“Now here's the whizz-bangin' question of the hour,” Bard droned. He trotted up to a thin tree dangling with not-so-thin fruit off its branches. “How do we know which of the ocean mangoes are fresh and which ones ain't?”
With fluid movement, Wildcard strolled coolly up to a branch, plucked off a low-hanging-mango, then gouged a hole in its middle with a single metal talon. He turned the mango over until it was dripping, then held it out before Bard.
Bard gathered a drop of juice in his hoof, then gave it a lick. “Hmmmmm...” He blinked a few times, then smirked into the scattered sunlight. “...seems edible enough to me!”
Wildcard smirked, then lopped off several more specimens of fruit. He gave each of them a good squeeze, then tossed away the ones that didn't feel quite like the original sample. The majority of them—however—he stuffed into Nicro's bag that the monk had given them. He moved icily from tree to tree, sparing half of the branches.
“Whew!” Bard whistled, trotting through the dancing shadows from the windblown leaves and needles above. The tiny plateau was sprawling with fruit trees and pine, making for a final oasis before the Quade took a dark blue plunge directly east of them. The sounds of crashing waves echoed between the tree trunks, flickering at their papery strips of bark. “We've got enough vittles in this here glen to last us five Rohbredden Seas! Much less the long stretch to White Barge! And wouldja feel the earth here?” He performed a few meager hops, his hooves enjoying the springiness of the bed of leaves and needles below. “Soft as a quilt in autumn! I'm tellin' ya... them Luminards settled in the wrong spot! It seems kind of sad how there's a perfect lil' paradise sittin' all nice and pretty just a few spits' distances from where them long-faced ponies are whippin' themselves and prayin' over stale bread everyday.”
Wildcard paused in stuffing his bag to perform a few talon gestures.
“Hah! As if!” Bard rolled his eyes, chuckling. “Them fellas would give up tryin' to grow that Reed here in an instant! 'Hey! These here fruit trees are a heapin' load nicer than dry ol' river sticks! Let's build ourselves the Church of the Mango instead, y'all!'”
Wildcard snicked breathily and resumed his picking.
“Ahhhhhh...” Bard exhaled, lazily mimicking the other Desperadoes' actions. “I sure am glad to be out of that sawdust factory.”
“Heeheehee!” Pinkie Pie smiled at the other girls as she floated alongside them. “Maybe this is the sign that we need!”
“Of what?” Rarity asked.
“Hehe—that we should be going to find Applejack now! With such good fruit harvesters as these, she'll feel right at home in our gang!”
“Oh Pinkie...” Rarity rolled her eyes with a smirk. “At times, I truly wished the world worked with rules as simple as yours.”
“Awwwwwww...” Pinkie stuck her tongue out. “Then there'd be no challenge in breaking them!”
“For you, perhaps.” Rarity cleared her throat, looking at Twilight. “Right now, I think we should focus on the rules at hoof—like those of long distance travel. Have the Desperadoes already agreed who's first on cloud duty?”
“Rarity, just relax for a bit,” Twilight muttered, floating ahead.
Rarity shrugged. “I'm only trying to plan ahead, dear. I figured you of all ponies would be on board for that.”
“Normally, I would, but this... this right here?” She gazed up at the lovely-scented trees and sighed with a tiny smile. “This deserves to be savored. No arguing. No 'Harmony' this or 'Verlax' that.” She gulped. “Just... just...”
“An extraordinary amount of tree sap,” Rarity said, flinching from a stretch of moist tree bark. “Eehh-huhhh...”
“Come on, Rarity!” Pinkie stuck her tongue out. “You're a ghostie-ghost now! This is the first time you can actually be at a picnic without having to worry about sap! Or sweat! Or sweatsap!” She winked over at Twilight. “That's what you get after trees run a long marathon!”
“Heheheh...”
“Mmmmm... well, I do suppose I could come up with a few ideas for 'Pine Chic,'” Rarity said with a sigh.
“Pine what?” Twilight remarked.
“It was the last project I was working on before... well... right before Discord happened. It was a client from Ontarioats that commissioned it.” A sniffling sigh, and Rarity held a dainty hoof over her forehead. “Oh... I never did finish the flannel collar on that blouse!”
“Hahahaha! Oh Rare-Rare!” Pinkie bounced past her and phased through multiple trees in one stride. “Do you ever learn a new tune? I think we should start calling you 'Normality!'”
“Snkkkt... ah jeez...” Twilight snickered.
“Heeheehee! I made a good one!”
“Mmmf...” Rarity tilted her nose up. “Now that is simply a matter of opinion.”
The marefriends continued their friendly chortles. Rainbow followed them at a distance, her lips curving ever so slightly. Then—after another sigh rolled through her body—she hung her head, watching as her hooves crunched dead leaves into tiny, scrappy bits beneath her.
“Reckon this is gonna take us a bit of a while, darlin'!” Bard called back from a few trunks ahead. “Unless you wanna lend a hoof and make it go by faster...”
Wildcard gestured.
“Dubya-Cee's got a good point! It'll be a real long haul to White Barge! Now might be a good time for some stretches, cuz we won't be seein' land again—any dry earth—for days!” Bard plucked and plucked at fruit. “It'll make our springboardin' off of Ultimo feel like a sneeze, ya get me?”
“Mmmmmmf...” Rainbow's muzzle twitched. She shuffled at a slow pace, almost lurching, one heavy hoof after another.
The salty breeze blew warm and tepid at her mane.
The leaves and needles rustled overhead.
Her breaths came and went... came and went...
“All wounds heal, Rainbow. All in good time.”
And then, Rainbow Dash stopped cold, her body dead still. She lifted her head up, her dull eyes narrow and distant.
Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie drifted onward, smiling and laughing over something she could no longer hear.
Rainbow stared silently past them—past all of them. She held her breath.
“But... was it even worth getting them to begin with?” Rainbow Dash asked, standing in the middle of Fluttershy's cottage. “All for some silly, drooling, baby manticore?”
“Rainbow Dash...” Fluttershy caressed the mare's chin. She smiled up at her from where she lay on the couch in bandages. “Anything's worth it... if it means ensuring a nice, peaceful life in the end.” As soon as Fluttershy said this, however, her ears folded back. There was a tiny shift to her pupils, as if she was looking at something a thousand miles behind Rainbow Dash. It tugged at the corners of her muzzle until there was no smile left to give.
Rainbow Dash's face flexed with concern. Her mouth hung open, “Fluttershy?” She cocked her head aside. “What... what's wrong?”
“Mmmm... nothing...” Fluttershy stammered, nevertheless sniffling. She had to avoid Rainbow's gaze all of the sudden. “What... what happened was a miracle. Nothing short of a m-miracle.” She clenched her eyes shut as a tremble overtook her body. “And it was worth it... it was w-worth it...” She almost repeated those words a third time, but a tiny squeak came out instead.
Rainbow's brow furrowed in confusion. She leaned back, glancing left and right. Then—like a heavy veil—her blue coat paled over. She bravely asked, “Fluttershy... what happened to the baby manticore's mother?”
Fluttershy merely clenched her teeth.
“Fluttershy, I'm your friend.” Rainbow caressed a part of Fluttershy's shoulder that hadn't been scratched the night before. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”
Fluttershy shook... quivered.
Rainbow murmured: “Right?”
Fluttershy opened her mouth, but only breathy whimpers came out. It took her a few seconds to turn the sounds into decipherable words: “When... when I-I found the mother... and I saw the snake bite. I knew... I knew... I knew...” She opened her eyes and they were flowing with tears. “I knew that it wouldn't survive what had happened to it for long.”
Rainbow blinked, listening intently.
Hyperventilating, Fluttershy stumbled her way through: “Maybe... just m-maybe if I had found a way to... to coax her back on all fours and get her close enough to Ponyville for our town doctors to rush out and provide an antidote, then the mother would h-have lived. But...” Fluttershy gulped. “The venom was spreading quickly throughout its body. For all I knew, it would reach the womb... infect the infant. And any second I wasted would mean the baby would die as well and... and...”
Fluttershy's body went still. Her eyes locked in place, the tears floating. At last, the truth came out of her.
“...the mother only had a smidgen of a chance at best for surviving. And even if it did, there was no telling if it would be healthy enough to make babies again. But... but if I could save the foal... I knew I could do it quickly enough to preserve a whole new life... a healthy life... one free of the venom. A life that could live... that could thrive... that could multiply, but... but...”
“Fluttershy...”
“There was no way the mother could survive the pain and the blood loss of its delivery! Not in the condition she was in. And... and I knew that, Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy yelped, sobbed. “I knew it and I chose to save the baby but... b-but that doesn't change the fact that... th-th-that I killed her, Rainbow...” Fluttershy buried her soft face in her bandaged limbs, weeping. “Mmmmmff... I murdered the mother by ch-choosing to save her child!”
“Ah jeez...” Rainbow winced, shook her head, then leaned in close. “Fluttershy. You... You didn't murder anyone!”
“But I did...” Fluttershy shobbed, shaking her head. “But I did but I did but I did—!”
“Fluttershy, look at me!” Rainbow grasped her hooves strongly. Fluttershy winced from the gesture, but it forced her puffy eyes to meet Rainbow's. “You did not murder, okay?! You... you got stuck with a bum scenario and you chose the better option out of kindness... compassion... and your awesome, awesome heart... okay?” She put on her best smile, but it was a fractured thing. “The Fluttershy I know isn't a k-killer. It was the best possible thing you could have done, and like the brave lil' filly I'm proud to have grown up with, you did what you knew was right! You did what you did out of the kindness of your heart!”
“But... but if this is what k-kindness is...” Fluttershy sniffled, her eyes leaking anew. “Then I-I don't know if I have the strength to ever be kind again!”
“How... how could you say that?!” Rainbow's voice cracked. She gulped hard and said, “Okay... so life is tough... and sometimes making choices is... like... super hard! But to come down on what makes you... you? Kindness is your Element, Fluttershy! It's the most magical thing about you! With enough courage and patience, it'll totally reward you in the end! I just know it will!”
“Rainbow Dash... I... I hope you never have to find this out for yourself, but...” Fluttershy sniffled, then stared at her with piercing eyes. “Doing what's kind stops being easy... the moment that you r-realize that you can't be kind to everyone.” She melted again, whimpering. “No m-matter how hard you tr-try...”
Rainbow's ears folded back.
She exhaled, and gravity took over, pulling her back onto her haunches. She sat in place on a bed of dead leaves, and a brand new moisture lined the edges of her eyes. So, Rainbow clenched the lids shut, but it did little good. The mare quivered in place, her breaths rushing in and out of her nostrils in tight gunshot bursts.
Up ahead, Pinkie Pie giggled alongside Rarity as the group floated forward through the trees. “So that's when she said, 'Imperator?! I hardly even know her!'”
“Hah hah hah!” Rarity waved a hoof. “Oh darling, you must introduce me to Maud once this whole dreadful odyssey is over with. She sounds like quite a laugh—” Rarity's white muzzle smooshed against a lavender barricade. “Oomf!”
“Ouch!” “Ackies!” Twilight and Pinkie Pie also collided with the translucent barrier. “Guhhhh...” Twilight rubbed her nose. “Okaaaay... well that sure brings back memories of the K.M.C.A.!”
“Dashie?” Pinkie glanced back, blue eyes blinking. “Is everything okay?”
Rainbow sat in place, eyes clenched and body still.
She gave no reply.
Rarity and Twilight exchanged confused faces. “Rainbow, darling...” Rarity began floating back towards her. “Are you quite alr—?”
“Hey! Rainbow!” Bard called from far ahead. “There's a whole load of fruit on the southeast side of the plateau! I think these mangoes right here are fresher, but Dubya's bein' a stubborn mule about it, insistin' that the southeast ones taste better. How 'bout flyin' on over here and settlin' this argument?! Heh... we can't stay here forever, no matter how comfy the forest floor is.”
Silence.
Bard shuffled a few steps back, blinking through the trees. “Rainbow?” She shuffled even closer. A griffon tailed him, not far behind. “Darlin', are ya takin' a nap? We can find a cloud for that, y'know. Make do while in flight, ya feel me?”
Rainbow took a deep breath, her ears flicking.
Bard glanced at Wildcard, then back at Rainbow. “Erm... are... are ya feelin' okay?” he asked in a soft tone.
“Mmmm...” Rainbow's eyes tensed one last time, then opened. There were no tears, only a dull, dull gaze. “No,” she said. “I'm... I'm n-not...”
Wildcard raised an eyecrest at Bard.
Bard grimaced. “Well... shoot...” He adjusted his hat. “I sure hope ya haven't gotten sick of the mangoes.” A brief smile, and then he cleared his throat. “Do ya... do ya need to find a quiet bush somewhere to... uh... take care of some business?”
“Mmmm... maybe...” Rainbow Dash swallowed slowly. “I think... I-I think I just need to sit here for a while. Y'know...” She swallowed again. “Rest up.” Her tired eyes gazed up at him. “Is that okay?”
“Well... eheh... sure thang!” Bard nodded with a smile. He glanced at Wildcard—who nodded as well. “We want ya in good health for the long glide.” He winked at the empty space around her and pointed generally with his hoof. “All y'all, if ya catch my drift.”
“I couldn't agree more,” Rainbow murmured. She cleared her throat, squirming where she sat. “So... you guys found more fruit?”
“Hell yeah! Whole bevy of 'em! Dubya's takin' credit, of course, but... eh... ya know how he is...”
“Good. Maybe... you should go gather as many as we can.” Rainbow shrugged. “You never know how long we might need them. This 'White Barge' might serve nothing but fish.”
“Yeah, that wouldn't suit ya none, would it?” Bard scratched his neck. “We can do it later—”
“Nah. Why wait?”
“But... are you gonna be okay?”
“I'll be fine.” Rainbow exhaled, then smiled weakly. “Really. Just... go ahead.” Her eyes darted towards the horizon beyond the trees. “... ... ...I'll join you when I'm good and ready.”
Bard nodded... then nodded some more. “Well... well alright, darlin'.” He started trotting backwards, taking the opportunity to point at her. “But you just give a holler if ya need anythang! Even if yer insides are goin' outside! Just puke loudly! Hah! Ya hear?”
“Heheh... I hear...” Rainbow Dash smirked.
“Come on, Dubya!” Bard hummed to himself as he trotted beyond the crest in the forested plateau. “We're gonna settle this here war of mango aggression once'n'for all!”
Wildcard lingered behind. The griffon turned, his black lenses reflecting Rainbow's sickly face.
“It's okay, Wildcard,” Rainbow said. “I... shouldn't be long, anyways.”
Wildcard stared and stared. He cocked his head... then turned around. With a streak of murking wings, he joined his partner on the other side. Bard's rambling voice grew more and more distant, eventually blending with the crashing waves.
“Ever the gentlecolts, those two,” Rarity said, smiling in their direction. “We truly are lucky to have them by our side.”
“I really want to know what these wyverns are like up close!” Twilight said with breathy excitement. “Their culture just... sounds so ancient and mysterious!”
“Pffft... come on, Twi! One thing at a time!” Pinkie turned to smile at Rainbow. “Dashie here needs a breather, and after all the kerfluffle she's gone through, some rest and relaxation is just the prescription!”
Rainbow stood up on wobbly knees.
Pinkie blinked. “Orrrrr... some exercise! Hey! Dashie!” She bounced in place. “Bet you can't beat me at jumping jacks—”
Rainbow glared past Pinkie, her hard gaze set on the treeline. Without a single breath, she spun around and broke into a swift trot.
“Uhhh...” Pinkie blinked, her ghostly body being dragged behind the pegasus. “Or... walkies?” She gulped. “Dashie, slow down!”
“You'll make yourself even sicker, dear!” Rarity exclaimed.
Twilight, meanwhile, was squinting at this point. “Wait... Rainbow?” She floated closer. “Rainbow, what are you—?”
Rainbow broke into a gallop, threw both wings straight out, and soared due west in a burst of air. Thwooosh!
All three mares yelped, thrown behind her in a confused blur.
The still waters of the Quade reflected a yellow sky.
Monks milled quietly about on the upper platforms.
Pilgrims sat along the woven circles, meditating, their eyes peacefully shut.
Down below, Menthe had just moored his canoe. He tied the rope tight, gathered his fishing spear, then shuffled slowly up a long ramp until his body went beyond the central shaft of the Reed.
It was this last detail that Rainbow spotted from afar. She perched on a cleft of rocks atop the peak of the southern mountain ridge. Her ruby eyes scanned the lofty sights: the platforms' edges, the monks with their backs to the southern bank, the others who were sunken deep in quiet meditation. When—at last—there was no more sign of Menthe's figure, Rainbow Dash took a deep breath... then slinked over the craggy summit looming above the canyon.
Breathless—Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie caught up with the pegasus, floating around her in frazzled orbit.
“Yeesh, Dashie!” Pinkie frowned. “What's the big rush?”
“Where are we even—?” Rarity stared straight down, and her pupils shrunk as soon as they reflected the shallow Quade. “Good grief!”
“Rainbow...” Twilight floated in closer. “What's wrong? Say somethi—”
Rainbow dove before Twilight could finish. The three mares tumbled behind her, their ghostly bodies being scooped up by the lavender barricade. Like an ice cloud, Rainbow sliced her way soundlessly down the cliffsides of the southern ridge. She pulled up at the last second, breezing a hair's width above the waters. She glanced at her own glaring expression... and then a lavender figure appeared from behind her shoulder.
“Rainbow? Rainbow?!” Twilight frowned, teeth gnashing. “Stop. Ignoring. Us.” She spun around so that she flew evenly between Rainbow Dash and the water. “Tell me what's wrong! Just what are we doing back here—?”
Rainbow Dash spun. She flew the rest of the way upside down. Holding her breath, she flung her hooves up in time to make contact with the underside of the lowest platform. She hid there in the shadows just seconds before a pair of trotting monks reached the woven disc's edge, narrowly missing her.
With scarcely three feet of space between her and the water, Rainbow scurried along the woven material. Her tail dipped into the Quade multiple times—and she stopped just long enough to wait for the rippling waters to go smooth once again. During these brief pauses, she had to endure the persistent, panicked chatter of three breathless spectres:
“...you're doing, Dashie?! You're not...”
“...after what's happened, even these monks won't hesitate to throw...”
“...are you even listening to a word we...?”
Rainbow clenched her teeth, seethed, seethed... then scurried forward.
She reached the edge of the platform and peered up. There was no sign of Galloran. No sign of Menthe. No sign of anyone.
Exhaling, the pegasus nimbly flung herself up, perched on the platform's edge, and sprung off with a single kicking motion of her hooves. Wings outstretched, she glided up two levels, then clung to the edge of a third platform. There—she remained dead still, waiting as a line of elder monks shuffled wordlessly beneath her. The three marefriends could only watch in a dead stupor. Once the interminable wait was over, Rainbow gritted her teeth, tensed her muscles, and pulled her lithe body up onto the woven surface.
Rolling over the railing, she squatted low, looking left and right.
There was nopony standing nearby. The closest monks were—in fact—trotting away... descending to a lower platform.
Rainbow took a deep breath and stared straight ahead.
The far end of the platform hung in shadow... along with the rickety entrance to a multi-story wooden building.
Eyes glinting with a final sliver of sunlight, Rainbow blurred forward, slithering on cat-quick hooves.
“Rainbow! What on earth has gotten into you?!” Rarity cackled. “If this is some kind of crude joke, then you can just... just...” She looked ahead at the wooden building Rainbow was entering. “Wait... this place...”
“The Holiest of Holies?” Pinkie exhaled. “But why are we—?” Just then, the mare's eyes went wide. Her tail twitched... then twitched some more. She felt the vibrations like a cold scalpel across her spine. “Oh Rainbow, n-no...”
“Rainbow...” Twilight flew alongside the mare's galloping body. “Rainbow, turn around right now. I don't know what you're thinking—” She gasped, feeling shadows and dim candlelight envelope them. The mares' spectral bodies phased through alcove after alcove filled with mummified equine remains. “Okay... okay... I know what you're thinking!” Twilight frowned. “But this is not the right way! We've made enough of a problem here as it is!”
“Rainbow, listen to her!” Rarity's voice cracked.
“Look at me.” Twilight floated closer. “Rainbow, look at me.” She panted, gazing deeply into the pegasus' eyes as she scurried down the passageway. “This is not what Fluttershy would want of you! Do you understand?! It's not what she would want... or what Celestia or Luna would want—”
Rainbow gnashed her teeth. All of the sudden—the mare scuffled to a stop, eyes blinking wide.
“Oh!” Rarity fanned herself. “Thank goodness.”
“...Rainbow?” Twilight gulped. “Are you going to turn back—?”
Rainbow spun to the left, braced herself against the edges of an alcove, and pushed her way to the top. She spread her limbs until she blended within the dusty wooden rafters, hiding behind shadows and cobwebs.
The mares gawked in confusion—until they heard a shuffling sound. They turned to see three elder Luminards shuffling up the narrow corridor, murmuring meditative prayers in cadence. Thirty seconds after they cleared the exit, Rainbow Dash dropped back down. She turned her head, gazing up at the sunlit doorframe while the elders departed.
The mare dusted herself off, exhaled, then turned around... stumbling right into Sonikah's gasping face.
“Wha—?!” Sonikah leaned back, braids flouncing. “Rain—... Rainbow Dash?!” Her eyes wide.
Rainbow stared straight at her, muzzle agape.
“But... but...” Sonikah blinked hard. “I... I don't understand. What are you... doing back here?”
Rainbow blinked. She gulped hard and tilted her glazed eyes towards the ground.
“This... this doesn't make any...” Sonikah leaned back, ears twitching. “I was meditating before Verlaxion to ask Her for forgiveness. I haven't been to the surface in over an hour. Did... did Kyron make a new decree while I was gone?”
Slowly... with shuffling hooves.. Rainbow Dash inched her way past the monk. The already narrow space made the awkward affair three times as calamitous, and Rainbow might have stepped on Sonikah's hoof once or twice.
“Guh! Rainbow—Ow! Please... you must tell me what you're doing...” Sonikah's words evaporate off the tip of her tongue.
Rainbow firmly marched down the corridor.
“...oh no...” Sonikah shook her head.
Rainbow broke into a feverish gallop.
“No! Rainbow, no!” Sonikah shrieked, grimacing as she dashed after her. “Child, you can't!" She trotted faster, panting. "You musn't—”
“Grnnnngh!” Rainbow spun around.
Sonikah flinched, eyes snapping shut. But... instead of a hoof to the jaw, she was assaulted with a cloud of brittle dust. She coughed, sputtered, then stepped back. Gasping, she saw the crumpled bodies of petrified ponies flung before her.
Rainbow got finished throwing the last skeletal barricade out of its alcove. Partially baptized in flakes of dry bone, she spun and sped the rest of the way down the corridor.
“No... No!” Sonikah struggled to climb over the necrotic pile. “Grnngh... Somepony! Help!” She hollered back towards the exit, sobbing. “Menthe! Galloran! Anypony! Help! The Reed! It's under attack!”
Rainbow stumbled down the stairs. When she entered the candle-lit room, she scuffled to a stop, steadying herself with her wings. The mare stood there, quivering, her ruby eyes darting about.
The room was only partially filled with meditating ponies. Old and bony elders stirred under their sackcloth, shuddered, and opened their tired eyes for the first time after hours... days of deep trance.
“Hrmmmff...”
“Why... what troubles you, child?”
“Are you lost?”
Rainbow stared at them... breathing... sweating. She gulped hard, then jerked a look at the far end of the room.
The Reed stretched under candlelight, its two thin strips exposing the glossy black metal beyond.
Jaw clenched, Rainbow firmly stepped towards it.
“Hmmm?”
“My child?”
One elder stood up, then another. One by one, their breaths took on anxious, breathy tones.
“This... is a holy place, young one.”
“Why aren't you...?
“This is only for the anointed! What are you doing—”
Rainbow spoke her first word since taking flight: “Leave.” She shuffled towards the Reed.
“What?!” an elder gasped.
“We... we can't leave Verlaxion's glorious presence!”
“Just what do you...?” One elder gulped, then took a few brave steps towards the mare. “Please... come with me, child. Everything will be—”
Rainbow spun, hollering: “Leave!”
Half of the elders flinched back. All eyes went wide.
She glared back with no less ferver. “I will not hurt you!” She grimaced halfway through the utterance, but growled her way towards the end. “Nothing b-bad will happen if you would... just... leave!”
“Child...” A wrinkled old stallion stared at her with firm eyes. “You carry great malice in your heart. It does not belong here.”
Another shuffled forward. “You must not take it out on Verlaxion's gift of mercy—”
Hissing, Rainbow darted towards the nearest table and flung half of its brittle contents towards the floor. The claustrophobic room afforded a crashing echo, accompanied by the mother of all roars: “Raaaaaaugh!” That drew the majority of the feeble ponies back, and Rainbow capitalized on it. “Stay. Back! I will n-not tell you again!”
One by one, the pilgrims started to panic.
“She's... she's...”
“Oh dear Goddess...”
“She's attacking the sacred Reed!”
“Blessed Verlaxion, please spare her...”
“Protectors!”
“Protectors! Please! Quickly!”
“The Reed is under attack!”
Rainbow twirled away from them, struggling through wave after wave of deep, tremulous breaths. She squinted at the Reed—at the blinding gold light billowing out from behind it. Slowly, pensively, she approached the shoots... wincing as she sensed a frigid-blue aura wafting off the very structures.
Somewhere in the midst of this—with the monks' voices sputtering desperately in the background—Twilight's frowning face came into focus. “Do you see what's happening, Rainbow Dash? Do you see what this is going to accomplish? Nothing but misery for everypony involved! You know that!”
Rainbow clenched her teeth. She grasped her pendant, aiming it towards the shoots. She concentrated... holding her breath. At last, a beam of ruby light emanated from the Element. A spotlight in the shape of a lightning bolt floated across the Reed. Slowly, the flecks of powdery white frost began melting away, turning into a fine, coarse steam.
“Look...” Amidst her trembles, Rarity nevertheless found the courage to point. “Look!”
“The chaos metal stuff...” Pinkie gulped. “It's... going bye-bye...?” She flung a look at Twilight. “The Harmony in Dashie's Element!”
Twilight grimaced, she turned towards Rainbow. “Even if you can avoid the chaos magic, think of the repercussions! What you're doing here isn't just going to destroy these ponies! It's going to destroy you, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight gritted her teeth. “It will destroy us! What do you think we're even doing out here in the first place, Rainbow?”
Rainbow frowned... writhed. Sneering, she flung her face back—partially to avoid Twilight's expression, but also so she could reach back to her saddlebag. The mare fumbled with simply opening the satchel—her hoof was shivering so hard.
“It's...” Twilight gulped. “It's not too late to stop this. Please. Please, Rainbow Dash...” Twilight blinked and blinked. When there was no response, she resorted to a growl. “Rainbow Dash, I mean it! If there's any part of you that still values Equestria or... or our friendship—!”
“... ... ...!” For the first time, Rainbow flinched. Her eyes twitched about in a pale sweat.
But just as soon as the brief lapse in thought happened—
“In there! She's in there!” Sonikah's voice hollered from a distance. “Quick, Mr. Galloran! Please! You have to stop her!”
Rainbow's face jerked towards the single entrance to the room. A sturdy set of hoofsteps galloped closer... closer.
Rarity's ears drooped. “Oh no—” She and the other two gasped as they were jerked aside by a lavender barricade.
Rainbow glided across the room in a blink. The elder pilgrims stumbled back, watching breathlessly as Rainbow pressed her body right up to the wall beside the door frame. She held her breath, squinting hard at the entrance, her muscles tensed.
Panting... sweating... Galloran stumbled into the room. With shivering hooves, he readied his crossbow, aiming at the untouched Reed. “Okay... I'm here...!” He blinked. “Wait, where is—?”
One of the older monks wheezed: “Mr. Galloran!” He pointed a jittery hoof. “Look out—”
It was too late. With one fell grunt, Rainbow Dash gripped the doorframe, spun her body, and slammed both of her rear hooves hard into Galloran's belly. Whumppp!
The young stallion lost all oxygen in his lungs. He exhaled, eyes tearing as his whole figure bent over.
Rainbow landed, then shoved him like crumpled paper to the ground. By the time Galloran managed to inhale, the pegasus had knocked the weapon out of his grip. With a swift motion, Rainbow kicked the crossbow hard, sliding it across the floor of the room until it settled against a row of shelves on the far side.
“Oh Goddess...” one of the monks stammered.
Rainbow turned to glare at them.
Choking back sobs, they all retreated from her fierce gaze. Half of the ponies scurried into the corridor while a few lingered in the doorway. Sonikah appeared, eyes wide as she saw Galloran's body lying on the ground. She helf a pair of shaky hooves over her muzzle.
“Guhhh...” Galloran struggled for breath, rolling painfully across the floor. “You... you c-can't... mmff... won't let—”
Rainbow pointed at his face. “Don't...” She glared into the young stallion's eyes. “Do not get up.”
Wincing, the protector nevertheless pressed his hooves to the floor, attempting to rise.
Rainbow shoved his weak figure back down with her fetlock. “I mean it. Stay. Down.” Once he stopped protesting, she swiveled about, then approached the Reed. Sonikah and a few other monks stepped forward, pleading. She flashed them a single glare, and they froze in place, overcome with trembles.
At last, fuming, Rainbow stood before the Reed. She threw her hoof back into her saddlebag, reached within, felt around... and finally pulled it back out, clutching a tiny, emblazoned sheathe.
“Rainbow Dash, darling...” Rarity sniffled. “The time for theatrics is over...”
Rainbow closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and pulled at the hilt. Schiiing! The Dagger of Evo reflected a pained blue face beyond the Val Roan etchings.
“There is no need for this... this pretend sacrifice!” Rarity stammered. “There's another way! There has to be another way!”
Rainbow drew forward. She raised the dagger in one hoof while aiming her pendant with another. Slowly, the chaotic dust melted off the Reed, exposing its natural surfaces so that she could approach the material unharmed. Holding her breath, she raised the tip of the royal blade to the shoots—
“Dashie!” Pinkie suddenly yelped, her back muscles quivering. “Look out—!”
Rainbow's eyes jerked. She tilted the Dagger of Evo in time to catch the reflection of Menthe's snarling face.
“Rrrrrrrghhhh!” A barbed fishing spear flew at her skull.
“...!” Rainbow ducked.
Clankkk! Menthe's weapon knocked the dagger out of Rainbow's grip. The heirloom of Evo fell through the Reed, falling into rattling darkness between the shaft and the tower.
Without wasting a breath, Rainbow bucked her left leg backwards, contacting Menthe's gut. The old stallion wheezed, stumbling in reverse. Rainbow spun and flung a hoof towards him.
He raised his spear length-wise to block. It was an awkward parry, but his strength surprised Rainbow. Within a second, he spun around, gripping her from behind. Years of experience coursed through his muscles, locking the mare in a vice grip. Rainbow—however—had coiled her wings in anticipation of this. She sprung them outward, knocking the stallion off. She followed with another kick, forcing him off by several feet.
“Mrmmff!” Menthe steadied himself in a low squat, glaring.
Rainbow frowned back. “Just stay away!” She shouted. “Don't make me have to hurt—” The tip of Menthe's spear sliced across her forehead, spilling hot blood. “Aaaaaugh!” She limped backwards, thrashing.
Rarity gasped, eyes wide.
“Rainbow!” Twilight yelped.
“I knew you were trouble from the start!” Menthe twirled his weapon and charged, hooves pounding. “Leave these ponies alone, you filthy—!”
Rainbow snarled, glaring through her own juices. She flapped her wings forward, throwing his balance off. His gallop sent him to the side, and she capitalized by slamming a hoof across his cheek before grappling him from behind. Together, the two struggled and wrestled across the Holiest of Holies, with Rainbow's blood staining his gasping muzzle.
The pacifist monks watched, gaping in pallid horror. Meanwhile, a few steps away, Galloran winced... and trembled... as he slowly crawled towards where his crossbow resided.
“Grnnngh!” At last, Rainbow Dash overpowered Menthe. She shoved his angry face down, pressing his grimacing jaw against the splintery floor. “Do... not... fight me!”
“Mrnnngh—go to Hell, you psycho—” He kicked, bucked, and thrashed against her, trying to use his spear as leverage.
She overpowered him again, shoving him up against a wooden beam.
“I said... stop it!” Rainbow spat.
“Rrnnngh—hraaugh!” He swung and jabbed the spear, grazing the edge of her fetlock.
Bleeding, Rainbow fumed. Gripping him from behind, she slipped a hoof between his legs, threw off his balance, then shoved him—skull first—against the middle of a wooden bench. Thwackk! When all that did was elicit a stubborn moan, she then slammed him through it, sending splinters crashing across the sanctuary floor. At last Menthe gave up struggling, his battered body reduced to a gurgling, sputtering mess.
Rainbow stumbled backwards from the fight, her breath thin. She took a moment to pause—almost meditatively—her bloodied head hanging low.
Sonikah and the other monks stared in silent shock.
Seconds later, Rainbow opened her eyes. Only her right socket was visible behind the fresh curtain of blood, and it flared. The mare slapped a hoof down over the handle of Menthe's spear. The thing flipped upwards, and she nimbly caught it, turning towards the Reed with finality.
Galloran winced and struggled... crawling towards his weapon.
Meanwhile, Rainbow had reached the Reed. She aimed her pendant at it one last time. The burst of harmonic energy was a veritable spotlight of crimson, and the remaining dust evaporated in an instant. Spitting the taste of copper from her muzzle, the mare held the spear up high, like a Nealender ready to skewer her prey.
“Don't... please...!” Sonikah wept from a distance. The other monks joined her mournful chorus. “Verlaxion's gift... it is all that we have!”
“Don't do it, Dashie!” Pinkie pleaded. “You're not a meanie head! You're not!”
“No, darling!”
Rainbow winced briefly. Then—with her right eye flickering red-on-yellow—she thrusted forward. “Rrrghhh!”
“Rainbow—!” Twilight flew straight in her face. The spear phased through her in a lavender burst, then caught-dead center in the Reed, splintering it apart, exposing its bone-white innards.
“No!” Sonikah fell to her knees. She and the other monks hugged each other, weeping.
Rainbow stabbed... tore... shredded. She grunted with every other exertion, her body soaked in sweat... littered with twine... baptized in blood. She sliced the shoots on the right apart first, ripping them asunder, exposing more and more of the golden glow. As she spread the swath to the left, the circular lines of Ynanhluutr came into focus, and the ever-pulsing beacon of Yaerfaerda beyond came into beautiful, horrid clarity.
By now, the moans of the monks became indistinguishable from the shouts of her friends. Rainbow simply sliced her way through it all, carving her way forward, parting the clouds to expose the haunting light upon the horizon. At last, the glossy black metal was fully visible. Rainbow dropped the dull, bent spear... then waded her way through a brittle carpet of brittle shavings to reach her goal. Using brute force, she pried the last visible shoots of Reed apart with her bare hooves. Circles within circles twinkled before her: lavender and white and pink. She reached for the next one, panting in desperation.
With a cold, cold hiss... like frosted dragon's breath... the Machine World opened to her. There were gasps of horror. She heard none of them. Nor did she hear the propping of metal springs.
Far behind, slumped on the floor, Galloran had reached the crossbow. The young stallion propped a bolt in place. Wincing, he rolled over, squinted down the line of sight, and held his breath.
Wings spread, Rainbow leapt out of the sanctuary, plunging deep into the tower—
Thwifffft! And that's when the bolt flew, slicing the air, threading the metal needle before finally ripping deep into Rainbow's body.
The mare gasped.
She lurched in place, both eyes blinking. One reflected nebulous starlight and the other thick blood.
“I... I...” Rainbow panted... stammered. With each squeaking breath, she felt an icy stab of pain slowly crawling up her spine. “...I've been hit.” She gulped. “I'm... my body...” She blinked her good eye, then looked around, lips quivering. “Girls...?”
Purple cosmos and nebulae stretched all around her.
“...girls?!” Rainbow yelped, hyperventilating at this point. “Where are you?!?” She shouted into the void. A curved plane rolled beneath her, filled with continents and oceans—all of which were suddenly encased in shadow... a shadow darker than night. “It's... it's Verlax again... isn't it?!” She snarled. “I... I got past her trap! I swear it! The pendant!” She shook her head furiously, panting. “The chaos couldn't resist the Harmony in the pendant! It's... it's not just one or the other that I've chosen, darn it! Don't you see?! Harmony... chaos... I... I-I've used both! This was the only way! You've got to bel—... Gaaugh!”
She winced, though she did not know from what. The numbness had spread to her shoulders, forming a dense-as-wood knot in the back of her throat.
Tears squeezed out her eyes, smearing the blood from her lacerated forehead. She clenched her skull, reeling as she floated over the continental shelves.
“Mmmfff... Fluttershy...” She seethed. “Fluttershyyyyy...” She whimpered. “Please... please be here... please be here please be here please be...”
Something roared in the distance, powered by millions of metric tons of elements rampaging against chaotic firmaments.
Rainbow looked up, seething. She caught the glow of ethereal starlight all around as if for the first time. A fine mist of churning waters coiled up against it, forming an ashen cloud that drifted away from her, like chaos dust evaporating from her harmonic assault.
“You...” Rainbow gnashed her teeth. “Say something...” Her eyes darted left and right. “Speak! I know you're there!”
There was no reply. The stars and galaxies receded, painting the spherical canvas blacker and blacker.
“Stop hiding! I mean it!” Rainbow tried to frown, but she could only grimace instead. “Speak to me! You always have before!” She gulped. Hard. “Tell me that what I did was right...”
The horizon drew blacker... deader. The edge of the world loomed over her like a knife.
“Tell me that it was the right decision! My decision!” Her voice cracked. The parts of her face not stained with blood were growing pale and paler. She fought past the spread of ice in her veins. “Not Verlax's!” She shuddered, squeaked. “You said once... that the world dies without me... and it dies for me! The Austraeoh! I made this decision! Not her! Was it right?! Or wasn't it?!”
By now, the stars were nearly gone. It was just Rainbow, a dead shelf, and the thin white edge, drenched in tears.
“Dang it, speak to me!” Rainbow yelled into the void. “Is this all that's in store for your stupid, precious Spark?! For Goddess' sake! Verlax is onto you! The beacons alone aren't good enough any more! Please... I need you to show me the way! I need to see! I need—”
FLASH!
Rainbow collapsed over the metal pedestal, shrieking in pain.
“Aaaa-aaaaughhh!” She winced, feeling the cold scrape of metal against her ribs. She seethed, shook, then looked back behind her.
A crossbolt laid skewered in her left wing. Blood dribbled down her flank, covering her cutie mark.
She blanched, feeling bile building up in the back of her throat. She opened her muzzle to cry again—
That's when she heard a chorus of screams from beyond.
She squinted through one good eye in time to see the hole that she had carved her way through. It was collapsing, and the monks on the other side were swiftly scurrying out of the sanctuary.
“Go! Move!” Galloran's voice could be heard, reaching desperate octaves. “Get out! Head for the lower platforms!”
A shuffle of trembling hooves. Rainbow spotted Sonikah's green coat. “Oh my Goddess... oh my blessed Goddess, forgive us—”
“Move! You must get out of here! All of you! Menthe! Hold on, I got—” Strips of Reed fell, blocking the way. Seconds later, the cold door to the Machine World sliced shut with a merciless hiss.
Rainbow shivered. The hollow of a cylindrical tower glittered around her in ruby light, its pendulums slowly swaying and grinding in fluid motion. The injured pegasus heard crackling thunder through the immaculate metal. But that wasn't all.
“Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! Girls!” Softer than satin, more delicate than silk. “Girls, wh-where are we?! Where's the sculpture garden? What happened to the Elements?”
Rainbow's ears folded back. But before she could even weep—
More thunder crackled from outside.
“Eeeep!” A shriek, full of both melody and panic all at once.
“Shhh-Shhh-Shhh... darling. Darling, look at me.”
“Rarity?! Rarity, I... I don't know what's—!”
“Just stay close. Everything's going to be okay. Everything's going—”
“Guys! My tail! It's going crazy!”
“Rainbow Dash—”
She was already limping towards the curved wall opposite the now-dormant pedestal. Each step sent waves of agony coursing from her impaling wound. She fell more than once, but what hurt the most was when her wings both attempted to provide-counterbalance. After a few muffled shrieks, she pulled herself up to a door with a dim Ynanhluutr symbol. She barely grazed it with her hooves when the door hissed open, exposing a solid wall of dense Reed. Red-orange candlelight bled through the seams, flickering more wildly than normal.
“We're trapped!”
“Dashie, we have to get out of here! What are you going to do—?”
Rainbow Dash was already reaching into her saddlebag. She fumbled around until she found the wooden support beam for a Val Roan pup tent. Tearing the fabric loose, she took the beam itself and planted it between her teeth, then proceeded to bite down.
“Rainbow Dash? What are you—?”
“Don't look, Fluttershy.”
“But... but she's hurt s-so badly and—”
“Do not look at her.”
Rainbow's nostrils flared. She bit hard on the wood. Meanwhile, her hoof gripped the barbed end of the bolt... and started to pull and pull. “Hrnnn-gnnnnhhh-grkkktt...” She hissed, eyes clenched in pain. Slowly, she drew the full length of the arrow out, until it popped free from the other side of her wing. “Grwwghhddssss!” She thrashed her head, coiling her wounded feathers tightly to her side. It failed to numb the waves of pain throbbing through her. “Mrmmmffhhhmmm—” She vomited the wooden bit out. “Aaaaaaaa-aaaugh!” Rainbow slumped against the doorframe, seething.
“Oh Rainbow Dash...” Weeping, sniffling. “You poor thing! What's happened to you?”
“I know it looks terrible, but the mare brought this upon herself.”
“Huh?! But Rarity, that's not very ni—”
“Rainbow, that's going to bleed out if you don't—”
“Wait! She's gonna do something else!”
Rainbow channeled her pain into her forelimbs. Gripping the bloodied arrow, she used it as a knife and started carving her way out through the Reed in front of her. However, she only had to make less than four strikes before the shoots crumbled away entirely. She blinked in shock, finding another sanctuary looming in front of her.
“Well, what are you waiting for?!”
Rainbow hobbled through—having to jump left and right as more planks of the Reed crumbled towards her figure. She backtrotted, watching in shock as more and more strips of the material slid loose between the metal tower and the Luminards' structure built around it.
“What... wh-what...?” Rainbow blanched, briefly ignoring the pain rippling across her left side. “The Reed... it's... it's all...” Rainbow gulped. “It's all dying! All of it... they were... they were r-right?”
“Well of course they were right, Rainbow!” Twilight was suddenly yelling in her face. She flung a hoof towards the collapsing mess. “The whole thing was built by Verlax! Imbued with her mastery of chaos magics! And guess who just melted all of that away with the Element of Loyalty?! Huh?! Take a guess!”
Rainbow backtrotted, shivering. For once, her left eye peered through the drying blood. Fresh tears formed. “It... it was the only way to get through it...” She gulped. “If Verlax hadn't blocked the way to Fluttershy with—”
“No!” Twilight angrily shoved her hoof in Rainbow's face. “You do not get to blame this on Verlax! You chose to use our last remaining piece of Harmony—the most powerful and noble magic in all of Equestria—as a weapon! You made that decision, Rainbow! Not Verlax! And now look what it's done to this place!”
“Uhhhhh... girls?” Pinkie had to use her whole body to hold her twitching tail still. “About 'this place'...”
With a loud groan, the sanctuary split in half from a gaping fissure. Rainbow struggled to stand upright. Meanwhile, behind her, a table crumbled, and the lantern that was seated on top of it spilled loose. A carpet of flames roared across the compartment, setting rows upon rows of ancient scrolls and scripture on fire.
Rainbow stammered, strafing sideways, struggling to inch her way past the growing inferno. More and more shoots of Reed fell across the gaping hole in the wall while the room slumped even further, giving into gravity.
“Oh Celestia... where in Equestria are we?!” A yellow figure buried her face in Rarity's chest, shivering all over. “Why is th-this happening?!”
“Rainbow Dash...” Rarity breathed. “If you have any ounce of decency left in you, you will get us safely out of here.” She hugged the dainty pegasus harder. “You will get her out of here.”
Rainbow Dash was already galloping down the nearest corridor—a torturous effort, considering the persistently bleeding gash in her left wing. She tried flexing those muscles, but none of the feathers bothered to budge. Panting, she chose to deal with that horror later... once she had successfully exited that collapsing wing of the sanctuary.
Outside, the air rang with another terror altogether.
Monks fled the upper platforms in droves. Forming hobbling lines of sackcloth, they descended to the lower platforms—and in a timely matter too. With loud thunderous crashes, the upper discs fell one by one, their woven forms giving way to structural collapse or spreading fire or a holocaustal combination of both. The Luminards collectively shrieked as the water from the Quade splattered them with each impact. They flinched, gathering together in tight bunches along the lower discs. The woven structures stretched and bowed from the ponies' combined huddles, but nevertheless the lower foundation remained in tact, a final bastion above the Quade.
Along the outermost platforms, Galloran and Sonikah dragged Menthe to a safe spot and laid the stallion down.
“I got everyone out of the Holiest Sanctuary as quickly as I-I could!” Galloran stammered, resting Menthe in place.
“Mrmmff...” Menthe exhaled through bleeding teeth. “That you did, boy...” He patted his shoulder. “Good... hkktt... h-hustle...”
“Are you okay, Menthe?” Galloran asked, breathless. “I'll find Nicro! She's good at tending to wounds—”
“No. No!” Menthe shoved the stallion away. “Don't fuss over me!” He pointed up. “Fly, boy! Check the other platforms for stragglers! We...” He coughed, wheezed. “We g-gotta make sure all of the elders are evacuated! Starting with the oldest ones!”
“Yes... y-yes, Menthe! I'm on it!” Galloran spun around, took a running start, and flew like a brown blur towards the upper spire. He soared over the heads of more ponies stumbling out of the lower holds.
Among them was Kyron, his muzzle agape as he stared up at the wobbling structure. Before his and everypony else's eyes, the tightly-bunched yellow shoots that formed the central Shaft turned a gnarled, dirty brown. The whole Reed was swiftly decaying... crumbling away. Strip by strip, its shoots peeled off into the Quade, leaving nothing but stark black metal underneath, and the precariously dangling wooden constructs that supported the lower platforms.
Each watery percussion was echoed by moans, a ghostly growing chorus of wailing sobs and gut-wrenching howls. Mares collapsed—sobbing—in each other's trembling embrace. Stallions rent their tunics to shreds, howling towards the sky, bellowing and entreating Verlaxion's name.
This cacophonous spectacle was not lost to Antsan. He lingered on one of the adjoining ramps, struggling to stand upright while an empty platform just two spaces away unraveled like eviscerated entrails, dribbling dead and brown into the shallow waters below. He looked across the narrowing expanse to see Kyron falling to his knees, surrounded by elders who clung to him, sobbing into his garments as they refused to look at the unthinkable calamity.
High above, on a barely surviving platform, Rainbow Dash galloped—more like limped out of a crumbling building. The shack collapsed within seconds of her exit, and the weight of it dragged the entire platform down into the drink.
Rainbow's friends shrieked. Meanwhile, she lunged forward, flinging her dead weight towards the nearest ramp. She caught on by the sheer grip of her forward limb-joints, then hauled herself onto the next disc. Rolling over, she slipped—then tumbled down a woven incline, leaving a thin bloodstreak behind. Pain wracked through her body, which is why her eyes were clenched at the precise moment that a soft hoof reached down to help her.
She grabbed onto the hoof the moment she felt it, then was lifted up on all fours. She opened her eyes, blinking.
Nicro stood before her on wobbly legs. Her face was drenched in tears. Muzzle quivering, she gazed past Rainbow—flinching as another platform fell into the waters on the far side. After a few rapid blinks, she glanced at the naked tower being exposed behind the dying Reed, then connected her gaze to Rainbow's bloodied wing. A sharp breath left her, and she shuffled backwards, growing more and more pale.
Rainbow Dash stood in place, wheezing. She sensed four colors in her peripheral, and somehow that was enough to urge forth: “Nicro...”
“You... it was you...?”
Rainbow gulped. “I... didn't think the entire Reed would actually die...” Rainbow took a step forward. “I-I just needed—”
Nicro flinched away from her, shivering.
Rainbow gnashed her teeth. “I needed to get through! To my friend! You... you wouldn't understand...”
Nicro whimpered, then bit her lip. “Get away from me...”
“It was all a lie anyways...” Rainbow limped, teetered, then reached a hoof forward. “Please—”
“Get away!” Nicro batted her hoof to the side, tossing Rainbow's balance off so that the pegasus stumbled into a railing. “Mmmm...!” She covered her muzzle with two forelimbs. Beady eyes darted left and right in abject horror. “Oh Goddess... oh Goddess Verlaxion, forgive me!” She deflated like a rotted flower. “We have sinned... we have sinned and this is our Plight...”
“No...” Rainbow hissed, sneering into the air. “No!”
One by one, the Luminards dropped to their haunches, bending over and burying their weeping muzzles into their forelimbs as they all filled the air with one, collective, penitent wail. It shook the waters of the Quade, outshouting Rainbow and her ardent cries. Fluttershy hid in Rarity's hug, squeezing her trembling hooves over her ears to silence the hellacious bedlam.
“NO!” Rainbow barked, stumbling past her friends, growling past the pain in her wing. “Do not give in! She... she's tricked you!” She panted and writhed. “Verlax has tricked all of you!” She panted, strung tightly between blood and tears. “This... this is exactly... wh-what...” Eyes flickered red on yellow. “...what she wants... what she... she...”
Several platforms away, Galloran landed, carrying two frail elders under each forelimb. He laid them down, then stumbled—breathless—towards Menthe. “I did a head-count. That's everypony.” He gulped. “What... wh-what now, Menthe?”
“Shhh...” Menthe frowned, pointing past him.
Galloran turned, blinking at the flailing lunatic shouting against the chanting.
“Verlax! She designed this from the beginning! This... this trap! She had trapped all of you! Don't you realize that?! I'm sorry... I'm sorry but you'll have to move on!” Rainbow's voice cracked. “You'll have to find better lives! This isn't... it's not everything!” She snarled, stomping her hooves. “Will you friggin' stop and listen! I had no choice, dang it! I had no choice—”
A body rammed into Rainbow Dash—impacting her left side.
Twilight and Pinkie gasped.
“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy flinched in Rarity's embrace, reaching out from afar. “Rainbow—!”
“Aaaugh!” Instantly crippled, Rainbow flew in the direction away from her screaming pain, tumbling down a careening platform and stopping at the nearest ramp.
Antsan loomed above her. Every ounce of his muscle was writhing in fury. “Did you?!?” He spat. “Did you really have no choice?!” He marched closer, one thudding hoofstep at a time. “You... who ignored warning after warning about the sanctity of the Reed?! You... who was given every ounce of mercy by our wise Elder, and still you chose to defecate all over his good graces?!”
“He... you...” Rainbow sat up, wincing. “...nopony listened...”
“Yeah?! And who cared—” He kicked her savagely in her injured wing, causing her to howl and writhe. “—huh?! Where was the—” Another kick, harder this time. “—respect?!”
“Aaaaugh!” Rainbow bellowed, her body rolling down the ramp and onto the adjacent platform.
“No!” Fluttershy sobbed. “Help her!” She flashed a look over Rarity's shoulder. “Twilight! Girls! You must help her!”
“We...” Twilight grimaced, eyes locked on Rainbow's bloody feathers. “We can't.”
“What do you mean you can't?!” Fluttershy exhaled.
“No joke, Fluttershy...” Pinkie looked over, eyes wet and mane drooped. “We can't. None of us can even t-touch Rainbow.”
“But... but...”
“Rainbow, he's coming again!” Rarity hissed, eyes twitching in panic. “You m-must get out of here, darling! If you can't fly, then swim! Move!”
Rainbow struggled to get away. She rolled over. She crawled, hooves scuffling against the Reed. Slipping.
“And your own heathen goddesses!” Anstan heaved, shook. “How much does a murderous piece of filth like you respect them, huh?! Rrrghh—!” He performed a running start this time, slamming his fetlock full-on into Rainbow's ruptured wing muscles.
“Aaaaaagh!” Rainbow rolled over to the platform's edge. Her tail and right lower leg dangled just inches above the Quade. Her eyes rolled back, flickering red-on-yellow as she stared into the waters. Half-a-face gawked back, growing more and more fractured amidst the ripples.
A few platforms away, Sonikah trembled. Despite her sobs, she looked over at Kyron. “Elder... it's Antsan... he's... he's...”
Kyron stared straight ahead, his ears drooped beneath a limp mess of gray braids.
“What now?” Sonikah gulped. “Do... do we do nothing?” She stared. “...Kyron?”
The old stallion's body shook... shuddered. He buried his face in his hoof and simply wept.
Antsan stood above Rainbow's limp body, and—for the briefest of moments—he froze in place, weathering the fresh welts that had formed across his fetlocks. “You... Goddess-forsaken backwards creature... Do you have any idea... any idea what...” His fuming breaths gave way to sputtering breaths. What was once a frown melted into a grimace. “...what I did... the sins I committed...” He gulped. “The thing I was b-before I was called to the Quade?” He clenched his teeth hard... harder. “A continent surrounded by seven filthy seas... and nopony... nothing would take me in... until...” Tears welled up and he hiccuped. “...until these kind... endearing foals of Verlaxion. It was Her grace... Her mercy... the only thing... the only thing”—he hollered—“that washed all the blood away! And then you came in and stained it all red again!” Howling at the top of his lungs, he rushed in and kicked, bucked, and slammed Rainbow's side.
The mare curled up, coughing and sputtering in pain.
Antsan stumbled backwards, sobbing at this point. His body leaned against a loose wooden railing, cracking it. With rediscovered anger, he gripped the length of the splintery beam and snapped it loose. Gripping the item like a spear, the frenzied stallion limped back towards Rainbow Dash.
Galloran flinched. Menthe sat still.
“And yet... in my heart of hearts...” Antsan slurred. “I knew I could never... really maintain Verlaxion's grace.” His teary eyes twitched as he held the sharp part towards the back of her head. “No... Goddess forgive me... I should have been a protector...”
All of the sudden, Fluttershy flinched, yelping.
Rarity wrenched her eyes off Rainbow. “Fluttershy? What is it—?”
“Mmmfnngh... a fire... in m-my head!” Fluttershy squeaked. “Burning anger! Hotter than a comet!” She looked up, pupils shrinking. “Somepony's coming. Fast.”
“Huh?” Rarity gazed skyward.
Antsan inhaled sharply. He raised the stake over Rainbow's vulnerable spine. “...if I'm to be damned by Verlaxion so that everypony else is spared your curse... then so be it—”
Clannnng! A metal staff flew across Anstan's muzzle, showering the Quade with teeth.
An audible gasp broke across the sobbing masses.
Bard landed in a slide, twirled his staff, then uppercutted Antsan before the Luminard could even hope to recover.
Whack! The red-mane'd monk fell back, his body ragdolling against a platform's edge. He rattled to a stop, curling up and moaning in pain.
Wincing, Rainbow looked up, her pained eyes thin. “Bard?” She blinked. “Is it—”
“Shut yer trap!” the stallion growled. He glared across the Quade. “Dubya-Cee! Keep 'em at bay!”
Thwooosh! In a murking streak of black feathers, the griffon landed, nightsticks raised. As soon as the Luminards saw their haggard reflections in his dark, dark lenses, they backed up.
“Boy—” Menthe started.
“Right...” Galloran reached back to a satchel, producing a sharp dagger.
“...!” In a millisecond, Wildcard saw it. He flung a nighstick far across the platforms.
Multiple heads ducked, but Galloran was too slow. The metal club smacked the weapon out of his hoof. The young stallion fell back with a yelp.
Wildcard held his metal palm out. With a dull vibration, the inner magnets kicked in, drawing the flung weapon all the way back until he gripped it once more.
Meanwhile, Bard hoisted Rainbow's battered body over his shoulder. She yelped more than once, but he didn't make any attempt to go slower. “I got 'er! Dubya! Take wing!”
“Hey...” Menthe hissed, hobbling up to his aching hooves. “Don't you—”
“Now! Skedaddle time!” Bard flapped his wings and shot towards the sky. The four spectres trailed invisibly after him. “Go! Go!”
Wildcard flew backwards, lenses on the Luminards. He then sheathed his nightsticks, spun around, and soared after his partner. Both Desperadoes streaked their way east, hugging the southern bank of the Quade.
“No! Don't you do it!” Menthe hollered. “Don't you leave this! Come back!”
Galloran shuddered, slumping back on his haunches as shivers took over.
“Bastards! Cowards! Come back and answer for what you've done!” Menthe flung a hoof at the scant, crumbling remains of the Reed. “For what you've all done, dammit! Rohbredden will hear about everything! Do you hear me?! Everything!”
Sonikah sniffled. She retreated from the noise, leaning up and nuzzling Kyron. The elder said nothing aside from his quiet, lonesome sobs.
Across the Quade, Antsan pulled himself to his hooves. His eyes were full of the detritus of the Reed... his ears swimming with the collective howls of his fellow congregation. He took one last look at the three fading dots along the east horizon... and then he saw nothing, for the fog of tears consumed all. Nicro had hobbled over to him by this point. She rested a hoof on his shoulder, then allowed the collapsing stallion to bury his sobbing muzzle in her embrace. She held him close, hung her head, then closed her eyes to the chaos.