Rainbow Dash approached Axan's corpse slowly... pensively. Soon, she had to trot even slower; Wildcard had marched directly in front of her. Even with just three limbs, the last Desperado insisted on forming a living shield in front of the pegasus. His goggles reflected a bright round object situated just a few feet from where Axan's dormant snout lay.
"What in the Hell...?" Logan rasped.
"What is that thing?" Flynn stammered.
Ariel gulped, craning her neck to see from where she hovered. "Whatever it is—it's glowing."
"I... uh..." Rainbow squinted as she and Wildcard came to a stop. "I believe that's Axan's blood."
Rarity leaned in. "No doubt about it, Rainbow. That... thing was resting deep within Axan's corpse. I... I do believe it originated from a pocket of flesh situated inside her neck."
"Brbrbrbrbrbrrrrr..." Pinkie shook all over. "Even in death she's looking for excuses to shovel spit."
"It's... organic," Fluttershy said, her tone calm.
Applejack looked at her. "You mean that thang's alive?"
"Not... quite..." Fluttershy blinked slowly. "But... I sense that it's made out of the same material as Axan's body. Strange that I didn't feel it before..."
"Do dragon bodies make pearls?" Applejack lifted her hat and rubbed her ghostly scalp. "Danged if I'm not confused as all heck."
"Axan may be dead, but that object isn't," Twilight Sparkle insisted. "At least not magically. There's a strong enchantment about it that's not diminishing."
"Is it harmful?" Rainbow Dash asked aside.
The Herald glanced at her.
"I... I don't think so, Rainbow," Twilight said. "But even still, I don't know what it's purpose is."
Rainbow exhaled. "Guess there's only one way to find out." She trotted forward.
"... ... ...!" Wildcard stretched his good arm directly in front of the mare, blocking her. The two shared brief visual contact. Then—with drooping crestfeathers—Wildcard relented. He sidestepped and allowed Rainbow Dash to trot past him and approach the sphere.
Cautiously, Rainbow Dash knelt down and squinted into the object's blood-red glow. Axan's juices coated the round surfaces, and it generated an undeniable heat. With nervous hooves, Rainbow reached forward and barely tapped the edge of the sphere. It was still hot—but not scalding. After a few more ginger taps, Rainbow dared to roll the thing towards her. In so doing, she cleared off the outer coating of crimson.
A vulcanic gray surface glinted in the starlight. It was a paradoxical sight: the material appeared both dull and shiny all at once. To Rainbow, it looked as though she was cradling an enormous marble with a thin layer of transparent glass surrounding a burnt charcoal core. She wiped off even more of the blood—and upon touching the cold glossy shell the sphere reacted with brief flickers of flame from deep within... like the heart of a furnace struggling in vain to burn back to life.
"It's... it's reacting to you, Rainbow," Twilight Sparkle said. "Faintly... but there's a spell in place there." Her horn glowed as she phased through Rainbow's shoulder to study the object closer. "Still... what was this doing on Axan's person?"
"It's a Drragon Stone," Kepler suddenly said.
Everypony looked immediately at the wyvern. Including the ghosts.
"A what stone???" Pinkie belched.
"A what stone?" Rainbow echoed.
"Of courrse! It has to be!" Kepler smiled through his tusks. "Do you not rrememberr Rremna speaking about it? When we firrst held audience with Prrincess Celestia?"
"If... if what Kepler says is true..." Twilight began.
The wyvern adjusted his spectacles and declared: "This is what Axan used to speak with herr Divine Sisterrs! It is a tool of communication—far olderr than all magics on this plane! Even Alicorrn magic! For it was herre long beforre this piece of Urrohrringrr was everr discoverred!"
"If that's true..." Ariel's brow furrowed. "...then how come Axan was able to keep ahold of it when she was transformed into Remna?"
"The Drragon Stone is as much a parrt of a Divine as a hearrt, brrain, orr firre gland," Kepler explained. "The Mountain Matrron's spell worrked in that it trransferrred all of Axan's essence into Remna's shell. Obviously—Axan did not wish forr herr sisterr Verrlax to trrack herr when she enlisted herrself in Morrtuana's Herrald."
"So then..." Flynn rubbed his chin as he processed the truth aloud. "...the Dragon Stone got absorbed into Remna's figure."
"Prrecisely!" Kepler nodded. "And now that Axan has rregained herr forrm upon death, the Drragon Stone has been rreleased frrom concealment."
"Dayum..." Logan shifted where he stood. "Do you suppose Axan meant for us to get ahold of this?"
Wildcard glanced at the others upon hearing that.
"Difficult to say," Flynn muttered. "From the look of things... planning ahead wasn't one of Axan's strong suits."
Twilight drew into a ghostly huddle next to her anchor. "If this is Axan's Dragon Stone..."
"Do you realize what this means?" Rarity breathed.
"If it means what I th-think it means..." Fluttershy gulped. "...then perhaps we are better off without it."
"Why's that?" Pinkie asked.
"Because..." Applejack's jaw tightened. "...magic on this here side of the plane ain't the same as the harmonic stuff we're used to. Who knows just who or what could be listenin' in on—?"
Rainbow Dash wiped off the last of the blood, cradled the sphere in both fetlocks, and spoke right into its surface. "Hello, Endrax?"
Her marefriends froze in place, wincing.
The Herald collectively sucked their breaths in.
Rainbow polished the surface once again. "Endrax?" She tilted her ears towards the twilight above. "Endrax, are you there?"
Dead silence.
"Endrax...?" Rainbow exhaled slowly. Her ears started to droop. "... ... ...Sturke?"
Still no response.
"Rainbow Dash..." Ariel's wings went limp as she touched down and relaxed. "I love you to death, girl..." Her eyes narrowed. "...but I kinda sorta want to punch you right now."
Wildcard nodded vehemently.
"How do we know that we even want to talk with Endrax?!" Logan sneered through clenched teeth. "Most dragons you or the Herald have ever met kinda sorta have a fetish for squashing the friggin' Austraeoh to a bloody pulp!"
"I disagrree!" Kepler folded his forelimbs. "Ourr close alliance to her sisterr Axan would surrely give us some leverrage!"
"Oh—like that worked with Verlax!" Ariel hissed.
"Verlax was crazy, though!" Flynn insisted. "She was a special kind of shit snowflake!"
"Only because she flew blind circles on this side of the Plane!" Ariel hoarsely exclaimed. "Endrax has been here for millennia! Imagine how crazier she must be!"
"But she came here to solve chaos, not become it!" Flynn exclaimed under his breath.
"Oh... and when has that stopped the dragons from going all mega-psycho-bitchy?!" Logan rasped.
"Guys... stop whispering," Rainbow muttered. She stared deep into the pearlescent surface of the sphere. "I really don't think anyone's listening."
The Herald let loose heavy breaths.
Wildcard sliced the air with his right talon's claws.
"He has a point..." Ariel looked from the Desperado to Rainbow Dash. "Just because the Divines are silent on the other end doesn't mean they're not listening."
"I sure wouldn't mind if Sturke was listening in," Flynn said. "We could use all the help we can get—especially in getting back to the Light Side."
"I hate to say it, but I doubt she can, my frriend," Kepler remarked. "If the alicorrns cannot assist us through the Plane, then I do not see how the Queen of Equinox would be able."
Ariel shifted where she stood. "So... uhh..." She brushed aside her raven black bangs with a nervous fetlock. "...how come Endrax isn't responding?"
"Maybe... she can't?" Flynn said.
Silence.
"...or she doesn't want to?" he then added in a quieter tone.
Rainbow Dash continued to stare deep into the shiny surface of the Dragon Stone. She shifted her grip in order to turn the bloodied object around.
"Dashie!" Pinkie pointed. "Look!"
Just as the mare said this, the sphere shrank within Rainbow's grip. It stopped as soon as Rainbow's fetlocks stopped. It was now approximately the size of a hoofball... which made it considerably less awkward to grip.
"It... shrank..." Twilight Sparkle blinked. "Rainbow, what did you do?"
"I just... just..." Rainbow shrugged, still staring at its surface. "...just wanted to hold it better."
"It may be the rresult of a rresidual enchantment," Kepler stated. "Accorrding to Morrtuana, the Drragon Stone was divinely crrafted to be used by morre than just the gifted Matrriarrch herrself. No doubt Axan's broodlings employed it in the past—and they werre all considerrably smallerr than theirr motherr."
"That's totally true," Rainbow said.
"So... uh..." Logan scratched his forehead. "Does that mean Rainbow's now the Stone-Bearer or some shit?"
"Pfffft..." Ariel rolled her eyes. "Doesn't she have enough on her plate?"
"Well, how the Hell else would you read this situation?"
"Dumb luck."
"Heh... the dumbest."
In the meantime, Rainbow's lips were pursing. Her ruby eyes reflected a curious sight.
The Dragon Stone was flickering with light—subtle but very real. Tiny sparks of flame-red luminescence billowed from deep within the stone.
Wildcard adjusted his goggles before proceeding to kneel down beside Rainbow.
"You see it too, huh?" Rainbow remarked.
Wildcard nodded. He reached his good talon forwards—but then paused to look at Rainbow.
Rainbow gladly lifted the stone towards his grip.
Together, the pegasus and the Desperado cradled the Dragon Stone. Under Wildcard's guidance, they tilted the enchanted object around by about one hundred and eighty degrees—sweeping towards the bent black horizon.
As they did this, they noticed the stone flickering at random intervals. They slowly repeated the process until the flickering was slightly... less random. Together—in mute concentration—they found that the Dragon Stone pulsed with fiery red light on every turn, forming a subtle pattern.
"Is..." Flynn blinked his one good eye. "...is it reacting to something?"
"Or some things," Rainbow murmured. "You see? It pulses three times. There... there—and there."
Wildcard and Rainbow continued the motion, swinging the stone slowly about and causing the illumination to repeat.
"What... uh..." Ariel shivered slightly. "...what's causing it?"
"Endrax?" Fluttershy suggested.
Rainbow took a deep breath. "Who knows." She looked past Fluttershy as she stood up. "We'll have to figure it out along the way." She opened her saddlebag and slipped the object in. "We've waited here long enough."
"You want to bring it with us?" Flynn stammered.
"Yeah." Rainbow turned to face him, deadpan. "And?"
"I just... erm... well..." Flynn rubbed the back of his head.
Ariel spoke for the Herald: "What if it makes us stand out? Y'know... like a burning torch to the bad guys here on the Dark Side?"
"What...?" Rainbow pointed at her ruby pendant, causing it to glow slightly. "And I'm not already a friggin' beacon?"
The Herald winced—collectively blushing.
"Guys... guys..." Rainbow marched past them. "...at some point we gotta stop being afraid of being afraid. I know it sucks to be out here... but it's only going to get crazier. It's about time we faced it." She lingered in place momentarily, chilled to the bone to see the corpse of Axan vanish from her peripheral. "We've... been given more than one gift today. Let's not waste a single one of 'em."
The group collectively nodded.
Wildcard stood up, brushed his talon gently across Rainbow's shoulder, then marched towards the sled that housed Seraphimus.
Rainbow nodded after him. "Right." She stretched her wings. "Let's friggin' move already."