

"Well, funny you should say that!" Pinkie Pie chirped.  "Because you're kinda-sorta seeing it with dead eyes!"

"Pinkie..."  Applejack sighed.

"Well, it's true!"

"I know, but do ya gotta make a big ol' stink about it?"

"Ghost ponies don't smell!"  Pinkie Pie blinked, then flared her nostrils.  "Well, except for Fluttershy."  She pointed over her shoulder, giggling.  "She'd smell like fresh flowers in any after life!  Heehee!"

"Fluttershy..."  Rainbow glanced aside.  "Any luck sensing the Rohbreddenites that the messengers spoke of?"

Fluttershy shook her head.  "No, Rainbow.  Then again... we are moving pretty quickly away from where they were last reported."

Applejack gulped.  "I sure hope they dun show up while we're off surveyin' the edge."

"I highly doubt it," Twilight Sparkle said.  "From the nature of the report, it sounds like the attack force is pretty far off.  Besides—even if they somehow did catch up before we returned, I'm certain Bleak's Plummet could submerge and escape their sight."

"Well, I sure hope so."  Applejack rubbed her head beneath her ghostly hat.  "I can't imagine that this part of the ocean runs all that deep."

"My stars..."  Rarity cooed.

Applejack looked over.  "Am I right?  I mean, if there are sheets of water constantly fallin' over the side, then this part of the ocean's gotta be super shallow or somethin'—"

"It's not that..."  Rarity's muzzle hung agape as her horn glowed.  "I... I can sense it!"

"Sense what, Rare-Rare?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"What else?!"  Rarity's eyes blinked hard.  "To the east and beneath us!  It's... it's like the whole world ends!"  She gulped.  "I'm... sensing this emptiness beyond an incalculably steep shelf!  It's... like nothing else I've ever comprehended before."  She shivered slightly.  "Makes me feel... small..."

"Ohhhhh..."  Fluttershy leaned over and hugged Rarity.  "It'll be okay.  Rainbow and her friends know how to keep themselves safe."  She looked over, blinking.  "Right?"

Rainbow took a deep breath.  She turned to look up at Kepler.  "How's she handling?"

"Like a drream, Rrainbow one!"  Kepler exclaimed, gripping the rudder wheel.  "Flynn's engines arre carrrying us trrue!  I would—howeverr—advise slowing ourr momentum soon!  Therre's no telling what kind of rrough waterrs we might rrun into!  It would be best to prreserrve mana-powerr forr a full rreverrse, if the moment calls forr it!"

Rainbow Dash nodded.  "Good idea.  Just communicate with Enix so that you'll have a good idea when exactly to cut the engines and recharge."

"Aye, Austrraeoh!"

Rainbow tilted her head up.  "Princess Luna?  Are you there?"

"Indeed we are, Rainbow Dash.  Albeit—not for much longer."

Princess Celestia's voice broke through.  "Are you situated?"

"We've got a course set, Your Highnesses."  Rainbow squinted east.  The bow of the Stardust was aligned with the hazy golden path leading towards the horizon.  "We're following my... uh... newly-gifted 'senses.'"

"Very well.  Then we have some important things to discuss."

"Fire away, Your Majesties."  Rainbow Dash plopped down on her haunches.  "Better late than never."  She glanced aside—but was curious at the absence of several figures.  "Er... wait just one second."  She glanced at Remna.  "Where's Bard?  Wildcard?  The others?"

Remna glanced over from where she calmly sat along the starboard side.  "Down below."  The mare's emerald eyeslits narrowed.  "Discussing the future."

"Whose future?"

"Who else?"

Rainbow Dash blinked.  A cold shudder.  "Oh yeah..."
> After the Sunset, There's Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Ariel, Logan, and Wildcard stood side by side—huddled in the doorframe between the engine room and the largest cabin of the rusted Stardust.  Behind them, Flynn worked tirelessly on the manacrystals.  Ahead of them...

...a pegasus in a cowboy hat paced and pace before two sarosian figures.

"And just how far do you plan to go with 'em, huh?"  Bard scuffled to a stop, eyes narrowing on the mare in front of him.  "Beyond the Seven Seas?"

"That was the overall plan."  Nicole gulped, nodding.  "Yeah..."

"Nicole—darlin'—didn't ya hear Rainbow Dash goin' on and on about how plum dangerous that desert is?!"  Bard waved a hoof.  "That ol' Matriarch Xarchellus has plenty of good reason not to expect livin' through the whole trek!  Just try and imagine thousands of nocturnal batponies—sensitive to sunlight—just... moseyin' along across a giant arid landscape!"

"That's just it, Johnny," Nicole said.  "I'm not Xarchellus.  I'm young.  I'm versatile.  And I know a thing or two about Rohbreddenite culture!  I'm a useful aid to the midnighters!"  She gestured at Echo.  "Same with Ryckmun here—"

Bard did a double-take.  "Same with who?"

Wildcard leaned his feathery head to the side.

"Erm..." Echo cleared his throat.  "It's... it's my given name."  His eyeslits blinked.  "The name I was foaled with."

Bard exchanged distant glances with Wildcard, then looked back at the stallion.  "How come we ain't ever heard the sound of it 'til now?"

"Because nopony was allowed to even pronounce it until now."  Echo's leafy ears twitched.  "I've... uh... I've been allowed back into the fold."  He gulped.  "I'm a forgiven foal of the Maiden of the Moon."

Logan and Ariel exchanged glances.

"Wow, that's... uhm..."  Ariel bore a tender smile.  "That's pretty sweet, dude."

"I guess not all shit rolls downhill," Logan said.

Echo bore a fanged smile.  "I don't understand it.  But the fact that you said 'shit' convinces me of your sincerity."

"I try my best."

"Like shit you do."

"Ahem."  Bard gestured.  "So... you've both come together on this?"  The desperado's brow furrowed.  "Yer fixin' to be a pair of guides for the ponies of Bleak's Plummet?"

"Isn't it obvious?"  Echo pointed at Nicole.  "Your sister here knows the continent."

"Kinda sorta," she muttered, fidgeting.

Echo pointed at himself.  "I know the Seven Seas."

"You can count on that," Logan muttered.

Wildcard gestured.

Bard turned from him to squint at the sarosians.  "And what of the Grand Choke and beyond?  Huh?  Rainbow Dash's personal tales can only take y'all so far."

Echo looked at Nicole.

"Well... Johnny..."  Nicole swallowed.  "...think about it.  There... really isn't any other place on this plane where we belong.  And—I know it's going to be a long and arduous trip—but in the end... it's all about getting somewhere that's safe and harmonic... and returning these poor lost souls to their mother... their Moon Mother."

"Yeah, but... but..."  Bard fidgeted.  "...damned if it doesn't sound dangerous as all Hell."

Nicole nodded.  "Perhaps so.  But... I believe in Rainbow Dash."  She smiled, cocking her head to the side.  "Don't you?  That she's made the world that much safer between here and there?  That... that there's something divine at work here?  Despite all of the so-called 'wicked' things she's been forced by Verlaxion to do?"

"Darlin', I've been all around the Seven Seas since I ditched Blue's Farm," Bard muttered.  "Ain't nothin' divine about the world.  In the end, it mostly comes down to luck."

Wildcard somberly nodded.

"Well..."  Nicole shrugged.  "...a little bit of cooperation and good-will never hurt anypony, don't you think?"

"The two of us can't rightly steer the midnighters around every bump," Echo said.  "But we can definitely help them.  And... well... they can certainly help us."  Echo took a shuddering breath, glancing aside at Nicole with glossy eyes.  "Goddess knows we've b-been helped enough as it is."

Nicole smiled at him, then gave the stallion a friendly nuzzle.  She turned to look up at Bard.  "Johnny..."  She gently crossed the distance between them.  "...don't you think this is the best way to do things?"

Bard sighed, avoiding her gaze.  "Darlin'..."

"You were right."  Nicole swallowed a lump down her throat.  "I'm... simply not cut out for the Dark Side.  And Ryckmun here couldn't fly alongside you and Wildcard and the others.  We would just slow you all down.  But in Bleak's Plummet?  In joining the exodus?  We can not only be helpful... but we can be safe."  She smiled tearfully.  "We can have a home... Rainbow's home.  Of all the places on this earth... would you rather your little sister be anywhere else?"

Bard sighed long and hard.  He tipped his hat off, leaned forward, and scooped her up in a deep, deep hug.  "I can think of one place..."

Nicole sniffled.  She buried her face in his shoulder.  "I'm... I-I'm sorry, Johnny.  I... I know you went through so m-much at the Ranch to c-come to terms with your family... only for m-me to ditch you like this—"

"You ain't ditchin' nopony," Bard said.  He smiled tenderly, despite the melancholy in his deep voice.  "Just... wish thangs were different, is all."  He gulped hard.  "Wish I didn't have to choose between protectin' the world and protectin' my own kin..."

"But you will be protecting me, Johnny."  Nicole shuddered.  "Wherever you go... wherever the Desperados' train takes you... it'll be for the best... for our best."

Ariel bit her lip from afar, growing teary-eyed.  Logan and Flynn said nothing.

"I'm glad you feel that way," Bard said.  "Still... almost feels like I'm leavin' another precious legacy behind."  He exhaled.  "And after Amber..."

"Shhhhh..."  Nicole leaned up and kissed Bard on the forehead.  She grasped his face, smiling directly at him.  "I'm sorry that I never got to meet Amber.  But I have the pleasure of knowing—first hoof—that she has endless... endless reasons to be proud of her husband."

Wildcard glanced at Bard.

Bard clenched his jaw tight.  His eyes grew misty, and he finally exhaled with a breathy:  "Shucks."  He stared off across the cabin, summoning a fragile smirk.  "Ain't gettin' off this train we're on... but the windows sure are startin' to fog up."

Nicole giggled, wiping her eyes as she sniffled.

Bard squeezed her shoulder.  He then shuffled forward, approaching Echo.  "'Ryckmun,' huh?"

Echo groaned.  "Yeah... lame, isn't it?"

"Gotta admit... ain't got the same ring to it as 'Jordan' or 'Johnny.'"  Bard raised an eyebrow.  "But we can't all be musicians, huh?"

Echo shook his head.  "Doesn't stop us from having encores."

"Heh... you've come a long way from the junkie Dubya and I were contracted to hog-tie in Rust."

Echo stared past Bard.  "It was lifetimes ago..."

"It sure was, wasn't it?"

Echo nodded.

Bard nodded back.

Silence.

Wildcard shuffled forward.  He stood before Echo, extending his metal talon.

Echo reached forward, and the two shook limbs.

Wildcard smirked, then gestured something.

"Uhm..."  Echo gulped.  "What did he say?"

Ariel cleared her throat, smirking.  "The highest compliment a griffon could ever give."

"Wow, really?"

"Nah.  He just called you a 'lucky sonuvabitch.'"

Logan and Flynn laughed before returning to their duties.

Echo sighed as Wildcard walked away.  "Well... good to know I've found my center, I guess."

Meanwhile, Bard was reaching down to pick up his cowboy hat.  He raised to his head... but lingered in place.  "... ... ..."  In a silent gesture, he reached over and plopped it down on Nicole's head instead.

The article was one or two sizes too big—as evidenced by Nicole having to adjust the thing and peek out of it, eyeslits blinking.

"Eh..."  Bard waved a hoof from side to side, smirking.  "You'll grow into it."

"You really think so?"

"No."

Wildcard snickered breathily.

Bard smiled at Nicole.  He reached forward, tilting the hat back until it looked fairly decent on her petite cranium.  Then—smile fading—he turned to look at Echo.  "You take care of her, y'hear?"  The Desperado took a deep breath.  "I dun wanna be comin' back from the Midnight Armory hearin' that my lil' sis has become whale food."

Echo stood up straight.  "You have my promise, Johnny."

Bard nodded, eyes narrow.  "Yeah... I reckon I do..."
> In Front / Open Large Doors
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Rainbow Dash..."  Princess Luna spoke, her words firm and serious.  "Concerning the Midnight Armory..."

Rainbow Dash stood on the bow of the Stardust.  She and her companions listened through the persistent, rolling thunder.  "Yes, Your Majesty?"

"There are some things that you need to know about it..."

Twilight Sparkle and Rarity exchanged glances.

Rainbow gulped.  She tilted her head up towards the flickering clouds.  "I'm all ears, Your Highness."

"It was constructed by alicorns tens of thousands of years ago," Luna explained.  "The gold surfaces were carved by harmonic magic.  The foundation—enchanted with harmonic energies.  The entrances—in all cardinal directions—sealed with alicorn sorcery."

"Well, wouldn't be much of an armory if none of those steps were taken, I guess..."

"Rainbow Dash..."  Princess Celestia's voice broke through.  "What my younger sister means to convey is that the Midnight Armory was built by alicorns..."

"Right.  I got that."

"... for alicorns."

Rainbow blinked.  She looked at her friends.

"If..."  Twilight thought out loud.  "...they sealed the entrances with their magic..."

Rainbow's gaze darted heavenward.  "Does this mean only alicorns can open the dang thing?"

"Practically speaking, yes," Celestia said.

"However..."  Luna interjected.  "...the Armory responds chiefly to harmonic energies.  And there is only one surviving physical incarnation of such an enchantment."

Rainbow held a hoof to her neck.  "The Element of Loyalty..."

"Precisely," Luna said.  "My sister and I whole-heartedly believe that the Element of Loyalty—once brought within close proximity of the Armory—will automatically cause the entrances to open, therefore allowing you entry."

"Yeah, but... like..."  Rainbow Dash fidgeted as the Stardust plowed through an errant wave, splashing salt water across the deck.  "...my Element is just one of six.  It's... like... a fraction of the original energy originally imbued to you and Celestia by the Harmonic Prism before the rest of the alicorns up and croaked."

"Indeed."

"So... like..."  Rainbow Dash's brow furrowed.  "How can I expect the Element of Loyalty to work that easily?  I mean... in regards to opening the Armory?"

Spike's voice broke through the airwaves, startling the pegasus.  "But remember, Rainbow!  Your pendant is way... way more than just the Element of Loyalty these days."

"How do you figure?"

Rarity spoke up.  "I think what Spikey-Wikey means is that there's more than just Loyalty tied to your pendant."

"Yeah!"  Pinkie nodded jubilantly.  "There's us!  Wee!"

"Makes a lick of sense," Applejack remarked.  "We're all in on this ride because of that snazzy necklace yer sportin'."

"Even though it's taken several visits to the ruby flame to... uhm... 'acquire' us," Fluttershy added meekly.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, gazing skyward again.  "So... like... because I've got all the girls with me... at least in spirit..."

"Then the Element of Loyalty is basically all of the Elements of Harmony rolled into one!" Spike said excitedly.  "Er... at least... that's my personal postulation."

"Mrmmfff..."  Remna folded her forelimbs.  "Are we so certain that voice belongs to a dragon?"

Cheeks puffing, Twilight spun to growl at the violet mare.  "Yes he is!  In fact, he's the best dragon, you... you h-hussy!"

"She can't hear you, darling," Rarity cooed.

"I don't care!"  Twilight pouted, muzzle scrunched.  "I hope she... grnnngh... ch-chokes on a crucified pony!"

"Ahem."  Rainbow peered at the thunderclouds.  "Luna?  Celestia?  What do you think?"

"About Spike's theory?"

"Yeah..."

"There's some sound logic to it," Celestia said.  "However, the fact remains:  we do not know precisely what is happening to the Element of Loyalty."

Luna joined in:  "It is only fair to say: we've never truly understood why the Elements chose you, Twilight, and the others to be avatars of harmony.  Granted, we have several theories—"

"Care to elaborate?" Rainbow asked.

"Rainbow, what matters is that you and the rest of your friends are innately connected with the Elements, even if only one physically remains," Celestia said.  "And as for the prevailing theories, I believe there is only one firm explanation as to why the spirits of your friends have endured—even beyond physical death."

Before Rainbow could open her mouth—

"She is the Austraeoh," Remna said.  "Whatever empowers Urohringr, it has hijacked the Elements of Harmony as its chief energy source for rebooting the entire Machine World."

Rainbow turned to squint at the draconian mare.  "'Hijacked?'  Really?"

Remna merely nodded.  "I do not believe that the forces of Urohringr particularly care about the nature of alicorn magic... only that it's somehow determined to be strong enough to breathe life into this lost plane."

"Lemme guess," Rainbow Dash murmured.  "Through me and my element."

Remna's head cocked to the side.  "Or, in this case, through the Harmonic Prism."  She looked into the sky as if she was staring at Luna and Celestia.  "And once it's brought back to the exact place where the destruction of the Elements began, then and only then will harmony be fully restored to this piece of the ring."

"And my fr-friends too!" Rainbow sputtered.  "Right?"

"Axan's suppositions are sound, Rainbow Dash," Princess Luna said.  "Nevertheless, I suspect that the moment of true revelation will transpire the moment you get your hooves on the Prism... which will be no easy task."

Rainbow squinted.  "What do you mean by that?  Is the thing... like... bigger than a house?"

"Negative.  It is larger than your Element of Loyalty—yes—but a mortal of your size should have no problem carrying it."

Rainbow shrugged.  "I'm used to wearing a saddlebag at all times anyways.  So... like... what's the big hooplah?"

"Well, you must understand—"

"It's not gonna make my face melt off or some metal crud like that, will it?"

"Rainbow Dash, taking hold of the Harmonic Prism should not be a challenge," Princess Celestia said.  "An Element Bearer such as yourself—after all—should be more than properly-equipped for the task."

"However..."  Luna spoke, her tone grave.  "...the difficulty will be in entering the Midnight Armory itself."

"I thought you said that it responds to harmonic energies," Rainbow Dash remarked.  She tapped her pendant as thunder rolled yet again.  "So... like... me and my ruby lightning bolt can just... roll up to one of the four front doors and open sesame... dreit?"

"Such is our avid hope.  However... once you are inside the Armory, Rainbow Dash, you must be prepared to... face some trials."

"Trials..."  Rainbow droned, ears folding back.

"Ewwwwwwwww..."  Pinkie Pie curled up into a pink ball.  "...all my droopy parts just became droopier!"

"Seriously, Princesses?" Rainbow muttered—nearly growled.  "Trials?  After all I've been through—?"

"It is not what you think, Rainbow Dash—"

"After all the crap that the Herald and I are going to have to go through in order to get to that place—?!"

Celestia's voice spoke with a stern edge:  "We do not speak of anything even remotely resembling the banal exercises of torment that Verlax put you through.  But—rather—it's simply a matter of how the Armory was built and by whom."

Rainbow Dash clammed up.

In a calmer voice, Celestia continued:  "The Armory was made by alicorns.  And the Harmonic Prism that's inside?  It was only ever crafted to be wielded by immortals.  For all of our ancestor's wisdom, they never foresaw mere mortals becoming the avatar of the Elements."

Luna joined in:  "The Armory was built with the express purpose of being opened and accessed by alicorns and alicorns alone.  This was several millennia ago, and in all that time we've never had a need to access the safehold.  Since then, the race of alicorns have dwindled to near-extinction.  With Mortuana having passed, there's only myself, my sister, and the half-bred Whitemane to account for the surviving descendants."

"In other words... even if I do get the doors to the Armory open..."  Rainbow Dash gulped.  "...it's... not exactly going to be pegasus-friendly."

Spike spoke up:  "The Armory will be expecting an alicorn being.  As a result, the magics inside will be... uhhh... best attuned to an immortal's comprehension."

"In other words, whatever's inside is going to blow my friggin' mind."

Spike's voice cracked:  "There... could be some major... major challenges... y-yes..."

"Spike..."  Rainbow sighed heavily out her nostrils.  "Princesses... if all this time you knew how friggin' hard it would be to simply touch the Harmonic Prism, then why was I ever encouraged to fly to the dang place to begin with?"

"We never said that it'd be impossible, Rainbow!" Spike exclaimed.  "And even if we thought it was... and told you so... would it have stopped you two years ago when you first set out on wing?"

Rainbow sighed heavily, glancing at her friends with a tired smile.  "No.  I guess not."

"It will be a challenge, Rainbow Dash," Princess Luna's voice said.  "That much cannot be denied.  The moment you manage to open those doors and enter the golden structure, you will be subjected to unbridled harmonic magics—most of which have been engineered to ensure that alicorns... and only alicorns be granted access to the Harmonic Prism hidden within."

"So... if I'm not an immortal... then I'm basically screwed, right?"

"But you are no mere mortal, Rainbow Dash," Celestia said.  "Between the Elements of Harmony and the forces of Urohringr, you are uniquely empowered."

Remna spoke:  "You have sensed the Armory... have you not?"  Her green eyes narrowed on the pegasus.  "With this new 'sight' of yours?"

Rainbow gulped.  She stared west... down through the hull of the Stardust and the dark waters beyond.  A faint... tiny... miniscule splotch of hazy gold light dwindled... almost like a phantom.

"Jury's still out on that..."  She muttered.

"The changeling queen spoke of the persistence of this infernal 'Trinary War' on the Dark Side, yes?" Remna inquired.

Rainbow nodded.

"And my nefarious sister spoke of her inability to locate Endrax?"

Rainbow nodded again.

Taking a deep breath, Remna leaned back and said, "Then... suffice it to say... three whole armies and the strongest member of my brood have all failed in entering the Armory and accessing the Harmonic Prism thus far."  She raised an eyebrow.  "Now do you doubt that the sanctum was destined to be open by you and you only?"

"Yeah, but..."  Rainbow Dash bit her lip.  "...how can I expect to survive the inevitable brain scrambler inside?"

"It goes far beyond mere perception, Rainbow Dash," Spike said.

"Oh."  Rainbow rolled her eyes.  "Great."  She tossed her forelimbs.  "Just how freaked out should I be?"

"It's pure, unbridled harmonic energy—raw and untapped since ancient times when Luna's and Celestia's ancestors first built the place."  Spike took a breath.  "What you'll likely experience is less mental and... more likely temporal."

"T-temporal?"  Rarity stammered.

"But of course..."  Twilight exhaled.  "...I've read old history books about the first alicorns.  Many modern experts assume that the powers of harmonic energy were even more powerful than the spells that allow Celestia and Luna to control the sun and moon."  She swallowed hard.  "Some alicorn mages were so powerful, they could manipulate gravity."

"Yeah?"  Rainbow glanced at her.  "So what?"

"Rainbow... if you can affect gravity, then time isn't that much of a sneeze either."

Rainbow blinked.  She looked heavenward.  "Luna?  Celestia?  Is the Midnight Armory gonna... mess with the fabric of space... time... panties... you-name-it?"

"Not even our ancestors could make a long-lasting spell that powerful, Rainbow Dash," Celestia said.

"But, Spike just said—"

"The powers that preserve the Midnight Armory hold sway to all that is contained by it," Luna said.  "It takes a keen alicorn intellect to comprehend whatever transpires within those golden walls.  But a mortal who enters?  They will likely have a great deal of difficulty in determining what is up from down."

"Or is 'past' from 'future,'" Spike clarified.

"You are gifted with the Elements of Harmony, Rainbow Dash," Luna said.  "Not to mention the forces of Austraeoh.  My sister and I have full-faith that you will be able to navigate the confounding forces within."

"Just..."  Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.  "...it won't be a walk in the park."

"We highly suspect not."

"What's the matter, Dashie?"  Pinkie Pie blinked.  "We thought you loved a challenge!"

"Oh... totally..."  Rainbow Dash sighed, folding her forelimbs.  "But I also love having my head together so I can celebrate the victory afterwards..."

"In a worst case scenario," Fluttershy said.  "The Herald could help Rainbow Dash figure things out.  They'll be by her side, after all."

"I... don't know about that, Fluttershy," Twilight Sparkle said.  "They're not empowered by harmony like Rainbow Dash is.  If nothing else, bringing other mortals into an alicorn environment might only complicate things further."

"Huh?"  Fluttershy blinked.

Applejack muttered, "She means Rainbow's gonna have to enter the Armory alone, no matter what."

"Pretty much."  Twilight gulped.  "Yeah."

Meanwhile, Rainbow's eyes were darting left and right as she pondered something heavily.  Clearing her throat, she spoke towards the thundering sky.  "What about chaos?"

"Chaos, Rainbow Dash?" Celestia remarked.

"I've got a flankload of chaos inside me, right?"  Rainbow pointed at her pendant.  "Y'know... the nasty beast clawing away at my insides?  Threatening to kill me super hard between beacons of ruby flame?"

"What about it, Rainbow Dash?" Luna asked.

"Well... it's like a pollutant, right?  A smear on my harmonic... uh... soul-self?"

Luna's voice lingered, then blurted:  "I must express confusion as to what you are attempting to imply, child."

Rainbow fumed.  "Will having so much chaos inside of me make entering the Midnight Armory difficult?  I mean... in spite of the Elements of Harmony and all that jazz?"

Silence.

At last, Luna's voice gravely replied, "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, but we cannot fathom to guess.  At least not with a modicum of accuracy."

Rainbow sighed, nostrils flaring as she stared across the choppy waters.  "Terrific..."
> Every Piece of You Matters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"If I may interrject, fairr prrincesses," Kepler spoke boldly over the thunder as he guided the Stardust along.

"Ahem..."  Rainbow smirked mildly into the air.  "The Royal Court recognizes the most esteemed Sir Kepler of Wyvern Point."

The Heraldite adjusted his bifocals and mused out loud:  "One cannot deny that therre is a state of chaos situated within the essence of Rrainbow Dash, the Austrraeoh.  Howeverr, be that as it may, one could easily conclude from prresent cirrcumstances that it is herr indomitable spirrit of harrmony—everr incrreasing with each leg of herr jourrney—that is herr prredominant trrait."

Pinkie Pie smiled at the other ghostly mares.  "I wonder if her rolls R's when he burps."

"A fine compliment indeed, Mr. Kepler, and one that my sister and I whole-heartedly agree with," Princess Celestia's voice echoed over the waves.  "Might I ask what you are attempting to suggest by it?"

"Simply that it does not seem charracterristic of the nebulous devices currently at play to drraw the sparrk of Urohringr all the way to the Midnight Armory—only to bang herr head against an immovable doorr in the end."  Kepler's tusks glinted from the distant lightning.  "The Mountain Matrron—blessed Morrtuana—had boundless faith in the Rrainbow One.  This was no byprroduct of alicorrn senility; Morrtuana had studied the ancient texts concerrning the Angels forr generrations beforre rrealizing the necessity of harrmonic enerrgies in guiding the Austrraeoh to theirr destined task."

"I think we're all in agreement, Kepler, dude," Rainbow Dash said, nodding towards the splashing waves off the bow.  "Thanks to all of the Yaerfaerda beacons, I'll actually be able to do something when I reach the doors of the Armory."

"It's farr morre spectacularr than that, dearr frriend."  Kepler smiled calmly.  "The harrmonic enerrgy is imporrtant, yes.  Howeverr, you would not have had the opporrtunity to acquirre all of the essences of the alicorrns' prrecious Elements had you not been polluted by chaos to begin with."

"Huh?"  Rainbow blinked.

"I think I get what he's saying, Rainbow," Twilight Sparkle remarked.  "Think about it."

Rainbow looked aside.  "Think about what?"

"Well... Discord was the Lord of Chaos, right?  So... he reawakens... turns Equestria upside down... attempts to make Ponyville the capital of Chaos... then flat-out robs each of us of the Elements of Harmony."  She held a hoof over her chest.  "I find the Elements, attempt the use them, they... er... b-backfire..."  She gulped hard.  "...you show up.  Put on the last remaining Element.  Destroy Discord... and absorb his essence."

"Is there a reason for this depressing exposition that we all already know about?"

"Put it into a grand perspective, darling!" Rarity floated closer.  "Your absorption of chaos and your unassuming quest for harmony are both one in the same!"

"Seems to me you'd never would left Ponyville to begin with if ya hadn't smashed Discord to bits," Applejack said.

"Yeah.  But only because he destroyed you guys."

Twilight looked guiltily aside.  "Well..."

"He destroyed you guys," Rainbow said, frowning.  "And I could never forgive him for that.  There was no way in heck that I'd settle for his statue standing around in one piece."

"But we know now that becoming the sole bearer of the surviving Element of Loyalty meant something, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy remarked.  "It meant that you would be a vessel for harmony as well as chaos."

"In fact..."  Pinkie Pie hopped in mid-air.  "...you'd be six times more full of Harmony than you'd be of chaos!  Six versus one!  That's almost like the last time the hoofball players from Germane took on Brayzil!"

Rainbow Dash exhaled.  "Yeah... well... the chaos is still there..."

"True.  But... it would appear to be killing you far slower now," Rarity said, smiling nervously.  "R-right...?"

"Care to include us in your conversation with Twilight and the others, Rainbow?" Celestia coyly inquired.

"Ahem..."  Rainbow looked towards the heavens.  "The chaos from Discord that I absorbed will always be a part of me... won't it?"

There was no reply at first.

Then Luna spoke:  "Presumably, yes.  However... it is quite possible that the sheer power of the Harmonic Prism—once in your possession—could overpower the element of chaos by such an overwhelming degree that it would render its influence over you moot."

"Then what?  I could... like... take off my pendant without fear of mutating into a murderous freak'n'stuff?"

"Difficult to say, my child.  If I was to postulate, then I suspect that the only true way to completely rid yourself of the disease of chaos is to bring the power of the Elements back where everything began."

"By that... you mean carrying the Harmonic Prism back to Ponyville."

"Precisely.  And by restoring the Elements..."

"...I'd be restoring my friends."  Rainbow Dash gulped.  "And... hopefully... myself."

"Such is an arduous task.  No doubt you are—on some level—ambitiously enthused by it."

"Heh..."  Rainbow Dash smirked devilishly.  "You know me too well, Your Majesty."

"Believe you me, Rainbow," Spike's voice said.  "It's something we're all super-looking-forward-to."

"Yeah... well..."  Rainbow took a shuddering breath.  "...let's not count our rubies before they're eaten."

A pause... and then Twilight's former assistant muttered:  "Wouldn't it hurt to have some faith in yourself?"

"I'm just a tad bit freaked out over this whole 'trials of the Midnight Armory' thing."  Rainbow Dash made a face.  "If the only way to get the Harmonic Prism is to pass through a crazy brain barrier that's only accessible by immortal alicorn minds, then what hope does a chaos-infected pegasus got?"

"You've got the other Element Bearers with you, Rainbow!  Even in spirit form, your harmonic possession is—"

"Yeah, but the chaos crud is still there.  How will I know it won't... like... choke-slam me the moment I pass through the open doors of the Armory?  Assuming I can pass through."

Kepler interjected from the uppermost deck.  "You hold much faith in the alicorrns and theirr magics—as you should.  Howeverr..."  He cocked his hairy head to the side.  "...do not forrget that you arre purrposed as much by the powerrs of Austrraeoh."

"Yeah?  And what's that mean in this scenario?"

"I suspect that it means—Rrainbow One—that you arre meant to possess such a minute element of chaos.  In fact... you werre likely always meant to possess it... through a mechanism that is olderr and farr morre complicated than any of the devices wielded by the flock of alicorrns who firrst landed on this plane."  Kepler bowed to the heavens.  "No offense, Rroyal Ones..."

"No offense taken," Princess Celestia said.  "And I do see where your friend is coming from, Rainbow Dash.  And if there is truth to the theory, I am afraid that Princess Luna and I cannot help you."

"Oh?"

"Because they're not the experts on Urohringr, Rainbow," Twilight whispered.  "This is not our Princesses' world.  In fact... it never was."

Rainbow nodded, her ruby eyes scanning the golden haze pointing them east.  "I guess the only pony who's gonna figure it all out... is me..."  She gulped.  "When I get to the Midnight Armory."

"I do wish we could be of better assistance to you in this matter," Princess Luna said.

"Hey.  It's all good."  Rainbow took a breath and glanced skyward.  "In the meantime, there's something else you could maybe help me with."

"And what is that, Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow's eyes narrowed.  "How in the heck am I going to survive the sarosians on the Dark Side?"
> The Forsaken Flock of Saros
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"This is truly a major concern of yours, Rainbow?" Princess Luna inquired.

"Well... yeah."  Rainbow nodded fervently.  "Why wouldn't it be, Your Highness?  I mean... Queen Chrysalis made it pretty clear that there'd be three badflank factions that I'd have to contend with while making my way to the Midnight Armory."  She gulped.  "And one of those three armies of the Trinary War belong to you.  Or—at least, in their heads—they probably think they do."

"You speak about the Dark Vigil."

"Well, that's what Matriarch Xarchellus evidently calls them."  Rainbow leaned against the hull of the Stardust.  "You know your dream flock more than anyone, Your Majesty.  Tell me... what would they call themselves?"

"They've been sadly disconnected from my sphere of influence for over a thousand years, Rainbow Dash.  I'm afraid that I cannot pretend to guess what they would refer to themselves as by this point."

"Okay then.  Uhm..."  Rainbow fidgeted where she stood.  "What... uh... did they call themselves back in the day?"

"You mean back when I commanded them as Nightmare Moon?"

"Right."

"Well, as regrettable as it is to recollect, they would very much have identified themselves as the 'Dark Wing of the Lunar Empire.'  The same can be said of Xarchellus' group in Bleak's Plummet.  Both the Vigil and the Dark Vigil are descendants of the very same sarosian exodus that fled east from Equestria following the end of the Solar Civil War."

"They were all warriors, then?"

"Indeed.  There was a sorcery division of the Lunar Empire.  The Diviners of Dusk—all unicorns.  However, they weren't as mobile as the Dark Wing, and they were forced to remain in Equestria.  Within a few generations—however—they had all repented of their ways, and many of their descendants remain in modern Winnipeg and Trottingham.  As for the agricultural division—"

"Uhm... s-sorry, Your Highness."  Rainbow waved a hoof.  "I wasn't... uh... trying to get you to tragically reminisce on the entire Lunar Empire."  She gulped.  "I'm just wondering... hoping that you can give me something to go on regarding the Dark Wing... Dark Vigil... whoever they are..."

"Rainbow Dash, it has been many... many generations," Princess Luna spoke in a melancholic tone.  "I'm speaking of lifespans that most likely were short-lived, tragically curtailed by a grand, bloody war on the Dark Side that none of us have the capacity to comprehend.  Any semblance of culture that the sarosians may have carried with them towards the other side will likely have been absorbed into a brand new self-identity.  It would be quite miraculous if they have any recollection of me whatsoever—much less of my Nightmare Moon incarnation."

"I dunno, Princess."  Rainbow smirked wryly.  "You leave a pretty snazzy impression on a pony."

"Rainbow Dash..."

"Okay... okay... just..."  Rainbow gestured.  "...brief me on what the Dark Wing went through right before they made their exodus."

"That's information that my sister would be better equipped to give you, seeing as they spent a few decades in exile all throughout eastern Equestria before making their vast journey."

"But I don't want to know about Celestia's impact on them.  I wanna know about yours."

"Hmmmm... very well."  Princess Luna took a breath and spoke, "As Princess Luna, I was seen as more than just a patron ruler.  I was in many ways deified as a progenitor—even a Creator."

"That's why they're always keen on calling you the 'Moon Matriarch' and stuff, right?"

"It goes far deeper than that, Rainbow Dash.  Sarosians are half physical and half metaphysical.  The first temporal sarosian was conjured from a dream.  I mean that in the most literal of senses.  Dreams were birthed into being because their energy was split from a unique, randomly occurring intelligence.  It was nothing short of a miracle, and—in truth—the part I played in the conjuration was quite minimal.  Nevertheless, the first generation of sarosians entered the mortal realm as a consequence of my own influence, and I instantly took it upon myself to bear responsibility for their integration into equine civilization.  Above all things, it is most important to understand this—for it is the source of all sarosian philosophy, especially in regards to the 'Mother of Nightmares.'"

"Gotcha.  You're super important."  Rainbow gulped.  "But—yowsers, Luna.  They came from a dream?"

"And dreams came from them.  It is confusing—I know.  But even alicorns such as myself and Celestia are still coming to terms with many of the confounding revelations that you are discovering."

"Such as the prehistoric existence of the pegasus progenitors that the Heraldites call 'Angels,'" Celestia interjected.

"Quite right, sister."  Princess Luna continued:  "Nevertheless, thousands of years ago I fostered the first sarosians into a mortal existence.  Many of them were misunderstood, and the other races of ponies held a great deal of fear and distrust.  To avoid unnecessary conflict, I took it upon myself to shelter many of the sarosians inside the moon.  For—you see—there was a time when the residual harmonies imparted by our elders were so strong that I could transport myself and my flock to and from the celestial body under my control.  That power—of course—has dwindled with the gradual decay of time, and even in my current state I couldn't possibly perform a spell of that magnitude again."

"I'm guessing the only thing that could match that is all of the Elements of Harmony thrown together," Rainbow thought out loud.

"Regrettably so," Princess Celestia said.  "But—even now, after a thousand years—I'm not so certain that the Elements could peform such a forced teleportation spell."

"Could the Harmonic Prism change that?" Rainbow Dash remarked.  She winced.  "Uhm... n-not that I'm wanting to send anypony to the moon anytime soon or—"

"We understand what you mean, Rainbow Dash," Princess Luna said.  "In theory, the Harmonic Prism would be able to empower my sister and I with harmonic energies the likes of which we haven't wielded in eons.  But—for how long such a recharge would last is beyond our guess."

"In the plane's current state?"  Remna muttered, reminding Rainbow that she was still there.  "Most likely not for long."  The violet mare shook her head.  "Until Urohringr is restored, everything is dying.  And I do mean everything."

Before Rainbow could respond—

"There is validity in Axan's words," Princess Luna said.  "And it makes the current quest all the more important.  But—for now—let me make swift with the information that I have to impart."

Rainbow Dash nodded.  "If you say so..."

"In the moon, I built the sarosians a sanctuary where they could live and multiply and enjoy the fruits of a harmonic existence.  This place had a name—which you may have heard of:  Ponymonium."

"Squeee..."  Twilight Sparkle cradled her lavender cheeks.  She smiled helplessly.  "S-sorry.  I just love ancient history..."

Princess Luna went on.  "Ponymonium was the pearl of sarosian civilization—an underground labyrinth of beautifully carved palaces and spacious courtyards that filled the heart of our faithful lunar body.  It was there that the first generations of elders transcribed the fading memories of their once primordial dreamscape into written runes.  This would become the Book of Saros—the veritable bible upon which traditional sarosian culture is centered.  Inside the Book of Saros, one would find glorious poetic verses promoting peace, serenity, family togetherness, and strength through loyalty."

"How... uh..."  Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.  "How long did Ponymonium last?"

"In a peaceful state?"

Rainbow Dash said nothing—not that she needed to.

Luna continued:  "Up until approximately three hundred years prior to the Solar Civil War.  You must understand that... that Nightmare Moon did not become manifest overnight.  The corruption that overtook me was a slow, venomous thing... and it was fed by a continuously souring personality... one that I take full responsibility for."

"Luna..."

"It is true, sister.  Let us not deny it.  Nightmare Moon fed on several insecure and unsavory emotions that I had been developing over the course of multiple lonesome, cold, brooding centuries.  Feelings of envy... distrust... anger... and anxiety all served to make my heart and soul the perfect host for the nightmarish taint.  What I regret most is that this poisonous mindset was not just relegated to myself, but I had infected my closest mortal confidants—the sarosians—with the same distrust and malevolence that blossomed from my darkened soul.  As a result, Rainbow Dash, the hallowed halls of Ponymonium slowly turned into a totalitarian collection of army barracks and war rooms.  The warrior heart inside each sarosian was blackened with a bloodthirst that was most unnatural.  I stopped being a matronly figure in the eyes of my flock, and instead I had turned into an Empress... an unforgiving, unwavering Goddess of War.  And as the Lunar Empire rose from the shadows, Ponymonium became its headquarters.  I commanded that royal lunar gardens be turned into barren quarries as my loyal minions carved out the weapons of war.  Books and scrolls were burned to make ashes for alchemic ingredients.  Runic magic became the backbone of our offense, and through sheer aggressive barbarism we nearly razed the landscape of Equestria to the ground.  It was thanks to Princess Celestia's harmonic steadfastness and military might that she was able to infuse the defending armies with courage and hold off my attack—just long enough to acquire the Elements of Harmony, confront me, and banish my essence to the moon... where I would be surrounded by the desecrated glories of the past for a thousand years... enveloped in regret and shame for every waking day of my life."

Fluttershy sniffled.  Rainbow looked over to see Rarity gently consoling her.  "It's just... all so tragic," Fluttershy whimpered.

Luna was far from finished:  "Up until my banishment, the Solar Civil War was going in our favor.  My forces and I were so blindly confident in a victory that we took several of our artifacts down to the surface of Equestria with us—preparing to establish a new Ponymonium in place of the Palace of the Royal Sisters.  However, when I—Nightmare Moon—had been removed from the scene in one fell swoop, the remaining sarosians were completely caught off guard.  Several of them panicked and immediately fled into hiding.  Those who were still loyal to my cause fought... violently with the defending forces of Equestria—despite Princess Celestia's multiple calls for peace and cease fire.  From what I've learned... the ensuing conflicts went on for more than half-a-century.  Only after much bloodshed from both sides did the Dark Wing finally decide to make their exodus to the Dark Side—for their reigning Matriarch had decided that the only way to bring back Nightmare Moon would be to employ a device more powerful than the Elements of Harmony."

Rainbow Dash nodded.  "The Harmonic Prism."

"Indeed," Luna said.  "The exodus was no easy feat.  Several sarosian night bloods had to keep the armies of Celestia at bay while the rest collected the artifacts of Ponymonium and made a swift exit.  While the details have been lost due to the fog of war and the stretch of time, it is believed that the forces of the Dark Wing procured the Book of Saros, several thousand tons of lunar rock, the armor of Nightmare Moon, secrets to alchemic rune magic—"

"Wait wait wait a second..."  Rainbow Dash raised a hoof, her eyes narrowing.  "...the 'armor of Nightmare Moon?'"

"Indeed."

"But... like..."  Rainbow glanced aside at Twilight, Applejack, and the others.  "We saw you in armor.  Nightmare Moon—that is—when we confronted her in the Palace of the Royal Sisters."

"That was pure conjuration, Rainbow Dash," Princess Luna said.  "An extension of the powerful essence of Nightmare Moon herself.  When the stars aided in my escape, I had become imbued with an extra degree of power.  Perhaps now you can see why it was so important—and fortuitous—that the Elements of Harmony had manifested themselves in something far more dynamic than mere harmonic batteries."

"So... like... you had actual armor?"

"Forged from the core of the moon, infused with the most powerful of runes, and enchanted with the blood of the ancient sarosian elders."  Princess Luna could be heard sighing.  "It was the product of the darkest of crafting, and yet its power on the battlefield could scarcely be matched.  Only a direct blast from the Elements of Harmony was capable of disarming me."

"But your 'flock' was able to scoop it all up."

"Affirmative.  And considering the fact that Xarchellus and her subordinates made no mention of it—or the Book of Saros—then it stands to reason that they do not possess such artifacts."

Rainbow took a deep breath.  "It's in the hooves of the Dark Vigil."

"So I would suspect.  Or—at least—it initially was.  There's no telling if such ancient treasures still dwell within the presence of the sarosians who are fighting on the Dark Side."

"The Book of Saros?  I dunno.  But your armor?  I'm willing to bet my life on it."  Rainbow's brow furrowed.  "I imagine they're keeping it all in a special place for when they can... y'know... 'bring you back from the moon.'"

"Such is a task that is both pointless and redundant.  But I suspect that you will find yourself hard-pressed to convince them that the Trinary War is no longer worth fighting.  It would seem unrealistic to expect them to have any grasp of time—or at least time as we see it here on the Light Side."

"Yeah... but... Your Highness..."  Rainbow Dash cradled the ruby lightning bolt of her pendant. The silver light in the air glittered all the brighter.  "You've totally... like... super-zapped my Element with your essence and stuff."  She gulped.  "Couldn't they sense your presence?  Y'know... like Xarchellus and the other sarosians of Bleak's Plummet did?"

"Don't forget the guard!" Twilight Sparkle said.

"Eh?"  Rainbow glanced aside.  "Guard?"

Applejack pointed.  "None of them batponies can touch ya while you've got that thang on."

As Rainbow contemplated that, Luna spoke:  "It is quite possible, Rainbow Dash, that the sarosians of the Dark Vigil will feel something when you come into close proximity with them."

"Would... uh... my pendant also repel them?  Cuz of how strong your enchantment is and stuff?"

"Also a realistic likelihood.  Nevertheless, Rainbow Dash, I would strongly issue caution before you even consider approaching the sarosians."

"Why's that?"

"Quite simply... they are bound to be even more savage and unforgiving than the sarosians of Bleak's Plummet were when you first encountered them."

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie both shuddered.

"That's... uh..."  Rainbow brushed back her short-short bangs.  "...pretty sobering, to say the least."

"We are not speaking of a gang of feisty sea pirates, Rainbow Dash.  The Dark Vigil—for all intents and purposes—are bound to be a battle-hardened group of merciless bloodmongerers, tempered by eons of war with two other merciless factions over a nebulous trophy forever eluding their grasp.  Assuming they have any recollection of the history of their ancestors, it is likely a very dark account that has blurred into the shadows of their current strife.  For them—the Solar Civil War never ended, for they are still fighting it today in an endless, bloody campaign for mastery of the Midnight Armory.  If you are no use to them in accomplishing their vanglorious goal, then you will likely be nothing more than an obstacle that they will gladly eradicate with the same heartless malice that so empowered my loyal minions a thousand years ago—and the same can be said of your dear friends.  They will be even more vulnerable than you, seeing as none of them are gifted with my enchantment."

"Then what are you suggesting, Luna?"  Rainbow shrugged heavily.  "I just... avoid the sarosians on the Dark Side altogether?"

"A very sound piece of advice," Remna droned, forcing Rainbow to glance at her.  "The same can be said of Tchern's Hive and the so-called Night Shard."  Her green eyes narrowed.  "There is absolutely no need for you to make contact with these purveyors of death.  When we reach the Dark Side, we must simply make our way to the Midnight Armory and be done with that portion of the Plane altogether."

"If you ask me, that sounds easier said than done!"  Pinkie Pie blinked.  "What with three groups of nasty-nasties all fighting for the same thing!"

"Axan speaks wisdom, Rainbow," Princess Luna said.  "These factions had hundreds of years to make peace with one another.  And—before the exodus made its way to the Dark Side—the forces of Tchern and Chrysalis presumably had even more eons to find a serene solution along with the Night Shard.  The tragedy of this situation was set in stone a long... long time ago."

"I must state my own agreement on the matter," Princess Celestia said.  "Harmony is practically nonexistent on the Dark Side—save for one spot, and it has become antithetical to itself.  The Midnight Armory was never meant to be an impetus for war, and yet that's what it has unwittingly served as for thousands of years.  Suffice it to say, you will not be dealing with salvageable mortals akin to the populaces of Ledomare, Xona, or Val Roa.  I doubt that any faction on the other side of this plane could be anything close to redeemable, Rainbow Dash."

Rarity bit her lip.

"But... but they're ponies, Your Majesties!"  Rainbow Dash's voice cracked.  "At least... some of them are!"  She gestured with a limp fetlock.  "After all, Princess Luna, the sarosians over there are your flock—"

"And they have been lost for far... far too long, Rainbow Dash."

"But... I've done impossible things for screwed-up civilizations before!  Darkstine!  Windthrow!"  She glanced slightly at Remna.  "Silvadel!"  The pegasus gulped.  "I just can't believe you'd write them all off that easily—"

"Nopony is 'written off,' Rainbow Dash.  Of that, I can most emphatically assure you," Princess Luna said.  "Not a day goes by that I do not think about the lives that have been foaled and slaughtered in a blink... the enormity of blood-filled generations devoured by the merciless tide of chaos... all on account of the actions that I have c-committed..."  Princess Luna's voice cut off.

Rainbow and her ghostly friends listened in tense silence.

At last, it was Celestia who spoke:  "It would fill our hearts with... immeasurable joy, Rainbow Dash, to have the Dark Vigil cleansed of their hatred and malice... to have Tchern restored to her former alicorn glory... and even to have the gift of harmony spread to the hearts of every member of the Night Shard.  But you must understand... the fate of the Dark Side—and those who dwell there—was made manifest epochs ago... when the arriving alicorns first made the unfathomably grave decision of which portion of the plane to illuminate with their harmonic resources.  It was not a decision made lightly, and the sheer remorse resulting from that—throughout all these years—is partly to blame for what brought about the eventual demise of the immortality dwelling within the likes of Onyxxus and others like him.  I do not pride myself in saying this, Rainbow Dash, but you must remove all concern for the sarosians from your mind... at least if you plan—in any faculty—to actually make it to the foundations of the Midnight Armory in one piece.  Let your focus be on the salvation of the entire plane... which is something that the greater majority of the world's population—those who dwell on the Light Side—stand to benefit entirely from."

"Not to mention those who dwell within the rest of Urohringr," Remna added.  She glared in Rainbow's direction.  "Your path of salvation and harmony is a noble thing—for a mortal—but do not let it stop at the Dark Side... simply because you made a foolish decision."

"There is nothing foolish about wanting to save lost souls, Axan!" Celestia spoke with more than an ounce of anger.  She calmed slightly, then said, "But the forces of the Trinary War have already made their mark in stone.  Unfortunately, that stone was a grave long before they threw the first spear or fired the first runic charge.  If you truly wish to return to Ponyville with the Harmonic Prism... to restore harmony to all of Equestria and the rest of the plane... then you must make the Midnight Armory your sole focus.  The sarosians who are fighting on the Dark Side?  They are not to be trifled with, and my sister and I will not be present to assist you in eluding them.  Do you understand this, Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow Dash took a deep, fuming breath.  "Yes, Your Majesty."  Her teeth clenched.  "I understand."

Remna glanced at her.

More silence...

...until...

"My dear sister needs... a moment to compose herself," Princess Celestia said.  "Perhaps we should move onto another important briefing."

"Cool.  Cuz I've got a thing I've been dying to ask about for a while now," Rainbow Dash said.

"Please," Celestia said.  "By all means."

"When I spoke to Mortuana..."  Rainbow gulped.  "...when she was still alive... she told me a thing or two about the spirits of all living things."

Twilight and the others looked over, their interests piqued.

"I assume by that you mean she spoke to you about the Harmonic Plains."

"Right."

"Such was her specialty... as it was her father's, Onyxxus," Celestia said.  "Among other facets."

"Yeah, but... like..."  Rainbow squinted into the air.  "She told me some not-so-snazzy things about the spirits of the dead."

"In what way?"

"Mortuana said that she sensed they weren't 'migrating' in a normal fashion," Rainbow Dash murmured.  "That—instead—it was as if they were all sinking through the earth."

"'Sinking through the earth?'"

"Almost... almost as if something was absorbing them all... unnaturally."  Rainbow took a deep breath.  "Something inside the heart of this plane... or—perhaps—something on the Dark Side."

Fluttershy and Rarity shuddered.

The air was silent—save for the persistent thunder.

Then Celestia spoke in an off-key tone:  "I hope you don't mind if you would repeat yourself, Rainbow Dash..."
> Mission of Life and Death
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"When I had an opportunity to hang out with Mortuana," Rainbow Dash said, leaning against the hull of the Stardust.  "She told me about the Harmonic Plains... and that the souls of all living things—after death—are naturally drawn towards the expanding edges of the universe."  She raised an eyebrow.  "Are you familiar with this?"

"But of course," Princess Celestia's voice replied.  "It is a fundamental understanding among all alicorn beings.  The essence of life—as we know it—returns to the Harmonic Plains that form the edges of the knowable universe.  There is... a force of gravity that attracts all living energy imbued with harmony to the spherical horizon.  These units of energy are what you might conceivably call 'souls.'  Whether or not they bear the consciousness of previously-living beings is a matter of philosophical discourse, because—after all—alicorns are just as much limited by their observational scope as—"

"Right.  Cool.  I get it."  Rainobw Dash leanded forward.  "But what if there might be something wrong with that force?  Like... something that's messing with it?  Redirecting it?  Like how someone might split off the tributary of a river?"

"Please, Rainbow Dash.  Mortuana—much like her father, Onyxxus—was an alicorn expert on life, death, and the forces in between.  If she had a reason to suspect that there was something wrong with the natural flow of life energy, it would behoove you to tell us."

Rainbow shuddered.  "She only told me that... during her years of meditation in Wyvern Point as the Seventh Member of the Herald... her senses became attuned to an 'unnatural' shift in the 'migration' of souls."  She gulped, glancing at her friends.  "And that the same unnatural force... might explain why Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity are all attached to me as we speak."

The friends glanced nervously at one another.

Celestia thought out loud:  "Mortuana presumed... that Urohringr was to blame?"

"Possibly.  Maybe.  I dunno.  She just sensed that something was wrong... that all of the forces of dying ponies... dying wyverns... dying griffons and animals and monsters and everything were—like—sinking through the earth... as if something inside the plane was attracting them."  Rainbow blinked.  "Or perhaps something on the other side."

There was some tense silence.

Then Celestia spoke:  "Axan.  Have you—in your aged wisdom—also sensed this?"

Remna shook her head.  "I can't say that I have, Sun Princess.  Magic was never my forte.  Nevertheless..."  She eventually nodded.  "Mortuana did express some of her concerns on the matter to me."  Her green eyes narrowed.  "And I have since learned to respect the wisdom of the late great alicorn who assisted me with this vessel."

"Vessel?"

"The body that Axan is using," Rainbow Dash droned.  "It doesn't belong to her.  A former member of the Herald—Remna—passed away from complicated health issues."

"Mortuana graciously provided me with the body," Remna explained.  "While the soul of the bounty hunter who previously inhabited the shell 'migrated' to a realm beyond."  She exhaled slowly.  "Or such was the assumption."

"Mortuana was convinced otherwise?"

"She had a nagging suspicion, yes."  Remna nodded.  "Something that consumed her mind and soul consistently."

"Of this, I can concurr, yourr majesty," Kepler boldly said.  "I was a constant companion to Morrtuana... both intellectually and philosophically."  The wyvern sighed as he gripped the rudder-wheel.  "I have neverr seen the Mountain Matrron vexxed so terrribly by anything else.  She spoke of it constantly—at least... to me.  In prrivate.  The issue of how to deal with Verrlax—of courrse—dwelled much closerr to the surrface of her meditative vigil."

"Did she have any prevailing theories on the matter?"

"Chiefly one."  Kepler smiled slightly, glancing over at Rainbow Dash.  "The arrrival of the Austrraeoh managed to confirrm one or two hypotheses."

"Do tell."

"The fact that the Rrainbow one's frriends arre still attached to herr essence—at least in spirrit—is morre than a merre confirrmation of the prrophecy of Eljunbyrro and Yaerrfaerrda," Kepler said.  "But it could verry well prrove that therre is something in this univerrse morre powerrful than harrmonic enerrgies."

"In what way?"

"Uh... Princess?"  Rainbow trotted towards the center of the swaying deck, speaking over the thunder.  "I think Kepler's talking about the whole Urohringr schtick.  I mean... think about it."  Rainbow gestured.  "If alicorn understanding is that all deceased souls migrate to the edges of the universe..."  She glanced at her friends.  "...then why did Twilight and the rest get anchored to me shortly after their bodies went zappity-zap?"

"A question that has gnawed on myself and my sister for months.  A similar conundrum is precisely why the Element of Loyalty survived while the rest of the Elements were obliterated."

"And what reason have we since discovered for why my Element and my Element alone was 'chosen' to survive?"

"... ... ...the forces of Austraeoh."

"Right!"  Rainbow nodded.  "And... uh... when Mortuana was still alive, she led me to believe that the reason Urohringr exists... the reason all Urohringrs are able to exist is because whatever empowers those crazy rings... whatever empowers me is so crazy... so gargantuan powerful and awesome that—like—even the perceivable forces of life and death are totally skewed."  She gulped.  "Or even manipulated."

Pinkie Pie's eyes were already crossed.  Twilight merely tapped her chin in deep thought.

"That..."  Princess Celestia fumbled for words.  "...defies all comprehension."

"So you don't think it's possible?"

"I simply mean to state that it's unfathomable, not impossible," Princess Celestia said.  "There are plenty of things in the knowable universe that are stronger than alicorn magic and harmonic energy."

"Oh... totally!"  Rainbow nodded vehemently.  "Like Onyx Ellipses!"

"... ... ...I beg your pardon?"

"Y'know..."  Rainbow struggled to gesture.  "Those cracks in the surfaces of the Harmonic Plains that open up to a dark, null, all-encompassing void?"

"Something Mortuana told you about?"

"Uh huh."

"The term is 'Onyx Eclipses,' Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow blushed hard.  "Oh.  Eheh... that makes more sense, I guess."

"And although I trust that Onyxxus discovered far more than he was capable of letting on before he perished, I myself can safely say that 'Onyx Eclipses' are nothing more than the complete and utter absence of life-sustaining harmony.  They are more of a manifestation of a non-force than an actual force, and yet they are no-less required for the ultimate balance of existence just as much as positive energies."

"Uhhhhhh..."  Rainbow Dash rubbed her aching head.  "Okaaaay."  She gulped.  "But... still.. what if there's more to this universe than you and I know, Your Highness?"

"A very distinct possibility, my little pony."

"And what if... like... someone... somewhere... out there in that huge, enormous, ever-expanding universe stumbled upon a way to—like—cheat the system?"  Rainbow blinked.  "To manipulate the only force that matters—harmony—and mutate it into something that could act as a boundless well of renewable energy?"

"You speak of the architects of Urohringr."

"Of course."

"What you speak of sounds most malevolent.  It's hard to imagine any civilization—much less countless millions—surviving off of a structure that sacrificed their very own life-force in order to exist."

"But it doesn't rule-out the possibility that it could function, does it?" Rainbow Dash remarked, blinking.  "Especially if Mortuana's absorbed potential evidence of the balance of souls being in jeopardy?"

"Rainbow Dash," Twilight Sparkle squeaked.  "I think you're looking at it all wrong."

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.  "Hold on a sec, Your Highness.  Your egghead's cracking."

Twilight rolled her eyes before floating closer to Rainbow.  "The reason why this plane—or all of Urohringr for that matter—is in chaos is because what was once whole was sundered, isn't that right?"

"Well... yeah."  Rainbow Dash nodded.  "I know Verlax was full of it—but that doesn't mean she wasn't onto something with all the crazy stuff she gleaned."

"So how can we know for sure that the state of things is meant to be?"  Twilight gazed at Rainbow, her muzzle agape.  "I mean... if you ask me... everything pretty much looks and feels broken."

Rainbow Dash blinked.

Twilight swallowed.  "I'm with my mentor on this one.  I don't honestly believe that... that..."  She waved a hoof.  "...that the creators of Urohringr—singular or plural—ever meant for the structures to perpetuate life at the sacrifice of sustaining it.  Maybe they skirted some sacred territory with whatever powerful engines they built.  But—from what we can witness so far—they've encouraged you to go on a mission of restoration and healing.  With all of the prevailing patterns... I really don't think that this piece of Urohringr constitutes a threat... but rather it's a victim... a victim of something far older than any of us—the alicorns included."

"Does my faithful student have some wisdom to impart, Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow nodded.  "And how."  She glanced skyward.  "Maybe whatever powers up the machine world underneath us is responsible for what's happening to the spirits of dead ponies.  But all we know about this world is that it's broken... and restoring it is likely bound to restore what... should be natural.  Don't you think?"

"If I might interrject," Kepler said, interjecting.  "The Mountain Matrron did tell me that she obserrved an exponential incrrease in the waywarrd flow of what she deemed to call 'spirritual constituents.'"

"Meaning?"

"Prrecisely that the shift in spirritual migrration built up a drramatic momentum that she herrself perrsonally obserrved overr the last few decades of dwelling in Wyverrn Point."  The wyvern cleared his throat.  "If one was to make a chrronological map based on Morrtuana's obserrvations, it would seem as though the 'unnaturral' shift began at a fixated point in time severral millennia ago.  I speak of a moment long... long afterr the alleged Sunderring."

Rainbow blinked.  She turned to Remna.  "Did Morty ever tell you about this?"

Remna slowly, gravely nodded.

Rainbow looked at Twilight.  She swallowed a lump down her throat.  "Then... then maybe it can't be blamed on the machine world... if the Sundering didn't directly lead to it."

"I wouldn't go so farr as to conclude that, necessarrily," Kepler said.

"But it is a wise direction to take the hypothetical scenario," Princess Luna's voice suddenly said.

Rainbow glanced heavenward.  "Princess Luna?"

"While there is a great deal that we do not understand about the Urohringrs—sundered or otherwise—we cannot place all blame for cryptic phenomena on one single thing that is abjectly unknowable.  Rather... there are many mysteries that abound on the Dark Side, and the only pony who stands to discover any truth to the matter is Rainbow Dash."

"Like... what could I possibly discover between here and the Midnight Armory, Your Highness?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Here is my postulation," Princess Luna said.  "It is not the dormant energy within the Machine World that is drawing the souls of the deceased through the surface of the plane.  But—much rather—it is something positioned on the Dark Side itself that is responsible for disrupting the flow."

Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged nervous glances.  Applejack merely folded her arms and gazed quizzically into the lightning.

"But..."  Rainbow Dash fidgeted.  "...if the Machine World isn't sucking up all the life from the Light Side... then what is?"

For the first time in minutes... nobody spoke.  Not pony, not princess, not wyvern... and not dragon.
> What They Need to Know
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"So... uhm..."  Spike's voice eventually penetrated the tense silence.  "May I say something?"

"Uh... sure..."  Rainbow coughed, glancing at Twilight.  "Sure thing, Spike."

"Alright.  I am... officially freaked out right now."

Rainbow rolled her eyes.  "Well put.  Good to know that two years of being Ponyville's chief librarian has paid off in wisdom."  She stifled a yawn.  "Anything else?"

"Sorry," Spike said.  "That just slipped out.  Uhm... in truth, I have something else to say."

"And what's that?"

"There's... uh... b-barely thirty minutes of moonlight left.  And... and this is it, everypony."  Spike's breath shuddered.  "This is where we get off."

Upon hearing that, Rarity covered her muzzle—letting loose a tiny whimper.

"Awwwwwwwwww..."  Pinkie pouted.  "Bummer."

"I know I've been in and out a whole lot... b-but that's because I was playing sentry.  Moon sentry.  And... uh... eheh... I-I couldn't help but listen in on that last part and... uhm... just how doomed are we?"

"Dear Spike..."  Princess Celestia's voice took on a soothing tone.  "...everything you may have heard just now was spoken in great hypothetical supposition.  If there was a legitimate concern for the spiritual fabric of all Equestrian beings, you can easily expect my sister and I to address the populace on the matter."

"Hrmmmfff..."  Applejack breathed out the side of her freckled face.  "Yer Majesty is lyin'."

"Perhaps so."  Fluttershy shuddered.  "But can you really blame her, AJ?"

"I doubt there's much that the ponies back home know about Rainbow's conversations with the Princesses," Twilight Sparkle said in a somber tone.

"If they knew even half of the things..."  Rarity stammered.  "...why... there'd be panic in the streets!"

"Yeah... well..."  Applejack huffed.  "I downright hate it..."  She nevertheless sighed, her frown softening.  "Although... ain't much to like about it all neither, I reckon."

"Guys!"  Pinkie Pie chirped.  "Were you foaled yesterday?!  Awesome Dashie here is on an awesome quest to fly around the awesome world and return in time to bring awesomeness to all ponies!"  She clenched her jaw.  "Why give into despair?  Seems like an awfully big party to poop in the end, don't you think?"

Rainbow Dash glanced at all her friends as they spoke in confidence.  At last—following a contemplative breath—she spoke aloud:  "Spike... I want you to make this crystal clear to the ponies back home.  I am returning to Ponyville."  Her brow furrowed.  "And when I do... they'd sure as Tartarus better roll out the red carpet.  Cuz I'll be debuting the return of all my awesome friends!  Twilight Sparkle!  Applejack!  Fluttershy!  Rarity!  And—you guessed it—Pinkie Pie!  And we'll all chillax at Sugarcube Corner with bottles of cider and catch up on all the super snazzy stories that we've missed.  Oh... and I'll have restored this plane with the rest of Urohringr too... so I guess you dudes had better start preparing to greet a whole bunch of new neighbors from waaaaaay out of town."  She smiled devilishly.  "How's that for something exciting?"

When Spike's answer came, it was slightly distorted:  "—eesh, Rainbow Dash.  I on—...—wish I could transcribe your enthusiasm as much as your words!"

"Mmmmm...!"  Twilight sniffled, her ears folding.  "It's beginning..."

Rainbow cleared her throat.  "Never mind that.  Just spread the news, okay?  The next time you and the rest of Ponyville hear from me?"  She winked towards the lightning-embroiled sky for good measure.  "I'll be on the home stretch."

"Heh... sure thing, Rainbow.  I'll—...—ews with everypony!"

"Hmmm..."  Rarity spoke aside.  "Now who's lying?"

Applejack blew her bangs out from before her ghostly face.  "T'ain't a lie if the mare believes in what she's sayin'."

"Yeah...?"  Rarity glanced aside.  "And does she?"

Applejack said nothing.

Rarity squinted.  "You know... you're not exactly incapable of lying yourself."

Before Applejack could respond—

"Princess Celestia?" Spike's voice warbled.  "Is now a good time?"

"Is now a good time for what?" Rainbow rasped.

Celestia could be heard saying:  "Indeed, Spike.  We have said about as many things of importance as we can afford to.  I suggest we employ the time we have left to good purpose.  Sister?"

"Agreed, Celestia.  Spike?"

"Cool!  Uhm... Rainbow?"

"What's going on, Spike?"

"Look, we—...—n't have much time."

"Yeah."  Rainbow nodded.  "You're just now starting to break up."

"Whoah, really?"

"Just a bit."

"Okay.  Then... uhm... I-I guess there isn't enough time to get any responses.  We gotta do this one way."

"Spike... do what one way?" Rainbow moaned.

"There are... uhm... some ponies here who want to say 'hi'... and 'good-bye,' I guess.  Since it'll be their last time and all.  They've been waiting outside the sarcophagus and... and I promised I'd get as many of them a chance as we could—"

"Oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh!"  Pinkie Pie spun in circles, beaming.  "Our families'n'friends'alligators'n'stuff!"

"Land's sakes!"  Applejack sat up straight, tipping her hat back.  "Can we even make it happen?"

"Rainbow?  You there?"

Rainbow coughed, then fluttered her wings, attracting attention from Enix and her flock from several meters ahead.  "What are you waiting for, Spike?!?  Roll 'em through, ya melon fudge!"

> Ponyville's Finest and Ponyville's Fuzziest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Okay, so, uhm... this is go—...—ickly, so I don't think there'll be any time for you to re—...—ack, or else we might run out of moonlight—"

"Just friggin' get with it, Spike!" Rainbow Dash snarled as her friends hovered close by in anticipation.  "Trust me!  They'll be responding on this end!  In their own way!"

Everyone within earshot could practically "hear" the teenage dragon jumping across the world.  "Errr!  Right!  Sure thing!  So... uh... first off."  He cleared his throat to keep his voice from wavering.  "Twilight?  Uhm... best of luck with... y'know... everything.  Ahem.  Without Luna and Celestia and yours truly to guide Rainbow Dash along, you're gonna be the resident smart horse.  Soooooo... not like you need it, but—good luck.  And be sure to catalogue every nifty thing you see on the Dark Side.  We can totally review notes together when you get back."

"You bet, Spike!"  Twilight replied, despite knowing the dragon couldn't hear.  She bore a bright grin beneath misty eyes.  "And I'll want to know all about your experiments as chief librarian of Ponyville—!"

Before Twilight could finish speaking, two voices broke through the lunar enchantment:

"Twilight.  Precious.  We love you."

"Stay strong, honey.  And Rainbow?  You keep our little book worm safe, you hear?"

While Twilight sucked in a shuddering breath, Rainbow smiled and said:  "You bet your life, Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle!"

"We'll be in touch with your brother Shining and his wife.  They're so proud of you, honey.  We all are."

"Take care!"

Twilight covered her muzzle with her hooves.  Applejack floated over to console her—but flinched when she heard:

"AJ?  I dunno if you can hear me..."

"She totally can, Apple Bloom," Rainbow said with a smirk.  "Let it out."

"Just..."  The voice on the other end sniffled.  "Just know that we all miss you somethin' awful and we can't wait for you to get home."

"Eeeeeyup."

"And... and dun you f-feel bad.  Y'know?  About Granny?"  A shuddering breath.  "She was so very proud of you.  The night that she passed.  She was nothin' but smiles.  She believed in you, AJ.  We all... believe in you."

Applejack bit her lip hard.  Her usually low voice squeaked a few octaves higher.  "I b-believe in you too, darlin'..."  Twilight leaned over to nuzzle her despite her own tears.

And then, within the space of a blink:

"Now Applejack, I know ya may not have expected to hear from lil' ol' me..."

Applejack's moist eyes blinked.

Rarity leaned in.  "Is that...?"

"...Filthy Rich?" Pinkie Pie cooed.

"...but Apple Smith meant the whole world to me.. as she did to all of us, and after becomin' wise to recent events... well... I want you to know that I've decided to conduct all apple harvestin' business through Sweet Apple Acres.  So ya dun have to worry yer purdy lil' head about the farm dryin' up or nothin'.  What's more, the local ponyfolk have come together to do a lil' fundraiser, and we just got done layin' the foundation for the new Apple Smith Ponyville Community Center.  After all, this town was founded on account of the Apples, and it's only fittin' that we make sure that legacy endures.  I promise you it'll be a purdy sight for you to feast yer eyes on once you return.  That... erm... that is all.  Best wishes, y'all."

"Heh..."  Rainbow Dash winked into the silvery air.  "You got the blonde work horse to smile, dude.  Way to go."

"Uhm... erm... oh goodness, it's so fr-frighteningly cramped inside this place.  Watch your steps, my little ponies."

Pinkie Pie and Rarity gasped.

Rainbow cocked her head to the side.  "... ... ...Cheerilee?"

"Oh!  Uhm... Rainbow Dash?!"

"Yeah...?"

"Oh wow!  I knew the Princesses were talking to you all this time, but I didn't expect your voice to come in so clearly—"

There was the clearly audible sound of a teenage dragon clearing his throat.

"Sorry!  Yes, yes.  Sorry, Spike.  I'll make this quick.  Uhm... hello, Rainbow Dash, this is Miss Cheerilee.  I'm here to wish you and the girls good luck—well... I-I guess you could say I'm mostly here for Fluttershy."

Fluttershy did a double-take.  "Oh?"

"There you go, darling..."  Rarity smiled, ushering Fluttershy closer towards their anchor.

"I heard Fluttershy had some old friends visiting from Cloudsdale the other day, and that got me to thinking—she's never been told."

Rainbow gulped.  "Never been told what?"

"I don't know if you remember, Rainbow Dash, but shortly after... erm... your friends' 'passing,' Fluttershy's cottage lacked any experienced caretaker to look after all of her animal friends."

Fluttershy winced, squeaking inwardly.

"Well, there's n-no need to worry!  I want you to tell her—if you can tell her—that... th-that all of her animal friends are being taken care of quite thoroughly.  You see... a bunch of mares in downtown came together:  Roseluck, Daisy, Amethyst Star, Cloud Kicker.  And we formed ourselves a club.  We call it the 'Fluttershy Critter Club.'  My students thought of the name, you see.  Heeheehee..."

"Heeheeheehee..."  Fluttershy giggled, although tears were welling up in her eyes.  "So my friends are okay?"

Rainbow blurted:  "So Flutter's friends are okay?!"

"Oh yes!  In fact, Amethyst Star is directing the newly built shelter as we speak!  You know what a good organizer she is!"

"Boy, do we..."  Twilight smiled and wiped her eyes dry.

"I don't but Twilight does!" Rainbow exclaimed.  "That's pretty sweet, Miss Cheerilee!"

"In fact, there's a little someone here whom I brought.  I hope he's not too shy to say something.  Here you go, little fellow.  See Princess Luna?  Just pretend she's Fluttershy.  Say something.  Anything."

All of the ghostly mares leaned forward.  It was difficult to hear over the waves and thunder, but there was the faintest of squeaking sounds—breathy and high-pitched.

"Oh goodness!"  Fluttershy practically collapsed.  Rarity and Pinkie Pie had to catch her as she became a fountain of happy tears.  "Ohhhhhhhh... mmmm..."  She hissed through smiling teeth.  "I love you too, my little fluffball!  Oh heavens..."  She made a sound that resembled both a sigh and a whimper.  "It fills me with so much joy to know you're still alive!"

"I... I dun get it," Applejack remarked, blinking.  "Who was that just now?"

"Silly pony."  Pinkie Pie winked across the haze.  "Don't you know what it sounds like when two 'angels' make a connection?"

"Uhhhhhh..."  Rainbow turned to face the silver light.  "Whatever just happened, Miss Cheerilee, it's working.  You've got Fluttershy happier than a filly on Hearth's Warming."

"Oh!  Good!  Uhm... tell her that we'll take good care of him and the rest of her friends!  We can't speak for the animals, but I'm certain that they all wish for her to come back safely!"

"That's very awesome, Miss Cheerilee.  Thanks a lot."

"Aaaaaaaaand... I do believe I have one last thing for you all to hear."  Her voice grew slightly faint.  "Okay!  Now, students!  Just like we rehearsed!"

There was a slight pause, followed by a chorus of several young fillies and coats all speaking in unison:  "Good luck, Rainbow Dash!  Bring the girls back safely!  Ponyville believes in you!"

"Awwwwwwwww..."  Rarity smiled, continuing to console Fluttershy.

"Heh..."  Applejack smirked at Rainbow.  "No pressure or nothin'."

"Tell me about it.  Ahem."  Rainbow hovered a bit higher in the air and put on her best showmare voice:  "Don't worry your fuzzy heads off, kids!  I'll be back in Ponyville before you reach puberty!  And that's a promise!"

Pinkie Pie giggled.  "Good luck out-austraeohing the estrus!"  Then—out of nowhere—her eyes popped wide open and she gasped.  "DUAAAAAAAAH!"  Fwoooosh!  She plowed rudely through Rarity and Fluttershy, sending their spectral bodies reeling as she phased her gaping muzzle through Rainbow's chest like an equine extraterrestrial hatchling.  "HOW YA DOIN', GUMMY?!"

"Huh?"  Twilight blinked.

"What?"  Applejack made a face.

Rainbow grimaced at Pinkie's posture.  "Gummy?"

"There you go, Gummy," a dull, monotone voice rippled through the air, odd enough to even make Remna take a second glance.  "I appreciate you not making too grandiose of a speech just now."

"Awwwwwwwwwwwww!"  Pinkie Pie's eyes filled with wet starlight.  "You came back, Maud!  You're the best older sister with a phlegmatic personalityyyyyy!"

"Uhm... Pinkie appreciates you showing up, Maud."

"Tell her that Mom and Dad can't wait to hear about all of the rocks that Pinkie will see on the other side of the world."  The voice paused for the space of time it would take for a fully grown mare to blink liquidly.  "I suppose you can add me to that list."

"I LOVE YOU MAUDDDD!"  Pinkie Pie did several flips in midair.  "WOOOHOO!  LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOUUUUU!"

"There is another pony here to say something," Maud droned, then her voice drifted away.

In her place came a voice that was only faintly recognizable to Rainbow Dash.  "Uhm... hello?  Rainbow Dash?"

"Uhhhhhhhh..."  Rainbow squinted, eyes darting left and right.  "...Sweetie Drops?"

The voice on the other end giggled—distorting slightly, the coming back into focus.  "Close enough.  It's Bon Bon."

"Ooooh!"  Pinkie smiled.  "Bon Bon!  Her candies are deeeeeeeeeee-lish!"

"I wish you all the best of luck.  I just wanted to stop on by and let Pinkie know that the Sugarcube Corner is doing a lot better now.  For a while there, it was a floundering a bit in her absence.  But it's okay.  The Cakes and I have merged our businesses together!"

"Merged?" Rainbow asked.

"That's right," Bon Bon said.  "And don't you fret.  The whole thing is still called 'Sugarcube Corner,' and it's all about preserving the Cake Family's vision.  I'm just... y'know... adding my business know-how and helping out from behind the scenes.  We're starting to expand outside of Ponyville and—get this—we're spreading all of Pinkie Pie's wonderful baking recipes far and wide!  Soon, we'll have a national catering service and it's all thanks to her treats!  She's going to be a celebrity by the time you arrive!  I can promise you that!"

"H-hey!  Awesome!"  Rainbow turned to look over her shoulder.  "You hear that, Pinkster?"

"Cool-Cool-Cool!"  Pinkie Pie beamed, bouncing in place.  "I'm sure the Cakes are super relieved!  Maybe they'll finally get that vacation to Las Pegasus that they've always been wanting!"

Bon Bon's voice could be heard speaking aside in a faint tone:  "You think I did that okay?  I-I didn't want to hog too m-much of their precious time..."

"Nah, girl, you did fine!" said another female voice.  "I'm sure Pinkie's got something extra to look forward to now."

Rainbow squinted.  "Hey... uh... who's that?"

"What?"  The faint voice grew louder.  "Who, me?  Oh... eh... just Lyra.  Y'know... Lyra Heartstrings?"

Silence.

"... ... ...who?" Rainbow blinked.

"Eheh... just as I thought.  Ahem.  No worries.  Best of luck, Rainbow Dash.  Kick a lot of butt while you're out there, okay?  For Equestria."

"Heh..."  Applejack tilted her hat back.  "Charming."

Rainbow smirked aside.  "I can't remember the mare, but I think I like her a lot already."

"Heeeee-heeeeee-heeeeee!"  Pinkie Pie floated around in mid-air, forming fuchsia circles with her ghostly body.  "I'm a catering serviiiiiiiiiice!"

"Honestly, Pinkie Pie."  Rarity chided, waving a dainty ghost-hoof.  "You really must calm yourself, darling."

"H-hey there, big sis!" Sweetie Belle's voice cracked.

"Waa-haa-HAA-haa!"  Rarity zipped through the Stardust and floated right in front of Rainbow Dash, ecstatically hoofy-kicking at the silver and lightning.  "Sweetie Belle!  My precious widdle baby sister!  Fill my ears with your siren song goodnessssssss!"

"Rarity's here, Sweetie," Rainbow said with a smirk.  "Let 'er rip."

"Heehee.  Well... Mom and Dad are here..."

"Heya, precious!"

"Rarity, we're all rootin' for ya."

"Try not to shine too bright on the Dark Side, ya hear?"

"Our darling little diamond."

"Mmmmmm!"  Rarity covered her muzzle, instantly tearing up.  Fluttershy and Pinkie floated up to hug her from behind.  Applejack rested a hoof on her shoulder.

"We think about you every day, Rarity," Sweetie Belle said.  "As I start going on tour, singing from town to town, I make sure to mention what you and Rainbow Dash are going through."

"The whole country's rootin' for ya, shortstack.  You're not alone."

"You're in our hearts and prayers, don'tcha know."

"When you g-get back..."  Sweetie Belle's voice wavered, but she found the courage to keep speaking.  "...maybe I'll even win an award.  How about designing a dress for me when I give my acceptance sp-speech?"

Rarity sucked her breath in, smiling tenderly.  "Nothing w-would give me greater pleasure.  I'm so pr-proud of you..."

"We love you, Rarity!"

"So long!  Come back home quick!"

"And safe!"

"I'll get her home safe, guys!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.  "I promise!"

"So long, mother!  Father!"  Rarity whimpered as Twilight leaned in to nuzzle her.  She clenched her eyes.  "I love you so much..."

At that point, the voices rolled in quickly and abruptly... almost like minute sound samples of souls and well-wishes:

"Rainbow Dash, this is the Mayor.  Best of luck to all of you.  We fully plan to make a new statue in your honor by the time you arrive!  You're in our hearts!"

"Best wishes from the Harvest family.  This town would be nothing without Sweet Apple Acres.  Bring Ponyville's little apple seed back home to our fields, okay?"

"The Doctor here!  I'm counting every hourglass spun between now and your return!  All those miles crossed—you're bound to make the history books at this rate!  Stiff upper lip, Miss Dash!  We're all with you on this!"

"Bountiful blessings from the land of the Sun and Moon, entreating that each and every one of you make your way home soon."

"Look, just... try not to get yourselves killed out there!  It's n-not like the Great and Powerful Trixie is worried or anything... b-but... j-just look where you're flying, okay?!  There.  So... yeah.  Good luck."

"YEAH!  YOU SHOW THAT DARK SIDE WHO'S BOSS! RRRRRGH!  RAINBOW DASH REPRESENTIN'!  YEAH!"

"As soon as I'm done with my latest symphony, I'll be putting my writing skills to good use in producing a biographical account of the Elements of Harmony and their time in Ponyville.  I do hope that is okay.  But what would be even more fantastic is if you arrive back in time to assist me in writing a sequel.  That would be most fantastic, wouldn't you agree?  Anyways, best of luck.  Oh... and Vinyl says 'hello' too, I suppose."

"Hello?  Helloooo?  Yes, hi, I would like to order a muffin pizza please?  No jalapenos, thanks.  Also, some muffin sticks on the side... Wait... What?  Huh?  ....It ...it isn't? ...Then why are there so many ponies lining up here?  ...Oh!  ...Ohhhhhhhh!  ...Oh sure!  Ahem... Good luck, Rainbow Dash!  Have fun flying east!  And... uhm... about that muffin pizza... could you add some blueberry toppings?  That would be great."

"I must say, the charisma of the ponies in this town is positively awe-inspiring.  Anyways, I'll make this short.  My name is Fancy Pants, and I'm proud to announce that the Canterlot Austraeoh Association officially opened two months ago.  We'll be speaking with Spike the Dragon periodically in order to collect a cohesive account of your adventures.  That way, your legacy shall endure—no matter what.  And it might even assist the lovely Miss Melody with her book, if I do say so myself.  Eheheheh... well... Ta!"

"Thanks a million!  I mean it, guys," Rainbow said.  She turned to gaze at her friends—who had all resorted to hugging each other in a big fuzzy ball of ghostly smiles and tears.  After a soft sigh, she added, "It means a lot more than you can ever know."

Spike's voice fazed in, slightly distorted:  "—bow Dash?  C—...—ear me?"

Rainbow spun around.  "Kinda sorta, Spike!  You're starting to break up again!"

"—sn't much time left!"

"Right.  Better patch me through to Luna again."

"Actually, there's one last pony here."

"Well, hurry it up!  The girls are a blubbery mess and I doubt they can hear anything—"

"Well, she's here to speak with you, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow blinked at that.  "With me?"

More distortion.  Spike's breaths faded, and in their place rose a young, feisty voice:  "Hey, Rainbow Dash."

The mares instantly gasped.  Twilight's eyes jerked in Rainbow's direction.

Rainbow's ears had folded.  After a soft breath, she swallowed a lump down her throat and put on a brave smile.  "Hey there, kiddo."
> The Light You Leave Behind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Silence.

Thunder rolled.

Kepler craned his neck.

Remna stood dead still.

Twilight and the rest hovered in a tense cluster, their wide-eyes glued to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash remained staring at the heavens.  One ear twitched, then the other.  For a moment there, her wings drooped worrisomely...

Then Scootaloo's voice broke through with a wandering:  "Uhm..."

Rainbow's body flinched.  She swallowed a dry lump down her throat and droned:  "So what are you tinkering on as of late?"

"Huh?"  The awkwardness was mirrored between them.  "Oh!  Well... with the last manacrystals that Spike lent me, I've... uhhh... fused this tiny motor to a modified shopping cart.  Then... erm... I carved a wooden base-board and slathered some upholstery to it, along with a short handle."

"Uh huh..."

"And after some extra modifications, I was able to keep the thing under a minimal speed.  It's a super slow, double-wide scooter... I guess you could describe it.  But there's a point to the whole thing.  Just the other day, I saw the poor old folk at the Ponyville Retirement home just... hobbling around on cranes and crutches.  And so I figured that this thing could be useful in getting them from Point A to Point B without having their joints ache."

Rainbow smiled, breathing happily.  "That's pretty snazzy there, champ."

"Of course... eheh... I first gave it a test run without the speed modification, and I was able to get the sucker to hit a ramp and leap over four whole carriages—which, for its size and weight—is pretty dang cool, if I do say so myself.  Heheheh..."

"Heheh... awesome."

"I know, right!  I mean... sure, I can fly now and stuff... but... erm... I-I remember what it was like to not be able to fly for so long and... and sometimes I kinda miss that... I miss being able to create a thrill out of nothing.  And... uhm... I... uh..."  A swallowing sound.  "Those old folk don't need to be leaping over any carriages anytime soon, but... I figured they deserve to have something made out of nothing all the same."

Rainbow nodded.  "That's really cool, Scoots."  She nodded again.  Her muzzle opened, but no words came out.

The voice on the other end was likewise still.

Rainbow's friends looked on.

"Ahem..."  Rainbow gulped.  "Oh!  Uhm..."  She fumbled through her saddlebag before producing a familiar article.  "Your goggles.  They work like a charm."

"No way... you're still using them?"

"Well... wh-when I fly long distances, sure.  The straps are still tight as ever, and it fits like a glove.  But... eheh... things get bumpy from time to time.  One of the lenses has a slight crack... up along the top."

"Oh.  I'm sorry."

"Pffft!  Nothing to be sorry for, Squirt!  These things have survived entire wars, y'know!  And... it's not really that big of a crack.  Just... just feel kinda bummed out that I let them get damaged, y'know?"

"That's alright.  Really, it is."

"But... y'know..."  Rainbow took a deep breath, holding the goggles to her fuzzy blue chest.  "...perhaps you could look at them... when I get back, I mean."  She gulped.  "Only your touch can get them looking perfect again."

Silence.

Rainbow stared.  Rainbow blinked.  "Kid...?"

More silence.  And then:  "I know... that I should be wishing you good luck, Rainbow.  After all... every pony ahead of me has."

Rainbow clenched her jaw shut.  "You don't have to swim with the flow, Scoots."

"That's not it," Scootaloo said bluntly.  Then:  "I just... want you to know... in case anything happens—"

"I'm coming back, Scootaloo."

"—that... you mean more to me than you'll ever know.  And that... while you might not think much of it... you were there for me, Rainbow Dash.  You were there for me in my life where... where most ponies weren't, and I-I..."  Her voice broke.  It almost sounded as if there was some distortion, but Rainbow knew better.  "Well..."  A firm breath.  Rainbow could almost sense a daredevilish smirk through the silvery air.  "...now you're gonna be there for the whole wide world.  And that makes me happy.  I'm happy, Rainbow Dash.  Just... know that... and take it with you."

"I will, Squirt."  Rainbow clenched her teeth.  Then:  "I'm proud of you, Scootaloo."

Thunder rolled.

Rarity and Fluttershy cried quietly.  Pinkie and Applejack held them close while Twilight Sparkle kept her eyes on Rainbow.

"I'm so very proud of you," Rainbow said.  Firmly.  "And I always will be."  Her brow furrowed.  "You look after Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, okay?  You know what kind of blubbering messes those little saps can become."

"Yeah..."  A shaky voice breathed.  "...yeah, I do."

"And try not to be too awesome between now and my return," Rainbow said, smirking slyly.  "I've got a reputation to maintain, alright?  Don't need a little scamp like you stealing my thunder."

"Sure thing, Rainbow Dash.  I'll... I'll try to... to..."  Scootaloo's voice trailed off, and then—after an uncomfortable silence—there was a squeak:  "H-here are the Pr-Princesses..."

Rainbow Dash leaned forward, as if reaching for somepony.  Her lips pursed.

"Rainbow Dash?"  Princess Celestia's voice flickered in and out of a tapering band of silver light.

Rainbow gulped.  "Yes, Your Majesty?"

"Luna's sp—...—ading."

"I gotcha, Princess."

"I will be in constant comm—...—he Durandanans through the Sword of Solstice."

"Right..."

"Xarchellus' brothers and sisters shall be properly received in Val Roa.  That is my solemn promise."

"Thanks a ton, Princess Celestia.  And best of luck with the rift."

"I a—...—eady lucky, Rainbow Dash.  Harmonic blessings t—...—ou on the Dark Side.  Twilight, my g—...—hful student, stay strong, as only you know how."

Twilight inhaled, tears trickling.  "Yes, Your Majesty."

The air distorted more and more, the silver light fading.  Enix and her flock looked back at the Stardust worriedly.  The glow in their slitted eyes dimmed and dimmed.

Rainbow wanted to say something—

"My child."

Rainbow panted.  "Yes, Luna?"

"This conc—...—ommunication on the Light Side.  We cannot follow you into the Dark."

Rainbow gulped.  "Hey... don't sweat it.  We'll speak again—"

"My sister and I h—...—rted our wisdom, but I know you for your brazen courage, Rainbow Dash.  If y—...—ust take it upon yourself to encounter the Dark Vigil, then I implore you t—...—voke the Blood of Luna.  It might sustain you long enough to negotiate, although I doubt it."

"I hear ya."

"On the Dark Side, you won't have us, but you wil—...—ve your allies.  You will h—...—ur friends.  But, most impo—...—ill have your conscience.  And if I had listened to that s—...—ny years ago, I would never have become Nightmare Moon."

Rainbow listened intently.  Shivering.

"Rainbow Dash.  Your conscience is the only true beacon.  And i—...—ike a furnace in such chaotic darkness, more than Yaerfaerda and more than any l—...—hat this world has conjured.  Trust in yourself.  Trust in th—...—are who has saved Ledomare, Val Roa... and now Rohbredden."

"I... I will, Luna."  Rainbow gulped.  "Trust me."

"I do, Rainbow Dash.  We all do.  Fear n—...—or we will b—...—iting.  Shining Armor and C—...—re paving the path for you in Ward, as you have b—...—ving the path for my lost children back home to Equestria."

"Awesome, Your Highness.  Everything's cool, Luna."

"—on't forg—...—ere's hope at th—...—nd of ev—...—orizo—"

"I'll see you on the other side."

And then...

...the silver light dissipated.

Luna as gone.  Only lightning and thunder remained.

Kepler blinked.

Remna silently hung her head.

Rainbow's friends exchanged glances before looking at their anchor.

Rainbow stood in place like a silent sentinel, her ruby eyes still planted firmly against the broiling sky.  Her nostrils flared as she raised a hoof up to her dim pendant.

"Well then..."  She summoned the courage to breathe.  "I guess that's that."
> On the Shoulders of Immortality
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The ponies of the Stardust's outer deck were silent for a prolonged period of time.  Thunder continued its deafening salvos, adding extra ripples to the choppy ocean surrounding the cruising vessel.  Lightning pierced the heavens, illuminating the very edge of coalescing mists due east of that terminal location.

"This... this was a good thing," Rarity was the first to murmur.  Only Rainbow and her close friends could hear her quiet tone against the bedlam.  "We heard from our loved ones.  They heard from us."  The ghostly fashionista gulped, pivoting to give the others a fragile smile.  "It will be enough for all of us to go on, you think?"

"Mmmm... I reckon," Applejack slurred.

Pinkie Pie spoke in a strangely sobering tone:  "But will it be enough for us to return?"  Her mane hung glossy, straight.

Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle winced.  For another lapse in time, nopony said anything.

At last, Remna took a deep breath and said, "I am surprised that you went along with it."

Rainbow Dash glanced over.  "Went along with what?"

"Deceiving all of your supposed loved ones," the draconian mare droned.  "Now they'll live on in their fragile mortal lives, not knowing the chaotic fate of their soul-selves."

Rainbow shuddered.  "Look... both Luna and Celestia was on board."

"I can trust alicorns to be untrustworthy," Remna said, raising an eyebrow.  "It hasn't surprised me in millennia.  But you?"  Her nostrils flared.  "It would seem as if my sister's trials have tempered your resolve."

"Look..."  Rainbow frowned.  "Until I can actually do anything about it, I'm not gonna say anything about it!"

"The Rrainbow One strrives to not cause needless panic," Kepler said from where he gripped the rudder-wheel above.  "To underrstand morrtals, you must have been one forr farr longerr than Morrtuana's magic has afforrded you.  The fearr and terrrorr that comes with being finite is an all-consuming thing."

"Just because I'm royally-freaked-out about the whole 'soul drift' thing doesn't mean I gotta make the others on the light side suffer the same pain, Axan," Rainbow Dash clarified.  "We're all making journeys of our own, y'know.  And when it comes to understanding things... well."  She took a deep breath.  "We're pretty much all on the same page."

Remna merely nodded.  "Very well.  I concede to your decision... not as if I have any say in the matter."

"Dang straight."  Rainbow breathed, staring out at the chaotic tempest.  "Part of being awesome and responsible is knowing to wait until the ball's within your court before presuming to talk smack.  Y'know what I mean?"

"No."

Rainbow rolled her eyes.  "Why do I bother..."

"I feel as though we lost more footing than we gained in the conversation with the alicorn sisters," Remna said.

"How so?"

"I always knew that the alicorns' wisdom was a superficial facade at best, but I actually found their degree of ignorance rather surprising."

"And for all Verlax and Endrax have done," Rainbow droned.  "Have either of them gotten us closer to the Midnight Armory?"

Remna was silent.

"If there's anything my journeys have taught me, Axan," Rainbow said, "It's that immortals have as hard a time figuring out the whole 'Urohringr' schtick as mortals do.  But... all that being said... I've gained a lot of insight from ponies and... mmmmm... dragons that live far longer than me."  She bore a tired smile.  "I can't expect them to solve all of the puzzles for me, but they've certainly put me on the right path."

"All of my siblings have succumbed to madness," Remna muttered.  "I fail to see how they have been helpful."

"Even Sturke?"

"She is a peace-loving Divine who surrounds herself with ponies."  Remna gnashed her teeth.  "She's the maddest of us all."

Rainbow Dash giggled raspily.  Twilight and Applejack couldn't help but smirk.

"But Endrax..."  Axan sighed, her hard green eyes squinting across the waves.  "I had thought she ventured to the Dark Side ages ago to assist with the salvation of this world.  I'm starting to think—from the prevailing patterns before and behind us—that such is not the case."

"You never know, Axan," Rainbow said.  "Maybe when we cross over to the Dark Side, Endrax will be waiting right there... willing to lend us a claw to the Midnight Armory.  That'd be awesome, right?"

"If Verlax could not find her, then I do not see how we can."

"Well then, maybe we gotta remember just what got Mortuana to believe in you, girl," Rainbow said.  "When she had every reason to let you rot back in Wyvern Point."

Remna glared at her.  "And just what was that, pray tell?"

Rainbow smiled.  "Hope."  She took a deep breath.  "Wasn't that the same thing that sent Endrax over to the Dark Side to begin with?"  She waved a hoof.  "Wasn't that what got you to spare me when everything was royally screwed in Silvadel?"

Remna said nothing.

Rainbow gazed east, past the faint gold aura leading into the emptiness.  "Hope is the greatest map you'll ever have," she said with a soft smirk.  "And the roads are paved in awesomeness."

Twilight Sparkle smiled.

Fluttershy and Rarity exchanged glances.

"Also doughnut sprinkles!" Pinkie Pie added.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and facehoofed.  "Yes... well..."

"I've been thinking," Remna muttered.  "About Endrax."

"Ahem..."  Rainbow looked up.  "Yeah?"

"She ventured to the Dark Side for one express purpose," Remna said.  "To secure the Midnight Armory and make it safe from chaotic influence."

Rainobw gulped.  "And with three whole armies bearing down on her... that couldn't have been an easy task."

"Indeed.  But what if she succeeded?"

"Succeeded in doing what?"  Rainbow raised an eyebrow.  "You mean in opening the Armory?"

"She is a Divine, Austraeoh," Remna said.  "Assuming she could enter the Armory... and could somehow withstand the magical 'trials' that the alicorns had left their through their essence... then the Prism would not be accessible to her—or at least not in such a manner that would be fortuitous to the restoration of Urohringr."

Twilight murmured:  "The Prism waits for a Spark."

Rainbow looked at Remna.  "You think she could be... like... 'holding the door' for me?"

"Assisting the Austraeoh is the ultimate task I could ever perform," Remna said.  "For the Divine of Shadows, it would likewise be the same."

Kepler interjected:  "My frriends... we arre speaking of countless eons of the noble Endrrax perrforrming such a mighty feat!"  His spectacled eyes narrowed.  "With all of the prressurre from the thrree warrring factions, could these herroics even be maintained?"

"The sarosian baddies on the other side would have ripped a living dragon apart!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, frazzled.  "You've seen Enix and her friends when they're in bad-guy-mode!  Imagine a million of them in the dark!"

"And dun forget them ravenous changelings," Applejack added.

"And the Night Shard."  Fluttershy gulped.  "Uhm... whoever they are."

Rainbow exhaled.  She looked at Twilight.  "It's... an awful long time to gung-ho it alone."

"Indeed."  Remna nodded somberly.  "All things considered, my eldest sister must be dead."

"Now now now hold the sound stone."  Rainbow waved a hoof.  "You of all pon—er... dragons shouldn't sell Endrax short!"

"It's the most logical conclusion," Remna droned.  "Especially considering that Verlax never found her."

"Verlax was a friggin' bucket of angry cats!  And about as dumb too!"  Rainbow stuck her tongue out.  "Come on, Axan.  Isn't the eldest Divine—like—the smartest and most thoughtful?"  She gestured.  "Like... she thinks in future-mode... and crud."

Remna exhaled.  "Indeed..."

"So... maybe she's... like... got something cooked up that will help us all in the end."  Rainbow cleared her throat.  "I mean... I know that Luna and Celestia didn't go fully into it, but it's rather obvious by now that I'm gonna have a tough time once I enter the Midnight Armory."  She brushed her short bangs back with a jittery hoof.  "Like... mentally... and temporally."

"Indeed."

"So—like—what if Endrax knows that?"  Rainbow bore a hopeful smirk.  "And what if she's figured out a way to assist me that the alicorns never thought up?  Cuz... like... they never anticipated that a mortal would be the one to acquire the Harmonic Prism!"

"Austraeoh..."  Remna spoke in a defeated tone.  "I cannot presume to speak for the wisdom of my eldest sister, but Divines—much like mortals—oftentimes find themselves thinking on their scales."

"Eh?"

"I've only ever been capable of saving you spontaneously," Remna said.  "In the moment.  And—at best—those have been awkward, miraculous affairs."  Her nostrils flared.  "Endrax is up against insurmountable forces that are all vying for the exact same piece of real estate.  Whatever 'solution' the Divine has thought up... odds are it exhausted itself eons ago."

"I guess we'll just have to find out for ourselves then," Rainbow said with a shrug.

Remna stared somberly at the pegasus.  "And at what point will you no longer be able to pay the price of discovery?"

Rainbow was silent.

Remna continued, "At what point will you run out of immortals to assist you?"

Rainbow fidgeted where she stood.  She glanced at her friends.

Just then, a loud shriek filled the air—piercing its way through the thunder.

Rainbow, Remna, and Kepler glanced skyward.  Bodies crossed the forked lightning, returning to the Stardust.  Enix and her nightblood wingmates hovered close to the bow, gesturing east.

"Blood of Luna!" Enix exclaimed.  Her slitted eyes narrowed darkly.  "We have arrived."

Rainbow Dash blinked.

"Wowie!"  Pinkie hovered.  "That was quicker than expected!"

"It must have been because of the smoother waters," Fluttershy said.

"Let's all remain calm," Twilight insisted.  She looked over at Rarity.  "Rarity?  How about it?  What do you sense?"

"I sense... I-I sense..."  Rarity's lips quivered.  Her coat paled even more as she turned to gape at her friends.  "...nothing."
> The Edge of the World
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The twilight veil grew thin overhead, rippling into tapering bands of ethereal haze upon the convergence of the Firmaments.  Strange colors broke through the malaise: brilliant purples and golds and reds.  The spectral canvas of a million billion stars converged, peeking through the lightning and thunder with prismatic randomness.  These streaking lights reflected off the choppy waves, causing the scant remaining shelf of seawater to undulate with colorful nebulaic chaos.

With Enix's insistence, Kepler and Flynn slowed the Stardust.  They proceeded forward at minimum speed—which was difficult to guage, considering the momentum with which the waters strove to carry them to the end of all ending.  Upon hearing the announcement, the rest of the Herald rushed out from the lower decks.  Ariel and Wildcard took wing—with the former hovering off the starboard side and watching everything with a gaping muzzle.  Bard stood hatless, leaning against the outer edge of the hull as they coasted into a great black event horizon.  Echo and Nicole stood side by side.  Upon seeing the endless mists rising into a galactic soup, Nicole was overwhelmed with understandable trembles.  She leaned into Echo, and the sarosian placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder—all the while drinking in the bleakness with glazed eyeslits.  Logan stood on the topmost deck alongside Kepler, and he nearly dropped his axe amidst the stupor of his numb observation.

Rainbow and her friends gazed east, their eyes glued to the cascading mists ahead.  Friction from the converging Firmaments caused huge clouds of moisture to shoot up and glide back west, occasionally dumping thick sheets of moisture.  Kepler steered the Stardust left and right, easily avoiding the random deluges.  Twilight and Rarity observed as several identical sheets of rain curtained the waterscape to the northwest and southwest.  The ghostly mares felt as though they were receiving only a glimpse of what restored the falling moisture back onto the surface of the light side of the plane, and they surmised that even an entire mortal lifetime of studying the phenomenon wouldn't be enough to explain it.

Just then, Applejack shouted something.  She pointed straight ahead, causing Rainbow and the rest of her friends to crane their necks, peering in intense curiosity.  Not long after, Rarity let loose a spontaneous gasp.  Within seconds... sea vessels emerged from the eastern mists... dozens of them.  At first, Fluttershy squeaked in alarm, but then Rarity issued patience.  Sure enough, as the Stardust drifted east, the group found themselves passing by at least one hundred loosely scattered derelict ships, all forming a fractured layer of wooden and metal detritus before the unseen edge of the world.  Battered sea vessels, collapsed skiffs, and the splintered remnants of dreadnoughts dotted the watery landscape.

Enix ordered Kepler to keep a wide berth.  Upon closer examination, Rainbow and the Herald found out why.  The dozens upon dozens of collapsed sea vessels had run aground a series of shallow rocks that jutted sharply, viciously out of the turbulent waters.  These jagged structures formed at random, carved by some chaotic force that nopony could properly explain.  Rarity trained her ghostly horn on them, continuously warning Rainbow Dash of impending obstacles.  Rainbow passed the word of muzzle to Kepler, and the Herald icily made its way through the forest of shipwrecks.  It was a sobering sight—like a deathly reflection of the Quade.  Fluttershy shuddered, and Rainbow squinted at the wrecks to see why.  Countless equine and griffon skeletons lined the exposed rocky surfaces where the structures had long ago ripped through the hapless hulls.  There was no guessing how many generations of unfortunate sailors had met their grisly fate, sailing so daringly close to the edge.  The Herald surmised that they were staring at the remnants of civilizations even older than Verlax's influence—much less Rohbredden as a whole—preserved in a cold, moist snapshot in horrific time.  The group shuddered to imagine how many more—how many millions of more mortals had suffered an even worse fate by plunging off the thunderous edge entirely.

There weren't many words being exchanged at this point.  Even if the Herald did have a conversation to conduct, it would have been most difficult hearing a single sentence.  This was because something far louder than the constant thunder had blanketed the scene with nightmarish bedlam, almost to the point of deafening every mortal soul within earshot.  This, of course, was the persistent, neverending roar of rushing water.  Rainbow Dash tried to imagine every waterfall she had ever witnessed in all her years of flying, and even combining all of them together—she figured—wouldn't come close to matching the voluminous magnitude of what was encompassing them then and there.

And the only physical indicator of the source of this elemental screaming was a wall of mist rising cold and pale directly in front of them, stretching north and south as far as the mortal eye could see.  Witnessing the phenomenon was like gazing into a pearlescent porcelain wall forever rising.  It created an optical illusion—a very deadly one at that—that gave Rainbow and everypony else on board the Stardust the deathly illusion of constantly sinking.  There was an ultimate plunge to be had, and although the group knew it—they could scarcely see it.

Until they did...

It came in brief breaks through the malaise, like a burst of wind kicking through a field of tall grass.  Something somewhere issued the elemental shift.  Perhaps it was the lightning above.  Perhaps it was an inexplicable streak of chaos piercing through the tapering edges of the Firmaments.  Whatever the case, the mist would occasionally break, and Rainbow Dash and her friends would see forever.  In three to five glorious seconds, they saw entire galaxies swirling between violet tributaries of nebulaic stardust.  It stole the breath from them, then filled their lungs with choking moisture as a ten second sheet of rain violently rolled through to fill the elemental gap.  The Herald merely shook the moisture off and waited for the next window.  When it came, they were startled to see more galaxies, more pockets of colorful cosmic grandeur, and then all was waterspouts and thunder yet again.  It was like staring out from inside the gasping ventricle of a gigantic beating organ, lost in the constellatory drift of eternity, baptized forever by thunder and seawater.

More structures pierced the mists.  This time, they weren't jagged rocks or sunken shipwrecks.  Instead... they were something else entirely... something smoother... nobler... and harmonic.  Kepler, Logan, and Flynn murmured in surprise.  Even Ariel and Wildcard were surprised to see the edges of such geometrically perfect platforms.  Remna and Rainbow Dash were the only ones unfazed.  After all... Rainbow's golden vision had brought them there.

The gift of Utaan...

The platforms were remarkably colorful: possessing a seafoam green hue, despite countless years of weathering and decay against the relentless torrents of water.  Nevertheless, their marble construction was miraculously intact, and—even from a distance—one could see the faint hint of equine effigies carved into their water-slick surfaces.  Cylindrical columns rose up from the foundations, forming occasional archways and bridges that connected to other platforms, stretching fearlessly eastward unto the absolute brink.  Most of the ponies present could only generalize them as "alicorn" in design.  Only one soul recognized the architecture for what it truly was: Emeraldinian.

"This is as far as we can go, Blood of Luna," Enix said, hovering pensively above the Stardust.  "I do not say this in jest.  Drift any further... and you lose your precious ship for all eternity."

"Gotcha."  Rainbow nodded.  "Kepler?  Flynn?"  She pointed at the structure looming in front of them.  "Draw anchor or you're fired."

"Don't need to tell us twice."  Flynn levitated a heavy weight attached to three thick chains.  "Big Show?"

"Got it."  Logan grasped the item in question and—with a savage grunt—heaved it over the side.

Flynn guided the massive hook with telekinesis.  It caught onto the northwest edge of a marble platform, anchoring the Stardust in place.  With a flick of his claws, Kepler yanked two levers, pulling the chains tight so that the vessel remained stationary—nevertheless bobbing in the tempestuous tide.

Nicole exhaled audibly and swiped her brow beneath hear newly-earned hat.  Echo patted her shoulder and looked at the rest.  "What now?"

"Well..."  Bard glanced at Wildcard, doing his damndest to remain calm.  "...reckon we've got ourselves here a... pier of some sort."

"Not just any pier...!"  Ariel spun around.  "Right, Kepler?"

"Indeed!"  The wyvern struggled to speak above the constant noise and thunder.  Lightning flickered off his spectacles.  "The Austrraeoh's vision led us trrue!  This must be none otherr than the Mountain Matrron's forrmerr haunting grrounds!"

Flynn exclaimed, "You mean the place where Verdestone's finest set up camp?!"

"Affirrmative!"

"That's nice and all..."  Logan gnashed his teeth as another sheet of rain briefly pelted him and the rest of the ponies.  "...but what the Hell are we to do now?!"

"Leave that to me," Rainbow said, and she jumped off the Stardust.

"Rainbow!" Ariel shouted.  Wildcard gently placed a metal talon on her shoulder.

"The Austraeoh knows the solution," Remna said firmly.  "Or..."  Her violet brow furrowed.  "...at least... she will son."

Th-Thap!  Rainbow's hooves landed on the wet marble surface of the nearest platform.  Immediately, she froze in place, feeling the jolt of her landing shudder up her legs and outward through every inch of her body.  Her muzzle hung agape.  Through the thunder, her ears tickled to the sound of her rattling, dangling pendant.  She took a few dainty steps forward, then leaned against a warn marble pillar holding up a decrepit Emeraldinian archway.

Far ahead, partially decayed strips of rusted metal and wood platforms acted as loose bridges between the ancient alicorn foundations.  They led through the mists, drawing a crooked path to a hazy black line that pierced the entirety of everything.

Rainbow's friends hovered closer, their muzzles agape as their wide eyes took in everything.  Applejack hovered the closest.

"Let's... j-just try and keep safe, sugarcube," she said in a pensive tone.  The ghostly farm mare gulped.  "I know you own this 'Austraeoh' biz and all... but this ain't no visit to Ghastly Gorge.  Try and keep an eye on yer hoofin', you hear?"

Rainbow Dash was still shuddering from the cold contact her hooves made with the marble floor.  She drew a hoof slowly across the polished surface of the pillar in front of her, tracing the faded images of ponies in armor.

"... ... ...I made it, AJ."

Applejack flashed her a luck. "Huh?"

"I... I made it..."  Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth.  "Years ago... I..."  She sniffled.  "I-I told Luna that I would be the only mortal pony awesome enough to fly to the edge of the world and live to say something about it... and... a-and I'm here."  She gazed up at the archway, ears folding back.  "After four continents, two oceans, a magical desert and a flying zombie city... I-I'm here."  She gulped.  "This is it."  She gulped harder, eyes watering.  "I made it."

"Yes, well..."  Applejack took a shuddering breath, glancing around nervously at the stormy sights.  "...all thangs considered, it's only halfway."

"But don't you get it?"  Rainbow smiled drunkenly.  She leaned forward to nuzzle the marble pillar, delighting in the cold kiss of the ancient stone to her fuzzy cheeks.  "This is it.  I'm here.  It's real... and I-I made it real..."

Applejack weathered a shuddering sigh.  "And we're mighty proud of you, Rainbow.  But even I dun need to tell you that the goin' never stops."

"Mmmmmm..."  Rainbow sniffled again, smiling with her eyes shut.  "Someday... I'm going to hug you, AJ."

Applejack did a double-take at that.  "Beg yer pardon?"

"Nothing."  Rainbow breathed.  Her eyes opened.  Wet rubies.  Shining.  "Just another promise," she murmured into the end.

Applejack gazed at her in silence.

"Okay..."  Rainbow inhaled, rubbing her eyes dry.  "Sappy time's over."  She spread her wings and marched fearlessly forward.  "Now... let's see if this crap is half as awesome as it's cracked up to be."
> Look and Find the Bridge
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash trotted east...

...for all that was left of it.

Her petite hooves scuffled over threadbare planks of wood and strips of metal.  At some point—countless ages ago, due to persistent weathering—the marble platforms themselves became obsolete.  Rainbow judged that some civilization—perhaps a remnant of Emeraldine's own—had fastened several makeshift bridges to the structures in order to make the outward edge more accessible.  Beneath her hooves, the fragile structures still held—as they also held for Remna, Logan, Flynn, and Echo marching up the rear.  No doubt the "bridges" would shatter after several hours of use—not that it mattered.  Soon, nopony else would ever have a divine need to use those platforms ever again.

Kepler glided to a stop—along with Nicole.  Together, the two trailed far behind Rainbow and the others.  Ariel, Bard, and Wildcard hovered above the scene, occasionally struggling against bursts of wet windgusts.  Enix and her fellow wingmates flew at a distant—evidently used to the turbulence, even that far out.

Rainbow's ghostly companions remained silent.  They—along with the Herald—kept their pace slow... because Rainbow was keeping her pace slow.  The anchor proceeded cautiously... inquisitively.  Rainbow's ruby eyes peered through each break in the mist, and she made her way icily forward, one precious marble platform at a time.

By now, the constant roar of rushing water had... become agreeable.  Or else—Rainbow Dash didn't register the sheer pain of listening to the endless tumult.  She pressed on, drawn towards something she couldn't yet discern—framed in a glowing gold that danced before the Austraeoh's delicate cone of vision.

At last, there was a break in the mist.  Upon approach, Rainbow Dash... detected something.  It was like windchimes... or the tolling of bells.  The sound was tiny, fragile, but altogether real.  It tugged at Rainbow's pained ears, making them twitch in anticipation.  She pierced the final curtain of fog in a righteous stupor, and before her there stretched a penultimate platform—the last ground.

The marble foundation formed a broad rectangular solid.  Ironically enough, there was a ceiling to it—or at least part of one.  Several marble pillars formed an archway at the west end—which connected to two archways along the east end.  The eastern "roof" parted in the middle, forming a noticeable gap—a frame through which one saw endless heavens and cosmos forever out of reach.

Between there and the outermost edge, Rainbow spotted several... several rusted metal stakes that had been long hammered into the marble floor.  From many of these weathered rods, tiny cylindrical crystals dangled—the source of the windchiming percussion.  Twilight and Rarity murmured in unknown curiosity as to what the crystals were.  Fluttershy—on the other hoof—gasped suddenly.  She flashed Rainbow a wide-eyed look.

Rainbow glanced at Fluttershy, then back at the stakes.  Only half of the metal rods contained dangling crystals.  The rest of them had somehow lost their precious ornaments over the nameless epochs that passed.  Quietly, Rainbow proceeded forward, following Fluttershy's line of sight.  As she drew closer to the ornaments, she realized that the crystals were actually vials, and several of them contained translucent liquids of multiple colors:  some yellow, violet, deep blue, and black.  But most of them were an unmistakable crimson red.  All it took was one nod from Fluttershy to confirm that the crystal-contained liquids were organic in nature.  And from the tell-tale shimmer in Twilight's ghostly horn, Rainbow figured they were very special samples indeed.

Rainbow's ear twitched again.  She tilted her head up... then proceeded to the very edge, standing before the mouth of the gap in the archways.  Behind her, Nicole, Flynn, and Kepler lingered, examining the crystal ornaments closely.  They murmured curiously among each other.  Remna looked on, deadpan and silent.

Rainbow's friends held their breaths as she approached the marble precipice.  She looked east... and saw nothing.  Nothing but cascading moisture.  The horizon was now a tear streak away, and directly beneath her was a torrential waterfall of all the world's oceans plummeting over the incromphensible edge.  She tried looking down... or—at best—the most she could make of "down" at that point in her existence.  To her fragile mind, Rainbow perceived a brand new horizon stretching beneath her: a frothing watery plane between there and oblivion.  Somewhere on the far end, flanked by stars and nebulae, was another precipice altogether, the edge of the Dark Side... where chaos reigned.

Rainbow's contemplation of the matter was shattered as a brand new tremor broke the air.  The fractured foundation of the plane spontaneously shook around them.  Nicole yelped in fright, and Ariel and Wildcard looked around nervously.

"Omigosh!"  Fluttershy clung to Pinkie Pie.  "What is that?  What is that?  What is that?"

"Uhhhhhh..."  Bard gnashed his teeth.  "Folks?"

"Be still," Enix firmly—but calmly grunted.  "And brace yourselves."

The group did so to the best of their ability—clinging to the marble pillars as the shaking intensified and intensified and—

CRACKKK!  Bolts of lightning issued out of nowhere, making contact with the waterfalling edge beneath them and the platform.  The elemental brightness lingered, shimmering multiple times before—THOOOOOOM!—a gargantuan spout of water billowed outward from the cascading edge.  This cyclonic tentacle of moisture shot violently into outer space with the force of a million geysers.  Then—within the span of a single heated minute—the friction of the Firmaments sent the water wildly falling back over the plane.  Thick sheets of rain drenched the platform and the ponies clinging to it... and then everything returned to the normal, constant roar of falling water.

"Guh!"  Logan sputtered, shivering in his hooves despite his size and strength.  "Shit on a biscuit!"

"We gotta g-get back onto the Stardust—!" Echo began.

"Relax, Ryckmun," Enix insisted.  Even as the sheets of rainwater had pelted the endscape, she and her wingmates remained resolutely hovering in the turbulent air.  "It is a normal, regular event."

Rainbow Dash craned her neck.  She and her mare friends peered north and south for miles as—indeed—several indentical waterspouts of epic size billowed outward from the edge of the plane, only to return back to the light side in brief, torrential curtains of rain.

"This close to the void, chaos bleeds into the Light Side," Enix said.  "We've always suspected that it is merely a taste of what regularly goes on in the Dark Side."  She took a firm breath.  "And that which has surely tempered the stalwart spirits of our brothers and sisters among the Dark Vigil."

"Well... okay then..."  Logan frowned.  "How in the Hell?"

Flynn sighed.  "Care to specify your Hell, Big Show?"

"I'm talking about the Hell we gotta go through in getting over!" Logan sputtered, pointing wildly at the cascading torrents of water beneath them.  "We can't take the Stardust!  Even if gravity allowed it to coast on over—"

"Highly debateable," Flynn grunted.

"Point being," Logan snorted.  "It would be torn to shreds by one of them waterspout thingies!"

"We ain't takin' the boat nowhere," Bard said through a sigh.  "There's obviously... some other way to make it to our destination."

"How do you intend to do that, Johnny?"  Nicole gulped.  "Fly?"

"Nope."  Echo took one pensive look over the edge of the platform and paled twice over.  "Nope nope nopppe."

"Could it be done?" Ariel asked.  "I mean... if all of us were fast enough—"

"Generations ago, nightblooded adventurers attempted what you speak of," Enix said.  She exchanged glances with her wingmates before somberly shaking her head.  "Their bodies were torn to shreds by the sheer friction of the Firmaments."

Wildcard gestured.

"Dubya has a point," Bard interpreted.  "'It's been done before.'"  He looked at the rest of the Herald.  "The Midnighters—after all... the Dark Vigil made it over, didn't they?"

"Right!"  Flynn nodded.  "And Queen Chrysalis—the sister of Tchern!  She crossed over too!  Twice in fact!"  He glanced over.  "Right, Rainbow?"

Rainbow didn't respond.  She had turned around completely—her attention once again focused on the crystalline vials dangling from the rusted stakes.

"However you intend to get across, you had better discover the method now," Enix said, her brow furrowing.  "I escorted you here so that you might come up with a plan, but soon the forces of Rohbredden will be approaching Bleak's Plummet.  If you truly wish to avoid a deadly debacle, then I suggest you strategize among yourselves.  And swiftly."

"How about a catapult?" Echo suggested.

"Be serious for once in your life, batdick," Logan grunted.

Echo blinked.  "... ... ...a big catapult?"

"If one rrememberrs," Kepler spoke, "Both the changelings and the sarrosians had a common tool forr crrossing overr into the Darrk Side."

"Yeah?"  Flynn looked over.  "What was that?"

"Alicorrn magic, of courrse."  Kepler smiled through his tusks.  "The changelings succeeded—through Tchern and Chrysalis.  The sarrosians had arrtifacts of Prrincess Luna."

"You mean Nightmare Moon."

"Prrecisely."

"Well... what do we have?"  Nicole remarked with a shrug.  "We lost contact with Rainbow's Princesses nearly an hour ago.  Maybe... something in Rainbow's pendant could help us out?  An enchantment?"

Remna kept her eyes on the Austraeoh.

Ariel noticed it.  She pivoted away from Wildcard, gazing at the petite pegasus.  "Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow slowly approached the rods dangling with vials.  Her brow furrowed and her eyes squinted.

Twilight hovered closer.  "Want... to fill us in on what you're thinking?"

"Yes."  Rarity nodded.  "Please do."

Rainbow didn't respond.  She couldn't.  All of the sudden, she was entranced.  Her eyes were focused on a single vial, dangling loosely in the cold, moist wind.

"Rainbow?" Ariel repeated, floating down a bit.  "Rainbow, what is it that you see?"

Rainbow's eyes twitched.

All of the gold haze in her vision had coalesced... collecting into the ancient liquid contained within the vial.  The blood glowed brightly—a burning platinum.  With pursed lips, Rainbow reached a trembling hoof forward.

But just as soon as it made contact with the crystal vial—

FLASH!







Whitemane's pearl blue eyes twitched.  Nevertheless, the alicorn filly stood resolute, her gaze piercing into the churning heavens... the dark everlasting thunderclouds of the Firmaments... rolling with ethereal light, chaotic and sporadic, hungering...

Behind her, Onyxxus leaned closer, his whispering breath sailing along the roar of crashing waves.  “Tell me, my child, what is it that you see?”

Whitemane stared and stared.  Her trembles redoubled.

“What do you see?”

Shaking... quivering... Whitemane clenched her eyes shut...

...and then she bore a devilish smile.

When her eyes reopened—





FLASH!

—Rainbow Dash stared out into the ether.

"Hope," she answered, and spread her wings.

Both the Herald and her close friends reacted with jolts and gasps.

"Rainbow...?!"

"Rainbow, what are you doing...?!"

"What's gotten into you, darling...?!"

Rainbow breathed and breathed.  She peered off the edge.  The gold haze was now deep below the churning waves.  It was so obvious.  It was always so obvious.

With a smile and a sigh...

...Rainbow plunged off the platform and dove into the rushing waters.

Her marefriends clung to their plummeting anchor, shrieking:  "Rainbow!"

"Are you nuts, Dashie?!"

"Sugarcube, don't—!"

SPLASSSSH!

"Rainbow Dash!"  Ariel shrieked, diving immediately.  Wildcard fiercely tackled her from behind, holding the thrashing pegasus in mid-air and whistling shrilly to Bard.

"Awwwwwwwwwwwww hell."  Bard lifted up, floating next to Enix and her fellow warriors.  "Quick!  We gotta form a perimeter at the edge!  Make sure she don't swim off the side or somethin'!"

"To what end?!"  Enix's fangs flashed.  "The moment we even touch that water, we're dead!"

"Well, you g-gotta do something!" Nicole's voice cracked as she suddenly hovered by Bard's side.  "She's gone crazy!"

"Let me g-go!"  Ariel struggled against Wildcard.  "We've got to save her!  She's—"

"Relax your mortal breaths!" Remna barked, fuming.  She calmed slightly and droned:  "The Austraeoh knows what she's doing."

"How can you say that?!"  Ariel sputtered, on the brink of sobbing.  "We came all this way—and for what?!  To let her commit suicide over—"

"Uhhhhhh..."  Logan sniffed the air.  "You guys smell that?"

"Gnnngh..."  Flynn rubbed his glowing horn.  "The leylines around here are going haywire!"

"H-huh?!"

Wildcard suddenly pointed straight into the waters.

"Harrk!"  Kepler exclaimed.  "Behold!  Something surrfaces!"

Sure enough, the Herald watched as a bright spot of glowing gold light manifested itself beneath the churning waves.  The already tempestuous water bubbled, growing frothier as something monumental rose up right at the world's edge.

SPLOOOOOOSH!  Twin stalks of golden harmonic metal emerged from the shallow depths.  The aura around them intensified, signifying an ancient power that was animating them from their previous place of dormancy.  With each progressive foot of emergence, the ponies witnessed massive, thick chains dangling from the ancient rigging.  These lengthy metal links shook, quivered, and dangled—revealing their massive lengths as they stretched out and over the edge of the world, extending downwards into a dark, chaotic vanishing point.  The air echoed with the clattering metal, and soon the emergence was complete.  The Herald was so dumbfounded by the spontaneous event that they failed to notice that a petite blue pegasus was clinging to one of the golden stalks, dripping from head to toe with moisture.

"Rainbow!" Ariel breathily exhaled.

The mare sputtered, shook the salt water out of her mane... and smiled.  "Yo!  Check it!"  She leapt off the structure, did a double-flip, and landed nimbly on the marble platform below.  Her frazzled marefriends hovered after her, still nerve-wracked.  "It's the bridge!" Rainbow's voice cracked.  "The piece of the Gondola!  Our piece of the Gondola!"  She flashed a look at a certain wyvern.  "Kepler!  You remember, don't you?!"

"Mmmrrrm... rrrememberr...?"  He blinked behind his fogged glasses.

"Friggin' duh!"  Rainbow smiled stupidly as the Herald gathered around her.  "Mortuana talked to you about it, didn't she?!  The mechanism that her father Onyxxus had built ages ago so that the Emeraldinians could make it to Darkreach?!  Well... this is it!  The alicorn link to the Dark Side!"

Kepler blinked, his muzzle agape.  "Yes..."  He grinned.  "Yessss... of courrse!"  He pointed with a winged claw.  "Crrafted out of purre harrmonic energy!  To assurre safe passage to the rrighteous colony!  Ha-HAH!  Glorrious!"

"But... but..."  Flynn scratched his bald head.  "How did you make it surface?"

"How else?" Remna droned.

"I didn't surface it!  Whitemane did!" Rainbow cheered.

"Huh?"  Bard made a face.  "Whitemane?"

"Heehee... Does it matter?!"  Rainbow grinned.  She spun around to smile at her friends.  "It's... it's just bursting inside of me.  The answer... the truth... the... the friggin' everything!"  She gazed at the twin stalks.  A gold beam of light was plunging down from the summit, leading across the plane and to the furthest end, accompanying the unbreakable chains.  "Somewhere... on the other end... there's a gondola with our name on it... just waiting to be retrieved..."  She exhaled through a soft smile.  "Our awesome ticket to beyond."
> Putting the "Machine" in "Machina"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Well, Rarity?"  Twilight Sparkle leaned in close, hovering over the dense rushing waves that plummeted into the cosmic abyss.  "How does it feel?"

Rarity had her eyes clenched shut.  The ghostly fashionista concentrated hard, her horn glowing with spectral brilliance.  At last, she opened her eyes and exhaled breathily.

"The chains attached to the harmonic alicorn apparatus stretch far beyond the reach of my senses."  She gulped, turning to face the others.  "However... from the tension that they are exhibiting, I would venture to say that they're firmly attached to something on the other end."

"You mean like the Gondola?"  Fluttershy exclaimed.

"Or perhaps just a set of identical rigging on the other side," Rarity explained.  "Although—presumably—a gondola could be made to travel the length of the chain.  Like a cable track!"

Applejack squinted.  "You sure it ain't just the pull of gravity makin' these ancient chains so taut-like?"

Rarity raised an eyebrow at her.  "And just how far down the edge of the plane do you suppose the laws of gravity decide to work in the same way as they do here?"

Applejack shrugged.  "I'unno."

"I think what Rarity is trying to say is that gravity isn't a constant when it comes to this piece of Urohringr," Twilight Sparkle said.  "Whoever or whatever built this structure must have possessed the ability to artificially create the gravity that is generated by natural formations of huge mass."  She waved a lavender hoof.  "Therefore—in the process of transferring ourselves from the Light Side to the Dark Side, we can expect a spontaneous shift in gravity... or a complete lack thereof."

"Then... h-how does the Gondola even work?" Fluttershy asked.

"Oh, darling, it doesn't matter how it functions!" Rarity exclaimed.  "Only that it does!"  She pointed down the lengths of chain that pierced the incomprehensible waterfalls.  "Mortuana and Whitemane's father saw to the engineering!  And everything about my senses is telling me that the structure is intact!"

"So... all that's left is to call the dang thing so that it comes to us!" Applejack said.  "Er... right?"

"Precisely!"

"But then..."  Twilight tapped her chin in thought.  "...how exactly do we do that?"

The Mane Five were silent.

Then...

"HEY GUYS!"  Pinkie Pie phased out of the rushing currents below—startling all of them at once.  "Guess what I am!"  She reached up, forced her fluffy pink mane into the shape of a dorsal fin, and "swam" around the upper surfaces of the water.  "Duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh...!"

Rarity sighed, staring at Twilight with bored eyes.  "Rainbow Dash?"

Twilight nodded.  "Rainbow Dash."

The four of them shot up like spectral comets, rejoining Rainbow and the Herald atop the platforms.  Pinkie remained behind, flailing.  She shot her head up.  "Hey!  Wait for me!"  She "swam" up after them.  "'We need a bigger Gondola?!'  I could have told you that one for free!"

"Ahem."  Twilight reached Rainbow first.

Rainbow stopped pacing to turn and face her friends.  "So?  What's the scoop?"

"Rarity's certain that the chains are still attached to a fixed point on the other end," Twilight said.

"You mean like another set of golden spires?"

"Absolutely, darling," Rarity said, floating closer with a nod.  "You see, judging from the tension in each platinum link and the consistent pressure that they're exhibiting on the support beams on this side—"

"Hey!"  Rainbow spun to face the Herald.  "Good news!  Rarity says the alicorn thingamajigger is in working order!"

Ariel, Kepler, and Flynn cheered.

Rarity frowned, her temple pulsating.  "I would still issue extreme caution in what we're about to do next!"

"But Rarity..."  Rainbow turned to face her.  "...either this is our ticket or it isn't.  So what's there to lose?"

"What's there to gain?"  Twilight Sparkle shrugged.  "Rainbow, I'll be the first to admit that finding this thing was an absolutely astounding accomplishment—even for the Austraeoh."

"Although... uhm..."  Fluttershy blushed slightly.  "...you could have done it in a less-frightening way than diving into the drink."

"Yeah, Dashie!"  Pinkie hovered behind Fluttershy with a frown.  "What she said!"

"Look, I'm sorry..."  Rainbow said, shrugging.  "But the gold light pointed me!  So I knew there'd be a solution!"

"But what do we even do now?!"  Twilight exclaimed, gesturing wildly.  "There's no ruby flame to turn on or turn off here, Rainbow Dash!  All we have now is a golden elevator—but nothing to move it with!"

"And how do we know if it can still move at all?" Applejack remarked, tilting her ghostly hat back.  "That thing's gotta be super ancient!"

"But if it's anywhere nearly as intact as the specimen we observe here—"  Rarity began.

"I dun care what you observe!"  Applejack frowned.  "Out of sight, out of mind!  Unless we've got some definitive proof that this here alicorn doohickey can still tick like clockwork, then we're still stuck at square one—as far as I'm concerned!"

"Yeah, Dashie..."  Pinkie sighed, positively deflating.  "What she said."

Rainbow stared off in thought.

Remna shuffled past Bard, Wildcard, and the others.  "What are they saying, Austraeoh?"

"I hate to say it, but it's a good point," Rainbow muttered aloud.  She started to pace under the lightning-filled sky.  "Dredging this thing up was awesome and all, but what's the point if there's nothing to get it moving?"

"The Gondola's on the other side, though!"  Ariel exclaimed.  She blinked at the others.  "I mean... that's where it must be, right?  Why else wouldn't it be here?"

"If I rrecall frrom the Motherr Matrron's storries," Kepler spoke, "Contact with Darrkrreach was brroken severral centurries ago."  The wyvern adjusted his spectacles.  "This was shorrtly afterr the Exodus of sarrosians rreached the prrecipice of the worrld upon which we currrently stand."  He raised an eyebrow.  "It is quite possible that—faced with an insurrmountable opposition—the prrotectorrs of Darrkreach submerrged the chain trrack and harrborred the Gondola prrotectively on theirr end of the plane."

"Oye..."  Nicole winced.

Echo sighed, glaring off.  "Way to go, our blood."

"Our ancient texts speak nothing of this alicorn construct," Enix said, exchanging nodding expressions with her fellow warriors.  "Granted... if any group may have encountered this Gondola of which you speak, it would have to have been the ancestors of the Dark Vigil.  And they carried their secrets with them to the Dark Side."  She shuddered.  "Somehow..."

"Well, that's neither here nor there," Bard said, strolling forward.  "What matters is gettin' this dayum thang to sing."  He narrowed his gaze on Rainbow.  "Darlin', does yer fancy schmancy new 'Utaan vision' have any light to shed on the machine in front of us?"

Rainbow stared dumbly at the twin golden stalks.  A platinum haze enveloped the thing unceasingly.

"It's lit up like a Hearth's Warming Tree," Rainbow muttered.

"Huh?" Logan exclaimed.

Wildcard gestured.

Logan glared at him.  "For real?  Pffft... Equestrians are weird."

"For realsies, Dashie?"  Pinkie Pie floated closer.  "There's still some... purpose in this machine?"

"That's remarkable..."  Twilight Sparkle blinked.  "I-I mean... that this new... sense of yours can change so dynamically on the fly."

"Well, it hasn't changed much now," Rainbow said.  "It's still pointing me to what I just resurfaced."

"Care to explain?" Remna remarked.

"Believe me, I want to!" Rainbow barked at her, flailing her forelimbs.  "But just because I was able to sniff up this crud doesn't mean I explain it!"

"Yeah, Remna," Ariel said.  "Cut her some slack!  It's not like there's a lever built into the thing that she can just yank and make the Gondola come to us!"

Just then, Wildcard whistled.

Everypony looked his way.

The Desperado calmly pointed a metal talon—singling out a lever built into the thing that Rainbow could just yank and make the Gondola come to them.

"Huh... neato..."  Bard scratched his exposed head, then swiveled towards Rainbow.  "Lil' Missy?"

"Hmmmmkay."  Rainbow Dash trotted over to the machine.  Wildcard was already pulling and tugging at the newly discovered mechanism—but it refused to budge.  Catching his breath, the mute griffon gestured to Rainbow Dash and took a step back.  "Let's see here..."

"Heeeeeeeee..."  Pinkie leaned forward, grinning from ear to ear.

"Hmmf..."  Twilight Sparkle folded her hooves.  "I swear.  If this actually works, I'll eat a hat—"

"Zoop!"  Rainbow Dash pulled the lever.  It easily slid out, glowing a bright gold at her blue-hoofed touch.

"Oh for Pete's sake!"  Twilight tossed her hooves, then spun towards Applejack.  "Gimme."

"No!"  Applejack hugged the article in question, pivoting protectively away from her.

"Applejack—"

Applejack spat, "It's the only one I've got!  Both in the past and in the afterlife!"

"Look!" Fluttershy pointed, gasping.

From Rainbow's touch—the gold light spread throughout the twin stalks... then shot brilliantly down the two lengths of chains.  A beam of platinum energy briefly lit up the blackness, then dimmed to a low but persistent pulse.  A high-pitched melodic sound filled the air, like tiny bells constantly ringing.

"Coolie crispies!"  Rainbow leaned back from the apparatus with a devilish smirk.  She released her grip of the lever and turned towards Rarity.  "Rare-Rare?"

"There's definitely something different about it, darling," Rarity murmured, brow furrowed.  "Yes... yes!"  She gasped, grinning wide.  "There's a consistent vibration!  Intensifying at a gradual pace!"  She tried to contain her squeals.  "I do believe you have summoned something!"

"So..."  Fluttershy blinked brightly.  "The Gondola, then?"

"It's got a longgggggggggg way to go," Pinkie said.

"Yeah..."  Rainbow Dash nodded, gazing at the chains as they stretched brightly into the ether.  "A super long way."

"Can somepony please fill me in?" Logan groaned.

"Rainbow Dash has obviously triggered the alicorn mechanism," Flynn said, gazing in awe at the chains.  "I don't know if it's... because of the Equestrian Princesses' enchantment on her pendant... or the powers of Austraeoh invested in her—"

"Can we cut the pretense?"  Remna grumbled.  "It's because she's the Austraeoh.  Simple as that.  Honestly, mortals, let's move on."  Snorting, she turned towards Kepler.  "Did Mortuana have any more wisdom to impart in this matter?"

"I fail to rrecall," the wyvern said.  "But one thing is forr cerrtain, the lift that is attached to this apparratus has a grreat deal of distance to trravel."

"Just how big is the thing?" Ariel asked.

"Considerring that it was used in prre-classical times to ferrry multiple Emerraldinian subjects and rresourrces to and from Darrkrreach, I would venturre to guess that the Gondola itself is quite large."  Kepler blinked through his lenses.  "And its weight most substantial."

"In otherr worrds..."  Flynn nodded.  "It's likely designed for efficiency... not for speed."

"Then it's going to take its sweet time," Bard said.

Flynn nodded.  "Most likely, yes."

Wildcard glanced about.  He gestured.

Bard interpreted, "So... what do ya reckon we should do in the meantime?"

Rainbow looked at Enix and the other nightblooded warriors.  She smiled proudly.  "What do you think?"
> Plan Your Day Off Accordingly
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Xarchellus leaned her wrinkly head to the side.

"And precisely how long will it take for this ancient apparatus to reach the Light Side?" the elder asked.

"We don't know," Rainbow Dash replied, standing on the balcony of Bleak's Plummet.  The Princess Stardust drifted a few dozen feet away in the choppy waves, surrounded by various bleakweed submersibles.  "It could just be a matter of hours.  Or it could be longer than a day."

"But you've already started the process of drawing it towards this side?"

"Totally."  Rainbow Dash nodded.  "From what we can tell, the machine's purring like a kitten and the Gondola is on its way over."  She smirked.  "We came back here as quickly as we could."

"At this point, the attack forces from Rohbredden are only a few hours away," Flynn explained.  "Nevertheless, we now have a very probable opportunity to get through this mess with as little bloodshed as possible."

Xarchellus and her advisors stared at the Herald as a whole.  "Please.  Do tell."

"The collective forces of Bleak's Plummet will wait until the last second," Flynn said.  "We know that the structure you have here is super vulnerable to a direct attack.  So... you won't attack.  Instead—once the Rohbreddenites get close enough, you'll submerge and cruise west.  By the time you'll be forced to surface, you'll be out of range from the attack group's detection."

"And how can we expect the Rohbreddenites to blindly ignore the passage of Bleak's Plummet directly beneath them?" Xarchellus asked.

"Because I'll be confronting them," Rainbow Dash said firmly as her friends looked on.  "I'm their big friggin' target, after all."  Her brow furrowed.  "Once they see me... they'll ignore everything else.  Trust me."

"And if somehow that isn't enough," Logan rumbled, "We'll distract the ever-loving shit out of them."

"How?"  Xarchellus exhaled.  "With so few numbers?  They'll eradicate you in a blink."

"Not necessarily," Rainbow spoke with a devilish smirk.  "I know a thing or two about playing cat-and-mouse with a bunch of baddies."

"And she'll have us at her side," Ariel said.  "After all, the Job Squad's most at home with running away from creeps."

"Heh... darn tootin'," Bard grunted.  Wildcard snickered breathily.

"Remember..."  Rainbow leaned in.  "The whole point here is to distract the Rohbreddenites just long enough for the Gondola to arrive.  Once it's here, we're hauling our butts to the edge and taking a cosmic elevator ride to freedom."

"And even if those foolish mortals were suicidal enough to attempt a cross-plane pursuit, they simply would not be able to," Remna said.  "The apparatus appears to respond to the Austraeoh's touch and the Austraeoh's touch alone."

"They will be left strranded on the worrld's edge," Kepler said.  "While Rrainbow Dash and the Herrald venturre towarrds theirr destiny."

"And Bleak's Plummet will have begun its exodus back home to Equestria!" Nicole exclaimed, smiling.  "Undetected, too!  Don't you see?  The bait-and-switch works for all of us!  It even works for the Rohbreddenites... even though they'll be too frustrated to know it."

"It really is the best plan," Echo said, nodding as he stood at Nicole's side.  "I know we've been putting this shit off 'til the last second, Matriarch, but it's only because Rainbow here has been doing her best to find the most harmonic, peaceful solution possible."  He swallowed.  "I... uh... I suggest you take her up on her offer.  Where we're going?  And the lengths it's going to take to get there?"  He shook his head.  "We really can't afford to have a whole bunch of angry xenophones chasing us the whole way out of vengeance."

Xarchellus took a deep breath.  "I appreciate the lengths that you are willing to go, Blood of Luna, to preserve the livelihood of the majority of my brothers and sisters.  And it is a noble thing to not wish undo malice upon our zealous nemeses."  Her good eye narrowed.  "Nevertheless... I do not see how your group can accomplish this so-called 'bait and switch' on your lonesome."

"They will not be alone," Enix said firmly, stepping into the center of the group.  "My finest warriors and I will stay behind to assist her in this endeavor."

Rainbow attempted to say something—

"Yo.  Nostrils."  Echo glanced at Enix.  "We all get that you're super badass.  But remember... Rainbow and her comrades will have the luxury of making a swift exit over the edge.  But you?  Catching up to Bleak's Plummet won't be easy with a bunch of Verlaxion-worshippers on your scarred flank."

"Nor was it easy for you to make an overtly-humble return to your place of foaling," Enix replied, glaring at the stallion.  "And yet, you took such a risk, Ryckmun, even at the most probable expense of your life."  She turned and faced the gathered sarosians around her.  "So too am I willing to exercise such courage.  I'll gladly sacrifice my life... if it means the safe passage of both Bleak's Plummet and the Blood of Luna... the latter of which stands to save the entirety of Equestria and this plane as a whole."

Echo opened his muzzle—only for Nicole to place a hoof on his shoulder.

"Shhhh..."  She smiled gently.  "Take it as a compliment."

Echo sighed.  "Yeah... I know."  He gulped.  "Just not used to it, though..."

Enix continued, her eyes tracing the velvety faces in the crowd.  "I trust that I am not alone in this most righteous commitment."

Multiple battle-scarred sarosians marched forward, standing tall.  "We swear our lives to the Matriarch, the Mother of Nightmares, and the Blood of Luna!"

The air filled with loud, reaffirming shrieks and squeaks.

Xarchellus inhaled deeply.  She turned to face Rainbow and the Herald.  "Do you accept the pledge of the Nightbloods, Rainbow Dash?"

All eyes were on Rainbow, and she fidgeted noticeably.

"It... would help immensely to have an extra set of hooves over sea and in the air, especially if we're going to make this whole shindig work."  She cleared her throat, then frowned.  "But hear this.  I am not making us go to war!"  She turned about, gazing at the entire crowd.  "I'm already in enough hot water as it is with Frostknife, and there could very well be some griffons in the coming attack force that I'm totally not cool with hurting.  The whole idea here is to reduce casualties to a minimum, and the same goes for any bat pony here willing to lend a leather wing."

"With all due respect, Austraeoh."  Remna glared at her.  "What you ask for is impossible."

"Doesn't mean we can't fight for it anyway."  Rainbow's nostrils flared as she gazed off with a melancholic expression.  "It... feels like a long friggin' time since I've actually tried."

"I would not be pledging myself and the strongest of my flesh and blood if I had no expectations of making a difference," Enix said.  "I promise—you will have enough help to make this plan of yours possible, and we shall abide by your commands, Blood of Luna."

Wildcard gestured.

"'Sounds like a dayum good deal to me,'" Bard interpreted.

"Yeah."  Logan nodded.  "Take the ball and run, girl."

Rainbow breathed.  "Very well."  She pointed at Enix.  "But as soon as your work is done, you and your buddies are going to fart your way west and rejoin Bleak's Plummet!  Got it!"

"Indeed."  Enix nodded.  "We will blend with the night, unseen."

"Haha!"  Kepler smiled through his tusks.  "Glorrious!"

The air filled with enthusiastic murmurs, rivaling the thunder.

"Well then..."  Ariel swiveled to face Rainbow, smiling.  "Looks like we've got ourselves some volunteers."  She raised an eyebrow.  "Just how—exactly—are we going to get through this as unscathed as Bleak's Plummet?"

Rainbow took a deep breath.  "Well.."  She glanced at the glowing silver runes fitted into the grand structure of Bleak's Plummet and its surrounding submersibles.  "...that depends on how we can exploit the Rohbreddenites' attention span."
> "Urohringr Alone," Starring Rainbow Dash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Enix raised a bleakweed tube in her hooves and breathed into a rune.  The silver etching of moonrock glowed immediately.

Turning around, the Nightblood warrior trotted across the floor of a large chamber deep inside Bleak's Plummet.  She faced a collection of seaweed-woven ragdolls positioned at the far end of the firing rage, took aim, and grunted into the air:  "H'rhnum!"

POWWW!

A cluster of shrapnel flew swiftly across the room and rendered the dummies to ribbons.  Th-Th-Thunk!

As the thunderous echo from the shot dwindled, Enix expelled the spent rune from the tube and blew the excess smoke from the barrel.  She calmly turned around to face Kepler and Rainbow Dash, standing off to the side.

"That command that I just gave..."  She spoke.  "That is an ancient Moonwhinny word that most generally translates to 'burst' in the basic Equestrian tongue.  Now..."  She shoved a fresh chunk of shot into the barrel, then popped in an identical rune into the square-shaped notch atop the tube.  "...I am loading the exact same ordinance and rune into the weapon, but listen as I give a completely different command."

As Rainbow and her friend watched, Enix breathed into the moonrock, causing it to glow.  She pivoted, aimed, and shouted:  "M'wynhrm!"

POWWWWWWW!

The blast was considerably louder this time—and the damage far more spread out.  Rainbow squinted in the cold lunar light, observing as random chunks of shrapnel embedded into the bleakweed wall at a radius of several meters.

Kepler scribbled briskly onto a sheet of parchment, his spectacled eyes darting up and down.

Enix casually shouldered the smoking weapon and turned towards the two once again.  "That last word translates to 'expel.'"  She gestured blindly at the embedded shrapnel in the wall behind her.  "Observe how the discharge is more widespread... but far less accurate?"  Her eyes narrowed.  "Same weapon.  Same rune.  But a different command."

"Most interresting," Kepler murmured, nodding.  "And these rrunes... they arre engineerred to rrespond to such vocal trriggerrs?"

"Each rune is pre-enchanted," Enix explained.  "Such sorcery does not happen overnight."  She breathed.  "It takes months... sometimes years of precise alchemy to eke magical substance out of our remaining moonrocks, employing the wisdom and ingenuity of countless elders.  Nevertheless."  Her scarred lips curved with the slightest hint of pride.  "We have acquired a respectable stockpile throughout the ages.  It should be more than sufficient in providing a deterrent to the Rohbredden forces."

"So... in other words..."  Rainbow Dash gestured.  "All you and your Nightblooded warriors gotta do is stick a rune in a tube, load it up with ammo, and say the right code word?"

"It involves more than mere pronunciation," Enix said.  "The word must be shouted!"  She slapped a hoof over her chest.  "And you must believe in the spell!  It must come from the heart!"

Rainbow gulped.  "I see..."

"Also..."  Enix raised a hoof.  "One must have a proper memorization of the commands and the runes that they coincide with while on the battlefield.  It will mean everything in the heat of the moment."

"So, therre arre multiple rrunes!" Kepler explained.  He pointed at the damaged targets.  "Forr a moment therre, I thought it was as simple as knowing when and wherre to shout 'H'rhn—'"

Enix shrieked loudly, instantly silencing Kepler and sending his and Rainbow's heads reeling.  She frowned... and as they recovered from the ear-splitting outburst, she firmly spoke:  "Do not speak the commands out of turn."  She gestured at a pile of faintly glowing runes off to the side.  "As you can imagine... an improperly-timed exclamation could be devastating."

"Y-yeah..."  Rainbow winced, rubbing her fuzzy ear and wincing.  "Tell me about it."

"A thousand pardons, Blood of Luna," Enix said, fangs glinting.  "But it would have been most unfortunate if we lost half of our available ammunition because of your wyvern's unwitting mistake."

"So..."  Kepler cleared his throat.  "There appearrs to be a massively glowing setback to the implementation of rrunic warrfarre."

Enix sighed.  "Indeed."  Her slitted eyes narrowed.  "Hence why we've only ever done battle in swift, overwhelming strikes.  If our enemies ever managed to escape our attack, it would prove most disastorous to future engagements."

"That explains why you went super ballistic on the Stardust when we first met."  Rainbow gulped.  "Talk about a pirate's life..."

"Is therre a chance you can teach the Herrald the necessarry worrds and theirr prronunciation?" Kepler asked.

Enix briskly nodded.  "Absolutely."

Rainbow raised her hoof.  "I've got an even better question."  She squinted in the lunar light.  "Those first two commands you showed us look like they could rip ponies to shreds."

"Indeed."

"Are there... uhhhh... any runic tricks that could be used to just knock out our foe?"  Rainbow gulped.  "Or just scare the crap out of them before we even gotta butt heads?"

Enix stared.  She then smiled, fangs showing.  "Very much so."

"Well..."  Rainbow shrugged, smiling crookedly.  "I'm all ears."





Hovering in the air, Rainbow Dash cocked a rune into a bleakwood tube, aimed it sky-high, and shouted:  "W'rhynnym!"

Phoooooom!  A streak of burning light flew high into the air and—POWWWWW!—exploded in a brilliant fireball.  The resulting heat evaporated the lower cloud-cover, exposing the purple starlight beyond.  The flames lingered in the air for a full five seconds before eventually dissipating.  Rainwater followed, drenching the choppy waves below.

Hovering closely around Rainbow, Ariel and Bard and Nicole cooed in awe.  Wildcard also drifted nearby, calmly clapping his flesh and metal hands.

"That's a mighty snazzy trick," Bard said.  "Reckon it'll scare the dickens out of them Frostknifers."

"Did Enix teach you that?" Nicole asked, tipping her newly-acquired hat back.

"That's not all she taught me."  Rainbow reached into her saddlebag, grabbing another sliver of moonrock and a glass ball of ammo.  "Watch as I load a completely different rune and shout a different command."  She did just that, aimed into the sky, and hissed:  "Y'wyvnym Y'lynwyn!"

Another streak shot into the sky.  Seconds later, it burst—this time lighting the heavens with a bright flare of green light.

"Huh..."  Bard rubbed his head, squinting at the dissolving glow.  "You gave two commands this time."

"Right..."  Rainbow lowered the smoking weapon and glanced at the others.  "The first Moonwhinny word translates to 'green.'  And the second and more important one means 'illuminate.'"

"So you can do multiple colors?"  Ariel grinned.  "That's so cool!"

"What's even cooler is that we can assign different messages to each of them," Rainbow said.

"I see where this is goin'."  Bard's eyes narrowed.  "Figures that—when the Rohbreddenites arrive—we're all gonna be spread out if we have any hope of throwin' 'em off their game."

Nicole nodded.  "You're going to need some way to communicate with one another."

"We could... like... make a green flare mean 'All clear' and a yellow flare mean 'Rally north/south' or something like that."

Wildcard gestured.

Bard looked from him to Rainbow Dash.  "What about signalin' for when the Gondola arrives?"

"Oh!  Totally!"  Rainbow nodded.  "Something big and bright and eye-catching.  Like... blood red or something."

"We're going to use this runic sorcery for more than just communication, right?" Ariel inquired, leaning in.  "Like... that big fireball you summoned earlier—"

"That—I'm hoping—will enforce some crowd control," Rainbow said.  Her nostrils flared.  "Maybe keep the Rohbreddenites back."

"And if it's not enough?" Bard asked.  "What if they decide to charge us full on?"

"There are a lot of tricks that these runes can do," Rainbow explained, patting the weapon in question.  "Between blinding bursts of light, concussion blasts, and fiery explosions, we should hopefully be able to distract the heck out of them.  Maybe even put a bigger scare into their skulls than just the fear of Verlaxion.  However..."  She sighed.  "If they do engage us full ham, then... yes... these suckers here can be charged to shoot holes in Frostknife's finest."  The mare gulped.  "But I'm hoping it won't have to come to that."

"Guess we won't be handin' any of the ammunition to Dubya here."  Bard smirked aside.  "Cuz it would do nopony no good, eh, mofo?"

Wildcard gave him a metal middle finger.

"I've got a question," Ariel said.

"Go for broke, girl."

Ariel cocked her head aside.  "We're gonna need a heck of a lot of runes to make this happen."

"And the sarosians have a whole lotta runes to give."

"Sure.  Cuz they're all locked up in Bleak's Plummet.  But where are we going to stockpile it all?"





Flynn trotted out of the cabin of the Stardust.

"Okay.  So I've absolutely gutted the whole interior of everything except for essential components to the manaengine."  He pointed into the rusted metal hollow behind him.  "You should be able to fit a crapton of glowy rocks in there."

"Right."  Logan nodded, leaning against the railing of the starboard side.  "And the rest could go on the granite platforms right at the edge.  Think of it as a final line of artillery."  He grinned wide.  "Between the Stardust and the brink, we can shell the ever-loving Hell out of the Rohbreddnites up until the arrival of the alicorn elevator thingy."

"Right!"  Flynn smirked.  "Heck... if we time it just right, the dudes from Frostknife won't even know what's attacking them!  We may never even have to come into physical contact with the creeps!"

Upon hearing that, Logan glanced at his axe with a pouting expression.  "Well, now that you put it like that..."

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.  "It's awesome to be optimistic and all, but l-let's... just plan for any eventuality."  She turned to look at Flynn.  "I dig it.  Place a bunch of rune guns here on the Stardust and another throng of them at the very edge.  While we pelt these melon fudges, the rest of us can fly in the air, distracting them for as long as necessary."

"This plan already has several glaring holes," Remna muttered, shuffling up.

Rainbow sighed, her every body part drooping.  "Yes.  Please, Axan.  Do tell us why."

"Namely this."  Remna gestured at the boat.  "The Herald's vessel here is mostly defenseless.  Meanwhile, the enemy will be arriving in more than one vessel, and each soldier is capable of swift flight."  The mare's green eyes hardened.  "What is going to stop them from sinking the Stardust to the depths the very moment that they discover it?"

"Well, it'll be mobile!" Flynn stuttered to say.  "My baby's fast, y'know!  We can... uh... totally outflank them!"

"Not good enough."  Remna shook her head.  "And with such a massive stockpile on board this craft, we cannot afford to give it over to the attacking forces."

"Like they're going to know how to speak moonwhinny and use those weapons."

"It's not the weapons I'm concerned about," Remna said.  "It's the ammunition.  From the description, I trust it's highly explosive."

"I hate to admit it..."  Rainbow exhaled.  "But Axan's right."

"Well..."  Flynn flailed his forelimbs.  "What else are we going to use the Stardust for?!"

"What about that crap?" Logan remarked.

Rainbow turned to squint at him.  "What crap?"

He gestured at the rock formations and shipwrecks lingering in the distance—eastward across the choppy seas.  "All that crap.  Seems to me it's a good place for the Stardust to easily hide."

"More than that..."  Flynn tapped his chin in thought as a bright grin slowly crossed his face.  "...but it would be the best place to stage an ambush!"

Remna raised an eyebrow.  "An ambush."

"Right!  It's brilliant!"  Flynn spun about, gaping at Rainbow Dash.  "Think about it!  This close to the edge, it's clustered... the water's shallow... and there are obstructions that the Rohbreddenites will have to avoid at every turn!  They're likely not familiar with this waterscape, but we have had a good few hours ahead of them to map it out!  That gives us an edge!"

"So... we draw them into the narrows..."  Rainbow pointed at the rocks and wreckage.  "...and once they've made it through at least half of it..."

"Whammo!  Logan punched his fetlocks together, grinning wickedly.  "Ambush time!"

Remna exhaled.  "This suggestion brings the enemy awfully close to where the Gondola arrives.  I feel that with each new plan that's being made, the entire scenario becomes increasingly and unnecessarily risky."

"Risk is as risk does.  But still..."  Rainbow studied the formations neatly from afar.  "...there may be something else that can give us an edge."

Flynn leaned forward.  "What are you thinking, Rainbow?"
> Rainbow Dash Sets a Trap
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Inside the hollow of a partially-collapsed shipwreck, Rainbow Dash, Ariel, and Enix huddled along with other nightblooded sarosians.  With well-timed motions, the group laid down yet another strip of densely-packed explosives encased in lunar dust.

"Mrmmfff..."  Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth, sweating.  The sound of thunder and crashing waves echoed through the splintery spaces leading outside.  "Just how big of a bang is this stuff gonna make?"

"That depends."  Enix dropped the last layer of moon rock and hovered in place.  She turned, bearing a brief, scarred smile in Rainbow's direction.  "The Blood of Luna must have a well-tempered scale of explosives.  Ywm?"

Rainbow smirked, wiping her brow.  "I've had my fair share of booms and kapows over the past two years or so.  Yeah."

"If I'm not mistaken, the purpose of this is to surprise and confuse our enemy," Enix remarked.  "If we truly wanted to eradicate them, we would be using far more ordinance—which would also require more moon rocks."

Rainbow nodded.  "Whatever gets them freaked out to the point that they feel like they're surrounded."

Ariel glanced out the nearest hole and spoke to those inside.  "We're getting a signal from the other wreck!  They've set the other explosives!"

"Good."  Enix gestured outside the wreck.  She took wing—followed swiftly by her subordinates.

Rainbow and Ariel flew out along with her.  They joined another group, and soon all of the ponies were hovering above a narrow strait passing through two jutting chunks of rock bespeckled with the splintery remnants of shipwrecks.

"There should be equal charges inside each location now," Enix said, pointing at the two wrecks against the rocks.  "If timed just right, then both explosives should go off simultaneously.  It'll be a truly fear-inducing blast."  Her slitted eyes narrowed.  "The concussive blast alone might deaffen ponies."

"Here's a question," Rainbow Dash said, raising a hoof in the gloomy air.  She spoke above the thunder:  "How exactly are we gonna... y'know... light these charges?"

"Will one of us have to squat on the rocks beside the charges and say the magic word?" Ariel asked.

Enix shook her head.  "Far be it from that."  She gestured.  "There's a special combination of runic commands that I've yet to teach you."  Her velvety brow furrowed.  "It charges a projectile that—when fired from afar—will carry the same runic command over a long distance and affect other runes by proximity."

"So..."  Rainbow Dash squinted.  "It's like literally launching your voice."

"Affirmative."  Enix nodded.  "It is essentially the combination of three charges: the explosive command, a propulsive command to carry it, and a proximity command to spread the enchantment."

Rainbow whistled.  "Guess I've got my work cut out for me."

"I can easily order my warriors to launch the runes," Enix said.  "It will require two ponies firing two runic discharges."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Rainbow said.  She pointed at the twin wrecks beneath her.  "So long as we can get this crud to overwhelm the buttheads when they get here."

"I have full confidence that we can implement it."

"There's still... uh... s-something of a problem," Ariel said with a nervous smile.  When the others looked at her, she stammered, "How do we expect the Rohbreddenites to actually sail through this obvious trap of a strait beneath us?"





"For any of this to work, it's going to depend on me."

Rainbow Dash paced across the top deck of the Princess Stardust.  The Herald sat before her, listening intently.

"It's been a long time since the angry zealots of 'Verlaxion' saw me," Rainbow Dash said.  She shrugged in mid-trot.  "Odds are a bunch of them have never even met me before.  This will have been their first opportunity to avenge their fallen Queen."

"So..."  Bard glanced at Wildcard, then back at Rainbow.  "They're gonna need a little incentive."

Rainbow scuffled to a stop, staring at him.  "They're going to need me to get all up in their grill."  She glanced aside at Remna.  "I gotta make them mad."

Remna nodded.  "Prey upon their emotions."

"Righto."  Rainbow shuffled about once more.  "If they see me... hear me... and get the general whiff of my badflankish bravado... then I just might be able to drain any residual tactical intelligence from their psyche."

"Is this gonna involve what I asked about earlier?" Ariel asked.

Rainbow nodded.  "We've got a plan to draw their ships through a particular point in the edgeside shallows."  She pointed east at two specific promontories of rock.  "If we can somehow get them to pass through that strait, then we can blow up a pair of gigantic charges that will set the ocean on fire and—hopefully—scare the ever-living petticoats out of them."

"Sounds difficult," Flynn said.  "I sure hope that this entire plan doesn't depend on a fireworks show."

"Oh.  Definitely not.  But think about it!"  Rainbow smirked briefly.  "If they find themselves stuck in the shallows, surrounded by explosions and flames and shipwrecks, then it just might be the kind of shock that will stun them completely out of their offense."

"But before that..."  Logan's eyes narrowed.  "It sounds like you're going to have to pull double-time.  After all... once they see you, they're going to flip their shit."

"Fact of the matter is that we gotta help Bleak's Plummet get away unseen," Rainbow said.  "According to Enix, Bleak's Plummet can't move long distances underwater for a while without having to surface.  Something to do with recharging the mana runes... or whatever."  She cleared her throat and gestured.  "Point is, for Bleak's Plummet to successfully pass under the little armada, it's gotta wait until the last second."

"Yeah, we know that part," Logan said.

"But then..."  Rainbow Dash continued, trotting closer to the group.  "As it's passing under the Rohbreddenites, it's still gonna be at risk.  I mean..."  Her eyes narrowed.  "These dudes are gonna be super angry... but if they're Frostknife's finest, then they're gonna be smart... at least for a little while."

"No doubt they'll be searrching forr sarrosian submerrsibles," Kepler said.

"Totally."  Rainbow looked at the group.  "And I doubt Bleak's Plummet will be able to go deep enough to avoid their detection.  Sooooooo..."  Rainbow took a deep breath.  "I gotta make my grand entrance at the precise time that the armada passes over it."  She swallowed.  "Hopefully... that'll be enough to shake them out of the moment and they'll switch gears completely."

"They'll be honed in on your ass," Logan said.

"Righto.  They're out here on one mission," Rainbow Dash explained.  "I intend to give them what they came for—albeit dangling on the end of a long, crooked stick."

"Don't you think that presents a nasty problem, though, Rainbow?" Ariel remarked.

"Let it out, girl."

Ariel sighed.  "The moment you show your silly head, they're gonna be thirsting for blood."  She gulped.  "They're all fliers, right?  What's gonna stop them from just taking off and spearing you in mid-air?  Never mind their armada?"

Rainbow took a raspy breath.  "Well—"

"And don't you dare say 'I'll just outrun those melon fudges!'"  Ariel planted her hooves on her hips, huffing.  "We're at the edge of the world.  This is as serious as it'll ever get!"

"I think the lovestricken mortal is missing the point," Remna interjected.  "All that the Austraeoh has to do is appear.  Will the warriors come to vanquish her give chase?"  She nodded her violet head.  "Of course they will.  That is not only something that we can predict... but something we must exploit."

"How?"  Flynn squinted his one good eye.  "We're talking about over a hundred of super pissed-off pegasi and griffons.  They'll shred Rainbow Dash apart in a second."

"Then we must orchestrate a way to make her disappear," Remna said.  She turned to face the pegasus in question.  "And construct a trap in the air much like the one being planned at sea level."

"What kind of a trap, exactly?" Bard asked.

Rainbow tapped her chin in thought.  She looked up... up...

Dark clouds hung overhead.

Rainbow's ears twitched.  She smiled.
> There's a Dark Cloud Overhead
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Yes, Rainbow!"  Rarity exclaimed, grinning wide.  "Just like that, darling!  Oh... you're practically a sculpture artist!"

"Will ya knock it off, Rarity?" Applejack grunted, phasing through several streams of moisture and vapor hovering high in the air.  "Just be quiet and let her concentrate!  Besides... ain't like you've never seen her cloud kick before!"

"Oh, certainly, I have!"  Rarity nevertheless cooed, eyes glittering.  "But never this close!  Such a wonderful work of pegasus artistry, isn't it?  I had no idea!"

"Yeah!"  Pinkie grinned wide.  "Dashie's a regular cumulonymphomaniac!"  She blinked, cross-eyed.  "Wait... lemme try that one again."

"Please don't," Applejack grumbled.

In the meantime, Fluttershy giggled breathily at the ghostly fashionista beside her.  "I never knew you were so mesmerized by cloud-shaping, Rarity.  If I had realized this before, I would have made fluffy cloud animals for you back in Ponyville."

Rarity gave an elegant wink before nuzzilng her.  "Something to look forward to once we're all restored, darling."

"Oh!"  Fluttershy beamed, cheeks rosy.  "What a lovely thought!"

"Shhhhh!"  Twilight Sparkle insisted, turning to look at Rainbow.  "She's about to speak to Enix's group."

Sure enough—just as the ghostly mares silenced—Rainbow Dash finished collecting several clusters of dark thunderclouds.  She "herded" the cloudy mists into close proximity of the hovering flock of batponies.  Not far away, Bard hovered along with Ariel and Wildcard.

"Oki-doki-loki," Rainbow said. She smirked at a ghostly bevy of candied laughter behind her shoulder and continued.  "I'm gonna take a wild stab and say that you guys have never done much weather flying before."

Enix and several of her nightblooded peers exchanged glances.  The leafy-eared leader cleared her throat.  "We have... been able to successfully avert waterspouts from approaching Bleak's Plummet, but we always kept a safe and respectable distance."

"Yes."  Another warrior nodded.  "And we have runes that can redirect lightning."

"But our expertise has long remained relegated to the sea."

"Well, today that's gonna change."  Rainbow Dash smirked.  "And once you're back on board Bleak's Plummet, you can share the secrets with Xarchellus and the rest of the velvety-furred gang!"  She 'ripped' off a chunk of cloud like cotton candy and kicked it towards the group.  "Here.  Knock it around.  Pretend it's—I dunno—a wayward seapony's head."

"Rainbow!" Ariel gasped.

"What?!  I want them to relate!"

Bard and Wildcard chuckled.

Enix and her warriors nervously batted around the chunk of cloud like confused cats with a leprotic mouse.

"Hehehe..."  Rainbow had to suppress a giggle.  "It's okay.  The Durandanans were just as confused.  Feel the cloud.  Become... uhhh... one with the 'mists' or something."

"It's easy once ya get used to it!" Bard said, reaching up to tip his hat—only to remember he wasn't wearing it anymore.  "Ahem.  The point of this here demonstration Rainbow's givin' y'all is that we're fixin' to have a bunch of cloud cover for when the Rohbreddenites arrive."

"It can act as cover for an ambush!" Rainbow said.  "The moment the baddies see me, I'm betting they'll take wing and chase me anywhere I go!  This is good for Bleak's Plummet, because it means that they'll be forgotten."

"But it's bad for Rainbow because it means her goose is cooked!" Ariel exclaimed.  "But... if we all work together, manipulate the clouds, and create an airborne path for the enemy to take in her pursuit of the Austraeoh..."

Bard finished for her.  "...we just might be able to get the sort of control over the air that will give us an edge!"  He smirked.  "And send them varmints packin'!"

"Hmmmm..."  Applejack smiled.  "Gotta love how Rainbow and her crew work'n'think together like a well-oiled wagon."

"I know, right?" Twilight said through a bright grin.

"Alright..."  Enix fluffed the cloud in her grasp and gingerly passed it back to Rainbow.  "I think I'm starting to get it.  We construct a cloudy labyrinth and collectively use our numbers to confuse the land dwellers, thereby delaying their eastward approach to the alicorn gondola."

Rainbow rubbed the back of her head.  "Well..."

"But as amazing as this lesson promises to be..."  Enix's slitted eyes narrowed.  "I fail to see how clouds can be a true equalizer in the long run.  I still maintain that our best tactic is to fire upon the enemy from afar."

"Right, but with them chasing my butt, the only things exposed will be the boats in their armada," Rainbow Dash said.  "And to properly remove them from the equation, we gotta utilize the explosives we've placed among the wreckage."

"There's still the matter of the airborn warriors who'll doubtlessly be chasing Rainbow all across the skies!" Ariel added.

"Then... we are talking about a battle on two fronts," Enix said.  "In the air and at sea level."

"Righto," Bard said with a nod.

Wildcard gestured briskly.

Bard interpreted:  "'While Rainbow draws the attention of the Frostknifers, the Stardust can draw the attention of the ships.'"

"So the Herald's vessel will draw the armada through the strait while Rainbow occupies those who are airborne," Enix thought out loud.

"But if you guys lend me a wing—or several—then we could make this an absolutely embarrassing nightmare for the floozies coming after us!" Rainbow said.

"With clouds," Enix droned.  She exchanged lethargic glances with the other warriors.  "Forgive us, Blood of Luna, if we do not share your confidence... or enthusiasm."

"Hey."  Rainbow shrugged.  "That's okay."  Then, with a devilish smirk, she spun about and reared her hooves in the direction of the thickest thundercloud she had gathered.  "You just haven't been shown the flashy part yet!"  With that grunted, she kicked the cloud with savage might.

KRAKOWWW!  A brilliant bolt of lightning shredded through the air above the sarosians.

The sky filled with shrieks and gasps.  Fangs flickered in the ensuing groan of thunder.

Enix blinked.  Her mane was sticking out at every end.

Ariel giggled while Bard and Wildcard exchanged glances.

"Now..."  Rainbow folded her forelimbs and smirked.  "Imagine just what the right kind of runic punch could do on top of that!"

Twilight and Applejack leaned forward, lips pursed.

Enix took a shuddering breath.  "Teach us more."  Her fellow warriors nodded fervently.





"Calling the plan 'simple' would be a falsehood, Matriarch, but it is sound.  I am confident that it will work to get the Blood of Luna safely to the Dark Side.  And—more importantly—it will protect Bleak's Plummet from Rohbredden interference."

Enix stood before Xarchellus on the balcony of Bleak's Plummet.  All around them, submersibles drifted in—joining themselves to the hull of the massive bleakweed structure in preparation for the grand exodus.  Sarosians worked around the clock to haul in fish, resources, and all manner of plundered ocean resources.

Xarchellus stood proudly with her fellow advisors, keeping a sage eye on the prime Nightblood warrior before them.

"Once the signal is given," Enix said, "You shall submerge Bleak's Plummet and put all runic power into cruising west.  At this point, you will be passing underneath the land dwellers' armada.  But fear not; they shall not detect you.  This is because the Austraeoh will have timed her entrance, exposing her presence before the zealots from Frostknife."  She gestured east.  "Once the soldiers on board the armada have taken flight, Rainbow will ascend—leading the group into the clouds.  Little will they know that we will have purposefully sculpted the clouds to be a trap utilizing ancient Equestrian weather flying techniques.  Once we have the enemy corralled where we want them, we will fire runic charges into the clouds, overwhelming them with elemental explosions."

She trotted closer, slitted eyes set firmly on her wise monarch.

"At this time, the Herald's ship—the Stardust—will begin its runic artillery barrage.  While shelling the armada, the Stardust will make a swift path through the shallows near the edge.  If all goes according to plan, the Armada will give chase, passing through a narrow strait where even more explosives have been primed.  Once the enemy's ships are in the shallows, we shall detonate the enchanted runes.  The enemies at sea level will be trapped and disoriented.  Meanwhile, between our warriors and the Herald's fliers, the enemies in the air will be thrown in every direction.  It is our intent that—with the runes we have equipped and the cloud cover we will have sculpted—this strategy will be just enough to distract the enemy long enough for Rainbow's Gondola to arrive.  Once it does, the signal will be given.  The Herald will retreat to the Dark Side... and we will return to Bleak's Plummet."

Xarchellus nodded.  Her wrinkly lips moved.  "It is a risky plan."

"I understand the risk, Matriarch," Enix said.  "And so do my brothers and sisters.  We expect death as much as life... as do the Herald, we trust."

"What you do... you do not just for the safety of Bleak's Plummet... but you do it for the future salvation of this world."  Xarchellus managed a gentle smile.  "And worlds beyond."

Enix took a deep breath.  "I serve the Mother of Nightmares first and foremost... but I have always been proud to serve you, my surrogate."

"You speak of pride.  But there is something stronger than that.  Something that we will all return to."  Xarchellus leaned away from her advisors.  On shaking limbs, she shuffled forward, taking her sweet time.  At last, when she reached Enix, she leaned forward and kissed her scarred forehead.

Enix bowed, her leafy ears drooping.

"Our dreams will be your shields," Xarchellus murmured.  She gave the Nightblood sarosian a motherly caress.  "And the darkness in our hearts your blade.  But now—more than ever—fight for the sunrise that we have so long forsaken.  It will cleanse us, child... here and in the Harmonic Plains that the Maiden of the Moon has promised."

Enix nodded, her fangs showing.  Her voice was shaky.  "I will fight until every last speck of the nightmarish shadow is gone.  Then we can face the sunrise together, Matriarch."

"As will all things.  So says the Book of Saros."  Xarchellus tilted Enix's chin upwards.  "Blessings.  Blessings I give to you and your noble warriors.  Come back to us so that we may share in the harmonic joy together."

"And I shall, Matriarch."  Enix stood tall.  "You have my word."

From a distance, Rainbow watched silently.

Rarity sighed, drifting beside her.  "Such noble chivalry... and to think that they hid it so long beneath such barbarism."

"In a place like this, Rarity..."  Applejack shrugged.  "I'm sure barbarism was 'chivalry.'"

"I'm just glad that they're on board with this," Rainbow Dash murmured, trying to keep respectfully quiet.  "Princess Luna really came to bat when we needed her to, huh?"

"I'll say!"  Pinkie Pie phased through strips of bleakweed as she bounced.  "Could you imagine Spike having to negotiate the whole batpony hoof-holding convention?  Nuh uh!  I mean..."  She glanced over, smiling cheekishly.  "No offense, Twi."

Twilight Sparkle was staring towards the opposite end of the balcony.

"Twilight?"  Rarity tilted her head to the side.  "Is something wrong?"

"No... just..."  Twilight swallowed a lump down her throat.  "...a bit distracted by something at the moment."

"What is it, darling?"

"Oh goodness..."  Fluttershy sniffled, her ghostly eyes reflecting two figures: siblings, and one cowboy hat between them.  "Maybe... m-maybe we should give them some distance."

"Ah jeez..."  Rainbow's ears drooped as she flapped her wings, hovering away from the bleakweed balcony.  "Yeah.  Not a bad idea..."

> Knowing the Place to Be
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Flynn's leavin' the rest of the supplies from Blue's Ranch here for you to take along," Bard said.  The wind blew at his long brown mane as he stood before his sister along the outer edge of Bleak's Plummet's balcony.  "There's enough oats and mushroom stew to last ya for a good month.  Maybe two."  His brow furrowed.  "Reckon you should mix that in with the fishy stuff that these midnighters be eatin'... y'know... to ween ya on the batpony diet all good'n'proper."

"Johnny..."  Nicole suppressed a giggle.  She tilted the hat back so she could look at him better in the dim runic glow.  "We're all the same on the inside.  I'm pretty sure I can get used to sarosian food pretty quick.  I think I'll use Blue's food to... help get Xarchellus' ponies reacquainted with traditional Equestrian diets.  From what Rainbow describes, it doesn't sound all too terribly different."

"Yer gonna be rockin' awful hard in the sea for a long time.  Trust me..."  Bard grimaced.  "It can turn yer stomach inside out.  I've been there.  Can't imagine havin' to balance the waves and a crazy plate of bugs and seaweed and pigeons..."

"Pigeons?"  Nicole raised an eyebrow.  "Since when did we eat birds?"

"Well I just thought... erm..."  Bard scratched the back of his head.  "Awwww shoot.  I just figured with them fangs and all that flyin' and piratin'..."

"These ponies are pretty cool, Johnny," Nicole said with a smile.  "I've already gotten to know quite a few of them and... and I-I think I've got this in the bag.  Me and Echo... Ryckmun... we're going to be just fine.  Don't you worry."

"Ehhhhhh... yeahhhhh..."  Bard weathed a heavy sigh, leaning one front hoof across the other.  "You really fancy that varmint, don't ya?"

Nicole inhaled.  Her slitted eyes searched the surging waves beneath Bleak's Plummet.  All around them, the residents of Bleak's Plummet were busily rounding up supplies and submersibles, preparing for the arduous journey ahead of them.

"He has... a lot of issues in his life to iron out," Nicole finally said.  "Only now... I'm starting to see him for the amazing, warm-hearted stallion that he is.  I think this is a journey that we'll be needing to take as much as the rest of Xarchellus' ponies."  She swallowed.  "We've found our happy place, Johnny, and... eheh... it's on the go."  Her leafy ears drooped slightly as she looked up at him.  "Just like you."

Bard nodded.  "Just wish we weren't goin' so far away."

"But... but we'll see each other again sometime, r-right?"  Nicole's fangs scraped her bottom lip as she tried to smile.  "After all of this craziness is done... and Luna's foals have returned to Equestria... and you come back with Rainbow and the Herald after saving the world... we'll... we'll get to be brother and sister again, won't we?"

Silence.  Thunder rolled overhead.

"Won't we?"

Bard didn't reply.  He simply shuffled forward and swept Nicole into a deep hug, wings and all.

Surrounded in his warm, feathery embrace, Nicole finally caved.  She scrunched up into a velvety ball, burying her muzzle in his chest as the tears came loose.  "I... I knew that th-this would be it," she whimpered.  "But I didn't want it to be."  A pained hiccup or two escaped her muzzle.  "Johnny, I—"

"Shhhh..."  Bard held her close, gazing at the tempestuous waves beyond with a glazed expression.  "If I had my way, I'd hole myself up someplace real nice and write a million songs about ya, darlin'.  I always wanted to do the same about Amber... and Melody..."  He gulped.  "But... ain't the kind of world to afford nothin' but singin'.  We got important thangs to do and a million places to be... but only one place to afford each other.  And for you?"  He leaned down, tilting her chin up so that their eyes connected.  "It's in my heart."  He bore a cavalier smile.  "Say hello to Amber and Melody for me, will ya?"

Nicole sniffled.  The hat fell over her muzzle, and she lifted it with a teary-eyed smile.  "I promise, Johnny.  Every morning and night."  She grimaced slightly, but added in a delicate tone:  "I'll keep the song alive."

"Good."  Bard smirked.  "Cuz where I'm headed... I'm pretty sure all the folk are tone-deaf."

Nicole giggled again, then leaned in to nuzzle his chest once more.  "... ... ...you are my family, Johnny."  She shuddered.  "I mean it.  You're everything I've ever had... and if all I have to give is going off to save the world... then that's something I can be proud of."

"Mmmmm..."  Bard stroked the back of her neck.  His moist eyes reflected strobes of lightning off in the distance.  "Now that's a mighty fine tune."

The two said nothing for a long time.  They simply stood there in each other's hooves, relishing in the last moments... the only moments that either of them would have.





Sometime later, Bard glided east over the choppy waters.

His jaw was clenched tight.  Despite his determined expression, tears collected along his muzzle.

He took a shuddering breath, slowing just enough to bring a hoof up and dry his face.

He heard a second set of flapping wings.  Glancing over, he spotted Wildcard gliding alongside him.

The griffon glanced at him patiently.  Sleek black goggles reflected a flickering horizon of stormlights.

"Hrmmmff... what are ya lookin' at, mofo?"  Bard frowned, glaring straight forward.  "So what if I took my sweet time?  If it was you sayin' goodbye to yer only kin, we'd be waitin' for hours, considerin' yer such a dayum chatterbox."

Wildcard flew in silence.  He remained staring at Bard.  At one point, his talons started to move—

"Dun ya start!"  Bard growled.  "You know dayum well I ain't changin' my mind!"

Wildcard sighed, his feathers ruffling in the high winds.  He cocked his beak to the side.

"Because..."  Bard gulped.  "Ain't my life she's livin'.  Just like it weren't Amber's or Melody's neither."  The frown left, and it was simple lethargy that tugged his eyes seaward to where the Stardust lingered.  "There's only one life for a Desperado.  And that train we're on ain't set for backtrackin'."

Wildcard swiftly retorted with talon swipes.

"Heh... well ain't you a smart one," Bard said, managing a smirk.  "Ya got it wrong, ya flippin' buzzard.  Rainbow didn't set the two of us to backtrackin'.  She set us forward.  Feel me?"

Wildcard nodded.  Smiling, he held his metal fist out.

Bard hoofbumped it, and soon both Desperadoes were gliding down to sea level.  "Now..."  He spoke firmly, the strength returning to his lungs.  "...let's get our heads in the game, 'cuz it's business time for the Job Squad."

Thwooosh—!





Th-Thump!  Both Bard and Wildcard landed nimbly on the ship's deck.

Rainbow looked over from the rest of the Herald.  "Nice of you to drop in.  Fluttershy senses the bad guys coming in from the west now.  She says that they'll be entering these waters in just under a few hours."

"Dun mind us."  Bard trotted forward, clearing his throat.  "Just smoothin' out a few rough edges."  His eyes narrowed.  "What's the state on the Gondola thang?"

"The apparratus is still on its way towarrds the Light Side!"  Kepler stated boldly.  "Purrring like an alicorrn kitten non-stop!  HaHah!"

"Rarity hasn't felt the lift's arrival yet," Rainbow Dash said.  "But she and Twilight both confirm that the chains are working... and they're sizing a huge weight that can only be the gondola."

"So we've still got some time to kill."  Bard smoothed his bangs back.  "Alrighty, then.  Who's gonna be situated where?"

Wildcard gestured sharply.

Flynn rolled his good eye.  "Well of course you want to protect the Austraeoh."  He gestured at Ariel with a smirk.  "I'm afraid that job's already taken, though."

Ariel wrapped a hoof around Rainbow and blew a raspberry at Wildcard.

Wildcard's middle talon itched...

"Stop being such whelps," Remna grumbled.  "You both get to protect the Austraeoh."  She turned to look at the pegasus in question.  "I suggest we keep you guarded at all times.  Even when you appear before the Rohbreddenites."

"Right.  While that's a pretty schazzy idea..."  Rainbow cleared her throat and... delicately disentangled herself from Ariel's friendly forelimb.  "I really should be alone when I make my first appearance."  She paced before the group.  "It would be for the best that I maintain the illusion of having arrived here on my own.  The rest of you guys—and Enix's crew—should be saved for the last second.  Y'know... to make the ambush hit home."

"Yes, but after we stage our attack and begin distracting, we can totally be your wingmates, girl!" Ariel exclaimed.  "Safety in numbers and all!"

"Rrememberr..."  Kepler raised a claw.  "The goal herre is not to confrront... but to evade and distrract.  This is all about wasting the enemy's valuable time until the elevatorr appearrs, afterr all."

"Right.  So... if things are going to go down this way, then I suggest we assign different companies," Rainbow said, glancing at the group.  "Ariel... Bard... Wildcard... you guys are the best fliers beside me.  You should each group up with some of Enix's warriors and prepare for coordinated hit-and-run strikes."

"Yeah!"  Ariel nodded.  "We can attack, retreat, attack, retreat—and repeat!  That'll give us time to restock our runic boomsticks in order to keep the bad guys suppressed!"

"Or simply keep them busy and overwhelmed," Remna droned.

"Right..."  Ariel coughed.  "That too."

Wildcard gestured.

Flynn answered.  "Kepler's going to be situated at the very edge."  He turned to look at the wyvern.  "Figures—from all of his conversations with Mortuana—he's the most familiar with alicorn tech.  I think he'd be perfect for signaling the rest of us when the thing arrives."

"Affirrmative."  Kepler adjusted his spectacles.  "As much as I would love to assist the Austrraeoh with good combative sporrt, I'm afrraid that my skills in battle do not match herrs.  And—let us all agrree, my frriends—I am not nearrly as verrsatile in aerrial maneuverrs.  Hah...!"

"He won't be alone," Flynn said.  He looked over at the violet mare.  "Remna.  Would you accompany Kepler at the edge?"

"I've said it before and I will say it again."  Remna's eyes narrowed.  "I refuse to stand idly by while the Austraeoh risks her own neck."  She fumed.  "Let us not forget that the Mountain Matron assigned command of the Herald to me."

"Really?"  Flynn groaned, his ears drooping.  "You're going to attempt pulling rank now?"

"Axan, calm your dragon nipples," Rainbow spat, waving a hoof.  "We chatted about this earlier with Enix, remember?  I think there's a very important moment when you of all ponies can help us."  She glanced aside.  "Big Show too."

Logan's eyes narrowed.  "Are you talking about the thing where Enix's buddies swoop in and—"

"Yes," Rainbow cut him off.

Logan grinned from ear to ear.  "Well—hell—now... color me intrigued."  He cleared his throat.  "But... I think my place should be on the Stardust along with Flynn."

"Huh?"  Rainbow squinted.  "Why?"

"Think about it!"  Logan gestured.  "You're not the only one who will be drawing flack!  That'll be the Stardust's job!  Literally!  Assuming that—like—the explosives we set off aren't enough to shake the armada loose, then we might be in for some super nasty hoof-to-hoof combat... and with all that lunar ordinance resting on board, I don't think we want the Rohbreddenites getting any of their grubby fetlocks or talons on the good stuff."  He smiled wickedly.  "You're going to need somepony super badass to hold them off with his axe."

"But Big Show," Flynn argued.  "If there's to be a last stand, it'll be at the marble balconies at the very edge where the Gondola shows up!  If you can't fly, then your place is there!  Not on board the Stardust!"

"Dude, you're going to need somepony to cover your flank as steer our precious ship around!"

"I'll have Enix's nightblooded warriors with me!  She's offered at least three of them to fire all of the artillery shots!"

"And they're still going to be busy covering the skies!  You need a heavy backup to fend off the Frostknife assholes!"

As the Herald argued, Bard stood still.  He gazed off towards the west, his thin eyes falling on the lunar glow of Bleak's Plummet.  He breathed calmly, his mane billowing in the wind, even as the ponies continued to gripe and bicker with one another for nearly half-a-minute.  At last, as another salvo of thunder went off, he turned about swiftly and spoke in a firm tone:  "I'll be on board the Stardust."

Everypony's heads jerked his way.

"Huh?"  Logan blinked.  "You?"

"Bard, you're a flier," Rainbow Dash said.  "We'll need you in the air."

"Wildcard and Ariel have got that covered," Bard said.  "Between the two of them, she'll be protected and a half.  And—face it—between all of Enix's warrior brothers and sisters, the skies will be pretty crowded.  Yer gonna need a stallion who's familiar with the Stardust on board our ship, especially since Flynn will be stickin' to the edge along with Kepler."

"Wait... what?"  Flynn made a face.  "But I already said that I'm—"

"No offense, buddy, but operatin' that ship ain't exactly brain surgery," Bard said.  "Besides... you was always good at maintenance when it came to keepin' the Stardust purrin', and that ship ain't goin' nowhere 'cept over the dayum falls once all of this is over and done with."

Flynn protested.  "But—"

Bard spoke over him.  "Kepler might have an eye for Alicorn tech, but he ain't got the horn.  This whole journey relies on that Gondola workin' like a charm.  I say we need you at the edge and me on board the Stardust.  I'll look after our cargo.  Besides..."  He smirked.  "When it comes time to high-tail it out of there and meet up at the edge, who are we gonna put the burden on?  A stallion with or without wings."

Wildcard gestured briskly, glancing over at Flynn.

Flynn sighed.  "Well..."  He leaned back with his forelimbs folded.  "You got me there.  Just..."  He gulped.  "...guess I wasn't planning to say 'good bye' to my baby so soon."

"Yeah, well..."  Bard cleared his throat.  "If there's one thang I'm startin' to get used to... it's learnin' how to say 'farewell' sooner than later."  He looked at Wildcard, then at the rest of the group.  "Leave the Stardust to me and the sarosians.  I'll steer the ship good and proper and keep an eye out for the signals.  Then—when it's time to get moseyin' along—the midnighters and I will jump ship.  They'll go their way and we'll go ours.  Simple.  Done.  We good to go now?"

Wildcard gave a thumb's up.

"Well..."  Ariel took a breath.  "If Wildcard is good with the plan, then so am I."

"Sure..."  Logan nodded.  "But I want to get some hits in!"

"You will.  I'm certain of it."  Remna turned to look at Rainbow Dash.  "Austraeoh?"

Rainbow took a deep breath.  "Well then..."  She smiled.  "Seems like it's settled."

"Ha-hah!  Glorrious!"
> The Risks That We Take
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The edge of the world...

Kepler and Flynn set up their station along the marble precipices of the last solid surfaces of the plane.  The golden towers vibrated and hummed as the Gondola continued its harmonic ascent from afar.  Meanwhile, Flynn erected an elaborate crystal-powered antenna attached to a black metal box.

"It's... uhm... it's for detecting massive surges in the leylines," the balding unicorn explained.  He smiled sheepishly as he continued tweaking the apparatus.  "I know that you and your invisible friends are waaay better at detecting this sort of phenomena than I'll ever be, but it doesn't hurt to have a failsafe, huh?"

"Just keep on keepin' on, dude."  Rainbow patted his back as she hovered over the misty surfaces of Emeraldinian architecture.  The constant roar of rushing water and broiling thunder felt strangely relaxing compared to the true storm that was upcoming.  "I'm going to be far off... dealing with Rohbredden's finests and a bunch of nasty sound effects, most likely."  She winked.  "It'll be super cool to have you and your doohickey ready to signal us upon the elevator's arrival."

"Hey..."  Flynn breathed nervously.  "Just h-happy to help."  He gulped, ears folding melancholically.  "Wish I was half as happy to see the Stardust go."

"Get over her," Rainbow said with a wink.  "I'm sure she's already gotten over you."

"Jee.  Thanks."

"Anytime, bud."  Rainbow glided over to Kepler.  "K-dude.  How's it hanging?"

"That rremains to be seen, Rrainbow One!"  The optimistic wyvern squatted at the marble edge, tinkering with a runic boomstick.  "It depends on how the oft-misunderrstood laws of grravity decide to function along the way to the Darrk Side."

"Look at it this way..."  Rainbow Dash rested a hoof on his hairy shoulder, leaning forward.  "I'm super okay with losing my lunch in zero-g... so long as it means leaving this cruddy ocean waaaaaay behind."

"Mmmm... out of the firre and into the frrying pan, though?"

"I'll take it one step at a time."  Rainbow leaned back.  "I just want this fight to go as painlessly as possible."

"We should always wish forr heavenly things."

"Totally, dude."

"Just concerrn yourrself with the no-doubt glorrious acrrobatics that you arre surrely about to perrforrm, Austrraeoh," Kepler said with a smile.  "It will give us all something to speak prroudly of along the rride to the otherr side."

"Now there's a happy thought."  Rainbow's eyes narrowed on the boomstick he was tweaking.  "Got a handle on that?"

"I would think as much."

"You've... uh... memorized the moonwhinny commands for firing off the 'GONDOLA!!!' signals... r-right?"

"Ha-Hah!"  Kepler winked through his spectacles.  "Have you forrgotten who you arre talking to?"

"Just... y'know..."  Rainbow shrugged.  "...wondering if those whacked-out words are tougher to say through those pearly tusks of yours."

"I sufferrr to underrstand how the poorr midnighterrs manage the complex phonetics with such ghastly fangs!"

"Touche."  Rainbow smirked, fluttering off.  "Stay classy as ever, Kepler."

"I shall attempt to with grreatest sincerrity, Rrainbow One."

Rainbow chuckled slightly to herself.  Soon, she approached Logan who was sharpening his axe.  "You know... odds are that you're not going to get to used that baby much."

"Oh yeah?"  The large stallion muttered out the side of his muzzle.  "Odds are the odds aren't going to go as you expect them."

"Must you be so stupidly pessimistic?" Rainbow asked.

"It's not pessimism so much as looking for a fight."  Logan turned to throw her a manure-eating-grin.  "In which case... I'm always turned on."

"You got that right!" Flynn hollered from afar.

"Shut up, baldy!"  Logan spat.  "How about we switch strategies and use the shine from your skull to blind the enemy armada?!"

"We can just shave your flankcheeks and save half as much time!"

"Oh that'll give the midnighters something new to worship!"

"Hahaha!"

"Ahem..."  Rainbow Dash leaned in, brow furrowed.  "How about saving the crudeness for the Dark Side?"

"I dunno, Rainbow," Logan muttered, returning to sharpening his blade.  "The way I figure it... once we get there... being 'crude' will no longer be a snazzy outlet."

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see."  She "punched" Logan in the shoulder.  "Just remain on your A-Game.  We just might need you and Remna yet."

"'Ow,' by the way."

"Yeah right.  Say..."  Rainbow turned about, squinting across the marble platforms.  "Where is that dragon pony anyways?"

"Over there... roundabouts..."  Logan pointed towards the far edge of the platforms.  "Being emo."

"Of course."  And Rainbow walked off.





Remna shuffled slowly across the forest of rusted metal stakes.  She reached a violet hoof out, brushing them past an array of dangling crystal vials—all of them empty.  The air filled with gentle percussion, like glass raindrops against the dull bass roar of the endless end.

When Rainbow arrived, it was on soft wings.  The pegasus touched down, staring across the thunderous space between her and her once-foe.  Clearing her throat, Rainbow said, "Kepler and Flynn are just now getting set up here on the edge.  Bard's situating the Stardust while Ariel and Wildcard work things out with their halves of Enix's crew."  Rainbow took a breath.  "If Fluttershy and Rarity are correct in their estimations, then the enemy ships will be here in just a few hours.  We... uh... may have some time to kill before then.  Could be a good opportunity to rest and collect our thoughts.  That kind of stuff is super important for mortals, y'know."

Remna said nothing.  She continued gently caressing the dangling vials, her expression grim.  Lethargic.

Rainbow arched her eyebrow.  "What are you even doing, Axan?"

"All of the blood is gone.  Drained." Remna murmured, her green eyes reflecting the crystal jars.  "It's telling, don't you think?"

Rainbow stirred where she stood.  "You've never struck me as one to get sentimental over dead alicorns."

"It's not sentiment," Remna grunted.

Thunder and water.

"Whitemane's blood was there," Rainbow said.

"I've looked and looked for it," Remna muttered.  She shook her scarlet head.  "I found nothing.  Not like you did."

"Well..."  Rainbow shrugged.  "Maybe it all dried up when I touched it."

"Impossible—"

"Or maybe I just imagined it.  Either way, enough of Whitemane's essence was there for me to get a wake-up call.  Look..."  She sighed, slicking her short bangs back.  "What does it matter?  We've got a lot of crud to deal with on the horizon... heh..."  She bore a bittersweet smirk, waving towards the cascading sheets of water below them.  "And with only one horizon left, that means something, don't you think?"

Remna slowly turned around to gaze at Rainbow Dash.  Her eyes looked lifeless.

"Lemme guess..."  Rainbow moaned inwardly.  "I'm about to get another 'holier-than-thou' lecture on the banality of 'mortal humor.'"

"Have I... truly been of assistance to you, Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow did a double-take, visibly taken back by that sudden inquiry.  "Uhhhh..."

"Bard and Wildcard pulled you out of the Quade.  Mortuana and Kepler set you on the right path."  Remna's green eyes hardened.  "Ariel, Logan, and Flynn have protected you at all times since... and even a few ponies and griffons under my sister's influence sacrificed their livelihood to ferry you further east."

"You... restored my body when I was nothing but a bloody pulp, Axan..."

"Only because I had reduced you to a bloody pulp in the first place."  Remna's voice growled ever so slightly.  "Aside from exterminating Nevlamas at a key moment, how exactly have I gone about ensuring the safe and secure journey of the Austraeoh?"

"You totally kept me from freezing my butt off south of Wyvern Point!" Rainbow said.  She shook her head.  "Look... Axan... mistakes have been made, and we can debate your aloof tactics over the last two years until we're blue in the face.  But... like... d-don't you think it's a bit late to be second-guessing the importance you've played in this whole shebang?"

"Ages ago, Rainbow, I made the lazy decision to remove myself from the pressures and politics of this dying world," Remna said.  Her voice limped in guilty, fuming breaths.  "It was a defeatist attitude... and as soon as I isolated myself and my brood... I died... along with this world."  She gazed tiredly at the empty, clattering vials suspended beside her.  "If I bled, I suspect I would be as dry and lifeless as these vessels."

"Shouldn't all immortals have gone through a mid-life crisis millennia ago?"  Rainbow bore a cynical smirk.  "Heck, Verlax did!  And look at what it did to her!"

"Rrrrrrrrrr..."  Remna growled with sudden, draconian fervor.  "This is not a jovial matter!  I pledged myself honorably to Mortuana and I've yet to accomplish anything!"  She sighed, her voice lowering to a calmer tone.  "The universe of Urohringrs needs the Austraeoh... and the most pivotal thing I've ever done is murder you."

Thunder rolled.

"Look, Axan..."  Rainbow kicked at the granite floor, sighing.  "Take it from me... I know a thing or two about dealing with bad decisions."  She gulped, gazing off at the nebulous cosmos lingering beyond the edge.  "More like I know a thing or two or three or four."  She shuddered.  "And every time I do something horrible... the only way to get back from it—I've discovered—is not to constantly obsess over it.  Doesn't stop me from obsessing anyways, but—point of the matter is—I eventually get over it.  Because I have to.  And... guess what?"  She smirked hopefully.  "I always end up doing something spectacular and awesome that more than makes up for the mistakes."

Remna slowly nodded.  "By that logic... you've yet to make even worse mistakes than the things you've committed so far."

Rainbow shuddered slightly at that.

Remna cocked her head to the side.  "How do we know that this 'carefully thought-out' engagement with the Rohbreddenites isn't your next mistake?"

"Jee..."  Rainbow rolled her eyes.  "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"You are putting the Herald and Nightbloods—the Austraeoh's most precious commodity of protection for this very moment—at unnecessary risk for the moralistically noble goal of protecting the denizens of Bleak's Plummet."

"So kill me for wanting to leave the crud in my wake way better than I found it, Axan!"

"No doubt you will make it in one piece to the far end, but what of your companions?  If they perish, then you will have nothing to protect you against the chaotic elements of the Dark Side—"

"Well those are the risks we have to take!" Rainbow Dash snarled, her hairs bristling.  Her tail flicked with an angry blur.  "That's what it means to be a mortal!  And I'm sorry that you can't understand that!"  She leaned back, shivering slightly as her breaths calmed.  "You say that you feel like you haven't contributed much, Axan.  Are you sure that's really how you feel?  Or maybe it's that you haven't taken as many risks as you would like to?"

Remna stared solidly at her.  "I trusted you to be the salvation to this world, Rainbow Dash," she said in a quiet tone.  "Even after what you did to me and my brood... I followed you.  I believed in you."  She swallowed.  "A Divine such as myself doesn't know a greater risk than that to take."

Rainbow bit her lip.

"You were doing 'villainous things' long before you ever stepped into Ledomare, Rainbow Dash... much less Rohbredden."  Remna breathed.  "Perhaps the one risk that you must take is to accept the ruthlessness deep inside of you.  It will get you farther than I ever could.  And maybe... just maybe... in imparting such wisdom to you, I will have finally done my part."

By now, Rainbow was facehoofing.  She groaned in a dull breath.  "Y'know, Axan... the more and more you sound like Verlax... the more I wonder if I've failed you..."  She sighed.  "And maybe even failed Mortuana."

Remna blinked.

"Mmmfff... whatever."  Rainbow turned tail in a huff.  "Things are gonna start heating up soon.  So... j-just be ready, y'know?  That's all I ask, Axan.  Be ready."  And she trotted briskly away.

Remna said nothing.  With a calm breath, she turned to gaze once again at the vials.  Her violet ears twitched to their gentle percussion.  Meanwhile, darkness lingered ever so thickly beyond.
> The Last Shadow of Honor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The waters at the end of the world rolled and crashed against one another with dispassionate dreariness, all the while reflecting the charcoal gray malaise overhead all its thunderous gloom.

They made an easy home in Seraphimus' eyes.

The griffon stared and stared, watching as the waves shifted and undulated for miles on end.  A hint of moisture collected in the corner of her sockets... but she calmly blinked it away—just in time to reflect a few armored bodies gliding towards her.

Several breathless members of the Central Guard returned from their reconaissance, perching on the furthest bow of the first of the three steamships in Chandler's armada.  They saluted Seraphimus and exchanged some breathy, unenthusiastic words.  After digesting the information—or lack thereof—Seraphimus quietly dismissed them, then turned tail.

Spreading her wings, the former Commander of the Talon swiftly flew towards the centermost ship.  She passed Chandler's empty chariot that was parked near the starboard side and made her way down into the lower cabin.  Steam and red mist bathed her figure as she ducked through a compartment or two, finally approaching the single air-conditioned chamber of the boat.  She wrapped her claws against the doorframe.

Chandler jolted.  Visibly.  A sweaty mane of matted helmet-hair clung to his neck as he looked up from a chaotically strewn assortment of maps that the Minister had been obsessively pouring over for hours.

"Any luck?" he stammered, leaning off of a weathered cot.

Seraphimus took a breath.  "The fourth detachment returned."  She slowly shook her head.  "There's no sign of the Rainbow Rogue or her midnighter allies."

Chandler sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead.  "Could... they have passed under us?"

"In their submersibles, you mean?"

"Precisely."

Seraphimus shook her head.  "I imagine our observers along the outer decks would have detected their magic.  Besides... at this current juncture..."  Her feathery brow furrowed.  "...I would not expect the Rainbow Rogue to go anywhere but east... and unto the edge."

"So you would rule out some... wild attempt to circumnagivate us underwater?"

"Precisely."

"We're getting so close to the brink..."  Chandler stared at his maps, grimacing.  "Where are they?"

"Do you want to know my theory, Defense Minister?"

Chandler flashed her a look.  "Always."  He nodded.

"They're staging an attack," Seraphimus said.  "It's inconceivable that the Rainbow Rogue and her allies would not know of our presence by now."  Her beak muscles tightened.  "If the Seventh Tribe is assisting her, then they'll be lending their knowledge of the surrounding waterscape."

Chandler dragged a sweaty hoof over the parchments stretched out on the cot beneath him.  "I've been studying the crudely-drawn maps left here in the smugglers' hold..."

"Do they provide any useful information?" Seraphimus asked.

"Yes... and no."  Chandler exhaled.  "There are... notations written here suggesting that a slew of physical hazards form up along the very edge of the world."

"Like what kind of hazards?"

"Shallow bluffs.  Crashed ships."  Chandler gulped.  "Considering all of the world's detritus that's carried along these currents... it would be no major surprise."

Seraphimus leaned back from the doorframe.  "That could very well be our enemy's edge."

"Commander?"

Seraphimus ignored the Minister's improper address.  "If there are multiple obstructions... then that means multiple opportunities for the Rainbow Rogue to stage an ambush."

"An ambush?"

"Indeed."

"But..."  Chandler trembled slightly.  "...to what end?"

Seraphimus' charcoal eyes narrowed.  "To finish what she started in Frostknife."

Chandler squirmed beside the bed.  With the shifting of his weight, the stallion's bulky breastplate dug into his chin.  He didn't fight it.  "What... would you suggest in this scenario, Seraphimus?"

"We perform a naval sweep."

"A... naval... sweep..."

Seraphimus gestured.  "We strip one of the ships of all crew—save for essential personnel.  We then position this ship several hundred meters before the rest."

"You suggest we have one vessel take point?"

"Affirmative."  Seraphimus spoke calmly:  "If there is any ambush—underwater or above—this front vessel could be used to draw them out.  It's all a matter of positioning."  She pointed.  "The moment we detect any sort of attack, we can send the fliers from the two rear ships to pounce right away.  So long as we position the vessels far enough from one another, we should remain in control of the situation."

Chandler nodded, his eyes searching the rusted rivets of the chamber walls.  "Considering our current resources, it sounds like the most logical plan."  Silence.  He whipped out a blank piece of parchment, scribbled an order on it, and hoofed it to the griffon.  "Hand this out above deck.  Start selecting crew members to take point.  We need keen eyes who can detect movement underwater."

Seraphimus bowed slightly.  "Permission to be stationed on the frontmost ship, sir."

Chandler leaned back.  "Granted.  Of course."

Seraphimus saluted.

Clutching the scroll tightly, she turned tail and trotted back up the way she came.

She was halfway through the engine room when she heard a calm voice issuing from behind:

"It doesn't matter what formation we use."

Seraphimus scuffled to a stop, sighing.

Keris emerged from the steam.  His eyes narrowed.  "Rainbow Dash will still find a way to outsmart us.  You know this."  He shook his head.  "Don't put more soldiers' lives needlessly in danger.  Rainbow certainly isn't wanting to."

Seraphimus grumbled, "If you're so certain about what the Rainbow Rogue wants and desires..."  She turned to glare at him.  "...then perhaps you should be performing reconaissance to drag her out."

"You know why I can't do that, Seraphimus," he said.  "What I told you back in Frostknife—"

"I think the Defense Minister has been more than gracious in allowing you and the Talon to join us on this hunt," Seraphimus said firmly.

"The Defense Minister should be back home, protecting our populace from the windigoes that have been unleashed," Keris spoke louder.  "Instead, he's out here trying to start a new race war with the midnighters and you're falling right into his hooves."

"If the Seventh Tribe harbors a Goddess-killer, then they have brought the reckoning upon themselves," Seraphimus sneered.

"Do you even hear yourself anymore?!"  Keris took a bold step towards her.  "You were once a member of the Talon!  You were a guardian of peace."

"I was a guardian of Verlaxion's peace," Seraphimus calmly retorted.  "But the monster from the Blight took all of that when she murdered our Queen."  She swallowed.  "And then some."

"It wasn't Rainbow Dash who took your family, Seraphimus," Keris said.  "It was Verlaxion."

She did not reply.  Her eyes fluttered shut as she weathered a deep breath.

Keris cocked his head to the side.  "And even after all you did... after all the things we sacrificed... you... me... Jordan..."  He waved a talon.  "...she gave us nothing more than an apocalypse to further her mad agenda.  And being out here—chasing demons... her demons—isn't going to undo the damage that's been done."

Seraphimus stood in silence.

"I know that you feel as though you've got nothing left," Keris said.  "So why surrender to that void?"  He closed the distance between the two of them.  "It was never the plight of your family that carried you so far, Seraphimus.  It was your honor."  He slowly shook his head.  "You've still got the memory of your husband and child.  Don't disgrace all of that here and now."

Seraphimus' eyes shot open.  Piercing.

Keris leaned back.

She was already growling into his face:  "I know enough about honor, Keris... which is precisely why I've chosen not to murder you for what you just said."  With an angry flick of her tail, she turned and marched for the stairs leading above deck.  "I must take point.  Do not speak to me ever again unless it's to assist me with our cause."

Keris boldly rasped, "And what about once we've returned home, Seraphimus?  What will we speak of after the vengeance?"

Seraphimus was gone.

And Keris hung his head.
> Waiting Is the Hardest Part
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow flew and flew and flew in circles.

She pivoted towards Fluttershy.

"Anything?"

The ghostly pegasus clutched her skull and licked her lips.  She shook her head.

Rainbow flew and flew and flew in more circles.

Once again, she pivoted about.

"What about now?"

Fluttershy could only wince.

"Rainbow, darling, please."  Rarity leaned in, patting Fluttershy's soft shoulder.  "You must stop pacing."

"And give Fluttershy a rest, will ya?" Applejack joined in.  "She's skull-projectin' the best that she can!"

"But... but we can't rest!"  Rainbow's voice cracked.  "Anytime now, those jerkwads from Rohbredden will be here and as soon as Fluttershy senses every soul on board I need to friggin' know about it so I can signal Enix and Bleak's Plummet and prepare for the ultimate dive to the Dark Side!"  She took a long... long breath after that outburst and limply turned to Fluttershy once again.  "Anything now?"

"I sense... I-I sense..."  Fluttershy winced to say.

Twilight's scowling face lifted in front of her, aimed straight at Rainbow Dash.  "She's.  Scanning.  Rainbow.  Dash."  Her lavender brow furrowed.  "She'll let you know the moment she's got a fix on our pursuers."

"Yeah!"  Pinkie Pie nodded, leaning in to give Fluttershy a side-hug.  "Plus, Rarity and I have got her covered on the evil-glossy-boat-sense!  Isn't that right, Rare-Rare?"

"Indeed."  Rarity tilted her nose up.  "Don't worry, darling.  The moment I sense those two ships, I'll relay the exact coordinates.  Why... it'll be like suturing buttons onto a table-cloth!"  She laughed daintily, fluffing her mane.  A throat-clear later, and she frowned once again.  "So calm your blasted feathers."

"Mrfffffnnngh..."  Rainbow slumped in mid-air, gazing limply down at the tossing waves beneath her.

"Seriously, Rainbow..."  Twilight floated closer, sporting an optimistic smile.  "Can't you just relax?"

Rainbow looked up, eyes glaring.  "Seriously?"

Twilight folded her forelimbs.  "Well excuse me for trying to break the tension."

"You'd need a jackhammer the size of the moon to break this thickness, girl!"  Rainbow Dash gestured wildly.  "What do you think we've been preparing for the last dozen hours?!  A picnic?!"

Pinkie casually gestured at the platforms behind them.  "Your buddies seem to be relaxing just fine, Dashie!"  The Herald gathered along a stretch of granite where the Stardust had been moored.  Enix and her fellow warriors hovered not too far away.  "Why don't you go and join them?"

"Because that's not going to make anything better, Pinkie."

"I don't get it, Rainbow."  Twilight drifted in front of her, tossing her forelimbs.  "You've butted heads with chaos dragons, outflown zombie pegasi, and chased down a changeling queen!  Why are you such a basketcase all of the sudden?"

"It's simple as apple pie, Twi," Applejack said with a tiny smirk.  "T'ain't the battle that kills Rainbow.  It's the waitin'."  She tilted her ghostly hat back.  "Ain't that right, RD?"

Rainbow moaned, slumping once again.  "I... hate... waiting."

"Well... uh..."  Twilight fidgeted in midair, searching for the words to say.  "Erm..."  She suddenly brightened.  "Think about the past, Rainbow Dash?"

"What?"  Rainbow glared at her.  "You mean like when you and all my other best friends were blown to smithereens by Discord?"

Twilight rolled her eyes.  "A little later in the past.  Think about Val Roa!  The odds were against you, weren't they?"

"Yeah!"  Pinkie hopped in place.  "They were super against her!"

"Queen Chrysalis had infiltrated her way deep into the three branches of government in that monarchy!"  Twilight exclaimed.  "She was just hours away from tearing the most important city in all of Alafreo to ribbons and feeding on the suffering!"  She beamed.  "But you and the Noble Jury weren't having it!  Not only did you guys beat back the Goblin Cartel and shatter Chrysalis' plans, but you suffered zero casualties from the whole debacle!"  She spread her forelimbs wide.  "Talk about a eucatastrophe!"

"Euca-what?" Applejack droned.

"You know... 'eucatastrophe!'"  Twilight exclaimed.  "The absolute inversion of 'catastrophe?'  It's when everything terrible has every reason to happen... but then everything ends up all right!"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."  Pinkie Pie nodded.  A beat.  "Yeah, I don't think that word exists, Twi."

"Eeyup."  Applejack nodded.  "I think you made it up."

Twilight face-hoofed.  Hard.  "It was in a book."  She sighed.  "A very... dusty book."

"Can you guys not?"  Rainbow Dash droned.

"Not what?"  Pinkie Pie blinked.

"Everything."

"Rainbow, dear... I think I understand what Twilight is trying to say."  Rarity floated closer, smiling delicately.  "You once encountered a situation where the odds were stacked terribly against you.  And yet—despite all of your trepidations, realistic or otherwise—the day ended up being saved!  And miraculously so!"

"The thing about miracles is that they're super rare," Rainbow grumbled.  "I know better than to count my chickens before they've hatched."

"Chicks."

Rainbow did a double-take.  "Huh?"

It was Fluttershy.  She looked up with a soft smile.  "They're baby chicks when they hatch.  Not 'chickens.'"

Frowning, Rainbow pointed west.  "Frostknifers."

"'Kay."  Fluttershy obediently re-clutched her skull, "concentating."

"Sugarcube... let's face it..."  Applejack floated up towards their anchor.  "What's happenin' on the horizon is plum unavoidable."

Rainbow Dash winced.

Applejack continued.  "You can choose to face it like the brave soul you truly are... or as the impatient little scamp we all used to roll our eyes at back in Ponyville."  The mare's green eyes narrowed.  "I think we all know which of the two you left behind years ago."

Rainbow gulped.  "I'm not so worried about myself..."

"Dashieeeeeeee..."  Pinkie Pie smiled.  "We all know that you care about your friends!  So why not hang out with them?!"  She winked, sticking a tongue out.  "It'll make the dreadful 'waiting' less 'waity!'"

Rarity stifled a giggle.  "What you did there, Pinkie.  I most assuredly have seen it."

"Booples!"

"Ehhh..."  Rainbow scratched the back of her head, reticent to look in the direction of the gathered Herald.  "I dunno..."

"If you could turn back time and hang out with the Jury more before the battle of Val Roa, wouldn't you?"  Twilight smiled as she spoke.

"It's... different, Twi."

"How so?"

"Back in Val Roa... I m-may not have wanted to admit it... but..."  Rainbow shuddered.  "...deep in my heart, I knew that I was going to part ways with them.  With all of them.  But now?  Here?  With the Herald?"  She looked up with sad eyes.  "...I don't have the luxury of leaving these guys behind.  I'm going to have to take them—each and every one of them—over the edge.  It's like... diving into a gazillion Grand Chokes all draped across the far end of the plane and..."  She winced.  "How... just how can I expect all of them to survive that mess?"  She sighed.  "How can I expect myself to survive?"

Twilight bit her lip.  She exchanged worried looks with Rarity and Pinkie Pie.

"These dudes pledged to follow me through to the end," Rainbow muttered.  "I wish I could be thrilled about that... b-but I'm not."  She glanced west.  "In just an hour or two... we're gonna see how dedicated they are.  And... I-I for one don't want to see how f-far they can be tested."

Silence.

"You're more than just the Austraeoh to them, Rainbow."

Rainbow spun east.

Fluttershy was looking up at her through a lock of pink hair.  She clutched her head the whole time she spoke.  "You're a beacon.  You're a purpose."  She breathed calmly.  "And with so much darkness looming beyond the next plummet... why must you shroud yourself so?"

Rainbow blinked.

"Don't indulge in the darkness ahead of its time," Fluttershy said.  "There's only a scant amount of light left here... and it is a blessing.  Join them, Rainbow Dash.  Wait with your friends... and bask in it."

The silence following that statement would have been poetic—if it weren't for Pinkie Pie.  "Yeah!"  The mare flounced.  "What she said!"

Applejack and Rarity chuckled.  Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh buck it..."  Rainbow Dash bore a tired smile as she drifted east towards the Stardust.  "My wings were getting tired anyway."

"Woohoo!"  Pinkie Pie shared, making Fluttershy wince as she continued her lookout.  "Gooooooo 'what she said!''"

> One Last Hiatus Before Plunging
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Dude, I'm gonna pre—"

Bard slapped a guitar string off-key. He and Wildcard glared confusedly across the rain-slick marble platforms along the edge of the world.

Kepler and Ariel were also craning their necks with a mutual look of blank confusion. "What was that, Big Show?" the latter asked, her eyebrow arched.

"Mrmmff—" Logan slapped a hoof over his chest. "Sorry. Belched. Whew." The bulky stallion heaved a bag of spare moonrocks over his chest. "I said I'm gonna prepare the last of the runes for shoving off." He limped towards the edge of the platform to where the Stardust was loosely moored. Several sarosians were perched along the port side. Others hovered above the choppy waves, chattering beneath the thunder in muttered conversation. "I mean... there's nowhere else for this shit to go, right?"

Wildcard gestured.

Ariel rolled her eyes and smirked. "'Not unless we want to blow up the entire friggin' Light Side while we cowardly ride the elevator to the other edge’," she translated. Afterwards, she glanced at a particularly scarred sarosian positioned to her right. "Is that even possible?"

"Erm..." Enix blinked, stricken by a curious air of confusion. "I... would imagine that such would involve one hundred million times greater a supply than our current allotment of Goddess-enchanted runes."

"Ha-Hah!" Kepler laughed, and soon the air filled with mutual chuckles from the rest of the Herald.

Bard smirked... before calmly returning to the gentle strumming of his guitar strings. He sat like a lazy statue at the westernmost edge of the final platform, his back to a half-broken pillar. Without his hat, the raindrops formed damp streams that disappeared into his thick brown mane.

Enix's fuzzy forehead furrowed. "Forgive me. Is there a purpose to that hyperbolic postulation and this jovial reaction following it?"

"Grnngh!" Logan heaved, dropping the bag of runestones like an anvil. The Stardust rocked, forcing the sarosians to stumble and throw the obtrusive stallion several curious glances. Ignoring them, he dusted his fetlocks off and turned to trot back onto the granite platform. "It's called a 'joke', lady. Surely you and your bat-friends keep bat-jokes somewhere under your whalebone utility belts."

"Ah." Enix nodded. "Land-dweller humor." Her slitted eyes narrowed. "No wonder you chose a career of mercenary work. Your blade cuts sharper than your tongue, I suspect."

Logan hopped back onto semi-dry ground and shrugged. "They don't call me an 'earth pony' just 'cuz I like to toss fertilizer."

"Depends on where you have your butt aimed," Flynn muttered from where he fiddled with a complex array of boomsticks pointed towards the thunderous sky. "Maybe we should be using you to throw off the Frostknifers."

"Pffft! With the lousy flavorless crap hauled in from Bard's farm? I've digested thicker meat from a lettuce farm!" Logan waved a hoof. "Save the fireworks for the stuff the Midnighters cooked up for us." He turned to glance at Bard from afar. "No offense, buddy."

Bard plucked at his strings. "Thou who smell't it will be mighty glad you hadn't have dealt it."

Wildcard snickered.

Ariel groaned, pulling at her eartips as her rolling eyes scraped the sky. "Blessed spirit of Mortuana... never mind the edge of the world—ferry me safely through this sea of smelly dumbasses."

"Hey!" Logan gargled, kneeling down to give his axe a final sharpening. "I'm not smelly!"

"It is no small wonder that a such a disorganized group lasted so long," Enix remarked.

"What? You mean us?" Flynn tilted his head up from his work. He bore a tired grin. "The Job Squad?" Blowing out the side of his muzzle, the balding unicorn added: "Lady... we barely made it this far."

"Forgive me if I confess that I am not surprised," Enix replied.

"A battle in the northern mountains," Flynn rattled off, waving a runestone in the crook of his fetlock. "A trek through countless ice caverns. Windigoes after windigoes. A run-in with the Right Talon of Verlaxion."

"Don't forget a farm full of flankhole hick supremes!" Logan blurted. Again, he winced… and again he smiled nervously in Bard's direction. "Erm... no offense..."

"Hrmmmmm..." Bard exhaled heavily, plucking the next few notes with extra gusto.

"Of course..." Flynn coughed, squinting Enix's way. "...things got the hairiest when we nearly had our throats slit by you guys."

Enix was hardly fazed by that. "We were training new recruits during the raid on your vessel. Otherwise, we would have gutted your abdomens for fish bait seconds into the assault."

"Jee," Ariel droned. "How comforting."

The nightblooded warrior glanced at the group as a whole. "What—if I may ask—guaranteed your success despite so many innumerable circumstances of misfortune?"

"What else?" Kepler adjusted his spectacles. He bore a tusked grin as he said: "Rrainbow Dash... the one and only Austrraeoh..."

"There he goes." Logan stifled a yawn, attending to his axe. "Jumping straight for the messianic plot."

"Did we or did we not get asked a verry perrtinent question by ourr most esteemed ally of the lunarr perrsuasion?!" Kepler asked, affording a brief frown in Logan's direction. "It's quite trrue afterr all!" The wyvern looked at Enix once again. "It is morre than the fact that we have all pledged ourr lives to the prrotection and safe deliverry of the Rrainbow one to the Midnight Arrmory." He took a deep, proud breath. "She has prroven herr blessed forrtune in morre ways than any of the angelic tomes could everr have forretold! Why... herr wisdom and tenacity within Starrkiss alone is as fine a testament as any!"

"But if you must know," Ariel suddenly spoke up, her voice calm—if not melancholic. "The Job Squad wouldn't be worth our weight in spit..." She gulped hard. "...if it weren't for Mortuana setting us all straight."

Kepler instantly clammed up.

Wildcard and Logan both paused, gazing past the weapons that they had been busy cleaning.

Enix's slitted eyes darted between them. "This 'Mortuana'..." She cocked her velvety head aside. "I heard Ryckmun speak of her. If only briefly." She leaned back in the misty air, sharing the same proud posture as her warrior subordinates who were hovering a few thunderclaps away. "She was... an alicorn... much like the Mother of Nightmares and her solar sister, Celestia."

Flynn nodded, polishing off the last of several runestones in the array. "That's right."

"I suspect that she is no longer among the living."

Ariel hung her head.

"She has..." Kepler cleared his throat before finishing. "...rreturned to the Harrmonic Plains."

"Mmmm..." Enix nodded once again. "I've heard it told that she sacrificed her very essence to assure your team proceeded through the Starkiss Mountain unharmed."

"Damn straight."

Enix glanced aside.

It was Bard. He looked up from his guitar, not missing a single note of his quiet song. "I can't pretend to say I ever knew her like my partners here did." He gave a pointed glance at Wildcard before looking Enix's way once more. "But I was there the moment she gave her everythang so we wouldn't become Windigo food." He swept his way past another note, waited for a roll of thunder to act as percussion, and strummed into another melody. "You and yer midnighter brothers and sisters say you believe in the Mother of Nightmares? Well, Mortuana believed in Rainbow Dash. Up until the very end." He exhaled gently. "Call us a lousy bunch of confused land-dwellers all you like, but I reckon we all have one thing in common."

"Indeed we do." Enix nodded, speaking in a firm tone. "We respect the honor of sacrifice." Her ears folded back. "As far as I'm concerned, you are all true warriors." Somepony belched off to the side, and she cast a tired glance at Logan. "Despite some... curious eccentricities."

"Hey. Love it or leave it, guano-gal."

"Ahem." Ariel stepped a bit closer to Enix, wings flexing as she smiled. "Your approval is touching. It... means a lot to know that you think well of us." She bit her bottom lip. "And... th-that you're not just helping us out because Xarchellus or Princess Luna told you to."

"Together, we are helping the Blood of Luna," Enix said firmly. Her eyeslits hardened. "And assuring the safe exodus of Bleak's Plummet." Her chin tilted upwards. "I can think of no other band of warriors I would rather share battle with." With that said, she let loose a high-pitched shriek.

The other members of the Vigil echoed her cry with a sky-piercing pitch. Full of pride and resolve.

"Grfff..." Logan winced, trying not to drop the weight of his axe. "I appreciate the enthusiasm... but can we not have too much of that? Don't wanna shatter the damned Gondola before it gets here."

"Please, frriend!" Kepler scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous! As if any sonic rreverrberration could possibly damage harrmonic alicorrn technology!"

"I..." Logan rolled his eyes, groaning. "I was being snarky you goddess-forsaken sky monkey, I swear to the Angels..." Clearing his throat, he lifted straight up, casting a plastic grin in Flynn's direction. "How's it looking, nerd?"

"Care to be more specific?"

"The elevator, Flynn. Do I need to rub your bald spot up against it?"

"You're asking me?" Flynn turned to gesture at the two towering stalks of shiny gold metal. With a dull whirring sound, the chains attached to an unseeable weight continued its agonizingly slow retraction through the ancient Emeraldinian pulley-system. "Even if I wanted to sit here and count the links, I've no earthly clue just how thick the body of Urohringr is!"

Ariel shrugged. "So... ... ..."

Flynn shrugged back. "... ... ...so it could be halfway towards us or one fourth of the way."

"Therre's no way to tell forr cerrtain," Kepler added. "Once it gets within a kilometerr orr two—prresumably—the Austrraeoh may be able to tell us!" He smiled through his tusks. "By prroxy of herr ghostly elemental frriends, of courrse!"

Swoosh! Rainbow Dash landed squarely on her hooves in the middle of the group. "Plant!" she barked, then giggled to herself. "Ha! See what I did there?"

"Heehee!" Pinkie Pie floated through a few sarosians as she and the other ethereal mares caught up. "No, but I'm choosing to laugh anyway!"

"Rainbow Dash!" Ariel jubilantly exhaled.

Rainbow winked at her. "Hey Tootszilla." She turned to look at Kepler. "What's this about me and ghost elementals?"

Before Kepler could say something—

"We were discussing the incalculability of the Emeraldinian Gondola's arrival," Flynn said in a dry, dull tone.

"Cool." Rainbow Dash nodded. Her eyes wandered... wandered... wandered. "So... uh... any sign of it?"

"No," Logan blurted with a frown. "We figured that would be your department. Y'know... particularly the two helpful ones. Radiance and Fluttersuckle?"

"Consarn idiot..." Applejack huffed, hovering close to her ghostly friend. "It's 'Fluttershy.'"

"Honestly, I'm rather fond of 'Radiance,'" Rarity said, fluffing her mane.

"Hrmmmmfff..." Twilight Sparkle folded her hooves with a pout. "I am too 'helpful'!"

"Mmmmmm..." Rainbow's eyes kept wandering... wandering... wandering across the rain-slick platforms. "If my friends detected the Gondola by now, they would have told me..." Her breath cut off as she finally made out Remna's figure. The dragonesque mare was a distant violet shadow near the furthestmost edge of everything. Rainbow kept her vision trained as she calmly continued: "...besides—all things considered—I've asked them to keep their senses trained on the two boats coming in from the west."

Enix nodded. "A wise precaution, W'ynlppa yln H'luun."

"Awesome to have you on board, girl," Rainbow said. "And gesundheit all the same."

"Say..." Pinkie Pie blinked. "Where're the rest of the batty-bat-bats?"

Rainbow looked at her. "Don't you remember? They've shoved off and are awaiting our signal."

Kepler craned his neck. "What arre yourr ghostly companions asking of you?"

"Pinkie was asking about Bleak's Plummet."

"Well, we told them what you asked us to tell them," Flynn said. "'Keep close to the surface and await for the signal before taking a dive.'"

"Hrmmmff..." Logan grunted. "Assuming that big Bleakweed turd can swim beneath the Central Guard without so much as making a single damn ripple." He tilted his head up. "I still think we should have thrown all we got at those punks from Frostknife."

"And what?!" Ariel scoffed. "Risk all of Luna's Flock?! Xarchellus is counting on us!" She pointed at Bard. "Johnny's sister and Echo and—"

"Hey hey hey!" Rainbow Dash marched down the thick of the group, gazing at every pony in turn. "Relax! Okay?"

"How can we relax at a time like this?" Logan grumbled.

"Because I told you to, ya friggin' melon fudge!" Rainbow Dash growled. Soon, however, her grin returned. "And because I've been through worse things before! And I'm here to tell you that—no matter how grim things look—today is bound to turn into a real Yukecastrotti for all of us in the end! Just you wait and see!"

Wildcard did a double-take.

Flynn and Kepler looked dumbly at Rainbow Dash, muzzles agape.

"Huh... ... ...?" Logan wheezed.

"Uhhhhhh..." Rainbow looked at Twilight. "Eucharist?"

Twilight Sparkle face-hoofed. Hard.

"Yewgo... Weaving...?" Rainbow's voice cracked.

"Give it up, sugarcube," Applejack droned. "You almost had it."

Rainbow's blue muzzle turned an indigo shade. Nervously, she looked in Bard's direction.

Bard instantly saw her... and it. Clearing his throat, he pivoted the guitar in his grip so that the neck of it poked Wildcard's feathery neck. "Yo. Dubya. Get out the harmonica."

The griffon merely glared at him. He moved a metal talon to gesture something—

"Will ya just do what I tell you when I tell ya?!" Bard hissed, swinging a rear hoof to buck his Desperado partner lightly in the feline rump. "Dag nabbit! Stop squawkin' my ear off and put yer bird-lips to good use! Dayum!"

Wildcard sighed. He bore the slightest of smiles as he reached deep into his bandolier, produced the mouth-organ in question, and proceeded to accompany Bard's improvisational melody with matching harmonics.

For a brief moment, the thunder along the edge of the world bowed to a lulling instrumental. Fluttershy and Rarity lost the tension in their ghostly shoulders. Even Enix and her fellow wingmates appeared a great deal more at ease.

From a distance, Rainbow Dash sensed Remna's figure shifting slightly. She chose to ignore it and preoccupied herself with pacing along the fringes of the group. "So..." A gentle smile crossed her fuzzy face. "What's everypony thinking about right now?"

"Tits," Logan said.

"Okay." Rainbow clenched her teeth. "Anypony else...?"

Silence.

More silence.

A bit of awkward squirming, then—

"A vacation," Flynn blurted.

Ariel turned to squint at him. "I beg your pardon?"

"I'd say we all could use one."  The stallion's mechanical eye rotated as he looked up from his work. "In theory, of course."

Ariel nodded dumbly. "Of course."

The bald unicorn pouted. "Don't look at me that way."

"How else am I to look at you?" Ariel stifled a giggle. "We're literally standing here at the end of the world and you're talking about vacations?!"

"Well... the Austraeoh asked what was on my mind and—there you have it!" Flynn shifted. "I mean... not now, of course... but when this is all over, y'know?"

Bard looked up from where he made music back-to-back with Wildcard.

"Define 'this,'" Ariel insisted.

Flynn opened his muzzle... but hesitated.  His one good eye blinked, taking in the drizzle of rain and distant flashes of lightning raking the firmaments beyond the world's end.  "Mrmmmm..."  he deflated slightly, hugging the runic equipment to his chest.  "Come to think of it, I doubt I'd be able to relax even if I wanted to."

"Face it," Logan muttered out the corner of a gnarled smirk.  "We're at our best when we're scampering all over the place."

"Heehee."  Ariel smiled.  "You said it."

"Wanna know why that is?"  Logan threw Flynn a glare.  "'Cuz we're the Job Squad, ya bald bastard."

"Still... it would be nice, don't you think?"  Flynn's gaze wandered to Rainbow Dash.  "Even you, Rainbow Dash.  Wouldn't you want a vacation from all of this endless flight?  The wackiness?  The craziness?"

Twilight and Applejack looked at Rainbow.

The mare fumbled for a response...

"Forgive my ignorance," Enix suddenly spoke up.  She exchanged confused looks with her subordinates, then looked at the Herald once again.  "What does this word mean?  This... 'vacation?'"

"Basically..."  Ariel waved a hoof.  "...it's when you get to take a break from... y'know... everything."

Enix stared blankly at her.

Ariel arched an eyebrow.  "Don't sarosians ever experience a holiday from hunting and killing?"

"You mean such as the freedom that the Mother of Nightmares has most recently granted the Vigil?" Enix asked.  "For our sacred journey west to the home of the Royal Sisters?"

"Er... no..."  Ariel stumbled.  "I mean..."

"Arriel, dearrest frriend..."  Kepler raised a talon from afar, smiling through his tusks.  "If I may be so brrash to interrject."  He gazed at the collective sarosians in their presence.  "In effect, you arre quite corrrect in yourr assumption, noble Enix!  Princess Luna has grranted you eterrnal liberration!  Forr no longerr arre you bound to the militarristic charrge of yourr dedicated albeit misguided forrebearrs!"  He leaned back with a contemplative breath.  "You have been given the opporrtunity to embrrace both the futurre and the past all at once!  One would suspect that a grreat deal of euphorria comes with such a change."

Enix merely nodded.  "And this counts as a 'vacation'?"

"Not exactly.  No," Flynn corrected.  "A vacation is like... the freedom to do nothing," he said.  "For a short yet controlled amount of time."

"To what end?" Enix asked.

"Personal respite, of course!" Ariel exclaimed, eyes shimmering.  "A chance to unwind!"

Enix stared at her.  "The Night Mother's Vigil does not 'unwind'."

Ariel groaned inwardly.  "No, I didn't think so."

"These 'vacations' of yours sound counter-productive," Enix droned.  "A blessing—perhaps—that you have not found yourselves encumbered by such."

"We haven't had much of a chance to," Flynn said.  "So... I guess that makes us kinda similar to you guys."

Enix bowed ever so slightly.  "I will take that as a compliment."

"Ha-hah!" Kepler produced.

"It's all for the best, anyways," Flynn muttered, returning to his equipment.  "You slow down once?  Boom.  Your momentum's shot to Hell.  We really can't afford that now."  His good eye darted across the platform.  "Right, Rainbow?"

The sky's thunder answered before Rainbow could.

Then Logan was speaking:  "I'd be bored out of my skull if it wasn't for the Herald being called in," he grunted.  "If you ask me—I'm pretty damn jazzed to be here."

"Here."  Ariel stared blankly at the obese stallion.  "At the proverbial toilet lid of the world?"

"Yeah... well..."  He stifled a yawn.  "I was wasting away at the Lotus Springs."

"Pffft!"  Ariel practically raspberried.  "The Lotus Springs?  In Cleft Prefecture?"

"Damn skippy."

"When were you at Cleft Prefecture?"

"Right up until last month!" Logan retorted.  "Before I got the message from Remna—well..."  He threw a glare across the rain-slicked Emeraldinian granite.  "The Remna wannabe."

"And just what werre you doing therre, frriend?"

"Bah!"  Flynn barked.  "What else was Big Show doing there?"  He smirked crookedly.  "Tell me—were the working mares in full bloom this season?"

Wildcard snickered, nearly ruining his harmonica back up.

"Hah hah!"  Logan stood straight up, leaning against the weight of his axe.  "Nuts to you, chrome-dome!  I had a bungaloo all to myself!"

"Oh yeah?"  Flynn arched an eyebrow.  "Finally got too fat for the bed?"

"For your information, I was taking a few suggestions from our favorite wyvern over there!"

Kepler's four eyes blinked.  He held a claw over his furry chest.  "Me?"

"Yeah, you."

Ariel made a high-pitched giggle.  "No wonder you didn't score."  She blushed, smiling at Kepler.  "No offense, Keppies."

"None taken."  Kepler adjusted his spectacles.  "An asexual lifestyle makes forr dull rrecrreation!  But—if you ask me—all the betterr!  How else can I maintain a suprreme mental collection of the worrld's finest literraturre?"

"Yeah!"  Pinkie Pie giggle-snorted, nudging the lavender spectre to her side.  "That's some gift you've got, Twi!"

"Why thank you, Pinkie—"  Twilight's ghostly eyes crossed.  "Wait."

Applejack and Rarity giggled.

Rainbow smiled—but had her attention stoled by the rest of the Herald as the conversation continued:

"So... you attempted to meditate?" Ariel asked Logan.  "All alone in your own personal bungaloo deep within Cleft Prefecture?"

"And lemme tell you," Logan wheezed.  "The experience was absolute shit."

"A thousand parrdons, old frriend," Kepler said.

"Tch.  Not your fault, buddy," Logan droned.  His dull eyes reflected a million waves reflecting a million sparkles of errant lightning over the next few drifting seconds.  "The problem with trying for once in your life to be deep is that you scrape the surface of something really damn shallow.  That's when introspection becomes a real bitch, y'know?  Like a dagger you're forced to sit on."  He sighed.  "And so... I practically rotated on it... feeling the sting of the days go by... melting off like the snow against the bubbling banks of those hot springs."  His ears twitched as his mind went to another time and place.  "All around me was the upper crust of Rohbredden elite.  I'm talking all the blubbery fat cats from Frostknife.  Trade Consortium executives trying to get away from their families and spouses.  A few lucky pirates who had escaped the Seven Seas with a lifetime of loot to burn.  Me?  I only landed in Cleft Prefecture 'cuz of the money the Herald had stowed away in the most secret of cubby-holes.  But... it didn't change the fact that I felt surrounded by so much garbage.  There I was trying to relax... find my inner self... all of that nonsense.  And all I could focus on was the sweat and the humidity and the horrible smell of the previous tenants plastered to the furniture of that place.  And I was thinking to myself... 'This is the best any pony in this lousy continent could ever hope to get in life.  This is the absolute top.  And here I am merely due to a bonus for the job that I do.'  Or... at least... the job that I've always pretended to do."

Ariel, Flynn, and Kepler watched in silence.  The Desperadoes calmly looked over from where they played their soft duet.

Logan's nostrils flared.  For the tiniest of moments, there was a glimmer of something shiny hidden deep within the contemplative contours of his face.  It faded before Rainbow could blink.  "An asshole like me doesn't deserve to die in comfort.  Not with the highs I've experienced... or the lows."  He swallowed something dense in his throat.  It took two and a half attempts, but he swiftly had something to say at the culmination of it:  "It just wouldn't be awesome."  He bore a cynical smirk as his eyes met his friends again.  "A Job Squadder is meant to go out anxious and screaming.  Heh... I only hope I get to lop off more heads than the hairs I pull out of my own skull."

Rainbow shuddered.  "And you just had to go down that kaizo road."

"A million pardons," Enix spoke, glancing humbly at Rainbow.  "Would it help to state that I'm almost beginning to understand your protectors?"

Kepler laughed.

"Well..."  Ariel smiled.  "There's some progress at least."

Logan looked at Flynn.  "Admit it, baldy!"  His voice took on a booming tone.  "Going over the edge of the world in an Emeraldinian barrel?!  Whew!  Doesn't get any sexier than that!"

Flynn sighed long and hard.  His ears twitched to the sound of the Desperados' music as he hummed:  "I must admit that there's a sort of... poetic nuance to it."

"Please, dude," Rainbow muttered.  "Don't add an extra chocolate layer of fatalism to Big Show's crud cake."

"Pffft.  Hardly!"  Flynn's smirk was a caustic thing.  "If it helps at all, I'm trying to be scientifically optimistic about the whole venture."

"Yes!  It helps!" Twilight squeaked, floating through the stallion's corporeal body.  "It helps a lot!"

Fluttershy giggled.

Flynn continued, unaware of the words spoken by Rainbow's friends.  "I mean... think about it."  His one good eye sparkled with awe and wonder.  "We're going to be the first mortals to have crossed over to the Dark Side in seven hundred years!  If not more!"  He fidgeted slightly.  "Well—not counting the changelings."  He glanced at Remna.  "Or Axan."

"Actually..."  Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck as she looked across the platform.  "...I don't think she's gone the same path that Endrax and Verlax have."

"Killer!"  Flynn chirped like a happy colt.  "Even better!"  He gestured with his hoof.  "Imagine all the new creatures that stand to be recorded into an ever-evolving taxonomy!  Imagine the landscapes!  The geological events!  Why... even the heavens alone will yield brand new constellations... the likes of which mortal kind have never witnessed before!"

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..."  Twilight Sparkle clutched her drooling muzzle.  Rarity had to brace her before her ghostly figured phased through the structure below.  Applejack and Pinkie shared amused expressions.

"We will most cerrtainly be take notes, my learrned brrotherr!" Kepler said.

"We can spend forever taking notes!" Flynn's voice cracked.  "At least..."  His next sigh was a slightly melancholic one, and he aimed his smile vaguely in Rainbow's direction.  "...I would like to think so."

Rainbow Dash said nothing.

Flynn gulped, then spoke in a softer voice:  "I've lived in Rohbredden all my life.  Surrounded by so much tradition... surrounded by so much zealotry... surrounded by so much..."  His teeth clenched.  "...ignorance."  A slight shudder, and he added:  "I can't count how many times I've wanted to take the knowledge stored by Mortuana in Wyvern Point and make vast improvements to the Six Tribes' technological repertoire.  I'm talking mana batteries that could hold one hundred times more capacity than what Frostknife thinks is possible.  Focused leyline beams.  Manually controlled levitation devices!  I mean... the sky's the limit!  Rainbow Dash, you've been everywhere.  Surely you know of the possibilities in store for equnie civilization!  You've been to places that make Shoggoth look like a sea slug's playground!"

"You're right, Flynn."  Rainbow nodded.  "I have."  She bit her bottom lip.  "And take it from me.  Technological superiority... d-doesn't always equate to moral superiority."

Bard looked at her while strumming his guitar.

Flynn took a moment to contemplate that.  After a breath, he nodded and said, "I understand.  Even still... there's so much that civilization stands to improve.  And after years of living on this cold friggin' continent... I'm totally ready for an upgrade."

"Or where we're going," Logan burped, "A downgrade."

"Whatever.  I get to expand my horizons.  That's all that matters."  Flynn smirked.  "Funny that it takes leaping over the last horizon to make it happen.  Heh."

"A blessing, then," Kepler mused.  "That we get to brring ourr open minds with us."

"Better than our open pants," Bard mused from afar.

"Hah!"  Logan grinned.  "Good one!"

Bard smiled.  With equal calmness, he threw a glance at Ariel.  "Ariel, darlin'?  You've been mighty quiet for a while.  Got somethin' on yer mind to share?  The fellas have been squawkier than Dubya so far.  Reckon you should have a chance to get a word in."

Rainbow and her friends stared at the group's fairest flier.

Ariel sighed, brushing her dark bangs back.  "Sorry, Bard.  I... haven't got anything special to say.  I mean... I-I know that this is as epic a place as any for a snazzy speech... but... but..."

"Then save it."  A dull voice.  It was Remna.  Half of the Job Squad flinched as she shuffled up, staring emotionlessly at the group—but mostly at Ariel.  "A mortal has no place attempting to summarize the enormity of this current situation with her limited faculties."

Rainbow struggled with all her might to keep from face-hoofing.  She failed.

Ariel stared daggers at Remna.  Her voice—however—was remarkably calm when she spoke up:  "Actually, I do have one thing to say."  She stood tall on nimble limbs, glancing at Enix and Bard and the rest.  "Whatever happens—good or bad—I just wanna say it's been a super big honor serving with the likes of you.  We've been through a lot of crazy straits together."

Flynn blurted:  "Remember when we ran into that random group of poachers in Lichen Prefecture?"

"Srnkk!"  Logan choked on nothing in particular.  "You mean those paranoid mountain hicks who thought we were the Right Talon of Verlaxion snooping out their hideout and then fired an entire volley of crossbolts at our asses?"

"You're welcome, by the way!" Flynn spat.  "It was my quick-thinking telekinesis that kept us all from becoming living pincushions!"

Wildcard put down the harmonica long enough to gesture something.

Bard laughed, not missing a string of his guitar.  "Dayum!  I wish I was there for that!"

"Erm... Wildcard exagerrates," Flynn muttered, blushing.  "The migraine lasted three days... not a week."

There was a metal middle-claw... and then the harmonica harmony returned.

"Goddess..."  Ariel swiped her brow.  "I didn't know I could fly so fast until that day.  Dodging so many arrows at once..."

"I can imagine, girl," Rainbow said.  "Heh... bet you're proud of yourself."

"Huh?"

"Well, you're alive today, aren't you?" Rainbow winked.  "Face it.  You're one resourceful bag of awesome."

"Whoah!"  Pinkie Pie chirped.  "She's pulling out the big guns!"

"Pinkie, darling..."  Rarity cooed.

"Eee-hee-hee..."  Ariel hugged herself, her cheeks more than a little bit rosy.  "I... was j-just lucky, is all..."

"It was more than that," Remna suddenly said.  Her tone was still stale, but nonetheless purposeful.  Green-slitted eyes remained locked on the pegasus in question.  "When communing with Mortuana, I was told much about your mother.  Granted, it is not as much as the real Remna knows—and I cannot speak for her dying assessment—but I know enough to say without a shred of doubt that you would have made the former Heraldite quite proud."

Rainbow Dash blinked.

The rest of the Job Squad stared at Ariel.

Ariel—in the meantime—was gazing at Remna with her muzzle agape.  "Uhm... wow.  That was actually... genuinely... crazily the nicest thing you've ever said about me."

Remna nodded.  "Of course."  A hot breath.  "If you proceed to die vainly in the coming wave of Central Guardians, that assessment might change.  But, for the time-being, that is what I have to give you."

Rainbow gnashed her teeth so hard they almost produced sparks.

Bard chuckled and kept plucking.

"Hmmmmmmmmm..."  Ariel channeled her entire being into a subdued groan.  She chose to smile at the tail-end of it.  "Buck it.  I'll take what I can get."

Remna blinked.  She looked at the others.  "Did I not give liberally?"

Logan sharpened his axe.

"I'll share Flynn's and Big Show's sentiment, though," Ariel muttered, smiling off into the clouds and lightning.  "Life was boring as mud until Rainbow Dash showed up."

"Too many years chasing pirates and terrorists?" Rainbow Dash muttered.

"More like too many years chasing my doubts and regrets."

"You're too young for regrets, girl."

"The same could be said of you."  Ariel brushed some bangs away, steeling a vulnerable glance at Rainbow.  "All in all... I should be thanking you for giving me the greatest distraction a pony could ever ask for.  For giving us all this opportunity."

Rainbow gulped.  "One thing at a time.  I'm personally betting on a vacation for all of us when this is said and done."  She offered a fuzzy smile.  "Heck... we could camp out on the balconies of the Midnight Armory and count the stars.  Bathe in the warmth of the Harmonic Prism."

"Oooooh..."  Rarity purred into the crook of her ghostly forelimbs.  "Now that does sound lovely."

"Find some time to talk about all the adventures we've had so far on the Dark Side of this world," Rainbow said.  "Write it down all nice and good... then carry it with us back to Equestria.  I'm lousy at books... but somepony somewhere has gotta make a pretty killer novel out of all we'll do!  Won't that be snazzy?"

Ariel stared back at her.  There was a soft sigh, as well as a slight mistiness to her eyes.  "A young life without regrets.  It's like I said, Rainbow.  I'll take what I can get."

Rainbow bit her bottom lip.

Guitar strings.  Harmonica.  Thunder.

Kepler broke the poetic silence.  "A novelization of ourr experriences sounds absolutely superrb!  I wouldn't mind attempting such thrroughout the jourrney!  Goddess knows it's what Morrtuana would apprrove of!"

"If we're not too busy cataloging the land and stars," Flynn muttered.

"Ah!  An impasse!  Well..."  Kepler gestured with a claw.  "I prropose this!  Two jourrnals!  One of us wrrites down the technical details of the adventurre—for science!  The otherr will put his claw to intrrospective commentarry!"

"Ah jeez."  Flynn muttered.  "You're going to make us go to war over who gets the science journal, ya furball!"

"Ha-Hah!  A most sporrting conflict, one-eyed one!  I do believe the corrrect terrm is 'brring it thusly?'"

"Oh, now you're just asking for it!"

"Indubitably!"

"Eugh..."  Logan rolled his eyes.  "Friggin' basket of virgins, I swear..."

"Actually..."  Pinkie tapped her chin in thought.  "...isn't cuddliest pony back in Ponyville already attempting a novelization—?"

"Guys..."  Rainbow blurted, trying to contain her chuckles.  "Let's not fight over all that nonsense."

"But—" Flynn squeaked.

"But nothing!  Let's just keep our heads intact.  We can do the boring writey-write stuff later.  Right now?  Let's focus on the job at hoof, and then we'll make it just fine."  Her gaze fell on Remna.  "And we are going to make it just fine... ya hear?"

Remna said nothing.  Her draconian eyes reflected Rainbow's face with an emerald gleen.

"You want my vote?"  Ariel smiled.  She pointed behind her.  "Let Bard write our adventures down."

"Heh... yeah..."  Logan chuckled.

"A capital idea!" Kepler exclaimed.  "He could make an epic song about ourr accomplishments!"

"Think about it, tar heel."  Ariel winked at the stallion in question.  "It'll give you something to sing to Nicole when you're both back together again."

Bard smiled.  He merely nodded... then continued plucking away, his eyes locked on the lightning beyond the firmaments.

Wildcard's goggles reflected him, and then Rainbow Dash's face as he placed his harmonica down.  He sliced the air with his flesh and metal talons.

"What's he saying?" Rainbow asked.

"'The best song's yet to be sung,'" Remna said.

Rainbow gave her a double-take.

The draconian mare calmly looked back.  "Don't act so surprised.  An immortal learns to pay attention to things."

Rainbow scratched her head.  She looked at Flynn—and Flynn nodded in affirmation.

"Well..."  Pinkie Pie whistled.  "...who says there're no surprises at the end of the world?"

"Wish I could say," Rainbow muttered.  "It's only my second end."

"Huh?" Ariel looked at her.  "What do you mean?"

"Oh... erm..."  Rainbow shrugged.  "Just thinking about the Grand Choke.  All things considered—that was the end of the world as well.  The end as far as the Val Roans were concerned."

"A curious assessment," Enix spoke up.  "So you've been in this position before?"

Rainbow froze in place.  She felt the eyes of the Herald on her.  "Uhmmm... what I meant was..."

"Your courage is quite remarkable, Blood of Luna," Enix said.  "No wonder you're so composed at the moment."

"I am?" Rainbow squeaked.  She sensed Applejack's eyes flickering in her peripheral.  Clearing her throat, she stood up straight and nodded fervently.  "I am."

A few of the sarosians murmured to one another.  Listening, Enix nodded, then spoke towards Rainbow again:  "The Blight proves to be a major challenge to Xarchellus and the rest of the Matriarch's flock.  And yet—from what the Mother of Nightmares has told us—it stands to be far less of a challenge than when you crossed such a phenomenal expanse."

"It's... no longer a drain on magic and harmonic energies, if that's what you mean," Rainbow said with a nod.  "Should be a whole lot more feasible for the dudes and dudettes of Bleak's Plummet to cross... relatively speaking."

"I know this is hardly the time to be regailed about your countless victories," Enix said, her fangs flickering beneath the barest hint of a smile.  "But ever since the lunar revelation—I have been immensely curious."  Her head tilted to the side.  "Exactly how did you best such suffocating desolation?"

Again, all eyes fell on her.

Twilight looked pointedly at Rainbow Dash.

The mare in question weathered a shuddering sigh.  Slicking her bangs back, she tried wearing a devilish smirk for the first time in days.  "Not easily..."

"Well..."  Ariel bore a sweet smile.  "At least you had your friends by your side.  In spirit."

Rainbow shook her head.  "Not so."

"Huh?"

Rainbow glanced at the lavender unicorn spectre beside her.  "I didn't meet Twilight until the first of the Six Seeds... just west of Kihutaja.  For the entirety of my journey across the Grand Choke—I was alone."

"But..."  Ariel blinked.  "But I thought—"

"Yaerrfaerrda—the 'foaling of yesterday' took place overr the courrse of severral visits to the machine worrld, and all of them starrting upon the frringes of the Seven Seas," Kepler explained.  "Don't feel bad, featherred frriend.   Even I—afterr so many deep converrsations with ourr beloved Morrtuana—could not ascerrtain the big picturre with absolute clarrity myself!"

"I... I-I'm sorry."  Ariel bit her lip, gazing apologetically in Rainbow's direction.  "For some reason I thought that you had all of your friends except for Applejack the whole time."

Rainbow smiled sweetly.  "And I did—right when I met you.  But that wasn't always the case.  Heck..."  She waved at Bard and Wildcard.  "When I first ran into the Desperados, I had only 'freed' Twilight and Rarity from the glow of Yaerfaerda."

"And yet, for the majority of your trek, you were bereft of your Harmonic companions?" Enix asked.

Rainbow could only nod.

Enix's mutilated nostrils flared.  "I cannot think of a more perilous journey than one taken into the bleak heart of loneliness."

"You didn't have them ghost girls by your side in the Grand Choke, then?" Logan asked.

Rainbow shook her head.  "Nope."  A surprisingly calm breath.  "It was me by myself.  Literally."

"And yet you had companions to fulfill Eljunbyrro beforre us," Kepler stated.

"I had... to part ways with them," Rainbow Dash murmured.  "It was for the best.  I knew that they wouldn't be able to survive the journey."

"Did you know that you would survive the journey?" Ariel asked.

"No.  But that wasn't the point.  I had to finish my quest.  I had to get to the Midnight Armory.  I knew of Verlax... kinda... but she wasn't my focus at the time.  There simply was no telling what the Grand Choke had in store for me."

"A challenge, no doubt," Enix said.

"I... didn't really expect to live," Rainbow said quietly.  It was difficult to outspeak the thunder at this point.  The waves splashed against the edge of the platform.  "In fact, there in Val Roa—upon the desert fringes of nothingness—I was pretty much staring into the end of the world.  Sure, I knew that Chrysalis and her swarm made it past the Grand Choke... along with a few ancient equines from long before my time.  But... for a single pegasus to cross such magical Blight?"  She swallowed, glancing at Enix.  "Sure.  It was a challenge.  And challenges are awesome.  But I didn't totally know what to expect.  And even if I did—it turns out that I was my own worst enemy during the trek.  My decaying spirit.  My lonely heart.  My mind."  She winced.  "It's... all a big friggin' blur... but I very clearly went mad before the stupidly long journey was over.  I remember... I vaguely remember talking to ponies who weren't there.  Losing my marbles.  Sobbing into the starlight and nearly drowning myself in the sea beyond the desert expanse... haunted on all sides by all the cruddy things I had done and all the awesome ponies I had left behind."

"Ohhhhh..."  Rarity sniffled as she and Fluttershy hovered agonizingly within a hug's reach.  "Rainbow..."

"You poor thing..."

Rainbow shrugged through it.  "But I made it through the whole mess... which is what matters.  The Herald got their Austraeoh to protect and Mortuana fulfilled her destiny or whatnot.  So that's cool.  Verlaxion and all the stuff she did?  Not so cool.  But—trials or no trials—I made it here in one piece.  For better or for worse, I'm ready to make the leap again.  Only this time..."  A smirk formed along the fuzzy edges of her muzzle.  "...I'm not quite so friggin' alone.  I've got you guys."  She winked at the ghostly figures by her side.  "And you gals."

Applejack and Pinkie winked back.

"Well..."  Ariel smiled sweetly.  "I think that's wonderful, Rainbow.  And you know what else I think?"

"What?"

Ariel hovered closer, wings flapping in the misty air.  "I think you just explained to all of us why we shouldn't feel so freaked out about our trip to the Dark Side."

"Girl, I wasn't trying to make a statement about—"

"No no... hear me out."  Ariel waved a hoof.  "Where were you before crossing the Grand Choke?"

Rainbow blinked.  "Uhm..."

"Ignorant, alone, and friendless.  Right?"  Ariel shivered.  "Brrrrrr... if you ask me, you were ten times worse off than you are right now.  And yet..."  She arched an eyebrow.  "Coming out of the Blight... you ended up finding so much that belonged to you... that strengthened you... right?"

Rainbow looked at her.

Ariel grinned.  "So, like... how much more awesome can things get now that you've got so many ponies on your side this time?  Visible or invisible?"

"Hmmmmmmm..."  Applejack floated closer to Rainbow Dash.  "Reckon she's got a point there, sugarcube."

"It's not exactly a logical argument," Twilight muttered.

"Ehhh..."  Applejack tilted her ghostly hat back.  "Dun be a droopy saddle."

"Still..."  Twilight smiled, her cheeks rosy.  "It is a lovely thought."  She looked at her anchor.  "Don't you think so, Rainbow?"

Rainbow was slowly nodding.  "That's a snazzy way of putting it.  Thanks, Ariel.  I guess it's nifty to know that—even back at the Grand Choke..."  She glanced specifically at Remna.  "...I'd been in worse conditions before."

"And surpassed all obstacles," the draconian mare added.  "Better than before."

"Doesn't mean I had to like the crud that I went through."  Rainbow stuck her tongue out.

"Mrmmmmmm..."  Remna shuffled a few steps away.  "You're welcome."

Rainbow prepared to say something else—

—when Fluttershy suddenly squeaked, rubbing her soft head.

"Flutters?"  Pinkie craned her fluffy neck.  "What is it?"

"West of us... beyond where Bleak's Plummet is submerged."  Fluttershy inhaled sharply.  She lifted her head, turquoise eyes pulsing.  "They are arriving."

"The Central Guard?" Twilight asked breathily.

Fluttershy merely nodded.

Rainbow spun about.  "Rarity?"

"She's correct, darling," Rarity murmured.  "I detect... bodies from the west.  Metal constructs.  Vessels.  They've got to be."

"Ships...!" Applejack exclaimed.

"Yes."  Fluttershy nodded, her voice growing firmer and firmer.  "Yes.  This is it, everypony."

A pair of green eye-slits narrowed on Rainbow Dash.  "Austraeoh...?" Axan's voice echoed.

Rainbow waited for the latest crack of thunder to ripple through the sky.  "Break time's over, dudes."  She flexed her wings as a flicker of lightning glinted off her ruby pendant.  "We've got company."

The guitar strings ended as Bard and Wildcard instantly hopped up on all fours.  "About dayum time."

Schiiing!  Logan shouldered his axe.  "Where are the bastards coming from?"

Fluttershy was already pointing.  "Due west.  Slightly... slightly south of where Bleak's Plummet is located."

"They'll be cruising in range of the bluffs within minutes," Rarity said. "About ten."

"They're almost here," Rainbow Dash explained.  "Slightly south of Bleak's Plummet, speeding east.  The girls say they'll be approaching the bluffs in just a few minutes."

"Right."  Logan spat on the granite platform.  "Let's bust some heads!"

"W'yldymym yln H'luun!" Enix shouted, followed by a high-pitched shriek.  All of the sarosians surrounding her took flight, hovering high above the windblown platforms.  "Ly'wyllym syln w'ynlppa hy'nymym!"

"Hold up!" Rainbow's voice barked as she hovered slightly below them.  She twirled about, centering herself in everyone's gaze.  "Let's not get ahead of ourselves here.  We've drafted a plan, remember?"

"Absolutely, Austrraeoh!" Kepler nodded briskly.

"Then let's stick to it!"  Rainbow looked at Rarity and Twilight.  "Do you sense the Gondola coming up yet?"

The two ghostly unicorns exchanged glances.  Eventually, they shook their heads.

"Sorry, darling."

"It's arriving—but still at a distance," Twilight explained.  "It's just as we thought; we'll need to stall for time."

"Right."  Rainbow looked at Enix.  "Looks like we won't be making the plunge until a few minutes yet."

Enix exhaled.  "Bleak's Plummet..."

"We'll have to make sure they get past the advancing Rohbreddenites safely."  Rainbow's brow furrowed.  "Now's as good a time as ever for the signal."

Enix nodded back.  She shrieked to her fellow wingmates.  Two sarosians saluted, then glided swiftly to Flynn's side.  The Nightblood leader gazed down at him.  "I trust you have made your final improvements?"

"Definitely!" Flynn exclaimed, furiously rummaging through a last pile of equipment.  He assisted the two sarosians in carrying a cylindrical tube of interwoven bleakweed towards the westernmost edge of the platform.  A faint runic glow illuminated his muzzle as he said, "I layered this with some aquatic spells from the old sarosian scrolls you shared.  Hopefully—they should keep the light pulse from piercing the stormy surfaces."

"Huh?"  Applejack blinked crookedly, watching as the three ponies carried the object towards the platform's edge.  "I dun get it.  I thought we were shootin' flares to send messages."

"We are," Twilight clarified.  "Once we've engaged the Central Guard.  But this?  This is for Bleak's Plummet."

"It's bein' sent underwater?"

"Yes."  Twilight nodded.  "It would seem that Flynn's built a torpedo."  She smirked aside.  "If all goes well, only Xarchellus' flock underwater should see our signal.  That'll get them to cruise west—"

"—and avoid them creeps comin' in from Frostknife!"  Applejack folded her forelimbs.  "Whew-wee!  Rainbow's partners here really have thought of everythang!"

"I don't choose these guys just because of their good looks," Rainbow said.  "I mean, aside from Wildcard, of course."

The griffon in question saluted as he passed by—assisting Flynn and the two sarosians in heaving the tube into the waters.

"That'll do it!" Flynn exclaimed.  "Thanks, Wildcard."  He turned to look up at Enix.  "Do you want to do the honors?"

Enix's slitted eyes narrowed.  "You made the propulsion command the main conduit?"

"Yes."  Flynn nodded.  "Once triggered, it's timed to set off the rest of the runes in sequence."  He gestured.  "Including three strobes of colored green pulse."

"Will Nicole and Echo be able to see it?" Bard asked.

"I wouldn't be doing my job if they couldn't."

Bard took a shuddering breath.  "Good enough, I reckon."  He looked at Rainbow.  "Well, what are we waitin' for?"

"We're all ready Rainbow," Ariel said firmly, standing beside Kepler and Logan.  "Let's do this."

Remna's voice rumbled:  "It is your command to give, Austraeoh."

Thunder rolled.  The waves rolled and splashed as they had done so much before, only now—in the tense lapse of breathing and talking—the tempestuous scene took on an undeniably ominous tone.  The wings of multiple sarosians flapped in the air, adding to the percussion's thunder.  Nebulous lights flickered from beyond the firmaments, and at last...

...Rainbow Dash nodded.  "Okay."  She gestured at the torpedo.  "Do it."

Flynn whistled.  He, Wildcard, and the two sarosians dropped the torpedo into the waves—pointed west. They leaned aside as Enix leaned in.

"M'wynhrm!" the Nightblood warrior exclaimed.

The rearmost portion of the cylinder set aflame—causing the waters to boil.  Within a heartbeat, the cylinder was rocketing west, diving deeper as it formed a frothy swath in the depths of the world's end.  For the last few glimpses when the Herald could make it out, they saw the other runes illuminating one after another—then all was bubbles.

"Out of sight," Ariel said.  She gulped.  "As well as it should be."

"I only hope those underwater bat ponies see it," Logan muttered.

"They will," Kepler affirmed.  He pivoted about, spectacles set straight.  "Rrainbow One?"

"Okay, folks!"  Rainbow hovered higher.  "Let's get into our groups!  This is what we've been waiting for!"

As Rainbow broke into a bombastic speech...

...Pinkie Pie was rubbing her nose, furrowing her brow in a concerned manner.  "Hmmmmm..."

Applejack glanced aside.  "What is it, Pinkie Pie?"

"I..."  Pinkie's blue eyes blinked blankly.  "I don't know..."  Her muzzle scrunched.  "My nose.  It feels... sneezy..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not sure.  I've never felt it before."  Pinkie's nose wriggled and wriggled.  She looked at the waters... at the invisible path that the torpedo was taking as Rainbow spoke to the others.  The thunder and noise drowned out as Pinkie murmured.  "I've... just got a bad feeling."

"About what?"

"I dunno.  Just..."  Pinkie grimaced.  "...bad."

Applejack raised a ghostly eyebrow.  She looked west... then squarely at her companions.

Fluttershy had a distant expression on her face.  Beside her, Rarity was rubbing her head as her horn pulsed in curious pale strobes.

Applejack bit her lip.  She looked west again... then once more at her friends.  Suddenly, something washed over her... and the mare's pale visage flickered in time with the lightning.  "Oh no..."

> Run Silent and Run Dash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Yup."  A pair of squinting eyeslits pierced the translucent runic field protecting the observation level of Bleak's Plummet from the tons and tons of seawater beyond.  "Yuppppppp... there she blows."

"Where?"  Nicole craned her neck to look past Echo's shoulders.  The two of them stood at their underwater post on the uppermost strut of the submerged sarosian dwelling.  Due east, dense waves of water shifted and churned in constant flux.  "I don't—"  Bard's hat slumped over her brow.  "Grnngh."  She shoved it back up, eyeslits peering.  "—see anything!"

"It's coming," Echo's voice purred past his fangs.  "Wait for it."

"Wait for what—?"  Nicole's exclamation was sliced by a sudden pulse of bright green light.  "Eeek!"

Echo winced, rubbing his leafy ears.  "Damn, girl.  I knew you were raised on a farm full of dull farts—but not into my skull, please!"

"Erm... s-sorry..."  Nicole's shy smile didn't last long, for soon she was digesting the resulting pulse of green runic light beyond the window with genuine excitement.  "But... that's it!  Isn't it?  The Herald's signal?!"

"Uh huh."  Echo nodded, staring into the green aura as it began to fade.  A dull torpedo shot past them, having relayed its magical message.  It descended ineffectually into the swirling currents below Bleak's Plummet.  "That means the Central Guard's almost on top of us."

"Cutting it awfully close, huh?"

"No other way to cut it.  We can't stay deep for too long."  Echo turned around, facing an anxious line of sarosians positioned in the chamber behind them.  "Either we make the dive and start cruising now, or we're caught dead in the water."  He nodded fervently.  "That's the signal!  Go tell Mama Xarchellus—we're good to go!"

"Ywm, Ryckmun!" a sarosian nodded fervently before turning to face his colleagues.  A few shrieks echoed between them, and they rushed into the lower chambers to pass the word along.

"Oh gosh..."  Nicole shivered slightly, her ears and wings drooping.  "Oh gosh—if they see us drifting underneath them—"

"Hey..."  Echo flashed her a calm look.  "Wouldn't be a midnighter lifestyle if it wasn't fraught with stupid dangerous crap every other second."

"I know, just... just..."  Nicole gulped, squirming.  "Now that it's actually happening..."

"Could be worse."  Echo tried to smirk.  "We could be Rainbow Dash right now."

Nicole said nothing.  She merely trembled.

Echo looked at her... out the observation window... then back at her.  Taking a breath, he shuffled sideways in the runic light and wrapped a gentle wing around her.

Nicole's nerves calmed... if only slightly.

"It's going to work," Echo said.  "The plan... the voyage... everything."  He held her tight as they both gazed at the fading green aura beneath the waves.  "Someday... when we're cruising through the clouds of Equestria where Rainbow Dash was foaled... we're going to look back at all of this and laugh at what pussies we all were."

"Yeah..."  Nicole nodded.  "...maybe I'll hit your head then."

Fanged teeth.  "You can hit me in the head now."

"I'll consider it."  Nicole shuddered.  Her slitted eyes turned slightly misty.  "Good luck, Johnny..."

The last of the green light faded.  There were shrieks in the distant hallways of Bleak's Plummet, echoing authoritatively across the chambers and bleakweed bulkheads.  And then...

TH-THWOOSH!

...Nicole and Echo nearly stumbled as the entire weight of the structure shifted through the water.

The runic light flickered.

Bubbles formed across the gnarled portholes.

Soon, the vessel was lurching, shifting, and—at last—cruising west through the stormy waters.





"Bard!" Rainbow Dash hollered.  "Get your butt on board the Stardust!  Prepare the artillery runes!"

"Way ahead of ya, darlin'!" Bard hopped onto the vessel, followed by a pair of sarosians.

"Ariel!  Wildcard!  Form your groups and gather the stormclouds above us!"

"Sure thing, Rainbow!" Ariel saluted as she and Wildcard flew up into the air along with their bat-pony companions.

Applejack grimaced as she stared at Pinkie's confused expression.  In an orange blur, she streaked up closer to her anchor.  "Rainbow..."

"Enix, you'll be in charge of the second wave!" Rainbow hollered, preoccupied in the moment.  She spun to face the last four Heraldites positioned on the final platform.  "Flynn!  Kepler!  Keep an eye out on the Gondola!  It'll be your job to signal us when it's time to cross over!"

"Affirrmative, Rrainbow One!"

"Rainbow Dash..."  Applejack fidgeted in midair as her ghostly companions grew more and more anxious.

"Axan... Logan..."  Rainbow's eyes narrowed.  "We'll need you as a last resort.  Hopefully the ships won't come close enough to the edge for there to be a final final stand.  But in case these punks get within breathing room—that's when you'll be called upon."

"You should put us at the front of the defense," Remna grumbled.

"Axan, the plans are already made."  Rainbow's brow furrowed.  "If worse comes to worst, I can't afford to drag your dumb dragon weight all the way back here to the edge.  Like I said—we need you as a last resort!"

"Rainbow Dash—!" Applejack tried hollering.

"I say bring 'em!" Logan hissed, smiling wickedly.  "Any chance to test my axe is a fight worth friggin' having!"

"Rein it in, tough guy," Rainbow Dash said.  She lifted her muzzle to shout at the group as a whole:  "The same goes for the rest of you!  The idea here is to shove these jerks back!  Not maim and kill!  Don't take any lives unless you absolutely positively need to do so as a defensive measure!  Hopefully—between the stormclouds and the runic explosives—we just might have enough to scare these melon fudges all the way back to Frostknife—"

"Rainbow Dash!"  Applejack hollered into the pegasus' ear.  "Listen up, ya lil' varmint!"

Wincing, Rainbow Dash spun around.  "Yeesh!  AJ, what's the big deal?  Can't you see it's time for—?"

"Rainbow."  Applejack glared at her.  "We've got a problem."

"Huh?"  Rainbow's head tilted crookedly.  "What kind of a pro—?"  She froze upon seeing a terrified expression—not just on Pinkie Pie's face, but Rarity's and Fluttershy's as well.  She instantly deflated, her ears drooping.  "Hey... talk to me, girls.  What's going on?"

"Fluttershy?"  Twilight Sparkle spun about, similarly confused.  "Rarity?  What's the matter?"

"Oh goodness..."  Fluttershy nibbled on the edges of her ghostly fetlocks, proceeding to pace about in anxious circles.  "Oh my goodness.  Oh... g-goodness!"

"Rainbow?"  Bard leaned forward off the port side of the Stardust.  Above him, Wildcard and Ariel hovered close by with worred expressions.  "What seems to be the problem?"

"Do... do your friends sense something wrong?" Ariel murmured.

Rainbow floated towards the most distressed spectre of all.  "Rarity...?"

"Mmmmm...!"  The fashionista whimpered inwardly.  She stared up at Rainbow with glossy eyes.  "There's... b-been a huge mistake."

"Then tell me."  Rainbow gnashed her teeth.  "How big of a boo-boo is it?  What's going on?"

Rarity exchanged glances with Fluttershy.  With ears drooping, she looked worriedly at Rainbow once again.  "There aren't two ships, Rainbow darling..."

Rainbow's muzzle hung agape.  "... ... ...what?"





Splooosh!

A fountain of salt water billowed against the rusted prow of a speedily churning privateer ship.  As it crested the wave, the skeleton crew on board shifted with the vessel's weight.

Perched on the very bow was Seraphimus.  The ocean mist formed a slick sheen against her neckfeathers, and the flash of thunder gifted brief color to her charcoal brown eyes, but was gone in a heartbeat.  Silent as a dagger, she peered east into the miasma of black vapor and blacker stormwaters.

A thin dark line foretold the end of the world.  Firmaments billowed in the distance—but was mostly obscured by rolling clouds that loomed ever closer.  Below the frontmost ship's prow, the waters rippled and danced wildly... constantly.

Seraphimus' razor sharp talons clung to the support railing of the ship.  As thunder rolled, she pivoted about and threw her slicing gaze back at the ocean due west—beyond the point vessel's wake.

The second and third ships followed at a long distance behind her, cruising side by side.  On the northernmost vessel sat Brye Chandler, clad in all his bulky armor—save for a helmet that he held tightly in a pair of metal-laced hooves.  Surrounded by rain-soaked subordinates, he cautiously... nervously eyed the final horizon before them.

A dozen deckplates behind Chandler, Commander Keris perched along with his wingmates.  While he stood tall and resolute, a noticeable shudder ran anxiously through the likes of Starstorm, Windburst, and Raptr.  They eyed the maelstrom all around them, but Keris kept his hawkeyes trained on one figure and one figure alone: Seraphimus.

In such icy resolution, the champions of Frostknife pierced their way towards the edge of everything, serenaded by the noise of chaos all around.





"What the hell do you mean, there are three ships?!?" Logan cackled.

"Calm down, Big Show—" Flynn tried.

"You calm down, you bald-ass mana-guzzler!"  The larger stallion gnashed his teeth.  "This whole Goddess-dayum plan of ours depends on there being only two ships that we gotta bait and switch!"  He waved a wild hoof in Rainbow's direction.  "But now the Council of Friendly Ghosts is telling us that there's three?!"

"Shove a horseshoe in it, will ya?!" Bard barked from the deck of the Stardust.  "What matters is that we know the truth now.  So we gotta deal with it and not snap at each other's necks like a bunch of angry horned toads—!"

"What difference does it make what we know now!?"  Ariel flailed her forelimbs.  "Didn't you hear what Rainbow said?!  One ship's positioned way ahead of the other two!"

"A rreasonable strrategy," Kepler hummed.  "Seeing as ourr antagonists do not know what exactly to expect frrom us here—"

"Point is...!"  Ariel gritted her teeth.  "...their formation's nothing like we expected!  We just sent Bleak's Plummet to their doom!"

"Now hold up—" Bard held a hoof out.

"If one Frostknife ship is taking point, then the other two must be hanging far behind!" Ariel exclaimed.  "That means when Bleak's Plummet surfaces, it won't be west of the ships!  It'll be directly beneath them!  The whole structure will be torn apart!  Xarchellus' exodus to Equestria will be all for nothing!"

"Not if we can help it!"  Bard said, frowning.  He turned to look at Flynn.  "Can't we... I dunno... warn them or somethin'?"

"I'm afraid it's too late."  Flynn shook his head.  "They will have seen the torpedo signal by now.  If all goes according to the original plan, they'll be passing underneath the Central Guard's ships right now as we speak."

"You mean the Central Guard's first ship," Ariel insisted.

Flynn sighed hard.  "Well... yes... but—"

"But nothing!"  Ariel exclaimed.  "Don't you get it?!  They're screwed now!  We're screwed!"

Wildcard gestured something briskly.

Flynn shook his head.  "I'm afraid not.  Another torpedo wouldn't reach Bleak's Plummet in time.  And even if it did..."  He turned to look at Rainbow Dash.  "...it still won't change the fact that they can only stay submerged for a limited amount of time.  They gotta come up sooner than later."

All this time, Rainbow Dash had been pacing and pacing.  She merely gave Flynn a look.  To her side, Fluttershy and Rarity were practically sobbing.

"I'm so very sorry, darling..."  Rarity shuddered.  "If only my senses worked as well at a grand distance."

"I don't know why I didn't realize how far apart the front of the group was from the rest!"  Fluttershy sniffled.  "It's all my fault.  So many ponies are going to die because of me..."

Rainbow didn't have a chance to respond to that—

"How come we never knew about the third ship?!" Logan spat.  "Huh?!  Who bucked that up royally?!"

"The reconaissance group claimed that there were only two vessels," Enix said from where she hovered above the group.  Her fangs glinted with the lightning.  "Obviously, they were in error."

"Damn straight they were!" Logan snarled.  "I thought your nightblooded brothers and sisters could—y'know—see well at night!"

"This mistake shall not go unpunished," Enix growled.  "I assure you I shall find those responsible and personally fl—"

Bard whistled shrilly.  "Let's not tan any of our own brothers' and sisters' hides just yet.  Enough yappin' around!  Let's think of a solution already!"  He stomped a hoof against the Stardust's deckplates.  "Come on, y'all!  We're better than this!  Let's put our noggins together!"

"Isn't it obvious?"  Remna droned, glaring at everyone.  "The plan is obsolete now.  That leaves us with one option: we must attack the armada with a full-frontal assault."

"Negative!"  Kepler frowned.  His spectacles glistened in the stormlight.  "We shall not deparrt this plane with a massacrre underr ourr belts!"

"And risk the lives of thousands on board Xarchellus' vessel full of fragile mortals?" Remna took a fuming breath.  "It is a noble thing to shrug off the flirtations of death, but I don't see how we have any other choice now."

"For Mortuana's sake, girl!" Ariel's voice cracked.  "If we attack them straight on, then most of Enix's wingmates will die!"

"I do believe she's already prepared to take the hit for her companions' prior mistakes—"

"That's not the point!  Without them to distract the dickbags from Frostknife, then how are we going to last long enough to make it to the Gondola in one piece?!"

Flynn, Bard, and Logan joined the argument in a bevy of bellicose voices.  Enix's shrieks and Kepler's rolling tongue tried to make their opinions heard as well.  Even Wildcard drifted into the heart of the fray, gesturing wildly with flesh and metal talons.

All the while, Rainbow Dash stood on the side.  She had stopped pacing... choosing instead to stand icily still while her allies bickered and argued the frenzied minute away.

Twilight Sparkle wrung her forelimbs, shivering in mid-hover.  "I don't understand... we thought of every variable... every single one!"

"I was tryin' to warn ya, Rainbow!" Applejack exclaimed.  "I knew somethin' was up the moment I saw Pinkie Pie all-a-fidgety."

"But..."  Twilight bit her lip.  "...how did Pinkie know?"

"I wish I could say!"  The distressed party pony's ears were drooping.  Bright blue eyes pierced Rainbow from a shivering distance.  "It's like nothing I've ever felt before!  I... only wish I could have put my hoof on it sooner..."

"Rainbow Dash..."  Rarity floated in front of their anchor, her eyes pleading.  "Bleak's Plummet is still a few hundred meters east of the foremost ship."  She gulped.  "There still may be time to do something about this error in judgment."

"Like what?"  Applejack shrugged wildly.  "Flynn done said we can't signal Xarchellus' flock to do anythang else at this point!"

"Maybe he's right."  Pinkie suddenly brightened, her ears perking up.  "But what about signaling the bad guys' ships?"

"Ehhh?"  Rarity did a double-take.

Twilight Sparkle rubbed her forehead.  "... ... ...you mean like a distraction?"

"Abso-duti-lutely!"

"But that was part of the original plan!" Applejack exclaimed.  "And that seems shot to Tartarus at the moment!"

"Well... duhhhhh!"  Pinkie Pie hopped in mid-air.  "We make an even bigger distraction!"

"Like... how big?" Rarity asked.

"Big enough that... that..."  Pinkie's nose scrunched and she growled in frustration.  "Grrrrrr!  Whatever!  Just something so party-poopingly-huge that it'll grab the three ships' attention super hard!  Something that will make them ignore Bleak's Plummet no matter what!"

"If you ask me, darling, the only thing that will accomplish that is blowing a hole through one of their vessels!" Rarity said.

Rainbow Dash threw Rarity a swift glance.  She took a breath... opening her muzzle—

"Rainbow Dash..."

Rainbow turned to look.

Fluttershy was gazing solemnly at her.  "She's here."

Rainbow blinked.

"Seraphimus."  Fluttershy took a calm breath, her tears fading.  "The first ship that's taking point."  Her eyes narrowed.  "She's on board it."

Rainbow stared and stared.  At last, with a firm voice, she spoke into the thunderous winds:  "I need to face them."

Just like that, the noisy argument around her shattered.  Enix, the Desperadoes, and the Herald all spun to face Rainbow.

"Huh??"  Ariel blinked.

"Our plan to distract the Central Guard isn't screwed up," Rainbow said firmly, trotting a straight line across the platform.  "Not so long as we have me."  She approached the group, her eyes hard and determined.  "They're not after the Herald.  They're not after any midnighters."  She came to a stop, gesturing.  "What they came here for is the Rainbow Rogue who slaughtered their Goddess and cursed their land."

"Yeah..."  Flynn tilted his head aside, eyebrow arched.  "...and?"

Rainbow took a deep breath.  "I think it's about time I gave it to them.  All of it."  She glanced aside at Fluttershy.  "Dastardly villain and all."

"Rainbow..."  Twilight gulped.  "...they'll kill you."

"They can't kill what they can't catch."  Rainbow turned to face the Job Squad.  "I've outrun Seraphimus' finest before."  The hint of a devilish smirk.  "I can sure as heck do it again."

Bard's eyes narrowed.  "She's here... ain't she?"

Rainbow looked at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy nodded.  She mouthed two other names.

"Yup."  Rainbow nodded back.  "So is Chandler.  But then again..."  A harder smirk.  "...so is Keris."

Remna blinked.

"Well..."  Bard glanced up at Wildcard.  "...reckon there's a smidgen of hope, at least."

Wildcard's beak tightened.

"But... but what exactly are you planning now?!" Ariel exclaimed, glancing worriedly down at Rainbow.  "Even if you fly west to intercept them, they'll spot you in a heartbeat!"  She gulped. "Seraphimus will spot you in a heartbeat!  You wouldn't make it within a kilometer of the ship!"

"I'm not going to be flying."

Ariel did a double-take.  "You're not?"

"Wuh oh..."  Pinkie rubbed her aching shoulder.  "...Dashie's about to do something stuuuuuupiddddd."

Twilight's voice growled from deep within her ghostly chest.  "Rainbowwww...?"

Their anchor was too busy approaching the thick of the group.  "Enix... Flynn... how long did it take you to build that bleakweed torpedo just now?"

"Uhm..."  Flynn gulped.  "Twenty minutes."

Rainbow merely nodded.  "You've got two minutes to make a second one."

Flynn's ears drooped.  "Buh."

Rainbow spun to face Enix.  "Explosive runes.  I'll need a buttload of them."

Enix's eyeslits narrowed.  "Are you... planning what I believe you are planning, Blood of Luna?"

"That depends if you've ever been crazy enough."

Enix took a breath.  "Considering I've survived over two decades of bloodied combat, I daresay I've never been."

"Austraeoh..."  Remna droned.

"Save it, Axan," Rainbow hissed, waving a hoof as she settled beside Flynn and assisted him in building another torpedo.  "By the time you're halfway through bitching at me, Bleak's Plummet will have been compromised.  We're at the edge of the world.  The time for thinking is over."  She looked up with a frown.  "The explosives, dang it!  I know I'm stealing the spotlight here, but throw me a bone here!"





Brye Chandler fidgeted.  He felt like pacing, but—perched awkwardly in the center of his guilded chariot—he had nowhere to go.  Impatiently, he leaned forward against the rain-glossed metal, squinting his green eyes past the bodies of his militant subordinates to pierce the fog and mist beyond.  The persistent roar of the world's end slowly swallowed the chugging noise of all three ships' steam engines.

"Damnation..."  The Defense Minister gnashed his teeth.  "...it's worse than what the elders have written in the old scrolls.  This place is like a never-ending hot spring.  I can't see worth my own weight in gold."

"It's said that there's a point of no return, Minister," a griffon officer exclaimed, holding a talon up to steady the chariot as the deck beneath them rocked from the tempestuous waves.  With errant splashes of seawater, they plowed through the wake of the front vessel taking point far ahead of them.  "Past a random formation of stone structures—it's said—the current flows towards the Firmaments with an inescapable velocity."

"And we're approaching such a bleak longitude now," Chandler said, his features hardening as he continued to gaze... gaze.  "She hasn't much of a world left to hide in now.  Certainly not on sea at least."

A pegasus looked up at him.  "Shall we take to the skies, sir?"

Chandler opened his muzzle... but had nothing to say.

"Defense Minister?"

Chandler gulped—although he tried to hide it.  His armor rattled a bit as he stole a glance behind him.  He looked at Keris and his fellow wingmates perched at the back of the ship.  In a distant voice, he muttered:  "Has there... been any signal from Seraphimus?"

The pegasus soldier shook his head.  "No, sir.  It doesn't look like she's spotted anything yet."

Chandler bit his lip.  He looked east at the frontmost steamship—eyeing the lone silver figure of Seraphimus perched on the distant bow.

The subordinates around him shifted uncomfortably.  A griffon spoke up:  "Sir?  Do we take wing—?"

"Not yet," Chandler blurted.  "Dammit, soldier.  Do we want to spread our numbers thin this early?"  He slapped a gauntlet'd hoof against the edge of his chariot.  "We stay on board our ships until Seraphimus... I-I mean until I give the word to do otherwise!  No sooner!"

Thunder rolled.  The warriors of Frostknife exchanged looks.

"Aye, sir."  A griffon gestured to the others.  "Eyes east!  Wait for the Minister's signal!"

"Aye!"

"Understood!"

As Chandler took several deep breaths and lingered anxiously in his chariot...

...Keris and the rest of the Right Talon of Verlaxion remained calm near the stern of the very same vessel.

"What's got them shouting at each other?" Raptr stammered.  His armor—much like everyone else's—had earned a fine sheen from the permeating moisture in the air.  "Do they see something we don't?"

"Mmmmmmmmm... nope..."  Windburst squinted at the Defense Minister's posse across the deck.  "But something tells me they'll be the first to spot something—even before Seraphimus... especially if the something they spot is not actually there."

Raptr flung them a nervous look.  "Huh??"

"What I think the Sergeant is trying to say," Starstorm spoke, "Is that the Defense Minister's military inexperience is starting to show."

"The rat bastard's gonna pop any second," Windburst droned.  "What's worse—he's infected this entire crew.  Never mind Seraphimus; this entire armada is a powder keg waiting to go off."

Starstorm exhaled sharply.  "Wanna bet that somepony out there is going to take advantage of that?"

"I most certainly will," Keris said firmly.  Calmly.  "In fact, my odds are on Rainbow Dash."

Raptr flung a look back at Keris.  "You really think she's got something in store for us?"

"For us?"  Keris looked back at the rookie.  "The Defense Minister, perhaps.  The Central Guard as a whole?  Most definitely.  Where we come in remains to be seen... but I suspect that—someway, somehow—we're going to be a very important variable."

"What kind of a variable?"  Raptr remarked.  "We've no idea what she's planning!"

"Indeed."  Keris nodded.  "Just as she has no idea what true terror Chandler has brought with him to the edge of the world."  His gaze fell on the front ship taking point.  "Chandler's not the real problem here.  If we're to be the equalizers that Rainbow Dash needs, our eyes will need to be on Seraphimus.  No one else."

Windburst and Starburst exchanged tense glances.

Raptr gulped.  "What's the plan, then?  How... h-how are we going to deal with her?"

"Leave that to me," Keris spoke firmly beneath the lightning and thunder.  "When somepony makes the first move—and I greatly suspect it will be Rainbow—everything will turn into pure and unmitigated chaos.  We're going to be the one force maintaining harmony on our end."  He took a deep breath.  "Here's hoping she gives us the clues we need to help her at all the right moments."

Raptr's beak rattled.  He stared at Seraphimus' glinting figure from afar.  "A lot of ponies and griffons are going to die today, aren't they?"

Keris was silent.  He held his position firmly—even as the ship rocked and the waves splashed harder and wetter.





Th-Thump!  Ariel and Wildcard dumped a bunch of runestones onto the granite platform.

"There!"  Ariel huffed, her brow soaked with sweat and seawater.  She stammered between the claps of thunder:  "That's all that Bard's group could spare from the Stardust."

"Right."  Rainbow nodded.  "Good stuff."  She knelt beside Enix and a few other sarosians, assisting them in weaving bleakweed around a narrow cylinder.  "Find a way to cluster it all together."

"With what?  Rubber bands?"

"Use some netting, girl!  Be friggin' creative!"  Rainbow huffed, fumbling with more bleakweed.  "Ask Wildcard if you have to."

"They're cruising closerrrrrrrrr..."  Rarity squealed.

"Flynn?"  Rainbow's eyes darted up.  "How are we on those enchantments?"

"Friggin' asinine leylines..."  The stallion hissed and sweated, his horn producing steam in the drifting mists as he labored a mile-per-minute with his runes.  "...buck my plot with a gamma ray burst, I swear to Goddess..."

"Cool beans."  Rainbow looked at Enix huddled across from her.  "Got a command or two for me to steal?"

"I can think of chiefly two," Enix said.  With brisk hooves, she crafted a crude "basket" about the size of a beach ball and fitted it with runes.  "At most—three."

"Right.  Gonna need to be coached on them before I take the plunge."

"Uhmmm... Rainbow?"  Twilight drifted in, trembling.  "Perhaps now you might tell us exactly what you're planning?"

"Nope."  Rainbow looked at the Stardust.  "Still got enough to shake the seas with?"

"And some to grow on!"  Bard perched nervously on the ship's port side.  "Rainbow, darlin', we'd sure as Hell like to know what the new signal to start launchin' artillery will be."

"Nothing new!  It's the same signal as before!" Rainbow barked through the thunder as she and the sarosians placed the finishing touches on the makeshift torpedo.  "Look for Ariel and Wildcard to fire their flares!"  She glanced at the feathered Desperado in question.  "Wildcard, you'll be in charge of the first front of stormclouds.  Once you see enemy bogeys taking to the sky, prepare the ambush."

Wildcard whistled and gestured dramatically.

"Uhm..."  Logan limped over.  "...he's asking what exactly is going to make the Central Guard fly up towards the aerial ambush."

"They'll be chasing me."  Rainbow's eyes narrowed.  "Immediately after I blow up the first ship."

Bard did a double-take.  "Say what?"

"Dearrest Austrraeoh..."  Kepler nearly dropped his glasses as he shuffled over.  "...suicidal guile notwithstanding, how exactly do you plan to do this remarrkably dazzling feat?"

"I'm working on the plan right now!"  Rainbow gestured briskly.  "Quick!  Hand us the last of the bleakweed fibers!"

"Austraeoh."  Remna droned.  "If I may protest."

"You may not."  Rainbow grabbed the twine from Kepler and affixed the last of the runes while Flynn simultaneously enchanted them.  "We all have our places to be, Axan.  Wildcard's is in the sky.  Bard's is on the Stardust.  Yours is here with Kepler and Flynn."

"And where—pray tell—is your place, Austraeoh?" Remna growled.

"Where it's always been."  Rainbow briefly glanced at Twilight and Applejack.  "All over the friggin' place."  She slapped the bleakweed firmly into place and hooked her forelimbs beneath the torpedo.  "Alright, everypony!  Let's get this thing in the water!"





Th-Thumppp!

The gnarled bulkheads of Bleak's Plummet rocked and groaned.

"Nnngh!"  Nicole—grasping onto an errant root—jolted with the entire structure.  Runic light flickered all around her as she flung a worried look down the nearest chamber.  "What was that?"  She tilted the brow of the stetson up over her brow.  "Did we hit a sperm whale?  Ohhhhhhhh I just know we hit a sperm whale!"

After a series of shrieks echoed through the dim halls, Echo drifted back into the observation chamber—steadying her.  "Calm your flank, girl."  He held her tight as the two gazed at the bubbling waters beyond the magically-shielded window.  "It's just some oceanic turbulence.  Nothing unexpected... considering the speeds at which we're seafarting..."

"We... we can still keep this up, r-right?" Nicole stammered.  Her fangs glinted through a worried breath.  "I feel like the whole structure's gonna buckle at any moment!"

"Did Johnny teach you to worry like a deflated puffer fish?"  Echo managed a smirk.  "We're doing just fine.  Trust me.  All of Xarchellus' finest are monitoring every rune and enchantment in this place!  We couldn't possibly be safer."

Nicole gulped, shivering against him.  "You sure of that?"

"Bae..."  Echo brushed her bangs back.  "...would I lie to you?  Besides, at the first sign of trouble—any trouble—we'll know it instantly from a high-pitched warning cry sent through the hallways."

At that instant, there was a high-pitched warning cry sent through the hallways.

"Gah!"  Nicole clung to Echo, paling.  "What's that?  What is that?!?"

"Grrrrrrr..."  Echo spun and shrieked back down the halls where the cry came from.

Seconds rolled by, then another shriek returned—this one louder and more desperate.  It was accompanied by several nervous voices stammering in moonwhinny.

"What?"  Nicole gritted her teeth.  "What's going on?"

"'Problem???'"  Echo echoed.  The hairs on the back of his neck bristled.  "What kind of problem?!"

More words were shrieked in moonwhinny.

Echo blinked.  Smoothely, he disentangled himself from Nicole and slunk his way towards the translucent runic window.  Once he was perched within the half-domed frame, he stared straight up... up at the frothing surface of the tempestuous waters above them and all of Bleak's Plummet.

"Echo...?"  Nicole whimpered, squatting behind him as she too peered into the oceanic scene outside.  "What's the matter?"

"Uhm..."  Echo's eyeslits squinted and squinted some more.

At last—he saw them:  three slicing, bubbling wakes.  There were three vessels cruising above them.  One to the far east... and the other two dragging at a grand distance behind.  At the sluggish rate at which Bleak's Plummet was cruising, it wasn't anywhere near close to clearing the westernmost pair of lagging vessels.

"What do you see?" Nicole asked.

Echo gulped... and his leafy ears formed cold quotation marks to his glinting fangs.  "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww shit."





Splash!  The torpedo dropped violently into the waves.

"Shhhhhh—!"  Rainbow hissed through clenched teeth.  She plunged halfway over the edge to steady the bobbing cylinder.  "Easy there!  Easy!"

The sarosians beside her apologized in moonwhinny.  Logan marched through them, carrying the makeshift basket full of explosive runes.

"Uhhhhhh... Ariel and Wildcard made the bag work somehow, Rainbow."  The large stallion gulped.  "But... uhm... maybe you would want to rethink—"

"And ruin something perfectly stupid?"  Rainbow Dash yanked the satchel from him and gripped it tightly in her fetlocks.  "Too late for that."

"Rainbow, I must declare," Twilight spoke in a firm voice.  "I'm with Big Show on this one."

"You're not fat enough."  Rainbow looked at Flynn.  "Flynn?  These runes good to go?"

"Grnnngh..."  The bald stallion rubbed his still-steaming horn.  "If my damn migraine is anything to go by... you're all gravy."

Rainbow winced slightly.  "Sorry, dude.  Thanks a ton."  She nodded at the wyvern in the group.  "Look after him, Kepler."

"Aye, Rrainbow One."

"Everypony!"  Rainbow slinked off the edge of the Emeraldinian granite, preparing to submerge herself along with the torpedo aimed west.  "You know your places!  We've been through all the crazy specifics already—so let's just keep things sweet and simple!"  Thunder rolled as she gestured at herself with a water-soaked hoof.  "I'm going to blow up the first ship!  The moment that happens, I'll lead the Central Guard to our teams in the air!  Bard, you're going to blast the heck out of the remaining two ships and—as a group—we'll lead them to the second ambush site by the rocks!  Axan... Big Show... you're both backup in case the Gondola hasn't arrived yet—but when it does..."  She pointed at Kepler and Flynn.  "You two alert us!  Any other emergency warnings will be handled through colored flares from all sides!  Got it?"

"Without question, Austrraeoh."  Kepler nodded.

"Blarghl..."  Flynn burped, leaning weakly against the wyvern.

"The moment the Gondolda's here, the Herald hops in and Enix's group flies off to rejoin Bleak's Plummet."  Rainbow took a deep, deep breath.  "We good?"

Nothing but thunder.

"Good."  Rainbow slunk deeper into the waves, hugging the torpedo under one arm.  "Then let's get this crazy show on the—"

"Rainbow!" Twilight hissed.

Before Rainbow could retort, Enix glided over in a pale blur.

"Blood of Luna!  I've just finished it!"

Rainbow gave her a weird look.  "Finished what?"

Enix frowned, grasping a miniature basket in her hooves.  "Your determination is as courageous as it is blind.  It's a wonder you made it a single kilometer out of the Solar Sister's kingdom alive."

"A thought that occurs to me every minute," Remna grumbled aside.

Rainbow rolled her eyes.  "Enix, faster, please?  Bleak's Plummet isn't getting any closer to not-imploding."

"The first torpedo traversed over a kilometer of dense water to relay its signal to Luna's Flock," Enix swiftly said.  "Precisely how did you intend to survive an indentically perilous journey?"

Rainbow bobbed and bobbed in the waves.  She shrugged.  "Figured I would... y'know... hold my breath?"

Twilight face-hoofed.  "Rainbow..."

"What?"  Her anchor shrugged at the ghost.  "I'm already blue in the face!"

"When we're on the Dark Side, I'm going to make you black and bluer," Ariel grumbled with folded forelimbs.

"Love you too, girl," Rainbow spat through the salt water.

"Hmmmf."  Enix squatted low, holding the basket of runes out with two forelimbs.  "Use this."

Rainbow gently grasped the item.  She squinted at the rope-like construct of the basket.  "This... looks like the lifts we took down to Bleak's Plummet."

"Precisely."  Enix nodded.  "Place it over your head."

"Do as she says, Austraeoh," Remna grumbled.

For once, Rainbow obeyed the Divine.  She fixed the half-domed basket around her cranium.

"I will initiate the enchantment to shield it from the waters," Enix said.  "It will work in preserving oxygen... but only for a limited time."  Her eyeslits narrowed sharply.  "A very limited time."

Rainbow nodded, inhaling.  "Will I be able to... y'know..."  She raised the basket of explosives that Wildcard and Ariel had prepared.  "...set these babies off with the right command while wearing this thing?"

"Not unless you want to be instantly decapitated," Enix explained.

Bard and Wildcard winced from a distance.

"There wasn't enough time to nullify the shield runes from other, contrasting enchantments," Enix explained.  "Not that it matters.  Considering the distance that we've calculated, the shield will likely run out before the torpedo completes its journey... if it completes its journey."  Her scarred brow furrowed.  "Someway, somehow, you will have to remove the helmet, reach the ship, surface, and set off the runic explosives yourself.  I suspect you will have mere seconds between the command given and the resulting blast."

"Cool," Rainbow sputtered.

"There's still time to back out of this absurd maneuver," Remna insisted.

"Axan... there's never been any time to back out."  Rainbow calmly gazed at the draconian mare.  "Not even before I 'foaled yesterday.'  Mortuana knew this."

"Indeed."  Remna nodded.  "And that's why she is no longer with us."

"But I'm coming back."  Rainbow glared.  "Do you understand?"

The Herald and the sarosians shifted about nervously.

"I'm coming back."  Rainbow's gaze fell upon the Desperados.  "... ... ... I am coming back."

Bard took a deep breath.  Standing on board the Stardust, he lifted his muzzle and hollered into the air:  "Y'all heard her!  She's doin' her part!"  He extended his staff and slapped it firmly down onto the deckplates.  "Now let's do ours!"

Wildcard firmly nodded, cracking his feathery neckjoints as he hovered higher in the air.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh balls, help us," Ariel whimpered as she joined the former mercenary.

"Can't say it isn't exciting this way," Logan muttered with a slight smile.

"We've got yer back, darlin'," Bard said.  He threw Rainbow Dash a brotherly smirk.  "Only fittin' you steal the spotlight."

Rainbow smiled back at him.  "Now there's a good Bard."  She glanced aside at her ghostly companions.  "Girls?"

"For the record..."  Twilight frowned.  "...I think this is—by far—the stupidest thing you've ever done."

"Hey egghead, we have an entire dark side left to explore."  Rainbow merely smiled at her.  "Expect that record to be shattered."

Twilight rolled her eyes.  "I'll be monitoring the leylines of the runes' enchantment," she moaned.

"I'll tell you when we're close to the steamships, darling!" Rarity said.

"And I'll keep an eye on our friends and enemies as we draw closer!" Fluttershy insisted.  "I promise!"

"Leave any random eddy or wave or stingray to me!" Pinkie Pie chirped.  "Pinkie Sense has got your back, girl!"

Applejack growled.  "And I will be tannin' yer hide somethin' fierce once we all become flesh'n'blood once again."

"Now there's an incentive."  Rainbow hooked the torpedo under one hoof while she roped the straps of the explosive satchel around the opposite fetlock.  Taking several deeep breaths within her makeshift helmet, she looked up at Enix positioned along the granite's edge.  "Light it up."

Enix stooped over, lowering her head so that her scarred muzzle was inches away from the woven Bleakweed around Rainbow's head.  "Y'mnym," she whispered.

Fl-Flash!  The runes within the fibers lit up.  Silver-gray plates of translucent manalight solidified between the spaces, forming a makeshift dome around the petite pegasus' skull.

Rainbow twitched slightly—feeling a tingling enchantment in the tight pocket of air above and below her ears.  She looked at Enix.

Enix looked at her.  "Nocturnal blessings, W'ynlppa yln H'luun," she murmured.  "Everypony's future lies in wait for you among the stars."  That said, she leaned back and—with slitted eyes firmly affixed to the torpedo—she shrieked:  "M'wynhrm!"

FWOOOOOOOSH!  The bleakweed cylinder instantly barreled west, kicking up a bubbling froth of seawater.  Rainbow Dash gasped—startled by the jolt.  She clasped her muzzle tightly shut, only to realize that the wave of water flying at her face was being redirected safely around the round contours of her makeshift helmet.  All she could do was concentrate on the jarring physics of the moment as the torpedo—propelled by burning runes—descended at a twenty degree angle, swiftly submerging Rainbow and her ghostly friends beneath the depths of the world's end.





Gray streaks of layered liquid rippled all around Rainbow Dash.  The lightning and thunder vanished, replaced instead by an endless roar of dying ocean from all sides.  She knew she was soaring west—her last trip west—but all she could make out was chaos and the faint glow of harmonic light in her peripheral.  The Gondola rested directly behind her, growing more and more distant with each wave of bubbles.  It felt awkward, frightening, and more than a little bit wrong.

Gnashing her teeth, Rainbow hugged the enchanted cylinder under her right forelimb—a task that grew increasingly difficult with each burning second.  The torpedo heated up the waters all around her, forcing her to sweat vehemently within the tight space of her helmet... serenaded by the claustrophobic echoes of her panting breaths.  The weight of the bag of explosive runes dragged in the water behind her—threatening to yank her left forelimb out of its socket.  Suppressing a pained grunt, she positioned her body so that she could hug the satchel to her chest—squarely between herself and the torpedo—as she rode out the next few hundred meters of maniacal wave-piercing.

"Oh my goodness!"  Fluttershy whimpered, flinching tightly as her ghostly figure was dragged underwater along with Rainbow.  "Oh my goodness—this is far faster than I was expecting!"

"Just stay calm and monitor everything around us!" Twilight Sparkle commanded, her voice cracking above the volume of rippling waters in every direction.  "Rarity?  Pinkie?"

"We're already on it, darling!"

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

"Guhh..."  Twilight squinted west, her vision unimpeded by the thick depths gurgling past them, but having no greater luck spotting their distant target.  "We n-need somepony to keep track of the time going by!" she exclaimed.  "I can't imagine that the oxygen in Rainbow's helmet will last forever!"

"I'll do it!"  Applejack sputtered.  She somersaulted awkwardly through the bubbles as her ghostly essence struggled to keep up with Rainbow.  "Reckon it's just like countin' apples back home!  Only... while glidin' underwater with the aim of blowin' up a ship full of bad dudes."

"We're... n-not going to blow them up too, are we?" Fluttershy stammered.

"One... hckkk... th-thing at a t-time..." Rainbow wheezed.

"Rainbow, save your breath, darling!" Rarity insisted, her ghostly eyes reflecting bubbles and froth.  "Let us do the moralistic mulling for the time being!"

"The charge is still strong!" Twilight insisted, glancing at the torpedo.  "Concentrate, everypony!"  She looked west again with a pensive expression.  "We've got a lot of water to cover!"

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth.  Her breaths fogged against the translucent manashields around her as she skimmed and skimmed and—





A shrill whistle escaped Wildcard's beak.  As soon as he had the attention of everypony around him, he gestured towards the sky and ascended swiftly.

"Mofo's right, y'all!"  Bard shouted.  The torpedo's westward wake hadn't yet begun to fade by the time he crossed the deck of the Stardust and cut loose the moorings.  "No more time for gawkin'!  Let's mosey!"  He shouted over his shoulder to his two sarosian crewmates.  "Bat One and Bat Two!  Get the engine runnin'!  We'll gun it for the first few minutes then cut the noise and cruise on through the straits!"

"Ywm, land-dweller," one said, ducking into the cabin to activate the motor.

"Keep yer heads cool, partners!" Bard hollered once again, squinting west as lightning brimmed overhead.  "It's them hotheads whom we're aimin' to take to the woodshed!  Let's hit 'em where it hurts and make like ghosts!"

"Hopefully not in the morrtal sense!" Kepler shouted, rushing gleefully to his post along with Flynn.  "Ha-hah!"

"Dubya-Cee!" Bard growled as the Stardust's motor came to life.  The ship puttered west against the currents, and the Desperado rushed up to the top deck to grab the rudder wheel.  "Dun get too cocky without me, or else I'll be firin' the first round of flares right at yer feathery hide!"

"Don't worry, Bard!" Ariel shouted from high above.  "I'll keep him in check!"  She motioned towards the fellow sarosians.  "Alright, everyone!  To the stormclouds!  Move it!  Move it!"

"M'lywylla sym whym!" Enix shrieked, taking up the rear behind Ariel and Wildcard.  She glared at all of the sarosians and moved them into separate formations.  "H'lymwym syl'ym w'lynym sylymym H'Luun!"

"Sylymym H'Luun!"  The air shook with their response, and then all was thunder as the group pierced the heavens.

The sonic clap of their rapid departure produced a heavy burst of wind.  Along the far fringes of the Emeraldinian platform, multiple empty crystalline jars swayed in the wind, rattling against each other and making sweet percussion.

Silent, Remna glanced back at the multiple see-through containers of ancient origin.  The air sang with otherworldly chimes—until the jars settled.  The draconian mare took a deep breath... then swiveled back to face west.  Her violet brow furrowed as she observed the many sarosians and Heraldites disappearing into the sky...





...a sky that turned darker and darker along the bleak horizon to the east.  Seraphimus watched—charcoal eyes stern and piercing—as the nebulous starlight was swiftly blotted out by thick black mists.

Her perch on the frontmost ship's bow tightened.  Armored claws dug into the rusty hull.

There were only four other members of the Central Guard on board the heavily rocking ship.  One pegasus crewmember immediatedly spotted the shift in Seraphimus' posture.  He glided the length of the deck and came to a scraping stop behind her.  "Ma'am?  What is it?"

Seraphimus said nothing.  Her scrutinous eyes swept north... south... and back again... repeating...

The soldier behind her gulped.  "Do... do you see midnighters?"

"Stormclouds," Seraphimus pronounced.  The feathers along her neck raised slightly.  "Thicker than the rest."

"Should... I signal the rest of Chandler's fleet to alter their course?"

"No."  Seraphimus leaned back slightly, studying the skies in a calmer breath.  Her eyes traced the lightning as her ears tickled with the thunder.  "There's no going back."

The soldier blinked.  "Ma'am?"

Seraphimus didn't give any more of a response.  She scratched the bottom of her beak... her gaze falling down... down...

...gazing into the waters.





"Eight hundred meters!" Rarity exclaimed.  She twirled and spun through the bubbles in a desperate attempt to steer closer to her anchor.  It was a difficult ask—for while the torpedo kept true to its westward path, Rainbow's body constantly flailed and shifted from where she haphazardly struggled to grip the enchanted cylinder.  "Eight hundred meters and closing!"

"One third of the way there, Dashie!"  Pinkie exclaimed.  "At least, I think so—right?"

Rarity huffed, her tense ghost eyes full of seawater.  "Just keep your senses attuned to their own wavelength, Pinkie, darling—"

"Jellyfish!" Pinkie hollered.

"... ... ...!"  Eyes bulging, Rainbow threw her body to her right.  She rolled under the weight of the torpedo.  Her wet figure avoided the swaying tentacles of a dense cluster of pink jellyfish by mere inches.

"Whew!"  Pinkie swiped her brow... in a current full of seawater.  "Boy oh boy would that have been anticlimactic!"  A ghostly stetson whapped her over the head.  "Ouchie!"

Applejack put her ghostly hat back on and twirled to look at Rainbow.  "You've been at this for three minutes!  Yer doin' good, sugarcube!"

"Half the enchantments are burnt out!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Oh no!"  Fluttershy whimpered as a flash of lightning pierced the ocean's surface above them.  "Is that too soon?"

"No.  I... I think it's what Enix calculated," Twilight stammered.  "The torpedo's momentum should carry us all the way to where the armada's currently located!"

"Seven hundred meters!" Rarity exclaimed.  "We'll be there in a blink, Rainbow!"

Applejack leveled her face with Rainbow's.  "How're ya holdin' up on breathin' air, RD?"

Rainbow gnashed her teeth.  Moisture was seeping in through every nook and cranny of the shielded helmet.  Any breath she managed to steal was a desperate, squeaky thing.

"On second thought..."  Applejack smiled nervously.  "...save it for when it's crunch time, ya hear?"

"Six hundred and fifty meters!"

"They're getting closer," Fluttershy hummed, nervously rubbing her forelimbs together.  "Seraphimus is still on the front ship!"

Rainbow gulped.  Her eyes darted about, lashes dotted with salt water.  All she could see was a swirling maelstrom of thick ocean rushing towards her, filling her ears with a continuous roar.





"If... if we surface now..."  Nicole clung to a stalk of bleakweed as she stared out the magic window into the ocean depths.  "...we'll be right in the middle of them, won't we?"

"I... I'm not sure..."  Echo and other sarosians were busy peering up, up at the watery surface.  As the eastmost ship's wake ended... the bottom hulls of two other churning vessels could be seen taking up the fluctuating space.  At that current moment, the armada loomed directly above the bulk of Bleak's Plummet.  "Actually... I think we'll be surfacing just west of them."

"Really?"  Nicole flung him a look, beaming.  "That's great!  I mean... r-right?"

Echo stared at her blankly.  "We'll be sitting ducks, Nicole," he droned.  "Unless a thousand of us jump out and push, we'll be stuck in open range of their attack for minutes."

Nicole bit her lip hard.  Her fangs glinted as she stammered:  "How long until we are forced to surface?"

"Any moment now," Echo said as a cold shudder ran through the chamber.  "At this rate, we'll be brittle bits of water-logged coral."

Nicole choked on a sob.  She hugged herself in the cold runic light.  "Johnny..."  She sniffled, leafy ears drooping.  "Johnny, I'm so sorry.  All the hard work you've done—"

Just then, one of the sarosians in the chamber shrieked.  A velvety hoof pointed out the magic portholes of Bleak's Plummet.

"Look!"

"Something's coming!"

"Huh?  What?"  Echo leaned forward, eyes bright and curious.  "Where?"

"See?"  An elder nightblood pointed.  "Have you gone blind, Ryckmun?"

Echo stared and squinted and—"Hot damn."  His ears perked up.  "Well I'll be."

"What?"  Nicole craned her neck to look.  "What is it?"

Echo managed his best smile as the structure weaved in the deep waters all around them.  "Something stupid."





"Five hundred meters!" Rarity exclaimed, her horn glowing.  "Four hundred and f-fifty!  My goodness!" She stared incredulously through the water at her companions.  "We're picking up speed!"

"The runes are burning out the last of the enchantment!" Twilight exclaimed.  "The leylines are drying up!"

"Oh!  Oh wow!"  Fluttershy suddenly gasped, staring down into the depths.

"What in tarnation is that?!" Applejack reacted to a dark, lingering shape that was slowly churning west beneath Rainbow Dash's position.

"It's... it's Bleak's Plummet!" Fluttershy exclaimed.  "Thousands of Luna's foals are waiting down there for us to save them!"

"At this rate, it will only barely clear the boats!" Rarity exclaimed.  Her gaze lifted up towards the water's surface due west.  "Rainbow, darling, we're within four hundred meters now!  You should be able to see them!"

Rainbow hissed and winced.  The air was growing thin in her helmet, and the water level was rising up to her nostrils.  She struggled to keep her chin above the moisture while her ruby eyes twitched in the direction that Rarity had indicated.

Three faint shadows lingered directly ahead.  One of them was closer than the rest, its hull slicing violently through the shallow waters...





Brye Chandler watched the frontmost ship from afar.

Suddenly, his chariot's weight shifted slightly—and he felt himself leaning towards the front of his riding compartment against his will.

He wasn't alone.  The rest of the Central Guard murmured in curious alarm—feeling as the deck swayed noticeably beneath them.

"What was that?"  Chandler asked, blinking.  "That just now?  Have we slowed?"

"It wasn't the engines, Minister," one griffon reported from below.

Another soldier spoke up:  "I think we're experiencing some kind of drag."

"From what?"

"I... don't know, sir.  The sea currents this far out are quite unpredictable..."

"Well, maintain our course, and signal our sister ship to do the same.  I want to be in visual range of the point vessel at all times."

Keris listened from afar.  He cocked his feathered neck curiously to the side.

"A drag?" Raptr thought out loud.

"Just a shift in the tide," Windburst said, eyes trained on Seraphimus from afar.  "Nothing more."

"Unless something was pulling at the water volume beneath us," Starstorm suggested.  "Like a group of whales."

"... ... ..."  Keris stepped back, squinting thoughtfully.  On calm claws, he strafed aside from the group.  The rest of the Talon watched in silence as the Commander approached the port side of his vessel and stared straight down into the water.

The waves appeared... darker than before.

Keris peered and peered in contemplative silence.





The ships were just now passing over the summit of Bleak's Plummet.

Nicole, Echo, and the rest of the sarosians stared with bated breaths.  Just then—there was a heavy jolt felt throughout the entire ship.

"Guh!"  Nicole flinched, teeth chattering.  "What now?"

The air around her rattled with moonwhinny.

Echo did his best to translate:  "The runes are being drained!  They're needing a reenchantment."

"Does..."  Nicole squeaked.  "...does that mean we're resurfacing?"

Just as she said this, the bodies of everypony on board shifted.  Bubbles formed outside the window, shooting briskly downwards.  The whole structure was rising rapidly.

"Here it comes..."  Echo steeled himself as he shrieked over his shoulder:  "Alert the Matriarch!  They're going to see us—!"

"Look!"  One of the sarosian spotters pointed at the tiny object barreling between them and the three ships.  "It's approaching!"

"Huh?" Echo did a double-take.

"Wait..."  Nicole caught an umistakably petite body of blue clinging to the torpedo.  "Is... is that Rainbow Dash?"

"Whoever it is..."  The spotter beside them spoke in a deep voice.  "...they're veering off course.  See?"

"What in the Hell is she even doing?" Echo stammered as they collectively began to rise.





"Uh oh!"  Pinkie Pie's everything was a-twitching.  She flung the other mares a pale look.  "Uh oh!  Uh oh!  Uh ohhhh!"

"What's going on?" Fluttershy yelped.

"We're veering off course!" Rarity exclaimed.  She looked at their anchor.  "Rainbow!"

Rainbow could barely breathe—much less summon the strength to respond.  Only a narrow pocket of air remained at the very top of Enix's makeshift helmet.  Nevertheless, the prismatic pegasus stole a good enough glimpse of her circumstances to realize that the torpedo was tilting towards its right and shooting north.

"Why ain't it goin' straight no more?" Applejack asked.

"It... it's Bleak's Plummet!" Twilight exclaimed, her horn glowing.  "Their runes have lost enchantment and now they're surfacing!"

"Now?!" Fluttershy panicked.

Twilight continued in as tense a voice:  "The lunar energy has caused a feedback!  It's shorted out the remaining charge in Enix's torpedo!"

"Well, at least it still seems to have momentum!" Applejack said.

"Yes—but we're going in the wrong way!" Rarity yelped.  "We'll never reach the ships now!"

"What are we going to do?" Fluttershy whimpered.

Twilight gnawed at her lavender fetlocks.

Applejack—meanwhile—flew directly in Rainbow's face.  "Sugarcube... now's a good time to pull somethin' out of yer sassy bag of tricks."

Naturally, Rainbow Dash was already on it.  Clamping her muzzle shut to keep out the rising seawater, she swung her body around the bleakweed undercarriage of the cylinder.  Once she was on the right side of it, she straightened her body... tensed her muscles... and shot a rigid wing out to the left—creating drag.

"Rainbow?"  Twilight squinted.  "What are you doing?"

"Duhhhhh!"  Pinkie grinned maniacally.  "Something awesome, silly!"

Twilight watched—in amazement—as Rainbow's outstretched wing altered the course of the runic cylinder.  Suddenly, the torpedo was tilting about and gliding west again.  Rainbow rotated her body and stretched the other wing out to center it just right, all the while holding her breath to the best of her ability.

Water rushed and rippled past her... and yet she was heading back towards her target.

"A marvelous accomplishment, darling," Rarity said.  "But I'm afraid we've lost momentum from that."

"Bleak's Plummet is rising!" Fluttershy said.  "And fast!"

Rainbow closed her eyes, shuddered, and reopened them—only to see a flicker of light encompassing her vision.

In the distance, the runes of Bleak's Plummet were strobing brightly as they lost their current enchantment.  But that wasn't all...

...for the lunar fragments holding Rainbow's helmet were starting to flicker as well.

Twilight saw it, and her eyes widened just like Rainbow's.  "Oh no..."





Streaks of light broke through the depths.

Keris' beak hung agape.  His magenta eyes reflected the unmistakable sign of a massive structure looming directly beneath them... surging west and into the wake that Chandler's ships formed.

"Commander?"  Starstorm and Raptr trotted to his side.  "What is it that you see—?"  The female sergeant took one look down and her hawkeyes widened.

Raptr glanced into the waves as well... and the rookie was far less civil.  "Holy sh—!"  Both Keris' and Starstorm's talons clamped over his beak.  "Mrmmmf!"

"... ... ..."  Keris flung a worried look across the deck.

Chandler and his fellow soldiers all had their flanks to the Talon.  Nobody else was gazing straight into the sea.

With a calm breath, the three protectors leaned away from the port side railing.

"Whatever it is... it appears to be surfacing rapidly," Starstorm said.

Raptr gulped.  "Some sort of... underwater ambush?"  His feathers ruffled.  "An attack from behind?"

"We don't know that yet," Keris said, stealing one more glance at the water.  His eyes traced every streak and flicker of light.  "It begs the question—why didn't they just surface beneath us?"

"Commander!"  Windburst's exclamation was hoarse... but forceful.

Keris and the others looked his way.

Nervously, the sergeant pointed due east.

Keris craned his neck...

...just in time to see Seraphimus craning hers.  Even from such a grand distance, Seraphimus had chosen that exact moment to stare back at her former subordinate.  There was a glint of metal—followed by a flicker of silver feathers.

Breathless, the sergeants looked worriedly at their commander.

Keris swallowed dryly.  "Damn."





Seraphimus' eyes narrowed.

The other crew members of the frontmost ship were staring curiously at her.

Seraphimus ripped her gaze from Keris' vessel.  Without saying a word, she approached the starboard side of the steamship...

...and stared down into the waves.





"Two hundred meters!" Rarity stammered.  As the runes of Bleak's Plummet strobed at a greater and greater distance, she looked worriedly at Rainbow.  "We're losing them!"

"We're not going to make it to the ships!" Twilight said.

Rainbow sputtered.  Gargled.  She looked all around with the scant air afforded by the helmet.

Then, with tense muscles, she "climbed" up the length of Enix's torpedo just as its runes were going dead.

"Sugarcube?"  Applejack blinked.  "What—?"

Without hesitation, Rainbow perched her body against the "nose" of the torpedo.  She tensed every muscle, straightened her equine figure straight out... and sprung her rear legs off the projectile.

Seawater rippled as she propelled herself forward.  Then—at a strategic moment—she shot both wings out at her sides, steering her speeding body towards the frontmost ship as she carried the momentum of the torpedo that had brought her there.

"One hundred and eighty meters!" Rarity gasped.  "One hundred and sixty!"

"Go, Dashie!  Go Dashie!" Pinkie cheered.

Rainbow barely registered her words.  The last shields of her helmet were finally fizzling out.  Rainbow put all her concentration into the glide forward—all the while clutching the satchel of explosive runes to her chest.

"One hundred and forty!  One hundred and twenty!"





"Seraphimus???" the crew ponies stammered.

She didn't answer.  Icily, the former Commander trotted the length of the starboard side railing.  Her charcoal-brown eyes studied the lights that were flickering due west of them.

At last, she reached the bow, squinting out into the depths.

Her beak muscles tightened as she saw the runic lights approaching the wake of the three ships, growing brighter and brighter beneath the surface.





"What is it?"  A Frostknifer besides the Defense Minister's chariot craned his neck.

Several other soldiers shifted where they stood, immensely curious about the movement on board the eastmost ship.

"What's going on?  What's the problem?"

Chandler's lips pursed.  He exhaled in a cold breath.  "She sees something..."





"W'lyppa syln wyl'ylyhym!"

"Wyn'sylma syln H'Luun!"

"Wym!  Lyn'syppa thym'lym hy'ml!"

Nicole and Echo crept closer until they were hugging each other.  Their slitted eyes reflected the hulls of the three vessels... and the churning surf between them.





"Eighty meters!"  Rarity spun about.  "Rainbow Dash, you're nearly there—!"

All was water and thunder.

The runes around Rainbow's helmet flickered for one last time.

With lungs aching, Rainbow tilted her head straight up and took a daring—sputtering—final breath of the remaining pocket of air.  In the next blink, she yanked the hollow bleakweed helmet clear off her skull and flung it behind her.  Eyes glaring into the depths, she kicked her rear legs and swam the rest of the way.

Her ghostly companions shouted and yelped and—





"That's it!" Ariel hollered through the whipping winds.  She, Wildcard, and Enix settled on separate cloudbeds—darkened from all of the compressed moisture they had gathered in the swift glide west.  "Pack it all in!  Spread apart!  Hold your positions!"

Enix timed her commanding shrieks with the thunder so as to mask her echoes of Ariel's orders.  She and her fellow sarosians perched nervously at their stations, waiting for the next moment.

A moment... that was not coming.

Wildcard's goggles rattled.  He appeared across the thunderous heights, made eye-contact with Ariel, and hand-signed emphatically.

Ariel gulped.  "I don't know... we were supposed to hear from her by now!"  Pensively, she looked down through the stormy mists with worried eyes.  "She should have made it at this point..."





Rainbow's lungs were on fire.

A persistent ringing noise filled her ears as the edges of her vision blacked out—framed by a haunting harmonic gold.

She anchored herself to it... floating upwards... approaching the rusted belly of a massive metal shape.

Rarity shouted something.  Twilight was pointing.

Weakly... with muscles screaming... Rainbow reached a hoof up towards the rudder.

Cl-Clang!

Her fetlock made contact.

The rest of her body swung from the momentum of her arrival.

She spun about, her other fetlock stretched westward from the murderous weight of the explosive satchel.

She clenched her teeth... screaming bubbles.

Fluttershy shrieked.  Rarity and Twilight rambled in a panic.  Applejack and Pinkie Pie cheered their friend on.

Eyes rolling, Rainbow tugged at the satchel... and yanked her body up.





Seraphimus' eyes were locked on the lights far west.  She could see the immense shadowy shape of something rising with great speed, encompassing a good chunk of the ocean's surface from below.

"Lieutenant!" she hollered to a member of the skeletonous crew behind her.  "Signal the Defense Minister that we have a—"

Splaaash!

"... ... ...?!"  Seraphimus looked straight down.





"Hckkkkkkkkt!" Rainbow inhaled as much oxygen as she could.  She clung to the rusted stern of the ship, breaking the surface and writhing from the force of air rushing into her lungs.

In the next waking moment, she pierced the thick malaise of her body's sheer ache and grasped the satchel in both hooves.

"Rainbow...!" Fluttershy exclaimed in a high-pitched tone.

"...?!"  Rainbow looked straight up.  Her eyes reflected Seraphimus.

Seraphimus' reflected Rainbow.

Thunder.

Waves.

Seraphimus frowned.  Scrkkkk!  With razor sharp claws, she perched on the very edge of the ship.  "Guardians of Frostknife—!"

Without flinching, Rainbow swiftly hooked the straps of the satchel around a loose rivet.  "H'rhnum!!!"  In the next blink, she had backflipped, kicked her legs off the ship's hull, and dove reverse back into the water.

"—the Rainbow Rogue is—"  Seraphimus began, but she didn't finish.  She became aware of a high-pitched vibration.  Her eyes fell to the dangling satchel directly below.

...a satchel stuck to the brim with lunar rocks that were growing bright, brighter, and—

Vrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

KAPOWWWWWWWW!!!!!!
> Everyone Gets a Free Trap
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Brye Chandler's eyes lit up.

He and his fellow officers gasped loudly as the final horizon erupted in flame directly in front of them.

The Central Guard watched in numb horror as the front end of the foremost ship was propelled skyward from the sheer blast.  The hull broke apart in a dozen pieces while bodies of the skeleton crew went flying every which way.

Before anyone could make out more details, a thick wave of water slammed into their bow, causing the entire ship to jostle.

Chandler wobbled in his chariot.

Armored soldiers fell and tumbled across the deck.

Keris and the rest of Talon gripped the railing as hard as they could, their hawkeyes reflecting orange flame and debris.





Shrieks filled the chambers of Bleak's Plummet.

The world around the sarosians roared with the deep bass percussion of the explosion's shockwave.

Nicole and Echo gazed into the frothing waters with shocked expressions.





"H'wynsyln mym s'wynym!" one of the two warriors on board the Stardust exclaimed, pointing west.

"...?"  Bard spun around in time to see a tall plume of orange flame piercing the heavens due west, accompanied by a distant boom.  His muzzle dropped in shock.

The waters around the rusted ship grew choppier for a few seconds.





Remna was pacing in circles beside the array of dangling chalices when a dull thud reached the Emeraldinian platform, piercing the rain and thunder at the edge of the world.

Kepler and Flynn looked up from their instruments.

Violet brow furrowed, Remna twirled about and peered west.

Soon, the usual ambiance of thunder and rushing water filled the gap that the odd noise had made.

The Heraldites exchanged mute glances—tense and curious.





A nervous murmur rolled through all of Enix's nightblooded warriors.  Most exchanged shocked expressions while others kept their gaze locked on the fading flames far below.  As the tumultuous explosion came to a conclusion, there was scarcely any sign of the ship left to be seen—just random chunks of smoldering wreckage left adrift in the stormy waters.

Enix clenched her jaw.  She glanced across the thick black clouds to where the rest of the party waited in ambush.

Wildcard stared down at the remaining two ships in mute contemplation.

Ariel—however—was far less meditative.  "Holy hell..."  She grimaced vividly, wingtips trembling from where she perched on her thundercloud.  "Spirit of Mortuana."  She closed her eyes tightly shut.  "Please let her have lived through that."





Chunks of red-hot debris bobbed in the boiling waters.

Tiny clouds of misty splashes pock-marked the ocean all around the epicenter of the blast—where a murky white swirl of lunar dust had formed.

To the east, the largest surviving piece of the ship—its bow—sunk slowly and menacingly into the waters.  There were occasional screams and moans echoing over the waves, but the source of such voices could scarcely be seen through the smoke and haze.

And then... towards the west end of the debris field—

Splooooosh!

—a petite blue shape surfaced, treading water desperately beside a smattering of still-smoking shrapnel.

Rainbow Dash opened one eye... and then the other.  Her Loyalty pendant was pulsating wildly... and her loyal friends chattering a mile a minute as they attempted to bring order to the chaotic moment.  Between listening to them and avoiding the tiny specks of debris still falling all around, Rainbow Dash couldn't find the time to feel if any limbs had been damaged or if anypony on board the ship had survived the explosion or—

Waves.

Ripples.

Steam.

Rainbow flung a weak glance westward.  The other two ships were closing in fast.





"—what in the Hell happened to them?!"

"Verlaxion's sleet!"

"—like a sword of fire from the heart of the ocean—"

"Did a comet hit the ship?!"

"The windigoes!  It had to have been them—!"

Brye Chandler gnashed his teeth.  Waving from where he stood on his chariot, he struggled and strained to win the attention of his panicked troops.  No matter how loudly he shouted, the sheer commotion of his subordinates drowned him out.  A few soldiers perched on the ship's bow, preparing to dive madly into the waters to search for survivors.  Others wrestled them back, and a fight nearly broke out between the hysterical numbers.

Meanwhile—hanging back by the stern—Keris and his fellow wingmates watched in curious silence, observing the degree to which madness took over the rest of the crew.

At last, it was Keris who muttered:  "She did it."

The rest of the Talon flashed him a look.

"This was done on purpose."  Keris' eyes narrowed.  "This is exactly what Rainbow Dash needs to get an edge: reduce the pursuing enemy to enraged fools."

"Commander..."  Raptr fidgeted, glancing east into the fresh sea of debris.  "Do you mean to say that... Rainbow Dash just killed Seraphimus?"

To that, Keris had no answer.  He gazed calmly into the mess, his ears ringing from the shouting voices of Chandler and his soldiers.





"That ka-boom was waaaaaaaay more ka-boomy than I expected!"

"But it's over now, Pinkie!  Now we have to make sure Rainbow Dash gets away safely!"

"'Safely?'  Just look at her, darling!  She must have a dozen broken bones and a concussion!"

"Don't ya think she woulda told us if she had broken somethin'?"

"Girls, we have to help Rainbow Dash get out of here.  The enemy is closing in!"

"Did you see where those bodies went flying?!  Whew-wee!  They won't be eating any cheese and crackers anytime soon!"

"Pinkie..."

"Everypony quiet!  We have a job to do!"

"Rainbow, you must swim away from here, darling!"

"Them varmints are almost on top of ya!"

"Please, Rainbow!  You look so hurt and exhausted!  Let's find a place where you can go and recover!"

Rainbow Dash wheezed.  Her head bobbed up and down in the water—so that she sputtered moisture on every third breath.  A hot strip of metal drifted past her, followed by a smoking chunk of twisted debris.

Twitching, her eyes tilted up—scouring the surface.

The two ships roared closer, their twin bows piercing the water and the peppered layer of lunar dust.  From meters away, she could hear the confused, angry, and vengeful voices of over a hundred adrenalized Rohbreddenites.

"Where..."  Rainbow Dash hissed, shivering along the surface of the murky water.  "...where is Bleak's Plummet...?"

"Rainbow, darling."  Rarity gulped.  "Perhaps now is not the time for—"

"Where?!"

Rarity winced.  "It's... it's s-surfacing west of the ships!"

"Should be visible any moment now," Fluttershy nodded.

Rainbow Dash's jaw muscles tightened.  "Then my work here isn't done."

"Rainbow..."  Twilight flew in closer.  "If you could just wait a few more minutes to recover—"

"Don't... gnngh... h-have a few minutes..."  Rainbow Dash swam over to a strip of metal and climbed it until she was perched on the bobbing thing.  "Nicole, Echo, and the rest are st-still at risk.  If I don't capitalize on this..."

"Rainbow, I enjoy a good slobberknocker like the rest," Applejack stammered.  "But are ya sure yer able to carry on like this?"

"No."  Rainbow frowned, stretching her wings.  "Which is exactly why I gotta."  She glanced at the rest of the mares.  "Devilish smirks on, girls.  It's time to be bad guys."

"Ohhhhhhhhhh..."  Rarity moaned, her ghostly body slumped.  "...I was positively dreading this part."

"Be careful, Rainbow," Twilight insisted.

"You know I won't."  Rainbow held her breath, kicked off the debris...





...and soared up into the sky like a prismatic beacon.  Her ruby pendant lit up, glinting off the metal surfaces of the two ships.

Dozens of Frostknifers instantly gasped.  As the ruby light broke through the stormy malaise, the combined crew of both ships looked up to see their elusive target at long last.  If even for a second, their angry veneer was replaced with sheer shock... and perhaps a tiny bit of pallid trepidation.

"Haah haah haah haah!" Rainbow's comically bombastic voice broke the thunder, and yet when it landed on the soldiers' ears it dug its way in deep like a dagger.  "Is that the best you've got to send me?!"

"Commander!" Starstorm pointed.  "Look—!"

"Shhhh!"  Keris hissed, nodding towards the spectral figure presenting herself to the armada.  "I see her."

The Talon observed sharply as Rainbow Dash continued her villainous display in the misty air east of the two ships.

"I killed your pathetic Verlaxion without breaking a sweat!" Rainbow Dash snarled through grinning, gnashing teeth.  Her ruby eyes swam around until she found the sight of a shiny chariot with a heavily-armored figure seated inside.  She focused all of her menace and swagger on the northern ship.  "You think a bunch of armored losers in tugboats is enough to scare me?!"  She spat, reaching a hoof up to her pendant so as to increase the otherworldly aura pulsating around her.  "I'll rip you limb from limb and leave the rest for the windigoes to feast on... you sniveling snot-nosed brats of a dead Goddess!"

Brye Chandler gaped up at her, muzzle hanging wide open.  Slowly—as each serrated word sank in—the muscles in his body tightened.  The soldiers gathered around him mimicked their leader's posture as anger and outrage took over every muscle and brain cell.  A low growl perculated deep in the heart of the group, reaching a boiling point as every weapon, blade, and bludgeon imaginable was unsheathed in one coordinated air-ringing moment.

Schiiiii-iiiing!

"Guardians of Frostknife!"  Chandler pointed a guantlet'd hoof up at their infernal target.  "Kill her!  Gut her!  Bring me her head—!"

Rainbow Dash was already taunting them before he could finish his authoritative command.  "Bring your worst, you stupid snow-huffing melon fudges!"  Turning tail, Rainbow Dash rocketed skyward at a brisk forty-five degrees towards the stormclouds looming in the east.

It was with good timing too, for the misty air behind her was swiftly filled with a thunderous salvo of wing-flaps from every able-bodied soldier of the Central Guard lifting off the twin ships simultaneously and giving chase.  Their shadows blackened the already-charred sea as they formed a murderous flock of metal, pursuing the Rainbow Rogue with homicidal thirst.

Only Chandler and two dozen crew members across both ships remained—just enough to competently pilot the vessels—just as Chandler gave the orders:  "Full speed ahead!  Bring us underneath her!"  He hollered up at the last line of soldiers accelerating skyward.  "Close in around the Rogue on all sides!  We'll be there to catch her entrails!"

"Minister!"  Keris and the rest of the Talon reached the chariot in a blink.  The Commander grimaced as the last of countless shadows streaked past him.  "Honestly?!  Sending the entire squadron?!  Can't you rein some of them in, for Verlaxion's sake?!"

"Not now, Commander—"

"This is clearly a distraction!" Keris hollered, gesturing at the smoldering remains of the destroyed point ship.  "If the Rainbow Rogue truly wanted to defeat us, then why did she spare the ship we were on—?"

"If you honestly wish to help, Commander..."  Chandler pivoted about in the chariot, leaning over to snarl in the griffon's face.  "Then fly up there and assist my troops!"

Keris frowned.  But before he could retort—

"Commander..."  Windburst leaned in, murmuring so that only he could hear.  "That would be the best way to find out what Rainbow is up to... and assist her."

Hearing the words of his sergeant, Keris reached a characteristically calm state.  He gave the bobbing debris one final look before approaching the bow, perching on it, and spreading his feathers.  "Talon!  Righteous defenders of Rohbredden...!"

Starstorm, Windburst, and Raptr perched all around him.

"—take wing!"  And the group soared skyward with swift grace.

Without breaking a sweat, Chandler gestured at the soldiers and crew ponies scrambling across the deck around him.

"Bring us around the debris!  Heat the engines up to full temperature!"  He pointed south.  "Tell our sister ship to keep a respectable distance!  I want us to provide full support at any moment for our noble brothers in pursuit of the Rainbow Rogue!"  Blood vessels throbbed in his emerald eyes as he sneered into the sky.  "Either we bring her guts back to Frostknife or we don't come back at all!"





Swoooo-oooo-ooosh!

Rainbow streaked her way through denser and denser thunder clouds.  Her sweating, rain-soaked figure glinted from the flashes of lightning above and beneath her.

The same bright-blue pulses illuminated a veritable wyrm of angry armor soaring up after her.

Hissing voices pierced the heavens, drawing closer:

"...going to avenge my family in your blood!"

"...bring back your head as a trophy to Verlaxion!"

"Pull your every entrail out and feed it back to you!"

Applejack whistled, clutching her ghostly hat.  "Well, they're ticked off, alright!"

"Oh goodness..."  Fluttershy shivered.  "I... I-I didn't expect them to be so close that I could hear their voices!"

"They're getting closer."  Twilight moaned, jittery.

"Don't worry!"  Pinkie Pie chirped.  "Dashie's got a plan that will make this alllllll better!"  Gulping, the party pony looked worriedly at their anchor.  "Right, Dashie?"

"Just... gotta... get... to... the Herald..." Rainbow gnashed her teeth, piercing the dark clouds above.

"Then why aren't you going faster, darling?" Rarity insisted.  "We all know you can fly faster than this?"

"Because..."  Rainbow sweated, throwing a breathless glance at the angry army surging after her.  "...I gotta make sure they follow me all the way."

"This is a mite bit more than I thought we was gonna be doin' fisticuffs with," Applejack said.  "You sure our lil' ambush is enough to take these Frostknife folks to the woodshed?"

"They're not all bad ponies and griffons, Applejack," Fluttershy suddenly insisted.

Applejack sighed.  "Fluttershy, sugarcube..."

"What I mean is..."  Fluttershy swifly clarified.  "...the Talon's with them."

Rainbow glanced at her.

"Keris.  The others."  Fluttershy managed a smile—even if it was a weak one.  "They're taking up the rear."

"Well..."  Twilight's eartips perked.  "At least that's something."

"Brilliant!"  Rarity cheered.  "Then there's an infinitesimal candle of hope after a—"

"What are you stupid foals made out of?!  Lead?!" Rainbow Dash hollered down through the thunder and swirling mists.  Lightning reflected her toothy, evin grin.  "I killed your stupid Queen, and all you wanna do is chase each other's farts!"

The angry voices below her redoubled.

"Going to rip your muzzle clean off!"

"In Verlaxion's name!"

"Your legacy ends here, Rogue!"

"Your blood will stain the world's end red!"

Rarity frowned.  "Really?!  Rainbow Dash—"

"Gotta get them dumb-angry!"  She accelerated just quickly enough to keep out of spear-tossing range of the pursuing forces.  "So I can outsmart them with brave-angry!"

"Our friends!" Fluttershy pointed at a solid ceiling of dark thunderclouds drowning the stars above.  "They're waiting—"

"Good!" Rainbow Dash wheezed, flapping her wings harder as she spiraled into the black mists amidst broiling thunder.  "Time to disappear!"





Far below, Windburst's hawkeyes narrowed.  "Sir!"

Keris drifted closer as the four Talon members soared skyward.  "What is it, Sergeant?"

"Rainbow.  She's..."  Windburst's beak tightened.  "...she's disappeared."

"What do you mean 'disappeared?'" Raptr stammered.

"These clouds..."  Starstorm gazed at the sudden labyrinthine collection of dark vapors above and around them.  "...they appear to be closing in."

"A trap..."  Keris glanced left and right.  "...it has to be."

"This must be what Rainbow wants, then!" Starstorm exclaimed.  "The whole explosion down below was just the bait!  This is the actual delivery!"

"Then we gotta rush to the head of the group!" Raptr insisted as the four continued to ascend behind the Frostknifers.  "End this before it gets bad!"

Keris said nothing.

"D-don't we?" Raptr squeaked.

"No.  Let's..."  Keris flapped his wings slower, purposefully decelerating.  "...let's see where this goes."

Windburst peered aside.  "You want to see what Rainbow has in store?"

"It's not just her," Keris said, nodding his feathered skull at the mess.  "If this is what I think it is..."

"It has to be the work of dozens of ponies," Starstorm said.

"Right."  Keris exhaled.  "It so happens we're the only members of the Minister's hunting party level-headed enough to see it."

"Does this mean that Rainbow's going to bring the hammer down on our companions here?" Raptr asked.

"If we hold back too much," Windburst said.  "Chandler's gonna notice, don't you think?"

"No.  I think he's positively blind right now... and Rainbow's counting on it," Keris said.  "So should we."  He looked at Raptr.  "And—no—I don't think Rainbow intends on keeping true to what her persona says.  Not if she can help it."

Raptr gulped.  "Didn't she take Seraphimus' life just now?"

Windburst and Starstorm exchanged glances.

"Raptr..."  Keris calmly exhaled, gazing up at the bloodlusting squadron as it drew further and futher into the stormclouds.  "...if by now you expect nothing of our former Commander but defeat, then you truly don't know Seraphimus."





Salt water splashed against her beak.

Ashes from burning debris laced her feathery neck.

She winced, muscles twitching from where she clung to an L-shaped scrap of rusted bulkhead.

Two other survivors were slumped over the same floating shrapnel—their bodies writhing upon the spot where Seraphimus had personally rescued and tethered them safely after a heroic swim.

Thunder rolled... accompanied by another loud rumble.

One charcoal eye opened... then the next.

Seraphimus peered weakly at the cloudy sky—as it was soon blotted out by the hull of a rusted steamship speeding past her.  Above her.

"Guh!"  The former commander grimaced, reaching out to steady the other two survivors as their floating debris was shaken, rocked, and nearly tipped completely over in the wake of the churning vessel.  "Goddess alive..."  She hissed, frowning at the two ships as they roared past her on both sides.  "Chandler!"  Anger.  Frustration.  Heat.  "Runes!  Lunar rocks!"  Her hoarse voice scarcely pierced the twilight thunder, much less the engines of both ships.  Her warnings fell on deaf ears.  "She's using the midnighters' blighted magic against us!  This is a trap!  It's—"

Just then, a new sound erupted to the west.  It was a deep bass roar rising in pitch, accompanied by an ocean of frothing bubbles.

Startled, Seraphimus flung an exhausted look past the wake of both ships—just in time to catch an aura of runic light rapidly surfacing.





"Rocks, sir!"  A crewpony looked up at the leader positioned in his chariot.  "Due east!  We're drawing closer to the point of no return!  How far do you wish for us to go?"

Chandler frowned down at the sailor.  "Are we directly beneath our squadron, yet?"

"Erm... no, sir..."  The crewpony shivered slightly.  "But... th-they disappeared!  And if we get too close to the rocks—"

"I told you that we need to be beneath them for when they bring the Rainbow Rogue's bloody body crashing down into the sea!"  Chandler pounded his metal-laced hoof.  "What part of my command did you not understand—?!"

Just then, a loud watery splash lit the air west of them.  The scant remaining members of the crew gasped, with multiple heads turning to gawk beyond the two ships' sterns.

"Defense Minister!"

"Look!"

"Verlaxion's sleet...!"

"Huh?"  Brye Chandler spun about.  His eyes widened, and he nearly dropped his bulky helmet.  "What in blazes...?"

A massive structure had pierced the ocean's surface, laced with pulsating specks of otherworldly magic.  Large, thick branches of gnarled bleakweed glistened in the rain and lightning.  Along the topmost balconies, translucent glowing windows could be seen—with several velvety dark bodies lingering within.  From the sheer blackness looming just beneath the waters, it was more than evident that the two crews were only spotting the tip of a massive, twisting iceberg.

"Where... where d-did that come from?!" a pony stammered.

"Did... did that thing just glide beneath us?"

"It appears stationary."

"They're flanking us!  Brace for attack—"

"With what?!  I don't see any artillery!  Do you?"

"I..."  Brye Chandler paled and paled.  The rage and determination that had empowered him mere minutes ago had completely drained, and suddenly he was once again a confused Consortium businessstallion garbed in a gilded tin can.  "I don't understand.  How...?  Who...?"

"Sir..." One of two bodyguards peered up at him with hard hawkeyes.  "Bleak's Plummet."

Chandler gulped.  "Bleak's... Plummet...?"

"The midnighters' dwelling place that the privateers told us about!  It has to be!"  The griffon pointed west.  "At last, we've uncovered it!"

"Sir!" another crew member spat.  "We're approaching the lower position!  As ordered!"

Chandler shivered.  He looked east at the looming rocks, then back west at the bleakweed structure.  He shivered some more.

"Sir!  What is your next command?"

"There are midnighters behind us, Minister."

"Our squadron should be engaging the Rainbow Rogue at this moment!"

"This might be our one chance to silence the Seventh Tribe once and for all!"

"I... I..."  Chandler clenched his eyes shut.  He took a deep breath... and when his eyes reopened, it was filled with the same spirited vitriol that brought him and the rest of the guardians that far.  "I must ensure that we properly avenge our murdered Goddess."  He pointed sharply towards the heavens.  "All eyes on the sky!  Steady on our course eastward!  The moment the Rainbow Rogue falls, I want us to catch her... and rip her heart out!"

"Aye, sir!"

"Signal the sister ship!  Maintain position once we're at the shoals!" Chandler shouted.  "Our goal is the death of the Rainbow Rogue!  I will not rest until her blood is on my hooves!"

The air around him filled with one singular voice of passion.





Nicole and Echo watched—awestruck—as the two vessels grew more and more distant along the murky sea.  They rested easy as Bleak's Plummet bobbed in the choppy waves, undisturbed.

"I don't believe it," Echo murmured, sharing surprised looks with his sarosian companions.  "They're leaving us alone!  I mean... I mean they saw us, right?"

"They must have seen Rainbow too."  Nicole gulped.  "What else would you expect?"

"Those dumb... stupid... brainless bastards."  Echo's fangs showed in a bright grin.  "Eee-eee-eee" he chortled.  "They're actually buying it!"

The chambers filled with breathy, elated moonwhinny.

"Quick!"  Echo spun about.  "Tell every platform and every able-bodied hoof to hurry with re-enchanting the runes!  We've been given a window to get out of this shitfest with our heads intact!"  He glanced back out the window, leafy ears shifting.  "Let's not waste it..."

"Thank you..."  Nicole had her hooves clasped together as her eyes rested on the ships growing more and more distant.  "Thank you, Rainbow..."





Seraphimus was beside herself with incredulous anger.

Bobbing in the water, she gaped at Bleak's Plummet... at the ships... then at the midnighter domain again.

"Dammit..."

She hissed.

"Dammit, Chandler..."

She snarled.

That snarl soon turned into a growl... and then a breathy roar as her muscles flexed.

Abandoning the other survivors, Seraphimus stood up with a burst of violent strength...

...and propelled herself straight up with a flash of silver wings.  When she flew, it was not towards the Defense Minister's armada.  It was not towards Bleak's Plummet.  It was not towards the edge of the world.

She flew a bee-line at the storm clouds... and towards the last seen location of Frostknife's embittered squadron.  In a blink, she disappeared between the flashes of lightning.
> Drop It Like It's Heraldic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The ascending guardians of Frostknife had to squint from the blinding bands of electricity branching high above them.  Still angered and thirsting pegasus blood—they had nevertheless slowed their flight considerably since the initial pursuit of the Rainbow Rogue began.  This was brought on by the increasingly opaque clouds now looming around them, dull and dark and dismal.

Pegasi and griffons craned their necks, peering beyond the serrated ends of their swords and polearms.  The sky above them had thickened to an obsidian degree, and—try as they might—they couldn't detect a single shred of blue... much less any color attached to an athletic pair of wings.

While a few Central Guardians shivered with obligatory fright, the majority of the group carried the same surly temper that accelerated them there.  They gnashed their teeth and clenched their beaks, looking every which way for their boastful target.

"Where in Verlaxion's name did she go?!"

"The Rogue flew up here!  I saw her!"

"Damned coward!  It's just like Starkiss all over again!"

"Going to rip her tongue out and feed it back to her—"

"Shhhhh!"  An armored pegasus at the front of the group raised a hoof, peering about with dagger-sharp eyes.  "Quiet!"

A nervous hush fell over the squadron as they hovered to a stand-still.

"The thunder..."  A griffon muttered, glancing every which way.  "...it's stopped."

"What..."  Another soldier gazed about, her brow furrowed.  "...what happened to the lightning?"

Just as she finished saying this, a tingling sensation fluttered through the body of every Frostknifer in the vicinity.  The pegasi gawked at each other as their mane and tail hairs stood on end.  Tiny blue sparks flickered between griffon wingfeathers.

"The air!" a soldier at the front shouted.  Miniature bolts materialized between the molars of his shouting maw.  "It's being charged!"

"The clouds—!"

"Move!  Move!  Move—!"





The panicked shouts of the Central Guard made its way up to the very top of that dense cluster of burnt-gray stormclouds.  There—wheezing for breath—Rainbow Dash had collapsed in a sweaty slump atop a bed of mists.  She looked over at Ariel and nodded briskly.

Ariel nodded back.  In a blink, she flew up high, signaling through the clear starry sky surrounding her.

Enix and Wildcard saw her signal—as did the rest of the midnighters spread across the cloud's summit.  In one accord, over a dozen sarosians lifted up, tightened their wings, and dropped straight down onto the roofs of the stormclouds.  Their equine figures made hard contact with the mists, sending shockwaves of pegasus magic shooting down, down, down—ultimately exploding through the inner core.





KRA-KOOOOM!

A hundred brilliant blue branches of lightning forked its way down the narrow canyon of charged air between the clouds, electrocuting over a hundred helpless soldiers stuck in the claustrophobic air pocket.  Screams and pained grunts lit the sky.  Helmets and swords flew—magnetized at random by the electrical contact so that they flew off in haphazard directions, occasionally ricocheting off the skulls and chests of other ambushed guardians.

The squadron that had pursued Rainbow Dash was instantly cleaved in half.  Dozens of Rohbreddenites—their muscles spasming and their hair and feathers charred—dropped like twitching anvils, pinballing painfully off lower mists and cloudbanks.  The rest spiraled about, shouting orders to one another in panic and desperation.  Utilizing their hooves, talons, and gold weapons, they struggled to chop and hack their way through the compact mists.





Keris' hawkeyes twitched.

"Whoah!" Raptr grimaced.  Hard.

As the blinding flash above them faded, the air filled with plummeting bodies.

"Lightning discharge!" Starstorm stammered.  "The soldiers!  They're—"

"Alive!" Windburst shouted.  "But barely!"

"Quick!"  Keris hollered, stretching both wings backwards and creating drag.  He jerked backwards in mid-air, then fell with weighted purpose.  "Grab as many bodies as you can—!"

"On it!"  Raptr darted left and right, scooping the smaller bodies plunging through the mists.

"Grnnngh!"  Windburst caught a relatively large griffon.  Shouldering the groaning body, he glided sideways in pursuit of a plummeting pegasus.  "Crazy—!"

"There're too many of them!" Starstorm's voice cracked as she struggled to grasp an armored body in her talons.

"I'm certain that's what Rainbow thought!" Keris exclaimed, somehow managing to grasp three figures.  "Quick!  Find a cloud!"

"Where in the heck were they?" Raptr shouted.





Rainbow's allies remained perched on the stormclouds.  They easily spotted the Central Guard's panicked actions below.  They did not let up.  Following the Austraeoh's gesture, three dozen sarosians—with Enix taking point—lifted bleakweed cannons.  Arming them with enchanted runestones, they waited for Ariel and Wildcard to punch rampart holes in the dense stormclouds before taking aim at the remainder of the Central Guardl flailing below.

Fluttershy and Rarity covered their eyes.

"Now!" Rainbow sputtered.

Enix was the first to shout.  "M'wynhrm!"

The sarosians all around them hollered into the starspace surrounding their cannons.

"M'wynhrm!"

"M'wynhrm!"

"M'wynhrm!!!"

The twilight at the world's edge lit up as brilliant plumes of lunar dust sailed down into the cloudy pocket...





...and exploded in deafening concussion blasts right in the midst of the scattered and confused squadron.

POW!

P-POW!

BOOM!

The screams of the Frostknifers were swallowed up by the sheer sonic torture of the sarosians' volley.  Vaporous explosions bubbled outward in every direction, throwing pegasi and griffons in opposite directions and even knocking breastplates clean off their rainsoaked bodies.

Keris and his group gasped.  They had already flown severely off course, dragging unconscious figures through the air with them.  As the concussive blasts warbled outward in every direction, they braced themselves against a lower cloudbank.  Nervously, the griffons looked up at the remains of the squadron.

In the next few flashes of lightning—natural this time—more bodies could be seen plummeting at an exponential rate.

The concussive blasts had a secondary effect.  They shattered the compacted stormclouds clear...





...opening up the sky directly above Chandler's armada.

"Defense Minister!"  A crewpony pointed directly up.  "Look!"

"Ah!  Praise Verlaxion!"  Chandler gazed at the fresh patch of starlight with a proud smirk.  "They've driven her out of hiding—"  Just then, his smile completely vanished.

In place of the stormclouds...

...there was a precipitous string of falling, screaming, smoldering bodies.  Burnt armor formed smoke trails behind flailing pegasi and griffons as they fell towards the choppy waves below, accompanied by agonized shrieks and voice-cracking prayers to Verlaxion.

All ponies on board the two ships paled in horror.  Soon, they—and Chandler as well—were pelted with wet splashes of salt water as the grunting bodies slammed into the ocean's surface on all sides of the twin convoy.

Splash!

Sp-Sploosh!

Splaaash!

"Guh!  Goddess have mercy!"  Chandler shielded himself from inside his chariot.  He flung a snarling breath at the sky.  "What in the burning Springs Havens happened to my squadron?!"





"Midnighters!"

"Black magic!"

"It's the Blight!  They've rained it upon us—!"

"Aaaaaaaaah—!"

"Rrrrrgh!"  A particularly angry pegasus flung his burnt helmet off and shouted at the rest of the Central Guard still airborne following the one-two punch of lightning and runes.  "Soldiers of Rohbredden!  Take wing!"  He hollered over his shoulder, even as the lunar dust settled around him.  "Regroup!"

"Regroup!"

"Formation, soldiers!"

"Up high!  Bodies!"

"I see them!"

"It's the Rogue!"

"Attack!"

"Raaaaaaaaaugh—!"





Pinkie Pie whistled.  Her ghostly eyes reflected two dozen gold-armored bodies ascending rapidly from the sundered stormclouds below.  She turned to flash Rainbow a worried look.

"There's a bunch of them still flying, Dashie!"  She gulped.  "And suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper merry-go-round party-poop'd!"

"I... I-I count nearly thirty!" Fluttershy managed to stammer.  "They're coming in fast!"

"Rainbow?" Ariel cocked another runic cannon as she leaned over her friend's shoulder.  "What's the tally?"

"There's still a bunch of them flying!" Rainbow sputtered, looking at the rest of her allies.  "Fluttershy says thirty incoming!"

"That does not surprise me."  Enix's mutated nostril flared as she readied a whalebone scimitar.  Schiiiiing!  "Time for the tasty part."

"Do we have to engage them already?" Ariel's voice cracked.

Enix hissed, "There isn't enough time to reload a second volley."

"We won't need it!"  Rainbow spun and shouted at a group of sarosians.  "Signal the Stardust!  Time for fireworks!"

"V'ylynwym!" Enix echoed Rainbow's command in moonwhinny.  "Ly'lnym sym Stardust thy'wylnnalym sylnm!"

"Ywm, Enix!" One sarosian patted the shoulders of two others.

The nightblood ponies were already aiming two cannons eastward.  Ariel joined them with her enchanted cylinder, squinting down the sight.  "Y'symma!  Y'lynwyn!" the three shouted in unison.

Pffffffffftchooom!  Three brilliant flares soared eastward...





...and sailed over the heads of Keris, Starstorm, Raptr, and Windburst.  The Right Talon of Verlaxion were just then settling their rattled companions down on a series of cloudbeds when they saw the runic projectiles flying past them and towards the edge of the world.

"Okay..."  Windburst shuddered, dropping another soldier onto the wispy cloudbeds.  "I couldn't have been the only one who saw that."

"She's got a system in effect," Starstorm stated.

"Quite right, Sergeant."  Keris nodded, catching his breath.  "Somehow... I don't think Chandler's done being punished."

Raptr squinted.  He watched as the flares reached the apex of their flight...





...and exploded high above the clouds in bright yellow splashes of flame, illuminating the waters before the edge of the world.

Bard's eyes reflected the bursts, and he stood up tall behind the rudder wheel of the Stardust.

"Yeeeee-ha!  There's the signal!"  He grinned from ear to ear.  "That means she's still alive!  Whew!"

"We are to engage!" one of his two sarosian crewmates hissed.  "The Blood of Luna has summoned us!"

"Darn tootin'!"  He tipped a hat that wasn't here, then clasped the wheel with two hooves.  "Heat up the engines!  Then get into position!  I'm takin' us out of hiding!"

Within seconds, the Stardust roared at full speed, weaving its way out from where it hid amidst the rocks and ancient seawrecks lining the world's edge.

"I'm gettin' us out into the clear!" Bard hollered, squinting past errant sprays of salt water as he navigated the waves.  "Do ya have a fix on our target?!"

The other sarosian galloped out of the engine room.  Using a pair of spyglasses, the two nightblood warriors scanned the western horizon.

"Well?!"  Bard gnashed his teeth, struggling to steer the Stardust straight.  "Time's-a-wastin'!"

"H'nylym!" one sarosian spat.  He pointed with a velvety fetlock.  "There!  To the southwest!"

"Use time-clock numbers!" Bard growled.  "Like I taught you both an hour ago!"

"Erm... ten o'clock from our position, I do believe!"

"Gotcha!  I see 'em!"  Bard squinted at the twin ships in the distance.  His eyes twitched as he spotted a column of bodies falling towards the choppy waters surrounding Chandler's armada.  "Dayum, girl.  Reckon this will feel like stompin' a mudhole dry."

Meanwhile, the two sarosians had armed a pair of bleakweed cannons.  "Enchanted and ready!"

"Let 'em have it!" Bard hollered, grinning.  "And dun forget to shut the cabin door or else we'll all go up in smoke!"

One sarosian was already slamming the Stardust's sound proof engine compartment shut with a flick of his rear hoof.  Then—with the steady support of his partner—he shouted into his cannon.  "M'wynhrm!"

The other sarosian did the same.  "M'wynhrm!"

Fl-Flasssh!  Twin projectiles sailed a shimmering path towards the distant armada.

"Biscuits and gravy..."  Bard exhaled, squinting at the impending chaos.  "This'll turn the ocean yellow for darn sure."





"Sergeant Windburst!" Keris shouted, mounting the western edge of their cloudbed.  "How many of Chandler's troops are still airborne?"

"Uhm..."  The skilled sergeant stared up at the dissipating stormclouds.  "Hard to tell!  Over twenty, I think!  Why?  What's your plan?"

"Rainbow's made her strength known!" Keris said.  "With Chandler's charge so swiftly immobilized, maybe there's a chance I can talk both sides out of taking this to the next level—"

"Duck!" Starstorm shouted.

"...!!!"  Keris and Raptr pressed themselves down to the fluffy cloud bed.  They and the recovering soldiers watched incredulously as two burning streaks of runic magic sailed over their feathery scalps and plunged due west.  "Then again," the Commander wheezed.

"Jeez!"  Raptr wheezed.  "Where did those come from?"

"More to the point."  Starstorm grimaced.  "Where are they headed?"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh boy..."  Windburst couldn't help but chuckle, hawkeyes peering at their destination.  "...you're not going to believe this."





"Quickly!"  Chandler shouted, pointing with a shaking hoof.  "Quickly, now!"

Below him, crew ponies were busily throwing nets and ropes over the sides of the ship's hull.  The squad members who had been blown from the sky struggled to get a hoof-hold.  Pained survivors swam to their companions while several panicked soldiers clamored up the edge of the vessels, their wings too wet and battered to function properly at the moment.

"Get them all on board!" Chandler frowned.  "Every second we waste plucking ourselves out of the drink is one more second the Rainbow Rogue uses to get away—!"

"Sir!"  A panicked sailor spun to face his leader in the chariot.  "There isn't enough rope or netting to get them back on board quickly enough!"

"What about the lifeboats?!" Chandler spat.  "Why aren't we using them?"

"Uhm..."

"Well?!"

"We... we l-lost all of them when... erm... you sent the privateers away... s-sir..."

Chandler blinked.  A few seconds later, he was pounding his fetlock against the edge of his chariot.  "Dammit!  I don't want excuses!"  He pointed at the waters, even as more flailing bodies from above plunged into the waves.  "Just get everypony on board!  We need to mount a second attack to reinforce our brothers and sisters who are still in the air—"

Just then, the sky lit up with runic light.  Ponies and griffons in the water shrieked.  Chandler's bodyguards rushed towards him.

"Minister!"

"Incoming!"

"Incoming?"  Chandler turned around with a bored expression.  "What's incoming—shit on a bagel!"  He cowered deep in his chariot as—

KA-POWWWW!

One concussive rune exploded off the port bow and—

BOOOOOOM!

A second exploded just south of the their sister ship.  Walls of water bathed both decks as the bodies of survivors went sailing—and screaming—only to land in even choppier waves on the other side of the armada.

Chandler's ears were full of ringing and moisture—so that he scarcely made out the words of a spotter positioned haphazardly at his bow.

"Enemy ship!" she hollered into the bedlam.  "Due east!  Coming out of the rocks!"

"Grnnngh!"  Chandler gnashed his teeth as he rocked in his chariot.  "Fire b-back!"

The spotter flashed him a panicked grimace.  "With what?!"

Chandler fumbled for words.  Even if he could find something to say, the moment was cut off by a second volley exploding directly above them.

POWWWW!

This time, the runic blast sent the two ships reeling.  Breathless survivors gasped and dove out of way before the rusted hulls of both ships could slice their bodies to ribbons.  All was confusion and chaos as the waterlogged armada struggled to deal with the surprise artillery barrage.





"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh—!"  The remainder of Chandler's airborne squadron continued their ascent—only to feel a blinding sensation in their peripheral vision.

The air was sucked out of their lungs, and their nerves were wracked by even more shockwaves.  In a breathless stupor, the soldiers glanced straight down in mid-flight.

They spotted plumes of orange flame erupting on all sides of the Defense Minister's armada.  Concussive blasts sent jets of salt water rocketing skyward—until it nearly nipped at their talons and fetlocks.

The group gawked one second too long.  And as their charge carried blindly into the tenth second, they heard an echoing salvo of shouts directly above.  Glancing towards the heavens, they spotted several velvety figures clearing the dissipating cloudtops... just as two burning flares flew in sharply from the east—exploding in blinding glory.

Pow!

P-Pow!

Kapow!

A few of the guardians shrieked, clutching their helmets in momentary blindness.  Others were rendered inert as the intense concussions overwhelmed their figures.  The rest summoned strength and adrenaline from deep within their armored bodies and continued with their murderous charge.

"Kill the rogue!"

"Gut the demons of Blight!"

"For Verlaxion!!!""







"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh they're angry," Fluttershy whimpered, shivering as she phased through Rainbow's body—almost as if to hide.

"They're coming in fast!" Ariel hollered as she and the rest of the group levitated directly above the violent charge.  "Bard's runes didn't knock 'em all out!"

"We'd be stupid to expect them to."  Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth, waving a hoof high for the rest of the flock to see.  "Okay, dudes!  This is it!  Time to get dirty!"

Schiiiing!  Wildcard unsheathed both nightsticks as his goggles reflected dozens of angry faces.

"S'lyppa w'lyssa yln H'luun!!!" Enix shrieked, making the very stars above them shake with her penetrating voice.  "Sy'lymma w'lymm wyssl nymym thrym!!!

"Bruise and incompacitate!  Remember that!" Rainbow Dash wheezed, holding her place as the air grew heated with the incoming wings.  "Beat 'em up!  Not slice 'em up!"

"Try telling them that!" Ariel's voice cracked.  The enemy was flying in fast.

Rainbow nevertheless growled, "Let's be victors today!  Not killers!"  She threw a fetlock downward at the incoming charge.  "For Harmony!  For Bleak's Plummet!  For Luna!"

"Vylm H'luun!" Enix echoed, soaring forward with dual scimitars unsheathed.

"Vylm Hluun!!!" the rest of the nightblooded flock joined her charge.

Swiiissssssh!  Wildcard stealthily barreled his way towards the front of the charge.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!" Ariel shouted as she and Rainbow rushed in down the middle.

"Whoah nelly—!" Applejack grimaced, clutching her hat.

"I-I can't watch!" Fluttershy covered her eyes.  She murmured something else, but it was drowned out by the angry shouts of the Central Guard rushing up to meet the Heraldites, face to face and beak to muzzle.

Golden spears and polearms stabbed the upper troposphere.

Wildcard made first contact, deflecting several blades with his nightsticks and giving room for Enix and her warriors to rush in and tackle the initial wave of Frostknifers.  Soldiers of Chandler's armada tackled sarosians while Rainbow Dash and Ariel collided with them with a flanking swerve.  Soon, the air was a cacophonous sea of metallic percussion, lit up by runic explosions as the Stardust continually pelted the lower half of the enemy charge with lunar flak.  Before long, the violent, angry screams of several dozen figures blended with the thunder at the end of the world, sending shockwaves back down towards the rippling waters below.





The sonic reveberations eventually reached the Emeraldinian platforms in dull thuds.

Logan stopped his anxious pacing.  Ears twitching, the large stallion turned on his rear fetlock, squinting towards the source of the thunder-piercing noise.

Remna stood beside the swaying chalices.  She peered in a draconian squint towards the line of rocks to the west.  All she could make out was yellow splashes of runic light high above the dissolving stormclouds.

"I can scarcely tell," she grumbled.  "Have they or have they not engaged the enemy?"

"Uhm..."  Flynn took a moment to gaze west.  His mechanical eye whirred, the lense circling in and out as he took a survey of the situation as well as he could manage.  "... ... ...affirmative."  He exhaled with a shudder, managing a nervous smile.  "Looks like Bard's set out to take on the armada.  That's the Stardust's arsenal going off for sure."  He cooed, "I'm so proud of you, baby."

"Easy, baldy," Logan grumbled.

"Mrmmffff..."  Remna gazed skyward.  "And what of the Austraeoh's flock?"

"That rremains to be seen!" Kepler hollered from where he perched beside the Gondola's golden supports.  Water-slick chains of alicorn metal continously threaded through the rigging, glinting with lightning from the thunderous beyond.  "Until we get anotherr signal frrom them, we can only wait and hope!"

Remna hollered back, "Any sign of the Gondola?"

"Negatorry!"  The wyvern shook his rain-soaked head.  "That is also the Rrainbow One's position of knowing rright now!  Not ourrs!"

Remna exhaled.  Turning her back to the clattering vials, she faced west once again... staring at the stormclouds... still as a statue.
> It's Fun Until It's Not
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"They... they've made contact!"  Raptr wheezed, peering straight up from where he perched on the lower cloudbeds.  He spun and threw his fellow wingmates a nervous glance.  "Chandler's forces and Rainbow!  Surely they've made contact by now!"

Starstorm whistled shrilly.  Following her gesture, the Talon and their rescued companions shimmied in opposite directions—just in time to avoid a hailstorm of loose weapons.  Several battered swords and bent spears plunged through the cloudbeds beneath them.

"That answer your question, rookie?" Windburst droned.

Starstorm looked at their Commander.  "Rainbow's allies have an impressive magical arsenal," she said.  "No doubt they've just now whittled down the Central Guard to a tolerable number for hoof-to-hoof combat."

"Yes."  Keris nodded.  "But not for long."  He gestured at the two ships below that were still recovering from the runic assault.  "If I know Chandler, he'll send the rest of the squadron back up as soon as they've gathered their bearings.  Whatever Rainbow possesses, her forces will inevitably be overwhelmed again."

Raptr shuddered.  "Then it's just a matter of time."  He gasped, jumping aside as a stray helmet fell past him from above.

"Brothers and sisters of the Talon," Keris spoke.  "We've done all that we can from a distance.  The time has come for us to get involved intimately."

"You truly think we should engage?" Starstorm asked.  "Maybe we don't need to.  Maybe... just maybe... at this rate Rainbow Dash and her allies will hold their own."

Keris glared at her thoughtfully.  "Either we intercept her or Seraphimus does."

Starstorm clenched her beak.

"Form up, Talon!"  Keris perched on the edge of the cloud, tightening his wing muscles.  "Our task is to stave off complete bloodshed!  Pacify our fellow soldiers.  Fight back Rainbow's allies.  Do whatever you need to do to keep this fight from staining the ocean forever!"

"Aye, Commander!" Starstorm nodded.

Windburst cocked his crossbow.  "Yes, sir."

"As you say," Raptr added, getting into position.

"But most important of all..."  Keris glared skyward at the distant clashing and sparking of weapons.  "...find Rainbow Dash.  Intercept her.  We must understand what the actual endgame is here!"

Just before the Talon could take off—

"C-Commander?"  It was one of the soldiers that had been saved from free-fall.

Keris looked over his shoulder.

Several of the rescued guards had stumbled back to their hooves and talons.  Standing crookedly atop the cloud, a pegasus in the center of the battered group cast Keris a weary look.  "What's all of this that we're hearing?"

Another soldier stammered,  "You... are going to kill the Rainbow Rogue, yes?"

"You've suffered the Blight before," a third wheezed.  "Just whose side are you on?"

"Yeah... what's going on here?"

Keris replied calmly, "What's going on here?"  His feathery brow furrowed.  "I am going to do what is best for the harmony and survival of our great nation: Rohbredden.  And I suggest you do the same."

The Frostknifers stared blankly at him.

So he added in a firm, authoritarian tone:  "Stay here.  Do not engage the enemy until the command is given to retreat back to Frostknife."

"Re... r-retreat?" one soldier wheezed.

"If you value your lives... and the future of your children... and their children...  you will follow my command," Keris said.  "If you wish to seal your fate here in the darkness of the world's end, then do whatever else.  You have my word."  He whistled at the others and—

FWOOOOSH!

—the Right Talon of Verlaxion took wing as one, piercing through the misty heavens above.

The rest of the guardians stood alone on the cloudbeds, staring at one another.  They trembled visibly—and with greater intensity as the unspoken seconds rattled on.  Paralyzed by confusion and uncertainty, they watched east and west as more volleys rippled brightly through the air.





Pow!

POWWW!

More concussive blasts thundered immediately around Chandler's armada from the impacting runic artillery.  The rusted decks were doused with relentless waves of ocean water—even as the last of the fallen soldiers had been hoisted on board.  Crew ponies and survivors alike scrambled for cover from the shattered ocean waves.

A bodyguard clung to the side of Chandler's chariot as the vessel they were on rocked violently in the tempestuous waters.  "Defense minister!" the griffon shouted, trying to steady both himself and the chariot.  "There's no sign of them letting up!"

"Where are they?!" Chandler snarled, thoroughly doused.  He drained water out of his stupidly-large helmet and sneered at his subordinate.  "How could they have such a clear shot of our ships?!"

"All we c-can tell is that the magical blasts are coming from the east, sir!"  The bodyguard sputtered as another splash of heated water drenched him and the Defense Minister.  "But... to have struck so close to target this many times, they must have an unobstructed view!"

"Meaning they've cleared the west end of the line of shoals before us?!"

"Affirmative!"

P-POW!  A particularly close charge exploded off the port-side, making Chandler's ship tilt by over thirty-degrees.  His chariot reeled—as did he—and at the end of the jostling motion he roared to his fellow crew members.  "We can't just sit here in these waters, remaining useless!"  He pointed at the aerial fight high up above.  "The Rainbow Rogue is up there somewhere!  I just know it!"  He pointed at the gasping, sputtering survivors.  "Get those soldiers to rejoin formation and flank the enemy above!"

"Defense Minister—!"

"They're Rohbredden's top elite!  And right now, they're needed in the skies!  No excuses!"  He spun about in his chariot and peered east.  "Meanwhile, both of our ships will take out the source of these artillery charges—"

"Minister, they can't take to the skies!" the subordinate shouted.

"Rrrrrgh—and why not?!"

POWWW!

As the ship reeled again, the soldier pointed at the dissipating plume of flame to their starboard.  "That's why!  So long as we're being pelted like this, no pony or griffon will get airborne!"

"But..."  Chandler fumbled for words.  "...but we n-need to eliminate that artillery!"

"I know, sir!"

"Then... then..."  Chandler gasped for breath as more ocean water pelted the ship.  "This is what we'll do!"  He pointed at the stumbling soldiers on the water-logged deck.  "Take half of the crew!  Assemble them into a strike team!  Have them take wing—"

"Minister—"

"And maintain a low altitude!" Chandler sneered.  "By my command, have them flock west and maintain position.  Meanwhile, we'll cruise east and draw the enemy artillery fire!  Once we get close enough to the enemy to engage, we'll launch the second half of our ship's complement to flank them by air while our ships make the forward assault!"

"But sir!" the griffon stammered.  "The first half that you send out over the waters..."  His hawkeyes narrowed.  "What if the artillery sends them plummeting into the drink?  We could lose over a dozen guardians to—"

"I don't care who lives or who dies!" Brye Chandler hollered, the veins showing in his neck.  "If we lose the Rainbow Rogue, we lose everything!"

The subordinate gawked at him.

Growling, Chandler yanked him up by a few of his down feathers and snarled into his beak:  "Send the first half of the squadron out now!  Tell them to hold position while we charge the enemy to our east!  On the double!"

"Yes... y-yes, Minister!"  The griffon turned around—stumbling as the ship was rocked once more—and approached the rest of the beleagured crew.  "Listen!  Defense Minister's orders!  We form two groups!  One will take wing and maintain position west of here!  The rest will join the ship as we attract the enemy artillery fire!  Once the heat has been taken from this patch of the ocean, the first group will reinforce our forces up above!"

There was an awkward silence between the claps of thunder—both natural and artificial—as the dumbfounded troops digested the orders given to them.

"You have been commanded by Verlaxion's chosen!" the griffon sneered.  "And you shall obey!  We shall obey!"

At last, the hesitance dissolved, and several waterlogged guardians bowed low.

"Yes, sir!"

"Aye, sir!"

"As the Minister commands!"

"No time to waste!" Chandler hollered back as he gestured commands at the crewponies surrounding him.  "Convey the appropriate signals to our sister ship!"  He thew his hoof towards the blackened horizon.  "We head east!  We face our enemy until there is none left to face at all!"

"All engines—!"

"Full speed ahead!"

"Eyes on the enemy!  Find the source of that Blighted magic!"

Lightning flickered.

Waves formed.

Steam engines roared with renewed vigor as the final stretch of ocean was pierced...





"Bard!" one of the two sarosians stammered.  The deck of the Stardust was strewn over with spent runes, and the air was thick with lunar dust.  "The two vessels!  They are approaching!"

"Eeyup..."  Bard had stopped steering so he could peer through a spyglass.  He caught the battered hulls of the twin ships approaching swiftly through stormy waters.  "Reckon we dun pissed them off."

"Do you think the land-dwellers have spotted us?"

"Hard to say..."  Bard shuddered, tilting his spyglass up, up, up.  "Not sure it rightly matters."  At last, he spotted the hazy image of sarosians and griffons and pegasi fighting hoof-to-hoof in the air.  He whistled hard.  "Hells bells... now that's a terrible kerfluffle to be missin'."

"We can give them cover," one sarosian suggested, sweating in the twilight.  Thunder rolled overhead as his fangs nervously flashed.  "I suggest we fire a volley up high!  It could blind the enemy!"

"Hell no!" Bard frowned.  "And wipe out dozens of our own kind?"  He gravely shook his head.  "Remember what we planned.  We wait for a signal from Rainbow and company.  If they need us shootin' up the sky 'round them, then and only then do we follow suit."

"Then what do we do in the meantime?" one sarosian asked.

Bard exhaled heavily.  He squinted past the distant armada.  For a moment he saw—or thought he saw—the pale glint of light coming from Bleak's Plummet.  "Everythang's fine, so long as they're gettin' a clear path to skedaddle, right, Amber?"

"Mr. Bard?"

He cleared his throat.  "We hammer 'em, of course!" he exclaimed.  "We hammer them rusted pieces of junk with all we've got!"  He re-gripped the rudder wheel as he steered the Stardust around for a broad side.  "Rainbow's group has their job, and so do we!  Whatever we do... them vessels must not reach the Gondola before the Austraeoh!  Got it?"

"Ywm!"

"Absolutely."

"Good!"  Bard gestured.  "Now carry on with them fireworks, buckaroos!"  He didn't find the time to smirk after saying that.  Lifting his gaze, he stared forlornly at a distant clash of sparks—almost easily mistaken for the twinkle of stars.  "Although... nothin's more distractin' than a griffon bastard with woodsheddin' on his mind."  His brow furrowed.  "Come on, Dubya-Cee.  Dun be muddyin' the Desperadoes' name with anythang stupid now, y'hear?





Cl-Cl-Cl-Cl-Clang!  Wildcard's nightsticks ricocheted off five helmets and breastplates in a row.

"Aaaaugh!" Two Frostknifers stumbled back.  A third was tackled by an enraged sarosian.  The last two angrily spun towards Wildcard and stabbed with their spears.

"...!"  Wildcard juked to the side, twirled, and hooked the length of one spear under his right arm.  He backflipped, slamming the full length of his leg into his grip of the weapon.

"Ooof—!" the soldier was jerked forward, losing his hold of the spear.

Wildcard finished his backflip, flew forward, spung of the soldiers' backside, and slammed the blunt-end of the spear against the skull of the soldier's partner.  CRACK!

"Aaaaugh!"  Both guardians fell, plunging past the combating bodies of sarosians and Rohbreddenites.  The air was filled with screams, curses, and the clattering of metal.

Still—somehow—Wildcard heard Rainbow Dash's shouting voice through the thick of mid-air melee.

"...?!"  He twirled about, goggles glinting from lofty flashes of lightning.

Ariel was gripping a griffon from behind.  Rainbow punched the guardian in the stomach, headbutted him, then joined Ariel in tossing the figure into a row of charging pegasi.  As the bodies collided, Rainbow spun to face Wildcard breathlessly from afar.  "Crossbows!" she shouted, pointing nebulously in a lofty direction.  "Northwest!  Up high!  Rarity's sensed the barbed metal—"

Wildcard was already twirling about, scanning the heavens.  It took only two and a half seconds to find the tell-tale glint of serrated arrowheads.

Above the thick of the battle, five members of the Central Guard has found a lonesome cloud.  They perched atop of it, forming a phalanx.  They notched their crossbows at the same time, eyeing Rainbow and the crowd below.

"Crossbows!" Enix's voice could be heard above a bevy of screams.

Wildcard flapped his wings mightily, soaring up towards the line of crossbow wielding soldiers.  Just then—thwwpp!—he felt his whole body yanked violently backwards by his tail.  A pegasus in gold armor gripped him from behind with a pair of thick-muscled forelimbs.

"Grkkk..."  The bruised and scarred Frostknifer hissed, brandishing a dagger to the nape of Wildcard's neck.  "I'll have mercy, traitor... and drain the Blight from your corpse through one hole—!"

With a calm breath, Wildcard snatched a whalebone spear from a passing sarosian and blindly shoved it backwards, jamming it down the pegasus' throat.

"Grkkkkkk!" the guardian gargled blood, instantly releasing Wildcard's body.

The Desperado sprung off him, sailing towards his destination above.

But it was too late.  The soldiers were already taking aim.

"Incoming—!" Ariel shouted.

Beak clenched, Wildcard stretched his metal talon straight out.

Thw-Thw-Thw-Thw-Thwifffft!  A line of crossbolts sliced into the meat of battle.

Vrmmmmmmm!  Sparks flew from Wildcard's magnetized joints.  Sweating hard, he manipulated the arrows from a dozen meters away... steering them at a barely noticeable angle.  Within half a second, their arc bent upwards... slicing harmlessly over the backsides of multiple sarosians and even nipping a few feathers and locks of mane-hair off.  By the time they reached Rainbow and Ariel—

Sw-Sw-Swissssh!

—the projectiles had pivoted at just the right angle to narrowly thread through the thin space afforded between both mares' fuzzy bellies.  Ariel and Rainbow watched breathless as the arrows shot around, doubled-back, and returned to the cloud of crossbow-wielding miscreants from which they came.

"Get down!"

"Move—!"

One soldier was too slow, and an arrow stuck deep into his rear fetlock.  Schlunnk!  "Aaaaugh!"

The others deflected with shields and breastplates.  Cl-Cl-Clank!  Stunned by what had just happened, they lowered their guard with awkward slowness.

This was precisely when the mute Desperado chose to pounce them.  CLAAAANG!  His right nightstick slammed so hard onto a griffon's helmet that it split in two.  As the others gasped, Wildcard knocked them aside with his shoulder, combined both of his sticks into a single staff, and proceeded to whollop, bludgeon, and concuss the remaining forces atop the lofty cloud.  With pained grunts, the assaulted guardians fell off the cloud...





...and plummeted past Keris and the rest of the Talon as they flew their way up into the fight.

"Whoah!"  Raptr gazed at one flailing pegasus with a crossbolt through his leg.  "These guys aren't dead but I bet they sure wish they were!"

"Rainbow's allies seemed well-trained!" Windburst managed.

Blinking, Keris watched a pair of metal objects falling past them.  It was two halves of a single helmet.  "... ... ...Jordan's here," he said.

Starstorm flung him a surprised look.  "He is?"

"Don't sound so alarmed."  Keris looked up as the fight grew louder and more violent in intensity.  "It's the best news we've had in minutes."

"Should we look for him?" Starstorm asked.

"Odds are he'll find us first."  Keris shook his head.  "No.  Look for Rainbow Dash.  It remains our prime priority."

"And pacifying this fight...?" Raptr's beak clattered.

Keris' eyes narrowed.  "Forever and always."

"Well..."  Windburst gazed around with his expert hawkeyes.  "I do love me a challenge."  Just then, his headcrest lifted as he spotted something.  "Whoops!"  He aimed his crossbolt at a pair of bloodstained combatants.  Pffft!  The bolt flew true, ricocheted off a guardian's helmet, and knocked the whalebone axe out of the sarosian's grip.  Both soldiers were forced apart with a single shot, and their bodies went sailing off into the stormy malaise.  "Well then!"  Windburst smirked as he loaded another bolt.  "Two down... only nine dozen more to go."

"Keep focused!" Keris said firmly.  "And stay together—"  Before he could finish that statement, two sarosians pounced on him—shrieking loudly.

"Whoah damn!" Raptr reacted.

"Rrrgh!" Starstorm reached in, grabbed a bat pony from behind, and flung him sideways so that Raptr could give him a thick-knuckled punch.  A loud shriek pierced the air as Starstorm tossed the midnighter towards the clouds below.  "Damn loud, aren't they?"

"Rrrrngh..."  Keris wrestled with the sarosian that had pounced him, fighting the bladed whalebone away.  "Less talking and more saving!"  With a grunt, he bloodily pecked the sarosian's shoulder and shoved him off.  Schiiing!  Talons barred, he sliced the nightblooded warrior's weapon in two and blocked another charge.  "That's it!  Bring your righteous fury to us, Seventh Tribe!"

"Stormy waters against impervious stone!" Starstorm added, warding off several more.

"Goddess..."  Windburst notched another crossbolt and fired it into the onslaught.  "If we survive this shit, we're gonna have to make a damn Talon rule book about catch phrases!"

"Yeah!"  Raptr wheezed, fending off two attackers at once.  "What he said!"





The prow of Chandler's ship shredded its way through a swell of salt water... only for the vessel and its sister to be mercilessly pelted by charge after charge of thunderous runic blasts.

The Defense Minister flinched barely this time, standing firm in his chariot seat.  He and his fellow crewmates braced themselves as they cruised east along their turbulent path.  They rode the crest of a rippling wave, and the fortuitous height gave them a spacious view of the jutting rock structures looming along the final horizon.

Between the artillery volleys, the guardians of Frostknife spotted a moving object: the source of bright, twinkling discharges.

"There!" a griffon positioned at the bow of Chandler's ship shouted, pointing a rain-soaked claw.  He hollered into the thunderous air.  "Towards our three o'clock!  Moving south rapidly!"

"Is it a ship?" Chandler asked.

"Aye, Minister!  A skooner!  And a small one at that!"

There was another pulse of light in the distance.  A quarter of a minute later, two runic flares flew towards the two ships and exploded between them, tossing water and brine.

"It's them alright!"  Chandler's teeth gnashed as he gripped the edges of his chariot.  "Signal the other ship to take point!"  He shouted against the thunder.  "Full speed ahead!  We must overtake them!"

"They... uh..."  The griffon at the bow squinted.

"What is it now?!"

The subordinate looked back at the Defense Minister.  "They're headed through the narrows, sir!  Undoubtedly they're attempting to use the shoals for cover!"

Chandler panted and panted.  Wiping salt water from his brow, he stared up at the distant fight above and behind them... then back at the water beyond the ship's bow.  "Is there enough room for our ships to make it through?"

"Well, yes, sir... but odds are they've scouted this location already!  They know the territory!"

"And we know our pledge to our beloved Goddess!" Chandler spat.  "If we don't take out the source of that damnable artillery, then our allies in the air will never have the chance to bring down the Rainbow Rogue!"

"Aye, sir!"

"We proceed!"  Chandler gestured emphatically as he gazed at the sister ship gliding past their starboard.  "Single file!  Thread the needle!"  His teeth showed as he glared into the glinting mists.  "We'll rip their tinfoil raft into ribbons!"





"Ywm!  They're pursuing us!"  One sarosian lowered his spyglass and spun about to face Bard.  "Both ships!  Single-file!"

"Hell..."  Bard spun the rudder-wheel in a blur as he brought the Stardust completely about, facing directly east.  "I dunno what's stupider anymore... this plan or them!"

"The latter, apparently—"

"Shhh!"  Bard steadied the wheel, rocking the ship into a straight glide as he aimed it into the heart of the rock formations.  "Save the snappy one-liners to me!"  He gestured with a free hoof.  "In the meanwhile, use yer breaths for firin' them runes!"

One sarosian cocked another bleakweed cannon while the other faced the Desperado.  "Should we aim for our pursuers?"

"Nuh-uh!"  Bard shook his head.  The wet wind blew his ponytail in a brown blur.  "They need to think they're headed towards a victory!"  His eyes reflected a pair of wooden shipwrecks flanking a narrow strait of choppy water.  "Keep firin' at what really ruffles their feathers!"  He swung his hoof at the booming twilight.  "Give them sky varmints a migraine!"

"Ywm!"  The other sarosian grabbed a cannon and began priming it.

Bard exhaled as he guided the Stardust through the shipwrecks.  "In a moment... we ain't the only ones who're gonna be split up."

The nightblooded ponies aimed west, tilted their cannons up, and shouted:  "M'wynhrm!"

"M'wynhrm!!!"





P-POW!

KAPOW!

Runic explosions pelted the fringes of the midair melee.  As Frostknifers reeled, Ariel barreled through the bunch, bucking and kicking multiple skulls along the way.

"Nrnnngh!"

Whack!

"Httt!"

Th-Thwap!

She nimbly dodged a thrown spear, curved around a lunging griffon, then ended with an uppercut against a charging griffon.

"Raaaaugh!"

Thokk!

The griffon—however—recovered from the monumental blow.  Beak bleeding, the muscular combatant suddenly loomed above Ariel, glaring her down as the battle clashed all around them.  "I am the might of Rohbredden, blighted one.  You cannot stop me—"

Just then—from behind—a sky-blue hoof slammed up right between the griffon's rear legs.  The soldier's hawkeyes crossed.  With a pitiful whimper, his meaty figure plunged through the clouds, revealing Rainbow Dash behind him, dusting off her fetlocks.

"Go home!" she shouted after the plummeting body.  "And have fun settling 'Falsetto Prefecture!'"

Ariel exhaled through a shudder.  "Must you always one-up me?"

"You love it, girl."

"Yeah, well..."  Ariel hovered back-to-back with her as the two eyed the chaotic battle around them.  "There's a time and a place."

"You friggin' kidding me?"  Rainbow Dash reached out and punched a random pegasus.  She dodged a swinging blade and kicked a Frostknifer in the chest.  "Grnngh... take it from an adventure veteran!"  She headbutted a griffon and shoved his body into another passing soldier.  "It's only times like this when you actually get to enjoy yourself!"

"Yeah?!"  Ariel hissed through her teeth as she elbowed one guard and parried the swinging talon of a griffon.  "And what about when things are—grggghhh—peaceful?!"

Whack!  Rainbow punched another soldier in the face and wheezed.  "That's when all you get to do is think..."  Her ears drooped.  "...and regret."

"Well then!"  Ariel caught a falling spear, twirled it, and deflected two more attacks from the flank.  Cl-Clank!  Klak!  "Who's for an endless fight scene, huh?"

"Haaaaaugh!"  Rainbow visciously vaulted over Ariel's figure and slammed the two attackers hard in their skulls, knocking them into the dissipating clouds below.  As lightning and flares exploded, she panted and glanced over her shoulder at Ariel.  "...not with an elevator to the Dark Side waiting for us."

Ariel gulped, nodding into the sudden break in combat.  "How's that looking, by the way?"

"Good question!"  Rainbow twirled about, her ruby eyes refocusing on the misty air around her.  "Girls?"

Twilight Sparkle hovered into view.  "It's coming, Rainbow Dash!  But..."

"It's not here yet!"  Pinkie Pie shook her head vigorously.  "Not by a long shot—"  An angry hoof phased through her fuchsia face.

"Grkkk!"  Rainbow raised both fetlocks, blocking the random soldier's attack at the last second.  Ariel soared around her back and yanked the soldier's helmet completely around, blinding him.  Rainbow punished him with a heavy kick into the skull—sending him seaward.  "Bard?!" she managed between heaving breaths.  "The Stardust?!"

"Heading east through the shoals, darling!" Rarity stammered, jittery.  "They're not alone!"

Rainbow gulped, gazing at the frenzied bodies battling all around her and Ariel.  "Chandler?"

"Pursuing rapidly!" Rarity exclaimed.  "They're approaching the runic trap that our bat pony friends have set!"

"Well, alright!"  Applejack grinned wide, tipping her hat.  "Reckon we can kiss his convoy good bye—"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiie!" Fluttershy suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs, gripping her skull hard.

"...!!!"  Rainbow Dash spun around, eyes wide.

"Fluttershy?!"  Twilight gasped.

"Mmmmmmm—!" the ghostly mare plunged.  Pinkie Pie and Rarity swiftly steadied her, their faces awash in concern.  "Oh no..."  Fluttershy whimpered.  "Oh no no no no no no..."

"Fluttershy, what's the matter?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow was too busy gawking at her friends to notice an enraged pegasus with a spear charging at her from clear across the clouds.

"Rainbow, watch your six!" Ariel shouted, wrestling with a griffon.  When Rainbow didn't flinch, the Heraldite spat:  "Rainbow!"  Still, no response.  Snarling, Ariel shoved off the griffon, cartwheeled over Rainbow's figure, and came down in time to drop-kick the charging pegasus.  "Hrnnngh!"  Whack!  The enemy's body went plummeting.

Rainbow snapped out of it.  She twirled about to face the griffon that Ariel had been tackling—only to see Wildcard slamming into him from behind.  After the Desperado's save, Rainbow and Ariel were alone again.  Panting, Rainbow faced her ghostly companions with a worried expression.  "Fluttershy... talk to us!"

"What's the matter?" Ariel sputtered.

Rainbow gulped.  "Are we losing midnighters?"

Fluttershy's eyes peeked out through a curtain of pink hair.  "A wave of d-death..."  Shrunken pupils.  Tears brimming.  "...coming right this way."

Rainbow blinked.  She paled...
> Death Isn't Willing to Wait
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"W'ynlppa yln N'ymymme!!!" a sarosian shouted, clanging a pair of whalebone bludgeons together after fending off a few unlucky Frostknifers.  Hovering just below the main battle, she ushered two other nightblood warriors closer as they regrouped to form a flanking formation.  "L'ywynmya syllpa my'wysll syln H'Luun!"

The accompanying warriors echoed as one:

"Sylymym H'Luun!"

"Sylymym H'Luun!!!"

Aiming her blades skyward, the head sarosian lead the charge.  The three velvety figures ascended rapidly... just as a flicker of lightning outlined a serrated shadow approaching them from the west.

The head sarosian looked to her left.  The thunderclouds shifted; a silver shape came rapidly into focus.  Then the sarosian saw nothing, for her eyes had been removed.

SCHIIINK!  A pair of talons dug halfway into her skull, twisted, and snapped her neck at a grotesque angle.

The other two warriors scarcely had a chance to react.  Whalebone blades swung in the air...

...and reflected off a pair of cold charcoal eyes.  With the grace of melting ice, Seraphimus rolled over the corpse in her grasp and flung the body's full weight into the two wingmates.

One dodged swiftly, flying above the bloody fray with a twirl of his velvety figure.  He looked down in a voiceless stupor.

The other was not so lucky.  He fumbled backwards in midair, suddenly encumbered with the weight of his fallen comrade.  Snarling with undeniable fury, he stabbed his blade at Seraphimus' feathery skull.

Seraphimus easily deflected the blade so that—instead—it sliced the jugular of the still-twitching corpse pressed between them.  Blood spouted in a stream, dousing the sarosian's face and blinding him.  Seraphimus breathlessly took advantage of the moment by kicking the bleeding body away and then descending upon the second warrior like a ravenous harpy.  She dug her rear talons deep into his chest, piercing both his lungs simultaneously.  The sarosian's body twitched, skewered by her merciless attack.

The third shrieked loudly, unsheathing a dagger and sailing down to avenge his fallen comrades.

Still with claws embedded in the second's chest, Seraphimus glared straight up.  A blood-drenched glare flickered between them, and then—with a sickening pop sound—she ripped herself free of the second midnighter and flew straight up to meet the third's charge.  She slammed into him—elbow first—uppercutting the confused warrior's chin.  Her other talon caught his dagger just as he dropped it.  One twirl, and the blade ended up hilt-deep in his neck—disabling him but leaving his nervous system electrified enough to feel the pain of what came next.

Carried by the momentum of her upwards glide, Seraphimus perched on the square of the sarosian's backside, reached out to her sides, grabbed two separate handfuls of leather and—riiiiiip—rendered the warrior completely wingless.  His mangled torso plunged towards the waters below, leaving a misty cloud of blood in the thunderous air, serenaded by a final scream.

At last, Seraphimus breathed.  Her eyes traced the heavens and—out of all the chaos and confusion—she singled out a single strand of prismatic color.  Exhaling... fuming... she dropped the dismembered wings and rocketed up towards the heart of the fray.





"Rrrrgh!"  Keris pummeled a sarosian in the face and tossed the body onto a nearby cloud bed where two Frostknifers lay, bruised and barely conscious.  Heaving, the Commander spun about to face another pair of combatants.

But before he could even attempt to break up the fight—

FWOOOOSH!

—a silver streak soared up behind him.

"... ... ..."  Keris' headcrest drooped.  "...oh Goddess."

Beak clattering, he spun about and faced straight up through the heart of the battle.  At last, he saw Rainbow Dash...

...and the body that was hurtling straight for Rainbow Dash.

"Commander...?" Starstorm asked from somewhere beyond the immediate battle.

"Talon!" Keris hollered, flapping his wings desperately as he ascended.  "Form up—!"





"She's coming, Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy wept.  Screamed.  She clutched at her skull as Pinkie and Rarity struggled to steady her.  "She's coming straight for us—!"

"We have to retreat!" Twilight Sparkle shouted.  "Fall back!  This battle's gone on long enough!"

"Reinforcements will arrive at any moment!" Rarity insisted.

"Rainbow...?" Ariel nervously stammered, hovering closer.

"I'm thinking... I'm thinking..." Rainbow fidgeted in midair as the glinting silver shape grew closer.

"What's to think?!" Applejack hollered.

"AJ—"

"Dag nabbit!"  Frowing, Applejack pointed downward.  "The moment she gets here, there's only one dang thang that'll stop her from endin' you!  From endin' everythang!"

Rainbow chewed on her bottom lip.

A copper smell lit the air...





...and a mutilated set of nostrils tasted it.

Enix spun around, eyeslits peering through the heat of battle.

"Rrnnngh!" another nightblood warrior finished punching a pegasus hard in the skull.  Sensing her superior's alertness, she spun about.  Her own nostrils flared.  "W'ynlppa yln N'ymym... that scent in the air..."

"Fresh as foaling," Enix purred.  "Cold as coral."

"Blood..."  The hair on the back of the other warrior's neck bristled.  "Blood of our brothers and sisters!"  Schiiing!  Unsheathing a scimitar, she lunged forward—

"No!" Enix held her back with a hoof outstretched.  Together, the two peered down at the figure in question.

Like a banshee, the griffon in question ripped and tore her way through the fight.  Sarosians scattered left and right, several clutching bleeding limbs and mangled wings.

"What... in H'Luun's name... is that...?" the subordinate stammered.

Enix stared.  Pierced fangs shone in the twilight.  "A challenge."  Schhh-iiiiii-iing!  Two whalebone axes kissed the air.  "Protect the W'ynlppa yln H'luun!"

"Ywm, W'ynlppa yln N'ymym."

"Rrrrrrrrrrrrr—"  With a surly growl, Enix spiraled violently through the fight.





"Rainbow!" Ariel squeaked, glancing aside with a feverish expression.  "Call it!"

Rainbow's jaw clenched hard.  Her blood boiled with each heart-pounding second that the figure approached.

"Rainbow—!" Twilight sputtered.

"I need..."  Rainbow grimaced.  "There's..."  She grimaced harder.  "...no other choice—"

"Wowie-wowie-wowie!"  Pinkie Pie clutched her ghostly mane as it billowed in an invisible wind.  She clenched her eyes shut and curled up into a mauve ball.  "It's the big one—!"

"Good heavens!" Rarity gasped, for within the next second—

Swooooooosh!  Enix's figure flew in from the side and tackled Seraphimus' body before she was within talon range.  A sky-piercing shriek announced the engagement.

Ariel, Rainbow Dash, and several other figures looked in mid-battle to see...





...the two tangled warriors sailing off and piercing a tall column of dark storm clouds flanking the fight.

Keris' feathery head nearly spun off his neck from tracing the movement of Seraphimus and Enix.

In the following breath, the pair disappeared entirely from the Talon's view, obscured by mist and thunder.





"Mrmmmmf!"  Hissing, Seraphimus reached a talon out and caught a claw-ful of cloud.  "Rrrrr—Raaaugh!"  Anchoring herself, she flung Enix completely off.

Enix flipped multiple times, made contact with the neck of a vertical wall of cloud, and flung one of her dual axes straight back at the griffon.  "Eee-eee-eee!"

Seraphimus waited... waited... and flung her talon up at the last second.  CLANK!  She miraculously made contact with the blade's hilt, sending it sailing skyward.  The weapon disappeared in a blinding crack of lightning.

As the strobe cleared, both warriors were left facing each other in the claustrophobic pocket of thunderclouds.

Seraphimus panted.

Enix panted.

A roll of thunder.

And then—

"You are bathed in the blood of my siblings," Enix said.  Not taking her eyes off Seraphimus, she casually reached out and caught her axe as it fell back down.  "I shall remember that when I carve out your heart."

"Seventh Tribe... forsaken bastards of the Seven Seas."  Seraphimus' eyes narrowed.  "Filth can only be defecated; never avenged."

"You shall not claim the Blood of Luna."  Enix's eyeslits narrowed.  "I have pledged my life."

Seraphimus' beak tightened.  "Then you have pledged nothing."

"Hrmmmm..."  Enix smiled... then slowly... icily sliced a fresh scar across her own chest with the tip of one axe.  Moments later, her fangs were flashing in the stormlights.  "Hressssssssh!"  She charged Seraphimus at full speed.

And Seraphimus waited.






Pinkie Pie's ears drooped.  Her teeth chattered as she spun away from the lower stormcloud to gaze at her friends and anchor.

Rarity gulped.  "There's... there's no way she can survive that fight..."  She rubbed her fetlocks together.  "...is there?"

Applejack tilted her hat back, exhaling.  "She sure thinks she can."

"Rainbow?" Ariel leaned in.  "What now?"

Rainbow hovered in a sudden stupor.  Snapping out of it, she turned from the battle and faced her friends.  "Fluttershy?  What do your senses tell you?  Is Enix handling it?"

"Rainbow..."

"Be honest with us—"

"Rainbow, it's... it's something else," Fluttershy murmured, calming slightly.

"What?"

Sniffling, the ghostly pegasus pointed down.

"...?"  Rainbow spun about.  She looked through the fight and saw four winged figures on an intercept course.

"The Talon..." Twilight Sparkle murmured.  Her ears perked up.  "...Keris!"

"And there are reinforcements," Fluttershy added in a nervous voice.  "Another squadron—the first guardians who fell."  She gulped.  "It's nearly twice as much as our friends are battling now."

"And they're on their way up!" Rarity exclaimed.  "I can feel the metal of their blades!"

"Rainbowwwww..."  Ariel leaned in.  "Please.  Talk to me.  What's the score?"

Rainbow's eyes were locked on the Talon below.  She raised her voice to be heard above the clattering and clanging of blades.  "Ariel, you have to trust me..."





"Commander!" Raptr sputtered.  "Seraphimus!  She just—"

"I saw."  Keris nodded without looking aside.  "Eyes front."

"Huh?"

"I see," Windburst said, expert eyes locked on the prismatic target.  "Orders?"

"We've got to bridge the gap!" Starstorm said.  "Once and for all!"

"Agreed.  Do not change course!" Keris hollered, accelerating swiftly through the battling bodies.  "No matter what!"

"Full feather!" Windburst shouted.

"And once we make contact..."  Keris sneered, squinting into the misty winds.  "...get her out of the fight!"





"Fire up a flare," Rainbow Dash said, hovering out into the open.  "Order a retreat to the east."

"Huh?"  Ariel followed Rainbow's line of sight.  At last, she saw what the mare saw.  "Oh gosh—"

"Ariel!" Rainbow snapped.

Ariel ripped her eyes off the Talon.

"This is your time to shine."  Rainbow squinted.  "I need you to form the retreat!  Let Wildcard take up the rear!"

"But—"

"Then fire another flare to signal a detachment to reach the final platform!" Rainbow said.  "Bard's about to split up Chandler's forces!  Once that happens, we need to get a drop on them!  The drop!  Do you understand?"

"I do!  But... but what about you—"

"I will be fine!  I promise!" Rainbow hollered—then suddenly grunted as she was attacked by a random Frostknifer.  She easily fought off the warrior, taking the moment to sneer at Ariel once again:  "This had to come to pass!  It's the only way to seal the deal!"

"What deal?!"

"Have faith!" Rainbow sputtered.  "Faith in Keris!"

Ariel fidgeted in mid-air.

"Friggin' go, you sexy melon fudge!"  Rainbow—alone—grunted as more and more Frostknifers singled her out.  She spun in a frenzied circle, fighting them off one by one.

Ariel frowned... shook... then spun about completely.  She flew up to join a group of sarosians still armed with runic cannons.





"She's alone!" Raptr shouted, pointing.  "You see?!"

"She's outnumbered!" Starstorm exclaimed.

"No..."  Keris grunted against the friction of the stormy winds.  "...she's singling herself out."

"We've got a good bearing on her now!" Windburst grunted.

"Yes..." Keris hissed.  "...just as she wants us to."

"Commander...?" Starstorm stammered.

"Do not slow down!" Keris shouted, piercing the heart of the fight as bodies zipped past them faster and faster.  "We must make this look good for Chandler's side!  Give the soldiers faith!  Prolong the battle!"

"To what end—?!"  Raptr began, but didn't finish.  Two sarosians collided with the rookie in mid-air.  Breathless, the Talon member flew sideways, struggling to fight them off.

"Raptr—!" Starstorm made to veer after him.

"Stay on point, Sergeant!" Keris grunted.

"Rrrnngh!" she grunted, twirling to avoid a group of bat ponies lunging at them.

Runic charges exploded above and behind them.  Lightning forked as thunder broiled.

Velvety bodies doubled in the Talon's peripheral.

Panting, Windburst yelled aside:  "Commander!  They'll form a front to blockade us—!"

"Right!" Keris nodded.  "Go!  Do it!"

Windburst broke formation.  Summoning a war cry from deep within his lungs, he barreled sideways and plowed mercilessly into the advancing nightblood flock.  The group was thrown into chaos as Keris and Starstorm soared past them.

"Commander..." Starstorm trembled, her wing muscles growing weak.

"Just a little further..." Keris droned.

Starstorm squinted into the winds.  "Only the two of us—?"

"We're going to intercept her," Keris said with his final breath.  He braced his upper body muscles.  "Only because she's going to let us."

Starstorm nodded in silence.  Together, the two remaining members of the Talon threaded their way through the last remaining meters of the battle.





Rainbow Dash kicked one soldier, punched another, and deflected the spear-stab of a third.

She yanked the spear from his grasp, uppercutted the Frostknifer, and spun about...

...to see Pinkie Pie's twitching face.  "Brace yourself, Dashie—"

A wall of talons and feathers shot through her and connected with Rainbow.

Rainbow's body was prepared.  The spear in her grasp was not.  The weapon flew into splinters as Keris and Starstorm impacted her figure.

With a combined grunt, Starstorm and Keris expertly twisted their wings.  Their upwards arc curved about, and soon they were plummeting with Rainbow Dash in tow.  The combined push threw the whole group downwards, sailing murderously past bruised soldiers and gasping sarosians.  Twilight and the rest of the ghostly mares yelped, forced to flail after them by a lavender force field.





"Haaaaaaaaaaugh!" Enix came sailing down at Seraphimus with both axes swinging.

"Hrttt!" Seraphimus crossed her forelimbs, blocking the hilts of both weapons and holding Enix back.

Lightning flickered around them...

...just in time to illuminate the flesh of three bodies piercing that very pocket of stormclouds from above.

Seraphimus' charcoal eyes twitched.  Feverishly, she looked all around for a trailing streak of rainbow color that had briefly crossed her vision.

Enix capitalized on the moment, twisting her grip of the axes.  "Hssssssssh!"

Sliiiink!  Seraphimus' shoulder suffered a deep gash.

"Aaaaaugh!"  Seraphimus' pupils shrank.  The whites of her eyes brimmed with lightning.  "You want blood?!?"  With a focused grunt, she uncrossed her arms, knocking back Enix's grip of her axe-hilts.  In the shriek that followed, she threw her body forward, mounting Enix's chest and biting a beak-full of ear.  Without hesitation, she tightened her neck muscles and twisted.

When Enix next screamed, she could only half-hear it.  Dropping both axes, she hugged her savage assailant just as tightly and dug her fangs deep into Seraphimus' right arm.  Bloodily, the two wrestled and pinballed off the insides of the stormcloud.

While down below...





...Keris, Starstorm, and Rainbow Dash continued their plunge.

Their bodies formed a single comet of feathers and fuzz as they approached sea level.

The sight was not lost to Chandler's Armada.

"Defense Minister!" a crew pony hollered, pointing northwest from where they cruised.

Chandler wrenched his eyes off the distant Stardust to the east.  He caught sight of the three figures in their mutual dive.  His jaw dropped.  "Verlaxion's sleet, Commander, you've done it..."

Eyes wide, multiple members of the Central Guard watched as the Talon and Rainbow plunged towards the line of rocks.

At the culmination of their fall, they sailed straight into the decrepit shell of a shipwreck...





SMASSSSH!

...and collapsed deep inside the ancient wooden structure.

"Ooomf!" Starstorm sprawled across a rocky bed.

"Grnngh!"  Keris went sliding to a stop against the remnants of a battered mast.

"Httt!"  Rainbow was the only one to land with a modicum of grace.  She backflipped and slid to a stop, surrounded by a smattering of loose splinters.  Wheezing, she struck a fighting pose, leaning up on rear hooves.  "Look!  I told them to go easy on you guys!  I mean it—!"

"Rainbow..."  Keris wheezed, struggling to stand up.

Starstorm squirmed atop the rocky platform.

Rainbow sputtered into the hazy shadows of the hollow wreck while runic explosions thundered outside.  "But it's a friggin' bloodbath!  And... and then Seraphimus comes soaring in all panties and vinegar and—"

"At ease!" Keris hollered, glaring.

"...!!!" Rainbow Dash plopped down on all fours, standing at attention.

Starstorm looked up, dazed and breathless.

Keris stood, took a calming breath, and spoke:  "Now... we haven't much time."

Rainbow gulped.  "No.  We haven't."

"Please..."  Keris motioned with his talon.  "Give us the short version."

Rainbow looked at her marefriends.  Then—trembling—she looked back at Keris.  And nodded.

"Make it super short," Starstorm wheezed... then collapsed again.  Thwump.
> Somber Salutations to Be Had
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Hy'myll!!!"

"Wy'lymym symlym!"

Several sarosians high above paused in battle, gawking at the broken patch of clouds through which Rainbow had been forcefully shoved by the combined force of Keris and Starstorm.

"W'ynlppa yln H'luun ly'slym w'lynym!"

"Ywm!  S'lyssa wy'lymmlym sylym'wylm!"

"Eee-eee-eee!"

Blades drawn, several nightblood warriors broke from the fight and dove to the rescue...

...only for Ariel to fly directly in front of them.  She blocked their charge with forelimbs outstretched.

"No!  No!  She's alright!"

The sarosians merely sneered at her.

"Trust me!"  Ariel stared them down, frowning.  "This is all part of the plan!"  Taking a deep breath, she then shouted, "There's a thick wave of reinforcements coming from the west!  The Blood of Luna needs us to perform a temporary retreat!"  She gestured to one sarosian.  "Fire the signal!  We head east!  And you!"  She caught the attention of another group.  "Signal for the 'drop,' then head to the platforms!  The Stardust is about to make its move and you're the backup!"

The warriors exchanged glances... then nodded in one accord.  Shrieking to one another, they flocked east while two separate groups primed their runic cannons.

"Wildcard!" Ariel yelped, already flapping her wings and cruising east.  "Wildcard!  Time to go!  Move your kitty cat butt!"





WHACK!

Wildcard punched a hapless pegasus in the muzzle with his metal fist.

Panting, he twirled his combined nightsticks and turned to face a line of soldiers.

"...Wildcard!"

His shoulders shook upon hearing Ariel's shouting voice.  Goggles glinted with the fresh flash of bright blue light from above.  The first of two flares was being fired high into the misty troposphere.  As it exploded, the Desperado could spot a dense wave of Rohbredden reinforcements flying up from the lower west clouds.

Beak clenched, the griffon split his nightsticks back into two, pocketed them into his bandolier, and turned tail.  He sliced eastward in a swift glide...





...bursting a cloudbed to vapors just above Windburst's rattled skull.

"Grffff!"  The sergeant wrestled with three separate sarosians who were lingering behind the group flocking east.  Fanged teeth and whalebone blades nipped at his feathery neck.  "Go... huff on some... guano!"

The group overpowered him.  One particularly strong midnighter raised his hoof to slam hard into Windburst's beak.

WHAM!  A savage paw from above slammed across the bat pony's cheek, followed by a merciless uppercut.  The sarosian nearly backflipped from the combined blows.

Windburst wheezed, flailing back as Raptr's figure soared in, knocking the attackers off him completely.  The sarosians grasped their pummeled companion... and flew east instead of re-engaging with the two Talon members.

A breath later, Raptr was reaching over to support Windburst's figure in a steady hover.

The Sergeant gulped, visibly dazed.  "I owe you one, rookie."

"Didn't think I'd live to hear that," Raptr replied.  Before he could say anything else, he and his superior were greeted with the sound of whipping winds.  They looked around themselves to see that the sarosians had formed a hasty retreat.  What's more, Chandler's reinforcements were flying speedily after them with passionate vigor.  "Looks like the battle's shifted!"

"Obviously."  Gulping, Windburst squinted up at the remnants of a blue plume of runic fire.  "That magic.  They're signaling each other."

"What the heck is Rainbow Dash planning?"

"I don't know."  Windburst flapped his wings, urging himself and Raptr east.  "But one thing's for sure: we gotta stick with the soldiers."

"What if it's just another trap?"

"Doesn't matter!"  Windburst's beak clenched hard.  "Whatever the Commander and Starstorm's got planned with Rainbow, they'll be needing us to keep tabs on the battlefront!"

"Have you seen what happened to Chandler's armada?" Raptr asked, flying even with Windburst as they followed the eastward chase of the sarosians.  "I lost track of it during that final charge!  There isn't much of the world left, y'know!"

"Beats me.  But if Keris and Rainbow can work something out, then maybe we won't have to worry about—"

Windburst's speech was interrupted by a brilliant flash of purple light.  He and Raptr looked up, gawking at a fresh runic flame.

"What in the Hell does that mean?" Raptr asked.

Windburst could only shrug.  "Limited time sale on saddlebags?"

The purple flare arced over a stormcloud...





...and illuminated the lower twilight of the world's edge.  It's pulsating aura could easily be seen from the Emeraldian platforms.

"And now there's a purple one!" Flynn exclaimed, his metal lens rotating above a bright grin.  "Everything's right on track!"

"Hell yeah!"  Logan shifted the weight of his axe and approached the western edge of the granite.  "Time to get my hooves wet!"

"Stave your manic enthusiasm for a sane second, mortal," Remna droned.  She turned to look back at Flynn.  "The blue flare just seconds ago..."  Her draconian eyes narrowed.  "...that means Enix's flock is retreating.  Yes?"

"But they held their position for so damn long!" Flynn said with a smug grin.  "Now that the purple signal's burning through the sky, that can only mean Chandler's taking our bait like a ravenous shark!  It's time to help Bard out with the drop!"

"But... if the Austraeoh was in trouble..."  Remna's brow furrowed.  "...they would find a way to inform us as well...?"

"Therre was no colorred signal designed forr that, drragon one," Kepler said from the very edge.

"And why not?" Remna growled.

Kepler adjusted his fogged spectacles.  Tusks shone in a flash of lightning.  "The Austrraeoh did not wish to accept failurre."

Remna said nothing to that.

"Hey walrus guy!"  Logan hollered towards the end of the world.  "Got your shit ready?"

"By crrude excrrement, I assume you rreferr to my alchemic tools!"  Kepler pointed a claw at a rain-soaked satchel.  "Therre it be, frriend!  Rready forr yourr experrt application!"

"Bitchin'."  Logan trotted over and heaved the bag over his shoulder along with his axe.  "Now... if only those bat ponies would get their velvety plots over here..."

"There are six headed this way at full speed, Big Show," Flynn said, gazing west with his prosthetic eye.  "It'll be your time to shine soon enough!"

Remna gazed past him.  She observed the golden spokes with the rattling alicorn chains right above the deluge.  "Is the Gondola any closer?"

"Harrd to tell, Axan," Kepler said, shaking his head.  "The speed of the moving chains has not changed."

Remna growled, "If that lift does not arrive soon, all is lost."

Kepler glared back at her.  "If we lose hope in Rrainbow, it will mean nothing once it does arrrive!"

Remna was silent.  The air chimed with empty, dangling chalices between the thunder.

"The Darrk Side continues to wait!  Rright now, we must finish ourr business in the light!"

With a somber breath, Remna turned to face west once again.  Her slitted eyes lingered on the purple flare...





...just as the lunar dust dissipated, falling like snow into the narrow spaces between stormclouds.  Lightning flickered, melting them away... and the ensuing thunder serenaded the bodies of two bloodied warriors in intense combat.

"Rrrrrgh!"  Seraphimus blocked and dodged multiple axe swings.

"Eee-eee-eee!"  Enix twirled and swung and sliced with her blades.

Seraphimus backflipped, ducked a savage swing, then slammed two of her rear paws hard into Enix's belly.  Whump!

Enix flew back from the blow, then slammed her back into a vertical column of dark-gray clouds.

"Htttt!"  Seraphimus charged straight at her, serrated talons raised.

Enix crossed her blades—Clannnng!—blocking Seraphimus' attack.  She headbutted the enraged griffon, then swung her whalebone weapons apart.  "Hresssh!"

Seraphimus flew backwards from the dual swipe.  Her charcoal eyes twitched, reflecting one of the axes being thrown at her skull.  Swisssssh!  She ducked—barely—and a few headcrest feathers were lopped off at the base of their quills.

Sucking in her breath, Enix kicked off the cloud and came sailing down at her opponent with the single axe swinging savagely.  She shrieked into the storm as a fork of lightning illuminated her dark descent.  In the ensuing blackness, her blade struck nothing—for Seraphimus had used the blinding strobe to strafe sideways, unseen.

Enix's eyeslits darted from side to side.  She only had one good ear now, so she tilted her skull left—hearing nothing but thunder.  She then tilted her skull right—

"RAAAAAAAAUGH!"  Seraphimus speared her in the side, shoving her beak deep into Enix's ribs.  Schlunnnk!

The nightblood warrior opened her muzzle to scream, but her lungs were too agonized to produce a breath.  She slammed her elbow down onto Seraphimus' skull.

Seraphimus bore the brunt of the blow.  As vision flickered in her brain, she managed to overpower Enix, grasping for control of the axe.  The two struggled for a bit, wrestling for the hilt.  At last, with a bloody roar, Seraphimus simply kicked the blunt middle of the blade.  CRACK!  Pale whalebone bits splintered between them.  Seraphimus plunged through the calcified cloud, shoving Enix down... down... down through the narrow pocket of storms.  Each flash of lightning illuminated a splash of blood as Seraphimus' merciless talons raked and sliced at Enix's trembling, guarding fetlocks.

At last, air found its way back into Enix's lungs, and it came out in a high-pitched shriek that broke the heavens.





"East!" Ariel shouted, flying at the front of the sarosian flock.  "Fly east until you reach the clouds we built above the shoals!  Wait for the Drop to finish!  You'll know it when you hear it!"  She turned and gestured at the midnighters around her.  "We'll hold our position there in the sky!  The last stand!  The Central Guard must not advance any further!"

Wildcard took up the rear.  He had a full survey of the surviving members of Xarchellus' defenders.  But that wasn't what had stolen his attention at the moment.

"...?"  In a jerking motion, the griffon looked back and behind him.  His goggled eyes searched the clouds below.  Silent, he tilted his head to listen.

Beyond the thunder... beyond the wingflaps and angry shouts of the pursuing Frostknifers...

"... ... ..."  Wildcard's flesh and metal talons clenched tightly.

"Use whatever you can to hold back the enemy!" Ariel shouted to their allies.  "Stormclouds!  Lightning!  Even rainwater!  Those of you with cannons, lock and load your last runes!  We have to buy Rainbow Dash time to board the Gondola!"  Looking back, she hollered:  "Wildcard!  How close are the enemy reinforcements?"

No response.

Ariel's ears drooped.  "Wildcard?"

Wildcard was gone.





"Grkkk..."  Enix choked on her own blood.  Squinting through one good eye, she coiled her muscles, flew backwards, and flung a left hoof... then a right.

Seraphimus easily dodged the blows, twirled to the side, then kicked Enix hard in the flank.

"Aaaugh!"  Clothed in over two dozen fresh scars, Enix barreled sideways.

Fwooooosh!  Seraphimus was there in a blur.  She greeted Enix's lopside glide with an uppercut.  WHAM!  She followed this with a full set of talons slicing mercilessly across the sarosian's backside.  Sliiiiiiink!

"Eeeeeeeeeugh!" Enix plummeted back.

Th-Thump!  Seraphimus' claws closed tightly around Enix's trembling neck.  The griffon lifted her in a vice-like choke hold.  The two hovered a hundred feet above the choppy waves.  Enix dangled like a bird-of-prey's last meal, and her wings could barely move.

Seraphimus took a few deep, fuming breaths.  Just as her claws began sinking in...

...Enix managed a wheezing chuckle through her fangs.

Seraphimus raised an eyecrest at that.  "Pleasure?"

"Hrkkk..."  Enix's slitted pupils rolled back.  "A good death."

The griffon exhaled heatedly.  "A pitiful life."  Schiiiiiing!  She unsheathed a dagger from her belt.  The crest of Queen Verlaxion glinted with moisture and lightning.  "I'll make this quick so you won't have to taste the pain of the Rainbow Rogue's betrayal."

Enix's velvety lids closed.  "Syl'pymmyl, H'Luun," she whispered to the dark winds.

And Seraphimus shoved the dagger straight into Enix's throat...

...only for it to suddenly stop in mid-air.  The tip of the blade quivered mere millimeters from the sarosian's jugular vein.

Seraphimus blinked at the hilt of the blade as it magically resisted her.  Off in the distance, a metallic vibration intensified.  "... ... ...Jordan."  She threw a sharp look over her shoulder.

A shadow murked towards her.  Twin lenses glinted in the stormlights.

"Httt!"  Seraphimus spun about.  She flung the knife up at the smokey figure.

Cl-Clank!  Twin nightsticks deflected the dagger with a flash of sparks.  With a mute snarl, Wildcard descended upon her with the full weight of righteousness.

WHAM!  Seraphimus and Wildcard went plunging one way...

...and Enix's limp figure fell the other.

A flash of lightning showed the three bodies splitting.  The waves below sprayed hungry mists before the inevitable thunder cascaded, enshrouding the delicious chaos of the moment.





"Ryckmun!" a voice jubilantly shrieked through the gnarled chambers of Bleak's Plummet.  All around the huddled sarosians, runes embedded in the walls flickered to life with renewed vigor.  "S'lywymym th'yslla ly'symylm syl thy'wymyn!"

"Ly'symwym!" Echo hollered back, suddenly grinning.  As more shrieks rang through the corridors, he let loose a high-pitched chirp.  "Eee-eee-eee!  Sy'wysslym Xarchellus w'ylymm syl my'wym!"

It took all of Nicole's will-power to wrench her gaze from the flares and flashes of the ongoing battle to the east.  "What?  What is it?  Sounds like good news!"

"Only the goodest!"  Echo beamed.  "The rune-keepers are making progress!  I'm being told that we're minutes away from the lunar stones being re-enchanted!"

"Does... does that mean—?"

Echo nodded, patting Nicole's shoulder.  "We're just minutes away from taking another dive."  He gazed out the translucent window, eyeslits narrowing.  "At this rate... those bastards will never catch up to us."

"Then... this is going to work?"

"For us and the rest of Bleak's Plummet, totally."

Nicole gulped, her eyes locked once again on the shadows beyond the tempestuous waves.  "And... and Rainbow and the rest?"  She bit her lip.  "How will we know they've made it?"

Echo took a deep breath, his smile fading for the moment.  "Red."

"Huh?"

"A red flare," Echo said.  "That's the signal for Enix and her nightblood butt-buddies to fly west and rejoin the Exodus."

"And... and it will mean that Johnny and Rainbow made it to the elevator, right?"  Nicole tilted the brim of Bard's hat and looked directly at Echo.  "Right?"

He swallowed.  "We can only hope."

There was more than a little bit of trembling.





"It will arrive here any m-minute!"  Rainbow Dash stammered, wet and shivering.  Her voice cracked, echoing against the broken and bent shell of the wooden shipwreck around them.  "Mortuana's half-sister and the Emeraldinians from the far west b-built it ages ago—"

"Don't get hung up on the tiny details, Rainbow," Twilight insisted—

"Rrrrr..."  Rainbow clenched her teeth.  "Bottom line is—the Gondola will take us to the Dark Side so I c-can finish my flight to the Midnight Armory along with the Herald!  We're just trying to fight off Chandler's thugs until the thing gets here!  That's it!  We d-don't want to kill you guys!"

Keris nodded, waving a talon.  "And..."  His hawkeyes narrowed.  His posture was calm despite the tension in everyone's voices.  "...that giant floating structure to the west?"

"It's Bleak's Plummet!"

"That's Bleak's Plummet?" Starstorm wheezed, finally getting up on all four limbs.

Rainbow Dash nodded.  "The sarosians... the midnighters..."  She gulped.  "Princess Luna spoke to them through her enchantment on my pendant."  She held a hoof to the Element of Loyalty.  "She c-convinced them to assist us.  They're loyal to me and everything I say.  The goal here is just to hold out until the Gondola arrives!  I promise!"

"I believe you, Rainbow—"

"No, listen!"  Rainbow's eyes narrowed on Keris.  "The Seventh Tribe has no quarrel with Rohbredden or the Central Guard.  Luna and I sent them on a mass exodus west... back home!  Back to Equestria!"  Her ears twitched in earnest as she spoke.  "They're going to head through the southern waters—avoiding all continentals and colonialists and windigoes.  Once they get to the Grand Choke, they're gonna be in for a tough time but—you have to believe me—they have no intention of messing with anypony from Rohbredden—"

"You want us to allow them safe passage," Starstorm declared.

"Bleak's Plummet looks big, but it's like a giant hard-boiled egg!  It's super squishy and fragile!  They can't fight off a single squadron of Central Guardians!  You have to understand—"

"Say no more," Keris insisted.  He stepped closer to the petite pegasus.  "I will do everything in my power to make sure that their westward journey is unchallenged."

Rainbow gazed at him, trembling.  She gulped.  "Theanim Mane—"

"He will assist the cause with no less passion," Keris said.  "This, I can assure you."

Applejack looked at Rainbow.  "He's tellin' the truth, sugarcube."

Rarity spoke up:  "I think we all know that already, Applejack."

Rainbow glanced at her friends, then at Keris.  Her ears drooped as the trembling increased.  "I'm... I'm s-sorry for everything."

"Rainbow Dash..." Keris exhaled.

"For... for Verlaxion.  For Frostknife.  The windigoes."  She grimaced, flinching as more thunderous blasts rocked the wooden shipwreck around them.  "For... f-for everything!  And now this... this crud."  She clenched her teeth.  "I had to blow up the first ship.  We hadn't planned for that.  It was the only way to stage this like we needed to.  And now we've got to put the drop on another ship or else they'll ruin everything—"

"Shhhhhh..."  Keris rested a talon on Rainbow's shoulder.  "We both know that Chandler's the real obstacle here.  We've been trying our best to hamper his progress.  We've only been moderately successful."

Rainbow took a deep breath, staring him down.  "It's not Chandler I'm worried about."

Keris blinked.

Starstorm cleared her throat.  "Commander, we can't linger much longer."

"The Sergeant's right."  Keris nodded, facing Rainbow again.  "Your defense force is noble—but they are outnumbered."

"I'm guessing there isn't much you can do about that."

"At the first opportunity I get, I will command our forces to retreat back to Frostknife."

"Yeah?"  Rainbow arched an eyebrow.  "What are the odds of that happening?"

"This 'drop' you speak of."  Keris cocked his head aside.  "I assume the aim is to completely disable what's left of Chandler's armada?"

"Yeah."  Rainbow nodded.  "Assuming Bard and company have our backs."

"And they totally-doodily-do!" Pinkie Pie chirped, giggling.

Rainbow glanced at her, then back at Keris.  "We just might spook Chandler badly enough for him to give authority to you."

"That could still happen."  Keris nodded.  "In the meantime, you should return to your Herald.  We will protect them from both sides of the front."

"I... I couldn't have gotten this far without you, dude..."  Rainbow's voice took on a squeaking tone.  "Once the Gondola arrives and I'm Dark Side bound, I'll be out of your feathers—I swear.  Rohbredden... Kihutaja... I'll be out of everyone's hair."

Keris managed a smile.  "We're better for having had you... if even for a blink."

Rainbow's muzzle dropped.  "But... Verlaxion... the windigoes..."

"Yes, it pains us.  Endangers us.  But one day... we will have peace because of it."  Keris took a breath.  "Perhaps then... our children will be ready for the truth.  Not just to embrace it... but to share it with the likes of Equestria's descendants.  And we will be friends once again."

Applejack smiled.  She looked at Rainbow.

Rainbow took a shuddering breath.  Misty eyes reflected Keris' calm expression.  "When you see Theanim... tell him Echo is safe.  Happy... and he's going home."

"You have my word."  Keris leaned forward.  "Now... hit me."

Fluttershy and Rarity did double-takes.

Rainbow blinked.  "What?"

"For this encounter to be convincing... it will have to look as though you overpowered us both in battle," Keris said.

"Otherwise, the Central Guard might suspect something," Starstorm said, approaching the two.  "Their superstitious belief in the Blight will do the rest."

"Okay..."  Rainbow tightened her muscles.  "...though I can't say I'll enjoy this."  She looked at Starstorm—

"No."  Keris stood in the way.  "Just me."

Starstorm looked at him.  "But—"

"My prerogative."  He pointed a talon at her.  "I need you to help round up the Talon once again.  Track down Seraphimus."  He looked at Rainbow.  "Nullify all threats."

Rainbow breathed, rearing her hooves.  "Thank you."

Keris stared into her limbs.  "Good luck, Rainbow Dash."

WHAM!  She punched him savagely across the beak.

Keris took the blow.  He squinted at her.  Magenta eyes piercing.

Rainbow brought both fetlocks together and whalloped him twice more.  WHAM!

Twilight and Pinkie winced.

WHACK!

Sputtering blood, Keris leaned into Rainbow Dash.  Rainbow gripped him while Starstorm grasped both "combatants" from the side.  A combined breath... a mental countdown... and—





SMASSSH!

—all three bodies went careening out the top of the shipwreck, showering the tempestuous waters with loose chunks of wood.

The advancing line of Central Guardians glanced down in mid-flight.

"Rrrrrrgh!"  Rainbow Dash spread her wings out in a violent display.  Starstorm and Keris were tossed off like ragdolls.  "Stupid punks!" she spat, gnashing her teeth in the twilight.  "You call that 'Rohbredden's Finest!'  Ha!"  With a flick of her short tail, she turned east and ascended rapidly.  "Verlaxion's children are even lamer than she was!  You're not worth my time!"

Starstorm and Keris plummeted...

...until a group of armored soldiers dove down, catching their bodies.

"Commander!"

"The Rainbow Rogue!  You found her!"

"How did you—"

"Grkkk!"  Keris gargled blood, raising a weak talon towards the thunderous sky.  "Powerful!  Far... m-more powerful than I anticipated...!"

"We didn't stand a chance on our own against her!" Starstorm added, wheezing.

"The Talon c-can't afford to engage her on its own!" Keris stammered.  Spitting blood, he frowned towards the heavens.  "We need the Central Guard!  Either we bear the full weight of Verlaxion's wrath on her or we don't fight her at all!"

"Then... th-then what are your orders, sir?"

"Signal the soldiers!" Keris hollered.  "Tell them to wait right here!"

"Wh-what?!" one soldier gasped.  "But... but the Rogue is getting away—"

"Wait here to regroup!" Keris insisted.  He flapped his wings, managing a weak but stable hover.  "Then—once we're one full squadron again—we will form a line and break through the final thunderclouds!"  He hollered at the rest of the guardians as they flew close.  "She's got nowhere left to run!  Stay strong!"  He waved a talon in the air.  "Hold position and standby for orders!"

"You heard your Commander!" Starstorm exclaimed.

The soldiers blinked at one another.  Then—with a shared scowl—they tilted towards the heavens and shouted at the rest of the straggling groups:  "Hold here to regroup!  Commander's orders!"

"Guardians of Rohbredden...!"

"Form up!"

"Form up!"

"Show of arms!"





Fluttershy squinted at the airborne troops behind as they grew more and more distant.  She turned to face Rainbow in mid-flight.  "It's working!  The line is holding!"

"Good!" Rainbow stammered, piercing the clouds in her ascent.  "That should give us some breathing room!"

"What now?" Applejack asked.

"We gotta meet up with Ariel and the others, right?" Pinkie asked.

"They're up there!" Twilight pointed at the top of a line of thunderclouds above the shoals.  "I can sense the runic cannons being recharged!"

"Good..."  Rainbow Dash shuddered, squinting into the mists and lightning.  "...now we wait for the Drop.  If anything will egg Chandler on one last time... it's that."

"Come on, Bard..."  Rarity wrung her forelimbs together.  "Come on, you handsome devil, you..."
> There Will Be No Room
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Defense Minister!"  A griffon along the ship's stern lowered a spyglass and looked towards the center of the vessel.  "The Rainbow Rogue!  She's escaped the grasp of the Talon"

"What?!" Chandler hollered from his chariot.  "How badly is the Commander's team hurt?!"  Before he could be answered, the ship rocked as a loud grating noise pierced everyone's ears.

Scraaaaaaaaaaaaape!

"Rnnngh!"  Chandler steadied himself as the ship finished grazing the edge of a jutting rock along the port side.  He reached out and slapped a random soldier.  "Easy does it!"

The soldier winced and shouted towards the bow.  "Keep us clear of the rocks!"

"Sorry!  But..."  A charter grimaced, his eyes reflecting countless shoals and splashing waves.  "...there are so m-many of them!"

Chandler leaned forward, shouting into the noise of roaring water.  "At least tell us our sister ship is making headway!"

"Yes, from the look of it!"  Another pony stared down a spyglass.  The hull of the other privateer vessel appeared in brief glimpses between the rock structures ahead.  "It should be gaining on the Blighted vessel any moment now!"

"Keep an eye on them!" Chandler exclaimed.  "We need to destroy the source of that artillery barrage as quickly as possible!"

"Sir!" the spotter at the ship's stern stammered.  "Our forces!"

"Shhh!" Chandler waved a blind hoof, squinting beyond the bow.  "Yes—yes!  They're chasing the Rogue!  As I ordered them—"

"That's... th-that's just it, Minister!  They're not!"

"Overpowering the Talon is one thing, but the entire squadron—"  Chandler did a double-take.  He looked back at the stern, muzzle agape.  "Whaaat?"

"They're... holding position in the air!"

"Stationary?"

"Aye, sir?"

Chandler's emerald eyes darted around.  The hair beneath his armor stood on end as he scowled.  "The Commander... is he among them?"

"I... I believe so, yes."

Chandler gnashed his teeth, pacing about inside his chariot.  "Dammit... dammit..."  He clenched his eyes shut.  "Blast it, Seraphimus, where are you...?"

The Defense Minister was too distracted to see their sister ship ahead of them passing right between two ancient shipwrecks.





"Here it comes..."  Bard leaned forward over the Stardust's rudder-wheel, staring intensely at the incoming vessel.  "Here it friggin' comes..."

"They do not suspect a thing," one sarosian said, squatting beside his companion with a brightly-enchanted bleakweed cannon.  "Even with the silence of our runes."

"And the ship behind them?"

"Keeping a safe distance."  The sarosian squinted.  "But... they also appear distracted."

"Well, they're fixin' to get more flummoxed."  Bard took a deep breath.  "Just say the word... once the first ship's halfway through the strait..."

"Aaaaaaand..."  The sarosian's leafy ears perked up.  His fangs flashed.  "...they're in position!"

"Now!" Bard hollered.  "Light it up!"

The first sarosian patted his partner's shoulder.

"Y'mnym!" the warrior hissed into the cannon's runes.  They flared up with brilliant sparks.  He followed it up with a bold:  "M'wynhrm!"

Pffffffffffftchoooom!  The thick missile of enchanted runes flew brightly—and loudly.  Carrying an extra dense payload of lunar dust, the projectile hurled like a screaming banshee over the forest of rocky structures...





...and trailed sparks over the front ship of Chandler's armada.

Dumbfounded, the crew ponies on board watched it fly overhead.  Their bodies turned—necks craning—as they nervously watched the culmination of its arc.

The projectile flew harmlessly past the vessel's bow.

"Whew..."  One pegasus turned to smirk at a griffon.  "Dumb midnighters.  They missed!"

That's precisely when the missile flew in between the twin shipwrecks behind them.  The runic aura triggered the explosive enchantments placed within the separate structures hours ago and—

PHWOOOOOMB!

A solid wall of burning flame stretched across the rocks, blocking the strait entirely.  Meanwhile, layers of splintery debris rained down on the ship.

The crew shrieked and flailed.  They hadn't a moment to react to the debris—for their ship was being propelled forward by a miniature tidal wave of boiling proportion.

The helmsman struggled to keep the vessel straight.  It was a futile endeavor.  Within seconds they were ricocheting off one rock formation after another—until at last the craft grinded to a halt against a chunk of smoothe granite.  Water thoroughly soaked the Frostknifers as they fought to maintain their balance.





THOOMB!

Chandler gasped, spinning around in his chariot.  What he saw nearly blinded him.  He raised an armored forelimb, shading his eyes from the solid wall of fire erupting before the bow of the ship.

Waves of salt water rolled westward, tossing the ship from side to side.  The soldiers on board groaned in discomfort.  Moisture evaporated off the hull from the sheer heat of the runic discharge.

"Flames!" a charter sputtered, reeling.  "We're headed straight for it—!"

"All stop!" Chandler exclaimed.  "All stop, damn you!"

"Allll stoppp!"

The gears of the ship's engines rattled.  Smoke erupted through the deckplates.  Nevertheless, they were miraculously able to hault the vessel's movement before the bow could kiss the vaporous plasma erecting a burning wall ahead of them.

"Nnnngh..."  Chandler clenched his teeth.  He squinted into the blaze, gazing north and south.  "More blight..."  Sweating, he glanced frantically at the shoals around them.  "Can we find a way around?"

"I... I see no path, sir!"

"What do you mean you see no path?!"

"The shoals are too dense here!" a crew pony hollered back.  "We'd have to double-back about two hundred meters and bend south for the fastest alternative route!"

Chandler panted and panted.  He squinted once more through the flames, scarcely making out the shadow of their sister ship.  "Blessed Verlaxion, what next?"





The two sarosians on board the Stardust lowered their cannons as they paused to admire their hoofwork.

"V'wylynm syl'm H'Luun!"  Grinning fangs.  "Direct hit!"

The air echoed with flapping wings.  Several shadows from the east skirted over the hull of Flynn's vessel.

"Yeeeeeeeeee-haaa!"  Bard pumped a hoof in the air.  "Give 'em Hell, Job Squad!"





The shadows approached the beached ship just east of the flame, but the crew members on board were too frantic and panicking to notice.

"We have to dislodge her!"

"Is she taking on water?!"

"One thing at a time!"

"Can we signal Chandler's ship for assistance?!"

"Lieutenant, we can't even see the Minister's ship!"

"Quick!  More fuel to the engines!  Maybe we can force her free with—"

"With what?!  We'll burn out!"

Just then, a griffon shrieked.  A shaking talon pointed skyward as the shadows descended.  "Incoming!"

"Incoming?"  The lead officer on board the ship turned about with a frown.  "What do you mean, 'incoming'—?"  His frown instantly vanished.

Six sarosians flew in, but they did not land.  They did—however—drop their cargo directly onto the vessel.

...cargo in the shape of a draconian mare and an obese stallion downswinging a murderously heavy axe.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand—"  Big Show landed in a way that could only live up to his nickname.  "—brown your pants, daisy-chainers!"

His war cry was punctuated by the deafenning impact of metal against metal.  CLANNNNNNG!  The sharp blade of his axe split a length of deckplates into ribbons, knocking hapless Rohbreddenites off their hooves and talons.

Gasps and yelps filled the air as half-a-dozen troops collapsed in an instant.

The rest galloped straight for Logan's flank...

...only to be pummeled against the railings by Remna's figure as soon as she landed.  WHUD!  WH-WHUD!  Without a second's hesitation, the violet mare spun around and savagely bucked two other crew members off the starboard side—screaming.

Hyperventilating, a panicked pair of guardians raised crossbows and fired them at the mare.

Cl-Clink!  They ricocheted harmlessly off her invulnerable hide.  She turned towards them, glaring.  "No."  Thud-Thud-Thud!  Unstoppable hooves carried her across the deck.  She impacted the shrieking soldiers and shoved them past Logan's axe-swinging figure.

"Wooooooo!"  CLANGGGG!  Logan tore more holes in the ship, knocking crew members onto their flanks.  CLACKKK!  "Welcome to the end of the world, assholes!"  WHUDDD!  "What were you expecting?!  A god dayum photo-op?!  HA!"  THWACKKK!

Between Logan's merciless swings and Remna's trampling limbs, the remaining guardians panicked completely.  They flapped their wings and took off—only to be blasted back to the deckplates by exploding runes fired by the six sarosians circling around the fresh wreck.

"H'rhnum!"

"H'rhnum!"

"H'rhnum!"

P-P-POW!!!

"Rrrrgh!"  Logan whalloped a few grounded soldiers with the blunt end of his weapon before spitting on them.  "'I pledged my life for Verlaxion and all I got was this lousy concussion!'"

Wham!  Remna punched a griffon in the beak and spun around, glaring.  "Bombastic buffoon.  The wyvern's tools!"  She blocked another attack.

"Harumph... I was getting to it."  Logan upswung his axe, shattering a jabbing spear into metallic bits.  Crasssh!  He headbutted the pegasus to the deck and charged towards the open cabin.  "We've got a boring-ass elevator ride ahead; I was getting my kicks."

"Kick less, mortal."  Remna backtrotted from a flurry of bladed attacks as sparks flew off her unnatural skin.  "The Austraeoh's waiting on us."

"Yeah, yeah."  Logan untied the satchel, reached his teeth into the bag, and pulled at a burlap drawstring.  "Nrnnngh..."  There was a bubbling sound.  The jars inside the satchel rattled... and a thick plume of smoke billowed out from the opening.  "Whew-wee!  Smells almost as bad as Blue's ranch!"  He tossed the smoldering satchel down into the heart of the cabin as the air around them heated up exponentially.  "Hey!  Everypony down there might wanna plug your noses!  And then your skulls!"

Shrieks of surprise filled the air.

Remna whistled shrilly into the air.  The sarosians stopped circling.  They swooped down in one accord.  Galloping, Remna ran towards them.

Logan joined her, shouldering his axe.  "Time to make like a fart and flutter!"

"Your silence would be appreciated."

"Too late, scaley-cheeks!"

As the two were briskly carried off, the recovering crew members aimed crossbows and fired a volley of arrows.  Not long later—however—the smoke from below deck tripled.  Engineers came galloping out, coughing and screaming.  They hollered words of warning to their compatriots, but they fell on deaf ears.

...deaffened by the huge fireball erupting from the heart of the ship as Kepler's chemicals combusted completely.  With a mutual shriek, the crew leapt overboard—just in time to avoid a violent chain reaction of tiny explosions that ripped the vessel apart from the inside out.

Remna and Logan were carried east to safety...






...but the hovering forces of Rohbredden did not see them.  Gathering around Keris and Starstorm, they could only gawk at the rising fireball east of Chandler's ship.  It illuminated the sky with a blinding aura, forcing most of the griffons and pegasi to squint.

"Verlaxion's sleet!"

"By the Blight!"

"Did you see that?!"

"We... we only have one vessel now!"

"We c-could be stranded out here!"

"The Rogue!  This is her doing!"

Several glaring soldiers looked towards Keris.  "What now, Commander?"

"We've gathered like you said!  We must engage!"

Keris leaned into Starstorm's supporting limbs, breathing steadily.  His eyes focused on the flame-lit waters of the rock formations below.  "Over a dozen of our brothers and sisters are stuck in the surf down there.  Chandler's ship can't get to them."

"What are we to do?"

"What else?"  Keris pointed.  "We must rescue them!  Bring them to dry ground!  Safe from the flames!"

The soldiers exchanged glances, blinking.

"But..."

"Commander..."

"The Rainbow Rogue...!"

"She's getting away—!"

"And if we lose any more of our numbers, we're useless against her Blighted forces!"  He turned to face the guardians around him.  "Don't worry!  We shall engage the Rogue!  But we need to rescue our comrades as well!"

"Separate squadrons?" Starstorm suggested.

Keris was already nodding.  "Two companies!  Head down to the shoals!  Drag the crew members to safety!"  He pointed.  "The rest of you—get ready to join me in engaging the enemy!"

"Aye, sir!"

"On your mark, sir!"

"Go!" Keris shouted, pointing at the two detachments that had swiftly formed.  "Report to Chandler once you have finished the rescue!"

Sw-Sw-Sw-Swooosh!  Over two dozen bodies dove towards the burning plume.

Starstorm leaned in, whispering to Keris' ear.  "We've got smaller numbers now.  It won't be enough to overwhelm the Herald and their midnighter allies."

Keris nodded.  "That's the idea."  Just then, two familiar shadows limply flew in from the west.  Keris turned to face his subordinates.  "Oh, hello.  You're alive."

"Mrmmmff..."  Windburst sputtered, leaning weakly against Raptr's shoulder.  "Love you too, Commander."

Raptr gulped at the sight of the flame, then looked at Keris.  "Did you succeed in intercepting Rainbow Dash?"

"Yes."  Keris nodded.  "We talked.  We're just about to charge her group head on."

"We..."  Raptr squinted.  "... ... ...are on the same side, still, yes?"

"Of course, Raptr."  Keris leaned in close.  "We're stretching the battle out long enough for Rainbow to make it to the Dark Side."

"And... the Seventh Tribe?"

"Ultimately—they're not our enemy.  Right now, though, we have to keep our priorities straight."

"And that is?"

Keris looked at the rest of the Talon.  He glanced east at the looming stormclouds where Rainbow's group was lying in wait.  "... ... ...Windburst."

Gathering his breath, Windburst shook off the pain of battle and hovered at attention.  "Commander."

"You're with me and the squadron here.  The soldiers right now are answering to my commands, and I'm going to need your eyes to survey the situation.  Starstorm?  Raptr?  You're both better off physically... which is why I need you two to do the more important task."

Raptr leaned in.  "Which is...?"

"Seraphimus."  Keris' glaring eyes crossed their faces.  "Find her.  Intercept her.  Restrain her.  Keep her as far away from the battle—far away from Rainbow Dash as long as as possible."

Raptr and Starstorm exchanged nervous expressions.

"And..."  Starstorm cleared her throat.  "...if we fail?"

Keris exhaled.  "Then—I fear—all might be lost."  He gestured Windburst closer and hollered towards the troops:  "Guardians of Rohbredden!  Take wing!"

Sw-Sw-Sw-Swooosh!

As the soldiers darted east for the stormclouds...

...Starstorm and Raptr hovered side by side, nervously eyeing each other.

"Do you really think we can hold Seraphimus back?" the rookie stammered.

Starstorm exhaled.  "I'm not sure anything can at this point..."





SW-SWOOSH!  Wildcard swung both nightsticks at Seraphimus' face.

CLAKKKK!  Seraphimus—bleeding in multiple places—blocked the bludgeons with her criss-crossing forelimbs.  Snarling, she threw her weight into the former Talon member.

Hissing beneath his breath, Wildcard threw her weight back into her.

Pressed against each other, the two twirled and spiraled in a mid-air melee.  The two skirted the ocean's surface, plowing through loose waves and sprays of water.  Sp-Sp-Sploosh!  With the next roll of thunder, they shoved against each other, lost contact, then threw their muscles inward once again.

TH-THWUMPPP!

"Grnnngh..."  Seraphimus sneered.  Gripping Wildcard's talons, she leaned in close to the side of his head.  "I wept for you, Jordan."  A flicker of lightning against dead charcoal.  "But the time for weeping has ended."  And she savagely bit into his crest-feathers.

Wildcard's beak flew open—but he did not scream.  Not even then.  Raising his lower limbs, he wrestled for control of Seraphimus' weight.  At last, he wrapped his legs around her midsection and—swooosh!—spun the two of them upside down.  Angling his wings seaward, he descended the two of them until her body plowed into the ocean waves.  Plumes of water fountained outward on either side as he dragged her body a hundred feet through the drink.

Splooooooooooooooosh!

At last, she released her tight beakhold of his scalp.

He exhaled for relief—only to suffer a gut-punch to the chest.  WHUMP!  His goggles rattled and he wheezed for breath, but he found the strength to lock the bars of his nightsticks around her wrist, holding her claws in place.

After nearly twenty drowning seconds of having her head forced underwater, Seraphimus suddenly dug her wings into the depths.  Her feathery limbs dragged at the watery friction, and the two jolted to an awkward stop.

Wildcard's weight shifted eastward and Seraphimus capitalized on it.

"Grkkgll!"  Spitting salt water, she breached the surface—SPLOOSH—tossing Wildcard's body like a ragdoll.

"!!!"  Wildcard flailed through the thunderous air.  Thwwwttt!  He lost one nightstick from his grip.  Panicking, he reached his metal arm out for it.  Vrmmmmmmm—!

THUPP!  Both of Seraphimus' claws gripped the length of Wildcard's prosthetic and twisted savagely.  CRKKKK!

Sparks flew as the magnetized core shorted out.  Wildcard's goggles reflected one nighstick falling forever into the dark waters.  WHUMP!  Just then, a savage talon palmed his face—beak and all.

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaughhh—!"  Screaming into the thunder, Seraphimus flew straight up, dangling Wildcard's body behind her.  Within seconds, she had reached the stormclouds, and she dragggggggggggggggged Wildcard's writhing flesh against the western wall of a boiling anvil cloud.

The Desperado grimaced, a few neckfeathers catching fire from the sheer friction of the magical, misty contact.  As half his body burned raw from the contact, he grasped his remaining nightstick in his good talon and slammed... slammed... slammed it repeatedly against Seraphimus' ribcage.  When the enraged griffon didn't even react, Wildcard calmly resorted to jabbing the narrow end of the bludgeon squarely into Seraphimus' armpit.  WHUD!

Finally, Seraphimus lost her grip of the Job Squadder.  Wildcard separated them further with a two-legged kick.  Wham!  Wheezing, Seraphimus twirled westward, flipping multiple times.

Wildcard glided to a stop, wincing.  He hovered before the thick, thick stormclouds—his silhouette highlighted against silver strobes of lightning.  Taking every opportunity of the breathable moment, he brought a talon to his limp prosthetic and clicked open a hollow compartment.  Schlunk!

Seraphimus' voice echoed along the tresses of thunder:  "Seems only fitting... that the cold irony of fate lost you to the Blight... as it did my family..."

Trembling, Wildcard reached into his metal arm and produced a scrap of enchanted wyvern papyrus.

The lightning dissipated, but the silver remained.  It floated towards him, eyes glaring.  Full of charcoal.  "But at least I know they perished in innocence... and reverance.  They will be ferried to the Spring Havens."

Wildcard calmly rested his goggles on Seraphimus from afar.  He breathed into the papyrus... and the Odrsjot symbol lit up with lavender brilliance.

Seraphimus was hollering now:  "For us!  There will be!  No room!"  And she flew towards him, talon first.  "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"

Wildcard stood his ground.  He slapped the Odrsjot seal over the length of his nightstick, readied his upper body, and uppercutted Seraphimus viciously upon contact.

POWWW!

The air lit up in a ruby splash.

Seraphimus doubled back... recovered... then charged again.

Wildcard slammed her over and over.  POW!  POWWW!  Translucent phantoms of Odrsjot flickered between them and faded, but the Heraldite defender didn't let up.  He punished each of Seraphimus' advances, rivaling the lightning—even when it blinded him.

The air heated up.  Wingfeathers curled on their ends.  The seal's charge was dulling with each blow, and Wildcard knew it.

Seraphimus didn't, but she also didn't care.  At last, she threw herself completely into Wildcard's offense.  Two talons reached forward, gripping the nightstick lengthwise.  The residual harmonic energy of the seal burned Seraphimus' palms.  She merely sneered into the steam:  "Curse your damned Blight, Jordan."  Tears.  Lightning in her eyes.  Like a pair of pallid gravestones.  "I am the Right Talon of Verlaxion!!!"  And she pulled both of her burning palms in opposite directions.

CRACKKK!  Wildcard's nightstick snapped in two.  The Odrsjot seal burst between them, and Seraphimus reached through the ashes, gripping the Desperado's neck with both bleeding talons.  The plunge was already barreling them both eastward so that the two tragic combatants plowed straight through the face of the stormcloud... losing themselves in the thunder and chaos broiling within.
> Circles and Shadows Under Twilight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Th-Thump!  Rainbow Dash's legs landed on a dark, dark cloudbed.

Ariel and over three dozen sarosians flinched, a few of them gasping at the Austraeoh's arrival.  The huddled line faced her immediately.

"Rainbow Dash!" Ariel held a hoof over her fuzzy heart while her leathery companions steadied their rune cannons.  "You're not dead!"

"I know..."  Rainbow wheezed, damp from sweat and rainwater.  "That would have been all kinds of suck, wouldn't it?"

"Save the jokes, Rainbow!" Applejack barked, pointing downward.  "Here comes the cavalry!"

"The bad cavalry!" Pinkie chirped.  "Minus a few goody-goody griffons..."

"Right!  They're almost here!" Rainbow Dash hollered, shuffling about to form ranks with her allies.  "How did Bard and company do with the drop?"

"Scratch off one sea ship full of angry Rohbreddenites!" Ariel exclaimed.  "How about Keris?"

"The Talon's promised to do their best to rein in the troops," Rainbow said.  "But we're still in for one heck of a scrap."

"A large amount of the enemy forces have broken off, Rainbow," Fluttershy firmly stated, despite her trembles.  "I sense that they're flying down to rescue the survivors from the drop."

"Sounds like Keris' hoofwork," Rarity said.  "Er... talonwork?"

Rainbow looked at Ariel.  "According to Fluttershy, we're gonna be facing a smaller bunch of buttheads."

"Right."  Ariel nodded.  "Best that we take advantage of it—"

"Rainbow!"  Twilight Sparkle exclaimed, eyes wide.  "The Gondola!"

"...!"  Rainbow twirled to face east.  She squinted at a faint line of glowing gold energy before the deluge.  "Is it here?!"

"I... I can actually sense it!"  Twilight beamed.  "Feel it!  So much pure harmonic power!  It must be arriving soon!"

"Rainbow...?"  Ariel leaned in.

Smirking proudly, Rainbow let loose with a booming voice:  "Alright, everypony!  Listen up!  The lift is almost here!  But until Kepler and Flynn fire off the red flare, we still got some work to do!"

"Prepare the runes!" Ariel exclaimed, her eyes reflecting a wave of armored bodies rushing up from down below.  "Concussive shots!  Aim for the front line!"

"This is it!"  Rainbow flapped her wings, hovering high along with her friends as the enemy wave approached.  "Just hold a little bit longer!  We're almost done here!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaand..."  Ariel flung her hoof forward.  "...fire!"

"H'rhnum!"

"M'wynhrm!"

"H'rhnum!"





The echoes of the runic explosives were dull thuds by the time they reached the sarosians carrying Remna and Logan back east towards the platforms.  The trio grasping Logan sped ahead.  Those carrying Remna—however—were lagging behind.

"Hmmmmf..."  Remna's eyeslits narrowed at the Emeraldinian structures lingering far ahead.  "We should be there by now.  What is the matter—?"  She felt a trickle of warm liquid staining her flesh beneath the grip of the sarosians.  She looked up, and her ears twitched in alarm.  "What in blazes...?"

"Scrkkk..."  One of the sarosians carrying Remna hissed through her fangs.  A crossbolt from one of the Frostknifers had been embedded in her flank, and she was bleeding profusely.  "A... th-thousand pardons, defender of W'ynlppa yln H'luun... grnngh... we sh-shall get you there shortly..."

"Bite your tongue, mortal!" Remna grumbled.  "You are clearly in no condition to perform this task!"  She motioned with her violet head.  "Disengage and retreat!  Join the Exodus so you can mend—!"

"Impossible, dear friend," one of the other, healthier nightblooded warriors interjected.  "You are as immense as you are courageous.  I fear only two of us cannot carry you—"

"Then do not," Remna said.  "Care for your ally.  She need not die from such an insignificant wound."

"But... but we cannot simply drop you!" the third sarosian exclaimed.  "We saw how helpless you were in open water—"

Remna gazed down at the platforms.  "Our momentum is still swift.  I suspect I can make it from here."

"But... the fall—"

"I will survive!" Remna growled.  Just as she said this, the entire group dipped slightly—nearly losing grip of the violet mare prematurely.  "It is of no use!  Release me!  Release me now—"

"We are s-sorry!" the injured sarosian whimpered.  At last, she lost all strength.  The other two twirled to support her.

In so doing...

Thwooooooooooosh!

...they dropped Remna like an anvil.

The mare's body angled forward.  She furrowed her brow... concentrating... as if stretching invisible dragon wings.

Through no small miracle, she managed to land on the west edge of an Emeraldinian platform.  THUDDDD!  The sheer mass of her draconian body sent a shockwave rippling outward in every direction.  A severe fracture ribboned through the structure, sending chips of granite flying into the thunderous air.

When the shockwave reached Logan, he was just settling down.  The concussive blast knocked him to his flank and nearly threw his three sarosian companions into the drink.  Even Flynn and Kepler stumbled where they were stationed.

Remna tumbled, rolled, and slid a few dozen more feet.  Once her dazed figure came to a stop, she heard a salvo of angry words echoing from Logan's position.

"You stupid bag of dragon snot!" Logan spat.  "Why don't you take the entire platform down while you're at it?!  Buckin' ruin everything!"

"Big Show..." Flynn chided.

"No!  Really!  Who does she think she is?!  We're out here risking our necks for the Austraeoh and—"

"I said knock it off, Big Show!"

"Make me—"

"Silence, brrotherrs!" Kepler suddenly hollered.  "Both of you!"  Then in a calmer voice, bordering on jubilant:  "I do believe it is arrriving!"

Flynn gasped.  He galloped to the very precipice of the world.  "The Gondola?!  Do you see it?"

"You tell me, frriend.  I do sense something in the airr..."

Flynn focused with his mechanical eye.  A few seconds later, the balding stallion grinned from ear to ear.  "It's coming!  Hahaha!  Leaping leylines!  It's almost here!"

"Hot dayum!" Logan sputtered.  "Is it time for the signal yet?"

"Negatorry."  Kepler shook his head.  "Therre arre minutes yet until it fully arrrives!  We cannot afforrd to rruin the timing of ourr flarres!"

"Sure thing!"  Flynn spun about and gestured towards the three sarosians who had carried Logan over.  "Shoo!  Shoo!  Back to Bleak's Plummet with you pixies!  I promise—your warrior brothers and sisters will join you as soon as the sky flashes red!"

"Ourr moment of trriumph is at hand!" Kepler added.

"Yeah..."  Logan huffed, pausing to examine the blade of his axe.  "Assuming no more dragons slam into the ground."

Remna listened, but she wasn't looking at them.  She spent all this time getting up... a process made even slower by an inexplicable stupor that had overcome the mare.  Directly in front of her was the array of rusted stakes with empty dangling chalices.  However, somewhere beyond the wind-blown chimes at the end of the world, there was a dull space in comprehension.  Remna stared, and she saw starlight blotted out in an ink-black streak, constantly moving, swaying, dancing.  The mist of the deluge toyed with the twilight, forming a faint—but very real—rainbow.

Her violet brow furrowed.  Remna looked back at the other Heraldites as they ecstatically huddled before the golden steeples of alicorn metal.  She then glanced west—at the distant flashes of runic explosions.  Nebulaic colors.  Red and green and blue.

Then—nostrils flaring—Remna trotted straight into the sea of chimes.





POW!  P-POW!

KAPOW!

Runic blasts erupted in the air below Rainbow, Ariel, and their allies.

The sarosians continued their moonwhinny onslaught, giving the air at the end of the world its second layer of thunder.

The Central Guard—however—had since grown wise to the artillery barrages.  Many of the troops shifted north and south, easily juking the blasts.  Their charge had been slowed, but not blocked completely.  They still rushed the sarosian line as one combined force.

And just like that, the explosive blasts stopped completely.

Pinkie Pie gasped.  "Uh oh..."  She looked at Rainbow Dash.

And Rainbow Dash looked at Ariel.  "Lemme guess..."  She exhaled.  "That's the last of the runes."

Sarosians were already nodding.  "I'm afraid so," Ariel added.  "We're all out."

Rainbow clenched her teeth.  "Guess we gotta do this the hard way."

"But Keris is among the charge!" Rarity exclaimed.  "Surely that will help us!"

"We can't rely on him for everything," Rainbow said.  Hovering higher, she pumped a hoof in the air.  "Foals of Luna!  This is it!"

"Oh no..."  Fluttershy covered her eyes.  "...not another melee!"

"It's okay, sugarcube."  Applejack hugged her.  "Twilight said we ain't got much longer."  She looked over.  "Right, Twilight?"

"Uhhhhhhhhh—"

"Let's make it awesome!"  Rainbow's shouting voice shattered the moment, and it was soon shared by the shrieks of her loyal cohorts.  "Chaaaarge!"

"Eee-eee-eee-eee!"

"Eee-eee-eee-eee!"

"Eee-eee-eee-eee!"

"Oh petticoats!" Rarity whimpered, clutching her ears as she and the rest of Rainbow's friends were dragged into the fray.  "I really do wish they would be quieter about their bloodlusting violence!"

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee—" Was all Pinkie managed, for soon Rainbow, Ariel, and the rest were colliding with the advancing forces from below.





"The Blighted explosives!" a crew pony on board the last remaining ship shouted, staring straight up through a spyglass.  "They've stopped!"

"Defense Minister!"  A griffon spun to face Chandler.  "It's the Commander!  He's engaged the Rainbow Rogue with his forces!"

Another griffon gestured at the wall of flame before the ship's bow.  "And the Commander's other companies are rescuing our brothers and sisters beyond the shoals!  In a matter of minutes, we should be able to regroup!"

All of these announcements fell on deaf ears.  The greater majority of the ship's complement looked to see Brye Chandler huddled with his tight group of well-armored bodyguards.

"Defense Minister...?"  A crew member trotted closer to the chariot.  "What are your orders?"

At last, Chandler managed a throaty grunt.  "Stay at your posts."

"Minister...?"

Chandler gestured at his bodyguards.  Two pegasi hitched themselves to the vehicle's rigging while several griffons gripped the outer edges of the seat.  "You heard me.  Remain on board.  Keep to this position."

"But Minister, the survivors—"

"I don't care about our sister ship!" Chandler spat, gesturing for his helmet.  "They've made their failure complete!"  He slapped the bulky article onto his skull and fastened it tight.  "That enemy artillery vessel needs to be taken out.  I'm heading out with what remains of our elite to do just that!  Then—once I've stolen the midnighters' Blighted magic—I'll turn the Rogue's weapons on her and end this once and for all!"

"But... but what of the Commander's engagement—?"

"The Commander's made his motivations abundantly clear," Chandler grunted.  "Our beloved Goddess entrusted this task to me.  Now I see that I must face the adversary personally."

"Yes, sir.  Of c-course, sir."

"If you see Seraphimus..."  Chandler's frown briefly gave way to a grimacing expression.  His tongue hung in the middle of his muzzle as he stared at the flames and shoals beyond.

"Minister...?"

Eventually, Chandler huffed.  "Never mind."  He slapped the edge of the chariot and barked at his bodyguards:  "Take wing!"

The pegasi charged forward while the muscular griffons lifted and—WOOOOOSH!—the chariot ascended instantly.  Bending north, the vehicle skirted the wall of flames and dipped low, threading through the rock formations and errant splashes of salt water.





"The explosions in the sky," Bard said, squinting upwards from where he gripped the Stardust's rudder wheel.  "They've stopped."

"Our brothers and sisters must be out of runes!" one of his two companions exclaimed.

Bard leaned forward, staring at the lower deck.  "Are we out of them fancy shmancy moon rocks?"

One nightblood warrior flung open the cabin door, revealing piles of silver runes still lying inside.  "Not even remotely!"

"Good!"  Bard gestured skyward.  "Reckon we oughta make use of 'em!  From the looks of it, Rainbow's buttin' heads with the enemy again!  If we fill the lower air beneath them with flak, it just might give our partners the edge they need in kickin' flank!"

Right then, one of the warriors shouted.  "Th'wylymnym!"  He pointed a velvety hoof at the north horizon.  "Syl'ynym hym symylym!"

"What?"  Bard squinted in the direction he was pointing.  "What's the reason for the spit static this time?"

The other sarosian bit his lip with fanged teeth.  "Bard, we have a problem."  He pointed.  "Eleven o'clock!  That's how you would say it, ywm?"

Bard's ears drooped.  "I see it."  He flinched.  "Them."

"Hy'syllym thymym sylym!"

"It's a vessel of sorts..."

"No."  Bard shook his head.  "Not a ship.  A chariot.  A group of winged varmints are tryin' to take us out!"

"They're moving very swiftly!"

"Grnnngh..."  Bard spun the rudder wheel, positioning the Stardust so its hull was aligned with more agreeable currents.  "I can see that!"





"Minister!"  One pegasus drawing the chariot turned his head to stare back at the vehicle's seat.  "I think they see us!"

"Not surprising."  Chandler gripped his helmet and struggled to look dignified.  It only half-worked.  "Whatever you do, keep low—!"

"They might fire upon us with their Blighted magic!" one griffon bodyguard in formation hissed.

"You think I don't know that?!"  Chandler frowned.  "That's why we're sticking so close to sea level!"  He gestured.  "Maintain momentum!  Circle them!  Let them waste their ammo!"

"Yes, sir!" one pegasus shouted, flapping his wings hard along with his partner.

"Keep the pressure on them and circle closer..."  Chandler reached deep into the chariot, fumbling.  "When the moment comes... at our first opportunity..."  He finally produced a crossbow, cocking it with armored fetlocks.  "...we strike.  Is that understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"Yes, Defense Minister—"

A flash of runic light emanated from the Stardust.

"Incoming!" one of the pegasi shouted.

"Maintain—"  Chandler winced as a thunderous blast erupted directly behind him, nearly knocking the chariot and its entourage off-balance.  "—position!"  He gnashed his teeth, aiming down the sight of his crossbow—only to discover that the target was too far away.  He cursed under his breath... even as more runic blasts erupted all around them.  "We're on the edge of the world, you Blighted filth."  His eyes stared emerald daggers beneath his helmet.  "There's nowhere left to run..."





"M'wynhrm!!!" one warrior on board the Stardust shouted.

POWWW!  His shell exploded between them and the chariot, warding the winged group off one blast at a time.

"I hesitate to say that it's working, Bard," the other sarosian said, loading a fresh new cannon.  "They have not broken formation."

"But have they gotten any closer?" the Desperado exclaimed.

"Well, no—"

"Then it's darn-well workin'!"  Bard frowned, spinning the rudder-wheel once more.  He eventually forced the Stardust into a clockwise drift, cruising opposite of the invasive chariot.  "The longer they stay away from us, the longer we can give Rainbow Dash the support she needs!"

"But they're keeping very close to sea level!" one of the sarosians exclaimed.  "At any moment, they could lift up and descend on us—"

"So keep firin' at 'em so that they dun get any bright ideas!" Bard spat as thunder rolled overhead.  "I know they figure they're harder to hit where they are, but they dun stuck themselves in a rut!"  He waved a hoof westward at the midair battle.  "Now it dun take two of ya to keep 'em occupied!  One of y'all fire at the chariot and the other give Rainbow cover!"

"How long should we do this—?"

"For as long as it friggin' takes!" Bard hollered, fighting resistance against the rudder.  "All that matters is buyin' Rainbow time!"  He squinted skyward once again.  "We must buy Rainbow more time!

Following Bard's orders, the other sarosian primed a bleakweed cannon, aimed up high, and fired it.





P-POW!

Keris and Windburst winced as the blast erupted below them.  They steadied themselves in time to face a wave of shrieking sarosians.

"Incoming—!"  Keris hollered as Windburst charged ahead of them.

"Yaaaaugh!"  Windburst punched one sarosian and headbutted another.  After the adrenalized rush, he shuddered in mid-air, gripping his wounds.

Two other sarosians rammed into him from the side.

Windburst flew back—and Keris ascended in his place.  Hovering, the Commander of the Talon expertly blocked several whalebone bludgeon strikes and kicked the offending group back.  Within seconds, the rest of the Frostknife line caught up and forced the sarosians higher, engaging in spark-flying melee combat.

"I'm... guh... not fighting at my best," Windburst wheezed.

Keris reached out to steady him while eyeing the frantic battle above.  "Neither are they," he said.

Another runic blast erupted beneath them, and then Windburst said, "You think they're following Rainbow's advice?"

"That, or battle fatigue is finally consuming us all."

Windburst shuddered.  "How long do you think we can keep this up, Commander?"  He gulped.  "Before it becomes an absolute bloodbath?"

"I have faith we can manage, Sergeant," Keris said, preparing himself for a flanking squadron of sarosians.  "Even still..."  His headcrest drooped just seconds before engaging in combat once again.  "...this is not the battle that concerns me."





Enix lived—for what it was worth.

Bloodied, bruised, and bloodied some more... the mare clung to a piece of metal floating aloft in the tempestuous sea.  The remains of the first ship's wreckage marinated around her, and the sounds of battle echoed in the east.

Not that she could hear much of it.  Her good ear was cocked towards the sky, and her bad ear—a tattered, crimson thing—struggled to stay above the water line.  Every now and then the salty-brine would invade her wound, and the nightblooded warrior hissed in pain.

Her grimace turned into a momentary grin.  Something peaceful... contemplative.

Her breaths lessened... lessened.  Then—with a penultimate sigh—she blacked out altogether... and sank deep into the ocean.

One second.

Two.

Sploosh!

A sharp talon stabbed into the water.  Gripping tight, it raised Enix back above the surface.

Enix awoke with a gasp.  Her slitted eyes widened, blinking at the figure holding her.

"... ... ..."  Starstorm stared her down.  Her feathered brow furrowed inquisitively.

Enix's one good ear twitched.  After the brief moment of awkwardness had passed, the nightblooded warrior summoned a growl from deep within her midnight lungs.  Her fetlock's muscles tightened and her fangs showed in the stormlight—

"A friend?" Starstorm asked.  "Of Rainbow Dash?"

Enix froze, locked in Starstorm's grip.

Calmly, Starstorm leaned in until her break was grazing Enix's neck.  "I would regret the murder of one of her allies on my conscience."

Enix simply gaped at her.

Starstorm exhaled firmly.  "Bleak's Plummet.  Can you still reach it by air?"  She squinted.  "If you fly now?"

At last, Enix gulped.  "I... I-I believe so," she managed.

"Then you had better get flying."  Starstorm released her grip of the sarosian.  "If all goes well, your brothers and sisters will be joining you shortly."

Enix jerked in place... but found the strength to hover.  She gawked at Starstorm... then at the rookie coming into view behind her.  With bristled mane hairs, the warrior said, "I do not flee from a battle."

"You have an Exodus to Equestria to join, yes?"  Starstorm glared.  "If you are truly a friend of Rainbow Dash, then I'd say your warrior days are over."

Enix gazed at her.  She shuddered slightly.  Then, with a flash of fangs—"Ee-ee!"—she turned tail and soared west in a pale blur.

Starstorm hovered in place over the wreckage, watching her depart towards a glowing blue spot along the sea.  Raptr flew in close, clearing his throat.

"That, uhhhhh..."  He fiddled with his claws.  "That wasn't Seraphimus."

Starstorm sighed heavily.  "Was it obviousness that got you enlisted with the Talon?"

"I'm just saying.  If we spend the entire time picking up stragglers—"

"She was here, though," Starstorm said, spinning about.  "Above here."

"You mean...?"

"That midnighter had survived a battle with her."  Starstorm scanned the local waters.  "Barely, even."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I've been around the former Commander longer than you, rookie," Starstorm explained.  She looked straight up.  "I've seen the scars of her wrath on many a body.  Those were Seraphimus' claw marks for certain."

Raptr shrugged.  "Well, she's not here now.  And somehow I don't think some random sarosian would have been enough enough to beat her."  He blinked.  "So... where did she go and what got in the way?"

"... ... ..."  Starstorm was staring upwards and towards the east.

"...?"  Raptr turned around, following her line of sight.  Soon both Talon members were staring at a tall dark anvil cloud—broiling with silver lightning from within.

Starstorm murmured:  "Where else would a soul as angry as Seraphimus be in a time like this?"

Raptr winced.  "Ahhhhh jeez..."
> A Maverick to the End
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	KRAKKK!

Lightning forked through the hollow of the cloud, glinting off of wet feathers and lashing tails.  Pale strands and dark fibers twirled amidst the tumult, illuminated by intermittent electrical flashes.

"Grrrrrrgh!"  Seraphimus swung and struck and sliced endlessly with her claws.  "Hrgggh!  Mmmfff!  Httt!"

Wildcard, weaponless, drew away from her in a spiral, raising his prosthetic and deflecting each attack with desperate precision.  Clank!  Cl-Clack!  Clang!

Seraphimus' offense was insatiable.  She shifted left and right, occupying his peripherals and giving him no chance to escape.  Amidst the onslaught, she kept a careful eye on his goggles.  And when lightning flickered—filling the heart of the cloud with an infinitesimally bright flash of silver light—she capitalized on his inevitable blindness.  With a flap of her wings, she shot down, twirled, and rose up behind him.  Claws raked around in a deathly semi-circle.

Wildcard flattened his body and spun.  He was able to dodge one set of claws—but not the other.  Sliiiiink!  Blood sprayed the thunder between them, and he lost the air in his lungs just as he lost sight of his former superior.

Seraphimus dove in for the kill—only to receive a lucky kick to the beak.  Wildcard followed up with two metal punches to the chest.  Seraphimus absorbed the second blow—pain and all—and gripped his metal wrist with both talons, anchoring the two of them in midair.

Thinking fast, Wildcard threw up his lower body and slammed both paws into Seraphimus' figure.  Just as he did so, he popped his prosthetic loose and vaulted off of her.  The action separated the two of them by several wet, rainy feet.

Before Seraphimus could make sense of what happened, Wildcard magnetically drew the sparkling end of his disconnected arm back towards him.  Seraphimus—still gripping it—jerked forward with the motion.  The very moment that Wildcard—whirrr-chtung!—reconnected with his prosthetic, he brought his flesh talon up with a savage uppercut.  WHAM!

Lightning flew.  Seraphimus flew.  A black streak followed her and—through the murky shadows following—Wildcard materialized to deliver a merciless drop-kick.

THUDD!

Seraphimus plummeted through the belly of the cloud.  The air around them buzzed with electricity and rain.  Miraculously, the former Commander's body narrowly missed two stabbing branches of lightning.

Wildcard struggled to see through the blinding flashes.  If the Desperado was even capable of spotting what came next, he would likely have struggled with believing it.

Seraphimus had turned her free-fall into a curved glide.  Hugging the inner edge of the cloud, she reached both talons out and dragged up a rolling cluster of stormy mists.  Arcing back upwards, she collected more and more cloudy material—just as dark and ominous as the layers surrounding them.  By the time she flew back up towards Wildcard on an intercept course, she was shoveling a thick wave of stormcloud.  Sparks danced between her feathers as she screamed at the apex of her ascent—twirling her body backwards and bucking the material up at Wildcard with nightmarish force.

On its way towards him, the dense cluster of stormclouds buzzed and fluctuated with crackling energy before—KRAAAAAK!—exploding directly in front of him, forking lightning in all directions.

Wildcard may have actually screamed; he couldn't tell from the deafening thunder.  Soon after, he couldn't tell from the pain of Seraphimus flying into him and pummeling his feathery skull with merciless lefts and rights.

One punch after another, Seraphimus shoved the two of them up... up... up the neck of the cloud...





...until they finally burst out of the summit altogether.

Exposed to the rain and twilight, Wildcard and Seraphimus wrestled in the upper atmosphere for dominance.  It was a battle that Wildcard—after layers of blinding pain—was swiftly losing.  He telegraphed it with weak blocks and wheezing breaths, struggling with every flesh and metal inch of his being to hold the former Talon Commander at bay.

In the next flash of lightning, their black and silver bodies glinted...





...so that they showed off like a beacon far across the tempestuous waves.

Bard's eyes twitched, reflecting the monochromatic struggle in the deathly distance.

His muzzle hung agape.  Loose hooves slipped from his grip of the rudder wheel.

"Bard!" one sarosian shouted as the Stardust plowed through a blunt wall of water.

"Grnnngh!"  Bard spat through the resulting spray.  Hopping down off the platform, he joined his two velvety companions on the lower deck.  "Look!  Up high!  Due west at 9 o'clock sharp!"

One sarosian paused in reloading his bleakweed cannon.  His eyeslits scanned the twilight—then spotted the two combatants.  "H'Luun... ly'syllem thryll sy'wym..."

"It's Wildcard!" Bard's voice cracked.  "The damned mofo's in trouble!  I just know it!"

"M'wynhrm!!!"  The other sarosian fired a blast at Chandler's chariot, forcing it to veer off into a wider orbit.  Panting, he looked at Bard while loading another rune.  "We have enough on our hooves as it is, friend—"

"Shut yer bug trap!  Look..."  Bard gestured.  "Can we fire an explosive at 'em?"

"To what end?!"

"I dunno!"  Bard gnashed his teeth, flinging another worried look west.  "To break up the fight!  Knock 'em off their wings and give Dubya-Cee a chance to fly free?"

"I'm afraid it's too far, friend!" one sarosian said, enchanting the cannon and aiming at the circling chariot.  "And our enemy approaches—"

"Can it be done or can't it?!"

"Possibly—but with double the payload of runes and with two enchanters committed to the spell!  But right now we are requiring both cannons just to ward off these damnable land-dwellers—"

Frowning, Bard wrenched the cannon away from the warrior.  "Gimme that dayum thang!"  He rushed towards the edge of the Stardust's starboard side, slid on his rear knees, and shouted:  "W'rhynnym!!!"

"NO!"  One sarosian shrieked, leaping towards Bard.  "That's not the right command—!"

But the cannon fired anyway—and it trailed burning smoke as it did so.  Phwooooooooooosh—!"





"Defense Minister!"  One bodyguard shouted, flying alongside Chandler's chariot.  "Look out!"

"Yes.  They're firing at us again," Chandler grunted, trying to get a good shot with his crossbow.  "I see that—"

"But this one's d-different somehow!"  A griffon's head turned in mid-flight.  "And the trajectory—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Bard's ordinance landed in the waters before the chariot's flight path.  The burning of the rune continued underwater, and within two seconds that portion of the ocean was bursting with scalding hot steam.

"Look out!" one pegasus driver said, swerving in his reins.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!"  The other shrieked, flinching as he and his partner were carried forward by the momentum of the low-flying vehicle.  Within a blink, the two pegasi's skin was peeling off from the sheer heat.

"Minister!" a griffon reached into the chariot and yanked Chandler out.  "Jump!"

"Goddess—!"  Chandler yelped as he and his companions were all engulfed in blood-stained steam.







The sarosians on board the Stardust watched—dumbstruck—as a pocket of ocean exploded in a scalding hot mist.  Chandler's chariot flew in on one side... and came exploding out the other end with a loose spray of shrapnel and shattered metal.  The eruption ended as soon as it began, leaving a fresh hot cloud looming over the crash site.

Bard stood up, and the cannon in his grasp was on fire.  He tossed it limply into the drink and spat in the ocean.  "Soup's on, ya douche kettle."

The bat ponies blinked.

Turning around, the Desperado pointed at their one remaining cannon.  "Can we get that to fire a long-ranged shot or not?"

Briskly, the two rushed towards the Stardust's stockpile of runes.  "We will need your swift assistance!"

"Brother..."  Bard slicked his ponytail back and galloped after them.  "...you got it!"  He flung a look west.  "Hang on, Dubya, ya crazy cat rooster.  Just a little bit longer..."





"Rrrrgh!"  Seraphimus swung a claw.

Breathless, Wildcard managed a narrow dodge.

Seraphimus swung her other talon.

Sliiiink!

Blood flew from Wildcard's sliced shoulder.

His beak flew open from the torturous strike.  Thapp!  A talon closed around his beak.  He struggled to break free from Seraphimus' grip—but in so doing he offered up the actual target of her latest attack.

Seraphimus hoisted his body around by her grip of his metal limb.  Twisting the Desperado until he was bent backwards, she slammed and slammed and slammed her elbow repeatedly into the joint of his prosthetic.  Within seconds, his artificial claws dangled limply... harmless.

Seraphimus did not let up.  Kneeing Wildcard hard in the square of his back, she stunned his body from head to tail and flung him towards a floating remnant of stormclouds.

Th-Thwump!  Wildcard pinballed off the mist...

...and flew straight back into Seraphimus' grip.  Thwppp!  She now held both talons around his neck.  Leering down at him, the former Commander of the Talon gradually applied pressure... slowly and agonizingly digging the tips of her claws into his flesh as he struggled for a breath.

"You gave up your voice, Jordan," she found the civility to whisper, charcoal eyes glaring at her own reflection in his goggles.  "What use have you of your throat?"

The Desperado trembled... dangled...

Droplets of blood ran down two of Seraphimus' digits.  Four.  Six...





"It's..."  The sarosians winced from the heat of the doubly-enchanted runes packed into the cannon.  "It's primed and ready!"  It took both of their combined dexterity to hold the thing from where they perched squarely in the middle of the Stardust's rain-slicked deck.  "Do you see your compatriot?"

Bard exhaled, squinting down the sight of the cannon—a difficult task with how brightly the runes were shimmering.  Off in the distant west, a dark speck dangled from a silver speck's grasp.  "I do."

"Then it will be your shout to give, Bard—"

"M'wynhrm!!!'"  Bard hollered melodically.

SHOOOOOOOM!  The Stardust rocked east from the sheer force of the launched projectile.

Th-Thunk!  The smoking cannon fell to the deckplates.

Bard watched breathlessly as the runic missile flew its course...





"Httt!"  Rainbow Dash punched an armored pegasus in the face and bucked off the attack of a flanking griffon.

She sensed a flicker of burning light in her peripheral and spun towards it with a guarded hoof raised.  Upon seeing the source of the illumination—a bright missile of lunar dust flying below her—she froze in the midst of battle to gawk.

"Whoahhhhhhh..."  Pinkie Pie shivered all over.  "That thing's h-headed s-somewhere with an attitude!"

"Where in blazes did it come from?" Applejack asked.

"The Stardust!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed.

"Oh yeah?"  Rainbow Dash caught her breath and flew back into the fight, joining Ariel's side in fending off Frostknifers.  "Where's it headed?"

Twilight Sparkle gazed west.  She bit her lip...





Wildcard trembled, growing limp in Seraphimus' grip.  His muscle spasms lessened.  The feathers of his headcrest drooped.

Seraphimus sneered and sneered.  Just as she flexed her wrist to dig into his neckmeat...

...a pair of blinding lights reflected off his goggles.

Seraphimus' charcoal eyes squinted.  She flung a nervous look east.

A burning froth of lunar dust sailed straight towards the two of them.

"...!!!"  Alarmed, Seraphimus dropped Wildcard altogether and flew in a random direction—

POWWWW!

The runic payload discharged.  A spherical wave of concussive energy rippled outward in every direction.  It sliced off the top half of the anvil cloud below, almost entirely vaporizing the storm altogether.

Wildcard barreled towards the east side of the cloud.  A swath of mists scattered... then coalesced just in time to act as a drifting bed for the Desperado to land on.

Seraphimus, meanwhile...





"There!"  Raptr pointed up high at the dissolving stormcloud.  "I see her!"

"That explosion!"  Starstorm exclaimed, squinting into the trailing brightness of the discharge.  "Where did it come from?!"

"Who cares!"  Raptr shot up like lightning, sailing towards Seraphimus' plummeting body.  "Quick!"

"Oh Goddess..."  Starstorm clenched her beak tight as she soared after the rookie.

Seraphimus fell like a ragdoll, thoroughly unconscious.  Before her body could ricochet violently off the remains of the stormcloud, the two Talon members intercepted her.  They caught the former Commander... cradling her and slowly carrying her down to sea level.

"That... that was crazy," Raptr wheezed.

"No lectures on 'crazy,'" Starstorm stammered, using a free hand to rummage through her belt.  "Not quite yet."

Raptr craned his neck to look over Seraphimus' head.  "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?"  Starstorm produced a series of metal cords.  "Help me restrain her."

"Tie her up?!"  Raptr grimaced.  "Seraphimus?!  You sure that's a good idea?!"

"... ... ..."  Starstorm simply glared at him.

He gulped and nodded as the two perched with her on a drifting piece of wreckage.  "Right.  'Shut up, rookie.'"  And the two swiftly went about binding the figure's paws and talons.





On board the Stardust...

"Yeeeehaa!"  Bard hopped up and down, his wings flexing.  "Desperado delivery received and signed!  You can thank me later, ya feathery bastard!"

The two sarosians shrieked jubilantly.

Bard shuddered, slicking his bangs back as he smirked into the thunder and mists.  "Sorry it was a mite bit noggin'-bustin', mofo, but rather you have a migraine than become angry griffon food."

"That last spell took the strength out of our remaining cannon," one warrior said.  He turned to face Bard.  "We are no longer of use to our brothers and sisters.  I suggest we take you back to the platform so you can join W'ynlppa yln H'luun upon her return."

"Righto."  Bard nodded.  He turned towards the upper platform and its rudder wheel.  "We've done all we can here.  Let's water-mosey on back to—"  Something sharp and metal whizzed by his skull.

Thwifffffft!  THUNK!  One of the sarosians doubled over; a crossbolt was embedded quiver-deep in his throat.

The other warrior shrieked loudly.

"!!!"  Bard spun about, eyes stabbing the heavens.  Shadows circled closer through the mists.





"Damn..."  Brye Chandler snarled.  Dangling in the grip of two griffons, he loaded another barb into his crossbow and pointed it at the Stardust a dozen meters below.  "I was aiming for the ugly one."

"You hit a midnighter, sir!" one bodyguard shouted.

"Well, what are you waiting for?!"  Chandler barked, aiming.  "Avenge your comrades in arms!"

Schiiiing!  Swords and spears lit the wet air.

"Soldiers of Rohbredden...!"

While two griffons continued carrying the Defense Minister aloft, four remaining members of Chandler's squadron sailed down at the Stardust with weapons drawn.

"...slay in the name of Verlaxionnn!"

"Aaaaaaaaugh!"

"Deatttth!"

Chandler fired a second shot—





—that ricocheted off the bow of Flynn's ship.  After a spray of sparks, the arrow rolled to a stop against the meaty body of the dying sarosian.  He collapsed and gargled blood while his nightblooded companion shook his shoulder frantically.

"S'ymlythym!  S'ymlythym!"  His slitted eyes teared.  "Hy'symy syln lys'lym thym hy'lym, S'ymylthym!"

"Eyes up!"  Bard sputtered, jerking about and gazing skyward.  "We've got company—"

Th-Th-Th-Thump!  Four sets of limbs—two pegasi and two griffons—landed on the Stardust's deck.  "Midnighter seafoam filth—!"

"Rrrrrrrrrgh—"  Spinning from his slain friend, the other sarosian flew straight at the intruders with twin whalebone scimitars.  Schhhing!  "Hreeeee-eeee-eeeee-eeeessssh!"

"Wait!"  Bard reached towards his bandolier.  "Don't—"

The sarosian clashed with a pegasus, then knocked a griffon onto his flank.  As he tried to pounce the second Frostknifer, a third came from the side—cleaving the sarosian's shoulder in two with a gold-glinting sword.  Schlunkkk!

"Dammit!"  Bard extended his bo-staff in a silver flash.  Cl-Clakkka!  "Dammit to Hell—!"

"Aaaaaaaaugh!"  A griffon and a pegasus rushed him.

Sneering, Bard charged them on stomp-stomp-stomping hooves.  He slid halfway across the Stardust, twirling his staff low.

The pegasus flew up to avoid the weapon.  The griffon—however—charged on through with his sword.  Schiiing!

Bard blocked the blade in reverse—CLANK!—and then spun his staff up to throw the griffon's weight off.  Shadows shifted, and the Desperado sensed the pegasus diving from behind.  He twirled to the side just in time to avoid a spear jab.  THUNK!  As sparks danced across the deck, Bard spun about, knocked the spear away, then uppercutted the pegasus with his staff.  "Rrrrgh!"  WHACK!

The second pegasus and griffon leapt over the dead sarosian and charged Bard.  "Son of Blight—"

Bard silenced the pegasus with a staff-jab to the chest.

The griffon swung his sword into Bard's skull.

Bard barely dodged, losing a lock of mane-hair.  He tripped the griffon to the ground, twirled his staff, and crushed the griffon's beak into eggshell fragments against the deckplate.

As the griffon screamed into a fountain of blood, Bard cartwheeled over him then held his staff high in time to block an attack from three separate foes.  CL-CL-CLANK!  With a deep-bellied yell, he shoved the weight of two pegasi and one griffon off.  The air whizzed again—and he hopped back in time to avoid another crossbolt from Chandler above.

Clank!

Bard's eyes darted towards the impact that the projectile made with the hull... and he ignored the blood of his companions beneath him.  "...shit!"  He slipped, falling wetly on his back.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaugh—!" A pegasus leapt down at him, spear first.

Bard swung his staff up in two hooves—knocking aside the thrust and embedding the blade of the polearm into the Stardust's cabin doorframe behind him.  In the next breath, Bard kicked a loose whalebone scimitar closer towards his own torso, grasped it in his fetlock, and shoved it deep into the pegasus' ribs.

"Grkkk!"  The pegasus' eyes rolled back.  He fell aside... and his two companions rushed through him.

"Yaaaaaaaugh—!"

Sword.

"Aaaaaaaa—!"

Spear.

Bard rolled away from them.  He stumbled to his hooves, gripping his staff between his teeth.  Pivoting his neck from side to side, he parried the multiple thrusts and attacks of his two advancing enemies while backtrotting.  Once he found enough open space, he spat the staff out, spun around, jumped to his rear hooves, and caught the weapon in his front fetlocks.  Twirling the weapon, he succeeded in deflecting the next flurry of attacks, followed by—

"Rrrraaaugh!"

—a savage lengthwise thrust, knocking the two Frostknifers onto their backsides.

Panting... stained in blood, Bard looked back up to the sky.  He saw lightning.  Stars.  Color.  Something warm and awesome flickered in the distance.  "Rainbow..."  Catching his breath, he spread his wings to do the smart thing and take off—

Thwissssssssh!

—which was precisely when a crossbolt ripped through his left wing.  Schliiink!

"Aaaaaaugh!"  Bard fell flat on his belly.  His feathers dangled uselessly by his side, drenched in his own juices.  He struggled to push himself up by the grip of his staff.

"Hold him!" Chandler's voice shouted from above as he loaded another arrow.  "For Verlaxion's sake, hold the maniac still—!"

"I got him—!"  The last remaining pegasus charged with his spear once again.

Hissing through his teeth, Bard lifted his staff in time to catch the guardian in the chest.  He vaulted the flailing pegasus over him—forcing the soldier to drop his spear.

"Grnnngh..."  Pushing against the pain, Bard picked up the enemy spear in his free hoof, stood up, spun, and flung it skyward with all his might.  "Rrrrr-aaaaugh!"

Chandler was aiming down his sight when he saw the blade of the spear flying at him.  "...!"  He jerked back in the grip of his bodyguards, yelping.  "Goddess—!"

CHTINKKK!  The spear found a resting spot between the seams of his shoulderplates, vibrating to a stop.

"Minister!" one of the griffons carrying him gasped.

"Shhhhhhhh—!"  Brye Chandler writhed in his rattling gear.  "Fly us up!  Get this damned thing out of me!"

"But sir..."  The other guard glanced closely at the spear.  "I don't think the blade has pierced any—"

"I said fly me away!  Do you understand how important I am to Verlaxion's cause?!"

"Yes, sir!  Right away—!"

And both guards ascended, carrying Chandler away from the Stardust.  Away from the bloodbath.

Bard watched them, heaving... bleeding... turning—

"Aaaaaaaugh!"  The last griffon plowed into him.

Bard shrieked in pain.  As the griffon's talons raked his flesh, he spun in a circle, knocking the guardian off.

Wh-Wham!  The griffon slammed into the railing of the Stardust.  With a frown, he came barreling back at Bard with a dagger drawn.

"Aaaaaaa—!"  Bard shoved the full length of his pole forward and—with incredible finesse

"Grllggggkkkt!"

—shoved it pulp-deep into the griffon's gullet.  Blood vomited from the attacker's beak for a brief instant.  Then...

Crk-CRKKK!  Bard fiercely jerked his staff at a sixty-degree angle.

The griffon's neck snapped.  As his throat spat out Bard's staff, his carcass fell like a wet sack of bricks.

Bard exhaled.  He felt like collapsing too—

Schlunkkkkk!

—the Desperado jerked in place.  He looked down, observing the bloodied sword tip protruding out through his belly.

The last pegasus behind him held the hilt, having impaled Bard from behind.  Twisting the blade, he leaned forward to whisper a curse in Bard's ear.

Bard snorted, fighting to keep the pathway to his lungs and stomach close.  With adept fetlocks, he slid his staff behind him, caught the pegasus, and hoisted upwards in reverse.

"Whoah—!"  The pegasus flailed, somersaulting against his will.  In a wet second, he fell belly-first against the Stardust's railing.  His muzzle stopped mere centimeters from the ocean water.  He was about to move when a massive, bleeding weight pressed into him from behind.  Bard locked his staff under the pegasus' neck and shoved his cranium below the water.  "Grllglgggght!"

Bard stared past the waves.  He held his breath... his blood... his everything.

The pegasus attempted to as well... but wasn't nearly as successful.  His lower body shook and thrashed against his impaled foe... but to no avail.  Within a minute, the pegasus' figure lay limp... fully and thoroughly drowned.

And with that accomplished...

Cl-Clank!

Bard dropped his crimson-stained staff to the Stardust's deck.  He then slumped down onto his knees... lingering in place.  Quivering.

At last—between the pain and desperation—his chest muscles gave in.  He was almost horrified that he could—in fact—still breathe.  His sinuses filled with the raw scent of his insides, and it was then that he realized how cold the metal was running through his abdomen.

Nausea erupted like a fountain.  He drew it away with his eyes, scraping the horizon... discovering in bitter irony that he was facing west.

Stormclouds flickered.  A melee raged high overhead.  Flames billowed amongst the rocks and shoals.  Somewhere in the distance—faint and nebulous—a glow lingered against the waves.

Bard thought for a moment that he saw it, but he knew better.  His breaths were steadying now, although the pain hadn't left.  Not yet.

Colder.  Wetter.

He inhaled and exhaled... wheezing this time.  His eyes searched and searched...





"Wy'sylym wylyn lyss!" voices rang through the chambers of Bleak's Plummet.

Echo hollered back.  Several other sarosians rushed past him, carrying bundles of medical supplies towards the topmost level.

With a calm breath, Echo trotted back to the translucent window where others stood as sentries.  "Good news!  It's Enix!  She's alive!"  He bore a fanged smirk.  "She's sliced-and-diced to high Hell, but the crazy bitch is alive!  What's more, she says that Rainbow and the others are past the second and third phase of the plan!"

There was dead, dreadful silence.

Echo's eyeslits narrowed.  He looked at the dainty silhouette seated before the runic field.  "Nicole?"  He cocked his head to the side.  "Nicole, what is it?"

She said nothing.  She couldn't.

She sat at the window, gazing east.

Her lips pursed open... though she didn't know why.  A mere whimper escaped her lips... lonesome and melodic.





Bard exhaled.  Gazing back.  The world's horizon.  Dull and dim and dying.

"... ... ...no more sunsets."

He tilted his muzzle up.  Searching for color... spotting it for only a moment... but then seeing more and more darkness instead.





Wildcard's goggles reflected the same.

And perhaps it was that which woke him... which got him moving.

That... and the dormant speck occupying the distant waters between his fragile cloud bed and the edge of the world.  A speck that was no longer moving... but merely stranded beneath a curtain of dark mists.

And he shifted... wincing against his still-fresh wounds.

His metal claws groaned and clattered with each attempt that his battered prosthetic made to move them.  But that wasn't the limb that mattered at the moment.

Holding his breath, the feathered Desperado stretched his wings... and glided due east.  Descending.

Towards the Stardust.
> No Getting Off This Train
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Harrk!" Kepler shouted into the thunder at the edge of the world.  "It arrrives!"

Flynn did a double-take at the deluge, glancing past their mana equipment.  "It does?"

"I estimate a few minutes now!" the wyvern exclaimed.

"Good enough!" Logan marched over towards a stack of lunar rune stones.  "Let's fire this bitch up!"

"Isn't that a tad bit premature?" Flynn remarked.

"Balls to you, baldy!" Logan spat.  "Or has your eggheaded ass forgotten to calculate for the time and distance needed for Rainbow Dash to fly her petite butt back here?"  An obese smirk.  "See?  I'm not all sex and sass!"

Flynn sighed, then smiled at Kepler.  "We should fire the signal."

"Affirrmative!"  Kepler enchanted a series of moon rocks and tossed them to Logan and Flynn.  "The illumination spell!  Be surre to aim it high so that—"

"Yeah, yeah... we got it!"  Logan nodded and slapped the ammunition into the cannon.  "Gonna need an extra set of hooves with this one!"

"Axan!"  Flynn hollered across the wet platform as lightning strobed overhead.  "The Gondola's almost here and we have to fire the signal!"  There was no response.  "Yoohoo?!  End of the world to Remna???"

"Wherre is she?" Kepler asked.

"Who cares?"  Logan fitted the last rune into the boomstick and propped it over his broad figure.  "Let's end this slumber party!"

"Right..."  Flynn propped himself up behind the larger stallion, took a deep breath, and shouted into the cannon's runic aura:  "Y'lynwyn!  Y'ynlppa!"

After the first word was whinnied, the runes burned with flame.  As the projectile exited the cannon, the second word caught up with it—and the rocks frothed to a crimson red hue.  It left a scarlet trail behind it as it arced west, soaring high into the tempestuous air.





The two exhausted forces wrestled with one another high in the stormclouds.

Rainbow's group fought and knocked back various members of the Central Guard as they desperately trickled in.

Frostknifers fell—pummeled to the point of blacking out.  Injured sarosians leaned on their companions as they were carried away from the front line.

And just as the battle looked as though it couldn't get more chaotic...

...a brilliant explosion of red light billowed directly overhead.  The illumination was spread by reactionary branches of lightning that forked every which way, spreading the crimson enchantment around until it occupied the better part of the atmosphere above the melee.

"Looky!" Pinkie Pie pointed upwards, beaming.  "Looky looky!"

"Oh thank Celestia!" Rarity whimpered.

Breathless, Rainbow Dash shoved a guardian off of Ariel and punched another griffon.  "Grnnngh..."  She flung a sweaty look at her friends.  "Twilight?!"

The ghostly unicorn was already nodding.  "It's the real deal, Rainbow!  The Gondola's practically there!"

"Time for Dark-Side-a-go-go!" Pinkie Pie warbled.  "Go-go-go-go-go!"

"The enemy's weak!" Fluttershy squeaked.  "But they're not letting up—!"

"Doesn't matter!"  Rainbow yanked Ariel closer and pointed skyward.  "We're leaving!  Everypony—!"

Ariel whistled shrilly and gestured at the sarosians hovering high above the battle.

Several slitted eyes bobbed as the midnighters nodded back.  Following Ariel's signal, they flew behind a massive stormcloud and bucked its summit with all their might.

KRAKKKK!

Lightning ribboned through the battle scene, aimed squarely at the line of Frostknifers.  It didn't strike any pegasus or griffon, but the electrical discharge was enough to throw their attention off—even blinding a few of them.

"Now!" Rainbow Dash hollered, gesturing emphatically as she pierced the heavens in an eastward glide.  "Back to the edge!  Heraldites, form up!  Sarosians, regroup... gain air... and rejoin Xarchellus!"

"H'ywllsa ly'mymy!" a nightblooded warrior hollered into the air as velvety bodies followed Rainbow Dash's orders, abandoning the battle and soaring east.  Several bat ponies picked up their fallen comrades and flew in tight groups, disappearing behind the stormclouds.  "W'ynlppa yln H'luun syl wy'lsyna thym!"





The battered, bruised members of the Central Guard found themselves hovering alone in the red-tinted air.  As the lightning faded, the bodies of their enemies disappeared.  In their place, a precipitous fountain of red flares rained down thickly, bathing the twilight with a blood-colored malaise.

Windburst panted and panted.  He shared the same incredulous look as his comrades.  "Sir..."  He leaned against Keris, wincing from multiple welts and cuts.  "...I'd suggest we do something to hold the troops back, but... th-they don't appear to be chasing Rainbow's friends..."

Keris didn't respond.  His beak clenched as he stared ahead.

Countless red flares ribboned seaward like bloodied moss.  Soon, the waters below reflected their pulsating hue.

At last, the Commander of the Talon murmured:  "Sailor take warning..."

Windburst glanced aside.  "Sir?"

"We... are to regroup," Keris managed.  His eyes darted across each descending flare.  "Rejoin the armada.  Find Chandler."

"And if Chandler yells at us for abandoning the enemy?"

"It's a bit late for that, Sergeant."

Windburst shuddered, squinting east.  "You really think Rainbow Dash made it, Commander?"

"... ... ...we can only hope."





"Blood of Luna!"  A sarosian flew closer to Rainbow Dash as they blurred towards the source of the runic flare.  "We have joined formation just like you asked!  What now?"

"What else?"  Rainbow Dash's eyes remained locked on the golden line fluctuating ahead of her.  A bulbous spot grew with intensity in the very center, chilling her to the core.  "Get to a high altitude—out of sight—and return to Bleak's Plummet!"

"But—"

"Just as we planned!"

"They might yet send a final counter-offensive!" the warrior exclaimed, fangs glinting.  "Please!  Let us join you!  We will gladly give our lives to—"

"No!"  Rainbow Dash glared at her.  "Enough lives have been given today!  By both sides!" She gulped, shivering in the wet winds.  "Go.  Join Bleak's Plummet and do the one thing I'd give both my wings to do right now."  The hint of a devilish smirk, bitter and sweet.  "Go home."

The sarosians stared back at her.  Then—at last—they nodded with conviction.

"W'ynlppa yln H'luun..."  Fangs.  Eyeslits glimmering in the twilight.  "It has been an honor."

"Save it for the Matriarch back in Equestria," Rainbow Dash said.  "And Celestia."  She saluted.  "She's cool too."

"H'wlynym!"

"S'lyppa thrym syln hy'lynywym!"

"Eee-Eee-Eee-Eee!"

With that, the massive flock of velvet and leather banked up and out of sight.  An echoing squeak, then blurred wings, and the entire group disappeared with the shadows of endless night.  They were lost in the next strobe of lightning.

"That's it, then?" Ariel stammered, shivering slightly.

"Let's not worry about them," Rainbow said, flapping her wings harder.  "We've got a Gondola to catch."  She blinked, then squinted at her side.  "Why are you shivering so much?"

"Rainbow... when..."  Ariel grimaced.  "...when was the last time either of us saw Wildcard?"

Rainbow blinked.  She looked at her friends.  "Fluttershy?"

There was no response.  A glazed pair of turquoise eyes reflected clouds and gray miasma.

"... ... ...Fluttershy?"





Red flares were falling to the ocean's surface by the time Wildcard reached the Stardust.

He landed softly on a bloodsoaked deck.  Paws and talons stepped gingerly over corpses and dropped weapons.

At last—with a scraping shuffle—Wildcard came to a stop.  He stood still and grim, his dark feathers unmoving.  As the red flares fell all around the ship, a wheezing voice pierced the silence.  A ragged reflection tilted its head up in the griffon's goggles, and a grizzled muzzle curved ever so slightly.

"Heh... well I'll be damned."  One healthy wing twitched while the other draped against the deck, soaking in his own blood.  "Finally got ya to shut up."

Wildcard said nothing.

"Shoulda... shoulda seen it, Dubya-Cee.  A real slobberknocker.  Took... grnngh... took 'em all to the woodshed.  Problem is..."  Bard tried to get up.  The blade exiting his belly glinted in the red light, and he fell back to his flank with a wince.  "Ghhh!"

Wildcard rushed forward, gripping the pegasus' shoulders.

"Hrfff..."  Bard's eyes were thin—just like his smile.  "Reckon I got stuck on the way out..."

A flesh talon covered Bard's muzzle.  Taking a deep breath, Wildcard reached behind him and grasped the hilt of the sword.

"Don't..."

Wildcard clenched his beak as he began to tug—

"Grkkkk!"  Bard hissed, then overpowered Wildcard's arm with two shaking fetlocks.  "Don't!"  He wheezed, bile trickling from his muzzle.  "I'll... grggh... go even faster with it out..."

The griffon leaned back.  He breathed and breathed, goggles full of blood and rust.

"Dubya..."

Reluctantly, he looked up.

"I... f-failed Melody... and Amber..."  Bard kept his gaze steady, although his voice wasn't.  "But I didn't fail her."  A trilling sound, and he fought the urge to fall over on his impalement.  "Nicole... she's goin' to brighter pastures.  Hrmmm..."  A hard-edged smirk.  "...t'ain't no failure in a second life if you spend it doin' what's right."

Wildcard listened.

Metal scraped.

Bard used all his strength to raise his bo-staff between them.  Without hesitation, Wildcard gripped it.  The air between them was clear of rain and thunder.

"Dun you fail Rainbow Dash, y'hear?" Bard wheezed.  His stubble was now a frown, warm and sincere.  "I know how much she means to ya, so you do all you damned well can to get her to where she needs to go."  A shudder.  "Make yer second life an encore to remember.  It's all that matters now.  It's all that's ever mattered."

Wildcard exhaled with a shudder.  He held the staff under one wing and used his one good talon to gesture something.

"Hmmmm..."  Bard nodded back with a smile.  "Alright, mofo.  Almost all..."  His ears drooped.

Wildcard smiled back.  He rested his talon on Bard's shoulder.

The red flares fell all around the Stardust as the Desperadoes leaned their foreheads together, sharing the shivers of the moment.  A few breaths—some warm, others ragged.

"Ain't no gettin' off this train we're on," Bard whispered.  His smile squeezed out through a sob, and his grip of Wildcard's shoulder tightened for one final time.

Wildcard nodded against Bard's head.  At last—as the redness began to dissipate—he felt a strong hoof pushing him back.

"Now... skedaddle."  Bard gulped, bracing himself against the bloodied deckplates.  "Them bastards will be comin' back any second now.  Dun worry.  I got 'em covered."  A piercing glare.  "Time for yer solo."

Wildcard stood up, gripping the metal staff.  He lingered on the east end of the Stardust, fidgeting.

"Go, dammit!  Git!"  Bard calmly peeled off his belt and bandolier.  "While I still got a spotlight to shine in..."

Wildcard breathed and breathed and—

FWOOOOSH!

—murked off in a black streak, piercing the final heavens.

Bard gazed after him.  A slight mist touched his eyes...

At least until he closed them.
> Wish I Was Homeward Bound
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Nnnrgh... d-dammit!"  Brye Chandler fidgeted and fussed, pressing himself into the embrace of one griffon while the other bodyguard struggled to dislodge the spear from his armor.  "Careful!  You'll cut my flesh!"

"Defense Minister..."  The griffon's hawkeyes narrowed as he focused on his task.  The three were positioned on a cloud high above the last known sighting of the Stardust.  "...if you simply stop squirming, I can more carefully assist you—"

"I'm the one stallion entrusted by Verlaxion to avenge her legacy!" Chandler barked.  "I do not 'squirm'!"

"Hrmmm..."  The griffon gripping the stuck spear clenched his beak.  "...then surely you can weather this."

"What was that—?"  CHTUNKKK!  "—aaaaaaugh!"  Chandler clutched the dented armor where the spear was yanked free.  "Are you mad?!"

"But it barely grazed you—"

"Never mind!"  Chandler shoved against him and then gestured at the other bodyguard holding him.  "Take us down immediately!  There's no telling where those Blighted fiends went!"

"Sir, you ordered us to ascend in the first place—"

"Silence and do as I say!"  Chandler tightened his helmet as the bodyguards took wing, carrying him off the cloud and descending once again.  "If that vessel full of black magic gets away, then we will have sacrificed this entire flanking move for nothing!"

"I... I think I see it, sir!"  One griffon pointed with a free talon.  "It's right where we left it!"

"Then take us down already!"  Chandler cocked his crossbow.  "I need to know if our soldiers finished that cretin off!"





A gentle melody wafted through the air.

Acoustic strings and harmonic chords.

Th-Th-Thump!  Chandler and his two bodyguards landed heavily on the bow of the Stardust.  They gawked at the bloody carnage strewn all across the deckplates.

"What... in blazes...?" Chandler murmured.

His bodyguards grimaced upon seeing the lifeless remains of their former comrades.  But that wasn't all...

"Hey!" Chandler craned his neck, helmet rattling.  "Hey you!"

There was no response from the source of the music.  A pegasus sat near the cabin door, hunched over.  There was an instrument in his hooves.

Frowning, Chandler marched towards him in his bulky armor.  "I am Defense Minister Brye Chandler of Rohbredden.  In the name of Goddess Verlaxion, I order you to stand down and tell me the plans of the Rainbow Rogue!"

Bard's response was to hum in tune to the gentle guitar riff he was playing.  He squatted on the corpse of a Frostknifer, plucking the strings with one fetlock and a surviving wing.

"Did you hear me, Blighted one?!"  Chandler aimed his crossbow.  "I said that I am Defense Minister Brye..."  His lips trailed, as did his gaze.  "...Chandler of Rohbredden..."  His eyes fell on the sword-tip impaling Bard's figured.  "...good Goddess."

"Hmmmmmmm..."  Bard plucked the strings of his guitar, staining the wooden finish red.  "...time it was... and what a time it was... it was..."

The two bodyguards blinked incredulously at one another.

"Funny..."  Bard chuckled.  Blood squeezed through the seams of his front teeth.  "...the sweetest songs are somehow always the shortest."

At this point, Brye Chandler was ignoring him.  With a gaping expression, he trotted past the wounded musician and gazed at the cabin door...

...a cabin door that had been slid wide open, revealing an entire glowing stockpile of enchanted runestones.

A melodic sigh.  Bard smiled into the reddened heavens as he plucked a final chord.  "Well, Amber, it took dayum near forever, but here we are.”

Chandler spun around, eyes wide.

Bard gazed back.  Unflinching.  "H'rhnum..."

Vrmmmmmmmmmmmmmm—  Every single rock inside the belly of the Stardust glowed to the point of blinding.

"Get o-out!" Chandler's voice cracked.  His helmet flew into the mists as he scrambled to gallop off the ship's bloody deck.  "Get out before it—"  He had no more words, for he had no more lungs.  Billowing lunar plasma engulfed him, Bard, the two griffons and—

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!





The red sky was drowned in a rising plume of orange and silver flame.

Keris, Windburst, and the rest of their company jerked in place.  Gasping.  Squinting.

They hovered to a stop just above the last remaining ship of Chandler's armada.  As other Frostknifers carried waterlogged survivors back on board, the east horizon behind them erupted in runic wrath.





The shockwave reached Rainbow Dash and Ariel—nearly throwing them off balance.

"Augh!"

"Guhhh!"

Rainbow Dash and Ariel spun around, squinting down and towards the west.  The twilight faded for a brief moment, as if kissed by a second sun for the first time in epochs.

The explosion ended as dramatically as it began, and despite having produced monumental thunder...

...Rainbow Dash was acutely aware of a shocked gasp to her side.  She looked immediately at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy looked back at her.  Ears drooped and a yellow muzzle quivered.

Rainbow Dash gawked.  "Wildcard?"

Fluttershy slowly shook her head.

Rainbow blinked.  Then her pupils shrank.  "... ... ...Bard."

A sniffle.  Fluttershy's eyes filled with tears.

"Rainbow...?"  Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie—who was rubbing a shivering shoulder.  She looked back at their anchor.  "Rainbow, what is—?"

"Look!" Rarity pointed at the western sky.

The ghostly mares gazed in one accord.  As the lasting glow of the explosion faded, a dark figure glided ever closer.  Wildcard flew east.  His metal arm dangled limply.  His other talon gripped a bloodied staff.

"Wildcard..."  Ariel murmured.  "There you are!  We lost you when..."  She blinked.  "What are you doing with Bard's—?"

Fwoooosh!  Wildcard glided past her.  His expression was stoic and nothing else.  He decelerated slightly—but without turning back.  He kept his flight slow for as long as he was within Rainbow's gaze.

"... ... ..."  Ariel stared after him.  At last, as the twilight returned, her eyes turned glossy above a weak frown.  "No..."  Wings blurred.  She muscled herself west.  "No!"

A petite hoof yanked her back with remarkable strength.  "Ariel—"

"No!  We can't just leave him back there—"

"Rrrrgh!"  Rainbow practically threw Ariel after Wildcard.  She glared at her.  Through her.  "He gave his all!  Now it's time we gave ours!  Or do you really want to shame him that badly?!"

Ariel pouted.  She heaved... shook... and caved under a fountain of tears.  She shook them dry the only way she knew how—by flying into the stormy winds, making a bitter bee-line for the edge of the world.

Rainbow Dash followed her with no less speed.  A cold frown sliced the air in front of her.

And yet... on a softer plane...

...the quiet, sobbing voices of her friends joined her.

"Rainbow Dash..."  Twilight glided alongside the mare.  Her face was a lavender bowl of grimacing sympathy.  "Rainbow Dash, I am so... so sorry..."  She reached a vaporous limb through her friend's wings.  "Please... if th-there's anything we can do—"

"We move."

"Rainbow, please—"

"We head east!" Rainbow Dash grunted into the cosmos and the hazy line of gold separating them.  "Until there is no east left."  At last, she caught up with Wildcard.  She looked at him.

Wildcard said nothing.  Gripping the other Desperado's weapon like a spear, he cut a windy path towards the end of all things.

Rainbow exhaled, ears drooping.  She flew close to the griffon, and the two accelerated to catch up with Ariel.





"W'yllsa!  W'yllsa!  S'ylywym wysll thym!"

"Alright!  Alright!" Echo hollered towards the upper chambers.  There was a final rush of salty air through Bleak's Plummet, and the walls rang with stomping hooves.  "Seal it up!  The others will join us when we resurface again!"

"What?" Nicole breathily managed.  "Did... did we—?"

"That red signal just now!"  Echo's fangs glinted in the runelight.  "Rainbow's done it!  Our brothers and sisters are flocking west!  Keeping a high cover!"

"Are we abandoning them—?"

"Pfft!  Hardly!  A good bunch of them are already on board—along with Enix!  The rest will keep high in the clouds and rendezvous once Bleak's Plummet breaches the waves!"

"Then... then we made it," Nicole managed with a shudder.  "Rainbow... Johnny... we—"

"Hold on tight, bae."  Echo steadied her shoulders as the entire ship shifted with a jolt.  "Dive time."

Nicole's eyeslits reflected a wave of bubbles from beyond the magic window.  "I... I can hardly believe—"

"Believe what?"  Echo smiled at her.  "Relax, girl.  I know it's sappy'n'shiet, but..."  He gazed out at the dimming east waters as the entire structure drew away.  "...we're going home."

Nicole pursed her lips.  "Home."  The word was only half-melodic.  The shadow of the ocean fell over Bard's hat, then her, then everything.








"Commander!" Windburst shouted, wincing in mid-flight as he struggled to follow his superior.  "Commander!  Hold up!"

Keris said nothing.  He flew over the wall of fire... the wrecked privateer ship and the rocks and shoals surrounding it.  As the last few survivors of the wreck were being carried to the remaining vessel west of them, he found a group of pegasi circling a burning patch of debris due east.

"Commander..."  At last, Windburst caught up with him.  He panted.  "What are we doing out here?  The troops are gathered above Chandler's ship like you ordered—"

"That explosion, Sergeant..."

"Yeah?  What about it?  It was loud, stupid, and noisy—"

"Shhhh!"  Keris hissed aside as a quartet of armored pegasi approached.  "I just need to know..."

"Know what?"

"Commander?" one pegasus stammered, a pale expression spread over her features.  "Commander Keris?  Is that you?"

"Report, soldier," Keris firmly said.

"It... it's the Defense Minister, sir," the pegasus said.  Her three partners fidgeted nervously in mid-air with their backs to the explosion's epicenter.  "While we were fishing survivors out of the waters surrounding the second ship, we spotted him flying east with a contingent of bodyguards to engage the enemy artillery vessel and—"

"And what?"  Keris' magenta eyes narrowed.  "It exploded?"

"I... I'm afraid so, Commander."

"And the Defense Minister?"  Windburst leaned forward.  "Brye Chandler?  Did you find him?"

"We..."  The pegasus looked at the others.  "We... uhm..."

"Well?"

Gulping, the soldier nervously looked back at the Talon members.  "We found his head."

Silence.

"But... we c-couldn't find the rest of him... Commander... s-sir..."

Keris exhaled.  He looked at the wreckage... then at the lightning and cosmic nebulae beyond.

"Commander Keris?"  The pegasus hovered higher.  "With the Defense Minister gone and Seraphimus unaccounted for... that puts you in charge of our offensive."

Windburst took a deep breath and delivered into the thunderous air:  "What are your orders..."  He glanced stealthily aside.  "Commander, sir?"

Keris closed his eyes.  His headcrest settled—as did the edge in his voice.  "Retreat."

The pegasus soldiers gaped at him.  "S-sir?"

"We are to fall back and retreat safely to Frostknife.  The Rainbow Rogue's forces have us outsmarted and outgunned here and it would be a tragic folly to waste the most elite of the late Verlaxion's foals in a futile act of vengeance that even she didn't mandate when she was alive."  Keris' eyes reopened and they were glaring.  "Do you have a problem with that, soldier?"

Silence.

Keris looked around.  "Does anypony have a problem with that?"

Dead winds.

Rain.

And...

"N-no, sir!"

"Not at all sir!"

"T-take us back to Frostknife pl-please... Commander... s-sir..."

Windburst sighed with relief.

"Good."  Commander Keris sliced his claws west in a dramatic motion.  "Fall back.  Regather the troops.  Tell them... we're heading back home... to protect our loved ones!"

Bodies swiftly, eagerly glided past him, carving a path westward over the rock formations and shipwrecks.

"Fall back!"

"Sound retreat!""

"Move!  Move!  Move!"





"Listen...!"  Raptr tilted his head up from where he and Starstorm squatted on a low-hanging cloud.  "Do you hear that?"

Starstorm paused in wrapping a length of metal wire around Seraphimus' wings.  The former Commander's talons and paws were already tightly bound, and her silver feathers fluttered in the noisy breeze.

"It... it..."  Starstorm cocked her avian head aside.  Sure enough—between the thunder and wind—she and the rookie could make out the distant hollering of Central Guardians.  "It sounds like they're sounding a retreat."

"Then... then Keris did it!" Raptr exclaimed, smiling jubilantly.  "He and Windburst have forced Chandler to change his mind!"

"I wonder if it has anything to do with that brilliant explosion just now," Starstorm muttered.

"Maybe... although..."  Raptr gulped, squinting into the rain.  "Now you've got me worried."

"What for?"  Starstorm returned to wrapping the cord around Seraphimus' wings.  "We got what we came here for."

"Did we?  How do we know that Rainbow Dash made it?"

"Remember that red flare from earlier?"

"Uhm... yeah?"

Starstorm leaned in over Seraphimus.  "If you ask me, that was the signal."

"Signal?"

"For Rainbow's gang to split up.  The midnighters are going away for good."  Starstorm smirked, tying the cord into complex knots.  "And Rainbow's group?  They're probably halfway to the Dark Side by now..."

Silver feathers shifted.  Muscles tightened.  And when Starstorm's last words were spoken...

...a pair of charcoal eyes flew open.
> Those Whom You Leave Behind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Come on..."  Flynn jittered and jittered.  Jittered and jittered.  "Come onnnnn..."  His mechanical eye glinted in a gold aura as he hoofy-kicked into the deluge's rising mists.  "Come on come on come on come on—"

Then... at last...

It arose.

A blindingly smooth crown of gold pierced the eternally-falling waters.  When it surfaced, it was with a brilliant splash.  Moisture flew in every direction, splattering the golden spokes, the Emeraldinian granite, and the billowing waves surrounding the platforms.  Then—as the last of the cold curtains of moisture receded—the Gondola was revealed in all its shimmering glory.  It resembled a translucent geodesic sphere, with each portion of the shell separated by vertices of golden spokes plated in between with immaculate, crystal-clear glass.  The spotlessness of the transport device was haunting—despite its age—with the alicorn metal seeming to glow in fierce platinum defiance of the twilight that had enshrouded it on its lengthy approach to the world's precipice.  From afar, the huddled Heraldites could spot a criss-crossing set of support beams—twelve in all—reinforcing the shell of the otherwise hollow sphere from the inside.  The "vehicle" was braced by two extending "wings" on the outer hemispheres that served as the shafts through which the endless chains drew the thing towards the surface.  The group was—however—incapable of making out a door... that is until the sphere moved itself quite magically towards the very edge of the platforms built expertly eons ago by Whitemane's forbearers.  There was a whirring noise as the entrance fluctuated with a harmonic hue.  Then—as the last layer of moisture was shaken off—a glass lid to the ancient elevator yawned open, accompanied with a timelessly playful melody:

D-Ding-a-Ding!

"It's here!" Flynn shouted, already dragging his equipment and tool bags over his shoulder.  "It's here!  Everypony get in!  Get in!"

Logan was waving at three figures flying towards them from the distant west.  "All aboard!  Come on!  Come on!  We gotta go!"

"My my..."  Kepler perched on the platform.  His tusked mouth hung open as his spectacled eyes dazzled at the sight of the magnificent structure in all its glory.  "What a most rravishing geodesic polyhedrron!"  He hummed beneath his furry chest as Flynn hopped first into the hollow of the vehicle ahead of him.  "And just look at the spatial grandeurr!  Surrely you could fit an entirre battalion of Emerraldinian soldierrs inside this—"

"Dammit!"  Logan kicked Kepler in the tail.  "Get your nerdy ass inside, four-eyes!"

"Ha—"  Thunk!  "—H-Haaa..."

Flynn whistled, standing on a plate of gold and staring up at the support beams and rippling windows surrounding them.  Beyond the crystalline sheets of glass, the storm raged and galactic eddies swirled forever and ever.  "Look at how wonderfully crafted this all is!"  His mechanical eye focused on the nexus of criss-crossing support beams.  A large rectangular block with square door panels rested in the center.  "That must be where the settlers of Darkreach placed their building supplies."  He turned—lenses circling—and looked at a curved stretch of tiny pony-sized seat restraints lining the entire inner equator of the vessel.  "And those are the passenger seats."

"How currious," Kepler murmured against the dull roar of thunder beyond the ancient shell.  "Why arre they built in a perrfect cirrcle?"

Flynn gulped.  "Because gravity must fail at some point along the trip."  He pointed.  "Notice the harnesses."

"Ah!"  Kepler nodded, adjusting his glasses.  "But of courrse!"

"Now... where are the controls?"

Kepler tapped his furry chin, searching and searching and—"Ah!"  He pointed a winged claw at a spot along the sphere just a few glass panels away from the open door.  "A leverr!  See?"

"Great!  Perfect!"  Flynn levitated his equipment towards the rectangular compartment in the middle.  All the while, he shouted over his shoulder:  "Big Show!  I found the controls—!"

"Right!  More power to ya, popcorn fart!"  Logan faced away from the sphere's entrance, cupping his fetlocks around his muzzle and hollering:  "Get your flanks over here already!  Show's over!  Time to drop!"

Fw-Fw-Fwooosh!  All three stragglers arrived in one accord.  Wildcard passed on through the entrance first.  He was silent as stone, and his goggles reflected nothing.

Logan blinked at that.  "Hey... h-hey, where's Bard?"  Ariel approached, so Logan gestured dramatically at her.  "Yo!  Where the Hell is Bard?"

Ariel stumbled.  Her muzzle scrunched.  She looked up at Logan—and as soon as she made eye-contact, the tears redoubled.  Sniffling, she rubbed her cheek and dove inside the Gondola.

Logan blinked.  His expression of shock lasted scarcely a second, replaced entirely with a snarl as hot as a furnace.  He swiped his axe up off the ground and made to gallop towards the western edge of the platform—

Rainbow Dash blocked his way.  "Get inside."

"Buck you, I'm getting inside," Logan growled.  "After what those bastards did—"  He stomped a hoof.  "Who was it?!  Tell me!  Did you even see—?!"

Rainbow Dash was in his face in a blink.  "Either you go over the edge with us or I'm kicking your butt off on your lonesome."

Logan opened his muzzle to protest—

"Big Show.  Logan."  Flynn stuck his head out of the sphere's entrance.  "The Austraeoh needs you.  We all do."

Logan fumed and fumed and—

"Rrrrrgh!"

—he turned tail and thudded his way inside the Gondola.

Rainbow Dash took a step or two.  Then...

She lingered.

Her gaze fell from the angry sight of Logan settling inside the sphere.  She stared at the rain-slicked stone beneath her.  Ancient granite.  Built by nameless bodies from a nameless time.

And another nameless soul had just joined it.

She clenched her eyes shut as the first of several sobs fought their way out of her lungs—

"Rainbow Dash..."  Soft.  Loving.

Rainbow squinted one eye open.

It was Fluttershy.  "Most of us are still alive.  Thanks to you."

Rainbow sucked in her breath... but could barely squeak it back out.

"Where's the dragon lady?" Pinkie Pie's voice spontaneously chirped.

"... ... ...?"  Rainbow spun around.

A body was trotting away from the swinging chalices.

"Axan?"  Rainbow stammered.  She frowned.  "Dang it, Axan—let's go already!"

Remna marched calmly towards her, fussing with the right bangs of her mane.  "A thousand pardons, Austraeoh.  I was merely—"

"The time for buckin' sight-seeing is over!"  Rainbow pointed at the sphere.  "Now get into the sphere!  Move!  Everypony inside!"

"Hrmmm..."  Remna squinted as she climbed in.  "...we appear to be short on company—"

"Shut up," Rainbow grunted, pushing her along.  "For once in your immortal life, Axan, girl, could you just friggin' can it?"  She braced herself against the harmonic metal of the door's opening.  A moment's hesitation.  She looked back at the Light Side... at the storms and the tempest that both defined and contrasted it all at once.  Then—a tight exhale.  "Zoop."  And she removed her hoof from the earth and dashed inside.





"Is that everyone?" Keris asked.

"Uhm... uh..."  A bruised soldier in battered armor shifted among the wounded and dazed Frostknifers lined up all along the top deck of the Rohbreddenites' remaining vessel.  "We've... gathered all we could find from... the wreck and the two engagements to the west—"

"Is it everyone who is left?" Keris insisted, pressing the guardian.

The subordinate gulped, pointing off the ship's port side as it slowly turned around to face west.  "We th-think that there might still be stragglers in the lower clouds... from when the second salvo of Blighted magic hit us."

"Then send out two detachments," Keris ordered.  "Search the waves and mists from top to bottom!"  He raised his voice, gesturing to the exhausted crew of the ship as a whole.  "I want every living survivor on board this vessel for the trip back to Frostknife!  We'll need all the forces we can manage to help the Council fend off the windigoes back home!"

Windburst shuffled up, leaning on a bulkhead.  "Commander.  What of Rainbow Dash?"

"Hmmm?  Yes?"

"Don't..."  Windburst shifted a bit where he stood.  "I mean... maybe we should... erm..."  He cleared his throat.  "...go check on her?  Make sure she and the Herald depart safely—"

"Sergeant, we've done all we can for Rainbow Dash," Keris said.  "Just as she's done all she can for us.  Trust me."  He pivoted about, squinting along the tempestuous western horizon.  "We'd be failing her if we didn't put all our energy into... returning home and..."  His magenta eyes narrowed quizzically.  "...protecting our loved ones."

"Sir?"  Windburst—for the first time in as long as he could remember—failed to spot something before his commanding officer.  So he stepped up behind Keris to crane his neck and gaze over his shoulder.

That's when he finally saw it... saw them.  Two haggard shapes flew towards the vessel from the west.  Their path was zig-zagged.  Sickly.  Desperate.

"Commander, it's... I think it's—"

"Sergeant!"  Keris was already taking off.  He flew west to meet the two figures.  His headcrest lifted in alarm.  "Starstorm... Raptr..."  He hovered to a stop, grimacing.  "What in the Spring Havens...?"

"Grrkkk..."  Starstorm coughed, gargling blood.  Her face was badly lacerated, and she clutched a deep wound in her shoulder.  The Sergeant had to lean against Raptr for support.  "Commander... grnngh... I am... I am so sorry..."

"What happened?!"  Keris insisted, his voice raising.  "Come on!  Out with it!"

"Only... only sp-spared us because... because..."  Starstorm's eyelids grew heavy as she fought unconsciousness and blood-loss.  "...once... once comrades..."

"Once comrades?!"  Windburst stammered. "What do you mean?"

"Sergeant... Commander... we tried everything we could," Raptr said, holding Starstorm steady.  "I mean—just short of throwing ourselves in the way.  But... as you can see, by the time we tried..."  He grimaced, looking all around in a feverish tremor.  Tears formed in his eyes.  "So fast.  She... she was just s-so fast and... and Starstorm..."  He choked.  "Starstorm and I..."

Keris was no longer listening.  His feathers paled.  In a stupor, he slowly turned around... facing east.

Windburst gaped at him.  "Commander—"

FWOOOOOOOSH!  Keris streaked east in an imperceivable blur.

"Dammit..."  Windburst clenched his beak.  "Goddess dammit—Raptr!"  He soared after Keris.  "Take wing—!"

"Go... grkkk..."  Starstorm patted Raptr's shoulder as she was lowered briskly to the deck.  "Without m-me..."

"Shit shit shit shit shit!" Raptr shot skyward, swiftly surpassing Windburst in a desperate chase after Keris.

Starstorm collapsed on the deck, surrounded by countless wounded and battered defenders of Rohbredden.  As crew ponies rushed to her aid, she covered a talon over her bloodied beak... tears streaming...





"Okay!" Applejack hollered, gazing all around the sphere's interior.  "That's everypony!"

"This structure's positively amazing!" Rarity found the strength to coo, her eyes glittering from the spherical exoskeleton surrounding them.  "And it's remained pristine like a gold encrusted diamond for countless generations—!"

"Save it, Rarity," Twilight said in a curt tone.  She turned towards their anchor.  "Rainbow Dash!  There must be some way to operate this thing!"

"You tell me, egghead!" Rainbow snapped, then faced the rest of the Herald.  "Guys!  Stomach's growling for an update right about now..."

"Still... strruggling..."  Kepler wheezed, gripping the gold lever with both claws and attempting to pull it.  "...to ascerrtain the functionality herre..."

"Well stop yanking on it!" Flynn's voice cracked.  "We didn't summon this baby through the double-crust of the earth just to snap it in two!"

"Well, somepony figure out something!" Logan exclaimed, struggling to hop over the glass plates of the Gondola—setting hoof on only the gold spokes.  To his misfortune, he momentarily stared straight down, spotting an endless "horizon" of rushing water and sporadic vortices stretching into blackening cosmos.  "Wooooooooo Susan, I hope this place has a lavatory—"

Just then, Wildcard's talon shoved him in the chest.  Logan gasped as he was pushed into a plush seat.  He felt the last Desperado fastening the passenger restraints around him.

"Now hold up!  Until we get this damn thing moving, I really don't think I should be—" Logan protested.

His words were cut short by a firm claw held directly in front of his nose.  Logan watched—beady-eyed—as Wildcard coldly and authoritatively continued fastening him to his seat.  The belts were tight, quadruply reinforced, and obviously designed to withstand a tempestuous ride from one plane to another.  Within the space of a minute, Wildcard finished, then awkwardly hobbled over to do the same for Ariel.

The mare had already seated herself in her harness.  When the griffon came to strap the belts around her, she didn't protest.  Ariel kept her melancholic gaze plastered to Wildcard's forehead.  Then—at one strategic moment—she leaned forward and kissed him softly through his feathers.

For the first time, Wildcard lingered in place.  His goggles fell to the harmonic metal between them.  If it weren't for his grip of Bard's staff, he would likely have collapsed completely—

"Rrrrrgh!"  Kepler's growling tone echoed against the support beams overhead as the wyvern fussed and fussed with the lever.  "Confound this beautifully convoluted machinerry!"  He leaned back, adjusting his spectacles as he exhaled in a huff.  "Mountain Matrron, give me strrength..."

"Rainbow Dash?"  Applejack leaned in.  "Can't you help them?"

"Hmmmm..."  Twilight gazed at the lever mechanism.  "It's not like somepony activated it from inside the Gondola to begin with..."

"You're right, Twilight," Rainbow said, nodding.  "I did."

Remna finished fastening herself in a seat.  She looked over and spoke firmly:  "Why not let the Austraeoh touch it?"

Flynn and Kepler looked at one another.  They then glanced at Rainbow Dash.

"Rrainbow One...?"

"It's worth a shot, Dash," Flynn added.

Holding her breath, Rainbow fluttered over... and placed her fetlock against the handle of the lever.

Vrmmmmmmmmmmmmm!  Almost instantly, the mechanism hummed to life.  A gold glow emanated from deep within the base of the lever.

"OooOooOooh!"  Rarity cupped her squishy cheeks.  "So delightful!"  Her eyes darted to Rainbow's Loyalty pendant—which was also pulsating with a ruby aura.  "Heehee!  Even better!"

"Well, will you look at that?"  Flynn beamed at Rainbow.  "I knew we weren't escorting you for nothing, girl!"

"Rein it in, shiny," Rainbow droned.  "Lest you forget where we're headed."

Flynn gulped.  "Right."  He spoke over his shoulder.  "Strap in, Kepler.  As close to the controls as possible."

"Rrainbow gets the closest seat, I trrust."

"Absolutely.  Rainbow?"

"Just one second..."  Rainbow licked her lips, grasping the handle.  "Now that it's glowing... how exactly do I work this thing?"

"Look for the way the sheath is positioned, Rainbow," Twilight suggested.

"Therre!"  Kepler—while fastening himself to his seat—pointed at an open space aimed towards the base of the sphere.  "I trrust if you move it in that dirrection..."

Ch-Chtunnng!  Rainbow threw the lever down towards the lower cosmos.

D-Ding-a-Ding!

Vrmmmmm!  The whole Gondola shook, wobbled... then began an eerily glacial descent.

"Yes!"  Twilight Sparkle cheered.  "Rainbow, you did it!"

"Whew-wee!"  Applejack tilted her hat forward.  "Dark Side or bust, y'all!"

"Hmmmmm..."  Flynn managed a smile as he sat into his harness, pulling at the belts.  "Has a nice smell to it."

"Brace yourselves, darlings," Rarity said, gazing down... down at the obsidian horizon drenched in water.  "It's a long... long way to our destination."

"Guhhh-uhhh-uhhh-uhhhh!"  Pinkie Pie clutched her skull, eyes wide.  "My ear lobes are going crazy!"

"Take it easy, Pinkie."  Rainbow spoke over the rattling of golden chains as the sphere began its descent.  Water frothed around the lower window panes, drowning out the thunder beyond.  "You heard Rarity.  We're going to be chugging away like this for a longgggg—"

"It's n-not th-that!" Pinkie Vibrated all over.  "Something else—"

"RAINBOW!!!" Fluttershy suddenly shrieked.

All ghostly eyes flew to her.

"Fluttershy?!  What—"

"Close the door!" Fluttershy screamed.  "Close the door!"

Twilight Sparkle gasped.  "Rainbow Dash!  The ocean water—!"

Fluttershy curled up into a yellow ball.  "It's not the ocean water!"

"...?"  Rainbow Dash let go of the lever.  Her wings flapped until she hovered in the center of the Gondola, on level with the door.  As the platforms... the waves... the entire world raised out of view, she caught sight of a pale figure... a comet of bloodstained feathers burning towards them—carried by a scream.  "Close the door..."

"...?!"  Wildcard jerked her a look.

Rainbow's eyes flashed at him.  "Close the door!  Close the friggin'—!"

"What?!" Ariel and Logan craned their necks.  "What is it—?"

Wildcard reached the frame, and he saw it too.  "!!!"  Headcrest quivering, he yanked at the door with all his might.

Creaaaaak!  Thud!  The glass lid slammed shut.  Within seconds—

CRASSSSSH!

A wave of crystalline shards flooded the compartment, propelled by a razor-clawed figure plowing through at full force...

...and contacting squarely with Rainbow Dash.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!"  Seraphimus tackled the petite pegasus, slamming her into the cross-section of support beams.  She sneered, snapped metal cords dangling from her talons and legs.  Eyes flaring, she stabbed her beak right into Rainbow's neck.

"Httt!" Rainbow somehow managed to grip Seraphimus' mouth in both fetlocks, stopping her by an inch.

But the former Talon Commander expected this, and with Rainbow's forelimbs free, she jabbed both sets of claws into the mare's ribcage.  Sl-Sliiink!

"Aaaaaaaaaaugh—!"  Rainbow began screaming, but she didn't finish.

"Hrrrrrrrrrgh—!"  Charcoal eyes caught aflame as Seraphimus threw Rainbow like a dead weight across the inner space of the Gondola.

"Holy—!" Flynn spat.

"Sonuva—" Logan gnashed his teeth.  Anchored in his seat, he flung a hoof out to catch Rainbow.

He missed, and Rainbow's body went sailing violently into the golden vehicle's controls.  WHUD!  "Ooomf!" she grunted, eyes tearing from the pain.  Bruised and bleeding, she looked up—

—and straight into Seraphimus' dive-kick.  "Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"

Seraphimus' weight collided with Rainbow's weight and—

CRACKKKK!

—the golden lever shattered completely.  The broken remains of its alicorn metal jerked to the maximum depth of its sheathe.  VRMMMMMM!  The Gondola jerked violently...

"No!" Kepler hollered, flailing in his restraint as the entire sphere plunged.  "That's too fast!  We're going to—"

His words trailed after him—as did everypony's screams.  The golden chains loosened like spiderwebs in a wild breeze, and the Gondola dropped, plowing through water and lightning as it followed its arcane course over the edge of the world and beyond.





"Commander?!"  Windburst hollered after Raptr and Keris.  He grimaced from his wounds, fighting to keep up with the other two Talon members as they soared east over platforms, granite, and a forest of dangling chalices.  "Commander!"

Keris said nothing.  Did nothing.  Until he reached the very edge.

At last—with limp wings—he glided to a slow stop, perched on the last piece of earth.

The deluge roared.  Water barreled into starlight and cosmic storms.  Chains rattled, rolling at an incalculable rate, until they too disappeared amidst the moisture and mist.

The Gondola was gone.  The precipice was barren.

"We..."  Windburst huddled over, wheezing for breath beside his commanding officer and the dumbstruck rookie.  "...we are too late..."  He gulped, standing up and squinting into the otherworldly miasma.  "Rainbow...?  Seraphimus...?"

Keris's headcrest drooped.  There was a slight tremble to his talons.

Raptr grimaced.  "It's... it's our fault..."  He fell to his knees.  "We had her... one moment and then the next..."  A whimper.  "It's our fault.  If only we—"

"No."

Raptr looked up.

So did Windburst.

Keris exhaled into the heavens:  "It's my fault.  I... I failed Seraphimus.  I failed Rainbow Dash."  A cold breath.  Thunder.  "And now... I've failed the world."

Windburst blinked... then gazed into the swirling eddies once more.

"What... what do we do now...?"  Raptr shrugged wildly.  "I mean... hell... forget the windigoes!  How long does everypony on this plane have left if Rainbow Dash doesn't... d-doesn't..."  His words failed.

For Keris was staring at him.  "You didn't see Rainbow Dash at Red Barge, Raptr," he said.  He looked at Windburst.  "It takes more than death incarnate to stop her."

"Death is one thing..."  Windburst droned, shivering slightly.  "But our former boss?"

Raptr sucked his breath in.

Keris gazed at the chaos beyond... the darkness and the noise and the piercing flickers of lightning.  "We just gave the Dark Side the two most righteous souls to ever live on our plane.  Have a little hope, my friends."

His wingmates said nothing.

So Keris did.  He closed his magenta eyes to the madness and murmured under his breath.  "Please, Jordan, brother.  Help her... help them both..."
> The End of the World
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Wildcard steadied himself against a golden beam.  Twin black lenses reflected lightning, stars, and water spouts beyond the sea of glass panels.

THOOOM!

KRAKKKK!

FLASSSH!

Swirling tempests—blinding and bold—fluctuated all around the Gondola's free-fall.  And yet—with his loyal gaze—the Desperado soon made out the bodies of the two combatants.

With a mute snarl, he twirled Bard's staff, kicked off the glass plates beneath him, and flew towards his targets.

Ariel gasped through the thunder as he whizzed by.  "Wildcard—!"

"Raaaaaaugh!" Seraphimus lifted Rainbow by a talon grip to her throat.  She raised her other claws to strike—

Swooooosh!  CLANG!  Bard's staff contacted heavily with her shoulder.

"Oooomf!"  Seraphimus jolted in mid-hover, but she did not let go of Rainbow.  Turning around, she met Wildcard's next swing with her opposite talon.  "Rrrrrrghh—!"

Wildcard snarled back, tightening his muscles to thrust the staff into Seraphimus' skull.

Rainbow was gasping for breath when she felt the Gondola sway around them, followed by Rarity's yelp:  "Look out!"

"Incomiiiiing!" Pinkie Pie hollered, mane billowing.

Rainbow's eyes rolled back.  She saw the shattered glass entrance to the Gondola... and the wave of water rushing through it.

"Hold on!!!" Flynn shouted, erecting a force field around himself and as many Heraldites as he could muster.

SPLOOOOOOSH!  Ocean water jetted in like a fountain, dousing everypony inside.  Ariel screamed until she was gargling brine.  When the wave hit the three combatants—accompanied with a crack—of thunder, it knocked them hard to the bottom of the sphere.

WHUD!  Wh-Wham!

Rainbow Dash rolled and tumbled through the shallow pool collecting rapidly at the bottom of the sphere.  She tried to get up when—

"Another, darling!"

"Rainbow—!" Applejack's voice, then nothing... for Rainbow Dash was doused once more.  She felt herself cartwheeling head over hoof, spotting refracted images of the universe blurring around her through crystalline windows.  At last, she surfaced, rolling onto a curved stretch of dry glass and gold.

"Damn crazy bitch!" Logan hollered from above, writhing in his restraint.  "Gonna get us all killed—!"

"Rainbow!" Ariel sputtered, her eyes flashing from high above the support beams.  "Behind you!  Coming in fast—!"

"Move—!" Fluttershy insisted.

"Gnnngh!"  Rainbow found the strength to hop up.  She swung both front limbs behind her, blocking blindly.  She miraculously deflected Seraphimus's attack, but suffered deep cuts in her fetlocks as a show of it.  Wasting no time, Rainbow spun around, yanked Seraphimus by her wing, and flung her against the side of the sphere.  WHAM!

"Ooomf!"  Seraphimus quivered all over.  She struggled to get up—

WHUMP!  Rainbow straddled her and—Whack!  Thwack!  Smack!—pummeled her repeatedly with left hooks and right hooks.  Blood and saliva splattered against the glass, blotting out the distant shine of blurring stars and nebulae.  But before Rainbow could get a fourth hit in, Seraphimus snaked her prehensile tail down between them and wrapped it around Rainbow's lower fetlock.

"Urrrgh!" Rainbow gasped as she was yanked down.

"Haaaah!"  Seraphimus raked the mare's chest.  Sliiiiiit!

"Aaaa-aaah!"  Rainbow shrieked into her own blood before being dunked into the rising water.  She gurgled and struggled as Seraphimus pressed her weight down into her.  Seraphimus raised another talon to rip straight into Rainbow's brain-stem from behind.

WHACK!  Bard's staff uppercutted her.

Seraphimus jerked back.  Scowling, she crossed both forelimbs to block Wildcard's second attack.

As Wildcard angrily shoved the enraged griffon back, Rainbow dove out of the water and flew into her with a violent spear.  "Aaaaaaah!"

WHUD!  Soon, all three were tangling together in a tight bundle of hooves, claws, and metal.  But before any of them could make any headway—

"Blessed Goddess!" Kepler hollered, leaning closer to Flynn and his glowing horn.  "Brrace yourrselves—!"

"Ah jeez...!"  Ariel tensed up as her eyes reflecting a cyclone of cement-thick water outside.

THUDDDDD!  A waterspout billowing from the world's edge knocked hard into the shell of the Gondola.  Everypony flailed, jerked violently inside their harnesses.

Rainbow, Seraphimus, and Wildcard—SWOOOSH—were thrown clear across the hollow the Gondola.  Their bodies pinballed off the support struts.  Wh-Wh-Wham!  Wildcard took the brunt of it.  Bard's staff rolled in one direction while Wildcard's body ragdolled in the other.

"Ooomf!"  Rainbow Dash landed awkwardly on her belly.  Straight through the glass below, she could see the obsidian black edge of the plane shifting further and further away.  Her eyesight filled with lightning and galaxies.  And then—just as swiftly—the Gondola swung back.  Along with it came the water—SPLOOOSH!—thoroughly dousing Rainbow in a wave.  She collapsed out the other side, rolling up to face the top of the vehicle.

She saw Seraphimus gliding down towards her.

"Rainbow!"

Rainbow flashed a look to her left.

Rarity—frenzied—was pointing at a tell-tale rod.  "Staff!"

"Httt!"  Rainbow yanked Bard's weapon up lengthwise and held it out in front of her.  CLANK!  She connected with both of Seraphimus' claws, and the two wrestled over dominance of the staff.  "Rrrrgh—Haaaugh!"  She kicked off the floor and flew up into Seraphimus.  Seraphimus flew into her.  Spinning like airborne tops, the two formed the frenetic nucleus of the runaway Gondola.

On the opposite side, Remna huffed.  With violet hooves, she ripped the belts free that were restraining her.

Logan flashed her a wild look as the Gondola spun and swayed amidst the lightning.  "What in the blue Hell are you doing?!"

"The Austraeoh must not die."  Remna detached completely from her seat and leaned herself forward.  "Nothing else matters."

Logan eyeballed her, muzzle agape.  With a growl, he started messing with his thick restraints as well.  "I'll be damned if she gets to be crazier than me!"

"Rainbow!" Ariel hollered as Remna was the first to drop.  She fought with her own harness but couldn't get the belt loose amidst the turbulent chaos.  "Hold on!  You're getting help—!"

Swoooosh!  Remna dropped like a violet anvil, landing in front of Wildcard's collapsed body.  THUDDD!  Cracks formed in the glass panels below her... before the sloshing water covered them up.  Remna charged forward, undaunted, eyeing the two flying combatants above.

Rainbow and Seraphimus spun before the heavens, struggling for dominance of the staff.

"Austraeoh!" Remna shouted.  "Down here!"

It was Seraphimus who looked down first, and Rainbow capitalized.

"Httt!"  She head-butted the griffon and then followed the stunning impact with a massive kick to the midsection.

"Grrrgh!"  Seraphimus sailed down... down...

Thwump!

—and into Remna's vice-like grip.

"Guhh—!"  Seraphimus fought and struggled against the draconian limbs.

"Now, Wildcard!" Flynn shouted from up above.  His glowing horn illuminated his wide muzzle.  "Now!  Take her out—!"

Scrambling, Wildcard leapt out of the water and sprinted towards Remna and Seraphimus.

Remna clutched Seraphimus' skull in both fetlocks.  "Die."

Seraphimus eyed Wildcard's charge carefully.  "Way ahead of you."  With one savage muscle movement, she spread both wings into Remna's chest.

"Oomf—!"  The violet mare was lifted up on her hindquarters.

Wildcard came in, flinging his metal fist.

"Hnngh!"  Seraphimus caught his momentum and flung him so that his metal talons grasped around Remna's throat.

Wildcard gasped.  He tried to release—

"Yaaaugh!"  Seraphimus flipped in place and came down with a savage drop-kick to the base of Wildcard's prosthetic.

CRAKKKK!  Finally, after so much damnable punishment, the base of the limb shattered completely, leaving the Desperado's metal fingers strangling Remna's throat in a mechanical death grip.

"Hrkkk!"  Remna stumbled back on her hind-quarters, teetering.

"Rrrrr—"  Seraphimus followed it up by grasping Wildcard's body and flinging him like a battering ram into Remna's chest.  WHUDDD!

Both Heraldites fell back, slamming hard into the fractured glass from Remna's landing earlier.

And the glass gave way.

SHATTTTTTERRR!!!

The ocean water was immediately sucked out—rocketing towards the edge of the world from which the Gondola plunged.  Soon after went Remna and Wildcard, plummeting into the chaotic heavens.

"No—!" Ariel shrieked.

"Hhhttt!" Flynn aimed his skull at the distant panel below.  His horn glowed brilliantly, projecting a telekinetic stream.

Miraculously, Remna and Wildcard both jerked in place, hovering in a dead glow two-thirds of the way beyond the panel's shattered frame.  The forces pulling at the Gondola's interior ripped Wildcard's prosthetic from Remna's throat.  The mare sputtered, her draconian eyeslits watching the metal arm as it sailed off like an onyx comet—only to be consumed by vortices of burning lightning.

In the meantime, Rainbow had plunged into Seraphimus again.  She spun the staff into her twice, but Seraphimus blocked both times.  As Rainbow raised the staff for another strike, Seraphimus punched her in the gut, spun them both around, and shoved her across the Gondola.

While wrestling, the two inadvertently crossed Flynn's telekinetic stream.

Gasping, Wildcard and Remna plunged once more into outer space—

Kepler hollered.  "Brrotherr—!"

Flynn jerked his head again, eyes bulging and teeth clenched as he focused the telekinetic beam as hard as he could.  Sparks shot from the edges of his horn as he slowly—agonizingly pulled the two Heraldites back into the heart of the sphere.  "Rrrrrrr—"  Blood trickled out of his ears as he tilted his head back at the burning apex of magical leylines.  "—raaaaaaaaaaaaugh!"  The mental effort knocked Flynn clean out, leaving him limp and silent in his restraints.

At last, Remna and Wildcard slumped back onto the intact panes of glass.  While above them, Seraphimus and Rainbow Dash traded blows.  And above them—

"There!"  Logan belched victoriously as he finally ripped his tight restraints free.  Schiiiing!  The stallion unsheathed his axe and jumped out of his seat.  "Time to remove her head—!"  He blinked as his body refused to fall.  Instead, he floated goofily forward in the starlight.  "...the buck is this?"

Dizzy, Remna and Wildcard regarded themselves as their bodies slowly lifted off the fractured panels below.

"What..."  Ariel gazed up at her wildly flailing mane.  She looked to her left.  "What's going...?!"

"We've rreached the centerr of both planes!"  Kepler sputtered, watching his spectacles fly off his hairy nose.  "The Gondola has slowed!  We arre losing grravity—!"

The golden mechanism with the broken lever shot sparks in random, nebulous directions.

Rainbow Dash's last punch against Seraphimus sent herself flying backwards.  She gasped, feeling bile and fluids rise up her throat.  Her inner organs shifted, and her hair went everywhere.  She flapped her feathers in desperation.

"Rainbow!" Twilight stammered, hyperventilating.  "It's no use!  Your wings won't work in this environment!"

"T-t-t-tell h-h-h-her th-th-that!" Pinkie Pie pointed across the Gondola, convulsing all over.

Rainbow Dash jerked her neck to see—

"Haaaaaugh!" Seraphimus kicked off the outer edge of the Gondola, propelling herself at her opponent.

"Watch yourself, sugarcube!" Applejack floated upside down, trailing ghostly vapors.  "She won't stop until you—!"

"Seraphimus—!!!" Rainbow shouted, but to no avail.  Seraphimus impacted her, and the two figures went flying weightlessly across the Gondola.  They barreled off a golden spoke, pivoted, then braced themselves against another cross-beam.  Rainbow steadied herself as well as she could with the aid of Bard's staff.  "Dang it to Tartarus!  Stop this!"  She gnashed her teeth from where she perched.  "Don't you see what you're doing?!"

Seraphimus panted, bracing herself on a beam across from her.  "If it means the end of you, Rogue, then it's worth it."

"For Pete's sake, you idiot!"  Rainbow waved at the cosmos swirling all around them.  "Can't you see that there's more to this than Verlaxion and—"

"Say her name!"  Charcoal eyes flickered as Seraphimus pushed off her bar, sailing claws-first.  "Say her name and perish!"

"Dashie—!"  Pinkie yelped.

But Rainbow Dash was way ahead of her.  She blocked with the staff.  Seraphimus' claws connected, spilling sparks every which way that mimicked the lightning beyond.  Seraphimus met another golden spoke and kicked off of it.  Rainbow leapt backwards, deflecting the advancing blows—being propelled backwards by each vengeful strike.  She wrapped her short tail around another golden beam and spun herself ninety degrees.  Seraphimus followed her perfectly, and soon the two were weaving in and around the web of support struts, trading staff-swings and claw-strikes.

At one point, Seraphimus caught Rainbow by a wing and flung her sideways.  Rainbow slammed off a beam with a grunt, twirled around, and landed on another beam above Seraphimus.  She aimed Bard's staff straight up and twirled it to the best of her ability.  Seraphimus aimed up from her position, striking and parrying from where she perched.  The clattering bedlam of their impacts rivaled the thunder outside.

Logan—meanwhile—flailed uselessly in the air several feet from the heart of the scuffle.  He gnashed his teeth, looking at his axe levitating just out of reach.  "Rrrnngh... damn it..."  He hollered at the Heraldites still fastened to their seats across from the battle.  "Flynn!  You damn baldy!  Give me a boost!  The Austraeoh's in—"

"I'm afrraid he's out cold, frriend!"  Kepler shouted back, shaking his unicorn companion's shoulder.  "And we appearr to be stuck out herre—!"

"Well... grnnth..."  Logan snarled and flailed.  "Somepony... spit on the crazy death chicken or something—!"


FLASH!  In the next strobe of thunder, Logan felt a body shoving him from behind.  He started, looking to see that Remna had kicked off the panels below and was giving him a boost.  SWOOOSH!  They barreled through the starlight, approaching Logan's axe with rapid speed.  "Your blade, mortal..."  Remna wheezed.

"Hell yeah..."  Logan snatched the floating hilt in mid-air.  Still being propelled by Remna's draconian strength, he raised the weapon high and shouted.  "Rainbow!  Neck down!"

Rainbow gasped and twirled her body away from Seraphimus.  Seraphimus blinked.  She turned, her reflection spotting the two Heraldites incoming.

"Aaaaaaaaugh—!"  Logan swung the axe towards her as hard as he could.

In a calm breath, Seraphimus kicked off a support beam, and Logan's blade struck nothing but.

CLANKKK!

"Aw shit—!"  Logan yelped as he and Remna flew past their embedded blade.  Remna slipped—sailing off—but Logan maintained his grip.  Although not for long.  Seraphimus pulled herself back by the length of the blade, kicked him savagely in the face, and wrenched the blade free.

One second later, she heard the ruffle of feathers.  She turned to see Rainbow Dash flying towards her, staff swinging.  "Yaaaah!"

Seraphimus ducked, twirled aside, and shoved Rainbow past her.

Rainbow flailed, then slammed lengthwise into the central storage compartment in the heart of the Gondola.  She regained her vision in time to see Seraphimus kicking off a beam and sailing at her with Logan's axe.

"Bleed into eternity—!" Seraphimus shouted.

Rainbow took a breath.  "Nope."  She casually stuck Bard's staff down and opened a golden storage panel right into Seraphimus' beak.  WHACK!

"Ooomf!"  Seraphimus started to fly back from the impact—

Thwppp!  Rainbow caught her in mid-air, locking her shoulders in place with the length of the staff.  "This ends."  She rubbed a hoof over her pendant as her ghostly friends looked on.  "Now."

Seraphimus was barely squinting when—Flaaaaaaaaaash!—a steady beam of harmonic energy burned into her eyes.  "Grnnnnnnngh—!"  She suddenly let go of the axe and placed both of her bleeding palms over the glowing lightning bolt.

Rainbow gasped.

Seraphimus sneered into her face.  "No.  More.  Blight."  Then—with an angry grunt—she yanked Rainbow's pendant clean off and flung it towards the stars and lightning.

"Rainbow, she's—!"  Twilight spoke... then vanished completely.  The colorful shapes of Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack fizzled into nothingness as well.

"Grkk...!"  Rainbow whimpered.  In a cold panic, she dropped Bard's staff completely and twirled towards the pendant.  It sailed away from her, its ruby edges glinting in the cosmos until the image turned hazy under a fresh curtain of crimson.  Rainbow sweated and hyperventilated.  Two spots bled from her forehead as she licked her fangs and dog-paddled in futility.

Thwump! Seraphimus gripped her from behind, dragging claws to the nape of her neck.  "Death becomes you, monster."

"Hrshhhh..."  Rainbow anchored Seraphimus' claws in place with unshorn fetlocks.  "Shhhh-not the firssssssht to call me 'monster.'"  Red-and-yellow eyes flickered, dancing with the lightning.  "Not the lasssssht!"  She stretched both wings out in a blue blur.

"Oomf!"  Seraphimus was propelled back.

Rainbow kicked off her, sailing towards the pendant as it reached the glass panes above... below.  "Hrghlkkg.... scrkk..."

Her hoof graced the necklace... tapped it... and finally grabbed ahold.

Whump!  Rainbow's mutating body struck the glass.

She rolled over, wincing into the trickle of blood.  She slapped the pendant back around her neck.

Fl-Flasssh!  Twilight, Applejack and the rest materialized.

And they were shrieking:

"Move!"

"Move!"

"Go, Dashie—"

"—she's coming!"

Seraphimus screaming beak phased through their faces, along with the rest of her body as she came straight for Rainbow Dash, axe swinging.  "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!"

Rainbow blocked the weapon's swing—but not Seraphimus' momentum.  Or her weight.

CRASSSSSSSSH!

Both bodies flew out into the ether, their mortal ears subjected to the nonstop roar of the firmaments broiling against eternity.  Glass flew past them like meteorites.  The alicorn shards disappeared into the gaping maw of glittering galaxies beyond.  Wind and moisture and lightning.  TH-THOOOM!  It was with miraculous reflexes that Rainbow Dash caught a hoof-hold of a golden spoke of metal bordering the frame of the shattered window.

Seraphimus was no stranger to miracles herself, and she clung to the Gondola's frame adjacent to Rainbow.  Charcoal eyes squinted.  Silver feathers were plucked from their quills—only to shoot past her whipping tail into the everything.  She looked aside at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow looked back.  She wasn't certain how she summoned the strength to shout it, but:  "Don't—!"

Seraphimus lunged.  Breathless motion, and she found her target.  Claws dug into Rainbow's backside, digging deeper and deeper as she tugged and pulled at her bleeding anchor.

Rainbow didn't have time to scream.  She struggled with her wings, her limbs, her every inch to knock the griffon off of her.  The Firmaments tugged and tugged.  The chaos of the universe hungered, beckoned.  And just when she thought her ears couldn't pop any more—

"Rainbow!" Rarity and Fluttershy pointed both at once.

Rainbow squinted her tearing eyes opened.

Wildcard's goggles glinted from the opposite side of the Gondola's interior.  He was perched against a golden stretch of metal, and with his one good hand he tossed a familiar staff back towards Rainbow from where it had bounced.

"Rainbow!" Ariel shrieked in desperation.  "Catch it—!"

Rainbow did more than that.  When she freed a hoof to grip Bard's weapon, she used its thrown momentum to slam Seraphimus squarely between the eyes.

Whump!  Seraphimus took it.  Whap!  That one too.  WHACK!  But then—

"Httt!"

She slipped.

Spinning, she flew out into the deathly cosmos...

Then something else happened.  The former Commander of the Talon jerked in place.  Her bloody beak gasped, and her eyes widened—as if she was more surprised than anyone.  She looked down the length of her flailing body.

Rainbow Dash had her gripped by the tail.  Bard's staff had been thrown back into the heart of the Gondola—to be caught by Wildcard.  And the look on Rainbow's face was pained... yet earnest.  She fumbled for words...

...and Seraphimus found them first.  "End it."

"You... d-don't understand..." Rainbow hissed, gripping to the shattered frame.

"I understand enough!"  Seraphimus hyperventilated, tied by her tail in Rainbow's grip.  "You came to end Verlaxion!  To end Rohbredden!  To end me!"

Rainbow clenched her teeth.  Around the mare, her friends floated.  Phantoms from the past.  Alive and yet not.

"Dashie..."

"She's... she's mad..."

"Darling..."

"There's only one way to stop someone like that, sugarcube."

"We..." Twilight Sparkle floated the closest.  "...we won't hate you for it... Seraphimus... this poor creature is beyond help."

Rainbow Dash gulped.  Her next breath came through a murmur, scarcely audible beneath the thunder.  "I too have been beyond."  Her brow furrowed.

"You coward..."  Seraphimus spat, sobbing, vomiting.  Her charcoal eyes reflected only a hint of color, and it was soon drowned in tears.  "...why won't you end it?!  Don't you see?"  Her claws raked at the emptiness surrounding both of them.  "You've taken everything from me!  My station!  My Goddess!  My husband and child!"  She hollered.  "I've got nothing to live for!  Nothing!"

Rainbow Dash breathed.  "I know."  And she did.

WHAM!

Rainbow's friends winced... and then they gasped...

...for following the savage buck to the skull, Rainbow Dash dragged Seraphimus' body back into the Gondola.  From the dazed flutter of the griffon's eyecrests, it was evident that she had been knocked cold.  Her raging body was finally still and limp as a bag of bricks, aside from subtle, ragged breathing.

"Mrmmmf!" Rainbow Dash pushed herself—and Seraphimus—as far away from the gaping hole as possible.  "Okay.  Get us moving again."

"What the Hell are you d-doing?" Logan sputtered, clinging to a golden beam.

Whump!  Rainbow shoved Seraphimus to a stop beside Remna and Wildcard.  "We're taking her with us."

"Taking her with us?!?" Ariel yelped.

"Have you finally lost your marbles?!" Logan hollered.  He reached out in time to catch his drifting axe and glided down to meet them.  "The cosmos have sucked the sense out of you!  Here..."  He spat on his blade and crawled over.  "I'll just make it quick—!"

"NO!"  Rainbow bucked him hard before he could approach the griffon.

"Guhhh!"  Logan flailed—only to be caught and anchored in place by Wildcard.  Incredulous, the stallion snarled at Rainbow.  "Dammit, Rainbow—"

"She's coming with us to the Dark Side and that's final!"

"She's the reason everything went to shit just now!" Logan hollered back.  "The only right thing to do is slit her throat while you still have the chance and you know it—"

"No, it's what Verlaxion would want me to do!" Rainbow shouted back.  "And you're right.  I do know it."  She fumed, glaring down at Seraphimus' figure.  "I knew it back in the Quade and I knew it in Lerris.  And yet I still danced to her stupid frozen tune in Frostknife!."  Her ears drooped as the menace faded from her petite face.  "Not again.  Not any more..."

The Heraldites were silent.

Fluttershy took a shuddering breath.  Rarity and Twilight leaned in to comfort her while Pinkie and Applejack gazed at Rainbow.

Rainbow swallowed.  "So... like I said..."  She waved a hoof as she floated in the air.  "Get us moving."

"We cannot move, Rrainbow One..."

"Dang it, Kepler!"  Rainbow spun around with a frown.  "I said we're not killing Seraphimus and that's—"

"No... I mean we simply cannot move, dearr frriend," the wyvern gravely said, gesturing a claw at the sparking mechanism a few spaces away from where he was harnessed.  "When the Talon memberr's assault firrst began, I'm afrraid it shatterred the device that prropels this vehicle completely... hence the violent plunge that we all experrienced..."

"Shattered it?"  Logan grimaced.  "You mean... that crazy turkey broke the alicorn machine?"

"We..."  Ariel shivered, still strapped in her seat.  "We're stuck out here?"

Kepler cleared his throat, then spoke in a grave tone.  "'Strranded' is the morre apprroprriate terrm forr it, but... yes... essentially..."  He pointed at the thunderous cosmos outside the battered sphere.  "...we arre caught between two separrate grravitational eddies... empowerred—no doubt—by the technology that Urrohrringrr thrrives on... a technology that we still scarrcely underrstand..."

Dreadful silence overtook the sphere.

Wildcard looked around nervously.  He held Bard's staff close to his chest.

"Can... can you fix it?" Rainbow murmured.  Her eyes traveled aside to the limp unicorn fastened besides Kepler.  "Can Flynn fix it?"

"I'm afrraid that is quite doubtful..."  Kepler adjusted his spectacles, gazing aside at his unconscious companion.  "...by the time ourr herroic frriend herre wakes up... if he wakes up frrom such agonizing mental exertion... I do not think he will be capable of rrepairring the apparratus any morre than me."  He gulped.  "And... by then, most likely... the Firrmaments' chill will have overrwhelmed the fading harrmonic enerrgy of this damaged Gondola, frreezing us and casting ourr brrittle rremains into outerr space."

Ariel sniffled.  She looked down at Wildcard and Logan.

The male Heraldites stared squarely at the glass panels beneath them.  The Gondola swayed gently in an unknown breeze.  The gold glow from its epicenter was fading gradually with each blink.

Pinkie Pie whimpered inwardly, hovering close to Fluttershy and Twilight.

Twilight fidgeted in mid-air, panting.  "Maybe... Rainbow... m-m-maybe if you were to contact it with the powers of Austraeoh and—!"

Rainbow was already kicking off the glass panels.  She floated through a debris cloud of glass and metal shards.  At last, she reached the mechanism.  In the shadow of Kepler and Flynn, she gripped the shell in both fetlocks, squeezing and shaking it.  "Rrrrgh... gnnngh...!"

Errant sparks flew out of the mouth of the thing.  There was a slight flicker of harmonic light... and then everything faded.  The Gondola was dead in the gravitational water.

"Mrmmfff... rrr—"  Rainbow angrily kicked the broken machine with all her might.  Clanggg!  The impact propelled her backwards, and in mid-flip she took the moment to scream at the universe twirling all around her.  "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-aaaaaa-aaaaaaaaahhhh!"

Wildcard and Logan winced.

Rarity and Fluttershy hung their heads.

Rainbow Dash flipped and flipped and flipped, growling to the cosmos:  "We were soooooo close!!!"  She floated upside-down over Seraphimus' body before gently coming to a stop.  Resting on her flank against a stretch of glass, she gripped her skull and hissed into the twinkling air.  "I swear to Luna... I did not come all this friggin' way—soaring over wars and continents and religions and grilled cheese sandwiches—just to end it all stuck in a Goddess-dang fish bowl!"

Her voice echoed against the harmonic gold beams... then fell silent.

Even the thunder had dissipated—to a degree.

Rainbow lowered her hooves, hugging herself.  She was still fuming.  "I never... ever would have wished this on anypony but myself.  Never... not... n-not..."  She clenched her jaw.  Her eyes shut.  She shook... and then finally blurted:  "That's why... I left the Jury when I did.  Because I understood the cost.  I did not need to share it."

"You had to share it," Ariel said from afar, remarkably composed.  "And share it again.  If you didn't realize that before... well... we did."  A gulp.  "And so did Bard."

Kepler nodded calmly.  Flynn shifted slightly in unconsciousness, and the wyvern rested a claw on his shoulder.

Rainbow gazed at Ariel.  She tried to keep her eyes firm.  She tried.  But as she rocked back and forth against the glass, hugging herself, the tears squeezed out.  "I'm sorry... I'm sorry that I brought you all to this.  I actually believed that we could have gotten... at least a little bit further.  And..."  She bit her lip, struggling against the pain of what came next.  At last—after a torturous effort—she brought herself to look at her ghostly companions.  "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry.  You all deserved so much more.  You... you h-had so m-much hope in me, and now..."

"Shhhhh..."  Rarity smiled in spite of her tears.  "It's quite alright, darling."

"Yeah..."  Pinkie sniffed, rubbing one eye and managing a crooked smile.  "You gave us lots of laughs."

"We saw whole parts of the world... entire sights and cultures that Princess Celestia never..."  Twilight sucked her breath in, sniffling.  "That I never knew about.  But... then you showed us more... you showed us the friend we never knew about."

Applejack floated closer.  She held a hoof around Rainbow's shoulder, even if the gesture was air-thin.  "I'm sorry to learn that Granny's left us back home... but I'm plum happy as a peach to know that Apple Bloom and Big Mac and the rest of our friends are doin' mighty fine."  She smiled.  Freckles in starlight.  "You gave us a chance to see that, Rainbow.  You gave us a second life."

Rainbow whimpered.  "AJ..."

"We ain't complainin'."

A tear ran down Rainbow's cheek.  She looked Applejack in the eyes.  "This isn't the second life that I wanted."

Applejack merely gazed at her.

Choking on a sob, Rainbow turned to look at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy looked back.  "Remna."

Rainbow blinked.  As did her friends.  "Flutters...?"

Fluttershy kept looking at her.  As it turned out, it was beyond her.  Curious, Rainbow turned her head swiftly to the side.

Wildcard and Logan also looked up, suddenly realizing how alone they all were.

A violet figure was perched on a beam of gold right before the large gaping hole in the glass.  Upon noticing the many heads turning, she looked back.  Ears twitched against constellations, cold yet firm.  Like scales.

"Axan?"  Rainbow Dash gulped.  Pawing against the glass behind her, she pushed herself until she was floating higher.  "Axan...?  What...?"

Without a wasted breath, Remna reached up to the right bangs of her mane... just behind her ear.

"The Hell...?" Logan spat.  Wildcard craned his neck.

"Axan—"  Rainbow hummed.

"There's something in her possession, darling," Rarity said, squinting.  "Hidden in her hair—"

Just as the ghostly fashionista said this, Remna produced a slender object in her grasp.  It was an ancient chalice, and something sloshing inside blotted out the starlight beyond.

"Wait..."  Pinkie pointed.  "...is that?"

"Guh!"  Twilight clutched her suddenly-glowing horn.  "Such energy!  It's... it's—"

But it was already apparent to Rainbow Dash.  Her eyes locked on the vial, and she was encumbered by a very familiar pulse of gold energy.

FLASH!






Whitemane squinted into the wet winds at the end of the world, her ears ringing with the chimes of countless dangling vials.

“Do not discredit your own potential, my child,” Onyxxus said, strolling closer to a last line of crumbled marble columns.  “There is rich alicorn magic in your veins.  As such, your foalhood will last several decades.  But your adulthood?  That will last millennia.  And in that time, you will gain more wisdom and more understanding than you can even dream of.”

Onyxxus looked to his left.

Whitemane's gaze followed his line of sight.

She saw Mortuana at a distance, reaching into her velvet vest and retrieving a glowing vial of luminescent fluid.

The older alicorn let loose a long sigh, kissed the vial, then approached the platform's extreme edge.





FLASH!

Rainbow's Dash breath left her along with the golden vision.  Her eyes were locked on the very same vial... and then Remna's face.  "Axan..."

Remna glared back at her.  Eyeslits flickered.  Then—

—in a bounding leap—

—she plunged herself out of the Gondola altogether.

"Axan, no—!"  Rainbow Dash lunged forward.  "Don't—!"  Wildcard's strong arm reached forward and yanked her back.  Rainbow struggled, gnashing her teeth, but it didn't last long.

Remna's figure flew off, becoming one with the dark malaise of the universe.  Then—off in the distance—there was the shattering of a small glass.  This was followed immediately by a brilliant flash of burning red light.  Ashen flame spread outward in every direction, enlarging at an alarming rate, until—stretching majestically from side to side—a monumental set of wings blotted out the galaxies beyond.  A tail and snout formed soon after, accompanied by a ferocious burning roarrrrrrrr that scraped the very foundation of the Firmaments.

Rainbow, her friends, and the Herald all watched in a horrified stupor.  Not long after, their bodies jolted—for a gigantic pair of draconian claws was gripping the Gondola from both sides.  Glass shards exploded inwards as each knifing talon found its hold, bending the alicorn metal slightly until the Gondola wasn't going anywhere.

Anywhere but forward.

Sulfur fumed, filling the stale cold air with the unmistakable stench of brimstone.  Snarling nostrils flickered with flame, and the Herald craned their necks to see a massive snout reaching up and biting into solid black rock.  The dual rows of teeth were joined by two massive sets of claws that dug in and pulled at the skin of Urohringr.

CRKKKKK!

Axan's body propelled herself forward.  She did not go alone.

SN-SNAPPP!!!  The golden chains ripped completely out of the Gondola's hemispheres.  Shiny metal links flew off into starry emptiness.  Then—gasping—Rainbow felt herself swaying in Wildcard's grip as the entire Gondola was pulled towards the black, black zenith.  Logan reached out, steadying Seraphimus' limp figure as he gazed up at the madness.  The bodies of Ariel, Flynn, and Kepler shook and swayed in their seats.

The passage was far from a gentle one... and it was about to grow even more turbulent.  As Axan's raking claws tugged and pulled the Gondola out of the gravity well, she reached the other edge of the collapsing Firmament, too close to the surface of Urohringr to possibly be safe.  Or sane.

It was the only path left.

Thunder and lightning returned—along with billowing cyclones of chaotic energy.  Her body took every impact, but she powered her massive self through it.  Flames erupted out the sides of her jaws as she spread her massive wings, finding drag and accelerating the Herald even further to their destination.  The obsidian layers of the world blurred by.  The lightning and thunder intensified.  Kepler hollered something, but Rainbow was no longer paying attention—

CRAKKKKK!

Lightning struck Axan's backside.

She staggered.

The ponies inside the Gondola shifted.

Snorting, Axan flapped her wings and continued.  There was another crack of lightning.  Scaley layers of flesh peeled off Axan's frame, and she leaked burning dragon blood into the heavens.  She did not relent.

THOOOM!

CRACKKKK!

Rivers of lightning found Axan's body, and they carved through her.  The electricity ran deathly rivers down her spine, exploding out her tail.  Blood, pulp, and vertebrae littered the edge of the world. The heavens sang with calcified mayhem, only to vanish behind her battered figure.

Rainbow Dash screamed into Wildcard's feathers.  They tumbled.  The entire Gondola tumbled.  Ghostly screams phased through Harmonic metal, twist and bent and buckling—but surviving.

A final roar.  Pained.  Yet powerful.  There was a knifing edge to the twilight—an end to the blackness—and Axan sailed towards it.  At long last, the Divine of Flame reached the precipice.  No water.  No life.  Only rock... and bones.

FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

She skirted the edge...
> The Dark Side and Beyond
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	...and that's when her wings gave out—what was left of them, at least.  And the rest simply plummeted... with the Gondola following.

CL-CLAKKKK!  The sphere—now a squished, deflated shell of a thing—scarcely landed with its occupants intact.  But they were intact.  Lightning strobed as the alicorn vessel rolled, tumbled, and came to a long scraping stop against a dead flat stretch of midnight blue stone.  When it ended, all was thunder and noise... so that it nearly masked the wet meaty thump of draconian flesh just a few dozen yards away.

It was not masked from Rainbow Dash.

She was the first to crawl out... but only the second to reach the Dark Side.  Stumbling on bruised, bleeding hooves... she twirled to face the remains of the one who brought them there.  "Axan!"  Ignoring the pleas of her friends, she galloped away from the wreck—towards the very precipice of nothingness—where the disfigured carcass of a dragon lay against the stars.

Wildcard and Logan crawled out after.  Looking on with worry, they helped Ariel and Logan drag the bodies of Flynn and Seraphimus into a new bleakness.  There was no sun or moon overhead—only a dazzling band of neverending stardust.  But they weren't paying attention to this.

All eyes fell on Rainbow Dash as she galloped to a stop—nearly slipping on a fresh layer of scalding hot dragon's blood.

She grimaced, panting and heaving.  On trembling limbs, she knelt down by the only part of Axan she could still recognize.  And when her breaths touched violet scales, a single eyeslit opened... followed eventually by a weak rumbling noise.

"Hrmmmmfffghhlll..."  The battered Divine squirmed slightly... then shuddered into a soggy exhale.  "Hrmmffffhhlll... carry on... Austraeoh..."

"Dang it... dang it dang it dang it!"  Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth, fighting the urge to weep.  Failing.  "Why did you do that, Axan?!  Why?!  We... we could have f-found another way, dang it!  You didn't have to do that!  We could have found another way!"

"Hrmmmmfff..."  The first of two sets of teeth parted, exhaling vaporous hot breath.  "Do you ever..."  An eyecrest waggled weakly.  "...ever stop being so stupid, mortal...?"

Rainbow spat.  "Shut up!  I mean it!  You... you didn't..."  She shook her head, bracing herself against the edge of Axan's scaley jaw-line.  "Why?!  Why, Axan?!  Why did you—?"

"Hskkkkkkt..."  Trembling, a massive hand lifted... and a single claw found its way to the tip of Rainbow's fuzzy nose.  "Shhhhhhhh..."  The sulfur faded, as did the flame behind the slitted eyed.  "Like Mortuana, I once... grkkkk... caught a glimpssssse of hope.  I thought... rrppghhh... that I had cr-crushed it... but..."  She exhaled, the heat curling the hairs of Rainbow's mane.  "I had only set it free.  Like a hatchling... from its shell..."

Rainbow Dash gaped and gaped. Her friends hovered close, silent as stone.

The one eye narrowed.  Burning.  "You mussssst set the world free, Austraeoh.  In all the ways that I couldn't.  The scale of the eyelid lowered.  The heat dwindled.  "Hsssskkkt.... So many Divines... all demented and dying."  One last breath.  Vaporous and true, and the eye locked on something beyond.  "...I only ever had one sister."

The light went out.

All was thunder and shadow.

Rainbow Dash hung her head.  And as the rest of the Herald surrounded her in a halo, she wept quietly into a brand new darkness.