//------------------------------//
// Bat, Bird, and Horse Club 
// Story: Utaan 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

	The air was cold and tense above the platforms of Frostknife.

Citizens trotted back and forth shiftily, staring... and glaring at others as they passed on by.  Twice the normal regiment of guards stood at attention before the buildings, offices, and armories of the Rohbredden capital.

Down in the bay, the waters were mostly empty.  Lesser and leser ships docked at the harbors.  Workers with nothing to do milled about on the wooden boardwalks, murmuring speculative rumors of stagnant trade and market collapse.

A tier or two above, groups of ponies gathered along the frosted balconies in bunches, gossipping about military maneuvers and northern campaigns.  Every now and then, a group of new recruits trotted in single file after their commanding officers.  When this happened, the citizens clammed up, watching the enlisted equines and griffons with anxious eyes.

Above even all of this, members of the Central Guard gathered materials together and hauled them north towards the supply camps established at the head of Frostknife.  Entire sections of the balconies had been roped off to allow space exclusively for the military.

A solitary figure was allowed to traverse this space, regardless.  She was a lone griffon, clad in a humble robe with a dark hood.  With vaporous breaths, Seraphimus shuffled past the busy streams of Rohbreddenites forming the lifeblood of the newly rejuvenated war effort.  She adjusted her cloak and descended a series of winding stairs clinging to the west wall of Frostknife.

Within an hour, she reached the southern banks of the harbor.  After following the colder winds, she stumbled once again upon the mouths to the frozen holds.  She walked deep into the cavern's interior until she was standing in the blue glow of her frozen family.  There, she sat down, took a meditative breath... and lingered...

And the first of many... many hours limped by...





"You weren't kidding, Theams," Echo slurred.  The sarosian hung upside down from a rusted beam situated at the top of his dim, dim cell.  The faintest penumbra of gray-tinted sunlight graced his leafy ears.  His fangs glinted as he said, "I almost wish I could go outside.  With the air that thick with tension, I bet I could open my mouth and suck blood straight out of the wind."

"Please..."  Theanim Mane shuddered, leaning against the outer bars of Echo's cell.  "Spare the grotesque analogies."

Echo's slitted eyes narrowed in the shadows.  "Since when were you so queasy?"

Theanim gulped.  "Since I watched my very own kingdom shrivel up into a mindless husk before my eyes."

"You think it's that bad, huh?"

"Old chap," Theanim muttered.  "This country lingered on the precipice of civil war.  Then—within a single, solitary blink—the pendulum swung, and now we are marching to the commands of a misanthropic powermonger with an inexplicable amount of authority dropped into his hooves!"

"Well, did the Goddess speak or didn't she?"

"It's... it's all about the timing, Echo!" Theanim hissed.  He stood up and paced back and forth before the cell.  "Surely, it's a marvelous thing to be granted audience with the Goddess herself.  But... but to appear when she did... and in the way that she did... and to what end?!"  He scuffled to a stop, frowning.  "Verlaxion's messenger made it clear:  Brye Chandler, a veritable wolf in sheep's clothing, is now granted authority over the entire Central Guard.  Could our Queen really be so blind as to empower an utter sociopath?!"

"Didn't she say it was all about 'redemption' and all that jazz?" Echo lisped.

"I know a thing or two about Verlaxion's mercy," Theanim said.  "Historically speaking, she's always empowered each and every one of us to pursue retrobution on an individualistic level.  But... but to put the entirety of her kingdom at stake just for the sake of morally cleansing a single stallion?"  Theanim frowned.  "And—quite frankly—I do not see how this is going to accomplish anything for the better!  It's obvious to everypony with a brain that Chandler's only going to enjoy a bloated ego from this!  And just what promise is there that the stallion will even relinquish his authority as 'Defense Minister' once this nasty business with Rainbow Dash is finished?!  If it's finished?!"

"You don't suppose the whole frickin' thing is staged, do you?"

Theanim blinked.  "Huh?"

Echo waved an upside down hoof.  "I know the High-and-Mighty Queen likes to make herself manifest through frozen talking soup cans.  Just how hard is that to fake, you think?"

Theanim's ears folded back as he frowned and said, "Chandler is a master of many conniving things, but magic is not his strong suit.  Besides..."  He shuddered, glancing aside.  "The golem came down from the Throne of Verlaxion.  There's simply no way a living thing can trot up those inhospitable steps and survive... much less return."

"Then what hope does Rainbow Dash have in getting there?"

"If that is her intent."

"Isn't it?"

Theanim sighed. He resumed pacing before the bars.  "You remember Rainbow's words as much as I do, I hope."  He gulped.  "She's convinced that Verlaxion... 'Verlax'... is nothing more than a pretender... a creature of draconian falsehood that is just as subservient to the powers of 'harmony' as any other living thing."

"And you think she's right?"  Echo squinted.  "Because—if so—then she must know a way to clear a straight path deep into the heart of Starkiss."

"Yes... and her supposed 'allies' from beyond the Blight must be attempting to assist her."

"Have you brought this to the attention of the Order?"

"Huh?"  Theanim looked through the bars.

Echo cleared his throat.  "You know... the Order... the Ninety-Seventh Order?  I figured all you scientist guildmates ever did was stand around, smelling each other's farts.  But if there was ever a situation where you needed to step up your thinking game... this is the one, don't you think?"

"I've run this situation by the Order more than three times since arriving from Sunset Prefecture."

"Yeah, and?"

Theanim sighed.  "They think that I'm delusional.  They claim that I've been... tainted by the same aura of Blight that's brainwashed the Wyvern Tribe into supporting the 'Rainbow Rogue.'"

Echo blinked.  "These motherbuckers are supposed to be scientists, right?"

"Echo, old chap, it's not that simple!  My fellow scientists have performed the bulk of their research within laboratory environments!  Barely ten percent of them have conducted experiments out in the field—and not many of them can hold a candle to the lengths that I've gone!  Or the places that I've seen!  Or the ponies who... whom I've..."

"None of them have ever talked face-to-face with Rainbow Dash," Echo droned.  "They don't know the world beyond the Blight."  A cold, slitted blink.  "It's like they're living in a bubble, and now that things have burst... they're splattered all over the place.  That's gotta suck super hard for you, buddy."

Theanim sighed, hanging his head.  "...I... I could be pressing the issue more with them, I suppose.  I have photographic evidence of the mechanical material and magical anomalies I've witnessed beneath the bay waters of Nealand.  But..."

"But what?"

Theanim gulped.  "It's been made relatively clear from prior meetings that if I press the issue of defending the 'Rainbow Rogue' anymore, they could strip me of my commission."

"They'd disbar you from the Order?"

"Or something close to that, yes."

"Just for doing your friggin' job?"  Echo snorted.  "What's with all the icicles up everypony's bum as of late?"

"This is an atmosphere the likes of which we haven't experienced in centuries, old chap," Theanim said, his face long and melancholic.  "Every citizen is convinced that Verlaxion is dying... that she is threatened by a monster of foreign origin."

"Don't forget those 'treacherous' wyverns."

"Goddess..."  Theanim cringed.  "...if only you could hear the unsavory things being spoken of the monks at Wyvern Point.  I swear, every time I take so much as a leisurely stroll across the platforms of Frostknife, I hear entirely unheard of levels of vitriolic rhetoric.  It's... shameful, really.. the extent to which paranoia and fear can pollute even the most educated minds."

"Bet it does wonders for Rohbreddenite solidarity," Echo said.  "What ever happened to those shitty-ass Magistrates who were betraying their own citizens?"

Theanim sighed.  "Magistrates Timplan, Vilcheez, and their associates have... quietly and calmly been 'retired.'"

"What?  You mean by a crossbolt to the back of the neck?"

"They've been sequestered to a remote part of the twilight prefectures in the east," Theanim said.  "They won't be granted political power ever again.  However, at the same time, it would appear they've been gifted a far more merciful fate than permanent residence here in the Frosted Shelves."

"Heh... lucky bastards."  Echo yawned, fangs glinting.  "Bet they get all the coral they could huff."

"Echo..." Theanim grumbled.

"Heh.  Just kidding."  A slitted wink.  "They're politicians.  Now that they're no longer in office, their days of huffing coral are far behind them."

"All in all, a great deal of power is being drawn inward," Theanim explained.  "To the Defense Minister."

"Chandler, right?"

"Indeed.  And—apart from summoning an unprecedented number of eager recruits to the Central Guard—he's already sent multiple expeditions north... deep into the Star Fringes."

"You think they'll catch Rainbow Dash in time?"

"Odds are, she can still elude them," Theanim said.  "But... if her party does happen to run into the veterans of the Central Guard..."  He shuddered.  "...I fear that much... much blood will be shed."

"For real?"

"You know as well as I do that Rainbow Dash is an unstoppable force, Old Chap."  Theanim gulped.  "Empowered by magic that you and I can scarcely understand."

"Yeah, but... she's Rainbow Dash... the heroine of Rust and Shoggoth.  You really think she's capable of being the villain that Verlaxion's messenger is painting her to be?"

"She crossed a line in the Quade, didn't she?"

Echo's slitted eyes glanced aside.

"It was the mystery behind her actions that I pursued in the first place, Old Chap," Theanim said.  "And while it helped me unravel the conspiracy behind the Consortium's misdeeds..."  He sighed.  "I... I-I just don't know where her heart lies anymore..."

"It lies in the same place it's always been," said a cool, calm voice.  "Due east."

Theanim turned—only to bump into a silver breastplate.  "Guh!"  He stumbled back, goggles rattling.

Keris blinked at him.  "At ease, Professor," he exhaled, standing next to the bars of Echo's cell.  "Birds of a feather breathe together."

"Sorry, Theams," Echo droned.  "I saw him show up a minute ago.  Figured you caught a glance as well."

"I'm..."  Theanim brushed his bangs back, shivering.  "...n-not quite so accustomed..."  He gulped.  "...to this dismal place..."

"Hmmm... such is the intent," Keris said.

"Lieutenant..."  Theanim stood tall, composing himself.  "I... hope you bring good tidings."

"I wish that I was," Keris said.  "However, with the powers of the Council shifting and our estranged prismatic pegasus still at large, I'm just as anxious as you are."

"Aren't you guys still in charge?" Echo remarked.  "Right Testicle of Verlaxion and all?"

"That's Right Talon," Keris momentarily growled.  His magenta eyes sliced upwards through the bars.  "Echo of the Syndicate, I presume."

"Formerly of the Syndicate," the sarosian said with a wink.

"Mmmm... I see."  Keris nodded.  "Looks like we're both equally ignorant of one another.  My apologies, good sir."  He waved a talon.  "Your work in leading us to Jeryn's testimonial was priceless in exposing Chandler."

"Hey... you're welcome, birdy..."  Echo sighed.  "Although... fat lot of bucking good it did us all in the end, huh?"

"That remains to be seen."  Keris looked at Theanim.  "Jeryn, I trust, is enjoying his end of the bargain?"

"Indeed."  Theanim nodded.  "He's been relocated to a loftier position within the Frosted Shelves.  He's quite content with his isolation there."

"Boyyyyyyyy are the rest of the inmates in here pissed," Echo said with a cold chuckle.  "I know a few bastards by face who were itching to kick the shithead's brains out."  His fuzzy nostrils flared.  "Only a matter of time until word spreads about how I helped the foal-fooler relocate.  Hrmmmfff... guess I never deserved a peaceful death either."

Keris squinted at the upside-down stallion.  "We shall see what we can do about that."

"Heeeeeeey... lucky birdy..."

"Is that what you came here for?" Theanim asked.  "To offer thanks to my companion here?"  He cleared his throat.  "Not that I'm complaining, mind you..."

Keris sighed.  He paced past Theanim, his beak aimed to the cold stone floor.  "I'm at a loss to explain what I'm doing here."  He gulped.  "I'm at a loss to explain anything anymore."

"I understand the sentiment completely," Theanim said.

"I wish that you didn't," Keris groaned.  "Alas, as you have worked your entire life to manifest the truth, I've worked my whole career to ensure the safety of this kingdom."  He frowned.  "Today, we're witnessing both feats crumble before our eyes.  And yet... as much as the Grand Magistrate and the newly-appointed Defense Minister would have us believe it's all the Rainbow Rogue's fault... I just can't see it that way."

"Reality is far too complicated to pin all of the problems facing Rohbredden on our estranged Equestrian accomplice," Theanim said.  "Surely—by now—you agree that there's a great deal of shadiness revolving around the timing of Verlaxion's revelation."

"I agree that there's a great deal concerning Verlaxion that I do not understand."  Keris clenched his beak.  "Beforehand, her will has always been clear cut.  The Court operated by her insight and they gave us instructions and we followed them.  But now...?  The entire system has been completely restructured, and just because of the word given by a single messenger."

"Say..."  Echo flipped off the bar and landed on his nimble hooves.  "Mmmff... if Verlaxion's really, truly been weak all this time, why make her revelation at the last second?"

The stallion and griffon peered through the bars at him.

"I mean... the Great Unifier's got a shitton of foresight and intuition, right?"  Echo shrugged.  "Couldn't she have—y'know—warned us about the 'demon from beyond the Blight' way... waaaaaaaay ahead of time?  But—like—instead she waits until the pimply-ass-last-second... right when Rainbow and her nebulous party of bastards are hammering on her frozen back door."

"And precisely when the discordant attitude of the Prefectures is at its angriest," Theanim added with a nod.  "The irony is not lost to me either, Old Chap."

"Seems to me that she's cherry picking from the negative atmosphere of the Court," Echo said.  "I've seen this sort of crap before.  Boss Revan of Rust would wait until the citizens of Rust were at their most desperate and downtrodden before going out to exploit them.  It worked every time... at least until everypony caught on to how he was—y'know—bombing the shit out of innocent citizens' apartments behind their backs."

Keris grimaced, gazing aside.

Theanim flashed him a glance.  "What is it, Lieutenant?"

Keris shuddered.  "Just... thinking..."

Theanim's eyes narrowed.  "About the things Rainbow Dash said?  To me in the Seven Seas and to you at Red Barge?"

Keris clenched his beak shut.

"At first, I didn't want to believe it any more than you do," Theanim said.  "But her testimony makes a great deal of sense given the context of our current crisis."  He waved a hoof.  "What if this... all of this was a genius orchestration meant to stage a trap for the eastbound pegasus from beyond the Blight?"

"I do not appreciate the implications of such a theory..."

"They were never meant to be enjoyed, Lieutenant," Theanim said.  "The truth is rarely ever quite so... agreeable."  He took a deep breath.  "For what it's worth, I'm not quite so fond of the possibilities either.  To think... that we all live atop a superficial artifice... a thin, organic veil that blinds us to a mechanical monstrosity the likes of which no mortals can comprehend."

"But Verlaxion... or Verlax..."  Echo shrugged from where he stood behind the bars.  "Goddess... Dragon Divine... whatever—now there's a being who's lived long enough and has been empowered mightily enough to perceive such things."  He snorted.  "Doesn't take getting high on coral to imagine the possibilities."

"But... I do not understand..."  Keris looked up at the stallions on either side of the bars.  "Even if such an unthinkable situation was real... what would be the aim of Verlaxion?"

"Yeah, well..."  Echo shrugged.  "Where's the sense in her appointing Chandler McDoucheface as her war horse?"

Keris frowned.

"Lieutenant..."  Theanim sighed, his ears twitching nervously.  "Thousands of years is a long time to live and not go insane."  He gave the griffon a forlorn glance.  "Even if what Rainbow Dash claims is untrue, we have to face the very real possibility that... our Great Unifier may have lost control of her divine wits."

Keris inhaled sharply.  "The very implications of what you're saying is sacreligious... traitorous even."

Theanim nodded.  "I've known that since Nealend.  Unfortunately—as the situation has grown more and more tense—I could not enjoy the leisure of sitting idly by while dark forces tear this kingdom apart."

"Indeed.  And I'm quite glad that you and your midnight companion here brought the information of the Consortium to my attention."  Keris paced some more.  "But, alas, 'sitting ildly by' is the only thing the Talon and I appear to be capable of doing right now."

"You've gotta be shitting me," Echo growled.

"Old Chap..."  Theanim waved a hoof at him, then turned to squint at Keris.  "What's the matter?  Did you not bring these issues up with your Commander?"

"I did, but Seraphimus—she..."  Keris winced.  After a cold shudder, he resumed:  "The Commander is a brave griffon... a strong griffon.  But she is also a very sensitive individual... with much that she's lost..."  He sighed.  "And even more to lose."

"I assume you speak of her family in frozen stasis."

Keris turned to blink at the scientist.  "You know?"

Theanim smiled faintly.  "There are few things I don't."

"I simply cannot put into words just how much the words of Verlaxion mean to her," Keris said emphatically.  "They are her very lifeblood.  When the Council tells her to do something, her entire existence hinges on that task and that task alone."

"What's she expecting?" Echo droned.  "Table scraps?"

Keris glared viciously through the bars.  "She expects the respect and the loving-kindness of our Divine Unifier."  He cooled off with a sigh.  "However, such blessings have been... shallow as of late."  He gulped.  "If not completly formless."

"This latest restructuring of executive power must have been like a dagger to the back," Theanim remarked.  "She has my sympathy."

"Aye, and mine as well," Keris said with a nod.  "Not to mention my everlasting appreciation and respect.  However... she's concluded that—with Chandler being the Defense Minister—it is our place as the Talon to abide by his instructions.  I've met personally with Grand Magistrate Hymmnos, and it would appear that the Court shares this sentiment."

"So, what, then?" Echo remarked.  "The Talon's claws are dulled?"

"For the moment, they are completely trimmed," Keris spat.  "I feel like my wings are clipped the longer that I stay here, numbed by the blistery winds of Frostknife."  He groaned.  "At least in Sunset Prefecture, we had a modicum of agency.  But now?"

"With the Consortium exposed, one can expect the artificial insurgence within the central Prefectures to be halted completely," Theanim said.  "But we've got a new issue to deal with now."

"Chandler," Keris grunted.

Theanim nodded.  "Let's say he's successful in Starkiss.  Let's say he captures the Rainbow Rogue, drags her to Frostknife, has a public lynching—or whatever."  His blue eyes narrowed.  "Do you really... truly believe that his ambition will stop there?"

"Unless Verlaxion manifests herself again before the Council and states otherwise..."  Keris shook his head gravely.  "No.  I suspect that he will do what he can to maintain executive powers."

"And with an army of such magnitude at his disposal, what are the odds he won't stoop to invading the Colonialist islands?" Theanim remarked.  "Throwing everything east of the Blight into war and chaos for the sake of his own brand of 'unification?'"

Keris gulped.  "The thought... has occurred to me... and the other members of the Talon as well."

"What are their opinions on this bullshit?" Echo asked.

"About the same as mine," Keris remarked.  "Not that it matters.  If the Commander has grounded us... then here in Frostknife we will stay."

"Just because your big bitchy boss has her feathery panties in a knot over her popsicle famiily?!"

"Mind your tongue, midnighter," Keris growled.  "If you fear a reprisal for Jeryn's security here in the Shelves, you will not wish to make an enemy of the Talon through such insulting words."

Echo bore a fanged grin.  "I don't think I've ever been so politely threatened."  He winked through the bars at Theanim.  "I like this bird, Theams."

Theanim sighed, facing Keris once again.  "Well, I'm not being allowed many liberties from the Order myself.  In a manner of speaking, I'm 'grounded' too."  He cleared his throat.  "Still... with our combined intellect and resources, surely we can find something we can do here in Frostknife to maintain a certain level-headedness."

"You mean an investigation of some sort?"

"Precisely."  Theanim bore a weak smile.  "We brought Chandler to his knees before.  What's to say that we can't properly prepare the public for when or if he attempts a complete takeover of the system?"

"The trail ended in Sunset Prefecture, Professor," Keris said.  "With all due respect, our quest for truth broke like water against the shoals of Verlaxion's words."  The griffon shook his feathery head.  "I doubt we have much more to go on, unless your friend here has deeper connections within the collapsed strata of the Syndicate to indict Chandler even harder."

"Nope."  Echo shrugged.  "Sorry, Mr. Pelican.  But Jeryn was the last thread, and Revan's gone bonkers... from what I hear."

"Hmmmf..."  Keris gazed into the shadows.  "A pity."

"There's the goofy-ass letter, of course, but... meh..."  Echo stifled a fanged yawn.  "Probably a damned prank."

"Hmm?"  Keris' hawkeyes blinked.  "A letter?"

"Echo received a written missive over a week ago," Theanim explained.  "Shortly before I pursued an interview with Jeryn."

"Would it be too much trouble to see this letter?" Keris asked.  "It seems hardly a coincidence for a lone midnighter to receive something so randomly."

"Hey, knock yourself out."  Echo trotted over to his cot and pulled the envelope out from beneath his pillow.  "Frickin' weirdest thing I've ever laid my hooves on... that I didn't hallucinate, of course.  Heheh..."  He passed the letter through the bars.  "Look all you want.  The damn thing's blank."

"Blank, you say...?"  Keris pulled the sheet out of the envelope and grasped it in his good talon.

"Indeed."  Theanim nodded.  "Aside from a single name listed at the bottom.  Most mysterious."

"... ... ..."  Keris suddenly paled, white-as-a-sheet.  His beak parted open and he slumped back on his feline haunches.

Theanim blinked.  "Lieutenant?"

Keris was dead silent.

"Keris, good sir?"  Theanim cleared his throat.  "Is... is there something amiss?"

"Jordan..."  Keris exhaled, his headcrest drooping.  "By the Goddess... could... could he be...?"

"You..."  Theanim squinted.  "...recognize the name?"

Keris jolted.  With sudden vigor, he held the sheet close to his beak.  He inhaled deeply, squinting as his senses registered the smell.  Once... twice—he touched his tongue to the page and felt the chemicals absorbing into his mouth.

Theanim blinked.

"... ... ...!"  Keris stood up straight.  "I must get to the Armory."

"What's the matter?"

"There is a chemical laboratory located within," Keris said.  "I haven't used it in years, but I will need to do so today."  He shifted slightly, then turned towards the stallion before him.  "Professor, if you would be so kind as to assist me..."

"Uhm... gladly!"  Theanim awkwardly adjusted his goggles over his mane.  "Erm... assist you with what?"

"I cannot explain here," Keris said.  "Not all ears in the Frosted Shelves can be trusted.  Come."  He grasped Theanim by the shoulder and urged the two of them forward, up the nearest stairwell.  "We must make haste."

"Erm... b-by all means!"

Silence.

Echo stood alone behind the bars of his cell.

"... ... ...You're welcome!" he finally hissed, before retiring to his cot with a lonesome sigh.  "Shitlords."