“Any luck on your end?” Rainbow Dash asked above the sound of the beating wind. “As soon as we fetch everypony’s favorite scamp, it’s gonna be just as long a journey back. It might be really, really cool if we could meet you guys somewhere halfway.”
”Scrkkk! Props is searching all over the Bronze District for one of her Uncle’s hidden warehouses,” Pilate’s voice said through the pegasus’ glimmering sound stone. ”According to her, he kept a stash of steamworks lying around for emergency use. It could be just what the Noble Jury needs to earn itself some temporary propulsion until we can afford to get the book back.”
“Yeah, if we get the book back,” Rainbow Dash muttered as she and Roarke pierced the morning sky over a sandy valley. They flew in a southwest direction, their bodies being pushed eastward by a swift wind. “The jury’s still out on that one. Uhm… no pun intended.”
”I, for one, intend to remain optimistic. So is Props; she’s hardly had any sleep, the poor pony. When she isn’t looking for Prowse’s abandoned supplies, she’s performing menial tasks around the Bronze District with Simon for bits. We still have a backup plan to buy ourselves better transportation if we have to, but it’s not easy with the economy of this floating city.”
“If anypony can deal with finances, Pilate, it’s you, buddy,” Rainbow Dash muttered, her eyes squinting against the wind. “Heck, while you’re at it, maybe Ebon could deliver pizza for a few extra bits.”
“Funny you should say that. Ebon has offered his services to a few culinary places around here. He hasn’t been able to bring us much, but every little bit helps.”
Rainbow Dash blinked. “Huh. Well… that’s pretty nifty.”
”I know it may not feel like it, Rainbow Dash, but we are all in on this together. You’re doing your part, and we’re doing ours. Even Josho.”
Rainbow winced. “What in Celestia’s name is he doing for money, as if I really want to know…?”
”Well, he’s not killing anypony, for one.”
“Heheheh… Yeah, okay.” Rainbow Dash smiled. After a few breaths, she bit her lip, then stammered, “Pilate?”
”Yes, Rainbow?”
“How… h-how is Belle holding up?”
The zebra’s voice sighed heavily on the other end. ”She keeps herself busy. Since Ebon hasn’t been around, she and Eagle Eye have been working on daily meals in the mess hall. She’s also kept Floydien company, since the elk hasn’t been in that good of a mood following the pilfering of his--erm--Nancy Jane.”
“But, like… is she in good spirits? At all?” Rainbow gulped. “Is she smiling?”
”Not a day goes by that I don’t wish that I could see her beautiful, smiling face, Rainbow.”
Rainbow Dash grimaced. “Yeesh. Sorry, Pilate. Slipped my mind.”
”It’s perfectly fine, Rainbow. She is doing much better than she was two days ago. She has faith in you, as do I. But remember, Rainbow…”
“Yeah…?”
”Do what you can to save Kera, to salvage the book, whatever. But come back to us in one piece, okay? And Roarke as well. The last thing we need is for more of our beloved companions to fall into the hole that this wretched Herald has made.”
“We’re coming back with Kera or we’re not coming back at all, Stripsey.”
”Rainbow. You’re heading in a direction that is unnatural to you. We both know that.”
Rainbow bit her lip.
”Just be careful. We miss Kera terribly, but we miss you as well. This world wouldn’t be worth exploring with your colors gone.”
Rainbow smiled painfully. “Coming from a blind stallion, that’s a pretty adorable compliment.”
”Wrong A-word, good friend. Signing out. Scrkkk!”
Rainbow Dash sighed and slid the sound stone back into Luna’s saddlebags.
“Well, he sounded chipper,” Roarke muttered from a few blurring feet away. “For a breeder who’s having to console his hysterical mare.”
“Jee. How sympathetic of you,” Rainbow Dash droned. “I liked it better when you were quiet.”
“The target is still southwest of us?”
“It’s… kind of bending almost directly south now,” Rainbow said, squinting towards the horizon in question. “And what’s more, it’s somewhat lower.”
“Lower?”
“Yeah. Like somepony’s carrying the book on hoof.” Rainbow’s jaw clenched. “I bet they landed somewhere. Or maybe they’re in a cave.” She sighed heavily, her eyes dull and lethargic. “Goddess above, they’d better not be in a friggin’ cave…”
Roarke’s helmet glinted as she looked straight down. “Or perhaps they plummeted into the ground.”
“Don’t you think the book would have been torn to bits if that happened?”
“I do believe we are about to find out.” Roarke pointed down.
“Hmm?” Rainbow glanced at her, then at a patch of sand below. Her jaw dropped, and her ruby irises turned to pinpricks. “Oh no. Oh no no no no no no--!” She dove down like a blue anvil.
“Rainbow!” Roarke exclaimed, then groaned as she pivoted her thrusters and glided after her.
Rainbow was panting, hyperventilating. Her body whistled through the air, and it was only when she was less than ten feet from splattering into a bloody pulp that she pulled up, landing on four weighted hooves as her mouth hung agape. She took a few uncertain steps forward, her lips quivering. The shattered stalk of a skystone pylon reflected off her eyes.
Roarke landed on the edge of the wreckage. She opened her helmet, gazing at the remains of the Heraldites’ ship with pistoning eye lenses. The silence of the moment was like a wintry holocaust, and she melted it when her voice droned, “The hull is charred in several places. Looks like a fire caused by cannonfire.”
Rainbow Dash said nothing. She stood dead-still, her eyes moist.
Roarke paced around the strewn pile of debris. “I do believe this ship was shot down. However it came down, it obviously fell from a great height--”
“Look! Shut up! Will you just shut up for a second?!” Rainbow Dash galloped frantically about the craft, her breath coming out in rapid little squeaks. “K-Kera?!” She circled and circled the mess, her ears twitching involuntarily against the wind. “Kera! Kera, do you hear us?!”
“Rainbow…”
“We’ve come to rescue you, Kera!” Rainbow Dash picked up an errant plank of metal and lifted with all her might. “Nnnngh! Just g-give us a shout! Where are ya, girl?!”
Roarke slapped a hoof over Rainbow’s forelimb. “If she was in a crash this horrible, she wouldn’t have the throat left to answer you with.” Her brow furrowed. “Much less a spine.”
“Grrghh!” Rainbow Dash shoved her back. “What do you know?!” she spat, fuming. “You’re an expert on killing ponies! Not saving them!”
Roarke stared at her, frowning. “And was what I did with Imre murder? Or with you? Or with all the breeders you call friends?”
Rainbow Dash seethed… seethed… then spun away, gripping her forelimb. “Nnnngh-Graaaaugh!” She slumped to her belly, shutting her eyes tight as hot breaths slithered in and out of her clenched teeth. “Mmmmf… Celestia… Celestia, please.”
Roarke turned from her. With a rattle of her mane’s braided ringlets, she trotted slowly, calmly about the craft.
“I know I keep asking for help… but help me…” Rainbow gulped. “Help Kera. Please.” She gritted her teeth. “I’m so sick and t-tired of losing friends…”
“Keep praying to your pretty princess sky god,” Roarke muttered. “But do it quietly. I’m attempting to concentrate.”
“On what?!” Rainbow snapped.
“Hmmmm.” Roarke’s lenses pistoned out while she pressed a hoof to a crystal diode on her left armored sleeve. “What indeed.” A red beam shot out of her suit and scanned a patch of sand just south of a chunk of wreckage that was still intact.
“Come on!” Rainbow Dash jumped up, still breathless. “If you know something! Spill it! I’m coming apart at the seams here!”
“That much is obvious,” Roarke droned. “And it’s not so much that I know something, but that am coming close to an educated hypothesis.”
“For the love of oats, girl! Less eggheading and more metalheading!”
Roarke’s nostrils flared. Nevertheless, she pointed at the debris. “This part of the wreckage didn’t suffer as much damage. It’s possible that ponies located in this area of the ship weren’t killed upon impact.”
“And how would you know?”
“Because…” Roarke stepped aside so that Rainbow Dash could see blatant tracks in the soft sand. “Hoofprints. Somepony walked away from this.”
Rainbow’s breath left her. She blinked her eyes dry. “No way…”
“And that’s not all.” Roarke pointed at a pair of lines following the hoof tracks. “They were dragging something. Perhaps a makeshift sled.”
“Carrying salvaged stuff?”
“Or maybe fellow survivors.” Roarke pivoted to face the pegasus. “Whatever the case, somepony lived through this mess. And they might know what caused the Herald’s ship to meet its less-than-glorious fate.”
“Or what happened to Kera…” Rainbow Dash murmured.
“The tracks lead due west,” Roarke said. “Are you still seeing the lavender book south of here?”
Rainbow Dash flung the horizon in question a glance and spun back. “Uh huh.”
“Curious…” Roarke exhaled. “If somepony had carried the book away from this wreck, I would have found their tracks with my scanner. This place doesn’t look like it’s seen much precipitation in over a week, and this wreck could only be four days old, tops. I think whoever attacked them may have taken the book.”
“So, like, it could be in the hooves of air pirates or Xonans…” Rainbow Dash paused to wince. “Or Ledomare.”
“Rainbow, if we wish to power up the Noble Jury, we have to get that book back at all costs,” Roarke said. “Without it, our ship can’t even hope to pass through Xonan territory in one piece.”
Rainbow Dash glanced south, then at the tracks leading west. She winced, shuddered, then stomped her hooves down. “No! We gotta find out if Kera’s still alive! We owe it to her! We owe it to Belle and Pilate.”
Roarke sighed long and hard. “How did I know that you were gonna say that…?”
“Come on, girl!” Rainbow Dash took off without a second’s hesitation. “You’re the resident bounty hunter extraordinaire! Let’s find this crazy cultist as quickly as possible!”
“Theoretically, it shouldn’t take long.” Roarke thrusted after her, echoing the noise of burning engines into the air. “Considering that they’re on hoof and we’re tracing them from the air.”
“Not everypony can move at the speed of awesome.”
“Almighty Searo,” Roarke said in a dull tone. “I stand corrected on that one…”