Rainbow Dash squatted low to the floor, her fuzzy blue chin resting on crossed hooves. She sighed through flaring nostrils as her tail slowly flicked every half-minute. All the while, her ruby eyes remained locked on the polished golden lengths of the Sword of Solstice lying in the corner across the engine room from her.
"If I were you, Dashie, I'd stop being shy and just ask the sword for a dance already!"
Rainbow groaned inwardly. She rolled until she was lying upside down and stared lethargically at Props. "It's not that, Props."
"Hee-hee!" Props smiled while leaning over her communications array on the worktable and adjusting its dials. "Then what is it? Hmmm?"
"It's... it's..." Rainbow blew bangs out from her forehead and grumbled. "I dunno what it is." She tilted her head back and stared upside down at the blade. "I almost feel as if there's something missing... something I totally failed to take into account since leaving Stratopolis."
"You mean since Pilate dragged you—bruised and unconscious—out of Stratopolis?"
Rainbow's eyes turned to straight razors. "Yeah. That."
Props winced slightly, but nevertheless chirped: "Maybe Commander Sugarcane—"
"Hurricane."
"Maybe she had a special code-word that would allow the sword to grow larger and shoot energy bolts from the hilt!"
"Nnngh... I doubt it..."
"You have to be at full hearts, though, first!"
Rainbow squinted at the mare. "Huh?"
"Huh?!" Props blinked back.
A beat. Rainbow rolled her eyes and stood up, cracking her joints. "It's the studs that catch my interest the most."
"Heehee..." Props smiled, blushing slightly. "You and me both, sister."
"No, I mean the six gems." Rainbow pointed down the middle of the blade. "The jewels studded down the length of the blade." She stood over the weapon and squinted at each shape in turn. "Each has a different color."
"Like the rainbow?"
"Pretty much. Er... almost." She sighed. "More like something else. Something that still haunts me.."
"And what's that?"
Rainbow's hoof tapped the edges of her pendant. "The Elements..." She gritted her teeth. "The stones look like them... kinda sorta, I mean." She shook her head with a sigh. "Or maybe I'm just reaching..."
"Do the colors look the same?"
"It's... hard to tell." Rainbow squinted across the engine room. "It's so dim and... lavendery in here."
"Well..." Props stood up with a bright grin. "Maybe Dashie should go to the top deck! And bring the sword with her!"
"Pffft. What's that gonna accomplish?"
"It's a sunny, golden sword!" Props giggled. "Maybe you'll see better if it gets some sunny, golden air!"
"Hmmmm..." Rainbow rubbed her chin. "It is pretty bright outside still..."
"Or, y'know, you could stay down here and help me practice wrasslin'." Props adjusted the dials of the array as she spoke. "I was kinda hoping Unky Prowsy would bring me up to snuff again, but—turns out we couldn't hang out as long as I thought—"
Schiiing! Rainbow dragged the Sword of Solstice off the floor and made a bee-line for the far door. "Thanks for the advice, Props! Okay. Bye!" Clang!
"Hrmmm..." Props' face scrunched up. "What pony in her right mind would hate wrasslin'?"
Roarke paced around the curved front of the tiny transport inside the Noble Jury's hangar, examining it. At one point, she paused, leaning forward to study a glossy black panel that stuck out slightly from the rest of the hull. Humming in a low tone under her breath, the metal mare pulled over a metal tray full of tools. She gripped a needle-nosed device and shoved it into the space between the panel and the rest of the hull. With persistent prying motions, she succeeded in popping the panel loose. Some frayed wires stuck out from hiding, and Roarke grabbed another tool to pull the threads apart and properly examine them.
She was so busy in her work that she barely noticed the sound of trotting hooves until they had traversed half the length of the hangar behind her.
"Hrmmff..." Roarke's muzzle frowned beneath her lenses. "If you've come back to suggest more idiotic names, you'd be better off signing your death warrant." She attached to wires with a tiny splash of sparks and blew away the smoke. "This vehicle will never... ever bear the name 'Whizzball.'"
"As a stallion who's utilized his very own floating 'whizzball' for the better part of three years, I can assure you it's not entirely something to be ashamed of."
Roarke paused. Her lenses retracted as she turned around completely. "Pilate. I... did not know it was you. I assumed it was one of the many other annoying and less-appreciable breeders." She did a double-take. "You are... blind..."
"I'm glad you finally noticed," Pilate said with a nervous smile, feeling his way forward across the hangar. He avoided bumping into a crate full of Lounge tech with a carefully placed fetlock. "Still, if all of this time somepony had just glued my eyelids shut, I imagine it would have been a truly astronomical prank."
Roarke rushed forward to grasp his legs and guide him away from the stacks of weaponry. Halfway through the gesture, she fidgeted, then released his limbs. She stepped back, clearing her throat. "I do not understand. Is not the Ocular Array sufficient for—?"
"Belle is attempting to study that device you crafted to see if there is a possible way of merging it with the technology of O.A.S.I.S.," Pilate said with a calm smile. "Until then, I am more than happy to navigate the Jury by my own means."
"But..." Roarke's brow furrowed. "If I recall, Bellesmith is on the top deck. With Kera."
"Mmmmm... Indeed she is. Getting ample sunlight, I imagine."
"Shouldn't she be working around the clock to give you back your sight?" Roarke muttered, returning to her repair job on the transport's outer hull. "Do you not deserve to see again?"
"Fate already made its decision concerning me, Roarke," Pilate said as he calmly shuffled towards the craft. "As for Belle, I am very lucky to have her back in my life. Truly... truly have her." He smiled. "And we're both extremely fortunate for Kera to be... well... a fraction of her past self, I suppose. That's why I'm perfectly happy for Belle to be spending the afternoon with her above deck. It's only fitting."
"Hmmm..." Roarke's jaw clenched and unclenched while she worked. "Rather convenient circumstances, wouldn't you agree?"
"Would you mind being more specific?"
"The changeling leeched a morbid clump of negative emotions from the filly's being," Roarke droned. "And suddenly she's calling you both 'Mother' and 'Father.'"
"Heh... you almost got it." Pilate smirked only briefly. He tilted his muzzle towards the floor. "And, to be honest, I'm more than a little bit worried."
"Is that so...?"
"The only time she ever called us that was right before... before..." He winced, but nevertheless sighed. "Well, it was the preview to a life that never was." He gulped. "In Lerris."
"So she's in denial, then?" Roarke glanced over her shoulder. "The filly has erected for herself a fantasy that all is well and Lerris never even happened?"
"Now, I didn't quite say that."
"Seems a likely scenario to me," Roarke muttered, returning to her work. "I never once believed that the changeling was a complete cure-all."
"Nor have I," Pilate said. "However..." He trotted behind her. "Magical cure-alls are being hoofed out quite regularly as of late."
"And what do you mean by that?" Roarke asked.
Utter silence.
Ears twitching, the mare spun around with a rattle to her mane's metal ringlets.
Blindly, Pilate nevertheless stared straight at her. "What point was there in giving me the Oracular Array in the first place, Roarke?"
Roarke's lenses pistoned out. "Seriously?"
Pilate only nodded.
"Hrmmm..." Roarke turned back to the craft. "Isn't there a Ledomaritan saying that addresses the act of punching gift-bearing horses in the chin?"
"As 'Vaughan,' you had access to the Lounge's ship and all of its resources. Razzar and his lackeys knew far more about Stratopolis than the rest of us. Surely their devices could have detected anything and anyone in the mists."
"Surely you have a point to all of this, zebra."
"You must have known where everypony was at all times," Pilate said, tilting his head aside as he squinted into nothingness. "Rainbow Dash and Josho... Eagle Eye..." His metal brow furrowed. "Why didn't you recruit them? Why me? Why call upon the supposed talents of a stallion who has been blind for many years and lacks the proper skills of a warrior?"
"Don't be so quick to downplay your strengths," Roarke muttered. "You were more than efficient in tackling the challenges of Stratopolis."
"But you didn't know that, Roarke. You couldn't have." Pilate took a firm breath. "You didn't know anything. You were aware of the danger and threat of Stratopolis. In fact, you were aware of it far more than myself, Rainbow Dash, and all of Lasairfion's company combined. And yet you chose to put all our hope in the hooves of a blind stallion made to see through a fragile, mind-numbing device."
"It worked well enough, didn't it?"
"Indeed." Pilate smirked sharply. "Well enough for me to see you when you thought I couldn't."
Roarke froze completely. She slowly slumped her limbs down to the floor, hanging her head from the hull of the transport. After several seconds, she turned around with shuffling hooves and faced Pilate.
"At first, I thought the movement I detected was more undead creatures," Pilate said. "I figured they had gained some intelligence and were stalking me from the perimeter of the Ocular Array's reach. But that had to have been impossible." He cocked his head to the side. "And everytime I turned to examine this body more carefully, it suddenly and magically vanished. Now... why would an undead pegasus fly away from its target while all its companions are rushing forward?"
"Confusing things happen in combat," Roarke muttered. "You were fortunate to have paid enough attention to deal with your immediate threats."
"Roarke, my mind is used to working in several more dimensions than the average pony," he said, tapping the metal plate over his skull. "And deeper, mind you. Using O.A.S.I.S. takes intense concentration and sends my nerves on fire. It's one reason why I prefer a calm and serene life of study and quiet reading."
"I figured it was because you were simply a satiated breeder."
"Hmmm..." Pilate's lips curved. "You truly are a clever pony, Roarke, but sometimes genius can blind you to simple details." His brow furrowed once more. "I know that 'Vaughan' never left me, Roarke. When Rainbow and I flew through the clouds, when we fought at the door to Urohringr, when we nearly collapsed at Commander Hurricane's grave... you were there. You were watching over us... over me."
Roarke stood in dead silence.
Pilate continued. "I suspect that beneath all of that tough exterior... that virulent bitterness and apathy to all warmth and love... there exists a conscience, Roarke. Am I wrong in suggesting this?"
The mare sighed. She sat down on her haunches and avoided the sight of his curious face. "I had already made an assumption about the ponies Rainbow cared for, and it more or less led to our stopping by Lerris." She gulped. "I wanted to undo the damage done to the equines she cared for... the ones she loved. But Kera was beyond salvaging. Belle's mood was something that escaped my Searonese understanding. But you?" She tilted her head his way. "You were the strongest link in the chain. If I could find a way to lift you up... then perhaps... just maybe the rest of the 'family' could be dredged from the mire that I had inadvertently buried you in."
"And your solution was to enable me to become a hero?" Pilate raised an eyebrow. "As if it would resurrect some forgotten piece of myself from the past? My 'glory days,' as t'were?"
"It worked reasonably well, from my estimation."
"But you had no way of knowing that, did you?"
"Erm..."
"Which is why you chose to stick close by and monitor me while 'Vaughan' supposedly 'left for the Lounge ship?'"
"No matter what unfolded, I was responsible for your fate. I did not wish to shirk it this time."
"Roarke, has it ever occurred to you that the poignance of a gift given under the pretense of enabling another pony was swiftly nullified the moment that you decided to play chaperone and guide me towards the supposed goal?"
"I... I-I..."
"And all of it simply to appease Rainbow Dash?" Pilate remarked sharply. "As if my life, and even Belle's and Kera's, are all just means to and end?"
Roarke was gritting her teeth at this point. "I... I had thought that triumph—even the illusion of triumph—would be enough to pull you out of the abyss that Lerris had flung the whole lot of you." She hung her head with a heavy exhale. "I suppose I can now see how the entire endeavor can be seen as hollow and condescending. It... simply did not occur to me at the time."
Pilate stood in silence.
"You... you must understand... even though I don't understand..." Roarke fidgeted. "I have never been proficient at expressing and empathizing feelings. Problems in my life have only ever been solved with tools—be they weapons or mechanisms. I engineered you to be one such tool, Pilate. And..." Her teeth practically cracked on the precipice of uttering it: "I am sorry, Pilate. I entreat you to forgive me for any wrongdoing. You..." She sighed and ran a hoof through her braids. "You are not the only pony who's blind—" She froze suddenly.
Pilate had crossed the distance and was hugging her.
Roarke winced. "You are embracing me, zebra."
"Mmmm... Indeed."
"I... am at a loss," she grumbled. "First Rainbow Dash, and now you..."
"You're strangely pleasant when you are apologetic," Pilate said, leaning back with a smile. "Do you actually think I'm angry with you? Disappointed? Aghast and insulted?"
"I... I for once do not know what to think."
"I am thankful, Roarke," Pilate said in a warm tone. "Sight or no sight, I know an act of genuine sincerity when it crosses my path. And I'm especially keen to recognize when it goes against the grain of what makes a pony."
"Quite simply, I-I did not want more misery to befall you," Roarke said, squirming. "I almost failed in that endeavor."
"Mmmm... but you didn't."
"Yes, but still—"
"Roarke, if there's anything you must learn, it's how to accept that many things can be good." He leaned forward and hugged her again. "And that many ponies can actually be grateful."
"Mmmmmnfffnnnngh..." She groaned towards the ceiling, her face frowning. "If you insist, breeder."
"Hmmm..." He smirked over her shoulder. "Now I know—once and for all—that you are not and have never been a changeling."
"And why is that?"
He chuckled slightly. "Because you've yet to suplex me to the floor."
Roarke's ears twitched, but she didn't budge an inch. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage..."
"Changelings, for all of their talents and flare, don't do a very good job of changing, now do they?"
"Erm... no..." Roarke nodded. A strange light lit the room, like glinting teeth beneath a brief smile. "I-I suppose not..."
"It's still chilly," Kera said, shivering slightly. She turned and smiled into the high winds. "Heh... but a good chilly."
"Much more invigorating than staying below deck everyday," Belle said with a wink. "Wouldn't you agree?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Yes... well... erm..." Belle glanced aside with a nervous blush.
Josho stood off to the side, cleaning his shotgun. "Overprotective birds don't get much wind beneath their wings."
"Huh?" Kera turned towards him with blinking eyes.
"Josho..." Belle stifled a hiss.
He merely smirked. "Doctor, doctor?"
"Nnnngh..." Belle face-hoofed and sighed. "Kera, let's just say that I'm far more keen on enjoying life than I was weeks ago..."
"Yeah, okay."
"Even if it doesn't make much sense at the moment..." Belle reached over and caressed the filly's chin. She smiled. "I promise that I'm not going to be the same old mother hen to you."
"Uh huh..." Kera gazed off at the open waters, teetering left and right on her hooves. "Boy it's windy." She glanced over her shoulder. "Y'know, I was thinking: what if I got my mane cut really... really short?"
"Like Spark's blazes, you will—!" Belle grimaced, cleared her throat, and exhaled slowly. "We'll... uhm... t-talk about it later, 'kay?"
"Mmmmmmmmkay."
Swooosh! Rainbow landed with a sheen of golden light. "'Sup, melon fudges?"
"Likewise." Josho waved.
"Enjoying the sunlight? Good." Rainbow spat the hilt of the sword out of her mouth and held the thing in the crooks of both hooves. "I'm sure the sunlight enjoys you too."
"Whoahhhh..." Kera bounced up straight and leaned forward on her hooves. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Careful... Careful." Belle tugged Kera back slightly from the blade. "Uhm, Rainbow? What are you doing with the pegasus zombie slayer?"
"I've been staring at this thing all week," Rainbow droned. "But, like, the light's too dim downstairs. I figure I might see some of the details better if I brought this out here."
"Just what in the hay are you looking for?" Josho spoke above the billowing air. "I doubt these waters are gonna lend you a sharpening stone."
"Nope, but the stones that this thing's already got are really egging me something awful." Rainbow leaned her muzzle closer to the length of the blade. "It's like a piece of ancient Equestria is trying to make sense to my brain from the inside out."
"Once I get O.A.S.I.S. working again, I'm certain Pilate can help you study it, Rainbow."
"Thanks, Ding-Dong, but for once I'd like to figure something else without the Zebra Notes, ya feel me? And as it stands, this Sword could really use with some—"
FLASH! The sword lit up with golden fire from the hilt to its jagged end. Within seconds, an ethereal voice wafted across the top deck: "Commander Hurricane?!"
"Aaack!" Belle jumped back.
"Gaah!" Rainbow dropped the blade to the floor. Clang!
Josho cocked his shotgun and aimed stupidly at the air.
Kera stood in place, staring with wide eyes.
Once more, the voice lifted, emanating from the vibrating blade itself. "Commander Hurricane, it couldn't possibly be you. Who is this? Who has unsheathed the blessed blade after all these millennia?"
The ring of ponies gawked at the blade.
"Please. Do not be frightened. I am not mad. I am simply curious. Are you the descendants of Hurricane's brigade? Do you know what happened to the pegasus detachment?"
Rainbow's eyes squinted. She stalked forward like a pensive cat. "...Princess Celestia?"
The sword pulsed once more with burning energy. "Rainbow Dash...?!"
"Princess Celestia!"
"Rainbow, it is so unbelievably wonderful to hear your voice once more. When you were last cut off from the moon's enchantment, we had feared the worst. But how is it that you've come across Hurricane's weapon?"
"Princess! It is you!" Rainbow yanked the blade up by its hilt and spun with it in the air. "OmigoshOmigoshOmigosh!" She gasped, beamed, then blinked. "...what are you doing inside a sword?"