With a loud creak, Bellesmith finally swung the door to the engine room open. She winced and ducked a scalding wave of steam jetting overhead. Crawling across the rattling floor, she coughed and sputtered, “Props! Propsy?! Tell me where you are, girl!”
The ship shook and buckled all around. Pipes burst as the lights flickered.
Belle nevertheless pulled herself deeper into the chaos. “Props?!”
At last, a dainty voice wheezed from the opposite end. “Mareco!”
Belle spun towards the sound. She scurried, dove past a series of falling pipes, and braced herself against a collapsed bulkhead. “Props?”
“Phweee!” The mare smiled crookedly, struggling beneath a rattling slab of metal. “This thing weighs more than Zaidy Waidy!'
Belle blinked. She waved a chiding hoof. “You know, Props, if we all survive this—”
A burst of sparks announced an exploding console overhead.
“Can we neigh about it later?” Props squeaked. “Nancy's womb is having a c-section!”
“Right!” Belle gripped the metal slab with both hooves. “On three... lift with me!”
“Okay!”
“One... two... three...”
Both mares grunted, pushing the heavy beam. Slowly, they rolled it over so it was no longer pinning Props to the floor.
“Guh!” Belle heaved for breath. She leaned down, dragging a hoof across one of Props' lower fetlocks. “Is everything okay? Can you feel your legs—?”
One hoof jerked, bucking Belle in the lower abdomen.
“Aaugh!” Belle winced, then frowned. “Props?!”
“Sorriez!” Props stifled a giggle. “I'm super ticklish!”
“Rainbow's nearly here!” Belle yanked Props up to her hooves. “We gotta get back to the top deck!”
“Rainbow?!” Props gasped, teetering.
The two shook as the vessel buckled around them again. “Yes!” Belle exclaimed. “And if she's here, then that means—”
Props gasped, gazing at the dim iron cage. “The book!”
“Huh?!” Belle spun, her eyes widening at the dead tome. “Oh no!”
“That's—like—super super important, right?!” Props stammered.
Another line of pipes burst overhead, fogging up the room even thicker. Belle gritted her teeth. “Props, help me!” She galloped over and started yanking at the lid to the bent cage. “We gotta get it out!”
“But we're gonna crash!” Props rushed over, squirming anxiously. “Are you crazy?!”
“No!” Belle gritted her teeth. “I'm Eljunbyro!” She pulled at the cage door with all her might, her eyes locked on the dormant runes of the tome inside. “Now help me!”
“Okay okay!” Props scrambled around for a crowbar or a lever or a tool of any sort.
“Spark help us,” Pilate stammered, clinging to the inner frame of the cockpit. “They're certainly taking their sweet time...”
“I know I've dreamed and dreamed for months,” Zaid said, wrestling with the controls. “But now would be a very bad time for both our mates to begin lezzing out!”
A deep growl issued out of Pilate's throat. “Mr. Zaid, I can officially state with utmost confidence that my patience for you has finally run—”
FWOOSH! A blue figure landed between them from the windy chaos outside.
Pilate gasped. “Rainbow!”
The breathless mare spun to look at him. “How'd you know?”
Pilate smiled weakly. “I can recognize your scent anywhere.”
Rainbow blinked, took a single sniff of her left leg, then shrugged it off. “Look. I'm getting you guys out of here. Where are the girls?”
“Below deck!” Pilate stammered. “Please, Rainbow, get them first!”
“And leave you guys in the cockpit?! But I'm already here!”
“It's okay!” Zaid sputtered. “I can keep us flying upright for a little longer!” SNAP! The controls finally snapped off, hanging loosely in his grip. The stallion blinked. “...then again.”
“I can only do two at a time anyhow!” She yanked Zaid out of the seat by his mane and then hooked her forelimbs around both ponies' sides. “Less thinking and more doing! Hold on!”
“But Rainbow—!” Pilate sputtered.
“Rrrrr-HAAUGH!” Rainbow shot out of the cockpit like a bullet. Carrying both stallions with her, she spiraled towards the skystone above, twirled, and kicked off it with her hooves.
Zaid and Pilate winced as the desert world and amber sky twirled around them. Suddenly they were plunging, diving into the Noble Jury's shadow. Zaid's eyes reflected streaking mountain peaks and crags of rock.
“Coming in a bit fast!” Zaid sputtered.
“No easy way t-to do this!” Rainbow squealed, fighting the wind as she plunged with the weight of all three.
“Look for a deep ravine!” Pilate shouted against the hot air currents. “Any sediment should have collected where the wind's blocked—”
“He's right!” Zaid yelled. “There are some sand dunes at three o'clock—!”
“I see 'em!” Rainbow gnashed her teeth. “Hold your breath guys! Even after we've landed!”
“Huh?!” Zaid gasped.
“Do what she says, Zaid!” Pilate bellowed. “This isn't going to be very—”
“Nnngh!” Rainbow spun her body back, descending in an upright position. She dropped both stallions, and their bodies went plunging into the soft mounds of orange sand. A second later, Rainbow skirted several meters ahead and landed. Her body squatted low, her legs bending, coiling, then—“Grraaugh!” The earth exploded in a crater around her, shooting sand outward for hundreds of feet as she propelled herself once more for the sky in a streak of prismatic fury.
Zaid and Pilate winced as they were thoroughly doused with sediment. Seconds later, they swam out of the fresh rim of dunes, struggling to breathe. Zaid squinted upwards, watching as the Noble Jury hurled itself towards a line of mountains. A spectral comet billowed directly after it.
“Please...” Pilate wheezed, his ears shaking the sand off. “...save her, Rainbow Dash.” He gulped. “You always do.”
Zaid bit his lip. He glanced at his hooves, discovering that he was still clutching the dislodged controls to the Noble Jury. “Hoo boy...”
Rainbow Dash flew and flew.
The Noble Jury came within screaming distance.
The sky darkened as she sensed mountains occupying the horizon directly ahead.
As she fought once more against the laws of physics, she sensed a slight flicker to her left.
She nervously glanced east as time slowed down around her.
The Yaerfaerda beacon flickered at a monumental distance, its lavender light pulsating steadily.
“... … ...” For the first time since Rainbow Dash perceived the otherworldly symbol, she smiled while observing it. With a devilish smirk, she beat her wings, reveling in the harmonic resonance issuing out from her pendant. In no time whatsoever, she was once again catching up to the battered hull of the Noble Jury.
“I got something!” Props hobbled over, waving a metal pole in her grasp. “I've got something!” A burst of steam shot at her skull, and she flinched. “Aaackies!”
“Hoof it over!” Sweating, Belle motioned for the metal rod. Once she had it, she slid it between the metal bars of the cage's lid and pressed against it with her whole weight. “Rrrghhh... gnnngh!” The metal door bent ever so slightly, though the bar began to buckle. “Almost... g-got it...” She panted and winced. “Can't... c-can't let Rainbow down! She needs this!”
SWOOSH! “I need what?”
Props spun, her muzzle exploding in a joyful grin. “Dashie!”
Tossing her mane back, Rainbow trotted forward. “Belle, we need to—OOF!”
“Heeeeee!” Props squeezed Rainbow in a dear hug. “You came back for ussss!”
“Snkkkt!” Rainbow winced, shoving the blonde mare off. “Sometime when we're not about to die, okay?!”
“Awwwww... but it's so cool that way!”
Rainbow ignored her, trotting up behind Belle. “Belle. Belle. Come on! I'm your guys' ticket out of here!”
“I'm sorry, Rainbow!” Belle heaved and hissed, fighting to pry the cage open. “I let the book go dormant! It's all we've got to go on when it comes to Austraeoh! But don't worry! I can get it out!”
“Belle...”
“We can figure out the n-next step!” Belle shivered all over, struggling with the bar. “We can help you! We all can! We—”
A gentle blue hoof squeezed Belle's shoulder.
The mare spun about, her chestnut eyes twitching to a stop, meeting Rainbow's gaze.
The pegasus smiled warmly. “Let it go, Belle.”
The mare winced. “But... b-but...”
“I don't need the book to know where my path lies.” Rainbow inhaled deeply. “I've always known. And so do you and Pilate.”
Belle panted and panted, her eyes glossy.
“You have to let it go,” Rainbow said. “You have to let me go.”
Belle's eyes welled-up with tears. She dropped the bar with a clatter and plunged forward.
Rainbow caught her in a close hug. The mare sobbed quietly into her chest while the pegasus stroked her head and mane. All the while, the Noble Jury collapsed around them, its lights finally dying out.
“Uhhhhh...” Props squirmed in the shadows. “Guys?”
“Shhhh...” Rainbow leaned back from Belle. As she did so, her ruby pendant lit up the lengths of the ship for one last time. “Don't worry.” She winked into the rosy aura. “I've got this.”
Belle bore a bitter sweet smile as she allowed Rainbow to wrap a forelimb around her.
Rainbow snaked her other hoof around Props. Then, turning one final time from the tome, the pegasus kicked off, threading her way through the doorway and out through the smoldering hangar beyond.
Pilate leaned on Zaid as both stallions hobbled up to the top of a craggy hill. Zaid gazed south, craning his neck. When he spotted a pulse of ruby light, he smiled and squeezed Pilate's shoulder.
The zebra could only tilt his ears in the direction of the southern horizon as several large explosions ricocheted across the skies.
Rainbow descended gently on their location, carrying Belle and Props with them. As she came to a gentle stop, both mares stumbled over and embraced their respective beloveds. Then, with forlorn breaths, those who could see spun to look south.
Rainbow pivoted about, squinting breathlessly.
All was still and plain.
And then...
A brilliant plume of crimson fire and heated sand filled the sky, blanketing the horizon with glass and glitter. Then, at last, the haze of debris settled, leaving a black mark against the northern faces of the rising mountains. The thunder dissipated, gobbled up by the spacious volume of the Val Roan desert.
The Noble Jury was no more.