//------------------------------//
// Brothers of a Feather, Forever 
// Story: Utaan 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

	A persistent blizzard howled, slicing its way west across the sharp cliff-faces of the Star Fringes.

Rainbow Dash and the Herald marched boldly against the blistery winds.  At best, they afforded themselves a slow, sluggish pace.  Wildcard and Remna spotted patches of slightly less turbulent air, and they steered the rest of the travelers through them.  The randomly jutting peaks of the Star Fringes allowed for narrow pockets of somewhat agreeable atmosphere.  The group proceeded eastward in a zig-zagged fashion, no longer satisfied with just waiting for the blizzard to clear.

Rainbow gnashed her teeth.  Every square inch of her body was covered in snowy frost—save for a narrow strip above her nose that the pegasus persistently blocked with a raised forelimb.  All in all, the mare maintained a steady pace—until a particularly violent blast of cold air struck her left side.  "Mgrnnnghh—gaah!"  Rainbow stumbled.

"Rainbow one?!" Kepler's voice pierced the winds from behind.

Remna gasped, spinning around.  Mortuana calmly looked back.

Before Rainbow could completely collapse, a strong forelimb reached over and steadied her.

"S'all good!" Bard shouted against the snow and madness.  "I got 'er!"

"Is she injured in any fashion—?" Remna began.

"Just relax.  She's A-Okay!" Bard retorted.

Remna's nostrils flared.  With glaring emerald eyes, she pivoted and continued her march eastward.

Bard glanced at Mortuana.

The alicorn nodded gently, and continued pressing forward, following Remna and Wildcard.

Rainbow shuddered, regathering her steps.  "Thanks, dude..."

"Don't mention it!" Bard said, giving her a shoulder to lean on.  "You're such a tough little pony, Rainbow.  Easy to forget you've got a dayum injury in yer wing!"

Rainbow said nothing.

"I hate to pull a Remna, but if you'd like me to carry you for a little while—"

"No.  I'm good," Rainbow grunted.  "Besides, I'm going to need exercise for where I'm going."

"Heh... no kiddin'."

"Yeesh..."  Rainbow grimaced as another wave of blizzard flurries struck the group.  "How long do these dang Fringes go on for?"

"I dunno, but I'm mighty thankful for 'em!" Bard shouted to be heard above the constant howling.  "Imagine if this thang hit while we was in the open plains of Frost Plateau?!"  He straightened his hat and shuddered.  "The enchantment in Flynn's rods wouldn't last, y'know what I'm sayin'?"

"Yeah, I get the picture!"

The group marched up a sloped incline.  The tighter they approached the edge of a stone ridge, the lesser the winds pelted them.  That particular peak within the Star Fringes was taking the brunt of the blizzard, allowing for a slight lull in the cold tempest.

"Well ain't this a mighty fine gift?" Bard mused, his voice calmer, lower.

Rainbow sighed.  "You won't hear any complaints from me."

"Won't last forever," Bard remarked.  "Especially if we wanna arrive at the Starkiss in the next few days."

"Right..."

The stallion glanced sideways.  "You feel another dizzy spell comin' on?"

"No, Bard, I can't," Rainbow muttered.  "That always happens at random."  She sighed.  "But one thing's for sure.  They're happening more and more frequently."  Her squinting eyes settled on an orange glow beyond the blizzard's gray flurries.  "The sooner we get to Yaerfaerda, the better."

"And Dubya and the rest of the gang are gonna help ya," Bard said.  "You can count on it!"

"Seems like they're not the only ones I can count on," Rainbow replied.

"Ehhhh..."  Bard waved a forelimb.  "I owe Dubya a whole heapin' lot.  I'm only taggin' along because it means so much to him."

"This is an awful lot of loyalty and commitment for 'tagging along,'" Rainbow muttered.

Bard cleared his throat.  "The way I see it, bein' exposed to the righteous side of the Job Squad n'all..."  A slight shrug.  "It's an awful lot to leave hangin' at this point.  I just... wouldn't feel right with myself if I wandered off on my own path—what, with the entirety of the world hangin' in the balance and all that nonsense."

"Yeah, well..."  Rainbow smirked slightly.  "Every adventuring party needs a bard."

"That joke is bad and you should feel bad."

Rainbow coughed, glancing down at the frosted cliff-faces.  "I know... I know..."

Silence reined as the group trudged along the stone incline.

"Everythang alright between you and yer gal pals?" Bard asked.

Rainbow blinked, glancing up once more.  "Uhm... yeah."  She gulped.  "Why you ask?"

"I heard y'all last night," Bard said.  "Well... some y'all.  Seems like you was gettin' worked up over somethin'."

Rainbow winced.  "Uhm... I-I was that noticeable, huh?"

"Darlin', you was like the center of a tear-jerkin' stageplay."

A dull sigh, and Rainbow's path wavered slightly.  "I... s-sorta guessed that I had kept my voice silent enough."  She gulped.  "Perhaps I was wrong."

"The way I see it, most of the Herald dun have much to say 'cuz they ain't used to you talkin' to spectres in the dark."  Bard's eyes narrowed.  "But Dubya and I?  We was both front row seat to yer ghostly socializin' all across the Seven Seas.  I'd even dare to say that we're mighty used to it."

"Did you bring some popcorn this time?" Rainbow droned.

"Nothin' like that, darlin'," Bard remarked, pressing on ahead.  He brushed past the mountain wall to his left.  "Just a might bit concerned, is all.  If I didn't know better, I'd say the tears that you had the other night were happy tears."

Rainbow exhaled.  "Yeah..."  Her lips curved ever so slightly.  "I guess you could say that."

"Lemme guess," Bard muttered.  "You told 'em all about your fuzzy filly proclivities."

Rainbow blinked.  "How... h-how did you...?"

"Dun forget, I'm a long-time friend to Ariel," Bard said.  "I had her figured for a fan of the fairer sex long before we ever took on the name 'Job Squad.'  I had the notion that she'd be smitten as soon as she saw ya.  Turns out, I wasn't wrong.  Poor girl has got it bad.  Just how many passes has she made on ya, I wonder."

Rainbow sighed.  "Just enough..."

"Must have been hard to hide yer 'little secret,'" Bard said with a slight smirk.  "Though I often wondered why you bothered for so dayum long.  Yer friends strike me as the kind of ponies to accept you the way you are... especially considerin' all the lengths yer goin' through to bring 'em back."

"You gotta remember, Bard," Rainbow said.  "For the longest time, I thought they were dead."  Her teeth chattered.  "And a lot of stuff that once meant so much to me died with them.  I guess... I... I-I just got used to being alone with myself."

"Just 'cuz the whole universe sees it fit to punish ya doesn't mean you gotta add to the whole miserable slew," Bard remarked.  "You might be yer own worst enemy, but—in the end—yer the best friend you can ever rely on.  Remember that."

"Yeah, well, some of us are lucky to have a Wildcard in our lives."

"Hah!"  Bard smirked.  "True that."

Rainbow looked at him with a soft smile.  "I'm... r-really glad that you're talking to me, Bard."

Bard sighed.  "Yeah, well... hard to hate on somethin' that gives you so many more reasons to respect it."

Rainbow blinked.  "I'll... uh... try to take that as a compliment."

"Whatever.  Just relish what you've got now, darlin'."

"And what's that?"

"Freedom.  Ain't no sense in bein' a total stranger with yer friends," Bard said.  "Yer dayum lucky you can share the whole truth with them and keep on tickin'.  Always remember that."

"I'll be sure to," Rainbow said with a nod.  She squinted at the stallion.  "And what about you?"

"Hmmm?"

"Think you will be sharing the whole truth someday?" she asked.  "I mean, we've been through so much together and... and we're bound to go through a whole lot more."  She winced from a random wave of blistery winds.  "When are you going to be more than just 'Bard?'"

Bard merely sighed.

Rainbow continued.  "I know that's not your real name," she said.  "And I know that making music and robbing from bad guys hasn't always been your occupation."

"How do you know I wasn't a regular bad guy myself?" Bard muttered.

"Because beneath all of the mystery and the lazy slurs and the guitar plucking nonsense, you've got a heart of gold," Rainbow said.  She shook her head.  "And I don't think it's something you've stolen, Bard."

"No, I reckon not." Bard exhaled through his nostrils.  "But it's definitely something that I've spoiled."

Rainbow blinked.

"Not all of us deserve freedom, Rainbow," Bard said.  "While the truth frees some of us, it binds others.  All you need to know is all that I need to remember."  He faced the harsh blizzard and trudged on.  "I'm Dubya's Desperado buddy... and I aim to get you to where you need to go."

"Bard..."

"Maybe a time will come when I'll have a reason to tell ya more, but it ain't particularly applicable to this here journey.  So let's keep our eyes on the prize until we kick the door down at Starkiss, ya feel me?"

Rainbow nodded as the group passed the mountain ridge and into another onslaught of cold winds.  "I feel you!"

Her voice scarcely made its way to Bard.  For the next hour, they marched against the flurries, separated and numb.





Keris waved a talon in front of his beak.  "Alright..."  A slight cough as he propped himself up against a wall of the claustrophobic laboratory.  "...to be honest, Professor, I did not expect this to be such an odorous affair."

"Mrmmmfff..."  Theanim Mane grimaced, his goggles fogging up against the fumes rising from the table before him.  "It wouldn't be such trouble if this so-called 'alchemist chamber' was more properly ventilated."

"As I told you before," Keris breathed.  "This place is a weapons armory first and foremost."

"Such was not lost to me," Theanim grumbled.  "I nearly tripped on no less than thirty spears and cutlasses on the way here.  Just what exactly does the Talon hope to achieve with so many blades?"

"Peace, of course," Keris said with a mild smirk.  "Why else would we possess one hundred times more weapons than we can feasibly handle?"

"That mentality has always struck me as... lopsided."

"Be glad it is not your chosen profession."

"Indeed."  Theanim cleared his throat as he poured a vial of solution into a miniature basin of bubbling liquid.  "Alright.  I've added the ingredients you listed.  I've dealt with chemical inks before, Lieutenant.  Quite frankly, I don't see how this is going to make the cryptic message Echo received any more visible."

"That's because you've never dealt with an ink of this nature before, Professor," Keris said.  He reached into his utility belt and pulled out a tiny pouch.  "Alright.  Here."  He handed it to the stallion.  "Gather a teaspoon of the material and sprinkle it over the basin."

"What in Verlaxion's name is this?" Theanim wheezed.

"Essence of windigo blood," Keris explained.  "A specific strain of it: salvaged from fossils encased in ice beneath the Throne of Verlaxion."

"And... its purpose?"

"To reveal the ink, of course," Keris said.  "From the scent and taste of it, I greatly suspect it's written in windigo plasma.  This blood essence should collect within the traces of plasma and allow us to read the enscribed message.  However—to keep it from dissolving—we will need to add one or two more ingredients."

Theanim frowned.  "In all of my many years of being a scientist in the Ninety-Seventh Order, I've never even remotely heard of such a process involving the utilization of windigo plasma."

"That's because you were never meant to," Keris calmly explained.  "It's an internal secret maintained by the Right Talon of Verlaxion throughout the centuries.  You're the first flesh-and-blood pony to learn of this in nearly two millennia."

Theanim sighed, sprinkling the dust into the basin.  "This alarms me, Lieutenant.  I do not take pride in the fact that the Right Talon of Verlaxion has possessed the means to keep sensitive materials secret from the common public."

"It is for the safety of the Foals of Verlaxion."

"A very lazy excuse."

Keris glanced sideways at the stallion.  "And what—pray tell—do you think you and I are pursuing at this very second?"

Theanim bit his lip.

"I'm sacrificing a great deal by pursuing this," Keris said.  "Bringing you here to this armory... utilizing the essence of windigo blood—which is far from unlimited, mind you."  He gazed at the alchemist table.  "Much is at stake here, Professor.  It is my firm belief that the securities of Rohbredden are being compromised by Chandler and the Council.  If we don't act now, then it may be too late to stop this nation along the road to ruin."

"Yes, but by taking this particular route..."  Theanim finished applying the material.  "...you're implying that this 'Jordan' persona was once in league with the Right Talon of Verlaxion.  How is such a thing possible?"

Keris merely took a deep breath and said, "You may wish to take a step back, Professor."

Just as he said this, the basin of chemical fluids began bubbling madly.  Theanim grimaced and backtrotted.  He shielded himself as fumes collected across the ceiling.  Soon, the bubbling stopped, and a series of dark lines materialized across the submerged sheet.

"Here, Professor."  Keris passed him a pair of forceps.

Theanim grasped it.  Reaching into the basin, he extracted the letter, then placed it within another basin—this one empty and fitted with a drain.  He rinsed the sheet over with a vial of water and leaned in.

"Alright... I do believe the message is clear now."  Theanim leaned aside.  "Lieutenant?"

Keris leaned in.  His hawkeyes scanned the words on the page.  Slowly, like melting ice, his beak hung agape.  "By the Spring Havens..."

Theanim gulped.  "Dare I ask?"

Keris shuddered.  "I need to summon the rest of the Talon now..."  He took a deep, fuming breath.  "As in right now."





Creaaaaak!

A thick metal security door swung open.  Clang!  A stallion's bundled figure stood in the doorframe, peering straight into the dim depths of the Frosted Shelves.

At the far end of the prison's maximum security wing, a lone cell lingered.  A pony sat on a cot beyond the bars, hunched over and silent.

Brye Chandler took a deep breath.  Vapors danced in the torchlight, and he spoke to the tall, muscular guards flanking him.  "I wish to speak with the prisoner alone.  Remain here and let nopony enter until I give the signal to be let out."

A stallion nodded.  "Yes, Minister."

"We shall stand watch," a griffon said.

Wrapping the wool and leather tighter around himself, Chandler trotted forward across the cold stone corridor.  The door was shut loudly behind him.  Thud!  As the echoes diminished, all could be heard was his sterile hoof-steps.  Soon, he found a stool and dragged it over so he could sit before the cold iron bars.  With a sigh, he stared into the cell.  The occupant's limp figure lingered just beyond the penumbra of flickering torchlight.

"It's my fault that you are here, Longaze," Chandler spoke.  His ears twitched as he fought the urge to shiver.  "As such, it is my responsibility to release you."

He reached deep into his jackets—at last producing a scroll with the Court's seal.

"This... this right here?  Do you see it?"  Chandler held it up to the quivering torchlight.  "It is an official pardon from Hymmnos, the Grand Magistrate herself.  As the newly appointed Minister of Interim Military Cabinet, I've been able to convince her to free you.  This opportunity did not come very easily, otherwise I would have approached you on the matter days ago."  He gulped.  "I... I-I was able to convince her and the rest of the Court that you did not act under your own volition back in Braum.  I... I told her that you were operating under the devious influence of the Rainbow Rogue and the accursed essence of the Blight."

The mare beyond the bars said nothing.  She continued to sit in silence, hunched over and still.  The stallion could barely make out even a hint of her deadpan features from beyond the shadows.

"It seems like a desperate pull, I know," Chandler muttered.  "But, for all I know, perhaps you were under the influence of something.  That... that mare..."  He grimaced as he spoke.  "That damnable Rainbow vermin."  He gulped.  "Her very presence means the end of all things.  At first, I thought it was just blowing facts out of proportion to claim that.  I only wanted her in the Consortium's custody so I could win the affections of the Court.  Well..."  he took a deep breath, leaning back on his stool.  "I have such affections now, Longaze, and it couldn't have come at a more stressful time.  More pressure has been put on me than I ever expected.  I need to capture that... that creature.  And even with an entire army and nearly twenty thousand new recruits at my disposal, I just... I-I just don't see myself accomplishing the task in time."

Chandler began to shake.  He wrapped the cloak around him tighter as his vaporous breaths coated the metal bars between him and his former secretary.

"The Rainbow Rogue is marching upon the foundations of Starkiss.  I've sent several battallions out to intercept her, but... but she's a crafty bitch—this Rogue.  And I fear she has allies from within—hidden among the ranks of the Scientific Order and the Talon.  Despite all of my current resources, she could easily evade my sentries.  And if she reaches Verlaxion—if she slays the Goddess of Unification... then... then what will Rohbredden do to me?!"  He fought the urge to hyperventilate.  "They'll have my head!  But only after they've had my entrails!  Dammit, Longaze, I need your help!  I need your resourcefulness!"

Silence.

"Will... will you help me?"  Chandler leaned forward once more.  He grasped the bars with two forelimbs.  "You've always been so helpful... so straightforward and calm.  A terrible rift has been placed between us by the Rainbow Rogue, and... and I want to make things right again, Longaze.  Not just for you, but for all of the Foals of Verlaxion.  So please... won't you help me?  Won't you lend a hoof?"

All was still.  The body beyond the bars barely moved.

Chandler blinked.  As the seconds limped by, he gradually bore a scathing frown.









Dear Keris,

I don't know whether to address you as Sergeant or Lieutenant.  At this rate, you'd surely have become a Commander by now.  A fellow guardian with your strength and tenacity deserves no less.  I suspect, if Seraphimus is still alive, you're still supporting her as courageously as ever.  I've always admired that loyalty, even if to a fault.

I can only imagine this letter comes as a mild surprise to you.  Surely—in your heart—you never truly thought me to be dead.  Seraphimus, perhaps, has expected the worse fate possible.  But she was always one to give into despair.  Up until my last mission, that was always my biggest contention with her.  I'm writing this to you because I know that you'll have an openness of both heart and mind, at least when compared to our illustrious zealot of a Commander.

You might think me a traitor for being alive all this time and not returning to Frostknife.  I would not blame you for that.  The fact is—shortly upon my recovery—I discovered a great deal more about this world than the rest of us can comprehend.  No, I have not contracted some horrible dementia.  The last mission we were on battered my body, but not my brain.  As a matter of fact, I've had a long time to dwell upon the circumstances that brought me to this place, as well as the dismal destination this entire continent is headed.  There are forces at play far older than the Court of Verlaxion and the Queen that claims to give it full, righteous authority.

The "Verlaxion" we've all pledged to protect is a great deceiver, a Dragon Divine, a mysterious creature older than most civilizations.  Did she unify the Tribes?  Yes, she did—but I've found pre-historic evidence that proves she herself established the windigo herd, the Blight, and several other pandemic problems that isolated the founders of Rohbredden long before our "Queen" arrived to extend her so-called "hooves" of mercy.  An alicorn from the west—a humble protector of all things Harmonic—rose to oppose her.  Her name is Mortuana, and this graceful being suffered a violent curse at the claws of Verlaxion for her heroic efforts.  Nevertheless, she managed to found a protective Order deep within the northwest mountains of Rohbredden—for the purpose of establishing a group of elite interceptors who would someday possess the power to undo the damage Verlaxion has done—and exposed the Deceiver for all of her lies.

Rainbow Dash—the pegasus that the entire continent has painted as a violent criminal—is the very torch by which the effigy that weighs Rohbredden down can finally be burnt to the ground.  The power within Rainbow Dash is also ancient, older than both Mortuana and Verlaxion, and it is something destined to save this entire world from a dark fate that's been looming for countless eons.

I'm certain all of this sounds terribly demented and outright sacreligious.  Believe me, it was a shock to my already battered system when I discovered the facts hidden beneath the surface of this polluted plane.  And as helpful as Mortuana has been in enlightening me, even she only knows so much.

There is a truth greater than all of us, Keris.  It's bigger than you, bigger than me, bigger than Verlaxion and Mortuana... bigger than Rainbow Dash and the entire world.  However, it's a truth that deserves to be pursued, past Rohbredden and beyond.  If we allow ourselves to remain stagnant or complacent, if we allow the likes of Verlaxion and the Council to run this great nation into the frozen dust, we will all suffer a fate colder than the death blow of a million stampeding windigos.  For that reason, we must rise up against lies that have bound us, breaking the strings of previous loyalties that have anchored us to absurdity.

We must see to it that Rainbow Dash fulfills her journey.  I believe this with my whole heart and mind.  Verlaxion as we know her is lying to us.  If you don't believe me, then look to the events that will undoubtedly be unraveling at the point you receive this letter.  If Mortuana, Rainbow, and the rest of my group manages to approach Starkiss, then undoubtedly the "Great Unifier" will start doing more and more desperate things to maintain solidarity behind her ancient cause, suppressing truth through the use of blind zealotry.

For whatever reason, Verlaxion is willing to sacrifice the whole of Rohbredden in order to make Rainbow's journey all that more difficult—as some sort of demented test that even I have difficulty understanding.  We need an edge to evade her tactics... to surpass her sentries and frozen eyes.

We need you, Keris.  I need you.  I know you've spent a great deal of time with Rainbow Dash back at Red Barge.  If there's still an ounce of wisdom and civility in you, then you know that there's more to Rainbow Dash than simple courage and sincerity.  There is soul destined to make the journey to end all journeys, and if she doesn't make it to her destination, this plane and everything it's attached to will perish... horribly.

I've sacrificed a lot to get to this point.  I know it's asking you a lot to make a similar leap of faith.  But we've both been through too much for me to ever wish harm upon you or the Commander or the rest of the Talon—what ever remains of it to this day.

My humble request comes with an even humbler show of trust:  Look towards the Midfrost Passage between the Tribal Battlefield and the West Gates of Starkiss.  I've already spoken with Mortuana about this letter, and we've both agreed to steer the group through that particular pass.  You and only you possess this knowledge now.  Share it with the Talon if you must—I know that your loyalty would do no less.  But if Verlaxion's as desperate as we expect her to be, I suspect you and the rest of the Talon will have far less influence than previous.  Take this as another sign—a sign that this world is changing, and the Great Deceiver is pulling more and more desperate stunts to keep her lies in check.

Please, Keris.  Meet us at the Midfrost Passage.  If you've met others willing and able to assist Rainbow Dash—which by now I suspect that you will—bring them as well.  The pressure is on, and we will need every possible ally and resource to make it pass the bastions of Starkiss.  Everything that is everything depends on this, and my group—however enlightened—cannot make it on our own.

Brothers of a feather, in blindness or in blight, share the same blood, beyond speech and sight,

-Jordan





Finally, having read the letter, Keris lowered the item in his grasp and stared before those gathered in the Armory.

Starstorm, Windburst, and Raptr gaped at him in utter disbelief.

Theanim shifted where he stood, glancing left and right between the fellow members.

"The good Professor assisted me in dating the letter and the chemicals used in hiding its words," Lieutenant Keris said.  "We suspect that this was written two to three weeks ago."

"Then... then he's been alive all this time?" Starstorm stammered.

"If so, then it was long before Verlaxion's revelation..."  Windburst shuddered.  "Before Chandler became Defense Minister."

"Is it truly miraculous foresight?" Starstorm remarked.  "Or just a coincidence on the part of a crazed mind?"

"He... seems to have most of his faculties together," Keris said.  "That cryptic message at the end?  About 'brothers of a feather?'"

"Yes."  Windburst squinted.  "What was with that?"

Keris exhaled.  "It's a blood pact that Jordan and I made together... exclusively between the two of us fellow guardians."  He glanced at the letter with a melancholic expression.  "We swore to fight by each other's sides until the day we died... or else sacrifice something very close to us."

"Like...?" Windburst blinked.

"I promised my wings," Keris said.  "And Jordan?  He promised his voice."

"I... I'm confused..."  Raptr shifted where he stood.  "Who exactly is 'Jordan?'"

Starstorm and Windburst collectively hung their heads.

"Someone far before your time, rookie," Windburst solemnly said.  "Someone with more talent than the rest of us combined."

"A true claw of the Talon," Keris added with a nod.

"But now..."  Starstorm weathered a heavy breath.  "He's alive."  She grimaced.  "And... and he's been polluted by those creatures of the Blight!"

"Jordan would never be polluted!" Windburst seethed angrily.  "Not by Blighted terrorists!  Not by anything!"

"But you heard those words of his!"  Starstorm pointed at the letter in Keris' grip.  "It's... it's madness!  To say such things of Verlaxion!"

"Our Queen... has been acting pretty strange lately," Raptr murmured.

"Oh please!"  Starstorm frowned.  "So what if she's... she's throwing us out..."  She ran a talon over her headcrest, gazing off with a slight shudder.  "It's... it's just punishment.  That's all."

"Seems like everything is 'punishment' lately," Windburst grumbled.  "Doesn't that strike you as a bit... oh, I dunno... shitty?"

Starstorm merely clenched her beak muscles.

Raptr fidgeted.

Theanim cleared his throat.  "This is... obviously something that strikes very close to home for the lot of you."  He turned to face Keris.  "Lieutenant... I've had the good grace of meeting this 'blood brother' of yours."

Keris nodded gravely.  "He's your 'Wildcard,' isn't he?"

"For the past few years, he's lived the life of a mercenary.  But two things struck me as very curious about him."  Theanim's eyes narrowed.  "In all things, he kept silent.  And yet—despite his relatively simple demeanor—I could tell he possessed a very deep, very introspective wisdom."  He shrugged.  "I do not know of this 'Order' of which he speaks, but it's quite clear to me that he's had plenty of opportunity throughout the years to reassess his priorities.  It's... possible that his mercenary occupation alongside Bard was merely a front for exploring the world around him."

"You mean for catching a sign of the arrival of Rainbow Dash."

Theanim cleared his throat.  "Now I didn't say that."

"And you didn't have to."  Keris folded the letter up.  "It was always Jordan's strong suit to perform advanced reconnaissance.  Whatever he's been looking for these past few years, I do believe he's found it.  And it's in the form of Rainbow Dash."

"And do you believe him, Lieutenant?"  Theanim blinked.  "Do you believe that what he's found possesses substantial importance?"

Keris stood in silence.

At last, it was Starstorm who spoke up.  "He's entrusted this knowledge with the Talon.  Nevertheless, we're bound by our role as guardians to present this to the Council."

"And then what?"  Raptr remarked.  "They'll just forward it to Chandler.  The newly elected Minister will intercept the Rainbow Rogue at the Midfrost Passage.  He'll have her head, and then the Council will worship him as the great vanquisher of the Blight."

"And then what?" Windburst spoke up.  "Chandler will remain on top... and just how long is it until he dominates the entire Continent or the remaining Tribes go to war?"

"Nevertheless..."  Starstorm frowned.  "We have a duty here.  One that we swore our lives to."

"You mean like your fellow Jordan did?"  Theanim remarked.  "That all dissolved until he discovered a greater truth."

"Damn you scientists and your 'greater truths!'" Starstorm snarled.  "We're guardians!  We have principles to defend!"

"Yes.  Principles that mean so much to the Queen that she's trampled them for the sake of replacing the Right Talon with a charlatan and a traitor," Windburst grumbled.

Starstorm blinked at that.  With a sad expression, she hung her head.

"Where's... where's Seraphimus?" Raptr remarked.  "Why isn't she here?"

"Why isn't she anywhere?" Starstorm whimpered.  Windburst rested a gentle talon on her shoulder.

"Lieutenant?"  Theanim trotted over.  "I do believe this falls on you."

Keris looked at the scroll in his grasp.  He closed his eyes, sighed, and finally spoke:  "I'll go talk to her."

"And... and what if she brings the information to the Council?" Raptr remarked.

"She needs to know that Jordan is still alive," Keris said.  "He'd expect me to do no less.  Besides... who knows?"  He shuffled out of the armory on heavy limbs.  "Maybe it's just the spark of hope that the Commander needs..."





"I gave you everything," Chandler slurred, frowing past the bars between him and Longaze.  "All of my money... my resources... even my honor."  He gritted his teeth.  "I gave it to you so that you could take down the Rainbow Rogue and you failed.  I almost lost everything because of your sudden and inane incompetence.  Now, I could go on and on chastising you for such a blunder, but it doesn't make a difference now.  You know why?"

Chandler rested a hoof over his heart.

"Because I've blundered as well.  I got too ambitious, and a bunch of bleeding hearts from the Talon and the Order found me out.  I almost got eviscerated on the spot by Seraphimus herself!  But then—when all was doom and darkness—a shining beacon fell on my figure and illuminated me.  I'm speaking of Verlaxion, Longaze.  The Great Unifier herself appeared before the Council and revealed her Divine Plan and... and..."

Tears lined the edges of the stallion's eyes.

"...she's real, Longaze.  She's real and she's awe-inspiring and she's merciful.  She acknowledged the sins that I had committed in challenging her... in denying her existence.  And yet—with full faith and righteousness—she has forgiven me.  Now, I am the Executive Minister of Defense.  And if I do what I can to stop the Rainbow Rogue, she will absolve me of my wrongdoing.  Don't you see?  She's extended her mercy to me... and now I am extending that same mercy to you!"

He held a hoof out through the bars.

"So please... won't you join me?  Not as I was... but as I now am... an enlightened pony... a righteous pony.  Together, we can salvage ourselves from the muck and steer this great continent to glory!  We eliminate all enemies and ensure a safe future for all of the foals of Verlaxion!  Now is the time and the place, Longaze.  If we can't make this happen, nopony can!  Not the Council!  Not the Talon!  And surely not the Continentalists!  In time, even they will have to pay for their sins, or else accept the grace that Verlaxion is granting.  Now... what do you say to this?"

Silence.

And then...

"... ... ...no."

Chandler's ears drooped.

At last, a head tilted up, facing the cold torchlight.  The shadow of a crooked, fractured horn crossed a pair of cold brown eyes.

"If Verlaxion is real, she's a fool... and a damned stupid one.  And you want to know why?"

Chandler stared, muzzle agape.

Longaze spoke icily:  "Because in putting her trust in you, she's doomed this entire continent to oblivion."  Her eyes narrowed like daggers.  "I put my trust in you once as well.  That trust poisoned me.  I had a taste of your powermongering and your sickening ambition.  In the end, I compromised my wisdom... I compromised my integrity... and I compromised my blood.  Ever since, I've been wasting away in this prison, alone with the shadows of my own mistakes... and now you come to me with the same honey'd words and the same broken promises, trying to offer me a hoof of mercy that doesn't exist?"

The stallion gritted his teeth.  He started to shiver.

"You're a hypocrite," Longaze spat.  "You're a liar.  And you're a coward.  If the Council entrusts Rohbredden with the likes of you, then they're worse off than I could ever imagine."  She leaned forward just enough so that the Minister could see her gnashing teeth.  "And I would rather my soul freeze to death and never find its way to the Spring Havens than make an ass-backwards decision such as rejoining with the likes of a self-absorbed egomaniac like you."

Chandler stumbled to his hooves.  The stool beneath him clattered, shaking the stallion to his core as he backed away from the bars.

"You're a fool, Brye Chandler," Longaze's voice reverberated after him.  "You were born a puppet and you will die a puppet.  I will greet death with a smile on my face, because I will know that long after your bones are ash and dust, the only thing anypony will remember you for is the great ruin you've brought to this once-great kingdom."

By now, Chandler was pounding on the door.  It opened with a groan, and two guardians stumbled through.  "What is it, Minister—?"

He tripped past them, panting and sweating in the cold.  Hissing through his teeth, he gestured at the corridor.  "Close it.  Close it!"

Nervously, the guards did as they were told.  Once it was slammed shut, they gathered around the stallion.

Chandler smoothed his peppery mane back and growled:  "Diminish her food rations.  Limit the sanitation visits."

"But... but Minister—"

"I want that vile wench to rot away in that hellhole!" Chandler snarled.  "With her only companions being the putrid residue that seeps out of her!"  Fuming, he turned tail and marched up the nearest stairwell within the dim hold.  "She got what was coming to her in Braum.  Me?"  He shrugged his cloak.  "I have business to attend to."





Thud!  The door to Grand Magistrate Hymmnos' office flew open.

The mare looked up, along with several other high-ranking members of the Central Guard.

"Minister!"  Hymmnos stood up, blinking worriedly.  "What is it—?"

"My first order!" Chandler grunted, stomping to a stop before the Grand Magistrate's desk.  "Verlaxion's divine will has moved me.  We can no longer tarry."  He waved an angry hoof.  "Send two of our strongest winged battallions northwest!  Sweep the mountains of Wyvern Point.  Find their hidden sanctuary!"  He spat.  "Burn everything that the monsters of the Blight have tainted with their heretical ways!  Arrest any and all supporters of the Rainbow Rogue and her vile regime!"

The generals exchanged glances with Hymmnos.

"And..."  One cleared his throat, looking at Chandler.  "...if they resist?"

Chandler glared at the group.  "Execute them."  He spun around and exited the office in a huff.  "Send their poisoned souls to the muck."