Morning came. The sun rose.
Normally, Rainbow Dash would have embraced the dawn with an elaborate, cat-like stretch. This occasion was very, very different. As soon as she awoke, she felt strong forelimbs wrapped around her from behind. Her eyelashes fluttered open, and after ten seconds of cognizance, she smiled... then smiled some more.
Roarke was still asleep, her naked eyes clenched shut as her body expanded and contracted form directly behind Rainbow. The petite pegasus could feel every subtle twitch of the metal mare's coat hairs as she drifted along in her slumber.
With a quiet trilling sound, Rainbow tugged one of Roarke's hooves up towards her chin and gave it a soft, feather-light nuzzle. She closed her eyes once more, willing to let sleep quietly engulf her once more.
As soon as she attempted relaxing, something caused her eyelids to flutter. The mare stirred, then stirred again.
"Hrmm..."
Her muzzle scrunched.
"Hrmmmmmfff..."
She rubbed her eyelids, blinked several times, then squinted through the forest. Her lips pursed. She clenched and unclenched her eyes several times.
"... .... ...what?"
There was a second light on the horizon. A light that wasn't the Sun.
Rainbow's brow furrowed. When she blinked, the light was still there. Even when she clenched her eyes shut tight, the illumination lingered in the distance, like a tiny shimmer against infinite haze and darkness.
By this time, Rainbow was wide awake with confusion. She felt Roarke stirring behind her. Nervously—yet quietly—she pulled Roarke's forelimb out from around her. In her sleep, the Searonese pony tried curling up to Rainbow tighter, but the pegasus managed to slip away in time. She lay Roarke's hoof by her side, brushing her braids back before standing up and quietly trotting past the bed of leaves and pine needles where they had retired overnight.
The fresh dew on the ground gave a squishing sound to Rainbow's hooftrots. Nevertheless, she sauntered east, approaching a cluster of rocks grown over with moss and grass. Once she stood on top of a dull boulder, she was able to see past a fork in the nearby trees. Once more, she could spot the sunrise... and could furthermore spot the difference between the dawnlight and the tiny glow flickering towards her like a distant beacon.
"... ... ...what in Luna's name?"
Rainbow bit her lip. She glanced back at Roarke, then back at the beacon. She exhaled with a shuddering sigh, hugging herself.
Ebon Mane finished pouring a mug of coffee. He then slid the steaming cup over in front of where Josho sat in the Noble Jury's mess hall.
"There you have it," Ebon said. He then shuffled over and sat besides an exhausted looking Eagle Eye in front of a plate of scrambled eggs. "The closest thing you're gonna get around here to a Ledomaritan Capuccino." Ebon gulped and smiled nervously. "That's over one week old..." He fidgeted. "...and made by turtles."
"Hrmmmmm..." Josho leaned his fat chins against his forelimb. "Swell..." He telekinetically raised the cup, squinting at it in the hazy dawnlight wafting through the windows. "Now all we need is some month-old doughnuts baked by horned toads and it's a regular Bed'n'Breakfast."
"Heheh..." Ebon stifled a yawn. "Either I'm dead-tired or that was actually funny."
"Mrmmf... lay off of him, old stallion," Eagle Eye muttered, digging at his food. "He did what you asked for."
"And I'm glad for that. Honest." Josho took a meager sip and shuddered. "Don't get so overprotective of your new marefriend."
"Hey! Come on!" Eagle frowned.
"Heeheehee..." Ebon quivered, giggling.
Eagle blinked aside. "Huh?"
"'Marefriend.' That's so stupid and silly." Ebon nevertheless leaned against Eagle's shoulder. "I liiiiiiiiiiiike it."
"Hrmmm..." Eagle's cheeks reddened slightly. "I don't."
"Look, as long as you two have at least one horn between you—" Josho began.
"Can we not?" Eagle sighed. "Please?"
"Wow, I must have put too much pepper on those eggs," Ebon stammered, blinking.
"It's not that. I'm just... worried... you know?"
"About what?"
"What else?" Eagle dug at his plate, fidgeting. "Neither have returned."
"Let's just pretend it's their honeymoon and be done with it," Josho said, taking another sip. "And, honestly, the less I try to think about it, the better."
"I thought you of all ponies were the one in a hurry to get us to Val Roa."
Eagle squinted. "I mean—can you imagine trying to peel a mare out of a rusted corset only to find out it's her skin?!"
"Josho!"
"Hey!" Josho shrugged. "I know we all need to get to Val Roa!" A beat. "But... dayum... that mare needed to get laid way the hell more."
Eagle raised his hoof to retort, fumbled, and shrugged. "You know what, I'll give you that one."
Josho nodded into his mug. "Thatta girl."
Ebon giggled again, and Eagle rolled his eyes with a smirk.
"Duaaaaaaaah..." An exhausted zebra with a tangled mane shuffled limply into the mess hall. He fought an endless yawn before muttering, "Morning, Jury."
"Morning, Pilate."
"Morning, Pilate.
"Hey there, bright eyes."
"The place is sure quiet today."
"Heh... if you say so."
"And I do." Pilate muttered, wandering over to the table.
"Would you like some eggs and coffee, Pilate?" Ebon asked.
"That sounds splendid, Ebon. Much thanks."
"Have a seat."
"Don't mind if I do." Pilate slumped down in a stool. "Mmmmm... these mornings are far colder than the ones in Central Ledomare. Reminds me of winter dawns in Mountainfall. Nothing better than saddling up to a warm meal as the day outside begins to bloom." He exhaled through a calm smile. Silence. His metal brow furrowed. "I'm facing away from the table, aren't I?"
"I'm afraid so, Pilate," Eagle said with a nod.
"Nnnngh..." Pilate spun one hundred and eighty degrees and scooted the stool closer. "I don't suppose it would be selfish of me to ask Props to construct an iron bar that leads from my cabin to the dining table?"
"Not unless you want to find the Tree of Life," Josho said.
"Ugh... please..." Pilate waved a hoof and slumped his chin against the tabletop. "It's too early for somthing that obscure."
"Suit yourself, Stripes."
"Mmmm..."
Silence.
"She isn't back, is she?" Pilate remarked.
Josho slowly shook his head. "Nope. Neither is Roarke."
"Indeed." Pilate's lips slowly curved. "Honestly, I don't think I could be happier."
For the first time that morning, Eagle managed a chuckle. "Here here..."
Roarke stirred. Her face tensed. Her hooves moved, then swam tiny circles in the air—feeling around for something that was now gone. In a flash, her eyes opened, and she instantly regretted it.
"Guhhhh... Searo's ovaries!" She slapped a hoof over her tearing sockets. Feeling around with her other leg, she found where the lenses were resting in the surrounding bed of pine needles. Brushing them clean against her coat, she raised them to her head and snapped them in place. Each lens pistoned in and out in opposite directions until she regained her focus.
Standing up, she looked around. The forest bed was empty. There was a tiny impression right beside her, but no pegasus.
"Rainbow...?" Even Roarke was surprised at how swiftly and fitfully she had spat the name out. Her breaths quickened, and her ears twitched alternatingly. "R-Rainbow...?!" A heavy gulp. "Where did—?"
"Over here, Roarke."
The metal mare spun about, jaw clenched. She trotted swiftly over a patch of grass and looked behind a boulder. There, Rainbow sat, squatting over a bed of exposed white dirt and gray soil. She had a stick gripped between two hooves and was drawing figures in the earth.
"Nnnnghhh..." Roarke's whole body deflated with an exhale of relief. "Rainbow, don't run off like that."
"I didn't run off," Rainbow muttered, continuing to drag the stick through the sand. "I only trotted—like—ten feet. I didn't want to wake you."
"But still, you..." Roarke winced. She cleared her throat and stammered, "I mean... th-that's fine, of course. I just... uh..."
"I'm flattered that you missed me." Rainbow dropped the stick, brushed her hooves clean, and stood up. "But it was only a few friggin' minutes. Don't have a cow."
"Why would I want to possess a bovine?"
"It's a figure of speech, ya gorgeous frying pan, you."
"But—..." Roarke grunted in frustration. "Rainbow?! What are you—?"
"Shhhhh..." Rainbow backtrotted and rested a hoof on Roarke's shoulder. With her other hoof, she pointed at the diagram in the dirt. "Look at this."
"Hmmm?"
"Do you recognize it?"
Roarke's lenses pistoned out as far as they could go. Carefully, she studied the symbol:
What the metal mare saw was a pair of curved lines, vertical parabolas or half-ellipses that faced one another. In the center of the diagram and between the curves were two small circles, one positioned above the other. Adding to the overall symmetry of the diagram were four more circles, two on each outer side, positioned at the beginning and ending points of the curved lines.
"It... is certifiably random," Roarke droned.
"Do you recognize it?" Rainbow asked.
Roarke gave Rainbow a double-glance. "No," she said. Her brow furrowed. "Don't you?"
"No."
"Then why did you draw it?"
"Because I woke up seeing it," Rainbow said. She swallowed a lump down her throat. "Just now..." She gazed towards the east horizon. "...and it won't go away. Even when I close my eyes."
Roarke gazed through the trees. Her lenses twirled and clicked within their frames.
"You don't see it, do you?" Rainbow muttered.
Roarke took a deep breath. She rested a hoof gently on Rainbow's neck. "I think we should get you back to the Jury..."
Rainbow slowly, slowly nodded, gazing east in a hypnotic way. "I think you should get me back there too..."