“Heh, what did we tell you about biting off more than you can chew, land walker?” Kaji smirked, his wings blurring as he guided the raft back to shore in a gentle glide. The boat was full of fish and the rest of the ponies were binding them tightly in their nets. “We're flattered you would wish to pay tribute to the Shard of Verlaxion, but she placed it there for us to gawk at, not ponies used to scraping the sky!”
Rainbow Dash was still wheezing to catch her breath. She sat slumped in the back of the raft, thoroughly soaked—yet no longer numb or dizzy. “I only learn things by almost dying...” She gulped. “...or just plain dying.”
“Verlaxion can do many things. But bring back the dead?” Flare shrugged as the group reached the shore. The sun was setting, and a delicious melting crimson bathed the sandy stretches of the Atoll. “If she had the mercy to spare, this Atoll would be filled to the brim with our ancestors by now.”
“Say... where do you bury your dead, anyways?” Rainbow asked.
“That's a good question!” Sora grunted, hopping overboard and wading in the surf. He helped pull the raft to shore. “It depends on where the sharks and orcas of the sea decide to spit their bones!”
“You just... toss them to the sharks...” Rainbow muttered with a squinting gaze.
“Absolutely!” Silver smiled, using his telekinesis to set the ship firmly against the wet sand. “We feed the fish, and the fish feed us.”
“Only a land walker would do something as useless as a burial,” Kaji said with a slight chuckle. “But that's okay. We think you're awesome anyway.”
“Yeah! The way you speared Ultimo and went throwing your wings into the depths?” Flare winked. “You're practically born to be one of us!”
“That's all well and good, but I have no intention of staying,” Rainbow wheezed.
“Hahahaha!”
“Hah hah hah!”
“Ohhhh... that's rich, Rainbow Dash. Of course you are staying!” Sora said.
“So long as Ultimo's out there to give us sport—which is forever—everypony who comes to Nealend is staying.” Silver shrugged, heaving his bag. “Not that it's a problem. I mean, we've got the fish! Whoop!”
“But do you really wanna hunt the same ol' sea serpent forever?!” Rainbow exclaimed, leaning up to the edge of the boat as her mane continuously dripped. “I saw the big chunk that was bitten out of Verlaxion's Shard. He—like—totally defaced your Queen's sacred gift and stuff!”
Sora shrugged. “Again, if she wished it, then who are we to deny our fate?”
“Besides!” Kaji grinned. “The sport is fun! It boils the blood inside as well as out! Isn't that right?!”
“Hah hah! Yeah!”
Two of the stallions butted heads with ritualistic grins.
Rainbow clenched her jaws. “Do you guys always just roll over and accept circumstances as 'fate?'” She shrugged. “Don't you believe in personal choice?”
“Well, we personally chose to save your dumb flank, didn't we?” Kaji said with a wink.
“Catch of the day!” Silver chirped.
“I'd say.” Flare giggled, and the laughter spread across the group—even infecting the other rafts full of natives coming ashore.
Rainbow Dash bit her lip. “I... uh... I'm really thankful for that, y'know. Don't get me wrong.”
“Hey, don't swim against the current,” Sora said with a casual salute. “We really liked saving your life.”
“Yeah! You're too spiffy to let the sharks chomp on you!”
“At least not this early!”
“Hahahaha!”
“Heheheh...” Kaji trotted towards the treeline and the village beyond. The group closely followed as he glanced back at the mare. “The sun's setting! Come on in and make yourself at home!” He patted his netting with a lopsided grin. “We've got lots of dinner! You'll never guess! It's fish!”
“Heh heh heh heh.”
“Whoop! Hah hah!”
As the Nealenders shuffled across the red-lit sand, Rainbow Dash remained sitting in her raft, hugging herself while the last warm winds of the day dried the moisture off her coat. She took several calm breaths, becoming more and more gradually aware of a glaring lavender expression in her peripheral. So, with a defeated sigh, she muttered without tilting her head the slightest.
“Go on, Twi. Let it out.”
“Rainbow, what happened to you back there?!”
“I impaled the Ocean with my body. The Ocean didn't like it.”
“Rainbow, I'm serious!” Twilight's face grew long as she phased through the boat in order to squat directly before the pegasus. “You just... collapsed in the middle of the water! Without any warning! I tried telling you to move! I tried and I tried! Surely you heard me!”
“And I did, Twilight—”
“Then why didn't you move?!?”
Rainbow grimaced, glancing aside. “Ermmm... uhhhh...”
“I've never been so scared in all my life!” Twilight's voice cracked. “Well... at least n-not since you brought me back, but still!” She leaned forward. “Don't scare me like that! I can't afford to lose you.”
“I know that, Twilight—”
“Our friends can't afford to lose you! Luna and Celestia can't afford to lose you!” Twilight leaned back, frowning slightly. “And in case you forgot from all the water filling your skull—the whole world cannot afford to lose you! Maybe not even Urohringr itself!”
“Yeah... about that...”
“Don't you get it?!” Twilight gestured with her hooves. “You're just too... too important to take crazy risks like that, Rainbow—!”
“And just how do you think I've managed to live so far all this time, Twilight, huh?!” Rainbow scowled. “With every snake-filled cave I've explored, with every mount I've climbed, with every bullet I've dodged?! How much of it was stressing and just how much of it was depending on my own guts?!”
“And what did your guts do for you down there in the lagoon, Rainbow?!” Twilight spat. “The natives here had to swim down and rescue you! Without them, I'd be without an anchor!” She sniffled. “And I'd be without an only friend!”
Silence.
At last, Twilight sighed. She plopped down in the boat opposite Rainbow Dash, and a sunlit space dwindled between them. “Just what exactly happened down there, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight eventually muttered. “Honestly.”
Rainbow twitched slightly. “Honestly?”
Twilight Sparkle's eyes were firm. “Yes.”
“... … ...” Rainbow breathed deeply. She said, “I... reacted to something.”
“That's some reaction,” Twilight said. “Was it because of the Shard?”
“I think it has more to do with something inside the Shard.”
“Like what?”
Rainbow exhaled. “I think it has chaos metal in it.”
Twilight blinked. “Chaos... metal?”
Rainbow nodded.
“You... you mean like the strips you saw in Windthrow?” The unicorn asked. “The stuff the Ledomaritans had constructed in Blue Shelf? The material that Chrysalis and the Xonans were using on Nevlamas?”
“Good friggin' memory,” Rainbow said. “I always had that sort of a reaction to the material.” She gulped hard. “Going limp... numb... dizzy.”
Twilight's lips pursed. “Because... because of the chaos of Discord that's inside you?”
Rainbow slowly nodded.
Twilight gazed out upon the darkening waters of the lagoon. “But... how come you didn't suffer a reaction until you dove underwater?”
“I dunno,” Rainbow said. She sighed and slumped back in the boat once again, her forelimbs draped over the wooden edges. “But from how it looked to me... I-I don't think the stuff was that dense.”
“You mean concentrated?”
“Right.” Rainbow's nostrils flared. “It's like just a teensy bit of it was injected into the shard.”
“But... b-but that doesn't make any sense!” Twilight grimaced. “How would Verlaxion have gotten ahold of the chaos metal? And what would possess her to put it into the Shard she gifted to the Nealenders?!”
“Chrysalis said that Verlaxion pretty much dominates this part of the world,” Rainbow remarked. “I doubt it'd be all that tough for her to find and dig up the stuff somewhere in all of Robhredden. As for the why.” Rainbow shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. Axan and her sisters have a habit of being real pains in the flank, so it's not exactly a surprise to me.”
“Then...” Twilight shuddered, her trail drooping. “...wh-what do we do now?”
“Well...” Rainbow stood up, teetering slightly. “I can't swim any closer to that Shard cuz of whatever's inside it. And so long as it's broken the way it is, the whirlpool is gone, so there goes any chance of getting through to the Yaerfaerda beacon.”
“You hypothesize that—when whole—the Shard acts as a gateway?”
“Maybe.” Rainbow shrugged. “But so long as Ultimo has the piece, we'll never know.”
“What do you mean it has the piece?” Twilight asked.
“You saw into the thing's mouth when it lunged at us, right?” Rainbow said. “The freak's throat was glowing. I'm willing to bet that a piece of Verlaxion's Shard is lodged right up in there. That means that there's still a way to get it out.”
“Get it out?” Twilight leaned back, wincing. “But... how?” She gulped. “Do I wanna know?”
“I bet you don't. And me? I kinda wanna sleep on it.” Rainbow climbed out of the boat and hobbled to shore. “But first... to see how the guys are doing.”
“Assuming Mr. Mane and his friends haven't murdered them,” Twilight said, following her.
“Just my luck,” Rainbow grumbled. “Tomorrow morning, the sharks will be munching on purple-eyed adoracute with a side of geriatric sass.”