"And just where is this town?" Roarke asked, her forelimbs folded.
Pilate paced before the assembled group of Bellesmith, Floydien, Rainbow Dash, Josho, and the metal mare. Night hung cold and dark over the moored structure of the Noble Jury. "About one hundred and twenty miles northeast of here. Apparently, it's Archer Point's chief trading ally. During the latest campaign of the war, Collins sent several of her pony friends in a long-distance caravan to trade flowers and metals for foodstuffs and agricultural ingredients. But... Collins' testimony is not how I came upon discovering the village's location."
"Then how?" Roarke asked.
"You saw it in the map, didn't you?" Josho asked. "Early yesterday, while we were chatting downstairs in navigation?"
Pilate slowly nodded. "I knew that the name looked familiar. It took me a few moments, but then I remembered some facts Bellesmith had shared with me about Kera."
The mare took a deep breath, hugging herself as she looked off with a pained expression.
Rainbow Dash saw it. She stopped hovering and stood besides Belle, resting a hoof on her shoulder. The mare closed her eyes and nuzzled it while Rainbow glanced at the rest of the group. "I think we know where all of this is going. It's not that far away, and we totally wouldn't be backtracking by going there."
"Are the boomers getting rid of the little scamp scamp or what?" Floydien asked.
"Nothing of the sort!" Pilate said, but winced. "And yet..." He hesitated.
Belle looked up at him, misty-eyed.
Pilate sighed. "It was my idea initially, and I stand by it." He gulped. "As a foal first and a Xonan second, Kera has the right to witness her hometown before we risk passing it by. For all we know, she might have a reason to pay the place her lasting respects..." He cleared his throat. "Or more."
"I don't get it," Roarke muttered. "The little mare is resourceful. For all she cares, the Noble Jury is her home. Her attitude certainly reflects that."
"Even so, Miss Roarke, she was raised there by her parents." Pilate shuffled around. "Parents who, sadly, are no longer on this earth. Whether that was the work of the Council of Ledo or Nightshade or somepony else—it doesn't matter. She still needs to—"
"She still needs nothing." Roarke's lenses pistoned out. "I don't get it." She pointed at the couple. "She has you two. For whatever reason, that seems to make the little thing happy. Why unnecessarily make her retrace her steps?"
"She has the right to—"
Roarke frowned. "Because it almost seems like you're forcing it on her."
Rainbow looked over. "Roarke. If Pilate, Belle, Crimson and I had carried you forcibly all the way out of Foxtaur without you getting a chance to resolve all that crazy crap back at Searo's Hold, would you be nearly as sane as you are today?"
Roarke opened her mouth... but hesitated. She leaned back against the ship's edge, fuming. "I still don't think it's the same thing."
"No. No, it isn't." Pilate shook his head. "That's why we have to assume the worse."
"Being?" Roarke asked.
"That she'll grow up resenting us for robbing her of the chance of to live a safe, peaceful, ordinary life with ponies who very well may be her tried and true godparents." Pilate swiveled to a stop and faced the others. "Assuming she does choose to stay in her home town, which I doubt, think about what she now has in store." He gestured a hoof into the air. "Both the Ledomaritans and Xonans have pulled back. The war has come to a stop and free trade is opening up yet again."
"That's assuming the cease fire is something permanent," Roarke said. "I've been a bounty hunter for a long time—and lemme tell you, war is good for business."
"The stabby-stabby have pulled their glimmer back," Floydien said, his red eyes reflecting starlight. "Floydien has seen this. Never before has Nancy Jane had such clear skies to kiss."
Rainbow nodded at the others. "You gotta admit. Something's given the ponies of Archer Point to be high as a kite. And I don't think it's the flowers they grow."
Josho belched.
Bellesmith frowned at him. "Seriously, Josho? Is that all that you have to contribute to this conversation?"
"Actually, no..." The obese stallion scratched his chin and leaned forward. "I'll have you know that I do my best thinking while belching." He raised a hoof. "I think the really hard pill to swallow here is just what kind of a future would Kera have with us?"
"What do you mean?" Rainbow asked.
"Do I have to spell it out?" Josho grumbled, flinging a hoof eastward past the village and its blazing bonfires. "We don't know what kind of a world lays in wait for us out there, only that it's dangerous. Whoever or whatever did in the likes of Secchy and Lasairfion is out there... biding its sweet-ass time. Facing Ledomaritan managliders is one thing. Xonan chaos serpents is another. But friggin' shape-shifters? Giant bug-eyed freakazoids who can alter their form at will?! Something like that could swoop on board the Jury, replace one of us overnight, and bite into Kera's cute little jugular overnight!"
Bellesmith shuddered at that. She plopped down on her flank, staring worriedly into the wooden deck of the Jury.
"And that's just thinking about the little scamp among us!" Josho said. "Heck, every pony on board this ship is just cruisin' for a bruisin' by scaling any more longitudinal lines! If we were smart, we'd just park our flanks right down here and mill about until we die from boredom!"
"Like you can afford to do that..." Roarke muttered aside.
"You bet I can, sister! Open fields? Plenty of resources to start up a hobby? All the friggin' flowers I can eat?"
Roarke glared over with rotating lenses. "Neutral zone or not, you're a traitorous ex-soldier who's murdered countless Xonans in your day. You probably have half as many enemies on the eastern side of the Front than I do, and that's saying something." She snorted and glanced away from him. "As soon as word goes out about your fat breeder flank living it up in this valley, they'll send two dozen spies to strip you of your skin and auction off your pelt to the Highest Caste."
Josho bit his lip. After a few fuming seconds, he glanced over at Rainbow and bellowed, "Well, just what was your big stinkin' plan anyways?! Fly east until the skystone melts and we all fall into the ocean?"
Rainbow Dash bit her lip. She glanced aside at Belle and Pilate. When they didn't answer, her voice cracked lightly, "Well... I... I-I've always had a goal in mind..."
Roarke's head swiveled to look at her.
Rainbow continued on. "I know I've told you bits and pieces. But, to put it lightly, my trip's never ending." She sighed heavily, her shoulders slumping. "And yet, it is." She gulped. "I just don't know when."
Josho's forehead softened. With a twinge of regret, the stallion stared off towards the village below.
"Ever since the crap that grounded me in Aridstone..." Rainbow winced at the thought but continued. "...it's all been a matter of survival, really. I used to see this sort of flying-east thing as a challenge. Almost a sport, really. Heh." Her muzzle curved slightly. Then she sighed. "And then I started gathering friends up by the legful, and it... kinda stopped being all about my journey, y'know?"
Bellesmith gently patted Rainbow's shoulder. "We're in it with you all the way, Rainbow—"
"No," Rainbow softly said, shaking her head. "You're not."
Belle looked hurt.
Rainbow hovered close and clasped Belle's hoof with both of hers. "Don't even say that. You can't possibly even attempt what I am attempting."
Belle's lips moved to say something, but she had suddenly become breathless. Her eyes watered.
Rainbow took a deep breath and flung a glance Pilate's way. "Same goes for you, Pilate. You guys mean so much to me. But where I'm going?" She gulped hard. "It's not a place where any sane pony can follow. I started this quest on my own, and one day I'm going to have to finish it the same way. On my own. And it's not just because it's long and treacherous. It's... a lot more complicated than that, I guess. I've taken you guys past warfronts and fortress and barricades... but the very end of the frickin' world?! I'll be lucky if I survive the whole mess. Heck... I'm not sure I'm even going to."
"But Rainbow..." Belle sniffled, her voice shaky. "We're more than just hitchhikers whom you've picked up in Blue Shelf! We're your friends!" A tear blossomed along the bottom edges of her eyes. "We're Eljunbyro."
"And I love you guys." Rainbow smiled genuinely. "I really do. But if you're gonna put that kind of stock in the whole thing, then you gotta realize... you've done your part! You've brought wind back to my wings! You've given me the endurance I needed to continue this journey as far as I can take it! But what I'm destined for—freaky prophecy or not—it's bigger than the Noble Jury, bigger than this continent, bigger than even Equestria."
"But... but..."
"Belle, you know this. Pilate knows this. We all know this." Rainbow Dash nuzzled Belle closely with a shuddering breath. "We've even talked about it before, remember?" She sniffled. "The pl-plan was to take you as far as I needed to so that you wouldn't be hounded by all this Ledo nonsense. Well, we've outrun the Ledomaritans and—from the looks of it—the Xonans aren't gonna bother us anymore. All it takes is just a little more teasing of the eastern horizon and—voila—the promised land, ya d-dig?"
"But... but..." Belle choked back a sob. "Right now? So soon?"
"Unnngh..." Rainbow rolled her eyes and smirked. "Puh-lease, ding-dong! Josho was right. There's still a bunch of crap to deal with, and I'd be a total cup of jerk cider to ditch you guys now." She brushed Belle's cheek with a hoof, drying her tears. Slowly, her smile left. "But someday, I'm gonna have to leave you..." Her muzzle hung open a bit. "And when I do, I know... I-I just know," her voice cracked, "that it's gonna tear me to shreds inside." A sniffle, then a clenched jaw. "Just as I know you're being torn apart inside about Kera."
Belle exhaled sharply. She hugged herself tightly, gazing towards Pilate. Her beloved was similarly wordless, his stripes long and sad.
"If you ask me, I'm still in it for the little punks who don't know any better," Josho grumbled, staring out at the village and its bonfires. "Ebon. Props. Even that moron, Zaid." He took a deep breath. "But most especially Eagle Eye. None of them have futures here. They might think they do, but they'd be prisoners to a system that's been buckin' them senseless for gonzo years. But ponies like me?" Josho glanced back, frowning. "We ain't got no future. If I can help ponies like fruit basket and company find their place, then I'm in it for the long haul, even if it ain't the same as Rainbow's long haul." Josho squinted across the deck. "Floydien? I bet you can relate, can't you, ya crazy space elk?"
"The boomers helped Nancy Jane, and so Floydien wishes to help boomers." The elk's antlers swayed in the nightly breeze. "Distance doesn't bother Floydien. No no no—only spit."
"Mr. Floydien, you've given us so much already," Pilate said. "You even sacrificed Simon—"
"Simon's burial from glimmer shimmer is the reason why Floydien adamants it!" the elk snarled. "Not wise for striped boomer to question the gift when it is already his, yes yes?"
Pilate fidgeted. He opened his mouth—
"Beloved..."
The zebra looked over.
Drying her face, Belle shuddered, "Give Floydien the necessary coordinates. You're right. You were always right." She clenched her eyes shut and exhaled. "She deserves to make the choice for her own. This ship... this journey... it's may be a colorful place to grow up, but is it safe?"
"We can make it safe, Belle!" Pilate exclaimed.
"No, Pilate." Belle slowly, slowly shook her head. "We can't."
The zebra winced, then leaned back, rubbing a hoof over his straight mane.
"So, then..." Roarke looked at the others. "We set out in the morning?"
"Not right away," Rainbow Dash muttered. "There's this... breakfast thingy that the villagers have invited us to. Would be rude not to go."
"I see." Roarke nodded. "An excuse to make Breeder McNeckbeard here fatter?"
"Oh, hardy-har. Go make love to a fire hydrant."
"Given the options I've had as of late, it may be my only recourse."
"Ponies, please," Pilate grumbled. "Don't be a—"
"No, Pilate." Belle said, and she was smiling. "Let them have their fun, however they decide to go about it."
"Belle...?"
She sniffled, bearing a passive expression. "If these are quite possibly Kera's last days with us, I want her to feel right at home." She sighed. "Whether or not she decides to choose a different one..."