//------------------------------//
// A Hard Act to Follow 
// Story: Urohringr 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

	Beside the stationary Noble Jury, Bellesmith and Pilate cuddled closely with one another on the grass.  They weren't asleep, but they weren't exactly awake either.  Their calm breaths were interrupted every now and then by a sad shudder or a sniffle.  Otherwise, they were still.

Ebon and Eagle Eye sat not too far away along the Jury's hangar doors, their slumbering expressions frozen in a melancholic glaze.  Further inside the hangar entrance, Props slumped in Zaid's faithful forelimbs.  The two of them were as cold and still as the metal bulkheads of the Jury that loomed around the two.

All in all, a bitter quiet hush hung over the Jury as they greeted the dawn.

And then the dawn greeted them.

Kera was the first to notice it.  Her tattooed face twitched, wrinkled, then scrunched.  Her soft eyelids fluttered open, crusty with the salt of nightly tears.  She squinted her emerald eyes, peering into the mists.  She stood up, climbed over Bellesmith's tail, and padded quietly through the grass.

She passed by Roarke, who stood at the forest's edge with her head bowed.  Upon hearing the crunch of leaves from the filly's small hooves, the metal mare looked up.  Her brow furrowed as she followed the foal's gaze.  Roarke's head tilted up, and she gazed into the treeline with whirring lenses.

Belle looked up as well.  A slow gasp escaped her muzzle with increasing velocity.  She vigorously shook Pilate, who snapped awake.

Ebon and Eagle woke from the sudden commotion, peering upwards to see.  Not long after, the rest of the Jurists trotted quietly out of the ship's hangar.  Josho, Floydien, Zaid, Props, and even Booster Spice stepped out into the clearing, all of their eyes locked on the mountainside.

The fog was receding, dissipating.  It ran up the mountain's southern face like a reverse blanket, evaporating with translucent tendrils along the way.  Within the span of a minute, the entire cloud of mist had vanished, exposing every beautiful green treetop in the crispness of dawn.

Kera gawked at the sight.  She spun and looked at Belle and Pilate, her muzzle dropped.  The couple stood up, trotting softly towards her in numb awe.  Suddenly, Belle flinched, shading her eyes.  Pilate lurched to a stop, tilting his head towards his beloved worriedly.

Curious, Kera spun around—and she too had to squint.  The sunrise had just broken the eastern edge of the mountain, and it pierced the fir trees around Amulek with multiple golden harpstrings.

Kera had to rub her eyes.  Roarke, on the other hand, stared persistently through her guarded lenses.  Her lips pursed, and it wasn't long after that an uncharacteristically dainty gasp escaped her lips.

Wincing, Kera looked up, once again braving the brightness.

As the sun slowly swam its way above the mountain's edge, a petite figure came into focus, trotting quietly towards the Noble Jury, emerging from the dense forest with all her healthy limbs intact.  An unblemished coat shone like the blue sky itself.  At last, when she had fully entered the treeline, Rainbow Dash came to a stop with a rattle of her pendant, bearing a devilish smirk.

Kera gaped.  Slowly, she sported a tattooed grin that almost mirrored the mare's, if only it weren't for the happy tearstreaks.  She waddled forward, ran, galloped—then threw herself into Rainbow Dash's chest, nuzzling her fuzzy coat.

Rainbow wrapped a hoof around the filly, messing up her mane.  With a slight chuckle, she looked over the child's shoulder.  When she locked gazes with Belle, her cheeks turned suddenly rosy.

Belle was lurching forward with Pilate not too far behind.  She reached a trembling hoof forward, giving Rainbow's face and ear the lightest of feathery touches.  Rainbow giggled and nuzzled Belle's hoof back.  At the warm touch, Belle finally caved.  She flung herself forward, swallowing Rainbow in a deep hug with Kera smooshed in between.

Breathless, Pilate wandered in a zig zag, reaching forward with a stumbling hoof.

Rainbow pulled her neck out from Belle's nuzzles and gave a sharp whistle.

Pilate jerked towards the sound, collapsed, and practically plowed the group over with his hug.  The four of them laughed and sobbed at once, all of them clustering together to hold Rainbow Dash tight.

Eagle shivered, holding a hoof over his muzzle.  He glanced aside at Ebon with a bittersweet smile.  Ebon smiled back, nuzzled him, then grasped the unicorn's hoof with his own—graciously leading him forward.  Soon, both stallions were squatting down, reaching in to nuzzle Rainbow Dash as dearly as they could.

By this time, Props was bouncing in an ecstatic circle around the group, whooping and hollering her head off with several tosses of her blonde mane.  She barreled into the pile, causing several ponies to chuckle breathlessly.  Zaid smirked, squatting down and hugging Props from behind while the engineer gave Rainbow a cheek-rub or two or twelve.

Josho leaned on his shotgun with a smirk.  Floydien trotted up beside him.  Josho glanced at the elk and did a double-take upon seeing a smile plastered across the pilot's muzzle.  Scratching his chins, Josho gave the air a booming laugh while once again returning his gaze to the warm scene.

The laughter was not unheard.  Booster Spice glanced over his shoulder and spotted many familiar faces pouring out of the buildings of Amulek.  From afar, the goggled stallion could see Merigold, Drakshaa, and several others emerging into the sunlight.  The villagers gazed in shock at the clear blue skies and the golden dawn bathing their valley once again in wholesome warmth for the first time in months.  Biting his lip, the stallion turned around and gazed happily at the returning hero.  He clasped his hooves together and shuddered inwardly as his eyes moistened.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was trying her best to catch a breath from all of the legs and hooves of friends enfolded around her.  Chuckling, she blew her bangs out from her eyes and stared across the clearing.  Her breath left her as her ears twitched.

Roarke stood across the clearing, staring into the hug.  Her braids danced in the warm morning wind... and she smiled.

Rainbow Dash blinked.  She clasped her lips together and grinned, a warm, lingering, amorous smile of contentment.

Roarke exhaled calmly, her cheeks starting to match the color of her mane.

Rainbow's teeth showed beneath her smile.  She heard something—a shift in the wind.  She tilted her head up from the center of the Jury, staring into the clear blue sky.  For a second there she thought she saw something streaking overhead, the hint of dark red scales, and then those wings were gone once more.  Her head fell to the mountain as the shadow slipped by, and then she glanced east.

Yaerfaerda was in another place, a distant, far-off destination.  And now it glistened with a distinctly lavender shine.

Rainbow blinked, and she put on her best smirk.  "Heh..."  Closing her eyes, she calmly drifted back down to earth, caught in the loving hooves of Pilate, Belle, and Kera.  "Awesome."