The most poetic way to describe it was a rhumba of rattlesnakes aloft in the sky, swirling, curling, and undulating with loose bands of red, orange, and fuchsia light. They pierced the clouds, scraping the stratosphere due north of the frozen peaks flanking the lofty sanctuary of Wyvern Point.
As a matter of fact, the tapering luminescent bands were so bright that the wooden palace scarcely needed torchlight. Rainbow noticed in her peripheral vision that only half of the brazers were lit. In place of their golden glow, the wooden rooftops and spires of the sanctuary structure were fluctuating with crimson hues.
Rainbow shuffled along the balconies, her body kissed by errant mountain breezes. She gazed down into the valley—but found herself having to squint. The icy snow reflected the red aurora with a shimmering sheen. In fact, the valley was almost brighter than the sky. Rainbow had no clue how the Snow-Bloods living outside the front entrance of the Wyvern managed to sustain such a mesmerizing light show. And yet, the village lingered downhill, quiet, asleep, and peaceful.
"Isn't it absolutely spectacular?" Fluttershy remarked. "It started about two hours after sundown."
"It's... something else, alright," Rainbow managed with a nod.
"I almost went to wake up Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy said. "But they're resting right now and I didn't want to be rude."
"It's probably just as well," Rainbow droned. She came to a stop against a balcony and leaned against its wooden railing. Her head craned harder, eyes scraping the living sky. "Knowing Twilight... heh... the poor egghead would just beg for a scientific explanation and friggin' ruin it for everypony else."
"It's the skystone deposits," said a soft voice from behind.
"...?" Both Rainbow and Fluttershy spun around, looking up.
The gray silhouette of a pegasus mare perched on the pointed edge of the rooftop above. Ariel's raven black mane flowed against the fiery light show, and a playful smile wafted in and out of existence with each crimson strobe. "We're positioned so far north that the enchanted materia's scarcely a sneeze away."
"No kidding?" Rainbow pivoted to look north. There—the majority of the undulating bands were most densely situated. "Must be friggin' hard to fly around here if we're that close."
Ariel winked a blue eye. "No trouble for this mare. You can count on that."
"Heh..." Rainbow did a mock curtsey. "...I didn't mean to insult the token filly of the Job Squad."
"And I didn't mean to interrupt the Austraeoh's quaint conversation."
Rainbow squirmed. "Uhm..." She looked aside at Fluttershy. "...about that—"
"Please." Ariel leaned her head to the side from where she perched against the breeze. "There's no reason to feel awkward." She nodded. "You were simply speaking with one of the spectral bands of the Spark."
"Huh..." Fluttershy blinked.
"Is that..." Rainbow winced. "...really what the Herald's prophetic text call my friends?"
"Heeheehee..." Ariel giggled. She rolled her eyes and smirked. "Yeah... it sounds super stiff and silly to me too. That's what you get when you have a bunch of nerdy wyverns translate an ancient, dead language." She stood up, spreading her wings. "But, if you must know, yes... the old books speak of the Austraeoh's Eljunbyros... both corporeal and incorporeal."
"Well, nice to know that I have a lot less explaining to do," Rainbow said.
FWOOSH! Ariel was suddenly standing behind Rainbow. "If I may ask... what's their names?"
Rainbow spun around. "Huh?"
"Your friends," Ariel said with a calm smile. "The ones only you can see."
"Uhm..." Rainbow glanced aside. "I was just talking to one of them at the moment. The rest are... resting."
"Even still." Ariel stifled another giggle. "I would love to know their names... if... that's not too much for a Heraldite to ask of the almighty Austraeoh."
Rainbow looked at Fluttershy. Fluttershy smiled. Rainbow looked back at Ariel with a smirk. "Well... this right here is Fluttershy. She's a super sweet... super cool pegasus with a talent for taking care of animals."
"How do you do, Miss Ariel?" Fluttershy curtsied. "I really like your mane."
Rainbow shrugged. "She says that she really, really has to poop."
"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy gasped, her cheeks puffing red with a pout. "That is not what I said!"
"Heeheehee..." Rainbow giggled raspily. She rolled her eyes and winked at Ariel. "Okay. For real. She says she likes your mane."
Ariel's muzzle opened. "Awwww... that's stupidly sweet."
"That's Fluttershy."
"Ahem..." Ariel pivoted to face the spectre's general direction. "Greetings, Fluttershy. It's a real pleasure to meet you. Any friend of Austraeoh is a friend of mine."
"And the others—the ones who are... uh... 'sleeping' right now..."
"Yes?"
"They're called Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie." Rainbow gulped. "And... and the last one that Yaerfaerda has yet to cough up is Applejack. Ahem."
Ariel raised an eyebrow. "All mares?"
Fluttershy blinked.
Rainbow cocked her head aside as she looked at Ariel. "How do you know one of those ponies isn't a handsome hunk of a stallion?"
Ariel gave a bored stare. "'Pinkie Pie...?'"
"Heh... okay. You got me. All girls."
"Hmmm... as good as it gets."
"Heh... yeah." Rainbow gulped. "We... uh... all met in Ponyville, except for me and Fluttershy. The two of us hung out in flight school."
"'Flight School?'" Ariel leaned against the balcony with a grin. "Is there really such a thing beyond the Blight?"
"Girl, in Equestria we have whole cities made of clouds floating in the sky!" Rainbow smiled proudly. "Cloudsdale is home to tens of thousands of pegasi alone."
"Wow..."
"And don't get me started on Las Pegasus... Stratosfillia... Pegasopolis." Rainbow gulped dryly. "Although... uh... the last one is just an ancient relic these days... a few freely floating fumes at best."
"Still, I had no idea so many pegasi permanently flocked together like that." Ariel sighed. "I knew that meeting the Austraeoh would mean I'd learn a thing or two about the Dark Side... but the rest of the world as well?"
"Heh... the stories I could tell."
"I bet." Ariel nodded. "I... I know we all had our opportunity to say it as a group, but it really... truly is an honor to finally meet you in person, Austraeoh."
"Were you seriously waiting your entire life for my arrival?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Of course!" Ariel said. Her muscles flinched, and she glanced aside, ears drooping. "Well..."
"...?" Rainbow stared.
Ariel brushed her bangs back, smiling and avoiding Rainbow's gaze. "There was a time when I didn't care at all about this... 'Austraeoh mumbo jumbo.'"
"Mumbo Jumbo?" Fluttershy blinked.
"How'd you hear about it, then?" Rainbow asked.
"My mother was a member of the Herald," Ariel said. "Up until... a chance ambush by heavily armed Seven Seas privateers. Then she was no longer a member of the Herald... or my mother for that matter." She gulped.
Fluttershy bit her lip.
"I'm... uh... sorry to hear that."
"Don't be." Ariel shrugged. "I'm not. My mother and I? We aired our grievances years before she kicked the bucket. She was a strong mare... the fastest and most badass pegasus around... besides me of course."
"Heh, sure."
"I'm proud of her." She cleared her throat. "I wasn't always, though. For years, I could never understand her obsession with being One of the Seven."
"How long was she a member of the Herald?"
"All of her life. Thus... all my life too." Ariel exhaled heavily. "She was such a strong mare... capable of doing so many things. I just... could never understand why she sacrificed all of that for a seemingly suicidal pledge to ancient texts."
"Yeah..." Rainbow squirmed. "...one might wonder."
Ariel gave her a knowing glance. "I thought she was foolish only because I knew she could have had it so much better. A mare with those kinds of talents? She could have owned a Barge if she really wanted to."
"That's... not exactly an enviable position."
"Heh... I know that now. But I didn't when I was younger and stupider." Ariel snorted. "Eventually, I came around to see precisely what she was fighting for."
"What happened?"
"I was a mercenary for higher. It... was a dangerous profession. I think part of me chose it to get back at my mother. But, while doing various jobs across Rohbredden, I learned pretty quick that... nothing is quite as it seems. And Verlaxion?" Ariel gravely shook her head. "Not exactly the pristine goddess everypony claims that she is."
"Amen."
"Shortly after, Mom introduced me to her six partners—including the immortal Mortuana. Well... mortal to a fault.."
"Right."
"And I could tell... I could just tell that these crazy 'Herald' guys and gals were up to something. When my mother passed, they needed a new member to fill the missing spot among the Sacred Seven. By then, I was... practically part of the family. They offered me the position and—naturally—I took it in a heartbeat."
"Even though it's far less glamorous or promising than mercenary work?"
"Look... what stakes are bigger than the fate of this entire friggin' world?" Ariel remarked. "If we don't look after the Austraeoh and her journey, then all is lost."
"Hmmmm..." Fluttershy looked at Rainbow. "What a remarkable story."
"Uhm..." Rainbow glanced at the lower balconies of the sanctuary. "Do the Sacred Seven switch seats often?"
"When you make a pledge to the Herald, you pledge for good," Ariel explained. "Ponies, griffons, wyverns... creatures of all trots and feathers of life? They've all filled the six slots constantly throughout the years. Mortuana's been in the number one spot forever, of course. She's the central thread that holds us all together."
"What about sirens?" Rainbow Dash asked, leaning her head to the side. "Can seaponies join?"
"Pffft. What, you stupid?" Ariel bore a stupid grin. "Big Show's just a bunch of seaponies in a water-filled earth pony suit!"
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy giggled.
"Heeheehee..." Ariel finished chuckling. "Yeah..." She stared up into the fluctuating sky. "I joined kinda late. After the Mountain Matron, Kepler's the oldest."
"How old, exactly?"
"Not... sure, really. He's made his mark in the archives of this sanctuary decades ago. He knows the ancient texts inside and out. None of us really know just how long wyverns live for. None of us but the wyverns... and Mortuana too, I imagine."
"Right."
"Then Remna's the third most experienced of us. She's lasted longer than the entire job squad... even trained half of us"
"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me."
"She knew Wildcard before he became a member of the Herald," Ariel explained. "Helped him recover from his injuries."
"Injuries?"
"Erm... I only know so much... Wildcard being Wildcard and all." Ariel shrugged. "But... from what Kepler says... Wildcard showed up at the sanctuary in pieces shortly before Flynn and Logan joined. Poor guy had been through a lot... don't let his tough exterior fool you. There was once a time when he was so bloodied and battered that you couldn't even recognize him."
"Awwwwwwww..." Fluttershy sniffed. "Now I want to hug him."
"Remna worked him back into fighting shape," Ariel said. "And she wasn't soft about it either. Whew boy... that griffon learned to be a badass again through a real trial by fire."
"Who gave him the prosthetic?" Rainbow asked. "Flynn?"
"Damn straight." Ariel grinned. "Built it for him... using the same tech as he channels into his and Big Show's steam packs."
"Bet that made Wildcard's day."
"Eh... kinda. In truth, Wildcard... used to be a real hardass."
"Jee." Rainbow smirked dryly. "What a shocker."
"I'm serious!" Ariel frowned. "He was... like... Diet Remna. But that was a long frickin' time ago. He's loosened up a whole bunch ever since. Now you can actually approach him without almost getting your eyes pecked out."
"Yeesh... what got him to change?"
"What else?" Ariel smiled warmly. "Bard happened."
"They've... known each other for a while?"
"Eh... long enough," Ariel said with a shrug. "Bard ran raids with Flynn and Big Show in Central Rohbredden to drive pirates out of the mainland. It was almost a coincidence that it turned out they all knew Wildcard as well. Soon after I joined, the five of us became a group. And during lulls in the responsibilities of the Herald, Remna and Kepler volunteered to watch over the western reaches while the rest of us contributed our talents to the safety of Rohbredden civilization."
"The five of you... the Job Squad plus Bard?"
"That's right."
"So... can I ask a friggin' obvious question?"
"You can try."
Rainbow squinted. "Why isn't Bard one of the Herald?"
"Heh... it's not as if we haven't offered," Ariel said with a wave of the hoof. "The dude's passed it off every time."
"Really?" Rainbow exchanged glances with Fluttershy, then looked at the mare again. "What for?"
Ariel squinted. "You mean he hasn't told you?"
"Told us what?"
Silence.
"Erm... never mind..." Ariel shrinked back.
"No. Out with it." Rainbow leaned forward. "What's up with Bard."
"I... it..." Ariel cleared her throat. "I think it's best if the cowcolt to you himself someday."
"What's the big deal with—"
"It's Bard's choice," Ariel said, her voice taking on a briefly sharp tone. "Years back, I made a promise to him. So did the rest of the Squad. His past is his own business... nopony else's."
"Oh." Rainbow blinked. "Okay."
"Please... don't take it the wrong way," Ariel said with a nervous grimace. "You're the Austraeoh and all... but..."
"Hey." Rainbow waved. "Your word is your word. I wouldn't want to step on anyone's fetlocks."
"Even still... I'm just... super surprised that Bard hasn't opened up more to you." Ariel's blue eyes reflected the red sheen overhead. "You three have been through so much in Rust and beyond. From what Wildcard says, you single-hoofedly saved their lives more than once."
"Pffft..." Rainbow shrugged. "I only did the same that they would... do for me." She winced at the end of that utterance.
Ariel marely stared at her.
"I... uh..." Rainbow cleared her throat. "...I did a lot of things to... ruin our friendship." She exhaled hard. "Or at least I thought I did... until they came back for me in Braum."
Ariel smiled. "They were doing things to help you from the shadows long before that."
"Yeah, and I get that now... but for a while there... I thought that I had messed things up for good. Celestia knows it's what I deserved."
"Still, you managed pretty well on your own."
"Heh... barely..."
"Seriously!" Ariel grinned proudly. "You outran the Talon in a train! The Talon... in a train!"
"Pffft..." Rainbow Dash waved a hoof. "Couldn't have done it without my friends there by my side. Fluttershy and the rest, I mean."
"I know. And that's precisely the point." Ariel sighed through a smile. "You really are the Austraeoh. Nothing can stop you."
"Yeah, well, stuff has stopped the Austraeoh before."
"You seem to have managed just fine. Chalk it up to Eljunbyro."
"No, I mean the Austraeohs before me," Rainbow said. "Like Commander Hurricane. She met her end in Stratopolis."
Ariel blinked wide. "There have been... other Austraeohs beside you?"
"Uhm... kinda sorta?" Rainbow shifted uncomfortably. "Commander Hurricane lived her heroic life millennia ago. Time and Urohringr have had... a lot of time to reload its gun, so to speak."
"Wow..." Ariel stared off with numb awe. "...that just blows my friggin' mind." She gulped. "I wonder what would have happened if Mortuana crossed paths with her instead."
"My life would be a lot more simpler."
"Yeah. Boring too, I bet."
Rainbow chuckled. "You said it, girl."
"Heeheehee..."
Rainbow ran a hoof over her buzzed head. "You know... this whole 'Herald' thing isn't quite as freaky as I thought."
"Jee. Thanks."
"I mean... from past experiences, I've sorta been prepared for the worst. But you guys? You and Kepler and Wildcard? You're not half bad. Bard too. Even if he isn't... well... you know."
"Heheh... right..."
"Still, what I wouldn't do to learn more, y'know?" Rainbow shrugged. "About the texts... about the Sacred Seven..."
"About the Dark Side," Fluttershy said.
Rainbow pointed at her with a nod. "Right. About everything." Rainbow looked at Ariel. "I don't supposed you did a decent amount of reading in between all of the pirate butt-kicking?"
"Can't say that I have," Ariel said. "Still..." She bore a smile. "...if you want some light shone on your journey, there is someone you can talk to."