//------------------------------//
// Nopony Expects the Durandanan Inquisition(!) 
// Story: Urohringr 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

	Several Gray-Feathers stood side by side, all bunched up in a thick crowd at the tunnel's stone exit to the metal-floored chamber.  They murmured amongst each other, craning their necks to see Rainbow Dash and Fawful.

"Is it true...?"

"She makes her own Gold Lights?"

"Impossible!  Only the essence of Valkryie can create the Lights!"

"But the First-Borns say they saw her!"

"Could it be outsider sorcery?"

"Not a chance!  Look at her.  She's a foal of the Valkyrie just like the rest of us!"

"This doesn't make sense..."

"Duranda's scrolls would have mentioned something—"

"Please... please!"  The elder stallion stood before the group, stretching out both his wings and his forelimbs.  "Everypony, calm down!  There is no need for this juvenile display!  Be calm.  Meditate!  The Valkyrie's righteous intution shall make itself known to us!"  He sighed, turned around, and gave Fawful a tired gaze.  "Would you wish me to summon the high elders?  If so, then I will need help passing by all of our fellow companions here..."

"Not... not just yet," Fawful stammered.  She paced and paced before the helm, her hooves brushing over the half-illuminescent sheets of metal.  "I... I-I just need a moment to think."

"Fawful," Rainbow murmured from where she hovered above.

"Just..."  She gritted her teeth, staring ahead of her at all times while she trotted in circles.  "Just concentrate... focus."  She gulped.  "Nothing Duranda taught suggests that a pegasus couldn't possess the Gold Lights from the Valkyrie.  After all, we are all her foals.  Why shouldn't she choose to hoof down even the barest sliver of her glory?"

"Please, girl... would you..."  Rainbow winced.  "Would you relax for one second?  You're making me anxious just watching you!"

"There's... th-there's no reason to say that any of this invalidates the scrolls!"  Fawful skidded to a stop, shuddering.  "But the light... the light was so bright... and... and..."

Rainbow's hoof rested on Fawful's shoulder.

"Mmm!"  The elder spun, taring up at Rainbow with twitching eyes.

Rainbow gulped and smiled.  Slowly, that grin faded away.  Her ears drooped and she glanced aside.  "Look, I'm... I-I'm sorry..."

Fawful stared up at her, shivering slightly.  "Why?"

Rainbow looked at Fawful once more.

Fawful was still, quiet.

After a breath, Rainbow gently said, "Look, I-I didn't come here to rain on your parade.  What you all hold faith in, it totally works for you!  I mean... you've got a pretty nifty society goin' on here!  Fruit-picking, leatherback-milking, flight-racing and love-making?"  She grinned.  "That's all awesome!  And I'm super happy to witness it all up close.  So please... believe me..."

She hovered lower until she was a few inches from Fawful's gaze.

"I didn't mean to come down so hard on what you believe in," Rainbow said in a low tone.  "It was never my wish to shatter beliefs or crush hopes or any of that jazz.  I have nothing against this 'Valkyrie.'  Heck, if she truly is the pony I think she is, then I believe in her too!  Er... more or less.  But... please, Fawful... understand."  Rainbow bit her lip.  "I'm not out to tear your faith to shreds.  I-I wouldn't have anything to friggin' gain from that!  I wouldn't want to gain anything from it!  All things considered, I'm just passing through!"

"But... the Gold Lights!" Fawful stammered, her eyes turning misty again.  "You... y-you summoned them."  She gulped, shivering.  "Nopony h-has ever been able to summon them without the essence of the Valkyrie..."

"Yeah, well, now that I have..."  Rainbow hesitated slightly, then muttered, "Just what does it mean to you Gray-Feathers?"

"I..."  Fawful grimaced.  "I do not know."  She gazed at the crowd of onlookers.  "Already, even the slightest hint of what's happened here has made everypony... uneasy.  I am less scared of what this means about the scrolls and more scared of what it means to every Durandanan."

Rainbow held her breath.  She turned, glanced at the onlookers, then looked back at Fawful.  "Maybe they don't have to know."

Fawful's eyes twitched.  "Wh-what?"

"Sivrem saw me do a sonic rainboom up above!  In the Raked Ravine!"  Rainbow smiled sweatily.  "I-I'm full of tricks!"  She gestured with her hooves, wings beating heavily.  "Fwooosh!  Zooom!  Ker-sparkle!!  Heh... perhaps it was all an optical illusion, y'know?  Silly guards are down here for hours on end—maybe their eyes just played tricks on them!  Heh!  Yours too!"

"Rainbow..."

"Or, y'know, 'outsider sorcery!'  Nopony knows what crazy, wacky stuff happens beyond the greens!"

"Rainbow, don't be dishonest," Fawful said with a frown.  "Even I can tell that it doesn't suit you."

Rainbow winced.

"It didn't work with Kitsune when you tried to pretend you were from East D, and it most certainly will not work here."  Fawful gestured towards the onlookers.  "Not before all of the Gray-Feathers, especially."

Rainbow hung her head.

Fawful trotted firmly towards her.  "What else... do you know about the Lights?"  Her brow furrowed.  "About the Valkyrie?"

Rainbow opened her mouth, but hesitated.  She stared forlornly at Fawful.

The elder mare waited with baited breath.

"What..."  Rainbow fidgeted in midair.  "...what if I told you that... th-that the Valkyrie was imbued with more than just the power to make these 'Gold Lights?'"  Rainbow's eyes narrowed.  "What if I told you that she was given power to wield the energy of the Lights From Above?"

Fawful nodded slowly.  "That would be in accordance with the scrolls..."

"Right..."  Rainbow flew in a slow circle.  "And... like... what if there was—uh—an artifact, just like that helmet over there—only it was a direct vessel for the Lights?"

"You mean something that could make the lights on its own?"

"Erm... almost.  But it so happened that the Valkyrie possessed it."

Fawful gave Rainbow a blank stare.

So the pegasus went on:  "And... like... what if one of us—a mere pegasus—was to... er... stumble upon this artifact?"

"What kind of artifact are we talking about?"

"A sword," Rainbow Dash said.  "A sword blessed with golden energy—like a living sunrise."  She took a deep breath.  "And... uh... it was something the Valkyrie used while she was still 'ruling the air.'"

Fawful eventually nodded.  "The immensity of the Valkyrie's power has always held various interpretations in the minds of her foals.  I can't see why a sword wouldn't factor into her righteous arsenal."

"I mean... she was totally a warrior, right?"

"Every Durandanan knows that—even from a sparrow's age."

Rainbow's eyes darted towards the helment.  "How do you suppose Duranda got ahold of that?"

"She was given it by the Valkyrie herself."

"They knew each other in real life, right?"

"But of course.  She was one of the few who was blessed to share breaths with the Valkyrie."

"And... like... what if history was different?"

"Huh?"

"Hear me out," Rainbow said, gesturing with a hoof.  "What if Duranda was never directly given the helmet?  What if she found the helmet... later... much later..."

"You mean... as if the Valkyrie visited Durandana?"

"I'm talking about finding it on the Valkyrie's grave, Fawful."

A few voices gasped from afar.  Fawful glanced over.  She shared worried looks with the stallion and other Gray-Feathers.  Finally, she tilted her eyes back up to Rainbow.  "Nopony knows the time or location of the Valkyrie's passing.  She lives eternally in our blood.  To... to assume anything about her final resting place is shameful."

"Well I know where she was laid to rest, Fawful," Rainbow said.  "Because that's where I discovered the sword she last used."  A gulp.  "Up in Stratopolis."

"The... the evil cloud city."

"Yes."

"What would possess her to occupy such a place?"

"I tried to explain it earlier," Rainbow said, eyes darting briefly to the onlookers.  "She was steering it away from Equestria.  Comma—erm... the Valkyrie and her fellow soldiers—Duranda included, most likely—sacrificed their lives so that no equine civilization would have to suffer from this place.  It turned out to be an even tougher job than they imagined.  Something really... really nasty was waiting deep inside the bowels of Stratopolis.  Once it woke up, it brought death to most of the Pegasopolitan expedition.  I've every reason to believe it killed the Valkyrie off too, but not before she made a brave last stand, with several of her most trusted warriors at her side."

"The Valkyrie?"  Fawful winced.  "Defeated?  That's..."

Rainbow stared quietly at her.

Fawful sighed.  She rubbed her temple and grumbled, "It is not a concept that any of us can easily wrap our heads around."

"If there's anything I've learned from all my travels, Fawful, it's that everything dies."  She blinked, then glance down at her pendant.  "Sometimes more than once..."

"Huh?"

"But I'm telling you this:  the sword is real."  Rainbow looked up.  "If I hadn't found it, I'd not have gotten out of Stratopolis alive.  The power of the sun—or the Light From Above—saved me and my friends when I needed it the most.  What's more, it allowed me to talk with my ruler—Princess Celestia—back in Equestria."

"Princess Celestia?"  Fawful tilted her head aside.  "What... I mean... how is Equestria related to the Light From Above?"

"Because..."  Rainbow paused, then exhaled long and hard.  "Because Princess Celestia controls the Light From Above, Fawful."  She gulped dryly.  "She makes the sun rise and fall."

The Gray-Feathers gasped and murmured in the distance.  The stallion holding the line between them and Fawful shifted uncomfortably.

"Rainbow... d-do you realize what you're saying?"

"Yes.  I know it sounds—"

"No single pony can control the Lights!"  Fawful exclaimed.  "Even the Valkryie—as glorious as she is—is empowered by the Light From Above!  She's never wieled control over it!"

"Right!  And Celestia blessed the sword that she gave Commander Hurricane to maintain harmony with!  They also used it as a means of two-way conversation!"  Rainbow swung a forelimb wildly.  "I-I could even get you to talk to her yourself!"

"With your Princess?  From far away in Equestria?"

"Yes!  It's a really powerful magic spell."

"Too powerful if you ask me."

"And controlling the Sun is foal's play?"

"I'm telling you, Rainbow, no pony can do that!"

"Alicorns can!"  Rainbow said.  "They live longer than all of us mortals combined!  I'm not saying that the likes of Celestia can make stars, but they come from a cosmic place so far away and so old that they've figured all that stuff out!"

"And it's Celestia's sole purpose to keep this realm lit?"

"Among other things, sure!  Fawful, listen..."  Rainbow sighed, gesturing with her hooves.  "This is all pretty crazy stuff to take in, I'm sure.  And... I-I could easily have just flown away and not said anything but... but..."  

"But what, Rainbow?" Fawful asked, looking concerned.

Rainbow bit her lip.  "I know what I know.  And... and to think of leaving you ponies without letting you in on Commander Hurricane and Celestia and... and..."  Rainbow grunted internally.  "You're Equestrians, Fawful!  You may not know it—or even feel it, but deep down—in your blood and guts and feathers—you're the same as me and all of the friends I've ever cared for... all the fr-friends I left behind... and... and..."

"...Rainbow?" Fawful suddenly stood up straight, worried.  "What's wrong?"

Rainbow was teetering in midair.  "Harmony... H-Harmony can't exist without th-the light... so..."  Bulbs of sweat formed along her blue brow.  "Buck me... n-not now... not here..."

"Fawful, what's wrong with her?" an elder from the tunnel asked.

"I... I-I don't know!"  Fawful flapped her wings and hovered at Rainbow's level.  "Rainbow, look at me.  Are you ill?"

"So... so dizzy..."  Rainbow squeaked, teetering forward.  "Happening... again..."

"Valkyrie's Shout..."  Fawful tried gasping Rainbow's figure.  "Somepony, quick—"

"Mnnnghh..."  Rainbow plummeted.  She slipped through Fawful's weak forelimbs and collapsed on the floor.  The metal instantly lit up with a gold aura, causing many voices to gasp and shriek.

Fawful hollered above the noise.  "Get a wing-mender!  Quick!  She needs help!"

"Yes, elder!"  Two First-Borns dashed up the tunnel, along with a few Gray-Feathers.

"Rainbow... Rainbow!"  Fawful shook the mare's shoulder, cradling her.  "Try and stay awake!"

"Can't... c-can't..." Rainbow's eyes were tearing.

"You'll be alright, just stay focused!"

"Whatever... h-happens..."  Rainbow hissed, her eyes rolling back.  "Don't... t-take my pendant off.  Don't... d-don't..."  And she went limp as the metal world spun.