Urohringr

by Imploding Colon


A Bird Finds Its Nest

Thud!

Josho glanced up from a gun he was cleaning.

Across the mess hall table from him, Props had just slapped a bowl of lettuce down. She plopped limply into a chair, scooted up noisily, and began munching with wild abandon. Her peach-colored ears were folded back over a perpetual scowl.

Josho blinked. Shrugging, he returned his gaze to his weapon as he scrubbed the inner pieces. At last, he muttered out the side of his muzzle, "There a salad eating contest I don't know about?"

"It's scrumptious," Props blurted, continuing to scarf away. "I like stuff that tastes good."

Josho felt his mane flouncing from the volume of her statement. "Hmmm... glad to know that it's having such a positive effect on you."

"Did you need something?" Props gargled between salad bits. "Because I don't have time for big bouncy meanie heads!"

"H-hey... just casual conversation," Josho said. "Besides, the war's over, lady."

Props sighed, slumping back in her chair as her expressions softened. "I'm super sorries. It's just that..."

"Something dead in the womb?"

"It's Zaidy Waidy," Props slurred, her eyes jaded and emotionless. "Handsome said that he saw him leave the ship earlier this morning with three or four winged mares."

"Floydien said that, huh?"

"And I dunno why it's bothering me, but... I-I just can't get my mind bubbles off it," Props said with a sigh.

"Well, I saw Zaid leave myself," Josho said. "And I can tell you right now that Floydien's totally wrong."

Props gasped wide, beaming. "Really?! You mean it?"

"Yup." Josho nodded. "It was more like ten winged mares."

Props' jaw hung open. Slowly, her eartips lowered towards the table.

Josho blinked. "Hmmm..." With a nervous shuffle, he slid out of his chair. "I... th-think I'm gonna... uhm... go carry my gun..." He waddled away. "...to the opposite side of the Jury."

As he left, Props sat in the chair, her muzzle frozen. Slowly—like a geological tremor—her eyebrows began twitching... and twitching and twitching and twitching and—


Rainbow Dash sat on the edge of a platform overlooking the western canopy beneath Central D. Before her, the basin's mists parted ways to reveal scarlet beams from the sunset. As the crimson light swept over the treetops, various Durandanans retreated home in lazy droves. Rainbow could see friends laughing and wrestling with each other in midair. Closer to the upper branches, lovers nuzzled each other and wandered inside just in time to evade the shadows of evening.

Rainbow took a deep breath. She closed her eyes, relishing a fresh breeze as it toyed with her bangs and filled her nostrils with coolness. She held a hoof out, feeling each drift of the wind current.

"It's not forbidden, you know."

Rainbow's eyes opened. She looked over her shoulder. "Hmmm?"

Fawful strolled up from the elders' building. Her bleached threads danced in the breeze. "Flying. You strike me as a pony who does her best thinking when she gusts."

Rainbow sighed, glaring at the horizon. "I've had my full of thinking lately."

"Hmmm..." Fawful smirked slightly as she stood at the edge beside Rainbow. "If only some of us could be so lucky."

Rainbow winced. She closed her eyes, grumbled, and said, "Fawful, I... I think I may have made a mistake coming here."

"Oh?" Fawful squatted down daintily beside her. "And what makes you say that?"

"Just imagine," Rainbow muttered. "If a sky stone vessel like ours hadn't pierced the winds of the sky stabs and shown up here..." She blew out the side of her muzzle and stared down at the treetops. "We'd never have bothered with Durandana to begin with. We wouldn't have blown anypony's minds with the idea of a huge... huge world. And we certainly wouldn't have made you rethink the whole Valkyrie business."

"Hmmmm..." Fawful smiled. "And who said anything was being rethought, Rainbow?"

"Huh?" Rainbow blinked at the elder. "But I thought—I mean... with all of the stuff that Pilate and I..."

"The way tomorrow's Durandanans will think and feel is up to time to decide, not you, Rainbow Dash," Fawful said. "And if you must know, though I was raised from a sparrow to respect the glory of the Valkyrie, I know in my heart that she speaks to me, as she speaks to all of us. I'd not have carried my weight as a Gray Feather if this wasn't the case."

"Yeah, but... y-you were First-Born!" Rainbow exclaimed. "You didn't have a choice!"

"You really believe we're that simple, hmmm?" Fawful asked.

Rainbow blinked. "I don't know what to believe." She glanced down at the trees once again. "Though, it's been my experience that nothing in this world is simple." She sighed. "And I, for one, would really... really like simple."

Fawful gazed quietly at her. "Rainbow, please... don't feel bad for that which you've shown us. I don't believe that it's in your heart to complicate things for anypony."

"Okay—if... like..." Rainbow fidgeted as she spoke. "Say there was some nasty dragon enslaving all of you—and I had the challenge of kicking its tail. That would be a way cooler situation than what's going on right now!" She gulped. "Or if it was a bunch of bullies in airships and managliders, I could deal with that crud before breakfast! But... but this whole legacy of the Valkyrie business..." Rainbow cringed, hugging herself. "It's been a long, long time since I felt like an idiot. And the worst part is I'm sure things would be a lot less messy if I hadn't tried to tell you guys anything in the first place."

"But you couldn't, could you?" Fawful remarked. "You were destined to come here."

"Me being 'Austraeoh' has nothing to do with it—" Rainbow's eyes bulged. She flashed Fawful a nervous look. "Wait... don't tell me that you're starting to believe—"

Fawful giggled. "I only answer to one calling, Rainbow Dash. And she manifests destiny through her own glory. There are many elders already debating whether or not your arrival here may have been prophesied in the scrolls."

"Please..." Rainbow clenched her eyes shut, wincing. "Don't go there. Don't have them go there. I am totally not some... fr-friggin' Valkyrie apostle or something."

"You're an awesome pegasus, Rainbow Dash," Fawful said, then shook her head. "But you're far from worship material."

Rainbow blinked. "Oh..."

"But, it's certainly something worth contemplating." Fawful cocked her head to the side. "Maybe Celestia and Luna play into the Valkyrie's glorious legacy. Maybe they don't. But you?" She took a calm breath and said, "Perhaps... just perhaps... you were meant to arrive here in Durandana by all the powers combined."

"What for?" Rainbow muttered. "You know enough about me. Even Pilate can tell you that I haven't have much left in my system."

"Precisely."

Rainbow flashed Fawful a look.

The Gray-Feather was silent.

Rainbow gulped. "But... but my friends," Rainbow murmured. "Val Roa... my journey..." Her eyes narrowed. "The Midnight Armory and the Harmonic Prism..."

"I..." Fawful winced slightly. "...I know v-very little about the last subject matter, even though you and your striped friend went to great lengths to explain it to us."

"Yeah. My bad. The two of us can be full of words at times."

"But... if the Valkyrie—or 'Commander Hurricane' as you speak of her—could not complete her journey, though she was bound by the same purpose as you, then what's to say that your final resting places lies so far ahead?" Fawful stared intently at Rainbow Dash. "Maybe it's here, Rainbow Dash. Maybe this is where you were meant to arrive... and where you were meant to stay?"

Rainbow's face was stuck in a perpetual grimace, but she couldn't summon the strength to retort. Eventually, she swallowed a lump down her throat and said, "Then just what is the nature of 'Austraeoh?' My friends—Bellesmith, Pilate, Kera—all of this Eljunbyro and Odrsjot gobbily-gook! Was it all for nothing?!"

"You think your Commander Hurricane lacked any of the same things?"

"I... I don't know..."

"It would seem as if her glory was passed on to you." Fawful said. "Like a torch, if you will. Perhaps, then, you have a torch to pass along yourself?"

Rainbow bit her lip. She heard a rattling sound, then glanced down to see that her hoof was grasping her pendant.

Fawful quietly said, "I'm simply saying what has been dwelling on my mind since you and Pilate told us more about you. Perhaps now you can understand why I wish you to tell me everything that you possibly can, Rainbow. You need not be alone in contemplating the nature of your presence here."

Rainbow shuddered. "The reason I stopped to begin with... is because something about this place..." She gazed up at the misty heights. "...keeps me from feeling so alone."

"And what of your friends?" Fawful said.

Rainbow's nostrils flared. She stared out onto the jungle with a melancholic gaze. "No matter what happens—whether I live or die, whether I make it to the ends of the world or not, I am going to have to leave them." She gulped, her voice cracking slightly. "Just like I left m-my other friends..."

Fawful stared at her silently.

"It's been one adventure after another. Constant battles. Ledomaritans this and Xonans that." Rainbow winced. "I've... h-had the luxury of ignoring the problem. But... what's the point? I'm dying, and it's only getting worse. Sure, the flames of the machine world help me a little bit—but even they are getting flimsier... watered down." She gulped. "When I first set off, the flight was just a challenge to myself. I wasn't sure if I would make it or not—but I just didn't care. And now...?"

"Yes?"

Rainbow's ears drooped. "...now I'm starting to think that I should have kept that mindset the whole dang time." She chewed on her lip, eventually turning to glance at Fawful. "What do you think I should do?"

"I only barely know you, Rainbow Dash," Fawful said. "You've done so much... given us so much to think about and be amazed at. But, beneath all of that, I can see a very brave and loyal mare... who's also very weary and exhausted." Fawful smiled gently. "That's the real reason I think you came here. Whether the Valkyrie willed it or Harmony itself."

Rainbow blinked. "A bird to its nest." She clenched her jaw, then stared out.

Silence reigned.

"There... w-was another reason I came out here," Fawful said. "It's to tell you that the elders are still prepared to speak with Celestia, provided you can make such a thing possible with the Sword of Solstice."

"It is..." Rainbow nodded. "And I can. But right now... I-I just can't think of anything."

"Perhaps you would like to retire along with your friend on your vessel?"

"Nah. Too early for that," Rainbow said. Stretching her limbs, she stood up, spread her wings, and hovered up. "I may hate thinking, but it's something I gotta do from time to time. And there's only one way to do it."

Fawful chuckled. "Just be sure to maintain a high altitude. There are lot of herders and foragers gliding back home this time of the evening."

"Yeah... don't wanna blow any more ponies' minds." Rainbow drifted off with a bittersweet grin. "Stay young. You know you can." With a blue hoof salute, she was gone.

Fawful watched her fly off. She gently exhaled, then leaned her chin on her forelimbs with an expression of mute melancholy.


"I'm not even remotely joking," Bellesmith said with a pleasant smile as she and Roarke trotted down the stairwell at the rear of the Jury. "After having just sequenced with Nightshade, I had Rainbow Dash's memories freshly resurfaced in my head. It was like I was born to kick flank in ways that would make a Royal Guardspony jealous!"

"I had heard stories of how you single-hoofedly stole a dozen orphans from the confines of a northern airship," Roarke said, trotting down the steps along with her.

"Oh, and don't forget the time I saved Phoenix from a skyscraper armed to the teeth with Nightshade's personally-hired stormtroopers!"

"Hrmmm... I'm only familiar with your frail exterior." Roarke's lenses retracted. "I had assumed that there wasn't a single drop of warrior's blood to be found in you."

"And just how do you think I made it out of Stratopolis alive, hmmm?" Belle swiveled to a stop, smirking proudly at the metal mare. "I may fancy peace and civility, Roarke, but I'm not exactly a weakling." She winked. "You can ask Pilate that."

"I'm not certain he can judge you for the same qualities that we're talking about."

"Oh, you can ask him about that too." Belle grinned wide. "Then you'll find out just what's black, white, and red all over." Belle giggled merrily, reeling on the platform. At last, she caught her breath—but when she did so she heard a strange, raspy noise. Almost like a faded siren was going off in the distance. She glanced all around, finally discovering the origin of the sound in Roarke's throat.

Roarke silenced herself upon Belle's stare. Her lips melted back to a neutral expression. Silence—save for the whirring of her lenses. "That... was humorous, was it not?"

Belle smirked. "It is now."

"Hmmm..." Roarke's ears twitched, and her lips curved slightly. "So be it." She took one bold step into the hangar—then froze in place.

"Huh?" Belle nearly stumbled into Roarke's flank. "What's the matter, Roarke?"

"Whizzball." Roarke droned. A beat. She winced, gnashing her teeth. "My transport."

"Huh?" Belle leaned her head in. "What about it—?" She blinked curiously.

The hangar was empty, and its rear doors hung open to the red mists of the evening.

Roarke's limb muscles tightened in their metal braces. "Just who would be stupid enough to take it?"


CRASSSSH!

A bulbous black sphere exploded through a wooden wall.

With a shriek, two Durandanan stallions and a mare rolled out of a bed and pressed their shivering, sweating bodies to the far end of the treehouse interior. Their eyes were wide as saucers.

Hisssss! The doors to the sphere groaned open with flickering manalight. An angry, angry mare leapt out and slid to a stop across the tangled bedsheets.

"Featherless gull!" Props barked. "Mud-brown mane streak! Smells like unwashed horseshoes and a bag of potato chips! Where did he go?!"

"Uhhhh... uhhhhhhhh..." The pegasi stammered.

"Hckkkkkkkk-clkkk-clkkk-clkkk!" Props' head forward like a tank turret, her teeth gritting so hard they produced sparks. Blue eyes lit up with nebulous flame.

"Guhhh—Two trees down!" the winged mare stammered, pointing with a shivering hoof out the nearest door. "Lower branches! Red doorstop! You c-can't miss it!"

"Thankies!" Props sang with the briefest of melodic breaths, then swiveled about, once more a living torpedo. "Grrrrrrr-rrrrrr-rrrrrrr!" She galloped out of the building so quickly that the wooden planks beneath her turned briefly red with heated friction.