Three days passed since Rainbow first flew southwest from the ruins of Lerris. On the second day, she came back, escorting a tiny dirigible filled with six able-bodied villagers from Archer Pointe. It took several hours for the stallions and mares on board to recover from the sight of their ash-laden sister town.
Eventually, they quieted down, stifling their shock and grief with grim resolve. They assisted the likes of Floydien, Roarke, Zaid, and Eagle Eye in the burial process. Pilfering through the burnt out shells of buildings together, they scavenged the last remains of the unaccounted populace. By sunrise on the third day, they succeeded in burying every body... every corpse but one.
A bonfire was lit in the center of town. It consumed the stray debris gathered across the shattered township, as well as illuminated the one hundred and twenty-two fresh graves lying along the southern field. The crackling embers did little to mask the quiet sounds of weeping equines. The villagers from Archer Pointe stood in a close circle, their glossy eyes reflecting the blaze from afar.
Roarke watched them in cold silence. Her ear twitched, and she looked over her shoulder at another group of ponies. Several Jurors sat, exhausted from the strain and the somberness of their labors. Floydien gazed past the flames with a neutral expression. Josho fidgeted, his hooves randomly fumbling at his sides, as if reaching for an invisible flask that was no longer there, yet he desperately needed. Props sat besides Ebon Mane, leaning her head on his shoulder. She sniffled for prolonged periods of time, and eventually broke into quiet sobs past midnight. Ebon wrapped a forelimb around her and solaced the mare as best as he could. Zaid and Eagle Eye made frequent trips to and from the Noble Jury to check on Belle, Pilate, and Kera. Each time they came back, their faces looked increasingly paler.
Fidgeting where she stood, Roarke turned to look at Rainbow Dash.
The winged mare sat far away from both groups. Her body was darker than the shadows of night. Only the ruby pendant hanging around her neck showed any glint of purpose.
Roarke's legs flinched. For a second, her muscles moved her in the direction of the pegasus. She could only take one step, and then she faltered, anchored to place. With a sigh, she hung her head and remained glued in that position until morning came.
The third day drifted by on cold wings. Hardly anypony said anything. They were simpling lingering, waiting. At last, with a dull hum of lateral propellers, a slightly larger dirigible puttered over the southwest mountaintops. Everypony looked to see the second aircraft arrive from Archer Pointe. It touched down, and over a dozen ponies trotted out, several of them carrying equipment and folded tents. One mare in particular strolled limply forward, her muzzle agape as she finally took in the desolation of the town with glossy, amber eyes.
The six villagers who arrived on the smaller dirigible the day before trotted up and spoke with her, but she hardly registered anything she had to say. She drifted past them, trotted for several paces, and eventually plopped down in the tall grass, gazing with a dead expression at the smoke hovering over the multiple graves.
Roarke clenched her teeth. She was shivering—for how long, she couldn't venture to guess. The former bounty hunter didn't try to hide her trembles—even when Rainbow Dash fluttered past her, flew towards the middle of the field, and touched down behind the new arrivals.
Roarke glanced back at the Noble Jury. Most of the crew had gathered together, huddling in hushed murmurs. They all gazed nervously across the field and past Roarke.
The Searonese mare's eye lenses retracted. In silence, she hung her head and held her breath.
"He's been chasing me for months," Rainbow Dash murmured against the cold afternoon wind. "I thought I had lost him back at the battlefield... we all thought we had lost him." She gulped. "We were wrong."
Collins said nothing. She sat like a block of ice, facing the ruins of Lerris with her back to the pegasus.
Rainbow Dash shifted the weight of the pendant around her neck and sighed. "In my travels, I've butted heads with all sorts of evil things. Not just ponies—but minotaurs, dragons, foal slayers, and chaos monsters. This world's a crazy place, and I've always... h-had the luxury of flying away from most of it." She gulped. "Thinking that none of it was capable of following me. But him?" She clenched her teeth, seething. "I figured that he might have been chasing me still. But this far? And after the war came to a stop? He... he should have died a million times. He did die a million times..." Her lips hung open as her pupils slowly shrunk. A tremble swam through her figure. "Only... he didn't. Because I wasn't the one to end him." She gulped. "Until now..."
Silence.
"When I arrived in Archer Point... and h-here... I was welcomed with open arms. For the first time in nearly two months, ponies greeted me without wanting to kill me. It... it was pretty shocking. And, I have to admit, I was super paranoid. But... before long... I... I-I gave in to the feeling." She squeaked, "Because it was just... just so relieving. So soothing. I thought that my problems on this continent were over. I stopped worrying. I... let my guard down. I..."
Shuddering, Rainbow Dash squatted down on folded hooves. Her eyes turned moist as she gazed at Collins' shoulders with a quivering lip.
"I am so... so sorry." She swallowed a lump down my throat. "Not just to you, but to all of Lerris. To Golden Happenstance and to Beau and to the memories of Benevolent Blue and Radiant Moon and..." She gritted her teeth. "And t-to Kera." She sniffled. "She deserved her home. She deserved her place to live and grow up in peace. And Bellesmith and Pilate—my friends..." She wiped her cheek dry and shuddered. "I brought this upon them. I did. Because... because I didn't finish what I had started. And I knew it. So long as... th-that creep didn't die by my hooves, I should have realized that nothing could have been put to rest. Nothing had the right to settle."
Rainbow Dash's breaths came in shuddering squeaks. She inhaled deeply, sat up straight, and stared resolutely at the mare.
"Please, Collins. Tell me what you would want us to do. We have a skystone vessel at our disposal. Even running on steam, it's ten times faster than the two ships you had to pull out of dock. We can run to the nearest trade post for you. We can provide you with everything... anything. We... we can help rebuild or... I-I dunno... help build a memorial or—"
"You expect me to b-believe that anything you and your ponies c-can do now will bring back the lives th-that have been... that have b-been slaughtered...?"
Rainbow Dash bit her tongue.
Collins' shoulders shook. "Uncle Hap was a beautiful stallion. I knew him since I was a little filly. He gave me words of inspiration that got me up in the morning each day. Even in the cold, bleak winds of the valleys, just thinking of his rosy cheeks and gentle voice brought warmth to my soul. And now... he is gone. Along with Carrot Pace, Saddle Skies, Veraten, Beau, and several other ponies I've had the grace to call Aunts and Uncles... to celebrate harvest festivals with... to write letters of love and encouargement to.."
Her ears drooped back as she tilted her gaze skyward, sniffling.
"Now... they are gone." She gulped, and her voice took on a bass tone. "Overnight. In a blink. And somehow... your apologies are supposed to make this all better? As if there was some sort of... p-poetic merit to the atrocity?"
"Collins..." Rainbow Dash gulped and raised a trembling hoof. "Please, hear me out. The Noble Jury is with you all the way in this. So long as Kera's alive, a piece of Lerris is as well—"
"Take a good long look, Rainbow Dash." Collins pointed towards the graves. "Do my fellow ponies look alive to you?" She slowly turned, finally gazing at her. The mare's muzzle was drenched in tears, and her jaw shook in horror. "We've lived in the shadow of two warring empires wh-who wanted nothing m-more than to wipe the other nation's blood off the f-face of the earth. We never s-suffered a tragedy even a fraction of this magnitude..." She gulped. "Until you came."
Rainbow's face wrenched in pain. Gulping she shook her head, stammering, "I-I flew back here as fast as I could! If I had found out sooner, I would have stopped him! I swear it! I would have prevented—"
"But you brought him here!" Collins hollered, her whole body careening with the exhalation. She stumbled back onto even hooves, hyperventilating. "He was after you! What could he have possibly wanted with this town?! What did it s-serve him to murder so many stallions, mares, and foals and b-burn their houses to dust?!"
"I never ever wanted to get into his mind. Believe me. The... th-the things he was capable of doing." Rainbow gulped. "B-but this...?"
"You should have told us that he was after you! You sh-should have told us back in Archer Pointe that something this terrible was after you!" Tears shook off of Collins' face with each shouting sob. "What's n-next?! Dragons?! Pirates?! Demons?!" She hiccuped and spat, "The war may have been terrible, but at l-least it kept out errant c-curses such as you! My brothers and sisters are dead! Aunts and Uncles... all dead! D-dead!" Her legs went weak, and she fell to her chest, panting.
Rainbow Dash rushed over to her—
"Nnngh!" Collins batted her hoof away. "Don't touch me! You... you m-monster!"
Rainbow Dash jolted from that. Her features froze, and her ears folded over her head.
"Just leave!" Collins whimpered, collapsed into sobbing hysterics. She managed the breath to squeak, "Just take your damnable skystone ship and leave th-these valleys and never come back!" She buried her face into her forelimbs. "Spark, spare me. I wish I'd never... w-wishe'd I hadn't..." Her voice melted into an indecipherable wail.
Rainbow stared at her. Her jaw clenched, and she shook where she stood. After several seconds, she began fuming, and clenched her eyes shut. A hot breath followed, causing her wings to unfold.
Collins' mane fluttered as the pegasus soared over her, christening the graves one last time with her shadow before touching down before the Noble Jury. The leader of Archer Point did not give her so much as a final glance.
Eagle Eye and Zaid instantly trotted forward from the group.
"Rainbow Dash?" Eagle Eye breathlessly stammered, his eyes wide.
"Well?" Zaid shrugged. "What do they want us to do?"
Rainbow Dash landed heavily. She coiled her wings like tight shields on either side of her and trotted icily ahead. "Let's go."
"Go?!" Zaid did a double-take. "Go where?!" He pointed at the group of ponies staring wearily at them from across the gray-lit field. "Half of them just got here! They need us—"
"It's over," Rainbow Dash snapped. "We're gone."
Zaid's brow furrowed.
Eagle Eye and Josho exchanged glances. Floydien squinted while Props bit her lip.
Halfway up the ramp leading into the Jury's hangar, Rainbow Dash paused. She swiveled around, glaring. "Well?! Did you all get dirt in your ears from burying all those ponies? I said we're friggin' leaving!"
"You can't expect us to believe that we can take off just like that..." Ebon muttered.
"Why not?" Rainbow Dash nodded her head towards Collins' distant, sobbing figure. "You have any doubts, you stay here and let 'em give you an earful. You'll be doing them a lot more bad than good."
Props sniffled, wiping her cheek. "But... but we..."
"Hmmph. Fine. Enough spit." Floydien brushed past the other ponies as he marched firmly towards the stairwell beyond the hangar. "Floydien can take a hint. All aboard Nancy's breast."
Roarke said nothing. She gazed at the town, at the desolate fumes of the bonfire, and at the shuddering figures of Collins' and her mournful colleagues. She gazed at everything but Rainbow Dash's face.
Slowly, the rest of the Jurors trotted mournfully on board, all but Zaid.
"Zaid, move your flank," Rainbow Dash muttered.
"This isn't right," Josho muttered, passing by. "I don't care what that weak-fetlocked mare said to you—all of this feels wrong."
"Yeah, well, join the friggin' club." Rainbow barked. "Zaid!"
The stallion sneered, kicked at the grass, but finally scampered on board. The hangar doors closed right as he and Roarke slipped in. With a metallic clang, the doors shut, and the metal bulkheads resonated with the sounds of the Jury's engines kicking into gear.
Ebon Mane and Zaid exited behind Josho. Eagle Eye lingered behind, facing Rainbow Dash as she paced to a stop beside a series of metal crates.
"Rainbow," he murmured, his eyes glossy. "What happened here... all of the horrible things... it wasn't your fault."
"Go away, EE," Rainbow Dash muttered, facing the bulkheads. "Go check on Belle and Pilate. They need you more than anypony right now."
"But I'm worried. Everypony's worried! After all, you've been alone most of the time since we came back and—"
"I said scram!" Rainbow thundered, turning to glare ruby daggers at him.
Eagle Eye winced, instantly tearing up. He rubbed his cheek and trotted limply away.
Fuming, Rainbow turned once more to the bulkheads, leaning a pair of shaking forelimbs against the metal crates. The floor tilted as the Noble Jury began its ascent, cruising its way east.
Only after Rainbow's heavy breaths finally found an even pace pace did Roarke speak up.
"Josho's onto something, as much as I hate agreeing with the breeder's sensibilities." Roarke's hooves clattered against the metal floor as she trotted up behind Rainbow Dash. "We shouldn't be disembarking like this."
"You really can't take a friggin' hint, can you?" Rainbow Dash grumbled. "Get out of my face before I buck you into next year. I've only done it a million times already, so I don't even know why you bother."
"Because I know that when the going gets tough, you rely on your emotions." Roarke's eye-lenses pistoned out. "And impulse."
"Says a lot about the way I flippin' plan things, huh?" Rainbow Dash grumbled. "And about how I lose sight of what can really bite us in the flank..."
"Then do something about it," Roarke said. "Tell Floydien to turn the ship around. Let us stay here—at least for a while. Even if you're boneheaded, you are good at helping ponies."
"Yeah. Cuz I really blessed them just now, didn't I?" Rainbow Dash blue the bangs out from her forehead. "Give it a rest, Roarke. Preach to me when I don't wanna smash something for once."
"That town meant more to us than any other place we passed by," Roarke said. "It's Kera's home, after all—"
"No it isn't." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Not anymore." She gulped. "And it never was. We just... I just assumed differently, and because of my blindness... over a hundred ponies are dead. Needlessly."
She leaned against the metal crates in silence.
And then...
"I told Kera about our trip to Lerris back in Archer Point."
Rainbow's ears twitched. She turned around, mouth agape.
Roarke's lenses were facing the floor. "While they were giving us the feast... giving you the feast. That was when I brought her aside and told her about the whole plan. The reason she wasn't surprised before we showed up is because I had told her all about Belle's and Pilate's idea."
Rainbow blinked. Her muzzle scrunched in confusion as her lips tried to pronounce a word or two.
"But that isn't all I did." Roarke finally tilted her head up, staring Rainbow straight in the eyes. Her warrior ears were drooped like a little foal's. "I made it clear to her that she would have to be the one making a decision about leaving or staying. I told her that... that she needed to be strong for Pilate and Belle in this circumstance, because they were being weak about the choice themselves."
Silence.
Rainbow plopped back on her hooves. She gulped and muttered, "'Pilate and Belle were being weak...'"
"As you can see," Roarke said, "I swayed Kera into making a decision—"
"No, Roarke." Rainbow shook her head. Rainbow fumed. "You swayed her into making the decision."
Roarke clenched her jaw.
"Pilate and Belle 'were being weak'?!" Rainbow started to breathe harder and harder. "Sure, I know that the common Searonese has the parental skills of a parasprite—but do you have any idea what kind of an impact that has on a kid?! Not to mention one dealing with abandonment issues and foster parents and... it... that..." Rainbow hissed, clenched her jaw, and scowled at the bounty hunter. "Weak?! Roarke, Belle and Pilate may not be perfect at what they do, but at least they were trying to give Kera the peace of mind to decide one way or another—"
"I wanted to make it clear to her that they were frightened from the prospect of splitting up with her!" Roarke exclaimed. "I did not want guilt and convoluted remorse to sway her in one direction—"
"Yeah, and so you swayed her in another! Is that supposed to make things okay, Roarke?!" Rainbow Dash shook, shivered, and pulled at her mane. "Nnnnngh! Are you friggin' telling me that—all this time—Kera could have chosen not to stay in Lerris?!"
"Would it really have changed the tragedy that's just befallen them?"
"At least something would have changed!" Rainbow hollered, waving a hoof in the air. "Something—anything—would have been better than this!" She panted and panted. "When Shell came into Lerris, he found a piece of me! And b-because of that, he slaughtered and murdered just to rein me in!" She stared, her body heaving as tears welled up in her eyes. "And h-he got me, Roarke." Sniffling, she struggled to stare straight at the mare. "Nothing I can do... n-nothing I-I can ever do will take back the lives he devoured just to make me do what I refused to do until th-that night." At last, she snarled, "I should have owned up to the monster that he chased for so long and ended him sooner, but now Kera... Kera has to pay the price! And Belle... and Pilate... and all those... all th-those..."
Rainbow Dash collapsed to her knees, her face melting. She shook, quivered, and ultimately sobbed unabashedly into her forelimbs.
Roarke's jaw had dropped. She took a few steps forward, but hesitated just a meter away from the pegasus. Once again, her gaze fell.
"Why...?!" Rainbow Dash managed between sputtering breaths. "Why did you even t-tell me this? Why now?" She looked up. "How does this make anything b-better?"
"Because it had to have been said," Roarke muttered. "There was a time when... I-I wouldn't have mentioned something like the talk I had with Kera. But... after what happened with Lerris..." The bounty hunter gulped. "And... seeing you so... so alone..." Her words ended abruptly.
Rainbow stared up at her, shivering.
Roarke took a deep breath for courage, then said. "I... I..." She winced, her breath coming out in quiet shudders. "I am sorry, Rainbow Dash. For the first time in my life... I feel regret. And..." She gritted her teeth, then said, "I want you to know that you're not alone in this."
Rainbow Dash gulped. She clenched her head, gnashing her teeth. The blood rushed in her head, and between each throbbing pulse, she heard a whining sound... like the pitiful cries of Collins against the windswept grass.
"I'll stay with you as long as I need to. With my knowledge and... and my resources, I'll protect Belle and Pilate and—"
Rainbow Dash made a pitiful sound, like a chuckle and a sob mixed into one. Shaking her head, she sniffled and glanced up with a bitter smirk. "Since they're all 'weak,' right? Cuz you've done such a swell job of protecting them so far... most especially Kera."
Roarke fidgeted. She stepped backwards as Rainbow Dash slowy, icily stood up.
"You go behind my back... behind everypony's back... you manipulate Kera's feelings... and you expect me to trust you?"
"It was her home town, Rainbow," Roarke said. "I felt as though she needed the right to know! What I did, I did with the best of intentions—"
"And I do things with the best of intentions!" Rainbow Dash retorted. "At least I have the decency to be honest with everypony about it!"
"Not with Kera, you weren't!" Roarke frowned. "None of you were!"
"She's a child!"
"She won't be forever!" Roarke said. "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, and I stand by it, but I was trying to anticipate her feelings just as much as you and your friends were!"
"And when the others find out what you did, do you think they'll want your protection, Roarke?! Huh?! Have you anticipated that?!"
Roarke's lips trembled. She shook her head and said, "I just... I just want..."
"What do you want, Roarke?!" Rainbow Dash frowned. "There's no profit with you on board the Jury! There wasn't any in the Sacred Hold or along the Eastern Front! A bounty hunter like you?! Seems to me that every day you waste on board this ship you could be instead earning money doing what you do best!"
"But—"
"And don't tell me that 'protecting my friends,' is doing what you do best! Because it isn't! Both you and I know that even I can't protect them anymore! So what are you even doing here?!"
Roarke's breaths had become shallow. A sheen of sweat ran over her light brown coat. "You... y-you shouldn't have to be alone in this..."
"And if that's all that's keeping you on board—going behind my friends' backs and sticking to your backwards Searonese ways—then... th-then you would be better off leaving us!"
Roarke froze. She hadn't realized that her hoof had stretched towards Rainbow's side, but now it was all she could look at. "Rainbow—"
By this time, Rainbow was clutching her head. "Gnnnngh—Roarke, just leave!"
The metal mare winced.
"Leave, Roarke!" Rainbow Dash hyperventilated. "T-take... your weapons, your cold holier-than-thou attitude and the stick up your flank and... just... leave." Rainbow backed up, shaking her head viciously. "What I need now is ponies whom I can trust!"
"But... but you and I... we can still—"
"There's nothing in here for y-you, Roarke." Rainbow's lips quivered as she held a hoof over her chest. "There wasn't after Discord... and now..." She gritted her teeth, then finished with a low grumble. "Belle and Pilate have all that's left. They may be weak, but at least th-they've earned it." Then, with clamoring hooves, she galloped straight up the stairwell.
Roarke stood alone in the hangar, surrounded by rattling metal crates and bulkheads. She slumped back on her haunches in the echoes of Rainbow's exclamations. At last, she bowed her head, weathering a deep shiver. She reached up, unclamped her eye-lenses, and ran a hoof over her face as her shoulders collapsed.