A pair of wooden doors creaked open. Mortuana limped through and into another chamber of the dim wing. In the center of the room there rested a mahogany pedestal, and on the other side of it an antique bed.
"My plight began over six hundred years ago," the alicorn explained. "Six hundred years of withering away into the waif you see before you now."
"Oh goodness..." Fluttershy's ears folded back. "She's... been dying for six hundred years?"
Rainbow took a calm breath. "What did Verlax do to you?"
"Essentially nothing." Mortuana stood before the pedestal and looked over her bony wings. "In fact, she befriended me at first."
"She befriended you?"
Mortuana inhaled. "For centuries, my father had warned me of the vile deceptions of the Queen of Frost. Whenever we crossed the Plains of Magical Drought to visit the Harmonic Foundations, we always made a sharp detour in our voyage to avoid this continent. Verlax's treachery was seldom spoken of, most likely because my alicorn kin secretly loathed the fact that they were incapable of stopping her. When she grew depressed and descended into madness, they failed to lend her a wing. When she ventured over into the Dark Side in search of Endrax, we neglected to stop her. And then—when she returned and created the Plains of Magical Crought and subjugated the tribes of this land—we were too late to prevent it."
"So it's true," Rainbow Dash remarked. "Verlax created the Grand Choke."
"Whatever powers of chaos she gleaned from the dark side of the plane, they allowed her to harness her magics to a knife-edged point," Mortuana said. "Not only that, but she was suddenly on a mission... a mission to reconstruct the continent of Rohbredden into a fashion that she saw fit. By then, my father—King Onyxxus—was dying... losing his ghost to go join Queen Mesmer's spirit in the Plains of Harmony. Whitemane, my half-sister, was the product of Onyxxus and his... residual love for a mortal equine named Commander Sun Sheen." The alicorn's nostrils momentarily flared, but she quickly calmed down. "To put it bluntly, Whitemane—for all of her strengths—lacked the magic and immortal fortitude to stand against Verlax's treachery. I had made countless trips with my father to the east edge of the world in order to check on the progress of Darkreach, but Verlax's presence was making that increasingly difficult with the passing centuries. It was time that something had to be done in order to intercede on behalf of the Six Tribes of Rohbredden."
"What did you do?"
"I simply approached the Queen of Frost personally. To my surprise, she welcomed me into her throneroom. For weeks, I was an esteemed guest of her frozen palace deep within the spacious bowels of Starkiss. During such a time, I endeavored to talk her out of perpetuating the inane theocracy that she had concocted for the hapless mortals of this realm. At all times, I practiced caution. Verlax has an entire army of windigoes at her disposal. It was true then, and it's most certainly true now. One wave of the hoof, and she could have launched thousands of frozen banshees at me in an instant."
"Did you hear that, Rainbow?" Twilight looked at her anchor. "'One wave of the hoof.'"
"Is... is Verlax really a pony now?" Rainbow asked.
"Hmmmm... on the outside," Mortuana said. "And yet, perhaps, deep within the shell that she has casted—Verlax truly believes she is the equine matriarch of Rohbredden, the Mother of Tribal Unification. As I've stated before, her powers were heavily augmented by her trip to the dark side. Whatever her true motivations, she's manifested her crusade in as literal a fashion as possible. She's been playing this role of 'Verlaxion' for so long and with such intensity that... I sometimes wonder if she even has the ability to revert back to her true dragon form..."
"Wow, that's... uhm..." Rainbow shuddered. "That's nuts..."
"Indeed. And I, too, considered her the very paragon of insanity. This was especially true when—upon meeting—she regailed me with wave after wave of hysterical nonsense, pontificating about... a distant and forsaken world... a structure... to which this plane belonged, having somehow been 'sundered' and lost to the drifts of galactic chaos."
"Urohringr," Twilight murmured.
Rainbow cleared her throat. "But all of that nonsense... isn't exactly nonsense, is it?"
"Indeed not, my little pony."
"Urohringr is real," Rainbow said with a nod. "That much I know. Just... how much does Verlax know?"
"A great deal more than both you and me, I fear," Mortuana said. "However, such knowledge is grotesquely tempered by a fine layer of madness, born out of despair and a deep... deep sorrow over the loss of her sister, Endrax."
"That's..." Fluttershy sniffled. "That's sad."
"Hey..." Pinkie frowned. "This is super evil Verlax we're talking about!"
"Still, it does shed light on quite a few things," Rarity said.
Rainbow spoke up. "Uhm... I've had a few... occasional run-ins with Verlax..."
"Have you?" Mortuana asked. "Or have you merely met the magically projected extensions of her spirit?"
"Erm... right. Those 'frost golems'. Sure." Rainbow nodded. "Anyways, she's insisted that everything... and I do mean everything that she's sculpted out of the landscape and culture of Rohbredden has been—like—an elaborate setup to test Austraeoh on her... on m-my journey to the dark side of the plane."
"Indeed."
Rainbow gulped the mother of all lumps down her throat. "So, is she... like... for real or what?"
"Her actions are real," Mortuana said. "Her logic is frayed at best, but there is the slightest glimmer of sense in all of it."
"Really?"
"Mmmmm... it is difficult to explain. I think you would understand better if you knew how I came upon the Herald."
"Well, h-how did you get out of Verlax's clutches in the first place?"
"I had no need nor desire to... at first," Mortuana explained. She pressed a latch on the side of the wooden panel. It opened with a creak, exposing over twelve notches... but only one that was filled with a dark glass vial. "I held court to her madness, digesting her... rather patchwork explanation of Urohringr and its constituent parts. Then, one night, when I thought she had stabilized enough for me to appeal to her, I confronted the Divine in her equine form... demanding that she relinquish her hold on Rohbredden, the Six Tribes, the Windigoes—everything."
Rainbow bit her lip. "Then what happened?"
"Verlax's craftiness was my greatest underestimation. It turns out she had anticipated the exact time and place of my confrontation. She trapped me in the deepest hold of Starkiss and made one final plea for me to join her. I refused, of course, and that is precisely when she staged her attack."
"With... with her windigo army?"
"No." Mortuana shook her head. "Which is why I was unprepared for what happened next. Instead, the Divine of Frost sacrificed half of the windigoes at her command. She then harnessed their blighted essence into a deathly beam of frozen black magic that she launched at my horn." The mare pointed at the porous stalk emerging from her skull. "My inner alicornia was fractured from the inside. It was... a deliberately cruel wound... one that she knew—as I knew—would not result in a quick death... but a slow, painful, and agonizing one... a death that would drain my senses, sanity, and any semblance of purpose." Her nostrils flared as she reached for the pedestal and picked up a solitary black vial. "I had less than a century to live at best. It was Verlax's twisted plan—I do believe—to appeal to my sudden state of mortality and insist that I help her with the preparations for Austraeoh's arrival. After all, from that point onward, every time I used my horn to channel my alicorn magic, I would only kill myself faster and harder."
"You're... you're kidding me..." Rainbow's ears drooped, as did her one good wing. "You mean... she did all of that to you..." She gulped. "Because of me?"
Mortuana swiveled around. Her dull violet eyes crossed Rainbow's gaze with the barest hint of warmth. "Do not think so simplistically. That is Verlax's fallacy... and one day, I swear on the Plains of Harmony, it shall be the dragon's undoing." She slowly crossed the distance between them. "I rejected Verlax's invitation, of course. Though I knew it risked my utter demise, I used my frayed magic to evade her. After much trial and error, I escaped the Divine's clutches. However, I was far too weak and... infirmed to make the return trip to Emeraldine, much less cross the Plains of Magical Drought in my condition."
"What did you do?"
Mortuana came to a stop, standing right before Rainbow Dash. "I sought refuge... in the one place in all of Rohbredden that could provide me shelter from the eyes and ears of the Queen of Frost."
"You came here, didn't you?" Rainbow Dash remarked. "To Wyvern Point."
"Eventually, yes. But it took much struggle... and even more pain," Mortuana said. "I knew that my days were numbered. Every major magic spell I cast would only quicken my passing. After all I had learned from my encounter with Verlax, I simply could not afford to fade away and leave the mortals of this continent to her devices. I strove to find a way to extend my own livelihood, one day at a time, if only so I could pass on my knowledge and wisdom. In a land that's poisoned by frozen windigoes, only harmony and the power of friendship can keep the chaos at bay."
"Did anypony eventually help you?"
"Yes." Mortuana nodded. "The wyverns. These creatures lived in Rohbredden far longer than any other tribe. They were here long before the Queen of Frost ever bothered to subjugate the continent's citizens. They were even here eons before any pony, griffon, or siren flocked over from the west. More than any other tribe, they secretly harbored intense doubt concerning the truth of Verlaxion's 'Unification.' They simply joined the Council at Frostknife in order to eliminate any suspicion of their legitimate concerns. Geography, isolation, and general anonymity has allowed them to perpetuate a bastion of free thought and archival information here in this sanctuary... a last resort free of Verlax's vile deceit."
"That sounds kind of cool, actually."
"Indeed. And I was not the only creature besieged by Verlax's power to have found refuge here. Within decades of my arrival, I crossed paths with a nomadic faction of seemingly mad ponies... pilgrims who had no home, for they were ostracized at every turn... persecuted for a seemingly heretical belief in a prehistoric tribe of otherworldly pegasi who were present at the 'sundering' of the world."
Rainbow's lips pursed. "The Herald."
Mortuana nodded. "The Herald."
"So... you didn't found them?" Rainbow blinked. "They discovered you?"
"Aye. And I discovered them," Mortuana said. "Like me, they too were dying... dying in spirit and in cohesiveness. Once upon a time, the mortals who made up the Herald numbered in the tens of thousands. But the ignorance and ennui of ages had not been kind to them. It certainly didn't help that the creation of the Grand Choke completely cut off the pilgrims from their western brothers and sisters. Everypony who met them treated their organization as a cult, and there were very few souls willing to lend an ear to their warnings from the nebulous past... especially here in Rohbredden."
"So... you fostered them?"
"We had ways of helping each other out. I taught them the values of harmony and friendship. In return, they opened up to me... teaching me of the knowledge contained within their ancient manuscripts. To my... unmitigated shock, most everything they had to share possessed commonalities with the rambling words of Verlax. What I previously thought had been complete nonsense suddenly had an ounce of truth. Combining that with my knowledge of this plane and the Midnight Armory on the far side, I suddenly developed a brand new, eye-opening cosmology."
"And that is...?" Rainbow leaned forward while Twilight and the others listened in eager silence.
"Alas, in so few years, child, you've learned as much if not more than I have in centuries," Mortuana explained. "The fact that you are here now—after so many trials and tribulations—proves that you are the Austraeoh, and that the beacons burn at your harmonic touch." She nevertheless took a deep breath. "This world we live on is a piece of a machine... a habitat built ages ago by races too old and too remote to ever possibly conceive. At some point, due to calamitous circumstances, one piece of the machine broke off—one of twelve. It has drifted aimlessly across the nebulous heavens for untold epochs, its inner flame slowly dying. Once the last torch has gone out, there will be nothing to sustain life on either side, for it will drain away even alicorn and dragon magic along with it. The only hope now is for a cosmic reboot of the machine's inner core, a spark manifested by the powers invested in the plane throughout the ages, so that—once reenergized—it may summon the strength to once again rejoin with that which has been abandoned."
"So... Verlax was right." Rainbow grimaced. "There was once a Sundering... and now all life on this friggin' floating dishplate depends on everything rejoining."
"Verlax has a great deal of proper knowledge... but not a proper application." Mortuana sighed. "I know that she seeks to test you, Rainbow Dash. Considering the difficulties and challenges that lie in wait on the dark side, I can understand how she is attempting to... temper your strength and tenacity in preparation. However, what the Queen of Frost fails to take into consideration is that there's been an elite organization working on a way to assist the Austraeoh long before she ever ventured to the dark side on a voyage spawned out of her infantile sorrow over Endrax. The Herald has faithfully and relentlessly fought to keep from dissolving completely, if only to be there for when the Harbinger appeared to fulfill her fated obligations. I witnessed their struggle, and I knew that within their ranks stood the only hope of properly assisting the spark in rekindling this dying world. For the first time in ages, the task ahead of me was crystal clear. I had to assist these preservers of the past with all my might. After all, Darkreach was long abandoned. There were no more alicorns on this plane who could afford to abandon their harmonic posts and come to my aid. It was time that I prepared for the coming age of twilight, in hopes that Austraeoh—along with mortals—could ferry this plane back to Urohringr and usher in a new age of livelihood among the stars."
"How did you stay alive for so long?"
"With the help of both the Herald and the Wyverns," Mortuana answered. "I was taught methods of meditation that were new to me. Through careful concentration and exercise, I was able to let go of the magic that threatened to consume me through my own inner alicornia. I spent the years pouring over the books archived here in this sanctuary. I learned all about the runes of the ancient pegasi... about the mythical race that had been spread thin over millennia. I learned how all mortal ponies—as both you and I know them—originated from this very same race, only to evolve into different subsets after the alicorn arrival splintered their genealogy through equine magic."
"Eeeeeee...!" Twilight Sparkle did a ghostly jig in the air, biting onto her fetlocks. "Mmmm... I-I wonder if maybe I can read some of these amazing books while we're here!"
"Highly doubtful, darling," Rarity said out the side of her muzzle.
Mortuana continued: "The Herald possessed a magic of their own... a form of runic spellbinding hoofed down through the ages, originating in the wisdom of the ancient pegasi themselves." She held the black vial up for Rainbow to see. "With their help, I had much of my blood drawn and sealed away in these containers, protected by a runic cap. It's... not unlike traditional alicorn practices of olde. Only, in this case, these containers contained samples of my magic along with my blood. I've kept them here for safekeeping all these years."
"What for?"
"When opened, they've allowed me to harness enough magic for a single concentrated spell without endangering myself." Mortuana sighed. "Alas, in waiting, I've been forced to use the majority of them to protect myself and this sanctuary from outward incursion. Up until just this year, I had only two of them. Now I am down to one."
"What... happened to the other one?"
Mortuana seemingly ignored that: "Once this vial is used up, I can no longer perform any magic without great harm to myself. In fact... I do believe a final discharge of mana would extinguish my feeble life altogether."
"But... what about those visions we shared earlier?" Rainbow Dash gestured. "Wasn't that magic?"
"Aye, but it channeled the spells placed on you by the likes of Princess Celestia, Luna, and my half-sister." Mortuana exhaled. "As much as I would wish otherwise, I'm afraid their residual enchantment is not enough to assist us on the completion of your voyage, Rainbow Dash. That is up to the Heraldic Seven."
"Which... you are a member of." Rainbow leaned her head aside. "The leader?"
"Indeed." Mortuana calmly, carefully placed the vial back into its notched pedestal. "Only by necessity, mind you. The wisdom of these mortals are enough to rival my own—especially Kepler's. Hmmmm... he's one of the most remarkable wyverns I've had the pleasure of being acquainted with in years. And believe me, I've been acquainted with several."
"Why seven?"
Mortuana looked at Rainbow.
"I mean..." The pegasus shrugged. "Seems like such a tiny number. Wouldn't—like—an army of the Herald be better-suited in helping me get to the Midnight Armory?"
Mortuana calmly breathed: "And just what assistance has an angelic 'army' given you in the past, Austraeoh?"
Rainbow winced hard... as did Twilight.
"Mortals are such precious creatures. Sadly, however, they are also highly susceptible to corruption." Mortuana closed the wooden pedestal shut and paced around the dusty interior. "This, ironically enough, was a folly of the group that I met as well. Their leader at the time told me how the group had suffered a terrible setback when one of their forebearers—three generations back—had incorrectly assumed a random pegasus was the Austraeoh. This led to a splintering of the group. They fought each other... lost in squabbles and anger. It became clear to me that the knowledge hoofed down to the Herald by the ancient pegasi was far too precious and potent to harmlessly share among so many members. I hypothesized, then, that a small group of elite defenders would be more apt to preserve the knowledge at their hooves."
"Did they agree with you?"
Mortuana nodded. "They did." She winced, lowering her emaciated body onto the edge of the bed. Once her limbs settled, she continued with a shuddering breath: "Thus, the Order of the Heraldic Seven was born. It took a few generations to balance out. Those who were once zealous members of the Herald moved on to enjoy peaceful lives, siring foals and grandfoals. Obscurity aided them in blending in with the general population of the equine tribes of Rohbredden. And while time and offspring dissolved the memory of the prehistoric 'Angels,' the knowledge of the Herald and their purpose was preserved immaculately here... at Wyvern Point. Seven souls—and only seven—would be granted with the authority to bear the prismatic band of Odrsjot. I, the Mountain Matron, watched over the other mortal six as they shifted and changed throughout the centuries. In that time, I've made many friends... and I've watched them pass on from this mortal plane... even more memories that I've been loyally tasked with preserving."
Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie sniffed.
Rainbow hung her head. "That... uh... that must have been super hard for you."
"It would be folly to assume for even one second that I've regretted it in any fashion, child," Mortuana said. "These past five hundred years have been peaceful... enlightening... and filled with purpose. You must understand; all my life I have been deeply acquainted with death. For the first time since the creation of Darkreach, I've felt as though I've been working towards a glorious end. And—when I could afford to—I made friends with mortal souls beyond the limitations of Wyvern Point. In my travels—or in witnessing the pilgrimages of others—I've found souls old enough and wise enough to bear the mark of my vigil. In good faith, I've christened them with my enchanted blood and sent them back out to assist the Herald in seeking evidence of the coming Harbinger."
"You... sent them back out?" Rainbow Dash murmured.
"Rainbow Dash..." Twilight murmured.
Rainbow looked at her.
Twilight mouthed three syllables.
Rainbow blinked, and her ears folded back. "Nana Pearl...?" She gaped at Mortuana. "Nana Pearl! No... no wonder she knew so much!"
"Aye, an old friend that I'm pleased to know is still alive," Mortuana said. "But she was not the first instance in which I was made aware of the Austraeoh's presence."
Rainbow blinked. "Huh?"
"After your encounter with the lost and envenomed sentinel of the Angels, you crossed paths with another one of my loyal guardians."
"'Lost and envenomed sentinel?'" Rainbow's muzzle scrunched. "... ... ...you mean Stratopolis?"
"That had to have been back in Alafreo," Twilight said.
Suddenly, Rainbow's pupils shrank. "Boxer..."
"No waaaaaaaaaaay!" Pinkie wheezed, then blinked at Fluttershy. "Who's Boxer?"
"That... makes so much sense... and yet it doesn't." Rainbow shifted. "How'd he even cross the Grand Choke?"
"Very... very slowly, I imagine," Mortuana said.
"Heh..." Rainbow slowly shook her head. "Friggin' crazy. Like... what's up with you and blind prophetic friends?"
"I extend their lives and they extend the scope of my senses. For the pursuit of wisdom, I do believe it is a fair exchange." Mortuana took a deep breath. "Alas, I've known of your existence for some time now. Realizing the hour of the Austraeoh was upon us, I informed Kepler. He attempted to inform the rest of the Seven. However, they were all spread across Rohbredden, assisting civilized society with their keen strengths and talents—as is their charge in life. After all, the task of a Heraldic member is not to simply sit in one place and assist nopony."
"Right." Rainbow nodded. "I'm guessing the 'Job Squad' was just a cover, then."
"The same can be said of Wildcard and his 'Desperadoes.'"
"It was him, wasn't it?" Rainbow remarked. "It was Wildcard who made all of this possible."
"He was fortunate enough to have been in the right time and place to facilitate your arrival in the Seven Seas. But he needed to commune with Kepler and myself in order for us to know with absolute certainty. In the meantime, I sought out Remna. She had been... detained due to various circumstances. But soon, we were able to assemble the Seven as originally intended. Now, with all of our strengths and talents combined, we are ready to assist the Austraeoh on the final sun-lit leg of her journey."
"Uh huh..." Rainbow nodded, though she could not avoid a noticeable grimace. "Yeahhhh... about that..."
"Is there a problem, child?"
"You... you know an awful lot, Mortuana. And that's pretty nifty. But... but even with all of that considered." Rainow shifted where she stood, waving a hoof. "You gotta know... I mean you have to know that the dark side is no laughing matter!"
"Indeed." Mortuana nodded. "It is a landscape so perilous that no alicorns have bothered to venture there on their own accord in eons. Even the Divines—Endrax and Verlax—have not survived the voyage... at least with their sanity intact."
"And... like... I traveled across the Grand Choke by myself for a reason." Rainbow gulped. Hard. "I knew it would be the death of the Noble Jury. I knew it would be the death of my friends."
"Alas, you now have the harmonic essences of your past friends to assist you, do you not?"
"Well..." Rainbow glanced at Twilight and the others. "...y-yeah!"
"She totally does have us!" Pinkie squeaked.
"From here to oblivion!" Rarity added loudly.
"Rarity..." Twilight groaned.
"Sorry, darling." Rarity blushed slightly. "It's... just such a poetic moment, right here..."
"But... but the trip ahead can't harm them like it can me," Rainbow Dash said.
"Their lives are anchored to you, Rainbow Dash. You will need them at the Midnight Armory and beyond." Mortuana slowly shook her head. "The Harmonic Prism will prove dull and useless unless the Austraeoh arrives by the full grace of Yaerfaerda. If you perish... if the violent rift between chaos and harmony that resides inside of you rips your body asunder, then your friends will fade along with you. Then the spark will be gone, along with all hope for this world or Urohringr."
Fluttershy let loose a feeble squeak.
"So... so what do you suggest?" Rainbow Dash remarked.
"Precisely what we have been planning for generations," Mortuana said. "We—the seven—will accompany you as far as we are able."
"Mortuana... dude..." Rainbow winced. "This trip would have killed Eljunbyro. It would have killed Khao and her friggin' army of Heraldites. And... look at you! You're an almighty alicorn and yet you're already dying and down to one vial of enchanted blood. How... how could you and only six mortals survive such a journey?"
"We do not need to," Mortuana said. "Only the Austraeoh needs to survive."
"Oh goodness," Rarity exhaled.
Rainbow stared back at the alicorn, her muzzle agape. "That... that is not even remotely fair." She gulped. "Or cool."
"I'm inclined to agree. But when the stakes are this high, Rainbow Dash, would you argue against having assistance of any kind in your endeavors?"
"But... that's Verlax's reasoning, isn't it?" Rainbow shuddered. "Making the impossible happen at all costs... because of absolute necessity?"
"And in her fear and cowardice, she is holding an entire continent of innocent souls hostage, just to needlessly test your strength and commitment to a cause that you scarcely understand, much less she." Mortuana tilted her emaciated head to the side. "What are seven noble souls worth against the immensity of all that? Or the entire plane, for that matter?"
Rainbow clammed up.
"I asked you when we first met in person, Rainbow Dash, 'what is beyond?'" Mortuana shifted her weight on the bed and let loose a pained sigh. "Well, in truth, that is for you to discover. We can only bring you past the brink. It is the purpose of the Herald... it is the purpose of this world..."
"'Ynanhluutr,'" Rainbow Dash murmured. She gazed warmly at her marefriends. "I know my place within purpose..."
"Then you know your place at the head of our trek." Mortuana breathed. "Soon... we will pursue the rising dawn together, even unto twilight."
"After all these years... are you and your friends actually ready to die?"
"Depends." Mortuana raised an eyebrow. "Are you ready to live?"